31 July 2005
Area blogosphere tackles mass transit, light rail
The Houston-area blogosphere currently is engaged in an interesting, frank discussion of mass transit and light rail in the city.
Tory Gattis got the latest round going with his post, A hypothesis on the deeper psychology of light rail:
For transit, it's relatively cost efficient and maximizes federal funds. It will probably actually move a fair number of people. It connects most of the core attractions and job centers of our city with only two crossing lines. It'll probably generate a fair amount of high-density new-urbanist development along the lines. With more bus-rail transfers/connections, it's probably going to actually make a lot of trips more inconvenient for a lot of the transit dependent and reduce overall ridership (as it has already), but the more transit-dependent parts of town voted the most overwhelmingly for the plan, so it must be a tradeoff they're willing to make. Sure, it's a little bit of a splurge for the city, but haven't you ever splurged on something nice for your house that wasn't pure economic rationality?
Tom Kirkendall, who might well be described as the economist-rationalist blogger, responded today with The psychology of light rail:
Tory is clearly on to something in that there appears to be an element of a civic inferiority complex underlying some folks' support for light rail. However, Tory's point still does not explain why people who need mass transit the most -- i.e., folks who cannot afford the cost of buying and maintaining a car -- support light rail, which certainly does not improve their mobility and, by drawing resources away from mobility projects that would, probably harms it.
[snip]
Meanwhile, the light rail interest groups garner support for light rail from the part of the electorate that actually needs mass transit by simultaneously limiting the mass transit choices and threatening that part of the electorate with loss of the governmental funds for mass transit if they fail to support light rail. Thus, a referendum on mass transit issues is never promoted with choices between alternatives such as a light rail system, one one hand, and a cheaper and more effective bus-based system system, on the other. It's simply an "all or nothing" choice, and folks who need mass transit will understandably vote in favor of getting their share of public transportation funds even if it does not improve their mobility one iota. Indeed, given the cost of light rail systems, one wonders how those citizens who actually need mass transit would vote if the alternative were a light rail system, on one hand, and a new Toyota Prius for each such citizen, on the other? Frankly, the cost of the latter alternative would likely be cheaper than most any light rail plan.
So, at the end of the day, where does that leave us? Is it wrong that people who need mass transit vote in favor of something that does not really address their needs? No ... but it troubles me when they are misled in doing so.
And Laurence Simon, a regular user of mass transit in Houston, notes one constituency that seems to be availing itself of the light rail:
I didn't think much of it at the time, but there were at least two obvious bums on the Danger Train during my ride on Friday evening. As we like to say at work: "They reek like Dialup."
"Got a buck... anyone got a buck, just one buck... all I need."
[snip]
It didn't take long for the platforms to turn into bum-magnets. I rarely get to a platform without having to pass by at least one actively-soliciting beggar. But it's not like there's an organized flock of them... yet.
Look for the Houston-area blogosphere -- unlike the local newspaper -- to continue to foster a true debate over area mass-transit policy.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/31/05 09:44 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
Shock: A Sunday editorial page mostly free of "olds"
After several weeks of stale Sunday editorial page content, James Howard Gibbons finally put together a Sunday page that is almost entirely fresh, and even contains a fair number of op-eds of local interest.
Apparently, Mr. Gibbons couldn't resist running one bit of "olds" by Jonathan Chait, for obvious reasons:
Earlier this month, when President Bush met with Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III to interview him for a potential Supreme Court nomination, the conversation turned to exercise. When asked by the president of the United States how often he exercised, Wilkinson impressively responded that he runs 3 1/2 miles a day. Bush urged him to adopt more cross-training. "He warned me of impending doom," Wilkinson told The New York Times.
Am I the only person who finds this disturbing?
The crew at Brothers Judd answered that question rather well with their headline way back on July 22, when Chait's op-ed appeared in the LA Times.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/31/05 09:18 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chronicle reports on HPD manpower shortage
The Chronicle's Anne Marie Kilday reported Friday on the graduation of 63 new officers from the Houston Police Academy:
After 26 weeks of intensive training, 63 new police officers were sworn in at graduation ceremonies from the Houston Police Academy on Friday night, a giant step for them and a small step toward reducing a serious staffing shortage in the department.
[snip]
The graduates will boost a police department that is struggling with a lack of officers.
The department currently employs 4,365 officers, compared with 5,384 officers in 1996. More recently, about 660 officers have retired since a 14 percent pay raise went into effect in April 2004. Many had been waiting to retire with the increased pension benefits the raise allowed.
Hurtt said earlier this week that it would take about five academy classes each year to return to 1996 staffing levels by 2009 or 2010.
It's good to see the Chronicle give some coverage to HPD's manpower shortage. Aside from KHOU-11, most major Houston media have been strangely silent about the problem, allowing Mayor White and his Council largely to ignore it.
It still needs to be more of a priority.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/31/05 08:42 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (1)
Did Reliant cut its newspaper advertising budget?
The Chronicle editorial idealists think more Houstonians need to switch electricity providers:
[O]ne factor keeping electricity rates in Texas higher than they need to be is the reluctance of consumers to shop around for the best deal. While few businesses can afford to pass up available savings, less than a third of households have bothered to make a change in electricity providers.
With energy prices at record levels, unadjusted for inflation, even a 5 percent savings is worth a little effort. At 5 percent off, a homeowner whose monthly electricity bill averages $300 saves $180 in a year. One provider offers Houstonians a 16 percent savings.
Electricity deregulation is relatively new, and many residents just don't want to spend the time to shop for electricity that flows from the outlet just the same no matter who provides it. Only the billing will change. But the more Texans switch providers, the more providers will offer lower prices and better service to customers.
Reliant must not be spending enough on advertising with the Chronicle, because the newspaper never targets big local businesses that way.
Since the idealists are so critical of those of us who haven't switched from Reliant, perhaps each member of the editorial board could tell James T. Campbell the name of his or her electric provider, and he could post it on his blog. After all, if they're going to be critical of folks for not switching, they should surely let us know where they're getting good deals.
Incidentally, KTRK-13's Jeff Ehling ran an informative piece nearly two months ago on shopping for electricity providers.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/31/05 08:32 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
He didn't ask, "boxers or briefs?"
We've long been pushing for streamed audio/video of Chronicle interviews with newsmakers.
Reading excerpts of Matt Stiles interviewing Republican National Committee head Ken Mehlman and Democratic National Committee head Howard Dean is almost enough to make us rethink that idea.
Indeed, one senses Dean couldn't believe some of the questions he got:
Q: How many times have you appeared with Ken Mehlman? Is that rare?
A: I actually don't appear with Ken Mehlman.
Q: At the same event?
A: Well, that's not unusual. That's sort of part of the deal.
That's an embarrassing exchange.
Why in the world didn't the Chronicle find someone who could conduct an intelligent interview of two senior, important national political operatives?
ANNE LINEHAN ADDS: blogHOUSTON has never run a contest, but maybe it's time since the Chronicle's Q and A appears to be a regular feature.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/31/05 08:00 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (12)
Registration begins for expanded HISD pre-K program
One of the nice parts of HISD's new budget is the expanded pre-K program. We were happy to see local media cover it last week:
For the first time, HISD says it will be able to place all eligible 4-year-olds in pre-kindergarten.
It's a nearly $2 million move by the district, but the price of the pre-k expansion could be priceless to the students it will serve.
[snip]
Starting this year, HISD says all eligible pre-k children will be served, free of charge. That's different than in past years, when HISD had to turn away thousands of children.
"The early childhood program really creates the educational foundation for young people. It is crucial that we start as early as possible," says Dr. Abe Saavedra. "HISD has four pre-k centers. Two new ones will be opening next month."
HISD says the new schools will add more than 1,100 pre-k slots.
All told, an estimated 15,500 children will be in HISD pre-k, up 11,000 from the last school year.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/31/05 07:11 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Delegation Watch mans the fax machine
In Delegation Watch, Samantha Levine reports that Republicans fared poorly in the "National Hispanic Leadership Agenda's latest congressional scorecard, which looked at how lawmakers voted on issues that affect Hispanics."
One look at the press release (pdf) NHLA sent out explains why Republicans didn't do well: the groups that make up the NHLA (page 2) and the issues (beginning on page 14) used in the scorecard have a decidedly leftist tilt.
In other breaking news, Republicans also didn't do well in scorecards sent to the media by Big Labor, NOW and NARAL, and the NAACP.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/31/05 09:52 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
White House Watch tackles a critical issue
Julie Mason's White House Watch explores the nail-biting question of whether or not President Bush gave the press corps "the finger":
A second term may produce a certain nonchalance on the part of the incumbent, but questions were raised last week as to whether President Bush had taken the attitude to extremes.
The president visited the Capitol to speak privately with Republicans. Exiting the Wednesday meeting after about an hour, Bush gestured grandly with his hand at a clutch of reporters gathered outside.
The gesture was replayed during Jay Leno's Tonight Show monologue, where videotape was shown of the president, to gales of laughter from a studio audience that thought it was a well-known, silent put-down.
The next day, the true nature of the gesture was probed at the White House, where Ken Herman of Cox Newspapers asked spokesman Scott McClellan to explain it:
McClellan, testy as he battled a head cold, responded, "Ken, I'm not even going to dignify that with much of a response. But if someone is misportraying something, that's unfortunate."
Herman pressed on, asking whether the gesture was in fact "a finger of hostility."
McClellan said he was there when it happened and should know.
"I mean, I haven't seen the video that you're talking about, but I know the way the president acts. And if someone is misportraying it, that's unfortunate," McClellan said.
For the record, that was not a denial. And if McClellan indeed knows the way the president acts, he surely remembers a widely circulated videotape from Bush's second term as Texas governor, in which he playfully addresses the camera with an unambiguous middle finger.
"That's the one-finger victory salute," Bush said then.
Still, it remains unclear whether the same gesture was indeed made by an older and presumably wiser Bush at the Capitol. Repeated viewing of the tape, and further clarification from McClellan, suggests the raised digit was possibly a thumb.
Good grief! Slow news week, eh?
Strangely, Julie Mason and the Chronicle didn't provide a link to the tape. You can see it here and decide for yourself. Also note that reporters who were present think the President raised his thumb.
So...what is the point of White House Watch, anyway? Is it an opportunity to print up the latest gossip, or is it to offer up some tidbits of White House news that might not otherwise have received much press attention? It would be helpful if that was clarified.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: May I answer that one?
My best guess is it's an attempt to cover up the fact that the newspaper doesn't have the access in D.C. that a Texas newspaper should, and therefore has to come up with something to justify its continued existence. It goes something like "we don't ever break important stories or get good quotes from Texas pols and aides, BUT here's a column that shows we exist!"
Readers are welcome, as always, to share their answers!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/31/05 08:36 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
30 July 2005
How about a gardening blog?
Saturday is the one day of the week I don't miss the "star" section, because of its gardening focus. I especially enjoy reading Kathy Huber's column and the Lazy Gardener.
Along those lines, I would love to see the Chronicle add a gardening blog to its growing family of blogs.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/30/05 01:19 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Why won't professional journalists embrace transparency?
The crew at PowerLine have noted that quite a few professional journalists have been asking to interview conservative talker Hugh Hewitt, because he worked with Supreme Court nominee John Roberts in the White House.
Interestingly, though, the journalists refuse truly to go on the record by conducting their interviews on Hewitt's radio program, so that normal folks can actually compare what the journalists write versus what Hewitt says in its full context.
Locally, we'd like the Houston Chronicle to take advantage of its partnership with KHOU-11 and put up full audio/video of editorial board meetings with politicians and others -- instead of acting as gatekeepers who selectively report those meetings in order to boost an agenda.
We think transparency would force the editorial board to be more professional and become more informed.
Perhaps when reader representative James T. Campbell is done contemplating his newspaper's coverage of women's professional basketball and defending his newspaper's not wholly accurate use of the term "insurgents" rather than "terrorists" (or was that post simply a chance to take potshots at Fox News and conservative ideologues?) to describe militants who increasingly target civilians, he can address our proposal.
Indeed, since Mr. Campbell laments in his latest post having to debate ideology rather than journalism (never mind that many choices at the newspaper seem to reflect an ideology that isn't at all neutral), we would think he'd welcome the opportunity to address our non-ideological proposal for more transparency for the editorial board.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/30/05 01:13 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Have they reached "good guy" status yet?
How much longer can Reps. Tom DeLay and John Culberson remain Chronicle and Metro "bad guys" with news like this:
Metro says it got all it wanted and then some in a transportation bill Congress passed Friday, including authorization for at least $245 million toward its revised transit plan featuring rail and guided busways.
That's a huge turnaround since the previous bill, when legislation backed by local congressional leaders blocked the Metropolitan Transit Authority from using federal money for any rail project.
But in June the ice finally broke.
Mayor Bill White and Metro officials announced that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, who previously had blocked rail funding, and another rail critic, U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, had agreed to help the agency obtain $1 billion in federal funding over the next 10 years.
The bill passed Friday also gives Metro credit toward federal matching money for $324 million already spent on its Main Street light rail line, which was built without federal assistance.
On Friday, the mayor and Metro leaders had nothing but praise for DeLay's work in helping get the agency back on track.
In a statement headed "Promises made, promises kept," Metro President and CEO Frank Wilson said DeLay and others in Congress "kept their commitments and ushered in a new era of cooperation and support."
White echoed the theme. "From Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to Majority Leader Tom DeLay and on, our entire congressional delegation has stepped up to move us forward," he said.
"There's more than we had asked for," White said. "We requested the members of the House and Senate to fight for Houston, to get the maximum amount of money we could. We have people who can, every year, make sure that ... Congress is able to disburse the money."
Culberson and Hutchison sit on congressional committees responsible for doling out federal transportation dollars.
Amid the jubilation, however, spokesmen for Metro, DeLay and Culberson emphasized that the bill, which covers the remaining four years of the 2004-09 transportation funding cycle, does not actually guarantee money for Metro. The agency still must win Federal Transit Administration approval of its projects and compete with other cities for annual appropriations. But the authorization, they said, shows strong support from Congress, which should increase Metro's clout with the FTA and make it easier to sell bonds for the agency's local match of the federal dollars.
Will the Chronicle's editorial board be mollified now?
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: Actually, I think the political game is a little more complicated. Mayor White and staff framed this issue beautifully, including their consultations with Reps. Culberson (R) and DeLay (R) and not Democrats whose districts are also affected. That way, when minorities object that they aren't getting the rail or the bus expansion they were promised, Mayor White deflects all criticism to Culberson and DeLay, saying they forced this plan on him, and he reluctantly went along because it was better than nothing (despite their denials that they helped at all in formulating this plan). And White therefore will continue to count on minority votes when he moves on to his seemingly inevitable statewide political race.
Rep. Culberson and his staff got played by our "aww shucks" mayor on this one (at least House Majority DeLay's staff had the good sense to be FAR away from it). No wonder they want to change the topic to border militias.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/30/05 11:11 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
New water playground opens at the Houston Zoo
The Houston Zoo has a new feature for children -- a water playground:
The Houston Zoo will debut its latest attraction for visitors on Saturday -- a water playground at the McGovern Children's Zoo designed in a coastal fishing village setting.
The new feature includes five pop jet fountains and three foaming fountains. A computer recirculates 800 gallons of chlorine-treated water through the fountains in a random pattern so visitors never know which fountain will spout next.
The water playground was a gift from The W.T. and Louise J. Moran Foundation and cost approximately $260,000.
From first-hand experience, I can tell you that children LOVE water playgrounds!
UPDATE: Brian Hill, Houston Zoo's Public Affairs Director, emails that there are a few bugs to be worked out and the water playground is not working right now. He said they hope to have it up and running again next week.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/30/05 10:47 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (6)
29 July 2005
MFAH to host baseball discussion
The Chronicle's David Barron alerts readers to what should be some interesting baseball talk Saturday morning:
Curt Smith, whose book Voices of Summer we discussed recently, is in town for a Saturday morning lecture in conjunction with the Baseball Hall of Fame exhibit at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.
Smith will discuss baseball and broadcasting with Astros announcers Milo Hamilton and Larry Dierker and Chronicle columnist Richard Justice at 11 a.m. Saturday at Brown Auditorium in the museum's Caroline Wiess Law Building.
The discussion — unless Richard starts telling Earl Weaver stories, at which point it becomes a monologue — is free of charge with admission to the museum ($7 for adults, $3.50 for seniors, students with IDs and children age 6-18).
I guess I should just give up with regard to the "chummy" personal nature of so much Chronicle writing. Tomorrow's conversation ought to be interesting to baseball fans.
On a related note, the Astros announced today that Milo Hamilton will cut back on the broadcasts next season, and will broadcast home games only.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/29/05 10:42 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (3)
Metro's latest service changes go into effect August 14
By the way, Metro has posted a new round of service "adjustments":
METRO Service and Schedule Adjustments Coming August 14, 2005
METRO regularly looks for ways to improve its service to the community. These adjustments help us provide affordable, reliable and accessible service now and position us to expand our service in the future. Please review the information in this brochure for any changes that will affect your daily commute.
NOTE: Trips considered for elimination have experienced low ridership for an extended time. By discontinuing low-performing trips, METRO makes the best use of its resources, including your tax dollars, to provide Houston-area residents with transit services that are affordable, reliable and accessible.
Service Adjustments/Schedule Adjustments
1 Hospital
Weekday, Saturday and Sunday – Modified route inside the Veterans Administration Medical Center campus (effective 5-29-05).3 Langley
Weekday, Saturday and Sunday – Select northbound trips will start service at Bretshire and Homestead.4 Beechnut
Weekday – Adjust frequencies to match ridership demands. Change southbound PM peak frequency (3:00 – 7:00 p.m.) from 8 to 10 minutes. Change northbound AM peak frequency (5:00 – 9:00 a.m.) from 7 to 10 minutes. Change northbound PM peak frequency (3:00 – 7:00 p.m.) from 15 to 20 minutes.7 Tanglewood
Weekday and Saturday – Renumber to the 6 Jensen/Tanglewood. Service remains unchanged.17 Gulfton
Weekday and Saturday – Renumber to the 9 Gulfton/North Main. Service remains unchanged.18 Kirby Limited
Weekday – Discontinue the 9:32 p.m. southbound trip and the 9:40 p.m. and 10:25 p.m. northbound trips due to low ridership.26/27 Outer/Inner Loop Crosstown
Weekday, Saturday and Sund – Modified route inside Veterans Administration Medical Center campus (effective 5-29-05).37 El Sol Crosstown
Weekday, Saturday and Sunday – Modify the route to remove it from portions of Glendale, Hanover and Woodvale and change frequency from 35 to 40 minutes to provide more reliable service.72 Westview Circulator
Weekday – Discontinue the 8:30 p.m., 8:55 p.m., 9:20 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. westbound trips and the 5:14 a.m., 9:04 p.m., 9:29 p.m. and 9:54 p.m. eastbound trips due to low ridership.
Weekday, Saturday and Sunday – Modify the route to operate via Bingle between Long Point and Westview.98 Briargate Circulator
Weekday – Discontinue the 4:35 a.m., 9:30 p.m. and 10:05 p.m. eastbound trips and the 5:10 a.m., 9:30 p.m., 10:05 p.m. and 10:40 p.m. westbound trips due to low ridership.101 Hobby Airport Express
Weekday and Saturday – Renumber to the 88 Hobby Airport. Service remains unchanged.163 Fondren Express
Weekday – Add one afternoon northbound trip at 4 p.m. from Burdine and Gasmer to the Hillcroft Transit Center. Add one afternoon southbound trip at 3:14 p.m. from Sharpstown Center to Burdine and Gasmer to meet passenger demand.214 Northwest Station Park & Ride
Weekday – Add one morning trip at 6 a.m. from the Northwest Station Park & Ride to Downtown. Add one afternoon trip at 3:50 p.m. from Louisiana and St. Joseph Parkway to the Northwest Station Park & Ride to meet passenger demand.221 Kingsland Park & Ride
Weekday – Add one morning trip at 6:48 a.m. from the Kingsland Park & Ride to Downtown. Add one evening trip at 5:32 p.m. from Louisiana and Jefferson to the Kingsland Park & Ride to eliminate passenger overloads.257 Townsen Park & Ride
Weekday – Adjust evening trip times between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to match ridership demand.265 West Bellfort Park & Ri
Weekday – Add two morning trips at 6:39 a.m. and 7:15 a.m. from the West Bellfort Park & Ride to Downtown. Add two evening trips at 4 p.m. and 5:14 p.m. from Congress and LaBranch to the West Bellfort Park & Ride to eliminate passenger overloads.273 Gessner Park & Ride
274 Westchase Park & Ride
Weekday – Combine routes and rename the 274 Westchase-Gessner. The route will serve the Westchase and Gessner Park & Ride lots. Replace the two morning trips at 7:05 a.m. and 7:20 a.m. on the 273 Gessner Park & Ride with existing morning trips at 7:05 a.m. and 7:20 a.m. on the 274 Westchase Park & Ride. Replace the two evening trips at 4:55 p.m. and 5:04 p.m. on the 273 Gessner Park & Ride with existing evening trips at 4:55 p.m. and 5:10 p.m. on the 274 Westchase Park & Ride.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/29/05 07:52 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (3)
HISD looking for "Reach Out to Dropouts Day" volunteers
HISD is getting ready for its second annual effort to convince dropouts to return to school:
Help keep Houston’s kids in school—be a part of HISD’s second annual Reach Out to Dropouts Day (ROTD) initiative!
Last year, hundreds of teachers, counselors, administrators, business people, parents, and other volunteers formed teams to walk the neighborhoods surrounding eight HISD high schools on the district’s inaugural Reach Out to Dropouts Day. The teams visited the homes of students who did not return to class when the 2004–2005 school year began and encouraged the students to return to school to complete their education. Their efforts were so successful that HISD recovered 41 students that day and another 61 students came back to school later as a result of the door-to-door effort.
Now, HISD is gearing up for the second annual Reach Out to Dropouts Day—but to make this effort a success your involvement is essential. The effort has been expanded to 16 schools this year, which means more volunteers are needed to staff a phone bank on August 23 and 24 (in two-hour shifts) and to join other groups of volunteers in visiting students’ homes on Saturday, August 27 (from 8:00 a.m. to noon).
Here are the participating schools: Austin High School, Chavez High School, Davis High School, Furr High School, Jones High School, Kashmere High School, Lee High School, Madison High School, Milby High School, Sam Houston High School, Scarborough High School, Sharpstown High School, Waltrip High School, Washington High School, Westbury High School, Worthing High School.
Last year's outreach effort resulted in more than 100 students returning to school.
RELATED: Former HISD dropouts get back on track and graduate (bH)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/29/05 11:01 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chron bashes Harris County law enforcement
The Chronicle's editorial board writes a ridiculous editorial today about the Brazilian man who was killed by London police after he refused to follow police directions:
When British police fatally shot an innocent man, Brazilian national Jean Charles de Menezes, the outcry was loud and sustained. The shooting, coming in the wake of the London subway and bus bombings that killed 52, made international headlines. Mistaken for a terrorist, Menezes was shot at point-blank range. His killing raised the question of how far British police should go to thwart terrorism.
And leave it to the idealists to find a way to bash Houston-area law enforcement:
According to reporting by Chronicle writers Roma Khanna and Lise Olsen, an astonishing 193 police officers from 18 law enforcement agencies in Harris County killed or wounded 189 people over a five-year span ending in 2004. In 65 cases, the victim was unarmed. In some cases the officer fired into the suspect's back or into a moving vehicle. Twenty-three cases involved the mentally ill.
That's referring to the "special report" on police shootings the Chronicle ran last year. What the Chronicle fails to point out whenever it mentions its "special report," is this:
Earlier this year, Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal invited members of the editorial board to the basement of the Harris County Court House to experience the Shoot/Don’t Shoot Course – a state-of-the-art virtual reality program used to train law enforcement officers how to deal with a variety of simulated, life-threatening scenarios. According to those who witnessed the exercise, a majority of the editorial board members “killed” both innocent citizens and unarmed suspects. One reportedly shot a child – and was, understandably, so upset by their decision they could not continue the course.
Of course, sitting in an office at 801 Texas Avenue is much easier than being on the street, having to make split-second, life-and-death decisions.
RELATED: Owen Courreges and Sedosi
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/29/05 10:54 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Rep. Culberson discusses border protection with Edd Hendee
Rep. John Culberson is on with Edd Hendee (KSEV-700) right now discussing this:
Adding an unusual proposal to the searing debate over illegal immigration, U.S. Rep. John Culberson of Houston introduced a bill late Thursday to let Texas and other border states establish armed militias to catch people trying to illegally cross from Mexico and Canada.
The bill, which he called a "thunderclap," is more than a solitary, symbolic gesture by the Republican lawmaker: It has 46 Republican co-sponsors.
It comes as the White House, Congress and local officials are becoming increasingly immersed in efforts to find the best way to secure the borders and perhaps also establish a "guest worker" program to let immigrants stay in the United States as temporary legal residents.
Gov. Rick Perry indicated he is open to Culberson's idea.
"Illegal immigration has become a pervasive problem in this country, and it is a drain on our economy," Perry said. "Regardless of the mechanism, the federal government must provide a stronger presence along the border and must provide substantially more funding for border protection."
Among Culberson's co-sponsors are 10 Texans, including freshmen Reps. Ted Poe of Humble and Michael McCaul of Austin.
The measure's stated goal is to let governors create a Border Protection Corps of citizens to shield the country from "uniquely devious, criminal, cowardly and fanatically determined" terrorist organizations.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/29/05 08:24 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
Lawsuit filed against Harris County's Appraisal District and ARB
A local real estate services firm has filed a lawsuit against the Harris County Appraisal District and the Appraisal Review Board, saying that the agencies are not following the law during appraisal protests:
The lawsuit, filed Monday by O'Connor & Associates, alleges that Harris County's appraisal review board, which weighs protests, does not act independently of the Harris County Appraisal District, which appraises property.
Jim Robinson, Harris County's chief appraiser, said the lawsuit is without merit and that review panels reduce appraised values in 70 percent to 80 percent of cases brought before them.
The plaintiff argues that the appraisal district has inappropriate influence over the process of challenging appraisals, including controlling the scheduling of hearings, and fails to provide advance copies of its evidence, as required by law.
"Some (appraisal review board) panels ignore the property owner's evidence of unequal appraisal even under circumstances where the district presents no evidence at all," the lawsuit says.
RELATED: O'Connor files suit against Appraisal District and Review Board (Houston Business Journal)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/29/05 07:35 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
28 July 2005
Where are the vaunted editors?
From time to time, journalists at newspapers still tout the superiority of their product to blogs, and frequently the editing process is cited.
So, does that mean that we can lay the blame for the Chronicle's lapses in quality on editors and the editorial process?
That's not a rhetorical question. Some recent Chronicle gaffes have left us wondering about the vaunted editorial process.
For example, on Wednesday, the Chronicle led off an editorial on Tuesday's space-shuttle launch as follows:
Once again a crew of the space shuttle Discovery has put America's space program back on course after the second of two disasters that took the lives of 14 astronauts, destroyed two shuttles and grounded the fleet. The thunder and fire of what appeared to be a nearly flawless launch Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida served notice that NASA's commitment to station Americans permanently in space and eventually to take them well beyond Earth's orbit is back at full throttle and soaring upward.
As Matt Bramanti has pointed out, same-day news coverage of the launch made clear that it was not "nearly flawless." Since then, we've learned the launch was so flawed that future launches are again on hold.
Today, Erica Holzer of the Chronicle's underwhelming D.C. bureau is responsible for the following:
The vote, which was meant to take 15 minutes, lasted over an hour as the party leadership worked the floor, arm-twisting the undecideds. In the final 217-215 tally, 27 Republicans voted against CAFTA and 15 Democrats supported it.
It's time for a friendly blogHOUSTON grammar lesson. "Arm-twisting" is a noun formed by hyphenating the noun "arm" and the verb "twisting" (i.e. "The guy who was twisting my arm was engaged in arm-twisting"). Holzer manages to take a noun formed by hyphenation, and use it as a verb! It's hard to imagine why she or an editor didn't substitute "twisting the arms of undecideds" for the grammatical atrocity.
Finally, we've already pointed out the unfortunate use of the term "final solution" in an editorial about Israel -- a choice that reader representative James T. Campbell still has not addressed (in fairness, he's been very busy blogging about important matters like his newspaper's coverage of women's professional basketball). Here's another snippet from that editorial that seems less than ideal:
He's got no plans to give up any of the more than 100 remaining West Bank settlements where most of Israel's 240,000 settlers live.
Wouldn't "He has no plans" have been a much better choice?
So, where are the vaunted editors who are supposed to catch these sorts of problems that we hear bedevil blogs (and not professional media)? Are they on vacation?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/28/05 10:41 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (4)
Houston Democrat announces bid for governor
The coverage by Associated Press reporters Wendy Benjaminson and Jim Vertuno contained the following information:
Bell is best known for accusing House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of ethical violations. DeLay, a Houston-area Republican, was instrumental in the GOP-led Texas congressional redistricting effort that resulted in Bell's defeat.
Although DeLay was admonished by the House, Bell also was criticized for exaggerating misconduct allegations against the GOP leader.
Kristen Mack's coverage, which completely replaced the earlier AP coverage on the Chron.com website in the usual annoying fashion, drops some of the information contained in that earlier version:
The best-known legacy of Bell's single term was the ethics complaint he filed against DeLay, who later was admonished by the House Ethics Committee.
The Associated Press version was more informative, if less complimentary. The Bell press people should certainly drop Kristen Mack and the Houston Chronicle a thank-you note.
UPDATE: We should point out that the Perry vs World blog, put out by a Houston blogger and friend, is the go-to source for commentary on the gubernatorial race.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/28/05 08:37 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (5)
Cingular nabs $8 million city contract
Cingular Wireless has won a five-year contract from the City of Houston:
The City of Houston has awarded Cingular Wireless a five-year, $8 million contract to provide voice and data services to employees of America's fourth largest city.
The new contract, which represents about 80 percent of the City's planned wireless expenditures over the next half-decade, includes the deployment of more than 1,600 EDGE-enabled PC modem cards and BlackBerry(TM) handhelds. Cingular also will continue to provide voice services for more than 3,800 wireless phones that it retains from previous agreements with the City.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/28/05 05:02 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Former councilman sues city over airport concessions contract
The City of Houston is being sued by a former Houston city councilman:
The City of Houston is being sued by a former Houston City Councilman in a dispute over duty-free concessions at Bush Intercontinental Airport.
A lawsuit filed by Branch/McGowen Ventures in Harris County District Court accuses airport officials of fraud and breach of contract, and seeks damages of $3 million.
Branch/McGowen Ventures is a partnership consisting of ex-Councilman Ernest McGowen Sr. and local fast-food franchisee Theldon Branch.
The partnership has operated the duty-free concession at Houston's largest airport since 1995. With the long-running contract up for renewal, the suit alleges the partnership was misled into investing in improvements to airport operations.
The suit contends airport officials promised to renew the contract if the partnership would make $500,000 in improvements. But shortly after $350,000 of the investment was raised, according to the suit, airport officials opened the bidding on a new duty-free concession contract.
In January, an airport selection committee rejected the bid by local partnership Branch/McGowen. Chosen instead was The Nuance Group Houston LLC, the local arm of a global operator of duty-free shops.
[snip]
Denying that airport officials made any promises, City Attorney Arturo Michel says, "The city's position is that that didn't happen."
Some City Hall insiders suggest the contract flap is indicative of an effort by Mayor Bill White to cut ties with the political cronyism left over from previous administrations.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/28/05 04:52 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
Federated to convert Foley's stores
The Houston Business Journal reports that, as expected, Federated Department Stores will be closing duplicate stores as part of its acquisition of May Department Stores:
Federated will close its Macy's store in the Galleria and convert the Foley's store operated by May in the same location into a Macy's. The Galleria Macy's store, which opened in 1986 and spans 256,000 square feet, has 322 employees.
The 68 duplicate locations that will be shuttered accounted for about $2 billion in sales last year. Included are 41 current May stores operating in 12 states under various brands, as well as 27 Federated stores operating in 14 states as Macy's.
The 16 Houston-area Foley's department stores to be converted to Macy's stores are at Almeda Mall, Baybrook Mall, Deerbrook Mall, Downtown (Houston) at 1100 Main St., First Colony Town Square, Galleria, Greenspoint Mall, Mall of the Mainland, Memorial City Mall, Northwest Mall, Pasadena Town Square, San Jacinto Mall, Sharpstown Mall, The Woodlands Mall, West Oaks Mall and Willowbrook Mall.
Foley's also operates a warehouse store at 4500 Gulf Freeway.
The Foley's stores conversions are part of a renaming process for 330 stores operated nationwide by May.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/28/05 01:14 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
Crime Summit Conference
That's what Chief Hurtt called his press conference yesterday.
Topics included rising crime, the police manpower shortage, red light cameras (woo!), sanctuary for illegals, and...tattoos!
Chris Baker explained yesterday why he calls Chief Hurtt "Link Appleyard." It made me laugh, and after yesterday's "Crime Summit Conference," the characterization doesn't seem out of place.
Other press conference...er "Crime Summit Conference" coverage: KPRC-2, KHOU-11, KTRK-13
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/28/05 10:12 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
That sounds like a fun ride to work
So, besides declining fare-box revenue and bus ridership, how is Metro doing?
Got into work almost 2 hours late, thanks to METRO not running the 07:30 102 Bush Non Express for whatever reason.
Two 17's went by while I sat reading my book. How bad is that, METRO?
Not that they'll be 17's for much longer. Saw a red tag on the route marker this morning. You know, morning... 06:50 when I got there to catch the 07:30 Downtown which didn't show up, but dozens of 246s and 247s breezed past.
Route is changing to 9. Not sure why. According to one person I know at METRO, there may be some kind of auditing procedure they're trying to hide their dismal on-time record with the 17 by changing the number. Helps avoid red flags and having Uncle Sam look at the numbers a tad closer when it's begging time.
You know, there's two ways from Downtown to work. 102 is supposed to be faster, but if the morons who run the route don't bother showing up or piss-poor buses that break down and leave gaps in the schedule are a part of the fleet, I may as well use 56 and waste an extra twenty minutes going through the Mexican enclave of Airline.
If METRO were to bother making their GPS information on the buses available to waiting customers like other major cities across the world sometimes do, rational decisions can be made.
Yes, I said customers. Not passengers. I'm a customer, not human cargo.
There's more.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/28/05 09:25 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)
MetroRail ridership is "booming," but fare collection isn't
Courtesy of Tom Bazan:
Metro's June fare box revenue declined rather dramatically. In June 2004, fare revenue was $3,724,140.00. In June 2005, fare revenue was $1,936,783.06!
Also, Metro says overall ridership increased 1.13% from the previous year and bus ridership declined 1.72%.
Once again we see why Metro likes to tout ridership numbers (but are those numbers accurate?) as opposed to revenue. Metro Vice President John Sedlak recently claimed that MetroRail ridership is "booming." If he said something about Metro's fare revenue, it wasn't included in the story.
RELATED: The black hole that is Metro (bH); State performance audit (Metro publications)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/28/05 08:34 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (6)
Commissioners instruct HCTRA to hold community meetings
Charles Kuffner received a very heartening email from Robin Holzer of the Citizens Transportation Coalition:
In June, Harris County released the new Capital Improvement Plan which identifies 5-7 new priority toll roads to be developed. On Tuesday, CTC volunteers demanded that Harris County open up the toll road planning process, and we came home with a victory.
[...]
Community leaders from Cottage Grove, Westbury, Willowbend, and Meyerland expressed concerns about traffic, noise, flooding, air quality, and other impacts from proposed toll road construction. We called on County Commissioners not only to hold public meetings in every affected neighborhood, but also to ensure toll road planning addresses community concerns.
When the Toll Road Authority Director, Mike Strech, said there was no need to hold meetings until future plans are ready, the Commissioners disagreed. Commissioner Lee agreed meetings are important, Commissioner Garcia said they need to happen in every affected neighborhood, and Art Storey pledged to come participate. Judge Eckels asked us to help make sure good information gets out to the community.
As I write, civic club leaders in southwest Houston are organizing a town hall meeting about the Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road and related road widenings.
(I wrote about the Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road the other day.)
This is a major step in the right direction for HCTRA.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/28/05 07:55 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
27 July 2005
Painful
James Howard Gibbons had to be responsible for this:
But a virtual library, no matter how expertly perused, can't offer the serendipity so nourishing to creative thought. No matter where a scholar wanders on the Internet, she travels a linear path she has initiated with a predetermined key word or phrase.
Please.
Don't do that again.
Thanks.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/27/05 11:04 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Houston Fire Museum's $2 million grant is not a certainty
KUHF-88.7 posted this bit of news today:
The Houston Fire Museum is using a $2 million grant from the Texas Department of Transportation to move forward with plans to expand the museum and turn it into a big midtown area educational complex.
[snip]
The Fire Museum Expansion Project has launched a drive to raise $20 million for the new building. Ponte says $2 million from the Transportation Department will be a big help because it gives their project credibility with other potential donors.
Ponte says they hope to break ground for the new and bigger Houston Fire Museum on Main Street in Midtown late this year or early next year.
Well! That's interesting. Why in the world would TxDOT be giving money to the Houston Fire Museum? And $2 million is a sizable chunk of change.
I called TxDOT and spoke with Janelle Gbur, who was very helpful. After quite a bit of digging, she finally had the background on the grant:
Back in the regular session, the Texas Legislature passed a bill that had a rider attached to it. The rider directed (key word) TxDOT to give $2 million to the Houston Fire Museum out of the Transportation Enhancement funds. (The rider directed TxDOT to provide funding for several other projects as well, including the Battleship Texas and the Tejano Monument.)
I asked if the Legislature could tell TxDOT how to distribute federal money. She said that was her question, too, and so she called the Federal Highway Adminstration to find out.
She was told that in theory, yes, the Texas Legislature could ask TxDOT to provide money out of Enhancement funds, but any project using Enhancement funds must be transportation-related. Meaning, the project would have to convince the feds that it meets the requirements of the Transportation Enhancement program. But, and here's the key, right now there is no money in the Transportation Enhancement program because the national transportation bill has been stalled for two years!
So first, Congress has to pass the transportation bill. When that happens, THEN the FHA will look at the Houston Fire Museum's proposal to decide if they even qualify for Transportation Enhancement funds.
It is not a done deal, and in fact, it is unclear whether or not the museum would qualify for the money, according to Janelle Gbur. She said this was a premature announcement.
One more point: normally when TxDOT gets Transportation Enhancement funds, it sets up a competitive bidding process with projects from all over the state vying for funding. When the Legislature directs TxDOT to give money to the Houston Fire Museum, it means there is that much less money available for other potentially worthy projects all over the state.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/27/05 06:11 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Chief Hurtt discusses Tasers and HPD staffing problems
HPD Chief Hurtt held a press conference today and shared some interesting tidbits:
Houston is one of the cities where Taser use by police will be looked at in a study funded by the Justice Department.
Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt says there are enough questions surrounding taser use to warrant the federally funded study.
"Because there is so much concern about incidents where people have died after being tased that we need to do some extensive research in that area and review policy and procedure and training," said the chief.
• Response time to Code 1 calls -- the most serious -- has dropped slightly. Response time to other calls has increased slightly. He said the slower response times may be due, in part, to an increase in the number of calls requiring multiple units. Hurtt said a staffing shortage may also contribute to the slower times.
• HPD staffing continues to dwindle. The department has already lost 202 officers this year. Last year, HPD lost 465 officers, mostly to retirement.
• Sixty-three cadets will graduate from the Police Academy on Friday.
Interestingly, questions were raised about Tasers BEFORE Chief Hurtt convinced city council to pay out almost $5 million so Houston could have them. Those in charge must not have been paying attention.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/27/05 05:21 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Rep. Culberson should demand Metro go back to the voters
From today's Rad Sallee story on Metro's meeting with Afton Oaks residents:
Several speakers said they voted for Metro's rail plans in the November 2003 referendum and now felt betrayed that Richmond was being considered.
Some noted they had fought a similar battle in 1990, defeating a previous rail plan under then-Mayor Kathy Whitmire that included a line on Richmond.
Whiteley, an attorney, said sending rail down Richmond would be "a substantial deviation" from what voters approved, since the ballot referred to the line as "Westpark."
Attorney Cliff McAdams, a director of the club, asked [Metro President and CEO Frank] Wilson if he thought the ballot language was misleading. Wilson said he did, but said he thought the line legally can be built on either street.
Remember what Metro official George Smalley said:
Smalley said the changes are covered by a footnote to the ballot resolution that says: "Final scope, length of rail segments or lines, and other details, together with implementation schedule, will be based upon demand and completion of the project development process including community input."
It was in the fine print.
Except that Rep. John Culberson forced Metro to specify the expansion lines it planned in the 2003 Metro Solutions referendum:
Rep. John Culberson , R-Houston, inserted a provision into this fiscal year's transportation appropriations bill banning federal funding for rail in Houston unless voters approve each segment.
And Richmond wasn't on it:
The following summary lists the components and segments of MetroRail and commuter line, as described in Exhibits A and A-3 through A-9 of such resolution and the official notice of the election, and is a part of the ballot and the proposition being submitted to the voters at the election. The segments marked ** are expected to be completed by the end of 2012 utilizing the proceeds of the $640 million of bonds, if approved at the election.
1. NORTH HARDY
**A. UH-Downtown to Northline Mall
B. Northline Mall to Greenspoint
C. Greenspoint to Bush IAH Airport2. SOUTHEAST
**A. Downtown/Bagby to Dowling
**B. Dowling to Griggs/610
C. Griggs/610 to Park & Ride in the vicinity of Hobby Airport
D. Sunnyside: Southeast Transit Center to Bellfort
E. Sunnyside: Bellfort to Airport Blvd.3 . HARRISBURG
**A. Dowling to Magnolia Transit Center
B. Magnolia Transit Center to Gulfgate Center
C. Gulfgate Center to Telephone Road4. WESTPARK
Wheeler Station to Hillcroft Transit Center5. UPTOWN/WEST LOOP
**Westpark to the Northwest Transit Center6. INNER KATY
Downtown/Bagby to Northwest Transit Center7. SOUTHWEST COMMUTER LINE
Fannin South Park & Ride to Harris County line
But Westpark is in there. Frank Wilson tiptoed around the Westpark problem:
But Wilson said the route cannot run solely on Westpark, which he described as a "desert" separated by the broad Southwest Freeway from Greenway Plaza, Lakewood Church and other sources of riders to the north.
That means, he said, the Westpark route as initially designed would be "a non-starter" with federal funding authorities, who look at a project's benefit-to-cost ratio.
Which means if Metro needs to change the plan, Metro needs to go back to the voters. Rep. Culberson required Metro to specify each segment in 2003. Metro is now altering the 2003 Metro Solutions plan and Rep. Culberson should force Metro to go back to voters.
RELATED: A first-person account of Frank Wilson's meeting with Afton Oaks residents; Business owner: No rail down Richmond (River Oaks Examiner); For some, the only good rail is no rail (River Oaks Examiner)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/27/05 08:28 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)
HISD is not using bond money for new headquarters
Here's a correction in today's Chronicle:
A story on Page B1 of Tuesday's City & State section incorrectly reported the source of the money that is paying for the Houston Independent School District's new headquarters building. The building is being paid for with proceeds from the sale of HISD's existing headquarters building.
Let's check out yesterday's story to find out what it said the source of money was for the new headquarters:
Houston voters gave HISD permission to borrow $808.6 million in 2002 to build 32 new schools and renovate 28 others. The bond program also includes money for the district's new headquarters at U.S. 290 and Loop 610, new playgrounds for 125 elementary schools and air conditioning for 47 middle and high school gyms.
Oh my goodness! Yesterday the Chron reports that bond money is paying for HISD's new headquarters and today, in a little teeny box, the Chron says...ooops, sorry.
Watch out for unhappy letters to the editor, screaming about HISD's misuse of bond money.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: Let's see, an education story that got basic facts wrong in a way likely to generate public criticism of HISD? Who might have done such a story for the Chronicle? Ah, yes, Jason Spencer was the author. I'll have to confer with Anne, but I suspect she left that out this time due to fear of repetitive stress typing injuries caused by identifying his blunders over so many blog posts.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/27/05 06:12 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
26 July 2005
HPD/HFD incident logs meet Google maps
I've been remiss in calling attention to IncidentLog.com.
The site takes the police and fire incident data that's available on the City of Houston website, and displays the data on a nice google map.
An added bonus is that it is searchable. I'm not sure how long the data is saved, but it appears to go further back than the incidents displayed on the city site at any given time.
Now we just need the City of Houston to add a METROrail collision tag to its incident reports. This would save interested parties the trouble of having to file public information requests to obtain collision information that METRO ought to be providing without such prompting.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/26/05 10:20 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Do they ever wonder why they have no access?
We've suggested previously that the Chronicle's slant on the news, combined with its editorial stance, probably limits the access of the newspaper's D.C. bureau to Texans who are part of the governing majority in Washington.
As a case in point, here's a snippet from Samantha Levine's latest column:
Cornyn also had to explain the seeming conflict between his legislative goal of opening federal records and his defense of the White House's decision to keep secret some papers related to Roberts' past government service.
Cornyn recently wrote a bill to improve "the accessibility, accountability, and openness of the federal government."
What's the conflict?
We're pretty sure Sen. Cornyn understands the concepts of attorney-client privilege and separation of powers, even if Miss Levine does not (or, we should say, even if she acts like she does not in order to portray Sen. Cornyn as a hypocrite).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/26/05 09:34 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
The return of the Monotonous Voice
Perhaps it's just me, but for a while it seemed as if James Howard Gibbons had forgotten about that "Another Voice" feature, in which the Chronicle editorial page rips blurbs out of the newspapers from which the editorialists frequently take their cues.
Gibbons seems to have rediscovered the magic.
Yesterday, there was a Monotonous Voice from the New York Times. Today there is a Monotonous Voice from the Washington Post
Since Gibbons seems to like to crib from the LA Times editorial page also (as we've seen from how he's been putting the Sunday editorial pages together recently), it would only be fitting if there's a Monotonous Voice from that newspaper tomorrow.
UPDATE (07-27-2005): No LA Times Monotonous Voice today. We're disappointed with Mr. Gibbons.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/26/05 09:03 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
HCTRA declines to tell residents about proposed toll road
Here's yet another story about Harris County being less-than-forthcoming on a possible toll road project:
There could be another toll road in the works to help commuters from Fort Bend County. The early proposal would connect the still-under-construction Fort Bend Parkway toll road to the West Loop. But the plan is already under fire.
Even though there isn't start date for construction. Harris County has already bought some right-of-way for the road and has an early design plan. And that's big news to thousands of people who could be most affected by the project.
The Fort Bend County toll road is considered the gateway to new master planned communities. It takes people from suburban homes into Houston. Harris County has plans for a toll extension. That would make the trip even faster, but many homeowners who live in the proposed road's path know nothing about it.
"You're the first news I've ever heard about that toll road coming in here," confessed home owner Ted Sewell. "I thought it was just going to stop right there at South Main where it's going right now."
The Harris County road would meet Fort Bend County's Highway 90 next to the South Loop. For Sewell it could mean anything from a noise nuisance to costing him his home.
He said, "It doesn't surprise me that I'm not told, because that's the way governments work. Their best work is done in secrecy."
Neighborhood leaders also want the county to conduct a complete environmental impact study, so they'll know exactly what piping cars from Fort Bend County all the way into Houston neighborhoods will do to them.
The Harris County Toll Road Authority doesn't consider the process a secret, but admits to declining some invitations to tell southwest Houston neighborhood groups about the project.
That's pretty much business as usual for Harris County.
RELATED: South Post Oak Toll Road? (bH), The Toll Road Authority isn't making many friends (bH)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/26/05 08:26 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
Ellis: HPD should stop ignoring violations of immigration law
KHOU-11's Doug Miller reports on a proposal by Councilmember Mark Ellis to allow HPD to stop ignoring violations of federal immigration law:
It stems from HPD's version of a "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding illegal immigrants.
But one city council member wants police to start asking some simple, but pointed questions.
And that's raising some tough questions about what Houston police should do about enforcing immigration laws.
[snip]
A longstanding policy forbids Houston cops from asking people whether they're illegal immigrants.
Now a city council member wants that policy changed.
"We've had some rapists here in the city of Houston that were illegal immigrants," says City Council Member Mark Ellis. "We know that some of the terrorists that attacked New York back on September 11, 2001, we know that they were illegal immigrants. And so, when do we say, Enough is enough?"
Houston's police chief believes the policy makes the city safer, because it lets undocumented workers talk freely with police about serious crimes. And Houston's mayor agrees."I want the police out there stopping crime, catching criminals, locking them up in jail," says Mayor White. "And I want to devote all the resources to the police on that, not to do the job of the INS."
First of all, we know that's just MayorWhiteChiefHurtt spinning himself dizzy, since the highest-profile effort of the administration to stop crime and catch criminals has been devoting police overtime resources to harass downtown pedestrians as part of the great downtown jaywalking revenue stream.
MayorWhiteChiefHurtt should be more honest and simply state that he believes he has the authority to choose which federal laws HPD will enforce, or ignore.
Further, there is this bit of filler from a local professor:
One political analyst notes the term-limited council member is thinking about running for higher office.
"It's Mark Ellis running for senate or something else," says Jon Taylor of University of St. Thomas. "It's politics. I hate to say it, but that's what it is."
I hate to criticize such a devout Sooner fan, but that really doesn't address the advantages or disadvantages of the proposal by Councilmember Ellis. Is it good policy, or not?
On a related note, Kris Axtman has a piece for today's Christian Science Monitor on the dangers of our porous southern border, and the story even carries a Houston byline. Inexplicably, Axtman did not include exhortations from Mayor White and/or Chief Hurtt that they are much too busy harassing downtown pedestrians to worry about trivial matters like dangerous illegal immigrants.
UPDATE: This looks to be the hot topic on the Chris Baker program today, on KTRH-740.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/26/05 01:52 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (20)
A clarification to today's Chronicle eminent domain story
Today's Chronicle has a story by Matt Stiles about Councilman Michael Berry's proposed ordinance to limit the city of Houston's ability to declare eminent domain:
With protection for property owners from private-development land seizures dead for now in the Legislature, a Houston councilman is proposing a new city ordinance intended to limit Houston's eminent domain powers.
Councilman Michael Berry, a lawyer and real estate agent, has asked Mayor Bill White's administration to draft a new rule preventing the city from taking property unless needed for public use.
[snip]
"My intent is to prevent the government from acting as an agent of private developers," Berry said. "This is to preserve as sacrosanct private property rights and prevent the government from taking private property except for a public use."
Councilman Berry's office indicates that he has not asked the mayor's office to draft an ordinance; in fact, Councilman Berry has already submitted a draft ordinance (with input from Dana Berliner, a Kelo advocate) to the mayor's office for consideration and a thorough debate.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/26/05 09:25 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
Was #96 really #100?
We've all been let down. It appears MetroRail's 100th crash has already happened. You see, Tom Bazan's latest open records request of MetroRail accidents shows that, unsurprisingly, there were some unreported collisions.
All of you who participate in an office pool, keep an eye on John Gaver's site for the official word on when #100 happened, although he tentatively thinks this one was the Big One.
What's weird is that the media usually love a milestone event. However, our local media haven't been interested enough to keep up with MetroRail.
RELATED: Laurence Simon
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/26/05 07:47 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
Red light-running bus driver received ticket
KHOU-11 has some updated information on the two-bus collision from Sunday:
City crews were busy Monday morning installing two new crosswalks signs in downtown Houston.
The installation comes after two Metro buses collided on Sunday morning, tearing down the crosswalk signs.
Officials say the driver, Dwayne Stiggers, ran a red light at Dallas and hit the other bus that was headed south on Smith.
Both drivers and two passengers were taken to the hospital. Their injuries are non-life threatening.
Stiggers was ticketed for his actions. Metro is investigating the accident and has started a disciplinary review.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/26/05 06:47 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
Commissioners Court voting on $450 million bond referendum today (updated)
Harris County Commissioners are set to vote -- TODAY -- on approving a $450 million bond referendum that would go before voters in November:
Harris County voters could be asked in November to approve a $450 million bond issue — one of the biggest in county history — if county officials give the go-ahead for a referendum today.
If passed, $200 million would go for road building and repairs, $150 million for parks projects, $65 million for building a new Family Law Center and $35 million for renovating and expanding the juvenile detention center on West Dallas.
Recent bond issues have not raised the county's tax rate because increased property values and taxes on new properties covered bond debt. But three members of Commissioners Court say the new bonds likely would lead to an increase in the tax rate.
"If you pass issues like this, tax increases are certainly possible — probable — in my opinion," said Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack.
Precinct 2 Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, who represents the eastern part of the county, said she is not convinced that county residents want a referendum on bonds that would lead to tax rate hikes.
"My bottom line is that I'm not going to increase the tax rate," said Garcia, a first-term commissioner who will be seeking re-election next year. "My sense of the current climate is that people don't want increased taxes."
Good for the Chronicle's Bill Murphy, getting this story out, but the meeting is this morning! I am on the news alert email list for Judge Eckels -- it's the only email alert thing I could find on the county page -- and I did get an email alert yesterday...announcing that Judge Eckels had shown his appreciation for law enforcement, fire and volunteer agencies by distributing over 8,000 Astros tickets for three end-of-July games. Not one peep about a meeting dealing with such a big issue.
How much longer will these elected officials, who are little kings (or czarina) in their kingdoms, keep the public in the dark? Why aren't these meetings ever held outside of downtown? Why is there not a big media blitz to promote these meetings? We are talking a half of a billion dollars and the meeting is THIS MORNING! There is nothing on the front page of the Harris County website that says, "Meeting July 26 -- up for discussion: a half billion dollar bond referendum."
Why not? The cynical side of me says it's because they really don't want us there voicing any dissenting opinions.
UPDATE: Via Sedosi, I see that Bill Murphy's story now says the bond referendum was voted down. Excellent!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/26/05 06:31 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
25 July 2005
Food and drink roundup (07-25-2005 edition)
We're finally going to get a food and drink roundup...rounded up.
Alison Cook heads to the boonies to give Santa Fe Flats New Mex Grille a try. That's a long way for a Midtowner to go for red chiles.
Robb Walsh tries Noé and revels in the "mind blowing"ness and complexity of the cuisine. I don't know. I am definitely NOT a sybarite (?).
Dai Huynh joins in the all-things Lakewood Church and tells us eateries local to the new location are gearing up for the tens of thousands of hungry after-church goers.
Ken Hoffman reaches out for Burger King's Tendercrisp Chicken Caesar Salad. Is it a sign of an impending apocalypse that Burger King has, what they call, a 2005 Salad Collection?
And Gracie Ochoa reviews Armadillo Palace.
World Class, all!! Enjoy!!
Posted by Callie Markantonis @ 07/25/05 10:49 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
Afton Oaks residents don't want Galleria development rail boondoggle
KHOU-11's Mike Zientek reports that Afton Oaks residents aren't too happy about the possibility of METRO routing a rail line down Richmond:
Homeowner Richard Whiteley said nearby Richmond Avenue has never been a threat -- until now.
Metro planners said they are considering putting a light rail line along Richmond, running right past Afton Oaks.
Whiteley worries the avenue would become narrower, and drivers looking to avoid it would turn his community into one big detour.
"It would be bedlam here. We'd have cars backed up. We wouldn't be able to get out of the neighborhood," Whiteley said.
Daphne Scarbrough owns a custom bed store a few miles east on Richmond Avenue.
She worries an elevated rail line would lead to water inside her business during heavy rain.
"There's no place for the water to go. So the water, I would assume that it's going to have to come up onto the land and on either side of the rail," Scarbrough said.
Opponents of Richmond rail point to something else. They said when voters approved a Metro measure back in 2003 the proposed southwest line ran along Westpark Drive. The word 'Richmond,' they claim, wasn't even whispered.
"I don't think that anybody, either when they buy a house or take on any large endeavor, their initial plans are implemented to the 'nth' degree that was in that plan," said George Smalley, Metro spokesperson.
In effectively endorsing the White/METRO bait and switch, Rep. John Culberson (R) lost quite a bit of credibility, since he previously had insisted that METRO provide detailed ballot language on rail-line placement.
Now, with Culberson's tacit approval, METRO officials and Mayor White basically scoff at the notion that the METRO solutions plan that had the approval of voters is at all binding -- and it seems the Afton Oaks folks may get a light rail line Galleria development boondoggle in their neighborhood, like it or not.
UPDATE: Don't miss these comments in our forum from a resident who was at the meeting.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/25/05 09:53 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (14)
At least some Texans in D.C. talk to the Chron
We've previously noted the lackluster reporting that comes from the Chronicle's D.C. bureau, and suggested that it most likely is a result of lack of access to Texas politicians in the majority.
However, Alexis Grant proves today that the Chronicle D.C. bureau isn't TOTALLY excluded when it comes to Texans in Washington:
When Houstonian Molly Miller hit a grounder to the shortstop during her T-ball game on Sunday, she had a special fan in the bleachers cheering for her: President Bush.
Her field, base lines and all, was in Bush's back yard.
Molly's West University Little League team, made up of mentally and physically disabled players from Houston, faced a team from Williamsport, Pa., in a one-inning game on the South Lawn of the White House. It was the first Texas team to participate in Bush's South Lawn League, which brings several teams to the capital each year.
"The best part about it was meeting the president of the United States," Molly, 13, said after the game. She had shaken Bush's hand, accepted his gift of an autographed baseball and had her photo taken with him.
It's actually a nice story about a nice gesture, and represents more original reporting than we can recall coming from that bureau in ages.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/25/05 09:24 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chronicle's "final solution" a stunningly bad choice
Matt Bramanti properly condemns the Chronicle editorial board's use of the term "final solution" in today's editorial about Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Bramanti's post further informs that reader representative James T. Campbell is looking into it.
What is there to look into?
There's really no good explanation for such a truly unfortunate choice of words in an editorial about Israel.
Maybe it will prompt another blog entry from Mr. Campbell, like the one on "gypped" a couple of weeks ago.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/25/05 08:53 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Tom Kirkendall solves the city's golf course problem
Yesterday the Chronicle ran a Matt Stiles story on Houston's municipal golf system. Tom Kirkendall has some more thoughts on the city being in the golf course business, and a great idea on how the city can get out from under the red ink:
Here is a "thinking outside the box" suggestion for the Houston City Council on the golf course operation. Other than Memorial Park and Hermann Park golf courses, sell the remainder of the golf courses, including a sale or donation of the Gus Wortham Course to the University of Houston, which could then invest the funds necessary to renovate that tract into a potentially fine university course close to the University's Central Campus. With a portion of the funds generated from the sale of the courses, the City could then fund an endowment to be administered by the Houston Golf Association to promote golf to underprivileged children and citizens of Houston.
Someone please forward this idea to Mayor White!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/25/05 12:39 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
Move It! covers residents' concerns about I-45 expansion plan
Rad Sallee explores the uproar over TxDOT's I-45 expansion plan:
At Friday's meeting of the regional Transportation Policy Council — an event normally as dry as the Katy Freeway on a hot day — Woodland Heights resident Peggy Lindow woke up the audience.
Her ire was fueled by Texas Department of Transportation plans to increase the capacity of the North Freeway through her pleasant turn-of-the-century neighborhood northwest of downtown.
"Those houses that were originally destroyed for I-45 are gone forever, but we want to keep the ones that are left," Lindow told about two dozen elected officials, planners and road builders at the long table.
"We are not sophisticated in the ways of politics or highway planning," she said. "We are ordinary people whose homes and quality of life are threatened by the laziness and arrogance of a bunch of lifelong civil servants."
As described in a draft report by TxDOT consultant Carter & Burgess Inc., the preferred plan would have eight main lanes — the same as now — but would replace the single reversible HOV lane with four managed lanes that could be free for car pools and tolled for others, a net gain of three lanes.
But that sounds a lot like widening, and the freeway is already squeezed into a trenched segment near North Main and Houston Avenue. Just to the west is Woodland Heights, expensive and historic, and to the east is a cemetery.
[snip]
Carter-Burgess project manager Janet Kennison said TxDOT "will make every effort to remain within the existing right of way," but added that some acquisition may be needed at North Main and at the Shepherd curve to the north.
Trietsch said Lindow's diagram assumes the added capacity would be added laterally, but he said it could be double-decked, as has been done in Dallas and Austin.
I've wondered why the double-decking option hasn't been talked about, but I also don't live in that area so I have no idea what the residents who would be affected think of it. Maybe Charles Kuffner will have an opinion.
And I was very glad Sallee added this:
Several speakers also touched on the subject of openness and candor, a theme heard at meetings on the Metropolitan Transit Authority's revised transit plan. A common complaint was that TxDOT lets the public speak but then does what it planned to all along.
Add the Harris County Toll Road Authority to that little grouping.
UPDATE: Charles Kuffner addresses the double-decking idea.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/25/05 10:26 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chron perplexed by teachers who want to teach at good schools
It must be tough to be an idealist and then be constantly disappointed in your fellow man:
Fuller's research, using data from the 2003-04 school year, the latest available, examined seven school districts in the Houston region. He found that the teachers with the best credentials work in the schools with the most affluent students, and the less-qualified instructors teach in schools populated by low-income students. This matters because of another correlation — students who attend schools where the worst teachers predominate tend to perform poorly on standardized tests.
[snip]
Obviously, some inspired and skillful teachers teach in poor-performing schools. They tackle the most challenging assignments and endure the worst working conditions. Their students tend to have poorly educated parents less able to help them with homework.
Many poor children lack school supplies and suffer from poor nutrition. When discipline at school becomes an issue, it can be difficult to get parents working multiple jobs to focus on finding a solution.
The problem is how to attract and retain good teachers at the schools that desperately need them. There are only so many excellent teachers who will remain in under-resourced schools. They deserve merit bonuses and a medal.
Education experts say that incentive pay for teaching in less-desirable schools can be part of the solution. Those schools also need to provide adequate training and teaching supplies, enforce student discipline and cultivate a supportive workplace. Schools that provide these things will find that the best teachers will flock to them and stay put once on board.
A lack of school supplies doesn't explain the problem with California schools, where school supplies are provided by each school. Yep, in California, no student has to provide his or her own school supplies. (I know because when I finally moved out of California, I was confounded by this new requirement to buy school supplies!)
And we taxpayers spend a TON of money on free and reduced-cost breakfasts, lunches, and after-school snacks, nationwide. Poor nutrition can't be that big of an excuse.
However, the editorialists come perilously close to a big problem in poorer schools -- discipline. We have become a nation of wimps and molly-coddlers. The education elite that began running public schools 40-odd years ago changed the focus from learning and discipline, to one of self-esteem. Self-esteem entails not hurting a student's feelings, understanding, excuse-making, creating new realities, etc.
Besides providing a subpar education, an education based upon self-esteem can often be dangerous for teachers! And school administrators are sometimes weak and afraid of activist groups and teachers unions. If a teacher takes a firm-stand, it's not unusual for a school principal to reverse course if there's any adverse media attention.
Of course, what's most ironic about the Chronicle's complaint is that the media has long been a big supporter of progressive educational practices. It's not often we see any media outlet calling for a hard look at the current educational fads that have led to the problem the Chronicle now bemoans.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/25/05 10:09 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (12)
Metro: working against intelligent transit options
Yesterday I commented on the Chronicle's ridiculous editorial trying to boost Metro's new expansion plan.
Today Owen Courreges gives us a much more in-depth (and smarter!) response to the Chronicle's blatant cheerleading:
The 1983 rail referendum was rejected by a stark 2:1 margin, and yet Metro had already contracted for the rail cars themselves, as if it was a forgone conclusion that the referendum would pass. It cost them $1 million to break these contracts. The Chronicle won’t admit it, but the fact is that the 1983 heavy rail plan was a massive debacle. Metro was stupid.
In 1999, Harvard Professor Jonathan Richmond, in a report written for the joint MIT/Harvard Cooperative Mobility Research Program, praised Metro as an example of a city which had pursued cost-effective transit options (i.e. HOV and bus service improvements) instead of investing in the overwhelmingly cost-ineffective light rail fad that was sweeping the nation. When Metro focused solely on buses, as voters forced them to do, Metro actually improved mobility. In hindsight, voters made the right decision. It’s Metro that’s working against intelligent transit options.
Please go read his whole post; it's much more enlightening than anything the Chronicle has given us.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/25/05 06:56 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)
24 July 2005
Sunday Chron opinion page: Not (quite) everything is stale!
Although the Sunday Chronicle opinion page remains far short of the ideal state, there was some progress this weekend.
In addition to fresh house editorials and the usual lefty rants from Clay Robison and Cragg Hines, the section actually had two original op-eds with a local twist, one by Sen. John Cornyn (R) and one by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D) and David Cole.
Of course, the bulk of the material was stale. Jeffrey Rosen's op-ed ran on July 21 in the New York Times. John Yoo's op-ed ran on July 21 in the Washington Post. John P. Avlon's op-ed ran on July 19 in the New York Sun. David Barash's op-ed ran on July 18 in the LA Times. Charles Krauthammer's column ran on
July 22 in the Washington Post. Paul Krugman's column ran on July 22 in the New York Times. Karl Inderfurth's op-ed ran on July 11 in the LA Times.
That's still a lot more stale content than one might expect of editorial pages in their ideal state.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/24/05 10:46 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
If a Metro bus runs a red light, does the driver get a ticket?
There was a collision downtown today involving two Metro vehicles, but for once it wasn't the train:
Two Metropolitan Transit Authority buses collided downtown this morning, sending four people to the hospital.
(Screencap courtesy KHOU-11)An articulated bus traveling south on Smith apparently ran a red light and slammed into a bus headed east on Dallas about 8:30 a.m., said Ken Connaughton, Metro spokesman.
[snip]
One of the buses was pushed onto the sidewalk and hit a brick wall at the Hyatt Hotel, Connaughton added.
Connaughton said he was uncertain how many passengers were on the buses, but two other buses were pressed into service to travel the routes.
Ken Connaughton sure is a busy fellow.
That's interesting that the bus ran a red light, isn't it? We need a red light camera at Smith and Dallas, pronto!
So, what part of safety does Metro not understand?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/24/05 05:45 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (2)
Hines omits President's early statement on Plame affair
The Chronicle's Cragg Hines apparently got the Dem talking points not to let the Plame/Rove/Beltway Media Insiders story die, and today offers the following promise:
Some Republicans contend that Bush has been consistent in requiring a violation of law to be laid out before giving someone the axe.The record, which I'll go over in a moment, does not support that interpretation.
Hines then purports to go into "the record."
Unsurprisingly, Hines' exhaustive research did not turn up President Bush's definitive statement on the matter in September 2003:
Let me just say something about leaks in Washington. There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There's leaks at the executive branch; there's leaks in the legislative branch. There's just too many leaks. And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of.
As we pointed out when Julie Mason of the Chronicle's D.C. bureau apparently got so caught up in the gossip among journalists inside the Beltway that she also erroneously asserted that President Bush had adopted a new standard (despite the September 2003 comment), there is no excuse for a journalist with access to Lexis Nexis to screw up such basic research. In Mason's case, perhaps a case can be made for incompetence (we've seen it before). In Hines' case, the omission seems deliberate. So much for his writing about honor and dignity.
In any case, it's another black eye for the Chronicle's D.C. bureau reporters and columnists, whose errors seem always to cast a negative shadow over Republicans.
At this point, the consistently underwhelming nature of the D.C. bureau's reporting even when it does not contain errors or a slant may well be a product of understandable lack of access to the governing majority in Washington, even though many Texans are important members of that majority. Jeff Cohen should strongly consider shuttering his lackluster D.C. operation and redeploying the journalistic resources locally.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/24/05 05:26 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chron D.C. bureau: The "olds" you need to know
The Chronicle D.C. bureau's Samantha Levine serves up some "olds" today:
Sen. John Cornyn is considering a run to be the next vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, the No. 5 Senate leadership position now held by his Texas colleague, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Hutchison, who is term-limited in her slot, is going for the chairmanship of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, the No. 4 post.
If Cornyn triumphs, it would create a fairly unusual circumstance in which one state's senators hold two of the top five leadership posts.
As we previously noted, the news appeared in The Hill on July 19. The Chronicle D.C. bureau added nothing substantive to that reporting -- not even a quote from Sen. Cornyn or his office.
Why in the world maintain a bureau that seems constantly to advertise its lack of access?
Elsewhere in the story, Levine writes the following:
Watching C-Span on a weeknight can be a good way to get to know the Texas House delegation.
She might have added, "certainly better than the Chronicle's D.C. bureau."
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/24/05 04:55 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Slampo: The Friday metrosexuality died
Earlier in the week, the Chronicle's "Star" section (which vexes us, since there's not an ASCII character for a star) sent reporter Eyder Peralta to the West Alabama Ice House (an establishment dear to the blogHOUSTON crew) to gauge opinions on metrosexuality. Or at least to pester one 62-year-old patron who probably really didn't care all that much, and probably doesn't patronize the joint in anticipation of dealing with condescending Chronicle reporters. Here's a snippet:
Soccer star David Beckham's every move provokes comment in the British tabloids. He's one of Britain's most-watched celebrities, so when he showed off his freshly shaved armpits, smooth and looking prepubescent, after a game last week in Chicago, there was furor in the queen's land.
And when we asked a bunch of graying, grumpy patrons at the West Alabama Ice House if they'd do the same, there was furor there as well.
"Hell, no," 62-year-old Jack Howard said. Not even if asked by his woman. Not even for money. Then Howard stood up, tugged at his green hat, clenched his fist enough to dent his beer can and then chugged to confirm, perhaps, that he was still man.
That's just brutal, painful reading.
New local blogger Slampo saw the story -- and a subsequent story proclaiming that metrosexuality is dead -- and had this reaction:
This was somebody’s idea of edgy: Set ‘em up with a stupid question, then make fun of ‘em when they answer (cause they’re gray and grumpy etc.) And make sure the person is totally powerless, like a 62-year old drinking at an icehouse. (And they wonder why newspapers are losing readers?)
In the spirit of constructive criticism, we’d like to suggest that next time the reporter put the question before, say, the board of the Greater Houston Partnership. Yeah, that’d be edgy. Sort of.
But that was Thursday, back in those heady revolutionary days when metrosexuality and the armpit-shaving it spawned were good excuses to mock Jack Howard’s archaic notions of manhood. Today is Saturday, and the early Sunday edition of the Houston Chronicle proclaims “The metrosexual is dead.”
Please go read all of Slampo's post. That brief excerpt is only a taste of the really fine writing over there.
We'll just second those bolded parts from the excerpt.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/24/05 04:20 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Israel Houghton -- powerful gospel singer and...
There's one thing missing in this story about an upcoming Christian music concert that KHOU-11 is sponsoring:
Three of the most admired Christian recording artists will share the stage for the first time at a charity event hosted at Toyota Center on Aug. 7.
Dubbed "The Concert", this charity event will benefit two local Houston charities, Harris County Protective Services and Community Partners, Inc.
[snip]
This is the first time all three Christian recording artists will be performing at a concert on the same evening. Michael W. Smith was the top honoree at this year's 30th Annual Dove Awards winning six awards with a lifetime total of 22. Donnie McClurkin was the winner of the 2004 NAACP Image Award Gospel Artist of the Year and 2004 Grammy winner for Best Contemporary Gospel Recording (for the second time). Israel Houghton, a powerful Gospel singer, delivers a message that demolishes cultural and denominational barriers across the nation, and around the world.
Israel Houghton also helps lead worship services at Lakewood Church. It seems odd not to have included that.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/24/05 11:44 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (3)
Fun with headlines
Opening the closet door: When spouses come out as gay, marriages suffer
Who knew?
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: When Newsday ran the story on July 11, it used the following headline:
I guess the headline writer thought the Chronicle ought to have SOME original contribution besides chopping roughly 1,100 words from a nearly two-week-old article, but like the "olds" itself, the headline effort seems to have come up a bit short.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/24/05 10:11 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
When does parental responsibility enter the picture?
Here are some questions for the editorial idealists at the Chronicle:
1. Why is it a school district's responsibility to feed children all summer?
2. If parents aren't feeding their kids, why isn't the Chronicle calling for CPS to get involved?
3. If a 12-year old child can't make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and get an apple out of the fridge, whose fault is that? (At SuperWalmart, a loaf of bread costs $.60, a jar of jam costs $1.50, a jar of peanut butter costs about $1.50 and a bag of apples costs about $1.00. There's lunch for more than a week.)
4. Why doesn't the Chronicle spearhead a new program to provide lunches to children during the summer months? The Chronicle is a United Way supporter; maybe it's time for the LONE daily newspaper in this city to put its money where its big mouth is and help out.
UPDATE: Laurence Simon's thoughts.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/24/05 09:18 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chron argues for Metro's new expansion plan
This editorial belongs in the "what took them so long?" category:
Last month, when the Metropolitan Transit Authority announced changes to its long-range rail and bus plan, many local officials and civic leaders complained that Metro had shredded its credibility. Resentment in neighborhoods east and north of downtown lingers.
The transit agency could have alerted the public to the coming changes and done a better job of educating Houstonians about why they had to be made. However, circumstances left Metro with few options. The agency, under the leadership of Mayor Bill White, did what it had to do to win 1 billion federal transit dollars and expand rapid transit.
Of course, what would a Chronicle light rail editorial be without a little "bad guy" bashing?
In recent years, U.S. Reps. Tom DeLay and John Culberson blocked federal funding for rail transit in Houston. The money went to Dallas and other cities. In 2003, Houston voters barely approved a referendum calling for expanded rail and bus service.
[snip]
The agency has been frustrated by its political opponents — both voters and elected officials — from the start.
Prior to the 2003 referendum, Rep. Culberson required Metro to specify its transit expansions on the ballot, before they had been approved by federal officials.
Little good that did, since Mayor White and Metro officials have radically changed the plan that voters approved.
After the election, the Federal Transit Administration changed its guidelines. Proposed rail lines that would have initial ridership rated medium/low would no longer qualify. The plan voters approved was about to go bottoms up.
Can you imagine? Rail lines that would have dismal ridership didn't qualify for federal funding. How dare the government do that? Why, that's just, just...so un-progressive! How can Houston be world class if it doesn't have light rail? Who gives a rat's rear end whether or not anyone rides it?
Metro's critics complain that there was no public input before the changes were adopted. True, but public input was secondary to political power. The support of DeLay, Culberson and the FTA was vital to success, and their concerns trumped the desires of local transit patrons.
WHO is trying to maintain their political power? Hey, Chron editorial board: look at Metro leadership and Mayor White! They are the ones who are trying to maintain power. And Metro's former chairman assured wary voters that they would have continued input:
Voters will be able to hold Metro accountable throughout the process because they will have the opportunity to vote to continue funding based on their experience with Metro Solutions up to that point.
And the grand finale:
At the end of the day, the altered plan will bring several billion dollars of transit improvements quicker than the original plan. Not insignificant, the new plan offers Houston a chance to move ahead in a more united fashion to ease congestion and pollution.
After decades of bruising transit battles, it's about time. For Metro's longtime supporters to turn on the agency now would deal it a blow it doesn't deserve and from which it might not recover.
If the writer has a shred of evidence that the new plan will ease congestion and pollution, it should be provided. In fact, Metro's ridership has dropped so dramatically, we could argue that many people have given up on Metro and are now driving their cars, due to the inflexible light rail and numerous slashed bus routes, leading to more congestion and pollution than before.
And of course, Metro's biggest supporters sit inside 801 Texas Avenue. As proof, we have the infamous Rail Memo which outlined a strategy for winning the public over in favor of light rail, and the Chronicle's editorial page editor, who is unabashedly in favor of light rail and is married to an attorney who has done legal work on behalf of Metro.
Here's a question for the editorial board: why should voters who voted for a specific plan support a plan that is now radically different? And knock off the utopian, blah blah rhetoric. Metro admits that the majority of the new extension plans are inside the 610 Loop. How do those of us who live outside the Loop benefit? We still have to drive (think congestion and pollution) to get to any rail service. We still have to pay taxes to fund a plan that mainly serves those who live inside the Loop. If this is the plan Metro officials and Mayor White (HOUSTON's mayor) want to hang their hats on, then they should be confident enough either to schedule a revote or stop collecting taxes from all those people who live outside the Loop.
Now, one last question: what big plans does the Chronicle have for #100? THAT'S a world class accident rate!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/24/05 09:03 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
23 July 2005
A curious omission in Mack's local campaign finance column
In her most recent column, the Chronicle's Kristen Mack wrote about political contributions to local political candidates and PACs:
Mayor Bill White raised $2.2 million during the first six months of this year for his November re-election bid, according to a report filed July 15 for his Friends of Bill White fund.
The mayor also has three other campaign accounts affiliated with him and his causes.
He still has $800,000 left over in his 2003 mayoral race account, which he has used for expenses, including consultants and pollsters.
[snip]
HOU PAC, which White created to promote the city at the state level, raised $217,000 from just 16 donors during the period.
Other council incumbents, hoping to fend off challengers, have rolled in the cash as well. District G Councilwoman Pam Holm raised $236,000, according to her July 15 report. At-large Position 5 Councilman Michael Berry bought in $248,000.
"Stockpiling a war chest is a talisman, assuring no credible candidate will file against you," Berry said. "Money provides an incredible security blanket."
Given the fact that both the Chronicle editorial board and Councilmember Goldberg suggested that Councilmember Addie Wiseman's stance on Houston MediaSource's vulgarity was somehow motivated by campaign concerns, the fact that Mack didn't report on Wiseman's campaign finances seems like a striking omission.
Wiseman's campaign finance report, available on the City of Houston website, shows total political contributions of $39,725 this year and total political contributions on hand as of July 15 of $61,758.39. No candidates have announced to run against her.
We were pleased to see Mack identify Rice political scientist Bob Stein accurately.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/23/05 03:08 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chron: Public can't form opinion on Rove, but we can!
Yesterday, the Chronicle editorial board weighed in on the Plame/Wilson/Beltway Media Insiders affair:
For every revelation concerning the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, it seems, there are at least two unanswered questions. Until more answers are known, the public cannot form a valid opinion on the culpability of Karl Rove or anyone else in the White House.
The editorialists then opine on the matter for another 500+ words.
Sedosi Alhambra writes:
So the public is too dumb to form an opinon, but Mrs. White [the editorialists] can write a seemingly authoritative opinion piece on the situation? They first say "who knows" and then go about explaining why Rove is guilty....
He has further thoughts on the substance of the rest of the editorial.
Additionally, I would just offer up a query as to whether the editorialists even bother to read their editorials for internal consistency, because that first paragraph suggests otherwise.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/23/05 02:38 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Now maybe he could get around to talking about issues...
The Chronicle's Kristen Mack reports that District C council candidate Brian Cweren's campaign has been poaching internet domain names:
Houston City Council candidate Brian Cweren is trying for a landslide in political cyberspace. The District C hopeful has purchased Web sites containing various combinations of his name — and five of his opponents' names.The result is that some sites with the names of his opponents direct Web users to Cweren's campaign site.
[snip]
Go to some sites containing all or part of the names of Cweren opponents Anne Clutterbuck, George Hittner, Ray Jones, Mark Lee or Herman Litt, and you'll get this message:
"I realize you were looking for someone else, but I would be honored if you would visit my website." It helpfully provides a link to Cweren's site.
Cweren's campaign purchased 29 sites including variations on his name or the others.
"It was a strategy designed by our Web designer. We thought, 'Why the hell not?'
Here's why the hell not: Because it's tacky, misleading, and cries out "LOSER WHO CAN'T GENERATE POLITICAL INTEREST HIMSELF."
The city needs more serious candidates who talk about serious issues, and fewer gimmicks. If Cweren wants to be taken seriously, maybe he could at least put links to his opponents on the domains he bought (and provide some details on all the wonderful things he wants to accomplish on his own site). Otherwise, he looks a little pathetic.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/23/05 02:17 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
KHOU's Aqui profiles changing Freedmen's Town
KHOU-11's Reggie Aqui posts a story on Houston's Freedmen's District, which is rapidly losing its historic character because of redevelopment.
This isn't the main point of the story, but it caught my eye:
The city refurbished several shotgun homes in the old style. "They look so great you wouldn't know they are historic, which is kind of a loss too," Litke says.
And they've kept the skinny, crowded streets the founders built.
A number of Houston neighborhoods -- particularly the ones that have historically been economically depressed -- suffer from skinny streets and inadequate city infrastructure. Rather than thinking of it as a charming feature, I've always regarded it as a dereliction of responsibility on the part of the city.
Opinions vary, I suppose.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/23/05 01:49 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (1)
blogHOUSTON: Greenway's friendly parking solutions source
KPRC-2 reports that some businesses at the Center at Greenway are unhappy because of some aggressive towing practices by Jet Wrecker:
The owner of Jet Wrecker told Local 2 that he mounted cameras to catch drivers who park without patronizing the businesses.
He said most of the people walk to the neighboring movie theater, where a parking spot costs $2.
The owner refused an on-camera interview. He told the Troubleshooters that he does not respond to consumer complaints because he doesn't work for consumers. His boss is the property manager, Greenberg & Company. So, that's where the Troubleshooters went for answers.
"Why would you allow Jet Wrecker to wrongfully tow paying customers?" Local 2's Amy Davis asked.
"We're not allowing anybody to be wrongfully towed. Like I said, mistakes do happen," said David Greenberg, with Greenberg & Company.
Greenberg estimates that Jet towed approximately 800 cars from that lot last year, and that catching the offenders sometimes means inconveniencing legitimate patrons.
"We don't have an alternative. The only way we can enforce the parking there is to enforce it," Greenberg said.
Businesses fear the towing could force customers away.
"I wouldn't come back. It's a $125 tow fee. Who'd come back for that?" Jentis said.
The good folks Cyclone Anaya's on Woodway provide free valet parking for their patrons because parking is limited and they don't want the situation to be a deterrent to business. If the businesses in question are so concerned about the towing, perhaps they should consider doing the same.
Maybe they even ought to buy a textlink advertisement on blogHOUSTON as thanks for our good advice. :)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/23/05 01:35 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
KHOU's Campbell: Security is safe at METRO
KHOU-11's Carolyn Campbell reports in an amusing manner on efforts at reassurance from METRO police chief Tom Lambert:
Officials from the Houston Transit Authority said security on Metro's buses and rails is safe.
Thanks, Miss Campbell, but we're more concerned about the safety of the riders, the vehicles themselves, and the other infrastructure than the paramilitary counterterror wannabes running around in green t-shirts and battle fatigues for METRO.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/23/05 01:11 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (1)
DC bureau produces story a blogger could compile in a half hour
One day after the President's nomination of John Roberts, two reporters from the Chronicle's lackluster D.C. bureau put together a story that included quotes from Sen. Edward Kennedy (D), Stuart Rothenberg, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D), Sen. Arlen Specter (R), Sen. John McCain (R), Sen. Joe Lieberman (D), Manuel Miranda, and Ralph Neas.
Conspicuously absent are any quotes from Texas senators.
Why does the Chronicle maintain a D.C. bureau that doesn't even provide a Texan angle to stories that are already available on the wire and from multiple sources on the internet?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/23/05 01:02 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Does the ideal state have copy editors (cont'd)?
The Chronicle, whose editorial page editor once lectured bloggers on the superiority of editorial pages in their ideal state, let slip this little error in copy earlier this week in a pro-green editorial:
The U.S. Conference of Mayors passed a resolution backing a 12-step program for cities to meet or beat emissions goals set by the Kyoto Protocol — the internationally climate change treaty rejected by the United States.
The bolded error made it into print editions as well.
Presumably, this is not an example of an editorial in its ideal state.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/23/05 12:44 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
And these are the people charged with protecting us?
The announced arrival of citizen immigration patrols in Houston has rekindled a long-smoldering debate over the city's hands-off policy toward illegal immigrants.
Since 1992, Houston police officers have been officially forbidden from enforcing immigration law in most cases. Other city departments generally take a "don't ask, don't tell" approach toward immigrants, officials acknowledge.
[snip]
Houston's policy is more complex than sometimes portrayed. In 1992, Houston Police Chief Sam Nuchia signed General Order 500-5, which states: "Officers shall not make inquiries as to the citizenship status of any person, nor will officers detain or arrest persons solely on the belief that they are in this country illegally."
But the policy has never been formally approved by the City Council and does not officially govern other departments. Before he became a city councilman, immigration attorney Gordon Quan lobbied for a law that would make Houston a "Safety Zone" for illegal immigrants. The proposal died in 1997 after garnering no council support.
But even without the official policy, city officials outside the Police Department are not encouraged to cooperate with immigration officials, Quan notes. He does not see any point in revisiting the issue.
"I just think it would be very divisive to talk about this immigration policy," he said.
[snip]
But [Harris County District 6 Constable Victor] Treviño said that if citizens and even police started entering Hispanic neighborhoods and asking locals for their documents, it would create a major backlash.
"It'll be worse than the Civil War," he said.
That is so mind-numbingly stupid.
Orlando Sanchez recently said on KSEV-700 that he finds it unbelievable that Houston police are actually prevented from upholding the law.
And Laurence Simon thinks we need a new Godwin's Law.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/23/05 10:29 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
Woo hoo: tax-free weekend is coming up!
It's the favorite time of year for parents:
Parents have the opportunity for some extra back-to-school savings during Texas' seventh-annual Sales Tax Holiday, August 5–7, 2005.
The holiday provides exemptions from state and local sales taxes on most clothing and footwear priced at less than $100, saving shoppers about $8 on every $100 they spend.
The rules for the 2005 holiday are similar to previous years. The tax exemption applies to school and work uniforms, pajamas, robes, slippers, socks, underwear, jackets, and sweaters. Tennis shoes, baseball caps, jogging suits, and other commonly worn athletic clothing are also tax exempt—and there’s no limit on how many exempt items may be purchased.
Items previously placed on layaway may be redeemed tax-free during the Sales Tax Holiday, and items placed on layaway during the Sales Tax Holiday may be later taken out tax-free. A list of tax-exempt and non-exempt items is available at http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/taxpubs/tx98_490/tx98_490.html.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/23/05 08:50 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Hermann Park design wins award
The first phase of Hermann Park's restoration has won a national design award:
The Heart of the Park, 18.5 sparkling acres that welcome visitors to Houston's 445-acre Hermann Park, has gained national recognition as a recipient of the American Society of Landscape Architects'general design award of excellence.
The SWA Group's award-winning plan for the $10 million restoration project, completed last summer, has restored a swath of public space from the Sam Houston Monument Circle to McGovern Lake. Along this north-south axis, the once-muddy, incomplete Mary Gibbs and Jesse H. Jones Reflection Pool is now a work of art. Interactive fountains at Molly Ann Smith Plaza have kids jumping for joy, and elegant promenades through an allee of mature oaks are an antidote for our too-busy lives. Architect William Neuhaus' enchanting Arbor in the Pines features a curved green wall of Venetian plaster, limestone columns topped with stainless steel capitals and a wisteria arbor. The meditative O. Jack Mitchell Garden has a small fountain.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/23/05 07:50 AM | Houston Arts/Culture | Technorati | Comments (1)
The latest on I-45 expansion plan
The I-45 expansion plan is generating plenty of controversy. As always, Charles Kuffner has been keeping up with the latest, and local media is covering it, too.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/23/05 07:44 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
22 July 2005
TGIF
It's one of those Fridays for me, but Sedosi has it ALL covered.
And of course, a visit to Laurence Simon's blog is just the ticket for pondering the meaning of life...and kitty cats!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/22/05 01:13 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
Houston still trying to take Spring Branch ISD's land
I see that the Chronicle's This Week section contains a story about the city of Houston's eminent domain land grab attempt on a parcel of land belonging to Spring Branch ISD. Earlier this week, I suggested we needed a follow-up story to a Chronicle Wrap-up story on the subject, because the story was so confusing. After reading the This Week story, I am left to assume that the condemnation process is still underway:
City of Houston and Spring Branch school officials have agreed to meet and discuss the fate of a piece of property near Valley Oaks Elementary School that has been the subject of controversy — and confusion — in recent weeks.
The debate centers on whether the city needs to exercise eminent domain proceedings to acquire the property for a Pech Road widening project.
The city of Houston project calls for widening Pech Road between Westview and Long Point roads from a two-lane asphalt road with open ditches to a four-lane, concrete street with curbs and gutters. There also will be sidewalks along both sides with wheelchair ramps.
Wes Johnson, city of Houston public works spokesman, said the 20-foot-by-20 foot tract of land is needed to improve handicapped access at the corner.
Spring Branch Superintendent Duncan Klussman said if that's the case, a condemnation proceeding against part of the district's property is not necessary.
"Typically, if an entity needs land for a handicapped access, it doesn't require condemnation," Klussman said.
District A City Councilwoman Toni Lawrence, whose district includes Valley Oaks, said the Pech Road project has been on the city's capital improvement plan since 2002. She said information about the project was distributed to area residents, school officials and business owners at a town hall meeting in early 2004.
You'll remember that Councilwoman Toni Lawrence made herself unavailable to Spring Branch ISD officials and the media (before this article), when asked about the condemnation.
And again a Houston spokesman says that this project is about handicapped access, but a Spring Branch ISD official bats that one down.
This seems mighty suspicious. It seems unlikely that the city would turn a "two-lane asphalt road with open ditches [in]to a four-lane, concrete street with curbs and gutters" and sidewalks, just for handicapped access. Nope, the skeptical side of me wonders who this land grab/road improvement is really for.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/22/05 08:48 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
21 July 2005
Councilman Garcia helps neighborhoods with cleanup program
Wow! Here's a program worth highlighting and applauding:
Out there, Bennett said, are rodents and insects living inside wood and bricks that a storm blew off the next-door building onto her yard. And she wants it picked up.
"I called the 311," she said, "the mayor's office, ever since trying to get some help."
After four months of complaining, Sheppard was told, "the city has no funds for doing anything like that."
But Councilman Adrian Garcia in District H does, so he created "District H. Cares."
"I spend my campaign money buying the equipment," Garcia said. "The weed eaters, the chain saws, the trailers, all the equipment … so I could put this program in place."
The idea is to quickly move in to clean up neighborhood nuisances already cited by the city.
"To me that's enough," said Garcia. "Literally, my crew can be right behind them to take the corrective action. We should not wait until the lien process comes into place."
[snip]
"District H Cares" relies on a field service coordinator, volunteers, probationers and the homeless to get the job done.
So far, 22 weeded lots have been cleared and 700 trash bags filled with debris from clogged culverts, gutters and curbs have been tossed.
If all goes well, the program may go citywide.
Yeah, I suppose when the city is shelling out money for new police badges, day labor sites and a new Central Park, it might be hard finding money to clean up neighborhoods.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/21/05 06:01 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
That's no way to treat a friend
There's been a bit of a brouhaha the past couple of days on KSEV-700 where state Sen. Kyle Janek has been taken out to the proverbial woodshed.
Sedosi has a summation and some thoughts on the uproar, and since I agree with what he said, I'll just link to him.
UPDATE: Owen Courreges is also thinking along the same lines.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/21/05 03:48 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (0)
Kirkendall reflects on Enron broadband trial
By now, Houstonians are surely aware of the outcome in the Enron broadband trial, which resulted in no convictions. The Chronicle's Mary Flood reports:
Three months after the Enron Internet fraud trial began, prosecutors failed Wednesday to win a single conviction against any of the five defendants.
After deliberating less than 24 hours over four days, a Houston federal court jury acquitted three of the men on some charges and deadlocked on most of the Enron Broadband Services case.
The five men faced various charges relating to their roles in allegedly misleading investors regarding the success of the Internet venture.
It's the second blow in less than two months for the Enron Task Force: The U.S. Supreme Court earlier overturned the obstruction of justice conviction against the Arthur Andersen accounting firm.
On Wednesday, jurors declared themselves deadlocked on many charges and prosecutors asked the judge to order them to keep trying. U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore refused to do so, and declared a mistrial on the dozens of counts on which the jury could not agree.
Although some local bloggers admitted surprise at the verdict, local attorney and blogger Tom Kirkendall did not. Having blogged about the prosecution's missteps as the trial progressed, he has long argued that the prosecution's case was far more appealing emotionally and politically than legally.
Kirkendall's latest post on the topic is an excellent summary of what went wrong for the prosecution, and draws considerably from his prior posts. It's an excellent introduction to Kirkendall's blog for anybody not yet acquainted with it, and another example why Kirkendall is our favorite blogger on local business and law.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/21/05 02:10 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Beware downtown parking lots -- you could get hit by the Danger Train
Following up on the Chronicle's story about MetroRail's design flaws which have led to a record-breaking accident rate, there was another encounter yesterday between light rail and a vehicle that entered an unauthorized zone:
A citation was issued to the driver of a vehicle involved in a light rail accident Wednesday.
A Metro train collided with an SUV as it pulled out of a parking lot near the intersection of Fannin and Oakdale.
And Kevin wonders:
How many cities have light rail designed so that an SUV pulling out of a parking lot can run into their multimillion dollar light rail transit backbone?!
Don Gallagher, the moderator of a Yahoo group was asking the same question:
Now come on folks, let's really think about this situation. HOW (all caps!)? HOW is it even possible for an SUV driver to pull out of a parking lot and get hit by a mammoth train? Don't any of the news investigators start to question the diverse resume of drivers and pedestrians involved? Not all young and stupid, none convicted of DWI, both old and young, men and women, all races. Heck, the first incident was with a responsible female news reporter folks.
Doesn't Metro or City Council get it? First off, it was the city officials that basically deeded our streets and ROW to Metro. The design severed many business and residential access points to the existing streets and created a dividing line in a great portion of our downtown and especially the Midtown area.
Come on Metro, come on city officials! Think about what you will be doing if you allow more of the same on other streets. The Galleria line (aka University line) will make the Main Street design look like "Safe Rail 101" in comparison. The traffic and pedestrian volumes at every intersection along the route is far larger and far more active than the existing line. Sure, perhaps they will build part of it grade separated (have to in some points) but the real situations will be on Post Oak. A line down Richmond is laughable for the impact it would have.
Seriously! A vehicle pulls out of a parking lot and gets walloped by a train?! What kind of design is that? How do experiences like this make downtown more attractive to people? Add this to Operation Jaywalking and parking meters that require babysitters, and Houston has created a downtown that some might think is more trouble than it's worth.
World class?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/21/05 08:55 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (6)
Nurse, get me a pie chart!
A certain Chronicle story, of a sensitive nature, has an amusing error in it:
Nuñez showed jurors a large scar running the length of his forearm, from which doctors took a skin graph to help construct a new penis.
One of Laurence Simon's commenters caught it:
"Skin graphs"? Who's doing the proofreading over there?
Maybe the doctors drew lots of vertical and horizontal lines to help with the, ummm, repair process?
And yes, the error is in the paper.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/21/05 06:41 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
20 July 2005
Joe Barton joins Chron "bad guy" list
The Chronicle editorial board decided today that Rep. Joe Barton (R) is its latest "bad guy."
Why?
Rep. Barton had the audacity to request that scientists who are funded by the national government to study global warming provide his office detailed information regarding their studies and claims.
The Chronicle agrees in principle, but doesn't like Barton's approach:
Barton is right that global warming is a pressing and controversial issue — and tracking the use of federal funding is a worthwhile endeavor. In his indiscriminate mining for documents, however, Barton ignores the first steps of fact-finding: hearings, discussions with the scientists and reading the peer-reviewed and published papers in the field.
Maybe Barton's review of documents to prepare for further inquiry is a better first step?
Here comes the trademark Chronicle smear:
Given his indebtedness to the oil and power industries — from 1989-2004 he received more money from these industries that any other House member — Barton seems to be acting on motives other than a thirst for truth.
Unless the editorialists (or was this one by Tim Fleck, who's good at tossing such bombs?) are mindreaders, how can they so easily divine Barton's motives?
This editorial is notably lacking the "elegance, wit and insight one looks for in ... editorial pages in their ideal state."
RELATED: Now let me get this straight... (Isolated Desolation).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/20/05 10:57 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Alternarag versus Dr. Nice
The Houston Press has posted a highly critical piece on Dr. Steven Hotze and his practice of alternative medicine.
Readers can decide for themselves whether the reporting is compelling, but this snippet certainly detracts from it:
Steven Hotze did not consent to an interview for this story, and it's easy to understand why. As a Christian fundamentalist who espouses antigay rhetoric, he's received his share of criticism.
He didn't talk to the Press because he's an antigay Christian fundamentalist who is frequently criticized?
Surely if the Press had capable editors, that digression wouldn't have been included.
Anyway, the story just posted today, for those who are interested.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/20/05 09:31 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (0)
Maybe he thinks he's Saint Patrick?
Banjo Jones posts a two-parter that questions the fashion sense of Chronicle sports columnist and blogger Richard Justice.
That green is just hideous. Definitely not world-class.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/20/05 09:03 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (0)
DeLay and Hines on the same page
The Associated Press reported today that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay would support the repeal of the Wright Amendment, which restricts flights from Love Field in Dallas:
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said Wednesday that he would vote for repeal of the Wright Amendment, but that for now he is staying out of the debate on the issue.
[snip]
DeLay, the House's No. 2 Republican, said he is staying out of the legislative fight for now and believes the issue should be worked out by the Dallas-Fort Worth delegation. But DeLay, who first ran for government office because of his disdain for federal environmental regulations, said he opposes the law on principle.
"I never supported the Wright Amendment," he said. "I think it interferes with free market principles. If we're ever going tohave a viable airline industry in this country, we have to go more toward free market principles rather than using government to pick winners and losers."
Lefty Chronicle columnist Cragg Hines has previously criticized the Wright Amendment. Having House Majority Leader DeLay as an ally may well make his head explode.
The Chronicle was forced to pick up the AP coverage, since its ineffective D.C. bureau rarely nails such stories.
Locally, Tom Kirkendall has been a good source of commentary on the Wright Amendment.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/20/05 08:59 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Who's obsessed with race in America?
Here's an interesting look into the Chron's world: criminals must not be identified by race:
The implication that the Chronicle aids and abets criminals when we don't report the race of a suspect is off the mark. Readers sometime forget, the Chronicle's writers and editors are citizens, too, and are as concerned about public safety as our neighbors. As a former police reporter, I routinely tried to get as much information from police about a suspect in a case as they could give me. I drew the line at generic descriptions that did little but stereotype.
I understand that some readers like to keep score, particularly on matters of race. But when it comes to crime reporting providing readers with a detailed description of a suspect - identifying marks, hair color, clothes, etc. - is far more useful toward nabbing the bad guy than race alone. That's hardly "PC." It's practical.
But race must be a factor when it comes to Supreme Court justice nominees:
Bush's choice was a "letdown to the Hispanic community," said Hector Flores, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, the nation's largest Hispanic advocacy group.
"That we have no representation whatsoever in the highest court of the land — I think it's long in coming," said Flores, a South Texas native.
[snip]
Carol Alvarado, a Houston City Council member, said the nomination of a Hispanic was long overdue.
"It's unfortunate," Alvarado said. "There are plenty of qualified mainstream Latinos that are out there."
[snip]
The nation's Hispanic population exceeds 41 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. During the last year, Hispanics made up about half of the national population growth of 3 million, the bureau reported.
That growth is yet another reason to put a Latino on the Supreme Court, said Gabriela Lemus, director of policy at LULAC, which endorsed Gonzales as a nominee.
"As we grow so quickly, we haven't really had that kind of representation in the judicial system," Lemus said. "It's important to catch up."
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: The Chronicle reporting on Roberts that Anne links is yet another article that comes from the D.C. bureau, and makes me wonder why there is a D.C. bureau. Two reporters managed to get quotes from a number of Hispanics or women who say, SHOCKINGLY, that they would have preferred an Hispanic or female nominee.
A newspaper doesn't need an office in D.C. to come up with that, and one wouldn't think it would require two reporters.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/20/05 09:23 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
19 July 2005
The Hill (but not the Chron): Cornyn to run for leadership post
The Hill reports that Sen. John Cornyn will be challenging Sen. John Ensign for vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, the number five Senate post in the Republican party.
The Chronicle's D.C. bureau?
From my search, it seems not to have gotten that bit of Texas/D.C. news just yet.
To be fair, there probably weren't many journalists chatting about it in the White House press room, because it's not that titillating. Thankfully, Chronicle readers can get their Texas/D.C. news from the internet.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/19/05 09:56 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Chronicle should consider shuttering DC bureau (cont'd)
Today's column from the Chronicle's D.C. bureau reporter Julie Mason is the latest to lend credence to the notion that the newspaper should consider shutting down its D.C. operation and redeploying the journalistic resources locally.
There's little compelling reporting in the column, which instead seems to be a recitation of what White House journalists are saying to each other in the press room:
President Bush, facing a second week of a controversy over a White House leak investigation, declared on Monday that he would fire anyone on his staff who committed a crime in the matter.
"I would like this to end as quickly as possible so we know the facts, and if someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration," Bush said after a meeting with the Indian prime minister.
The president's declaration raised the bar for what constituted a firing offense. Previously, Bush said he would fire anyone involved in leaking the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
Here's what President Bush said on September 30, 2003:
Yes. Let me just say something about leaks in Washington. There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There's leaks at the executive branch; there's leaks in the legislative branch. There's just too many leaks. And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of.
So, the bar is actually in exactly the same place, contrary to Mason's assertion.
The D.C. bureau's continued lackluster reporting suggests that it just doesn't have the access that a quality Texas newspaper ought to have in Washington, considering the number of Texas Republicans in prominent positions in the executive and legislative branches. Given the Chronicle's editorial stance, of course, that's not entirely surprising. And the fact that the bureau generally (and Mason specifically) either purposely or incompetently slants stories as badly as the example above suggests that better access to Republican pols isn't likely.
At this point, the Chronicle would probably be better served by outsourcing most D.C. reporting to other newspapers (much like the Sunday editorial page does!) and the wire services.
RELATED: Moving the goalposts (Just One Minute).
ANNE LINEHAN ADDS: Julie Mason also slips an ABC News poll into her story:
A poll by ABC News concluded that 75 percent of Americans believe that if Rove or anyone else leaked classified information, he should be fired. And nearly 50 percent think the White House is not fully cooperating with the investigation.
Sigh.
The ABC News poll has already been dissected by a RedState.org contributor:
Beyond this, they have committed more grave methodological errors on this third question. Before they have even asked this question, they have hinted, in the subtext, at an answer. In the first question we reviewed, they implied that it is possible that the White House is responsible for this whole situation, that they were the leakers -- and that, once again, as a consequence of this whole fiasco, some journalist is in jail. This can potentially prime the respondent into an anti-White House position. If you have been paying very little attention to the story, and ABC News calls you up one night and tells you, in moment one, that the White House might be responsible for the leak; and, in moment two, asks you whether the White House has been cooperating...what are you going to say?
Take Home Point: The chances are very high that the average American is not paying attention to this. And political scientists have found that when people are not paying much attention to an issue, they are quite susceptible to “framing effects” that can be created through question wording and question ordering (for more detail, see John Zaller’s The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion, 1992). These sorts of framing effects can be designed in such a way to give the impression that the public thinks something that it does not.
Increasingly we see the media creating news with polls, and increasingly we discover the polls have been conducted in a questionable manner. That's lazy journalism.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/19/05 09:20 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
An Isolated Desolation doubletake
The Chronicle editorialists just can't help themselves.
Today, they managed to take an issue that many can agree on -- poor conditions at the Harris County jail -- and come up with a typical editorial that's all over the place.
Sedosi Alhambra had the following reaction:
There are times when you read an editorial that's so bad, you have to get up, walk away, come back, and re-read it to make sure what you read the first time was actually what was printed.
That happens quite frequently on the editorial pages of the Chronicle, which Isolated Desolation has dubbed Mrs. White for their frequent cheerleading for Mayor White.
For a thoughtful post on the Harris County jail that appeared on the same day as the Chronicle's initial reporting on the topic, see Tom Kirkendall's blog. Not only did Kirkendall's post pack elegance, wit, and insight, but it was also timely!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/19/05 08:21 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Jon Lindsay not seeking reelection?
Lone Star Times has heard that state Sen. Jon Lindsay will not seek reelection:
Multiple sources confirm to LST that State Senator and noted tree-farmer Jon "Appleseed" Lindsay has informed Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and key supporters that he will not be seeking re-election in 2006.
David Benzion also adds an update that the Quorum Report is confirming the story.
Regular blogHOUSTON readers can guess that this makes me quite the happy camper.
UPDATE (07-20-2005): Kristen Mack has the story for the Chronicle.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/19/05 07:34 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (2)
Alarmist headline isn't backed up by Chron story
Here's a headline in today's Chronicle:
New grad rate formula OK'd by 45 states, but not Texas
Oh no! What is wrong with Texas?
Texas was one of five states that did not agree to follow a standard formula to calculate high school graduation rates at a gathering of governors last weekend.
But if you make it to the fourth paragraph, you'll find this:
Texas did not sign on because it already meets the pact's standards, said Kathy Walt, spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry. The state no longer belongs to the organization, and Perry was not at the conference, she added.
Well, that provides some perspective to the rather alarmist headline. The story goes on to cite a critic of Texas' method for calculating graduation rates, but doesn't explore it in depth.
If there is something wrong with Texas' methodology, then that should be the story. But that's not what the DC bureau gave us.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/19/05 12:07 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
18 July 2005
Jackson Lee: Internet outreach improves neighborhood safety
KHOU-11's Carolyn Campbell reports that the Fifth Ward is engaged in a community internet outreach program of sorts:
For all the news about high-speed Internet and the information age, there are still places in Houston that aren't connected.
The Fifth Ward in northeast Houston is one of those areas that hasn't hooked up. But a public-private collaboration is working to change that and to improve security for residents along the way.
But now there's a new high-tech security strategy, and with every click students are taking another step toward a better future.
TAPS is one of five Technology Access Points available free of charge to residents in Houston's Fifth Ward.
"Not a lot of people get this opportunity and we're getting it for free," says 18-year-old Javier Mendez.
About 24,000 people live in the Fifth Ward, but only a small number have computers and access to the Internet.
"This was my only access point to get Internet, so this was the only place I could get information," says Mendez. "Things that I wanted to go into like college for instance."
But the high-tech possibilities are growing, Fifth Ward now has its own window to the world.
The 5th Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation and its corporate partners announced a new community-based portal.
If the neighborhood organization and its partners want to provide internet services that are also provided by Houston's public libraries, more power to them I guess. But Campbell's reporting is hard to follow, and her assertion about the expanded internet access improving neighborhood security is especially confusing.
"We are not secure, until the neighborhoods and the communities are secure," says Jackson Lee. "This begins to secure people even if they're not on the Internet."
Organizers say residents will benefit whether they have a computer or not.
[snip]
With the added technology, organizers believe the community will be safer and these students will have a better chance at achieving their dreams.
It's certainly not unusual for Sheila Jackson Lee to say things that make little sense, and the notion that expanded internet access will make this neighborhood safer and more secure seems to qualify as one that doesn't make sense. That angle made the entire report muddled and confusing. The number one news station in town is usually much better than that.
UPDATE: KUHF-88.7's Laurie Johnson does a better job explaining the safety angle put forth by proponents:
The website employs special technology that allows emergency first responders to directly alert residents to problems or safety issues in the area. Using a database of email addresses, phone and pager numbers, the system can initiate an automated alert system so elderly shut-ins can receive a phone call like this one.
The alerts can be sent for everything from street closures, to chemical hazards or terror threats.
The public safety angle is still being oversold, in my view.
CALLIE MARKANTONIS ADDS: SAFEclear is about safety; jaywalking enforcement is about safety; red light cameras are about safety; government entities grabbing land belonging to other government entities is about safety. If you want to sell a program in this city, put a "safety" moniker on it, and anyone who argues otherwise is...anti-safety.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/18/05 09:08 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
DART vs. METRORail
Rad Sallee's story in today's Chronicle about why Dallas' light rail has fewer accidents than MetroRail, is an exercise in frustration. Not Sallee's reporting, but the "expertise" Metro employed to give us at-grade light rail:
Just from looking out the train window, it's easy to see why Dallas Area Rapid Transit's light rail trains seldom collide with vehicles or pedestrians. One minute you're cruising high above the traffic on Walnut Hill Lane; the next you're zipping into Cityplace Station, 120 feet below ground.
And when the trains are at ground level, which is most of the time, they're still at a safe distance from motorists. About 85 percent of the 45-mile DART system runs on former freight rail tracks, not in the street.
[snip]
DART had 55 light rail accidents in a 31-month period through April, a monthly rate less than half of Metro's despite having six times as much track. But only two parts of DART trains run on streets. One of these is downtown, although a mile of that is a "transit mall" closed to vehicles, and the other is in South Oak Cliff, where the rails are on the median of a busy thoroughfare. DART also runs through a 3.25-mile tunnel north of downtown, and of its 34 stations, four are elevated and two below ground level.
Of the 95 street crossings in DART's system, 71 are protected by gates. Metro's 7.5-mile line has 62 crossings, 10 gated.
You know, for months after MetroRail opened, Metro officials ran to the cameras after every accident and berated Houston drivers for being so stupid.
Could it possibly be a design flaw? Perhaps sticking a train down the middle of a busy downtown street wasn't the smartest idea?
By contrast, Metro, which already has a nationally respected Park & Ride bus system for suburban commuters and intends to expand rail to the suburbs eventually, designed its Main Street line and next five extensions as "an improvement on local bus service," said Vice President John Sedlak.
The state's performance audit of Metro found that Metro has cut 29 bus route segments and 11% of Metro's bus service miles. Chew on that for a minute, while you also consider that even with those cuts, Metro's operating costs rose from $236 million to $304 million. I think we can figure out where the increased costs are coming from.
All are designed to run on major streets, such as Main, Harrisburg, Wheeler and possibly Westpark or Richmond, staying inside or near Loop 610 until at least 2012.
Can residents outside of Loop 610 get a refund? How about a revote?
The Main Street line has booming ridership, Sedlak said, precisely "because of how close it comes to the heart of the employment centers and the ease of access to the stations."
I finally saw the Danger Train for the first time today. It was about 11:15 a.m. and there were two people in the light rail car I saw. TWO!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/18/05 03:29 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (7)
Can Houston be world-class without light rail?
Laurence Simon found an AP story about how to play tourist in Houston, and he points out it's missing a little something:
If you look through this AP piece on Houston in CNN.com, you'll find no mention of rail or mass-transit.
He reaches the obvious conclusion.
Maybe the AP is waiting for Houston to get (don't say Bus) Rapid Transit.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/18/05 02:43 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (4)
Food and drink roundup (07-18-2005 edition)
What better way to kick off a Monday morning than with a food and drink roundup.
Alison Cook takes in sushi and robata at downtown's version of Azuma and finds the sushi better than the robata.
Robb Walsh roadtrips to Galveston to try Clary's Seafood Restaurant. He's making my roadtrip list longer and longer.
Peggy Grodinsky wants me to trade in my Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper for milk lemonade. Well, not really, but some of the drink ideas are about that...unusual.
Dai Huynh searches high and low for the perfect milk shake and malt. The mentioned 59 Diner on Shepherd gets my vote.
Ken Hoffman reaches out for Taco Bell's new and allegedly "mess-free" Crunchwrap Supreme.
Scott Walker devotes a blog post to Ernie's on Banks.
And Joey Guerra checks out the hip pretty people at downtown's Shadow Bar.
World class all, enjoy!!
Posted by Callie Markantonis @ 07/18/05 09:06 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (21)
A Wrap-Up story that doesn't wrap it up
Last week we posted on Spring Branch ISD's fight to prevent the city of Houston from condemning a piece of land in front of an elementary school to create a new turn lane. Both the Chronicle and KTRK-13 ran stories previewing SBISD officials going before city council to protest the land grab, but then we couldn't find any stories after that.
Today in the Chronicle's Wrap Up section, Jason Spencer writes this:
IT turns out that the folks at the Spring Branch Independent School District never saw the memo.
If they had noticed the Oct. 15, 2004, letter explaining that the city of Houston wanted 200 square feet of Valley Oaks Elementary School property for a routine sidewalk improvement, not a right-turn lane, the unhappy school board members might not have marched down to City Hall last week. They also might not have issued a news release a day earlier, describing the city's decision to claim the land through eminent domain as a "dangerous land grab" endangering children's lives.
But it turns out the letter probably went unnoticed because it was addressed to then-Associate Superintendent Mike Maloney. That's the same Mike Maloney who had resigned four days earlier in the face of a criminal charge accusing him of lying on his job application by claiming to have a master's degree from a California university that doesn't exist.
[snip]
While acknowledging the school district's role in the misunderstanding, Kellner and Kosmoski said city officials share the blame.
"The mayor's office would not return our phone calls," Kellner said. "They could have straightened this out with us a week ago."
Huh?
Is Spencer telling us that the condemnation is for a sidewalk and not a turn lane? Or is Spencer telling us that the city originally said it was for a sidewalk but now the city's constructing a turn lane?
Did Spencer interview Susan Kellner to get a more complete picture of what is going on and what Spring Branch ISD's position is? Did Spencer try to interview any city officials to clear up what the city of Houston is really doing, and to find out why the city refused to communicate with Spring Branch ISD officials?
We need a follow-up story to the wrap-up story.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/18/05 07:17 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
17 July 2005
Chron editorialists discover the obvious
For any Houstonians who might be confused as to whether F-16s are useful aircraft for the civil defense of Houston's infrastructure from terrorist attack, the Chronicle editorial board weighs in today with a resounding no:
A so-called dirty bomb, using a conventional explosion to scatter radioactive plutonium, could render the channel industries indefinitely off-limits. Under this scenario, an F-16 would be less valuable than a Coast Guard or customs official....
We're certainly glad that the folks who sometimes confuse treaties shared that bit of military knowledge with us.
Most Houstonians understand what's going on when Mayor White and House Majority Leader DeLay (R) speak of Ellington Field and the war on terror. They aren't suggesting that F-16s are going to protect the ship channel from a dirty bomb. They're trying to protect from closure what they feel is an asset to the community.
Might Ellington Field play a role in the war on terror, to the extent that war is taken to the enemy and not simply a matter of passive civil defense? Perhaps. So might other bases that could possibly be closed, and one imagines local pols are coming to their defense. That's why base closings are typically so difficult -- most pols and defense experts agree on the need to shut down some bases, but rare is the pol who concedes that the base in his district is the one.
That surely can't be shocking news to our editorial idealists.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/17/05 10:08 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Stale editorial page: An ongoing Chron series!
For the past couple of Sundays, we've pointed out that the Chronicle's opinion pages were a little stale, with all sorts of content previously published in major newspapers.
We were hoping James Howard Gibbons might take the hint and try to freshen up the pages a bit -- perhaps even bring in some fresh blood like Mark Steyn, whose columns do not appear in many American newspapers.
Instead, Gibbons seems to have entirely missed the point we were making. Today, plenty of stale content appears. And now, the authors' bylines contain short notes explaining in which major newspaper their columns first appeared!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/17/05 09:42 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
CTC looking for volunteers to attend next Commissioners Court meeting
Charles Kuffner has an update from the Citizens Transportation Coalition about the next Harris County Commissioners Court meeting:
CTC is seeking neighborhood volunteers to attend (and ideally, address)
Harris County Commissioners' Court on Tues July 26 at 10:00 am, downtown.Background: As you know, Harris County identified the next five priority toll road corridors in their new Capital Improvement Plan (CIP):
* Beltway East mainlanes,
* Brazoria County toll road,
* Grand Parkway segment E,
* Hardy toll road extension into downtown,
* Hempstead Road managed lanesand two possible priorities:
* Fort Bend connector project (phase 2) from US 90A to IH 610 loop
* Fairmont Parkway/Red Bluff project from SH 146 to Beltway 8 East
Source, pp.17-18.If you live in a neighborhood near one of these projects (i.e. Katy, Willowbend, Westbury, Cottage Grove, Oak Forest, etc.), your voice is needed.
What we've already done: On June 21st, CTC board members asked commissioners to delay adoption of the CIP and commit to holding meetings in affected communities. Judge Eckels told us that they've held "countless" meetings on these projects and few people came. Art Storey told us it doesn't make sense to hold meetings for a project if you don't know when you're going to do it.
We don't buy that. If you would like Harris County to host public meetings about one of these projects in your neighborhood, I hope you'll come tell them so.
If you are ready to discuss this further, especially if you wish more background before speaking at Commissioners Court, join us for an Advocacy committee meeting: Tues July 19 at 7:30 pm. Please RSVP to Peter Tyler at (713) 256-9205 or p_tyler@swbell.net.
That's been one of my gripes: it's hard to make it to Commissioners Court -- the meetings are held downtown on a weekday morning. Most Harris County residents, you know, WORK when meetings are held!
The problem is that Harris County is big and it would make much more sense for commissioners to hold meetings in the areas that will be affected by the proposed roads in the Capital Improvement Plan.
Unless commissioners don't want citizen input, which I hope is not the case.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/17/05 06:45 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
I don't have mail
Today, Cragg Hines gives us the ever-dependable Mailbag column:
THOSE who don't believe that the nation's politics remain more sharply divided than in many years are not reading my e-mail.
[snip]
I usually respond to readers with a personal message unless their tone is strictly scatological or the volume is too great.
I'm crushed. Really.
I've sent a couple of emails to Cragg, neither of which was scatological in nature, and I have yet to receive a reply from him. In fact, I make it a point to write polite emails...you know, following the old saying that you attract more bees with honey than with vinegar.
I must've sent my emails at a high-volume time.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/17/05 08:13 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (4)
16 July 2005
Councilman proposes TIRZs help pay for police services
Councilman Adrian Garcia is trying to get TIRZs (tax increment reinvestment zones) to pay for law enforcement services:
Houston City Councilman Adrian Garcia is working on a plan to get the city's 22 tax increment reinvestment zones to start paying for law enforcement-related services, which may be a much-needed boost for the short-handed city police department.
[snip]
The zones are special districts created to attract investment to an undeveloped area. The zones have been created to rejuvenate development in sections of the city.
In a TIRZ, the property tax paid to the city and other participating governmental agencies is frozen at the amount collected when the zone was created. If the tax base increases through redevelopment or inflation, any additional tax revenue is dedicated to projects within the zone.
[snip]
Phasing in his plan began during the city's budget hearings earlier this month when Garcia submitted an amendment to a Senate bill that was passed in mid-May.
The bill allows the city to recoup the cost of municipal services rendered to these zones, and Garcia's amendment calls for the city to recover police-related expenses from the TIRZs in Houston.
When Orlando Sanchez filled in for Edd Hendee (KSEV-700) recently, he discussed TIRZs and how the entities don't pay for increases in municipal services. Councilman Garcia's plan is a good step to see if any of these TIRZs can afford to pay for the services they use.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/16/05 08:35 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
Show us the money
The Chronicle's Kristen Mack today reports on fundraising for area political races, including the $2.2 million raised by Mayor White.
We'd surely like to see more frequent updates on local politics from Mack. If only she could be talked into a local politics blog....
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/16/05 03:08 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
Beldar gets lucky
Local blogger William Dyer (aka Beldar) had what he describes as a "wee little heart attack" this week.
Thankfully, he's out of the hospital now and posting from home.
Here's wishing our local blogging friend a full and speedy recovery.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/16/05 11:48 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (0)
No proof of car insurance? Say adios to your car
So Garland, TX, has red light cameras and Houston is following suit. Look what else Garland and some other Texas cities are doing:
This week, the city of Mesquite became one of a growing number of Texas cities that tow vehicles if the owner cannot present proof of insurance to a police officer when stopped for another violation. The cities of Athens, Corsicana, DeSoto, Haltom City and Garland have already adopted a similar vehicle towing policy.
Mesquite police last year issued 9,471 citations worth $305 each for failure to produce insurance documentation. The new policy allows officers the option of impounding the vehicle if a motorist, insured or not, cannot produce the required paperwork. Before being towed, the police will search the vehicle without the consent of the owner. If the motorist says he is insured, police will attempt to contact the appropriate insurance company, but this may not help those stopped outside regular business hours.
This could leave several insured motorists stranded, facing a great deal of hassle and expense to recover their vehicle. In DeSoto, for example, motorists must go to the city jail to obtain a release form. Then they must find a way to take the form to J&N Wrecker service and pay all the required recovery charges. Texas does not regulate these fees, and some "cash only" lots will not accept credit cards or personal checks. The impound lots are not required to be open 24-hours a day, or open on holidays.
Motorists unable to pick up their vehicle immediately are assessed additional fees of $15 a day while the car remains on the lot, plus a $32 notification fee and $20 impound fee. A car left on the lot for sixty days will be auctioned off with the proceeds going to the city.
That last paragraph sounds similar to the original $AFEclear program.
Let's see now...9,471 citations x $305 = $2,888,655.
Just wait until MayorWhiteChiefHurtt hear about this program.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/16/05 09:34 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (11)
East End leaders want extended Metro routes, or a refund
East End civic groups want Metro to include two extensions in the new $2 billion expansion plan:
The Metropolitan Transit Authority's plans fail to capitalize on the potential for riders in the East End, which has a predominately [sic] low-income Hispanic population, said Gilbert Moreno, president and CEO of the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans and leader of the committee, which is called the East End Transit Task Force.
"We're amazed that after all of the planning Metro has done and all the changes they've made, they still haven't pushed (proposed rail lines) further east," Moreno said.
"If they don't include the East End in these plans, then they owe the people in this area a refund."
Moreno and business leaders and organizations such as the East End Chamber of Commerce and the Greater East End Management District began discussions shortly after the November 2003 referendum was passed.
They later formed the committee to press their ideas and eventually proposed two extensions of the transit system's Harrisburg Corridor.
The corridor begins downtown and ends at the Magnolia Transit Center in the East End, but Moreno said the lone light rail line that has been proposed in Metro's plan would lack connectivity to the rest of the system in southeast Houston.
The committee's answer would be a light rail line that begins at the Harrisburg/Lockwood intersection and heads south on Lockwood toward Elgin, which is where Metro's East-West Corridor is expected to be charted.
The group also proposed either "signature" bus or bus rapid transit routes that would begin at the Magnolia Transit Center and head south along 75th street and Evergreen to the Houston Community College/Gulfgate Transit Center.
[snip]
Metro spokesman George Smalley said the authority's planning staff is evaluating the committee's proposed routes.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/16/05 08:15 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)
15 July 2005
METRO deploys elite counterterror unit
Remember how METRO got rid of security at its Park and Ride lots, thereby leading to predictable burglary (including tailgate theft)?
It turns out the cash-strapped organization must have needed to save that money to create an elite counterterror force!
Anne Linehan called attention earlier to Rad Sallee's story for the Chronicle for other reasons, but it's worth noting the latest addition to the Houston policing scene:
Some Metro riders have wondered about the combat-garbed men patrolling light rail stations and bus transit centers. They look like soldiers, but their uniforms say POLICE.
In fact, they are Metropolitan Transit Authority police officers, and Chief Tom Lambert introduced two of them Thursday at the Metro board's monthly meeting.Officers Joe Drescher and Dennis Ribeiro are part of the agency's Special Operations Response Team, which was formed shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., but had not been deployed in public until the July 7 terrorist bombings of trains and a bus in London.
They were wearing pistols, but the SORT team has automatic rifles available if needed. Lambert said training includes 40 hours on a tactical shooting range, classes in handling hazardous materials, and the use of dogs and portable X-ray devices to examine suspicious packages.
The olive drab uniforms are overlaid with black body armor and belts to carry cartridges and other equipment. Secret Service-style earpieces with a cord disappearing under the shirt is also part of the gear. [Note: earpieces is? Come on, Chron copy editors]
Lambert said the group, which consists of 16 Metro police officers and two sergeants, has trained with "experts from Israel" as well as from the FBI, Transportation Security Administration and several U.S. transit agencies.
[snip]
One Houston Chronicle reader wrote that two SORT officers he encountered refused to show him their badges, causing him to wonder whether they were really police.
If their public demeanor at all resembles that of their boss Chief Lambert, then one suspects the Chronicle reader's reaction was probably not unique.
Now, if METRO could just train the elite force to part water so the light rail train wouldn't have to shut down when it rains, that would be money well spent!
Laurence Simon's reaction is priceless, although readers who are sensitive to profanities (Councilmember Wiseman?) should be forewarned there is profanity.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/15/05 09:24 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
Rick Casey 'Economic LiveJournal' debuts!
Chronicle metro/state editorialist and gossip columnist Rick Casey decides today to play economist.
Casey apparently doesn't much like the incentive packages used to entice formerly large mail-order firms like Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's to set up retail stores in Texas.
Here is an excerpt:
[W]hile the governor and his buddies are protecting us from land grabs for private companies, they're showering certain favored companies with our money.Take the Cabela's outdoors store that opened last week in Buda, a small town just south of Austin. Please.
The Nebraska-based former catalogue store went public a few years ago and started building stores all over the country. Following in the footsteps of Missouri-based Bass Pro Shops, it created shops that look like theme parks, called them tourist draws and snookered public officials to grant tens of millions in tax breaks and subsidies.
They call it "economic development."
The tax subsidies, breaks and incentives total more than $60 million, according to documents obtained by the Austin American-Statesmen. (Is there more? Cabela's sued Attorney General Greg Abbott to try to keep the newspaper from obtaining some documents.)
The town of Buda and Hays County expect to pitch in as much as $40 million, mainly for infrastructure, $4.5 million in county sales taxes will go back into the project, the state will pay $20 million for road enhancements, and the governor's Texas Enterprise Fund will kick in several hundred thousand dollars.
Showing no restraint, Buda will turn its water tower into an advertisement for the store and pay toward some billboards as well. And the Texas Fish and Wildlife Commission is delivering Guadalupe bass for the store's 60,000-gallon aquarium.
It seems that Buda and Hays County are picking up most of the tab for this project, and the "governor and his buddies" a much smaller amount. But why let facts get in the way of slamming the "governor and his buddies?"
There's also this:
One of those speaking against subsidies for Bass Pro was, not surprisingly, Katy-based Academy Sporting Goods. Its owner, Arthur Gochman, understands that a new sporting goods store, no matter how fancy, doesn't create new buyers. It takes them from other sporting goods stores.
"I don't mind competing," he said. "I just want a level field."
The politicians, with their subsidies, aren't taking his property from him. Just some of his customers.
"Economic development" in Texas, it seems, is subsidizing Nebraska and Missouri companies at the expense of Texas companies.
That's one myopic view.
On the other hand, customers of Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's who once used the outstanding mail-order services of those companies will now be paying Texas state sales tax because those companies will have retail outlets in the state. That's tax revenue that was escaping the state previously.
Folks who know much more about economics than I do are welcome to debate the pros and cons of trying to attract businesses to Texas using such incentives. However, Casey's notion that somehow the practice is akin to an unjust taking of private property for private purpose -- and therefore that "the governor and his buddies" are hypocrites -- strikes me as reaching.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/15/05 08:48 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Feds get two more MS-13 bad guys
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested two more MS-13 members in Houston:
William Orlando Lima-Hernandez, 25, a citizen of Guatemala, was picked up at a construction sight [sic] off Kirkwood Dr. in Houston. ICE agents say records show he is here illegally and has been deported before.
Luis Alfredo Garcia-Calderon, 25, a citizen of El Salvador, was arrested Monday when he was unable to provide U.S. Customs agents with the proper documentation during a routine checkpoint inspection while on a bus headed for Corpus Christi, Texas.
Officers say both admitted that they had affiliations to the MS-13 gangs, and were in the country illegally.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/15/05 06:07 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Metro has to pay those salaries somehow
Sedosi points to the tail end of today's Chronicle story on Metro's SWAT/SORT:
In other business, the Metro board extended President and CEO Frank Wilson's four-year contract until 2010. Wilson turned down an offer to increase his $254,000 annual salary, Smalley said. However, the board changed his severance benefits to include two years of base pay, the same as his predecessors, and to receive the same level of benefits as vested employees. Wilson took over Metro in May 2004.
The board also authorized Wilson to negotiate agreements "for the acquisition and development of properties," which Metro would not identify. The board also authorized him to "explore joint development opportunities" for three Metro properties, identified only as part of the Mission Bend Park & Ride lot, the Kashmere Transit Center and a property on South Main.
Metro said in March that it wanted to collaborate in "transit-oriented development," which typically means a mixed residential and commercial property near a rail stop. One site the agency has said it wants to develop is atop its Texas Medical Center Transit Center.
Don't forget the Houston Business Journal's excellent two-part story on Metro's ability to use eminent domain around rail stops, and remember that Metro has been ramping up its real estate development department.
It appears that Metro is branching out, and really, who can blame them? Since no one wants to ride the buses or the light rail, Metro has to make money somehow.
Oh, and speaking of needing to make money, what do you think of Frank Wilson's extended contract details? Metro's board must be happy with Wilson's leadership.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/15/05 01:59 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (2)
Not to worry, he'll get his 15+ minutes of fame to make up for the racism
Let's see...a Bush Intercontinental baggage screener who moonlights as a rapper, and holds a fondness in his heart for terrorists, airplanes flying into buildings and women being raped, is fired from his job by the TSA and he cries racism because he's of Palestinian descent.
Laurence Simon has this one covered.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/15/05 01:21 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
A positive HISD story...in the Dallas Morning News
Did you know that HISD bus drivers have been through a terrorism-training awareness program? I didn't, but the Dallas Morning News has the details:
Since the Beslan attack in September, transportation officials across Texas have been quietly building a loose network of trained personnel to improve school security. They've been assisted by the Texas Department of Public Safety and trainers from Highway Watch, a national network of 100,000 truckers trained to pass on "intelligence tidbits" to the Department of Homeland Security.
"Even though none of the news is indicating that a school transport fleet is a particular target, I don't think you can underestimate the importance of taking reasonable precautions," said Bonnie Russell, Houston ISD's executive general manager of transportation. "We recognize if there were an attempt to target a school bus, it would be such an emotional target for the nation."
All 1,000 of Houston's bus drivers have been trained. Dallas County Schools, which runs buses for DISD and other local districts, will start training its 1,400 drivers in September, said Ray Lanoux, director of risk management for the agency.
[snip]
Although she took her training last year, Ms. Bolden, the Houston driver, still examines her bus carefully twice each day the way she was trained. First, she does a once-over of the vehicle, making sure nothing unusual is attached to the underside before starting it up.
"They could use anything," she said. "It could be as small as a perfume bottle or a ring box."
She pumps the pedals to be sure there's been no tampering, and the belly of the bus squeaks and coughs. Next she checks under the seats, makes sure the windows work and goes outside to examine the fuel line and the battery box.
The entire process takes about 10 minutes and was worthwhile to memorize, Ms. Bolden said.
To be fair, the Chronicle did do a story on this topic last year, but I find it curious that we have seen several stories since the London bombings on how Metro is prepared for terrorism (including today's SWAT/SORT story), yet nothing on HISD's ongoing anti-terrorism training. And as the DMN story points out, after Beslan, school districts and schools need to be prepared.
(For information's sake, HISD transports 45,000 students twice a day.)
RELATED: HISD Bus Drivers Trained To Watch For Terrorism (KPRC-2)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/15/05 11:35 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Houston's "When We Feel Like It" Information Source
It appears Houston's Daily Information Source was able to send a reporter to cover Mayor White speaking to some civic groups and ACORN, a LIBERAL advocacy group:
Mayor Bill White said Wednesday that he wants more transparency and accountability in Houston's policies governing housing for low- and moderate-income families, but he stopped short of supporting an ordinance that would change how funds for housing projects are awarded and distributed.
White told Acres Homes civic groups and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, an advocacy group for working-class families, that he agreed with key elements of a proposed ordinance but that the city already is addressing their concerns.
However, it wasn't too long ago that Houston's DIS was unable to cover a speech given by the mayor, although we did get a scintillating interview with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. instead.
RELATED: Some thoughts on "affordable housing" (bH)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/15/05 10:20 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
14 July 2005
Rain shuts down METRO "transit backbone" again
Various media outlets are reporting that today's rain has shut down METRO's light-rail "transit backbone" for the second day in a row.
Nothing is moving all that well anywhere in the city right now.
At one point, the Transtar site was getting pounded so hard that it wasn't actually serving up pages. That was certainly useful. (Actually, it's still having trouble).
Everybody be careful out there. It's a mess.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/14/05 05:09 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (3)
Down in the mud, blood, and beer with Rep. Poe
Former local judge and current U.S. Rep. Ted Poe (R) has joined the celebrity blogging crew at the Huffington Post.
The post isn't notably worse or better than most of the content at HP, although one line does stand out:
Having been down in the mud, blood, and beer with real people, I have witnessed the Constitution’s impact on the lives of Americans.
Rep. Poe might well call out the blogHOUSTON crew as dainty, since we try to avoid the combination of crowds, mud, blood, and beer.
We found the post courtesy of the Brazosport News, where Banjo Jones offers his thoughts.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/14/05 08:20 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
13 July 2005
White & Edwards: We're tired of this MediaSource topic!
KHOU-11's Doug Miller reports that City Council delayed a vote on funding for Houston MediaSource today, and Mayor White is back to sounding perturbed:
"You can't stop people from complaining. And, you know, I've never met anyone who's been forced to watch TV," said Mayor Bill White.
Councilmember Ada Edwards sounds perturbed as well:
"We've never spent this much time on the crime lab. We've never spent this much time on women who come and say that they've been attacked, or whatever. We, we don't ... It's amazing," complained Councilmember Ada Edwards.
Yes, it's just "amazing" that Councilmember Edwards' fellow elected officials bring their issues to City Council. It's almost as if their constituents elected them *gasp* to participate fully in the local political process, rather than just to approve Mayor Boss Hogg White's agenda!
RELATED COVERAGE: KPRC-2, Chronicle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/13/05 11:50 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (6)
What does Casey really think about Republicans?
Chronicle metro/state editorialist and gossip columnist Rick Casey writes the following today:
The suit wasn't heard by a jury but by Judge Hart. Under Travis County rules, when a lawsuit is declared to be "complex," both sides can agree to request a particular judge to hear it.
The TRMPAC lawyers asked the plaintiffs if they would agree to Hart, and they did. They knew him to be conservative, but smart and above politics.
He did not add, "in contrast to most stupid Republicans," but it's implied.
Casey's usually more careful than that.
Except, of course, when he's speaking to the Harris County Democratic Party and lets fellow travelers know what he really thinks.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/13/05 11:05 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (15)
Rain shuts down METRO "transit backbone"
KPRC-2 reports that the heavy rains forced METRO's light-rail "transit backbone" to shut down earlier today:
METRORail was also shut down between the University of Houston-Downtown and Wheeler stations because of high water.
Traffic was moving smoothly on the Southwest Freeway and the METRORail had reopened by 5 p.m.
That's pretty much the northern half of the rail line.
Presumably, buses were dispatched to get stranded tram riders where they needed to go.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/13/05 10:12 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (2)
Chron editorialists try to blame DA, judges for crime lab fiasco
KPRC-2 general manager Steve Wasserman has belatedly weighed in on the HPD crime lab controversy:
Appalling is the only word to describe the magnitude of the mismanagement under which the Houston Police Department crime lab operated, as described in the third report of the independent investigator.
Some results of the ineptitude are already known: evidence contaminated with rain water from a leaky roof, more than 19,000 rape kits never analyzed or sent to the federal DNA profiling database.
This report concentrates on the history and lack of oversight that caused this.
HPD's underfunding and personnel classifications caused pay to be so low that employees -- even senior managers -- moonlighted.
Turf wars and feuds put under qualified people in critical jobs. A detached HPD bureaucracy held no one accountable for incompetence and outright fraud.
LOCAL 2 wonders if the powers that be have the will to institute the changes in the police culture needed to elevate the crime lab to appropriate level.
As we've previously noted, HPD and city leaders deserve plenty of blame for the crime lab.
The Chronicle editorial board, on the other hand, seems to want to shift blame for the lab's disgraceful practices -- many of which occurred when Lee P. Brown, the candidate the newspaper endorsed repeatedly for mayor, was in a position to make a difference (or not) -- to one of its favorite "bad guys," Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal.
Here's a snippet from a Sunday editorial:
This shocking state of affairs could not have endured for at least 15 years without the willful ignorance, negligence and wrongdoing of officials throughout Harris County's justice system. Mayors and police chiefs budgeted too little for the crime lab; Police Department supervisors ignored analytical errors and tolerated cheating. Crime lab employees reached false conclusions, misinterpreted forensic evidence and misled juries about their knowledge and skills.
In the Harris County district attorney's office, some prosecutors knew about cheating on crime lab tests but did not inform their colleagues or the defense bar, as required by law. When criminal violations by lab personnel were alleged, prosecutors declined to seek indictments, deciding instead to leave bad enough alone.
The Chronicle's ongoing effort to insinuate that Chuck Rosenthal (whose inexperienced and underwhelming opponent the Chronicle editorial board endorsed in the last election) played a part in the HPD crime lab fiasco is not subtle. In the interest of equal time, I contacted Rosenthal and asked for his reaction to those charges. He told me:
On three tests we knew that mistakes had been made because they were caught by lab supervisors. In each case the defense attorneys were notified, changes were made to the indictments and the defendants pleaded guilty.
What the Chronicle did was to post an erroneous set of facts (saying that results were obtained without testing the drugs) to several defense attorneys.
I learned from talking to HPD lab supervisor Irma Rios, in 1998 Chemist Patel had several pills to test. He tested the first one and erred in the identification of the pill. He assumed, I suppose, that other pills were the same without testing.
News consumers can make up their own minds as to what they think of Rosenthal's comments, but it's a shame they have to turn to blogs rather than the city's only newspaper just to learn Rosenthal's response, a basic part of the story.
The Chronicle followed on Monday with a related editorial that makes additional reckless suggestions about the integrity of judges and prosecutors within the Harris County justice system:
Even in today's post-Soviet Russia, judges and prosecutors tend to do what the Kremlin wants them to do. Here, judges are independent of the executive branch, and every resident is guaranteed a trial by jury. However, the criminal justice system in Harris County in no way can be considered a level playing field.
The prosecution has access to the investigative resources of cooperative police departments eager for convictions. It has its own investigators. The district attorney can devote as many experienced prosecutors and as much time to a case as he deems necessary.
In almost all criminal cases, the defendant has no money for even one lawyer. The court appoints one for him. Appointed defense lawyers might be inexperienced or just not good at what they do. They might be paid so little that they can afford to spend only a few hours on the case. Sometimes appointed counsel will ask the court for money to hire an investigator or conduct independent analysis of the physical evidence; frequently they won't.
[snip]
Some judges hire contract lawyers to represent indigent defendants. This assures competence, but in the end the defense lawyers are still working for and dependent for their pay upon the judge, who might put quick resolution of cases above taking every measure to see that justice is done.
Most cases are resolved by plea bargain. The prosecution offers defendants a shorter sentence or lesser charge in exchange for a guilty plea. This results in a system in which an innocent person asserting his innocence, with minimal assistance from counsel, stands a good chance of spending more time in prison than a guilty person admitting guilt.
Many jurisdictions in the United States level the playing field by establishing a public defender's office with staff and resources similar to those of the prosecution. Ideally, Harris County should have such an office, which could hire defense lawyers for the poor and take responsibility for their competence and success in trial.
Yes, the editorialists under the supervision of a man who once asserted that "most blogs lack the elegance, wit and insight" of "editorial pages in their ideal state" have actually intimated that the Harris County justice system is not unlike Russia's. And that its judges lack integrity.
Elegant? Witty? Insightful? Not especially.
Surely the Chronicle editorialists can participate in a debate of the weaknesses (and strengths) of the Harris County justice system without transparently smearing a district attorney whose defeat they have urged largely because of his views on the death penalty, and without impugning the integrity of the judges within the system. Furthermore, they might provide some evidence that many people are wrongly convicted or wrongly accept a guilty plea when they are innocent. Assertions and smears are not evidence.
On the substantive matter of establishing a public defender's office with resources comparable to the district attorney's office -- that might be good public policy, or it might not. The Harris County district attorney's office is hardly unusual in that it regularly loses good prosecutors to private practice, where the pay is much better. If the DA's office cannot compete with private practice in terms of salary, why does the Chronicle think a public defender's office could be any more successful at retaining competent counsel?
Perhaps when the editorial idealists are done smearing people they don't like, they could address that question.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/13/05 09:22 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (1)
City to repair damaged HPD radio towers
Back in February, KHOU-11 uncovered a city-commissioned report that told the sorry tale of Houston's emergency radio system. Today KHOU reports that Council has authorized funds to address one problem cited in the study -- damaged HPD radio towers that are in desperate need of repair:
11 News reported that the Houston Police Department's radio towers had some potentially hazardous problems such as rust on the towers that a report predicted could threaten nearby homeowners.
Wednesday, the mayor and city council took action approving up to $235,000 for repairs to police radio towers.
It's a start.
RELATED: City Council agenda, Public safety priorities (bH)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/13/05 07:29 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
Mayor, Chron editorialists now see merit in Wiseman's complaint
On July 3, the Chronicle ran a mean-spirited editorial criticizing Councilmember Wiseman's stance on Houston MediaSource's programming. The editorial advanced a bizarre theory of the First Amendment and prior restraint that seems pervasive at Houston MediaSource, and suggested Councilmember Wiseman was only trying to boost her re-election campaign (never mind that she doesn't have an opponent).
Since then, Houston MediaSource's programming has gotten greater scrutiny, and other councilmembers have joined Wiseman in criticizing it. Even Mayor White, who had previously dismissed Councilmember Wiseman's complaints snidely, has changed his tune on the controversy.
Unsurprisingly, now that Mayor White has changed his tune, so has the Chronicle editorial board:
Judging by the mayor's comments, managers will also face a debate in the coming weeks over how to improve the quality of channel programming. Such a discussion should be welcomed by both management and the cable subscribers whose fees fund public access.
So if Councilmember Wiseman's earlier complaints were characterized by the Chronicle editorial board as an effort to boost her re-election campaign against no opponent, is this latest editorial from the Chronicle an effort to boost Mayor White's re-election campaign against no opponent?
The inconsistent Chronicle editorial board is among those who owe Councilmember Wiseman an apology.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/13/05 09:13 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
911 call center stumbled last night
KTRH-740 has a small blurb up about a problem at the Houston Emergency Center last night:
Houston police had problems getting calls from the emergency center last night. A controller problem prevented police cars from getting messages being sent from 911 dispatchers. Officials are looking into the problem.
Hopefully Mayor White will soon focus some attention on the call center and the city controller's report that outlined ways to fix it.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/13/05 06:35 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
The priorities of Houston-area advocacy groups
Houston-area movers and shakers held an emergency meeting (complete with media folks) to deal with something that won't happen until OCTOBER, yet the same movers and shakers don't appear to have held an emergency meeting (with or without media folks) to deal with the fact that four adults and a baby were taken from a Harris County home on Sunday and haven't been seen since.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/13/05 06:13 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
12 July 2005
TxDOT's being sneaky with its I-45 expansion plan report
Charles Kuffner received an email from the Citizens Transportation Coalition regarding TxDOT and its I-45 expansion plan:
It appears that TxDOT is keeping citizens, stakeholders, and elected leaders along the I-45 corridor in the dark again...
As you know, many folks are waiting to see TxDOT's Preferred Alternative report for the I-45 North expansion project. It seems that TxDOT and Carter Burgess are on the agenda to present the study to the regional Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) at H-GAC this week. The meeting is this Wed July 13 at 9:30 am at H-GAC's Greenway Plaza offices: 3555 Timmons Lane, Houston, 77027.
However, TxDOT is presenting the study to regional approving bodies before they've shared it with their official "consulting party" partners like the I-45 Coalition, North Corridor Coalition, etc. For example, Jim Weston has been asking TxDOT's Pat Henry for updates on the project for several months and being told to "wait for the report."
This aggressive control of information is concerning. One of the TAC members agreed that as an official TxDOT "consulting party" on the project, the I-45 Coalition is entitled to see, review, and comment on the Preferred Alternative report BEFORE it is presented to the regional approving bodies (i.e. TAC and TPC) this month. He urged interested stakeholders to act now.
While a public meeting is planned for Sat Aug 13 at 2:00 pm with Congresswoman Jackson Lee, August is TOO LATE to start reviewing the study if TxDOT is seeking TPC approval on Fri Aug 26. Community leaders along the I-45 corridor have a right to see and respond to this study now. Neighborhood constituents deserve a meaningful opportunity to let our elected leaders know what we think about the study results.
There's more -- go read it all.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/12/05 11:44 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
Houston does a little land-grab; Spring Branch ISD isn't happy
When the Supreme Court's Kelo decision came down (eminent domain), Mayor Bill White assured us that the city of Houston is not interested in condemning land for private development.
But he didn't say anything about taking another governmental entity's land:
School board trustees in Spring Branch say they've been given the brush-off by city of Houston officials intent on taking land from an elementary school to widen a busy street.
The trustees, who unanimously adopted a resolution opposing the city's decision to add a right-turn lane from Westview Drive to Pech Road because of safety concerns at nearby Valley Oaks Elementary, plan to voice their feelings at today's City Council meeting. Despite that school board vote, the city has moved to condemn the property through eminent domain and proceed with the project.
Wow! Is this a common occurrence?
For the city to seize land from another governmental entity is almost unheard of, if not unprecedented, said Kelly Frels, a private attorney who has represented local school districts, including Spring Branch, for 35 years. He does not represent Spring Branch in this case.
Leave it to the city of Houston to be a trend-setter. And how is the city responding to Spring Branch ISD?
"We asked the city officials repeatedly for any documentation they have to justify the need for this right turn lane," said Trustee Theresa Kosmoski, a former Valley Oaks PTA president. "They still have not shown us anything that shows it's necessary, nor anything to show they have planned for the safety of the children."
[snip]Several letters from the school district to the city have gone unanswered, she said, directing most of her criticism at City Council Member Toni Lawrence, who represents the area.
Lawrence was out of the office Monday and could not be reached for comment, said her chief assistant, Mike Howard.
"It's really hard to figure out what's going on in their heads," Kosmoski said. "The lack of responsiveness to the school board has been mind boggling."
And did the city have any response to Chronicle inquiries?
"There would be no way in the world we would do something like this if we thought it was dangerous. Traffic is getting congested over there and it needs to be improved," said Wes Johnson, spokesman for the city's Public Works Department. "If people obey the law, there won't be any danger at all."
Wait a minute. If people would just obey the law, there won't be any danger? We are talking about doing this in front of an ELEMENTARY school! We are talking about young children! Does Mr. Johnson have young children? Is he as clueless as elementary school-aged children often are?
The city hasn't done any safety or traffic flow studies because they aren't necessary for such a small project, Johnson said.
"This is primarily so we can make that turn more safe and put in an Americans with Disabilities Act-approved ramp," Johnson said. "To us, we don't see why that would be less safe than it is now."
"That concerns us greatly," said Spring Branch Trustee Susan Kellner. "When you're going to do this kind of stuff around an elementary school, you really have to consider all the safety ramifications."
(Susan Kellner is the wife of Continental CEO Larry Kellner.)
This is pretty amazing. Houston does a little land grab from a local school district, doesn't conduct any studies to assess the impact on a local elementary school, and refuses to respond to the school district when questioned about it.
Does the city really need that land to widen a road and comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act? Really? How did the city determine the turn lane was needed if no studies were done? And if there is a study, why doesn't the city show it to Spring Branch ISD? Or, if this was decided on a whim, whose whim was it?
I would suggest that Mayor White's assurances after the Kelo decision are not very...reassuring.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: This is turning into a bad week for the mayor. He's had to back off his earlier attitude towards Councilmember Wiseman on the issue of Houston MediaSource's programming, and now the "Public Safety" mayor has gotten on the side of an issue in which he seems to be favoring an eminent domain land grab at the possible expense of the safety of schoolchildren, AND one of his opponents is the wife of Continental's head man?
Mayor White may need to follow Lee Brown's lead and get out of town for a few weeks.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/12/05 10:37 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
11 July 2005
MediaSource to Berry: We know better than you!
KHOU-11's Doug Miller checks in on a City Council committee meeting today, and finds that city leaders aren't impressed with Houston MediaSource's exercising its alleged First Amendment rights by airing full frontal nudity:
11 News and many city councilmembers got their first look Monday at a sexually explicit, jaw-dropping video that aired on Houston's public access channel creating a bitter fight between city leaders.
City leaders couldn't believe their eyes -- and you may not either -- after seeing some of the show that aired last week. We intentionally blurred the footage.
Some council members thought the video was so racy that they couldn't even air it in a public meeting. Instead, they went into a back room and took a closer look in semi-privacy.
Inexplicably, one of the members of the Houston MediaSource board thought it would be good to talk down to Councilmember Michael Berry:
"You were already in the mode of looking out for this stuff and it still slipped through," said Councilmember Michael Berry. "So what this says -- and you can't possibly say it doesn't -- is that you have no accountability of what appears on the air until after the fact."
"It's easy for Councilman Berry to make the comment that he did without considering the legal implications of this," argued Garth Jowett, Houston Mediasource board member. "And we are seriously examining the legal implications before we will commit ourselves to something that will get us into a lot of constitutional trouble."
Jowett, who is a communications professor at the University of Houston, might want to rethink the wisdom of calling out as unthinking a councilmember who doesn't seem inclined to vote to retain Houston MediaSource as the custodian of the public access channel. That's not exactly a form of communication likely to win friends for the professor's project! Be sure to watch the accompanying video for the full effect of Professor Jowett's comments.
Miller concludes his report by noting that Council has the option of replacing the Houston MediaSource board members or selecting a new custodian altogether. Given Professor Jowett's intransigence, it doesn't sound like the board members are receptive to input from the city's elected officials. So perhaps it is indeed time for City Council to find a more responsible and responsive custodian for the public access channel.
PREVIOUSLY: Wiseman wins converts on Houston MediaSource controversy, Wiseman perturbs the city boss.
UPDATE (07-12-2005): Matt Stiles spins a much happier tale of Houston MediaSource for the Chronicle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/11/05 08:56 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (12)
TMC officials concerned about "stray current" damage
KTRH-740 is reporting that Texas Medical Center officials are concerned about potential damage caused by the "stray current" associated with Metro's light rail:
Texas Medical Center officials want answers from Metro about the light-rail line's "stray current" and what damage it might do as it runs through the hospital complex. The train line is apparently seeping electricity which seems to have damaged some nearby structures elsewhere along its route.
St. Luke's Hospital is building a new medical tower just 25 feet from the rail line, and the hospital's vice president, Mike Reno, says engineers are running tests to make sure the stray current won't cause serious damage.
A recent draft report from the transit authority raised concerns that the stray current could be eating away at various metal structures along the line, possibly even damaging underground utilities and pipelines. Metro has estimated that fixing the problem could cost nearly $3 million.
And Metro -- the transit agency that wants to build MORE light rail -- is still refusing to release the draft report on the "stray current" problem.
Thanks to Tom Bazan for the link.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/11/05 01:56 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (7)
Cable line falls; light rail shuts down for two hours
Houston's 7.5 miles of downtown light rail came to a halt yesterday:
Houston's light rail system came to a complete halt after a cable line hit the ground, knocking out the rail's power.
It happened around 6pm Sunday, stopping the six trains online on tracks around the city. METRO brought in buses to take the stranded passengers to their proper destinations. Officials say a cable line fell across a track, leading to the stopped trains.
"Those wires are hot and if they're in contact with the ground, that completes the circuit and it shorts it out and that's what happened," said METRO spokesperson Ken Connaughton.
METRO officials also say the same cable line has caused problems in the past. The system was back up and running after being down a couple of hours.
It's a good thing those buses were available!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/11/05 06:23 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
10 July 2005
More "olds" from the editorial idealists
Last weekend, we noted that it seemed like James Howard Gibbons and his band of editorial idealists must have been in a big hurry to get away from 801 Texas Avenue for a long weekend, since they stuck their readers with so much stale content.
This weekend, the syndicated content seems pretty stale also.
There's a Charles Krauthammer column that ran in the Washington Post on Friday. There's a Lou Cannon op-ed that ran in the New York Times on Thursday. There's a Peter Bergen op-ed that ran in the New York Times on Friday. And there's a David Broder column that ran in the Washington Post on Thursday.
We sure wish "editorial pages in their ideal state" could have fresher, more lively content.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/10/05 10:22 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
They just can't help themselves
The Chronicle editorial idealists just can't help themselves sometimes:
For better or worse — and it's often worse — most of the world experiences the United States through our commercial culture or military strength.
Yes, the American military certainly is a bad experience for most of the world.
And, the Chronicle "editorial pages in their ideal state" are frequently a bad experience for readers who don't blame America first.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/10/05 09:49 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Texas Medical Center hospitals rank highly in US News survey
The annual US News and World Report survey of "America's Best Hospitals" has been released, and once again Houston and the Texas Medical Center are well represented.
Tom Kirkendall has the details.
The Houston Business Journal and the Chronicle also have coverage.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/10/05 09:35 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
DMN previews new Lakewood Church
Bruce Nichols, the Dallas Morning News' man in Houston, has a sneak preview of the new Lakewood Church and its enthusiastic leader:
Besides prominence and easy access, the remodeled facility will feature the latest bells and whistles for a 21st-century ministry. There are interactive areas for children and youth. The pulpit area is bracketed by eye-catching indoor waterfalls (offering ideal angles for TV cameras). The 11-piece band will have room to grow in an orchestra pit that can be raised and lowered hydraulically.
"We wanted to break everyone's mind-set that it was still a basketball arena," said architect Pete Ed Garrett, who has done work for Disney and Universal Studios theme parks.
The rest of the profile is here.
RELATED COVERAGE: Houston Chronicle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/10/05 09:20 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (18)
Why more sports columnists should have blogs
Yesterday, the Chronicle published an interesting Richard Justice column on former Astro Jeff Kent.
Also yesterday, Justice posted some additional details about Kent on his SportsJustice blog.
The combination worked, nicely.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/10/05 09:13 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Third time isn't a charm to kill red light cameras
Rick Casey spotted something in the Texas House tax reform bill:
The tax bill has tucked in it, and noticed by virtually no one, a measure that would kill Mayor Bill White's proposal to install cameras to catch red-light scofflaws at the city's most dangerous intersections.
How would a revenue bill kill the city's red-light camera initiative? Through starvation.
Inserted by Rep. Gary Elkins, R-Houston, the amendment would assign all the revenue from red-light camera citations to the state's general fund, except for $1 per citation for the cities.
[snip]
"It kills it," said one city official flatly. The city's official stance is that the program is to save lives, not make money. But in today's tight budgetary times, they don't want to take funds from other programs to pay for it.
Elkins admits his amendment is intended to kill the program and makes no apology.
"If it's such a good, effective program for public safety, they should be willing to spend the money," he said.
[snip]
City officials don't expect this attempt to succeed, either. And even Elkins doesn't sound optimistic.
Darn.
Of course Rep. Elkins is correct -- if it was truly about safety, the city should be willing to pay for any costs. But then again, if it was truly about safety, Mayor White would have looked at yellow light times first, like he promised city council.
But, as we all know, red light cameras have nothing to do with safety.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/10/05 10:14 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
09 July 2005
A Fleck Editorial LiveJournal: Into the sea (or toilet?)
Tim Fleck joins James Howard Gibbons, Andrea Georgsson, and Judy Minshew as official Chronicle LiveJournalists today!
In his usual style of drive-by-attack journalism, Fleck uses an editorial board meeting with HISD Superintendent Abe Saavedra to dredge up old gripes about HISD:
During a discussion last week with the Chronicle editorial board, Houston Independent School District Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra disclosed that in a continuing effort to trim unnecessary expenditures, the district had eliminated funding for its Model-Netics management training program.
Created by former American General CEO Harold Hook, Model-Netics and its esoteric bag of symbols and catch phrases arrived on the HISD scene in 1997.
Huh?
This is 2005. We would urge Fleck to move past the 1990s and his "glory" days of muckraking at the Houston Press, and focus on writing quality editorials (not Editorial LiveJournals) for a newspaper that likes to think of itself as a major metropolitan daily.
Furthermore, we would AGAIN urge the Chronicle to get with partner KHOU-11 and start recording and posting these secretive editorial board meetings.
News consumers ought to know about HISD's budget and other topics of the conversation with Saavedra that the Chronicle editorial board chose not to share with its readers. Instead, we get a rehash of the 1990s in Tim Fleck's first Editorial LiveJournal.
UPDATE: After further consideration, we wonder why Fleck declined to tell ALL of the story from his old Houston Press "glory" days. Saavedra has no real ties to the model-netics program that Fleck criticizes. But former Brown Administration official and admitted crook Oliver Spellman thought it was great:
Parks Director Oliver Spellman lauds Haines for providing a choice of programs. After working in Cleveland and New York, he credits Houston as one of the more progressive governmental entities when it comes to management training. "I'm loving it. I think this is great," says Spellman, a graduate of Model-Netics training. He says he'll have staff managers trained in several alternative programs and then decide which is most worthwhile. That seems contradictory to the stated Model-Netics goal, which is to have everybody using the same management terms.
Apparently, Fleck's employment with the Chronicle has already neutered him to the extent that he no longer may criticize former Brown Administration officials, even admitted crooks. Why bother, when HISD can be punished for 1990s sins?
The Chronicle opinion pages really should be better than this.
ANNE LINEHAN ADDS: The Chronicle editorial board had a meeting with Dr. Saavedra, and we are regaled with...a 1997 management program?
Dr. Saavedra has been swimming upstream trying to improve HISD with fewer resources. His budget, which just passed almost overwhelmingly, is innovative and far-thinking; he has allocated money so that all of the district's eligible pre-K kids can attend pre-K programs -- no more waiting lists; all teachers will be getting a pay raise (where's Gayle Fallon?); poor students in more-affluent schools will now get the resources and support they need (relates to Title I); and Dr. Saavedra is doing all of this with less money.
All we hear out of the Chronicle is how terrible HISD is, and last week Rick Casey began a column by saying Texas schools stink. Well, for crying out loud, the Chronicle has a superintendent in its own backyard who is doing amazing things, and the Chronicle continues to rip him and the district to shreds! Why does he even bother with that paper?
If Dr. Saavedra ends up in the running for National Superintendent of the Year (or wins!), the Chronicle will look terribly foolish, and deservedly so.
Oh to have this ever-critical eye turned on some local sacred cows, like METRO, the Sports Authority, MayorWhiteChiefHurtt, the Hilton Americas/GRB Convention Center, etc.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/09/05 11:00 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Minutemen generate Houston hysteria
I started reading this Chronicle story about the upcoming Apocalypse, otherwise known as the Minutemen-are-coming-to-town, and I could barely get past the second paragraph I was laughing so hard:
"The city of Houston is a very diverse city," said Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt. "There is a great deal of harmony here, and we are not going to stand by and let some outside agency or organization come in and disrupt that harmony. We will do whatever is necessary to keep the peace in the city of Houston."
Harmony! Diversity! Peace! When will Chris Baker come back from vacation?
And it continues:
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who organized today's meeting of law enforcement officials, said she is concerned that the Minutemen's plans to expand their activities to a diverse city like Houston could become confrontational.
"I will say, as a member of Congress, I do not claim the Minutemen are criminals," said Jackson Lee, D-Houston. "I do claim they are acting in an unauthorized way and may be characterized even as militia. When that occurs in a population, what you have is a mixture of confrontation that makes the jobs of these law enforcement indivudals more difficult."
More diversity!
There's no word in this story if Rep. Jackson Lee began reminiscing about her childhood years in Queens, NY, where she dreamed of a diverse and confrontation-free Houston.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/09/05 08:35 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (4)
Wiseman wins converts on Houston MediaSource controversy
The Chronicle's Matt Stiles reports that Houston MediaSource, the organization that came under fire from Councilmember Addie Wiseman a little over a week ago for allegedly running obscene/vulgar programming on a public access channel, now is coming under additional fire:
Until now, the battle over Houston MediaSource's programming largely has been waged on a limited front: the public-access channel's supporters against City Councilwoman Addie Wiseman.
Funny how airing nudity can change that.
Several council members who'd been ambivalent about the issue now say they can't support the channel's $800,000 contract with the city after a show featuring nude women aired Wednesday night.
"This absolutely has changed the dynamic of this whole debate," said Councilman Michael Berry, who said he now would vote against renewing the channel's contract. "This is no longer a free-speech-versus-censorship issue. This is about basic accountability and people who have no business putting on public programming."
The show in question, which KRIV (Channel 26) taped off the MediaSource channel, aired about 11 p.m. Wednesday — after almost 20 supporters appeared before the City Council to defend the channel against Wiseman's complaints of raunchy late-night programming.
It's also funny how people who were previously supportive of the public access channel airing obscene/vulgar material are now saying something completely different.
Here's Mayor White a few days ago, as reported by KTRK-13's Miya Shay:
All the sniping has left the mayor a little frustrated.
"Has it taken a disproportionate amount of time, particularly by Councilwoman Wiseman?" the mayor asked himself. He answered with a "Yes."
Here's Mayor White, as reported by Matt Stiles at the beginning of the controversy:
After Wiseman raised her concerns Wednesday, city lawyers began reviewing whether guidelines might be allowed, though Mayor Bill White said the city likely wouldn't have much discretion because of the First Amendment.
"Until we solve crime and traffic problems and redevelop every neighborhood, I certainly don't intend to be watching at 3 in the morning and making calls telling them what to put on TV," he said.
Here's Mayor White as reported by Matt Stiles today:
"I don't think that Houston MediaSource should get a contract unless there are some changes that would prevent an abuse," he said.
With that change of attitude complete, Mayor White now owes Councilmember Wiseman an apology.
Here is Councilmember Goldberg, as reported by Stiles at the beginning of the controversy:
Councilman Mark Goldberg ... said his colleagues should see the programming before forming opinions. He and others who voted against the delay cautioned about censorship.
"I don't think we should be about saying, 'OK, we like this program, we don't like this program,' " Goldberg said.
Here is more from Councilmember Goldberg, as reported by KHOU-11's Doug Miller at the beginning of the controversy:
"What this really is a censorship issue," argued Council Member Mark Goldberg.
[snip]
"Election time is coming up in November. There's not enough talk about, you know, the re-election for City Council. And this helps generate some extra talk," said Goldberg.
Here is Councilmember Goldberg, as reported by Stiles today:
Councilman Mark Goldberg, who chairs the committee, said he planned to show the video so his colleagues could see the material for themselves and ask for explanations.
"The purpose of the station is good," he said. "But if they are showing material that is a violation of our laws, we should reconsider whether or not we renew the contract."
With that change of attitude complete, Councilmember Goldberg also owes Councilmember Wiseman an apology.
What this longtime student of American constitutionalism continues to find obscene is the warped view of the First Amendment offered by the director of Houston MediaSource, Pat Garlinghouse. Here is Garlinghouse's contention, as conveyed by the Houston Chronicle editorial board (which apparently shares her erroneous view of the First Amendment):
Houston MediaSource executive director Pat Garlinghouse is a public access channel veteran who received awards for her work at a similar channel in Austin. She says any effort to censor content beyond what constitutes libel or violations of law is prohibited by the agreement between the city and cable operators. Producers sign contracts taking responsibility for the content of their shows, removing liability from the city, cable company and access channel managers.
"It's a First Amendment forum, and nothing can be censored," Garlinghouse stressed. "The FCC doesn't regulate us. Access channels are to be used by the public free and clear of all government intrusion."
Garlinghouse does not attempt prior restraint on producers by viewing and rating their shows in advance.
Prior restraint typically involves a court injunction to stop the publication or airing of certain material. Editorial judgment, on the other hand, involves media entities (like Houston MediaSource) determining whether material meets editorial standards (as set by the entity, or perhaps the city in the instance of a public access channel). When a Chronicle editor spikes a story, it would be nonsensical to call it prior restraint, just as it is nonsensical for Garlinghouse and the Chronicle editorial board to insist that First Amendment prior-restraint issues are in play here. The Chronicle editorial board was notably silent on one such local instance of prior restraint, so perhaps they are simply confused. It wouldn't be the first time.
First Amendment issues are not raised if a municipality simply sets reasonable standards for public access channels and asks those who oversee the content on those channels to enforce those standards. This is the argument that has been advanced from the start of this controversy to varying degrees by Councilmembers Wiseman, Mark Ellis, and Shelley Sekula-Gibbs. Stiles previously reported:
"It's not violating anyone's rights to say, 'We have standards of decency, and they've got to be adhered to,' " [Wiseman] said.
[snip]
Councilman Mark Ellis said that though he's concerned about censorship, he doesn't think the public would support the city financing material that is degrading to women, as Wiseman suggested about the comedy show.
"If we're going to be approving what basically is a tax to flow through to MediaSource, then we need to scrutinize who we are appointing to that board," he said.
Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, who sought the delay based on Wiseman's concerns, said "vulgar" shows have no place on a city-owned channel.
"Free speech is important, but free speech has a limit when it starts to hurt society."
Nothing said by those three councilmembers suggests that they want to trample the First Amendment.
Finally, it's useful to recall the Houston Chronicle editorial board's typically hateful slam against Councilmember Wiseman:
Perhaps Wiseman's comments should be viewed as a routine designed to gather votes and contributions for her re-election campaign this fall.
Perhaps the Chronicle editorial board should also apologize to Councilmember Wiseman, who, at the moment, doesn't even have an opponent for her re-election campaign this fall!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/09/05 03:22 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (2)
More on Major League Soccer in Houston
This Soccer Times story makes Major League Soccer in Houston sound like an almost-done deal:
This left Houston as probably the only option that appealed to Grupo Televisa. However, the league has been stymied for some time trying to find a place to play. Reliant Stadium, where the National Football League's Houston Texans play, was looked at, but its ownership did not want to become MLS franchise owners at this time, nor did it want to become landlord. Other venues were looked at, including the University of Houston's Robertson Stadium, but have been dismissed for various other reasons. Now, according to local media reports, an inventive solution may have been found - playing in the all but abandoned Astrodome.
Since Reliant was built, the only thing the Astrodome has been used for, besides some high school events, is the two-week long Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which draws over two million attendees each year to the February event. Otherwise, it sits empty, much as Washington, D.C.'s RFK Stadium did before MLS's D.C. United became its main tenant 10 years ago.
Televisa executives Javier Perez Teuffer and Juan de Villa Franca have recently visited Houston for talks with Mayor Bill White and Houston Sports Authority head Oliver Luck. In addition, operational personnel from Club America have toured the Astrodome.
There reportedly are a number of issues still to be solved, including what kind of playing surface would be used. The Astrodome has a permanent roof, and when baseball and football were played there, growing grass was a lost cause, leading to the advent of AstroTurf. A grass tray system is being studied.
In any event, the Astrodome would be a temporary solution until a soccer-specific facility could be built.
Yep. We have to keep the Sports Authority busy so Oliver Luck can keep his job. How much farther do you think hotel and rental car tax revenues can be stretched? Enough to fund a new soccer stadium?
The story also relays what went wrong for MLS in San Antonio:
A memorandum of understanding was signed between MLS and the San Antonio City Council, but then the agreement became a political football in the mayoral election campaign to choose who would succeed Garza. Phil Hardberger, the 70-year-old former business executive who ended up winning had based a part of his campaign on his opposition to the deal with MLS.
"Goodbye, that's what I would tell the MLS," Hardberger said when asked what he would say to MLS commissioner Don Garber. "Call us again in about 10 years. We'll see what the market looks like (and) whether you really can bring money into San Antonio."
Fortunately for Major League Soccer, Mayor White and Oliver Luck won't be quite so worried about whether or not MLS can bring money into Houston; quite the opposite actually: Houstonians should worry about how much money those two will give to MLS for the privilege of bringing a team here.
RELATED: bH's Sports Authority archives
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/09/05 01:10 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
Mayor White -- working to improve Houston's schools?
The Suffolk (VA) News-Herald has this entry in its Editors Blog about Houston sprawl:
If there's a city where sprawl isn't just tolerated but celebrated, it's Houston. After all, this is a place where people love their property rights so much, they don't allow zoning.
But even in Houston, residents are having second thoughts about plunking houses and strip shopping centers ever farther out on the prairie. Still, leaders are careful how they criticize these developments. "I don't want, nor do most people in this community want, to tell people where they can and can't live or how long their commute should or shouldn't be," Mayor Bill White told the Houston Chronicle recently. "One person's sprawl is another person's dream house. On the other hand, as a fiscal conservative, I'll tell you it is much more expensive for us to provide transportation services, water and sewer services and everything else if somebody lives twice as far away."
That seems to be the Texas approach to dealing with sprawl: Label it a bad investment. Also, point to the obvious: that building new highways only invites more distant development. One anti-sprawl group looked over the new regional transportation plan and was appalled by what it found: plans for building 12,900 miles of new roads over the next 20 years.
"That was not a plan, it was a continuation of what we've always done," the group's president told the Chronicle. "A 75 percent increase in vehicle-miles traveled is assumed. Sprawl is written into it - it's guaranteed, when we should be trying to rein it in."
Mayor White agrees that transportation shapes the nature and location of growth, but he's unwilling to say no to more roads. His approach: Improve neighborhoods, be quick to turn property seized for tax delinquencies into affordable housing. and work with the school district on improving the schools. Do these things, he said, and the city's charms will bring the people back.
Wow. There's plenty to digest in those five paragraphs. I'll let readers come to their own conclusions, but the part about Mayor White working to improve schools interests me because I haven't heard much from Mayor White on this topic. In fact, in his 2005 State of the City address, he used the word "schools" once.
Of course, Dr. Saavedra has been front and center working to improve HISD schools, but if Mayor White has been assisting or supporting Dr. Saavedra in his aggressive reforms, I've missed it. And frankly, when Dr. Saavedra was being strung up for trying to improve three high schools that were threatened with state takeover, I don't recall Mayor White coming to Dr. Saavedra's defense.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/09/05 11:59 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
Dr. Lee P. Brown joins Unity National Bank board
Former Mayor Lee P. Brown has been busy:
A local business group led by Dr. Lee P. Brown, the former Houston mayor, and Kase L. Lawal, chairman and chief executive officer of CAMAC International Inc., signed an agreement to acquire approximately 21 percent interest in Unity National Bank, officials announced today.
Brown and Lawal will join the bank's board of directors and will work to expand Unity National Bank's financial services network and capital, to provide new financial products, and to enhance customer service. Unity National Bank is a nationally chartered financial institution and the only African-American owned bank in the state of Texas.
"As valued members of the community, Brown and Lawal will bring leadership and vision to build growth and expand access for Unity stockholders and customers," Unity Board Chairman Limas Jefferson said.
Tommy Brooks, interim president and CEO of Unity National Bank, said, "We are excited about the changes taking place and the opportunities that will present themselves with Mr. Brown and Mr. Lawal on board." Brooks noted, "I believe they will re-energize both the bank and the community we serve."
Dr. Brown was elected mayor of Houston in 1997, and was re-elected twice. He left office in 2004, and is currently chairman and CEO of Brown Group International and serves as a non-executive director of CAMAC International Inc. He is also a former Houston police chief and a former police commissioner of New York City, who pioneered the concept of community policing. Following a long career in law enforcement in many parts of the U.S., Brown served as President Clinton's drug czar (Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy). Dr. Brown is also a former Rice University professor and scholar.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/09/05 11:30 AM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (5)
08 July 2005
Non-sequiturs and other nonsense from the editorial idealists
Today, the Chronicle editorial board concluded a poorly written but mostly reasonable editorial on the London terror attacks with the following non-sequitur:
In light of what Britain and Blair continue to risk and endure in support of the president's international policies, Americans are in their debt. The administration should be more generous in its support of Blair's agenda to better the world through fighting poverty in Africa and avoiding climatic disaster.
That certainly came out of left field.
We join the editorial idealists in condemning climatic disaster!
As for fighting poverty in Africa -- we'd only remind the editorial idealists of the Bush Administration's historic degree of engagement with Africa, since the idealists clearly haven't been following the news that closely.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/08/05 11:43 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Chronicle makes Best of the Web, con't.
If you read James Taranto's Best of the Web regularly, you know that he likes to poke fun at the media's use of "experts." Yesterday's Chronicle provides an amusing entry:
What Would Women Do Without Bra-Fitting Experts?
"Bra-Fitting Experts Say Many Women Wear Wrong Size"--headline, Houston Chronicle, July 7
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/08/05 01:10 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Food and drink roundup (07-08-2005 edition)
It's time for another food and drink roundup.
Last week Alison Cook tried and liked the barbecue at Pizzitola's Bar-B-Cue. In this week's more whimsical offering, Alison thinks this Greek girl needs convincing that figs are fabulous things. I don't need much convincing after sampling quite a few today in my mom's backyard.
Robb Walsh tried the buffet at Cafe Monsoon Wine and Curry Grill last week and found some funky Indian fusion dishes. This week he tackles Terlingua Texas Border Cafe, and some of the bH crew get to learn the history of one of their favorite restaurants, Cyclone Anaya's.
Last week Dai Huynh addressed the all too important issue of restaurant lighting. This week Houston's nods to the Indo-Chinese fusion trend has her attention.
Ken Hoffman does the orange-glow fingertip-drill with his review of the new and improved Doritos Nacho Cheesier flavored tortilla chips. You don't need to be a dictator to love this snack.
World class, all of it! Enjoy!
Posted by Callie Markantonis @ 07/08/05 11:16 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (2)
Director of Planning and Development is retiring
The director of Houston's Planning and Development Department, Robert Litke, is stepping down:
Longtime City of Houston Planning & Development Department Director Robert Litke is retiring at the end of August.
Litke, who has been director of the influential city department for 10 years, will be replaced by current deputy director Marlene Gafrick.
Litke has been with the department for 14 years. He plans to return to his native state of New Jersey post-retirement.
"Bob Litke is highly respected and has served this community well during several administrations," Houston Mayor Bill White said in a prepared statement. "He played a critical role in the Super Neighborhood Program in the (Lee) Brown Administration and in rewriting the city's land development ordinance in the (Bob) Lanier Administration."
During his tenure as director, Litke oversaw the first major rewrite of Houston's land development ordinance, known as Chapter 42, to create new rules for urban development.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/08/05 10:37 AM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (1)
Predicting the new light rail light route
Tory Gattis is pondering the exact route the new UH-to-Galleria light rail line might take:
People have started speculating on specific routing for the new east-west Metro light rail line from the Galleria to UH, so I thought I'd make my own amateur recommendation/ prognostication. In a few years I'll either dig up this link to show how brilliant I was; or, more likely, you'll never hear about it again.
He's encouraging comments and feedback. My feedback, of course, would be not to do the dang thing, but that isn't what he's aiming for, I'm pretty sure.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/08/05 10:28 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)
Minutemen will monitor Houston day laborers
Illegal immigration apologists are going to come unglued:
The Minutemen are coming to Houston.
Leaders of the controversial group dedicated to stopping the flow of illegal immigration said they will patrol the streets of the Bayou City beginning in October, as part of a campaign that will extend north from the Mexican border. Houston volunteers will gather near day labor centers and corners where immigrant workers solicit work, in an effort to draw critical attention to the city's hands-off policy toward illegal immigrants.
"We will be videotaping the (day laborers) and we will be videotaping the contractors who pick them up," said Bill Parmley, a Goliad County landowner who heads the Texas chapter of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. The Minutemen will only observe to draw attention to the problem and will not attempt to make arrests, he said.
We know how HPD capitulated the other day. What do other local officials think?
News of the potential patrols in Houston drew a muted response from Mayor Bill White, who said he did not want to engage in a "pointless public relations battle."
"I'm not in a position to dictate to private organizations other than that they should obey the law," White said.
But others were more outspoken.
"This is a welcoming community, and (the Minutemen) should let the law do its job," said City Councilman Gordon Quan, a longtime advocate for immigrants. "They would be a polarizing influence that would bring out latent prejudice."
Yes, well, the law in Houston is prevented from doing its job when it comes to illegal immigrants, Councilman Quan, due to the city's sanctuary policy:
Houston Police Department policy forbids officers from asking about immigration status in most cases. The city also funds day labor sites used by immigrants, including illegal immigrants, to find work.
And what does the organization that got HPD to cave on photographing day laborers think of the Minutemen?
"These people who hunt immigrants are only thinking of themselves," added Maria del Carmen Yupe, a leader of The Metropolitan Organization. "They don't think of the suffering of these immigrants who stand on the corner hoping to work for something to eat."
Hunt immigrants? Please. If they suffer so much while standing on a corner in Houston, then why are they here?
And check out this Mayor White quote:
White defended current policy.
"The protection of our borders is essentially a federal function," the mayor said. "I am not going to take our police out of the neighborhoods" to start looking for illegal immigrants. "Our police priority is going to be public safety."
He meant to say he didn't want to take the police off of jaywalking patrols.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/08/05 08:15 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (14)
07 July 2005
How to cover HPD internal affairs investigations?
Two Houston television stations are reporting on their websites that a fairly well-known HPD officer has been suspended from duty with pay while HPD's internal affairs division conducts an investigation. One of the stations reports that a source tells it overtime issues are involved.
Both stations are reporting the officer's name. One of the biggest personalities at one station has previously reported on what a straight arrow the officer is.
Here are a couple of questions for the media-savvy readers who frequent this blog: Should the stations be reporting the officer's name (which I'm not posting) and the suspension, given the officer's previously good reputation and no findings (yet) that he's done anything wrong? And will the stations report the matter as prominently if it turns out the officer did nothing wrong?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/07/05 09:20 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (3)
Murphy gone; Bullard and Drexler to work Rockets' broadcasts
The Houston Business Journal reports that Calvin Murphy will not be returning to Houston Rockets television broadcasts this fall. Murphy had taken a leave from the broadcast team in 2004 to handle a personal scandal.
Instead, Clyde Drexler will be the color analyst for home games, and Matt Bullard will handle road games. Longtime announcer Bill Worrell remains the play-by-play man.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/07/05 08:54 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (7)
Chron to imitate Houston Press "Best Of" issue (badly)
The crew at the Lone Star Times calls attention to the fact that nominations have been posted to the Chronicle's effort to imitate the Houston Press's "Best Of" issue. They also are upset that your friendly bloggers here were not nominated.
We're surprised that none of our many visitors with chron.com IP addresses saw fit to nominate us. *sniff* *sniff* I'm sure we'll live,though. No hard feelings, Chron guys and gals -- you're welcome to keep reading us even if acknowledging us is just too hard for some of your coworkers. Baby steps.
What is odd is that CollectSpace.com was nominated. It's a big website, but a website is not a blog. It doesn't even claim to be a blog:
Conceived as a hobby site, collectSPACE has since grown to become the leading resource and community website for space history enthusiasts and space artifact collectors through the provision of original news reporting, collecting guides, and as a virtual meeting place for a truly global audience.
The term "blog" is not to be found on that page. But apparently somebody at the Chronicle wanted to boost Pearlman's "website."
Another amusing category is Newspaper Columnist, which includes.... only Chronicle columnists. It's a one-newspaper town, right? Well, except for community newspapers. And the Spanish language newspapers that serve Houston's large Hispanic community. Apparently, those don't count at Jeff Cohen's newspaper.
The Houston Press's annual "Best Of" lists are always kind of fun. In contrast, the Chronicle probably ought to abort their bad imitation. Maybe Andrea Georgsson could give them a hand with that!
UPDATE: The Greek Restaurant category is also screwed up. Conspicuously absent is my vote for the best Greek restaurant in town, Alexander the Great Greek (go for the mousaka if in doubt). Included for no apparent reason is Fadi's Mediterranean Grill. Fadi's may be good, but Mediterannean food and Greek food are not the same, and one typically does not find tabuli or Lebanese salad at authentic Greek restaurants.
UPDATE 2: While we are on the topic of categories that are screwed up, here's another real laugher: The top rated local talk-radio host, Chris Baker, isn't listed as a nominee for Top Radio Personality. He does list blogHOUSTON on his website, so maybe that's his fatal flaw.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/07/05 08:42 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (28)
Louisiana Street is now Equality Way
KHOU-11 tells us a downtown street has been temporarily renamed:
A downtown Houston street is getting a new name in honor of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The organization is celebrating its 40th anniversary so the 1900 block of Louisiana Street will be renamed "Equality Way" for the month of July.
The plaza of the Mickey Leland Building downtown has also been named "Equality Plaza" as part of the celebration.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/07/05 03:55 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
The Chronicle should hire Marc Campos to write editorials
Marc Campos has a bit of fun today with Mayor White and Metro:
In yesterday's Chron, there was a story about Houston's Mayor Bill White - while bike riding - running across illegal trash dumpers. The Mayor approached the dumpers, police were called in, and the dumb dumpers were "hauled" (awwww) off to jail. Way to go Mayor. Don't be surprised to see da Mayor pull up in a Safe Clear tow truck and help you change a flat tire if you happen to get a blow-out on a city freeway. Pity the poor downtown pedestrian that gets body slammed and a jaywalking ticket by da Mayor during the lunch hour.
Rumor has it that the METRO Credibility Task Force will be sweetening the bus rapid transit (BRT) system for the shafted communities. BRT, which is a bus in train wardrobe, will have their bus drivers, errr, engineers, announce "all aboard" when the bus, errr, train is ready to depart. In addition, the "engineers" will all be required to wear those "locomotive engineer" hats. That ought to appease the chumped voters.
The METRO Credibility Task Force! Well, METRO does excel at creating Task Forces. And Laurence Simon points out another Task Force possibility for METRO.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/07/05 01:43 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
06 July 2005
Wiseman perturbs the city boss
KTRK-13's Miya Shay reports on today's city council meeting, where Houston MediaSource associates showed up to bark at councilmember Addie Wiseman, who seems to have barked right back at them.
Mayor Bill White sounds perturbed that a debate over the extent to which the city should fund vulgar/obscene speech on a public access channel has sidetracked other agenda items (like harassing citizens downtown, or designing shiny new HPD badges):
All the sniping has left the mayor a little frustrated.
"Has it taken a disproportionate amount of time, particularly by Councilwoman Wiseman?" the mayor asked himself. He answered with a "Yes."
We thought we had safely retired the Boss Hogg White nickname, but if he's going to start sounding like a city boss again....
UPDATE (07-07-2005): Matt Stiles covers the story for the Chronicle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/06/05 10:13 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
Downtown jaywalking revenue stream targets Astros parking
Rich Connelly reports that jaywalkers aren't the only target of Mayor White's "downtown mobility" revenue stream:
The Houston police crackdown on jaywalkers is creating some collateral damage on private enterprise. Specifically, that living laboratory of capitalism that is Astros parking.
Supply and demand doesn't get demonstrated much more clearly than by the guys with signs waving you into private parking lots near Minute Maid Park. Across the street from the stadium? Twenty bucks. A block away? Fifteen. And so on.
But Houston police have been handing out tickets to those guys with the signs. Todd Clampffer got hit with one recently. "Cops are at that intersection every single game," he says. "Nobody ever said anything, and then one cop decides to write me a ticket for it."
HPD spokesman Alvin Wright says signs in the street can block traffic. Handing out tickets to parking attendants is part of the overall "mobility initiative" that is targeting jaywalking and bike-riding on downtown sidewalks.
Just wait until Mayor White sends the sign enforcement guy out to ticket them for not having permits!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/06/05 09:53 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (4)
Casey wants to "prevent" political speech (cont'd)
Chronicle metro/state editorialist and gossip columnist Rick Casey has previously written in favor of restricting political speech with which he disagrees.
Today, he's at it again, writing in favor of restricting more political speech with which he disagrees:
What would Texas voters do if they understood that the legislators who control the Texas House of Representatives want to take money from their pockets to give to the state's biggest, wealthiest real estate developers?Lynching would be barbaric, but they might consider replacing those legislators.
And they might seek laws that would prevent such excesses as Houston real estate developer Bob Perry's contribution of $6.7 million in campaign contributions to state politicians in the past two election cycles.
It would be great just to shut up those scary conservatives and Christians who are the majority in the state while conferring special privileges on journalists like you, eh Rick?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/06/05 06:52 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (4)
Coincidence? When news and editorial dovetail
On July 5, the Washington Post's Mike Allen reported that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D) is the latest member of Congress to turn in revised (and, in her case specifically, delinquent) expense reports for a number of trips paid for by sponsors.
Readers of the Houston Chronicle, who have been treated to any number of stories about House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R) from Gebe Martinez and the newspaper's lackluster D.C. bureau, still have not been treated to coverage of Pelosi's latest travails, either from the AP or the D.C. bureau.
On the other hand, the national section on July 5 did contain a "news analysis" piece by Harvey Rice on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Rice's focus is on the extent to which the 5th Circuit is overruled by the Supreme Court, particularly on death penalty cases. Rice quotes only one person who is not critical of the 5th Circuit. The column isn't subtle.
Believing that content in newspapers doesn't appear magically, but rather that content (or the decision not to cover something) reflects choices made by editors and writers, we do find it curious that a newspaper that's been all too eager to cover House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's alleged ethical lapses doesn't even see fit to run AP coverage of similar lapses by his opposition counterpart. Further, it's just as curious that a newspaper with strong anti-death-penalty editorial views decides to run a critical piece on the 5th Circuit at the moment when there is some speculation that President Bush will nominate a conservative from that court to the Supreme Court.
Perhaps these editorial judgments are magically coincidental and not reflective of any sort of editorial perspective bleeding over into the news coverage, but it's enough to make reasonable people wonder.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/06/05 06:36 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Stroud case isn't moving fast enough for Chronicle
I am completely baffled by this Chronicle editorial:
Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal indicated a month ago that he would have preferred that Houston Independent School District officials had called in law enforcement during an investigation of the district's top academic officer. Yet three weeks after HISD handed over to prosecutors the results of the probe that led to Chief School Administrator Margaret Stroud's resignation, the file has yet to be opened.
Geez, where to begin?
Is there some sort of timetable that must be met? Is the editorial board trying to go on vacation, and feels it can't do so until the Stroud case is resolved to its satisfaction?
And DA Rosenthal did not indicate "that he would have preferred that Houston Independent School District officials had called in law enforcement during an investigation of the district's top academic officer":
Also, HISD contacted Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal to ask him if the Chronicle's headline from the original story (saying HISD was wrong to conduct its own investigation) was accurate. According to Abbott, Rosenthal indicated that he did NOT say HISD was wrong to have conducted its own investigation, and he said he wanted HISD to continue to bring investigations to his office in the same way they've always been brought to the DA's office.
I emailed Rosenthal for a comment and he responded that there is not a problem between his office and HISD. He said he understands HISD has been in regular contact with the Public Integrity office regarding investigations.
Honestly, isn't there anything else going on in this city that might have merited an editorial?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/06/05 03:53 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Homeless in Houston -- it's not easy
Apparently Montrose residents are not enamored with the homeless in their midst:
"It's concentrated in this area right here," said Caldwell. Caldwell works in Montrose and said he has seen what is behind some of the problems: Homeless adults and teens being targeted by criminals.
The business owners are tired of it. The community is tired of it. Something has to be done.
A flyer distributed to promote Tuesday night's town hall meeting urged people to stop the enablers, referring to agencies like Interfaith Ministries, which opens its parking lot for mobile medical care two nights a week.
"We have worked with the police department," said Lou Keels, Interfaith Ministries.
Interfaith Ministries is vowing to keep Houston's homeless, young and old, moving once they receive services from the center.
"We're taking every measure, every effort to make this neighborhood as safe as possible for our residents," Keels said.
This sounds very intolerant of Montrose residents. Haven't Houston's homeless been through enough already?
-- The city of Houston spent $100,000 to relocate some homeless folks -- for one month -- so Metro could have a parking lot. Where did those folks go after the month was up? Montrose?
-- Houston no longer allows homeless persons to use library bathrooms for bathing.
-- And let's not forget that Houston loaned two hotels $14 million -- funds that could have been earmarked for homeless shelters -- which the hotels have declined to repay.
But lest you think it's all gloom and doom for Houston's homeless, here's a heartwarming story.
RELATED: Avondale residents voice homeless concerns to city (KTRK-13)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/06/05 02:57 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Mistrial declared in corruption trial involving Brown officials
We've been keeping a fairly close eye on Chronicle reporter Dan Feldstein's coverage of a corruption trial in Cleveland that involves former City of Houston officials, but Tom Kirkendall beat us to the punch today with his comments. We could write all day and not top this:
Not only are a couple of former officials in the administration of former Houston Mayor Lee P. Brown admitted crooks ... they are apparently not very persuasive witnesses, either.
Feldstein reports that a mistrial has been declared. The U.S. Attorney's Office has indicated that it plans to retry the case. A related criminal investigation is continuing in Houston.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/06/05 01:24 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (0)
HPD capitulates -- won't photograph illegal immigrants
This is disappointing, but not surprising:
The Houston Police Department has instructed officers not to photograph illegal immigrants seeking day jobs, after an incident last month prompted an outcry from an immigrant rights group.
Houston police Capt. Juan Trevino made the pledge to 400 people who attended a meeting Tuesday night organized by The Metropolitan Organization, an interfaith grass-roots political action group.
Trevino said that "an isolated handful of officers" took immigrants' photographs after a business owner on North Shepherd recently complained that they "were walking on private property."
Addressing the TMO gathering in Spanish and English, Trevino said that the Houston police department will work with the organization to encourage immigrant workers to seek work at the east side day labor center.
Not only are officers instructed not to photograph these people, but now HPD will encourage illegal immigrants to get a job! What a crock!
Here's HPD's mission statement:
The mission of the Houston Police Department is to enhance the quality of life in the City of Houston by working cooperatively with the public and within the framework of the U.S. Constitution to enforce the laws, preserve the peace, reduce fear and provide for a safe environment.
So much for enforcing laws, reducing fear and providing a safe environment for U.S. citizens. And nowhere in the mission statement does it say HPD should helpfully tell illegal immigrants where to find employment. Is HPD going to tell them how to get (fake) green cards, too?
Broderick Bagert, an organizer for the TMO, said the community organization welcomed Trevino's comments.
"It had been an issue of real concern because people from the churches in the East End have worked for more than a year and half to win funding for the worker-development center in the East End," Bagert said. "We've been working to staff that, to organize it, and we've really invested in that strategy to deal with day laborers. The second work site has just gotten started in the last few months."
Even though the incident occurred on Houston's north side, Bagert said, there was concern "that the police were going to be intimidating workers. It was seen as a real step back. So we were very concerned about it," Bagert said.
They forgot the sensitivity training.
RELATED: LULAC won't like this (bH)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/06/05 08:16 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (5)
05 July 2005
HEC audit identifies multiple problems (updated)
It looks as if an audit of the Houston Emergency Center is complete:
Houston's 911 system needs some major work according to an independent audit of the emergency center.
The City Controller's office hired a private company to look at the efficiency and effectiveness of the Houston Emergency Center.
The report, released Tuesday morning, says the organizational structure is ineffective, employee morale is low, call handling needs improvement and the 911 building isn't as secure as it should be.
The review also recommends ways to save more than $6 million.
It'll be interesting to see the full report, including the suggestions for improving the center.
RELATED: Fixing HEC (bH)
UPDATE: Matt Stiles has a story up on Chron.com:
Houston Emergency Center review by City Controller Annise Parker found problems most evident in the "mission-critical" lack of available police dispatchers.
"The shortage of available staff, exacerbated by resulting high levels of enforced overtime and associated absenteeism, and a frequently confrontational work environment, may place at risk the delivery quality and reliability of critical emergency response services," the controller reported.
Parker's report cites "pervasively" low morale among the center's employees, who handle 911 calls, process them for the police and fire departments and dispatch accordingly.
The center also has been plagued by equipment and software problems. Another recent audit found most of those issues had been resolved.
Parker's audit found that the center, opened in 2003 to improve emergency service by bringing fire and police dispatchers and 911 call takers under one roof, could save $6.7 million with changes recommended by the auditors.
I'll bet HEC's "productivity policy" doesn't help with employee morale.
UPDATE 2: Sedosi wants to know when the audit will be posted on the City Controller's website, and he makes a prediction.
UPDATE 3: Here's Controller Annise Parker's press release and summary.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/05/05 01:09 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
Aiyer addresses HPD manpower shortage
Jay Aiyer, a candidate for City Council's At Large 2 seat, has posted his thoughts on HPD's manpower shortage as well as a proposal to get more officers trained and on the streets.
Here are excerpts from Aiyer's blog:
The reality is that Houston is facing a public safety crisis. We simply do not have enough police officers patrolling the streets of Houston, or enough fire fighters, and the problem is getting worse. In a study conducted by the Houston Police Officer’s Union, the number of police officers was tracked and analyzed over the last 10 years.
The results speak for themselves. In 1995, Houston had over 5000 police officers. By 2001, that number had slightly increased to just over 5300, with an additional 300 overtime equivalents. Today that number has dramatically dropped to 4800. That means Houston had 250 more police officers in 1995 than it does today. Compounding the problem is that Houston now has 400,000 to 500,000 more residents living in the city than in 1995.
[snip]
Why have we not trained more new officers? Cost -- it currently costs the city of Houston $2.8 million for a cadet class of 70. That number doubles when the overall cost of operations of the Police Academy is factored in. Fiscal reality makes any dramatic increase in training difficult under our current system.
There is an answer to this problem.
Be sure to check out the rest of Aiyer's detailed post for his answer.
In reviewing the websites of various candidates for council, we see that most candidates are in favor of maintaining police, fire, and EMS protection. That's a no-brainer.
We'd like to see all council candidates (including incumbents) follow Aiyer's lead in talking about HPD's manpower shortage and how the city should deal with it, in detail.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/05/05 09:52 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (4)
04 July 2005
A hands-on kind of mayor
Mayor's bike ride turns into crimefighting mission -- KTRK-13
During a holiday weekend, all government offices are closed and you don't expect our elected officials to do much more than appear at parades and other 4th of July events. But Mayor Bill White spent his Sunday fighting crime.
Mayor White has talked tough about illegal dumping before, but not quite like this. On Sunday, the mayor was joined by a council member, a state senator, and several other people for a bike ride through several Houston neighborhoods. They ended up throwing two guys behind bars."Around 9:15 yesterday, we're rolling through Independent Hights. Some gentlemen appeared to be illegal dumping," said Assistant HPD Chief Brian Lumpkin.
It was near a boarded up house on Bombay Street that the mayor and his fellow cyclists made the stop.
"I saw them on a side street and I made a beeline on a bicycle," said Mayor White. "I told them 'What do you think you're doing?'"
When the mayor saw the two men and confronted them, they made up a number of excuses until backup officers arrived. They were sent to jail and charged with felony dumping.
"The guy picks the worst day in the world to go dumping," said Mayor White's Deputy Chief of Staff Terence Fontaine. "He was dumping in front of a city council member, a state senator, and the mayor of the city."
I'm wondering who the others were (city councilmember and state senator) with the mayor.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/04/05 07:52 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (13)
What ails Houston's pools
The Chronicle's Leigh Hopper reports that Houston's pools appear to be suffering from aging and a lack of supervisory oversight:
With record numbers of child drownings this summer in unsupervised swimming spots, 35 free, city-operated public pools — all staffed by lifeguards — offer a safe alternative. Yet, many Houston families seeking relief from summer heat stay away from the aging system, turned off by sometimes erratic hours and obsolete facilities. Of the city's 41 pools, six currently are closed, nearly all the deep ends are off limits and six baby pools surveyed by the Houston Chronicle were closed.
[snip]
But since the 1980s, the Houston Parks and Recreation Department's aquatics division has faced periodic budget cuts and been forced to trim hours. Today, the $2.2 million pool program appears to be struggling. Many facilities, some nearly 60 years old, need makeovers. The city's move away from competitive swimming has left once-popular spots little used.
Despite the tired appearance of some pools, officials insist the city is not phasing out the system. Doug Earle, the department's new deputy director, said there are plans this fall to replace four pools with more family-friendly pools, which will feature a "zero-depth" or beach-like entry for children and a lane for lap swimmers, at a cost of about $1 million per pool. Some pools, such as Memorial, T.C. Jester, Sunnyside, Lincoln City and Reveille, continue to have enthusiastic users.
In addition, the city is building water playgrounds in a number of locations. The water playgrounds, which squirt, spray and shower down water, are safer, fun for nonswimmers, cheaper than pools and easier to maintain, officials said.
Frankly, I'd rather see the city spend money on water playgrounds and pool renovation, instead of government-sponsored art and day-labor sites.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/04/05 07:39 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
The black hole that is Metro*
We hinted that the state's performance audit of Metro showed a very unhealthy transit agency. Today Rad Sallee provides some details:
Comparing Metro's numbers for fiscal years 2001 and 2004, the audit shows a 29 percent rise in operating costs, to $304 million, and a 36 percent increase per passenger boarding. On the income side, Metro's annual report shows fare revenue has hovered around $46 million a year since 1995.
"Metro's fare recovery ratio has been declining, and at 15 percent is low for the transit industry," the audit report says. Rates of 25 percent or more are common among big transit systems, it says.
The report says ridership slipped 5 percent in the three years, from 100 million yearly boardings to 95 million, despite a one-year bump in 2004 when 5 million boardings on the new MetroRail line offset the loss of 3 million on buses. Most of the loss was on local and express routes, with Park & Ride numbers holding steady.
Tom Kirkendall provides further context and thoughts that should be required reading for all Houston-area officials.
Here's how Kirkendall sums it up:
Metro's rail system is a bad virus that has infected Houston, and the cost of treating this civic virus is growing larger each month. Without periodic and independent re-examination of Metro's light rail plan, the increasing costs of this plan risks turning this currently manageable problem into a major civic fiscal crisis that could negatively affect the Houston area's growth and prosperity. Real leadership involves recognizing that risk and addressing it, not indulging it.
Sadly, the one person who can address the crisis has chosen, instead, to indulge Metro.
And Kevin Whited adds a comment to Kirkendall's post that rounds out the problems Metro is facing. What a mess Metro has created!
Also, don't miss Sallee's Move It! column today, where he chastises Metro for its lack of public transparency.
Sallee is on a roll.
*Title borrowed from Tom Kirkendall.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/04/05 02:08 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chron celebrates Independence Day with George the ape
The Chronicle begins an Independence Day editorial as follows:
July Fourth, with its parties and parades, concerts and fireworks, finds Americans of different minds concerning public policy, but citizens of a nation that cannot correctly be called divided.
The same editorial page today runs a political cartoon by Mike Luckovich that first ran in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on 30 June 2005.
George W the Ape desperately clinging to 9-11?
What a rude, clumsy, and offensive statement for James Howards Gibbons and crew to make on Independence Day.
One supposes that in the mind of Mr. Gibbons (the tough, smart LiveJournalist!), this is yet another example of the "elegance, wit and insight one looks for in ... editorial pages in their ideal state."
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/04/05 09:57 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (5)
03 July 2005
Sunday Chron editorial page recycles "olds"
James Howard Gibbons must have been really eager to get out of the offices at 801 Texas Avenue on Friday to get started on a long weekend, because he certainly left a dud of an editorial page for Sunday readers.
There's a staff editorial that argues the U.S. needs to lower its dependence on oil, a cutting-edge notion.
There's a staff editorial that criticizes conservative city council member Addie Wiseman for the suggestion that perhaps the city ought to be interested in whether or not vulgar and/or obscene material is being broadcast on its public access channel. The same editorial board that favors restricting some political speech erroneously says the First Amendment means anything goes on public access; it does not. (Personally, I think it would be fun if devout Christians took over the channel and began proselytizing in the wee hours of the morning, just to see how quickly the editorial board would reverse course.)
There are the usual Sunday snoozers from Cragg Hines and Clay Robison.
And then there are the items chosen by Gibbons and crew to fill out the editorial page.
Four of those stand out: We can all learn from LBJ, Ev by Jack Valenti, Tom Cruise: You are out of control by Brooke Shields, Running away from America, until I stopped by Kennedy School student Fatina Abdrabboh, and Betting our future on the mirage of endless Saudi oil by Hubbert Peak enthusiast Michael T. Klare.
Valenti's op-ed first appeared in the New York Times on 24 June 2005.
Shields' op-ed first appeared in the New York Times on 1 July 2005.
As David Benzion points out, Abdrabboh's op-ed first appeared in the New York Times on 23 June 2005, and has been widely derided across the blogosphere.
Klare's op-ed first appeared in the Los Angeles Times on 27 June 2005. Klare is one of many Hubbert Peak enthusiasts who take disputed geological facts, make a series of (frequently unstated) economic and political assumptions, and then predict calamity in the very near future. Alan at Petrified Truth alerts us to Mr. Klare's association with any number of leftist political organizations, associations that go unmentioned in the op-ed and byline but that are not irrelevant given the political and economic assumptions involved.
All of these op-eds are old -- really old, in internet time.
James Howard Gibbons, who once lectured bloggers on the superiority of editorial pages in their ideal state, ought to be embarrassed that he put out this collection of "olds" and otherwise mediocre opinion writing in a Sunday edition, holiday weekend or not. Even if he is not, one would think folks higher up the food chain at Hearst might be concerned.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/03/05 07:00 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Airport parking: less complicated, more expensive
Drivers at Houston's two airports will find it easier, less complicated and slightly more expensive to park at Bush Intercontinental and Hobby airports, under new rates that take effect today [last Friday, July 1].
Hourly parking will now be allowed in all terminal garages, but it will cost an extra $1 — from $12 to $13 — to park for five to 24 hours at both airports.
The Houston Airport Board on Thursday also abolished the controversial $30 fee for parking more than five hours in one prime area at Bush Intercontinental: the close-in garage at Terminal C-West.
The new rate plan eliminates a "daily schedule" that required some drivers to pay $3 for parking any period of time up to three hours.
[snip]
"We do have ample parking for passengers and visitors using all terminals, but this change helps make it more uniform throughout the hourly parking complex," said airport spokesman Roger Smith. "It's a very minimal increase, and we in Houston still enjoy some of the lowest-priced, big-city airport parking that you will find anywhere."
They couldn't make it less complicated AND less expensive, now could they?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/03/05 08:18 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
02 July 2005
New York Times, bloggers supplement local crime lab coverage
The New York Times has weighed in with coverage of Michael Bromwich's damning report on the HPD crime lab, and Ralph Blumenthal accurately conveys the report's criticism of management within the crime lab, as well as HPD and city officials, including Lee P. Brown and especially Clarence Bradford (not unlike your humble bloggers here).
Blumenthal apparently was unable to track down Bradford for comment:
A drug chemist who joined the laboratory in 1979, James R. Bolding, was pushed up the ladder under former Police Chief Lee P. Brown, who later became mayor, and his police successor, former chief Clarence O. Bradford, to fill vacancies in serology, despite inadequate training, the report said. It quoted Mr. Bolding as telling investigators he "took books home and did the best he could." Mr. Bolding did not respond to a phone message left with his son at home.And Chief Bradford, it went on, refused to spend a City Council grant to hire more workers because once the money ran out, the department would have to pay them. His phone number has been disconnected.
It seems strange that the Brown/Bradford consulting firm would not have functioning telephones. Perhaps the status of Brown Group International as a Houston minority business enterprise will be enough to gain it business, if past experience is any guide.
The Chronicle's main coverage of the report, in contrast, does not mention Lee Brown. It mentions Bradford's role in reinstating an analyst who was suspected of fabricating test results, but does not mention Bradford's decision not to use grant money to hire needed staff in the crime lab in order to avoid a future commitment by HPD to cover their salaries, or other parts of the report that deal with Bradford's decisionmaking. The authors of the Chronicle coverage were also responsible for what was effectively a hit piece on Chuck Rosenthal that appeared in morning print editions the day Bromwich's report was released.
Chronicle metro/state editorialist and gossip columnist Rick Casey wrote on Bromwich's findings yesterday. While Casey at least acknowledges the decision not to use grant money to hire needed staff, he refers to the decisionmaker as "the police chief." That would be Clarence Bradford, although Chronicle readers who didn't read the New York Times, blogs, or the report itself probably still don't know that the report cites Bradford specifically on the matter. Indeed, Casey mostly avoids naming any names, save one:
Michael Bromwich, the independent investigator hired by the city to investigate the lab after District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal refused to allow a special prosecutor to do so, yesterday issued the surprisingly readable 83-page report. (You can find a link to it at www.chron.com.)
For good measure, there's also this:
It could be a serialized TV drama — not L.A. Law but Houston Lab.
It couldn't miss being a hit, combining the intensity of a cop show, the idealism of science and the unfolding morality play of how the District Attorney's Office handles thorny issues.
We have previously commented on Rosenthal's position on the crime lab, but it's worth noting again in light of Casey's editorializing:
I followed up with Rosenthal, who explained that he actually had called for a Blue Ribbon Review panel to review the crime lab (which Judge Robert Eckels supported but then-Mayor Lee Brown opposed), and that he later wrote to then-police chief Joe Brashears urging a review of the entire crime lab. He admits that he has refused to recuse himself "unless there was evidence that any of my staff was involved in wrongdoing" and contends he's just doing the job he was elected to do. He has also opposed a "Cleveland plan" style review, contending that it is not appropriate to Houston's circumstance. Those last two points are certainly fair game for honest debate, but to characterize Rosenthal's position as outright opposition to an independent review is not honest.
Since Casey's editorial column and the Chronicle's straight news coverage of the Bromwich findings both misrepresent and underreport (respectively) the efforts of the Harris County District Attorney's office to deal with the crime lab fiasco, perhaps it is useful to turn to the Bromwich report itself for directly related information:
In early 2003, the District Attorney’s Office and HPD began a process with the goal of re-testing all cases resulted in a conviction -- whether at trial or through a guilty plea -- in which DNA evidence analyzed by the Crime Lab may have played a role. The central purpose of the re-testing program has been to identify any cases in which the results of DNA analysis performed by the Crime Lab cannot be confirmed.
[snip]
Ultimately, the District Attorney’s Office identified 407 cases to be re-tested. Four of these 407 cases identified for re-testing have subsequently been withdrawn from the re-test list because the District Attorney’s Office determined that they did not belong on the list, leaving 403 cases to be analyzed.
HPD has been responsible for sending the DNA evidence related to the 403 post-conviction re-test cases to one of the following three outside laboratories for re-testing: Identigene in Houston, Reliagene in New Orleans, and Orchid-Cellmark in Dallas. HPD reports that, as of June 13, 2005, re-testing has been completed on 333 of the 403 cases.
For obvious reasons, the optimal evidence for re-testing purposes is raw evidence, such as stains on clothing or bedding, that have not been processed by the Crime Lab. In cases where such raw evidence does not exist, the next best alternative is to test DNA that already has been extracted or already has undergone some form of processing. The bulk of the cases reviewed -- 248 -- have confirmed with raw evidence the original Crime Lab findings. Seventy-five cases have confirmed the Crime Lab’s findings with DNA extracted or processed evidence. In one case, there apparently was no remaining sample to be re-tested and only the Crime Lab’s case file was available for review. The results in eight cases have been confirmed by outside laboratories, but with significant differences in the statistics reported by the outside laboratories from those originally reported by the Crime Lab. In one case, involving Josiah Sutton, the Crime Lab’s findings were reversed by the outside laboratory.
Finally, the District Attorney’s Office has retained its own outside laboratory, Bode Technology Group of Springfield, Virginia, to review the analyses performed by the three laboratories originally involved with the post-conviction re-testing project. The Assistant District Attorney coordinating the re-testing for the prosecutor’s office told us that the purpose of Bode’s involvement is to serve as a second check on the cases and to assist the District Attorney’s Office in reviewing the reports generated by the outside laboratories involved in the re-testing program. (Pages 51-53)
People who rely only on the print editions of the Chronicle for their local news might have a very different impression of the efforts of Rosenthal and his staff to deal with the fallout of the HPD crime lab fiasco. They got to read a hit piece on Rosenthal that appeared in morning print editions the same day the Bromwich report critical of the Houston political leaders and HPD (but not Rosenthal) was released. The next day, they got to read news coverage of the Bromwich report by the same authors, who underreported the efforts of the District Attorney's office to retest cases and neglected to report some criticism of Chief Bradford in the report. And they got to read a Rick Casey editorial column on the metro/state news pages that was not entirely forthcoming in attacking Rosenthal by name, while declining to name any HPD or city officials criticized in the report.
Readers certainly can't be blamed for wondering if an anti-Rosenthal or pro-Brown/Bradford editorial bias is creeping onto the metro/state news pages, even though we've been assured that the editors of the newspaper fret over maintaining "division between the opinion pages and the news pages."
Here are additional thoughts from area bloggers:
Yee-haw, Saniflush!Pathetic.
Still, Lee P. Brown got a building named after him -- the Lee P. Brown METRO Administration Building at 1900 Main Street. Yeah, METRO.
To our knowledge, there are no plans to name any public buildings after Clarence "No Phone" Bradford.
The hefty pension that Lee Brown helped him secure is enough of a monument.
What I am saying is that [Brown and Bradford] didn't inherit a topnotch unit to begin with, and that if there's anything to be gained by pointing a finger at people who are no longer in a position of responsibility, then we ought not to be shy about pointing it at everyone who deserves it.
Their absence of leadership deserves plenty of criticism, but all bloggers should feel free to point away to other examples. Send this post your trackbacks.
Mayor Brown's legacy continues to grow sour as more and more details about the HPD crime lab come to the front in the Bromwich report....
See also his thoughts on the Casey column.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/02/05 08:47 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
HISD trustee says camp more important than teachers
I'm sure this was a very worthwhile program for HISD students...but it's camp. A learning camp, yes. But it's a camp, nonetheless.
And while going away to camp is a great experience for many kids, I don't subscribe to the notion that it is a school district's responsibility to fund students going to camp. This is where churches and non-profit groups could step in to fill a need.
In our own homes we must make budget priorities and when money isn't as plentiful, we are forced to focus on the basics. Public education basics should not include $1 million for camp.
Now check out this quote from trustee Kevin Hoffman:
"It's the low-income areas of town and low-populated schools that are going to once again feel the pinch, and these are the kids that stand to benefit the most from the program," said trustee Kevin Hoffman, who cast the only vote against the budget, which included an extra $40.5 million in pay for employees.
"I love teachers just as much as the next guy, but not at the expense of these programs for our children."
Screw the teachers, for the children's sake!
It's not the first time Hoffman has shown his desire to maintain the public education status quo.
Thankfully, here's one HISD principal who gets it:
"The camp is important, (but) now our focus is almost entirely on instruction," said Brian McDonald, principal of Gregg Elementary in southeast Houston. "It's highly unlikely that I would provide any funding for that."
If the camp is that important, then Hoffman should create a private foundation, and seek private funding to continue the camp. Tax dollars are not limitless, something Dr. Saavedra understands and has addressed with next year's budget.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/02/05 01:28 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
More op-eds on mayor's Metro expansion plan
Yesterday it was Reps. Gene Green and Sheila Jackson Lee who, while expressing concern for the lack of community involvement in determining the new plan, failed to express any concern over Metro's continued slashing of bus services.
Today it's David Crossley, President of the Gulf Coast Institute, who gets misty-eyed as he talks of Paris and Shanghai and dreams of a Houston where people gratefully leave their cars behind to hop on mass transit:
People may not think so now, but they are going to like this service very much. That is, they will like it if Metro can adhere to the concept of high-quality service. If they build it, we will come, and once we do we're going to need a lot more of it.
Well sure, if Paris and Shanghai love it, Houston will, too!
Each generation of these new BRT vehicles is sleeker and more refined.
It sounds world-class.
Crossley's op-ed appears to be a shortened version of his "analysis" of Metro's plan which is on the Gulf Coast Institute's website. The entire piece is quite a (utopian) read:
The longer I study the mobility issue - which I suspect may be at least as much as any other person in our region, if not more - the more convinced I am that the key to livable cities with a high quality of life is an efficient, convenient, safe, extensive transit system, beginning with the urban areas.
Oooooookay. Maybe for Crossley (who is very impressed with his transit knowledge) a high quality of city-life is based upon the shiny sleekness of transit, but most residents are more concerned with good schools, low crime and low taxes.
The new Metro plan, if implemented as promised by 2012, will deliver 97 miles of transit instead of the 36 envisioned in the referendum. While this plan is more ambitious than the previous 2012 plan, nothing in the recent announcements addresses the rest of the referendum plan, which projected out to 2025, and that needs to be addressed. Metro has assured me that “The plan is still to implement METRO Solutions as originally planned.”
Oh, well, I guess that settles that. Crossley has been assured by Metro so we can all rest easy.
Or, how about with the $2 billion taxpayers will have to shell out, we just buy each transit rider a new hybrid car?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/02/05 09:18 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
Out of the (biz)radio game
We normally plug the BizRadio 1320 blogger segment every Saturday morning, but this will likely be our last plug for a while.
The blogHOUSTON crew needed to scale back the time commitment, plus we thought it was time for some other fine area bloggers to get a shot at sharing their perspectives, so we're out of the radio game for the time being.
We passed along some suggestions to the BizRadio crew culled from these lists, but we have no idea if they'll take our suggestions or turn the segment into the Kuffner Blogs half hour.
So, there's a bit of mystery about the blogger segment today. If that sort of mystery interests you, feel free to tune in or stream the show.
ANNE'S UPDATE: Well, I was a bit disappointed. I had hoped that another Houston-area blogger would get a chance to do the show with Charles, but that didn't happen. It was an interesting segment, of course, talking about the Texas Lottery, school finance, Craig Biggio's bruises and the Houston-area's population growth.
And next week Charles will be cohosting the show with Jon-Michial Carter -- The Carter and Kuff show! Go Charles!
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: That is extremely disappointing. Sorry, fellow Houston-area bloggers. We tried to get you some voice time.
As usual, Laurence Simon seems to have been proven prescient. How does that guy do it?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/02/05 09:05 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (0)
Where are the Houston Post archives?
Chronicle reader representative and blogger James Campbell answers a question that he probably gets from quite a few readers (including us) today: Why aren't the Houston Post archives available online?
The decision not to place the Post archives online largely is due to difficulty complying with the requirements of the Tasini vs. The New York Times decision, explained online editor Mike Read.
Initially, Read said, the Post archives were taken down with the thought that the disallowed content could be identified and blocked, much like what is being done with the Chronicle archives.
Confusion resulted "when we placed notices in a couple of places on the archives pages to let customers know about this temporary removal of the Post content from the online archives," Read said. "When it was determined that identifying and blocking disallowed content was not going to be possible with the resources available for the task, we updated the notice in the "About Archives" resource box on the page to indicate this.
It looks as if those of you interested in old Bob Claypool music reviews or other good stuff from the defunct newspaper are going to have to hit local libraries:
The Houston Public Library's Bibliographic Information Center has the Houston Post microfilm from 1880-1995, and the Houston Post Index from 1976-1994. They keep the 1880-1900 microfilm in the Texas and Local History Department, and the 1901-1995 microfilm is in the main library. University of Houston's main library has the Houston Post microfilm from 1880-1995. They have the Houston Post Index from 1976-1979, and from 1987-1994.
As a complete aside -- do today's students even know how to use microfilm/fiche machines?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/02/05 08:52 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
01 July 2005
Giving away the Astrodome
Charles Kuffner posted some of his thoughts on Major League Soccer eyeing the Astrodome, and one of his commenters appears to be familiar with why San Antonio and MLS couldn't come to an agreement:
The initial memorandum of understanding had SA spending $2.8 million on 14 more luxury suites at the dome, and another $3.7 million on a practice facility. In addition to this, we were about to give MLS a 5 year rent free lease (with four more 5 year extensions), the MLS would keep all revenue from tickets, parking and concessions, MLS would receive half of any revenues from events it co-sponsored (like the recent Mexico-Guatemala soccer match held here), the city would receive 5 (count it, five) percent from any advertising signage sold by the team in the dome, and the city would receive 30 percent of the naming rights payments if a sponsor was lined up by 2006. If the sponsor was signed up after 2006, the city's cut would drop to 20 percent.
So basically, we were hoping to cut into the Alamodome's operating deficit through the 5% advertising revenue, and the 30/20% cut we'd receive in naming rights. Talk about giving away the farm.
San Antonio's bill for the "privilege" of getting an MLS team went from $6 million to $22 million -- and that was just on the up-front costs!
Unfortunately, we all know Houston will agree to some kind of deal like this; it's what Billy Burge and Oliver Luck do best.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/01/05 07:09 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (4)
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