WE STRONGLY OPPOSE TEXAS HB 4334 AND HB 4341!

To the Honorable Republican State Senators of Texas
85th Legislative Session
Austin, Texas
In the year of our Lord 2017

Dear Sir/Madam,

We the people of the great State of Texas hereby ask that the following proposed bills, HR 4341 and HR 4334 be stopped dead in their tracks when they reach the Senate for the following reasons:

1. These bills are in direct conflict with the Republican Platform of the State of Texas 2016, namely plank 191 which reads, “Management Districts- We oppose the creation of management or special purpose districts with the authority to impose taxes and bond debt and oppose the use of eminent domain by these districts.”

2. These special districts were devised after a frivolous lawsuit was filed against the City of Plum Grove by the same developer Colony Ridge, who is asking for the districts to be created. The city was told that if they approved said districts that the lawsuit would be dropped. This is nothing more than legal manipulation and blackmail on behalf of the developer Colony Ridge to gain their taxing districts.

3. The land that is discussed in these special districts is being marketed directly to the Hispanic population which we have no issue with except the primary targets of the marketing campaign is to illegal aliens. The marketing arm of Colony Ridge is a company named Terrenos Houston. Their campaign is as follows: "We ourselves qualify our race, so the only thing you need is a valid ID of your country and you are already approved! Own your own land today! On land for sale Houston, you do not have to be a permanent resident or citizen to invest in the future of your family."

This information was taken from the internet archive files for the website http://terrenoshouston.com and was found on their pages between 2013 and 2015. The website is now coded so that the archive bots can no longer capture their information. They continue to market to the illegal community through ads in Hispanic publications, television stations, and social media like YouTube and Facebook. By allowing this developer to get his special districts will only provide a means of financing for them to continue the marketing of land, and supporting the influx of illegal aliens into our communities.

4. To date, Colony Ridge has created the LARGEST non-border Colonias in the State of Texas. Since the company’s arrival in Liberty County, over 8800 acres of land has been made available for sale, subdivided into 1/3 acre lots and selling for approximately $30,000 each. The majority of this property does not have utilities but people are buying and moving there anyway. Tents, buses, shanty shacks, port-a-cans and IBC tanks of water can be found on many properties. Where water and sewer are available, hooking up to the utilities comes at a steep price which most residents cannot afford. Residents cannot get electricity unless there is some type of permanent structure on the property. This includes RV’s if they still have the tires on the wheels. The creation of a Managed Utility District will not change these issues, they will only increase taxes on those residents living there.

5. In Montgomery County, Colony Ridge purchased the remaining majority of property in a subdivision named King’s Colony after the subdivision went bankrupt. The majority of residents in this subdivision are also Hispanic. There is no water or sewer available to the residents that Colony Ridge has sold to in King's Colony. You have to dig a well and septic tank which most residents cannot afford. There are port-a-cans all over the place in people's yards and IBC tanks for water. The roads are impassible even for emergency vehicles. Crime is rampant, gangs, human trafficking, and drugs are the primary issues. This "developer" claims that since he did not develop the property in Montgomery County, that he is not responsible for anything. While this may be true legally, Colony Ridge does contract with Quadvest to provide water to his residents in Liberty County. He could have done the same in Montgomery County by contracting with Quadvest, but instead, he abandoned these people and moved his base of operations to Liberty County.

6. What Colony Ridge has done has caused a huge issue for residents in both counties whose families have been here for years. Both counties (Liberty and Montgomery) where Colony Ridge has purchased and sold land, are putting up with an increase in serious crime like drugs, gangs, and human trafficking. There is talk of cartel clusters in the Montgomery County neighborhood. The roads are impassible in Montgomery County even for law enforcement and emergency personnel and we have already seen one year old roads in the Liberty County neighborhoods deteriorating. Automatic gunfire is constant in both counties. Drunk drivers and accidents in the Liberty County town of Plum Grove are rampant.

A few thoughts we should think about are: First, the deceptive marketing to non-English speaking hard working immigrants being taken advantage of by this 'buy here -pay here' scam of Colony Ridge, and John and Trey Harris and now we want to reward them with tax bailouts? Just recently, the local Cleveland Independent School District was forced to have a bond election to help cover the cost of educating these new residents. Again, taxes will increase via ad valorem fees to cover the cost of these bonds. Adding more taxation via a MMD or MUD will not resolve any of the issues this developer and his customers have created in our communities.

These are not Republican values. Additionally, as was made clear to Senator Nichols, Representative Bailes and the Liberty County Commissioners repeatedly, which are all Republicans, the Texas Republican Platform is VERY clear on this issue. Lastly, the promise of nice shiny buildings, schools, police, etc. being promised by the developer to these very same people he has already victimized by giving him these districts further adds insult to the atrocity he's already caused.

We are all very well aware as Conservatives, government does not exist to bail out bad business decisions with money already robbed from our wealth via taxation. Not to mention, government is the worse arbitrator of deciding winners and losers in the market. We believe that the creation of these taxing districts are just that…a bailout to a developer who can’t afford to keep the promises his marketing arm has been offering to people they have sold land to.

State Senators, please help the citizens of Liberty County kill Mr. Bailes bills on this issue as we have been ignored from our local commissioners to Rep. Bailes himself on this issue. Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter. We pray that you will uphold the platform that was created by the citizens of our Republican party, and not allow these bills to become law.

In Liberty,
[NAME]
[ADDRESS]
[CITY/COUNTY/STATE]