Council Candidate Bio: Mike Mannino

Fellow Citizens of Central, 

My name is Mike Mannino and I am running to represent you on the City Council of Central. I have been a resident of Central for over 30 years, raised 5 children here, and have 3 grandchildren. All except Jason are current residents of Central and he plans to move back soon.  

We currently have a good group of people on our City Council here in Central but all are Central business persons. I am concerned that the concerns of the average homeowner are not being taken into consideration with the current council so heavily weighted by business owners.    

Most of us moved here to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and the problems  we left are coming right back to us with uncontrolled development. This will have a negative affect on the quality of life we have been accustomed to.  There is only so much commercial development this area can support. First, there is the infrastructure issue. Though plans are in the works to 4 lane Sullivan and possibly Wax, we shouldn’t get the horse before the cart and should wait until these projects are well underway to approve anymore commercial development in Central. Secondly, with approximately 14,000 families, we can only support 1 big box store such as Wal-Mart, 1 major building supply, a couple of large groceries, and a handful of gas stations along with the misc. businesses we have today. Duplicating any of our business’s will only dilute the dollars being spent and some of the private business people who helped us get to this point will go under leaving us with the eyesore of empty buildings. Third, our current building codes need to be strictly enforced immediately, and these codes stiffened. Current enforcement is less than adequate.  Instead of having an eyesore like Wal-Mart visible to every car that passes, in the future we should require any new business to have a green belt in front to block the visibility of these type buildings. Any of you that have traveled along the Beltway 8 in Houston are familiar with this. The only hint that a major store exists behind the trees is a sign at the road with entranceways through a barrier of trees. Drainage in Central is a major concern and all requirements in new subdivisions should be thoroughly evaluated and enforced once in place.  

We have the unique opportunity to create a City unlike any in the State that maintains a quality of life that we all moved here for. There is no such thing as “country living in the city”; the 2 terms are mutually exclusive. If you feel as I do, that we are heading in the wrong direction in Central, then please support me for City Council. I commit to protect the interests of the average homeowner, working to the highest ethical standards, and not cater to the developers. Help preserve the Central we all know.