While much of Mayor Dedrick Johnson’s presentation at Thursday night’s community conversation event focused on the city’s future development, many residents used the opportunity to focus on the here and now.
The event, held at Carver Park, 6415 Park Avenue, was attended by nearly 40 people and featured a 15-minute presentation by Johnson, followed by a question-and-answer session that lasted more than an hour.
The mayor’s office announced last week that “Latitude Margaritaville” would be among the many topics that will be broadcast during the session.
However, Johnson’s speech did not mention this large-scale project, and there was little interest among those attending the conference.
One person asked about the development, which would add thousands of rooftops, increase the city’s tax base by about $1 billion and generate millions of dollars in sales tax revenue.
City officials and employees from several city departments answered questions, as did commissioners Thelma Bowie and Deandre Noxon.
Updates on the city’s growth and development dominated Johnson’s presentation.
“Texas City continues to grow as people move here for great opportunities,” Johnson said. “I don’t care what you hear on social media. Sometimes you hear noise, right? I don’t want to hear noise. I want to bring you some news.”
Nearly 2,000 homes are under construction across the city, with more than 4,000 more in the planning and pre-development stages, Johnson said.
Johnson also highlighted new development opportunities in the city, saying the city has heard that HEB recently closed on a site along the Interstate 45 spur in the Lago Mar area.
Johnson also announced future use plans for Shoal Point and said the city’s economic development team has recently been working with potential developers.
“The commission just approved two separate lease agreements with two industrial companies based in Shoal Point,” Johnson said. “These will provide over 500 jobs over the next few years.”
Although residents seemed excited about the city’s growth, many of the questions were related to current issues.
Many questions from residents centered around expanding services at Carver Park and the Sanders Community Center.
Johnson said the city plans to add an annex to each building to serve as both recreational space and disaster shelter. The annex will be funded through a grant, and the city hopes to break ground on the project in late 2025.
Another topic that had extensive discussion among residents was lighting throughout the city, with many residents highlighting the large number of light bulbs installed throughout the city.
Noxon and Bowie said they are aware of the issue and are working to resolve it.
“I drove the entire district line, every street, and saw over 170 lights that were out,” Noxon said. “I have communicated that with Texas-New Mexico and they are aware of it. They are working on a plan to handle it and send us personnel to address that issue. I’m here.”
Bowie encouraged residents to continue to let the city know where problems with broken lights are located.
