Cristina Burt Womack
Pasadena Chamber gets new president
The Pasadena Chamber of Commerce has a new president and CEO. She is Cristina Burt Womack, who has a long history of leadership and community involvement, including work with 10 different chamber and non-profit organizations.
She is a Sam Rayburn High alumna and a 2006 Magna Cum Laude graduate of Sam Houston State University, where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a double minor in both Management and Entrepreneurship.
She also has received multiple awards for her Chamber commitments across the Houston area, and was honored as Pasadena’s 2012 and 2011 Volunteer of the Year. She has also been affiliated with the Houston East End Chamber of Commerce, Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, and North Pasadena Business Association.
She and her husband, Nathan Magee Womack, are newlyweds, both born and raised in Pasadena. They recently returned to reside in Pasadena and are members of Pasadena’s First Baptist Church. He is currently furthering his education after working as a police officer in both West Lake Hills and LaGrange.
Ellington road repairs OK’d
Houston City Council has approved a contract funding improvements at Ellington Airport which had been included in the city’s Capital Improvement Plan. The contract, which appropriates $3.1 milliom to ISI Contracting, Inc., provides for the replacement of the asphalt section of Challenger Parkway south of Hillard Street with concrete pavement, the reconstruction of Morton Avenue and Hutchinson Street with a wider concrete section and larger turning radii, and the replacement of the existing storm drainage system along Hutchinson Street and between Hillard Street and Aerospace Avenue.
League City Chamber Chairman Bonnie Benkula welcomes three area lawmakers to the chamber’s luncheon at Landry’s Seafood Restaurant on the Kemah Boardwalk. The three, from left, are State Rep. Greg Bonnen, Congressman Randy Weber and State Sen. Larry Taylor, who updated the crowd on the work of their legislative bodies.
These improvements serve to address sub-standard conditions for truck traffic to and from the hangars in the immediate vicinity of the airport. The approved contract also provides for the relocation of existing overhead electrical and telecommunication utilities to accommodate the future construction of the new Lone Star Flight Museum, which is coming to Ellington Field from its previous location in Galveston.
City employees get big pay raise
Pasadena Mayor Johnny Isbell is raising the minimum starting hourly rate to $12.50 per hour for full-time employees of the City of Pasadena. The new hourly rate is more than 70 percent higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
“Our employees work hard to serve our community and the residents who live here, and I think that shows in the quality of projects and services the city provides,” Isbell said. “I want to make sure we reward those employees and recognize their contributions.”
The adjustment will bring all current full-time employees who earn less than $12.50 per hour up to that minimum by the beginning of fiscal year 2015.
Hobby adding more parking
The 3,000-space parking garage now under construction at Hobby Airport will feature a number of enhancements and innovations designed to make a driver’s overall experience as smooth as possible, from entrance to exit – including a climate-controlled skybridge connecting the garage to the terminal, so drivers won’t be exposed to the weather when crossing between the two.
Designed with the future in mind, the new garage will meet parking needs anticipated in 2030 and offer LED lighting, atriums, even 10 charging spaces for electric vehicles when it opens late next year.
Kennedy to get new headquarters
A gleaming and “green” new headquarters building will rise at Kennedy Space Center over the next two years.
NASA announced the award of a two-year, $64.8 million contract to build the multi-story structure to Hensel Phelps Construction Co. of Orlando.The new building will be the centerpiece of what KSC calls the Central Campus, an initiative to replace aging Industrial Area facilities with more energy-efficient structures occupying a smaller footprint.
It will replace the center’s existing headquarters, a roughly 50-year-old building that eventually will be razed.
