Long considered a "champion for God's people and justice" by his peers, Pastor John D. Ogletree received some well-deserved coverage by South Texas College of Law in Houston.  As the founding pastor of First Metropolitan Church, his leadership with TMO, Texas IAF and the regional network of the West/Southwest IAF has been catalytic.

[Photo Credit: South Texas College of Law - Houston]

Community Icon, STCL Houston Alumnus Forges Pathway to Justice and Redemption, South Texas College of Law - Houston [pdf]

Just this week, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wrote to TCEQ Chairman Jon Niermann to voice his opposition to the construction of a concrete batch plant in Grayson County - a largely rural county located 60 miles north of Dallas.

"There is simply too much risk to the county and its citizens," Patrick said while requesting an immediate pause to the permitting process until the legislature can weigh in.  Patrick wrote “[b]usiness leaders, clergy, elected officials, community leaders, and an overwhelming majority of the public have all voiced their objections to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) granting a permit…”

This is exactly the same situation in Harris County where over 2,600 people have opposed a proposed concrete crushing plant to be built next to the LBJ Hospital campus in Northeast Houston in the Kashmere Gardens neighborhood.

Last fall, 72% of Harris County voters voted to invest over $2 Billion to build a new hospital, an in-patient mental health facility and level 1 Trauma Center at the LBJ campus. And, just like the business community in Grayson County, we're equally concerned with how a plant like this will affect our investment and the health and well-being of the surrounding community. 

Letter to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Lt. Governor of Texas Dan Patrick

So why are pollutant-heavy plants like these okay for Harris County but not okay for Grayson County? 

Call or email Lt Governor Patrick with a message like this:

Lt. Governor Patrick, thank you for asking TCEQ to stop issuing permits to build concrete plants until after the Legislature reviews the  permissive standards TCEQ uses to grant these permits in our communities. A few days before you wrote them, TCEQ granted a permit to build a concrete crusher plant next to the LBJ Hospital campus. Please tell TCEQ to retract that permit and take a long look at the valid concerns raised by dozens of organizations and thousands of residents.

You went to Grayson County and heard that community's strong opposition to a plant. Now come to Harris County and hear ours. Ask TCEQ to reverse their decision until the Legislature can develop better standards that protect our churches, schools, hospitals and businesses.

EMAIL: https://www.ltgov.texas.gov/contact/contact-general/

CALL: (512) 463-0001

[Excerpt]

"Catholic social teaching isn't ideological," [Bob] Fleming said. "It says, 'Go out to the people, talk with them, understand them, let them tell you what's going on.' "

....[Sr. Pearl] Ceasar shares Fleming's sentiment about the compatibility of Texas IAF's work and Catholic social teaching. In the 1960s, she studied the documents of the Second Vatican Council, which she said greatly impacted her outlook on the responsibilities of individual Catholics and the Catholic Church.

"Vatican II didn't address the doctrines of the church; it addressed the relationships in the church and who we are to be as Catholics," Ceasar said. "Meaning that we are to be engaged with people, we are to be engaged in the community."

For 50 years, Texas IAF Organizing Group Has Drawn on Catholic Roots, National Catholic Reporter [pdf]

In photo: Sister Maureen O’Connell, OP, Archdiocesan Director of Social Concerns, speaks at the podium in front of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Houston with other congregational and community leaders, including Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS.

[Excerpts]

The historically African-American neighborhood inside Houston’s northern 610 Loop has held townhall meetings and protests since last year to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). But its Director approved a permit this past January for Texas Coastal Materials to build a concrete and rock crusher across the street mere yards away from the busy public hospital.

Now residents, state representatives and Church leaders hope a letter-writing campaign gathering thousands of signatures to Gov. Greg Abbott will help him to overturn the Standard Air Quality Permit 173296 given to the company.

Father Martin Eke, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in that neighborhood, said, “The company tells us it will not be a problem. But my parishioners and I live here in the community. The crushed gravel with its particulates will only add to the air pollution here.”

....[Sister Maureen O’Connell] added, “The letters reflect the commitment of the people of God and their desire to live and thrive in an environment that promotes the common good.”

Kashmere Gardens Community, Churches Protest Another Polluting Company, The Catholic Herald [pdf]

[Update: TCEQ's own Office of Public Interest Counsel (OPIC) finds that "good cause to overturn the ED’s decision exists, based on substantial evidence provided by the Movants that the entirety of the facility will not be located further than 440 yards from a school or place of worship."]

On Friday February 16th, TMO leaders publicly called on Governor Greg Abbott to overturn the TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) permit that would allow construction of a concrete crushing facility next to the LBJ Hospital.  Concrete crushers can have dire consequences for the communities that surround them including particle and noise pollution, damaged roads, and cracked windshields.  Houston Public Media warns that the risks of fine particle exposure can include "elevated levels of heart disease, stroke, asthma, cancer and other respiratory issues."

“This just doesn't make sense,” Sister Maureen O'Connell of the archdiocese told Chron. “Why are we going to do this to people who are already at risk?”

To sign the petition and voice your support, click here.

Press Conference [video]

Community Leaders Urge Greg Abbott to Reverse Permit for Concrete Crushing Plant Near LBJ Hospital, Houston Public Media [pdf]

Community Organizers Ask Governor to Pump the Breaks on Concrete-Crushing Facility, Houston Press [pdf]

Houston Religious Leaders Protest Concrete Crushing Plant near Hospital, Chron.com [pdf]

Religious Leaders Join Opposition Against Proposed Concrete Plant by LBJ Hospital, Houston Chronicle [pdf]

TMO leaders from Kashmere Gardens crashed a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) hearing to voice their concerns and opposition to the construction of a concrete processing center slated for a low-income neighborhood within mere steps of the LBJ Hospital.  The proposed location is also near walking trails, parks, and residential neighborhoods. 

Leaders asserted that concrete crushing facilities pose medical risks to vulnerable hospital patients and residents in surrounding communities -- primarily through expected increases in air pollution (soot, dust, and silica) which could trigger asthma attacks or other heart conditions.  Expected increases in noise and light pollution also has the potential to interfere with family and community life.

During the last 13 days that TCEQ allowed comments to be made, TMO drove a tenfold increase in comments submitted online -- from 66 before they began engaging their members, to 733 comments submitted by the Monday afternoon deadline. 

Polémica por Solicitud de Permiso Para Construir Otra Cementera en Houston: "No Estamos de Acuerdo", Univision Houston

Over 500 TMO Leaders from 30 institutions gathered on Sunday, Oct 22, 2023 at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church to hear where the four leading candidates for Houston Mayor stood on the TMO Agenda of Issues. Issues include Community Policing, Housing, Environmental Sustainability, Workforce Development, the City of Houston Budget, and Harris County Hospital District Proposition A bond.

TMO leaders committed to Get Out the Vote in favor of the Harris Health $2.5 Billion bond on the November ballot.

Houston Mayor Front Runners Take Stage at Mayoral Accountability Forum, KHOU-11 [video]

https://www.facebook.com/TheMetropolitanOrganization/videos/715263810621408/

[Excerpt]

When Pope Francis told a group of U.S. community organizers that their work was "atomic," Jorge Montiel said, "I thought, 'Oh, you mean we blow things up?'"

But instead, the pope spoke about how the groups associated with the West/Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation in the United States take issues patiently, "atom by atom," and end up building something that "penetrates" and changes entire communities, said Montiel, an IAF organizer in Colorado and New Mexico.

Pope Francis' hourlong meeting Sept. 14 with 15 delegates from the group was a follow-up to a similar meeting a year ago. Neither meeting was listed on the pope's official schedule and, the delegates said, both were conversations, not "audiences."

Elizabeth Valdez, an IAF organizer in Texas, said the delegates told the pope about their work to promote a living wage, to welcome immigrants, to protect the environment, to improve schools and to get more people access to mental health services -- all efforts that grew out of listening to people in their communities talk about what they needed and then building partnerships with churches, synagogues or mosques, unions, local nonprofits and community service providers.

Pope Meets US Leaders Patiently Building Culture of Solidarity, US Conference of Catholic Bishops / Catholic News Service [pdf]

After five leaders of The Metropolitan Organization (TMO) spoke in support of placing Harris Health’s $2.5 Billion bond proposal on the November ballot in November, Harris County Commissioners unanimously voted in support of the proposal. 

“This bond election represents a critical investment in the future of our community. It is not a burden, but an opportunity to invest in our future. We all benefit from a strong and expanded Harris Health.” said Linda Hollins of Trinity United Methodist and TMO.

“Ben Taub and LBJ Hospitals are the backbone of our health care system in Harris County. Over half of our current physicians have been trained there,” said Ron Cookston of First Unitarian Universalist and TMO.

Over the previous week, TMO leaders met with the Commissioners to express support for placing the bond proposal on the November ballot. “We applaud the County Commissioners for their unanimous vote today,” said Minister Jaqueline Hailey of New Hope Baptist Church and TMO.  “Now we all have to go out and educate our family, friends and neighbors about why they should vote YES on the bond to improve our critical healthcare facilities.”

Less than a day after a bill that would raise the age to legally purchase semi-automatic rifles unexpectedly passed through Committee, Texas IAF leaders learned that Representative Guillen (from Rio Grande City) appeared to be actively suppressing House Bill 2744 from being heard on the floor.  Delayed submission of the Committee report resulted in the bill missing a crucial deadline for it to put on the Calendars schedule for Thursday -- the last day to hear new bills. 

Leaders from across the state held an emergency press conference calling on Guillen and the Texas House Speaker to allow the bill to be heard, and for Calendars.    

“Guillen and Burrows should...let the representatives vote their conscience on the House floor. Overwhelmingly, Texans support increasing the age limit of when people can buy assault weapons,” Rev. Minerva Camarena-Skeith from Central Texas Interfaith asserted. 

“We’re very, very angry at what’s going on, with them holding this bill hostage,” Valley Interfaith leader Rosalie Tristan of Raymondville told the Rio Grande Guardian. 

“We know that there’s five hours left to go before this bill — which is a small step but it is a beginning of a good step — will die,” said Sonia Rodriguez of COPS/Metro Alliance. “Something has to be done and it has to be done now.”

After the deadline was missed, COPS/Metro leaders announced "it's not too late for Speaker Phelan to bring it to the floor for debate and vote." 

"How many more children have to die before we act?" demanded TMO leader Bishop John Ogletree. 

[Photo Credit: Blaine Young, Texas Tribune]

'Raise-the-Age' Gun Bill Misses Crucial Deadline, Texas Tribune [pdf]

Valley Interfaith: Guillen is 'Actively Suppressing' Assault Rifle Age Bill from Reaching House Floor, Rio Grande Guardian [pdf]

Raise the Age Gun Bill in Peril as Texas House Deadline Looms, KXAN [pdf]

Lubbock and Valley Legislators Block Assault Rifle Age Limit Bill, HB 2744, from Reaching the Floor of Texas House, Texas IAF [pdf]