HOW THE MERRELL CENTER GOT NAMED FOR LEONARD MERRELL:

The Board of Trustees named the arena after Superintendent Merrell in a surprise move.  They did not take input from anyone and simply announced their decision at a board meeting. Many of us in the school district felt that there should have been some kind of public input.  Others have suggested that the arena, being close to the I-10 Freeway presented a good opportunity to sell the naming rights to a commercial enterprise, but that eventuality was never explored.

The claim is often made that the Arena does not "add any additional tax burden to the district," but that is a questionable claim, as the cost of maintenance and utilities have in the past not been covered by the rentals. Also, the people who have been hired as booking agents also are quite expensive considering what they do, in my opinion.

See Houston Chronicle article by Helen Eriksen on May 8, 2008 on the Merrell Center and it's deficit operation: http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2008_4561958  (The Chronicle has since taken down this article!)

NO ONE that I have ever met or talked to about the naming of this facility thinks that such an honor should have been bestowed upon Leonard Merrell.  He was a mediocre superintendent, more interested in hobnobbing with those he deemed rich and famous (in his rather circumspect world) than in seeing to it that the students of the district received a good academic education.  He even was so cavalier as to build a magnificent home OUTSIDE of the District!  No one who is instrumental in taxing those of us who own property and who DO live in the District should be allowed to do so if they also do NOT own property in the District.