07 September 2008

Chron: Eversole expects FBI probe to force him out

The Chronicle's Liz Austin Peterson reports that Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole thinks the FBI is about to try to take him out:

Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole said Thursday that he expects to be forced from office by an FBI investigation into corruption allegations that appears to be centering on the design of his home by a prominent retired architect.

The Precinct 4 commissioner said FBI agents have interviewed many of his friends, some as recently as this week. He said he expects to be called in for questioning soon and would not be surprised to be indicted, though he insists he is innocent.

"I guarantee they can take that information that they've got and the friends that they've talked to and they can make a case on me," said Eversole, who volunteered the update regarding the investigation when asked about recommended ethics changes at the county. "That's why I say my days are numbered. There's no doubt about it."

Not to convict the man before he's had as much as a day in court, but if Eversole actually believes the feds have a case and his "days are numbered," shouldn't he consider resigning to get his legal affairs in order?

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/07/08 07:46 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

06 September 2008

Danger Train apparently strikes pedestrian; KPRC website pulls story (updated)

Earlier in the week, the Danger Train apparently struck a pedestrian.

The original story was here on the KPRC-2 site, but that link no longer works, so here is the cached google version.

A version was also posted to MSNBC.

Nothing on the web ever truly goes away, which may come as news to the KPRC web editor (as well as Richard Justice). But wouldn't it be nice if someone elaborated on this news, instead of trying (unsuccessfully) to pull the news story?

ANNE LINEHAN ADDS: In the forum, Royko notes that in spite of the general local media blackout on Danger Train accidents, they are still happening:

How many have heard about the 39 tram incidents in 2008?

Well, none of us have heard of the 39 accidents because local media isn't interested in reporting them, and METRO definitely isn't interested in sharing them, unless there's a TXPIA involved.

Be sure to follow the link to see some of the Danger Train "highlights" so far this year.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/06/08 06:33 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (2)

05 September 2008

Continental decides to imitate future Star Alliance brethren

Continental Airlines today joined most of the other legacy carriers (and its future Star partners in particular) in the race to add fees and take away perks. Here's an excerpt from Mark Babineck's report for the Chronicle:

Continental Airlines, falling in line with most of its rivals, said today it will charge many economy-class domestic customers $15 each way for the first bag they check.

As with several of its competitors, Houston-based Continental will not charge the fee to elite-level frequent fliers or customers traveling on full-fare refundable tickets. Continental also said it won't charge military personnel and their families traveling on official orders.

[snip]

Also, Continental reduced mileage bonuses for elite frequent fliers in its OnePass program. Effective March 1, so-called "Platinum Elite" customers will earn a 100 percent bonus (down from 125 percent) and "Silver Elite" members will get a 25 percent bonus (down from 50 percent).

The "Gold Elite" bonus of 100 percent remains in effect.

The carrier further said it will stop awarding a minimum of 500 frequent flier miles per trip even if the distance traveled is less. Actual flight miles will start being awarded for tickets purchased Nov. 15 and beyond for travel on or after Jan. 1.

Until now, Continental had somewhat distinguished itself from most of is legacy competitors, providing "meals at mealtime" and avoiding many of the annoying fees that other legacies have enacted. Further, Houston's hometown airline had largely insulated its OnePass program from truly detrimental changes. No longer. It's not as bad as it might have been (big fees on reward tickets and elimination of ALL bonus mileage for elites, moves that some carriers have made), but that doesn't make it good. And it's likely to be counterproductive, since infrequent travelers will probably now be lugging oversized bags onto the plane and slowing the boarding process considerably.

Boo, Continental. Bad moves.

BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.

UPDATE: Continental does seem to have enough cash flow to sponsor awful basketball. So at least they're giving something back (so to speak) after ripping customers.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/05/08 09:50 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

More downsizing at the Chronicle

Over at Lone Star Times, Matt Bramanti notes that the Chronicle is facing more downsizing:

The Houston Chronicle offered voluntary buyouts to its employees today, with a goal of reducing staff by roughly 80 full-time positions, Publisher and President Jack Sweeney said Thursday.

Depending on how many employees request buyouts, layoffs might be necessary. When the reductions are completed at the end of the month, the full-time staff will be cut by 5 to 6 percent, Sweeney said.

The problems the newspaper industry faces are numerous, but the Chronicle's current "dumbed down and trashed up" strategy should not be a model for other newspapers.

Final word goes to Matt:

A little math reveals that the Chronicle employs about 1,450 people. Less than four years ago, more than 2,400 people worked for the Chron.

Firing a thousand people must be good for editor Jeff Cohen’s golf game. His handicap currently stands at 8.6, down from 9 during last year’s layoffs.

Nice shooting, Jeff!

RELATED: Chronicle to reduce workforce (Houston Business Journal)

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/05/08 06:32 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)

Annise Parker speaks out on BARC

A few months ago, several of us speculated that Annise Parker might be seriously eying a run for mayor of Houston, after White is term-limited out. Shortly after that, any suspicions I had on the matter were strengthened by the introduction of a regular City Controller's Report, delivered to employee mailboxes periodically. The lead article of the first seemed quite topical at the time, focusing on HPD.

Well, the second issue has just come out and, perhaps not coincidentally, the lead article is also quite up-to-the-moment -- if somewhat lacking in any mention of the reason for such topicality. The lead article "BARC Deserves the Best -- At Long Last", takes on (what else?) the city's Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care. As this is a city publication, and may not be available to the general public, the full text is below the fold.

[Read More]

Posted by Ubu Roi @ 09/05/08 04:14 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)

04 September 2008

Texas Watchdog calls out City of Houston on ethics statements

Over on the Texas Watchdog site, Trent Seibert and Crystal Hubbard have posted a story on City of Houston's apparent difficulties complying with a state ethics disclosure law. Here's an excerpt from the story:

Houston city officials have failed for the past two years to post ethics forms online as required by law, Texas Watchdog has learned.

The ethics forms are meant to make public any ties city officials may have to a business seeking a government contract.

On Wednesday - and only after Texas Watchdog questioned city officials about the missing ethics forms - the city posted a single conflict-of-interest form that was originally filed in 2006.

Texas Watchdog has also posted a number of forms that were filed, but (inexplicably) never made it to the City of Houston website.

BLOGVERSATION: Chron Houston Politics.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/04/08 09:54 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

03 September 2008

Houston blog talk linkpost: 09/03/08

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/03/08 11:58 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati |

02 September 2008

Chron: Dogs overheat in city vehicle while animal control officer dines

The Chronicle's Bill Murphy reports some truly disturbing news regarding the deaths of several dogs under the "care" of a City of Houston employee:

Eight dogs died last week after a city animal control officer who had picked up the animals left them in a truck without air conditioning on a day when the high was 95 degrees.

The officer told animal shelter officials that the air conditioning was running when she left the truck for 40 minutes to have lunch, but it malfunctioned while she was in the restaurant, said Kathy Barton, spokeswoman for the city health and human services department.

But officials at the city Bureau of Animal Care and Regulation were investigating whether she forgot to leave on the air conditioning because it was working when she returned to the shelter, Barton said.

"I do not believe we are dealing with a cruelty issue," she said. "We are dealing with a mechanical issue or a human failure issue."

The dogs were left in the truck Aug. 26, when the high at George Bush Intercontinental Airport was 95 degrees.

When the officer returned from lunch, the dogs were all "in distress," Barton said. Two were dead when the officer returned to the shelter. The other six died that afternoon.

"It was a very unfortunate situation, and it just reinforces not leaving any living thing in an un-air conditioned vehicle," Barton said.

The officer has been assigned to duties within the shelter while the investigation is conducted.

Frank Michel, spokeswoman for Mayor Bill White, said, "As soon as the supervisors found out what happened, the officer was removed from the street. There is an investigation. We will get to the bottom of it and take appropriate action."

Past experience (with the crime lab, of all places, where incompetence can also have life-or-death consequences) has shown that it's nearly impossible to fire municipal employees for cause in this city. So we are not holding our breath that anything at all will be done if this employee is indeed found to have valued her lunch more than the animals entrusted to her care.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/02/08 10:22 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (14)

30 August 2008

Labor Day weekend

Things might be a little quiet around here (unless something interesting pops up, such as a hurricane!), so here's hoping you all have a wonderful, relaxing holiday weekend.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/30/08 05:24 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (2)

28 August 2008

Spanish language schools pose problem for Spring Branch mom

Yesterday, Paul Knight broke an interesting story on the Houston Press' Hair Balls blog about a Spring Branch mom who has had difficulty enrolling her kids in school because... they speak English (not Spanish). Really!

Today, Knight follows up on the story with news that the principal said he would allow one of the kids to attend a Spanish-only Pre-K class (although we're not sure exactly what this will accomplish, aside from cheap day care in a language the kid doesn't understand) -- but now the district superintendent is involved, and trying to resolve the problem.

These would be public schools.

Maybe the people who want to make English the country's official language have a point.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/28/08 01:24 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)

27 August 2008

Houston blog talk linkpost: 08/27/08

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/27/08 08:27 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati |

Thou shalt not question HPD (updated)

KHOU-11's Lee McGuire reports that some city councilmembers had the temerity to ask HPD for an accounting of previous funds that were allotted for recruitment advertising. This came about as HPD was requesting another $750,000 for the same thing:

Several councilmembers, including the budget chair, refused to back a request by the Houston Police Department for another $750,000 for recruitment advertising.

They said HPD has been unable or unwilling to provide information on how many recruits came on board because of the last round of advertising. Councilmember Green said he's been “banned” from asking questions of the HPD public information office and instead has been told to go through the legal department.

Councilmember Anne Clutterbuck said she was shocked that she couldn’t find HPD job openings on common job search Web sites, while the Dallas Police Department came up all the time. She said when she asked HPD about it, all she got back was “rhetoric.”

A councilman has been banned from asking questions??? No HPD jobs are listed on job search websites???

That's some fine leadership from Chief Hurtt.

UPDATE (8-28-2008) The Chron's Carolyn Feibel adds more:

The two-year contract with Patriot Advertising is for Internet and print media.

A previous one-year $300,000 contract with the company expired in April.

HPD also has spent $335,000 on television commercials that aired from February through July.

Councilwoman Pam Holm said Wednesday that council members had asked HPD to track results when the first Patriot contract was approved more than a year ago.

"Anyone renewing a contract needs to examine the effectiveness of money already spent," Holm said.

She added that she was surprised HPD did not produce any numbers from the first contract.

"How do we know if it's effective?" Holm asked. "Basically, what they told us was they didn't track it and they didn't have any way to track it."

Patriot Advertising's website is here and includes a quote on the testimonial page from HPD Capt. Dwayne Ready:

Thanks for the fast work on this. Reacting to market pressures is an unending task, and I appreciate the responses we get when things are needed in short order. Kudos to your and your staff.
-Cpt. Ready - Houston Police Department

Ahhh, the unending task of market pressures. That must be what's holding up the tracking report.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/27/08 05:58 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (10)

26 August 2008

HPD "cracks down" on the homeless...again

The last time HPD "cracked down" on the homeless was in September, 2007.

Almost one year later, it's time to do it again (via KHOU-11):

Three Houston Police divisions are preparing for a zero tolerance initiative against the homeless.

Starting on Tuesday, the Houston Police Department will crack down on the city's homeless. Some who know about the new initiative call it HPD politics, while others said it was a good move for safety. But whatever people said about the program, it was not a secret to those living on the streets.

Oooooo, zero tolerance! After today's sweep, stay tuned for the next crackdown in late summer 2009.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/26/08 04:52 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (18)

25 August 2008

Your Houston tax dollars at work

As the end of the city's fiscal year was approaching, what did city councilmembers do with the remainder of their office budgets? The Chron's Matt Stiles and Carolyn Feibel asked for all the spending records and wrote it up. Here's an excerpt:

Six council members bought new TVs with their budget funds. Some mounted large-screen TVs in common staff areas, while others bought each staffer TV sets for their desks.

Two new councilwomen, Wanda Adams and Melissa Noriega, bought five televisions each.

[snip]

Other council members who bought televisions with public funds include Ron Green, Jolanda Jones, M.J. Khan and James Rodriguez. In all, 22 new TVs were purchased for the council floor, at a cost of $8,705.

[snip]

District A Councilwoman Toni Lawrence said the council floor has too many televisions in use.

"Sometimes I have to close the door because of the TV noise," she said.

Be sure to read the entire story for more taxpayer-funded highlights, and don't forget the comments at the end of the Chron's story.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/25/08 05:06 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (13)

24 August 2008

Chron: School districts saved money with later start date; HISD: No we didn't

Last week the Chron's Jennifer Radcliffe wrote a story with the following thesis: School district utility bills have gone down since the Lege ordered later start dates:

Texas public school leaders may still be fuming about the legislative mandate that delayed the start of the school year until the last week of August, but advocates point to lower utility bills as a sign that lawmakers made the right choice.

In the first year, schools statewide appear to have saved millions of dollars in August utility bills. The Houston Independent School District's monthly payment to Reliant Energy, for example, dropped almost $200,000 between August 2006 and August 2007. Officials attribute about $66,000 of the savings to lower electricity costs.

You might already be able to see the problem with Radcliffe's story: She focused on August utility bills alone. Guess what? A later start date means a later end date, which means the possibility of extra utility usage at the end of the year. Might the savings have been offset by that? The Chron doesn't know:

HISD spends about $57 million a year on electricity, meaning $66,000 is a slight savings, officials said. And they said some of the savings probably were erased by extra days in May and June, but they couldn't provide the figures.

We heard from HISD's Terry Abbott who disputed Radcliffe's conclusion. Abbott said HISD advised Radcliffe the assertion might be wrong, and that HISD was running the numbers to see if the savings held up with the addition of the extra days at the end of the year. As it turned out, HISD's month-by-month electricity usage analysis did not show a savings; in fact, HISD's electricity usage and costs were higher for the 2007-08 school year when compared to the 2006-07 school year.

Abbott requested a correction or retraction from the Chron, but so far the editorial leadership has declined.

While Radcliffe's story features HISD, a sidebar notes August utility savings for fourteen school districts. In asserting that Texas schools "have saved millions of dollars," did Radcliffe get the last-month-of-school numbers for any of those school districts? If she did, they're not listed; therefore, Radcliffe's conclusion (millions saved) is not supported by her partial facts (August numbers only). To come up with that conclusion she needed to get complete utility numbers for all the districts.

Did any other districts try to warn her against using incomplete data? Unclear, but it doesn't appear the Chron is going to revisit the issue, and this will be the end of the story for Houston's daily newspaper of record.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/24/08 01:55 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)

Mayor to Mincberg: Quit using me in your ads

Last week the Chron's Liz Austin Peterson reported that Mayor White was not overjoyed with county judge candidate David Mincberg's presumptive use of the mayoral likeness in the wannabe judge's first TV ad:

Democrat David Mincberg makes liberal use of Mayor Bill White's name and picture in the first television ad of his county judge campaign, touting his work in the popular leader's administration and comparing their business experience and management styles.

However, he did not seek permission from White, who generally stays out of local races and has been working to cultivate a good relationship with Republican County Judge Ed Emmett.

White since has made it clear to Mincberg's campaign that he prefers people to ask permission before using him in a campaign ad, said Michael Moore, the mayor's chief of staff.

"He does not want that (ad) to be interpreted as an endorsement," Moore said Wednesday. "The mayor works well with Judge Emmett and has worked well with David Mincberg."

We are thrilled to learn Mincberg plans on running on his "accomplishments" as the city's multi-family housing czar, especially since one could argue that his time in that position appears to have been intended to fluff up his résumé for a future political run. Certainly, the city got its money's worth out of the $1 per-year salary arrangement:

David Mincberg had worked on this a bit, and the City has been grateful for his services, but he has been asked to pass off responsibilities for this because of other time commitments and pursuits.

The "this" referenced above that Mincberg failed to focus on was actually pretty important, as Mayor White described it:

Our central idea is that there should be effective standards and enforcement of standards on the habitability of multi-family units. They should include aspects such as lighting and the ability of law enforcement to get to where they need to, as well as those codes which could create a hazard for electrocution or fire.

As the titular head of the city's multi-family housing program, Mincberg lost interest, and Mayor White had to find someone else to carry on the important work. But that doesn't stop Mincberg from praising his time with the city on his campaign website:

David Mincberg understands that honesty and efficiency are the keys to any successful operation. David’s ability to think strategically is why in 2006, Mayor Bill White asked him to run the City of Houston’s Housing and Community Development Department as a Dollar-a-Year executive. David turned down a salary and instead volunteered his time for this full-time position..

During his tenure as the Dollar-a-Year executive for the City of Houston, David Mincberg:

Managed the Housing Department

Established impartial systems for assessing and improving apartment safety, resulting in the Apartment Security Ordinance.(Ordinance #2006-1124)

Envisioned and created the Better Neighborhoods program by targeting Federal funds strategically to leverage impact.

And yet, in spite of those accomplishments, he was asked to move along so someone else who wasn't so preoccupied could get some work done.

BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/24/08 07:46 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)

22 August 2008

This week at METRO: Frank Wilson gets a raise; bad bus drivers keep on driving

KPRC-2 has a story posted about how METRO's "Three Strikes, You're Out" rule for bus drivers is just more hot air from the transit agency that could power its own wind farm:

Motorists reported some startling behavior by bus drivers, including road rage, speeding through school zones, cutting off other drivers by swerving into lanes, aggressive lane changes, and nearly running people over in crosswalks.

"We play just like baseball," said METRO Vice President of Operations David Feeley. "Three strikes and you're out. If you have a particularly egregious situation, we say goodbye pretty quick."

Despite that policy, Local 2 Investigates found some drivers remaining behind the wheel with as many as nine or 12 strikes, including numerous complaints alleging the same sort of dangerous driving behavior.

Here's the best part:

Overall, [VP Feeley] said dangerous driving complaints are down 23.9 percent from last year.

"We're doing something right," he said.

And:

Hers was among 7,236 pages of complaints reviewed by Local 2 Investigates, starting from July 2007 and continuing through July of this year.

The 7,200 complaints is a declining trend -- woo!

In completely unrelated news, Rad Sallee reports METRO CEO Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson is getting a retroactive pay raise:

The Metropolitan Transit Authority board approved a 10 percent raise Thursday for president and CEO Frank Wilson, bringing his total compensation to more than $340,000.

Board member George DeMontrond said Wilson's annual performance review was "most satisfactory" and noted that he did not receive raises in 2005 or 2007. Wilson's new base pay will be $307,340.

DeMontrond said the increase in base pay — 21 percent since Wilson was hired May 3, 2004 — was "nominal" in view of inflation. The raise will be retroactive to May 3, 2008, said Metro spokeswoman Raequel Roberts.

[snip]

Although his new contract details were not immediately available, Wilson in 2006 also received $20,000 per year in salary deferred until retirement, a car allowance of $12,600 and membership in the Houston Club. Roberts said those items have not increased.

He still has his car allowance. Because he's too important to ride public transportation.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/22/08 06:11 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (10)

21 August 2008

Houston blog talk linkpost: 08/21/08

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/21/08 11:29 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati |

Houston University?

Earlier in the week, both KUHF-88.7 and the Chronicle reported that University of Houston-Downtown officials would like to change the institution's name.

Some ideas that have been tossed out include Houston International University, Gulf Coast University and Houston University.

It's all well and good that UH-D officials want more glamor than "Downtown" offers. However, since the university is to remain a part of the University of Houston system, shouldn't the University of Houston remain part of the name (even if Downtown is replaced)?

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/21/08 11:21 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)

KHOU: Council delays vote on drainage fund

KHOU-11's Lee McGuire reports on a drainage-fund proposal developed by Councilmember Khan and supported by Mayor White:

A plan to create a special fund in the city’s budget to act as like a detention pond for dedicated tax dollars was scheduled for a vote [Wednesday], but two members of the City Council asked to hold off on a vote for a week.

Council members Anne Clutterbuck and Pam Holm said they support the measure, but requested the extra time to gather additional comments on the measure from the community.

Even so, it appears the full council will vote to support the measure next week. The plan will funnel roughly $211 million into a dedicated fund over the next five years. That money will be used for infrastructure projects targeting neighborhoods that flood during heavy rainfall.

M.J. Khan, who chairs the flooding and drainage committee and developed this plan, said it cannot fix all of the city’s flooding problems.

“If you talk to the professionals in the engineering community, they will tell you that this is just a small portion of what is really needed,” he said. “The real numbers are upwards of two billion, or three billion. The important thing with this fund is that we’re not taking money from the general revenue fund – we are allocating money that we do collect and putting it in this dedicated fund before it goes somewhere else.”

Council member Mike Sullivan, who opposed the creation of a drainage enterprise fee during his campaign, says he supports this plan because it does not impose a fee or tax on residents.

“I’ve always said I think we can find funding to get the projects done without a tax,” he said while explaining his support for this measure. “Here we are.”

Houston Mayor Bill White explained that a dedicated budget pool for drainage improvement projects will allow future administrations to tap money for infrastructure projects without suffering the political consequences of cutting other areas of the city budget to pay for them.

This seems like a sensible move on its face. It's good to see Mayor White and Council trying to tackle the real problems in the city (without creating new revenue streams in the process).

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/21/08 11:16 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

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Danger Train apparently strikes pedestrian; KPRC website pulls story

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