February 7, 2023 – Please take the time to view Mayor Friedberg’s February 6, 2023, presentation on the State of the City. Thanks to no floods, a new City Manager, and some fiscally conservative decisions Bellaire is doing well. Bonded debt has fallen below the $100 million dollar mark, we have received millions in grant monies, to be used for parks and public works projects. This report provides an overview of City Departments and the state of the City’s finances.
SPOTLIGHT
Important Meetings and Events
Comments or Questions? Use this Contact form. I send out eblasts about once a month and would be happy to add you to the list. Thanks!
Bellaire City Council -Bellaire City Council – Agenda for March 20 @ 6:00 PM – Workshop for Light and Noise Ordinances – Find the Full Agenda Here
Bellaire City Council – Agenda for March
Find Agendas for City Council and Boards and Commissions Here
Residents can attend most meetings in person or via U-verse Channel 99, Comcast Channel 16, or on the City’s Facebook page
City Manager’s Weekly Memos and Updates
NOTICE: Limit of 6 trash bag pickup will be enforced. Find more information here.
You can send comments to City Council and request public records here
FY2023 COB Adopted Budget
February 6, 2023 State of the City Report
FY2022 Consolidated Financial Statement
Tax Rate Remains $0.4473 per $100
October 28, 2022: Sadly we lost Lynn McBee in 2022. Her volunteerism. historical perspective on city administrations, and her skill in maintaining a written record of Bellaire’s history will be missed.
Click on the Trolley to view the Table of Contents for Lynn’s history of Bellaire. Great information on your Home Town!
I couldn’t resist a photo of one of Bellaire’s manhole covers.
And for a terrific photo history check this out: www.bellairebook.com
Construction on the new Bellaire High school is complete. The original building was demolished during the week of July 13-17, 2021. Find more information here.
Recycling, organic gardening, less pesticides – all win/wins for our kids and our community. So are reusable bags!
Interested in composting? Check out Buchanan’s Composting 101 article.
Spruce and Fifth Streets – 
Now the subject of a lawsuit, the $3.2 million in contracts for this project called for completion by February 15, 2020. A drive through the area feels as though you’re in a rundown fun house. Here’s some background on this project.
Bolivar – What has happened to this quiet tree-lined cul-de-sac? 
At a cost of amost $2 million more in bond funds.!
According to the City manager and staff our longtime City logo, representing Bellaire as a City of Homes, will soon be gone, thanks to City Council and the $50,000 branding study. Read more here.
Jim Blackburn, J.D. Professor in the Practice of Environmental Law, Rice University; Philip B. Bedient, Ph.D. Herman Brown Professor of Engineering, Rice University © 2018 by the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy of Rice University Read more here.
You’ll find Little Free Libraries popping up throughout Bellaire. Loftin Park, Evelyn’s Park, Ware Family Park, plus private LFLs. “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.” – George R.R. Martin
FEMA imposes requirements for new structures and limits on existing structures in flood zones. Check with Development Services for more information,