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12 September 2006
What Yellow Cab wants, Yellow Cab usually gets
City Council is set to reward a major Houston political player (Yellow Cab company) tomorrow, as the long-delayed shared-ride airport shuttle contract is scheduled again to come to a vote (items 40a and 40b on the agenda).
To recap previous posts, the shared-ride shuttle concept is designed as alternative transportation between airports and homes/businesses. The cost will be less than taxis, because vans will transport multiple users at any given time. For several years now, there has been such a van service between airports and a handful of fixed locations (mainly hotels), and the market has supported more than one company. At DFW, four companies offer shared-ride shuttle service.
Here's where it gets interesting.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Yellow Cab wants, Yellow Cab usually gets"> 09/12/06 11:12 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (7)
11 May 2006
Council delays action on airport-shuttle proposal
The Chronicle's Alexis Grant reports that City Council has delayed action on a plan to allow one company to offer door-to-door shuttle service from the airport after objections from cab companies and another shuttle company:
Under pressure from cab companies, the City Council on Wednesday delayed action on a contract for a shared-ride shuttle that would give Houstonians another option when traveling to the city's airports.
The five-year contract has come under fire because it would go to only one vendor, a SuperShuttle franchise in partnership with Yellow Cab. That would create an unfair monopoly that would put taxi drivers out of business, some cab company representatives say.
[snip]
Mayor Bill White said he sympathizes with taxi drivers and would prefer to contract with more than one company, but he's not sure the market would support that.
"It's a service we were convinced was risky enough so that we needed to start with one vendor," White said.
Most large cities have a door-to-terminal airport shuttle service, but a contract for one in Houston has been postponed for years, mainly because of political pressures. In 2002, the city hired a consultant, who recommended the contract include two or more vendors.
Raymond Mbala, vice president of government and legal affairs for the ground transportation service Texans Shuttle, which competed with SuperShuttle for the bid, said Yellow Cab was chosen for the contract because of the company's political clout. Yellow Cab controls more than half of the city's taxi business.
Mbala charged that city officials were "putting Yellow Cab's interests before the city's, the citizens' interests."
Mayor White says the single-shuttle-vendor option was chosen because the venture is "risky," but the risk to Texans Shuttle is minimized by the fact that the company has successfully operated shuttles to/from both airports for years, so Mayor White's assertion just isn't convincing. There must be some other reason that Mayor White wants to set up a single door-to-door shuttle provider. Perhaps an exclusive contract generates more revenue for the city? Or perhaps there's some other reason. Anybody know?
PREVIOUSLY: Council to consider expanded airport bus-shuttle service.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ shuttle proposal"> 05/11/06 10:05 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (6)
18 May 2006
Councilman Johnson kills "glitch" that benefitted Yellow Cab
The Chronicle's Alexis Grant reports that a "miscommunication" has temporarily scuttled the city's plan to allow door-to-door airport shuttle service:
Mayor Bill White said Wednesday the delay should only be temporary, and he expects the City Council to approve an amended contract in the next two months.
The five-year contract between the city and a SuperShuttle franchise run by Yellow Cab was scrapped because it would have prohibited vans that transport passengers directly between airports and hotels from continuing to operate at Houston airports.
That stipulation was not included in the city's original request for shared-ride shuttle proposals.
"It was never our intention in this process that it would eliminate another type of service," White said.
[snip]
Councilman Jarvis Johnson, who noticed the contract glitch and brought it to White's attention Tuesday, said both van services should exist to give passengers more options when traveling to the airport.
[snip]
Richard Vacar, the city's airport director, said allowing hotel-to-airport vans to continue to operate would decrease SuperShuttle's odds for success.
He believed the City Council was aware of the stipulation in the contract that is now being disputed, he said.
"Starting this business up in this huge geographic area is an expensive effort," he said. "What we we're trying to do in the contract is give them a chance to succeed."
Thank goodness Councilmember Johnson read the details of the contract before the city simply signed off on it. Had he not done so, the deal would have hurt firms like Texans Shuttle, which competes in the shuttle-hotel business, by effectively freezing them out of that business. Indeed, the details of the contract are so onerous that one wonders if SuperShuttle/Yellow Cab didn't have a big hand in helping write the contract with Vacar.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Yellow Cab"> 05/18/06 10:19 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (4)
15 October 2006
Editorial LiveJournalists don't like some lobbying
The Chronicle's Editorial LiveJournalists blast City Hall lobbyists today:
Mayor Bill White, who has made his disdain for City Hall lobbyists well-known during his two terms, doubts they will have much effect on the outcome. "It's the witnesses who are doctors treating cancer patients and people who have respiratory illnesses related to secondhand smoke who work in bars and the merchants who are concerned who have impact on council members in this debate," the mayor said.
Let's hope that's the case. The public, including the business and medical communities, has had abundant opportunity to address council on the pros and cons of the smoking ban. The presence of lobbyists who say whatever they are paid to say, regardless of the obvious public good, is not needed and does little to elevate the debate.
This view may put me in the minority, but downtown lobbyists who go in front of Council to speak in favor of a position don't bother me that much. Yes, they're paid spokesmen for a cause, but we know that, and they do put forth points of view that ought to be considered. For example, during the recent debate before Council's decision to curry favor with Yellow Cab by putting Texans Shuttle out of business, a paid lobbyist for those opposed to the move put forward some very good arguments why it was a bad decision. Presumably, that lobbyist also attended various committee meetings on that topic and made himself heard, along with other stakeholders in that issue. That's not a "bad thing" in my view, so long as it's transparent. Indeed, the "lobbyist" said quite a few things that I might have told Council, if I could ignore job and life commitments to go hang out at City Hall for public comment.
It's unfortunate that the Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists chose to criticize transparent lobbying on the smoking issue, but chose completely to ignore the manner in which Yellow Cab company persuaded the city's aviation director and members of Council to put a competitor out of business a few weeks ago. Apparently, transparent "lobbying" is worse than non-transparent anti-competitive dealmaking to benefit City-Hall-favored companies, at least in the view of the Editorial LiveJournalists.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/15/06 09:01 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
18 December 2007
Is Harris County ready for Bill White Jr. as judge?
Friend of Bill David Mincberg hopes so:
Democrat David Mincberg called for ethics reforms in county government and a focus on environmental quality Monday as he filed papers to run for Harris County judge.
Mincberg, former chairman of the county Democratic Party, expects no significant opposition in the March primary for the job of Harris County government chief. County Judge Ed Emmett, appointed to the position this year after the resignation of Robert Eckels, faces former District Clerk Charles Bacarisse in the Republican primary.
"The public has lost confidence in Harris County's leadership, which is out of touch, indebted to big donors who 'pay to play' for county contracts and raises taxes via appraisals while pretending to cut tax rates," Mincberg said. "There is no focus on the critical issues of growth, jobs and quality of life."
Harris County residents have not lost confidence in Harris County's leadership. On the contrary, when a government focuses "on the critical issues of growth, jobs and quality of life," that's when the problems start. When government stays out of those critical issues, people and businesses thrive.
On his website Mincberg says, "The office of County Judge requires a person with great understanding of and experience in financial management and a leader with the skills necessary to implement the number of reforms and improvement so vital to Harris County's future success." Any Democrat advocating "reforms and improvement" means government heavy-handedness and regulation. We can look at Bill White's leadership in Houston as the example.
Mincberg says he wants to focus on ethics reforms, but interestingly, nowhere in the Chronicle's story does Alan Bernstein mention Mincberg's time as head of Houston's Department of Housing and Community Development, the Housing Authority of the City of Houston, and the Houston Housing Finance Corp. And on Mincberg's website, it is only briefly mentioned.
The best remedies for any ethics issues are transparency and a watchdog media. Everything possible should be made available online, and local media should thoroughly cover all local issues. When has the Chronicle ever covered Harris County politics, except in the most superficial manner? It took KTRK-13's Wayne Dolcefino to unearth Jerry Eversole's problems. And the Chronicle's Houston coverage isn't overly aggressive -- Mrs. White won't allow that.
So let's unearth details of Mincberg's tenure as the $1 per-year head of Houston's Housing Authorities. Let's see how this businessman runs things. We've heard there might some interesting tidbits if a full accounting emerged.
And if Mincberg really wants to run on a platform of ethics reform, let's find out where this Houston insider stood on the city's Yellow Cab contract, including the airport shuttle disaster that put a local company out of business; and on a long-term, no-bid airport concession contract. Give us the quotes where he came out against "big donors who 'pay to play'" for city business.
We certainly won't see that in Houston's Daily Information Source, because Mincberg's wife works for the Chronicle. We can expect nothing but glowing reviews for the Democrat candidate for Harris County Judge.
The critical issues for Harris County are public safety and public infrastructure -- roads and flooding. We don't need Bill White-lite micromanaging county residents' lives. You can bet Mayor White has already been whispering "county-wide smoking ban" in Mincberg's ear. If I recall correctly, Houston complained to the county that its lack of a smoking ban was harming Houston businesses, since smokers could go to restaurants and bars outside city limits. And just think of all the new red-light camera opportunities outside MayorWhiteChiefHurtt's reach.
Most likely Mincberg will aim to keep a low profile for now, counting on a bruising battle between Judge Emmett and Charles Bacarrise. Then with the Chronicle on his side, FOB Mincberg can run as an above-the-fray candidate, spouting soothing platitudes of "change."
In the big picture, Harris County is running just fine, as local governments go. Mincberg's idea of change will translate into regulation and stealth-taxes, à la Bill White.
CORRECTION: We are informed that David Mincberg's wife, Lainie Gordon, no longer works for the Chronicle.
ANNE ADDS: Excellent! Now there's no reason for the Chronicle not to dive into Mincberg's record as head of Houston's housing authorities.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/18/07 08:22 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (4)
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