When the Katy City Council meets tonight, it will again take up a request from the chamber of commerce to use several downtown blocks for this year’s Katy Rice Harvest Festival.
The request had initially been placed on the council’s Jan. 25 consent agenda as a routine matter not requiring extensive discussion, but then tabled when Mayor Pro-Tem Hank Schmidt asked the request be moved to the regular agenda so the possibility of the festival supporting the city’s fireworks celebration could be raised.
“I would like to see if the city and chamber could partner with some portion of the (festival) admission fee for the July 4 fireworks,” Schmidt said. “I think it would be a really good thing if we could come to some agreement.”
Since Schmidt’s proposal had not previously been raised with the chamber, Council Member Carol Adams suggested the matter be tabled to give the city and chamber time to discuss options.
“I’d really like to table it until we can come back and discuss this,” Adams said during the Jan. 25 meeting.
Mayor Don Elder, Jr., pointed out the city had been on the verge of canceling the fireworks because of a lack of funding. Support from local businesses has principally funded the fireworks display in recent years.
He agreed with Adams’ recommendation to table the request, and suggested the city and chamber “sit down, visit, talk and see what we can come up with.”
The mayor also stressed the move did not signal a lack of cooperation between the city and the chamber.
“I don’t think this is anything negative against the Rice Harvest Festival,” Elder said. “We would like to discuss it, bring it back to the table and go on from there.”
The request as previously presented involved the city giving permission to block a number of downtown streets from 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 10. Streets included in the closure were Avenue B and Avenue C from First Street to Fourth Street, and Second and Third Streets from Avenue A to Avenue D.
The chamber also asked for a no-parking zone within the festival area beginning 6 p.m. Oct. 8 to help in the closure of streets and the set-up of stages.
Also on tonight’s agenda is a request from the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9182 to expand its museum at the city-owned VFW Building. Post Commander Peyton Lumpkin is expected to present the proposal.
Last year, Lumpkin told council members the DPS driver’s license operation in the VFW Building was preventing the post from expanding its museum, forcing a number of exhibits into storage.
After extended negotiations failed to result in a new lease agreement between the city and the DPS, the driver’s license operation closed at the end of January.
Another item on the council’s agenda is a request from the West Houston Charter School for additional street lighting in the area of Eleventh Street and Avenue A.
The request was initially presented to the council last October. At that time, council members authorized a study of existing street lighting.
The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in the council chambers at Katy City Hall.
By: John Pape on Mon, Feb 8, 2010
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