BY RUSTY GRAHAM
Originally Published In Memorial Examiner

Having worked quietly for several years now, the Spring Branch Management District hopes to become more visible with its projects and programs.

At an open house on Feb. 24 at its Long Point Road office, the district’s board chairwoman, Pat Maddox, brought to light many of the district’s activities.

It spends $750,000 a year on a constable program to increase law enforcement activity in the area.

It’s picked up more than 5,000 bandit signs, and its graffiti-abatement program has removed more than 800 instances of graffiti.

A $1.5 million street sign and branding program is underway. The district worked with the city of Houston to rework the intersection of Wirt and Long Point and is currently working at the intersection of Blalock and Long Point, with plans to redo other Long Point intersections as the city widens the roadway.

Victor Alvarez, chairman of the economic development committee, called Long Point the “commercial corridor” of Spring Branch. The street runs east-west through the area from Hempstead Highway to west of Gessner.

The district has a revamped website — www.sbmd.org — which includes information about the district and its activities, and includes a calendar for residents to publicize events.

It also publishes a quarterly newsletter which is distributed to commercial property owners and is about to be expanded to business owners.

Alvarez calls Spring Branch the “Magic Triangle” — an area bounded by Loop 610 on the east, Hempstead Highway on the north, I-10 on the south and Brittmore Road on the west.

The management district has added its own tagline to the area — “The Heart of Houston” — as part of its branding campaign.

The district has joined Houston West Chamber of Commerce, and together they will host a networking breakfast on March 10 at the H-E-B Bunker Hill Community Room.

The district is in the fourth year of its 10-year service plan, Maddox said.

The overreaching goal, said Alvarez, is to increase business and economic activity in Spring Branch and increase “stakeholder pride” at the same time.

The management district wants to “get developers back to developing dormant properties” in Spring Branch, said Alvarez.

The Spring Branch Management District operates on revenue from assessments of commercial property within the district, and recently approved a budget of just over $4 million for 2010.