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Standing Up for Neighborhoods
Sugar
Land’s long-term livability is directly related to
the quality of the neighborhoods in which its
citizens live. Since becoming a City Councilman,
Russell Jones has . . .
- Supported the
development of a new City department whose purpose is to
support and develop programs for the enhancement
and preservation of neighborhoods.
- Supported the
creation of a program to identify
rental units within the City and require an
annual inspection of the units to ensure
compliance with City codes.
- Supported City
maintenance of sidewalks in residential
neighborhoods to assure that all sidewalks are
maintained and usable by pedestrians, resulting
in an enhanced attitude of pride and safety in
residential areas and an increase in property values.
- Encouraged the
City’s cooperation with the area levy
improvement districts to develop a regional plan
to rebuild some levies and to complete a
perimeter levy around Sugar Land and its
environs to keep the flood waters of the Brazos
River out of our homes. The Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) was on the verge of
declaring the levies to be out of compliance
with its standards, and only with a region-wide
effort, led by the City of Sugar Land, was a
plan developed which would accommodate FEMA’s
new flood plain calculations. The result has
been the avoidance of mandatory high priced
flood insurance and the certainty of a decline
in property values which would have resulted.
- Encouraged the
cooperation of City government with neighborhood
homeowner associations in an effort to assist
associations in their local efforts to enhance
and preserve their neighborhoods.
- Supported
efforts by the City to assure that vacant
commercial properties are re-let and filled to
avoid deterioration of older shopping centers.
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