February 28, 2011
In celebration of its grand opening, the first 50 qualified patrons in line for the opening of the new Pearland Bullritos (11th location) will receive an Unbelievabull Giveaway – one free burrito per week for a year! When: Monday, February 28th, 2011 10 a.m. Open to the First 50 Patrons 11 a.m. Open to the Public Where: Bullritos Pearland 3115 Dixie Farm Road @ FM 518 Pearland, Texas 77581 Brought to you by the Gringo’s Mexican Kitchen group, Bullritos is a quick-casual, family-friendly burrito joint serving bag ‘n’ go burritos (bullritos), bowls and tacos. Bullritos is committed to providing the highest-quality burrito possible with a no-bull approach on value and taste satisfaction. Currently, the Bullritos franchise has eleven locations throughout Houston and the surrounding areas. For more information, visit www.bullritos.com. Contact: Heather McKeon Bullritos Marketing Director 832.215.9337

June 01, 2011
The Pearland Chamber of Commerce hosted the State of the County Address at the May Luncheon held at Golfcrest Country Club recently. Serving as guests of honor were Brazoria County Judge E.J. “Joe” King, and County Commissioners Stacy Adams, Matt Sebesta, and Larry Stanley. Commissioner Adams stepped forward to address two important issues on the Pearland political landscape currently: the ongoing challenge to establish a west Pearland library and annexation. “In June of last year, the west side library substation was opened, which is a stopgap measure to bring some library services to the west Pearland area,” Adams said. A group of Brazoria County, city officials and area residents have worked together as a committee to work out both short and long term solutions for a west side library. “As a team, we have come together and hope to keep that moving forward and at least keep that in place until such time we have a full service library in place,” he said. Adams said Pearland City Manager Bill Eisen and City Councilmember Scott Sherman were strong advocates for a west Pearland library and had helped advance the issue. “The library substation has been a phenomenal success,” he said. “But, it wouldn’t have happened without the cooperation of the City of Pearland. And although it is a Brazoria County system and the employees are ours; the city stepped up and offered to cover salary costs for a library clerk to work there 20 hours a week.” When asked about his views regarding the City Council’s ongoing discussion over proposed annexation, Adams said he hoped the council would work to find other solutions. “I’m not on the Pearland City Council. But, if I was I would certainly vote against it,” he said. Denbury Oil, a company that lies within the proposed annexation area currently working to finish a large scale enhanced oil recovery project, has lobbied city and county officials to delay annexation. According to company officials, potential zoning restrictions stand to derail Denbury’s projects. And, many city and county leaders have voiced support for the company. “I live in Pearland. I want Pearland to have the tax dollars that would come with that. But, there are other alternatives that would allow the city to collect their money and leave them outside the city,” Adams said. “Why not consider other possibilities for Pearland to collect tax dollars that would not penalize the company? For example, the City of Alvin and Denbury have established an Industrial Service Agreement that allows the city to collect fees without annexing the land. That type of arrangement would be my recommendation.” Brazoria County Judge Joe King gave an update on the county’s financial outlook. “In 2009-10 we lost over $500 million in values on the tax rolls. And sales tax and fee (revenues) were way down. But where we took the real hit was in industrial, the plants closing, Dow Chemical, we had several plants shut down. And, that’s what really killed us,” he said. “Last year, we had to increase the budget some because of the issues of road bonds; we had to start paying those. But our biggest problem was the hit the county employee retirement system took. We were assessed almost an additional $1 million we weren’t expecting to cover our part of retirement. And fuel costs went up a little over $750,000,” Judge King continued. “But with that said I think the future of Brazoria County is bright.” “Our area was the last one to go into hard times and I truly believe we will be the first to come out of these hard times. Now, this year our sales tax has gone up some; it’s looking brighter,” he said. “The values are projected to be 2.2 percent above last year. I am just grateful it’s not going down anymore and to me this trend is very encouraging.”