31 October 2005
Robison: Prop 2 proponents really no different from KKK
Clay Robison's Sunday op-ed is some pretty asinine journalism, even considering the source (who's an expert):
STATE Rep. Warren Chisum apparently was surprised when the Ku Klux Klan announced plans to hold a pre-election rally in Austin in support of his constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage.
He shouldn't have been, because flies are attracted to garbage wherever they may find it.Chisum, a Republican from Pampa, isn't a cowardly cross-burner who takes delight in bashing African-Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities. But his sponsorship of Proposition 2 on the Nov. 8 statewide ballot offers the KKK another opportunity to do what it does best — promote prejudice and hatred, albeit of a different brand than produced the racial lynchings of not so many years ago.
I am not equating the debate over whether homosexual couples should be allowed to marry to the long, often bloody civil rights struggle of blacks and Hispanics in America.
But....
I omitted the rest of the sentence that begins "But" because it contradicts the bolded paragraph. Robison is indeed doing exactly what he says he's not doing. Perhaps his frothing produced a shock from his keyboard, thereby causing his confusion.
There are reasonable arguments for and against Proposition 2. And then there is Robison's column, which really isn't the sort of thing one expects to find in a quality newspaper.
Jeff Cohen and the rest of the Chronicle's executive editorial leadership, of course, expect readers to believe that Robison can crank out work like this on Sundays, but serve as a completely objective bureau chief six days per week. That's laughable.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/31/05 09:36 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chron's Casey has the pulse of GOP and taxes
The Chronicle's lefty metro/state editorialist and gossip columnist wants readers to think he's got the pulse of Republicans and taxes.
Really!
Here's the start of Rick Casey's most recent column of (mostly) unsourced gossip:
A friend of mine is a Republican precinct chairman and a skilled engineer who retired as a high-level executive with one of the big oil companies.He is a very smart man with a very sharp analysis of his tax situation.
Like the rest of us, he has watched taxes on his home rise at a rate higher than inflation, and certainly higher than his income from pensions, Social Security and investments.
Yet he knows that the appraisals of his home that lead to the higher taxes are accurate. Houses in his neighborhood keep selling for more and more.
He could sell his house and net a nice profit. But it's his neighborhood, his home, with room for his children and grandchildren when they come to town for happy visits.
So he won't cash in. He just gets taxed as though he did.
"They're taxing me on my unrealized capital gains," he says of the property tax.
[snip]
My friend the precinct chairman, not worrying about election to higher office, offers a solution that actually would work.
"Rather than have them tax my unrealized capital gains," he says, "I'd rather have them tax my income. Then the tax would be based on what I could actually pay."
As the baby boomers begin joining him in retirement in about two years, when their incomes shrink as their homes become more valuable, my bet is a whole lot of folks will start thinking like my friend the precinct chairman.
If Casey's unnamed friend is as self-centered as many baby boomers, of course he thinks shifting the tax burden to income from property ownership is the way to go! Why not shift his tax burden to a younger generation of workers if he can get away with it, as his own income drops?
Casey continues:
Already, many elected officials, including Republicans, talk off the record about the need to consider an income tax.
Has he been canvassing Republican officials at those Democratic brown bag lunches he speaks at? Or is he just engaged in the usual gossip?
It's really hard to take Casey seriously when he starts telling stories.
We are not yet in a climate where discussing it openly is safe for those seeking office.
Yes, those pesky voters continue overwhelmingly to reject the income tax proposals that are floated by liberal gossip columnists and bloggers!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/31/05 09:18 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Chron's Cohen breaks promise with readers
Way back on August 28, Chronicle reader representative James Campbell tried a gimmick on his struggling blog: Readers could submit questions for editor Jeff Cohen, and he'd post the replies "during the week of September 5."
Matt Bramanti at the Lone Star Times has been trying to get those questions answered ever since.
September slipped by. Now October is gone. We head into November tomorrow.
So Bramanti followed up with Campbell, who responded:
Well, since agreeing to do it, we’ve had two hurricanes and a World Series. I know he was close to finishing the questions I submitted to him but he got sidetracked by work.
Unlike the high-profile position of public editor at the New York Times, the Chronicle's reader representative position seems designed more as a PR position. One doesn't really envy the position of James Campbell, who frequently draws the task of defending the obnoxious (and sometimes indefensible). Still, this is pretty lame even by Chronicle reader representative standards.
Newspapers cover news. If the editor is too busy to answer questions about his newspaper because news has broken out, then he should never have promised to do so way back in August. Because the Chronicle's reader representative is oriented institutionally to putting positive PR spin on executive editorial decisions, Campbell can't really be expected to call his boss a phony over the matter.
But really, the only conclusions that can be drawn are that Jeff Cohen is a phony, and that following through on a promise to readers just isn't that big a priority to him.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/31/05 08:45 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Downtown park public meeting Wednesday
The Houston Downtown Park Conservancy will present design ideas for the new downtown park at a meeting this Wednesday:
The Houston Downtown Park Conservancy will share initial design concepts for Houston’s new downtown park at a public meetings on November 2nd.
Wednesday, November 2, 2005, 6 - 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Hilton Americas Houston Hotel, 1600 Lamar, Room 340 (third floor)
Open to the public. Admission is free.
Valet service and parking in the Hilton garage is available, and curb parking is free after 6:00 PM.
PREVIOUSLY: Progress on Houston's world-class downtown park (bH), The Bill White Vermin And Solid Waste Memorial Park (bH)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/31/05 07:24 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (2)
Asinine zero-tolerance policies
Chris Baker is discussing this zero-tolerance stupidity coming out of Cy-Fair ISD. (I guess you know where I come down on this issue.)
Zero-tolerance policies (in my opinion) are helpful crutches for lazy school administrators. It makes their jobs easier and reduces the amount of time they have to spend dealing with disciplinary issues.
What if a normally good student who gets good grades and has a record of good conduct accidentally brings an aspirin to school? Of course with today's zero-tolerance policies, that student faces suspension or expulsion. No ifs, ands or buts.
What if a normally good student is tired of getting punched by the school bully and decides to punch back? Of course, the good student is assumed just as guilty as the bully (who has a history of visiting the principal's office) and both serve the same punishment. (My neighbor just went through an incident like that.)
Zero-tolerance nonsense is just one more reason why parents are increasingly disgusted with one-size-fits-all public schools, and it's good to see parents fighting back and Chris Baker giving it some further attention.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/31/05 03:39 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
A teensy bit of government truth-telling
This notice is on the city of Houston's website:
Tax Rate Notification
The City of Houston adopted a tax rate that will raise more taxes for maintenance and operations than last year's tax rate. The tax rate will raise taxes for maintenance and operations on a $100,000 home by approximately $5.77.
Mayor White wants Houstonians to know that the preceding announcement should really say "Harris County Appraisal District," instead of "City of Houston."
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/31/05 10:02 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
30 October 2005
Texans will not go winless this season
The Houston Texans will not go winless this season, as they managed to stink less than another of the league's worst teams today, and pulled out a three-point victory at home despite generating only 237 yards of offense.
Area Exxon gas stations have been running a promotion for free coffee on Mondays after a Texans win. It's been a very cost effective promotion for them so far this season, but they will have to pay out tomorrow.
As we've noted previously, the local sports media has been slow to blame Charley Casserly for the Texans' woes this season. The Chronicle's Ken Hoffman, on the other hand, is pretty blunt in his latest Q&A column:
Just bought a bottle of chocolate milk and the expiration date was Oct. 31 at 4 p.m.
Are you kidding me -- 4 p.m.? They can now predict the "hour" my milk will turn sour? Do you know if they took into consideration the time change and it will really be sour at 3 p.m. Monday instead?
Bill "Cowboy" Lamza
I got a letter from Reliant Energy explaining why it's asking for a massive rate increase. Here's a way for Reliant to keep its costs down: How about stop wasting money by putting your name on a stadium so a football team can throw only nine passes a game and have an 0-6 record?
The Texans need to do that Scrabble move, where you dump all your tiles and pick new ones — from the general manager on down to the water boy.
I'm sorry, but you're wrong about David Carr. He's got the talent, but he doesn't have the support to help him out. He can't carry the entire team on his shoulders alone. If we could get any sort of offensive line to help him out, things would be much different. Were you at last Sunday's game? Did you see the defense play? Yeah, I didn't either. Say all you want about David Carr, but he's got my support. We need to look at Charley Casserly and Dom Capers.
Julie Swoboda
Actually, I think we don't need to look at Charley Casserly and Dom Capers. They're the biggest parts of the problem.
Ouch!
I'm guessing Hoffman's not going to be getting many media perks from Charley Casserly the rest of the season.
UPDATE (10-31-05): Hoffman needs to take sports columnist Richard Justice to lunch after Justice's latest.
If Capers is indeed fired, we may never know if it was because the players weren't good enough or because he and his coaches weren't good enough.
Hoffman knows, as do most people in town who don't make their living on the Chronicle sports pages. Both Casserly and Capers deserve the blame. They both need to go after the season is over.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/30/05 09:07 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
Houston buys $750,000 worth of Metro passes for city employees
Check out what Tom Bazan noticed on last week's city council agenda:
35. ORDINANCE approving and authorizing contract between the City and METROPOLITAN TRANSIT AUTHORITY OF HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS for Purchase of Employee Transit Passes; providing a maximum contract amount - $750,000.00 - General, Enterprise and Other Funds - PASS
And Tom points out that this is not the first time the city has bought Metro passes for its employees.
So it turns out that while the city doesn't have the time to focus on the growing graffiti problem or the funds to address HPD's manpower shortage, there is time and money to help boost Metro's ridership numbers and bottom line.
Maybe this program will someday be in line for an audit by the Controller's office, just to see if the benefits match up to the cost.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/30/05 05:03 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (3)
Red light cameras increase accidents (cont'd)
Accidents have increased in Philadelphia, PA, and in Fort Collins, CO, at intersections where red light cameras have been installed.
Also in Fort Collins, one second was added to the yellow light time at an intersection with a red light camera and look what happened:
Both accidents and red light citations dropped by more than half comparing the most recent month's data to the same time last year. Daily ticket revenue also plunged from $3000 to $1125, giving officials cause to delay voting on a new camera to see if revenue will rebound.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/30/05 04:53 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
It's full steam ahead at Metro's Real Estate Development Dept.
Last week I wondered what about a development project mentioned in a Metro board meeting agenda:
Request Board authorization for the President & CEO to negotiate, execute and deliver agreements relating to a transit oriented joint development project at the Cypress Park & Ride facility.
Here's the Metro press release with details:
The METRO Board of Directors today approved initial plans for a new 23-acre Cypress Park & Ride on U.S. 290 at Skinner Road, along with transit oriented development - a first for METRO at a Park & Ride facility.
The $31.8 million project, to be developed by NewQuest Properties, calls for a multi-level parking garage with 1,500 spaces and a "Town Square" area with 28,000 square feet of restaurant space and 92,000 square feet of retail space.
The four story, $17.5 million parking facility will be constructed first, and will be paid for by METRO.
NewQuest will then construct the Town Square at an estimated cost of $14.3 million.
The new Cypress Park & Ride will help ease overcrowding at METRO's Northwest Station Park & Ride on 290 near West Road. Also, METRO expects to realize more than $100,000 per year from its share of the development's income.
The project is the second announced by the Transit Authority this month. The first joint development of a transit property will be the $105 million development of the air space above the Texas Medical Center Transit Center.
Oh dear.
Do you think this Park and Ride will have any real security presence, or will non-operational cameras be used?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/30/05 09:02 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (4)
Chron: young people can sink Prop. 2 (and save the Republic!)
The Chronicle's editorial board laments that more young people don't vote, in an editorial about Prop. 2:
The vote on Proposition 2 on the Nov. 8 ballot, a proposal that would ban gay couples' right to legally protect their families, offers young people a chance to make their influence felt.
Eighteen- to 25-year-olds vote at about half the rate of 45- to 55-year-olds, notes Rice University political scientist Bob Stein. Without home ownership, school districts and careers to worry about, the younger age group doesn't feel driven to participate. What a waste. If 18- to 25-year-olds voted their stated beliefs next month, they could show the country that Texans will not stand for bigotry.
(Oooo, a Bob Stein sighting!)
Why does the Chronicle think that if 18-25-year-olds voted their beliefs, they would vote against Prop. 2? Maybe, just maybe, young voters WILL vote their beliefs -- and vote in favor of it! (Even notoriously-liberal California passed a Defense of Marriage Act with more than 60% of the vote.)
The editorial should also include a big non sequitur warning because of the first and last paragraphs:
THE past year has not been very empowering for young adults. Just starting to earn a living and newly eligible to vote, they have witnessed a cavalcade of events beyond their control: disasters in Asia, terrorist bombs in Europe, interminable warfare in the Middle East. At home, officials are under investigation for endangering national security.
[snip]
There's not much voters can do about natural calamities, stateless terrorists or dishonest, unelected public officials. But Texas' young voters can exert amazing leverage on the home front next month. They need to vote — and show that hateful legislation is an embarrassment in 21st century Texas.
Natural disasters, terrorist bombings and dishonest public officials relate to Prop. 2...how exactly?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/30/05 09:01 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (11)
29 October 2005
Casey acts as Mayor's PR man on tax increase
The state legislature recently passed "truth in taxation" legislation that requires certain taxing entities to acknowledge that resultant increases in property tax revenues be labeled tax increases if the taxing entity chooses to set a tax rate that effectively produces new revenue. The rationale behind the legislation was to force taxing entities to acknowledge the growing problem of property-tax appraisal creep, instead of simply saying "what can you do?" and blaming appraisal boards. Anne Linehan touched on this in her earlier post on the fireworks in Council earlier this week, when those who favor larger government and higher spending were forced by the legislation to acknowledge they were setting a rate that would result in a significant increase in property-tax revenues.
Chronicle gossip columnist and metro/state Rick Casey, of course, is one of those who favors larger government and higher spending, but rather than simply shoot straight, Casey's style is always to smear and attack those with whom he disagrees. Here's his latest work:
Meanwhile, the two Harris County legislators responsible for the new "truth in taxation" law, Sens. Tommy Williams and Kyle Janek, should have been laughing up their sleeves.Their little scheme has succeeded in forcing local officials to admit to raising taxes while they themselves continue to get a free ride.
Yet Williams and Janek and the rest of the Legislature raised taxes considerably last year. You don't remember? They did it by not lowering the state sales tax.
The result: State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn announced two weeks ago that monthly state sales tax revenues were up 14 percent from a year ago.
That formulation sounded familiar. Sure enough, in watching the tape of the debate in Council that is the subject of Casey's column, I heard Mayor White use the bolded soundbite almost verbatim. It's not the first time that Casey has shamelessly stolen the words of other people without proper attribution, but one wishes he would be a little more honest with readers if he's simply going to act as Mayor White's PR man.
Substantively, although the soundbite is clever, it's really comparing apples with oranges. Yes, the sales tax rate has been set, and increased sales do indeed produce increases in tax revenues, all things being equal. However, to my knowledge there are no boards that have ever convinced local merchants to raise prices in order to produce a certain amount of revenue in a taxing district (but we have seen some interesting relationships between property taxing entities and appraisal boards), so the comparison starts to break down. Furthermore, consumers can always cut back their spending if they feel sales taxes are excessive. Homeowners have much more trouble cutting down on their property "consumption" if they feel tax rates are too high!
Rick Casey may not like the fact that the legislature has responded to disgruntled property owners by passing "truth in taxation" legislation, but his characterization of the issue as simply a concern of a few activists just doesn't ring true. And, as usual, his infantile attacks on those with whom he disagrees and his carrying water for political favorites really seem more appropriate for the opinion pages, not the metro/state news pages.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/05 09:58 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
(Revisionist) analysis poses as DC bureau news
Bennett Roth of the Chronicle's underwhelming D.C. bureau seems hardly unable to contain himself over the Libby indictments:
The criminal charges against the vice president's chief of staff are rooted in the controversy over the Bush administration's initial justification for invading Iraq.
With the U.S. military casualty rate in Iraq reaching the 2,000 mark this week and no weapons of mass destruction yet uncovered, the indictments against Lewis "Scooter" Libby could add fuel to the national debate about the wisdom of going to war.
Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald said Friday the indictments were "not about the propriety of the war." Nonetheless, the dispute over whether Saddam Hussein had stockpiled dangerous weapons sparked the legal case.
Patrick Fitzgerald says his case is "not about the propriety of the war," nonetheless a Chronicle reporter knows better!
Arrogance and hubris are hardly exclusive to the pols (of both parties) in Washington, it would seem.
Robert Kagan provided a useful corrective in advance of the indictments, in a Washington Post op-ed several days ago:
The Judith Miller-Valerie Plame-Scooter Libby imbroglio is being reduced to a simple narrative about the origins of the Iraq war. Miller, the story goes, was an anti-Saddam Hussein, weapons-of-mass-destruction-hunting zealot and was either an eager participant or an unwitting dupe in a campaign by Bush administration officials and Iraqi exiles to justify the invasion. The New York Times now characterizes the affair as "just one skirmish in the continuing battle over the Bush administration's justification for the war in Iraq." Miller may be "best known for her role in a series of Times articles in 2002 and 2003 that strongly suggested Saddam Hussein already had or was acquiring an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction." According to the Times's critique, she credulously reported information passed on by "a circle of Iraqi informants, defectors and exiles bent on 'regime change' in Iraq," which was then "eagerly confirmed by United States officials convinced of the need to intervene in Iraq." Many critics outside the Times suggest that Miller's eagerness to publish the Bush administration's line was the primary reason Americans went to war. The Times itself is edging closer to this version of events.
There is a big problem with this simple narrative. It is that the Times, along with The Post and other news organizations, ran many alarming stories about Iraq's weapons programs before the election of George W. Bush. A quick search through the Times archives before 2001 produces such headlines as "Iraq Has Network of Outside Help on Arms, Experts Say"(November 1998), "U.S. Says Iraq Aided Production of Chemical Weapons in Sudan"(August 1998), "Iraq Suspected of Secret Germ War Effort" (February 2000), "Signs of Iraqi Arms Buildup Bedevil U.S. Administration" (February 2000), "Flight Tests Show Iraq Has Resumed a Missile Program" (July 2000). (A somewhat shorter list can be compiled from The Post's archives, including a September 1998 headline: "Iraqi Work Toward A-Bomb Reported.") The Times stories were written by Barbara Crossette, Tim Weiner and Steven Lee Myers; Miller shared a byline on one.
[snip]
Many such stories appeared before and after the Clinton administration bombed Iraq for four days in late 1998 in what it insisted was an effort to degrade Iraqi weapons programs. The Times was not alone, of course. On Jan. 29, 2001, The Post editorialized that "of all the booby traps left behind by the Clinton administration, none is more dangerous -- or more urgent -- than the situation in Iraq. Over the last year, Mr. Clinton and his team quietly avoided dealing with, or calling attention to, the almost complete unraveling of a decade's efforts to isolate the regime of Saddam Hussein and prevent it from rebuilding its weapons of mass destruction. That leaves President Bush to confront a dismaying panorama in the Persian Gulf," including "intelligence photos that show the reconstruction of factories long suspected of producing chemical and biological weapons."
This was the consensus before Bush took office, before Scooter Libby assumed his post and before Judith Miller did most of the reporting for which she is now, uniquely, criticized. It was based on reporting by a large of number of journalists who in turn based their stories on the judgments of international intelligence analysts, Clinton officials and weapons inspectors. As we wage what the Times now calls "the continuing battle over the Bush administration's justification for the war in Iraq," we will have to grapple with the stubborn fact that the underlying rationale for the war was already in place when this administration arrived.
Of course, the Bush Administration built its case on multiple factors (WMDs being the rationale favored by Colin Powell and Tony Blair), although those factors are beyond the scope of this post, which is simply to point out that Bennett Roth's revisionist narrative is overly simplistic (and likely ideologically tinged) analysis posing as news coverage.
Kagan's op-ed is worth reading in its entirety.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/05 06:48 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
Chron obsesses over tired story
The Chronicle devotes yet more column space to the story of Councilmember Carol Alvarado's strange indifference towards actually obtaining her college degree, and the University of Houston's unusual speed in approving her waiver and granting her a degree after her political opponent pointed out her degree claims were inaccurate:
Within a few hours on Oct. 21, Alvarado obtained the bachelor of arts degree, retroactive to December 1992, after her District I opponent, attorney John Parras, distributed UH documents showing Alvarado had not been awarded the degree she had claimed for years.
UH officials said she had failed to complete a writing proficiency exam required to graduate in December 1992, when Alvarado completed her course work.
The writing proficiency requirement since has been dropped, and students who completed all other requirements can receive degrees, [UH Communications Director Eric] Gerber said.
[snip]
Requests for waivers typically are submitted on forms filed by students, but they can be submitted by advisers on behalf of students or simply noted on various documents, said Gerber.
"There is a general approval for the waiver to be granted," he said.
In the case of Alvarado, the waiver was noted last Friday on what is called a graduation certification check list after an audit of her course work.
"Turnaround time can vary widely, ranging from as little as one day to as long as two or three weeks, depending on the complexity of the request being made and the academic records involved," Gerber said.
Gerber said Alvarado's case was straightforward enough to be quickly resolved.
Many of us who have dealt with the University of Houston know from experience that Councilmember Alvarado's experience in getting this matter resolved so quickly is hardly the norm. One can understand that the university would like to accommodate a high-profile local pol as quickly as possible as it's in the university's interest to do so, but it strains credulity for anyone to suggest that the rapid disposition of Councilmember Alvarado's matter is the norm.
That said, this story really is over. Voters surely have enough information by now to decide whether this is anything but a trivial matter, and the Chronicle surely can find some local news that needs to be reported.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/05 06:14 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (3)
28 October 2005
A sports column just waiting to be written
Friend Tom Kirkendall picks up on a theme we've sounded here previously -- the fact that Texans GM Charley Casserly has been nearly immune to criticism until very recently.
Kirkendall goes on to refer to Chronicle columnist John McClain's previous fawning over Charley Casserly, and writes:
I would like to read an article by Mr. McClain that is based on thorough research that details the personnel choices of Mr. Casserly, compares those choices to alternatives that were available at the time of such choices, and analyzes why the choices that were made have come together to make the Texans the laughingstock of the NFL.
That's a great idea that we'll second, with one caveat: It doesn't have to be McClain. Any sports columnist who wants to tackle the topic is fine by me.
And why not? It's a good story just waiting to be written, and one that fairly cries out for treatment by a professional sports journalist with the research tools and time to do it properly.
Banjo Jones has gotten things off to a good start. But a truly comprehensive column would look into potential free agent signings over each year, potential salary cap impact, alternate draft picks, and the like.
How about it, local sports writers?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/28/05 05:19 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Chron runs chopped AP coverage of base closures
Today, the print version of the Houston Chronicle and Chron.com both ran an edited version of an Associated Press story on a House vote on base closures that will affect Ellington Field locally.
The fact that the Chronicle D.C. bureau did not cover this story of local relevance is about what we've come to expect. The editing of the AP story is also curious.
Beneath the [Read More] link, I've posted the original AP story as posted by the Fort Worth Star Telegram. The bolded portion represents what the Chronicle and Chron.com chose to cut from their versions.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/28/05 04:59 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Neighborhoods complain about graffiti; Mayor continues to "review"
The Chronicle has posted two "This Week" stories that cover Houston's worsening graffiti problem.
Kim Jackson reports on discussion of the problem at a Spring Branch meeting:
Spring Branch civic association members, police and government officials agreed last week to join forces to discourage the spread of gang membership and graffiti.
About 75 residents and a panel of state and local officials threw out several ideas and potential solutions to the problems at a town hall meeting focused on curbing the spread of gangs and graffiti in and around northwest Houston.
First on the list, several said, is the total elimination of graffiti, which often attracts other blight, and gang activity into an area.
"I am the father of a son who got sucked into the gang culture and it almost ruined his life," said Greg Rudichuk, a Spring Branch Oaks resident.
"All parents out there should know we must clean up our neighborhoods and keep them clean in order to keep the gangs out."
Tom Manning reports on the problem in the Heights:
Dean Swanson's bus route is getting shorter and shorter.
Since his retirement, Swanson, a Heights resident, has been operating Houston Heights Historic Tours, a bus tour of the neighborhood that gives visitors a chance to see some of the historic buildings in the Heights and hear the stories behind them.
But lately, Swanson said he has been forced to alter his tour routes because of the increase in graffiti that's been appearing on buildings in the Heights. It's a problem that continues to increase, he said, and one that he wants to see stopped.
"I'm getting ashamed of what I show people," said Swanson, who lives in the 800 block of Harvard and is also the Restoration-Historical Committee Chair of the Houston Heights Association. "I have to avoid certain places because there are things people don't need to be seeing."
In August, Swanson said he sent a letter to Mayor Bill White's office with some 20 addresses of buildings that fell victim to graffiti vandals in the previous two weeks. Not only did he say that he hardly received any response to his inquiry, but since then, the problem has gotten worse.
"The only response I got was from the former captain of Central Patrol, who said he forwarded it to the new captain and the gang unit," Swanson said. "I just wanted to see what they can do, but I haven't heard anything."
Graffiti eradication simply isn't a priority for Mayor White and his Council.
Both "This Week" stories cite HPD Assistant Police Chief Brian Lumpkin on the matter. Here's Manning's version:
When graffiti is reported to police, they forward the report to both the police department's Neighborhood Protection Corps and the city's Anti-Gang Office.
Graffiti that is reported by residents via the city's 3-1-1 Help Service Line is also reported to those entities.
"We're responsible for giving notice to buildings that have graffiti," said Assistant Police Chief Brian Lumpkin, who runs HPD's Neighborhood Protection Corps. "We play a role in identifying graffiti on private property, particularly property that doesn't have anyone there."
Once notice has been given on a property, the owner has 30 days to remove the graffiti. If that doesn't happen, the city will step in and remove the graffiti and, according to Neighborhood Protection's Web site, a lien will be placed on the property in order to recover the cost of doing so.
Judging by the explosion of ugly graffiti all over town, this system is obviously not working. And given the amount of graffiti that now covers the public infrastructure of the city, one would think it might become a priority for Mayor White, his Council, and his police chief.
If only they could figure out how to turn it into a revenue-stream possibility!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/28/05 04:21 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
Houston-area trees worth $205 billion!
KUHF-88.7 reports that the Texas Forest Service has completed a four-year study of Houston's trees and determined the value of our beautiful green canopy:
It took over four years, but the Texas Forest Service was able to count the trees in Houston and actually put a monetary number on what they're worth. According to the report, there are 663 million trees in the 8-county Houston region valued at over $205 billion. Pete Smith is the partnership coordinator with the Texas Forest Service. "That speaks volumes as to what they're really worth. That's just in the landscape. $456 million of annual environmental benefits, that's a big number. We really didn't have a good idea that trees were worth that much to us," he says.
Smith says the trees store $721 million worth of carbon and remove over 60,000 tons of air pollution every year.
The report points out that while Houston has an impressive urban forest canopy, 17-percent of those trees have been lost since 1992, a total of around 78 million trees. The losses are due in part to changes in how land is used and also because of invasive species of trees that are wiping out other species. Texas Forest Service Director Jim Hull says philosophies are changing. "In the past, maybe there could have been some things done that would have maintained some of these trees, but we're really looking now at establishing a baseline for the future," he says.
Save the trees! In my own little corner of Harris County we are losing more and more trees. Developers raze every last tree on a parcel of land to build something. Why? Why not save some, even if it's only around the perimeter? We are watching as a huge stand of trees is slowly being bulldozed on FM 2920 at Falvel Road. Also, various sections of land along Gosling Road are losing trees. Especially confounding is a new subdivision called Gosling Pines where there is not a single pine tree left standing! In fact, the development's landscaping includes...a few crape myrtles.
Trees add so much...it just kills me that many developers are short-sighted and find it easier to bulldoze them all.
RELATED: Trees for Houston
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/28/05 08:36 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)
Houston's property tax "cut" (wink, wink)
City Council voted to cut Houston's property tax rate on Wednesday and Matt Stiles reported on the disagreement over whether or not it's really a tax cut:
The council cut the city's tax rate by a quarter of a penny. But a new state law, passed with the goal of increasing elected officials' accountability to homeowners, forced the council to declare formally that it had raised taxes, since rising property values will bring in more city revenue.
The new rate — 64.75 cents per $100 valuation — means the owner of a $100,000 assessed house will pay the city $518 in annual property taxes with a typical 20 percent homestead exemption. The previous rate was 65 cents per $100 valuation, under which that homeowner would have paid $520.
The vote came after a contentious, 90-minute debate about whether the action amounted to a tax cut — or whether it was an increase.
"Ultimately, there will be some people whose taxes go up and some people whose taxes go down, because of the actions of the appraisal district, not the city," Mayor Bill White said.
The appraisal district determines the market value of property for taxation.
As Edd Hendee and Paul Bettencourt pointed out yesterday on Edd's morning show, the mayor is being disingenuous. He knows full well what the city's funding wants are and he knows how much the average homeowner's bill will rise each year to help fund the city's wants -- eight to ten percent -- so for him to say that the appraisal district is the bad guy and not the city, well, he knows better. But, of course, he hopes the average Houston homeowner will fall for it and not blame him.
Council members Shelley Sekula-Gibbs and Addie Wiseman voted against the rate cut, saying that it was, indeed, an increase. They also said it didn't provide enough tax relief.
Sekula-Gibbs proposed a new rate of 64.17 cents per $100 valuation. That figure, she said, represented the "effective" tax rate, the amount that would keep revenue level with the previous year minus new appraised properties or exceptions.
The council, by a 10-5 margin, voted against considering her plan, which would have reduced the city's revenue for the current fiscal year by about $9 million, she said.
Wiseman, who had tense exchanges with White and others on the council, was adamant that the panel had increased taxes. She forced Councilman Adrian Garcia, who read the motion with the language required by the state law, to repeat the phrase twice.
"The decision here is to raise taxes, but by a smaller amount," said Wiseman, who later issued a news release describing her "outrage."
The debate grew so tense that Councilwoman Ada Edwards at one point interrupted, saying, "Ms. Wiseman, this is not your meeting. You have to have some respect for the decorum of this body."
The decorum, the process, the tradition. True politicians always value those things above any real substantive debate and action. No rocking the boat!
Good for Councilmembers Wiseman and Sekula-Gibbs. Texas homeowners ARE being run over, trampled on and spit upon, due to this state's broken taxation system. How much longer can governmental bureaucracies strangle the golden goose? We are going to find out.
Sedosi has some thoughts on this looming trainwreck:
The Municipalities? As seen here they are quite comfortable taking in 5-10% revenue increases annually while having a convenient scapegoat on hand to blame for rising tax values.
[snip]
The fact is next year the City of Houston will get a pay raise from taxpayers at a rate that is higher than the Cost of Living Index and population growth. Most of this increase will come on the backs of property owners who are already struggling under increased fuel and food prices.
Some will say that this isn't a problem, that the "issue" is Conservatives wanting to give more to the rich.
Except its not the rich that are going to be forced out of their homes, it's the poor and middle class that are feeling the crunch the hardest.
I would only add to those on-target points that even with a 65-exemption, many of Texas' retired homeowners cannot indefinitely afford property tax bills that increase much faster than their retirement funds do. Soon, very soon, Texas' system will have to be fixed and hard choices will have to be made. Unfortunately, many politicians prefer the ostrich-approach.
RELATED: Doug Miller's (KHOU-11) coverage, which gives the mayor and the city a pass. Miller needs some educatin' on Texas' property tax system with statements like this:
But of course, Houston's booming housing market brings higher home prices and higher home prices generally bring homeowners higher property tax bills.
No. On average Houston-area homes sell for eleven percent under fair market value. Which means that Houston homes are "worth" more than they are selling for. How did they get that higher worth? Appraisal increases that have nothing to do with a home's true worth! Appraisal increases, instead, are based on government funding wants.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/28/05 07:49 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
Local bloggers' voting suggestions
Sedosi and Matt Bramanti have each helpfully provided their own recommendations for voting on the proposed constitutional amendments.
The only proposition I am going to opine about here is Proposition 9, and I strongly support a NO vote, like Sedosi and Matt do. Here's Sedosi's take:
Prop 9: The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for a six-year term for a board member of a regional mobility authority.
Position: Opposed The thought behind this amendment is that appointees need longer terms to do long range planning more effectively. What is lost here is that most long range planning is handled in 20 year increments, so this would have no effect on its efficacy one way or another. What this WOULD do is make regional transportation authorities even LESS accountable to the public. Some, of course, would view that as a GOOD thing. Of course, these same people tell you that your vote is important to them....
And Matt's:
Proposition 9: Against. Longer terms for mobility board members would only make them even less accountable to the public than they currently are.
Yes. We are looking for MORE accountability and transparency in our governmental bureacracies, not less.
It's also worth pointing out that the Chronicle's editorial board recommended voting YES. How unsurprising.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/28/05 06:56 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Chron endorsements for council districts H and I
The Chronicle editorial board offered more Council endorsements yesterday. It's hardly a shocker that they like the incumbents in District H and District I. They might have posted all of their endorsements prior to the start of early voting, however.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/28/05 06:15 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
27 October 2005
Thanks Astros -- it was a wild ride!
Thanks to the Astros for making it to the World Series and giving us all something to cheer about and obsess over.
(now what are we going to do?)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/27/05 08:58 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (7)
26 October 2005
METRO ridership study posted
Further to this post from earlier, the final powerpoint version of the $250,000 ridership study commissioned by METRO is available here. The file is large (roughly 2 MB) and best suited for broadband internet connections.
Thanks to Tom Bazan for being persistent and obtaining the report.
It should have been posted by METRO on their website. For that matter, some of our enterprising local media might well have obtained it and posted it online.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/26/05 08:38 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
Metro's September data
Royko beat me to the post -- about Metro's September ridership and fare data -- so I'll link to his comment and point out that Metro's numbers are not encouraging:
-- Train boardings are up, but Metro's counting method is misleading.
-- Ticket vending machine (TVM) revenue is down from September 2004.
-- Bus ridership declined from September 2004.
-- Fare box revenue is down from September 2004.
Is it any wonder Metro has decided to go into real estate development?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/26/05 11:21 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
Metro's $250,000 ridership study
You'll recall that Metro commissioned a study to figure out why bus ridership has steadily declined over the past several years. We've offered our own (free of charge) reasons, but strangely, Metro officials still felt the need to spend $250,000 to figure it out. Tom Bazan got his hands on the study and here is the summary and the recommended fixes:
In order to make significant gains in ridership METRO must…
-- Improve the efficiency of the system – Commuters will not ride the bus if they believe their trip will be longer than if they drove alone.
-- Change the negative stereotype associated with riding the bus – Commuters shouldn’t need to justify to their peers why they are taking the bus.
In a market where 66% of residents are opposed to riding the bus, METRO must find ways to incrementally increase ridership.
-- Target segments of the population open to trying the bus
-- Target segments of the current riders open to riding more frequently
Ways to increase ridership:
-- Improve security at Park ‘n Rides and at stops
-- Improve security on the bus
-- Make it easy to find information on how to use the system, routes, schedules
-- Expand the number of direct and express routes, especially from Park ‘n Rides
-- Add more bus shelters
-- Initiate training for bus drivers focusing on people skills
And there you have it. That's what a quarter of a million dollars bought Harris County residents/taxpayers. Oh sure there are lots of pages in the Power Point study -- 70 to be exact -- but that's the summary.
You'll notice that the study does not recommend cutting bus routes as a means of increasing ridership. Amazing!
I'll add that stories like the one Rad Sallee brought us in August also show why Metro has a bus ridership problem:
Then there's Terrence Wilson, who was paralyzed from the waist down in a motorcycle accident 24 years ago. Wilson, 49, depends on Metro buses and his motorized wheelchair to get around.
Because many streets in his Acres Homes neighborhood lack sidewalks, Metro built a concrete slab on the shoulder for his wheelchair, he said. But over the years, his regular bus was replaced with a circulating shuttle, and then Metro shortened that route. It no longer passes his home, and Wilson said he now rides his chair in the street for a risky 1 1/2 miles to reach the bus stop.
That doesn't seem ideal.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/26/05 09:47 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (9)
Floodgates are beginning to open on Casserly
Word must have gotten around the Chronicle that it's now okay to mention general manager Charley Casserly's name in connection with the awful play by the Texans so far this season.
Here's John McClain in today's newspaper:
It's mystifying how a team can fall so far so fast on both sides of the ball. Fans are certain they know who to blame.
Some are sure it's general manager Charley Casserly's fault because he's the one who drafts the players and signs free agents.
Others are sure it's coach Dom Capers' fault because he hires the assistants and approves the offensive and defensive systems.
In truth, the blame for this monumental collapse should be shared equally by Casserly and Capers. That's not a cop-out; that's a fact.
Thanks for clearing that up for us "fans."
Here's some clarity of my own for the bigshot professional sports columnist: Until recently, too many sports journalists in this town seemed convinced Charley Casserly was not at all to blame, if we are to judge by the dearth of criticism from the city's professional sports journalists of the GM's role in putting this terrible team together.
Of course Casserly and Capers are to blame. It's good to see some of our professional print journalists in town starting to come around to that view. It's still not clear why Casserly has merited such hands-off treatment for so long, though.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/26/05 08:32 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
25 October 2005
Chron profiles at-large position 1 council race
Matt Stiles continues the Chronicle's recent coverage of local political races with a profile of the contest for City Council's at-large Position 1:
Architect and urban planner Peter Brown is the front-runner in the race for Houston City Council at-large Position 1, but his two opponents say they believe their grass-roots campaigns could make the contest interesting.
Brown, retired Air Force officer Roy Morales and private investigator Michael "Griff" Griffin are vying to fill the seat being vacated by term-limited Councilman Mark Ellis.
Morales and Griffin say they can compete with Brown, who began campaigning six months after his 2003 runoff loss to Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, even though he's out-raised them in campaign donations by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Brown, 69, said his experience — he's overseen numerous city building and parks projects in Houston and other cities — uniquely qualifies him to accomplish his top goals: neighborhood revitalization and urban redevelopment.
A major force behind the Main Street Coalition, which pushed for the light rail line between downtown and Reliant Park, Brown said he would work to lure more residents back into the city from suburban areas.
The combination of weak opponents, Brown's name ID, and Brown's fundraising are probably going to result in Brown's election, but not everyone in Houston would count the dangerous, inefficient light-rail line as a strike in his favor.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/25/05 10:42 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
Metro board meetings on Thursday
Metro board meetings are scheduled for Thursday and the notices contain some interesting items up for discussion. The first item of interest is the second entry in the Finance/Audit committee agenda:
Authorization for the President & CEO to negotiate, execute and deliver a contract for a credit facility for commercial paper
Commerical paper translation: An unsecured obligation issued by a corporation or bank to finance its short-term credit needs, such as accounts receivable and inventory. (We've brought up the issue of Metro and commercial paper before.)
Next up, this is from the Human Resources Committee agenda:
Authorization for the President & CEO to execute and deliver a contract for temporary personnel services
Metro recently announced layoffs.
Then we have this howler from the Operations Committee agenda:
*Status Report on METRORail Fare Enforcement
Well, since Metro's fare recovery rate is considered low by industry standards (15%), that report shouldn't take too long. (Actually, Laurence Simon has a report on fare enforcement.)
And here are the highlights from the Executive Session meeting:
1. Request Board authorization for the President & CEO to negotiate, execute and deliver agreements between METRO and Transwestern Development Company, L.P. dba Transwestern Commercial Services, LLC ("TDC") for a transit oriented joint development project located on the TMC Transit Center.
2. Request Board authorization for the President & CEO to negotiate, execute and deliver agreements relating to a transit oriented joint development project at the Cypress Park & Ride facility.
Hmmmm. We know what the TMC project is. What's going on at the Cypress Park & Ride?
With any luck, some intrepid local media reporter will have a full report on all these exciting agenda items.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/25/05 03:59 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (2)
Casserly begins to draw fire locally
Not everyone at the Chronicle is on board with lady sportswriter Emily Davis' assessment that things are looking up with the Texans' offense. Indeed, columnist Richard Justice gets downright mean with Texans GM Charley Casserly on his blog (at least by recent Chronicle standards):
Bob McNair has offered no hint about what he'll do. But if he cleans out the coaching staff without firing general manager Charley Casserly as well, that would be ridiculous.
No matter what you think of the coaches - and it's hard to say anything good - the Texans simply don't have enough good players.
The national media also are beating up on Casserly today:
It's time to clean house in Houston. Dumping offensive coordinator Chris Palmer was only the beginning. At this point, head coach Dom Capers is the next guy out the door and general manager Charley Casserly isn't safe, either. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Quarterback David Carr isn't the only problem on this team. I don't see much help around him -- on either side of the ball -- and that's an issue that goes straight to the front office.
It's a shame that the early years of the Texans' franchise have effectively been wasted because of so many poor decisions.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/25/05 12:12 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (3)
Oh my: what was Metro thinking?
You will not believe what Laurence Simon noticed on a Metro bus this morning.
Seriously. Go check it out.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/25/05 09:11 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
Alvarado's one-day graduation-status change interests opponent, media
Of all the pressing problems that Houston City Council candidates might be discussing and debating, one wouldn't have thought that Councilmember Alvarado's strange indifference to actually obtaining her college degree would still be news this week.
One would be wrong.
KHOU-11's Doug Miller covered the story last night:
"I immediately started getting all of my paperwork from the alumni. I mean, they don't do that unless you've completed all the hours," Alvarado said.
[snip]
Last week, Alvarado's political opponent found out that she did not actually have the college degree she had always claimed she had earned. So he said someone from his campaign contacted a newspaper reporter, who in turn contacted Alvarado for comment. That was on Thursday. Within 24 hours, the University of Houston had issued Alvarado a college degree.
The University said privacy laws prevent it from saying anything specific about Alvarado without Alvarado's permission and she hasn't given it.
But in a written statement, UH said students were once required to take a written exam before getting their degrees. According to the statement, "the Writing Proficiency Requirement or Exam, was dropped. Since that time, students who had enrolled under earlier degree plans have been allowed to petition to waive this obsolete requirement. Such requests are routinely approved."
"This has happened before and they've been able to resolve it before," said Alvarado.
It has surely happened before, but it's just odd that Alvarado was so indifferent towards actually making sure she had fulfilled the requirements of graduation. As the bolded portion goes, I filed graduation papers one semester before finishing my dissertation and actually obtaining the degree, and that was enough to get me on the Alumni Association mailing list, so that doesn't really explain the indifference.
The Chronicle also ran coverage of this story today, devoting two reporters to it:
Carol Alvarado's opponent continued to call for her resignation Monday, suggesting the two-term councilwoman used political influence to get a University of Houston degree in one day that she had claimed to have had for years.
Alvarado, who dismissed the issue Monday as "negative politics," said she was consulting with personal and UH attorneys about releasing her academic records in response to media questions while still maintaining some privacy.
Meanwhile, a UH System regent said the issue may be something for the board to discuss at a future meeting.
"It does seem strange that it could happen so fast, but I really don't have any information beyond what I read in the paper," said Regent Morgan Dunn O'Connor.
[snip]
Officials in the UH registrar's office Friday morning confirmed Alvarado did not have a degree. By late Friday afternoon, however, other UH officials said she did.
[snip]
Parras said he thinks Alvarado drew on her political contacts and influence to fast-track a waiver of the process that other, less prominent, students could not navigate so quickly.
Being somewhat experienced with how slowly and inefficiently administrative matters tend to move at the University of Houston's main campus, I also find it a little surprising that Councilmember Alvarado's status managed to change from non-graduate to graduate in part of one day. Furthermore, her indifference towards actually obtaining her degree is odd to me. Still, this doesn't seem to merit the amount of media coverage it's getting, especially when there are interesting races for other Council positions.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/25/05 08:06 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (6)
24 October 2005
Mack profiles at-large position 2 candidates
The Chronicle's Kristen Mack profiles the candidates vying to replace Councilmember Gordon Quan in the race for City Council's at-large position 2 today.
It's a quick and dirty look at the five candidates, unfortunately, because of the usual space limitations of the print edition.
Wouldn't it be useful if Chron.com beefed up its coverage of local elections with a timely local politics blog?
That's something on the wish list for 2007, I guess.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/24/05 09:41 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
How did that make it onto the sports pages?
The Chronicle's David Barron did something that we didn't think was allowed on the newspaper's sports pages today: He criticized Houston Texans general manager Charley Casserly.
Sort of.
Barron didn't actually criticize Casserly himself -- we're not sure if that's allowed on the Chronicle sports pages -- but he did repeat criticism of Casserly seen on the television:
Fox Sports analyst Jimmy Johnson certainly raised some eyebrows with this sound bite: "A long time ago, before I got into the NFL, Marty Schottenheimer once told me not to worry about the team owner — worry about the guy sitting next to him, whispering in his ear.
"So many times coaches are criticized when the blame should fall on personnel. (Texans general manager) Charley Casserly needs to be evaluated for some of the personnel decisions that were made when Dom Capers was there"
Raised eyebrows indeed! Because what would an NFL Super Bowl and college National Championship-winning coach know about these things?
Besides, we also learned from the Chronicle sports reporter Emily Davis today that the Texans' problems on offense are nearly solved after yesterday's 38-20 loss:
The Texans might not like the bed they've made. But they might be able to sleep a little easier now that things seem to be looking up on offense.
The Texans generated six net yards passing yesterday, and 139 yards total.
Apparently there's no reason for any Chronicle sportswriter to criticize Charley Casserly, since "things seem to be looking up on offense."
So if they get seven yards passing next week, will the Chronicle have Casserly in the running for GM of the Year?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/24/05 09:24 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
A light rail editorial sans rose-colored glasses
Of course, it's no secret that the Chronicle's editorial board members are big fans of Metro and specifically light rail. You'll recall these editorial highlights:
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.
And:
If Metro's proposal would produce public benefits faster and less expensively, why would anyone object? Here is a chance to reduce the government waste that frugal taxpayers decry.
The voters have spoken. Houston needs mobility improvements that include an expanded rail transit component as well as one of the nation's better bus systems. The next time Metro and the majority of voters in its service area say "Jump," their representatives in Congress should ask, "How high?"
Now take a look at an editorial board opinion that isn't colored by wishful thinking:
On Thursday, the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada unveiled its latest justification for a 33-mile light rail boondoggle that would span the Las Vegas Valley. The county's transit authority hailed a report from the Parsons Transportation Group that says light rail is a cost-effective way to ease traffic congestion.
Although the Parsons group was paid gobs of public money for its work, these consultants clearly didn't consider county taxpayers their clients. If they had, they might have told the RTC's empire builders the truth about light rail: It costs a fortune, it doesn't relieve congestion, it never pays for itself and it actually hurts mass transit ridership.
AdvertisementDon't believe it? Download Randal O'Toole's recent study, "Rail Disasters 2005" at www.reason.org/ps336.pdf.
Mr. O'Toole's research, which is based on more than 20 years of ridership and transit data, exposes light rail cheerleading as delusional.
Cities with successful bus lines get a sniff of the federal subsidies available for mass transit and want a bite. Consultants and bureaucrats provide inflated ridership estimates. Local and state governments then bury themselves in construction debt, convinced that people will abandon their vehicles for expensive, inconvenient trolley rides. When the riders don't materialize, already high fares are raised to cover operational costs and bus service is slashed. Ridership drops, and taxpayers cover the debts.
The RTC and its light rail steering committee have to come to their senses and realize that there are no light rail success stories. The proposed line from Henderson to North Las Vegas is a multi-billion-dollar white elephant that will leave valley taxpayers trampled.
Doesn't the contrast just make you want to cry?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/24/05 05:05 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
Whatever works
After losing both games in Chicago, the Astros have decided those "lucky beards" may be bush league. They've decided to trim the bushy beards down to goatees to see if that brings better luck.
Veterans Jeff Bagwell and Brad Ausmus made the call, according to rookie Chris Burke.
"I found out by word of mouth, through the grapevine in the clubhouse," Burke said in his Astros.com blog. "I saw a couple of guys at the sink shaving it up. They informed me that Bagwell had made the executive decision to remove the beards and hopefully change our luck."
And then there's this:
The winds of change may also be blowing through Minute Maid Park for Games 3, 4, and 5. The Astros are considering keeping the roof open.
The weather is expected to be gorgeous Tuesday and Wednesday with highs in the 70s and overnight lows dipping as low as the 40s.
The Astros kept the roof closed during the NLCS against the Cardinals because of the noise factor, but may be leaning the other way this time around.
"We've talked about it," general manager Tim Purpura told MLB.com. "The roof opening and closing has more to do with fan comfort than anything else. Maybe we ought to open it up and showcase our city.
Purpura said MLB's input will factor into the decision.
Many players said they prefer to play under a closed roof because the crowd noise helps with the homefield advantage.
Showcase the city vs. noise advantage. I know which way I'd lean, but I'm not a baseball expert.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/24/05 11:53 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)
Frank Wilson: This is not your father's METRO
Metro has finally posted online the press release it issued last week announcing its new real estate development venture:
METRO, Transwestern Launch Visionary TMC Development
Oct. 21, 2005METRO and Transwestern Development Company of Houston today announced they plan to jointly launch a $105-million mixed use development atop the Texas Medical Center Transit Center.
The project, designed to serve as a "gateway" to TMC, will include a 175-suite, full-amenities hotel, including meeting facilities, lounge and ballrooms; 30 condominiums above the hotel; 35,000 square feet of retail space accessible by sky bridge; and an elevated park-like setting with a 168,000-square foot medical office building and a 15,000-square foot wellness center and spa.
[snip]
""This will give Houston its first good look at the new METRO," said METRO Board Chairman David S. Wolff, "leveraging our properties to create developments that give something of value to the community while creating ridership for our transit system."
METRO President and CEO Frank Wilson said transit oriented development and other innovations are illustrative of the Authority's transformation. "Our co-development in the Medical Center and the innovative approaches we're taking to build Phase 2 of METRO Solutions should make it clear to everyone that this is not your father's METRO."
Owen Courrèges and Kevin Whited have long followed Metro, and I believe both have stated before that the Metro of old (you know, "your father's METRO") was nationally recognized as having a pretty good bus transit system.
Those who depend on Metro to get around probably long for the old Metro to return.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/24/05 11:12 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (3)
Council votes on tax rate increase Wednesday
Maybe I need to get my eyes checked because here's another COH notice I seem to have missed:
Notice of Vote on Tax Rate
The City of Houston conducted public hearings on a proposal to increase the total tax revenues of the City of Houston from properties on the tax roll in the preceding year by 1.27 percent on October 12th at 9:30 A.M. and on October 19th at 9 A.M.
The City Council of the City of Houston is scheduled to vote on the tax rate that will result in that tax increase at a public meeting to be held on October 26, 2005 at 9 A.M. at City of Houston Council Chambers, 901 Bagby, Houston, Texas 77002.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/24/05 07:43 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (4)
23 October 2005
Will sidewalk squatters have to evacuate during World Series?
The Chronicle's Cynthia Leonor Garza reports on the concerns of homeless people over the World Series:
From his makeshift sidewalk home just a block from Minute Maid Park, Frank listened to the radio Wednesday night as the Astros clinched the National League championship — and quietly rejoiced.
Frank, who is homeless and did not want to give his last name, said he was glad the Astros won, and that he waved at the passers-by honking their car horns throughout the night on their way to Main Street.
[snip]
As Houstonians prepare for the biggest sporting event to hit town since the 2004 Super Bowl, some of the city's homeless expect to be asked to leave the party before it begins.
Frank said he's trying to keep his living area clean and make it look presentable for visitors, but he's also prepared to move along — something he and other downtown homeless people said is inevitable when there's a game at the ballpark.
[snip]
"The city doesn't want them panhandling," said Kevin Walsh, a Salvation Army case manager, who said he expects most of the homeless will scatter on days the World Series games are played downtown.
He added, "All major cities have homeless. That's just part of the landscape, and we do the best that we can trying to deal with the homeless, ... and as long as they're moving they have the right to walk the streets as anybody else."
[snip]
Frank Michel, spokesman for Mayor Bill White, said that the World Series is very different from the Super Bowl, with fewer out-of-town guests anticipated. The city has no plans to round up or shift people, he said.
"As long as people obey the laws, they won't have a lot of problems," Michel said. "We don't expect that would be different for anybody, no matter where their home is."
So here's a question that apparently wasn't interesting to the Chronicle reporter and/or her editors: How is a "makeshift sidewalk home" consistent with walking the streets and obeying the laws?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/23/05 10:33 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
Will "lifestyle" remodel reverse decline in market share?
Safeway must be really pleased with the Chronicle's David Kaplan after this puff piece on the announced "lifestyle" remodeling of the Randalls chain that has collapsed under the California grocer's ownership.
Safeway has so mismanaged the Randalls chain to this point that one wonders if there's any chance of even holding the market share the stores currently enjoy, especially given the store closures that were recently announced.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/23/05 10:22 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Campaign season a good time to correct technical oversights
Campaign season is a good time for politicians to correct little "technical oversight[s]" that they've been (knowingly or unknowingly) fibbing about for years.
And so, the Chronicle's Lori Rodriquez reports on a little "technical oversight" that Councilmember Carol Alvarado's opponent brought to light this week:
In voter's guide information submitted to the Chronicle when she first ran for City Council in 2001, 2003 and this year, Alvarado says she attended UH from 1987 to 1992 and received her degree. Her City Council Web site and campaign literature also list the degree.
Alvarado's District I opponent, lawyer John Parras, said Friday he began looking into Alvarado's educational credentials after an anonymous tipster left a message on his campaign office phone that she had not graduated.
"As a lawyer, I decided to investigate and share the information with my campaign supporters. I personally went to UH to get written verification," said Parras. "I was shocked when I learned that it was true."
The UH verification documents, dated Thursday, say that Alvarado attended the college of social sciences from 1987 through 1992. "The student intends to pursue a degree, however has not yet formally declared a major and degree objective," the document states, adding it reflected Alvarado's academic record as of Thursday.
[snip]
After Parras obtained and publicized the verification documents, Alvarado said, she called the university and learned that she had completed her course work, but hadn't fulfilled a "written proficiency exam."
"I was never notified by university officials that I needed this," she said.
The requirement has since been dropped, Alvarado said.
She moved to Washington, D.C., soon after completing her course work, and did not request a diploma, she said. "I'd like to clear this up," she said. "This has no bearing on the job I've done over the years."
Didn't Councilmember Alvarado think it odd that she never received a diploma? And aren't most college students concerned about getting that piece of paper?
Even if Councilmember Alvarado did not deliberately mislead, her inattention to the details of actually graduating is a little surprising.
But is it really this troubling?
Parras called for Alvarado to resign the seat she has held since 2002.
"She's betrayed the public trust, and I believe she should do the only honorable thing, which is withdraw from the race and resign her seat," he said.
Generally, that is the sort of rhetoric one hears from a desperate candidate with no other issues and no good chance of winning.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/23/05 10:02 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
Bring home a win, 'Stros
Laurence is hiding under his bed, and I'm pouring a second, bigger margarita.
UPDATE: I'm with Sedosi: This Series is going to kill me....
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/23/05 08:15 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
Progress on Houston's world-class downtown park
I missed this one a while back: Mayor White's press release on the ongoing development of the new downtown park:
October 12, 2005 -- Today, the Houston Downtown Park Conservancy shared preliminary design ideas for Houston's new downtown park with Mayor Bill White. The preliminary design concepts were prepared using public feedback received earlier this year outlining features that Houstonians felt would enhance our city. In addition to previewing these preliminary ideas with Mayor White, the design team of Hargreaves Associates, PageSoutherlandPage and Lauren Griffith Associates will present the design ideas at two public meetings in October and November. The design process began in July 2005 and will proceed over the next eight months. During this time, the design team will continue to incorporate feedback from downtown constituents and the public.
Nancy Kinder, Chair of the Houston Downtown Park Conservancy, also advised Mayor White that the Conservancy had accomplished its initial goal of raising $40 million for construction and design. The Park Conservancy will carry on its fundraising efforts throughout the project.
[snip]
“I am thrilled with the progress that the Houston Downtown Conservancy is making,” states Mayor White. “The design process is well underway and the ideas I saw today were exciting. I'm also very pleased to learn that the Conservancy has already achieved a major fundraising milestone.”
One meeting was held on October 12th, and another one is scheduled for November 2nd.
On the downtown park's website, there is an artist's rendering of what it might look like. It's lovely and very pedestrian-ish. Houston's homeless will be thrilled! And just think of the ticketing opportunities for Operation Jaywalking!
PREVIOUSLY: The Bill White Vermin And Solid Waste Memorial Park (bH)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/23/05 10:56 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chron endorses Mayor White for second term
The Chronicle has glowingly endorsed Mayor White for reelection. Actually, glowingly doesn't quite describe it. It's so syrupy-sweet it'll make your teeth hurt. There are a few bits, however, that make me wonder what in the world the idealists are talking about:
First up was the issue of putting the city's massive unfunded liability for future pension payments to retired employees on a sound financial footing.
Transferring the pension mess to the underperforming, city-owned Hilton Americas might not be called "a sound financial footing." In fact, Fitch downgraded Houston's bond rating back in March citing concerns with "large unfunded pension liabilities," and recently expressed concern again, saying that it views "the city's debt financing of a portion of the city's annual contribution to both the municipal and police pension systems as an indication of financial stress and considers this funding approach an unfavorable credit factor."
Sound financial footing? That's questionable. But any downside to "fixing" the pension problem the way Mayor White did will probably not become apparent until after he's moved on to a higher elected office.
Recently, White achieved a major goal for his first term by securing approval from Houston firefighters for a new wage and labor contract that provides for a salary hike that aligns their compensation with other Texas cities.
Well, there were a few problems down that road, as Mayor White tried to play hardball with the firefighters, and in turn was dealt a rare public defeat by the city's firefighters. A new contract finally was approved, after all that played itself out.
White's strengths as a corporate manager have served him well in dealing with financial and technical issues, but they have backfired a few times when he rolled out new programs without first selling them to constituents.
An initial wave of criticism followed the launch of the Safe Clear freeway towing program due to concerns for low-income motorists who would face steep towing fees.
[snip]
When state legislators threatened to outlaw Safe Clear, the mayor worked out an opposition-defusing compromise with politically powerful Houston Democrat Sen. John Whitmire.
This one really astounds me. The editorial board at Houston's lone major daily paper fails to mention the news that SafeClear must undergo a big overhaul due to a judge's ruling. That changes the whole issue, and the idealists in their ideal state either don't know about it or decided to ignore it! Wow!
After years of deadlock, White secured the support from Reps. Tom DeLay and John Culberson and from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison that resulted in Houston finally receiving federal transit dollars for light rail projects.
Eh, saying "light rail projects" is a bit generous. The revised plan (that voters haven't approved) includes one new light rail project, an extension of the "booming" Main Street light rail line, and many miles of (don't say Bus) Rapid Transit and commuter rail.
There's also plenty of unfinished business from his first term to deal with, including the lingering cleanup of the Houston police crime lab.
Not to mention a police manpower shortage, which the editorial fails to, uh, mention.
And then there's this:
Implementing the regional mass transit plan with additional light rail lines will be another challenge, as will hanging on to federal transit funding in the face of the current instability in Houston's congressional leadership.
The idealists are ever-hopeful, aren't they?
There are other things the editorial board doesn't mention, besides the police manpower shortage, including Prop. 2 (which the voters approved and which Mayor White is fighting), the mayor's desire to fund an African-American museum, the mayor's push for a grand new downtown park, the mayor's underwhelming interest in the growing problem of graffiti, the neverending problems at the Houston Emergency Center, the mayor's program to harass downtown pedestrians, and the MediaSource brouhaha.
RELATED: Sedosi has some similar thoughts on Mrs. White's love letter to her man.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/23/05 09:17 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
Real proof that longer yellow-light times reduce red-light running
I keep saying that lengthening yellow-light times is THE way to reduce red-light running, and here's why (via The Newspaper):
Mesa’s [Arizona] red–light camera citations dropped by more than half after the city added a second of time to the yellow arrow lights at double–laned left turns. Officials then doubted the effect would last as motorists got used to the four–second yellow light.
But it has. Mesa police said the number of red–light camera citations never recovered from the plummet it took in mid–November at the six intersections where the yellow–light times were changed. At those sites, camera citations went from 1,640 in November to 716 in December. In March, the cameras recorded 734 violations.
That was back in 2001. Mesa, Arizona, never did recover the lost red-light camera revenue and has now turned to speed cameras, coupled with lower speed limits.
During the red-light camera debate last December, two councilmembers asked Mayor White to consider lengthening yellow-light times, to no avail.
It is worth pointing out again that eighty percent of red-light running occurs in the first second after a light has turned red. Yes, there will always be a percentage of people who run red lights, but if the goal is to reduce that number overall and increase safety, lengthening yellow-times is more effective than revenue-generating red-light cameras.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/23/05 08:49 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (7)
22 October 2005
Market Square to hold World Series viewing parties
Market Square is the place to be if you want to watch Game 1 tonight downtown in a big crowd:
The Downtown Entertainment District announced that the first viewing party will be held for the first game between the Astros and White Sox on Saturday.
Market Square Park and the adjacent parking lot will be transformed into Astros headquarters for both home and away games throughout the World Series pennant race, officials said.
The viewing parties will feature two screening areas, concessions and entertainment.
Patrons are invited to bring blankets to the events. However, no outside coolers, beverages, lawn chairs or pets are allowed.
The festival site will include street closures on Saturday and Sunday on Preston Street between Milam and Travis beginning at 3 p.m. Travis will close both days at 7 p.m. between Prairie and Congress, as well.
I kind of thought that maybe Minute Maid would be opened up (for a reduced price) so fans could watch the away games in the 'Stros' stadium. Ah well, it'll surely be a party downtown nonetheless, and the weather will be magnificent. Go 'Stros!
RELATED: Downtown Entertainment District information
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/22/05 07:54 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (3)
21 October 2005
I-45 expansion plan update
Plans to expand I-45, the North Freeway, are moving forward again. A Houston-Galveston area council committee approved the revised plan today. It'll now go before the Transportation Policy Council next week
The I-45 plan now expands the options the Texas Department of Transportation will study ... including putting part of the freeway in a tunnel or putting some of the additional capacity on the Hardy Toll Road.
TX-DOT Trasportation Planning Development Director Gaberiel Johnson argued for the plan to be approved reminding everyone I-45 is an evacuation route. Johnson, who is a member of the committee, says the plan needs to go to the next step.
John Wilson sits on the committee as well and says TX-DOT has addressed most of the concerns. But he says it's still not complete and feels it's premature to move the plan forward.
The different ways of expanding the traffic load will be studied in the next phase which could take a couple of years.
I wonder if our experience with Hurricane Rita will be the excuse expansion proponents offer up to push the plan forward.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/21/05 07:56 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
Gasp: Instapundit disses Texas BBQ
Ahem. It appears that Instapundit has a problem with Texas BBQ:
IT'S THE SMELL OF TEXAS HOME COOKIN' -- and I don't mean that beef stuff they pass off as barbecue.
WHAT?! That boy needs to clear his head and get right with the Lord.
Laurence suggests that a family-friendly blogger (blogHOUSTON fits that bill!) invites Glenn to the Rodeo Cookoff in February. Okay then, come on down Mr. Reynolds and have some Texas BBQ!
We can also hold the next Houston blogger gathering at a Goode Co. restaurant, for some delicious Texas BBQ, if Mr. Reynolds wants to join us. =)
I do like this email he posted from an offended Texan:
Just because you hillbillies in Tennessee don’t have the money to raise cattle the way we do here in Texas, doesn’t mean you know how to barbeque. I grew up in Kansas City and have my share of time in Memphis and Chicago and used to be an apostate about barbeque until I moved to central Texas and saw the light. There is no piece of meat of any kind made in the world that can exceed a piece of brisket from the Kretz Market in Lockhart, Texas. They were making barbeque there when people in Tennessee were still living in trees and eating pig guts.
As some famous blogger might say, heh.
RELATED: LST is on high alert
MORE RELATED: Bernard Higgins at A Certain Slant of Light liveblogged a Texas-style BBQ beef brisket recently and adds the pictures to a post today, with an invitation to Instapundit. Mmmmmmm -- it looks deeee-licious!
EVEN MORE RELATED: bH commenter chw9989 has written up his own BBQ thoughts. Here's a small taste:
Barbecue brings out a passion for food in people that might otherwise be content to eat beef stroganoff from a box every night without ever wondering if there's something out there that's better. Everyone (I don't care where you're from) knows someone who knows someone with a great dry rub, or a family recipe for sauce, or some special way of roasting a certain cut that makes it delectable. Barbecue is one of the things in America that reminds us all of the connections we can make with one another through food - it's not just a meal, it's a regional identity, a family heirloom, an absolutely indispensable part of a family gathering.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/21/05 04:26 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
I-10 closed this weekend at the West Loop
Watch out for this freeway closure beginning tonight:
The Katy Freeway will be shut down all weekend beginning at 9 p.m. Friday.
The eastbound and westbound lanes of Interstate 10 Katy Freeway at Loop 610 West will be closed for construction between Washington and Silber until 5 a.m. Monday.
In addition, four connector ramps also will be closed during this time.
Texas Department of Transportation contractor crews will work to finish the demolition and removal of the out-of-service northbound lanes of the Loop 610 West south of U.S. 290.
The Chronicle's story also lists other closures and detours.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/21/05 09:53 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chronicle should put more Darfur reporting on news pages
The Chronicle's editorial board has written again on the crisis in Darfur, Sudan:
Recently, refugees began clearing out of camps and returning to their land to plant crops in the hopes that African Union peacekeepers, a negotiated cease-fire and ongoing peace talks in the Nigerian capital of Abuja would return this desert region in western Sudan to some semblance of normalcy. The razing of villages had subsided, though cynics contended it was because hundreds already had been destroyed.
The fact of the matter, according to accounts this week in the New York Times and elsewhere, is that the situation indeed has changed. It has grown worse.
[snip]
The escalating violence has hindered United Nations humanitarian efforts to provide displaced Sudanese with food and medical care.
These events are a grim reminder that the problems in Darfur are far from solved. The world must not divert its attention.
It's a welcome editorial, but what's weird is to look at the Chronicle's archives to see the extent of Darfur reporting on the news pages going back to June 1:
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/21/05 08:04 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (5)
Metro's trying to emulate Dallas with new development
Nancy Sarnoff has more details on Metro's foray into real estate development:
The city's transit authority has selected Houston-based Transwestern Commercial Services to build the project, which could include condominiums, a hotel, office and retail space in the Texas Medical Center.
The $105 million development will be built above the transit center at Fannin and Pressler. Transwestern will pay Metro $1 million a year for 99 years for the right to build on its property.
This will mark the first time Metro has partnered with a private developer on a real estate project of this scale.
Since the Main Street rail line began running in early 2004, no major developments have been built along the 7.5-mile corridor.
[snip]
The development plan calls for a 175-room hotel, 30 condominiums, 35,000 square feet of shops 168,000 square feet of medical office space and a 15,000-square-foot wellness center. Architecture firm Kirksey designed the plan.
Transwestern and Metro will spend the next year looking for a hotel operator and tenants to fill the space.
Chip Clarke, president of Transwestern's southern region, said the project details are "fluid" and that its ultimate uses will be driven by the market. "We believe a need exists for all those elements," Clarke said. "But we could decide there's a smaller demand for medical offices and a larger demand for more rooms in the hotel, potentially."
Construction, which could take three years to complete, is expected to begin in the second half of 2006.
Rail and bus service won't be interrupted by the construction, according to Metro spokesman Ken Connaughton.
And then there's this:
Houstonians have been hoping to see a development similar to Dallas' Mockingbird Station, where shops, restaurants and residential units are clustered around a rail stop, said Richard Zigler, director of research for O'Connor & Associates.
"I know more people would like to see more projects like that in Houston," he said.
Metro hopes the project will increase ridership, create a neighborhood-friendly sense of place and generate revenue from its real estate assets.
Yup, Metro can't generate revenue from transit, so it is looking for revenue in other areas.
Now, what about the assertion that Houstonians have been dying for a development similar to Dallas' Mockingbird Station -- does anyone know someone who's been saying he or she just can't wait until Metro builds a Mockingbird-like Station here in Houston?
Two more things to keep in mind: we have a glut of hotel rooms in Houston, thanks to the city-owned Hilton Americas, and private developers are cautious right now about building downtown condominiums, due to the current weakness in the downtown residential market.
Will any of that give Metro pause? Of course not.
UPDATE: Tom Kirkendall weighs in. He's skeptical as well:
We already know that Metro does not perform particularly well at that which it is chartered to do. In view of that, it's not a good idea for Metro to be getting into the notoriously speculative real estate development business, where it can lose even more money. Indeed, our local government already has a dubious record of boondoggles in that area. Finally, given Metro's governmental subsidy for this project, how on earth are private developers -- who risk their investment based on market conditions -- supposed to compete with such projects when they must rely on higher-cost private financing?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/21/05 07:25 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (2)
20 October 2005
Bettencourt warns on property tax appraisal creep
In recent years, Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt has been one of several local conservatives raising awareness of the growing problem of property tax appraisal creep.
The Chronicle's Bill Murphy reports that Bettencourt was at it again this week, as public hearings were held on tax rates for various taxing entities in Harris County. Murphy's reporting does acknowledge growing awareness of the problem:
The state Legislature this year rejected measures that would have lowered the 10 percent cap on increases in property tax appraisals. Under current law, local governments cannot raise tax appraisals — the property value to which tax rates are applied — by more than 10 percent even if a property's market value rises more than that.
Bettencourt and other Harris County officials endorsed bills that would have lowered the cap to 5 percent.
Many other local officials statewide lobbied heavily against lower caps because they feared a significant loss of revenue.
The bolded portion is only half right. Local taxing entities did lobby hard against lower caps. However, a better characterization would be that they feared that caps would slow the sizable increases in revenues that local taxing entities have enjoyed because of appraisal creep (therefore allowing them to say they "hold the line" on raising taxes even as record tax revenue rolls in).
The notion of lowering appraisal caps makes pro-government types shudder, because it would force politicians to make hard choices (for which they can be held accountable by voters) about raising tax rates. Local politicians really want to avoid those choices, so it's in their interest to keep the system just as it is. As some point, though, one suspects that frustrated taxpayers will have their say.
Indeed, Dan Patrick's Senate run may be an interesting test in that regard, since Patrick seems determined to make property tax appraisal creep a centerpiece of his campaign. If he actually manages to win, expect to see him pound this issue in Austin.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/20/05 11:00 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
Metro to build the Danger Train Hotel
Since the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas can't make any money on the transit portion of its name, it has decided to go into real estate development, thereby becoming the Metropolitan Property Development and Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas.
Last April the Chronicle's Nancy Sarnoff reported that Metro was looking for a developer to partner with in order to build a mixed-use development on top of its Texas Medical Center transit center. Today we learn that Metro is ready to go forward with the project:
The Metropolitan Transit Authority said it will form a joint venture with Houston-based Transwestern Commercial Services to build a $105 million real estate development above the Texas Medical Center transit center at Fannin and Pressler.
The multi-use project, which is expected to break ground mid-to-late 2006, will include a 175-room hotel, 30 condominiums, 168,000 square feet of medical office space, a 15,000-square-foot wellness center and 35,000 square feet of retail space.
This is bad. Harris County taxpayers are going to get soaked on many levels, from the usual incentives and tax breaks that will have to be given to get the project underway, to the bonds that Metro will sell to fund the project. See this comment for more thoughts.
Metro can't even do a passable job at its stated purpose for existence -- transit. What in the world makes Metro officials, Metro board members and Mayor White (who effectively controls the whole thing) think Metro can successfully become a real estate development company? It's really quite astounding.
And I hope our local media takes a hard look at the details. Let's not forget that Metro Board Chairman David Wolff runs his own real estate development company, and in fact a Houston Business Journal story from last January pointed out that Wolff helped come up with this idea.
Nice.
RELATED: Matt Bramanti and Sedosi
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/20/05 04:18 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (6)
Your chance to play Chronicle editor
Rob Booth passes along this update from the Houston Chronicle.
Tom DeLay fingerprinted and released
From staff and wire reports
U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay turned himself in today at a Harris County sheriff's facility, where he was photographed, fingerprinted, taken before a judge and released on a $10,000 bond.
Accompanied by his lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, the former speaker of the house arrived shortly after noon at the county bonding office at 49 San Jacinto to surrender on state conspiracy and money laundering charges, said sheriff's Lt. John Martin.
He was free before 1 p.m., Martin said.
So, readers, it's your chance to play Chronicle editor.
Anybody care to use our comments to point out the Chronicle's big blunder?
UPDATE: It didn't take long for a reader to point that one out. Too bad the Chron editors missed it.
UPDATE 2: The link now goes to an entirely different story than the one excerpted above (an annoying Chron.com practice), but fortunately I furled the original. Here's a screencap of the furled copy. For those who are not familiar with it, Furl is an excellent service.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/20/05 02:23 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (7)
Good writing on the Astros
Buster Olney has a good bit of writing about the Astros on ESPN.com:
Oswalt needed one more out to finish the seventh and with his pitch count at 114, Oswalt emptied the tank against the next hitter, So Taguchi, throwing him a fastball at 94 mph and then another at 96 mph. His final pitch shattered Taguchi's bat, resulting in a little dribbler to the right side. After Oswalt covered first to make the last out, a batboy hustled out of the St. Louis dugout and retrieved the handle, and then the barrel.
And then the batboy with CARDINALS 05 on the back of his jersey scanned the dirt around home plate for shards, seemingly the last pieces of St. Louis' season left there by Oswalt. The Cardinals dominated the regular season, they beat Pettitte and even Brad Lidge, but they had nobody who could match Oswalt.
What are some of your favorite accounts of the NLCS?
Please leave some links and quotes in the comments.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/20/05 09:31 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (4)
19 October 2005
Bring on the White Sox
How about our first World Series?
Go 'Stros!
UPDATE: KTRK-13's Ted Oberg interviewing the guy playing the sax outside Busch Stadium for tips was just strange. The sax player should have dropped an "adios mofo" on him.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/19/05 10:22 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (7)
SAFEclear changes to be announced Friday?
KHOU-11 reports that Mayor White is considering changes that could effectively gut his (and Bob Stein's) ill-conceived SAFEclear program:
Mayor Bill White said Houston's controversial Safe Clear towing program is about to under go more changes.
The mayor is trying to bring his freeway towing plan into compliance with a recent court ruling.
Mayor White said the changes are still under review, but he indicates more than one towing company may be allowed to operate on each freeway.
He also indicated AAA may also be allowed to tow its members off freeways.
The mayor hopes to have the reforms ready for presentation to city council by Friday.
How courteous of the mayor to decide to comply with the court ruling. However, the devil is in the details, and this mayor tends to be stubborn. It will hardly be surprising if his changes do not satisfy the litigants, and they have to go back to court. Perhaps we'll know by Friday, the day on which most politicians try to bury unfavorable news.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/19/05 08:50 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (5)
Red light cameras start clicking November 1
November 1st is the day Houston joins the ranks of red light camera (revenue generating) cities:
The City of Houston has identified five intersections with the greatest number of accidents. Starting November 1, 2005, cameras installed at those intersections will snap a picture of your license plate if you run the red light.
Here is the catch -- if you are caught running the red light you will only receive a letter in the mail, not a ticket. The letter will explain that you are part of an evaluation project. It is not known where these cameras will be installed, only that the testing phase will last the entire month of November.
The city is in the process of choosing a vendor. They are deciding between five different companies.
"We will make a final decision by December and hopefully kick off the program in full force by January of '06," said Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt.
In January, the city will start with 10 intersections that have the greatest number of accidents and in the months after that they will expand to as many as 15 intersections. At that point if you run a red light you will receive a ticket in the mail.
You just know that MayorWhiteChiefHurtt are giddy with excitement at the revenue Houston will soon be seeing. Will that money be dedicated to fixing the police manpower shortage? Pshaw! We have a museum to fund!
Here's one list of dangerous intersections, so the first five could be among those.
Another thing to keep in mind -- Houston will be able to issue red light camera tickets by treating them as civil penalties instead of criminal penalties. That difference makes it a bit tougher for the city to collect the fine.
The best resource for red light camera shenanigans (of which there will be none in Houston, according to expert-on-everything Bob Stein) is The Newspaper. It's highly recommended reading ... for those who don't have blood pressure problems. The Newspaper is where I found the Washington Post investigative story about intersections with red light cameras in the District of Columbia seeing dramatic increases in accidents, including those causing injury and death.
Safety, schmafety.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/19/05 08:26 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (12)
Coverage of upcoming municipal election picks up
Yesterday, the Chronicle editorial board posted more endorsements for City Council races.
Also, Matt Stiles provided coverage of the District B race.
Finally, the Houston Democrats blog points to the League of Women Voters' guide (PDF) to the November 8 local election.
PREVIOUSLY: Chron editorial board offers at-large council endorsements
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/19/05 08:52 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (3)
18 October 2005
Randalls shuttering 15 Houston stores
Instead of selling the chain, Randalls has decided to close some stores:
Safeway said this morning that it will close 15 struggling Randalls stores in the Houston area by the end of the year.
Safeway, the owner of Randalls for the last six years, said 36 Randalls stores will remain open in the Houston area.
Outside of Houston, Safeway also plans to shut 11 other stores in its Texas division, which is made up of 138 Randalls and Tom Thumb stores.
Since the beginning of the year, industry publications have speculated Randalls might close or sell underperforming stores, or even try to sell the chain. The Pleasanton, Calif.-based grocer is focusing its efforts on its "lifestyle remodel" program that includes the introduction of more upscale products to compete against lower-priced rivals such as Wal-Mart.
We have a nice Randalls near us that I shop at occasionally, although for everyday items I usually go to Walmart.
via Laurence who has a nickname for his Randalls.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/18/05 04:10 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (10)
Candidate meet and greet tonight
If you want to meet a variety of Houston candidates, head to the Arboretum tonight:
Candidates for Houston City Council, the Houston Independent School District school board, Houston Community College trustee and state representative will be on hand for a meet and greet at the Houston Arboretum Tuesday night.
The Arboretum is located at 4501 Woodway, and the free meet and greet will start at 6 p.m
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/18/05 04:01 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
Heartbreaking
Go here, here, here, here, here, and here for appropriate commentary.
Man, that stinks. How long did it take you to get to sleep last night?
UPDATE: More thoughts here and here. Sigh.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/18/05 06:39 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (23)
17 October 2005
SI's Peter King discovers Diedrich coffee, Texans' ineptitude
Peter King, Sports Illustrated's noted coffeeholic, was recently in Houston, and stuck this blurb in today's Monday Morning Quarterback column:
Coffeenerdness: Stumbled into a fine new coffee place over the weekend in Houston -- Diedrich's. Had a superb, ultra-espresso-laced latte. The darker the better.
Diedrich's makes a fine latte indeed, with four shots of espresso in the large size.
Elsewhere on SI.com, Peter King says in an interview with Bob Costas that the Texans are going to have to consider taking Matt Leinart if they wind up with the first pick in the draft. Bob Costas makes the good point that the quaterback isn't so much the problem as the offensive line and a lack of weapons on offense.
That's a strong indictment of general manager Charley Casserly, even though neither King nor Costas called him out by name.
Locally, the Chronicle's John McClain says the coaching staff is gone at the end of the season:
Okay, now who wants to be accountable? We keep hearing each week about accountability.
What happened to pride?
What happened to a team that was 7-8 and on the brink of a .500 finish going into the last game of last season?
This collapse is going to cost Capers and his staff their jobs after the season. It's too bad, because it should cost a lot of players their jobs, too. Players on both sides of the ball stunk it up Sunday night, and they did it before a national television audience.
What about the general manager?
John Lopez echoed the observation posted a week earlier here in an October column, but otherwise Charley Cassely has been virtually untouchable by the local sports media. It's not at all clear why.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/17/05 10:36 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (2)
Hyperventilating about the lack of new evacuation plans
From KTRK-13:
With Tropical Storm Wilma building in the tropics, are we ready to evacuate again? The evacuation plans for Houston and Harris County have not changed considerably since Hurricane Rita, when the mass exodus caused dozens of deaths and widespread traffic pile ups.
You'd think there would already be changes put in place. Authorities say they know there are things they'll need to do differently the next time the Houston-Galveston area is evacuated. But so far, leaders are unable to spell out many specifics about what those changes might be.
Who'd think there would already be changes put in place? Not anyone who is realistic about how government operates. Come on -- it's been one month since the Rita evacuation!
Later this month there is a meeting of a statewide task force appointed by the governor. At that meeting folks are supposed to talk about lessons learned from Hurricane Rita.
Aha. There's a meeting of the evacuation task force within a couple of weeks. And the point of this story was...?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/17/05 08:41 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (1)
DeLay case illustrates media's lack of legal knowledge
The very smart Media Blog over at National Review Online has a post about the Tom DeLay indictment that references the Chronicle's reporting on the infamous list Ronnie Earle doesn't actually have:
[T]he Houston Chronicle reported that prosecutors on Earle's team said in court that they only had a "similar" list. They said that the list they had was a precursor to the document referenced in the indictments.
The Houston Chronicle reported that this so-called precursor list, which the DA acquired from a sweeping request for TRMPAC documents, mentions 17 candidates, not seven. The Chronicle also reported that the dollar amounts on the list totaled $230,000, not $190,000.
Then Stephen Spruiell ends the post with this observation:
The media were so eager to wrap the investigation of DeLay into an overall narrative of GOP decline and collapse that they didn't look at the facts and the law. As the motives of this district attorney become clear and the case against DeLay and his associates weakens, the media shifts its attention to Rove and Libby. Aside from the occasional potshot, the DeLay indictment is vanishing from the national media — especially when the news, like the Chronicle report yesterday, is so embarrassing for Ronnie Earle.
The bolded part is a familiar bH argument, except that the problem is more than just the media looking at the facts and the law. The problem is that media folks often have little knowledge and no expertise when it comes to the law (which shows up as either weak or false news reporting and editorializing) and they don't seek out smart legal people for help. Locally, Beldar and Tom Kirkendall would help the Chronicle tremendously in this area.
As for the media turning its attention to Karl Rove, at least the Chronicle hasn't (yet) posted the AP's breaking news story on the contents of Rove's garage.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/17/05 07:17 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
Houston Press NLCS blog
Richard Connelly emails that the Houston Press has started blog-like coverage of the Astros and the NLCS.
It's blog-like in that it's not quite a full-blown blog, but it does feature timely, relatively pithy commentary on the NLCS games.
And it features Connelly, who should have been blogging for the Press long before now (whether he agrees with that statement or not).
Let's hope there's a Connelly World Series blog in the near future.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/17/05 01:33 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (1)
Karl Pepple: Houston Man of Mystery
Sunday's Chronicle Q and A conversation was with Karl Pepple, described by Dina Capiello as the "first-ever director of environmental programming for the city of Houston":
Charged with overseeing local air and water quality, recycling and garbage, Pepple jokes he often needs two people to do his job. Since he took the office, he has worked on a program that offers city contractors a bonus when they use clean diesel, is busy hiring a new recycling coordinator and is working to ensure Houston meets a 2010 deadline for smog reduction.
None of that information sounded familiar to me, so I searched the City of Houston's website and couldn't find anything for Karl Pepple. Next, I searched the Chronicle's archives and couldn't find any other story referencing Karl Pepple. Finally, I Googled "Karl Pepple Houston" and found references to H-GAC.
So, who is Karl Pepple and what are his qualifications?
Q: How did you get into the environmental field?
A: I always was interested in the environment. My father was a chemist. And there was a point source, for lack of a better word, in my hometown (of Ponca City, Okla.) and I was always interested in what it was doing to the air and water.
Oh. Okay.
Thanks Houston Chronicle, for being such a tenacious watchdog newspaper.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: I grew up near Ponca City, in Pawhuska, Okla. I have a minor in Chemistry. I like camping, and practice Leave No Trace techniques when backpacking. In case the Mayor's office or Capiello are reading, I'm here for your environmental needs. :)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/17/05 08:23 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (6)
16 October 2005
KHOU: Mayor to "review" graffiti problem with Chief Hurtt
KHOU-11's Chau Nguyen reports on Houston's worsening graffiti problem:
Lack of funds and manpower are contributing to Houston’s growing graffiti problem.
Even in Midtown, the heart of the Vietnamese business district, graffiti doesn’t discriminate.
KHOU-TV
Houston's graffiti is an eyesore many wish would go away.
Tao Vu, a restaurant employee, has seen the writing on the wall grow over the last several months, but he said it’s currently as bad as he’s seen.
“It is not art,” Vu said. “I don’t like it.”
Midtown isn’t the only problem area.
City Councilman Mark Goldberg believes more graffiti is present because the its cleanup is low on the city’s priority list.
“I think we need more manpower there, we need more dollars and we need to organize,” Goldberg said.
Houston Mayor Bill White also had something to say about graffiti.
“We gotta continue to be vigilant, and I’m gonna review the situation with the chief,” Mayor White said.
In past years, funds were allocated for graffiti abatement, but that budget has been cut.
Graffiti is growing worse in the city, and it just looks terrible. Unfortunately, graffiti abatement has not been a priority for Mayor White. He can talk about vigilance and task forces and reviews, but the fact is, Tasers, SAFEclear, Parking Authorities, and creating new revenue streams (from downtown parking to renegade downtown jaywalkers to red light cameras to loading zone permits) have been higher priorities for Mayor White than tackling (or even acknowledging) a worsening graffiti problem (or dealing with HPD's manpower shortage effectively, for that matter).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/16/05 08:57 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (16)
Go 'Stros!
Poised as can be no matter how tough the task, Brad Lidge pulled off another great escape against St. Louis. Now it's the steaming-mad Cardinals who are in a serious jam in the NL championship series.
Defensive replacement Eric Bruntlett started a game-ending double play, Lidge wriggled out of a major mess in the ninth inning and the Houston Astros scratched out a 2-1 victory Sunday in Game 4 to move within one win of their first trip to the World Series.
Jason Lane homered, Willy Taveras made a saving catch on the center-field hill and Houston took advantage of a critical error by pitcher Jason Marquis - plus the ejections of St. Louis manager Tony La Russa and star Jim Edmonds - to build a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
The Astros can close it out at home Monday night, with Andy Pettitte on the mound against Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter.
Deep breaths...
(And Chron.com has the correct score this time.)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/16/05 08:03 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (2)
Chron editorial board offers at-large council endorsements
The Chronicle editorial board offers its endorsements for at-large races for City Council today.
Unfortunately, the Chronicle is like most major metro dailies in that local political races just don't get the attention they deserve, even though the web operation could potentially be a great forum for more comprehensive local political coverage.
For those more interested in the candidates' substantive views than the preferences of the Chronicle editorial board, the Harris County Republican Party has posted the results of its regular candidate questionnaire.
The Harris County Democratic Party does not seem to offer any such tool for candidate evaluation on its site. If readers know of other local organizations that have conducted similar candidate surveys, please leave a comment or send an email. Voters in local elections can always use such information.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/16/05 06:33 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
Jalapenos to close at end of year
The Houston Business Journal's Allison Wollam reports that a longtime Upper Kirby restaurant will be closing to make way for a residential/retail project:
Jalapenos, the colorful restaurant near the corner of Kirby and Westheimer, will close its doors a the end of the year to make way for a huge new development on the land where the eatery has stood for 18 years.
Owner Tomas Romero made the announcement to his staff on Oct. 14. The restaurant plans to continue operation through Dec. 30 and will host a variety of special events and menu items to celebrate its near two decades in business.
Construction on a massive residential and retail project that will rise on much of the block on Kirby between Kipling and Westheimer is set to begin in January.
Romero says there are no immediate plans to re-open Jalapenos at another location, but he is exploring options.
In the meantime, Romero's The Courtyard on St. James, a private event facility and lunch-only restaurant located at 1885 St. James Place, will serve many of Jalapenos' most popular dishes.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/16/05 10:22 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (3)
15 October 2005
Worst Chron.com headline ever
We've occasionally commented on the Chronicle's terrible headline writing.
Sometimes, however, a picture is more instructive than anything we might write.
Memo to the Chron.commies: Maybe the final score in the headline should actually match the box score.
Just a little friendly advice from your friends at blogHOUSTON!
Oh, and Go 'Stros, 4-3 winners against those Cardinals!
UPDATE: I can't make sense of the conclusion to the article:
But Lamb had also played well this postseason - he's not hitting .429 (6-for-14) with hits in all four playoff games in which he's appeared. Plus, he was 5-for-14 with three homers in his career against Morris going into the game. Willy Taveras sat instead, with Burke making just his second start of the season in center field. Berkman played left.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
What in the world does that first quoted paragraph even mean?
Best guess: The Associated Press "contributed" to the parts of the report that are grammatically correct and make sense. The messes are courtesy of the Chron.commies.
UPDATE 2: More Chron.commie goodness, from John Lopez:
Ballgame. Three games to two and the Astros are in control.
Sorry, but the Astros are up two games to one.
Is everyone affiliated with the sports desk at 801 Texas Avenue drunk tonight?
UPDATE 3: Chron.com corrected the score (finally, after HOURS), and Lopez updated his blog gaffe (and didn't approve the trackback we sent). Whitewash, Chron.commie style!
UPDATE 4 (10-16-2005 CLARIFICATION): Chron.com informs they never saw a trackback ping from this blog last night. Technically, UPDATE 3 above is not inaccurate, since the trackback we sent was not approved. Apparently, however, it was also not received, making it impossible to approve. The technology sometimes is not perfect (we've had to disable trackback here due to spam, for example).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/15/05 07:32 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (17)
Sports Authority wants to save money -- bH has a suggestion
Apparently the Sports Authority is looking for ways to save money:
The Harris County-Houston Sports Authority may refinance as much as half of its more than $1 billion in bond debt if doing so would save money.
The authority has asked investment banks to submit refinancing proposals, and could get a deal done by late this year or early 2006, Sports Authority Chief Executive Oliver Luck said this week.
And why does the Sports Authority need to save money, you ask? Because hotel occupancy taxes and car rental taxes -- which the Authority uses to pay off the bonds -- haven't been keeping pace with the Sports Authority's needs:
Money for repaying bonds comes from hotel occupancy taxes and car rental taxes. When the bonds were floated, repayments were structured based on the assumption that these taxes would increase 3 percent annually.
The hotel occupancy tax revenue for the Sports Authority declined 5.42 percent in 2002 and 4.58 percent in 2003, said Harris County Tax Assessor/Collector Paul Bettencourt.
In 2004, the revenue was 11.27 percent higher than the previous year, Bettencourt said. Through the first two quarters of this year, revenues are 4.55 percent higher than last year, Millican said.
Despite those increases, the authority's revenue continues to fall short of projections, Millican said.
Revenue for September is expected to be down because hotel occupancy taxes were waived for at least some evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
And then there was that little problem last year:
Last year, the cost of the three sports venues went up when the authority floated another $37.2 million in bonds.
The money was needed because hotel and car rental taxes weren't meeting projections. An investment rating agency, Moody's, was threatening to reduce the authority's holdings to junk bond status unless it beefed up its cash reserve fund.
(You can read more about last year's close call with junk-bond status here.)
We know how the Sports Authority can save $1.5 million per year:
The sports authority has about a $3 million operating budget, about half of which is dedicated to contractual obligations and professional fees that either the city or county would have to pay even if the authority were dissolved. However, the bonds are amortized over 30 years, so saving $1.5 million a year over that period is not chump change.
And as we learned the other day, $800,000 + per year could be saved immediately in staff (six people) salaries alone.
It's time to shut that bureaucracy down.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/15/05 04:11 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
NCAA rejects grade-changing allegations against UH
In August, a blogHOUSTON post noted allegations of improprieties in the University of Houston athletics department.
The Chronicle's Michael Murphy reports that the NCAA has looked into the matter and concluded UH did nothing wrong:
University of Houston athletic director Dave Maggard received word Friday that the NCAA had cleared the school of allegations of academic misconduct that had been levied by former professor Alex Brown.
Brown, a former instructor in the university's African-American Studies Department and a former athletics adviser, alleged that he and other "jock-friendly" professors conspired to change grades to keep student-athletes eligible for competition.
The university responded by sending records of several former student-athletes, most notably those pertaining to former football player Brandon Evans, who took 27 hours in one summer, a workload that was spread out among UH and three junior and community colleges.
Maggard received a letter Friday from Ameen R. Najjar, the NCAA's director of enforcement, thanking the university for its cooperation in the matter and stating that "no further action is warranted," and that "the matter is concluded."
"This certainly is a vindication for us," Maggard said. "What our registrar had indicated all along was that there were no irregularities involved. It's a relief to get this behind us and be able to go forward."
That's good news for a struggling program.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/15/05 09:23 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
Free HIV/AIDS tests available for Hispanics?
The Chronicle runs a curious article in one "This Week" section:
Free HIV/AIDS tests available for Hispanics: Service set for two locations on Friday, Saturday
Houston's Hispanic residents will have a chance to get free HIV/AIDS testing Friday and Saturday.
Amigos Volunteers in Education and Services Inc. is providing the tests 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at two locations:
•Friday, Consulate General of Mexico, 4507 San Jacinto; and
•Saturday, Kroger Supermarket, 5610 Gulfton.
Presumably, nobody will be turned away from the free HIV/AIDS test, even though the program is geared towards Hispanics, and this is simply an example of the Chronicle's typically lackadaisical editing and/or unclear writing.
Nobody would expect, for example, a plug for golf-club access for whites only to be featured in the "This Week" section.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/15/05 08:57 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
14 October 2005
Will the STAR section obsess over Matt Leinart's hair?
The Chronicle's Megan Manfull reported yesterday that Texans quarterback David Carr reacted well to the reshuffling along the offensive line:
"We're struggling," quarterback David Carr said. "We haven't won a game yet and it's rough. When your expectations are as high as they are in this locker room and you go out and start 0-4, there's definitely going to be changes made because Mr. (Bob) McNair expects to win. (Coach) Dom (Capers) expects to win. I expect to win.
"So if there have to be changes made, then let's do it."
I wonder if he'll be so receptive to Matt Leinart taking over his job next season?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/14/05 09:00 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (10)
The Chron ed board's fiscal conservatism
The Chronicle's editorial board is skeptical of TIRZs, like Mayor White (cue Sedosi's Mrs. White label), in this editorial that is (gasp) timely:
Originally envisioned as a way to allow designated areas of Houston to retain tax dollars for development projects, tax increment reinvestment zones have popped up like bureaucratic mushrooms all over the city. Run by boards appointed by the mayor, zone managers have wide latitude in spending a share of property tax revenue collected from their constituents.
[snip]
White points out that several of the tax zones spent more than half their reclaimed tax dollars on consultant reports and overhead and budgeted almost nothing for projects. He met with TIRZ board members and managers last winter and told them he intended to review their budgets to ensure public accountability in their expenditures and plans. White said he told them to get their act together, but they failed to implement his directions in a timely manner.
In a letter to City Council, White suggested that the TIRZ itself may be an unfair mechanism for channeling tax dollars. As property values rise, because it keeps the additional tax revenue, a TIRZ effectively shifts the burden for paying for police, fire and other city services to taxpayers outside the zone.
"Having studied each TIRZ," wrote White, "I have difficulty explaining in some principled fashion why some portions of the city are covered by a TIRZ and other similarly situated portions of the city are not."
The mayor is right. Reinvestment zones were never meant to be open-ended bureaucracies setting their own goals for the expenditure of taxpayer dollars. Those that currently exist should be put on a time clock to accomplish their missions with budgetary efficiency.
In the future, every TIRZ should be implemented only for specific improvement projects and should be promptly terminated when the project is finished. After that, TIRZ — R.I.P.
The editorial board forgot to mention the Mayor's latest TIRZ -- for the new downtown Pavilions development. However, with the ed board's firm stance here, should we assume the Chronicle views the new TIRZ with skepticism and would want to see it sunsetted after the improvement project is finished?
And speaking of open-ended bureaucracies, will the ed board now agree with us (and other county officials) that the Sports Authority's time is up?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/14/05 08:30 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Saturday is Museum District Day
Saturday is free-museum-day in Houston (take your radio Walkman so you don't miss the Astros):
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/14/05 07:33 AM | Houston Arts/Culture | Technorati | Comments (0)
13 October 2005
Metro is determined to put Westpark rail line down Richmond
This West U Examiner story has more information on Metro's proposed Richmond Ave. rail line:
It looks as if it will be later than the announced date of Nov. 1 for the Metropolitan Transit Authority to announce a final route for its east-west rail line, but it remains almost certain Richmond Avenue will play a large part in whatever's decided.
"I don't want to contradict what my boss has told you, but that (Nov. 1) is just three weeks away," John Sedlack, vice president of Metro said at a meeting of the Richmond Avenue Coalition on Oct. 5. "It (a decision) will take into next year."
Two weeks earlier, Frank Wilson, Metro president, told a similar gathering of mostly Neartown residents the date would stand, despite not having an environmental impact study in place and a preliminary engineering analysis having only recently begun.
Although less emphatic about the route running down Richmond than Wilson, who said on Sept. 9, "You do a project on Richmond or you don�t do a project," Sedlack said little to bolster the hope of merchants along the avenue that the previously favored Westpark Drive option might still be alive.
"We haven't decided where the route will be," Sedlack said. "We believe the most direct route involves Richmond Avenue."
He cited the need to provide a connection from the Main Street line at Wheeler Street to the Greenway Plaza area, because of Greenway�s large workforce. He also mentioned the heavily attended services and events at the new Lakewood Church as a contributing factor.
"The closer you put the system to where people are going, the more people you are going to serve," Sedlack said.
Sedlack's last quote there is amusing. Sure you can build the line where the people are, but as the Main Street Line proves, you can't force people to ride it, even when you cut bus routes to feed riders to it. Metro has yet to figure out this basic principal.
For several of the about 75 people attending the town hall meeting at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 1805 W. Alabama Ave., that is too close.
"My business will be sacrificed if light rail goes down Richmond," said Larry Skiles of Image Pro, 2024 Richmond Ave. "I see nothing but apathy from the people planning the light rail."
[snip]
Sedlack said the route would be determined with property seizure as "an action of last resort," saying Metro has used eminent domain as an option fewer than 10 times in the last 20 years. "We'll negotiate and relocate."
Several in attendance expressed concerns about increased traffic congestion, both during and after construction, and the potential creation of a "dead zone" between the line and U.S. 59, because of the inability of motorists to turn left onto or off of Richmond Avenue. Sedlack tried to reassure them.
"We must maintain access for subdivisions," he said. "We can't close complete intersections."
[snip]
Sedlack said stations for a Richmond Avenue line would likely be placed at Montrose Avenue, in the Kirby Drive-Shepherd Drive area, at Greenway Plaza and at Weslayan Street.
Renamed the University Corridor route rather than the Westpark Corridor on a map showing potential routes dated Aug. 24, the route is scheduled to begin service in 2012.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/13/05 08:34 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (3)
Patrick makes quick transition from insurgent to politician
The Chronicle's Kristen Mack reported yesterday on Dan Patrick's campaign kickoff.
Here are some choice excerpts:
Patrick announced his candidacy on KSEV (700 AM) radio, during his regular afternoon drive-time show. The two-hour block of air time was a paid political advertisement, by the Dan Patrick for Senate campaign.
Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt, Patrick's campaign treasurer, participated in Patrick's broadcast along with other conservative leaders, including physician Steven Hotze, who crusades for conservative Christian values in government. The show was broadcast live from Main Street Crossing in Tomball.
[snip]
Patrick said he will not take any money from political action committees, though he later qualified that by saying he won't take contributions from "any group or special interest that is against the people."
Who knew Patrick would start sounding like a typical politician (instead of an insurgent) on the very day of his campaign kickoff?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/13/05 11:10 AM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (5)
How to make a multi-service center unusable
Here is a story that could use some further details: KHOU-11 has a news release posted about the city wanting to build a new multi-service center at Tidwell Park, but the state won't allow anything to be built on park land that's not related to parks and recreation:
The city would like to build another one of its multi-service centers on city park property in northeast Houston.
That's where the city wants to put a building that would house everything from meeting rooms to a neighborhood clinic, but it won't be easy.
State law generally forbids using park property for any sort of development that has nothing to do with parks and recreation.
Then it gets confusing because the story quotes Mayor White:
"If it's a public purpose that's consistent with park use, I'm for it, but I've said 'No' plenty of times to people that wanted to build things in parks that weren't park-like," said Mayor Bill White.
Well, who in the city is pushing for this if the big boss is saying no?
Then we get a nice view of government in action:
A similar multi-service center at Selena Quintanilla Park in Denver Harbor sits mostly empty because when the building was constructed, no one at the city government noticed that state law prohibits putting this sort of facility on park property.
Oh brother! How much did that (unusable) building cost city of Houston residents? When was it built? Who approved it? Doesn't the city have people on staff to "notice" these things before they are built?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/13/05 06:46 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Credit for being consistent(ly simplistic)
We have to give the Chronicle editorial idealists credit.
It would be hard for most major newspapers to adopt a local politician's childishly simplistic talking points as the conclusion of its own house editorial, but it's not for the Chronicle editorial board (which Sedosi Alhambra long ago pegged as Mrs. White for its cheerleading):
Illegal immigration is a federal responsibility and demands a federal solution. Involving local police would decrease security by discouraging illegal immigrants from reporting crimes and assisting investigations.
Point one: For border states, illegal immigration is every bit as much a local/state problem as it is a national problem.
Point two: Mayor White and his police chief love to repeat the talking point that if HPD enforced immigration law (instead of adopting a policy of refusing to enforce some laws), that would somehow scare illegal aliens into not reporting crimes. The evidence for the assertion has not been forthcoming, but rather repetition of the assertion seems to be offered as evidence. It's not evidence.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/13/05 06:28 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
City to review TIRZs: some are better than others
Matt Stiles reports that Mayor White will begin reviewing 22 Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones (TIRZs) to see if any should be helping to pay for the police and fire services their zones use:
White's memo said a portion of some zones' diverted tax revenues should be funneled back to the city to pay for other priorities.
As development occurs in these zones and property values rise, resulting tax revenue above a base level is funneled back into the zone to pay for improvements to attract private investment. The extra revenue is called an increment.
The zones account for about 3 percent of the city's overall property-tax base, White said. In fiscal 2006, the zones should get about $30 million in increment revenue, said Judy Gray Johnson, the city's finance and administration director.
The mayor said the zones are a useful tool in some areas.
He said they can provide stable funding for affordable housing and a venue for joint projects between the city and county. They also provide an economic incentive for developers.
But others have outlived their usefulness, he said, or they are asking to spend too much on administrative costs with money the city could better use for other purposes, such as increased police patrols.
"You can't take the increased property taxes from one neighborhood and say that all that's going to go to buildings and streets and parks in that neighborhood, without accounting for the fact that our first obligation is public safety," White said.
Councilman Mark Ellis, who heads the council's fiscal affairs committee, said some zones spend too much on legal fees and that their financing rates aren't as low the city's.
"In reality, they wind up costing more money than necessary," Ellis said. "They also put an undue burden on property owners who are outside the zone."
Mayor White is still a fan of TIRZs, apparently, since he recently helped create one for the new downtown Pavilions development.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/13/05 06:11 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
12 October 2005
Latest Fitch bond ratings assume Prop. 2's failure
This Business Wire news release talks about the latest Fitch Ratings. I am far from an expert in these business/math/accounting things (feel free to help out in the comments), but these paragraphs caught my eye:
Despite recently agreed upon program changes and funding commitments that have reduced the $1.8 billion unfunded actuarial accrued liability (UAAL) of the city's municipal employee pension system by an estimated one-half, that program and the police officers' and firefighters' pension plans all face potentially sharp increases in UAAL over the near term. In addition, Fitch views the city's debt financing of a portion of the city's annual contribution to both the municipal and police pension systems as an indication of financial stress and considers this funding approach an unfavorable credit factor.
The impact of pension-related borrowing as currently envisioned is expected to have a minimal effect both on the city's capital improvement plan and projected debt service tax rates. The city's debt ratios, both on a per capita basis and as a percentage of taxable assessed valuation (TAV), are moderate. The pace of repayment on the city's tax-supported debt is slightly above average.
The new revenue limitation, also referred to as Proposition 1, is a measure approved by voters in November 2004 that applies to ad valorem tax revenues and water and sewer rates. The measure became effective in the current fiscal year, and the budget is in compliance with the new mandate. However, the limitation has the potential to hinder service delivery and capital financing going forward, including pension plan funding. The current rating and outlook presumes that the legal challenge by supporters of a competing, more restrictive measure that garnered less voter support is unsuccessful.
Isn't that interesting? Of course the second bolded part refers to Prop. 2 which voters approved last fall and which the city has been fighting ever since.
Also notice the references to the city's pension responsibilities.
(Just for fun, check out this page on Prop. 2's website.)
PREVIOUSLY: Fitch downgrades Houston bond rating (bH)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/12/05 09:19 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (3)
11 October 2005
KHOU's Miller covers Patrick senate run
KHOU-11's Doug Miller covers the Dan Patrick senate/radio campaign:
Patrick's show has always promoted his conservative political views. But now, he's also using public airwaves to promote himself as a candidate, and that bothers other candidates and campaigns.
"You know, Dan has said, 'I'm not going to use my show as a front for my campaign.' He's already had to apologize for doing that. And you just have to wonder if there's any other part of his programming that's contrived," said Jim McGrath, spokesman for Joe Nixon For Senate Campaign.
Just last week, one of Patrick's callers accused one of his opponents of assault. "Screaming at me, red in the face," the female caller said.
"I said I'm not going to run a negative campaign and letting a caller say something negative about a candidate, even 'Well, he threatened to hit me and I was ,' "No! You're kidding me!" and she said 'No. No. I'm not," said Patrick.
Patrick later spent more than three minutes apologizing to his listeners. "This is what we're gonna do," he began.
"It's my job and I've been very fair on the air. I haven't been running down my opponents. I haven't been talking about my race on the air every day. I'm doing my job," Patrick says.
Patrick's job has always involved promoting himself (and his causes). It's just taken a slightly different turn of late.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/11/05 10:47 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (7)
Well, make up your minds
Headline to a Chronicle editorial today:
Legislation passed by the U.S. House would gut protections for endangered species
Lead sentence for the same editorial:
An effort to dilute federal protection for endangered wildlife and habitats has passed the House and awaits Senate action.
So, which is it? Is the evil House gutting, or is it diluting?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/11/05 10:39 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Other features editors like the Chron STAR section
The Chronicle's features STAR section is just great, according to other features section editors:
The Houston Chronicle's Features sections recently were named among the Top 10 features sections in the country by the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors.
At AASFE's annual convention in Denver, the Chronicle was called "the most sophisticated and hard-news approach of the big-city feature sections; responsible, newsy, useful with a taste of Texas cowgirl thrown in."
Responsible?
That's really not the adjective that comes to mind when I think of a stunt like impersonating an evacuee followed by refusing to answer questions about the reporting.
UPDATE (10-12-2005): Reader representative James Campbell finally addressed questions about the reporting on his blog, as he promised he would do some time ago. It's not clear why the features STAR folks wouldn't address those questions via email. And it's also not clear why the reporting that appeared in the Chronicle wasn't more clear to readers about the approach to the reporting. While it's good that volunteers were not misled, the lack of full disclosure about the reporting and the refusal to answer questions about the reporting were misleading to readers.
UPDATE 2 (10-12-2005): Upon further thought, it's clear to me from Finan's answer to Campbell that some volunteers didn't know Finan was a reporter:
The mayor's office told me to keep a relatively low profile, and there were hundreds of volunteers there that night, but those I interviewed knew I was a reporter, and at no point did I say I was an evacuee. In fact, after telling one volunteer about my article at 4 a.m. on the way to the restroom I found myself in a round of meetings with other volunteers who weren't sure what to do with me.
Now I understand Kristin Finan's refusal to answer followup emails (she answered one email and said "organizers" knew about the stunt) about whether volunteers knew she wasn't an evacuee and Kyrie O'Connor's refusal to answer any emails after her petulant comment on the forum in which she also said the "people in charge" knew. Clearly, volunteers were misled, and clearly the features STAR folks don't want to talk about that.
That fact is that while some organizers might have known about Finan's impersonation of an evacuee, Finan was NOT forthcoming that she was a reporter to the wonderful volunteers at the George R. Brown. The original criticism stands. The stunt was irresponsible, and potentially unethical (volunteers trying to make evacuees and Ms. Finan comfortable should have been informed, not just organizers).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/11/05 10:31 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (7)
HISD to raise tax rate; will fund pay raise and performance bonus
Jason Spencer reports that HISD is raising its tax rate:
Houston school taxes are going up because of rising property values and a 2-cent rate increase that is expected to win school board approval on Wednesday.
The bill for the owner of the average Houston Independent School District home with a taxable value of $117,740 would be $1,907, or $147 more than last year.
HISD officials warned residents of the rate increase in 2002 when voters gave the school district permission to borrow $808 million to build 45 new schools and renovate or repair 120 others. The new tax rate — $1.62 per $100 assessed value — remains the lowest among Harris County school districts.
Trustee Kevin Hoffman said while this tax rate generates an adequate amount of money for the school district, HISD must find more income next year, either by raising taxes or through increased state funding.
[snip]
Trustees could reduce the property tax rate and still bring in as much money as last year because of a $3 billion increase in property values.
This year's $1.36 billion budget is about $40 million more than a year ago, with most of the extra money going toward a 3 percent pay raise and a performance-based bonus plan for teachers.
It doesn't appear that HISD is trying to fund $1.5 million press boxes or laptops for all students (talk about a boondoggle!) like Spring ISD was trying to do, so that's encouraging. Most homeowners (I think) don't mind paying more to help fund schools when the money is spent wisely -- not frivolously.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/11/05 07:58 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)
10 October 2005
DanPatrickforSenate.com launches
It looks as if KSEV-700 talker Dan Patrick is actually going to go through with the state senate run he's been promising.
His campaign website has launched, and he has a campaign kickoff announcement planned for tomorrow.
Oddly, Houston's pioneering "web publisher" has no blog on his site, unlike many cutting-edge campaign sites these days. But, it's early yet. Surely the talker, web publisher, and now political candidate will soon load up his site with blogs, podcasts, and other goodies.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/10/05 11:41 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (12)
Closed roof hard on Astros opponents
KHOU-11's Dan Lauck asks and answers the tough question today:
Minute Maid Park was packed with cheering fans, but some of the screams are from people who want to know why the ballpark's retractable roof wasn't open on a beautiful day.
11 News checked and was told it was part of the game plan.
So when does strategy justify the price taxpayers paid for a convenience rarely used?
The Chase tower, like Jack's beanstalk, climbed right into the clouds Monday morning. It was drizzly, rainy and miserable -- the kind of day when you want a roof over your head, especially, if you're pitching.
That roof was roughly one fourth of the cost of the ballpark. That's $60 million to insure there were no rainouts and that no one had to sit in 100-degree heat in the middle of the summer.
Astros Playoff GuideBut Saturday was perfect and Sunday was beautiful.
No, the weather had nothing to do with closing the roof this weekend.
"The players want it that way," said Rob Matwick, Astros Senior Vice President, Building Operations & Customer Service.
"The difference between the roof open and the roof closed could be as much as four to five dBA (decibels),"said Omar Longoria, HFP acoustical consultants.
Whatever the team is doing is working. Let's close that roof on the Cardinals. Surely taxpayers will understand.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/10/05 10:03 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (3)
County official recommends downsizing Sports Authority
A while back, Harris County Commissioners Court asked a county official to look at the Sports Authority and recommend what should be done with it. The Chronicle's Bill Murphy has the story:
Staff and operations at the Harris County Sports Authority, created to oversee the construction of the city's new pro sports venues, should be reduced, but not dissolved, a county official says.
Since construction has been completed, the authority has aided efforts to bring more attractions to the venues — a marketing responsibility best left to other groups, said Dick Raycraft, county director of management services.
"I don't think the authority needs to be running around marketing for events," he said Friday.
That argument -- that the Sports Authority fulfills a marketing role -- is one of the reasons Sports Authority CEO Oliver Luck has given for why the entity should not be dismantled. But that reason is not within the purview of the Sports Authority. The other reason Luck likes to give for keeping the Sports Authority up and running is bond management -- that no other entity can manage and pay off the bonds that were issued to pay for the three venues.
The authority has an operating budget this year of nearly $2.9 million.
That includes $473,000 for legal expenses, investment management fees and auditors, and $245,000 in bond insurance.
Director Oliver Luck is paid $200,000. It has five other employees making a combined $622,000.
The sports authority's job, now that venues are built, is to pay off $1.04 billion in bond debt owed on Minute Maid Park, Reliant Stadium and Toyota Center.
Holy guacamole! Six employees who make more than $800,000 per year are needed to pay off bonds??!! No wonder Luck is working so hard to get a soccer team here. That's a whole lotta dough that needs to be justified!
The rest of the story has more details of Raycraft's recommendations, Judge Eckels' desire to dismantle the Sports Authority, and HCHSA board chair Billy Burge whining. Jack Rains is not quoted in the story, so it's unclear if he was given an opportunity to respond.
We, of course, agree with Judge Eckels, Commissioner Radack and Jack Rains, that the Sports Authority has outlived its mission and should be dismantled. Reducing the Sports Authority's staffing and current purpose, and combining it with the Convention and Visitors Bureau is a step in the right direction.
RELATED: Billy Burge: THE best reason to shut down the Sports Authority! (bH), Jack Rains' letter in the Chronicle (bH)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/10/05 08:08 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
09 October 2005
Casey: Do as I say, not as I do!
Chronicle metro/state editorialist and gossip columnist Rick Casey thinks the office of Chron "bad guy" Chuck Rosenthal should not have indicted a clerk at HISD for breaking the law because he was just an underling:
[I]f voters were ever foolish enough to elect me district attorney, I don't think I would have sought this indictment.
Even if the evidence were overwhelming that he did it.
[snip]
Based on what we know, I say if they can't indict the higher-ups, leave the disgraced underling be.
Really?
Funny that the Chronicle's metro/state gossip columnist should take shots at Rosenthal's office for allegedly picking on an "underling," since Casey himself devoted part of a hearsay/gossip column to blasting low-level bureaucrats (directors of community centers!) just a few weeks ago, even though said bureaucrats broke no laws but merely refused to play Casey's gossip game!
Casey must truly believe in Emerson's adage, "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Or perhaps he gets so wound up blasting perceived "bad guys" that he literally forgets the noxious screeds he's turned out previously. His "perspective" really detracts from the metro/state pages.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/09/05 09:14 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Less Casey and idealists, more hard news = higher ratings
Chronicle metro/state editorialist and gossip columnist Rick Casey unsurprisingly misses the obvious in these observations about a recent poll on attitudes and Hurricane Rita:
Just over half (52 percent) declared media coverage of Rita to be "excellent." Another 30 percent called us "good."
Only 15 percent said we were "fair" or "poor," and a minuscule 2.6 percent expressed no opinion.
[snip]
It's one thing to praise politicians who take charge, but an 80 percent favorable rating toward the media is almost un-American these days.
Especially when you consider that Republicans, for many of whom "liberal media" is one word, made up the largest portion (34 percent) of those polled. 27 percent were Democrats, and 19 percent independents.
[snip]
Maybe the stellar ratings of the media can be explained by the fact that covering the advance of a swirling hurricane truly is, unlike the self-advertised television show, a no-spin zone.
Here's a simple (and obvious) explanation: The high ratings are likely a result of the fact that during Rita, most of the local media focused on reporting facts (even though some people contend some facts were hyped), and there was really little time for or attention devoted to such questionable journalistic fare as Rick Casey's gossip columns or ripping off the work of real reporters without proper attribution, or Chron Eyes for the Death Row Killer Guy, or Chronicle editorial nonsense.
Before Rick Casey is injured patting himself and his colleagues on the back, though, it's worth keeping in mind that the local media were hardly perfect in their hurricane coverage, as illustrated by Kristin Finan's impersonation of an evacuee at the George R. Brown following Katrina, a stupid stunt from the features STAR crew that reflected poorly and unfairly on Chronicle news reporters, who did a good job gathering hard news during both hurricanes.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/09/05 06:39 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (0)
Houston wants to fund museums? Don't forget about our veterans
At last night's Icehouse gathering, I had a conversation with a gentleman which relates to a previous blogHOUSTON topic -- the city's funding of the African-American Museum.
The conversation led to this conclusion: if the city is going to enter the field of museum-funding, we think the city should be an equal opportunity museum-funder, including providing money for the proposed Veterans Museum in Texas.
This archived story from August 16th's Chronicle has some details of the struggle to get this museum up and running. I'll excerpt a brief portion:
The private group spearheading the proposed Veterans Museum in Texas got its biggest boost yet when it formally took possession Monday of 35 acres of land donated by Exxon Mobil near the Gulf Freeway and Scarsdale on which to build the museum .
[snip]
Browne said the land deal with the oil giant requires his group to break ground within five years or the property will revert to Exxon Mobil.
He said he needs about $75 million to start construction on the $140 million museum .
He expects building to begin within the next three years, he added.
Browne, who has been pushing the idea of a veterans museum in Houston since at least 1998, said the group has raised about $7,000 for the project.
"We had to get the land," Browne said in explaining the lack of funding to date. "But now, fundraising can get into high gear."
The museum board of directors plans to seek federal and state grants, as well as corporate and private donations.
My understanding from last night's conversation is that the city of Houston has been approached about providing some funding for The Veterans Museum of Texas and the city has declined to help.
That's very disappointing, in light of the city's apparent willingness to give $2 million to fund an African-American museum.
The gentleman I was chatting with last night made a good point: Houston has a whole lot of hotel rooms to fill, and having The Veterans Museum of Texas up and running could help that. How about a veterans convention at the GRB, and other assorted veterans events sponsored by the museum?
Come on, Mayor White -- think Big Picture here and do the right thing.
(Of course, the key here is that the city should NOT be in the business of financing museums, but if Mayor White and city council want to start down that road...)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/09/05 06:11 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (7)
AMAZING!
Congratulations to the Houston Astros, for outlasting the dreaded Atlanta Braves in an 18 inning marathon.
How about Roger Clemens and Chris Burke coming up big to finish out this series?!
UPDATE: Tom Kirkendall posts his account of the excitement.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/09/05 06:05 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (11)
No 2010 Super Bowl? Life goes on
The Chronicle editorialists are upset that Houston was not awarded the 2010 Super Bowl:
National Football League team owners' decision to award the 2010 Super Bowl to Miami is yet another indication that their main criterion is cash or splash. In sizing up candidates to host the game, the two operative questions are: How much money can you make for the league, and how good a time can you show us and our friends?
Yeah. Were the editorial idealists so naive as to think otherwise?
Even with the expensive choo-choo train, Houston doesn't compare that well to other Super Bowl cities. Bob McNair got one because of the exorbitant amount he paid to become a member of the NFL owner's club, but it's going to be hard to secure another one. Fortunately, the self-esteem and daily lives of most Houstonians who are not members of the Chronicle editorial board will be wholly unaffected.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/09/05 06:03 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
Chron: The letters editor works really hard
Byron Calame, the public editor of the New York Times, has been on the warpath over some pretty shoddy practices at his newspaper of late. In a September column, Calame wrote:
I find it disturbing that any Times editor would come so close to implying -- almost in a tit-for-tat sense -- that Mr. Rivera's bad behavior essentially entitles the paper to rely on assumptions and refuse to correct an unsupported fact.
Mr. Keller's final reason for rejecting a correction was that Ms. Stanley, ''who is writing as a critic, with the license that title brings -- was within bounds in her judgment.'' He elaborated: ''Ms. Stanley's point was that Mr. Rivera was show-boating -- that he was being pushy, if not literally pushing -- and I think an impartial viewer of the footage will see it that way.''
Based on the videotape and outtakes I saw, Ms. Stanley certainly would have been entitled to opine that Mr. Rivera's actions were showboating or pushy. But a ''nudge'' is a fact, not an opinion. And even critics need to keep facts distinct from opinions.
Meanwhile, in the opinion section of The Times, the corrections policy of Gail Collins, the editor of the editorial page, is not being fully enforced. As I have written on my Web journal, Paul Krugman has not been required to correct, in the paper, recent acknowledged factual errors in his column about the 2000 election in Florida.
The Times has long been a trailblazer in its commitment to correcting errors. This is no time to let those standards slip -- even when well-known critics and columnists are involved.
The withering criticism from Calame finally shamed the executive editorial leadership of the New York Times into acting to rectify the problems he identified.
Locally, the Chronicle's equivalent to Mr. Calame has also been given a column and a web presence. We are very fortunate in Houston that, unlike the New York Times, we have a world-class paper that has no problems that need to be addressed.* Thus, the Chronicle's reader representative in recent weeks has addressed the HARD WORK of covering a big news event (twice!), and the HARD WORK of Judy Minshew, the Chronicle's letters editor.
Back in January, we suggested the Chronicle reader representative should be given a blog and a column. The executive editorial leadership of the Chronicle has elected to do both. Unfortunately, both outlets seem simply to be vehicles for the reader representative to portray the newspaper positively. It's mostly an outlet for PR, not media (self) criticism. Furthermore, columns do not remain in a free archive, suggesting that even the Chronicle editors do not view them as being of lasting importance.
From the issues addressed in the About: Chron columns and blog, one can draw conclusions about the Chronicle executive editorial leadership's view of its operation, especially when contrasted with the prominence and charge of the New York Times' public editor. Houstonians should be reassured that our local newspaper has fewer problems than the New York Times.*
* Yes, that was sarcasm for anybody who didn't pick it up. Here's one problem that still hasn't been addressed, for example.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/09/05 05:42 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
New feature
A printer-friendly option has been added to the blog.
Beneath each post, with the permalink/category/comment information, you'll now find a "Print" link.
Clicking on that link should produce a printer-friendly version of the page, although the feature has not been tested in all browsers or on all platforms.
This is a feature a number of users have requested.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/09/05 02:28 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (5)
Saturday night at the Icehouse
Thanks to all who came out last night to THE Icehouse. It was great to visit with everyone. Alas, I had to leave soon after the Astros started playing, so I don't know if any Ooogah Boogahing took place. =)
We'll do it again...soon.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: Yes, thanks to everyone for coming out and sharing a few brews with us on a beautiful October afternoon!
I'm sticking the original announcement beneath the [Read More] link as a placeholder. Thanks again everyone!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/09/05 11:29 AM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chron: public schools are paid to care for children
This is getting very strange. Today the Chronicle's editorial board gives us its third editorial on local school districts' summer lunch programs.
A THIRD editorial! (Isn't there anything else going on in Houston they could write about?)
Last summer, the Houston and Galena Park independent school districts alone respectively served 2 million and 48,000 meals to children — at least for a few weeks. But when summer school ended and schools closed for repairs, HISD, Galena Park and some other districts simply cut off their government-funded meal services for hungry children.
And for the third time, the editorialists fail to point out that parents should be feeding their own children.
HISD has done better. Its food services program is researching what other districts are doing with their summer feeding programs and will be reviewing that information soon, a spokesman said. HISD's planning for its summer food program will start in January.
After Hurricane Katrina, Houston leaders — including Harris County school officials — showed marvelous resourcefulness in making room for evacuees. The relief effort polished a national view of Houston as an effective, generous community.
Apparently that's the extent of praise HISD and other school districts can expect from the Chronicle for all their hurricane-relief work. I'm sure that makes local ISDs want to jump up and do the Chronicle's bidding.
If New Orleans' disaster taught other cities anything, it was how critical good planning is to ensure that poor citizens are properly protected. When it comes to federal meal programs, such planning doesn't even require local taxes.
Another "in the aftermath of" reference...
This summer, tens of thousands of Harris County children won't have enough to eat. HISD, Galena Park ISD and other county school districts owe it to those children — and to the taxpayers who already have paid for their care — to ensure the same number of meals are served each month this summer.
...and a look at what the idealists think the true purpose is for public education. Those of us in the real world (or at least the real state) think public schools are paid to educate children. Those in the ideal state think public schools are paid to care for children.
Who needs parents?
RELATED: When does parental responsibility enter the picture? (bH), They are killing trees to print these editorials (cont'd) (bH)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/09/05 09:06 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Most city employees did report to work as Rita was approaching
Local media has been reporting on the handful of essential city employees who did not show up for work as Hurricane Rita was bearing down on Houston.
Most of the 4,700 HPD workforce showed up for work, pulling 12 hour shifts, but about a dozen did not.
Right now, the police union confirms that they believe about 12 police officers, including possibly two captain level individuals, are being investigated for not showing up during the course of Hurricane Rita's evacuation response efforts.
Officials are also looking at the fire department to see if there were any similar issues with employees not showing up.
Eyewitness News spoke with a firefighters union's spokeman and as far as they know, firefighters all showed when they were supposed to.
"Most firefighters that were scheduled to work the day following the storm showed up the night before. They did it on their own," said Houston Mayor Bill White. "They are very dedicated and highly motivated and understood the situation and a lot of them came in the night before. So there really were not any problems with firefighters not showing up."
And then there's HEC -- the Houston Emergency Center:
But the fire department and the police department are not the only departments the city is looking into. The mayor's office is looking into the Houston Emergency Center. They believe there was a handful of employees who didn't show up for work, either, and they are facing indefinite suspension or possible termination as part of disciplinary action.
According to KHOU-11, 14 HEC employees face termination for not showing up to work:
"If people have essential jobs then they need to show up for those jobs," says Mayor White.
And if they don't they will be severely punished. Currently, 14 HEC employees are in the process of being fired.
Sgt. Johnnie McFarland is president of the union that represents many HEC employees.
"We don't want all our personnel to be painted with one brush as being deserters or people that abandoned their posts," he says, "These people had real world concerns. Everybody was concerned."
The Chronicle's Monica Guzman says 16 HEC employees are under investigation, along with 12-16 HPD employees:
HPD Captain Dwayne Ready said the HPD employees under investigation include officers and civilians considered essential to emergency operations. The extent of disciplinary action — which could include termination — will be determined case by case, he said.
"The department does not approach this as one shoe fits all," Ready said. "Everybody's situation is going to be different."
Among the absent HPD civilian employees were 10 dispatchers , including one who has already been fired, Laud said.
The precise number of HPD employees under investigation is not known, as some divisions are still reporting their absences. HPD employs about 6,000 people, including about 4,800 officers.
All leaves and days off were canceled the weekend of Sept. 23-25 as the department went to emergency mobilization in preparation for Hurricane Rita's approach, and officers were put on 12-hour shifts. A few employees with extraordinary family obligations or other urgent needs were excused from duty in advance, Ready said.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/09/05 08:37 AM | Hurricane Stuff | Technorati | Comments (2)
08 October 2005
The Chronicle's slick piffle
'Stros + Gloss = fun with the Chronicle. Go read Slampo's latest.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/08/05 12:25 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
07 October 2005
Firefighters approve new contract
The Chronicle's Matt Stiles reports that Houston firefighters have voted to accept a new contract with the city. The contract now must go to Council for final approval, which should just be a formality.
The new contract is the result of protracted negotiations made necessary after firefighters rejected a contract that was negotiated hastily after Mayor White went public and effectively ran roughshod over the HFD negotiators. Firefighters rejected that first deal by nearly a two-to-one margin.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/07/05 10:34 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
How not to lower fuel prices
KPRC-2 reports on what must be one of the dumbest "protests" of 2005:
Nearly 100 18-wheelers formed a convoy on a Houston freeway to protest rising diesel prices, KPRC Local 2 reported Friday.
Diesel is averaging $3.21 a gallon.
The truckers circled the 610 Loop in the fast lane at speeds of 20 to 30 mph Friday shortly before noon.
[snip]
The drivers said even though it was expensive to use diesel for their rolling protest, it was a sacrifice to make a point and bring attention to the problem.
That was very helpful of the truck drivers. Until today, our car-happy citizenry was wholly unaware that fuel prices are high! But now we know, thanks to the "sacrifice" of Houston's brave truck drivers!
If Sergeant Klausner hadn't retired today, one suspects HPD's truck enforcement division would have been out pulling those trucks out of the way to inspect them, and annoying them as much as they likely annoyed quite a few motorists.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/07/05 10:25 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Swanky condo project scrapped -- blame it on Katrina
A high-rise condominium project has been cancelled because of Hurricane Katrina:
The Redstone Cos. has decided not to construct a high-rise condominium tower planned for The Houstonian Hotel, Club and Spa campus.
The luxury high-rise homes with prices ranging from $925,000 to $2.6 million were slated to be built on North Post Oak Lane, near Woodway and the West Loop.
Seliece Caldwell, a Redstone marketing executive, says a funding source on the 28-story project backed out after Hurricane Katrina. The financial backer, which she would not name, cited market uncertainty, escalating costs of construction and shortages of labor and materials in the storm's aftermath.
Redstone explored other funding alternatives, but eventually decided not to proceed with the project. Redstone had contracts with 22 condo buyers and was scheduled to break ground by Sept. 30. A few days before that deadline, buyers were notified of the cancellation.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/07/05 10:08 PM | Hurricane Stuff | Technorati | Comments (1)
Is this good or bad? We really can't tell
From a Chronicle story by Matt Stiles:
After serving as a staging area for the Hurricane Rita recovery, the troubled Houston Emergency Center got a cleanup of its own this week, as city officials moved to refinance a lease deal and buy the building.
City Council approved a plan Wednesday to pay off the building with government bonds rather than continue with its lease. Officials said the decision could save millions of dollars.
Okay, this sounds pretty good:
The city likely would get a better deal by financing the building itself, rather than depending on a lease with an annual payment of about $4.4 million, said Jim Moncur, deputy city controller. "The essence of this deal that we're doing is simple: We're doing a refinance to save some money," he said.
Or maybe not:
The original deal under former Mayor Lee Brown was a "lease-purchase," in which a private developer took out a loan instead of the government issuing bonds. The advantage is that the city doesn't have to hold a bond election, dip into its capital fund or competitively bid the project. The disadvantage is that private developers can never get as low an interest rate as the government.
It isn't a lease in the commonly understood sense because the government owns the building for property tax purposes and at the end of the lease term, the government "buys" the building for $1.
The Houston Chronicle reported in 2002 that the city had done no comparative study of the center's construction price of $274 per square foot.
Under the current lease which runs through 2027, the city would pay about $95 million to settle its contractual agreement.
The new plan, more typical of how the city usually finances buildings, would cost an estimated $89.5 million, a $5.5 million savings over 20 years.
Mayor Bill White, who wasn't in office when the unusual lease arrangement was signed, said the refinancing was about saving city money.
The decision wasn't without controversy.
Councilman Mark Goldberg, who spent the night at the building as Hurricane Rita approached the Gulf Coast, didn't question the building's ability to serve its mission.
But he said the original deal was bad, and that the city ought to continue leasing so a future council could have the option of building a new, cheaper facility.
He said the technology could be obsolete in five to 10 years.
"We're only saving money with the assumption that we are going to stay in this building for the next 25 years," said Goldberg, who voted against the plan along with Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs. "A building of that size, with everything that it offers us, certainly could be built cheaper."
Do any of our smart commenters (we have the BEST commenters!) have thoughts on whether this is good or bad for the city?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/07/05 08:58 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
06 October 2005
Do Barnum & Bailey need a Texas partner?
For the past two days, the Chronicle has posted interesting reporting on the DeLay indictment(s), although the most compelling tidbits have been buried at the bottom.
Yesterday, Chris Elam caught the following information in reporting by R.G. Ratcliffe, Kristen Mack, and Janet Elliott on the first DeLay indictment:
The Chronicle obtained the grand jury list on Tuesday under the Texas Open Records Act. State District Judge Mike Lynch had ordered it sealed.
Seven of the 12 grand jurors have voted in Democratic primaries in recent years, according to Travis County records. One grand juror voted in Republican primaries.
The other four grand jurors either had no history of voting in primaries or could not be positively identified.
Today, an article by R.G. Ratcliffe and Clay Robison contained even more interesting information about that grand jury (also near the end):
William Gibson, the foreman of the grand jury that returned the first indictment against DeLay, said in an interview with Austin radio station KLBJ on Wednesday that he was friends with a Democratic candidate who had been defeated by the corporately funded ad campaign run by the Texas Association of Business in 2002.
James Sylvester, one of the losing Democratic candidates who has sued the business group, worked at the Travis County sheriff's office. Gibson is retired from that same office.
Gibson said newspaper stories about the TAB's activities, which were coordinated with TRMPAC, convinced him that improper political activity had occurred before he ever was on the grand jury.
The partisan composition of the first grand jury -- not to mention the fact its foreman seemed to bring some strong preconceptions to the matters being considered -- does not itself say anything about Rep. DeLay's guilt or innocence, but when combined with Ronnie Earle's jury shopping, his comments about DeLay to a Democratic fundraiser, his starring in a documentary (of which I've requested a preview copy), and his seemingly messianic view of his own role in stopping whatever he might deem "abuse of power" (instead of actual trangressions of law), it's hard not to agree with the Austin American Statesman editorial board's recent assessment of Earle's conduct as "erratic" and "circus-like."
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/06/05 10:41 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)
Chron/AP eye for the death row killer guy: Ronald Ray Howard
The Chronicle runs an AP dispatch for today's death row killer guy, apparently deciding that neither Allan Turner nor any other staff reporter could very easily rehabilitate the image of one Ronald Ray Howard or explain the outside forces driving his crime; not that the AP reporter didn't try a little bit:
Defense lawyers argued at his trial that Howard's constant exposure to gangsta rap music and its anti-police messages influenced him to pull the trigger.
"He grew up in the ghetto and disliked police and these were his heroes, these rappers ... telling him if you're pulled over, just blast away," his trial attorney, Allen Tanner, recalled last week. "It affected him. That was a totally valid serious defense."
Howard told a grand jury he was listening to "Soulja's Story" by Tupac Shakur before he shot Davidson. The song makes references to a young black male being pulled over by police, remembering Rodney King, then opening fire on an officer.
"I'm not a psychologist," Howard said Wednesday. "So I don't know. I never said: Yes it did or no it didn't. I don't know. But my lawyers thought it could have caused it. And they were trying to justify, put reason, for what I did."
What he did was gun down a state trooper (and father of two) in cold blood during a traffic stop. The jury convicted him after only 40 minutes of deliberation.
Mr. Howard will be departing this world later in the evening.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/06/05 05:29 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
FEMA sending $37 million to Houston for hurricane relief efforts
FEMA has announced that Houston and Harris County will be receiving millions of dollars for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts:
The funds are distributed through Public Assistance Program grants, which reimburse eligible costs, including $37 million to the city of Houston for housing and transportation of evacuees; $9.7 million to Harris County and $1.7 million to the city of Houston for shelter operations; $17 million to the city of Austin for providing interim housing to evacuees; $5.4 million to the city of Austin for housing and transportation; and $1.7 million to the state of Texas for costs incurred by the National Guard for security, transportation and medical response, both in Texas and New Orleans.
The funds released Thursday do not represent the total costs incurred by the state and municipalities. Additional funding requests are under consideration now with release expected soon. Other costs, such as education and health care are being addressed legislatively and through the individual agencies.
Sen. John Cornyn emphasized that this is only the beginning:
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said the funds were “a big step forward toward making Texas whole after the unprecedented efforts to transport, house and feed evacuees following Katrina.”
“Though more funds are on the way, it’s encouraging to see these steps toward reimbursing communities that open their doors and their wallets when our neighbors needed it most,” Cornyn said. “Much remains to be done before Texas is made whole, and the effects of both Katrina and Rita are erased, but this is good progress and I’m confident that more is on the way.”
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/06/05 04:36 PM | Hurricane Stuff | Technorati | Comments (0)
There's something about Florida
Yep, ttweak should have handled it:
For the second time in almost five months, Houston was rejected as a Super Bowl city.
NFL owners today awarded 2010's Super Bowl to Miami.
Houston, Atlanta and Miami — the finalists that lost the 2009 Super Bowl that went to Tampa, Fla. — were the only cities being considered for Super Bowl XLIV that had been earmarked for New York if the city had approved a new stadium for the Jets.
[snip]
McNair wrote every owner a letter this week asking them to support Houston.
"I think Houston deserves it, of course," McNair said ahead of today's vote. "You know, I'm even more proud of our city now than I was in May when we made our presentation, especially after the way the city opened its arms to the (Hurricane Katrina) evacuees. I hope when a city shows that kind of character that it'll mean something to (the owners)." ""
via Laurence
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/06/05 03:30 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (12)
Richmond Avenue light rail meeting tonight
KPRC-2 notes that Metro will meet with the Richmond Avenue Coalition -- a group of residents and business owners -- to discuss Metro's light rail expansion plans and whether or not Metro will be using eminent domain:
People living along the proposed Richmond Avenue light-rail line are afraid they will lose their land, but hope officials will give them some answers Thursday.
The Richmond Avenue Coalition, which is made up of hundreds of business and home owners, will meet with a METRO vice president to find out if the government will have the right to purchase property without the owner's consent.
The meeting will be held at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church on West Alabama Street from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/06/05 08:56 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (4)
Greek festival time
Although the other Greek Orthodox church in town also puts on a festival, this one is still the biggest and the best.
Indeed, it's consistently one of the better ethnic festivals put on in the city.
Parking is always difficult near the festival. If you're not familiar with Montrose, your best bet is to park at Lamar High School and take the free Metro shuttle (details here).
Go enjoy some (bad) Greek wine, excellent spanokopita, and beautiful bozouki music.
Opa!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/06/05 08:34 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (9)
05 October 2005
Go 'Stros!
Do you have Astros fever?
Tom Kirkendall has a preview of the 'Stros-Braves series.
Laurence Simon has the blogger scoreboard and his priorities straight.
Businesses that didn't have TVs last year are ready-to-go this year.
And blogHOUSTON's editor probably has a hidden earpiece ready so she doesn't miss a single minute of the excitement.
Go 'Stros!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/05/05 11:17 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (14)
A subheadline that misses the point
The Chronicle ran a bit of "olds" on the editorial page today, an op-ed by Douglas Kmiec that appeared in the Washington Post yesterday.
In the WaPo, the op-ed ran with only the headline An 'honest broker'.
In the Chronicle, however, the op-ed ran with the following headline and subheadline: Miers is an 'honest broker' with the right background: Why even bloggers on the right are wrong about her
The supplied subheadline is a little misleading, since Kmiec devotes only one sentence to conservative bloggers, and that sentence is meant to dispel the offensive notion that somehow this woman is intellectually deficient (an inaccurate charge seen on some liberal and conservative blogs, although one that may well resonate with some elitist libertarian/conservative law-professor/blogger types whose vision of an ideal Supreme Court justice is probably reflected right back at them when they look at their monitors). The main thrust of Kmiec's piece is that Miers believes in judicial restraint, and that her work at the intersection of law and politics will influence deference on her part to the legislative and executive branches should she be confirmed. That's a bit of a leap of faith on Kmiec's part -- nobody can know it with any certainty -- but that's the thrust of his argument.
From the subheadline, one gets the sense that the editorial idealists might be overly concerned with "bloggers on the right." Maybe "bloggers on the right" will become the new Chron "bad guys!"
Incidentally, one local "blogger on the right" (Beldar) has written some of the most comprehensive web analysis going on the Miers nomination, and even appeared on Hugh Hewitt's thoughtful, nationally syndicated radio program to discuss it yesterday. Instead of recycling "olds" from other newspapers on the Miers nomination, the Chronicle editorial idealists should solicit an original submission from Beldar.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/05/05 09:00 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
04 October 2005
Council to target "visual blight" of news racks?
KHOU-11's Doug Miller reports on a strange priority of certain councilmembers:
As downtown Houston livens up and attracts more people, it's also attracting more paper racks. By one count, there are more than 1,400 of them in downtown alone.
"We've spent a lot of money getting downtown back in shape and looking nice and wanting it to be a destination for people. And you've got a visual blight on the sidewalk," said Chuck Jackson, Downtown District Operations Director.
[snip]
Houston regulates signs, but it doesn't regulate advertising sheets stuck in boxes on sidewalks, which are sometimes chained to city property. Now, some city council members want that to change.
"We're just waiting for the legal department to say what we can get away with regulating and what we can't. I hope we can bring that to resolution very quickly," said Houston City Councilmember Carol Alvarado.
But the U.S. Supreme Court has twice shot down city governments that tried to restrict sidewalk paper racks. And of course, some people like finding all this reading material on the streets.
Here's a suggestion for Councilmember Alvarado: Perhaps a better way to reduce really annoying visual clutter in the city would be to invest more in graffiti abatement and bandit-sign eradication. It wouldn't raise constitutional concerns, and it would address two real problems in the city.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/04/05 09:32 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
It really WAS hotter than usual
I've been whining to anyone who will listen that September was brutally hot.
Most of the victims of my whining have just shrugged and given me some version of, "It's Houston. What did you expect?"
Fine, but now I can point them to the Chron's SciGuy, Eric Berger, who points out that September in Houston was the hottest on record, surpassing normal temperatures for August.
The forecasts of highs in the upper 70s for the weekend look much better.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/04/05 08:49 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (8)
Spring ISD doesn't let "no" vote stop it from raising tax rate
Wow! Dan Patrick (KSEV-700) just spoke with Dr. Bert Williams, who led the charge to defeat Spring ISD's bond initiative, and Dr. Williams told Patrick that the election defeat didn't stop Spring ISD. At a board meeting on September 20, the trustees approved raising the tax rate from $1.87 to $1.95. The reason the trustees say they can do this is because, according to Dr. Williams, two years ago the district published the rate increase proposal. This was never brought up during the bond election, according to Dr. Williams, so it has blindsided the residents of Spring ISD who voted down the tax increase.
As a result of this tax increase, Dr. Williams says that Spring ISD residents are now paying about $9,000 per student.
This an amazing show of chutzpah on the part of Spring ISD's board. Considering how lopsided the bond vote was (4,595 to 1,741), Spring ISD board members might find themselves voted out the next time they are up for election.
UPDATE: An emailer points to an archived Chronicle story (9-18-2003, Kim Canon) that says this new rate increase is due to the bond referendum passed in 2003. Here's the relevant paragraph:
After the October bond sale, which will finance land purchases, and architectural and design fees, the district will sell another $75 million in April. There will be two more bond sales in the following two years. Snow said the district's debt service tax rate will stay at 32 cents per $100 property valuation this year, but will rise to 38 cents in the 2004-05 school year and 45 cents in 2005-06.
It's kind of funny how Spring ISD didn't go out of its way to publicize the coming rate increase as it was trying to get another referendum pushed through.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: That's an informative email, and just the sort of thing that the blog model of public conversation encourages. It's a little disappointing that the emailer didn't leave a name, or contribute on the forum, though.
Laurence Simon has called blogs the glue that holds various sorts of media together. And that's a pretty accurate description here, if you think about it: Anne posts on a conversation on talk radio (thereby liberating that conversation from the time/place restrictions of radio), and experts on the topic can now email and add their perspective. We serve as a conversation facilitator of sorts, and readers more expert than us on any given topic can chime in.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/04/05 04:44 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
WaPo discovers that red light cameras increase accidents in D.C.
Since Houston is on the verge of getting red light cameras -- you know, for safety's sake -- I think this Washington Post story is worth highlighting, talking about what has happened as a result of the District of Columbia's red light camera program:
The District's red-light cameras have generated more than 500,000 violations and $32 million in fines over the past six years. City officials credit them with making busy roads safer.
But a Washington Post analysis of crash statistics shows that the number of accidents has gone up at intersections with the cameras. The increase is the same or worse than at traffic signals without the devices.
Three outside traffic specialists independently reviewed the data and said they were surprised by the results. Their conclusion: The cameras do not appear to be making any difference in preventing injuries or collisions.
"The data are very clear," said Dick Raub, a traffic consultant and a former senior researcher at Northwestern University's Center for Public Safety. "They are not performing any better than intersections without cameras."
[snip]
The analysis shows that the number of crashes at locations with cameras more than doubled, from 365 collisions in 1998 to 755 last year. Injury and fatal crashes climbed 81 percent, from 144 such wrecks to 262. Broadside crashes, also known as right-angle or T-bone collisions, rose 30 percent, from 81 to 106 during that time frame. Traffic specialists say broadside collisions are especially dangerous because the sides are the most vulnerable areas of cars.
The number of crashes and injury collisions at intersections with cameras rose steadily through 2001, then dipped through 2003 before spiking again last year.
The results were similar or worse than figures at intersections that have traffic signals but no cameras. The number of overall crashes at those 1,520 locations increased 64 percent; injury and fatal crashes rose 54 percent; and broadside collisions rose 17 percent.
Something to think about when MayorWhiteChiefHurtt cuts the ribbon on Houston's first red light camera before the year is out.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/04/05 10:01 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (3)
Metro's new budget promises more bus route cuts and layoffs (updated)
In a recent state audit Metro was encouraged to figure out why ridership has plummeted over the past few years. We have been able to identify a big reason (cutting bus routes) and Laurence Simon has been able to explain other reasons (lack of reliable service on bus routes, lack of well-thought-out bus routes, lack of customer service, sticky train floors -- ewwww!).
Today Rad Sallee reports on Metro's new budget for next year which includes...cutting three percent of bus routes.
There is no mention of cutting back on the proposed rail extensions and (don't say Bus) Rapid Transit. Only on the flexible, yet much-maligned buses. Metro, of course, calls all these route cuts and changes "improvements," but those who rely on Metro's bus service have a different take:
Some of Metro's critics accuse the agency of building rail and catering to commuters while shortchanging those who depend on local buses to get to work, the doctor or the grocery store.
"They promised 50 percent more bus routes, but they don't say that. They just say the people voted for rail," said bus rider Mark Smith.
"Metro could have crisscrossed the county with buses for what it will cost to build the rail system."
[snip]
Then there's Terrence Wilson, who was paralyzed from the waist down in a motorcycle accident 24 years ago. Wilson, 49, depends on Metro buses and his motorized wheelchair to get around.
Because many streets in his Acres Homes neighborhood lack sidewalks, Metro built a concrete slab on the shoulder for his wheelchair, he said. But over the years, his regular bus was replaced with a circulating shuttle, and then Metro shortened that route. It no longer passes his home, and Wilson said he now rides his chair in the street for a risky 1 1/2 miles to reach the bus stop.
Other highlights of Metro's new budget include more layoffs, rising fuel prices and increased health care costs. Sallee's story doesn't mention a deficit and the budget is not yet available online. Maybe Metro has taken care of last year's first-ever revenue shortfall.
Metro would help itself tremendously by ending the honor system for fare payment on the light rail, by being honest about light rail ridership (count actual paid ridership, not boardings), by instituting a fare increase in all transit services, and by increasing bus service 50 percent like it promised it would do, instead of continuing to cut bus service.
UPDATE: That Rad Sallee is a guy who can get things done. Metro has now posted its 2006 budget on its website. If you've got the time (a LOT of time -- it's very long), take a peek at it.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/04/05 09:45 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (2)
03 October 2005
Councilmember radio on KTRH
Councilmember Michael Berry will be subbing for Sam Malone on KTRH-740 tomorrow (Tuesday), from 10 a.m.-noon.
If you like talk radio that's about Houston, this could be an interesting couple of hours.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/03/05 11:31 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (9)
DeLay hit with second indictment; lawyer blasts both
On the same day that Tom DeLay's legal team mounted a strong challenge to the indictment that came out last week, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle announced another indictment.
KTRK-13 has posted the Associated Press story. At the time of this post, Chron.com is running a version of the AP coverage as well. The Dallas Morning News, New York Times, and Washington Post have all posted original, lengthy reporting on the matter.
In fairness, those newspapers aren't still recovering from the HARD WORK of putting out a newspaper during a big news event.
DeLay's attorney Dick DeGuerin appeared on the Abrams report earlier tonight. That transcript is reproduced beneath the [Read More] link.
UPDATE (10-04-2005): PowerLine weighs in on the legal maneuvering.
Also, Chron.com finally has posted original coverage by R.G. Ratcliffe and Clay Robison. Ronnie Earle, who seems to crave the media (and film) spotlight, refused to take calls from the Chronicle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/03/05 11:03 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (0)
KTRK's Wrigley checks in on African-American museum
KTRK-13's Deborah Wrigley reports that some fourth-ward residents are not happy that there's been no movement on an African-American museum:
It's been almost two years and still there's no museum or cultural center in the historic Freedmen's town. It's in the fourth ward area -- an area in the sights of developers. Residents say the city promised the project would be done so why does the building stand empty today and why are residents concerned?
House by house, Freedman's town is slowly losing its identity. A way to counteract that is the African American heritage museum and community center to be installed in an empty and old school building there. But that's not happening on schedule, and that's an issue for the neighborhood.
[snip]
Two years then-mayor Lee Brown was part of the ground-breaking at the school. It was approved as the site for an African American cultural museum and promoted as such.
"This started in the 80's," said activist Lenwood Johnson. "The most recent time was two years ago. The newspaper announced they had $6 million to turn this into a museum. We don't see nothing happening."
A spokesman for Mayor Bill White says that the project is indeed ongoing -- that architectural plans have been completed and that a steering committee will be meeting later this month to decide what features and documents the center will include. A date for construction is pending.
Expect the construction to begin before the upcoming municipal elections.
It would be interesting to know how the museum will be funded, since KHOU-11's reporting last year indicated that Council pulled funding for the project.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/03/05 10:40 PM | Houston Arts/Culture | Technorati | Comments (3)
Vagrant agrees to 12 years for firefighter's death
KHOU-11 reports that Jack Cordua, the vagrant responsible for a firefighter's death back in February, pleaded guilty today:
Jack Cordua, the vagrant who was charged with manslaughter after investigators said he started a fire inside a vacant house that led to the death of a Houston firefighter, pleaded guilty Monday. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Jack Cordua, 39, has admitted to accidentally starting the fire that killed a Houston firefighter.
Cordua's trial was set to begin Monday prior to the plea deal.
HFD firefighter Grady Burke, who died in the blaze, and fellow firefighters had no idea the burning home, was empty when they went inside in search of possible victims. Burke left behind a wife and three small children.
If convicted at trial of the second-degree felony, Cordua could have received up to 20 years in prison.
The official sentencing will take place on Oct. 7 at which time the family of Grady Burke will be allowed to address Cordua.
As the Chronicle reminded us earlier, Jack Cordua has never been involved with the Cordua family restaurants (Churrascos, Americas, Amazon Grill) in Houston.
PREVIOUSLY: Chron eye for the homeless (alleged) arsonist guy.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/03/05 10:20 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Two unanticipated disasters hit Houston hospitals hard
Houston-area hospitals are now assessing the financial damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita:
Several Houston hospitals are estimating the price tag for the help they offered during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita could be about $10 million for each medical facility.
But hospital officials said the costs are just a part of their mission to help the needy.
“That’s what we’re here for,” said Pat Carrier, chief executive of Christus Health Gulf Coast. “We had to do what we had to do.”
Officials don’t expect the losses to result in job cuts or the cancellation of projects, but there will be systemwide belt-tightening.
Much of the costs are related to the medical treatment of Katrina evacuees, a large portion of whom had no health insurance, hospital executives said.
The threat of Rita cost hospitals millions in preparations and the loss of patient revenue.
“I just explained to our board ... that our month of September will be a horrendous financial month for our system,” said Dan Wolterman, president and chief executive of the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System. “We had two unanticipated catastrophes.”
Hospital executives are still figuring out how to cover their losses.
Federal aid may help, but several hospital executives said that won’t cover all their costs.
A recently approved federal waiver allowing Katrina evacuees to be enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program might offer some help.
“We do hope to recoup some of the money from the government,” said University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Chief Financial Officer Leon Leach.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/03/05 07:21 PM | Hurricane Stuff | Technorati | Comments (0)
Pearland ISD ekes out a bond victory
Chris Elam points to this Chron story that says voters approved Pearland ISD's bond proposal -- but just barely:
Voters in the Pearland Independent School District on Saturday narrowly passed a $58 million bond package that will pay for building two elementary schools and a middle school.
The vote was 1,111-1,008.
“Call it squeaky,” said PISD Superintendent Bonny Cain. “It means that we will be able to meet the needs that have come our way.”
School districts would be wise to focus on the basics and not the fluff, if they want these bond referendums to pass.
RELATED: The backlash against school bond elections (bH)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/03/05 01:29 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
HISD's (expensive) press office helps Chronicle reporting
It was a slow week for Chronicle Wrap-ups, so Jason Spencer had to dig deep to find this one that revives a tired Chronicle complaint -- HISD spends too much money on its press office.
Metro/State columnist Rick Casey tried this awhile back, when he criticized HISD for paying chief spokesman Terry Abbott what Casey thought was an exorbitant salary. Casey didn't disclose how much the Chronicle pays HIM to write his drivel, nor did Casey provide any balance by noting how much, for example, Metro's spokesman is paid. I pointed out back then that Abbott earns every penny of his salary just fending off the Chronicle.
So today Spencer notes that the $363,000 HISD press office put out a press release touting the HISD board's decision to save taxpayers $330,000 by cancelling the elections of unopposed HISD trustees:
Three of the five school board elections previously scheduled for November are now canceled because incumbents Dianne Johnson, Harvin Moore and Greg Meyers are unopposed. HISD won't have to spend money on ballots and poll workers in areas represented by those trustees.
Now, that's the kind of creative, positive thinking HISD expects from its $363,000-a-year press operation, whose stated mission is to "quickly and accurately respond to media inquiries and generate positive publicity about the great programs and people at HISD."
The news isn't so much that the district is canceling three elections. It's that HISD now has an extra $330,000 to spend on something else.
Cute.
Out of curiosity, I emailed Spencer asking if he had attended the board meeting last week when this decision was made. He replied that he hadn't attended the meeting -- he was out of town attending a family member's funeral. While I am sorry for Spencer's loss, isn't it a teensy bit ironic that he used HISD's (expensive) press office -- here's the HISD press release -- to write a wrap-up story that slams HISD's (expensive) press office?
Or how about this story Spencer wrote over the weekend about HISD leasing Douglass Elementary to KIPP charter schools for (primarily) evacuee schoolchildren. You see, the HISD board made the decision at last week's board meeting...the one Spencer couldn't attend. But his byline is on the story. So, he had to have used HISD's (expensive) press office to gather up all the information for the story.
We also know what else HISD's (expensive) press office is good for -- fulfilling open records requests. Media outlets and whistleblowers often file open-ended public information requests -- a necessary part of government transparency -- and who do you think helps compile all that information?
So, instead of berating HISD for its (expensive) press office, Jeff Cohen should be thanking HISD and Dr. Saavedra for saving him money he would otherwise have to spend on more education reporters. And in this age of Chronicle layoffs, that's very generous of HISD!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/03/05 11:50 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Chron editorial board's tunnel vision
On September 21st, the Washington Post reported that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) sold all his stock "in his family's hospital corporation about two weeks before it issued a disappointing earnings report and the price fell nearly 15 percent."
The Chronicle's editorial board must have run out of "in the aftermath of" and "in the wake of" Katrina and Rita editorials because almost two weeks after the Post's story, the financial/legal experts at the Chronicle have decided to compare Sen. Frist to...Martha Stewart:
Frist sold all his stock in Hospital Corporation of America shortly before the company, founded by his father and brother, issued a negative earnings report. The stock dropped 9 percent of its value. Frist's sale followed similar unloading of big blocks of company stock by HCA officials, including chairman Jack Bovender and Treasurer David Anderson. All the while, in behavior reminiscent of Enron executives, HCA officers publicly hyped the health of the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain to market analysts and fellow stockholders.
The investigation of Frist calls to mind that of homemaking maven Martha Stewart, convicted and jailed for lying to investigators about an insider tip she received from a stockbroker that allowed her to unload $45,000 in Imclone stock before its value plummeted. By contrast, Frist's HCA holdings were worth approximately $10 million of the value of the not-so-blind trust he created when he took office.
Since the editorial board has a long history of dubious thinking, getting basic facts wrong, and even making up new treaties and laws, I think it's best not to take the idealist's word as the final say on Sen. Frist's guilt or innocence. Instead, here's what Sen. Frist says happened:
When deciding how to handle my family’s personal investments, I always sought expert advice and Senate Ethics Committee review and approval. Despite not being required to do so, I sought and obtained two Ethics Committee opinions acknowledging that my ownership of HCA stock complied with Senate rules and did not present a conflict of interest with my Senate duties. Despite not being required to do so, I later chose to place many of my investments in blind trusts, including my HCA stock. With these efforts, I have sought to guarantee that no conflict of interest existed. Review after review has found nothing wrong. Nevertheless, the complaints and questions have persisted.
Because of these continuing questions, and looking ahead at my final years in the Senate and what might come next, I have for some time wanted to eliminate even the possibility of an appearance of a conflict by totally divesting of any HCA stock in my family’s trusts.
In April, I asked my staff to determine if Senate rules and relevant laws would allow me to direct the trustees to sell any remaining HCA stock. After my staff reviewed relevant statutes and Senate rules and consulted with outside counsel and Senate Ethics Committee staff, I learned that the rules allowed me to direct the trustees to sell any remaining HCA stock in my blind trusts.
In May, my staff worked with outside counsel and the Senate Ethics Committee staff to draft a written communication to the trustees. After obtaining pre-approval by mid-June from the Senate Ethics Committee, I issued a letter directing my trustees to sell any remaining HCA stock in my family’s trusts.
Now I am being asked to explain this decision. I understand that. And I welcome it.
An examination of the facts will demonstrate that I acted properly. I will cooperate with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York to provide the information they need as quickly as possible. My only objective in selling the stock was to eliminate the appearance of a conflict of interest. I had no information about HCA or its performance that was not publicly available when I directed the trustees to sell the stock.
So, perhaps we should wait until the SEC and the U.S. Attorney finish their investigations.
This reminds me of the Democrat/media (one and the same usually, I know) outrage when then-Governor Bush chose Dick Cheney as his running mate. There was outrage and horror that the guy who used to head up Halliburton could be VP. There were screams that Cheney MUST divest himself of any ties to Halliburton. So Cheney sold his stock. Then there was Democrat/media outrage that Cheney had made money by selling his Halliburton stock. Well, duh!
This caps off today's editorial:
In the end, Frist may be guilty of nothing more than bad judgment in putting his financial interests above the public trust and his political future.
Really? Where is the editorial on N.J. Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.), who is running for N.J. governor? Check out this paragraph from a Gannett News Service story:
He's gotten into hot water this year over unfulfilled promises to create a blind trust and for a nearly half-million-dollar gift he made to former girlfriend Carla Katz, a powerful state union chief. And on Thursday, The Record of Hackensack reported that Corzine, as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, voted last year for a tax treaty with Japan that netted him a significant tax break.
Good grief!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/03/05 08:38 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
02 October 2005
Mack on the Mayor's minor council setbacks
With the Rita excitement, I was remiss in calling attention to Kristen Mack's column from over a week ago, in which Mack noted that Mayor White recently suffered two rare public defeats in council:
The Council has bucked the mayor twice this month — shutting down a plan to give money to homeowners sheltering Katrina evacuees and refusing to renew the contract for embattled public-access channel Houston MediaSource.
The resistance emerged at an emergency council meeting Sept. 8 as Houston was in the second week of dealing with Katrina evacuees.
The council already had gone along with White's plan to set aside $10 million for evacuees. But when he called a second meeting for council to consider a $500,000 plan to reimburse Houstonians $15 a day per Katrina evacuee they accepted into their homes, council members rejected the idea. He directed his staff to refine it, but later found private funds for the reimbursements and did not take the issue back to council.
As Mack observes, Mayor White is usually much more adept at working behind the scenes to ensure easy victories (or, if an easy victory is not forthcoming, he simply does not bring matters to Council).
Still, despite the quotes from Michael Berry and Pam Holm, Council has mostly been a pushover for Mayor White, who has moved the important items on his agenda easily. That's not likely to change (especially after he racks up a big victory in the coming election), the quote about "moderate councilmen" from one of the Mayor's biggest Council boosters on SAFEclear and the Parking Authority Revenue Stream notwithstanding.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/02/05 09:38 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
Go 'Stros!
Congratulations to the Astros, who just clinched a wild card spot with a 6-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/02/05 03:58 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (2)
It's not a Pulitzer, but it's something
The Chron's Religion section has won an award:
The Houston Chronicle has won the Religion Newswriters Association's Schachern Award for the best religion section among newspapers with circulations over 100,000.
The Chronicle was among five national finalists for the award.
"In a fresh way this section consistently offers its readers a wide variety of religious and ethics stories," the contest judges said. "Every section was compelling. Clear, inviting writing was a hallmark. ... Nothing is ho-hum. Readers shouldn't let Saturdays go by in Houston without visiting this section."
Actually, I started letting my Saturdays go by without reading the section soon after I started taking the Chronicle. But that's just me; I'm sure many loyal readers -- literally dozens of them* -- enjoy the fresh and compelling writing found in the Chron's Religion section.
* borrowed from the irrepressible Matt Bramanti.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/02/05 11:23 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
STAR: The wonders of METRO
Several days ago, the Chronicle's Lifestyle & Features (STAR!) section ran an advertisement for METRO posing as news.
Owen Courreges promptly took issue with the cheerleading, as did Laurence Simon. Here's an excerpt from Laurence:
Owen Courreges of Lonestar Times shares his METRO experiences after reading this advertisement for METRO posing as a news article in everybody's favorite local major paper.
That's odd. I thought that Lucas Wall was in Boston.
Yes, it's good to promote public transportation, but I'd love to see a few reporters putting their car keys away and taking METRO themselves to see how wonderful and convenient the system really is. No, really, join me or some other METRO rider for a week or so in leaving the driving to METRO. See how great it is firsthand.
I cannot believe that Kristin Finan and Kyrie O'Connor have not taken up Laurence on his offer, since they are big advocates of "first-person journalism."
Incidentally, as Matt Bramanti pointed out, the column by Louis Parks contained this big error:
For years the bus folks — Houston Metropolitan Authority, or Metro — have been trying to reverse declining ridership.
As future reference for those features editors and blogHOUSTON readers who have the time to correct typos on this blog but refuse to answer polite email questions about the journalistic ethics of impersonating evacuees, the organization is the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO). Maybe that tidbit could be shared with the colleagues who let that gaffe get through.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/02/05 11:16 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Chron finally opines on DeLay indictment
On Thursday, every major state newspaper and many "national" newspapers editorialized on the DeLay indictment.
The Chronicle was silent.
Friday? Silence.
Saturday? Silence.
Today, in their usual timely manner , the Chronicle managed an editorial on the indictment and everything else in the kitchen sink. The product more resembled a selective "Fisking" of DeLay comments than an editorial in an ideal state.
Still, we're heartened that the editorialists of the major newspaper of record in southeast Texas finally got rested up from the HARD WORK of covering that big storm and managed to offer a (late) comment on the indictment, even if it doesn't compare favorably to the better "Fiskings" of bloggers (or, dare we say, "Fisking" in the ideal state).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/02/05 10:43 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
KTRK posts interview with DeLay
KTRK-13's Tom Abrahams scored an interview with Rep. Tom DeLay a couple of days ago.
The transcript of that interview is posted on KTRK's website, for those who are interested.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/02/05 10:21 AM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (0)
In the aftermath of Rita...
Readers may recall that a while ago, I highlighted a new Chron approach to editorializing: Simply write, "in the aftermath of Katrina," followed by whatever opinion previously held on unrelated issues.
[Governor Perry] should rescind the recent executive order — of dubious legality — that tries to restrict how school districts spend their money. Issued to give the governor political cover from the summer's education reform failures, it could block the ability of local officials to rebuild schools destroyed or damaged by Rita.
Translation: In the aftermath of Rita, Governor Perry should rescind an executive order I oppose politically on Sundays (but cover fairly *wink* *wink* six days a week when I'm wearing my "Bureau Chief" hat).
That editorial page is just a riot.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/02/05 10:11 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Douglass Elementary becomes charter school for Louisiana children
Jim Bell of KUHF-88.7 has the story of a new mission for the former Douglass Elementary:
A historic school in Houston's Third Ward -- that was closed last year because of declining enrollment -- is coming to life again because of Hurricane Katrina. Douglass Elementary School will reopen next week with a new name, as a charter school for children of Louisiana evacuees.
The Houston School Board has voted to lease the Douglass school property to the KIPP College Preparatory Academy group, which will operate it as a state charter school. As of today, the old school in southeast Houston isn't called Douglass Elementary anymore. It's now the New Orleans West KIPP College Prep Academy, and it's for evacuated New Orleans children only. Principal Gary Robichaux says with more than five thousand Louisiana children in Houston, there's no shortage of students.
Robichaux says when HISD reopened Douglass as a temporary school for evacuee children, KIPP's national directors decided to lease the property and keep it open through May of next year. KIPP has the option of extending the lease if there's still a need for the school, and that could happen because large numbers of evacuee families say they want to stay in Houston. KIPP stands for Knowledge is Power Program, and it's known for its rigorous approach to education, which Robichaux says is based on high expectations.
KIPP academies also have classes every other Saturday, and Robichaux says the Saturday schedule will be implemented a few weeks from now as their enrollment increases and stabilizes. When does school start at the new KIPP Academy?
Robichaux stresses that the New Orleans West KIPP Academy can only accept children who evacuated from New Orleans, because that's how their charter with the State of Texas is written.
RELATED: HISD Leases Vacant Douglass Elementary School to Successful State Charter School (HISD), HISD begins massive enrollment effort (bH)
UPDATE: Two clarifications are in order to the KUHF story: first, while the new school is primarily for evacuee schoolchildren, any HISD student can ask to attend. Also, at the end of the school year HISD will accept proposals from any group interested in running the school next year -- KIPP will not exclusively have the option of renewing. Thanks to the emailer who alerted me to these two points.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/02/05 08:40 AM | Hurricane Stuff | Technorati | Comments (0)
01 October 2005
Chron editorial board: Tom DeLay? Who's that?
Thursday, the editorial page of every major newspaper in the state (along with "national" newspapers) weighed in on the DeLay indictment.
The Chronicle was silent, instead running another "In the aftermath of Katrina" editorial.
The Chronicle editorial page offered nothing on the topic yesterday, instead choosing to run a laughable "In the aftermath of Katrina" editorial that contended the wild tales from New Orleans circulated by major media were not the fault of major media (when in fact, the vaunted "fact checking" and editors and extensive resources devoted to New Orleans quite clearly failed at basic journalism -- vetting and reporting FACTS).
The Chronicle editorial page offered nothing on the topic today, instead choosing to run another "aftermath of Katrina" editorial. The editorial idealists must be tired of bloggers laughing at them, though, because they busted out a thesaurus and came up with "In the wake of..." as a substitute. That's even funnier, actually.
Maybe the editorial idealists will be all rested up by tomorrow (it's HARD to put out a newspaper in the midst of a big news event, as the reader representative reminded us, and apparently takes quite a bit of time to recover), and can offer some opinion about the DeLay indictment.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/01/05 10:39 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
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