31 December 2004
Quite possibly the worst editorial page of 2004
We've taken to referring to the Chronicle editorial page as a wasteland, for reasons described in this post (among others).
Later, we'll be offering up our 2005 suggestions for improving the city's only newspaper (we're sure the readers at 801 Texas Avenue eagerly await).
First, though, we thought we'd call attention to the editorial page that ran about a week ago as a perfect "wasteland" example.
The page leads with an editorial arguing that Houston must take steps to improve the Houston Emergency Center. We agree, and we've been posting on the topic for a while now. It's good of the Chronicle finally to weigh in. It's also good of the Chronicle to criticize the Brown Administration for its handling of the HEC. The main problem is that the newspaper was missing in action during the Brown Administration, when it was more of a booster than public watchdog. And it's been entirely too slow to weigh in on this important local issue.
The second house editorial criticizes Halliburton, oversimplifying (a regular Chron editorial board practice) the company's legal wrangling over certain benefits in dispute with employees of subsidiary Dresser. The Chron basically argues that a deal is a deal, and Halliburton shouldn't try to back out of the deal. The same editorial board rejected that reasoning, however, when it endorsed Mayor White's referendum to give the city power to renege on the city's pension deal with municipal employees. Whether that deal was ill advised or not, it was a deal. The only difference in the two that I can come up with is that Vice President Cheney was once affiliated with Halliburton (and therefore both are "bad guys"), whereas Mayor White is a "good guy." This sort of good guy/bad guy oversimplification of issues does not serve the newspaper or the city well.
The Outlook section features an op-ed from former Marine Andrew M. Borene, who criticizes civilian leadership on the matters of body and vehicle armor (despite any number of blog posts and print articles that bring some needed context to the issue), not to mention "tax cuts for the wealthy." It's an op-ed surely designed to appeal to Move On types and Deaniacs, but it's not a particularly compelling op ed to a broader audience because it relies so heavily on emotion and canards, rather than facts. One supposes it resonated with the Chron editorial board -- that they "felt" it to be true -- and that's why it ran. If the Chron editorial page is to improve, the editors and the board are going to have to expand their intellectual horizons. We'll be offering some suggestions later in that regard.
A second Outlook feature is a typical op-ed from Cragg Hines. Hines brings a reliably leftist view to all issues, and tends to write meanly and vindictively -- the style that frequently characterizes the Chron editorial pages. But why waste valuable resources on this, and at D.C. bureau salaries? As one blogger points out, there are plenty of voices like this all over the web, and they come a lot cheaper -- if that's really what you want on the editorial pages.
And the last outlook column comes from Washington Post syndicated columnist David Broder, who is all upset about the D.C. baseball deal. Broder is the so-called "dean" of beltway windbags, but even his lame attempts at explaining why this is of more than parochial interest comes up way short -- except to the Chron editors, who thought for some reason this was an op-ed that Houstonians should read. If ever one needed evidence that the editorial page editors were out of touch with the interests of normal Houstonians, this would be it.
This editorial page may well be the worst example of the year for the Chronicle. We'll be offering some advice later as to how the newspaper might avoid repeats of this mediocrity in 2005.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/31/04 10:38 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Thinking about Houston neighborhoods
The Houston Architecture.Info Forum has an interesting discussion going about neighborhoods in the near southwest of Houston (and of other development more broadly).
I added the website to the blogroll on the sidebar a while back after discovering that the name is a bit misleading. While architecture is an interest, the forum is a much broader discussion board about Houston and the goings on here. The board has a large, active membership, and much of the commentary is well written and insightful.
As the local print media continues to neglect coverage of local matters, I would guess that we're going to see sites like the Houston Architecture Info Forum and blogs like this one continue to gain readership. A smart media source would try to use cheap blog/forum technology to leverage the interest of people in their communities, and involve them in the journalistic process. Houston's leading information source, on the other hand, seems to think layout changes and insipid non-blogs will do the trick.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/31/04 10:15 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (1)
The Prop. 2 tall tale that won't go away
In a Chronicle story by Ron Nissimov on the expansion progress at Bush Intercontinental and Hobby airports, there's a bit of misinformation toward the end. Here's the relevant part:
Airport expansion became a talking point for Mayor Bill White during the recent referendum on competing city revenue-cap proposals.
White said airport expansion, which typically occurs in spurts, would be difficult to achieve under the revenue-limitation proposal called Proposition 2, which he opposed.
White proposed an alternative revenue cap, Proposition 1, that would cap tax revenue but not limit annual growth in so-called "enterprise funds," including airport funds, that generate their income from user fees rather than general taxes.
What Nissimov is trying to write about, in a poorly worded way, is the little untruth the mayor told about Proposition 2 in October. The FAA sent the mayor a letter saying that airport revenue could not be used for property tax refunds. Mayor White took this letter and used it as an opportunity to do some Proposition 2-bashing.
The problem is that Proposition 2 would not have used airport revenue for property tax refunds, according to Paul Bettencourt, Harris County Tax Assessor. And this was discussed by Bettencourt and Frank Michel, Mayor White's communications person, back in October. (The link includes scans of the letters in question.) Michel agreed with Bettencourt that the FAA's letter was not based on the facts, but that didn't stop the mayor from repeating the false assertion and it hasn't stopped the media from spreading the misinformation, either.
But, then again, the Chronicle opposed Proposition 2.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/31/04 10:13 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (11)
DMN uncovers more bad news for HISD
The Dallas Morning News has another exclusive on the TAKS cheating scandal story:
Houston's Wesley Elementary may be the most celebrated school in Texas.
When George W. Bush, running for governor in 1994, wanted to declare education his No. 1 priority, he went to Wesley, where desperately poor students outscored children in the wealthiest suburbs.
When Oprah Winfrey wanted to promote a school that "defied the odds," she took her cameras to Wesley, which has been the subject of numerous flattering profiles..
But a Dallas Morning News investigation has found strong evidence that at least some of the success at Wesley and two affiliated schools come from cheating.
"You're expected to cheat there," said Donna Garner, a former teacher at Wesley who said her fellow teachers instructed her on how to give students answers while administering tests. "There's no way those scores are real."
The News ' analysis found troubling gaps in test scores at Wesley, Highland Heights, and Osborne elementaries, which are all in the Acres Homes neighborhood in Houston. Scores swung wildly from year to year. Schools made jarring test-score leaps from mediocre to stellar in a year's time.
After The News shared its findings with Houston officials Thursday, Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra issued a written statement. "We have reviewed the anomalies in the test scores of the Acres Home schools as pointed out by The News, and we agree that these anomalies identify performance that is highly questionable."
If the test scores are to be believed, students at those schools lose much of their academic abilities as soon as they leave elementary school.
An AP story, based on the DMN findings, has been picked up by KTRK-13 and KHOU-11. So far, there's nothing in the Chronicle.
UPDATE 1: KHOU-11 has posted a statement from HISD superintendent Abe Saavedra.
UPDATE 2: KPRC-2 has the AP story posted.
UPDATE 3: The Chronicle finally has an article on this. It's the top story in Saturday's City & State section, the day after the DMN broke the news.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/31/04 09:30 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
30 December 2004
Food and drink roundup (12-30-2004 edition)
We skipped the food and drink roundup last Thursday, with Christmas approaching.
With a New Year's weekend coming, this seems like the right time for a double dose of food and drink reviews.
Robb Walsh concludes that Sunday night is the best time to visit Annapurna South Indian Cuisine on NASA Road 1. And he finds Grand Lux Cafe in the Galleria area fun, if a bit "hollow."
Alison Cook stays in town, visiting Stamps Superburgers.
Gracie Ochoa checks out The Underground Bar in west Houston.
And finally, Mona Shoup has a couple of weeks' worth of Whine and Dine (here and here).
Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year full of good food and drink (or, to quote Marvin Zindler, "whatever makes you happy").
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/30/04 11:58 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
Missing the Chron eye
The state of Texas is scheduled to execute confessed murderer James Scott Porter on January 4, 2005.
There still has been no installment of the Chron Eye For The Death Row Killer Guy devoted to Mr. Porter, so we thought we'd post this little reminder for our friends at 801 Texas Avenue (since it seems like the newspaper is being manned by a skeleton holiday crew at the moment).
We like to do our part to keep the local media lively.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/30/04 10:40 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
The opposite of hyperlocal journalism
The Chronicle's Austin bureau chief must have skipped town early to celebrate New Year's. Or maybe he's utterly consumed writing his weekend editorial column.
Otherwise, one wonders why the Chronicle had to rely on AP reporting on the fallout over a story broken by the Dallas Morning News yesterday.
One also wonders why there wasn't some adult editorial supervision of this Austin dispatch from R.G. Ratcliffe announcing that House Speaker Tom Craddick (R) has replaced press secretary Bob Richter:
"I want to thank Bob for his continued dedication and hard work," Craddick said in the release. "It has been a pleasure working with him."
Richter described Craddick as a "good guy."
Richter said he is supposed to talk to someone next week about a possible new job.
He's supposed to talk to some guy sometime about some job or something? Nice of the Chron to clear that up!
Then there's this:
As Richter's replacement, Craddick hired Heather Tindall, who has been the spokeswoman for the scandal-plagued Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
Craddick is Richter's replacement?
There's really no excuse for this sort of copy to make its way into the newspaper.
The Chronicle has invested tons of money redesigning its type and layout, and has brought in a new Washington chief who surely didn't come cheaply to a bloated D.C. bureau. Meanwhile, it continues to do a poor job covering local stories (being scooped at least twice by the Dallas newspaper in the last three months on stories it should have owned), and a mediocre job with its Austin coverage.
Surely Jack Sweeney and Jeff Cohen can't believe that anyone would turn to the Chronicle for coverage of Washington politics. And surely nobody but MeMo believes that young readers are going to pick up the rag because the Features section is now identified by a giant * and has lots of skin on its pages. But since there is some evidence the Chronicle brain trust (don't snicker) actually does believe these things, here's a hint for them: Go Local! Cover this city. Cover this state. Bring in some fresh writers who revel in things Texan. Concentrate your resources on doing Houston and Texas better than any other media source in this state.
Or continue to lose readers and relevance.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/30/04 10:17 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Why reporters do what they do
If you've ever wondered why reporters do some of the things they do, Banjo Jones has an answer over at the Brazosport News.
Along the way, he recalls his days at the Houston Post and an interview (if one wants to call it that) with former Astro owner John McMullen.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/30/04 09:37 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Mysterious movie reviewing criteria
Eric Harrison has the top story in today's "star" section, listing what he considers to be 2004's best movies, and he includes this sentence:
It's as if the furor over The Passion of the Christ, Fahrenheit 9/11 and the presidential election sucked up all the energy.
It caught my eye because Harrison achieved a moment of celebrity in the blogosphere with his reviews of those two movies. The Beautiful Atrocities blog compared what movie reviewers wrote about Fahrenheit 9/11 with what those same reviewers wrote about The Passion of the Christ. Here is Harrison's entry:
Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle:
F9/11: (Moore) is an indispensable treasure, and his imperfections are part of the reason, because they mark him as real.
Passion: It's awful because everything he knows about storytelling has been swept aside by proselytizing zeal.
Harrison even made James Taranto's Best of the Web. Congratulations!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/30/04 08:50 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
29 December 2004
Thinking about the Chron sports pages
We don't normally do many posts on local sports here at blogHOUSTON.
Still, we are interested in how local media covers sports, and the Chronicle frequently comes up short in that area as in others.
For example, a few days ago, the newspaper was running claims that Carlos Beltran had been offered a six year, $96 million deal. Charlie Palillo fairly well demolished that claim, which was based on an anonymous source, on his program on KBME-790; Drayton McLane denied the claim later. Still, the Chronicle continues to refer to an "industry source" who keeps citing large offers. It doesn't get much more anonymous than that, although intelligent readers can guess that Scott Boras and/or his people are quite likely the "industry source" (and they have good reason to spread the notion of a large offer to boost the bidding for their client).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/29/04 05:13 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (4)
Some kinks in the new towing policy
The Los Angeles Times has a story on Houston's new towing policy, with this toward the end:
Motorists can tell the wrecker driver where to tow the car, within 30 miles. Members of AAA and other auto clubs offering roadside assistance will not be allowed to wait for a private tow truck. That was news to Henry Martinez, 54, who was checking under the hood of his SUV at a gas station on Tuesday.
"My auto club guarantees they'll be there in 15 minutes, and you mean I can't wait for them?" he said. "They can tow the other guy, but don't tow me."
I seem to remember, back when this was being publicly debated prior to the city council vote, Dan Patrick or Edd Hendee of KSEV-700, discussing this issue. One of them was interviewing someone about the downside of this towing proposal (I think it was a city councilperson, maybe Addie Wiseman) and that person pointed out that drivers who are members of a roadside assistance program, such as AAA, would not be allowed to wait for their program to send a tow truck. That struck a cord with KSEV and its listeners and the next day someone on the pro-towing side was forced to called in to either Patrick's or Hendee's show and provide assurances that this was not the case.
My memory is not absolutely clear on the details, but I am fairly certain I remember the basics of those two interviews. If any readers remember that interview and the people who were interviewed, we would appreciate comments or emails helping clarify, or correct, those details.
The idea of rapid towing is great in theory, but the actual policy has some big kinks that need to be worked out:
Advocates for the poor pointed out that under the law, a car could be impounded if the driver could not immediately pay for the tow; to get their vehicle back, drivers would then have to pay not only the tow charge but storage fees for their car.
"The impact it will have on people who can least afford it is certainly an issue," said Houston Councilwoman Addie Wiseman, who voted against the measure. "And senior citizens traveling through Houston in recreational vehicles run the risk of having to pay $1,500 for a heavy tow fee if their mobile vacation homes break down. This ordinance is flawed in every sense of the word."
Two state lawmakers from Houston have talked to her about reviewing the measure after the Legislature convenes on Jan. 11, Wiseman said.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/29/04 12:48 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)
New Year's Eve babysitting/fundraising
KHOU-11 is running a story about a Friendswood softball team with a unique fundraising idea:
It happens every year. Parents put off confirming a baby-sitter until the night before New Year’s Eve, and end up ringing in the New Year with a bowl of popcorn and hours of Disney films.
This year, however, the Texas Eclipse girls softball team is helping parents welcome the New Year with friends and partygoers by offering baby-sitting from 6 p.m. Dec. 31 to 1 a.m. Jan. 1.
The girls softball team is based in Friendswood, but players come from all over Galveston County. Each year, the team holds a fund-raiser to help pay for travel expenses and registration fees to enter softball tournaments across the United States.
“Sometimes we host tournaments and garage sales,” said Robert Flores, team manager and father of one of the players. “This is our first time baby-sitting.”
Flores said the team is raising money to go to a national softball tournament in Denver, Colo., on July 4.
“At first we thought about baby-sitting for Christmas shoppers, but we couldn’t pull it together quick enough,” he said. “Then we thought maybe New Year’s. I called around and none of your day care-type places are even considering being open on New Year’s Eve, so I thought this might work.”
They'll be inundated. On New Year's Eve, babysitters are at a premium.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/29/04 11:35 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Contributions to Sontag obituary
Susan Sontag died yesterday and media outlets everywhere are offering tributes. The Chronicle chimes in with a piece written by Fritz Lanham. Sort of. At the end of Lanham's article is this:
The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Perhaps the Chronicle should have done what the Washington Times did and just say the story was from "combined dispatches"? With three media sources contributing to the Chronicle's story, the question should be: what exactly did Lanham contribute?
In a post on Sontag's death, Orrin Judd links to a Guardian news story on a plagiarism controversy that erupted over her novel, "In America." The Chronicle story doesn't mention this blemish, although the New York Times story does, toward the very end.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/29/04 11:20 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
28 December 2004
Cirque du Soleil arrives in Houston
KHOU-11 reports that Cirque du Soleil has arrived in Houston.
Shows begin on January 6.
More information about this unusual traveling circus can be found here.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/28/04 10:03 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
A wasteland of an editorial page
The Chronicle editorial page seems like such a wasteland much of the time.
One would think that the editorial page of the only major daily in the state's largest and the nation's fourth-largest city would be a powerful voice.
Instead, the regular columnists are dinosaur lefties and mediocre writers to boot, the "other" voice snippets are really just repetitive voices (echoes), the selection of syndicated columns is unimaginative, and the house editorials are frequently nonsensical.
And then there are the just-plain-bizarre editorials that appear, such as this one from one of the printing press managers:
Doesn't he realize that Houston's only become world class because of the rail?
Anyway, I guess this was the Chronicle's best effort at duplicating ttweak's approach to marketing Houston. It's not offensive (like some of their efforts). It's just not much of anything. And it shouldn't be what a great (or even good) newspaper does with its editorial page.
But we don't have a great (or even good) newspaper. We have the Chronicle. And we have an editorial page that's just a snooze.
That's where hyperlocal blogs (such as this one) come into play. We're still feeling our way through this little project, but obviously we're going to continue in 2005 with plenty of commentary you won't see on the Chron's editorial page, or in the tired Houston Press. Other local blogs will be providing plenty of commentary as well. And I hope to see more commentary from readers on the message board (such as the recent post from John Coby to a recent post on Tom DeLay). In short, the Houston blog community will be having a conversation about things that matter in our city.
We'll leave editorializing about the heretofore unexplored psychological satisfaction of park-and-ride commuting and offering leftovers to one's neighbors to the city's only newspaper.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/28/04 09:26 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (1)
Breaking news: Houston isn't like Pittsburgh
What do Pittsburghers (that's what the linked story calls them) think of Houston? Well, let's just say the author of this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story writes up Houston as a mixed bag:
Many aspects of Houston are as foreign to Pittsburgh as its 90-degree days in October. There are no zoning laws, for one thing. There are no income taxes, for another.
It's truly multicultural, with more than one-third of the population Hispanic, one-fourth of the population black. The city council has representation from those groups, as well as members from Chinese and Pakistani backgrounds. Women make up half the council.
People keep moving out from the city in all directions, commuting on increasingly congested highways to their energy and aerospace and health care jobs.
"Houston to a large extent epitomizes sprawl," said Robert Litke, director of planning and development for the city. "We are overwhelmingly an automobile-dominated society. But growth has enabled an awful lot of people -- minorities -- to get out of the ghetto or barrio and get into decent housing on cheap land in the suburbs, as long as you're willing to spend a little extra time in the car."
Plenty of former Pittsburghers view it as an open society, where enterprising newcomers are treated better than strangers are received in more clannish Western Pennsylvania. A few others, however, said neighbors don't go out of their way to talk to one another. It's one of the things lamented by Iris O'Rourke, 54, who intends to return to small-town life in Lawrence, Washington County, after two decades away.
"When I take food over to a neighbor, they think I'm weird. In Pennsylvania, that's what we do!" said O'Rourke, who left her hometown as a single mother with a few suitcases and $400 to jump-start life for her and her daughter.
All the Pittsburghers here seem to know other Pittsburghers who came and then decided to leave.
Maybe the author should have included a link to this, for skeptical Pittsburghers.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/28/04 01:38 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Metro must feed the light rail
There was a Metro-related story hidden away in the West U. regional "This Week" section of the Chronicle. It talks about the need for some kind of shuttle/bus service between the West University Place-Rice Village area and the Texas Medical Center, especially since Metro ended the No. 70 bus, which used to serve that area. The (not quite so) funny thing is that a $50,000 study will be conducted to determine how best to fill the gap left by the cancelled bus route, although local leaders say they already know what kind of transportation is needed, partly thanks to a study that was conducted several years ago. Good grief!
And just to top off the absurdity, there's this quote from Susan Young, president of something called the South Main Center Association:
"Metro is taking a look at all of its services in relation to light rail," Young said. "What are some ways to better feed that service? We think this is a great opportunity to create a circulator route that is a feeder route to the system."
That quote didn't come from a Metro official. Interesting. And now, according to this Susan Young, all of Metro's services will be reexamined to see how they can best "feed" the light rail. That's great. Because nothing says mobility solution like a 7.5 mile, fixed track train system, with a record breaking 71 collisions, and a $93 million budget shortfall.
UPDATE: Tom Kirkendall has, of course, some smart thoughts on the folly of public-financed rail systems:
Thus, as with publicly-financed stadiums, the scam of these publicly-financed rail systems lives on because the benefits of light rail are highly concentrated in a few interest groups such as elected officials, environmental groups, labor organizations, engineering and architectural firms, developers and regional businesses. On the other hand, the costs of such systems are widely dispersed among the general population. Consequently, the many who stand to lose will lose only a little while the few who stand to gain will gain a lot.
This is why a politically savvy minority can con a large group of taxpayers facing relatively small costs into voting for an uneconomic rail system based on perceived benefits such as helping the poor, reducing congestion and pollution, and fostering development. Even though these benefits are exaggerated, it is usually not worth the relatively small cost per taxpayer for most taxpayers to spend any substantial amount of time lobbying against the cost-ineffectiveness of the rail system. With political leadership usually more interested in reading tea leaves than balance sheets and pro forma operating statements, these uneconomic rail systems just continue to perpetuate like a bad virus.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/28/04 10:48 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chronicle had a heads up on TAKS cheating story
Almost at the end of today's letters to the editor is this one from Terry Abbott, HISD's press secretary, with some surprising information:
THE Houston Independent School District is very serious about maintaining academic integrity throughout the district.
When a Dallas Morning News reporter contacted HISD officials with the results of the newspaper's analysis of test scores of one small group of fifth-graders at one HISD elementary school, the district immediately reported itself to the Texas Education Agency and asked for a full-blown state investigation. HISD also immediately gave a detailed statement to the Houston Chronicle and released details of the findings of its preliminary investigation to the Chronicle within hours of its completion. Even before the Dallas Morning News published its story, HISD had contacted the Chronicle and given details of that internal investigation.
HISD could not possibly have acted any faster or more thoroughly in its response to even a hint of impropriety in its test scores.
The Chronicle's decision to rip HISD in its Dec. 23 editorial was off base. The editorial failed to acknowledge HISD's quick action and commitment to integrity.
TERRY ABBOTT
press secretary,
Houston Independent School District
Wow! The Chronicle had a heads up on the TAKS cheating story unearthed by the Dallas Morning News and still, still that paper had to use an AP story that soon changed into an AP-inspired, Chronicle-authored story? And that AP-inspired story ran for two days, online!
That should be downright embarrassing for Jeff Cohen.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/28/04 07:44 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
27 December 2004
Former Mayor Brown launches think tank, consultancy
Kristen Mack, who has been disappointing as the Chronicle's replacement for former political writer John Williams, nevertheless occasionally provides some humor.
Take last week's column on former mayor Lee P. Brown, who is wrapping up his year as politico in residence at Rice University.
According to Mack, Brown doesn't seem quite ready to abandon campus life:
He hopes to continue his relationship with Rice after next week and has founded the Lee P. Brown Center for Public Service that he hopes will be located on the campus.The nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank will provide "research and solutions" for local governments. He also envisions that it will provide experience for people, especially students, who are interested in local government and public service as a career.
"I couldn't find anything like that in the country," Brown said, citing federal government equivalents such as the Brookings Institution in Washington. "I think it fills a void. As mayor, I found myself dealing with different issues every 15 minutes. It would be nice for government to have somewhere they can call and share an issue and have research done."
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/27/04 10:25 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (5)
Chronicle congratulates itself for decrease in police shootings
On Sunday, the Chronicle ran a story about a decline in police shootings during 2004, in Harris County. The newspaper also took the opportunity to give itself a hearty pat on the back:
Activists and police leaders say the decline is due to policy changes, increased public awareness, the recent acquisition of Taser stun guns by several departments and the Houston Chronicle's midyear investigative reports on the issue.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/27/04 02:09 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Local firm developing adult stem cell treatments
The Courier (Montgomery County) has a story about a biopharmaceutical firm in The Woodlands that is developing treatments for heart disease and diabetes from adult stem cells:
PharmaFrontiers has an exclusive contract to develop stem cells that are created from monocyte white blood cells taken from adult blood donations, according to company founder Warren Lau.
[snip]
Stem cell treatment for diabetes and heart failure should be commercially available in five to six years, company CEO Dave McWilliams said.
"The technology actually allows us to change the cells to stem cells and then change them into any type of cell we want," he said. "This type of stem cell research hasn't been widely publicized."
[snip]
PharmaFrontiers chose to develop its license by studying effects on late-stage heart failure and diabetes for several reasons, McWilliams said.
One reason is because of the number of people who have the conditions. The other is because of ongoing studies using stem cells from bone marrow that have shown success in repairing heart tissue and another study in which the cells are used to get the body to begin producing insulin again, he said.
Adult stem cell research is showing tremendous promise in spite of the media's unwillingness to give it the publicity it deserves. The media is invested in embryonic stem cell research, which, aside from very serious ethical concerns, has shown little promise for all the hype it receives.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/27/04 09:05 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
26 December 2004
Houston newsmakers -- 2004
The Chronicle has a list of local newsmakers that it has decided were the most entertaining of 2004, and while the article carries the byline of Alison Cook, it has a suspiciously MeMo-like feel to it. Hmmmm.
Cook works an occasional dig into the article, even at the expense of some Chronicle sacred cows. Especially noteworthy is the small jab Cook takes at Metro's light rail crash rate -- she says there were a "gazillion" of them -- and the several jabs thrown at Tilman Fertitta. Here's a couple of those:
PARKING HIS EGO WAS HARDER: When Clay Walker played the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, Landry's tycoon Tilman Fertitta called ahead to ask where he could park his helicopter.
SOMEBODY'S GOTTA TAKE UP THE SIEGFRIED AND ROY SLACK: Tilman Fertitta moved heaven and city ordinances so he could install four rare white tigers in his downtown Aquarium complex, which he had certified as a zoo.
Some of it's funny, some of it's political, some of it's obscure, but mostly it's too long -- the list seems to go on forever. And that picture of Anna Nicole Smith -- on the front of the "star" section the picture is at least half a page tall. That's much more Anna Nicole Smith than many of us want to see. Why not run a giant picture of a white tiger instead?
UPDATE: Charles Kuffner notes that a correction is in order for one of the entries.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/26/04 06:14 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Perfect editorial material
Last week's Chronicle story about a new study showing Texas' parental notification laws could cost $44 million is perfect fodder for a Chronicle editorial today:
In a study designed to measure the impact of two Texas laws limiting the confidentiality of teen access to health care, Luisa Franzini, an assistant professor of management, policy and community health at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston, noted that 37 percent of girls who use reproductive health care services will stop doing so out of concern their parents would be informed.
Based on that number, Franzini and her team calculated Texas should expect 8,265 additional teen pregnancies, 5,372 teen births and 1,654 abortions. The economic impact could amount to $43.6 million per year in additional public health care costs. That figure does not take into account thousands of additional cases of sexually transmitted diseases in adolescents.
The whole study is based on hypotheticals, potentials and estimates, words frequently used in the report. The "37 percent" number used by Franzini is an estimate, as noted in the original Chronicle story, and that estimate is loosely based on some numbers taken from a previous Planned Parenthood affiliated study. Since Planned Parenthood has a big financial interest in getting its hands on taxpayer dollars, and that's a big part of what's really at stake here, we need to view the base number, and this entire study, with some skepticism.
The editors also fail to point out that two of the authors are associated with Planned Parenthood of Houston and that one of those Planned Parenthood authors is now Mayor White's health policy advisor.
What is frustrating is the stock the editors place in this hypothetical- and estimate-laced study. What if the Heritage Foundation produced a study showing that teens who made virginity pledges had lower levels of teen sex, which in turn means lower rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Of course the Chronicle editors would look upon such a study with disdain.
On the Chronicle's website, Cohen provides his own rationale behind the editorial pages:
As the 10th editor of The Houston Chronicle, I have asked our editorial writers to be unsparing critics and to not back down from creating discomfort for even the most powerful elements in this city. We should be skeptical. We should be aggressive. But, at the same time, we should be fair.
Skepticism was running low when this editorial was written.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/26/04 01:08 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Howard Hughes' continuing popularity
KTRK-13 is running an AP story on the continued fascination with Howard Hughes and his Houston gravesite:
Nearly three decades after his death April 5, 1976 on a plane from Acapulco, Mexico, to his native Houston, Hughes' grave at the base of a hill at an edge of Houston's 133-year-old Glenwood Cemetery remains a popular tourist site.
"People come in from out of town and come by here," said a cemetery official, who asked that his name not be disclosed. "It's a regular occurrence."
[snip]
Legend has it the granite tombstone, which carries the names and dates of births and deaths of Hughes and his parents, was commissioned by Hughes to be modeled after a key fob his father used to carry. The site, while distinctive, does not prominently display the Hughes name and is dwarfed by significantly more grandiose memorials elsewhere in the sprawling cemetery, where some 22,000 people are buried.
Cemetery officials are polite about directing visitors, acknowledging Hughes' presence but offering little else except to say seasonal flowers are planted regularly at the grave as part of special maintenance agreements provided to that site and others.
Hughes, born Christmas Eve 1905, was 72 when he died. An autopsy determined chronic renal disease as the cause of death. He was buried in what in 1976 was an $8,100 casket and $2,100 vault, according to probate court documents.
I would guess the new movie "The Aviator," will further add to the interest in Hughes.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/26/04 08:29 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
25 December 2004
Maybe White/Hurtt Could Put A Camera On Her house?
KTRK-13's Andy Cerota reports on a homeowner in southwest Houston who thinks the city of Houston is failing in its most basic obligation: public safety.
According to Cerota, Deidre Rasheed's southwest Houston home has been robbed and trashed four times in 45 days.
Now, she's giving in and planning on moving. But not before directing this towards municipal leaders:
Rasheed said, "No TV, cut wires. The police came -- didn't take fingerprints, didn't take any samples to see, to do any follow up investigation. They just left."
Rasheed wants more patrols in her neighborhood but understands that might be difficult since there's a shortage of officers working the streets. She blames city leaders for that -- arguing they've sacrificed citizen safety to balance the budget.
"The officers don't have that manpower," Rasheed admitted. "But at the same time, where does the buck stop? Who takes responsibility for this type of action within our government?"
As we've been pointing out for a while, HPD's ongoing manpower shortages have not been a priority for Mayor White and his Council. They continue to ignore the problem, declining to fund new cadet classes capable of resolving the shortages even as they find time and resources to expend on priorities such as Tasers and a new downtown park.
The city's only newspaper has not been interested in the HPD manpower issues (they have other priorities as well), and other media outlets (notably, KHOU-11, but now KTRK-13) have only nibbled around the edges.
Unfortunately, once Rasheed's misfortune becomes more widespread in the city and the major media discover this "problem," HPD's manpower shortages will be so acute that it will take several years of cadet classes to have an impact. That's why it's well past time for Mayor White and his Council to begin to deal with the problem.
Yes, we've been harping on HPD's manpower issues for a while now, and we'll likely continue. But, we're only a little blog, albeit one that some local media folks and pols read. In case those particular readers are wondering -- public safety is always a good story/issue. We're happy to give it to ya'll without credit, if it means a safer city. By all means, run with it!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/25/04 09:51 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chronicle: get the Christianity out of Christmas
Even on Christmas, the Chronicle editors can't help themselves:
This holiday season coincides with a renewed flicker of hope for a peace settlement in the Middle East. In the United States, however, contentious assertion of the dominance of Christianity in a pluralistic state runs counter to the Christmas spirit and reduces the store of good will and peace on Earth.
I had to read that several times and I am still befuddled. The dominance of Christianity runs counter to the Christmas spirit?
Here's the definition of Christianity:
The Christian religion, founded on the life and teachings of Jesus.
Here's the definition of Christmas:
A Christian feast commemorating the birth of Jesus.
If Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, how can strongly asserting (or contentiously, as the editors want to put it) one's Christian faith run counter to Christmas, which is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. This makes my head hurt.
All I can come up with is the editors don't like Christians, but that's not really a news flash.
At the end of the editorial, there's more blathering about mean Christians ruining the holiday season for others (how bizarre is that?!), but I am going to ignore the editors' desire further to slam Christians on this most special day.
Merry Christmas!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/25/04 07:32 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
24 December 2004
Legislature takes aim at White/Hurtt traffic cameras
The Chronicle's Ron Nissimov reports that the White/Hurtt plan to boost municipal revenues via automated citation-dispensing red light traffic cameras may not outlast this session of the Texas legislature.
Democrats and Republicans alike seem determined to kill the practice:
State Rep. Gary Elkins of Houston, a Republican who led opposition to camera enforcement of red lights in the 2003 Legislature, already has filed a bill to kill the ordinance council passed this week. At least two Democratic lawmakers, Sylvester Turner and Garnet Coleman, also oppose it.
[snip]
Elkins said he is worried that vendors of camera systems, who are frequently paid a portion of ticket revenues, will manipulate the timing of traffic lights to issue more tickets and maximize profits.
Such accusations were leveled against vendors in California lawsuits that led to the dismissal of hundreds of tickets.
[snip]
The Democratic legislators voiced privacy concerns.
"There's been a proliferation of cameras to monitor people, particularly by cameras controlled by the government," Coleman said. "What (state) legislators make decisions on and what the city makes decisions on are totally different. We as state legislators look out for things like privacy rights."
Mayor White responds as follows:
"If the people in Austin don't want us to use technology, then we'd be happy if the state gave us more money to hire more officers," White said.
As we frequently point out here, HPD's manpower problems have been nowhere on Mayor White's list of priorities. It's not a matter of funding from the legislature. The Mayor and his Council have found ways to fund a big Taser purchase, and have found ways to boost municipal revenues by expanding meter coverage and hours downtown (they've also spent time on a new Central Park and an African American Museum). In other words, they've found ways to spend money on questionable priorities, and they've found (questionable) ways to raise new money.
Mayor White would like new revenues from traffic lights, yes. That's the priority here, under the rubric of the "threat" posed by red light runners. One doubts that Mayor White is going to convince the legislature the reason he and his council have thus far neglected to fund new HPD cadet classes has anything to do with red light cameras.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/24/04 09:16 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
The demolition of the Dome?
Tom Kirkendall, over at Houston's Clear Thinkers, points out this Richard Connelly article about the Astrodome problem:
Except for the occasional scholastic playoff game, the 39-year-old Eighth Wonder of the World is all but abandoned. Even the religious revivals like the annual Jehovah Witnesses' convention have been seduced by the glamour and luxury of Reliant Stadium, just 30 yards away. The Dome is reduced to hosting dinner parties for nostalgic Houstonians on its floor, even a bar mitzvah or two.
The Oilers' locker room is office space; the Astros' is used for random storage. There is what appears to be an inch-thick coating of dust on the ceiling speakers; cleaning them would require rappelling down from the roof, and no one thinks it's worth it.
A skeleton crew of maintenance workers roams the murky hallways, checking lights and pipes and making sure the Dome is ready for the occasional onetime event like the filming of the movie Friday Night Lights. It doesn't happen too often, but the building has to be maintained just in case.
And doing so costs Harris County taxpayers $1.5 million a year. That may not seem like a big deal for a government entity with a billion-dollar budget, but $1.5 million could buy a lot of library books and after-school programs.
No politician in these parts wants to be the first to call for the demolition of the Dome, at least not until it's proved beyond any doubt -- and any should be underlined and boldfaced -- that the building can't be renovated for other uses.
Kirkendall also offers his opinion about what should be done with the Dome, and it's not this.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/24/04 10:27 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Santa's not visiting one Pasadena home this year
I must admit I have threatened my cherubs with the "No Santa Claus for little kids who can't behave" line, but thankfully I've never had to actually follow through on it. The Chronicle has the story of a Pasadena father who is following through:
There's not much laughter today at the home of a Pasadena information technology specialist who has decided to auction off his sons' Christmas presents — and possibly dismantle the family tree — because the youngsters, ages 9, 11 and 15, have been naughty, not nice.
"One thing we teach around this house," said the man, who asked that his name not be revealed, "is that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people."
In a Christmas context, bad people get switches or lumps of coal — or lose the presents they want the most.
"BAD CHILDREN get no Nintendo DS. Santa will skip our house this year," the man announced in his eBay posting to sell three DS systems with PictoChat and Metroid. Also offered were three games for use with the system. "No kidding. Three undeserving boys have crossed the line. Tonight we sat down and showed them what they WILL NOT get for Christmas this year. I'll be taking the tree down tomorrow."
Wow!
Now I am going to wave this story in front of my precious children and I expect an exceptionally well-behaved Christmas Eve.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/24/04 06:20 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
23 December 2004
Conroe artist visits the White House
Here's a nice story about a local artist whose Christmas ornaments were chosen to hang on a tree in the White House:
Out of the 500 ornaments decorated by artists across the nation, 350 were chosen for the tree. Both of Carter's made the cut. She, along with her two daughters, headed to D.C.
The first thing Carter got to do at the White House was chat briefly with Laura Bush.
"She is absolutely beautiful and very, very gracious," Carter said. "I felt sorry for her standing in the receiving line that long, talking to all those people. But when you see her, she concentrates on you and makes you feel very special."
From there, Carter and over 300 fellow artists moved into the Blue Room to see the tree.
"Luckily, there was a book there to help you locate your ornament, because the Blue Room tree is 18 feet tall," Carter said. "But mine were hung low enough that I found them and was able to take pictures of them."
It would have been great to see this story in the "star" section, instead of the regional "This Week" section.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/23/04 11:29 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
An editorial on TAKS cheating
If you are interested, the Chronicle editors have written an editorial about the TAKS cheating uncovered by the Dallas Morning News. This story broke last Sunday and it took the Chronicle editors four days to comment on it.
Come on, Houston Examiner!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/23/04 08:52 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Not your daddy's town
The Brazosport News points to recent Houston radio ratings, and notes the decline of country music in our fair city. Onetime country powerhouse KILT-100.3 is now just twelfth in the ratings.
In another post, Banjo Jones comments on the Philip Anschutz/Examiner moves in various cities.
So, inquiring minds want to know if Banjo Jones moved back to Texas to head up a new Anschutz newspaper and give Jeff Cohen a good swift kick.
And if so, will he bring on board a few blogHOUSTONites to help him out?
UPDATE: Banjo emails that the highest rated station is actually ninth. Still, that's quite a fall from our Urban Cowboy days.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/23/04 12:19 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (0)
Future competition for the Chronicle?
Kevin Roderick at LA Observed points to a Denver Post article that reports investor Philip Anschutz has filed to reserve the name "The Examiner" in 69 cities across the country. A spokesman didn't want to share much more:
"It was a prudent business move to protect The Examiner trademark broadly," Monaghan said. "We don't want to talk about our business strategy. But things are going very well in San Francisco, and it seemed prudent to protect the value of the trademark."
Roderick observes,
Anschutz has supported some conservative causes, is quite religious and is trying to single-handedly clean up the culture of Hollywood—this move raises the question of whether he's planning a new chain of right-wing papers.
We can only hope so. Quite a few monopoly dailies could use the competition, including our own Houston Chronicle.
And yes, Anschutz has reserved the name Houston Examiner.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/23/04 12:00 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (1)
22 December 2004
911 center moves up list of priorities
Anne Linehan has been blogging about the ongoing problems with Houston's Emergency Center (most recently here and here).
Now that priorities like Tasers, ticket dispensing cameras mounted on traffic signals, additional downtown parking meters, and an expensive purchase of land for a downtown park are out of the way, the Mayor's office seems to be turning its attention to the city's not-always-reliable 911 emergency management system.
We hear that a representative from downtown will be chatting about the problem with Chris Baker on KTRH-740 today, around 4pm.
We're glad to hear public safety is moving up the list of priorities downtown. At least we hope to hear that when we tune in later.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/22/04 01:58 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
Houston Food Bank receives big donation
The Houston Food bank has received a big Christmas present -- two years of electricity:
Calpine Corporation (NYSE: CPN - News) is brightening the holidays and New Year for the Houston Food Bank and its member agencies by gifting the nonprofit organization with Calpine's first in-kind donation of electricity in the United States. The independent power producer will provide all of the electricity to the Houston Food Bank's headquarters from its network of 11 Texas power plants beginning December 1, 2004, through December 31, 2006.
Valued at approximately $6,000 per month, the annual donation of close to $72,000 will be the largest single charitable donation Calpine will make in 2005.
"We are in awe of this tremendous gift from Calpine Corporation, and its value goes way beyond its monetary one," says Houston Food Bank President and CEO Brenda Kirk. "This donation will touch the lives of hundreds of thousands of needy residents in the Gulf Coast region with a gift of hope and help in the form of nutritious meals. This donation allows us to take funding earmarked for utilities and redirect it to feeding the hungry in Houston and 17 additional counties across Texas. We estimate that Calpine's donation will allow us to provide more than 2 million additional meals to those in need."
Demand for electricity is around-the-clock at the Houston Food Bank headquarters, a 73,000-square-foot warehouse facility that also houses the organization's businesses offices and features 151,000 cubic feet of refrigeration and freezer space for storage of nonperishable items previous to distribution. The Houston Food Bank's distinction as the national leader among food banks in the distribution of fresh fruits and vegetables also makes this massive refrigeration space a necessity.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/22/04 01:05 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chronicle editors discuss "predictable" HEC problems
Today the Chronicle editors decided to give us their wisdom regarding the Houston Emergency Center mess. I suppose they decided that since they already tackled the pressing issue of Swaziland's King Mswati III, a looming local disaster deserved some attention.
The editorial is basically a rehashing of facts that have been in the local media for several weeks now, but this paragraph is interesting:
The problems with HEC were predictable and predicted. Oversight of the project lacked continuity. Initiated by Mayor Lee Brown's director of public safety, Don Hollingsworth, the project was passed off to Brown's chief of staff, Oliver Spellman, then to Al Haines, chief administrative officer, and finally to John Bales, who succeeded Hollingsworth as director of public safety. The people who negotiated the deal left it to others to make the facility work.
I would love to see the Chronicle post all its editorials, from the time the dispatch center was being proposed and debated, that predicted problems. Maybe the editors did sound the warning bells back then, but I would still like to see those editorials, because the editors have a habit of pontificating in hindsight.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/22/04 11:58 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Pallilo beats Infinity in court, returns to air today
Sports talker Charlie Pallilo's old employers temporarily took him off the air yesterday, as Pallilo had to respond to their court challenge.
According to David Barron's reporting for the Chronicle, state District Judge Randy Wilson denied a request from Infinity Broadcasting that would have forced Pallilo off his new station. Pallilo will return to the air today.
Pallilo's debut on Monday for the new KBME-790 (Sports Animal) featured a number of interviews with local sports personalities, and the thoughtful commentary for which Pallilo is known.
With the legal challenge settled, perhaps now Infinity can work on improving the talent on its own sports talk station, KILT-610.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/22/04 08:57 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (2)
21 December 2004
Council approves traffic cameras
Council today approved yet another of Mayor White's priorities, the generation of new revenues for the city via an automated red light/traffic camera system.
Interestingly, the KHOU-11 coverage indicates that road sensors will be deployed, meaning road construction and delays. That's a curious way to "get Houston moving," to borrow from the seemingly forgotten priorities enunciated in the Mayor's last election campaign.
So far, Mayor White has had few problems getting council to sign off on an agenda that has included Tasers, enriching downtown developers to create a new Central Park, enhancing municipal revenues with new downtown parking meters and expanded hours, reconfiguring the city's pension plan with some unusual arrangements regarding the city's convention center hotel, and enhancing municipal revenues via cameras at traffic lights. The only major initiative that Council has forced the Mayor to back down on was his proposed African American museum, which will almost certainly make another appearance down the road. Neither the Mayor nor his Council have, thus far, seemed interested in addressing HPD's ongoing manpower concerns.
COVERAGE: Ron Nissimov/Chronicle, KTRK-13, KHOU-11.
RELATED: Red-light running, from a Houston officer's view (Hans Marticiuc, Chronicle)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/21/04 10:27 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
Space Station will make a Christmas appearance over Houston
The International Space Station will be visible for Houston-area residents early Christmas morning, according to this AP story on KHOU-11:
People who wake up early Christmas morning might get a glimpse of something special in the sky—the International Space Station.
The station will be visible to those living in cities such as San Francisco, New York and Houston during Saturday’s predawn hours. NASA said today that the station will fly by at five miles a second, meaning it may only be visible for a minute or less in some places.
Weather permitting, the space station will also be visible here several days next week.
To see when the station is visible over Houston click here: Space station sightings over Houston.
The Space Station and Santa Claus. Early Saturday morning will be very busy!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/21/04 07:50 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Tom DeLay intervenes in rail dispute
Joe Stinebaker reports that a compromise has been reached that will head off proposed plans to build a new rail line on the east end.
The compromise was brokered by local leaders, with every indication that Representative Tom DeLay (R) was instrumental in getting the deal done:
[Houston Mayor Bill] White and others credited DeLay, the House majority leader, with pushing the two railroads to the negotiating table and imposing a deadline to reach agreement.
Julio Del Carpio, an East End businessman and chairman of the Harrisburg Development Corp., said he appreciated efforts by White and other local officials to resolve the issue. But, he said, he doubted local residents could win out over the interests of the railroads until DeLay reversed his earlier position to stay out of the debate."It wasn't until Tom DeLay changed his mind that finally they managed to make some changes," Del Carpio said. "But if Tom DeLay had not done anything, it would have been impossible for the city of Houston to try to make such a drastic change."
Del Carpio, who appeared at Monday's news conference to thank White and DeLay for their efforts, said the issue united all residents of the affected areas.
[snip]
Another Clear Lake opponent, John Cobarruvias, said he is happy with the agreement but that local opponents had proposed the same thing to DeLay three years ago.
"It's great what they did," he said. "They just should have done it three years ago and saved us the money to fight it."
The guess here is that we're going to see Representative DeLay engaged in more such activities in the district. While he was never in any danger of losing his last election (barring an indictment/conviction), his margin of victory ran short of the district's potential. Smart politicians (not to be confused with, say, Talmadge Heflin) understand when it's time to shore up things locally.
Whatever the case, the district benefits from his attention in this matter, and the House Majority Leader benefits from the positive press.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/21/04 06:41 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (2)
Mayor White's Planned Parenthood connection
One of today's Chronicle editorials addresses the way to improve health care in Houston and Harris County. Mayor White's health policy advisor is quoted, but we don't think the editors provided readers with the proper context about this particular advisor.
Houston Mayor Bill White's director of health policy, Elena Marks, likes the cautious approach the study group has taken to renovating countywide health care: "I think their idea of letting this council work through it is the right approach. It's not clear that you ought to immediately merge all of the services or never merge any of them."
Marks says she's excited by the thrust of the recommendations "to make some fundamental changes in the way we deliver the full continuum of services from the public health end all the way to the trauma end."
A Chronicle story on Saturday told us that Marks is a volunteer at Planned Parenthood, and it appears she is actually a bit more than just a volunteer -- she is (or was) board chair [sic] of Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas, Inc. It is unclear if she is currently board chair (a piece of furniture?) or if that was in the past.
Can you imagine the horror and outrage if someone who was a member of the Texas Right to Life committee was named Mayor White's director of health policy? The Chronicle editors would come unglued! Andrea Georgsson would demand endless editorials screaming about this obvious sign of encroaching theocracy!
Mayor White has apparently known Marks for awhile. This link to a Houston Planned Parenthood newsletter has an article and pictures from a 2001 Planned Parenthood "gala" (does anyone else find that offensive?), and Bill White and his wife were listed as party hosts. If you continue to the second page, you'll see a picture of Elena Marks at the "gala."
And how are things at our local Planned Parenthood these days? Well, the latest newsletter has a "20 Year Reflection" report from its CEO. One of the successes he points to is:
Abortion procedures: 2,882 vs. 6,876. This growth in clients is thanks to our Fannin and Bryan staff, our medical director and other staff physicians.
Thanks, indeed, to the staff: the number of dead babies has increased. Things are looking good at Planned Parenthood of Houston!
Trying to find some biographical information on Marks isn't easy. Her listing on the mayor's website is, uh, short:
Elena MARKS is Director of Health Policy.
Oh, okay. Any medical background? Who knows, but she does have a Juris Doctorate (a very smart person tells me that means she's a law school graduate, which is very important for a health policy advisor.). There is a mention of her in this article that says she is the city’s first health policy director and that it is a ($1 per year) volunteer position, and this 1995 Houston Press column lists her as Planned Parenthood's legal adviser, at that time.
Do you think Marks brings her pro-abortion stance to work with her? Or do you think she tries to be objective, looking at health issues from a pro-life position, also? I think we can guess.
And no wonder the Chronicle editors like Mayor White -- in this case, Planned Parenthood is the tie that binds.
UPDATE 1: A blogHOUSTON reader dug deeper and found the notation "MPH" next to Marks' name on the author information page of the anti-parental notification study. That stands for master of public health. Thank you for the heads up, blogHOUSTON reader. Now we need the mayor's office to note Marks' qualifications on the mayor's website. Houstonians have a right to know who is advising the mayor.
UPDATE 2: David Benzion, an upstanding gentleman doing his best to reign in the motley group over at Lone Star Times, looked at Marks' political donation history, and what he found is not surprising.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/21/04 09:39 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (9)
Fixing HEC
KHOU-11 has more details about the consulting firm that will be examining the Houston Emergency Center:
MITRE, an independent not-for-profit agency, is investigating the problems at the HEC.The cost of this six-month assessment is about $180,000. Officials say the money will come from a yearly maintenance fee.
The city hopes that the company will be able to assess the systems, technologies and personnel at the HEC, then come up with a plan to fix the problems.
[snip]
MITRE says it has worked with other 911 systems and should be able to come up with a plan to help get Houston's system in shape.
"I think the bulk of the work we are going to do will be in a three-month time period. We will conduct interviews, look at the system, do our assessment and make the appropriate suggestions and recommendations to try and make improvements as necessary, " says Bobby Blount of MITRE.
City officials say while fixing the HEC is a priority, it's too soon to tell how much money it will take to fix it, or how long the process will take.
Obviously we hope that the people of MITRE can come up with a way to salvage the system. That last paragraph, about how much it will cost, is problematic. The people who sold the city this system need to pay for any fixes, since the fine citizens of Houston have already shelled out $53 million for a system that doesn't work the way it was promised. Last night, KRIV-26 had a report on this where the reporter quoted a city councilman saying the city would have to look into the developer paying to fix whatever is in need of fixing. I should say so!
UPDATE: KTRK-13 also covers this story.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/21/04 06:18 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
20 December 2004
610 Loop/I-10 ramp to open early
Galleria-area commuters should welcome the following news from TXDOT:
The I-610 southbound to I-10 eastbound direct connector ramp is scheduled to be opened by 5 AM, Tuesday, December 21. The opening of the ramp marks the successful and early completion of the contractor's milestone. The duration of the closure was planned for 24 days with a maximum 10 day incentive bonus for opening early. The early opening date to get the full 10 day incentive was December 23; however Williams Brothers has completed the necessary work in the area to shave off another two days to open the ramp tomorrow morning, December 21. The bonus that will be paid to the contractor is $50,000.00 (equal to $5,000.00 x 10 days).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/20/04 10:08 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
An editorial from left field
The Chronicle editorial page is in rare form today.
After its bit of revisionism concerning the pension plan, it moves on to tackle a topic that has been troubling Houstonians for some time now:
Unlike the newspaper's last big editorial foray into international politics, the editorialist does not refer to any nonexistent treaties this time (a mistake that still has not been corrected).
I can't help but wonder which member of the editorial board fancies himself (or herself) such a scholar of international politics.
If anyone down at 801 Texas Avenue (yeah, we know you read us) knows which member writes these "international" editorials and would like to pass along that info anonymously, we'd be grateful. Just click on my name at the bottom of this post and send away!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/20/04 09:55 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Pension plan revisionism at the Chronicle
Today, the Chronicle runs a seemingly sensible editorial that lauds "good guy" Mayor White's plans to abolish the generous "Group C" time accrual provisions in the city's pension plan:
Few City Hall insiders paid attention in 1999 when the head of the municipal employee pension board and former Mayor Lee Brown's chief administrative officer, Al Haines, went to Austin to lobby legislators to change pension rules. The subsequent bill created an exclusive Group C category allowing the pension fund executive director and high-ranking city bureaucrats and department heads to receive double credit for every year served. The credits would be applied toward a maximum pension of 90 percent of their salary after 20 years.
As the Chronicle's Dan Feldstein later reported, that obscure law resulted in a lucrative gain for Haines; his successor, former City Attorney Anthony Hall; and other city administrators. When Haines left the city in the waning months of Brown's tenure in 2003, his pension had jumped from $36,000 a year to $103,000. It's a case of a bureaucrat negotiating a deal that just happened to provide himself some well-funded golden years.
It's a shame the Chronicle has just now decided to cover the shenanigans that took place in the Brown Administration.
It would have been nice if the newspaper had shown such interest five years ago. Contrary to the Chronicle's revisionism, the pension plan revisions were hardly "obscure." What was obscure was the Chronicle's coverage. It was virtually nonexistent.
That's why it's hard to take what follows seriously:
It's unfortunate that council members didn't raise more questions when Haines and others were busy pushing the perk. Mayor White's call for greater transparency in pension fund transactions aims at curing the root cause of this ill-conceived and self-serving boondoggle.
What is most unfortunate is that the city's monopoly newspaper did not raise questions on its editorial pages about Mayor Brown's questionable leadership when he was in office, or provide readers of its news pages enough information to reach informed conclusions about the pension plan (or numerous other issues). Instead, the newspaper was a big booster for Mayor Brown, endorsing him repeatedly and generally giving him a pass on its news pages, which frequently celebrated his "world class" plans for the city.
As I've written elsewhere, the pension plan problems that Mayor White "discovered" earlier this year might not have been a discovery if the city's only newspaper hadn't been busy with other matters (such as rail and Lee Brown boosterism).
Leaving aside the Chron's effort at revisionism, the editorial is spot on in urging the city to end the Group C benefit. The sooner the better.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/20/04 09:32 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Will Laurence Simon still talk to us little people?
Time Magazine has a list of ten things its writers have learned about blogs this year. This one is the best, in my opinion:
Pets Have Blogs Too
It started as an in-joke among feline-friendly bloggers: why not post pictures of their cats every Friday afternoon? Friday catblogging became a hit, and soon even NASA was playing along by posting pictures of the Cat's Eye nebula.GO TO: carnivalofthecats.com
That's Laurence Simon's baby and while he doesn't run the Carnival every week, he does manage the feline frenzy. And that's saying something!
It's been a big year for the Carnival of the Cats. First was the New York Times catblogging story, and now Time Magazine puts the Carnival in its big year-end issue. Very exciting! Do you think the Chronicle will ever discover what's in its own backyard?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/20/04 02:23 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
Mayor focuses on the really important local issues
Mayor White's office issued a press release saying that the land acquisition for Houston's own Central Park is complete:
“This is a significant transaction that will leave a lasting legacy for future generations of Houstonians - a premier urban park,” said Mayor White. “The role of the private-sector funding organizations in helping the city seize this unique opportunity cannot be overstated. I know everyone in Houston shares our gratitude.”
A combination of gifts and pledges totaling $28.5 million are already committed to the project from the Brown Foundation, Houston Endowment Inc., the Kinder Foundation, the Wortham Foundation, the Cullen Foundation and the Fondren Foundation.
“This has been a real Houston can-do project,” said Mayor White, who also thanked Crescent Real Estate Equities Co, which reduced substantially the selling price of the land, and Greg Armstrong, who, as an independent adviser to the mayor, led the efforts to acquire the land. “This would not have happened without the leadership and commitment of Greg Armstrong, as well as the foundations’ generosity.”
I suspect Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. still made out okay, in spite of the mayor's hint that the company had a philanthropic moment.
The end of the press release says this:
Construction of the park is expected to be completed by late 2007. The park is expected to complement other downtown amenities, including the Convention Center, and to spur retail and residential development, strengthening the city's tax base.
In addition, the park should be a nice place for Houston's homeless to hang out.
UPDATE: Here's another press release, with some details of the land acquisition between Crescent Real Estate and the city of Houston:
Dec. 20, 2004--Crescent Real Estate Equities Company (NYSE: CEI) today announced it has finalized the sale of 5.3 acres of non-income producing land to the City of Houston, which was previously disclosed as being under contract on October 19, 2004. The land is adjacent to the 5.5 acres located in front of downtown's George R. Brown Convention Center that Crescent sold to the City at the end of 2002. This transaction allows the City to consolidate its land in order to develop an urban park of more than 13 acres. The sale generated proceeds, net of selling costs, of approximately $23 million, or $100 per square foot, and were used to pay down the Company's revolving credit facility.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/20/04 01:44 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
DMN continues with TAKS cheating scandal
The Dallas Morning News has another story related to the TAKS cheating scandal, this time going through the ways cheating can occur and the ways officials can detect or prevent cheating, which obviously isn't being done. (The Chronicle is still running its AP-inspired story.)
Here's an example of the official leadership thinking at the Texas Education Agency:
"Typically, school districts police themselves," said Lisa Chandler, the TEA's director of assessment. "We trust educators to educate our kids."
[snip]
Ms. Chandler said she refuses to react cynically when TAKS scores improve by leaps and bounds.
"It may be an optimistic viewpoint, but it's also a necessary viewpoint," she said. "We can't afford to lose five years in a child's educational career. They have to have improvement. Can we expect quick turnarounds? We have to. We can't let those kids not be successful."
The Texas accountability system rewards schools and districts for high test scores. Principals and teachers often see their careers advance if their students score well. That can leave few incentives for educators to be vigorous about pursuing cheaters.
So, for the TEA, even if test scores improve so dramatically as to defy logic, it's okay, because improving test scores is everything. Students actually learning is not.
Boy that makes me mad. I am not against testing at all. I think testing is necessary, but it should be done honestly so we can see if students really are learning. Wildly improving scores should be a huge red flag, and if administrators and officials are unwilling to notice those scores and check them out, then what good are they? They certainly aren't earning their big, fat paychecks.
But Ms. Chandler isn't done with her inspiring words:
Ms. Chandler said the agency is willing to consider toughening its stance. It is considering setting erasure thresholds for schools that, if exceeded, would trigger investigations.
TEA officials also said that the agency is considering adding a check similar to The News' analysis: searching for schools with wide swings in average scale scores.
Considering? Considering? Don't strain yourself with all the considering, Ms. Chandler. After all, it's only about the education of Texas' children. This is why parents are getting fed up with public schools. The people in charge are mainly interested in protecting their own jobs, not in actually educating our children.
And here's a well-earned dig at the TEA and (in my opinion) the Chronicle:
The newspaper's [DMN] analysis was performed entirely with publicly available test scores obtained from the TEA, using basic statistical techniques. The agency could perform a similar analysis on its own, but its leaders choose not to.
If the scores are improving, then the TEA is happy. Why, that must mean Texas public education is in good shape! So, no. The agency would not be interested in investigating red flags.
And shame on the Chronicle for not digging this up. But as we know, the Chronicle does its best reporting when a press release comes out to alert the editors that some news is happening. Since the TEA didn't helpfully send out a press release about the cheating, the Chronicle couldn't write a story on it.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/20/04 08:15 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
19 December 2004
Press discovers "olds"
In the most recent issue of the tired Houston Press, Richard Connelly discovers that Galveston has received acclaim for being so average demographically.
At least one blog pointed out that Galveston news a month and a half ago.
Once upon a time, Connelly used to tweak the Chronicle by suggesting they check with the Press more frequently for their story ideas (frequently rewrites of earlier Press stories). Bloggers could say the same to Press writers these days.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/19/04 02:37 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (0)
Doesn't Robison have something in Austin to write about?
The Chron's Austin news bureau chief is acting as Mayor White's PR man at the newspaper again this week, rambling once more in favor of cameras at traffic lights.
The "argument" doesn't go much beyond last week's effort, which effectively said "red light runners are bad, and the city should go after them."
But Robison does concede one point to opponents, even as he takes shots at them because they might be conservatives:
What's wrong with the city raising money, to be used for public needs, from people who willingly endanger other people on the road?
Here's what's wrong -- a little thing called accountability. The private contractor has an incentive to raise revenues, and the city wants those revenues -- for what? Nobody has bothered to answer that question, because they all insist this is a safety issue (as I've pointed out before, when politicians say it's not about the money, of course it's about the money). There's all sorts of potential for mischief when our city officials engage in public-private partnerships, as those of us who have lived here for a while understand quite well. Since Mr. Robison spends so much of his time in Austin, he may not realize that. Maybe he should be writing pro-camera editorials for the Austin American Statesman and telling Austinites how to raise more money for their city? Except that newspaper tends to have better taste on its editorial page.
Further, since the paranoid Austin bureau chief imagines a right-wing conspiracy against him, here's an unlikely ally of that conspiracy:
"This is a case of the city looking for money, and they're looking for the money in the wrong way," said ACLU attorney Randall Kallinan. "No study has shown that the safety is increased with red light cameras."
Of course it's about the money.
Robison concludes with another condescending lesson in American constitutionalism:
A popular misconception to the contrary, we don't even have an unrestricted, constitutional right to drive, much less to ignore basic rules of traffic safety.
You mean the Chronicle editors who embrace the constitutional privacy penumbras that protect the "right" to kill fetuses do not embrace the logical extension of said penumbras to traffic cameras? I'm so very disappointed in their selective embrace of constitutional fiat!
All joking aside, here's something for Robison to chew on: citizens do have a right to oppose bad public policy, policy that is designed to further liberal ends of expanding municipal government by raising revenues that are not earmarked for any particular purpose, and is presented under the guise of public safety. And even citizens who might be Republicans (or -- shock -- ACLU members!) enjoy that right, no penumbras necessary.
You would think the Austin news bureau chief might have something in Austin to write about, especially as the upcoming legislative session approaches. Maybe he was busy Kwanzaa shopping, and it was just easier to write a column belittling the people who sent him emails than come up with anything more substantive.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/19/04 10:25 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (1)
DMN beats Chron on important education news
The Dallas Morning News has two stories of interest, relating to public schools. The first questions the dramatic improvements some traditionally low-rated schools have made in TAKS testing:
A Dallas Morning News data analysis has uncovered strong evidence of organized, educator-led cheating on the TAKS test in dozens of Texas schools – and suspicious scores in hundreds more.
[snip]
The News' findings have led to cheating inquiries in three Texas school districts, including the state's two largest, Dallas and Houston. One of the schools under investigation is a National Blue Ribbon School that a year ago was touted by federal officials as an example of top academic achievement.
[snip]
Take Sanderson Elementary, a school in a poor Houston area.
In 2003, after years of mediocre performance, it reached what has traditionally been the pinnacle for American schools: The U.S. Department of Education named Sanderson a Blue Ribbon School because of rapid improvement in its test scores.
But the News' analysis raises questions about the validity of Sanderson's TAKS performance, particularly in fifth-grade math.
Sanderson's fourth-graders scored extremely poorly on the math TAKS test. Their average scale score was so low that it ranked Sanderson in the bottom 2 percent of the state: No. 3,173 out of 3,227 schools.
That's roughly what might be expected from a school where 98 percent of the student body is poor enough to qualify for free or reduced lunches. Hundreds of research studies have found that student poverty is the single most important factor in student academic achievement.
But Sanderson's fifth-graders had astonishing success on the math test. They had the highest scale scores of any school in Texas, beating every magnet school, every wealthy suburban school and every high-performing school in the state.
Sanderson didn't just finish No. 1. No other school in the state was even close. In scale-score points, the distance between Sanderson and the No. 2 school was as large as the gap between No. 2 and No. 116. More than 90 percent of Sanderson's fifth-graders got perfect or near-perfect scores.
Uh oh.
It sure would be nice to see this kind of reporting out of the Chronicle.
UPDATE 1: The Chronicle now has an AP story up, on the probe into TAKS cheating.
UPDATE 2: The Chronicle did that "poof" thing again, where it replaces a wire story with a Chronicle-authored story. The Chronicle doesn't believe both stories can coexist, apparently, so poof! No more AP story. That "poof" thing drives blogHOUSTON crazy. Anyway, the link in UPDATE 1 now goes to the Chronicle-authored story, and we'll use the term "Chronicle-authored" loosely, since much of the information is from the AP story, with a few quotes and a bit of new information thrown in. Here's the AP story the Chronicle used earlier, from USA Today. The Chronicle is truly a piece of work.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/19/04 09:45 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
Baby steps for the D.C. bureau
Gebe Martinez has a decent column on House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R) in today's Chronicle that is a step up from what usually comes from the Chron on DeLay, in that it's not simply a "bad guy" profile.
For those who don't understand (or just hate to admit) DeLay's popularity among his Republican colleagues, here are a couple of useful excerpts:
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/19/04 09:33 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
New teachers are ready for winter break
The Chronicle has a nice story on two first-year, Houston teachers and how they are adjusting to the demands of teaching:
Now they understand why teachers covet their two-week winter break.
Halfway through their first year as Houston teachers, Daryl Grantham and Leonardo Elvikas have been worn down by 12-hour days, chatty students, night college and, in Grantham's case, a newborn daughter.
"I need to recuperate, lick my battle wounds, plan and get ready for Round 2," said Grantham, an eighth-grade science teacher at Pin Oak Middle School in Bellaire.
[snip]
To gauge how Grantham's life has changed since the school year began in August, look at his waistline.
"When I first started, I was about 260. I'm down to 225," he said while grading papers minutes before the first bell on a recent morning. "The teacher down the hall calls it the ACP (Alternative Certification Program) diet. I call it the teaching diet."
Grantham said he can count on one hand the number of times he's eaten lunch since coming to Pin Oak. Instead, he spends his lunch period grading and preparing lesson plans.
Grantham's classroom also has undergone a transformation since the start of the year. Lab tables that once were crammed together to seat groups of eight students are now separated for no more than four.
"Eight to a table tended to lead to too much conversation," Grantham said.
Grantham, a former University of Houston football player, puts on his game face when the bell rings, sending teenagers streaming toward their lockers.
"Here comes the herd," he said.
The whole story is a great read.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/19/04 08:32 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
Synchronizing downtown traffic signals
In today's Chronicle story on Metro's belabored traffic light-linking system there is this paragraph about Mayor White's plan to synchronize Houston traffic lights:
After his election a year ago, Mayor Bill White made it clear he wasn't going to wait for Metro to complete the RCTSS [Regional Computerized Traffic Signal System] before putting some of its components to work. The mayor's first initiative after taking office in January was laying out a yearlong effort for public works to manually program more than 1,500 traffic signals, including many of the computerized controllers that are part of the RCTSS. Houston is spending $3 million for this — work that would have been done mostly at TranStar had the RCTSS been up and running.
But there is one section of Houston that will not have synchronized traffic lights, in the same way the rest of the city does, as a we learned from Lucas Wall's Move It! column last week when he responded to this question:
Q: The traffic signals downtown are still a joke. They all turn green (or red) at once! On Austin Street, for example, all the lights from south to north in downtown turn green at once. The objective (I suppose) is to go as fast as you can to make as many lights as you can. When are they going to fix this?
— David Kester, Houston
A: The traffic signals downtown are synchronized, meaning the lights on north-south and east-west streets change at the same time. This is by design, said Wes Johnson, spokesman for the Department of Public Works and Engineering.
In other parts of the city, public works has been sequencing the traffic signals. Sequenced signals turn green as traffic rolls along the major street, meaning a motorist traveling the set speed (usually the limit or 5 mph under) won't usually have to stop.
The city has agreed with the Metropolitan Transit Authority that the Main Street light rail line is the most important aspect of downtown signal timing. Trains receive priority at intersections and the system is designed so that they should not have to stop between stations. This makes sequencing downtown lights impractical, Johnson said.
In other words, Mr. Kester, it is fixed.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/19/04 08:13 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (2)
18 December 2004
Abortion supporters promote study that faults parental notification laws
The Chronicle decided to give abortion supporters a big platform with this story in today's paper:
Two laws in Texas that limit teenagers' ability to confidentially obtain reproductive health care cost $44 million a year largely because of additional pregnancies, local researchers have found.
[snip]
One requires teens younger than 18 to obtain parental consent before receiving prescription contraceptives, and the other requires health care providers to report to law enforcement agencies the identity of patients younger than 17 who they think are sexually active.
Is there any group that might have an interest in a study like this? Why, yes:
"But trying to legislate that teens and parents must communicate, and putting barriers to health care if teens do not, isn't going to solve the problem," said co-author Elena Marks, who is Mayor Bill White's health policy director.
Marks, who also is a volunteer at Planned Parenthood, said the paper was written and submitted before she joined White's administration. Another author, Laurie McGill, is vice president of medical services for Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas.
Well, that explains some things.
Now, about those costs:
The researchers estimated that 37 percent of girls who used reproductive health care services would stop doing so because of the parental notification requirements.
As a result, Franzini and her colleagues calculated that more than 8,000 additional pregnancies would occur annually among Texas adolescents. Because of prenatal costs, births and abortions, the total cost was nearly $44 million.
Locally, Planned Parenthood noticed a chilling effect almost immediately after enforcement of the laws, McGill said. The number of visits by minors in the second half of 2003, compared with 2002, dropped by 30 percent.
This study uses estimates. Based on Planned Parenthood numbers. And that "chilling effect" was, no doubt, chilling mostly to Planned Parenthood's revenue base. Teens absolutely should be talking to their parents, and not Planned Parenthood, which profits from abortions.
Toward the end of the article, the reporter notes this:
The local effect may not be as drastic as the numbers predicted because state law cannot trump federal rules, which say that clinics receiving federal family planning and Medicaid funds must allow confidential access.
A majority of Planned Parenthood clinics in Harris County receive these federal funds, so they are exempt from the new state law regarding contraceptives. But in other Texas cities, such as San Antonio, few, if any clinics receive federal family planning money.
Interestingly, the San Antonio Planned Parenthood website, which lists eight locations in and around San Antonio, says this in its "For Teens" section:
The Texas Parental Notification Law applies to pregnant teens who are 17 years of age or younger and have decided to have an abortion. The law requires your doctor to notify your parent, legal guardian or conservator at least 48 hours before you have an abortion.
The Texas Parental Notification Law does not apply to other services you may receive at Planned Parenthood, such as birth control, pregnancy testing or treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.
That section goes on to helpfully tell teens how to get around the parental notification requirement for an abortion.
If you want to see the basis for the Chronicle story, all you have to do is look at the published study, because that's what the reporter did, with a sprinkling of phone call quotes thrown in for good measure.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/18/04 10:49 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
'Tis the season for major road construction - cont.
KTRK-13 has a list of the major freeway construction hotspots that will be causing problems this weekend:
Both the northbound and the southbound exits from the Gulf Freeway to the eastbound South Loop will be closed from 9pm Friday to 5am Saturday morning.
On the North Loop westbound, the exit to the northbound lanes of I-45 will be closed from 8am Friday until until 5am Monday.
If you're headed downtown on the Southwest Freeway, the northbound exit to Main will be closed until 5pm Saturday afternoon. Drivers are urged to detour on the Shepherd or West Gray exits.
And a reminder about a closure sure to cause the most headaches -- the 610 West Loop southbound exit to the eastbound lanes of the Katy Freeway is closed until next Thursday.
Happy driving.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/18/04 07:44 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
Christmas Scrooges
A neighborhood in The Woodlands was hit hard by Christmas decoration-vandals:
It all happened on the street that usually wins the coveted award for best holiday decorations in The Woodlands.
Despite the crime spree, residents of Timber Mill Street refuse to let the vandals steal their Christmas spirit.
Wolfgang Evans went all out with his light display, but it lost some of its sparkle early Wednesday morning when someone came by to say "bah humbug."
"It was slashed open," Evans said referring to a giant snowman in his yard. "I took hot glue, ran a bead of hot glue and just folded it over and glued it back together."
Evans's snowman wasn't the only decoration deflated.
The same thing happened to another inflatable snowman across the street.
And even the "abonimable snowman" wasn't spared the wrath of the vandals.
"It was heartbreaking," said owner Kirsten Bubier who noticed something terribly wrong when she got home from the gym. "It didn't occur to me at first. I wasn't looking for damage. I'm driving home to get my kids home from school. And the arch in my driveway had fallen over and I couldn't get in my driveway."
The story notes that the residents have repaired their outdoor Christmas displays and for the third year in a row, the neighborhood won the title of "best decorated" in The Woodlands." Take that, you Scrooges!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/18/04 07:30 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
The Christmas mailing rush
The Chronicle has a story on the mad rush of packages and cards that will be mailed on Monday, the Postal Service's busiest day of the year, and the first two paragraphs are immediately eye-catching:
Landon Goss' girlfriend has figured out a foolproof way to avoid long lines at the post office during the holiday season. She joins friends at a day spa and sends Goss to mail her Christmas items.
Goss, a college student from Waco, said he didn't mind the half-hour wait at the Postal Service's Astrodome branch on Friday afternoon. "I try not to be frustrated," he said.
That's some boyfriend!
In case you don't have a boyfriend (or husband, or girlfriend, or wife) who will do that for you, here's my secret for mailing the boatload of boxes I send out every year: go to Parcel Plus. The stores ship USPS in addition to UPS and FedEx and they'll compare all three prices for you. And rarely is there a line. And they are friendly and helpful. (And I don't work there or know anyone who does.)
Because most boyfriends won't do what Langdon Goss does.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/18/04 06:30 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
17 December 2004
Houston radio short takes
In addition to the launch of a new political talk radio station in Houston this week, Houston radio saw a number of other developments:
KILT (FM and AM) laid off longtime newsman Jim Carola, as part of its elimination of its in-house news department.
Infinity radio (parent of KILT) will, according to David Barron, bring legal action next week, in an attempt to keep Charlie Pallilo from settling in as the main local talker at the new Sports Animal KBME-790.
And DJ Paul Berlin said goodbye to listeners of KBME today (in its current format), after a 54-year career on Houston airwaves.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/17/04 11:39 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (0)
Mayor's press barrage criticized by federal prosecutors
The Chronicle's Kristen Mack reports that Mayor White is under fire from federal prosecutors in Ohio for releasing excessive information about an ongoing bribery investigation that has already nailed one Houston-area official:
The city of Houston has received a harsh letter from federal prosecutors in Ohio scolding Mayor Bill White for releasing subpoenas in a bribery case to the media after the prosecutors asked the city not to.
The prosecutors acknowledged that the release was legal, and a White spokesman said the mayor released the information in the interest of open government.
[snip]
The prosecutors' letter says the city was informed ahead of time, in writing, that the subpoenas were sensitive and that "public disclosure of these materials at this time would not be advisable."
The prosecutors said disclosing the information would "inform individuals under investigation ... unknown details regarding the focus of the investigation, the progress of the investigation and the sources of information obtained to date."
The mayor's office defended the release of information as reflective of White's belief in transparent government.
Former Mayor Bob Lanier weighed in, with a quote that is perhaps more revealing than intended:
"They have one set of needs in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Ohio and the mayor has another set of needs in leading the city of Houston," Lanier said.
The most Machiavellian mayor in Houston's recent history surely must be taken seriously on such topics, and we have no doubt this release of information was intended to satisfy the current Machiavellian mayor's political needs.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/17/04 10:34 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (5)
Metro's fare policy
Metro is changing a policy for those don't pay a bus or train fare:
Fare evaders caught by Metropolitan Transit Authority police now are issued a citation charging them with theft of services, a Class C misdemeanor heard in Houston Municipal Courts. The new procedure will allow those cited to settle the ticket by paying a $75 civil fine to Metro. After 30 days, outstanding tickets will be sent to the courts for criminal adjudication.
The only thing missing from this story is the number of people who have been ticketed for fare-evading. This would be especially interesting to know, considering Metro has had a problem actually collecting fares for MetroRail. In September Lucas Wall wrote a story specifically detailing Metro's fare collection and verification system, or lack thereof. He wrote that the light rail train is "designed to operate on an honor system with random checks for fare payment."
Now why is it that Metro train riders are assumed to be honest and trustworthy, but Houston car drivers are presumed to be guilty red light-runners who must have cameras watching them go through intersections?
The rest of Wall's story today is about the smart card system that still isn't working:
[...] the Metro board met [...] to discuss options for gaining compliance on a contract with Cubic Transportation Systems, a San Diego company hired to supply a "smart card" fare system Metro says was supposed to have been ready for the opening of the rail. Cubic disputes that it is to blame for the lengthy delay.
The Washington (DC) Metro requires every person to buy a ticket and enter the ticket into a turnstile and the turnstile doesn't open 'til it checks the fare ticket. Houston opens its light rail with a combination honor system/unfunctioning smart card system. That's some new kind of business strategy! No wonder Metro requires millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/17/04 08:52 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)
16 December 2004
Food and drink roundup (12-16-2004 edition)
Houston's food and drink reviewers have been busy this time.
Alison Cook stays in town (really!), paying a visit to Red Onion Seafood y Mas. Oddly enough, Molly Glentzer commented on the restaurant in October, but the Chron's link is dead. That's certainly useful to diners.
Robb Walsh likes the steaks and sides at the Strip House.
Elsewhere in the Press, he comments on Robert Gadsby and his new restaurant, Noé. He's a month later than Dai Huynh on this topic.
Dai Huynh posts the weekly restaurant buzz.
Gracie Ochoa visits the bar at McCormick and Schmick's, and doesn't seem to have much to say about the experience.
That's all I found. Happy eating and drinking!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/16/04 10:39 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (1)
Houston live music
Most weeks about this time, I point readers to David Cobb's live music roundup, and supplement his rock-oriented list with some alt-country/Americana type offerings.
Up to now, I didn't realize that KPFT was putting out a music calendar. They used to do it during the Sound of Texas days, but I just assumed the Trotskyite Revolution over there killed it. And maybe it did for a time, but it's back now, and really comprehensive.
We may still point to notable live music from time to time (this weekend, Alejandro Escovedo at the Continental Club on Friday and Django Walker at the Firehouse on Saturday are probably good bets), but at some point we'll probably just add the KPFT calendar to the links on the sidebar and leave it at that.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/16/04 10:04 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
Flu vaccine hysteria
Here's the news today:
Two months after the government recommended that scarce flu shots be reserved for people most at risk, health officials are now worried that tens of thousands of doses could go to waste, and they are considering easing the restrictions.
It turns out that the furor over the vaccine shortage and the government's response have had an unintended effect: More than half of all elderly or chronically ill adults have not even tried to get flu shots because they figured they would not be able to get one, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today.
How was that furor generated, anyway?
After three years of GAO warnings, HHS only this summer issued a draft plan for a national response to an influenza pandemic, such as the world saw three of [sic] in the 20th century. The GAO last month criticized the draft as too unspecific.
[snip]
The Bush administration has blamed the current vaccine shortage on virtually everyone but itself.
Aha. It's all coming into focus.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/16/04 05:14 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
Talk radio is thriving in Houston
Clear Channel has generated a steady buzz about its new sports talk station, which fully launches its new format on KBME-790 on Monday, December 20.
Meanwhile, Salem Communications quietly launched a new conservative/Christian-oriented talk station overnight:
Salem Communications Corporation (Nasdaq:SALM - News), the leading radio broadcaster focused on Christian and family themes programming, announced two major Houston radio station initiatives. Today it launched a new station in the Houston metro area, News/Talk 1070 KNTH-AM. Salem's long-time Christian Talk and Teaching station, KKHT-FM, moved from the AM band to a new dial position at 100.7-FM.
Chuck Jewell, general manager of KNTH-AM and KKHT-FM, commented on the new station and the addition of the new FM signal. "We're delighted to offer Houston our successful News/Talk programming bringing some of the most intelligent talk on air today. For our dedicated Christian Talk and Teaching listeners, we now are able to provide the same inspiring programming over a strong FM signal. It's returning KKHT-FM back to its original roots as an FM station serving the Houston metro area."
News/Talk 1070 KNTH-AM offers a strong line-up of syndicated talk show hosts including Bill Bennett (5-8 AM), Mike Gallagher (8-11AM), Dennis Prager (11AM-1PM), Dave Ramsey (1-3PM), Michael Medved (3-5PM), and Hugh Hewitt (5-8PM).
That's an extremely strong syndicated lineup that should readily appeal to the target audience (and beyond).
Political talk radio afficionados in Houston now have a wealth of choices after this latest addition, with KPRC-950's revised lineup now including Sean Hannity, KTRH-740 getting a boost from the Chris Baker show, and KSEV-700's lineup being headlined by local talkers Edd Hendee and Dan Patrick. Of course, KPFT-90.1 also offers a mix of talk programs from a more liberal perspective.
MORE: Salem makes room for another station in Houston
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/16/04 11:42 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (12)
Organizational restructuring at HISD
I was critical of HISD as the superintendent "search" was conducted, but not because Abe Saavedra wasn't qualified -- he certainly seems to have what it takes to run a large urban district. Rather, I didn't think the search process was tough enough, for the job that needed filling, and the local media glossed over his reason for leaving Corpus Christi.
Now, though, it's over and done. Time to move on, and Saavedra's first move, to shakeup district leadership, is an excellent start:
Saavedra said big changes are likely in an administrative system that divides responsibility for overseeing HISD's 300-plus schools among 12 geographic districts, plus a 13th district for alternative schools. Some jobs will likely be consolidated or eliminated outright when a new organizational structure is in place next fall, he said.
"It's possible it may not even resemble what we have today," said Saavedra, who signed a three-year contract to lead the state's largest school district last week.
While the changes are likely to cut the district's payroll — nearly 60 HISD employees earn six-figure salaries — Saavedra said the main force driving the reorganization is improved efficiency. The Dallas school district, which has about 50,000 fewer students than Houston's 209,000, has more than 70 employees making more than $100,000.
[snip]
School board trustees say they'll give Saavedra leeway to make the changes he sees fit and grade his performance based on the outcome. In addition to his $270,000 base salary, Saavedra has up to $60,000 in bonus money riding on the district's performance.
"You need to give him the freedom that he needs to implement the changes that he thinks will bring about more efficient and better results," Trustee Dianne Johnson said.
One of the biggest problems large urban school districts have is the unending number of administrators needed to maintain a large district. The layers of bureaucracy -- oh dear! Pretty soon, the mission of teachers teaching kids is completely lost when the focus on bureacracy takes center stage.
This is a good move on Saavedra's part and a hopeful start to his time as superintendent.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/16/04 11:23 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
Blind squirrel finds nut (Chronicle covers HEC story)
Even the Chronicle can sense the Houston Emergency Center is becoming a problem, which explains why the paper has a story on it. And not just another op-ed. Oh no, it's a two-reporter story. This must be serious.
The piece doesn't have a whole lot of new information, but it does have some quotes from HPD chief Harold Hurtt that are not inspiring:
Hurtt said the departments are "working very diligently," and he hopes the analysis by MITRE will help get the center running smoothly.
"We've hired a third party to come in and review the system and process, and give us some insight on what our next step should be," Hurtt said. "We have to fix this problem. Next year at this time we should not be having these discussions."
It's unclear what departments Chief Hurtt thinks are working so diligently, but I don't think that has ever been a complaint. The complaints are technology that doesn't work, inadequate training and staffing for employees, and leadership that isn't. Chief Hurtt's comment that by this time next year everything should be swell is not very reassuring. Let's hope nothing bad happens between now and then!
Chief Hurtt continues with some thoughts on the study that is now being conducted:
Hurtt said he is not convinced the analysis will solve the problem.
"The investment has been made," he said. "I don't think we are at a point where we can say, 'OK, let's close the building and build a new system and move.' ... That may be the final answer."
Goodness gracious. He's not sure the analysis will solve the problem? He doesn't think the building should be closed and a new system built, but that's what may have to be done? If it comes to that, who's going to foot the bill?
And last, one bit of nitpicking with the story:
In November, the dispatch center's telephone system broke down for more than an hour, causing delays for people calling for help.
I don't understand why the reporters didn't mention the December system breakdown that lasted 13 hours. $53 million and the dispatchers had to resort to using pen and paper to handle emergency calls. Unbelievable.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/16/04 07:15 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
15 December 2004
Houston Emergency Center problems - cont.
KTRK-13 is reporting on another problem related to the Houston Emergency Center mess. Here's the description of the problem:
What happens is this -- when a call comes into Houston's emergency operation center, the information is sent out to HPD's central booking facility. From there a dispatcher switches it into the officer's mobile data terminal, or MDT. Problem is, when the MDT crashes, the dispatcher has no way of tracking the officer or uploading information from the field.
And here is an example of the problem:
Alone and frustrated, our cameras caught up with Officer Gutierrez moments after the man she stopped to question ran away. The car he was in turned out to be stolen.
She said, "I'm not going to run after the guy. I didn't have any help and our computer system is down. I don't run after people if I don't have no help."
Angry at more than how the situation ended, Gutierrez says what concerns her most is why she didn't get the help she needed.
"I had earlier asked if a unit was available," Officer Gutierrez explained. "But there's not, there's only two people out here right now. When he started running, I said, 'I ain't chasing after him.' I have no help and she don't know where I'm at."
"She" is the dispatcher. The computer system that lets the dispatcher see the officer's location and the location of other units in the area wasn't working Wednesday morning due to a switching problem.
Here's the official HPD reaction:
Chief Hurtt hadn't heard about Wednesday morning's incident, but admits what happened to Officer Gutierrez is the symptom of a much larger problem. It's one he says is being dealt with right now.
"We've already hired a third party to come in and review the system and process and give us an insight as to what our next step should be," said Chief Hurtt.
A department spokesperson says the administration is investigating what happened to Officer Gutierrez.
The one area that's been a cause for concern is the Houston emergency center. Ever since it opened last year, the center has been plagued with computer failures and complaints from dispatchers. The $53 million system was designed to improve emergency response time and consolidate the city's fire and police dispatchers but it's only created more problems. An outside firm is looking into the problems. A full report is expected within three months.
$53 million? Oh my. I don't think I had seen the HEC price tag before.
Chief Hurtt and Mayor White should have been dealing with this issue long before now -- and not just by hiring an outside consulting firm to examine the problems. At the top of any mayor's priority list should be public safety, not a grand new park.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/15/04 07:58 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
PETA Bludgeons Wet Seal
PETA staged a protest today at the Galleria to draw attention to retailer Wet Seal's (Nasdaq: WTSLA) use of rabbit fur. Several earnest young people and one tall bunny were handing out literature next to a casket and some small, bloody, pink bunnies. Houstonians took the flyers and politely thanked them in between bites of thick juicy prime rib. Possibly as a result of the protest, Wet Seal, Inc.'s stock tumbled .02% as the market close neared. Meanwhile, Wet Seal employees were unperturbed:
Me: Did you know that people are protesting your store outside?
Adorable Sales Girl #1: (head tilt) Really?
Me: Yeah. They say you kill bunnies.
Adorable Sales Girl #2: They should protest Wilson's Leather!
From the mouths of babes...
Posted by Ethan Glading @ 12/15/04 03:34 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (1)
The Chronicle ponders the Scott Peterson case
There's plenty of Houston news out there, but the Chronicle editors felt the need to give us an editorial about Scott Peterson:
Yet the Petersons' story differs only in slight detail from other cases all over the country. A man desperate to end his marriage and switch partners acts on the impulse to murder rather than divorce. Recently a coach in a Houston suburb was charged with a similar crime.
There's nothing like painting a broad section of the populace with the sins of Scott Peterson and David Mark Temple.
A show of remorse might have won Peterson the unenviable penalty of life without parole. However, moralists can argue that the display of an emotionless shell by a man who has forfeited any life worth living is more understandable than the tasteless cheers and applause of courtwatchers when the death sentence was handed down.
The media's obsession with this case turned it into a circus. Look at your own industry, editors.
Many commentators talked of closure, showing their ignorance of California's populous death row. California's system guarantees decades of appeals, ensuring that hundreds of death row inmates have only a slight chance of being executed. Most will expire in prison from natural causes or suicide. Some murderers will be murdered by fellow inmates.
I'd watch that talk of commentators and ignorance. Pot and kettle, you know.
But, back to California's little-functioning death row system. The editors should love that, with their opposition to the death penalty. Well, they are opposed to death for murderers. They are in favor of death for unwanted babies.
Finally, the editors veer off into another topic:
Unrelated to the lurid carnival of coverage given the Peterson case, a more significant story was reported Monday. The FBI announced that murders in the United States declined during the first six months of this year, as did all violent crimes.
Crime rates rise and fall in cycles that closely follow population bubbles and the relative number of young males in society. However, a sharp drop in the number of murder victims in the United States is a greater cause for comfort than the abysmal fate, well-earned though it might be, handed Scott Peterson.
It's always interesting when the media talk about falling crime rates, because this usually stumps them. Why do crime rates fall? One reason certainly is that the bad guys who tend to commit violent crimes are locked away in prison.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/15/04 12:50 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (5)
Christmas bunnies
Lest anyone doubt Houston's World Classness, PETA once again is staging a protest in our fair city. Galleria Christmas shoppers beware.
Date: Wednesday, December 15
Time: 12 noon
Place: Houston Galleria, near the pedestrian crosswalk on South Post Oak Boulevard, between West Alabama and Westheimer roads
Mind-boggling weekend construction detours and now a big rabbit mourning over a coffin filled with little dead "rabbits." It just hasn't been the Galleria's year.
Posted by Callie Markantonis @ 12/15/04 01:36 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
14 December 2004
Houston economy continues growth
The Houston Business Journal reports that Houston's economy continues to perform well:
Houston's economy grew in November for the 23rd consecutive month, according to a business report produced by the National Association of Purchasing Management-Houston Inc.
In November, Houston posted a Purchasing Managers Index of 60.8. A reading above the break-even point of 50 indicates that the Houston economy is generally expanding while a reading south of 50 shows its is generally shrinking, according to the index.
November also marked the 12th straight month of employment expansion in Houston and gave every indication of more months of job development on the horizon, according to the report.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/14/04 11:02 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Austin bureau chief in favor of cameras in Houston
The Chronicle's Austin bureau chief took time out from covering the news in Austin this past weekend to let us know he's in favor of the White/Hurtt push to install cameras at red lights all over town.
It's a typically simplistic Chron editorial:
White is asking the Houston City Council to install cameras at intersections with high accident rates, so that violators can be assessed civil fines by mail.It's a good idea but is predictably generating some moaning and groaning, mostly from people who will be in a hurry some day to get to their own funerals. (Just don't try to hurry the rest of us to ours, please.)
No one has an unrestricted right to drive a car. Government, in the interest of promoting public safety, already has the long-established authority to set age and competency requirements for driver licenses, impose traffic laws and require drivers to have insurance. Using cameras for enforcement is a reasonable extension of that authority, provided the city imposes adequate safeguards on how the cameras are operated and revenue collected.
There are just a few problems here.
First, the Mayor isn't proposing to fine violators after positive identification (as is the case when an officer typically issues a citation); Mayor White is proposing to fine the owners of cars identified by an outside firm by looking up license plates based on camera imagery. That's a BIG difference for those of us who generally believe in the notion of positive identification when assessing fines (of course, the recent performance of HPD's crime lab suggests that positive identification isn't always a priority for the city). Besides, this is the sort of thing likely to get Marvin Zindler riled up, and we don't think the Mayor wants to cross Marvin.
Second, what procedures will ensure that the private contractor does not abuse the system in order to generate more revenue for itself? Even Robison favors "adequate safeguards" in this area, yet we've not heard what those will be. Citizens deserve to know before Council rams through another of Mayor White's proposals.
Third, what does the city plan to do with the extra revenue (because this is all about generating new revenue)? Will it be used to fund HPD cadet classes that Mayor White and his council have ignored thus far? Or will it fund some boondoggle? Again, citizens deserve to know.
To its credit, the Chronicle actually has run some letters critical of the White/Hurtt revenue enhancement plan.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/14/04 10:55 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (5)
News flash: It's cold!
We're about to have our first hard freeze this fall, and the local media are out of control.
For those of you who may be new to Houston, please disregard them.
They get this way every year for the first big freeze.
Contrary to what you may hear, it's not going to be the coldest evening in decades -- it may get down to the 20s.
Your pipes probably are in no danger of bursting, unless they are completely exposed to the elements (if that's the case, then you probably have bigger concerns this evening).
You probably should cover any outside plants that you hope to keep alive.
And be careful not to burn your house down with a space heater.
There you go -- the blogHOUSTON cool weather advisory.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/14/04 10:09 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (3)
Spellman admits accepting bribe
In a surprise move, Oliver Spellman, former Mayor Lee Brown's chief of staff, pleaded guilty to bribery charges:
"I took money from an individual in return for favor in winning government contracts," Spellman told U.S. District Judge James Gwin of Cleveland.
He said he took the bribe in July 2002. Although neither he nor the criminal information document filed last week named the person who paid the bribe, other court documents indicate it was well-connected Cleveland businessman Nate Gray.
Gray has not been charged.
The criminal information said Spellman -- not Gray, as incorrectly reported earlier -- took money to influence contracts for a shuttle service at Intercontinental Airport and city energy services. City officials say the contracts in question were subcontracts not awarded directly by the city.
Prosecutors said the plea agreement is contingent upon Spellman's cooperation with a multistate corruption investigation that already has resulted in criminal charges against a Cleveland city councilman and conviction of a suburban mayor.
Gwin set a $25,000 unsecured bond. It was not immediately clear if Spellman, who now lives in New York, would be released today.
He faces eight to 14 months in prison on the single count of bribery conspiracy filed Dec. 7.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/14/04 03:22 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
Before You Start Calling Them "French Fries" Again...
A French court has ruled that the 2000 Concorde crash in Paris was primarily the fault of Houston-based Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL), despite the fact that accoring to the AFP there was a long-standing design issue with the Concorde that resulted in numerous dangerous situations:
The first recorded instance of the fault being noticed was in a 1979 memo that warned of the sort of wing-penetration accident that occurred in 2000, according to the report.
"Technical solutions to reinforce the wing's lower surface on the aircraft ... were researched in 1979. The work was never carried out until 2001, after the accident," it said.
The Concorde suffered 67 tyre blowouts or wheel damage during its years of service. In 24 of those cases, the plane suffered impacts and in seven instances "the fuel tanks were pierced with one or several holes," the experts consulted in the report said.
The judge in the case ruled that this was "not a construction defect." The real problem according to the court was a piece of an aircraft that fell off a Continental Airlines jet moments before the Concorde took off. The AFP story states:
...he concluded that the 2000 accident would not have occurred without the presence of the 44-centimetre (17-inch) titanium strip that had fallen off a Continental DC-10 using the same runway five minutes earlier, it said.The object had a "direct causal role" in the accident, his report said.
Possible ramifications for the airline include: "a criminal lawsuit for manslaughter and possibly millions of euros (dollars) in damages."
Posted by Ethan Glading @ 12/14/04 01:32 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Midtown residents find transition is no fun
What happens when some upscale homes are built in what was a not-so-upscale area? Some unpleasant things:
Visit any suburban neighborhood and you're bound to see holiday decorations.
Residents in the newly developed neighborhood of Midtown say they tried the holiday spirit, until someone stole it.
"Every one of these chairs are, if you'll see, it's got the chains. Rocking chairs, they're all chained to the walls in the house," says townhouse owner Richard Denham.
Richard Denham's Christmas lights were stolen last week. He tries to protect himself against thieves, but he couldn't chain Christmas lights.
"It's really ridiculous we have to live like this," Denham says.
Denham says his upscale townhome has been burglarized several times. It's what prompted him to install a motion sensor and siren, and he is not alone.
"I came in the same afternoon to check my lights, and they were stolen also," says nearby resident Marjorie Cerejo.
"I'm not going to put up any this year because I've seen what they've gone through," townhome owner Robert Gray says.
Some say this is just the price you pay for moving into a neighborhood in transition, but residents here insist they had no idea theft would be a daily occurrence.
"When we moved here I didn't know my wife's car would get broken into. I didn't know a transient would be drinking a beer in my garage, stealing my fishing tackle. I didn't know I'd have to spend thousands of dollars on a security gate," says resident Mark Oehl.
Just because some nice homes have been built doesn't mean the not-quite-so-nice people are going to pack up and leave the neighborhood.
But, have no fear because help is on the way: that fabulous new Central Park should be a magnet for the not-quite-so-nice people, when it's all done. Mayor White is truly a visionary!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/14/04 01:21 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
13 December 2004
How about an unofficial Chron blog? Anyone?
The fine LA Observed blog calls attention to a new anonymous blog by a disgruntled LA Times newsroom staffer.
Wouldn't it be great if some anonymous Chron bloggers would spring up, to tell us what really goes on at that place?
They'll have to be careful, of course. Jeff Cohen made it very clear with Banjo Jones that he doesn't much like such "bad" blogging.
Unfortunately, that leaves us with this.
UPDATE (12-14-2004): The link to the anonymous blog seems not to be working this morning. I wonder if the LA Times squished the thing, Jeff Cohen style?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/13/04 10:32 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (1)
Chron editorial board creates new treaty
The members of the Houston Chronicle editorial board frequently take on topics for which they have no special expertise, and often the results are embarrassing.
Take today's staff editorial on the complex topic of the extent to which international law can intrude on the traditional police powers of states (and, by extension, localities), using the Supreme Court's decision to consider a Texas case (Medellin v. Dretke) as a starting point.
It's hardly surprising that the Chronicle presents an overly simplified view of the debate.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/13/04 09:44 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Mayor White notices trouble-plagued 911 call center
Houston Emergency Center employees will be giving City Council an earful tonight, according to KHOU-11:
Houston Emergency Center workers are sounding off at City Council Monday. They say they are overworked and understaffed and the public could be at risk.
The multi-million dollar HEC has crashed several times since opening in 2003. Some employees say no one is listening to their concerns.
[snip]
"We're just at our wit's end and we're tired of it," said HPPU Vice President Johnnie McFarland. "So we're here to tell the public safety committee that if something isn't done, the crisis is only going to get worse."
A city spokesperson said a consulting firm will begin studying the personnel and equipment issues this week. That's expected to take about three months.
"In the meantime, we're looking at issues that we can do to resolve some of the ongoing issues that we have in terms of computer systems, problems with hardware and software," said Patrick Trahan with Mayor Bill White's office. "So we're working on two different fronts on the technical end."
Sgt. McFarland wrote a Chronicle op-ed on Sunday, about the problems with the 911 call center.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/13/04 02:45 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Metro Monday
MetroRail flew under the radar for about a week, but that couldn't last long. Indeed, it appears the 20th century transportation solution had a bit of a problem yesterday:
MetroRail suffered a minor service disruption Sunday after an overhead wire snapped out of a pole, requiring some Houston Texans fans to board a bus to Reliant Stadium for the noon kickoff against the Indianapolis Colts.
Good thing those buses were available!
And, Metro says ridership dropped in November:
MetroRail averaged 29,782 weekday boardings in November, according to the Metropolitan Transit Authority.
That's a 10 percent drop from the record high 32,941 boardings in October.
[snip]
Metro attributes the lower counts to two storm-related service disruptions and the Thanksgiving holiday.
Oh, okay. We'll have to accept Metro's excuse (and numbers) because we all know the Chronicle sure will. And, does anyone know if Metro actually has a way to count ridership yet? REALLY count it?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/13/04 09:41 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)
Just say it's from a press release
The ending to this little notice in the Chronicle is amusing:
Two Metro customer-service centers will be to [sic] the agency's new headquarters at the Downtown Transit Center. The Ride-Store at 720 Main and the Lost & Found Office at 1201 Louisiana will be closed Friday for the move. The new Metro building is at 1900 Main. The two offices open there Dec. 20. Customers on Friday should visit the RideStore at 1001 Travis.
From staff reports
Here's the Metro press release from almost a week ago:
The METRO RideStore at 720 Main St. and METRO's Lost & Found Office at 1201 Louisiana will be closed on Friday, Dec. 17, to accommodate their move to the new Lee P. Brown METRO Administration Building at 1900 Main. The new METRO RideStore and Lost & Found Office will open for regular business on Monday, Dec. 20.
The METRO RideStore at 1001 Travis St. (one block west of Main Street Square) will remain at its current location and will be open Dec. 17 for patrons needing service information or fare items. However, Lost & Found services will not be available until Monday, Dec. 20.
In a perfect world, the end of the Chronicle's blurb would say "From a Metro press release." I am not sure an entry-level staffer pulling the press release off a fax machine counts as a "staff report."
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/13/04 07:17 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
12 December 2004
Patrolling Bush Intercontinental on horseback
KPRC-2 gives us this AP story about Bush Intercontinental Airport's volunteer cavalry:
Under a year-old program that's grown beyond expectations, the airport has more than 600 "Airport Rangers" who comprise a volunteer cavalry that looks for anything unusual on the airport's vast property.
"It is kind-of like low tech security, but it solves a problem when you are dealing with an 11,000-acre facility," Houston Airport System Director Richard Vacar said. "The horses can go where others can't go."
For decades, riders illegally took their horses to the wooded airport property, considered one of the few places in an urban area where they could ride in a natural environment for long distances.
[snip]
After the 2001 terrorist attacks, things changed. Butler-Dial and others were told they no longer could ride at the airport.
Vacar said at first he was concerned about liability issues, but he later realized the security benefit riders could offer and found a way to make it work. Now, riders get to enjoy the property as volunteer rangers.
Rangers are required to sign a liability waiver, pass a background check and must carry a cell phone with them when they ride. They must check in when they arrive on airport property and report the direction they plan to ride. Before leaving, they must check out with security. If they see anything suspicious during a ride, they're required to report it.
"We just want them to be the eyes and ears," said Vacar, who also rides horses. "We don't rely on it 100 percent, but it is just another layer."
[snip]
When riding near the airport's runways, Bauer said she often sees airplane passengers looking out at her. She makes sure to wave.
"It's a great welcome to Texas," she said.
That's pretty neat.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/12/04 07:51 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Houston. It's Worth It (cont'd)
The unorthodox Houston. It's Worth It campaign continues to pay dividends.
That campaign, as readers are surely aware, turns traditional marketing on its ear by conceding Houston's various shortcomings up front -- and then giving Houstonians a chance to point out all the reasons we love this crazy city.
Apparently, it convinced Christopher Solomon, the "frugal traveler" for the New York Times, to give Houston a second look.
Here's an excerpt:
For years, snarky dismissal - "A few days in Houston isn't a getaway; it's a sentence" - has pretty much been my response to any mention of the nation's fourth-largest city. Never mind that I'd never seen the place save once, as a blur framed by a rental car's windows as I headed elsewhere, fast.
But this fall, a curious newspaper article caught my attention. David Thompson and Randy Twaddle, partners in a Houston marketing firm called Ttweak, had started an unofficial campaign to boost their city's image by laughing at the realities of this city on the swamp. The Web site tumbles through 20 of the things that make Houston, uh, memorable - "The cockroaches; the flooding; the no mountains." - before finally arriving at the thumbs-up message: "Houston. It's Worth It."After the campaign's first few months, Houstonians and former residents had posted more than 1,200 comments on the Web site, www.houstonitsworthit.com. There were the comics: "The cleanest jail cells of any major metropolitan area." (Reason No. 539.) There were also, however, bayou poets: "If Houston were a dog, she'd be a mutt with three legs, one bad eye, fleas the size of corn nuts and buck teeth. Despite all that, she'd be the best dog you'll ever know." (No. 297.) In between, many people sang paeans to favorite haunts. Taken together, these comments formed an accidental guidebook to the Houston beyond the stereotype. A city that could snort at its shortcomings and still throw sweaty arms around its humid, traffic-choked, sprawling self couldn't be without redemption, could it?
The entire story is here. A certain favorite icehouse gets a nice mention, and is featured in the photo at the top of the story.
This is the kind of positive publicity that Jordy Tollett hasn't been able to achieve despite spending millions of dollars over a number of years. Since he can't even be bothered to take reporters' phone calls, maybe it's time to outsource Tollett's job to the folks over at ttweak.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/12/04 01:06 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
A picture of the CenterPoint easement in question
Now that CenterPoint Energy is actually tearing up backyards and cutting down trees, the Chronicle decided the issue was worthy of front-page City & State coverage:
With the company's permission, at least 22 residents on Twin Hills in southwest Houston extended their back yards onto the utility's 150-foot-wide right of way.
They fenced and landscaped the property and came to consider it the next best thing to their own.
Now CenterPoint wants its land back.
[snip]
Ten days ago — after a one-month delay brokered by City Councilman Mark Goldberg — CenterPoint crews began reclaiming their lost ground.
"We are moving ahead with our plans," said CenterPoint spokeswoman Emily Mir-Thompson, predicting fences will be moved, shrubbery relocated and trees cut or trimmed by early January.
Though the utility has not identified right of way irregularities in other parts of its 1.8 million-customer Houston service area, "it's something that we're looking at citywide," Mir-Thompson said.
We first wrote about this when the Chronicle did a "This Week" section story on the problem, and we were hoping the Chronicle would use its voice to put a little pressure on CenterPoint to work out a compromise. It appears to be too late, now that the work has already begun.
In the newspaper, the Chronicle included a satellite image showing the utility's easement and the fence-lines in question. I must say, when I first read about this easement battle, I assumed that the homeowners' backyards were taking up the WHOLE easement. That is not the case. There is already a lot of wide open easement apart from the homeowners' backyards.
Which leads to this comment recently made by a blogHOUSTON commenter:
It's very suspicious sounding to hear a company like them announce they're going to pay for the re-fencing costs, not to mention legal costs, JUST to prevent something like the North East's blackout, which may not even happen.
I wonder if CP has some kind of deal going on with someone that wants easy access to the easements.
After seeing the picture from high up, I wonder, too.
To see a satellite image of the easement and the fence-lines in question, please click Read More.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/12/04 11:56 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Can the Houston Emergency Center be fixed?
At the beginning of December, the Houston Emergency Center (911) had its latest technical mishap. Today's Chronicle carries an op-ed by HPD Sgt. Johnnie McFarland discussing the myriad of problems the center has faced since the new and supposedly improved version was unveiled:
The Houston Emergency Center was conceived as a multimillion dollar, state-of the-art, high-tech, low-maintenance emergency communications center. But it has been a deep and bitter disappointment.
The promoted cost savings anticipated by consolidating all emergency dispatch functions under one roof are, for all practical purposes, nonexistent. The dispatch center, bought (or more accurately, leased) and paid for, remains, as one Houston City Council member described it, a work in progress.
Why is the problem-plagued dispatch center still a center of controversy? Why has the local affiliate of the largest police labor organization in the nation refused to lift last year's vote of no confidence? Why have veteran dispatchers, call takers and supervisors chosen to retire early or seek employment elsewhere in droves?
Can the technical, operational and personnel problems be adequately resolved? And when, if ever, will they be?
These are all questions crying out for answers.
The column is filled with hard questions and underreported information, and it will soon be hidden behind the Chronicle's archive wall. It would be great to see the Chronicle devote some resources to this story -- on the news pages.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/12/04 09:23 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
Cy-Fair ISD bond measure approved
Voters in the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD approved a big bond measure yesterday:
A record $713 million bond issue to build new schools and renovate older ones in Cypress-Fairbanks won overwhelming approval Saturday.
The two-pronged bond referendum is the fourth voters have approved in the past decade in the Cy-Fair Independent School District, a system poised to become the third-largest in Texas.
[snip]
Officials are expected to increase the property-tax rate for debt service by up to 3 cents per $100 of value in the next five years. That would be about $19.50 more per year for the owner of a home valued at $100,000.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/12/04 07:36 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
11 December 2004
Disappearing meters thwart efforts to boost city revenues
KHOU-11's Amy Tortolani reports that industrious downtown thieves have been busy stealing parking meters:
Free parking places are popping up all over downtown Houston. Someone has been stealing parking meters and that's taking a bite out of an already tight city budget.[snip]
Friday morning, police found another eight missing meters. Over the last three months, 70 have been stolen from Houston streets.
[snip]
Undercover agents say it's not easy to steal the meters. Each meter and pole weigh about 75 pounds. In some cases, the the bad guys even pulled out the concrete with the meter adding another 20 pounds.
It can't be easy to steal the meters, and it doesn't reflect well at all on downtown policing that 70 meters have disappeared in three months. Indeed, we suspect it's another (unreported) manifestation of HPD's manpower shortages, which continue to be ignored by Mayor White and his council.
It is slightly ironic that downtown meters are disappearing, since Mayor White and crew just recently blanketed downtown with new downtown meters in an effort to boost municipal revenues.
Predictably, the Chronicle editorial board weighed in on the side of "good guy" Mayor White, shooting down those who criticize the proposal on privacy concerns. Those concerns are not irrelevant, but of greater concern is the fact that the private company that will provide the equipment will get a cut of revenues generated by citations, thereby creating an incentive to write citations, but not necessarily an incentive to improve traffic safety and enforcement.
Given the nature of public-private partnerships in this city, this is one proposal that should get more scrutiny than Mayor White's proposals to enrich private interests generally have received from the current members of Council. The matter will be considered on December 15.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/11/04 10:53 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
MeMo on the radio
If you have nothing better to do this morning, the Chronicle's "blogger" will be on KUHF-88.7:
Oh, tune in to Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me on KUHF 88.7 FM Saturday at 10 a.m. if you want to hear me be not especially funny. But Felber and O'Rourke and Sagal are funny, so it's OK. Also, we don't much like to brag, but we've met Diva Rock Goddess Capella Tucker. She's amazing, except for overdoing the body glitter just a tad.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/11/04 07:04 AM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (2)
10 December 2004
Saavedra's "minuscule" problem in Corpus Christi
HISD's new superintendent does have a blemish on his previous Corpus Christi superintendent record, but Houston's one major daily paper has not provided readers with much information on it. Considering the powerful and important position he is now holding, and high salary he'll be earning, Houstonians have a right to know.
Here's a 1999 story from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times that describes the events that led to Saavedra's leaving Corpus Christi:
The Oct. 11 [1999] meeting of the Corpus Christi Independent School District board came nearly a week after the Caller-Times had published a list of dinners that Superintendent Saavedra and board and staff members had eaten on district corporate credit card accounts over a six-year period. The tally came to more than $20,000. The public also learned of $14,000 paid with taxpayer money for maintaining Saavedra's personal vehicles.[snip]
He balanced the outrage of the community with the knowledge that the meals and the maintenance were minuscule parts of a district budget that in 1999 had a general fund of more than $71 million.
"When we budget, we don't have conversations in the $20,000-$35,000 range," Saavedra said. "We talk about hundreds of thousands, millions. Those are just simple facts. That's where the taxpayers really get hit in the pocketbook."
That's a point of view that scares many taxpayers.
Here's an AP/KPRC-2 story with the current take on the "minuscule" spending problem:
Saavedra worked as the district's superintendent for seven years before he said he was forced to leave because the fallout from an investigation into his expense reports caused him to become ineffective in the role.
The investigation led to criminal charges against Saavedra, including felony tampering with a governmental record for falsely labeling two credit card receipts as meals in 1999 when he purchased alcoholic beverages.
He also was indicted on three misdemeanors involving services performed on his wife's vehicle.
A jury cleared Saavedra of the felony charge and the misdemeanor charges were later dropped.
Saavedra said he made a mistake by not paying close enough attention to details and has since concentrated on moving forward and not looking back.
I'll bet he has.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/10/04 01:08 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Restoring the marshes of San Jacinto Battlefield
Good news from the San Jacinto Battleground Park:
The tidal marshes so vital to the Texas Army's success in overtaking Mexican soldiers on April 21, 1836, are enjoying a little success of their own these days, reclaiming their place on the historic San Jacinto Battlefield.
Thursday, the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife shared in that success, recognized by the Coastal American Partnership for its efforts to restore 115 acres of marshes along the east Harris County battlefield plain.
The work is part of a multimillion-dollar effort to restore the battlefield landscape to what it looked like the day Sam Houston's Texas Army routed Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's troops to win independence from Mexico.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/10/04 09:38 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Saavedra approved as HISD superintendent
It's a done deal. Abe Saavedra is officially HISD's new superintendent and, and boy does he have the contract to prove it:
Abelardo "Abe" Saavedra was named Houston's first Hispanic superintendent Thursday when HISD trustees approved his contract totalling $384,200 a year in salary and benefits.
Saavedra, who has served as interim superintendent since Kaye Stripling retired in August, will earn $270,000 a year in base pay and receive up to a $60,000 bonus if student performance improves.
[snip]
Saavedra, in his contract, will earn slightly less in base pay than Stripling, whose annual salary was $271,000. But if the district's academic performance improves, his potential bonus is more than double the $25,000 that Stripling was eligible to receive. Also, Saavedra will receive health insurance, a $1,200-a-month car allowance and $400 monthly to pay for a cell phone and/or a personal digital assistant.
For the sake of HISD's students, let's hope Saavedra is worth every penny of that almost $400,000 per year, because the HISD board members sure put all their eggs in one basket.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/10/04 06:37 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
09 December 2004
Planned River Oaks high rise irks some residents
The Brazosport News is up and running again after proprietor "Banjo Jones" left the Lone Star State for a time.
Today, the News reports that some River Oaks residents are none too pleased about a new, 37-story high-rise development that will overlook the ritzy neighborhood.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/09/04 11:39 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
Food and drink roundup (12-09-2004 edition)
Houston's food and drink writers seem to have had an off week this time around.
Alison Cook heads out of town again, this time "just northwest of Sealy," to review Carol's at Cat Spring. It seems like the Houston Chronicle's food reviewer sure doesn't spend much time reviewing Houston restaurants.
But who needs to hear about Houston restaurants, when there are lemons and hot dogs in town. Dai Huynh gives us the scoop on Meyer lemon time, and also visits The Hot Dog Stand.
Lance Scott Walker reports on the dance scene at the Gatsby Social Club in the Village.
Last (and certainly least), Robb Walsh pans the Wolfgang Puck Express in west Houston.
This is the rare occasion that Walsh stumbles badly. Had he bothered to contact the fine folks at the Express, he might have gotten a little help with his facts -- and then he might have known that Puck has been to his Houston restaurant twice (not once as asserted), that he really likes Houston, and that he's taken quite an interest indeed in the Express concept (the concept being, producing relatively cheap, high quality food in an express setting with actual chefs who perform live, in an open kitchen).
Apparently, the Chef Boyardee comparison was much too good to let the facts intrude. It's a strange comparison, though, given the degree to which Walsh gushed just last week over Cafe Annie's Robert Del Grande -- the same Robert Del Grande who oversees Cafe Express. So if Wolfgang Puck is Chef Boyardee because Puck's Express isn't Spago, then what to say about Robert Del Grande in light of the fact that the underwhelming Cafe Express isn't exactly Cafe Annie? In Walsh's case, he gushes.
In the interest of full disclosure, some of the information above comes courtesy of Ken Linehan, executive chef at the Express in west Houston and hubby of one Anne Linehan, who's certainly familiar to readers here. But it's information that all sorts of media types in town have been able to get through either Linehan or the restaurant's publicity people simply by asking. Except Robb Walsh, who didn't bother.
Even the great ones occasionally stumble, and we still love the big guy. But this was an uncharacteristically weak effort. Indeed, it seems to have been an off week for all the reviewers.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/09/04 11:27 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (2)
Informative Chronicle corrections
An interesting correction appeared in the Chronicle yesterday:
Kay Stripling, former HISD superintendent, made $200,000 as interim superintendent and $250,000 when she became superintendent. Abe Saavedra, the interim superintendent, makes $212,000 and, according to his lawyer, is seeking a salary of near $271,000, which would be a raise of about 28 percent. An editorial on Page B8 in Tuesday's City & State section incorrectly stated the salaries. Also, district enrollment declined this year, contrary to a statement in the editorial.
Yikes! Who wrote the editors' editorial?
Here's the first sentence in that editorial:
At a time when the Houston Independent School District is gaining enrollment, and thousands of students have been pitched from the Children's Health Insurance Program, the district reduced the number of school nurses.
So the first point in the first sentence is wrong. That's some quality journalism!
I think it's safe to say that we learned more about the HISD superintendent salary question by reading the correction, than we did by wading through the endless paragraphs of editorial blathering.
In related news, Abe Saavedra is expected to be confirmed as HISD superintendent this afternoon.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/09/04 12:43 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
'Tis the season for major road construction
This looks like lots of fun for commuters:
A construction project will once again close a section of the West Loop, beginning Wednesday at 9 p.m.
The West Loop southbound ramp to the Katy Freeway eastbound lanes will be closed until 5 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 23.
Motorists will have two options for detours:
Exit Interstate 10 westbound and u-turn at Wirt Road.
Remain on the West Loop southbound and exit at Post Oak. Then, turn back north to access the West Loop northbound to the Interstate 10 eastbound ramp."We do know that our detour routes are adequate to handle the traffic. And this month of December is an ideal time to do it because we have lower than normal volumes of normal commuter traffic during the month of December," said Janelle Gbur, with TxDot.
The Texas Department of Transportation said the ramp closure is the beginning of the next milestone for the Interstate 10/Loop 610 interchange reconstruction. The contractor has a maximum of 24 days to complete the work, and will earn bonus incentives if the project is completed early.
That's the way to do these things -- offer bonuses for getting the job done ahead of schedule.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/09/04 07:14 AM | Houston Transit | 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)
Lee Brown: the legacy continues to grow
The Chronicle's Mike Snyder reports the following bad news about a Houston "affordable housing" program:
City officials are struggling to limit financial losses and protect tenants' rent restrictions after the top recipient of the city's apartment loan program plunged into bankruptcy and default.
The developer, Don Sowell of Prairie View, has received $19.1 million from the city since 1999 through business ventures he created to buy and renovate Houston apartment developments and lease them to low-income tenants at reduced rents. The sum represents 27 percent of the city's federally funded apartment lending program.
[snip]
City officials said the potential loss of millions of dollars means that less money will be available to increase the city's stock of badly needed affordable housing. The problems with the loans to Sowell also illustrate the need for better management in the city's Housing and Community Development Department, officials said.
In other news, a former top aide to Mayor Brown and more recently to county commissioner Sylvia Garcia is facing legal charges:
A chief of staff to former Mayor Lee Brown was charged Tuesday in Ohio with accepting bribes in exchange for helping a Cleveland consultant who was trying to win city of Houston contracts.
The charge against Oliver Spellman, who more recently worked as a top aide to County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, is part of a continuing investigation that already has resulted in the bribery indictment of a Cleveland city councilman.
Garcia said Spellman resigned suddenly Friday as her chief of staff for operations. As a precaution, in light of Tuesday's charges, Garcia said she has asked the county attorney to review all contracts handled by Spellman.
It could not be determined Tuesday night whether the city of Houston awarded any contracts to the consultant, who was alleged to have bribed Spellman with $2,000 to $3,000 cash and a Las Vegas hotel stay.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports further here. Neither newspaper could reach Brown, often derisively called "Out of Town Brown" when he was mayor, for comment.
Like the potholes he left behind, Lee Brown's legacy continues to grow.
RELATED: Who is Nate Gray?, Mayor to review city contracts for impropriety
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/08/04 07:28 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
Chron columnist wants vasectomies for 12-year-old boys
Today, the Chronicle's sanctimonious Rick Casey has a particularly nasty and compassionless column about Calvin Murphy:
Now I should feel sympathy for Murphy, that his reputation is forever tarnished by the worst sort of false accusations.
Right?
Wrong.
A few months back, Casey seemed to have an abundance of compassion -- for a death-row killer:
Marcus doesn't argue that his client, James Allridge, didn't get a fair trial, nor that he is insane or mentally retarded.
He argues simply that he's rehabilitated. He's not the same young man who in 1985, under the influence of his violent older brother, wantonly shot and killed a convenience store clerk who was tied up in a back room.
The nasty part of today's column is this astounding idea of Casey's:
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/08/04 09:54 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
07 December 2004
Richard Justice confounded by his two hands
Chronicle sports columnist Richard Justice penned a typical "two-handed" column today.
On the one hand, he had this to say about Texas Longhorns football coach Mack Brown:
I think the notion he can't win a big game is ridiculous. Not beating Oklahoma has gotten confused with not winning anything.
On the other hand, he had this to say about Mack Brown:
His teams haven't handled the big stage very well. If it's not the annual dismantling by OU, it's some dismal bowl performance.
Thanks for clearing that up for us, Richard, with that very MeMoish ramble of a column.
The fact is, Mack Brown's Texas teams have underperformed in bowl games, and Mack Brown has had trouble winning big games through his career (a career that has produced not one conference championship, anywhere).
Here's longtime Austin American-Statesman columnist Kirk Bohls on the same football coach:
Brown also puts a checkered 3-3 bowl record at Texas on the line. In his first six appearances, he suffered bad losses to Arkansas, Oregon and Washington State in which his teams looked ill-prepared and were clearly outplayed.[snip]
After it is all said and done, it is time for Texas to win a really big game in January, and do less saying and more doing.
And here's Dallas Morning News columnist Gerry Fraley:
Brown has been a convenient target of barbs because his teams promise so much and deliver so little under the spotlight.
In 17 seasons at North Carolina and Texas, Brown has never won a conference title. That is somewhat understandable at North Carolina, where basketball is king and Florida State was in the conference for part of his tenure.
An 0-for at Texas, flush with resources and talent, is unfathomable.
The bigger the moment, the worse Brown's Texas teams have played. Look at his big-game resume:
• Five consecutive losses to Oklahoma and uber-coach Bob Stoops.
This is as big a mismatch as there is in the college game. The thought of Stoops throws Brown into a panic. The gap is growing. Texas' dull offense does not even challenge Stoops and his staff.
• An 0-2 record in Big 12 championship games. Texas lost to Nebraska in 1999 and, with a BCS berth at hand, was upset by Colorado in 2001.
• A 3-3 bowl record. Last year's 28-20 loss to Washington State represented a dreadful showing by Brown and his staff. Texas acted as if it had no idea Washington State, which led Division I-A in sacks, would blitz. With the offense collapsing in the face of the heavy blitz pressure, Brown removed the mobile quarterback (Vince Young) for the stationary quarterback (Chance Mock).
Reputations are formed by a body of work. There are lots of wins but no landmark triumphs during Brown's seven seasons with Texas.
The facts are out there. Even a homer like Bohls can face them. But Chron readers instead get to watch Richard Justice try to decide which hand he prefers.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/07/04 11:27 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
CenterPoint is reclaiming easement property
CenterPoint Energy has started reclaiming easement property from homeowners who had been maintaining and using the property for years:
A few months ago, CenterPoint Energy told homeowners throughout the Houston area that it would begin taking back the right of way by moving fences back to the original property line.
They started in this southwest Houston neighborhood, in the 7800 block of Twin Hills.
"It is absolutely about safety and reliability," says Emily Mir Thompson of CenterPoint Energy.
[snip]
CenterPoint Energy says homeowners across the Houston area who have built out onto the right of way will have to move back to the original property line.
CenterPoint says it will seek legal action for those who don't make the move.
We covered this previously and according to a Chronicle story, in at least one case, homeowners had been using utility easements for 30+ years at the request of the utility company:
[...]Houston Lighting and Power — now CenterPoint Energy — requested that residents extend their fence, landscape and maintain the utility company's property easement backing their property. The arrangement more than quadrupled the size of the yards over the original lot's dimensions.
It was also an unwritten agreement, leaving residents with no legal recourse in CenterPoint's plan to take over its easement Nov. 1, tearing down wooden fences, digging up flower beds and cutting down trees that have long blocked the view of its power lines and steel towers.
I still say it's overly heavy-handed on the part of CenterPoint. Surely some compromise or compensation could have been worked out.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/07/04 07:15 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
Dalati will join Pallilo at new sports talk station
David Barron reported earlier this week that KILT-610 personality David Dalati will be making the jump to the new sports talk station (KBME-790) that will be launching in a couple of weeks. Dalati will apparently do sports reporting and provide updates for the new station, much the same job he filled at KILT. He'll join KILT-ex Charlie Pallilo.
So far, the new KBME seems to be playing up its ESPN affiliation (especially Dan Patrick) and skimming the best available talent from KILT (Mark Vandermeer is staying at KILT, but presumably is bound to the station as part of his package deal with the Texans).
Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that either station is likely to take a chance and mold itself in the image of Dallas' Ticket. One had hoped Houston might be able to do better than average local hosts sandwiched around national talkers like Dan Patrick or Jim Rome. I know The Hardline is a bit much too expect, but a person can hope.
Maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised. A little competition in sports talk surely can't hurt.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/07/04 05:46 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (2)
NASA and Rep. DeLay
Over at Houston's Clear Thinkers, Tom Kirkendall notes a Washington Post story from yesterday about Rep. Tom DeLay and his impact on NASA's budget:
NASA was identified as a major sticking point when Senate and House conferees sat down to craft the final version of the omnibus spending bill near midnight Nov. 19, but Bolten, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and DeLay were holding out for more money.
The negotiators appeared to agree on $15.9 billion for NASA, but that wasn't good enough, DeLay said later at the Space Center. "The main responsibility of the majority leader is to set the agenda for the House floor. I wouldn't schedule the bill until NASA was taken care of," he said.
And it was.
"Once you get into an omnibus bill, the leadership takes over, and you need to have an advocate in that circle," Walsh said. DeLay "was getting me more allocation every time he stepped up to the plate. He made the difference."
Wonder if Richard Morrison could have delivered that, if he had been elected instead of DeLay?
Wonder why the Chronicle hasn't picked up this Washington Post story yet or, even better, put its Washington bureau to work on it?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/07/04 12:07 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (6)
06 December 2004
Chron recycles "olds" from the DMN
We know Chronicle columnist Rick Casey has had a little problem in the past with giving proper attribution when he lifts article ideas (and even exact phrases) from other newspapers.
At least Lucas Wall is a little more clever when he "borrows" from other newspapers.
Here's the opening of a Dallas Morning News article by Tony Hartzel that ran on October 16:
Next time you're on the highway, look up.
Notice anything different?
For the first time in 50 years, those green-and-white overhead highway signs are getting a makeover.
The article goes on to describe the font changes coming to overhead roadsigns in Texas.
Here's the opening of a Lucas Wall column carrying a November 28 date:
Notice anything different as you try to find your way along the highways?
Those ubiquitous green-and-white signs that inform motorists what exits lie ahead have been getting a makeover.
Aside from some local quotes, the information in the article closely resembles Hartzel's.
This isn't necessarily plagiarism, but it certainly is "olds." Apparently, Wall and his editors must assume that Houstonians don't read other newspapers, and that we're too stupid to realize that stories aged a month and a half are "olds," not news.
(Thanks to David Benzion for passing along this bit of "olds")
(12-08-2004 Update) Matt Bramanti notes Wall's reaction to an email query about his "olds." Apparently, it's more fun to borrow story ideas from other newspapers than to treat readers who wonder about such matters with some courtesy. Insulting readers who interact with reporters -- that's some business model Jack Sweeney and Jeff Cohen have going!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/06/04 10:13 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Food and drink roundup (12-06-2004 edition)
We're still a little behind on the food and drink articles from the last week, which was another fairly busy one for the city's various reviewers and writers.
Robb Walsh did double duty, with a feature on Cafe Annie's Robert Del Grande and a quick tour of several of Houston's fine Vietnamese noodle establishments.
Alison Cook, who seems to spend about half her time outside the beltway, headed to Pearland to the Santa Barbara Italian Cafe.
Mona Shoup posted various recommendations from readers.
And Gracie Ochoa visited the Tasting Room, a wine bar and retail shop.
We'll try to get back on our more usual Thursday schedule for these things this week.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/06/04 09:33 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
Calvin Murphy acquitted
Various media outlets are reporting that a jury has acquitted former Rockets star and broadcaster Calvin Murphy of all charges accusing him of sexual abuse.
It took jurors just over two hours to reach their verdict.
Maybe this means Murphy can get back to work on Rockets broadcasts. His suits would generate more excitement than anything Jeff Van Gundy has tried so far this season.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/06/04 05:34 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (1)
Further evaluation for "last call trains"
Metro's late-night, weekend light rail service is in the news:
Metro is reviewing whether to continue late rail service on Friday and Saturday nights. The extended weekend hours began in June at the request of city officials and downtown businesses who hoped the availability of the rail ride might lure more customers. It hasn't happened.
[snip]
The transit authority originally had planned to run trains until 2:15 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights for three months and then decide whether to make the extended hours permanent. Nearly six months have passed, but Connaughton said Metro wants to give the "last call trains" a longer evaluation period.
When bus ridership fails to meet expectations, the bus route is cancelled, regardless of public opinion. When train ridership fails to meet expectations, Metro gives it a "longer evaluation period."
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/06/04 04:22 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
Shaking up public education
The Chronicle has a story on what looks to be a hot topic in the upcoming state legislature session -- school vouchers -- and the proposed voucher plan is summed up in the "Resource" box in the margin of the story:
EDUCATION ALTERNATIVE
• The plan: A proposal would allow students who are struggling academically or attending low-rated public schools to enroll in private schools using a state-funded voucher.
• The value: Each voucher would be for an amount equal to the average per student funding at the local public school.
• The beneficiaries: The pilot would apply to the six largest districts in the state, including the Houston and Cypress-Fairbanks districts.
This plan, to "allow students who are struggling academically or attending low-rated public schools to enroll in private schools using a state-funded voucher," doesn't sound unreasonable, but of course, the usual suspects are against it:
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/06/04 10:04 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
05 December 2004
Unintentional humor from Clay Robison
Clay Robison penned an unintentionally amusing column about Governor Rick Perry today.
By the usual weekend editorial standards of the hyperpartisan Austin news bureau chief, it was relatively tame stuff, much less incendiary than his usual fare, although still replete with the usual bellyaching that the state is not engaged in enough wealth redistribution.
Mainly, though, he took Governor Perry to task for factual errors contained in a display about him in a Texas museum.
Such nitpicking is rich coming from the newspaper that recently misidentified Dan Rather's network affiliation and reported Lee Brown worked for the Bush (not Clinton) Administration, not to mention the newspaper that threatens local bloggers for excerpting its articles even though its metro/state columnist is not punished for reproducing another person's copyrighted text, without proper attribution (some call that plagiarism).
Robison's funny, even if he doesn't know it.
And then there's this separate, odd recollection of Texas votes in the 1980s that ran this weekend, which isn't funny, but isn't really anything else either.
Mr. Robison may need a vacation. Or maybe he actually was taking a vacation when he phoned in these latest columns.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/05/04 11:37 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Downtown traffic signals still suffer from neglect
Chronicle transportation columnist Lucas Wall notes that the city is still having problems maintaining its downtown traffic/pedestrian signals:
The public works department, citing Houston's financial woes, still doesn't have a comprehensive system for maintaining traffic and pedestrian signals, officials said. Instead, it relies on citizen reports to the city's 311 complaint center and reports by city employees who notice signal outages.
"We want all drivers and pedestrians to be able to safely drive and walk the streets in Houston," Johnson said.
Mayor Bill White's administration has been discussing ways to improve maintenance of numerous items, Johnson said, but solutions require a budget that could allow for the hiring of more electricians and other technicians.
"It's still a work in progress," he said.
White has made improved transportation a major issue during his first year in office, including a implementing popular project to synchronize traffic signals on many of Houston's major thoroughfares. Through a spokesman, White declined to comment on the maintenance of pedestrian signals, saying public works officials will handle the matter.
Mayor White is probably too busy enriching the local developers providing the land for his downtown park to be bothered with such trifling matters as downtown traffic signals or HPD's manpower shortages.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/05/04 11:16 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chron: all Fertitta, all the time
With the utterly unconvincing "criticism" of Tilman Fertitta appearing as a house editorial a few days ago, the Chronicle can get right back to unabashedly promoting the playpen of one of the darlings of the downtown establishment:
Downtown Aquarium mammal and bird curator Patti Shoemaker was hired from the Houston Zoo by Landry's two weeks ago to care for the aquarium's four new white Bengal tigers. When she spoke with Houston Chronicle reporter Louis B. Parks last week, Shoemaker described her job as "the best thing on the entire planet."
Jeff Cohen should start putting a disclaimer on these advertorials for Tilman Ferttita's projects if he's going to run them every day.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/05/04 02:17 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chronicle misses big cause of infant mortality
Today's Chronicle has an editorial addressing prenatal care in Houston:
As the Chronicle's Melanie Markley reported last week, the combination of inaccessible preventive health services and rising infant mortality rates has local health providers worried. The rise in infant deaths, an important measure of a civilization's functionality and moral health, should reinforce warnings that major structural changes need to be made in the way basic health services are delivered.
However, a letter to the editor today took exception with the Chronicle's coverage of this story:
The Chronicle's Nov. 30 article on prenatal care, "AN URGENT NEED / Some face a long wait for crucial prenatal care" was a very one-sided article. A large majority of the clinics in Houston had short waits of seven to 10 days and only a few had longer waits. But that isn't what the headline said.
And did the Chronicle check out how long a private paying patient has to wait? Believe me, private patients don't get seen on the same day.
And, it isn't even necessary for them to be seen any sooner than seven to 10 days! Normal pregnancy prenatal care is not an emergency.
AMY BETH OSBORN
Cypress
The irony here is that the Chronicle editors are big supporters of abortion, and abortion is, without a doubt, a much bigger cause of infant mortality than any wait to get into a city or county clinic.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/05/04 01:07 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
HISD news
KHOU-11 is reporting that ChevronTexaco is donating $1 million toward HISD's high school dropout prevention efforts:
ChevronTexaco will help increase the number of Houston students graduating from high school with a $500,000 donation to HISD and a $500,000 donation to the Houston Area Urban League.
[snip]
The ChevronTexaco donation will support the HISD’s work to prevent kids from dropping out of school.
HISD launched its effort to focus public attention on the dropout issue, called “expectation: GRADUATION”, last May when it convened a citywide summit on graduation and dropouts.
And in today's Chronicle, Jason Spencer has the details of superintendent-to-be Abe Saavedra's contract:
But typical, by Houston Independent School District standards, means a base annual salary approaching $300,000, plus perks and a $25,000 performance bonus that could put the total package value somewhere near $400,000.
Such a contract would make Saavedra one of the nation's highest-paid school administrators, although others have taken sweeter deals. The new superintendent in Miami, for instance, was promised nearly a quarter-million dollars for a new house.
Luxurious deals usually come about when a handful of districts are bidding for the same candidate, said Robert Houston, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators. While that's not the case in Houston, Saavedra is still in a good bargaining position because the school board didn't name any other finalists.
Saavedra, an HISD administrator since 2001, knows trustees would be embarrassed to lose him and have to start another search, Houston said.
[snip]
Stripling's contract was stacked with extras that Saavedra also expects, Martinez said. HISD gave Stripling a $1,000 monthly car allowance, hired a personal assistant for her at a cost of nearly $10,000 a year, reimbursed her $19,000 annual retirement contribution and gave her $18,000 to offset the federal income tax she paid for all those perks. She charged an average of $1,000 a month on her district-issued credit card for meals, gasoline, a Houstonian Club membership and travel, according to records provided by HISD.
We covered the HISD superintendent "search" previously, and are not surprised that the school board's actions have placed Saavedra in a strong bargaining position.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/05/04 10:21 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
04 December 2004
Tom DeLay's views on mobility
I'm cleaning up some old links and bookmarks, and ran across a feature on House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R) that ran in the Fort Bend/Southwest Sun after DeLay paid a visit to the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce.
Here's an excerpt:
"The city of Houston - after a long, hard struggle - installed the same mass-transit system that was installed in Calgary, Canada, the year I was born. It seems to me that Houston can do better. It seems to me that tearing up two lanes of a major, six-lane urban artery to serve the needs of only 3 percent of the populace might not have been the wisest allocation of resources,"
The light rail system, as it is currently devised, seems to provide for yesterday, and not plan much at all, DeLay said. "That doesn't mean it's a failure; just that it needs an infusion of vision and innovation worthy of a 22nd-century community like Houston," he said. As a city of pioneers, the pioneering spirit must be at the heart of Houston's transportation growth.
"I assure you, that has been at the heart of my position on the new federal transportation funding bill in Congress, on which I've been working for a year with my House and Senate colleagues.
The bill must embrace new technologies, new ideas, and innovative thinking. That is why I am committed to writing funding equity into the transportation reauthorization bill...Highway money raised in Texas ought to stay in Texas to create Texas jobs and Texas opportunities. I don't think a guaranteed return of 95 cents on the dollar is too much to ask, and I've been saying as much to everyone on that conference committee who will listen. We are going to get this done.We are also going to provide greater empowerment and autonomy to states and localities," DeLay promised.
The full article is here.
We originally found the link via the MET-Houston Yahoo group, whose moderator wrote:
Here it is folks, Tom DeLay, long hated by the politicians and special interest groups that simply wanted light rail without any other consideration, speaking out on a subject he has spoken of frequently but largely ignored by the news media.
The Chronicle has tried to demonize him for not following their belief in the Lee P Main Street trolley car line. One should always remember the infamous secret papers the Chronicle accidentally published showing their contempt.
Tom DeLay is ready to endorse and help us get a real solution. Please note thought that he is not saying the Feds are going to shower money down on us. He is looking at a conservative and reasoned solution.
Things look pretty good for monorail, maglev technology and PRT folks. It's time to get with our local officials and open their minds.
We would hope that our friends in town who are so concerned about Tom DeLay's various relationships with business interests are just as concerned about the various business and political relationships of municipal policymakers who continue to drive transit (and central park!) policy in Houston.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/04/04 01:16 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
I'll have the Chicka Chicka BOOM BOOM enchiladas
Who would have guessed an explosion in H-town would attract the attention of the big boys?
It's good that Reynolds is on terror alert for our city, I guess.
But it's better that it prompted this fun KTRK-13 tale from Laurence Simon.
He has another KTRK post here (those who don't like salty language may not want to click over).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/04/04 12:18 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (1)
03 December 2004
Thou shalt not (really) criticize Tilman
Yesterday, the Chronicle gave Tilman Fertitta a boatload of free publicity for his downtown aquarium, with front page coverage (including color photo) and more coverage inside the newspaper.
Today, the editors try their best to muster some criticism of the big downtown booster (and, no doubt, Chron advertiser), but it's pretty tepid stuff:
Now that Tilman has his tigers, perhaps he will restrain his imagination in the interest of public safety and not turn the Downtown Aquarium into a complete zoo.
Sure, guys. That will happen about the time Mattress Mac stops screaming and wearing patriotic clothing.
Anyway, it's clear that Tilman Fertitta isn't quite one of the Chron "bad guys."
This line was kind of fun, though:
In the same spirit, there is little to stop Fertitta from adding a primate lounge, complete with captive bred orangutans or endangered mountain gorillas, to the Downtown Aquarium bag of tricks.
Here's an even better suggestion -- since Fertitta seems to own the hacks who produce the Chron, maybe they could just put some thick glass walls in over at 801 Texas Avenue, and THAT could be the Primate Lounge Annex Exhibit of the Downtown Aquarium!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/03/04 11:56 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
A new low even for MeMo
It's bad enough that Jack Sweeney and Jeff Cohen empowered MeMo effectively to destroy the Chronicle Features section, renaming it after a symbol that the Chron presses apparently can't reproduce in small type (since corrections always refer to the "star" section) and populating it with vapid content (replete with references to "ABC's Dan Rather").
But letting the woman actually write is even worse than turning her loose as a content and style editor!
Here's her latest mean and spiteful rambling on what she calls a blog:
One tiny, tiny cavil: U.N. Ambassabor John Danforth quit yesterday because, he says, he wants to spend more time with his wife of 47 years. Oh, and check out Tommy Thompson. Why do you, Gov. Thomspon and Sen. Danforth and your likes in the corporate and sports and entertainment worlds, even bother? We don't much care why you quit, really, unless it involves clear liquid and white creams and injectable substances, but please, please, please don't try to make us believe you want to spend more time with your family! Do we look like we just fell off the pickle truck? No one wants to spend more time with family unless it's a daycare issue and for you, my dear sirs, it is manifestly not.
MeMo thinks she's being cute.
Sorry, chick, but it's not cute. It's ugly as can be.
See, MeMo, as it turns out, Ambassador Danforth, one of the nation's more accomplished statesmen at the age of 68, really does seem to want to go back to his beloved Missouri, to be with his ailing wife -- and he's surely earned the right:
Speaking to reporters the day after his resignation as U.S. envoy to the United Nations was confirmed, Danforth said he decided he didn't want "to sign on for a four-year stint at this point in my life."
"I want to go home. It's just that simple," the 68-year-old former Missouri senator said. "What's most important to me is my wife and my home and having more time with both. I'm a St. Louis guy. That's the place I love, and my wife of 47 years."
Danforth's wife, Sally, is still suffering from the effects of a serious fall about 1 1/2 years ago.
Here's more from Danforth's hometown newspaper:
Danforth said his decision to leave was based solely on a strong desire to spend more time with his wife, Sally, and his family back in St. Louis.
"It's really about, that at this point in our lives, we really don't want to live in a hotel in New York," said Danforth, whose official residence since July has been the top floor of the Waldorf Astoria.
"It's the usual tug that a lot of people have between working life and the rest of life. You ask, what is most important. Two things most important to me are Sally and St. Louis," he said.
Danforth delivered much the same message in his letter to Bush last week.
"Forty-seven years ago, I married the girl of my dreams and at this point in my life, what is most important to me is to spend more time with her. Because you know Sally, you know my reason for going home," Danforth wrote.
Leave it to a depraved, bitter, cynical dinosaur-media hack to turn THAT story into something ugly.
Why stop at the Features/Star section, right?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/03/04 11:04 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
HEB holds off Wal-Mart in Houston grocery battle
According to a Wall Street Journal article reprinted in the Austin American-Statesman, Houston is ground zero in an escalating grocery business battle between longtime Texas grocer HEB and retail giant Wal-Mart:
Although H-E-B is relatively unknown among consumers outside of Texas, it's providing a blueprint for competing successfully against Wal-Mart that's being closely watched by the grocery industry.
Even as Wal-Mart has spread throughout the state, with 213 supercenters, H-E-B has held on to market share above 60 percent in key cities, including Austin and San Antonio.
Now, both retailers have set their sights on Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city and one of its toughest grocery markets because of an eclectic immigrant population and cutthroat competition. Since 2000, H-E-B and Wal-Mart have opened stores and grabbed market share from local competitors. Houston is the greatest test yet of H-E-B's strategy of thriving in Wal-Mart's shadow by paying attention to local tastes.
The whole article is available here. It's some good journalism.
It's a shame that the Chronicle rarely produces anything comparable.
(Update) A reader passes along this link, which does not require registration for viewing.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/03/04 10:09 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (2)
Chron: "ABC's" Dan Rather to retire
The Chronicle made a rather silly gaffe in the * section on Wednesday:
How about that Dan and those cute sayings? Ha ha ha. What great fun!
Of course, it would have been nicer if the newspaper actually had gotten his network affiliation right.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/03/04 09:59 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
A retro economic editorial
Remember back in the '80s, when conventional (media) wisdom suggested that Ronald Reagan's "twin deficits" in trade and the budget were going to usher in the next great depression?
It didn't quite work out that way, as Reagan's policies instead ushered in the Seven Fat Years, millions of jobs were created, American productivity soared, and we enjoyed morning in America.
Still, it's kind of fun that the same media dinosaurs are still running many print newsrooms in the country, and are still worried about the next great depression:
Although the U.S. economy is growing faster than expected, rising interest rates would quickly curb expansion and send stock markets lower. Unchecked, the recession could spread around the world.
Conservatives used to be called the cynical pessimists! Now, that's left to reactionary media dinosaurs at newspapers in decline.
Since the Chron is unlikely to provide "another voice" that differs from its own, here are some related thoughts from a different perspective.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/03/04 06:48 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
A quick music roundup (12-03-2004 edition)
David Cobb posts his excellent weekly roundup of live rock music here.
Unfortunately, this is kind of a slow weekend for live Texas/alt-country/Americana acts around town.
Here are a few shows that caught my eye:
Friday, December 3
Honeybrowne (F-Co opens), Firehouse Saloon
Moe Hansum Band, Dan Electro's
Jon Dee Graham, Continental Club
Davin James, Blanco's
Delbert McClinton/Jesse Dayton, Verizon Wireless Theater
Saturday, December 4
Eric Taylor, Anderson Fair
Cooder Graw, Firehouse Saloon
Mike Barfield, Continental Club
This information is compiled from a variety of sources and can change. Always check with the venue before heading out!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/03/04 06:14 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em
The Houston Chronicle attempted to whitewash its massive layoffs and cost reductions (coming about, no doubt, because of a decreasing revenue) back in October by promising exciting new products.
It doesn't appear that the newspaper will be developing any new products or improving the current declining product.
Rather, the Chron plans on busting into the Spanish-language market via the acquisition route:
The Houston Chronicle has acquired the weekly Spanish-language paper La Voz.
Jack Sweeney, the Chronicle's publisher and president, and Olga Ordóñez, publisher of La Voz de Houston, announced the sale to their staffs Thursday.
Ordóñez and her 13-member staff will remain at the paper, which she and her husband, Armando, began in 1979. Ordóñez will continue in her role as publisher and will report to Sweeney.
"We're delighted that Olga has agreed to sell the paper to the Houston Chronicle and will be staying on to teach us even more about providing news and information to the Spanish-speaking community," Sweeney said in a statement.
La Voz and the Houston Chronicle have worked together for 13 years, with the Chronicle printing and distributing La Voz, sharing some stories, and selling ads into the weekly. With the new arrangement, La Voz will gain editorial and advertising sales support from the Chronicle.
La Voz has a circulation of 100,000 and covers news, sports, food, and entertainment. It will join La Vibra, a weekly entertainment tabloid, as one of the Chronicle's Spanish-language products.
We rather doubt Ordóñez will be remaining with her old newspaper for long. Newspapers don't have co-publishers. Sweeney is the publisher now, and no doubt is planning changes. Indeed, one rather expects that MeMo has already unveiled plans to replace the name of the Entertainment section with a great big jalapeno!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/03/04 05:53 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Downtown has a new statue
A statue of former President Bush (41) was unveiled yesterday. According to KHOU-11, the statue was a surprise for Bush:
The George Bush Presidential Monument at Preston and Main was a well-kept secret from the former president.
Bush had suggested that perhaps it would be better to build a monument after he was gone. So they waited until he went to Kennebunkport.
This quote from Bush Sr. is funny:
The former president told the crowd his mother always warned him nobody liked a guy who talked about himself or thought about getting honors.
"If she were here and not up there I would say, 'Mom, think about all the pigeons that will now have a chance to come and relax in this park," Bush said. " I mean, this is an important thing."
And the Chronicle's article notes this interesting fact:
Thursday's unveiling marks the first time a public figure has been honored with a major monument since [Sam] Houston's statue in Hermann Park was dedicated in 1925.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/03/04 12:59 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
TxDOT's impeccable timing
The Chronicle points out today that TxDOT is giving Galleria-area shoppers a Christmas present, of sorts:
Just in time for the annual Christmas shopping rush, TxDOT will close access to one of Houston's busiest malls to rebuild the West Loop.
The highway agency says it simply wants to stay on schedule with its construction plan. But Galleria-area retailers say the timing will do little for their Christmas cheer.
Starting at 9 tonight, the northbound lanes of the West Loop, between the Southwest Freeway and Woodway, will be closed for construction until 8 p.m. Sunday.
Ramps from the Southwest Freeway to the West Loop also will be closed.
Southbound lanes of the West Loop will remain open. Motorists also will have free access to the inbound Westpark Tollway, between the Southwest Freeway and Post Oak, as well as a new exit to Westheimer.
TxDOT spokesman Norm Wigington said the construction must go on, despite an expected onslaught of traffic on a busy shopping weekend.
That's the way to spread good cheer.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/03/04 08:15 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)
Mayor White doesn't support a toll road in the Heights
In this KHOU-11 story about Mayor White's new bike program, there's a quote that should be music to the ears of Heights residents worried about the possibility of a toll road running through their backyards:
The mayor also agreed to work on an agreement on possible community uses, including a bike-and-hike trail, for the right-of-way being acquired by the County Toll Road Authority through the Heights.
"Our elected officials won't support a toll road built through the Heights over community objections. I've spoken with Harris County officials about exploring uses such as walking and bicycling trails," Mayor White said.
As we have seen, Mayor White can get what he wants. If he puts his weight behind the efforts to block a toll road going through the Heights, that might actually be a hopeful sign for those residents.
One other problem though is the light rail. No one is bringing up the point that Metro has an interest in that old rail right-of-way. Would the mayor and the Heights residents support that? We don't know yet, but here's something to consider when light rail trains run through neighborhoods:
Residents in Noe Valley and the Outer Sunset [San Francisco] say the screeching sound of Muni's light rail vehicles through both neighborhoods are making their lives unbearable. The noise, which can be mitigated by lubrication, is caused by the train's metal wheels rubbing against metal tracks and is particularly bad when the vehicles go around turns.
Muni says it is doing all it can to respond to resident complaints, including cleaning and lubricating the tracks whenever complaints are lodged, and is training its operators to drive around sharp turns more slowly.
Many neighbors, however, say it's not enough.
Noise from the Noe Valley tracks has gotten significantly worse in the past year, said Joby Shinoff, a resident of Church Street for 18 years. Shinoff, who owns the building he lives in and rents out several units, said the screeching is keeping people up and night and has gotten so bad that several of his tenants have considered moving.
UPDATE: KHOU-11 has another story on this, this time quoting Harris County Judge Robert Eckels as saying, "there is no plan to build a toll road through the Heights."
And this:
"The right of way must remain in the public domain for the benefit of the community," said Eckels.
The right of way is ideally suited for a recreational or transit use as a hike and bike trail or possible extensions of the Metro Light Rail or other Trolley systems to link the Houston Heights to other communities. In most of the old rail line there is enough right of way for both.
"I have deep roots in the old Houston Heights," said the Judge. "My grandparents moved into the area over 90 years ago. My mother is a graduate of Reagan High School. My sister won the "good brick" award for historical preservation at her Heights area home in 1992. There is no need for toll lanes beyond the immediate Hwy 290/Loop610/I-10 interchange and I will not support a tollway through this neighborhood," added the Judge.
That middle paragraph above is odd. If it is a quote from Judge Eckels, it is not attributed. If it's not a quote, then it's a whole lot of editorializing on the part of the KHOU writer.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/03/04 06:40 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
02 December 2004
The future of newspapers?
The Christian Science Monitor has an intriguing story about a newspaper in Chile with a new approach:
[...]it's a revolution in journalism, a reader-driven product that reflects the changing values and interests of a postdictatorship public that grew up on a diet of establishment news and now wants more. Or, as some say - because of the often low-brow content - less.
This revolution has occurred, says the paper's publisher Augustine Edwards, thanks to his decision to listen to "the people." Three years ago, under Mr. Edwards's guidance, LUN installed a system whereby all clicks onto its website (www.lun.com) were recorded for all in the newsroom to see. Those clicks - and the changing tastes and desires they represent - drive the entire print content of LUN. If a certain story gets a lot of clicks, for example, that is a signal to Edwards and his team that the story should be followed up, and similar ones should be sought for the next day. If a story gets only a few clicks, it is killed. The system offers a direct barometer of public opinion, much like the TV rating system - but unique to print media.
[snip]
None of the LUN correspondents have news beats anymore, rather, they compete one against the other. Edwards says he will start financial incentives, with salaries reflecting the monthly clicks each reporter accrues. Editors, he adds, will work more as coaches than bosses. "I want my correspondents to be writing for the people," he stresses. "Not for me, or their editors, or the bureaucrats who put out press releases."
Well, that's different! blogHOUSTON is very interested in the Chronicle improving the quality of its content, but until that happens, this idea holds some promise.
Just imagine how this would change the face of the Chronicle, if a reporter's worth was based on the popularity of what he or she wrote: the Big Three Dinosaurs -- Cragg Hines, Clay Robison and Rick Casey -- could all retire; MeMo could move back to her beloved Northeast; Lucas Wall could start a travel blog; and Ken Hoffman would become the Chronicle's editor-in-chief!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/02/04 11:33 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
UH: working reduces rate of drug use
Researchers at UH have found an unexpected benefit from welfare reform -- reduced chronic drug use:
The study led by Isaac D. Montoya found that welfare reform - primarily designed to transition women from welfare to work - also may be a significant factor in drug abuse prevention and education.
"Our research yielded such significant results that we feel these findings ultimately can and should be extrapolated to additional populations. In the U.S., alone, nearly 20 million Americans abuse drugs, with women being less likely to seek treatment than men. And the fact that risk factors and predictors vary across demographics underscores the need to target various sub- populations," he said.
[snip]
A positive correlation was found between employment and the reduction of chronic drug use within welfare populations, providing definitive data that supports "work therapy" as a tertiary prevention model for drug addiction as an alternative or in addition to traditional therapy options like programs and meetings.
"The study demonstrates that welfare reform policy has an unintended benefit. Employment promotes a healthy lifestyle by providing structure, income and benefits that increase self esteem and a sense of purpose. These elements may not be provided when recipients simply attend 12-step meetings," Montoya added.
According to this press release on the findings, Montoya's next step will be to design a work therapy model to deter drug use.
This all seems like such common sense, but it is excellent news that the study was done and that the results can be put to good use. There were some who weren't fans of welfare reform and this is yet more proof that there are tangible benefits.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/02/04 07:31 AM | Houston Miscellany | 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)
White tigers at the Downtown Aquarium
The Downtown Aquarium has some new inhabitants:
The Downtown Aquarium is now home to four white tigers. They're part of a new exhibit called White Tigers of the Maharaja’s Temple.
[snip]
The Downtown Aquarium received certification from the American Zoo and Aquarium Association in September which allowed the facility to become home to large mammals such as white tigers.
These are the only white tigers in Houston and four of only a few dozen in the world. White tigers are even more rare than pandas. The Aquarium hopes to raise awareness of the tiger's plight through education.
The Aquarium, one of Houston's most popular tourist attractions, is also home to everything from sharks to stingrays.
Yes, well, sharks and stingrays do seem to fit with the aquarium theme. I don't know about tigers, but I'm sure the big kitties will be a big draw.
UPDATE: Here's the Chronicle's story on the big kitties.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/01/04 03:42 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (28)
Problems at 911 call dispatch center
Tuesday, KHOU-11 had a story on the concerns of Houston Emergency Center employees:
The 911 call takers say they are being forced to work overtime because there are too many vacant positions and colleagues who continuously call in sick.
"Sometimes we work 12 to 16 hours a day," says Thomas.
The public information officer for Houston's Emergency Center says it is working to fill those vacant positions. This isn't the first time there have been problems at the HEC.
"It's getting worse. The system is constantly going down," says Flint.
Since it opened its doors in fall 2003 there have been several incidents of trouble with the system. It suffered again a few weeks ago during a systems upgrade.
Flint and Thomas women [sic] say it happens more times than the callers know.
This morning the Chronicle is reporting that the dispatch system is down:
The computer-assisted dispatch system at the Houston Emergency Center has been disabled since early this morning, creating delays for those calling for help and slowing the dispatch of police and fire calls.
HEC spokesman Joe Laud said the problem occurred when workers shut the system down about 3 a.m. to install upgraded hardware.
When the system was brought back on line, Laud said the hardware was unable to interface with the CAD system.
Hewlett-Packard technicans are still there, because it's their hardware that was installed, Laud said. "They're still trying to see what's wrong."
In the meantime, Laud said dispatchers at the HEC have gone back to pen and paper to record and dispatch emergency calls for help.
That doesn't sound good.
UPDATE: The Chronicle link above now leads to an updated story where we learn the system came back online at about 4 p.m. today.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/01/04 09:35 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (4)
A hopeful sign from the Chronicle
It appears the Chronicle has a new Washington, D.C. bureau chief:
The Houston Chronicle has named Stephen G. Smith, a former senior editor at three major newsmagazines and former vice president for communications at the Brookings Institution, as chief of the newspaper's Washington, D.C. bureau.
Chronicle Editor Jeff Cohen announced Smith's appointment Monday.
Smith joined the Brookings Institution, an independent, nonpartisan think tank focusing on government issues, economics and foreign policy, after many years in the magazine industry. He served as editor of U.S. News and World Report, executive editor of Newsweek and editor of the Nation section of Time.
Smith also has been editor of National Journal, founding editor of Civilization magazine and senior editor of Horizon magazine.
His journalism background also includes serving as news editor for Knight Ridder Newspapers and editor and reporter for the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Albany Times-Union in New York and the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton, Mass.
"We are delighted to have him lead our outstanding staff in Washington," Cohen said.
Smith is a member of the World Affairs Council, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Oversees Press Club and the National Press Club.
Smith appears to have an impressive background and we hope this is a step in the direction of actually improving news content, as opposed to the recent efforts to make the paper easier to read. Next on our wish list is improved coverage and content in local news, with less MeMo-like influence spreading everywhere.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/01/04 09:08 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
LBJ casts a big shadow for Chronicle columnists
A group of Chronicle columnists seem to be fixated with the memory of President Lyndon B. Johnson. In his column today on election challenges, Rick Casey goes back to 1948, in a section subtitled "The Ghost of LBJ":
In 1948, when Lyndon Johnson trailed Gov. Coke Stevenson in the race for the U.S. Senate by a tiny margin, LBJ phoned George Parr, the "Duke of Duval."
Parr saw to it that Ballot Box 13 came in late and that it added 203 votes for Johnson, enough to give him an 87-vote margin of victory and the nickname "Landslide Lyndon."
Almost two weeks ago, Clay Robison gave President Bush some, no doubt, heartfelt advice about avoiding an LBJ-like quagmire in Iraq, "Here's hoping that Bush won't wear LBJ-style scar: Clay Robison writes that President Bush doesn't want to fall into the type of quagmire that scarred Lyndon B. Johnson."
And back in September, Cragg Hines wrote a column about President Bush's determination in Iraq, titled "As Iraq fighting goes on, is W to be LBJ's stepson?"
There seems to be a theme here for these three liberal columnists who probably came of age during the Vietnam era. Dan Rather may be chit-chatting with the ghost of Edward R. Murrow, but the Chronicle's Big Three are hanging on to LBJ.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/01/04 08:26 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
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