Community Notes 03-11-2013

1. Sustainable Living Fest – Houtopia. Prepare to take a journey to a place that highlights all that makes Houston a great place to live, work and play. Come out and taste, touch, hear and experience your way through beautiful Market Square Park at the 2013 Sustainable Living Fest! Enjoy the best local eats, amazing local talent, interactive demonstrations, recycled art workshops, eco-games and lots of activities for kids of all ages, a farmers market and back-to-back main stage entertainment. The Sustainable Living Fest will be held on March 16, 2013 from 12-6pm. More at http://www.sustainablelivingfest.com/.
2. Bayou Greenway Initiative. Two consultation firms conducting a study concerning the implementation of the Cypress Creek Greenway have called for community feedback from residents and local officials. CDS Spillette Alliance—an urban consulting and market research group—and Marsh Darcy Partners—a real estate and planning firm—have produced a survey to gather feedback, and they will host three open houses in March for further input from the community. The open houses will be from 6:30-8:30pm on March 19, 2013, at Saint Aidan’s Episcopal Church (13131 Fry Road, Cypress), on March 21, 2013, at Cypress Creek Christian Church (6823 Cypresswood Drive, Spring), and on March 26, 2013, at Mercer Arboretum and Botanical Gardens (22306 Aldine Westfield Road, Humble). More at http://impactnews.com/.
3. Garden Dialogues: Houston. On March 23, 2013, the public can get exclusive access to private gardens in Houston and hear directly from the designers and their clients about their collaborative process. How do clients and designers work together? What makes for a great, enduring collaboration? Garden Dialogues provides unique opportunities for small groups to visit some of today’s most beautiful gardens created by some of the most accomplished designers currently in practice. There will be two presentations on March 23. Keiji Asakura of Asakura Robinson Company will show the gardens of The Weber Estate in Magnolia, TX from 10:30am-12pm. Cedar Baldridge of Baldridge Landscape, Stephen Fox of Architectural Historian, and Dillon Kyle AIA will show the Meredith Long Gallery in Houston from 1:30-3pm. Learn more and register at http://tclf.org/. Tickets are $35 for presentation.
4. New Houston Air Quality Website. A new website has been developed that focuses on Houston’s air quality and shows the improvement Houston’s air has made over the past decade. The website provides accurate data and information about Houston’s air quality in an easy to understand format, resources to learn more, and offers the option to receive a brief weekly newsletter on a timely air quality topic. It is accompanied by a Facebook page that provides an historical timeline of developments in air quality regulation, trends, and other issues. The Facebook page will also feature links to news stories of interest, air quality events, and related issues. Visit the website at http://www.houstonairquality.com/. If you have any questions about the website, please use the Contact form on the site or email Elizabeth Hendler at info@houstonairquality.com. (But don’t forget the website of CEC member group www.airalliancehouston.org.)
5. Tx Bottle Bill: SB 645 and HB 1473 – Sen. Ellis of Houston and Rep. Rodriguez of Austin! Relating to water quality improvement and pollution reduction through beverage container recycling incentives has been assigned to the Senate Finance Committee and the House Environmental Regulations Committee. For both committees click here: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/. The next step is a committee hearing. Learn more at www.texasbottlebill.com or FB http://www.facebook.com/Texas.Bottle.Bill.
6. Photography at Texas State Parks. Snap away just for fun or record your best images to enter in the Texas State Parks Photo Contest. The Texas State Parks Photo Contest on Flickr will run between March 1 and April 30. Prizes include a video camera courtesy of Whole Earth Provision Company, a weekend excursion in the Texas state park of your choice, or a campout for up to six people in one of the many Texas Outdoor Family workshops. Enter at www.texasstateparks.org/photography. More info at http://tpwd.state.tx.us/.
7. Marsha Hill Classic Golf Tournament. The third annual Marsha Hill Classic Golf Tournament will be held on Friday, April 19, 2013 at the Clear Creek Golf Course in Tom Bass Park. Proceeds will go to the Marsha Hill Memorial Scholarship Program to help fund the education of deserving students in the area studying environmental science or a related topic. Marsha was a Rice University grad, longtime employee of the TCEQ and its predecessor agencies, and a dedicated environmental advocate. Golfers, sponsors and volunteers are needed. Please see www.marshahillclassic.org for information and registration.
8. TV: Texas Parks & Wildlife. Broadcast on KUHT Channel 8 at 3:00 PM each Saturday and on cable channels in Baytown, Deer Park, Seabrook, and on HCC. More info on the TPWD website (* indicates a segment about the Houston area). This week’s broadcast will include:
   • Secrets of a Barrier Island
   • Monument Hill & Kreische Brewery State Historic Site
   • The International Pursuit – Carp
   • 50th Film History
9. Air Quality Forecast. http://www.tceq.texas.gov/airquality/monops/forecast_today.html. Houston Clean Air Network and Realtime Ozone Mapping: http://houstoncleanairnetwork.com.
   • March 12: Yellow–Moderate–Ozone. Winds may be light enough and incoming background levels high enough for ozone to reach “Moderate” or possibly higher levels on the west and northwest side of the Houston area with highest concentrations in the afternoon and into the early evening. The daily PM2.5 AQI could also reach “Moderate” levels in parts of the Houston area, mainly near and downwind of large source areas, with highest concentrations in the morning and evening.
   • March 13: Green–Good. Moderate afternoon winds should help to keep air quality in the “Good” range statewide.
   • March 14: Green–Good. Moderate afternoon winds should help to keep air quality in the “Good” range statewide.