Lloyd Myatt Hancock[/caption]Lloyd Myatt Hancock
Occupation: president of Hancock Mortgage Partners
713-826-4044
[email protected]
What would your top two priorities be if you are elected?
My first priority would be to cap the number of apartments in any new planned developments to 200 and specifically halt the Newland Homes plan to build 900 additional apartments in Telfair. Secondly, I want to find more efficient ways to run the city. With the rapid increase in home values in the last few years, the property taxes we pay have gone up tremendously.
What makes you uniquely qualified to be mayor?
Besides serving on public and private boards previously—including a 10,000-home Sugar Land homeowners association, a charitable board and a bank board—my many years of owning and operating businesses have given me management experience that is unique in this election. My telecom company operated internationally and my current mortgage banking company operates in over 15 states and is state and federally regulated.
Do you think Sugar Land should change its zoning laws regarding multifamily housing?
Yes, I believe we should cap multifamily housing units at 200 for each planned development.
Harish Jajoo[/caption]Harish Jajoo
Occupation: engineer
832-338-3202
[email protected]
What would your top two priorities be if you are elected?
The current political climate that we are seeing, across the nation, speaks to a sense of estrangement between the electorate and government. As mayor, I would work toward bridging that gap by actively listening and responding. A second priority is to address taxes. Right now, even without an increase in the property tax rate, families find themselves paying more because of the rising value of their homes. We need to find a way to rein in the taxes and lower the tax rate.
What makes you uniquely qualified to be mayor?
My background and experience as well as being a councilman for five years provides me a thorough understanding of what it takes to get things done for our community, be it infrastructure, intergovernmental agency coordination, City Council considerations, maximizing capital investment dollars or interacting with citizens to explain how their money is being spent efficiently. My work life provides me the skill set.
Do you think Sugar Land should change its zoning laws regarding multifamily housing?
Multifamily housing is a necessary component of multiuse development. The intent is to strike a balance that will not strain our resources and be able to hold a special place for Sugar Land. A predictable number of multifamily in any planned development will be helpful to all the stake holders: residents, developers and city staff. We need to find out what kind of city the residents want us to be. Again, we need to listen to the community.
Sarwar Khan[/caption]Sarwar Khan
Occupation: fleet and internet manager for Sterling McCall Toyota
713-253-3401
[email protected]
What would your top two priorities be if you are elected?
My No. 1 priority would be to bring education to the city of Sugar Land. The city is very behind in education compared to other cities. I would like to do a full-[fledged] community college and university, where we can train skilled workers in various fields [such as] medical, IT, automobile technicians, and engineers. My second priority will be making education affordable for the students of the city of Sugar Land.
What makes you uniquely qualified to be mayor?
I have great self-esteem and good confidence, which makes me willing to seek out and accept challenges, which I may not appear to be able to deliver on initially. I am not afraid of failure. In fact, I think it is an essential part of the experimental process that gets you to success. I am a very good negotiator. It is a part of my sales business, and in my life to negotiate with people, and I know how to get work done.
Do you think Sugar Land should change its zoning laws regarding multifamily housing?
Yes, the city of Sugar Land should change its zoning laws, particularly those related to multifamily developments. I am totally against multifamily housing and support single-family housing because multifamily developments bring overcrowded schools and traffic congestion. The city should seek to have low-density, single-family affordable housing over high-density development.
Kyle Stanley[/caption]Kyle Stanley
Occupation: logistics and systems analyst for Loumos Group
713-620-8096
[email protected]
What would your top two priorities be if you are elected?
As the next mayor of Sugar Land, my top two priorities will be to provide honest, forward-thinking, conservative leadership when it comes to quality of life issues, economic development and taxation, and to promote quality development within our green spaces, our neighborhoods and especially our mixed-use corridors. That is how you make Sugar Land a “suburb of choice” for all of Greater Houston and especially the millenial generation that is going to become ever more important to our city’s future.
What makes you uniquely qualified to be mayor?
Given my status both as an outsider and as the only candidate under the age of 60, what makes me uniquely qualified is that I have within myself the ability to express my views and convictions and, at the end of the day, win the respect of stakeholders on all angles of the issues at hand. With the ongoing disconnect we are witnessing between our city and the voters, I intend to bring forth fresh ideas that strike a positive balance.
Do you think Sugar Land should change its zoning laws regarding multifamily housing?
There is no doubt that multifamily housing in Sugar Land should be held to the highest standards and that we definitely need to impose caps. To that extent, I support maintaining the limit of 200 apartments in nonplanned developments, plus new caps of 400 apartments in planned developments and 800 apartments within two square miles. I also believe that townhomes and condominiums should not count toward the multifamily caps I propose since they are far more desirable compared to apartments.
Joe Zimmerman[/caption]Joe Zimmerman
Occupation: director of development for Cobb Fendley & Associates
713-725-9924
joe@joe zimmermanfor mayor.com
What would your top two priorities be if you are elected?
[My top priorities are to be the] safest city in America, [to] invest in infrastructure, [to provide] responsible city government, [to encourage] strong local economy supported by a focused economic development policy [and to] make Sugar Land a great place to live, work and play. I am Sugar Land proud.
What makes you uniquely qualified to be mayor?
My experience, both in municipal government and the private sector [make me qualified]. In the private sector, I have served in senior positions in multiple industries, including an international assignment in Tripoli, Libya. On the municipal side, I have served on City Council for the past four years and prior to that was chairman and a member of the Sugar Land Planning and Zoning Commission for more than nine years. I also have an extensive record of community involvement.
Do you think Sugar Land should change its zoning laws regarding multifamily housing?
Zoning, and the protections it provides for our residents, has allowed the city of Sugar Land to develop into a great place to live, work and play. However, due to the public’s concern for apartments and how they could possibly impact our schools, we have asked the Planning and Zoning Commission to review the language contained in the planned development section of the development code to determine if changes are needed.
