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25 December 2006
Feliz Navidad!
Via Chron.com (above), we're pleased to see that Pancho Claus made an appearance in Houston for Christmas. Anne Linehan had previously expressed concern that Mayor White did not include Pancho Claus in his holiday festivities.
Here's hoping everyone is enjoying the day, spirit, etc. That reminds me, I have a nice Cabernet awaiting, so that's enough blogging for a while. :)
ANNE ADDS: Pancho Claus has a website! Here's hoping the city includes him in next year's "Holiday" festivities.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/25/06 02:21 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
26 November 2007
This Friday: Holiday Tree -- yes; Pancho Claus -- no
Mayor White would like you to join him Friday night as he lights the city's "Holiday Tree":
Mayor Bill White invites Houstonians to get into the holiday spirit with a festive Noontime Concert Series this week outside City Hall and the annual Mayor's Holiday Tree Lighting and Celebration featuring Grammy Award-winning songwriter / recording artist Peabo Bryson on Friday, November 30 at 6 p.m.
Music, fireworks, entertainment and the lighting of the City's official holiday tree will take place in Hermann Square. In addition to Bryson and KHOU TV's Debra Duncan, the celebration will include performances by Grupo Kache, the Bayou City Chorale, The Woodlands Dance Company, Planet Funk, the Star of Hope Voices of Hope Choir, and the Parker Elementary School Chorus. There will also be a special guest appearance by Santa Claus.
Apparently, after 2005, Christmas Trees went out of style.
PREVIOUSLY: Pancho Claus archives
Posted by Anne Linehan @ Pancho Claus -- no"> 11/26/07 06:40 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (3)
30 November 2004
Mayor's tree lighting ceremony
Wednesday night, Mayor White will be hosting a tree lighting ceremony at City Hall:
Included in this year’s program are the Houston Voices of New Hope Choir under the direction of Hanq Neal, the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company, Pancho Claus, Mecca Mariachis, and the Houston High School for the Performing and Visual Arts String Quartet.
The event culminates with the lighting of the holiday tree, accompanied by a fireworks display synchronized to Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus.
Pancho Claus? Well, there are those who say Houston is world class.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/30/04 06:10 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
27 November 2005
Thankfully, it's not called a Holiday Tree
Now that we have survived Thanksgiving, it's time to move on:
The Annual Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration
Join Mayor Bill White welcoming the equally honorable Santa Claus to downtown (Where will he park the sleigh?) and the lighting of the official Christmas tree at City Hall.
Traditionally, the plaza is festively decorated and ringed with booths offering refreshments and holiday arts and crafts. Watch our famous skyline come alive with music, lights and fireworks!
City Hall Downtown, December 10th, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
What about Pancho Claus?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/27/05 08:06 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (2)
23 December 2007
Holiday slowdown
There is likely to be little blogging over the next couple of days as the big holiday approaches, so...
Merry Christmas, everyone! Or, as my very inclusive compatriot said last year, "Merry Whatever Holiday You Celebrate!"
UPDATE: A Pancho Claus sighting! And Elves and More gives away 16,000 bikes!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/23/07 05:58 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (9)
01 December 2006
The Mayor's "Holiday" Celebration
It's that time of year: the city's gearing up for its annual "Holiday Celebration," including the traditional lighting of the "holiday" tree:
Mayor Bill White and KHOU Channel 11 invite all Houstonians to the annual Mayor's Holiday Celebration hosted by Deborah Duncan and Ron Treviño, featuring live music, fireworks sponsored by Cricket Communications, Inc., and the lighting of the City's official holiday tree sponsored by Reliant Energy. This year's holiday celebration will take place on Hermann Square next to City Hall, 901 Bagby, from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 8, 2006.
“This is a great chance for Houstonians of all backgrounds and faiths to come together as a community and celebrate the spirit behind the season and have some family fun,” said Mayor White.
It's unclear what holiday or season the city might be celebrating. Could be Independence Day, Cinco de Mayo, or St. Patrick's Day. Maybe Houston is celebrating the spirit behind baseball season.
Hard to say.
Also unclear is what happened to 2004's Pancho Claus and 2005's Christmas Tree.
What's really grating about the mayor's comment is that the true "spirit behind the season" is Christmas, and there's nothing wrong with saying "Christmas tree" or "Christmas season." It is not exclusive to do so.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/01/06 04:40 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (3)
08 December 2004
KTRK picks up sleeping Metro cop story
It's an interesting case of citizen activism and the internet driving the news.
Who knows, maybe the Chronicle will even get around to reporting on it. But since it's Lucas Wall's transportation beat, it may take a month or so.
KTRK has an interesting quote from Metro police chief Tom Lambert, who has been conspicuously silent since someone on Mayor White's staff figured out Lambert's screaming "What part of safety don't we understand?!" at taxpayers wasn't the best way to handle light rail collision PR:
"We are very upfront that we have a very professional police organization," stressed Chief Lambert. "It embarrasses all the professionals within our organization when we don't always hit the mark. And sometimes we don't always hit the mark. So we were not totally pleased with that as well."In fact, Chief Lambert says before the photos even made it on the Internet, the day it happened other alert officers also saw Officer Ramsey in her car. They alerted METRO supervisors and that is why she was already disciplined. She remains on the force.
Sure they did, Chief. And then they went off to wrap gifts for Pancho Claus to deliver!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/08/04 10:58 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (1)
01 December 2004
Full speed ahead on the downtown park
KHOU-11 reports that Mayor White's plans to develop an expensive downtown park that he never mentioned during the last mayoral campaign are proceeding at full speed:
Houston's city council has given a green light to more green space downtown.
The city government will spend $8 million dollars to buy the so-called superblock in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center.
And a new, quasi-government corporation will receive $750,000 taxpayer dollars a year for developing and maintaining that new downtown park.
The city can't find enough money to fund new HPD cadet classes (despite manpower shortages), or enough money to fund adequate traffic accident investigations. But there's plenty of money to enrich the developers holding the land in front of the convention center and to buy Tasers.
Mayor White and city council certainly have curious priorities for the city.
(12-02-2004 Update) Ron Nissimov reports for the Chronicle. Mayor White contends that private funding will cover the cost of property acquisition, and promises increased property values will provide enough new revenue to cover operations of the park. blogHOUSTON has not been able to confirm whether Mayor White's wildly optimistic financial team includes Pancho Claus, but we have our suspicions.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/01/04 09:41 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (7)
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