Dear Neighbors,
The good news is that the draining of Lake Thicket and the removal of any additional wildlife has been postponed by Skanska. Though our team was ready, willing and able to meet, the full management meeting did not occur on Tuesday. Skanska opted instead at the last minute to have what was billed as a one-on-one meeting (but to which the Skanska representative brought his outside PR firm representative). The primary outcomes of that meeting were that a full management meeting would be rescheduled for sometime next week and, until that meeting occurs, Skanska will not remove any more wildlife or drain the lake.
In addition, late Wednesday Skanska decided to begin cleaning up the lake rather than draining it as earlier planned. On Thursday morning a generator was brought on site to power the lake equipment since site power has been disconnected. One aerator already is running and some lake debris will be removed. The uncertainty is that this equipment has not been run for a long time and it would not start or will fail. We are encouraged by this action taken by Skanska.
Memorial Thicket and other neighborhood representatives had a successful rally on Monday which was covered by Channel 26-FoxNews on Monday night.
There was more picketing along Memorial Drive on Tuesday, during the 8AM rush hour and again during lunch hour rush, and much attention was received. Posters and signs remain along Memorial and we have posters in several businesses along Memorial Drive.
Donna Paredes is serving as our Rally and Picketing chair; she plans to be getting more posters out and has handouts available to distribute. Please volunteer to assist, if you can.
Bob Batten has agreed to be our WebMaster for the new webpage: www.
Houston Chronicle reporter Patti Hart met with Phil Richardson, Rachel El-Saleh, Kyna Agerton and Geralyn Cornelius on Wednesday and is expected to run an article with our story in this Sunday’s Chronicle.
Our momentum is building. While we are pleased with the recent change of Skanska’s plans, there is much work still to be done. We must not only continue to build additional awareness of the potential loss of Lake Thicket and the wildlife habitat it has provided for many decades, but also update all of our contacts of these recent positive actions by Skanska.
We continue gathering facts, researching the history of the area and determining what steps are required to strongly discourage draining Lake Thicket. Wildlife habitat, storm water drainage and runoff and Buffalo Bayou preservation are among the areas we need more expertise. If you are aware of anything that can help us with the foregoing or know someone who may be able to help, then PLEASE contact one of the committee members right away.
Regards,
Next Door Committee;
Phil Richardson, Chairman; philrichardson@pdq.
Geralyn Cornelius; corneliusrg@
Grant Johnston; Grant.Johnston@
Simon Kanaan; slkanaan@sigmamarble.
Abel Paredes; abel.p@
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