The Two Kings of The Woodlands

The Woodlands has two kings.  They are kings because The Woodlands cannot remove them from office and they have the power to make the most important decisions for the future of The Woodlands.  These kings are Commissioner James Noack and Howard Hughes Corporation President of the Houston Region Jim Carmen.  In contrast, the city council of the City of the Woodlands would be entirely elected and controlled by The Woodlands’ residents.  This incorporation election is a choice by residents to continue the monarchy or become a representative democracy. 

By voting strength, not geography, The Woodlands is less than half of Commissioner Noack’s constituency.   The Woodlands cannot not by themselves vote him out.   When James Noack says that “we’re gonna end up having to widen Woodlands Parkway” because of traffic pouring in from the new Woodtrace Blvd., he needs no consent from The Woodlands to do it.  View Commissioner Noack’s traffic vision for the future here.

If the Howard Hughes Corporation chose to turn Grogan’s Mill Shopping Center into a massive apartment complex as they have done in Creekside or Hughes Landing, they have the authority to do that.  The traffic signals and the intersection are already set up to accommodate high density apartments at that prime location.  Incorporation would not stop development, it would simply require that residents agree with the development.  How is that risky?

County officials and developers on the anti-incorporation side are motivated by future revenue, not quality of life for current residents of The Woodlands.  The anti-incorporation side is raising every possible doubt and fear to keep residents from asserting control over their own community’s future.  The Woodlands is in superb fiscal shape with low taxes and healthy saving accounts intended to provide for both the known upcoming expenses and the unexpected.  Incorporation has been discussed, studied, and plans prepared for years.  Howard Hughes Corp may not be ready, but The Woodlands is ready for incorporation.

This election is in your hands, residents of the The Woodlands.  Is it better for you to be in control of your government, or to leave your future in the hands of those you either don’t or only marginally elect? 

Your community is prepared for it, but you have to turn out and vote. 

Vote FOR Incorporation – For Prop A and Prop B.