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Student Voice of Houston Community College Since 1974 74/52 Clear blue skies with light winds throughout the day reaching up to 11 mph.
Wednesday, February 10, 2016 • Vol. 43, No. 2 • www.HCCEgalitarian.com • @HCC_Egalitarian
Latino turncoats
Houston basketball dynasty
HCC Tutoring tutoring see Community, Page 2
see Commentary, page 11
see Sports, Page 9
Is Conn’s property a con? Alyssa Foley
The Egalitarian Houston Community College Trustee Dave Wilson filed a complaint with the District Attorney’s office against HCC Chancellor Cesar Maldonado and Chief Facilities Officer Chuck Smith back in August, for what Wilson considers fraud and misappropriation of bond funds. Wilson alleges that money was intentionally overpaid for the former Conn’s Appliance store building in front of the West Loop campus at 5505 West Loop South Freeway. “The misstatements by the Chancellor and Smith resulted in excess money being paid for the property,” stated Wilson in his complaint. Wilson has heard no further word from the DA’s office beside that the case was assigned. Despite several attempts, Chancellor Maldonado could not be reached for comment. The trustees approved the purchase of the property for $8,510,000 at the January 2015 board meeting with a vote of 5-1. Wilson voted against it. Trustee Carroll Robinson, Christopher Oliver and Adriana Tamez were absent. Trustees are officials elected to represent taxpayers at the regular monthly board meetings, where all final votes on college governance takes place.
Alyssa Foley / The Egalitarian The vacant Conn’s building that sits in the parking lot of the West Loop Campus at the intersection of Highway 59 and Loop 610. The deal was put together by the Waterman Steele Group consulting firm. In November 2014, HCC had the property appraised by Valbridge Property Advisors for $5,300,000. That price did not satisfy the seller. Therefore, HCC had the same appraisers take another look at the property in January 2015, and this time they placed the value at $8,510,000. For taxing purposes, the Harris County
Appraisal District places the value of the property at $2,358,000. This is not the market value of the property; the market value is how much someone is willing to pay for it. The HCC administration was willing to pay a lot for a building that it’s still not using. There are several reasons why Wilson alleges that HCC taxpayers were robbed. Wilson said that the income method and a
low cap rate were used to appraise the real estate, “in order to get it [the price] as high as they could get it.” What changed between November and January was that there was supposedly a lease for the property in the works with Tesla Motors. The appraisers based the second lease off the assumption that the property would generate rental income, but today the building still sits empty with a giant “For Lease” sign up front. The second appraisal had the extraordinary assumption that the property would be leased to Tesla Motors at $23 per square foot. Based on the assumption that all 25 thousand square feet would be leased at that rate, the appraisers reported that the market value was $8,510,000, over three million more than what they said it was three months prior. The property was purchased with HCC bond money, which is collected through district taxes for the purpose of furthering the college’s mission by purchasing things like necessary sites for school buildings. The Chancellor and Smith informed the Board of Trustees that only 20 thousand square feet of the Conn’s property would be leased. At the same time, HCC would use the remaining 5 thousand square feet.
Commuters’ daily struggles Ajani Stewart The Egalitarian
Houston is home to one of the most extensive highway systems in America, including the likes of Interstate-45, Loop610, Beltway 8, U.S.-59 and Interstate-10, which along with others, boasts over 4206 lane miles of highway. With a large proportion of Greater Houston jobs and higher education opportunities lying within the 610 Loop, commuters have the daily task of trying to beat the rush hour periods going to and from work or school. With the rise of Houston-area university enrollment, including the University of Houston system, Rice University, Texas Southern University and the Houston Community College System, tens of thousands of students have to find a means of getting to and from class every day. Not to mention the hefty rush hour traffic that hinders student flexibility on and off
campus. Houston’s ongoing highway expansion has seen a great deal of improvement on expressways and major highways, including the widening of U.S.-59 and I-10. These actions increase the emphasis on individual car use, or in other words, put more cars on the road. This is especially true when comparing the population shifts in the Greater Houston area to the surge of cars on the road. From fiscal years 2012-2014, Fort Bend County saw a 9.3 percent population increase; Harris County had a 4.1 percent population increase; Montgomery County saw a 6.9 percent population increase; and Brazoria County saw a 4.1 percent population increase. Metro Houston’s projected population in 2014 was listed as 6,490,180, a 9.13 percent increase from the 2010 U.S. Census population of 5,946,800 Houstonians. The average rate
of population change was an increase in approximately 2.2 percent every year. A larger population means a larger number of cars at a similar rate of change. In the same time frame between fiscal years 2012-2014, the amount of registered vehicles in Harris County increase by 7.6 percent, a faster rate than the population growth. Meanwhile, Fort Bend County saw an 11.2 percent increase in registered vehicles, also a larger growth than the population. The more cars on the road, the higher probability or likelihood of traffic accidents, which cause more time spent on the road as hoards of vehicles wait for a pile up to be cleared. Keep in mind that all registered vehicles might not be in use because of carpooling, stay-at-home parents with cars, unemployment, etc. see
Highway, Page 5
see
Conn’s, Page 3
Race for D.A. Marialuisa Rincon The Egalitarian
Kim Ogg wants to be district attorney to fix the broken justice system. Unless you are in real trouble with the law, you’re unlikely to be familiar with the role of DA. Ogg says that, “running for Harris County district attorney is applying to be CEO of the largest public law firm in Texas.” As of Feb. 7, current District Attorney Devon Anderson has not responded to an interview request.
Ogg says her past led her down a path she says is no coincidence. When Ogg was 4 years old, her mother was kidnapped in broad daylight at knife-point at a bank in Downtown Houston. Her kidnapper forced her to drive her own car to a secluded spot—the whole time describing how he would rape and kill her. Rather than being a victim to someone’s senseless violence, Ogg’s mother jumped out of the moving car. Ogg says that the physical see
Race, Page 3