The Bellaire & Southwestern Texan (Bellaire, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 53, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 22, 1972 Page: 8 of 32
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THE BELLAIRc TEXAN
Page 8
GURWELL. . .
(continued from page I)
elected public official," he re-
flected. "I’ve watched the city
grow, problems develop, worked
for solutions along with other
interested citizens and would like
to step to the firing line myself.’’
The annual Municipal Reports
to the Citizens prepared by Mr.
Gurwell in cooperation with for-
mer City Manager Gary Sum-
mers and the various city offi-
cials were models for other lo-
cal governments. And two of
them — for 1967 and 1969 - won
first place awards for Bellaire
in Texas Municipal League com-
petition. They explored and ex-
plained all phases of municipal
government - garbage collection
to zoning, police and fire protec-
tion to fiscal affairs.
When Gurwell moved to Bel-
laire "practically everything you
see today in the business district
wasn’t there, and kids would bring
baby alligators and snakes from
the drainage ditches into the Tex-
an for pictures. In one two year
period, 3000 homes were built in
Bellaire.
"The greatest blow to Bellaire
as a quiet residential community
was Loop 610,’’ said Gurwell.
"It sliced our City of Homes right
through the middle, cost us more
than $1 million in tax base through
loss of 200homes, wreaked havoc
with planning and zoning.
"Today not only must we at-
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tempt to solve Bellaire’s prob-
lems, but we must anticipate
problems arising in areas around
us," Gurwell said, pointing to
sharp increases in crime as
Houston surrounded Bellaire, and
to tremendous traffic prob-
lems as freeways overflowed.
"One good example of an un-
anticipated 'outside’ influence,”
said Gurwell, "was the closing
of the Sharpstown State Bank.
The two Bellaire banks received
a substantial number of new de-
positors, and the resulting traf-
fic flow - especially at the First
State corner of Bellaire and Rice
- made it imperative that the
First State block be rezoned so
traffic could be re-directed from
the TV windows and difused to
other directions.”
New problems, Gurwell point-
ed out, comes with the new Bel-
laire building boom - $8.5 mil-
lion of new construction last
year (note office building con-
struction along 610) with build-
ing permits so far (Jan.-Feb.)
in 1972 totaling $1.7 million.
“I am fully aware of the plan-
ning behind the recent $2,000,-
000 bond election to upgrade the
sewer system, build a newpolice
and court building, for streets,
parks and playgrounds," Gur-
well said. “Hopefully, matching
funds for some projects will come
from the federal government. 1
feel I can add some background
and knowledge at the council ta-
ble."
Wednesday, March 22, 1972
Gurwell’s career in the com-
munications field has been long
and varied, beginning profes-
sionally in Iowa City, where he
served as sports editor and man-
aging editor on the morning daily
while getting his journalism de-
gree. Then came years with Unit-
ed Press, Scripps-Howard News-
paper Alliance (as labor and pol-
itical reporter); on national mag-
azines in New York and Wash-
ington, and with the old Houston
Press. For seven years he was
editorial associate director of
the Public Administration Clear-
ing House at the University of
Chicago, dealing with municipal
finance, taxation, city manager-
ship, planning and zoning, civil
service and public welfare. Dur-
ing World War n he worked in the
field of emergency state and lo-
cal war legislation with the U.S.
Attorney General’s office, the
Office of Civil Defense, and the
state supported Council of State
Governments.
Gurwell has served on the
Board of Directors of the Bel-
laire Chamber of Commerce, for
some 15 years has supervised the
publication of the chamber-spon-
sored Bellaire-Southwest tele-
phone directory. Since sale of
The Texan Newspapers Gurwell
has operated a publicity and pub-
lic relations concern, offices in
the First State Bank Building.
He and his wife, Kate, well-known
drama and music critic, live at
5118 Evergreen.
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McKinney, Don & Pettigrew, Terrilee. The Bellaire & Southwestern Texan (Bellaire, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 53, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 22, 1972, newspaper, March 22, 1972; Bellaire, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth566361/m1/8/: accessed May 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bellaire Friends Library & Historical Society.