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03 December 2006
KHOU: Graffiti still a problem in Houston
After Thanksgiving, KHOU-11 ran another of their stories on Houston's ongoing graffiti problem.
The local media -- especially the TV stations -- regularly run these stories, after which some mayoral promise to "get tough" on graffiti usually emerges (usually without any followup action).
This story had a useful reminder:
Grafitti is not a new problem in Houston, but some see it as a growing problem lately.
In the past, the city’s grafitti abatement division took on the task of eradicating graffiti, but that division no longer exists.
Houston requires home and business owners to clean up graffiti on private property.
The Mayor's big initiative to deal with the problem by forcing cleanup onto the victims seems not to have solved the problem. Who could have guessed?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Graffiti still a problem in Houston"> 12/03/06 03:13 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
12 December 2007
Management districts take on graffiti abatement
The Chronicle's Seshadri Kumar reports that management districts are taking on a bigger role in graffiti abatement:
Gangs and graffiti have a new adversary to reckon with — management districts.
As part of their mission to enhance safety, mobility and the business environment, Houston area management districts have taken a more aggressive role — and are spending more money — to combat graffiti with abatement programs.
Last year, the Brays Oaks Management District contracted with the Greater East End Management District's graffiti abatement program to eliminate tagging within its boundaries.
The Greater Sharpstown Management District has followed suit, signing a three-month contract with the Greater East End District's graffiti abatement program to inspect its southwest Houston area two days a week, identify graffiti and remove it October through December.
Graffiti was removed from 221 public, business and private properties in October and 121 sites in November, said Steve Pittman, communications director for the Sharpstown district.
Graffiti hasn't seemed like much of a priority to MayorWhiteChiefHurtt, so it's good (we suppose) that some quasi-governmental bodies are trying to pick up the slack.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ graffiti abatement"> 12/12/07 10:23 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
14 March 2008
Councilmembers beg kids not to paint things; KPRC reports graffiti "crackdown"
KPRC-2 is reporting that the city of Houston is "cracking down" on graffiti:
The city of Houston is cracking down on graffiti during spring break, KPRC Local 2 reported Friday.
Houston police will be out in full force to make sure there is no vandalism.
There is normally an increase of graffiti during spring break, officials said.
"Please enjoy spring break," city councilwoman Sue Lovell said. "Please use your talents in a productive way. Please don't go about our city putting graffiti on buildings without permission that will cost us millions of dollars."
Councilman James Rodriguez warned students that painting graffiti is a crime.
"Read a book. Get a sketchpad if you feel the need to draw," he said. "Definitely do not go out and vandalize public property. It's a serious offense and we're going to be out there in full force this week enforcing our laws."
A "crackdown" is two councilmembers begging kids not to paint things?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ graffiti "crackdown""> 03/14/08 10:18 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
16 October 2005
KHOU: Mayor to "review" graffiti problem with Chief Hurtt
KHOU-11's Chau Nguyen reports on Houston's worsening graffiti problem:
Lack of funds and manpower are contributing to Houston’s growing graffiti problem.
Even in Midtown, the heart of the Vietnamese business district, graffiti doesn’t discriminate.
KHOU-TV
Houston's graffiti is an eyesore many wish would go away.
Tao Vu, a restaurant employee, has seen the writing on the wall grow over the last several months, but he said it’s currently as bad as he’s seen.
“It is not art,” Vu said. “I don’t like it.”
Midtown isn’t the only problem area.
City Councilman Mark Goldberg believes more graffiti is present because the its cleanup is low on the city’s priority list.
“I think we need more manpower there, we need more dollars and we need to organize,” Goldberg said.
Houston Mayor Bill White also had something to say about graffiti.
“We gotta continue to be vigilant, and I’m gonna review the situation with the chief,” Mayor White said.
In past years, funds were allocated for graffiti abatement, but that budget has been cut.
Graffiti is growing worse in the city, and it just looks terrible. Unfortunately, graffiti abatement has not been a priority for Mayor White. He can talk about vigilance and task forces and reviews, but the fact is, Tasers, SAFEclear, Parking Authorities, and creating new revenue streams (from downtown parking to renegade downtown jaywalkers to red light cameras to loading zone permits) have been higher priorities for Mayor White than tackling (or even acknowledging) a worsening graffiti problem (or dealing with HPD's manpower shortage effectively, for that matter).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ graffiti problem with Chief Hurtt"> 10/16/05 08:57 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (16)
23 June 2005
Graffiti taggers target bayous
KHOU-11's Doug Miller reports that graffiti taggers, whose "work" has been increasingly visible all over town, are now targeting the bayous:
Houston's growing graffiti problem has spread to the city's waterways where taggers are now defacing the bayous.
So far, no government agency is taking responsibility for cleaning up the graffiti.
City landscapers work hard to make Houston look good and that's why they're bothered when somebody goes to a bayou with a can of spray paint to leave their mark.
"Being out here in this heat, we take pride in our work as far as like trimming around the trees and doing what we're asked. So when we see stuff like that it's kinda like disrespectful to our job and our work," said Charles Thomas, a city mower.
But here's a strange problem: When taggers have trashed up highway signs, for example, the highway department has taken care of it. But when nature becomes a vandal's canvas, cleaning it up becomes a bureaucratic mess.
The Harris County Flood Control District cuts the grass and trims the bushes on the bayous, but it does not clean up the graffiti.
In fact, people who've tried to tackle this problem say no government agency has accepted responsibility for getting rid of the graffiti along the Bayou City's bayous.
Looking around town, one could pretty much say that no government agency has accepted responsibility for getting rid of the graffiti anywhere.
Graffiti abatement efforts take money and effort, and Mayor White and his council have had other priorities.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Graffiti taggers target bayous"> 06/23/05 06:26 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (10)
07 June 2006
Graffiti-proofing products would put the city on offense
Slampo read a Chron This Week story last week (got that?) about graffiti eradication efforts in southwest Houston, and he points out that things aren't looking up:
The bad news is the Sisyphusean futility of this endeavor: What amounts to success, at least as the Chronicle story suggests, is the apparently never-ending painting, repainting and re-repainting over of the same walls that get tagged (as they say) and retagged by two collections of unsupervised youth who skulk under the names La Primera and Sureńos.
[snip]
As you might expect this boulder-rolling can be costly, in both dollars and elbow grease. The management district has contracted with a clean-up crew
My question is this: Has the management district or HPD looked into graffiti-proofing products? It might be more expensive initially, but in the long run it could prove to be a good financial move. It would also put the city on offense instead of defense.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ Graffiti-proofing products would put the city on offense"> 06/07/06 08:49 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (8)
11 October 2006
Council delays graffiti ordinance decision
This whole graffiti ordinance debate is odd, isn't it? The notion of penalizing property owners who didn't do anything wrong is just screwy. So screwy, in fact, that Council has taken a pass on it again this week:
Houston City Council delayed a vote Wednesday on a new ordinance that would crack down on graffiti, KPRC Local 2 reported.
The proposed ordinance would give city inspectors and police the authority to go onto someone's property to tell them they have 10 days to remove the graffiti that was painted on their building.
And property owners who don't clean it up can expect to get fined, up to $500.
What's missing from the debate? What about the graffiti "artists"? Or as Councilman Michael Berry calls them, the "little punks":
"I don't hear anyone say, 'You know, I'm driving around this town and I couldn't be more furious. These people have graffiti painted on their walls. They sit there and let it sit there and I'm so mad at them how long they let it sit there.' I hear people say, 'There are little punks terrorizing our community.' And I know council member Garcia has tried to catch these kids and I know it's very difficult, but let's be honest, we are today saying, 'We cannot catch these little kids who run through the neighborhoods and spray paint the buildings.' That's clear. We've told the world that," Houston city councilman Michael Berry said.
The focus is not in the right place.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ graffiti ordinance decision"> 10/11/06 09:48 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
27 December 2006
An alternative (and award-winning) graffiti-abatement program
We all know how Houston has decided to handle graffiti -- punish property owners who are the victims of taggers. Another way of dealing with the problem is exhibited by the Greater East End Management District:
Hansen said the district started the program in the fall of 2000 after hearing about a similar program in Cincinnati, Ohio.
"They had graffiti mobile so we bought a second-hand truck and got started," she said.
Since it began, the graffiti abatement program has gone from sending out the truck five days a week to now using it only one or 1 1/2 days a week.
"We hardly have any graffiti in the East End now," Hansen said. "If we do, we get rid of it within days."
Martin Chavez, the district constituent services manager, supervises the program, which employs one full-time painter and uses Harris County probationers sentenced to community service to help in cleaning up the graffiti.
After sites are identified, usually by call-ins from law enforcement officials or community members, Chavez's team seeks permission from the property owners to paint over the affected sites.
He said some owners are skeptical when he calls them and lets them know he wants to help them with their graffiti problem.
"This is a free program to all commercial property owners," Chavez said. "Some of them can't believe someone would come out and do this for free."
It has worked out so well, the district recently won an award:
With more than 3,800 graffiti sites now a memory because of the district's efforts, the organization was recently awarded a Quality of Life Visionary Award from the Greater Houston Partnership.
"We're very excited because we had no idea (we were nominated)," said Mary Margaret Hansen, president of the Greater East End Management District.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ graffiti-abatement program"> 12/27/06 06:36 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
26 January 2008
For two months, citizen tries, fails to get action on graffiti
KHOU-11's Rucks Russell reports on a familiar problem:
Steve Mueller anticipated construction of the new Highway 90 could bring some traffic headaches to the area.
What the leader of the Songwood Civic Association’s Civilian Patrol never imagined was graffiti. “I’ve reported this to TxDOT. I’ve emailed pictures to the mayor’s anti-gang office and also reported it to neighborhood protection.”
He has gotten, what he calls, the run-around for the last two months.
A spokesperson for TxDOT said it is the contractor’s responsibility to get rid of the graffiti, not the state’s.
Mueller feels that everyone he’s contacted is passing the buck and possibly danger to residents.
Government bureaucrats passing the buck? Surely not!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ graffiti"> 01/26/08 03:21 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
13 June 2006
Council committee works on graffiti proposal
KTRH-740 reports that City Council may soon be voting to toughen the city's graffiti ordinances:
The proposal requires property owners to remove graffiti within 10 days of being notified of its existence. City officials say that property owners will not necessarily have to foot the clean-up bill since Houston has set aside $400,000 in next year's budget for graffiti removal.
Some other aspects of the plan are raising eyebrows, however. If the plan passes, kids under 17 would not be allowed to buy items like spray paint, broad-tipped permanent markers, or paint sticks without the written consent of a parent or guardian. It would also be illegal for anyone to possess graffiti-making materials within 50 feet of a public building or for minors to have those items on school property.
Council Member Ada Edwards says she wonders if the city will start issuing tickets to kids "who forget to bring their note from Mom," if they carry permanent markers to school.
Was there ever a time when Councilmember Edwards contributed constructively to council debate, instead of just spouting off with quips? At least she didn't call Houston a police state again.
As the proposals go, the 10-day requirement seems like a winner. When I've reported graffiti problems to 311, the turnaround time has typically been 45 or so days. That's way too long.
UPDATE (06-14-2006): Alexis Grant reports in more detail on the proposal for the Chronicle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ graffiti proposal"> 06/13/06 10:46 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
01 February 2006
"Elephant snot" graffiti remover
HPD is looking for the perfect graffiti remover:
The Houston Police Department is looking into new options for graffiti removal that don't include the traditional paint over.
One alternative uses something called elephant snot.
"I think they are going to look at us real funny," said HPD Officer John Eikman with the Neighborhood Abatement Program.
It may sound funny but officers tell us the thick, gooey, green substance -- which does not, by the way, come from elephants -- will help control the tagging problem.
Another way involves using concentrated chemicals which can erase the writing in a matter of seconds.
"Worked darn good and it's easily useable, spray bottle is great," said Eikman.
Over the next month, police will look at results from those two methods and one other to see which works the best.
UPDATE: Wow! That's quite an oversight: I forgot to link to KHOU-11's story. Thanks to Dwight Silverman for pointing out my lapse.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ graffiti remover"> 02/01/06 07:24 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
09 October 2006
KTRK: Council to take up graffiti ordinance this week
KTRK-13's Mark Garay reports that Council is about to take up the latest proposal to deal with the city's graffiti problem:
It's a million dollar problem in Houston, and one you may notice when you drive down any street -- graffiti. There's a new effort to stop it. This week, Houston's city council will talk about a new ordinance designed to make those who paint and spray buildings think twice.
[snip]
"It will be against the law for minors or juveniles to purchase or possess graffiti implements," [Councilmember Adrian] Garcia explained.
That includes not only aerosol cans, but also certain pens and markers.
[Councilmember Sue] Lovell said, "There will be a fine of $500 if you do sell graffiti implements, and it will be unlawful for minors to have those implements on their person."
Under the new plan, fines will go up, depending on damage costs. Also, people who cause more than $1,500 in damage will be charged with a felony. What's more, property reported as tagged needs to be cleaned up within 10 days, whether privately or publicly owned. The current window is 30 days.
Earlier proposals included a $500 fine for businesses that do not clean up the graffiti within 10 day of being notified by the City of Houston; Garay did not mention whether that is still in the proposed ordinance.
It's also not clear if any changes are being proposed to improve the reporting system. My experience with a recent complaint was that it took two months and multiple emails to 311 and Councilmembers even to get a city inspector to go look at a defaced property in order to get the 30-day process moving along. The city's graffiti efforts are hindered both by inadequacies in the 311 system and limited manpower (for inspections of reported properties). Those problems will need to be addressed if the new ordinance is to work as effectively as Councilmembers Garcia and Lovell hope.
UPDATE: KHOU-11's Carolyn Campbell says the hefty fine for not abating graffiti within 10 days is still part of the proposal.
BLOGVERSATION: Isiah Carey's Insite.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ graffiti ordinance this week"> 10/09/06 07:53 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
10 August 2006
Press releases/appearances don't help much with graffiti abatement
The Chronicle's Tom Manning writes about a man in the Heights who has assumed graffiti-abatement duties because of the inability of the city to handle the task:
ON Sunday mornings, when most people are relaxing and enjoying the weekend, Paul Luccia is hard at work.
Armed with an industrial-sized sprayer, a generator and about 40 gallons of paint, the Heights resident is out on the street, covering every piece of graffiti he can find.It's something Luccia, 43, has been doing since May, when he finally got fed up enough with the increase in graffiti he'd seen in the Heights to do something about it.
"I just got tired of looking at graffiti in my neighborhood all the time," said Luccia, a contractor and seven-year Heights resident. "I noticed a sharp increase last fall in the Heights. I had always seen it in Montrose and it had been a problem there for years, but it was starting to spread into our neighborhood."
So Luccia made a few phone calls, first to Keep Houston Beautiful, which gave him a power generator for his cleanup efforts.
He then contacted the Houston Police Department's Neighborhood Protection Corps, which gave him the green light to abate graffiti in his neighborhood.
Whether it's hiring private policing or handling neighborhood graffiti, it seems citizens and neighborhood groups are increasingly going to have to take on tasks that the city simply isn't handling well.
Maybe I'll just buy some paint and do it myself.
UPDATE (08-13-2006): I stopped at Sears, bought a clearance gallon of gray exterior deck/metal flat paint and some throwaway brushes for under $10 total, and painted over the graffiti this afternoon. It felt good after looking at that garbage for a couple of months.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ graffiti abatement"> 08/10/06 10:46 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
07 August 2007
METRO spokesperson compares stray-current problem to graffiti
METRO spokesperson Raequel Roberts, who once tried to downplay her organization's ongoing light-rail stray-current issues with references to a nine-volt battery, has become even more entertaining on the topic. Here's a recent comment to KTRH-740 reporter Bill O'Neal:
“We consider the system safe; we consider it [stray current] a non-issue at this point," Roberts said. "You might as well ask taggers if graffiti can make a bridge fall down.”
Unfortunately, it's not a non-issue, as stakeholders such as the Medical Center discovered after spending their own money to research the matter.
Nor does it require a Ph.D. in physics to understand that stray current can cause structural damage by corroding metal.
If Ms. Roberts does not understand the science of stray-current leakage and the potential problems it poses, she and METRO would be better served if she simply defers such questions to experts instead of making a fool of herself with comparisons to nine-volt batteries and graffiti taggers.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ graffiti"> 08/07/07 11:40 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (14)
06 December 2006
HPD rolls out graffiti/trash dumping cameras
In this week's Houston Press, Richard Connelly reports on a slick new approach to fighting graffiti/trash dumping in Houston:
Walk behind the Leopard Lounge clothing store on Westheimer and you may be in for a surprise.
If you're lucky enough to stroll in just the right spot -- the spot, say, a graffiti artist or an illegal dumper may use to indulge his muse -- you'll hear a stern voice blaring from a loudspeaker, "This is the Houston Police Department. Your picture has just been taken. Leave now."
During which, of course, you'll look up at the loudspeaker, and at that moment you'll see a flash.
You can't be sure whether you've had your picture taken or not -- HPD has set up an undisclosed number of dummy cameras in addition to the 20 that actually work. But chances are your mug's been captured by Houston's finest.
Does this camera initiative have an exciting acronym to go with it? Because it's not a real crimefighting initiative unless it has an acronym!
BLOGVERSATION: HouStoned, Mike McGuff.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ graffiti/trash dumping cameras"> 12/06/06 11:44 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
12 April 2005
Another manifestation of HPD's manpower shortage
If you think you've seen more graffiti around Houston lately, you're probably not imagining it.
Now, the only graffiti abatement program in the fourth largest city in the country is available exclusively to East End residents and businesses, under the auspices of the Greater East End Management District:
The Greater East End Management District has the only mobile unit created to wipe out illegal aerosol art.
[snip]
"We're here to clean graffiti. We're the only graffiti abatement here in the City of Houston, right now," [Martin] Chavez explained. He said his team is the only weapon against the crime since HPD stopped its graffiti abatement program more than a year ago.
Every day, private citizens and property owners who have been tagged call Chavez' team for help. So do HPD and the city's neighborhood protection office.
"The unique thing about the program is we color match the colors of the buildings," Chavez said.
And it doesn't matter where in the East End the crime was committed. The modern day "Mr. Cleans" armed with paint brushes and power wash equipment are committed to wiping slates clean.
Chavez said his team is always up for the job. "It doesn't matter if it's 100 degrees or 50 degrees, we're out here."
The driving force -- Restoring surfaces back to the original style and bringing prestige back to one of Houston's oldest neighborhoods.
"As far as our area goes, which is the East End, graffiti has really gone down," said Chavez.
There were 700 sites abated when the program started five years ago, 526 in 2002, 528 in 2003 and 520 last year.
The crew is also spending less time on the streets. It used to take four days a week. Now they're down to two.
"We've seen graffiti spread out of the East End and more into Midtown and downtown and other areas of town," Chavez said.
Chavez said the mayor's anti-gang office and a city council member have approached his group wanting to copy the program.
HPD used to have such a program! And as we learned from Mayor Giuliani in New York, such programs are not as trivial as they might seem.
But, Mayor White and Chief Hurtt seem to have some very different priorities for the city.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/12/05 10:48 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
15 July 2008
KHOU: City deploys anti-graffiti cam
KHOU-11's Rucks Russell reports that deployment of the city's fancy new anti-graffiti cams is going slowly:
“It's a digital camera set inside a reinforced metal housing,” Eixman described of the new tool against those who create graffiti. The camera is dedicated to the sole purpose of tracking down the taggers by actually snapping photos of their faces and other ways to identify the suspects.
“Getting their pictures of what they do (is) like getting caught red0handed in the cookie jar,” said Eixman.
It is similar to an effort launched back in 2001 when a private company teamed with the Mayor's Anti-Gang Task force to demonstrate the technology. At the time, city leaders promised a greater commitment to cracking down on taggers.
Years later, though, instead of a series of cameras, there is only one.
While grateful for what he's gotten, “Oh, I'd love a lot more cameras,” said Eixman.
KHOU didn't get a comment from the Mayor's Office, but Councilmember and Sheriff candidate Adrian Garcia had this to say on the lack of follow-through:
“We want to do more, the taxpayers give us but so much money to worth [sic] with and that's what we have to be disciplined by,” said councilman Adrian Garcia.
That same discipline contributed to the lack of investment seven years ago, said Garcia. The cameras cost about $2,500 each, which means that tagging the taggers will likely continue to be a tall order in Houston.
It's not clear that these cameras are a great investment in fighting graffiti, so perhaps it's just as well that deployment is actually going slowly and results can be evaluated before adding more cams.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ graffiti cam"> 07/15/08 10:59 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)
28 October 2005
Neighborhoods complain about graffiti; Mayor continues to "review"
The Chronicle has posted two "This Week" stories that cover Houston's worsening graffiti problem.
Kim Jackson reports on discussion of the problem at a Spring Branch meeting:
Spring Branch civic association members, police and government officials agreed last week to join forces to discourage the spread of gang membership and graffiti.
About 75 residents and a panel of state and local officials threw out several ideas and potential solutions to the problems at a town hall meeting focused on curbing the spread of gangs and graffiti in and around northwest Houston.
First on the list, several said, is the total elimination of graffiti, which often attracts other blight, and gang activity into an area.
"I am the father of a son who got sucked into the gang culture and it almost ruined his life," said Greg Rudichuk, a Spring Branch Oaks resident.
"All parents out there should know we must clean up our neighborhoods and keep them clean in order to keep the gangs out."
Tom Manning reports on the problem in the Heights:
Dean Swanson's bus route is getting shorter and shorter.
Since his retirement, Swanson, a Heights resident, has been operating Houston Heights Historic Tours, a bus tour of the neighborhood that gives visitors a chance to see some of the historic buildings in the Heights and hear the stories behind them.
But lately, Swanson said he has been forced to alter his tour routes because of the increase in graffiti that's been appearing on buildings in the Heights. It's a problem that continues to increase, he said, and one that he wants to see stopped.
"I'm getting ashamed of what I show people," said Swanson, who lives in the 800 block of Harvard and is also the Restoration-Historical Committee Chair of the Houston Heights Association. "I have to avoid certain places because there are things people don't need to be seeing."
In August, Swanson said he sent a letter to Mayor Bill White's office with some 20 addresses of buildings that fell victim to graffiti vandals in the previous two weeks. Not only did he say that he hardly received any response to his inquiry, but since then, the problem has gotten worse.
"The only response I got was from the former captain of Central Patrol, who said he forwarded it to the new captain and the gang unit," Swanson said. "I just wanted to see what they can do, but I haven't heard anything."
Graffiti eradication simply isn't a priority for Mayor White and his Council.
Both "This Week" stories cite HPD Assistant Police Chief Brian Lumpkin on the matter. Here's Manning's version:
When graffiti is reported to police, they forward the report to both the police department's Neighborhood Protection Corps and the city's Anti-Gang Office.
Graffiti that is reported by residents via the city's 3-1-1 Help Service Line is also reported to those entities.
"We're responsible for giving notice to buildings that have graffiti," said Assistant Police Chief Brian Lumpkin, who runs HPD's Neighborhood Protection Corps. "We play a role in identifying graffiti on private property, particularly property that doesn't have anyone there."
Once notice has been given on a property, the owner has 30 days to remove the graffiti. If that doesn't happen, the city will step in and remove the graffiti and, according to Neighborhood Protection's Web site, a lien will be placed on the property in order to recover the cost of doing so.
Judging by the explosion of ugly graffiti all over town, this system is obviously not working. And given the amount of graffiti that now covers the public infrastructure of the city, one would think it might become a priority for Mayor White, his Council, and his police chief.
If only they could figure out how to turn it into a revenue-stream possibility!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ graffiti; Mayor continues to "review""> 10/28/05 04:21 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
15 January 2006
Neighborhood Protection unit focuses on graffiti (updated)
KHOU-11 posts some good news on the city's worsening graffiti problem -- MayorWhiteChiefHurtt are finally paying attention:
You might have seen it and police confirm it -- graffiti is popping up in more places.
Graffiti is popping up in more places around Houston.
This type of vandalism is exploding in Houston and there is one city department now appointed to erase the writing on the wall.
[snip]
In the past citizens turned to several different agencies for help, but those groups ran out of money. With the resurgence of graffiti, HPD’s Neighborhood Protection will now take on the problem.
“It’s huge,” said Assistant Chief Brian Lumpkin who heads the new unit.
He said his approach to erasing this problem is simple.
“Take some money that the mayor’s anti-gang office had for abatement and we’re going to train our inspectors to supervise probationers and trustees. And we’re going to come out as aggressively and as fast as we can start covering it up,” Lumpkin said.
[snip]
While Lumpkin’s group will target all graffiti, but first on his list are “The ones that are most hateful and the ones that are race related and the most hurtful,” Chief Lumpkin explained.
Chief Lumpkin said an inspector would check out locations two days after receiving a call.
They’ll place a yellow notice and let the owner know that they have 30 days to clean up the criminal mischief.
If an owner who can afford to clean up doesn’t, the city will spray away the problem and a lien will be placed on the property.
“We’re probably going to be hitting some other locations multiple times before we get it under control,” Chief Lumpkin said.
MayorWhiteChiefHurtt haven't wanted to spend money on this problem, but the explosion of graffiti is kind of hard to ignore after a while. It's good that citizen complaints and ongoing media coverage have finally prompted a response, although we'll reserve judgment until we see more in the way of results, and not just PR. Indeed, there's an abandoned building here in midtown that's a graffiti eyesore. I'll be reporting it to the hotline on Monday, and tracking the response.
The KHOU report says graffiti can be reported using the city's 311 number. They also give the Neighborhood Protection number: 713-884-3131.
UPDATE (01-16-2006): I called the last number listed by KHOU. I got someone whose name I didn't recognize at HPD. He told me the number I need is actually 713 525 2525. That number was not functional.
I then called the city's 311 number to report a graffiti problem. I listed the intersection of the problem property. The 311 operator told me the system will not accept an intersection, I must have a physical address. I told the operator that the address has been tagged over, the property is abandoned, and that I can't obtain the physical address or even a nearby address. I suggested that it is across the street from a city park, and perhaps she could obtain the address from that. Nope, she wanted a physical address, otherwise she couldn't report the problem. And she couldn't transfer me to Neighborhood Protection directly because today is a federal holiday.
So, right off the bat, the PR for this program already exceeds the actual functionality of the program, and my time has been wasted. I'll try to email various parties in the city about the incident I want to report as well as the deficiencies in the program, and we'll see if anything happens.
UPDATE (01-16-2006): About 5pm today, someone from 311 answered my email, thanked me for my concerns about the onerous reporting requirements of the phone line, and said my complaint had been entered in the database. I'll try to remember to follow up on the complaint.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ graffiti (updated)"> 01/15/06 06:20 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (3)
29 April 2005
Neighborhood residents complain about MS-13, HPD reaction
KHOU-11's Vicente Arenas reports that residents of an unnamed Houston neighborhood are complaining that they can't get HPD's brass to take their concerns about suspected MS-13 gang graffiti seriously:
In a neighborhood that 11 News won't identify for security reasons, a number of people are saying their property and cars have been tagged by gang members who they believe may belong to MS-13.Graffiti like this has some Houston residents concerned that MS-13 gang members are trying to send a message.
And the neighborhood wants action from police.
"I do have a real concern," says one resident who asked not be named.
The number 13, they say, seems to be popping up everywhere -- fences, signs, you name it. That is why they are asking for help.
"I came out on Sunday morning and saw that someone had marked up my truck. It's happened two times in less than a month."
Six cars have been tagged since last week.
The markings were similar. All the vehicles this man says belonged to Anglos whom he believes are being targeted through vandalism and messages.
"I do have a real concern. It's always been a real peaceful neighborhood until just the last year, I guess."
Growing graffiti here was the first surprise. The second came when he called police for help.
"And I called the police to have them come and investigate and got no response whatsoever," he says.
"An officer was at the scene in a handful of incidents as I stated and reports were filed with very specific information," says HPD's Lt. Robert Manzo.
The resident 11 News talked to says police showed up only after he contacted a council member and 11 News.
"We have contacted the captain who's responsible for this specific area and he's telling us he will be assigning some resources," says Lt. Manzo.
Police aren't sure how bad the gang problem is here. Graffiti can be cryptic or copycats trying to have fun.
From recent local reporting, we know that MS-13 is active in the Houston area. Yet one wouldn't know that from any public statements or activities from HPD's brass. Of course, HPD's current manpower shortage doesn't help, yet that doesn't seem to be a priority for Chief Hurtt, Mayor White, or council either.
In what can only be described as a rarity, we find ourselves in complete agreement with this Chronicle editorial:
HPD's silence might have some logic when it comes to small, attention-hungry neighborhood gangs. But gangs such as MS 13, the Crips or the Latin Kings are organized crime operations not in it for the publicity. Identifying their habits — the colors they wear, the graffiti they pen, the way they shave their eyebrows and tattoo their foreheads — can't make these vicious gangs more dangerous. However, it will help Houston residents to protect themselves and give law enforcement agencies essential gang-busting intelligence.
To that end, we've reposted the suspect graffiti that appeared in the KHOU story.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/29/05 04:10 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
22 December 2006
Embarrassing, much?
Earlier, KTRK-13's Deborah Wrigley reported that graffiti vandals tagged HPD's Montrose substation and police cars:
The graffiti fight turned very personal for police officers Thursday night. Vandals targeted among other things, an HPD storefront and police cars. Now, the department is vowing not to get mad, but just get those responsible arrested.
It happened at the Neartown police storefront on Westheimer near Montrose. It was tagged with illegible writing and symbols. Two police cars were marked up as well.
[snip]
"We saw them when they were running away and we ran behind them," said Rouge Restaurant Chef Aldo El-Sharif. "They were too fast for us."
Overnight though, there was no thrill of the chase. No one was at the police storefront. It's no longer open around the clock. Sia Ravari donated the building for use as a place for patrol officers to work out of.
"We're short on police right now and they close at night, so that's what happened," he told us.
MayorWhiteChiefHurtt's press shop can spin Houston's surging crime any way they want, but it's not hard for the average person on the street to figure out there's a crime problem when police substations and vehicles are vandalized with impunity, despite the best crimefighting efforts of... a chef, and only a chef.
KHOU-11's Doug Miller reports that HPD quickly cleaned up the mess, putting the effort well under the ten days allowed by the new graffiti ordinance. That's actually pretty impressive. I gave up trying to get the city to come and remove graffiti from several Midtown traffic signals earlier this year after several months of complaints to 311 and elsewhere, and finally painted over them myself. It's good to know that some graffiti vandalism will embarrass the city into cleanup.
As one of our commenters points out, the local Hearst daily didn't actually bother to report this story. Perhaps the new city desk editor wasn't watching his television and that one got by him?
UPDATE: The Chronicle finally covered the incident.
BLOGVERSATION: Lone Star Times.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/22/06 09:47 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (12)
31 December 2005
If Mayor White wanted to fight graffiti, he'd find the money
In this story on Houston's growing graffiti problem, KTRK-13's Deborah Wrigley says this:
Funding cleanups is another matter for a cash-strapped city budget.
Wouldn't it be interesting if local media actually checked that out? It's stated as a fact, but why? Did the mayor's office tell Wrigley that?
Tom Bazan checks out monthly sales tax revenues reports for the city of Houston, and almost every month he finds that the city is collecting more than in the previous year. Does the city publicize that? Do local media check out monthly sales tax reports?
How come our local media question whether or not CoH has the money to increase police manpower and fight graffiti, yet local media never question whether or not the city has the money to fund an African American museum, a grand new city park, Tasers (that may be problematic), and day labor (wink, wink) sites, among many other dubious expenditures?
Oh, let's just keep going: a $35,000 desk, $2 million for a new orchestra pit in the Wortham Center, $700,000 for shiny new police badges, $85,000 to teach city employees how to be nice, and at least $100,000 to fight the voter-approved Proposition 2.
The city has the money to fund graffiti abatement; the problem is Mayor White hasn't decided to make it a priority.
UPDATE: In the forum, Laurence Simon adds the mayor's (taxpayer-funded) inauguration announcements to the list. Mayor White has to thank his supporters, you know!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ graffiti, he'd find the money"> 12/31/05 09:17 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
01 April 2007
Taggers vandalize Ervan Chew Park
KTRK-13 reports on Houston's ongoing gang activity, in the heart of the Montrose area:
Residents living around a Montrose area park, the scene of a deadly gang fight, want something done to stop gang graffiti.
We're told on Thursday night, a resident saw what he says were several gang members spray-painting graffiti on public property in Chew Park. That's where 15-year-old Gabriel Granillo was killed last June. Seventeen-year-old Ashley Benton is awaiting trial for that murder. Residents are calling for something to be done."I think if they put more lighting up or put little lights up on the sidewalk, then it will deter a lot of crime activity," said Allen Cole, who lives near the park.
I snapped some photos of the latest graffiti over the weekend. The Flickr set can be viewed by clicking the photo above. One resident I talked to in the park told me the problem had improved somewhat, before this latest round. It's likely the same taggers who hit this park also hit the bridges over the Southwest Freeway on an almost nightly basis.
It's a shame that Houston cannot increase police patrols in these known hotspots, but unfortunately the manpower shortage means the manpower we do have must be concentrated on more "serious" crimes. And so these little crimes build to bigger crimes (as the broken windows policing advocates would contend, anyway).
RELATED: Teen killed in broad daylight in Montrose-area Park.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/01/07 04:24 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (4)
17 October 2004
Misplaced priorities on "beautifying" Houston
Ron Nissimov reports the the city of Houston will soon be cracking down on the growing problem of... residents who put trash out early?
Residents who place heavy trash on their curbsides too early can expect some unwanted visits from city officials.
The city plans to deputize 300 civilian employees in the near future to allow them to issue tickets as part of an effort to get tough on violators, officials said Wednesday.
"What's one person's heavy trash is another person's eyesore," Mayor Bill White said.
White said he would institute a "zero tolerance" policy by issuing citations to violators instead of giving warnings, but the official in charge of enforcement said this would not necessarily mean that all violators would be cited.
Houston Police Department Assistant Chief Brian Lumpkin, who heads the mayor's newly created neighborhood protection division, said the new policy will likely result in more citations. He added that inspectors and officers will try to resolve problems over early placement of heavy trash before issuing citations.
"We don't want to throw out common sense with zero tolerance," Lumpkin said.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/17/04 09:41 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
05 June 2005
MS 13 tag within sight of Houston public works facility?
Suspected MS 13 tag, Holman and Milam
The photo above is a recent bit of graffiti that I first noticed on a building on Holman and Milam around May 23. It would seem to be from either the MS-13 gang, or a copycat (it's missing the characteristic "13" that is usually included). It's hard for the layman to know, since HPD maintains an official policy of silence on MS-13 activity in the city of Houston.
Ironically, one can see the tag from a Houston public works facility located nearby, on Holman and Travis. Nothing quite says "well maintained city" like possible gang graffiti within sight of public works facilities (including the city's "bandit sign" trucks).
The local blog A Certain Slant of Light has been keeping a watchful eye on MS-13 activities in town, as well as local media coverage. Unfortunately, we'll probably be seeing more MS-13 related blog posts as the problem grows.
Perhaps when MayorWhiteChiefHurtt are done focusing overstretched police resources on the problem of those renegade downtown jaywalkers, they can bring some attention to the city's gang problem.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/05/05 04:14 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
14 December 2005
Metro sponsors anti-crime rally
Here's a Metro press release on an anti-crime rally it held yesterday (although the release wasn't posted yesterday morning when I checked Metro's site):
This summer, with crime encroaching on the Southeast Transit Center, METRO police instituted a campaign to reduce illegal activity around the facility by increasing patrols and removing graffiti. The campaign worked, with the number of arrests for some offenses nearly tripling from September to October.
This afternoon, METRO is inviting the local community to join local government and law enforcement officials, to celebrate this success and encourage ongoing neighborhood participation in the program.
The rally will be held at 4 p.m. at the Southeast Transit Center, 6000 Scottcrest, near Scott and Old Spanish Trail.
Minister Robert Muhammad of The Nation of Islam, Precinct 7 Constable Mae Walker, HPD Captain Mark Fougerousse and Crime Stoppers Executive Director Kim Ogg will also discuss the importance of citizen involvement in crime prevention. Brochures on local crime prevention programs will be available.
Increasing police patrols and removing graffiti works? Someone tell MayorWhiteChiefHurtt!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/14/05 10:16 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (4)
16 May 2005
Northline residents suffer as result of HPD's manpower shortage
KHOU-11's Janice Williamson reports that Northline residents are the latest to feel the effects of HPD's manpower woes:
People in the Northline community, just north of downtown Houston, accuse the department of leaving them to fend for themselves. They said the officers are out and the crime is in.
Some unwelcome changes have the community very concerned.
On Houston's north side, graffiti covers signs and buildings.
Grover Oliver didn't expect to see a spray-painted message on the front door of Bethany Lutheran Church. "That's graffiti to me. We wouldn't have done anything like that. None of our members would have done anything like that," he said.
"I'm just really, really sad. Things aren't very well around here, we have a lot of crime," said Claudia Landin, north side resident.
There is still glass in the church parking lot from a car thief who struck during Sunday services. Even the landscaping can't escape the crime wave, which residents said began last fall.
"We had an article that was written about us in the "Leader" for having a rally here, that we were complaining like a bunch of babies because of police protection," Oliver said. "Where is police protection when this is happening?"
Houston police said they have a manpower shortage.
Mayor White and his council seem unwilling to address the shortage. Northline won't be the only neighborhood to feel the effects.
The mayor must have excluded Northline residents from that unscientific poll that found Houstonians LOVE his leadership.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/16/05 10:19 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (8)
19 October 2009
Yes we can.... abuse private property
THE OBAMA MURAL AT HIS FORMER CAMPAIGN HEADQUARTERS near the Breakfast Klub in Midtown was apparently defaced over the weekend (KTRK-13 and KPRC-2). The taggers had more of a sense of humor than most, but the blog still hates graffiti.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/19/09 09:19 AM | General | Technorati | Comments (1)
23 November 2008
Houston should consider "broken-windows" approach to crimefighting
Over the little blog's short lifetime, we have posted with some regularity on broken-windows policing and CompStat, two approaches to crimefighting popularized by Rudy Giuliani in New York City (and treated with some disdain by MayorWhiteChiefHurtt).
The Economist runs some interesting news on a "broken-windows" social experiment:
A PLACE that is covered in graffiti and festooned with rubbish makes people feel uneasy. And with good reason, according to a group of researchers in the Netherlands. Kees Keizer and his colleagues at the University of Groningen deliberately created such settings as a part of a series of experiments designed to discover if signs of vandalism, litter and low-level lawbreaking could change the way people behave. They found that they could, by a lot: doubling the number who are prepared to litter and steal.
The idea that observing disorder can have a psychological effect on people has been around for a while. In the late 1980s George Kelling, a former probation officer who now works at Rutgers University, initiated what became a vigorous campaign to remove graffiti from New York City’s subway system, which was followed by a reduction in petty crime. This idea also underpinned the “zero tolerance” which Rudy Giuliani subsequently brought to the city’s streets when he became mayor.
Many cities and communities around the world now try to get on top of anti-social behaviour as a way of deterring crime. But the idea remains a controversial one, not least because it is often difficult to account for other factors that could influence crime reduction, such as changes in poverty levels, housing conditions and sentencing policy—even, some people have argued, the removal of lead from petrol. An experimental test of the “broken windows theory”, as Dr Kelling and his colleague James Wilson later called the idea, is therefore long overdue. And that is what Dr Keizer and his colleagues have provided.
The rest of the story is here.
We hope as the policing era of MayorWhiteChiefHurtt winds down and the mayoral race gets underway that the candidates will discuss (and embrace) innovative approaches to crime that continue to be proven effective -- especially since HPD remains short on manpower.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/23/08 08:29 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
07 November 2005
Mayor White wants world-class internet bubble
KHOU-11's Doug Miller reports on a last-minute campaign pledge by Mayor White:
Mayor Bill White stated Monday that if he wins re-election, one of the first things he'll do is push forward a plan to make the entire city of Houston Wi-Fi accessible.
He claimed that he would call for bids within the first three months of his next term and plans to place the necessary equipment atop utility poles throughout the city.
Having solved HPD's manpower shortage, the unfunded liability in the municipal employees' pension plan, graffiti, and potholes, Mayor White apparently feels free to move on to those sorts of quality-of-life matters that will surely make Houston world-class!
Oh, wait, those other basic problems aren't solved?
Never mind.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/07/05 09:39 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (7)
04 November 2005
FBI, MS-13 shootout in east Houston
There was a shootout last night in East Houston:
One alleged gang member was taken into custody and two others were killed after authorities said they opened fire on undercover FBI agents in east Houston.
The agents were investigating MS-13 gang activity when they were ambushed by five men on Liberty at Lockwood.
The agents fired back killing two suspects and wounding two others. A fifth suspect was also taken into custody.
Yikes!
Houston may not have enough police officers (and with MS-13 gang activity and the increasing problem of graffiti, the shortage is very apparent), but gosh darnit, we are going to have a lovely AND world-class downtown park! The homeless and the gangs will love hanging out in the beautiful, leafy park that Mayor White thinks will be teeming with strolling Houstonians.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/04/05 11:12 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
29 November 2005
Continuing the discussion of HPD's woes
Chris Baker (KTRH-740) is asking listeners, "How safe do you feel?," as he discusses the state of HPD and Houston crime. (Here's the link to Kevin's excellent post from last night.)
He also wonders why the city won't do anything about graffiti, another topic that bH has covered, since graffiti is symptomatic of gang activity, and gang activity breeds crime.
Also, Hans Marticiuc, president of the Houston Police Officers' Union, is publicly criticizing HPD Chief Hurtt:
Hans Marticiuc, President of the Houston Police Officers' Union, analyzed data from a sampling of police districts and charged that some citizens telephoning in emergency calls for, even the most violent of crimes, had to wait hours before an officer was even dispatched to help.
“And these calls ranged from burglaries, burglaries of motor vehicles, shootings, robberies, robberies with weapons, sexual assaults, assaults, disturbances,” Marticiuc said.
The police union president had harsh words for Chief Harold Hurtt, whom he implies is incapable of leading the city's police force.“If this is the best police chief in the country, then I think the country may be in trouble,” Marticiuc said.
According to Marticiuc, during a heated discussion with the police chief, there was some mention that Chief Hurtt might lose his job over the data.
Marticiuc forwarded his data to Houston City Council members who are expected to raise questions at Tuesday afternoon's City Council meeting.
Marticiuc said the city should immediately increase police presence by instituting and overtime program similar to the plan introduced in the 1990s by former Mayor Bob Lanier.
To date, the most lip service MayorWhiteChiefHurtt have given to HPD's manpower shortage is to say that the city's new red light cameras will free HPD officers from traffic duty.
So, as Chris Baker asks, are Mayor White and Chief Hurtt fufilling the oaths they took?
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: I heard an ad on KTRH that KTRK-13 will be running a story on HPD's manpower woes on the 6 pm broadcast.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS MORE: KHOU's Janice Williamson has a story tonight on MayorWhiteChiefHurtt's ridiculous "response" to the murder wave:
In the past three months, half the homicides in Houston took place in apartment complexes.
That has Chief Hurtt calling for change. "You know, you get in and you talk to the residents, you talk to management and you encourage people to get to know their neighbors to get to know who belongs in the area," he said.
Chief Hurtt also wants to force apartments that have too many calls, to hire their own security.
[snip]
Chief Hurtt is to meet with Mayor Bill White Wednesday
An ordinance requiring apartments to have extra security could be on the City Council agenda within the next couple of weeks.
That is absurd. It's bad enough that MayorWhiteChiefHurtt are not doing their jobs. Council must stop rolling over for them, and insist they deal with HPD's manpower problem.
KPRC-2 also decided to report on the manpower shortage tonight:
"How many of those murders, before they ended up being a murder, was called in as a disturbance that we didn't show up at?" said Hans Marticiuc, with the Houston Police Officer's Union.
Marticiuc said the department is incapable of providing basic police services.
To back up the claim, the union analyzed police calls for the month of October in three high-crime districts. The analysis found that in over 500 calls for service, victims waited up to 12 hours and 39 minutes before dispatchers sent a patrol car. It took 8 hours and 29 minutes for an officer to be dispatched to a robbery, and a sex assault victim waited 5 hours and 23 minutes for an investigator to arrive.
The union puts the blame on HPD Chief Harold Hurtt.
"That is simply unacceptable," Marticiuc said.
Hurtt has not yet responded.
But the union took its complaints to Houston City Hall and to Mayor Bill White.
"This issue of people holding calls from intake and dispatch -- that's an issue that I think is a serious issue that I haven't quite got the right answer yet about what is going on there," White said.
Hasn't "quite got the right answer?!" MayorWhiteChiefHurtt have done their very best to ignore HPD's manpower shortage, and unfortunately the City Council and the city's media have mostly let them get away with it.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/29/05 03:42 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (5)
30 October 2005
Houston buys $750,000 worth of Metro passes for city employees
Check out what Tom Bazan noticed on last week's city council agenda:
35. ORDINANCE approving and authorizing contract between the City and METROPOLITAN TRANSIT AUTHORITY OF HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS for Purchase of Employee Transit Passes; providing a maximum contract amount - $750,000.00 - General, Enterprise and Other Funds - PASS
And Tom points out that this is not the first time the city has bought Metro passes for its employees.
So it turns out that while the city doesn't have the time to focus on the growing graffiti problem or the funds to address HPD's manpower shortage, there is time and money to help boost Metro's ridership numbers and bottom line.
Maybe this program will someday be in line for an audit by the Controller's office, just to see if the benefits match up to the cost.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/30/05 05:03 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (3)
06 January 2007
East End fears rising crime
KHOU-11's Chau Nguyen reports that people living in Houston's East End fear that crime is rising, again:
There is a sense of fear among some residents in Houston’s East End, because they say crime is once again on the rise.
It’s happening on the southeast side of the area, near Harrisburg and 75 th.
Business owners and residents there say recent incidents indicate the safety of their neighborhood may be in jeopardy.
That can't be so, because MayorWhiteChiefHurtt keep saying that crime is now under control, and that crime is really under control if you take into account estimated population increases (some Chronicle reporters and/or editors who aren't very good at math say the same thing, interestingly).
In any case, the East End folks aren't waiting for MayorWhiteChiefHurtt to form a task force to look into their concerns:
Two years ago, crime got so bad that residents banded together to form their own patrols.
And they’re promising to do that again, as well as ask police to step up patrols to keep their neighborhood safe.
It's a shame that the city can't provide basic services.
Incidentally, the East End also has the most effective graffiti abatement program in the city.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/06/07 11:16 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
04 October 2005
Council to target "visual blight" of news racks?
KHOU-11's Doug Miller reports on a strange priority of certain councilmembers:
As downtown Houston livens up and attracts more people, it's also attracting more paper racks. By one count, there are more than 1,400 of them in downtown alone.
"We've spent a lot of money getting downtown back in shape and looking nice and wanting it to be a destination for people. And you've got a visual blight on the sidewalk," said Chuck Jackson, Downtown District Operations Director.
[snip]
Houston regulates signs, but it doesn't regulate advertising sheets stuck in boxes on sidewalks, which are sometimes chained to city property. Now, some city council members want that to change.
"We're just waiting for the legal department to say what we can get away with regulating and what we can't. I hope we can bring that to resolution very quickly," said Houston City Councilmember Carol Alvarado.
But the U.S. Supreme Court has twice shot down city governments that tried to restrict sidewalk paper racks. And of course, some people like finding all this reading material on the streets.
Here's a suggestion for Councilmember Alvarado: Perhaps a better way to reduce really annoying visual clutter in the city would be to invest more in graffiti abatement and bandit-sign eradication. It wouldn't raise constitutional concerns, and it would address two real problems in the city.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/04/05 09:32 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
18 April 2005
Traffic-enforcement revenue stream blitz
Last Thursday, I saw limited HPD manpower being used to ticket motorists driving in midtown from downtown.
Over the weekend, I saw two cars being issued what I guessed were traffic citations from speed traps on the inside "emergency" lanes of the US 59 in southwest Houston (funny, but I thought Mayor White told us parked cars on those "emergency" lanes were dangerous -- it seems they're no less dangerous when enhancing city revenues).
On the way home just now, I saw three METRO cops waving over people who were confused at that midtown intersection near the rail line that KHOU-11 reported on just last week. The vehicle two spots behind me was waved over for... something. I couldn't tell what, as I was trying to make sure I didn't get pulled over.
Anyway, consider this a warning to watch yourselves out there. The city may not have the manpower or resources to devote to graffiti abatement or homeless crack addicts who burn down property or home invasions, but there certainly seems to be a blitz to enforce those laws that can produce revenue for Mayor White and his merry band of spenders.
ANNE ADDS: Has HPD's quota progr...oops, I mean productivity policy... inspired Metro?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/18/05 04:20 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
20 January 2009
KTRK: Artsy lights over SW Freeway bridges already in disrepair
The bridges that cross Southwest Freeway do more than connect two parts of Houston.
They serve to beautify what is otherwise one UGLY stretch of concrete (and, quite often, graffiti and trash).
Unfortunately, one of the striking features of those bridges -- the unique side-mounted fiber-optic lights that once could change colors -- is striking at the moment because most of them haven't been working for quite some time.
KTRK-13's Christine Dobbyn has more details:
Karen Othon of TxDOT says the state is aware the lights are out and that some are even hanging from the bridge.
"It's not the full picture. It's not what they were intended to be," said Othon.
She adds they have been a maintenance challenge.
"It's not like we can just take a bucket truck up there on a freeway lane and replace a light bulb, it's such a specialized issue," said Othon.
The California company that made the lights claims a little maintenance every six months should keep them shining brightly. Any warranties on the lights have now expired.
Crews at the bridge on Wednesday said they were working on repairing peeling paint. TxDOT is not sure if the lights can be repaired or may now have to be replaced at taxpayers' expense.
Earlier in the story, Dobbyn notes that the original price of the lights was $275,000 (as part of the overall $100 million reconstruction project).
It would be great if someone could figure out how to get the lights back to how they are supposed to look, or just pull the things down and be done with it. At the moment, it just looks awful.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/20/09 08:10 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (13)
01 May 2007
Council to discuss curfew Wednesday
City Council will again take up the pressing issue of tightening the city's curfew tomorrow.
Here is earlier Chronicle coverage of the matter:
Children under 17 would have to be off the streets an hour earlier on weeknights under proposed changes to the curfew ordinance discussed by the City Council on Wednesday.
The earlier curfew would help deter juvenile crime, including graffiti and gang violence, Houston Police Department Executive Assistant Chief Mike Thaler told the council Wednesday.
[snip]
Mayor Bill White, who has two teenagers at home, said he supports the stricter curfew.
"Eleven o'clock is late enough," he said. "(It) will reduce the risk to those young people, reduce the risk to the community and give new tools to law enforcement and to parents."
But some council members have their doubts.
Councilman Michael Berry said he would vote against any curfew ordinance.
"It should never be illegal to be outside your house," Berry said.
You wouldn't think so, but the nanny mayor and a majority of nannies on Council seem to think otherwise.
It's good that they have solved all of the other problems in the city -- including the overall crime problem -- and they have time for this.
RELATED COVERAGE: KUHF-88.7.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/01/07 11:56 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (10)
12 July 2009
Mayor to oversee HFD investigation; HAS player still overseeing HAS audit
Here's a tale of two investigations.
On Thursday, Mayor White vowed to take charge of investigating incidents of HFD firemen (or perhaps fireman) behaving badly (very badly):
Houston's mayor said on Thursday that he will personally oversee an investigation into racial, sexual and threatening graffiti left at female living quarters in a Houston fire station, and will seek outside help in improving the department, KPRC Local 2 reported.
Following Texas Watchdog's latest riveting story on the Houston Airport System, detailing a shadowy web of offshore companies (staffed partly by City of Houston employees) that refuse to provide any accounting of activities to Texas Watchdog, Houston taxpayers, or even elected officials (including the City Controller and one Councilmember), Mayor White's response was... to allow Anthony Hall, who was the White Administration's point man in dealing with Vacar and his activities (and a Lee Brown Administration insider back in the day), to continue his audit of Vacar's activities.
The public deserves better than that. Even if Mayor White is disinclined, the City Controller not to mention City Council should be demanding answers from the Houston Airport System and all of the shadowy spinoffs Vacar created, in part with the resources and backing of the City of Houston and the Houston Airport System.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/12/09 08:24 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
07 November 2006
HPD to take on role of apartment inspectors?
Fresh from punishing property owners who are victims of graffiti, City Council will now consider punishing apartment owners whose properties suffer from crime, reports KTRH-740's Brent Fuller:
The ordinance to be considered by City Council Wednesday has no specific requirement that apartment projects with high crime rates hire more security. The city has also eliminated a system it had first considered that would have ranked complexes by "tiers," or levels 1-4, with 1 being the safest, and 4 being the most dangerous.
Instead of these requirements, the city defines crime as a public health issue, allowing it to fine complexes with persistent violations up to $2,000 a day. It also sets forth how Houston police will inspect apartments, and what actions they can take to correct recurring crime problems.
A complex designated as "eligible for remedial action" by the city is subject to HPD inspection. Depending on what officers find, owners can be forced to take certain actions which will be determined on a case-by-case basis. Owners will also be charged a $400 inspection fee.
One suspects the crime at the more problematic complexes is directly related to the Katrina influx that the City of Houston welcomed once upon a time.
At least the early Rube-Goldberg-like ratings system has been eliminated from the proposal.
UPDATE (11-08-2006): The Chronicle posts more of the onerous details of the proposal, which has been championed by a self-identified conservative on council, Toni Lawrence.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/07/06 08:55 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
30 April 2006
KTRK: City hopes to build a windmill farm
KTRK-13's Ted Oberg reports that Mayor White has plans for the City of Houston to become a producer of electricity:
Electricity will cost the city of Houston $130 million this year. That's $30 million more than last year because of rising natural gas costs. But now, the city tells us it has a plan to spend its way to a lower power bill.
[snip]
So then why is the city asking for a $50 million loan to build windmills? They could be 17 huge windmills, each of them almost 400 feet tall to generate power the city would use for itself.
[snip]
The proposed city of Houston wind farm on top of downtown Houston would take three square miles. Don't worry. It won't be built in downtown, but 250 miles away in Kennedy County. The windmills would connect to the Texas power grid, which runs all over the state, so Houston could grab the wind electricity here.
[snip]
[I]n the last 12 months, Houston's natural gas electricity ranged in price from 14 cents per kilowatt hour right after Katrina to six cents today. Wind energy is a steady six cents - today, tomorrow, and for years in the future.
"Break even or save the city money on what it would pay on its energy bills," said Mayor White.
The city's application is still with the IRS, which needs to approve it. Then city council votes on the plan. If that goes well, the windmills could turn in 2008.
We sympathize with the Mayor's desire to lower the city's cost for electricity, although it's not clear that the city needs to be in the electrical-generation business. Before branching out to that field, it would be nice if the city could simply get better at the murder-prevention business, and the graffiti-eradication business, and the crime-response-time business, and the emergency-call-answering business, and the pothole-repair business, and... well, you get the idea.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/30/06 11:30 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (12)
11 March 2005
The mystery of the mustache, solved
A downtown statue has a new look, and the statue's artist isn't pleased:
David Adickes showed up Thursday at downtown's Lyric Center with Groucho Marx eyeglasses and a fake nose. But though the Houston sculptor's face was clownish, his mood was anything but jovial. High above him, an ebony slash crossed the face of his ivory-toned concrete statue of a cellist, The Virtuoso.
Someone had painted the musician's mustache black.
"My first thought was that somehow a graffiti dude had scaled the body 30 feet and sprayed the mustache," Adickes said. But he soon learned the paint job had been ordered by the office tower's managers.
"They don't have the right to abuse, debase or radically change the concept," Adickes fumed Thursday. "They can't leave it like that. It's hideous. It's Groucho Marx. ... You can't paint a mustache on the Mona Lisa."
[snip]
The cellist's mustache was blackened several weeks ago as workers employed by U.S. Property Management repainted the artwork, which sits on the plaza of the office tower at 440 Louisiana, as part of routine maintenance. Adickes said he learned of the alteration from friends.
Jason Davis, president of U.S. Property Management, said he made the decision to paint the mustache black but offered no further comment. He did not indicate if the mustache will again be painted white.
El Capitan of Baboon Pirates came across this mustache-mystery last week. It doesn't seem right to mess with the sculpture that way, but we'll have to see if the property management company will reverse course.
It is a cool-looking statue, though, with or without the mustache.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: I hear echoes of Howard Roark in Adickes' complaints, to which I'm completely sympathetic of course.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/11/05 08:26 AM | Houston Arts/Culture | Technorati | Comments (3)
11 March 2007
How those who have never seen Houston see Houston
On Friday, a new photographic exhibit, "Never Been to Houston," opened at the Lawndale Art Center.
The gallery's website describes the interesting premise behind the exhibit:
Imagine a city that you've only seen in reproductions or perhaps have merely heard about. A place, like many others, that exists only through rumors, stories, novels, the nightly news, magazines, movies and the Internet. Using these secondhand clues as firsthand research material, invited worldwide contributors-who have Never Been to Houston- will photographically document (without leaving home) what they imagine Houston to look like. Contributors will upload their photos daily to an on-line Flickr site, which will be projected as a slideshow in Houston's Lawndale gallery. Anything that anyone might take a photograph of is fair game. Just as long as it feels like Houston.
The entire description is here, although it's a bit wordy.
This is an utterly fascinating experiment, and I'm looking forward to taking in the exhibit. It will be interesting to see which photographers merely project silly stereotypes of Houston, and which photographers actually try to present Houston as Houston might present itself.
From the Chronicle coverage of the exhibit, I'm definitely drawn to this photographer:
Elena Perlino, a professional photographer in Saluzzo, Italy, became fascinated, as she researched the city online, with the gritty, urban side of the city — its immigrants, its minorities, its youth. In Italy and France, she shot photos that to a Houstonian look more like Houston than like Italy or France: a brown-skinned kid in a hoodie, surveying a wall of graffiti; three black-skinned guys in gimme caps, slumped in chairs in a white-walled room, waiting for something we don't see.
"People in my pictures," Perlino e-mailed, "are living in a place that doesn't belong to them." Such people look the same everywhere.
The Lawndale Art Center is on Main, in the museum district. This exhibit continues through April 14.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/11/07 10:43 PM | Houston Arts/Culture | Technorati | Comments (4)
15 April 2005
Senate takes first look at red light camera bill
The issue of cities installing red light cameras is getting some attention in the state Senate:
After being stalled for nearly a month, a bill that would thwart a Houston initiative to catch red-light violators by placing cameras at intersections finally got a hearing Thursday in the state Senate.
The bill received overwhelming approval in February in the House, where sentiment has run strongly against red-light cameras for several years.
Sen. Frank Madla, D-San Antonio, who chairs the Intergovernmental Relations Committee, said the panel appears split on the bill. Madla was the only one of the five committee members who listened to testimony Thursday, as senators attended other meetings. He said he hopes the committee will vote on the bill next week.
The bill would prohibit cities from issuing civil citations against the owners of cars photographed running red lights. That is the approach planned in Houston and other cities.
[snip]
Houston and several other cities are fighting the bill, as are companies that want contracts to provide camera systems.
The cities are promoting camera enforcement as a safety measure. Opponents contend the cities' real motivation is increasing fine revenue. They also raise privacy concerns.
Since Mayor White/Chief Hurtt have been thwarted on another revenue stream (SAFEclear) and the city keeps announcing new spending ideas, red light camera revenue would come in very handy to pay for shiny new police badges and graffiti removal.
Someday perhaps their to-do list will include hiring some police officers.
RELATED: Do red light cameras reduce accidents or generate revenue? (blogHOUSTON)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 04/15/05 08:39 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
06 January 2007
Mayor White tackles convenience store crime with a task force!
Yes, Houston needs a task force to figure out how to reduce convenience store crime:
Mayor Bill White announced today the formation of the Mayor's Task Force on Convenience Store Security. Members will make recommendations aimed at curbing violent crime in convenience stores by reviewing new technologies, building codes, management processes, and law enforcement procedures.
Which means new city regulations will be required because that's how cities fix problems.
The answer is simple, as blogHOUSTON readers will know: punish convenience store owners for allowing crime to happen on their properties.
It's the logical approach to crime-fighting -- think graffiti and apartments --and it's easy to do. Fine store owners $20,000 or so each time their store is held up, then require that within two weeks, city-mandated security upgrades have been installed (see Metro Park and Pillage lots for guidance), and any building code violations have been addressed. After that, ensure that convenience store personnel attend management training classes conducted by the city (for a fee, of course), to learn how best to handle a robbery.
All this should be directed by a new city department. A contest will be held to come up with the acronym naming this new initiative. Leave your suggestions in the forum.
MORE: I just saw the Chron's story. The end (naturally!) includes a hint to another crime-fighting approach:
As the task force begins considering ways to make the industry safer, the store clerks suggested more patrols by Houston police officers, more street lights and enforcement of the Houston youth curfew.
Both clerks also agreed that more street lighting would improve overall neighborhood safety.
"It is too dark out here," Nguyen said. "And, everybody knows that Houston needs more police officers."
More police officers? Better street lighting? You mean the store clerks didn't suggest a task force to fix the crime problem?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/06/07 07:13 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (15)
12 June 2007
HPD captain steps away from private security deals
In a story about changes to Midtown's weekend police/security patrols, the Chronicle's Jennifer Friedberg provides an update on the status of HPD Captain Dwayne Ready:
The Midtown Management District is looking to fill a void in its weekend bike patrol after Houston Police Department Captain Dwayne Ready resigned his position of coordinating patrols for the district on June 1 after questions arose about billing issues.
Ready did not resign from HPD.
For about three years, the Midtown Management District has paid Ready $1,300 monthly to coordinate the bicycle patrols of two off-duty HPD officers who ride through the area three times a week — mainly on weekends — for a fee of $4,000 per month.
Ready also coordinated four Harris Precinct 7 Constable officers who operate under a separate contract with Midtown and Metro and Houston Community College police, who operate within the district's boundaries, but do not have a contract with the district.
Ready also resigned from his position with the Greater Southeast Management District on June 1, said district executive director Jason McLemore.
In that position, he coordinated two bike patrol officers, crime reporting and graffiti control for the district since October 2004 for $1,000 per month.
The two off-duty HPD officers are paid $25 per hour for the bike patrol with a cap of $1,600 per week.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office is investigating whether officers under Ready's supervision double-billed, saying they were working shifts for HPD and as bike patrol officers for the Midtown and Greater Southeast districts at the same time.
HPD has also launched an internal affairs investigation according to HPD Public Affairs Officer Gabe Ortiz.
"It is not a criminal investigation and he (Ready) is still currently on duty," Ortiz said.
Readers may recall that KTRK-13's Wayne Dolcefino first raised questions about Captain Ready's "private" security/police deals back in May.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/12/07 10:48 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
19 September 2006
Chief Hurtt's multi-faceted crime-fighting plan
Recently Chief Hurtt gave a speech where he detailed some new crime-fighting plans (via the Chronicle):
New programs include creating a new police division in the Westside area, an anti-gang initiative and overtime programs. Hurtt spoke about the crime-fighting plans Tuesday in a speech at the Citywide Positive Interaction Program.
[snip]
Hurtt also mentioned several other ongoing programs the department is working on.
The new red light camera program is under way and motorists who run red ligths will be ticketed with a $75 fine. In the first week, cameras were up at 10 intersections and police identified 600 violations.
On the technology front, Hurtt said the department is developing a 24-hour call information center to monitor criminal activity and pass information on to the divisions to more quickly shift officers from anywhere in the city to the location of an ongoing crime.
The department is also developing an online crime reporting system.
Hurtt said the department is also trying to get three ordinances through City Hall. The ordinances would hold apartment complex owners responsible for crimes committed on their property; drop weeknight curfew for juveniles from midnight to 10 p.m.; and a graffiti abatement measure.
That one ordinance Hurtt is trying to get passed, the one that punishes apartment owners for criminal activity on their property, is really underhanded. The city of Houston encouraged apartment owners to take in Katrina evacuees last year, and this is how the chief wants to thank them. Very nice.
There is one new policy Chief Hurtt failed to mention as this meeting. KHOU-11 got hold of an internal HPD memo that says officers will now have to handle DWI arrests differently:
It’s a memo some say means officers will be forced off the streets to take care of paperwork they’ve been handing off to others.
[snip]
The paperwork can take longer on a DWI than on a murder case.
So Tuesday, as Marticiuc was reading the department’s new policy, which requires the patrol officers to carry the case almost to the cell door, some patrol officers were telling 11 News they’d write fewer DWIs in the future.
KHOU's story is a bit light on specifics; maybe a local journalist will explore this new policy more in-depth to find out what's really going on.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/19/06 10:17 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
28 December 2006
Frank Wilson: Metro makes Houston livable
You know, Metro's really raking in the dough these days. Lots and lots of tax revenue. The problem is Metro has to dedicate a large portion of that money to the Danger Train and its planned offspring, so other parts of the Metro empire suffer.
Such as customer service. Still. And again. (Will someone either ask for a definition of Metro Time or buy Metro a clock?)
Such as bus service and bus stops:
Thanks to a Montrose restaurant owner and various community groups, the Metropolitan Transit Authority is bringing back its adopt-a-stop and adopt-a-shelter programs, which can help curb crime at Houston bus stops.
The program, which died a few years ago because of a lack of interest, was revived in the fall when Dimitrios Fetokakis, owner of Niko Niko's Greek and American Café at 2520 Montrose, called Houston District D City Councilwoman Ada Edwards to complain about criminal activity at the bus stop across from his business.
"My employees were afraid to walk across the street where we park our employee cars," he said. "It just doesn't look good when we have customers sitting on the patio and they see drug deals."
Fetokakis said there were also problems with trash and prostitution.
[snip]
"Every time I drive by a bus stop, the trash is always full, there's graffiti on the bus stops, it's just time for the bus stops to be fixed. They look very old," Carson said. "When it comes to crime, we know some of the issues we have in Hyde Park also coincide with some of the issues we have at the bus stops.
Nice. Who needs security? Look how well things have worked out at the Park and Rides. And don't forget Metro's suggestion that bus riders who are worried about safety can take advantage of Texas' concealed carry law.
However, as Laurence Simon points out, there is one area where Metro has decided to spend a little money -- a blogger. At least I'm assuming former Chron reporter Mary Sit isn't working for free.
Back in October, Metro boss Frank Wilson said, "“If Houston didn't have METRO, it would cease to be a livable city.” Some might argue that Houston already lost some of its livability once Metro began focusing on light rail.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/28/06 06:03 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (6)
15 October 2007
Stray current and Richmond rail: An evolving story
Over at Lose an Eye, It's a Sport, Cory Crow notes an evolving story by Rad Sallee on Chron.com today.
Apparently, opponents of light rail on Richmond held a press conference earlier to criticize the possible placement of the Westpark light rail line (renamed the University Line, even though that description was nowhere to be found in the 2003 referendum) on Richmond because of stray-current concerns and a 66-inch water line that runs under the street.
The version of the story carrying a 12:36pm time stamp had the following headline:
Rail foes: stray current may harm water line
Later in the day, the story (with the same hyperlink) "evolved" with no warning to readers, and so did the headline. Here's what was posted at 3:35pm:
Metro disuptes rail foes' stray current claims
The spelling error has not been corrected in the latest version of the story, which carries a 5:41pm stamp.
As Crow observes, this probably should have been posted as two separate stories (with their own hyperlinks), since the headlines read almost like a point/counterpoint. The final, balanced story could have been prepared for tomorrow's print editions (and given yet another hyperlink). The Chronicle does some nice work in getting stories to the web quickly, but we have long thought that once a story is posted, any significant changes ought to come in a new story (much as print newspapers once had multiple editions).
On the substance of the claims, METRO really cannot deny that it has been unable to end the stray-current leakage along the Main Street rail line. METRO cannot deny the simple physics of stray current (which can corrode metal over time). METRO also cannot deny that the TMC report indicates that the problem will have to be monitored carefully for the life of the rail line on Main, because of the critical infrastructure in the area. And as Tom Bazan can attest, even getting METRO to produce documents related to stray-current after multiple public-information requests has not been easy (suggesting it is a topic METRO would prefer not to talk about).
Whether you think this relates at all to the infrastructure located along Richmond probably tracks closely with your preference for the placement of the Westpark rail line. That said, METRO's record with regard to stray current issues along the Main Street rail line certainly doesn't entitle the organization to the benefit of the doubt when their PR representatives say, "don't worry, we have considered it and it's not an issue" (or when they idiotically compare the stray-current issue to graffiti).
RELATED COVERAGE: KRIV-26.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/15/07 07:07 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (7)
19 July 2009
Mayor/Senate Candidate White's press office announces plan to spend nearly $200k on HFD legal consultants (updated)
In a two-reporter, eight-paragraph story on Saturday, the Chronicle reported that Mayor/Senate Candidate Bill White would like to spend nearly $200,000 so two law firms can look further into issues of equality within the Houston Fire Department:
Mayor Bill White wants to hire two local law firms to examine “equal employment opportunity processes and practices” in the Houston Fire Department, his office announced Friday*.
The effort to initiate an outside review comes about 10 days after two women found racist and misogynistic graffiti near their quarters at a department fire station.
White has asked City Council to authorize a contract of up to $190,000 with the law firms Thompson and Horton, L.L.P. and Lemond and Lemond, L.L.C, who will “work jointly to review, assess and recommend policies and practives on issues that include diversity, conflict resolution, preventive practices, compliance, communication and management practices,” said a city news release*.
[snip]
“In any organization there is always room for improvement. We want this expertise to help us examine how we can do that,” White said in a statement*.
The rest of the story updates us on the lack of significant new developments in the HFD investigation. The two reporters do not, however, inform us what precisely Thompson and Horton or Lemond and Lemond will be doing (beyond the platitudes in the mayor's statement) or shed any light on why those two law firms were chosen (as opposed, to say, management consulting firms or any number of other firms). Apparently the mayor's staff wasn't able to shed much light on those issues either.
We did find one interesting connection. It turns out that Thompson and Horton employs a young associate lawyer by the name of Annie Stein. Ms. Stein, we are fairly certain,** is the daughter of Marty Stein (Mayor White's agenda director) and Bob Stein (Houston's expert on everything).
Now, are we suggesting that the selection of a law firm to handle ambiguous consulting for HFD has much to do with a junior associate lawyer who is related** to the mayor's agenda director? Not at all. It's probably complete coincidence. We are just amused by the small-town feel of Houston at times (being from a small town ourselves).
* Was our mayor too busy running for his next office to participate in this HFD announcement?
** Our multiple layers of fact-checkers and research assistants are out, it being the weekend and all.
UPDATE (07-22-09): As it turns out, there were even more interesting connections between Mayor White's staff and the law firms that apparently influenced their selection without any input from Council or public vetting. See this story from the Chronicle for more details.
BLOGVERSATION: Isiah Carey's Insite.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/19/09 09:47 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
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