08 May 2008

Carol Alvarado's grueling 40 hour work-month

Tom Bazan forwarded METRO's contract with Carol Alvarado which he received following a TxPIA request. Here are several excerpts:

Consulting services will be provided as requested and will include consulting on issues such as, but not limited to the following: advice and guidance on working cooperatively with local entities to help facilitate the successful implementation of the METRO Solutions program, to serve as liaison to and develop and maintain relationships with various stakeholders and entities such as The Gulf Coast Freight Rail District, H-GAC, local chambers of commerce and various community organizations, serve as METRO's representative for the strategic planning of public policy initiatives by working in cooperation with the Texas Transit Association, The Southwest Transit Association and similar organizations, communicate with elected officials at the federal, state and local levels as required to ensure that METRO's programs and initiatives receive support, work proactively with the community to identify and resolve problems and concerns of stakeholders and provide assistance to METRO in attracting eligible small businesses and employee recruitment. These consulting services consist only of advisory services to METRO and specifically exclude any representation of METRO to or before the Mayor of the City of Houston, Houston City Council, or departments of the City of Houston during this agreement.

[snip]

Consultant shall be compensated at the rate of $150.00 per hour for services performed under this contract.

[snip]

Payment will be made monthly to the Consultant within thirty (30) calendar days after receipt of a properly prepared invoice[...]

What follows is Carol Alvarado's first invoice. Note the extraordinary detail she included:

Consulting work performed January 14-February 14, 2008. 40 hrs @ $150.00 and [sic] hour.

Consulting work covers briefings and staff meetings with METRO representatives. Included during this period includes meetings (in person and phone) with various elected officials and their staff, East Downtown TIRZ representatives and various community representatives. In addition, meeting preparation, phone and email responding.

TOTAL DUE: $6000.00

Forty hours of work, $6,000 due, and METRO says it cannot find a single document related to her consultant work.

Wow.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/08/08 07:19 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (17)

Why are concealed carry applications on the rise?

State officials may be baffled, but I have a theory:

METRO says their ridership numbers have been increasing.

PREVIOUSLY: "Metro says you can legally carry a gun on a bus if you have a concealed weapons permit for it."

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/08/08 05:05 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (18)

07 May 2008

Klein ISD bond proponents getting ruffled

Anyone who drives around the Klein ISD area has seen the big VOTE YES signs all over the place. Well, the VOTE NO side invested in some signs as well (not nearly as many of course, but a few), and we have put a few up.

Today I noticed that my VOTE NO sign had disappeared. Gone!

I emailed my friend Connie O'Donnell to tell her, and she replied that she caught some people as they were trying to take her VOTE NO sign out of her front yard late this afternoon! They drove off when she opened her front door to see what was going on.

Good grief! There are very few VOTE NO signs in comparison to the VOTE YES signs. What can proponents possibly be worried about?

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/07/08 08:04 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)

Carol Alvarado's paperless trail

Back in April Tom Bazan filed a TxPIA request with METRO regarding Carol Alvarado's employment as a consultant:

I received the METRO contract [LA0800024] engaging Consultant Alvarado, and an invoice for services performed on behalf of METRO between January 14 through February 14, 2008. I also asked for a copy of her resume, any METRO RFQ, along with any letters, memos, notes, and/or consultant reports she has generated on behalf of METRO.

Thank you,

Tom Bazan

After a second request for a resume, a METRO RFQ, along with any letters, memos, notes, and/or consultant reports generated by Ms. Alvarado, Tom received a response from METRO:

Dear Mr. Bazan,

Regarding your request for a copy of Ms. Carol Alvarado's resume, METRO RFQ, along with any letters, memos, notes, and/or consultant reports Ms. Alvarado has generated on behalf of METRO, please be advised that while Ms. Alvarado has provided consultant services pursuant to the contract, there are no documents responsive to your specific request.

That's just priceless!

PREVIOUSLY: METRO pays Carol Alvarado $150 per hour!

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/07/08 07:46 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (13)

Mayor White talks TIRZs

Via KUHF-88.7:

Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones keep a lot of the tax revenues within its boundaries. But that means taxes generated above a set baseline are not shared with the rest of the city. Mayor Bill White says that creates a situation where some areas benefit over others.

"Right now, you have the areas with the highest property value of the city like downtown and the Galleria area for example, who pay a much, much, much smaller percentage of their property taxes for things like the salaries of police officers than do other parts of the city."

Council members like Pam Holm and Toni Lawrence defended TIRZs.

"I understand clearly what you're saying in money is there is misused for the infrastructure. I know that sometimes we don't agree on this, but I think that there are opportunities in the city our size, as large as we are, that we manage it. We put the criteria the city that we manage and it gives us opportunity, really for more infrastructure."

[snip]

Mayor White says they need to find a way for the entire city to share revenue.

[snip]

White says soon almost half the money available for capital improvements within the city under the general fund will be within the TIRZ.

UPDATE: Unsurprisingly, Cory Crow covered this yesterday, and I'm late to see it. He remembers Mayor White's previous stance on TIRZs. It differs from his latest stance.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/07/08 07:24 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)

Scariest job in Houston?

If it's not, it's in the top two or three. The Chron's Dane Schiller visits with the men cleaning the windows and granite of the Chase Tower:

When cleaning granite and washing windows on the 1,049-foot-tall JPMorgan Chase Tower in downtown Houston, one wrong move can make for a very bad day.

"It is in the hands of God ... destiny," Jose-Luis Riquelme, who specializes in working at extreme heights, said Tuesday. "If I die doing this, I'll die doing what I enjoy."

That's not to say they are daredevils. They take plenty of precautions as they attack a three-month project to bathe the five-sided building, which has about 3,100 windows and more than two acres of glass.

Before a day's work can begin, safety harnesses are double-checked, and everything from squeegees to cell phones are tied or fastened with straps to ensure that if they're dropped, they won't plunge to the ground.

A falling phone could hit 120 mph before reaching the sidewalk.

The weather is closely monitored as it can quickly bring thunderstorms and high winds. If gusts hit 25 mph, work is halted.

The key to success for the job, which pays as much as $22 an hour, is not working scared, but staying aware that working on the sides of a 75-level building is a uniquely perilous situation.

Among the guidelines: No quick movements, leave stresses at home, equally distribute weight across the scaffolding.

They earn every bit of their salaries.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/07/08 04:54 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)

06 May 2008

Mapping METRORail

Christof Spieler has the latest on METRO's light rail alignments.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/06/08 08:28 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (11)

MLS prez: Letter to Mayor White was private

Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber is confident the city of Houston will meet the Dynamo's needs for a soccer stadium:

"We're having our challenges in Houston, but ultimately we've been through a lot of challenging stadium deals," said Garber of temporary standstills in most league cities that now feature MLS-driven facilities. "At the end of the day they get done. It's going to require a lot of work on our part and hopefully some flexibility on the city's part."

And then he whined:

When a private letter Garber sent to persuade White to change his stance was made public by the mayor, the commissioner came off heavy-handed. Garber stated the team, which only just arrived in the final days of 2005, might be forced to move again if a project couldn't be bargained.

[snip]

"I didn't think that was playing fair," says Garber of the public release. "But this is a tough business we're in and the mayor is not somebody we've had a close relationship with. That wasn't a public document. For whatever agenda he had, he released it, but that's not the worst that's happened to us in my nine years as commissioner and I'm sure it won't be the worst thing going forward."

Tom Kirkendall guesses Mayor White will cave to the tune of $50-$75 million. He's already $20 million of the way there!

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/06/08 08:10 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (13)

The "logical" thinking of the Chron's editorial board

The Chron's editorial board lists the reasons why a federal gas tax holiday is such a bad idea:

The proposal insults the intelligence of American voters, assuming they will be swayed by a few dollars over the course of the summer to vote for Clinton instead of Sen. Barack Obama, or McCain rather than the Democratic nominee, as yet undecided.

Politicians insult the intelligence of American citizens every day, whether or not it's election season. For that matter, the leadership of the Houston Chronicle insults the intelligence of its readers on a near daily basis, but we don't hear of any changes in the boardroom.

At a time when U.S. highways and bridges are desperately in need of repairs or replacement, a suspension of the gasoline tax would divert about $30 billion from that vital task. Even if the government shifted tax dollars from other sources to the highway fund, the result would be an unneeded and irresponsible addition to the annual federal budget deficit. Clinton says she would cover the loss with a windfall profits tax on the oil industry. All that would do is discourage production and send oil prices even higher.

Politicians divert money from specific funds all the time. If the editors are worried about irresponsible additions to the federal budget deficit, they might want to undertake a federal house-cleaning, budget-wise, to reduce the layers upon layers of federally-funded programs that duplicate efforts. Or maybe tackle entitlements.

With high energy prices likely to be a feature of life for years to come, the United States needs to conserve its use of oil and gasoline and develop cleaner, alternative energy sources. Suspending the gasoline tax would encourage Americans to drive more, not less, and postpone the day when the country adopts a rational energy policy to cope with global warming and tightening supplies of crude.

The US needs to be drilling for our own oil, and building new refineries. That would make us energy independent. Alternative energy sources, mass transit, and driving less will not keep the American engine running, nor keep us in the forefront of innovation.

Clinton asks what's wrong with helping working Americans hurt by high food and energy prices. Nothing is wrong with that, but suspending the gas tax would hurt all Americans in the long run by sending the wrong signal to the markets and consumers. Americans need to make better use of mass transit and live in smaller, denser housing in order to be closer to work.

Congress wasn't too worried about sending the wrong signal when it decided to send taxpayers stimulus checks. And many in Congress want to bail out the tiny percentage of irresponsible homeowners who got themselves into mortgages they couldn't afford. How about THAT for a wrong signal!

Government has a voracious appetite and it never thinks it should go without money. Government doesn't think it should have to make financial choices, or tighten budgets, which citizens have to do all the time.

The Chronicle's editors are stupid if they think rising gas prices are going to make people "live in smaller, denser housing in order to be closer to work." It's not going to happen.

And the final best reason for a gas tax holiday? It's our money to begin with. We earned it, but government takes it. Let us keep a "few dollars" of our own money.

RELATED: The Incoherence of Nancy Pelosi (Power Line)

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/06/08 05:15 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (24)

05 May 2008

If METRO went where people needed to go...

...METRO wouldn't need to run an ad campaign.

And if it didn't take umpteen transfers and hours to complete a trip, maybe more people would find it convenient. As it is, METRO doesn't generally make it easy or convenient, celebrity endorsements notwithstanding.

Now, if METRO would focus more resources on its Park and Pillage, er, Ride service...

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/05/08 07:18 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (18)

Klein ISD bond voting is underway

Early voting is underway for the Klein ISD bond election. Proponents of the bond are saying opponents don't want what's best for the kids, teachers face layoffs if the bond isn't passed, and that Klein ISD faces severe overcrowding if this bond isn't enacted. Actually, opponents of this bond DO agree a bond is needed. What opponents don't agree with is how the school district is allocating the $640 million bond.

Bonds do not fund salaries, and the district is already facing a dire overcrowding situation which this bond will not fix.

Opponents of this bond would like to see less money for palatial high schools, and more money for new elementary school construction. Opponents would like to see two NEW high schools, not one new one and one rebuilt one. Opponents would not like to see unnecessary and unwanted $1400 tablet PC's financed with a 25-year bond. Opponents would like to see a Steering Committee that's made up of a majority of parents representative of all areas of the district, not a majority made up of district employees.

Opponents would like to see a well-thought-out bond that won't require the district to come and ask for another $700 million in four more years to build the schools it should have planned to build with this bond. And planning for a new bond in 2012 is already underway.

Visit www.kleinforall.com for more detailed information.

Early voting locations:

May 5-6, 7am to 4pm, Klein ISD Central Office (7200 Spring Cypress Rd.)

Elementary Schools:

May 5, 12noon to 8pm: Lemm, Klenk, Kohrville, Theiss, Northampton, Kuehnle
May 6, 12noon to 8pm: Benignus, Schultz, Epps Island, Roth, Mittelstadt, Frank, Kreinhop

Election Day: May 10, 7am to 7pm
Registered voters can vote at the elementary school in their attendance zone

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/05/08 05:51 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)

04 May 2008

An editorial light on the bear facts

Yesterday the Chronicle's editorial board penned a missive on the plight of polar bears and the effort to get them listed as an endangered species:

U.S. Geological Survey scientists estimate that the thawing Arctic could result in the near-extinction of polar bears in Alaska by midcentury. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed 18 months ago that the animals be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The listing would require federal officials to come up with a plan to protect the snow white carnivores. It could also make the species the first mammal to be designated as threatened by the effects of global warming.

[snip]

The polar bears' peril results from global warming, which is melting the ice floes upon which they hunt. The situation is further complicated by the fact that much of their habitat sits atop prime oil and gas drilling tracts. The administration has opposed mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions blamed for climate change, while pushing for expanded drilling in the Arctic.

Actually as PowerLine noted, there is evidence that manmade global warming has nothing to do with melting Arctic ice:

In October 2007, NASA announced the results of an in-depth study of Arctic sea-ice melting and found that what has caused the unusually large melting seen in the last eight years was not greenhouse gas-induced global warming. In the press release describing the study, team leader Son Nghiem explained that the warming of recent years was, in fact, caused by a change in wind patterns. "Unusual atmospheric conditions set up wind patterns that compressed the sea ice, loaded it into the Transpolar Drift Stream and then sped its flow out of the Arctic," he said. When that sea ice reached lower latitudes, it rapidly melted in the warmer waters.

And then there's the whole question of whether or not polar bears are even endangered.

Blogger and radio host Hugh Hewitt is also an expert in environmental law. He has been warning of the profound impact designating polar bears as an endangered species would have:

Once listed, the Federal Endangered Species Act is very clear: Any federal action that might impact the polar bear must be reviewed by the U.S. Fish &Wildlife Service under Section 7 of the Act.

What sort of federal actions? The most obvious would be any activity on or near Arctic ice, but that's not the gold ring the environmentalists are reaching for.

They will argue that every federal permit that allows directly or indirectly for increased emissions of hydrocarbons is a federal act that might impact the polar bear --every port expansion, every refinery opening or repair, every Army Corps of Engineers permit that allows for more homes or office buildings to rise.

Don't believe me. Believe the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs in the suit filed to force the listing.

You can follow this link to read the rest.

Now Hewitt has read the Chron's editorial and wonders:

Note that the writers present no contrary evidence to the case that ice loss is imperiling the bears.

Even more telling is that the editorial doesn't even hint at the vast impact of the listing in the lower 48. Do you suspect the writers don't know, or just prefer to keep their readers in the dark?

Our readers, of course, are not at all surprised the editorial board members either left out facts, or just plain don't know the facts. Smart money would bet that the ed board doesn't actually know many of the facts related to this topic.

But that has never stopped them before.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/04/08 01:35 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (12)

03 May 2008

Lunchtime with Frank

Mary Sit has posted the questions and answers from yesterday's lunchtime chat with METRO CEO Frank Wilson. Here are a few fun ones:

Q : If the rail running along Richmond and connecting Uof H, TSU and Richmond all the way west was a good idea, then why hasn't bus service been put on this route to show how valuable it would be.

A : Good suggestion. We might do it.

[snip]

Q : Why use split canopies at rail stops that leave part of the platform uncovered? When walking along the platform during a rainstorm (or even under the blazing summer sun), the uncovered gap is a nuisance.,

A : Careful design dictated that we cover the entry and exit ways to the rail cars and not the areas of the train that doesn't provide customer access. Yes, I am finding it hard to believe, as well, but that's what the METRO historians tell me.

I'll do my best to make sure that our new platforms have continuous shelters and people can stand wherever they choose while they wait to board our train.

[snip]

Q : Has any consideration been given to pressure washing the beautiful paving at the Metro Rail Stations? They are starting to look stained and dirty. Twice a year may help keep them from looking like NYC Subway stations.

A : I agree with you. But we already require our contractors to steam clean these stations approximately every two weeks. So we either need more steam or more cleaning.

Q : What is METRO's stance on the lawsuit filed yesterday by the Texas Medical Center regarding the stray current from the light rail?

A : We have been working with all the institutions and the utilities in the Medical Center area over the last three years. We have determined that there is no stray current problem, and the Medical Center itself through their own technical studies have determined that there's no stray current problem [not exactly, ed], that no building or utility sustained any damage as a result of stray current. Therefore, as you can imagine, we don't understand their lawsuit.

[snip]

Q : When will METRO hold a referendum to build rail to the suburbs?

A : It was done in 2003. The referendum in 2003 provided for rail into the suburbs.

And METRO disregarded the referendum and embarked on its own version of METRO Solutions!

As Kevin Whited once said regarding Chief Hurtt, "Every time that man opens his mouth, it's an adventure."

It works for Frank J. Wilson, too.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/03/08 12:49 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (4)

Mincberg: Allegations about my former properties are gutter politics

Oh brother.

So ... as the Texas Democratic Party deploys resources to Harris County in an effort to defeat Judge Ed Emmett and throws criticisms of Emmett all over the place, Dem Candidate David Mincberg says any criticisms of apartment complexes HE developed are out of line.

Gutter politics, he says.

Does Mincberg have thin skin? Local media haven't focused on him, so as an outside observer I have no idea. There is this old Houston Press story about his time as Harris County Dem Chairman. It's an interesting read, exploring his head-butting with local Dems, and toward the end of the piece the author delves into Mincberg's business -- apartment complex development:

Mincberg is obviously uncomfortable talking about his troubles in Albuquerque, and he seems anxious to know where details of the lawsuit, which is a matter of public record, first surfaced. Sources say he became angry with a party activist last week, accusing her of leaking information about the lawsuit in an attempt to sully his reputation.

Since MIncberg is touting his business record as his qualification to be county judge, he'd better expect his business record to be explored. That's not gutter politics.

Oh, and when he became head of the city's Housing and Community Development Department, he didn't quit working his other job. So his time as a city official and his time as a business executive are all fair game ... just as they are with Judge Emmett.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/03/08 07:16 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (5)

02 May 2008

Hope lost: SimDesk fails to bridge the digital divide (updated)

The Chron's Carolyn Feibel reports that SimDesk has shut down:

SimDesk Technologies, the company that provided online computer applications to Houston residents through a controversial contract with the city, has gone out of business.

The service was shut down Thursday, according to the company's Web site and an e-mail circulated to customers. No one answered the phone at the company on Thursday.

At the behest of former Mayor Lee Brown, the city awarded SimDesk a $9.5 million contract in 2002 with the hopes that the service would help bridge the "digital divide."

Residents without home computers could use SimDesk at public library computers to create and store documents online.

The Brown administration also touted the potential savings at City Hall, suggesting as many half of city work stations could be replaced with SimDesk, enabling the city to cut its computer hardware costs. Although the city had a few employees try the system, it did not work out, and no employees currently use SimDesk, according to Richard Lewis, the city's director of information technology.

[snip]

Mayor Bill White re-examined the SimDesk contract after winning office and chose to renegotiate it. SimDesk failed some performance tests, explained Lewis.

As part of the amended contract, the city stopped paying SimDesk in 2004, having paid only $2.5 million on the contract. SimDesk agreed to continue providing the service to 800,000 public users until 2010.

But no more than 30,000 people ever used SimDesk through the city's contract, Lewis said.

The Chron has a correction to the story:

A story on Friday's page B1 misstated the number of recent users of SimDesk Technologies' online products. The actual figure, according to the city of Houston's technology director, was 145.

145!

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/02/08 04:50 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (10)

01 May 2008

HPD wants to boot red light running delinquents

Violations are dropping, one fourth of the people who have received red light tickets haven't paid, and HPD is getting desperate:

“Something we’re going to start exploring immediately is whether we can boot vehicles of people who fail to pay their violations,” said Vicki King who is an HPD assistant chief.

Whoa! What happened to Martha Montalvo?

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/01/08 06:50 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (28)

Med Center tries to get METRO's attention on stray current

Via KHOU-11:

On Thursday, the Texas Medical Center filed a lawsuit against Metro for the potential damage of electrical current leaking from Metro's rail line.

It is a story 11 News has been covering for more than two years now. A study commissioned by the Texas Medical Center confirms that as Metro's electrical light rail line passes through the area, it is emitting a stray current that travels through the ground.

As that current reaches underground pipes and other metal, it can speed up corrosion.

In the case of the miles of high-pressure steam and the chiller pipes that cool the Medical Center buildings, corrosion is not a good thing.

"It's like waves eroding a beach,” said Stephen Swinson, of Thermal Energy. “Over time it’s just going to get worse and worse and worse. The alarm system should not be steam's blowing out of the ground.”

But two years into this dispute, the statute of limitations, and patience is running out.

No agreement on a solution or even on monitoring the potential problem has been ironed out with Metro.

So, the Texas Medical Center and the Thermal Energy Corporation filed a lawsuit asking a judge to force Metro to act.

[snip]

The suit does not ask for money. It asks that Metro agree to an annual monitoring program, and that they come up with a plan to eliminate or minimize the problem or current leakage.

This Friday, another Metro Chat is scheduled, and this time the topic is open. Maybe this will come up.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/01/08 06:33 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (10)

And the race for county judge is on

On the Chron's Houston Politics blog, Liz Peterson relays a Harris County Democratic Party press release complaining about the timing of Judge Emmett's trip to India:

The Harris County Democratic Party is criticizing Republican County Judge Ed Emmett for jetting to India and missing this week's hurricane preparedness drill.

The annual statewide exercise is coordinated by the governor's emergency management division. Representatives from more than 50 Harris County departments participated, along with transportation officials, first responders and community groups.

"Protecting Harris County residents from another disaster like Hurricane Rita should be a top priority of the county judge," party spokeswoman Amber Moon said in a statement. "The fact that Ed Emmett would choose traveling to India over emergency preparedness speaks volumes about his priorities."

Through a spokesman, Emmett called Moon's comments a "sickening attempt to play politics with public safety." He said his 10-day trade mission was planned last year before dates for the drill were firmed up.

That seems like a fairly lame criticism for the Dems to make, but it is election season. Do people really think a governmental body cannot function if the leader is not present? Do people really think that if a hurricane was forecast for a potential Gulf Coast landfall, Judge Emmett wouldn't have cancelled his trip?

The comments to the post are also fairly lame, with the first commenter being especially ill-informed:

Great, why are we paying him to jet around on a 10 day tour of India? How much is this costing us in his monthly wage and our tax dollars.

Junkets need to be outlawed.

Posted by: CB at May 1, 2008 08:16 AM

As we noted here previously, Judge Emmett did not use any taxpayer dollars to pay his way to India. If Houston Politics commenters want to go that route, maybe they could inquire if Mayor Bill White was paid to jet around the Middle East on an eight-day trade mission? Did Mayor White pay his own way? I don't know; maybe someone can inquire.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/01/08 06:25 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)

30 April 2008

"The dubious nature of municipal stadium subsidies"

Tom Kirkendall highlights an op-ed that goes along nicely with the current debate on the Dynamo's desire for a soccer stadium that is majority city-funded. An excerpt:

Clearly, stadiums built with public funds have evolved over time. No longer are they built to honor the sacrifices of American soldiers. No longer are they built to be flexible venues capable of hosting a great variety of events. And no longer does the public sector determine the appropriate price to charge private enterprise for use of this publicly supplied resource. Today, sports stadiums are largely the private domain of for-profit businesses that the public sector subsidizes, often with special taxes.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 04/30/08 07:49 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (13)

Headed to Piraeus (and mostly points beyond)

I wanted to put up a short announcement that I'll be headed out of country to Greece for a couple of weeks, and won't be posting here (although I may check in from time to time depending upon connectivity).

If everyone helps to play nice in the forums (which is almost always the case anyway), I'm sure Anne and the other bloggers/mods will be most appreciative. :)

Oh, and Go Rockets!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/30/08 11:17 AM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (9)

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Klein ISD bond proponents getting ruffled

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Why are concealed carry applications on the rise?

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This section is regularly updated with posts from local bloggers who add to the blogversation about Houston media, politics, and life.

LOCAL BLOGS

Pure Bloggers: +A Certain Slant of Light; +A Veneer of Certainty; +Ain't Chicken; +Around Town Houston; +B.S. Houston ArtBlog; +Baboon Pirates; +Bayou City Madman; +Beldar Blog; +Blue Bayou; +Boyd's Blog; +Brazosport News; +Business Unusual; +By the Bayou; +Chelsea Hotel No. 2; +Chief Hurtt's Blog; +Connections; +Custos Fidei; +Defending People (Mark Bennett); +Diana's Place; +Dissonance; +Down the Writer's Path; +Fabulous Jen; +Fireballs, Lightning Bolts and Hell Storms; +Food In Houston; +Greg's Opinion; +H-Town Grooves; +High Tech Texan; +Houblog.com; +Houston Calling; +Houston Consigliere; +Houston Photobloggers; +Houston Strategies; +Houston's Clear Thinkers; +Houston, Hot and Humid; +Houstonist; +Houtopia; +Intermodality; +Jeff Balke; +John Little; +Laurence Simon; +Laurie Kendrick; +Liberty's Blog; +Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center; +Lone Star Times; +Lose an Eye; +Lou Minatti; +Metroblogging Houston; +Midtown Live; +Misunderestimation; +Off the Kuff; +Perfectly Cromulent; +Perry vs World; +Polimom; +Professors R-Squared; +PubliusTX.net; +Quaint Quiescence; +Rant Fever; +Red Ink: Texas; +Rep. John Culberson's Blog; +Right of Texas; +Run Houston; +She Eats; +Sit, Ubu, Sit!; +Slampo's Place; +Stolen Thunder; +Talk In Texas; +Texas Liberal; +Texas Safety Forum; +Texas Yankee; +The County Seat; +The Light Bulb; +Twelve Two Two Fondue; +WILLisms; +Write on METRO
Journo Bloggers: +Brent Clanton; +HC: About Chron; +HC: About Last Night; +HC: Baseball; +HC: Bayou City History; +HC: Cook's Tour; +HC: David Barron; +HC: Hand Stamp; +HC: Helpline; +HC: Houston Departures; +HC: Houston Politics; +HC: Inside Central Houston; +HC: Jerome Solomon; +HC: John McClain/NFL; +HC: Loren Steffy; +HC: MeMo; +HC: Nick Anderson; +HC: School Zone; +HC: SciGuy; +HC: Sports Justice; +HC: Sports Soup; +HC: Tag's Baseball Plays; +HC: Tech Blog; +HC: Texas on the Potomac; +HC: The Unofficial Scorer; +HC: UH Cougars; +HP: Eating Our Words; +HP: HouStoned; +HP: HouStoned Ballz; +HP: HouStoned Rocks; +Isiah Carey's Insite; +KTRK: Consumer Blog; +KTRK: Miya Shay; +KTRK: Prof 13; +KTRK: Roussel Report; +KTRK: Tim Heller; +Matt Lavine's Left Field News; +Mike McGuff

The local blogs above cover topics of interest. Drop us a line if you blog about local topics and would like us to consider your blog. While a link back to blogHOUSTON is not required, it would be much appreciated.

LOCAL NEWS

+Examiner News
+Houston Business Journal
+Houston Chronicle
+Houston Community News
+Houston Forward Times
+Houston Press
+KPRC-2 (NBC)
+KHOU-11 (CBS)
+KTRK-13 (ABC)
+KRIV-26 (FOX)
+KTRH-740 AM
+KPRC-950 AM
+KUHF-88.7 FM (NPR)

LOCAL INFO

+AOL Cityguide
+B4-U-Eat
+Citysearch Houston
+Crime Maps & Stats
+Houston Architecture Info Forum
+Houston Chronicle Dining
+Houston Press Dining
+KPFT Music Calendar
+Links to Houston
+Pollstar (Houston)
+RadioInfo.com (Houston)
+Red Pub