Uptown board selection process looks like a sham
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An investigation by Dolcefino Consulting reveals appointments of Board Members to the Uptown Management District may be a virtual charade.
“Taxpayers will say a collective WTH when they hear this,” says Wayne Dolcefino, President, Dolcefino Consulting.
In 1987 the Texas legislature created the Uptown Management District and they now control the use of more than three Billion Dollars of property value in the City of Houston.
The state law required members to be appointed by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), but it is now clear the TCEQ doesn’t even pick the candidates.
Uptown does.
In response to a request for records from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the agency told Dolcefino Consulting they have no records detailing the, “Selection of members of the Uptown Board, or any review, audits, or investigations into their use of taxpayer money.”
“Now that’s oversight,” says Dolcefino, “What a joke.”
It turns out Uptown actually picks and then provides the names of candidates. It is not even multiple choice.
“The property owners in Uptown need to have real voice in deciding who will make decisions for our neighborhood,” says Jim Scarborough of the Uptown Property Owners group.
Maybe this contrived appointment process explains why so many Uptown Board Members seem to have lifetime appointments.
Uptown likes it that way.
Uptown Management District Board Chairman Kendall Miller has been appointed since 1999, 16 years. So has member Patty Bender. Board Member Martin Debrovner has been on the board since 1994, more than 20 years.
“There are thousands of people who live in Uptown,” says Dolcefino. “This discovery cries out for these people to be elected. This political process is a sham and the Mayor has to know. This isn’t just the fox guarding the henhouse. The fox is building the whole darn thing and then making sure they pick the guards.”
Uptown is ignoring calls to stop a key part of a proposed 300 million dollar bus project, even though some members have clear conflicts of interest. Other members have yet to fully disclose their potential conflicts.
Hundreds of property owners and Uptown residents have been voicing opposition to this bus project. Jim Scarborough has been one of the loudest critics. “Most property owners don’t want this bus project and Uptown knows it.”
Of course when Uptown has picked the cards in the desk, is anyone surprised at the results.
Dolcefino Consulting is an investigative communications firm headed by former 13 Undercover reporter Wayne Dolcefino.
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