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Saturday, August 27, 2022 • Vol. 67 • No. 33
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INSIDE.
Houston ballot propositions include local projects By Matt deGrood news@theleadernews.com Voters this November will decide whether or not to approve $478 million in ballot propositions for the city of Houston – money from which would go toward projects across the city, including several in the local area. The city council this month signed off on calling for a series of ballot propositions totaling $478 million that would go toward capital projects in seven different areas, including parks, public health facilities, waste,
Kamin
libraries, animal care and more, according to city documents.
Among those items included in the bond is about $8.8 million tabbed for renovating health centers around the city, including Houston Health Department’s West End Health Center, 190 Heights Blvd. District C Councilmember Abbie Kamin, in voting for the propositions, told the Leader that the bonds would provide funding for critical needs across the city, but that it’s not enough for all the important projects. “A large chunk of the bond proposal pertains to public safety items, including fire and police stations,” she said. “The
Uphill battle
West End Health Center in District C is included in the bond for needed improvements and renovation. However, there continue to be unmet needs for our district that have not been addressed because they haven’t even made it onto the capital improvement plan, including West Grey Multi-Service Center.” Before the vote on the propositions, Kamin brought up that the multi-service center, 1475 W. Gray St., needed about $9.5 million in upgrades that would, among other things, fix roof See PROJECTS P. 9
Local schools among big risers in TEA ratings By Landan Kuhlmann landan@theleadernews.com
Market roundup Check out how the local real estate markets fared in July in our monthly market wrapup..
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Still rolling Much may have changed about Houston, but reviewer Dan Greer says in his latest review that Laredo Taquerias still has a high-quality experience
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Photo by Christian Brown William Price Distilling Company ownerse Bryan Clary, left, and Zack Hiller are among distilleries facing complications from a statewide system Get your fix Art columnist Mitch Cohen has the latest goings on in the arts world.
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THE INDEX. Food/Drink............................................. 11 Church........................................................... 3 Coupons................................................... 10 Classifieds.............................................. 11
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Three-tiered system complicates life for young distilleries By Matt deGrood news@theleadernews.com
Starting any business is difficult. But for those intrepid entrepreneurs seeking to make it in the burgeoning whiskey industry, the climb toward success can be even more daunting. Bryan Clary and Zack Hiller, the co-owners of William Price Distilling Company, both figured the hardest times were behind them after they weathered a pandemic era opening, but an antiquated and convoluted state system involving distilleries, distributors and stores has meant navigating forward has been anything but simple. “I can for sure see that light at the end of the tunnel,” Hiller said. “We’re growing, and as that happens, I can hire more staff and help us grow faster… A year ago, I might not have been able to see through the tunnel. But we’re get-
ting there.” Unlike breweries, which has seen a growing presence in Texas for decades, distilling began again in Texas for the first time since Prohibition in 2008, according to Kristopher Hart, the host of an ESPN radio show in Houston, called Whiskey Neat along with an active member of the area’s bourbon scene. More than that comparative youth, distilleries take more time, money and effort to open, Hart said. “There’s an old saying that a brewery can be started, launch its products and close its doors before a distillery has a chance to sell anything,” Hart said. William Price Distilling Company, 970 Wakefield Drive, was supposed to open by Christmastime in 2020 after Clary and Hiller had spent years crafting plans for their dream distillery, but the two co-owners instead opened to a
world in dire need of hand sanitizer in April 2020. Almost immediately, plans to manufacture their own spirits went out the door while employees worked to produce enough hand sanitizer to help the community, they said. By the time the distillery shifted and began selling its own products, Hiller and Clary began a different sort of struggle. Essentially, Texas, like many states, falls under a three-tiered system, where a manufacturer must work through a distributor to sell to a retailer, according to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Proponents of the system argue it provides benefits by making it harder to operate a black market system, increasing public health safety and gives smaller craft distilleries, like William Price, the chance to compete with larger corporations, according to an article on the
National Alcohol Beverage Control Association. Hiller, however, disagreed with that assessment. Essentially, the issue is that distilleries are forced to work through a distributor to earn space in a liquor store, Hiller explained. But there are a limited number of distributors in Texas, because it costs money to own a warehouse and other equipment needed to operate as one, he said. And distributors are working for several different distilleries at once, which means they might have more of an incentive to sell someone else’s product, Hiller said. “The thing is, the law is archaic,” Hart explained in a conversation this week. “Beer laws are fleshed out and it all makes sense, and so is wine. But spirits unfortunately are the ones given the least attention
Houston ISD maintained its overall rating while several local elementary and middle schools saw significant leaps in the recently-released Texas Education Agency campus and district accountability ratings, the first ones to come out since before the COVID-19 pandemic. As a whole, HISD maintained its B rating in the new TEA ratings, consistent with about 54 percent of school districts across the state according to state data. Local schools Love and Durham elementary schools both saw their ratings make huge jumps from C ratings in 2018-2019 to an A in the most recent ratings according to state data. Additionally, Stevens Elementary jumped from a D/unrated in the 2018-2019 rankings all the way to a B in the most recent rankings according to state data, while Wainwright Elementary jumped from a D/unrated to a C rating according to TEA data. In total, HISD said 79 of its campuses increased their overall rating by 10 or more points. And in addition to the aforementioned local campuses, Garden Oaks Montessori School saw its rating increase from a C (73) in 2018-2019 to an 85 (B) in the most recent ratings. Frank Black Middle School (83 to 90) and Hogg Middle School (81 to 90) also saw their grades go from a B rating to an A according to the TEA. There were 96 total HISD campuses receiving an A rating (up from 39 in 2018-2019), according to the district, while 117 received a B rating – also up from 39 in the last ratings prior to the pandemic. Texas’s state legislature developed the new accountability system, which ranks schools and districts on a scale of A to F, back in 2015. However, nobody in the state had
See BATTLE P. 12
See TEA P.9
House II
Oak Forest teenager helping foster families through service By Landan Kuhlmann landan@theleadernews.com
Contributed photo Oak Forest resident Rachel Wlikinson is undertaking a service project to to help Oak Forest closet, a local nonrprofit helping serve the area’s foster familes
Oak Forest resident Rachel Wilkinson said she has long possessed a desire to help to those in need. Little did she know, an avenue existed close to home for her to do just that. Wilkinson is currently putting the finishing touches on a service project that aims to help a foster care aid organization better serve the Oak Forest and central
Houston community as part of a scout project’s final stages. Wilkinson is helping building clothes racks in one of the rooms at local nonprofit Oak Forest Foster Closet to make it easier for the foster families to shop. “(That help) is something Oak Forest just cultivates,” Wilkinson said. “It’s cool knowing there’s this ministry five minutes down the road from my house that’s willing to help those people.”
Oak Forest Closet, located at Sojourn Oak Forest Church at 1216 Bethlehem St., is an organization that provides resources such as clothing for foster, adoptive, and kinship families in the central Houston area, according to its website. Upon its completion, which Wilkinson said should be sometime next month, the room will be able to hold 5,000 pieces of clothSee SERVICE P. 9