Kind Cards, From Your Neighbors

As I emphasized when I first introduced it as our theme for the year, and again in my State of the City Address last month, #OneBellaire belongs to all of us.  While the City will be offering several opportunities for us to come together and reunite as a community, residents are expressly encouraged to bring forward their own ideas as well.  I’m delighted that a group of our neighbors have answered that call, and are reaching out to all of us to ask for our participation in creating and sending Kind Cards.

This is a strictly citizen led initiative, brought about by the recognition that much of what we have in mind for #OneBellaire will involve in-person interaction, once it’s safe to resume public gatherings.  Until then, or even concurrently, the organizers see Kind Cards as a way to reinforce our interconnectedness through a simple act of kindness among neighbors.  Their goal is to reach every single household in Bellaire, as well as every member of the city staff, by creating and distributing postcards with original art and messages of kindness.  They’re on a mission to unite our community and spread the neighborly spirit throughout Bellaire.

A Winter Storm Lesson Learned

The City has released, and at tonight’s Council meeting staff will formally present, an After Action Report on the winter storm response.  The Report includes a detailed chronology of emergency operations and departmental activities throughout the event, and identifies both strengths and areas for improvement.  Public Works features prominently in the Report, given the issues we encountered with our water system, and these are documented with full transparency as previously promised.

One thing in particular I want to highlight—(1) because folks have asked about it, and (2) frankly, I’m sensitive to it given my role as the messenger—is the Report’s open acknowledgement that there could have been other causes for the initial loss of water pressure (before the systemwide drop), beyond what was included in our messaging at the time.  “Retrospectively, it is very fair to assume that there [were] other causes” that “should have been considered in the messaging regarding this issue.”  So, it seems, we didn’t get that part quite right.  We take responsibility for that, and count it as a lesson learned.