28 February 2006
Bonusgate scandal stays in the news
The new communications team advising embattled Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado can't be happy with today's publicity.
Then again, they helped generate some of it by insisting on the following correction in today's Chronicle:
In an interview for a story that appeared on Page B1 Wednesday about the $66,000 increase in the mayor pro tem budget for fiscal 2006, Houston City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado said, "I don't know why this $50,000, or $60,000, is such a hot issue." A word in her statement was misquoted.
That was just the morning dose of bonusgate. Later in the day, Councilmember Addie Wiseman revealed a letter to Mayor White that asks some very pointed questions as to why Council (not to mention the Harris County District Attorney and the general public) has largely been kept in the dark on the matter to date. Jim Thompson helpfully posts the letter on KHOU-11's news blog.
KTRK-13's Miya Shay proved nimble enough today to track down one of the four suspended staffers, but he didn't have a comment:
Christopher Mays is one of the four workers in the mayor pro tem's office accused of accepting improper bonuses. He's been suspended since the scandal broke, but he broke his silence with Eyewitness News.
It's been a difficult week and a half for Mays and the other employees who've been on suspension. There are lots of unknowns and rumors swirling around. Mays is reluctant to say much.
"It's pretty hectic," he said. "There are some pretty serious accusations, but I would just like to withhold any comment until the matter is fully investigated."
Not to get overly philosophical, but is it really breaking silence when one announces he will have no comment?
RELATED COVERAGE: Chronicle, KHOU-11.
BLOGVERSATION: Houblog (I, II), Isiah Carey's Insite.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/28/06 09:11 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)
Friedman testifies for (twice) convicted murderer
Kinky Friedman's foray into alternative marketing political campaign took an odd turn today, as Friedman testified in the sentencing phase of the trial of (twice) convicted murderer Max Soffar:
Prosecutor Lyn McClellan objected throughout the 10-minute testimony.
McClellan said Friedman's participation in the trial was nothing but a publicity stunt. He said Friedman did not offer any mitigating evidence to the trial that would explain to jurors Soffar's behavior.Friedman, who wrote to Soffar while he was on death row, has said he believes that Soffar is innocent and has been wrongly convicted.
"I said he had a higher innocence. He had an earned innocence, an achieved innocence like a guy who comes back from Iraq or Vietnam -- from a war. He's struggled with his demons and he's conquered them," Friedman said.
Once his political campaign flames out, Friedman should apply for a gig writing the Chron Eye For The Death Row Killer Guy!
Friedman said he met Soffar while writing an article for Texas Monthly magazine. He interviewed Soffar and exchanged letters with him during his years on death row.
Although he used to support the death penalty, Friedman told jurors he's now against it.
Perhaps the Chronicle reporting tomorrow will let us know whether Kathryn Kase, defense attorney and wife of Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen, wept over Friedman's testimony.
ADDITIONAL COVERAGE: KHOU-11.
UPDATE (03-01-2006): Here is the Chronicle's coverage.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/28/06 08:23 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
They are killing trees to print these editorials (cont'd)
Still nothing out of the Editorial LiveJournalists/Constitution Rewriters about Chief Hurtt's surveillance camera plan; however, the Chron's new Pulitzer Prize-winning 'toonist has weighed in -- in favor of the plan.
The editorial board doesn't disappoint, though. Today's Olympian Pronouncement is about Anna Nicole Smith. The LiveJournalists want her to go away.
BLOGVERSATION: Let's extend the Hurtt Prize (Off the Kuff), Nick Anderson's learning curve (Isolated Desolation)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/28/06 09:43 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
The limitations of light rail
If a water main break has damaged a road, a car can find a way around it. A bus can find a way around it. Cars and buses are flexible.
But it looks world-class!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/28/06 09:27 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (5)
27 February 2006
If there's nothing to hide....
Local watchdog and blogHOUSTON commenter Tom Bazan gets a little attention from the Chronicle's Rad Sallee today:
MetroRail critic Tom Bazan filed an open records request to find out whether the Pierce Elevated overpass had been damaged by stray current from Metro's light rail tracks.
Now, ironically, statutes whose supposed purpose is safety have blocked that search. The Chronicle is seeking related information.
An opinion Thursday from the Texas Attorney General's office says federal law exempts TxDOT from disclosing information gathered for "identifying, evaluating or planning the safety enhancement of potential accident sites, hazardous roadway conditions or railway-highway crossings."
[snip]
Metro revealed the leakage after learning about it from CenterPoint Energy, which has underground power lines near the tracks. Bazan said he wants to know if the current has corroded structural steel in the overpass columns where the tracks cross three freeways, and in buildings along the route.
Officials of TxDOT, Metro and the Texas Medical Center say they know of no such damage. Metro acknowledges that the leakage eventually could harm underground wiring and other nearby objects but says the problem has been mostly corrected.
Nothing to see here. Move along now. Trust the government bureaucracy that chooses to hide information from the people. After all, the problem is mostly corrected!
BLOGVERSATION: Lone Star Times.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/27/06 11:08 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (8)
Nestor to contest red light camera contract this week
A couple of weeks ago, we posted about a red light camera company's plan to contest the city's contract with American Traffic Solutions Inc. (ATS). Today the Chronicle's Alexis Grant (with an assist from Matt Stiles) explores that topic with some interesting tidbits. First:
The Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee likely will hear not only from the Houston Police Department, which recommended Arizona-based American Traffic Solutions Inc. for the project, but also from a representative of Nestor Traffic Systems Inc., which failed to win the recommendation.
ATS Inc. is Arizona-based. Hmmmm. Arizona rings a bell, doesn't it?
Now, here's the really interesting piece of information:
One of Keller's criticisms of ATS is that its system does not use collision-avoidance technology, which keeps opposing lights red to prevent other traffic from entering and intersection when the system detects an imminent violation. The systems predict violations by calculating the speed and distance of approaching vehicles.
Montalvo said city traffic engineers recommended the technology not be used because it interferes with the synchronization of traffic lights and puts the camera company in control of light cycles instead of the city.
As long as the camera company doesn't control yellow-light times, the collision-avoidance technology sounds pretty good. Of course, some of us already have our suspicions about the city's yellow-light times.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/27/06 06:53 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
The end of the daily absurdity: Alvarado brings in heavyweights
The Chronicle's Matt Stiles reports that embattled Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado has decided to bring in the heavyweights to help her with the bonusgate scandal:
Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado shifted strategy today, hiring a high-profile new spokesman and a famous defense lawyer to help her deal with her office's payroll scandal.Alvarado announced today that she had hired defense attorney Rusty Hardin and the Austin-based communications firm Public Strategies. A Public Strategies spokesman said Hardin would provide guidance to Alvarado during an expected investigation by Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal.
Alvarado hasn't been implicated in the investigation into paycheck padding in the Office of Mayor Pro Tem, and no one has been charged with crimes.
Mayor Pro Tem Alvarado seems finally to have realized that her inattention to detail as Mayor Pro Tem may have a political cost, and that her prior communications strategy ("She's a mute outraged victim!") was laughable. Mayor Pro Tem Alvarado aspires to greater things politically, so this move is only prudent for her.
Those guys probably won't come cheap, though. How much less expensive would it have been to exercise a little more oversight as Mayor Pro Tem?
BLOGVERSATION: Isolated Desolation, Houblog.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/27/06 04:47 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (16)
Metro wishes you a Happy Monday! (updated)
via Chron.com:
Passengers riding MetroRail today should expect delays due to a broken water line at San Jacinto and Hermann Drive.
The water line break has washed out support under the track at that location and will require repairs past today's rush-hour service.
To avoid potential delays, Metro will be running double cars to handle extra passenger loads.
The only station affected by the break is the Museum District northbound platform. Passengers traveling northbound can get on and off the train at the Museum District southbound platform at Fannin and Binz.
No word on when normal service will be restored.
Random thought: I wonder how everything's going on the "stray current" front?
KEVIN WHITED ADDS (about 4:30 pm): I crossed the light rail line at Wentworth and San Jacinto on my way home just a while ago. Since the METRO "transit backbone" is operating on one line, the signals aren't functional. A METRO police officer was at the intersection stopping traffic manually when a train came by.
A METRO skeptic might conclude the "transit backbone" has a bad case of osteoporosis.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/27/06 06:15 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (5)
26 February 2006
Editorial LiveJournalists ignore most primary contests
Early voting for the March 7 primary started on February 21. The state's major newspapers have engaged in the usual practice of endorsing primary candidates in many races.
The Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists, on the other hand, have dabbled just twice so far in the endorsement game, giving their nod to Gov. Perry and Lt. Gov Dewhurst on the Republican side (they face no real opposition), and making several Republican judicial recommendations in an editorial today that seems more like an effort to curry favor with Jeff Cohen's wife:
The incumbent, Presiding Judge Sharon Keller, has belatedly recognized that many indigent defendants in Texas don't get a fair shake. However, for years she has maintained that it is not the job of the courts to free innocent defendants from prison. The opinions she has written and joined have overlooked sleeping lawyers, constitutional ineligibility for the death penalty, police misconduct and evidence of innocence in order to keep defendants in prison.
Given the number of imprisoned Texans who have proved their innocence through DNA testing of evidence, the courts cannot turn their back on the justice system's frequent breakdowns. Price says he would play a more active role in diverting drug abusers into treatment instead of the penitentiary.
Why no discussion of the many other primary races that are being contested? Why the smears instead?
This surely does not seem like an editorial page in its ideal state.
UPDATE (02-27-2006): The Editorial LiveJournalists get around to some Democratic races today, finally. Better late than never, we suppose.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/26/06 10:46 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Daily Campos absurdity: Alvarado is outraged!
The Chronicle ran a choppy op-ed from Gabriel Vazquez today on the bonusgate scandal. The former councilmember seems to channel local blogs with this snippet:
Clearly, the public trust has been violated, but there is more at stake than proper payroll procedures.
Someone has to take responsibility. It is unsettling to hear an elected official play the victim by claiming, "I trusted staff and was taken advantage of." It is completely unacceptable to say $50,000 or $60,000 is "no big deal" as Council Member Alvarado has reportedly stated. The public expects elected officials to take responsibility for what goes on during their time in office. The benchmark of a good politician is to take responsibility for irregularities as a means to demonstrate fitness for office.Someone has to be held accountable. Someone in Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado's office had to authorize the bonuses, and someone in Finance had to approve them for a check to be issued. Documents clearly indicate Alvarado did authorize subordinates to use her signature. The real question is, did Alvarado know of the bonuses?
The investigation must be thorough, independent and completely legitimate. High-level officials such as the controller, the mayor and the director of Finance should be transparent about payroll and bonus procedures. The lack of information raises questions about the credibility of the investigation.
Yes, it does raise questions about the investigation.
On that topic, Matt Stiles reported on Saturday that Rosenthal's office still hasn't been presented with results of the city's investigation:
District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal had said that a report from the investigators could be sent to his office by the end of this week. He said Friday he hasn't yet received anything.
This certainly seems like a plodding investigation.
For her part, Alvarado still is afflicted with Sudden Mute Syndrome, thus relegating Marc Campos to relay daily absurdities:
Alvarado has stopped commenting about the situation. Her political consultant, Marc Campos, said the councilwoman was "outraged" when she saw more documents about the bonuses on Friday.
"You would hope that somebody would've caught that," Campos said.
If only Mayor Pro Tem Alvarado had bothered to scrutinize the monthly budget reports for her Mayor Pro Tem's office, perhaps she would be less outraged now.
BLOGVERSATION: Houblog.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/26/06 10:23 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
Downtown library to close for renovation
City Council quietly approved a library renovation project last Wednesday that will soon close the downtown library for an extended period:
The City of Houston plans to spend $14.9 million to renovate the Central Library located in downtown Houston next to Houston City Hall.
The project, the largest in the history of the library system, will include updates to the library's IT infrastructure, a rebuild of the plaza, expansion of the children's and teen's services, and the addition of public space.
To make way for the changes, the library will close to the public on April 3 and won't reopen until the end of 2007. Access to the Central Library's collection and reference services will continue through neighborhood libraries and HPL Express Downtown. The library system has 36 branch libraries throughout the city. City officials are encouraging library customers to use neighborhood libraries during the renovation process.
None of the local reporting indicated how Councilmember Ada Edwards voted on the renovation proposal, or whether she deemed the closing a direct attack on homeless people.
ADDITIONAL COVERAGE: Houston Chronicle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/26/06 10:06 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (3)
Houston girl stars in CSI: Miami
A local girl is set to appear on CSI: Miami Monday night:
Cierra Ramírez, a student at HISD’s Neff Elementary School (8200 Carvel) is slated to be in an upcoming episode of the popular primetime TV crime drama, CSI Miami.
The talented 10-year-old fifth-grader has been a performer since age seven, and has been named Houston’s Most Talented Kid (2004), Fort Bend Superstar (2004) and winner of Radio Disney’s Cool Kid Contest (2004). She also competed against 700 other children from all over the nation at the Best New Talent competition held by veteran performer Lynn Venturella last year and landed first prize in four categories (contemporary singing, comedic and dramatic acting, and commercial) and second place in another (Broadway singing).
Cierra has already landed acting roles with Louis Gossett, Jr. (in an upcoming movie called “All In”), and has been the opening act for American Idol finalist Ruben Stoddard and for Earth, Wind, and Fire in Las Vegas. She also sang in an episode of “Showtime at the Apollo,” which aired last October.
The CSI Miami episode in which Cierra plays a part (Isabel Terraza, the daughter of a crime suspect) is set to air on Monday, February 27, on KHOU-TV Channel 11 at 9:00 p.m.
Man, that's some resume...and she's only TEN!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/26/06 08:58 AM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (1)
FEMA agrees to pay for Katrina housing costs
Mayor White's office has announced that FEMA has agreed in principle to continue paying for housing and public safety costs related to Hurricane Katrina evacuees:
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which had threatened in November to halt housing voucher reimbursements on March 1, has now formally agreed to continue the reimbursements for a year, White spokesman Frank Michel said.
Michel said the latest figures show the city has paid rent for more than 90,000 evacuees placed in apartments throughout the area. The estimated final cost will be about $300 million, he said.
The city had also asked FEMA for $6.5 million to offset the costs of providing police service associated with the influx of new residents who fled Louisiana and Mississippi after Katrina.
White wants to use the money to establish a task force focusing on "hot spots" for violent crime, which has increased recently.
Michel said FEMA had agreed to reimburse the city for police officers' overtime pay related to the evacuees. City officials are compiling the necessary documentation, he said.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/26/06 08:16 AM | Hurricane Stuff | Technorati | Comments (4)
25 February 2006
TSU's president comes down with Sudden Mute Syndrome
Today, the Chronicle's Matthew Tresaugue continues his solid reporting on financial irregularities in the Texas Southern University president's office:
Texas Southern University President Priscilla Slade charged the school more than $94,000 for travel, meals, event tickets and other expenses last year, nearly twice the annual limit allowed under her contract, records show.
Billing statements from Slade's three university-issued credit cards, released to the Houston Chronicle this week under the Texas Public Information Act, did not include all of the costs for airfare to destinations as far away as Beijing and as near as Austin.Whether the travel and entertainment expenses are in conflict with her contract is the latest question about Slade's spending, an issue that has spurred an internal inquiry and questions from local law enforcement officials.
[snip]
Slade declined to comment through a spokeswoman, Winifred King, who cited the university's ongoing investigation for the president's silence. Board chairman J. Paul Johnson also would not comment.
Sudden Mute Syndrome (SMS) seems to be spreading among Houston's public and quasi-public officials of late.
PREVIOUSLY: Just the guy to put in charge of millions of public dollars, Stealing or accounting oversight?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/25/06 02:24 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
Cactus closing affects local music scene
KHOU-11's Nancy Holland files a report on the closing of Cactus Music and Video and the impact on the local music scene.
A few weeks ago, Houston Press music columnist John Nova Lomax tackled the same topic, in the form of reactions from local music people on the impact of the closing.
Techie types are quick to argue that brick-and-mortar stores like Cactus are now obsolete because of broadband and music downloading. That may be true for some (even many) music consumers, but local independent stores like Cactus (and Waterloo in Austin) also are an important part of the local live music scene. I would suggest that such stores can survive in towns where there is a vibrant local music scene -- and may have more trouble in towns like Houston, where the live music scene isn't so vibrant (hence nobody is rushing to buy Cactus from the current owners).
Local musicians are going to have to be more creative about marketing when Cactus closes. They may have to reach out more to existing local music blogs. They may have to take the lead in developing a more comprehensive local music site. Or, the local music scene may just wither, because Houstonians are more interested in downloading mp3s from home than seeing live music. Time will tell.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/25/06 12:44 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (2)
If it quacks like a duck...
Now HPD is calling its quotaproductivity policy a duck program:
Johnnie McFarland calls it a "ticket quota", which is illegal according to state law.
McFarland gave 11 News an internal HPD memo as proof. In it we learn in the northwest division what a captain expects from his patrol officers -- at least two "ducks" a day.
"A duck is a traffic ticket," said McFarland
We asked HPD that same question. A spokesman said the term "ducks" includes all types of arrests from felonies to traffic tickets.
He also pointed out that HPD does not have traffic ticket quotas.
"What we do have is standards of productivity. Every patrol officers is required to perform a certain number of activities," said Lt. Robert Manzo.
HPD confirmed the authenticity of the memo.
PREVIOUSLY: HPD's "productivity policy" begins
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/25/06 09:50 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
24 February 2006
Editorial LiveJournalists laud Queen Elyse
The Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists fawn over new Port Authority Commissioner Elyse Lanier today, and toss up this big fat pitch:
Some have ridiculed Lanier's hyperenthusiasm for promoting the city via such vehicles as the Houston Image Group with its zany slogan, "Houston: expect the unexpected."
Zany?
Actually, some have ridiculed Lanier because she is sometimes ridiculous. Not unlike the Editorial LiveJournalists, now that we think about it.
BLOGVERSATION: Isolated Desolation.
THREE DAYS AGO: Lanier appointed to Port Authority.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/24/06 11:12 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (3)
Berger: Houston health services feeling Katrina crunch
The Chronicle's Eric Berger reports on evidence of increasing demand on local health services from uninsured Katrina refugees. His reporting also notes a post-Katrina increase in local reports of sexually transmitted diseases.
Instead of excerpting, I'm just going to link the story.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/24/06 10:55 PM | Hurricane Stuff | Technorati | Comments (2)
Newly Mute Mayor Pro Tem's spokesman: Others at fault
The Chronicle's Matt Stiles may get himself in trouble with Newly Mute Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado's enablers at his own newspaper if he keeps cranking out writing like this:
"It was all doublespeak," said former Councilman Mark Goldberg, referring to the justifications given last summer for increasing the office's spending. "It was all a lie."
The budget figures, released to the Chronicle under the Texas Public Information Act, detail expenditures in the office that handles administrative duties for the 14 City Council members.
For some, the figures also raise questions about why city officials didn't notice the budget overruns, especially while a Finance and Administration Department employee was assigned to compile spending reports for council offices, including the pro tem office, each month.Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado, who oversees the office in addition to her elected job representing council District I, says she wasn't alerted.
"That's why they call them checks and balances," said Marc Campos, Alvarado's political consultant.
He questioned why city finance officials didn't say, 'Hey, we might have a problem there.' "
But Alvarado didn't notice, either.
It keeps coming back to that, doesn't it?
The Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists can portray Alvarado as a victim. She can portray herself as a victim and apologize to Council (but not taxpayers or citizens). Then she can go mute and let her political consultant blame other people.
But ultimately, Newly Mute Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado's inattention to detail and lack of oversight seem to be at issue, as that highlighted snippet from the Stiles reporting makes clear.
BLOGVERSATION: Houblog.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/24/06 10:35 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (12)
State of the County
Harris County Judge Robert Eckels gave the State of the County speech yesterday before the Greater Houston Partnership. Here's the text of the speech, here's the Chronicle's coverage and here's KUHF-88.7's coverage, which includes this:
Aside from preparing for storms, Eckels says health care might be the county's biggest challenge in 2006. He says one in every 36 uninsured Americans lives in Harris County or an adjacent county, which means the Harris County Hospital District has become a safety net of sorts for the region's sick.
"Last year, we wrote off $1.3 billion in charity care. That trend threatens our long-term ability to provide trauma and emergency room service and health care to the people of this region, this communty, who have no other means to provide health care for themselves."
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/24/06 07:29 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Food and drink roundup (02-24-2006 edition)
The weekend is upon us, and it's time for a quick and easy (not to mention timely) food and drink roundup.
I reread Alison Cook's review of Bombay Sweets this morning at 8 o'clock, and my mouth watered from her descriptions. Was I hungry, or did she just paint some amazing pictures? Why oh why am I reading restaurant reviews while dieting! Her review of downtown's Craiganale's had the same effect.
Robb Walsh tried the yummy sounding pizza and more at lower Westheimer's Dolce Vita Pizzeria & Enoteca. Coincidence, or was mentioned dining companion Ken Hoffman?
Dai Huynh surveyed the local restaurant seafood scene. This week, she offers up some local places to indulge in lagniappes. There is a local restaurant that serves Greek taramasalata as lagniappe? Diet be damned!
Ken Hoffman reaches for a bag of Frito-Lay's new Garden Salsa SunChips.
And Gracie Ochoa checks out the Light, located in midtown.
World class all, enjoy!!
Posted by Callie Markantonis @ 02/24/06 08:50 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (1)
23 February 2006
Mayor Pro Tem Alvarado goes mute
There were several notable items today related to Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado and the bonusgate scandal.
Matt Stiles reported this interesting bit of news:
The four suspended employees have not been charged with any crimes, but Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal's office may enter the case soon.
A report from Houston Police investigators is expected to be given to prosecutors as early as Friday, Rosenthal said. He declined to discuss the matter in detail, but said his office's involvement might extend beyond the bonuses in question.
We've been asking for several days now about Chuck Rosenthal. It's good that a member of the local media finally decided to talk to him. This seems like a perfect matter for his Public Integrity office.
Councilmember Shelley Sekula-Gibbs helpfully offered to fund an audit of all spending from the Mayor Pro Tem's office, no doubt tempting Alvarado to break her silence in order to curse the Doctor-Councilwoman again.
KTRH-740's Chris Baker apologized to citizens on behalf of Alvarado (since her own apologies neglected that very important constituency) and ran a fun song parody. UPDATE: Here's the parody, sans apology.
BLOGVERSATION: Houblog.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/23/06 11:31 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (19)
Grand Parkway H and I-1 segments ready for public input
Segments H and I-1 are the subject of two “public scoping hearings” slated for Tuesday in Dayton and Wednesday in Mont Belvieu.
The segments, which are being considered together, would run approximately 36 miles from Interstate 59 in the northwest part of the greater Houston region to Interstate 10 between FM 2100 and state Highway 146. The segments will run through Montgomery, Harris, Liberty and Chambers counties.
The meetings are meant to solicit public input in advance of Environmental Impact Statement on the segments which will be prepared by the Texas Department of Public Transportation and the Grand Parkway Association.
Gornet said members of the public are encouraged to provide information on areas that the finalized route should avoid, such as parks and schools.
The two segments are planned as a four-lane, limited-access toll road with a 400-foot wide right-of-way.
Unlike the F-2 segment up here in Spring, I don't know if there's much opposition to the H and I-1 segments. I imagine we'll soon find out.
RELATED: Grand Parkway segments map
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/23/06 07:06 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)
Emissions and smart pigs
Banjo Jones tells us about a little something that should upset both PETA and Dina Cappiello:
Dow Chemical, in its continuing efforts to protect the environment, intentionally released 194 lbs. of nitric oxide and 194 lbs. of nitric dioxide a couple days ago from one of its pipelines.
This was done as a prelude to setting "pig traps" so that "smart pigs" can inspect the line for leaks and such as that.
The rest is here.
Pigs -- more than just tasty bacon!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/23/06 03:18 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
Today's Chron news story undermines yesterday's port editorial
Does any major newspaper in America have a more hapless editorial board than the Houston Chronicle? It's hard to think of one.
Yesterday the Editorial LiveJournalists wrote about the port-selling brouhaha, the media's latest hysteria:
The government of the United Arab Emirates simply isn't the same as private British company ownership. Letting the UAE buy a company running shipping operations in Baltimore, New York, New Jersey, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia might turn out all right, but why take the chance?
There was a huge omission in this editorial: Dubai Ports World would also take control of stevedoring operations at the Ports of Beaumont and Corpus Christi, where "Almost 40 percent of the Army cargo deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom flows through [...]." Talk about missing a big Texas angle!
But setting all that aside, today the Chronicle's Bill Hensel Jr. covers the local/Texas angle and then proceeds to render the editorial moot:
But the planned takeover of the huge British company by Arab-owned Dubai Ports World won't have a significant effect here, Tom Kornegay, the executive director of the Port of Houston Authority, said Wednesday.
"I don't think this changes anything," Kornegay said. "P&O Ports in most places basically does stevedoring services and that is what they do here."
[snip]
In Texas, P&O also performs stevedoring and other services at the ports of Beaumont, Galveston, Corpus Christi, Port Arthur and Freeport.
[snip]
The Houston port oversees operations at all public terminals it operates here, including those where P&O is involved.
P&O also provides container and automobile handling at the port's Barbours Cut terminal.
It doesn't own ports anywhere it operates. It serves the steamship lines and cargo interests by providing stevedoring and terminal operations.
In Beaumont, P&O does some stevedoring work for the Army, which ships military equipment through the port.
"They have had a franchise in the port for a number of years," said Chris Fisher, the port's executive director. "We are very familiar with them."
[snip]
Frank Fogarty, a P&O Ports senior vice president, said the management of the company in North America should remain intact after the acquisition is complete.
"The management that has been operating at P&O Ports will continue to be the same as it always has been," Fogarty said. "Our intention is to abide by all the government's regulations on security and continue to support the United States in that."
So, if the LiveJournalists had waited a day or so, and read their own paper, they would have been more informed on this topic. In theory, anyway.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: Since Anne's on the topic of hapless, did anyone notice the headline to yesterday's editorial that she links?
PORT SECURITY: Relying on Middle East country to keep our ports safe doesn't make sense
The problem is that nobody is proposing that a country from the Middle East take over port security, a point that is conceded in the editorial itself! Do the Chron headline writers even bother to read stories carefully before slapping a headline on?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/23/06 11:28 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (7)
New sports podcast (02-20-2006)
I've posted a new sports podcast, downloadable here:
Ethan and I were a little happier with the results this time, although I realize we need to improve our turnaround time between recording and posting and still need to polish things a bit. We're definitely still getting the hang of things.
We're having fun with this, so I think it's going to become a regular feature. I've added a podcast feed here. For techies who know all about this stuff, please let me know if there are problems with it.
I still need to skin a full podcast section on the site.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/23/06 11:15 AM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (2)
Chronicle: surveillance cameras are no biggie
Is this going to be the official Chronicle position on surveillance cameras: that there are already lots of cameras around Houston, so what's a few more?
Police Chief Harold Hurtt sparked debate with his recent proposal to install surveillance cameras downtown, at apartment complexes and even at some private homes to combat crime. But cameras already are rolling all over the city: at rail stations, schools, malls, highways, banks and convenience stores.
"In a big city, it's increasingly hard to go throughout the day without being captured on many surveillance cameras," Daniel Solove, a law professor at George Washington University who specializes in privacy issues, wrote via e-mail.
Indeed, the Metropolitan Transit Authority has a video camera on top of the Binz Building downtown to monitor Main Street — the same strip where the Houston Police Department hopes to install surveillance cameras.
Shoppers at the Galleria are monitored by camera both inside and outside the mall. Drivers on freeways managed by the Texas Department of Transportation are caught on tape. Commuters at Metro's rail and transfer stations and inside trains, and also soon at Park & Ride lots, are watched on screen from miles away. And if you're cheering at Toyota Center, you can bet you'll be watched on video.
Schools, too, use camera technology to monitor students. A man who police say sexually assaulted a student in a Westbury High School restroom Feb. 9 was caught on one of the school's 128 cameras as he entered the school, though authorities have not arrested a suspect. And officials at Westfield High School used images from a surveillance tape to identify students in a fight.
[snip]
Though some cameras, such as those on Houston's freeways, aren't intended for law enforcement purposes, police across the country, including Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, use surveillance technology to keep an eye on the public.
"They've been very effective for our needs," said Metro police Capt. Tim Kelly. "We get that big picture of what's happening on the sidewalks and the streets adjacent to the light rail system."
And a nice view of Danger Train crashes.
The City Council's Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security is scheduled to consider Hurtt's proposal Tuesday.
We are still awaiting that outraged editorial.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/23/06 08:05 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (11)
A gloom descends on 801 Texas Avenue
Those spacing concerns were a bust. From the Chronicle:
Affidavits back Cheney's account of shooting
Eyewitness statements about Vice President Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of his quail hunting partner largely confirm previous accounts with some minor discrepancies, according to affidavits obtained today by the Houston Chronicle.
Well, darn!
You know what else? Some Chronicle editor assigned two reporters to cover this "story." Oh, and it's still unclear if Whittington ever found his kills.
RELATED: Last week's pointless hysteria (Orrin Judd)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/23/06 07:29 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
22 February 2006
DMN recaps HPD crime lab investigation to date
Bruce Nichols, the Dallas Morning News' man in Houston, has a lengthy story about the ongoing HPD crime lab investigation posted on several Belo news sites.
While there's not much new information for people who have been following this matter closely, it's still a useful recap of the matter to date.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/22/06 10:26 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Soffar found guilty; Chron editor's wife shaken (updated)
Yesterday, the retrial of Max Soffar went to the jury. Soffar had spent over 20 years on death row after confessing to a brutal triple murder, but his conviction was overturned by a federal court that found his legal defense was inadequate. The wife of Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen is a supporter of Soffar, as is Kinky Friedman.
The anti-death-penalty Chronicle's coverage of yesterday's events concluded as follows:
Prosecutors argued Soffar's own words convicted him. "The defense didn't bring you any evidence that he falsely confessed, that he didn't commit the crime or that someone else committed the crime," said prosecutor Denise Nassar. But, Soffar's attorneys argued, the burden of proof does not rest with them."There can be no closure and no justice based on lies. That is not our system," said defense attorney Kathryn Kase, her voice breaking with emotion. She put her arm around Soffar and hugged him after the defense rested.
Kase was not identified as the wife of Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen.
Apparently, the jury was not impressed with Kase's theatrics. They returned a guilty verdict just before noon today (coverage from the Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, KTRK-13/AP, KPRC-2, KHOU-11).
PREVIOUSLY: A missed Chron Eye opportunity?
UPDATE: The anti-death-penalty Chronicle has updated its coverage of the conviction, and it now includes this accounting of Kathryn Kase's theatrical performance:
Defense attorney Kathryn Kase at times became tearful while outlining Soffar's childhood: his continuous crying as a baby, his brain disorder, mental problems, low IQ and struggles in school that led him to drop out in the seventh grade. His mother sometimes drugged him to make him sleep, Kase said.
[snip]
"He was not a normal, healthy child from the beginning," Kase said. "You have to ask, 'Did he choose to be this way?' "
You also have to ask why Kathryn Kase was not identified as the wife of Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen.
Incredibly, that quote was the conclusion of the story about Soffar's conviction!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/22/06 09:58 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
Alvarado: In case you've forgotten, I'm still a victim
KHOU-11's Doug Miller and Reggie Aqui have yet another account of Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado's "I'm a victim" act:
“I have been astonished and disappointed to discover how easy it was for someone to forge my initials and steal both taxpayers’ dollars and my personal reputation at the same time,” Alvarado told City Council.In front of Mayor Bill White and the rest of her colleagues, she positioned herself as a victim like someone whose credit is ruined or bank account is wiped out.
“In this age of identity theft, we’re all vulnerable – and as public officials, probably even more so,” Alvarado said. “We’re dependent and trusting on our staff to help us get through our calendar and our full days,” she said.
First the Chronicle editorial board helped Alvarado portray herself as a victim. Now it's KHOU's political reporters.
The victims were Houston taxpayers, not the Mayor Pro Tem (who will have to consider resigning as Mayor Pro Tem if this story has legs for much longer).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/22/06 06:46 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (28)
Just wondering...
Does the On Point question change more than once a quarter?
A surveillance camera question would be timely, in the very off chance the Chron.com guys are looking for suggestions.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/22/06 04:42 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Mayor White explains why Houston needs surveillance cameras
Sort of.
Here is another of those Dallas vs. Houston stories and a quote from Mayor White that apparently explains why Houston needs surveillance cameras:
Dallas leaders concede that Houston is ahead in its downtown revitalization. Houston's Main Street has had a facelift which brought eclectic restaurants. But both cities are struggling with how you get residents to spend time and money in downtown consistently.
“The more people that come downtown the safer it is. Because people in a crowd look after each other. And it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. You see it in other cities in the country, citizens looking after each other,” said Bill White, Houston mayor.
So, if more people would head downtown and play Dodge the Danger Train, then Houston wouldn't need surveillance cameras?
(Oh, and some Dallas dude says Houston has peaked and Dallas hasn't. Therefore, he concludes, Dallas is more fun than Houston.)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/22/06 03:21 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (7)
Stiles: Facts fuzzy in budget hike
The Chronicle's Matt Stiles fills in the latest details in the bonusgate scandal. Here are a few highlights from his reporting:
The city office where four employees received unauthorized bonuses saw a 25 percent increase in its budget this fiscal year — an appropriation that city officials haven't fully detailed.
The glare of publicity about the $130,000 incentive payments to workers in the Office of Mayor Pro Tem has drawn attention to the budget, which was included in a larger pool set aside for the 14 City Council members.
The City Council approved an increase from $260,000 to $326,000 for the pro tem office. And that was only half of the $122,000 increase the office requested.
Councilwoman Carol Alvarado, who as mayor pro tem oversees the office, and top members of Mayor Bill White's administration, which produced the council budgets, didn't respond in detail to repeated inquiries about the proposed and actual increases.
"The justification cited was increased costs of services and supplies," said Frank Michel, White's spokesman. "We don't have any written documentation."
It sounds as if someone was planning on spending beyond mere bonuses for a handful of rogue staffers. That certainly merits further investigation!
Mayor Pro Tem Alvarado returns to the "I'm a victim" defense of her lack of oversight:
Alvarado, who has said she can't recall specific details about the increase, said Tuesday she was "frustrated" by the lack of information.
She also was concerned about whether media coverage of such questions might unfairly taint her.
"It's my office. It's my name," she said. "I don't know why this $50,000, or $60,000, is such a big issue."
One can understand why Mayor Pro Tem Alvarado didn't respond to detailed queries from Stiles. Every time she comments, she tends to make herself look worse.
UPDATE: Stiles posts coverage of today's Council meeting.
BLOGVERSATION: Isolated Desolation, Houblog, Off the Kuff.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/22/06 09:21 AM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (5)
Metro's holding public meetings!
But they're not about bus route changes. These are related to (the new and improved) Metro Solutions:
North Corridor Public Workshop
Downtown to Northline Mall
Draft Environmental Impact Statement
Saturday, February 25
9 a.m. - 12 noon
Davis High School,
Commons Area
1101 Quitman, HoustonPlease join us for a workshop session where METRO staff and its project team will discuss the continuation of the North Corridor Planning Study from Downtown to Northline Mall. Staff will be available to discuss the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), as well as the refined alignments and technologies for the North Corridor. The purpose of the workshop is to discuss potential effects to the social, economic, and natural environmental, including Section 106/historical properties, that could occur due to the North Corridor project. This project is sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration.
That's this Saturday. Then, next Tuesday and Wednesday Metro's holding two more meetings:
Southeast Corridor Public Workshops
Tuesday, February 28
6 - 8 p.m.
Judson W. Robinson Jr.
Community Center
2020 Hermann DriveWednesday, March 1
6 - 8 p.m.
Palm Center Business
Technology Center
5330 Griggs RoadMETRO staff and consultant team members will be available to discuss the Southeast Transit Center alignment, the Wheeler/Martin Luther King alignment variations and technology variations. The information presented at each workshop will be identical. The workshops are being held on two separate nights for your convenience.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/22/06 06:53 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
21 February 2006
Nick Anderson cartoon/blog debuts
The Chronicle's Dean Betz informs that new Chronicle cartoonist Nick Anderson's work will be archived online... on Anderson's new blog.
Like Chron.com's other blogs, Anderson's blog features comments and trackback, so critics and fans are going to be able to knock themselves out.
That's a pretty smart move by the Chron.com crew.
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/21/06 11:24 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Lanier appointed to Port Authority
The Chronicle's Bill Murphy reports that Elyse Lanier has a new job:
Elyse Lanier, the city's former first lady and an unabashed booster of Houston, was appointed today as a commissioner on the Port Authority of Houston.
Lanier replaces Cheryl Thompson-Draper, who resigned last month after being accused of uttering a racial slur while on port business in Shanghai last year. Thompson-Draper has denied making the slur.
The Chronicle article does not list Lanier's qualifications for the job, although Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia says that as Houston's first lady, Lanier met people from all over the world!
BLOGVERSATION: Houblog.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/21/06 11:02 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (7)
The bonusgate scandal (cont'd)
KHOU-11 ran a story from Dan Lauck on the bonusgate scandal, and there's a little new information:
According to sources, [Alice] Lee's successor Rosie Hernandez, told the three [Mayor Pro Tem's office] staff members that they were going to make up for all the time they'd been underpaid.
Allegedly, Watkins, who best knew the process, put through memos ordering bonuses.
Alvarado's forged initials were on the memos.
[snip]
Nobody caught on until about two weeks ago when some lower-level employees in the city's finance and administration office were complaining among themselves about how much money the Pro Tem staffers made.
A manager overheard the conversation and before long, they were digging into the records.
Lee says this may have been the worst, but not the first, such abuse by staff members.
"A council senior aide wrote a memo to give herself a raise of $10,000," Lee said. And it went through.
Alvarado herself may or may not be under investigation:
Meanwhile, Alvarado denies wrong-doing and continues answering questions while performing her duties as the Mayor Pro-Tem.
At the same time, law enforcement sources have said that Alvarado herself is under investigation.
"Law enforcement sources" doesn't sound that firm. What law-enforcement sources? And has anyone talked to Chuck Rosenthal's office?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/21/06 10:48 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)
Aiyer responds to discussion of op-ed
Jay Aiyer has kindly responded via email to some questions raised in the forum about his op-ed on training new police officers. I've posted his response in the forum, but wanted to link it here as well.
Aiyer also called our attention to this Houston Business Journal article by Jenna Colley on HPD's new $18 million tactical operations and training facility that's in the planning stages. The funding isn't there just yet to pay for it, but the City of Houston's architect doesn't sound all that concerned.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/21/06 08:47 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Rodeo asks for long-term gifts, spends less on charity
The Rodeo is almost here, and that means it's time for the local media to start promoting the event. Here's an example from today's Chronicle:
With a limb saw in hand, Ty Whitcomb was ready for his new role.
As chairman of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo's new Gifting and Lifetime Legacy Opportunities (Gallop) committee, Whitcomb said he wanted to dispel a misconception about planned giving: It's more than wills and bequests.
"This is my imitation of the Grim Reaper," said Whitcomb, holding the limb saw up next to him like a scythe.
"I don't want people to think when they see this, they're going to associate planned giving or our committee with the Grim Reaper."
"Or a limb saw," joked his vice chairman, Houston Astros star Lance Berkman, peering from underneath a brown cowboy hat. "We're not going to ask you to chop down any oak trees."
They are, however, asking Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo fans to consider giving something back — in life or after their death — through charitable trusts, bequests and other long-term gifts that would support the show's educational programs.
[snip]
Rodeo officials say the show has committed more than $100 million in education support since 1957 and has awarded scholarships to nearly 9,000 Texas high school seniors.
The show's scholarships, teacher training programs and competition funds reach nearly 350,000 students per year, they said.
Sixteen percent of the show's revenue last year went directly toward scholarships and junior auction awards, down from 17 percent in 2004.
It doesn't look as if we are ever going to see Wayne Dolcefino follow up on that story about the Rodeo's finances that KTRK-13 spiked last year. Some cows (pardon the pun) are sacred.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/21/06 08:25 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (1)
Why is the Chron silent on Chief Hurtt's surveillance camera plan?
We are still waiting for the Editorial LiveJournalists to denounce Chief Hurtt's plan to place surveillance cameras in public spaces, apartment complexes, and private homes.
It is hard to believe that the Chronicle can get hysterical about the NSA listening in on terrorist phone calls, yet not utter a peep about Chief Hurtt's plan to do far more locally.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/21/06 07:24 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (13)
20 February 2006
Did you know Rep. Culberson is working on border security?
Last week Rep. John Culberson was on with Chris Baker, and while I didn't get to hear all of the interview, I did hear Rep. Culberson mention something about his work in getting $100 million for border sheriffs.
That piqued my curiosity, so I did a brief search of Chron.com. Nothing immediately jumped out at me. So I emailed Rep. Culberson's office and was directed to this on his website:
The legislation also includes a section that I authored based on my work with the Texas Border Sheriffs Coalition. This section provides the sheriffs with $100 million in grant funding to hire, train, and equip deputies, and build detention space to house illegal aliens for deportation. Border county Sheriffs can have additional deputies on the ground within 90 days of this bill becoming law, while it takes up to two years to train and deploy additional Border Patrol agents.
That was part of the big immigration reform bill the House passed last December. So I went back to Chron.com and searched again, and this is all I could find:
For instance, Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, supports Operation Linebacker, a project of the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition that intends to use local law enforcement authorities to support U.S. border officers.
A border-security bill passed by the House includes $100 million for county law enforcement agencies to work with federal authorities. Texas sheriffs alone would need about $34 million, according to budgets they submitted to Culberson, for anti-riot shotguns, radios, computers, utility costs, night-vision goggles and salaries.
The project has already received about $10 million from the Texas state government.
That's it. And it's from February. Two months after the legislation passed the House! Why didn't Samantha Levine mention that Rep. Culberson authored that particular section?
Isn't this an important topic, worthy of more column-space than it was given? A local congressman is taking serious action to help protect our border, yet it earns barely a whisper out of our local paper.
(This is the same local paper that can devote four reporters and a reader representative to covering the one-week-old story of an accidental shooting.)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/20/06 07:03 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (6)
Afton Oaks Civic Club suggests Metro Solutions revote
Rad Sallee has a story today about a topic I keep going back to: should Metro hold another referendum since it has changed Metro Solutions, specifically (in this case), because the original ballot said "Westpark" and not "Richmond"?
Chris Seger of the Afton Oaks Civic Club played the referendum card last week when he told the Metropolitan Transit Authority board: "We are serious, we are well-funded and we are totally committed to bringing this question before the people once again if necessary."
Seger said he and others in the subdivision, located along Richmond just east of the Galleria, like light rail.
They just want to see it on Westpark — the route approved by voters in a 2003 referendum.
"We intend to make Metro honor the results" of that vote, Seger said, prompting applause from many in the packed boardroom Thursday.
The ballot proposition specified 64 miles of future light rail in six corridors, one of them explicitly named "Westpark."
But Metro officials say a route on Westpark, which has fewer attractions than Richmond and is farther from the Uptown shopping district, could have trouble enticing riders and might not qualify for federal funding.
Metro officials should have thought of that when they created the original Metro Solutions that voters barely approved.
Metro president and CEO Frank Wilson said last week that Metro is doing "precisely what the referendum requires" in considering both routes.
Actually, it is relying on a single paragraph, repeated three times in the referendum text:
"Note: Final scope, length of rail segments or lines and other details, together with implementation schedule, will be based upon demand and completion of the project development process, including community input."
"Demand" would seem to let Metro consider projected ridership in its decision. But does choice of route fall under either"scope" or "other details?"
Metro cited the same paragraph last June when the idea of another referendum surfaced briefly in response to the news that Metro would initially use Bus Rapid Transit in four transit corridors, instead of the light rail approved by voters.
The paragraph also covers Metro's decision to combine parts of what appeared on the ballot as the Southeast and Westpark lines into a single route labeled University.
Voters approved the transit plan by a majority of just 51.7 percent. Those fighting the Richmond option argue that if it, and not Westpark, had been on the ballot, the measure would have failed.
Again, former Metro Chairman Arthur Schechter reassured voters that they would be able to hold Metro accountable with future votes. Does Metro not believe in honoring the word of its former chairman?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/20/06 06:26 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (5)
Bill Simmons says farewell to Houston
Now that he's sold a few books at the River Oaks/Upper Kirby Borders, ESPN.com's "Sports Guy" Bill Simmons is back to dissing Houston:
In the past four years, I made four separate trips to Houston and spent a total of 24 days here. And you know why I did it? For you, the reader. I covered the Galleryfurniture.com Bowl, the Super Bowl, baseball's All-Star Game, and now, the NBA All-Star Game. And you know what? That's too much freaking time to spend in Houston. My editors just bleeped me, I don't care. Maybe Houston doesn't suck any more or less than 20 other major cities, and maybe the people are friendly and likable, but the fact remains, you would never come here for any reason, other than these three:
(1) For work.
(2) To gain weight.
(3) To get shot.You just wouldn't. And yet, dating back to the Super Bowl XXXVIII in February 2004, three of the last eight major sporting events were held in Houston. Does this make any sense? There are 30 to 35 American cities that could host the Super Bowl and/or either of the All-Star Games ... and yet Houston pulled off the Ultimate Pro Sports Trifecta in a 24-month span, despite the fact that it's a sprawling city with traffic and safety problems (the three intangibles you always want to avoid for major sporting events). Here's what really frightens me: I have spent so much time here, I actually know my way around. Can I have this information removed from my brain? Is there a pill I can take?
Anyway, I have the following announcement to make: I am never, ever, ever setting foot in Houston again.
Simmons just doesn't understand. We don't have a safety problem. We have a dearth-of-surveillance-cameras problem!
It's hard to get very excited about the rest of it. It just seems like contrived schtick from Simmons. I think he secretly likes Houston.
Thanks to TP for passing it along!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/20/06 04:35 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (12)
Editorial Livejournalists try, fail to rewrite Constitution (yet again)
Matt Bramanti catches the Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists misrepresenting the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution again:
Today's president argues that the Constitution grants implied powers to the commander in chief that cannot be infringed, even by the explicit provisions of the Constitution such as the Fourth Amendment, which forbids warrantless searches and makes no exception for wartime.
Leaving aside other errors in the editorial, that's the third time the Editorial LiveJournalists have gotten the Fourth Amendment wrong (previous instances were noted here and here). As we've pointed out previously, there are plenty of instances of warrantless searches that pass constitutional muster. The Fourth Amendment treats unreasonable searches, not "warrantless searches" (a term that is not used).
The Editorial LiveJournalists must believe in a truly bizarre form of living constitutionalism, in which journalists get to rewrite the Constitution if they simply repeat erroneous assertions. Over and over.
Instead, they tend just to make themselves and their editorial page look silly. Over and over.
ANNE ADDS: And yet, the LiveJournalists still haven't denounced Chief Hurtt for his surveillance camera plan, which would include apartment complexes and (if the chief has his way) private homes. Surely that's a greater concern locally!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/20/06 03:49 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Bonusgate: When will the DA's office get involved?
KTRH-740 reports the latest on the bonus scandal at Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado's office:
City controller Annise Parker says indications are that the payments just fell through the cracks within City Hall bureaucracy. She say [sic] part of the problem may be that Houston currently has three different methods of approving bonuses.
City Councilmember Carol Alvarado has said written initials on memos authorizing the payments to her mayor pro tem staff were forged. The four staff members who got the bonuses have been suspended.
Bearing the brunt of the blame for the bonuses is pro-tem office administrator Rosie Hernandez, who has so far refused comment.
The city Office of Inspector General has closed the pro-tem office while an investigation into who authorized the extra pay continues.
One employee from the city legal department has been assigned the administrative duties generally handled by the office.
Documents show employee Florence Watkins, who made a $50,000 salary in 2005, got bonuses totalling $46,500. Hernandez became one of the city's top earners after a bonus brought her pay to $126,000.
That mostly seems like a recap of what we already know.
Presumably, the Harris County District Attorney's office will be asked to get involved at some point, and we'll start to find out more.
BLOGVERSATION: Houblog.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/20/06 03:31 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
Dr. Laura: I was campaigning? Really?
The Fort Worth Star Telegram's "The Insider" has this fun tidbit related to the State Senate District 7 race:
Houston radio host Dan Patrick recently got a little help from Dr. Laura in his bid for Texas Senate.
When Dr. Laura Schlessinger was in Houston for a book-signing, she participated in a fundraising luncheon that raised more than $10,000 for Patrick's bid for the District 7 Senate seat, said Court Koenning, Patrick's campaign chairman."Everybody loves Dan," Koenning said. "It's time for change."
Dr. Laura, however, apparently didn't know the political clock was ticking. Her staff denied that any fundraising went on at all.
"Though Dr. Laura has known Mr. Patrick for a number of years, the visit to Houston was to promote her new book and to visit with our affiliate, KSEV," said Jake Russell, a staffer who responded via e-mail on behalf of the Dr. Laura show. "I hope this clarifies your inquiry regarding her fundraising efforts as there were none."
Oh, come on now. Schlessinger wanted to use Patrick and KSEV to promote herself. Patrick wanted to use Schlessinger as a campaign draw. Schlessinger would have to be a pretty dim bulb not to understand that the two would be linked.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/20/06 12:27 AM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (6)
19 February 2006
All Cheney all the time
The Chronicle's crack D.C. bureau was on the Cheney case this weekend!
Michael Hedges and Bennett Roth inform us that (shockingly!) Democrats have criticized Cheney's hunting in the past.
Yes, it took two D.C. bureau reporters to come up with this:
But overshadowed by the controversy about his accidental shooting of a fellow hunter Feb. 11 was the fact that Cheney's private-life passion already had brought him a variety of criticisms and served as a symbol for his aversion to the public eye.
His 2004 hunt with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, for instance, was seen as a possible conflict of interest. Also, animal-rights advocates said one of his 2003 outings was more slaughter than sport.
Cheney's refusal to share details of his hunting trips or other travel — his closed-door meetings on energy policy and other issues led to his secretive image — has prompted criticism from Democrats who say he should be more accountable to voters.
"The American public has a right to know where their elected officials travel while they are in office, and whether taxpayer dollars are being used or outside interests have paid for travel," eight Democratic lawmakers wrote to Cheney in December.
The amount of column space devoted to this non-story blows the mind.
But wait -- it gets better! There's this dispatch from the D.C. bureau's Julie Mason:
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/19/06 11:47 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Just the guy to put in charge of millions of public dollars
The Chronicle runs a long profile of Texas Southern University President Priscilla Slade today. Slade recently came under fire when significant expenses related to her private residence were improperly charged to Texas Southern.
Matthew Tresaugue's profile contains this interesting tidbit:
[Slade's] personnel decisions are under scrutiny after the regents placed the university's chief financial officer, Quintin Wiggins, on paid leave earlier this month, pending the completion of the investigation.
Wiggins, 45, was in charge of the university's day-to-day business affairs despite a criminal record that includes nine convictions for writing worthless checks from 1984 to 1993 and a three-day jail sentence for impersonating a public servant in 1988.
"Those are the kinds of cases that raise questions, even if they don't seem that serious," said David Diaz, a regent and TSU-trained attorney from Corpus Christi.
Diaz also said Wiggins should have been more vigilant before paying Slade's $138,159 home-landscaping bill with university funds. Slade said she hired a landscaping company that does frequent work on campus, and it inadvertently sent the bill to TSU. She reimbursed the university after regents questioned the expenditure.
Wiggins, who declined an interview request, told regents he did not realize the bill was for Slade's private property.
"I don't think you should sign a check just because it's put in front of you," Diaz said. "As CFO, he needs to be more discriminating."
Wiggins wasn't giving financial advice to the Mayor Pro Tem's office on the side, was he?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/19/06 10:47 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (3)
Editorial LiveJournalists help portray Alvarado as victim
The Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists had one of those secretive editorial board meetings a few days ago with embattled Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado (apparently, the Editorial LiveJournalists' calls for disclosure and transparency don't extend to themselves, although Matt Stiles did let us know that Alvarado "sighed and appeared shaken" at one point).
Alvarado is a favorite of the Editorial Board, and gets the kid glove treatment today:
City Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado said this is not the first time government has known financial impropriety. Whenever money is involved, she said, a small percentage of employees will give in to temptation.
Alvarado is correct, and that is all the reason she needed to exercise careful and frequent oversight over who was being paid what in the mayor pro tem's office. While Alvarado is not accused of wrongdoing, she nonetheless bears responsibility for the actions of her staff.Shouldering great responsibility in city government, Alvarado told the Chronicle's editorial board Friday that she mistakenly trusted the supervisor in the mayor pro tem's office to watch her back and see that proper procedures were followed. She says she feels betrayed and that it appears that someone forged her initials to requests for employee bonuses.
What responsibility has Alvarado shouldered? She seems to want to portray herself as a victim here (with the help of the Editorial LiveJournalists), and pass the buck. As both Gordon Quan and Mark Goldberg have suggested, however, a diligent Mayor Pro Tem really ought to have paid closer attention to the monthly budget reports.
Alvarado's lack of oversight and inattention to detail seem to have allowed $130,000 of the people's money to be stolen. That's not the same as Alvarado stealing the money herself, and nobody is making that accusation against her. However, it does call into question her personnel-judgment and fiscal-management skills. The Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists might have at least criticized Alvarado to that extent.
BLOGVERSATION: Isolated Desolation, Houblog.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/19/06 10:01 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (1)
Chronicle has spacing concerns in VP shooting incident
Unlike the public in general, the media is still very gung-ho to find out what Vice President Cheney is (surely) covering up regarding that accidental shooting, and the Chronicle is not going to miss out. Mark Babineck has today's story (with an assist from Janet Elliott). Check out the headline and subhead:
Questions still surround accounts of Cheney shooting accident:
The hunters' positions and their spacing are vague
Well, inside 801 Texas Avenue, these are important questions, apparently.
Here are the corresponding paragraphs in the story:
Those involved have not detailed exactly where they were positioned or how far apart they were spaced when Cheney squeezed the trigger. Ballistics, medical and hunting experts have said it's possible to sustain Whittington's level of injury, including one pellet lodged near or in his heart, from a range of 30 yards.
But to others, Whittington's wounds suggest he might have been closer.
"I was surprised (at the seriousness of injury), and I guess that kind of means we can all be surprised," said Dr. Paul Radelat, a longtime Houston pathologist.
Did Radelat say he thought Whittington might have been closer? That quote isn't included, just that Radelat is suprised. Also, Babineck doesn't tell the reader whether or not Radelat is a hunter, and therefore is in a better position to judge this for us.
And for the grand finale:
It's unclear whether Whittington found his kills.
Has anyone asked, or is the media waiting for a press release?
UPDATE: And here's a second two-reporter Chronicle story on the hunting incident, this one penned by Michael Hedges and Bennett Roth. My goodness, that's four reporters the Chron has covering this!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/19/06 06:26 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (4)
Local Blog Talk section
A while back, we added a "local blog talk" section to the sidebar. The idea was to highlight local blog posts that touch on the topics of interest to us here. I had mentioned I would eventually skin a permanent page if the thing seemed useful. I finally added the pages/skins here, and the Local Blog Talk link on the menu now points there, rather than to the sidebar.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/19/06 04:50 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (0)
18 February 2006
EnWritten and EnBlogged: Slampo on the first three weeks
We're three weeks into the Enron trial, and Slampo gives his perspective on the matter in EnWritten and EnBlogged.
How many of you are paying close attention to the Enron proceedings at this point?
I must confess to taking a daily glance at my bloglines subs for related posts and news, and not always clicking into them.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/18/06 03:50 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Brays Bayou widening project
A project to help alleviate flooding along Brays Bayou up to Lawndale Street will begin in April:
The Harris County Flood Control District recently awarded a $6.8 million contract to BRH-Garver Construction L.P., to begin widening the bayou from the Houston Ship Channel to Lawndale Street.
BRH-Garver, a Houston-based company, was chosenas the "lowest most responsible bidder," flood district spokeswoman Heather Saucier said.
Project Brays is a $450 million project by the flood control district and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers to reduce flood risks. It includes widening and deepening 21 miles of the bayou, creating four storm water detention basins and replacing or modifying 32 bridges.
When complete the bayou will be widened from its mouth to Fondren Road and will eliminate the 100-year flood plain for the tens of thousands of residents and businesses along the bayou, Saucier said.
"This first stage of the widening is expected to start some time in early April. Work on this segment, widening the bayou to Lawndale Street, is expected to take about a year," she said, adding that all of Project Brays is expected to be complete by 2014.
Once this first stage is complete, East End residents along that stretch of Brays Bayou should experience a reduction in flooding risks, Saucier said.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/18/06 03:38 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
TAKS testing next week; HISD adds new safeguards
Next week is TAKS testing time. I have two who will undergo it and am in favor of the testing, as it can give parents a good idea of where their children stand, what they know and where they need to improve.
HISD is implementing stricter testing safeguards this year, including not allowing most teachers to administer the test to their own students:
Test booklets will be kept under tighter watch, answer sheets will be collected earlier in the day, and most teachers won't administer the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills to their own students under new test security measures announced Wednesday by HISD leaders.
With TAKS testing starting Tuesday for roughly 125,000 Houston Independent School District children and 2.8 million statewide, HISD officials are hoping to curb some of the cheating problems that have plagued the district in the past.
"This year, we'll do much more. Our integrity must be absolutely beyond question," Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra said. "We're taking this issue of test security very, very seriously."
The testing is all the more important this year because of a new teacher merit-pay system that promises bonuses of $3,000 or more for teachers whose students perform well on the TAKS and other tests. Principals have bonuses of up to $6,000 riding on test scores that are also used to determine each campus' state and federal accountability ratings.
RELATED: HISD Tightens TAKS Test Security (HISD)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/18/06 03:26 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
17 February 2006
Alvarado to Chron editorial board: "that's not my handwriting"
Matt Stiles has more on (what Houblog has coined) Bonusgate and it includes an appearance by City Controller Annise Parker:
A series of memos awarding disputed monthly performance bonus payments to four city employees contain scrawled initials purporting to be those of Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado, who said today that someone forged her signature.
"I can tell you right now that's not my handwriting," said Alvarado, who sighed and appeared shaken when shown one memo Thursday during a meeting with the Houston Chronicle editorial board.
"These are clearly not my initials."
Moments later she signed the cursive letters "CA" on a personal letterhead pad, and they appeared different than those on the memo, obtained through the Texas Public Information Act .
[snip]
The memo was released by City Controller Annise Parker, who also provided Thursday the first account of how the bonuses were approved since Mayor Bill White announced the investigation Wednesday. Dated Jan. 10, and labeled from Alvarado to a payroll employee, it is like numerous others being examined by investigators.
Parker said the memos, which ask payroll to provide the four employees "one-time performance incentive pay" as "a bonus for work well done," appear legitimate.
"Everything was documented as though it was completely legitimate and supported," she said. "There was a complete trail. There was no effort at all to hide this. It just came through normal procedures."
UPDATE: Chris Baker is interviewing former Councilman Mark Goldberg. Among other things Goldberg said that the Mayor Pro Tem's office manager making a base salary of $75,000 is eye-popping. He said that is deputy director pay. And then to add an almost $50,000 bonus on top of it, he said, sounds criminal.
He said he used to review his budget every one or two months and numbers like that would have jumped out at him.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: KPRC-2 reports the following:
Mayor Bill White said he was preparing an executive order that would put tighter controls over the entire payroll of City Council offices.
Four employees in the office of Houston Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado were removed from their jobs Wednesday in the payroll investigation.
Meanwhile, KPRC reported that one of the four suspended workers tried to change the current checks and balances by herself and the mayor pro tem almost helped her do it. Alvarado tried to change the system in order to give one of the accused employees, Rosie Hernandez, more power over payroll. Hernandez ran the office.
"It sounded like, OK, it will simplify the process," Alvarado said.
But other council members shut down the idea and kept payroll oversight with the city's finance and administration department.
That department was the one that was supposed to catch the $130,000 worth of bonuses now under question.
The mayor said workers in the finance and administration department may have jobs on the line.
That's all well and good, but more immediately, we have nearly reached the point politically that Carol Alvarado needs to resign as Mayor Pro Tem, or Mayor White will have to consider replacing her.
BLOGVERSATION: Rhymes with Right.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/17/06 06:15 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (14)
Well, of course the weather turned cold
How many of you were hoping to get outside this weekend, tackling yard work or other outdoor activities?
We have had a wonderful winter this year, but still, there are those planting beds I wanted to spruce up. Ah well.
Reading Kathy Huber and listening to Randy Lemmon will have to suffice this time. There's always next weekend!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/17/06 02:05 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (1)
City employees chat away on taxpayer-funded cell phones
Well, slap me down:
In this day and age when you're paying more and more to run your car and heat and cool your home, we've discovered some city of Houston workers are talking their way right through your money.
11 News uncovered thousands of minutes of personal calls and virtually no safeguards in place to limit them to city business.
[snip]
But chances are you won't come close to the deal Tony Emanuel has.
His job gives him a free phone and he can talk as long as he wants whenever he wants.
The best part is that he doesn't pay a dime.
The taxpayers pay for his conversations.
Emanuel is an inspector for Houston Police Department's Neighborhood Protection.
"His supervisors have told me they're conducting an inquiry," said Lt. Robert Manzo, HPD.
11 News discovered the city is not collecting hundreds, perhaps thousands of dollars from employees who make personal calls on their city cell phones.
[snip]
HPD had no idea about these calls until we told them.
In fact, it doesn't know what any of its 823 cell phones are used for.
"It's a good thing you brought this up to our attention," said Lt. Manzo.
PREVIOUSLY: City floats idea of public safety tax
BLOGVERSATION: Houblog
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/17/06 09:51 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (8)
The mark of a true leader (updated)
From today's Chronicle:
Houston City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado deflected responsibility Thursday for the $130,000 in improper bonuses some of her employees received, saying she trusted subordinates to oversee payroll administration.
"There is no way that an elected official can police every single iota, every single detail, that goes on in their office," Alvarado said. "My job is to delegate, to hire people, to trust people that will bring forward any types of irregularities."
With that approach to management, she wouldn't last long in the private sector.
While Councilwoman Alvarado is busy deflecting responsibility, former Councilman Gordon Quan points out that as an elected official he did try to keep track of all those pesky iotas and details:
Quan presided over the office during leaner fiscal years, he said, when some questioned whether it ought to exist. He regularly monitored the budget with a city finance official.
"A bonus of that magnitude would have stuck out like a sore thumb," he said.
And:
Former mayor pro tem Gordon Quan worked with three of the four staffers. When he ran the office it was often under budget, and he gave several thousand dollars back to the city's general fund.
He said, "Justifying our budget was very important. So there was no fat in the budget. So when you allocate additional funds, somebody had to see that that had a direct impact on it."
"Stuck out like a sore thumb" and "somebody had to see." Well, not according to Houston's Mayor Pro Tem.
UPDATE: Chris Baker is attempting to get Controller Annise Parker on air. So far, he says, no luck. He says Councilman Mark Goldberg will be on in the 6 p.m. hour.
Ken Charles dropped by to chat about it and KC is incredulous that someone higher up in the food chain didn't have to approve this bonus money. KC also thinks it's time for Alvarado to consider another line of work, preferably something not involving taxpayer money.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/17/06 09:42 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (10)
If Metro wants a Richmond rail line, it should get voter approval
Rad Sallee has written up yesterday's Metro board meeting where fans and foes of a Richmond rail line were present to give board members an earful. Sallee quotes Houston blogger Tory Gattis as saying that whatever Metro does (and he seems to lean toward the Richmond line) Metro should keep our children and grandchildren in mind. Oh, and Metro should "consider a well-funded 'Support Richmond Business' campaign."
Would a well-funded "Support Main Street Business" campaign have helped during the Danger Train line's construction? Eh, more likely it'd be pouring more (taxpayer) money down the drain.
Metro board chairman David Wolff insists that no decision has been made. Yeah, right.
Here's a press release on Metro's site that also says no decision has been made:
The two primary alignment (i.e. location) options for the University Line west of Wheeler station are 1) Richmond Avenue, and 2) U.S. 59 south to Westpark.
Advocates for Westpark say this would be the lowest cost option and least disruptive to residents and businesses because it is not as densely populated. And they're probably right. On the other hand, proponents of the Richmond option say that to attract riders and to qualify the project for several hundred million dollars in federal funding there’s no choice but Richmond. They argue that it’s precisely because Richmond connects the Greenway Plaza, the University of St. Thomas, the Menil Museum and hundreds of restaurants and small businesses that the street has become so congested and therefore in need of light rail transit. And they’re probably right, too.
Doesn't that second paragraph sound like a Chronicle editorial?
Once again, it's helpful to look back at the 2003 referendum. The language Metro included said "Westpark," which Metro now translates into "anything around Westpark." But that's not what the ballot said.
Let's also remember what former Metro Chairman Arthur Schechter said in 2003:
Voters will be able to hold Metro accountable throughout the process because they will have the opportunity to vote to continue funding based on their experience with Metro Solutions up to that point.
If Metro is going to choose Richmond, then voters should get the chance to say yay or nay, since the 2003 referendum did not specify Richmond.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/17/06 08:54 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (14)
16 February 2006
Aiyer: HPD should make use of HCCS public safety academy
Jay Aiyer penned an op-ed for the Chronicle today in which he touts the Houston Community College System's new Public Safety Academy as a potential partner for the City of Houston in dealing with HPD's manpower shortage.
The op-ed is a slightly modified version of a post that appeared on Aiyer's campaign blog last June.
BLOGVERSATION: Greg's Opinion.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/16/06 09:59 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (19)
Bonusgate: Is yesterday's news just the beginning? (updated)
Further to the news that broke yesterday regarding the Mayor Pro Tem's office, Houblog today suggests that the practice of doling out illegitimate "bonuses" to municipal employees may extend well beyond the immediate scandal, and he gives some insight into the mechanism that may have been used to award such "bonuses."
Seriously, has anyone seen or heard from the City Controller?
Please read the Houblog post in its entirety. This investigation may become very interesting.
UPDATE (02-17-2006): Paul Bettencourt is guest hosting for Edd Hendee on KSEV-700, and is riled up over bonusgate. He just interviewed Councilmember Addie Wiseman, who also seemed flabbergasted over the bonusgate scandal. However, Councilmember Wiseman admitted on air that she has doled out much smaller bonuses -- technically "temporary pay increases" that would amount to a bonus of $1000 -- to her own employees. Neither she nor Bettencourt seemed to think this sleight of hand (which is the mechanism described by Houblog) is/was a big deal, because of the amount.
Hang on folks, because as Houblog suggests, a thorough investigation is liable to get very interesting.
Here is today's Chronicle coverage from Matt Stiles.
UPDATE 2 (02-17-2006): Houblog posts more today.
UPDATE 3 (02-17-2006): Rick Casey (yes, Rick Casey) has a column on this topic that's actually timely and substantive, and doesn't appear to crib too much from the work of others. Who knew he could pull that off?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/16/06 04:53 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (7)
A birdie tells us that...
Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado will be making an appearance on the Chris Baker program today, on KTRH-740.
It should be interesting to hear what she has to say about yesterday's news about the raid and suspensions.
BACKGROUND: KTRH: Mayor Pro Tem's staff suspended.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/16/06 02:43 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (13)
Houston asked to bid for 2008 GOP convention
Houston is one of the cities the Republican National Committee has asked to bid on the 2008 Republican National Convention.
The funniest take on it comes from Laurence Simon (of course), title and all.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/16/06 10:07 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
Bill Simmons book signing tonight
ESPN.com's "Sports Guy" Bill Simmons will be in town tonight, signing copies of his new book at the River Oaks/Upper Kirby Borders Bookstore.
Simmons made some Houstonians upset with his ranting about the city during the Super Bowl we hosted, but he seemed to have a change of heart when he returned for baseball's All-Star game.
Like him or not, he'll be a sitting target tonight for Houstonians who want to give him a hard time (or an "attaboy"). The signing is scheduled for 7:30 pm.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/16/06 09:43 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
More on Chief Hurtt's surveillance camera program
The Chronicle's Alexis Grant has more on Chief Hurtt's plan to install surveillance cameras downtown. The Houston Downtown Management District has decided where the cameras will be placed and will fund the program:
The Downtown Management District, which works to improve the central business district using taxes paid by downtown property owners, has proposed five sites for cameras at intersections on and around Main. They are high-pedestrian-traffic, not high-crime, locations, said Bob Eury, executive director of the district.
"The goal is for people to feel safe," said Eury, who compared the cameras to those at shopping malls. "We're finding new ways to make it basically safer in reality and perception."
Mayor White may not have known about Chief Hurtt's camera plan:
Mayor Bill White, who must approve the camera program for it to go into effect, said he had not yet discussed it with Hurtt.
"There's a legitimate right to privacy," White said. "On the other hand ... if there are some crime hot spots, then we want something where we don't have to have uniformed officers staring at a particular spot 24 hours a day."
Except that according to Bob Eury, these are not crime hot spots. So, is Mayor White in favor of surveillance cameras in "high-pedestrian-traffic" areas?
The City Council's Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security will consider the program Feb. 28.
This committee is chaired by Councilman Adrian Garcia. Sigh.
The ACLU does not sound thrilled:
Some privacy advocates questioned whether apartment owners should be required to install cameras.
"It's radical and unheard-of," said Scott Henson, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Texas Police Accountability Project.
And according to KTRK-13's coverage Chief Hurtt's plans go even further:
Chief Hurtt believes it would be cheaper to have the cameras than to hire enough police officers and have them at every street corner. He's even suggesting that those homeowners who have too many calls for service to their homes be forced to install the cameras as well.
Does Councilwoman Ada Edwards find this troubling?
How long before the LiveJournalists weigh in?
BLOGVERSATION: Grits for Breakfast, Off the Kuff.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/16/06 08:40 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (5)
Chron's new cartoonist debuts
The Chronicle's new cartoonist starts work today. Can anyone point us to where the editorial cartoon is located on Chron.com? Maybe we need more coffee, but we can't find it.
UPDATE: Ahh. The Chron's Dean Betz points to the News Section. It's there under the Opinion headline, but not actually posted in the Opinion section, that I can see. Maybe that will change eventually.
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/16/06 07:53 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (13)
15 February 2006
Food and drink roundup (02-15-06 edition)
It's time for another food and drink roundup, kids. There are quite a few links to offer up today. Let's get started, shall we?
Alison Cook and Robb Walsh both seemed to have had a thing for raw food for a time. Cook took readers on a trip to Galveston and tried out the oysters at Gilhooley's.
Robb Walsh tried the oysters in town at both Willie G's and Magnolia Bar & Grill, which seemed to win his contest of gluttony. He also did some raw dining down NASA way at Masa Sushi.
Dai Huynh made chocolate even more unappetizing to this bH contributor in her pre-Valentine's day examination of chocolate as all-purpose ingredient. As much as I dislike the stuff, it's still fascinating reading.
Peggy Grodinsky covers local Kosher pretty well in her offering this week. No word though whether my search for the best bowl of chicken soup has ended.
Ken Hoffman calls Denny's Zesty Creole Scrambled Sensation Denny's newest sensation. I've never been much of a Denny's fan, but maybe it really has changed for the better. (Speaking of breakfast, 59 Diner in Montrose has just recently begun serving breakfast all day every day. And...they now have wi-fi too. Take that, Denny's.)
There's also a new Greek offering in town in the Galleria area that goes by the name of Stelios Deli. It shares space, strangely enough, with a gas station, but don't let that dissuade you. A first visit to the place didn't disappoint.
And finally, Lance Scott Walker quaffs some at downtown hot spot Slainte.
World Class, all of it. Enjoy!!
Posted by Callie Markantonis @ 02/15/06 11:51 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (9)
Is Houston ready for downtown surveillance cameras?
Wow, Chief Hurtt really has a thing for cameras:
Surveillance cameras monitored by police could be installed along Main Street in an effort to deter crime in the downtown area, Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt said today.
He said the project is still in the planning stages, but he hopes to have a least five cameras up this year.
''I know a lot of people are concerned about big brother, but my response to that is if you aren't doing anything wrong why worry about it,'' he said.
Has Council approved this? If it's already in the planning stages, when was the public told of this? Is this something that can go forward without Council approval? It's disturbing that Chief Hurtt is using HPD's manpower shortage as an excuse to install surveillance cameras, a manpower shortage he and Mayor White have shrugged off for quite awhile. Isn't a police officer on a street corner more of a crime deterrent than a camera? Does the city want to play defense forever or does the city want to prevent crime? Is this world-class?
Now. Remember how the Editorial Live Journalists came UNGLUED at the thought of the NSA listening in on terrorist phone calls? Surely they will slap down Chief Hurtt's surveillance cameras.
Right?
RELATED: Sedosi asks:
On the heels of Chief Hurtt's public safety tax proposal, one has to wonder what other trial balloons the Mayor's office wants to float in the coming weeks?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/15/06 07:01 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (8)
KTRH: Mayor Pro Tem's staff suspended (updated)
KTRH-740 reports that several members of Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado's office have been suspended:
KTRH News has learned that four members of Houston City Council member Carol Alvarado's office have been suspended.
The suspensions come as a result of an internal city investigation into payroll irregularities which may have involved bonuses paid to those workers.
A spokesman for Mayor Bill White's office says all four workers were employees of Alvarado's mayor pro-tem office and not her council office.
Mayor White is expected to talk about the investigation at a press conference later this afternoon.
I wonder if this provoked a profane outburst from the occasionally fiery, potty-mouthed Mayor Pro Tem?
UPDATE: The Chronicle's Matt Stiles posts a short blurb.
UPDATE 2: Kudos to KPRC-2, which sent an email alert pointing to their more complete account:
Agents raided the office of Houston Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado Wednesday, confiscating equipment and placing employees on administrative leave, KPRC Local 2 reported.
Officials said the city's finance director received reports of payroll irregularities, possibly including some improper pay raises awarded to employees in Alvarado's office, and reported it to the Office of Inspector General.
OIG agents and Houston police raided the offices shortly after lunchtime.
Four employees were removed and immediately placed on leave. Officials would not comment on Alvarado's status.
Computers were confiscated from the office and the door locks were changed.
Mayor Bill White plans to hold a news conference shortly. A statement is also expected from Alvarado.
UPDATE 3: Mayor White (via KHOU-11's live webcast) indicates that the city is investigating improper bonuses of $130,000 for the four staffers who were suspended.
UPDATE (02-16-2006): Updated coverage, from the Chronicle, KHOU, KPRC.
BLOGVERSATION: Houblog (I) and Houblog (II), Isolated Desolation, Off the Kuff, Baboon Pirates, Lou Minatti.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/15/06 02:52 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (11)
A new Chron Eye: Clyde Smith Jr.
Another convicted murderer is headed to the Texas death chamber today, and that means it's time for another edition of Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy, in which journalistic ethics the political preferences of editor Jeff Cohen and wife Kathryn Kase concerns of journalistic balance dictate sympathetic portrayals of death-row killer guys.
Today, we learn that the latest death row killer guy had a troubled childhood, a favorite theme when the reporter is unable to find any real redeeming qualities of the death row killer (such as, for example, composition of poetry in prison):
No one from Smith's family will attend. He won't let them.
"He divorced me and he denied me, and I don't have no child, it look like," said his mother, Ruth Maye, who never visited her son in prison.
Maye said she and other family members in Mississippi had planned to go to the execution to see Smith "one last time," and claim his body — which he signed away to an unnamed friend.
Smith, who ran away at age 15, told police he would rather be in jail than in his mother's house.
Maye said she was a good mother to a stubborn child who wouldn't listen to her and got in with the wrong crowd.
"I don't know what happened to him," Maye said.
But according to affidavits filed by some of Smith's five siblings — only two of whom had the same father — Smith, who was no stranger to drugs and alcohol, ran away to escape excessive beatings by both his mother and the five men she married and divorced as they were growing up.
Didn't stay put for long
After spending time on the streets and at a boy's home, Smith moved back to Houston, where he had lived until he was 9, to live with his father, Clyde Smith. His mother warned him that "there ain't nothing left in Texas but death."
Smith's father turned him away, and Jacobs and Bilton were killed about a year later. Smith was 18 years old at the time. The men were only two of the 86 taxicab and livery drivers murdered while on the job nationwide in 1992.
In the 1980s, 15.1 of every 100,000 taxicab drivers lost their lives to murder. Though the murder rate has dropped since the mid-1990s, when cabs were first equipped with emergency alarms and cameras and could be tracked throughout their city routes, a 2000 report by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration revealed that cabdrivers are still 60 times more likely than other workers to be slain on the job.
Smith now says he was only an accessory to the murders and that others pulled the trigger. The three confessions he recorded upon his arrest, he says, were made under pressure from homicide investigators.
Points to violent childhood
While Smith's appellate lawyer does not deny his involvement in the killings, he says his life could have been spared had his trial attorney presented evidence regarding Smith's violent childhood to the jury that sentenced him to death.
"The literature sort of shows that that stuff is important to jurors," attorney F. Clinton Broden said.
"Whether it would've made a difference in this case, I don't know. But he should have had the chance."
In a sworn statement, his trial lawyer said he conducted a complete investigation and found no evidence of any abuse.
But Smith's lawyers have claimed in a string of failed appeals that the trial lawyer's investigation was scant, his client visits infrequent and that he never explained to Smith that his childhood could have helped save his life.
The state rejected Smith's first and most critical appeal, his postconviction writ of habeas corpus, in part because his court-appointed habeas lawyers did not include any evidence that family members would have testified to Smith's history had they been contacted.
By the time Broden obtained that evidence and filed new appeals, it was essentially too late, as higher courts cannot rule on evidence that could have been presented at the state level.
'I did not put you there'
But Assistant District Attorney Lynn Hardaway said it is "highly unlikely" that evidence about his childhood would have spared Smith the death sentence, in light of the overwhelming evidence presented against him.
In contrast, here is the AP's coverage of that aspect of the story (via KHOU-11), which seems sufficient:
In earlier appeals, lawyers pointed out federal judges agreed Smith may have had poor legal help during his trial and that he suffered significant abuse as a child, which they say was not pursued by his trial defense team.
“Nevertheless, ... courts concluded that Smith must shoulder the consequences,” Clint Broden, Smith’s appeals lawyers, said.
[snip]
Smith dropped out of the ninth grade in Laurel, Miss. and once worked as a security guard.
He has four brothers and a sister. From death row, he said the last time he saw a relative was 1991.
He also has a daughter, about 18, who has no contact with him.
“I didn’t want her to be exposed to this,” he said.
Death row killer guy Clyde Smith Jr. will be departing tonight.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/15/06 02:33 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Did Rick Casey's research assistant get a pink slip?
Here's Rich Connelly last week:
I.V. Hilliard is the black Joel Osteen -- a telegenic preacher at a Houston megachurch who hobnobs with celebrities and lives the good life.
It appears he's like Osteen in one other way: He's got a high-maintenance wife.
[snip]
Everyone in town -- even you! -- is cordially invited to attend "A 50th Birthday Celebration Honoring Dr. Bridget Hilliard," to be held at the Hyatt Regency downtown March 12. Tickets are only $100, cheap when compared to…to…the price of a movie ticket these days, we guess.
Click further on the page and you'll see a link for "suggested gift ideas." And what is the preacher's wife willing to receive? A helpful list is provided, in a suitably classy wedding-invitation font. We quote: "Monetary gifts. Designer handbags: Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton. Gift Certificates: Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Escada."
And here's Rick Casey's latest:
The fundraiser is for Bridget Hilliard, the energetic and articulate wife and co-minister of Pastor Ian V. Hilliard.
Their church and ministry, the New Light Christian Center, is one of Houston's biggest and fastest growing.[snip]
If you hurry you can get tickets ($100 each) for the March 12 celebration. Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards are accepted.
It's going to be quite an affair. Men are instructed to wear black tuxedos, and women cream or gold formals.
So why, you ask, am I calling it a fundraiser rather than a birthday party?
Because of the link called "Gift Ideas."
It's a short list:
•Monetary gifts.
•Designer handbags: Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton.
•Gift certificates: Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Escada.
That's it: cash, gift certificates to upscale shops or designer handbags in which to stash the loot.The site says nobody is expected to bring gifts, but so many people have asked what Mrs. Hilliard likes that it will save staff time to post her desires on the Web site.
Coincidence? Who knows, but Casey sure does seem to be plagued by these coincidences.
UPDATE: Rich Connelly follows up his original story in this week's Houston Press.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/15/06 09:23 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (5)
14 February 2006
Make that a Milo (Cheap Shot and Sour Grapes)
Folks in Chicago have come up with an amusing response to Milo Hamilton's new book that blasts the late Harry Caray:
Thursday, Harry Caray's Restaurant will be the headquarters for the 8th annual Toast to Harry that will be conducted simultaneously in 80 countries.
Restaurant President Grant DePorter says a new drink will be introduced to the public on that day. "It will be called the `Milo,' otherwise known as the Cheap Shot and Sour Grapes,'" said DePorter. The 25-cent drink will be a 2-ounce shot of beer with a side of sour grapes.
That is hilarious. I hope someone passes the news along to the bitter Hamilton, so he can fume even more over a dead man.
Harry Caray's restaurant has a list of establishments participating in the Toast to Harry, and it includes the Home Plate Bar and Grill here in Houston (across from Minute Maid), for anyone who might be interested.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/14/06 11:09 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
A question of priorities
The Houston Police Department recently posted the following news to its website, which I'm reproducing in full since the public information officers are sometimes ordered to take notices down with no warning:
February 13, 2006 -- On Thursday, February 9, 2006, representatives of the Houston Police Department met with local Muslim leaders at the Islamic Dawwa Center, located at 202 Main. The primary purpose of the meeting was to address local concerns and recent international attention given to the media handling and depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.
Among the organizations represented at the meeting were the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Iman Academy, Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Muslim American Society, Muslim Islamic Society of Greater Houston, Muslim Observer Newspaper, Masjid Ul Mumineen, Islamic Dawwa Center and the Madarsa Islamia. The meeting was organized by the Community Relations Unit of the Public Affairs Division.
The Muslim leadership recognized the high level of trust and confidence in each other and the general appreciation accorded law enforcement in the greater Houston area. Law enforcement officials in turn recognized the positive steps that have been taken within the Muslim community not to overreact to events in other areas, and gave assurances to the leaders that local events will be given the attention they deserve. "Whenever someone commits a hateful act, their conduct only serves to strengthen the bond between law enforcement and the targets of hate; this meeting is a good example," said Captain Dwayne Ready of the Houston Police Department.
The Houston Police Department is proud of the positive rapport that exists between local law enforcement and the Muslim community. It is hoped that such dialogues will serve to enhance this rapport and to maintain vital lines of communication between the department and the diverse communities we serve.
This is the same police department, mind you, that doesn't have the manpower to provide citizens the training to form neighborhood watch patrols in some parts of town.
But, who are we to question the priorities of HPD brass? After all, diversity is beauty.
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/14/06 10:50 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
Editorial LiveJournalists lecture on disclosure, transparency
The Editorial LiveJournalists get all worked up today over the Cheney hunting accident, arguing that it's the latest example of the White House's disdain for disclosure and transparency.
This contention comes from the newspaper that:
* Holds secretive editorial board meetings with important figures, filtering the questions and answers for the poor dumb masses.
* Sends staff to impersonate Katrina evacuees.
* Announces that it will no longer report METROrail accidents if it doesn't feel like it.
* [Feel free to contribute your own examples in the comments]
Frankly, the Houston Chronicle has no real standing to lecture anyone on disclosure or transparency.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/14/06 10:24 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
SafeClear works (updated!)
Really! It does...Mayor White says so:
The number of crashes on Houston freeways dropped 10 percent last year - and Mayor Bill White touted the statistics today as evidence that his Safe Clear mandatory towing program is working.
White, citing with data analyzed by officials at Rice University and the Texas Transportation Institute, told reporters today that the statistics show freeway crashes have dropped from an average of 14,670 a year in 2003 and 2004, to 13,137 in 2005.
"We're proud of the Safe Clear program,'' he said. "It's the most cost effective, transportation and traffic program we have.''
White has also said he believes the roughly $3 million program, a key portion of the mayor's mobility efforts, has reduced freeway congestion.
[snip]
The program now gets most of its funding from the Metropolitan Transit Authority. The city's portion annually is about $600,000, city officials have said.
White acknowledged those opponents at yesterday's luncheon, saying they fought hard when the mandatory towing program started. They "packed City Hall" and later sued the city, he said, "but we hung in there."
Did the mayor host a luncheon for SafeClear opponents yesterday?
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: Post hoc ergo propter hoc (hat tip to TP), anyone?
KHOU-11 posts the actual SAFEclear report, and guess who one of the authors is? Yep, one of the designers of the program, Houston bicyclist Bob Stein!
Does anyone really think Bicyclist Stein, the spouse of mayoral aide Marty Stein, was going to conclude his (somewhat modified, thanks to courts) program is anything but brilliant?
UPDATE: KUHF-88.7 adds some comments from a SafeClear opponent:
But Suzanne Poole, president of the Houston Professional Towing Association, says those numbers are misleading.
"The price increase in gas and a lot of people are carpooling or using mass transit which those figures are reflected in how many people are using the buses. But also the wrecker drivers with the SafeClear program no longer call out officers to minor accidents, they simply give them the blue forms to send to the state. If they don't send those forms in, those accidents aren't reported. So the actual figures are inaccurate."
Poole says there's no way to tell how many accidents were prevented by SafeClear and comparing numbers from the past two years doesn't give a complete picture of the city's freeways.
[snip]
The mayor says SafeClear has saved more than $35 million through prevented accidents. That number is calculated using an average total cost of $26,000 per accident and multiplying that by the number of reduced accidents in 2005.
That's some math!
UPDATE (02-15-2006): The Chronicle has another version of this story posted now. Here is an excerpt on Bicyclist Stein:
Bob Stein, a Rice professor who authored the study with student researcher Danielle Supkis and Tim Lomax of the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University, said the trio only looked at actual crashes.
"I'm not saying the Safe Clear program is responsible," said Stein, whose wife works in the mayor's office. "All I'm saying is, since the program was implemented, these facts have occurred."
Bob Stein also helped design the program. That detail should have been included.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/14/06 05:53 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (11)
Soccer team to get a new name?
KHOU-11 recently reported that the professional sensitives in town were very upset about the name of Houston's new soccer team.
The director of UH's Mexican-American Studies program even let it be known that he would never wear a Houston 1836 t-shirt!
Today, KHOU-11 is reporting that the team will be changing its name, although team officials refuse to confirm the news.
If you haven't gotten your suggestion in yet, better head over to 1836.isfullofcrap.com!
UPDATE: KTRH-740 is running a snippet from Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, who says the soccer team's ownership told her the name would be changed.
UPDATE (10:30 pm): Elma Barrera covers the story for KTRK-13. Chron.com still has not posted a story, either to the sports page or to the soccer blog. Apparently, evolution at the Chronicle involves launching more online diaries and obsessing over trivialities, and not so much reporting breaking sports news with a political twist.
UPDATE (02-15-2006): The Chronicle finally posts a story!
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/14/06 12:19 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (7)
KPRC: Where local "olds" comes first
KPRC-2 reports the following on their website:
A controversial towing program might be on the horizon for Houston drivers.
KPRC Local 2 has learned a Houston council member has drafted a proposal that would allow police to tow uninsured driver's vehicles after an accident.
They just now "learned" this? And they didn't even learn the councilmember's name?
They really need to listen to KTRH or read blogs a little more, because this is not news, but olds!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/14/06 10:22 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (2)
Ada Edwards: What HPD manpower shortage?
KTRH-740 posts a news report on HPD's manpower shortage:
Houston's population increased by more than 100,000 new residents last year, but nearly 625 police officers quit the force.
Police Chief Harold Hurtt says the city needs to commit to a hiring program. Hurtt notes the number of officers per square mile in Houston is less than eight, while the country's next biggest city — Chicago — has nearly 60.
Hurtt says if the police department doubles the number of classes they're holding now — from five to 10 a year — the city could reach the national average by 2008.
Even with overtime programs, response times for lower priority calls are still increasing.
This blog continues to note manifestations of HPD's manpower shortage (here are two recent posts).
The Chronicle's Alexis Grant reports today that HPD and the police officer's union have worked out an agreement that will give HPD more flexibility to recruit experienced officers from elsewhere in response to the manpower shortage. The story concludes with this criticism from Councilmember Ada Edwards:
Councilwoman Ada Edwards said the city needs to fund schools and create jobs to decrease crime before putting more officers on the streets.
"I am not interested in developing a police state here," she said.
Laurence Simon's comment on another topic seems to fit here as well:
Welcome to Houston: We're Off Our Meds!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/14/06 09:22 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)
METRO's planning a celebration
The Chronicle's Ken Hoffman reports that METRO is planning a big celebration:
METRO is throwing an outdoor 7 1/2 -mile-long party Feb. 27 to celebrate the 20-millionth passenger climbing aboard its light-rail train. METRO stat freaks say that'll be the day it happens.
The lucky passenger will receive two tickets on a Continental flight. If Victoria Osteen wins, there could be trouble.
There will be bands playing on all the train platforms between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Local pro athletes and media superstars will hand out scratch-off cards to hordes of METRO riders and fans. Prizes include a $500 gift certificate at Foley's, Houston Texans tickets, Houston Comets tickets and museum passes.
I've agreed to do this on one condition: The train operator promises not to hit me.
Good luck!
This self-congratulatory celebration sounds expensive. It's nice to see METRO being such a mindful steward of the public's transit money.
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
UPDATE (02-16-2006): METRO's Raequel Roberts informs us that the various prizes were donated, and that no public funding was involved.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/14/06 08:11 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (8)
Metro board meeting this Thursday -- will there be fireworks?
Metro's next board meeting is this Thursday and there have been rumblings that both rail opponents and proponents will show up to offer their thoughts on the proposed Richmond line.
If you'd like to make your voice heard, you have to call ahead of time to give Metro a heads up. Metro doesn't appreciate unvetted public comments. Send an email to rg03@ridemetro.org or call (713) 739-4842 to reserve your spot.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/14/06 06:54 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (4)
13 February 2006
A big reason why Chris Baker's show is so much fun
Eddie Barton, KTRH-740's traffic dude, says, "thanks to Alan for calling in some debris." And we're off on another Debris Game!
That's the spirit: we don't need to call TxDOT when we spot debris on the freeway; call KTRH!
And what was the debris? Something involving a poker table. A game gone bad?
(Goodness, as I'm writing this up, there was another Debris Game. This time it was a mattress. Don't people tie down their loads?)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/13/06 04:56 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (1)
City floats idea of public safety tax
Facing a police staffing crisis which could last for years, some Houston officials have raised the possibility of a "public safety tax" to boost the city's shrinking police force.
City Council's Public Safety Committee Chairman Adrian Garcia says he'll support such an idea, though Police Chief Harold Hurtt didn't voice an opinion. Hurtt did say he spent hours in front of Garcia's committee today detailing HPD money woes.
"It's not up to me to determine how to do it, but in some cities they have put in a special public safety tax for police and fire," Hurtt added.
Houston has about 700 fewer police officers than it did just two years ago.
The department also needs some $200 million for various future projects, including buying a new radio system.
No.
First, the city should commit all red light camera revenue to hiring more police officers.
Second, stop all unnecessary spending: day labor sites, downtown parks, museums, grants, expensive desks, etc. What fat is lurking in Houston city government? What about city-provided and paid-for cell phones, in non-critical areas? What about bottled water? Do any departments have contracts for bottled water? Are there conventions or other city paid-for trips city employees are attending? Are they absolutely critical? What about city departments reducing their budgets by a set percentage? Did that happen? Funnel that money into HPD's pressing needs. There is NOTHING more important for city officials to focus on than public safety and Houston needs to cut out the fluff and focus its resources in that direction.
Government is notorious for being wasteful and inefficient. A new tax to fund what should already be the city's number one priority is not the way to go, and any city official thinking along those lines had better think again. Make sure city government is operating at maximum efficiency and a whole lot of money would be freed up, I'll bet.
UPDATE: KHOU-11 has a story posted now with this at the end:
But the mayor apparently doesn't like that idea. In a written statement, his office told us, "We have a plan to significantly increase the size of HPD without raising the property tax rate or the sales tax rate."
UPDATE (02-14-2006): KTRK-13 covers the story, and says a public vote would take place before the enactment of such a tax.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/13/06 04:30 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (4)
KTRH, KHOU report bus-pedestrian accident (updated)
KTRH-740 news reports a METRO bus accident involving a pedestrian, and KHOU-11 posts this news on its blog:
At approximately 2:10 p.m. a Metro bus was involved in a pedestrian accident near Pierce and Milam downtown, according to Metro officials.
The condition of the accident victim is not known at this time.
Be careful out there, people. Especially around METRO buses and trains.
UPDATE (02-14-2006): KTRK-13 reports. The Chronicle reports the victim was cited for jaywalking. The story does not say if bungling METRO police chief Tom Lambert questioned the jaywalker on his understanding of safety.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/13/06 03:53 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (4)
HPD answers questions about red light cameras
Today's Chronicle Q & A is with Assistant HPD Chief Martha Montalvo on the topic of red light cameras. This appears to be one of the better Q & A's (which is NOT a ringing endorsement), although it's lacking some tough questions and follow-ups:
Q: What happens if city vehicles run red lights?
A: If there wasn't an emergency purpose for running that red light or if there wasn't a reason, then that employee will have to pay.
It would be nice if our local watchdog media actually follow up to see if this is happening.
Q: Some critics have complained that cameras result in more rear-end collisions as drivers stop suddenly to avoid getting caught by cameras. Is this true?
A: I've read some of the studies in regard to that. There's also studies that show that the red-light cameras play a part in reducing a lot of the right-angle crashes, or driver-side crashes, which are more dangerous than the rear-end crashes.
That is just BEGGING for a follow-up question (or two or three!). What does Montalvo think of the studies she's read about rear-end collisions? Why does she think that using automation that causes collisions is preferable to using actual police officers? What does she think about the Washington Post investigation that found serious-injury accidents and fatalities increased at intersections with red light cameras?
Q: Some say the city's motive is to raise revenue. Is that true?
A: That is not true. Each of these citations will be $75 a pop. Of course, after a third violation it goes up to $150. But our priority is, and always has been, safety.
Follow-up! If the goal isn't revenue, why didn't the city try lengthening yellow light times first? Here's Montalvo's take on that from a KHOU-11 story awhile back:
A study in San Diego found that simply lengthening the yellow light by a second cut violations by 25 percent and adding less than two seconds, cut them by 90 percent.
They also discovered that the company hired to run the program was getting paid per ticket issued and had been shaving time off the yellow lights.
Montalvo vows that won't happen here, but also says she doesn't intend to even try adding a second or two to the yellow lights. She's sticking with the cameras.
"I truly believe this program is going to work, and I don't see the logic of lengthening the yellow light," she says.
It's hard to believe Montalvo survived that withering Q & A session.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/13/06 02:24 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (4)
Amusing...
Just on the KPRC-950 top-of-the-hour traffic report: someone is refusing a SafeClear tow and police are responding to the scene.
Some people still don't appreciate having their cars taken from them. Imagine that!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/13/06 01:09 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (6)
Earmark reform and MetroRail funding
Check out this last bit in today's Move It! column from George Smalley regarding MetroRail funding:
Metro spokesman George Smalley said Metro expects continued support from its congressional delegation to help get $1 billion over 10 years to build out the system.
If the dollar flow were constant, Metro would get $100 million in fiscal 2007. It still might, Smalley said, noting that last fall's $12 million wasn't in FTA's budget proposal either.
But it's hardly automatic. "We still have to do our homework and put forth sound projects," he said.
With a per-rider subsidy of +$23, Metro certainly does have some homework to do, and as the above quote hints, Metro depends on congressional earmark funding.
Here's something else to consider: As many blogreaders know, there is an effort by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to reduce congressional earmarks, to the point of threatening the prized "comity of the Senate."
As George Will pointed out yesterday, Sen. Coburn isn't much interested in being popular with his Senate colleagues:
When Coburn disparaged an earmark for Seattle -- $500,000 for a sculpture garden -- Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) was scandalized: "We are not going to watch the senator pick out one project and make it into a whipping boy." She invoked the code of comity: "I hope we do not go down the road deciding we know better than home state senators about the merits of the projects they bring to us." And she warned of Armageddon: "I tell my colleagues, if we start cutting funding for individual projects, your project may be next." But Coburn, who does not do earmarks, thinks Armageddon sounds like fun.
Shining the light on earmark spending DOES sound like fun!
Also consider this: Sen. McCain is a light rail skeptic (don't tell Lucas Wall):
McCain has voiced reservations regarding light rail.
[snip]
[...]McCain criticized Congressional spending for being laden with 'pork barrel' special projects.
And any political realist would have to admit that Sen. McCain stands a good chance of being elected president in 2008.
Just some Monday morning musing...
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/13/06 10:07 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (6)
12 February 2006
KHOU: No cops to train neighborhood patrols
KHOU-11's Wendell Edwards reports on another manifestation of HPD's manpower shortage:
Every night without fail, Jimmie Elie just doesn’t lock her door — she barricades it.
“I feel very secure once I’m inside,” Elie said. “It’s the outside I’m worried about.”
Jimmie Elie barricades her door every night.
For 20 years she’s lived in a patio home in southwest Houston.
For protection, she has bars on her doors and an alarm system for her house, and recently she’s added bars on her front windows.
“Yes, they’ve tried to break in; that’s when I put the burglar bars inside,” Elie said.
But she said it hasn’t been enough.
She wants even more protection, something she’s been trying to get for more than a year: a citizen patrol group.
[snip]
HPD helps train neighborhood groups who want to form citizen patrol groups, but lately the police have been too busy.
“I think it’s money; I think it’s not a priority,” said southwest Houston resident Keysha Booker.
Booker is an attorney and lives around the corner.
HPD said citizen’s groups are important, but the department right now is focused on increasing its staff and reducing violent crime first.
“Right now they are saying that they don’t have the manpower for the new classes,” Elie said. “All we can do is wait and hope that is happens soon ... and lock up.”
MayorWhiteChiefHurtt can tout their new acronyms all they want, but unfortunately acronyms are no substitute for cops -- in this case, cops to train citizens to help them fight crime in their neighborhoods. It's unfortunate that dealing with HPD's manpower shortage was not a priority in the first two years of Mayor White's administration.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/12/06 07:36 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)
Chron covers Rep. DeLay
On February 8, Rep. Tom DeLay was reappointed to the House Appropriations committee.
As noted on this blog the next day, the Chron chose to run AP coverage of the appointment.
Today, four days after the fact, the first original reporting of the matter by the Chronicle's vaunted D.C. bureau appeared, in the form of a blurb in Samantha Levine's weekly "Delegation Watch."
How about that timely coverage of D.C. news with a local angle?
Elsewhere in today's edition, Kristen Mack reports on Rep. DeLay's primary race and the weakness of his little-known challengers.
BLOGVERSATION: Isolated Desolation, Off the Kuff.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/12/06 07:27 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (0)
Houston's daily entertainment source (cont'd)
The Chronicle's Editorial LiveJournalists twist themselves into pretzels today trying to make up their minds about the real issues involved in a Danish newspaper's publication of political cartoons that have sparked Muslim violence and lawlessness.
Here is a sampling of the wisdom from the Editorial LiveJournalists, with running commentary (feel free to add yours in the comments):
Considering the corpses and charred embassies, it is fair to conclude that a Danish newspaper erred in mocking the prophet Muhammad.
So, if a mob of Christians had responded to the Chronicle's grade of "F" for the movie The Passion by torching the operation at 801 Texas Avenue, I suppose the Editorial LiveJournalists would have concluded the newspaper had erred?
The portrayal of Muhammad with a bomb in his turban was sure to insult Muslims and was as deplorable as any anti-Semitic drawing.
Really? Why?
And what cartoonist for a mass circulation newspaper in the United States would ridicule the figure of Jesus Christ?
The Chronicle editors find plenty of other ways to insult conservative Christian readers daily, but so far none of them has torched and bombed the fools at 801 Texas Avenue.
Printing the caricatures of Muhammad — at a time when many Muslims see their grievances as just cause for bloody vengeance — was stupid and provocative. European papers that reprinted the cartoons without adequate explanation only fanned the Muslim sense of injury.
Miscalculation, though, isn't a crime. Western nations foster free speech on most matters and should not be held responsible for their citizens' expressions.
Huh? What does that even mean?
If only more Muslim citizens could speak their minds, their protests might be more productive. As it is, their rage lashes back on themselves. "Using violence to protest this 'desecration' legitimizes that which the Prophet cautioned against in the first place," notes the Sepia Mutiny blog. "He has become an idol to be defended."
The Editorial LiveJournalists cited a blog?! That doesn't seem consistent with their earlier pronouncement on the ideal state!
Maybe Jarvis is right, and the era of editorial board pronouncements on every issue under the sun has passed. The Chronicle's Editorial LiveJournalists certainly substantiate his contention on a daily basis.
PREVIOUSLY: The Editorial LiveJournalists: Houston's daily entertainment source.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/12/06 07:04 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
Lorelle resigns from KPRC-2
The Chronicle's Mike McDaniel reports that Linda Lorelle has resigned from KPRC-2:
KPRC-TV news anchor Linda Lorelle resigned her post late Friday, ending a 16-year career at the station.
"I'm ready to move on," Lorelle said Saturday. "I'm going to take a break, then consider opportunities both inside and outside the (television) business. I want to stay in Houston, but I'm going to take things one day at a time."
Lorelle's demotion last fall from prime-time to afternoon news anchor had sparked a call for a boycott from the Rev. William Lawson and other community leaders. The boycott called for Lorelle and fellow anchor Khambrel Marshall, who had been reassigned to a weekend anchor, to have their higher-profile positions restored. It also cited KPRC's lack of minorities in management.
Since the call for a boycott, the station has added blacks to its management, including the December hiring of KHOU anchor Jerome Gray.
PREVIOUSLY: Racism at KPRC, KPRC move: Racist or family-friendly?
UPDATE: Mike McGuff posts on this topic, and also comments on the departure of weatherman Wes Hohenstein.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/12/06 06:16 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (1)
11 February 2006
Metro's counting on DeLay and Culberson to come through with funding
Metro isn't sweating the possibility of missing out on $300 million in FTA funding. You see, Metro is counting on "its Congressional delegation" to come through:
And, based upon Congressional commitments made last year, METRO anticipates that significant dollars will be sought by its Congressional delegation for METRO Solutions Phase 2 projects. The Congressional delegation committed to seeking $1 billion over ten years, or an average amount of $100 million per year.
Now would be an interesting time to look back on how Metro Bigs and other light rail cheerleaders have, ahem, treated Metro's Congressional delegation in the past. Let's see, how about that gargantuan, four-reporter Chronicle story from a year ago where just about anyone who is in favor of light rail got the opportunity to bash Reps. DeLay and Culberson:
"Culberson is the only Texas member of the transportation appropriations subcommittee," said Robin Holzer, chairwoman of the Citizens Transportation Coalition, a grass-roots organization that promotes more public transit in Houston. "The committee conferees would defer to the Texas delegation on this matter, especially the representative from Houston. "
And:
"We have been providing these light rail funds to cities that are half our size," said Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston.
"It seems like we as a delegation ought to quit fighting old battles and get together."
And:
Mayor Bill White said he spoke Friday with Culberson and Hutchison to stress the need for Congress to expedite MetroRail expansion.
"I do not know why any member from Texas would have opposed the original language proposed by Senator Hutchison," White said.
And:
Metro Chairman David Wolff said it's appropriate to ask Congress for financial flexibility, and he wishes Culberson and DeLay would have supported Hutchison's rider.
"This is the time for them to show the people of Houston they strongly support money coming to Houston rather than going to Dallas, New York or other cities," Wolff said. "That's what a congressman is supposed to do.
"It's very difficult to get federal money without the cooperation of Congressman DeLay and Congressman Culberson."
And here's the best one of all:
"It's an affront to the citizens of Houston," said Ed Wulfe, chairman of the Main Street Coalition, who has promoted development along the 7 1/2-mile light rail line that opened last year. "Somebody is putting their personal agenda ahead of what the people want."
Personal agenda?! Does Mr. Wulfe REALLY want to talk about personal agendas??
And let's not forget that screeching Chronicle editorial where the LiveJournalists unbelievably wrote:
The next time Metro and the majority of voters in its service area say "Jump," their representatives in Congress should ask, "How high?"
You know what? I'll bet Metro's Congressional delegation will come through for it (as long as Metro plays by the rules), because Reps. DeLay and Culberson gave their word. Metro's word, on the other hand, is a living, breathing and evolving thing, not even worth the 2003 referendum paper it was written on.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/11/06 08:15 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (2)
City has spent $20 million on furniture for Katrina evacuees
Yesterday, KTRK-13's Christine Dobbin reported that the City of Houston has spent nearly $20 million to provide furniture to Katrina evacuees:
Hurricane Katrina survivors have another opportunity to get back on their feet. This time, there's a program to get free furniture.
The Hurricane Housing Task Force says this is the last call for evacuees to take part and get new furniture for their apartments and homes. Friday, February 17 is the last day officials will accept calls from evacuees living in the city voucher units.
So far, they have made 15,000 furniture deliveries.
[snip]
To date, the city has spent $20 million on this furniture, but officials are hoping they will be reimbursed by FEMA.
Hoping?
We at blogHOUSTON are hoping so too, since $20 million+ directed towards HPD's manpower shortage could start to make a real difference.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/11/06 04:39 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
Two days later: Chron covers tow/impound proposal
Two days after KTRH-740 talker Chris Baker spent a fair amount of time on City Hall rumblings about adopting tow/impound legislation for vehicles that aren't properly insured and get into wrecks, the Chronicle (which has several reporters who cover matters at City Hall) finally managed a news story.
Councilmember Michael Berry is pushing the ordinance:
Richmond and Rosenberg have joined a growing list of Texas cities that have authorized police to tow the vehicles of uninsured motorists after accidents and traffic stops.
And a Houston councilman says the city could consider a similar measure as early as next week.
Officials said cities are adopting the towing policy to put some teeth [Editor's note: Wow, that sounds a lot like a headline here!] into the enforcement of a law that for years has been ignored by millions of vehicle owners.
[snip]
"When someone drives without insurance they pass the cost and the risk onto the rest of us. And that is why auto insurance is skyrocketing. And number two, it is the state law, you have to have insurance," said Houston City Councilman Michael Berry, who wants Houston to start towing and impounding vehicles driven by the uninsured.
[snip]
The financial burden that uninsured drivers cause for those who obey the law is the main reason Berry wants Houston to start the program.
"The cost of operating a vehicle is more than just having four tires and steering wheel. If you cannot afford to have insurance on your car to protect other drivers, then you cannot afford to be on the road," he said.
He said an ordinance is being drafted and hopes to have it ready by Tuesday. "I think we can get it passed. It is going to take some work and convincing," he said.
While other city councils have simply approved the towing program as a matter of policy, Berry said Houston will enact an ordinance.
"I can't require the police chief to issue a police policy, but I can pass an ordinance that makes it city law," he said.
Mayor White, who controls the Council agenda, apparently is not yet as enthusiastic about the program as Councilmember Berry:
Frank Michel, spokesman for Mayor Bill White, said he knew of no plans to implement a program in Houston but said White is open to suggestions.
Translation: Mayor White doesn't oppose the proposal in principle, but he'll let his press shop gauge public sentiment before he commits himself one way or the other.
Incidentally, Dallas approved its ordinance with a two-year sunset provision. On policies such as this one and SAFEclear, sunset provisions would be an excellent idea.
PREVIOUSLY: Is council about to put some teeth in auto insurance requirements?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/11/06 01:31 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Is the 911 bureaucracy putting lives at risk?
KHOU-11's Jeff McShan reports on the city 911 bureaucracy's "80-second" rule for calltakers:
It's called the 80-second rule. That's how long they can spend with you on the phone.
Those who take the calls say it's dangerous.
When a Houston police officer is dispatched to a call, their lifelines are the computer in their patrol car and their two-way radio.
That's where they receive vital information from dispatchers.
"I mean, details are important. You know when you go out here and you're chasing suspects, you want to know if they're armed, if they are chasing something, if they're driving something and to get names and addresses," said Johnnie McFarland.
But unfortunately, the people that take the calls don't have time to get that vital information.
Per policy, call-takers said they must process the call in 80 seconds or less, and if they don't, they are severely punished.
Too afraid to show her face for fear of retaliation, one call-taker talked with 11 News by phone Friday.
"You can't stay on the phone with somebody. And if you do stay on the phone with a citizen or an officer, you will get written up," she said.
Call-takers say citizens often have to be calmed down just to get the information from them.
Many times the police want the call-takers to stay on the line with the citizen until they arrive, but that just doesn't happen.
Worried about public safety Officer Tom Nixon took his concerns to City Hall last summer, but so far noting [sic] has changed.
Officer Tom Nixon? The same police officer who was assigned to desk duty for questioning an HPD policy on camera recently?
One can certainly begin to understand why he might have taken the opportunity to "go public" on a matter of policy when he had the opportunity, given the glacial pace of change via "official" channels.
PREVIOUSLY: Now 911 dispatchers have a productivity policy (05-07-2005).
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/11/06 01:07 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
The Editorial LiveJournalists: Houston's daily entertainment source
The Editorial LiveJournalists run a couple of stellar editorials today.
There's the obligatory "olds":
Federal law doesn't waste a lot of words on inner peace. But urban green spaces inspire an exception. These places, federal statute says, "are lands on which serenity and quiet are of extraordinary significance, and serve an important public need." To defend them, the law requires agencies such as the Texas Department of Transportation to plan noise abatement when starting a new project. But a trick of timing — and possibly willful neglect — exempted TxDOT from this duty in Houston.
[snip]
Carol and Bill Ware, who live in the area and use Memorial Park, have filed a lawsuit against TxDOT. Based on their research, the couple argues that highway noise at the interchange of I-10 and I-610 far exceeds federal limits. They're asking U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal to order an independent noise analysis of the area and oversee the needed noise mitigation.
KPRC-2 reported on this story nearly three weeks ago, which was noted here and on other local websites. Leave it to the Editorial LiveJournalists to be three weeks behind on local news!
But at least that was a substantive local political/legal matter. The foray of the Editorial LiveJournalists into sports commentary today was funny:
While fans in some cities cheered their pro football teams on to victory in the playoffs, the unexpected collapse of the Texans last fall turned Houston fans into boo birds who rooted for more defeats in order to secure the NFL's top draft pick. In finishing 2-14, the team also opened the door for championship quality leadership on the sidelines as well.
Now that former local schoolboy and Texas A&M star quarterback Gary Kubiak has come home to be the Texans head coach, fans once again can make the Sunday drive to Reliant Stadium with a strong expectation of success.
Much as University of Houston All-American and National Basketball Association star Clyde Drexler returned to the city a decade ago to help win a second world championship for the Houston Rockets, the 44-year-old Kubiak's homecoming signals better days for a 4-year-old franchise....
Clyde Drexler probably wasn't the best example for this editorial about the Texans' new coach, given Drexler's own disastrous stint as the head basketball coach at the University of Houston (he won about one-third of his games). Sometimes hometown sports heroes don't produce glory as hometown coaches. There are no guarantees, as the Drexler example illustrates.
A while back, we called the Chronicle editorial page irrelevant. It's probably time to revise that assessment. The Editorial LiveJournalists have become more humorous over time, even if it's not intentional -- so much so that we've begun to think of them as Houston's daily entertainment source.
BLOGVERSATION: PubliusTX.net.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/11/06 12:52 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Tom Kirkendall remembers Dick Harmon
Tom Kirkendall has written a wonderful post about Dick Harmon:
The Houston and U.S. golfing communities are in shock this morning with the news that Dick Harmon -- one of the four brothers who are among the best golf instructors in the United States -- died unexpectedly on Friday while vacationing in Palm Desert California. Dick was 58 years old at the time of his death, which was from complications brought on by a sudden bout of pneumonia.
Tom includes this amusing personal anecdote:
But after the video-analysis, knowing that I am a big fan of the author Dan Jenkins, Dick proceeded to show me a videotape of a hilarious dinner roast of Jenkins in which a number of prominent Tour pros such as Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite, and Peter Jacobsen provided salutations to Jenkins around the theme that "everything really was better in golf back when Hogan was playing." The highlight was Jenkins getting up and giving it right back to the pros by excoriating them for their sponsorship of golf courses built into housing subdivisions or, as Jenkins put it, "those dirt deals." Dick and I were doubled over like a couple of school boys watching the video of Jenkins and the pros go at each other. From that time on, whenever Dick and I would see each other, we'd chuckle and ask each other if we knew of any new "dirt deals" in the area.
RELATED: The Desert Sun obituary
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/11/06 08:48 AM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (1)
10 February 2006
Is council about to put some teeth in auto insurance requirements?
The Dallas city council recently approved a measure to tow and impound cars involved in automobile accidents if the drivers cannot produce proof of insurance:
The Dallas Police Auto Pound is where cars involved in accidents will end up, if their drivers don't have insurance.
A unanimous city council approved the new policy but not all were enthusiastic.
Some fear the flood of cars will overwhelm the crowded impound lot.
And some say it will unevenly hurt minorities and the poor because the cost of getting towed climbs fast.
The towing, storage and impound fee is $136. Then $20 a day storage fee every day after.
After 48 hours, there's a $50 notification fee to let the owner know, if he doesn't collect his car, it will be sold at auction.
Add that to the price of buying new insurance, just after an accident.
Some say, they should tow even for simple traffic violations.
"That's when it needs to be confiscated. If they do not have insurance, that's the law. The law is they have to have insurance," said council member Mitchell Rasansky.
This policy doesn't do that. But most say, it does make the point.
Yesterday, KTRH-740's Chris Baker reported that talk is circulating downtown that Houston city council may soon consider such a measure.
There is no denying that Houston has a problem with uninsured motorists involved in accidents, and that such irresponsible drivers end up sticking it to the rest of us in the form of higher insurance premiums.
So, is a measure like the one enacted by Dallas likely to have the desired effect? Is it too predatory? Is it not predatory enough (i.e. should the vehicle be towed for simple traffic violations, as one Dallas councilmember seemed to support)? Please discuss.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/10/06 09:27 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (14)
09 February 2006
Shutter the D.C. bureau (cont'd)
Yesterday, Rep. Tom DeLay (R) was reappointed to the House Appropriations Committee. He was assigned to two subcommittees (Science, State, Justice & Commerce and Homeland Security) that should allow him to exert significant influence on matters important to his district (including NASA, as pointed out on DeLay vs. World yesterday). They are plum assignments.
Various media outlets provided original reporting on DeLay's assignment, including the Associated Press, The Hill, Roll Call, and Fort Bend Now.
The Houston Chronicle -- the area's newspaper of record -- chose to run coverage from the Associated Press.
Maybe the Chronicle's vaunted D.C. bureau was too tied up with other news of importance to this area (more important than NASA and ship channel security even!). Let's see....
Nope, that doesn't really seem to be the case. Here are three recent D.C. bureau stories posted to Chron.com:
USDA may keep authority over horse slaughter (Samantha Levine)
Lobbying reform turning into an uphill battle on the Hill (Bennett Roth)
Texas officials seek border help (Samantha Levine).
Apparently in the minds of the Chronicle D.C. bureau's editors, a generic story on lobbying reform (with the usual errors that should have been caught by line editors, but weren't) and a story on turf fights over horse slaughter (!?) are more important stories for bureau reporters than the potential impact that the local Congressman might have on space policy and homeland security from his new perch. And while there is a Texas angle to the border issue, the local angle (Rep. DeLay's ability to help with funding) goes completely unexplored.
It would probably be too much to expect an intelligent interview about the Congressman's funding priorities by the D.C. bureau -- it is the Chronicle's D.C. bureau after all -- but would original coverage of the (re)appointment be too much to ask? Especially given recent hot topics like horse slaughter? Horse slaughter!
The ability of the Chronicle's D.C. bureau consistently to miss/ignore the local angle when it comes to D.C. happenings is astounding. The newspaper would be well-served to shut the bureau down and reallocate the resources to local news coverage (and line editing).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/09/06 09:41 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Krispy Kreme closing its Houston stores
Bloomberg reports that Krispy Kreme will be closing its Houston-area stores:
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc., the second-largest U.S. doughnut chain, will close all six stores in Houston to end a dispute with a franchisee.
The closings are part of a legal settlement with store operator Lone Star Doughnuts Ltd., which sued the company last year saying Krispy Kreme refused to sell it ingredients. Krispy Kreme claimed it was owed $1 million by Lone Star. The doughnut chain said today it plans to reopen stores in Houston.
Krispy Kreme is shedding stores and restructuring operations amid a probe by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors into how the company accounted for the repurchases of factory stores. Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Krispy Kreme hasn't reported earnings in five quarters.
Lone Star's six locations will not be operated as Krispy Kreme stores beginning March 8. Krispy Kreme is still committed to the Houston market and plans to open stores in that area at the "appropriate time," Chief Operating Officer Steve Panagos said in a statement.
That's one less temptation for this South Beach dieter, but I suspect there are going to be quite a few Houstonians upset about this development.
UPDATE: Purva Patel and David Kaplan report for the Chronicle. The stores will cease to operate under the name Krispy Kreme on March 8.
BLOGVERSATION: DSandler.org.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/09/06 02:29 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
Milo: Still bitter after all these years
The Chronicle's Brian McTaggart previews Milo Hamilton's forthcoming book today and plugs the announcer's promotional appearances. As far as the topic of Harry Caray goes, the book is about as expected:
Hamilton and Caray worked together in St. Louis in the 1950s and again years later with the Chicago Cubs before Hamilton left for Houston in 1985 because of what the Cubs called "personality differences." Caray died in 1998.
"Being around Caray, day after day, was a real challenge," Hamilton writes. "Harry's handling of people was poor, to say the least. It didn't matter if he was dealing with the starting pitcher, traveling secretary, the public relations person or an usher. He treated everyone the same way. In short, he was a miserable human being."
Hamilton's long resented Harry Caray, but blasting a dead man (and a revered one at that) is probably indicative of which man is the miserable one.
Milo Hamilton seems to have grown ever more bitter over the playful Caray's fun at his expense. Chicago sportswriter Jim O'Donnell recounts one such experience (below the Read More link):
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/09/06 12:32 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (8)
Metro denied $300 million in federal funding
KHOU-11 reports that Metro will not be getting the $300 million in federal funding on which it had been counting:
The future of the Metro Solution's Plan has always depended on federal money.
It's a planned 50/50 match to move the bells and whistles beyond downtown and the Med Center to the north and southeast sides.
But Houston's two planned lines approved, for preliminary engineering, didn't make the cut this year.
In all, the Federal Transit Administration recommended $1.5 billion worth of projects in 2007.
There were five new ones added to the list: Denver, Salt Lake City, two in Portland, OR and in Dallas.
There are 15 projects at the same point of the process that are Houston's two requests, five of them received funding this year.
This does not mean Houston's plan is out of the running forever.
The FTA says ratings for the projects not yet recommended should not be construed as a statement about the ultimate merits of the project, but rather as an assessment of the project's current strengths and weaknesses."
Metro's response, according to Jeremy Desel:
Metro officials say now they did not necessarily think they would receive funding this year.
Riiiight.
Last year we went through a similar dance with Lucas Wall and the Chron editorial board becoming hysterical when it appeared Metro wasn't getting FTA approval. Is this a case of Metro's funding being delayed? Maybe Rad Sallee is working on the story and we'll soon find out.
Or is it truly the case that Metro has lost out on funding this year? THAT would be a big indication that Metro's new Solutions (the living and breathing Solutions) is not a very good model, even in the (low threshold) eyes of the federal government.
Brace yourself: the response from 801 Texas Avenue will be ugly.
BLOGVERSATION: Isolated Desolation.
UPDATE (02-10-2006): There's still no coverage from the Chronicle. Charles Kuffner comments today.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/09/06 06:57 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (6)
Chronicle's Casey confuses facts (updated)
The Chronicle's Rick Casey appears to make a big blunder in his column on the State Senate District 7 candidates today:
Is radio celebrity Dan Patrick trying to buy the state Senate seat being vacated by Jon Lindsay?
Or is state Rep. Joe Nixon, Patrick's opponent in next month's primary, trying to sell it?
In an e-mail news release Tuesday, Nixon leveled the charge that Patrick is trying to purchase the seat.
Nixon makes a good argument. Patrick has loaned his own campaign $300,000, a sum available only to a wealthy man.
The Chronicle's Kristen Mack has reported that the amount of Patrick's loan to his campaign is $250,000. That figure is corroborated by Patrick's campaign finance report (pdf).
[UPDATE (02-09-2006): Casey's figure is correct, as explained in the UPDATE at the end of the post. Apologies for MY error. -klw]
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/09/06 12:09 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (7)
08 February 2006
This is running the city like a business?
KHOU-11's Doug Miller reports that our businessman-mayor is considering an advertising educational campaign for electricity firms that don't have their names attached to a football stadium:
Now, Houston’s mayor wants to encourage more people to shop around for their electricity. He’s talking about spending around $1 million on a public education campaign that would show Houstonians how to compare prices between different electricity providers.
The state government is deregulating electric rates.
“Most people, when they get a utility bill, think that there’s somebody out there looking at the rates of these companies,” Mayor Bill White said. “Now it’s going to have to be the consumers themselves rather than the city.”
“This being a capitalist society and not a socialist society,” said Houston City Councilmember Addie Wiseman.
But a couple of council members wonder whether the city government should get involved.
“Well, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing with these electricity rates, because it’s not just the original sticker price. There is a lot of add-ons that these companies have and some of them go out of business and so you find out that sticking with the original Houston company may turn out to be better even though it didn’t look like it at first,” said Houston City Councilmember Michael Berry.
Why can't electric companies competing for business educate potential consumers? Why does the city have to spearhead the effort (to the tune of $1 million)?
Interestingly, the Houston Chronicle editorial board floated this notion that not enough Houstonians were abandoning Reliant last summer. It's still not clear why this is a matter of public policy. Surely political journalists and the mayor's staff can come up with more important priorities for the mayor's second term than this. If not, perhaps they could invite the bH crew and commenters out for dinner some Wednesday night and we could help them out.
UPDATE (02-09-2006): Matt Stiles and Mike Snyder cover this story for the Chronicle.
Also, KTRK-13's Mike McGuff suggests in the comments that Jeff Ehling will have a related story on KTRK today at 4:55 pm.
UPDATE 2 (02-09-2006): Jeff Ehling's story is posted here.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/08/06 11:03 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (13)
Katrina evacuees stressing Houston emergency services
KHOU-11's Jeremy Desel reports that Houston emergency services are being taxed by Katrina evacuees:
In the months since Katrina total EMS Responses are up 10 percent to a yearly total of 234,259 last year.
Total responses had been steady for the last four years.
The impact? About 64 percent of ambulances, 48 percent of medic units and 78 percent of EMS squads are running above the department's acceptable levels for the amount of time spent responding to calls.
The busiest units spend an average of 14 hours of each day actually on calls.
"Is our unit utilization rates high? Yes they are. But so are the needs of the community," said Chief Boriskie.
In September the department added what it called at the time the "Katrina Squads". That included five ambulances, two advanced life support units and a supervisor.
It was all funded by overtime at a cost of $450,000 a month.
More than four months later all of those units are still in service.
"For the most part, fire alone we haven't recouped anything from this. Because these people don't have addresses here, they don't pay taxes here. So we are not recouping a lot of these bills," said HFD Asst. Chief Tommy Dowdy.
The department is hoping FEMA will come up with some money.
Here's hoping Mayor White can squeeze FEMA as much as possible, but here's also hoping that he has a backup plan in place.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/08/06 10:34 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Holm: Pension funding crisis not over
Tom Bazan forwarded this interesting blurb about the city's ongoing troubles with its pension plans from KTRH-740 earlier this week:
According to the city council's new pension committee chair Pam Holm as long as the city has to borrow against taxpayer money to pay for pensions, the funding crisis can't be considered "over."
Figures show a projected funding gap of close to $2 billion in the police and municipal worker retirement systems. City officials say, however, that those numbers are old and may no longer be accurate.
City officials haven't had much to say about the pension plans since Mayor White crafted a plan to use the Hilton Americas Hotel as security on a note to reduce the municipal employees' pension fund's massive liability.
The most recent Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) from the Houston Municipal Employees Pension System is located here (pdf).
Whether or not Houston's elected officials fully fund the pension plan, at least muncipal employees can feel good about the security of the plan's database!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/08/06 10:26 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
HGO's 52nd season: family-friendly offerings
The Houston Grand Opera has announced its 2006-2007 season with a focus on appealing to a younger audience:
Houston Grand Opera has announced the details of its fifty-second season — the first under new general director Anthony Freud — with the company planning to stage forty-seven performances of seven operas, including the company premiere of Janácek's The Cunning Little Vixen, a new production of La Cenerentola, Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky's debut in the title role of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra and a new English-language chamber version of Hansel and Gretel to coincide with the holiday season.
The season, lacking in the presentation of a world premiere — something that had become a company hallmark under the three-decade tenure of Freud's predecessor, David Gockley — seems to have shifted its focus towards offering family-friendly fare in an effort to recruit younger audiences, a sentiment affirmed by company administrators.
“The most important element of this season is that it provides perfect opportunities for families to experience opera together,” Patrick Summers, the company's music director said in a press release.
Freud echoed Summers, saying: “Our season will offer three marvelous opportunities for parents to introduce their children to the magic of opera. Opera is not an adults-only activity; it is an unforgettable experience that can delight and enchant the whole family..."
The Chronicle's Charles Ward has more:
In his new capacity as head of HGO, Freud added Vixen, Janácek's fable about a young fox who lives life to the fullest, as a last-minute replacement after an ambitious idea didn't work out. He and HGO music director Patrick Summers approached Sir André Previn about a new opera -- his previous one, A Streetcar Named Desire, has been a big success -- but the timetable was too tight. Freud hopes to schedule it for a later season.
With Vixen, the season has three strong and musically varied operas to appeal to families: the Wagnerian-tinged Hansel and Gretel, the bubbly Rossini-isms of Cenerentola and the magical evocation of nature in Vixen.
The Cunning Little Vixen, Freud said, "may be the greatest opera for families to come to experience opera for the first time. It's perfect in its story line and comparable brevity." The show clocks in at roughly 90 minutes, not including intermissions.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/08/06 07:40 PM | Houston Arts/Culture | Technorati | Comments (0)
Nestor not giving up on Houston's red light camera contract
Nestor was one of the companies vying for Houston's red light camera contract, and it's a company facing some serious financial problems.
Now Nestor has issued a press release saying it will "pursue every avenue to examine the City's decision-making process."
According to KPRC-2, Council will vote on the contract sometime in the next three to four weeks.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/08/06 06:57 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (4)
HISD's State of the Schools: creating a college-bound culture
Dr. Abe Saavedra gave HISD's State of the Schools speech yesterday and, by all (media) accounts, it appears HISD is focusing on getting students prepared for and into college. To that end, Dr. Saavedra wants to start very early, by offering all day Pre-K for lower-income children:
The cornerstone to creating that college-bound culture will be extending full-day pre-kindergarten to all 15,821 low-income 4-year-olds who qualify for the program. Currently, 6,800 of those children are in half-day classes.
Other HISD proposals include:
• Incentive pay for expert math and science teachers who broadcast their lessons to students at other HISD schools
• New programs to help all students and parents prepare for college
• A new multimillion-dollar fundraising program for arts education
• A new science lab school at which elementary teachers will receive intensive training
RELATED: HISD press release, KTRK-13, KUHF 88.7, KHOU-11
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/08/06 06:36 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Slampo: Chron editorials are grand Olympian pronouncements!
The Chron's bilingual education editorial from the other day has become fodder for Slampo. Guess who comes out ahead? Here's a brief excerpt:
The editorial is relatively mealy-mouthed when it comes to taking a discernible stand on the issue, which is OK by us, as we know how hard it is to pretend to be correct all the time and then change your mind the following day. But the subhead over the editorial, “Politics should not determine how we teach English to Spanish-speaking children” (which oddly did not comport with the headline, “Little Sponges,” referring to kids’ capacity to suck up new languages when surrounded by, as the paper puts it, “foreign speakers,” which we presume in this case would be speakers of that foreign language known as inglés), nicely gives away the paper’s true sentiment.
And here's how Slampo describes the editorial page writing:
the writing radiates the obvious fatigue that must come with having to take a position and issue a grand Olympian pronouncement on every issue/conflict/concern that comes a’rollin’ down the toll road of life.
Including critical Houston issues such as the king of Swaziland's opulent lifestyle.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/08/06 07:15 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (4)
07 February 2006
Doug Miller hit piece on Dan Patrick omits detail
KHOU-11's Doug Miller ran a hit piece on talk show host/Texas Senate candidate Dan Patrick today:
Dan Patrick’s job as a talk show host got him into politics. Now it seems his political opponents were listening.
“He said, ‘This race, he’s going to win this race without taking special interest money.’ I think we have that clip for you now,” said Joe Nixon, ® Candidate for State Senate District 7.
It turns out Joe Nixon’s campaign spent months recording Patrick’s radio show.
Patrick radio clip: “I don’t want lobby money. I don’t want PAC money unless they’re groups that support the people and issues we support.”
And now, Nixon is trying to use the talk show host’s words against him.
“Those are words and actions of Mr. Patrick and of no one else. And to those, he needs to own up and be responsible for,” Nixon said.
“I’m focused on illegal immigration, lowering our government spending, lowering our property taxes, and they’re listening to tapes. And they wonder why they’re behind,” Patrick said.
Patrick’s talk radio exposure gave him priceless name ID among voters. But it could become a double-edged sword.
All of the other candidates running in this primary have served in elected office so they have voting records. Dan Patrick does not, but he has built a career in talk radio.
“And one of the dangers of being on talk radio is you say a lot of things you may not really have thought of. We sometimes call it ‘cheap talk,” said Bob Stein, KHOU Political Analyst. “And I think in the case of Dan Patrick, they may have begun to—how shall we say? -- hit the motherload of those remarks.”
And at least one of his opponents is trying to make Patrick’s years of outspoken words come back to haunt him.
So, Joe Nixon has an audio clip of Dan Patrick saying something and asserting it means something. Doug Miller has basically given the Nixon campaign a free television ad on the highly rated KHOU news broadcast, seemingly agreeing that Joe Nixon's assertions mean something. Houston Bicyclist Bob Stein seems to agree that it means something.
The story's glaring omission? Any specifics as to why Dan Patrick's earlier comments are controversial.
Does Miller have evidence that Patrick has taken money from PACs opposed to his issues and fellow conservatives (which would contradict the clip in the story)? If so, the evidence doesn't appear in the story, which just seems to be a vehicle for Joe Nixon and Bob Stein to beat up Dan Patrick.
Houston bicyclist and "KHOU political analyst" Bob Stein's blast is even more interesting. Stein is a Democrat whose wife works for Houston's Mayor Bill White, also a Democrat. One suspects that he has found conservative Republican Dan Patrick "outspoken" (as Doug Miller puts it) over the years, to say the least -- something that would not be apparent by the way Miller identified Stein. And Stein's notion that Nixon's vague assertions are somehow a "motherload" is unsupported by the facts reported in the story.
Now, there may be some truth to at least some of the remarks by Bicyclist Stein. Remember when he went on Chris Baker's radio show to defend the original SAFEclear program? That PR effort (not to mention quotes in the newspaper) was such a disaster that the entire program nearly wound up shelved, and did wind up modified considerably. But that's probably not what Stein had in mind with his comment.
Miller's story seems more an attack piece than quality political journalism. It raises eyebrows because it's Miller's second such attack on a local conservative in recent weeks (and the last one featured commentary from Bicyclist Stein as well). Miller and KHOU would be better served to focus on actual political news, and ease up on these weak attack stories.
UPDATE (02-08-2006): The Chronicle's Kristen Mack reports on the Nixon press conference (no response from the Patrick campaign). It's pretty short on substance, but at least it doesn't include Bicyclist Stein's thoughts.
BLOGVERSATION: Houblog.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/07/06 11:07 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (15)
Media losing interest in Enron proceedings
The Chronicle's Mike Tolson writes that media interest in the Enron trial is already starting to fade:
It's a far cry from the early days, when news organizations tried to outdo each other with tales of corporate excess, outlandish accounting and sudden joblessness. Today, with pretty much everything having been said, Enron has slipped into the realm of oxymoron: old news.
Not even the "much-ballyhooed blogosphere" has been saying all that much, according to Tolson, who does acknowledge the occasional mentions on local blogs and includes a quote from Slampo.
At least one world media outlet is staying interested for one more week, according to KHOU-11:
Nasser Hssaini is a Washington-based correspondent for Al-Jazeera, the network known mainly for being the initial source for virtually all communication from Osama bin Laden.
“It is very interesting to see a very powerful man, close to this president in his second term, is facing justice,” Hssaini said. “Facing the system in the United States, how justice is unfolding.”
Al-Jazeera will be in Houston through the week.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/07/06 12:56 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (5)
Editorial LiveJournalists: Do as we say...
Yesterday, the Editorial LiveJournalists took out a little frustration on oil companies.
Owen Courrèges already dealt with their misunderstanding of the oil industry (that's what you get from watching too many movies, I guess), but the conclusion is what caught my eye:
The best way for Americans to increase available energy supplies and decrease oil company profits is to conserve. Every time someone walks, bicycles or takes mass transit, sales of some brand of gasoline, and the profit from those sales, remain in check.
Ah, yes, nothing like the Editorial LiveJournalists telling other people what to do.
Or perhaps this means that the Chief Editorial LiveJournalist has now decided against that second car (an SUV) for his family?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/07/06 07:44 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
Are speed cameras next for Houston?
Following up on Kevin's post about the city of Houston choosing a red light camera vendor, I'd like to add that American Traffic Solutions, Inc., is also a big fan of speed cameras:
In a move to bolster flagging revenue from its automated enforcement system, the Mesa, Arizona City Council voted Monday to increase the number of red light cameras in the city from 13 to 30. Five of the new digital cameras will also be set to issue speeding tickets in addition to the red light tickets.
[snip]
American Traffic Solutions, a private vendor, will operate the cameras and share revenue with the city.
And:
Speed cameras could soon spread across Maryland following the state General Assembly's final decision to implement a photo ticket program in Montgomery County. The Senate voted 31-16 today and the House 89-45 on Tuesday to override last year's veto of the idea by Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R)
[snip]
Lobbyist David Carroll of Capitol Strategies pushed the legislation on behalf of American Traffic Solutions, which stands to make millions from the program
Let's not forget that the issue of speed cameras in Houston has come up before:
The city is considering installing radar cameras on Houston city streets to catch speeding drivers.
Several manufacturers are trying to convince City Council to buy the high-tech law enforcement gadgets, which snap a picture of a car traveling faster than the designated speed.
[snip]
Some council members said before they consider photo radar, they want to make sure red light cameras at dangerous intersections are effective.
So there you go. Is there anything else Mayor White and City Council would like to do to make people think twice about visiting their world-class city?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/07/06 06:54 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (25)
HISD works to improve science education
Today is HISD's State of the Schools luncheon/speech, and Jennifer Radcliffe gives us that information in this nice story on HISD's efforts to improve science education.
Children do love science, when it is made interesting and hands-on, but schools have to get them early:
The lesson in magnetism played out last week in one of nearly 120 new labs built in elementary schools across the district — part of a $4 million undertaking designed to help beef up a curriculum that's been lagging for years.
Improving elementary science will be key in creating the "college-bound culture" that HISD Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra will outline in today's annual State of the Schools address. Among his announcements will be an effort to increase math and science training for elementary teachers.
Yes!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/07/06 06:30 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
06 February 2006
Fourth Ward residents object to street closures
The Chronicle's Cindy Horswell reports that some Fourth Ward residents aren't happy about street closures that are being pushed by real-estate developers in the neighborhood:
[Mount Horeb Missionary Baptist Church] on West Gray is located across from two vacant lots destined to be the site of new high rises similar to the upscale projects, bistros and shops adjacent to it. The developer of the two lots wants the city to close the block of Cushing Street that bisects his property as well as a section of O'Neil that cuts through another corner, records show.
In 1999, the same closures were requested by Post Uptown LLC, and tentatively approved by the City Council if the developer met certain conditions, including rerouting waterlines and constructing curbs and a barricade across the closed street.
The conditions were not met and the closure proposal lay dormant for seven years, but it was recently reactivated.
Signs were posted last week to let area residents know that the City Council was again reviewing the possible closures.
The high-rise project is called "Midtown Square Phase III" and is being handled for the developer by Mary Lou Henry and Vernon G. Henry & Associates. No one from the company could be reached for comment. [bH note: Imagine that over a weekend!]
With television stations showing some interest in the story, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D) was sure to make an appearance:
Nearby is an abandoned, boarded-up brick building, the Gregory School, which was the first public school for blacks in Houston in 1870. U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said federal money has been appropriated to turn the building into a museum to document the area's black history.
Jackson Lee and Smith, the pastor, plan to meet with the developer today to discuss their concerns. Smith also wants his parishioners to have easy access to the church, founded in the 1940s and rebuilt in the 1980s after the original structure was gutted by fire.
"We don't want to be seen as stopping progress," said Jackson Lee.
"We all need to work in harmony, both old and new."
It would be great if the Congresswoman could secure federal funding for the African-American museum Mayor White continues to tout. It would be harmonious even.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/06/06 11:15 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Red light cameras are all about $afety
Chronicle partner KHOU-11 actually beat Chron.com to the web with a story by Chron reporters Matt Stiles and Alexis Grant that HPD has recommended a vendor for Mayor White's red-light-camera revenue stream:
On Monday, the Houston Police Department recommended that the City Council award a contract for the camera system to American Traffic Solutions Inc., one of four companies that bid on the project and demonstrated their systems over a month-long trial period late last year.
[snip]
During the next month, HPD will draft a contract with the company to present to City Council, which must approve the contract before cameras can be installed. Council approved camera enforcement in 2004, and the plan survived several efforts in last year's Legislature to ban red-light cameras.
The new revenue stream looks to be substantial:
During the test period, 633 vehicle owners were issued warnings for running red lights at four intersections: Milam at McGowen, Milam at Jefferson, Travis at McGowen and Texas at San Jacinto.
``That's about 20 cars per day openly, blatantly, without regard for public safety, going through the red light,'' said Lt. Robert Manzo, a police spokesman.
At that rate, $75 citations at just four intersections would reap about $47,000 a month for the city. With cameras at 50 intersections, the eventual goal, one year of citations could bring in about $7.1 million.
Critics of the program say the city is pushing red light enforcement cameras to raise revenue.
But Mayor Bill White said his motive is the safety of Houstonians, not the city's coffers. ``What I think about is just the lives,'' White said. `` I don't think of it in terms of revenue.''
Right.
Kudos to the Chron reporters for covering the arguments of critics:
Critics have cited an increase in rear-end collisions, likely a result of motorists stopping suddenly to avoid tickets.
A 2005 study by the Federal Highway Administration showed that in seven communities where red light cameras were being used, right-angle crashes decreased 24 percent while rear-end crashes increased 15 percent. Right-angle crashes are usually more severe, according to the Highway Administration.
Besides the concern about rear-end collisions, some raise privacy and constitutional objections to red-light cameras.
The camera photographs the license tag, not the driver. So the citation will go to the owner of the car and not necessarily to the person who was driving the car when the incident occurred.
[snip]
A vehicle owner caught by camera faces a $75 civil penalty while one who commits the same violation but is caught by police receives a Class C misdemeanor criminal citation that carries a maximum $200 fine.
The American Civil Liberties Union believes that violates the U.S. Constitution's Equal Protection Clause.
Scott Henson, director of the group's Texas Police Accountability Project, said: ``If I run a red light and get a civil fine, and you run a red light and get a criminal charge, we are not getting equal protection under the law.''
The issue has not been litigated in Texas, Henson said.
Those aren't as important to Mayor White as the potential revenue safety.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/06/06 10:51 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
Is it "news" if it's two weeks old?
The Chronicle's Move-It section reports the following:
Good news. The Texas Department of Transportation says work on Spur 527 and the main lanes of the Southwest Freeway through the Montrose area is progressing so fast that the contractor will beat December's planned opening by several months. The work should be finished in June or July, said TxDOT spokesman Norm Wigington.
That's not news. That's olds.
There is a strange exchange with a reader later in the column:
Last week's call for feedback from readers about the Chronicle's daily Hot Spots box on Page B2 produced just three responses — which may mean that most readers are satisfied with it or may mean they don't notice it at all.
Bryan Jones suggested an RSS feed, an online service that would send updated traffic advisories to subscribers' computers without their having to continually visit the Web site. The suggestion has been passed to our online people, who are also considering a traffic and transportation blog, but the question at hand is whether Hot Spots in its current form is helpful.
Here is the request from last week:
Computer users can see a detailed list of road work (plus a real-time traffic map and views from freeway cameras) by going to www.houstontranstar.org. To check your route, click on "regional construction," then "txdot lane closures."
The Chronicle publishes a daily Traffic Hot Spots box on Page B2, but the box is too small for the complete TxDOT list.
Is Hot Spots helpful to you? Could it be improved?
Suggestions, please.
It seems the "question at hand" was exactly as the reader thought -- that suggestions were being solicited. And the suggestion for an online solution with an RSS feed is not bad.
Given the Chronicle's difficulty with editing of all sorts, having an abridged, edited "Traffic Hot Spots" box daily just seems like a recipe for disaster (not unlike some actual Chron recipes of late). My suggestion would be either to run a more complete, detailed, accurate list of road work, or ditch the thing altogether and refer people to the web.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/06/06 10:06 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
A missed Chron eye opportunity?
KPRC-2 beat the Chronicle to the punch on a potential Chron Eye today:
A retrial began Monday for a man convicted of shooting four people, killing three of them, at a northwest Houston bowling alley more than 25 years ago, KPRC Local 2 reported.
Max Soffar, 49, was 24 years old when authorities said he confessed to the robbery and shooting at the Fair Lanes Bowling Alley, located on Highway 290. A lawyer was not present when Soffar made the confession, which came after three days of intense interrogation.
The victims were Arden Alane Felsher, 17; Tommy Lee Temple, 17; and Stephen Allen Sims, 25. Greg Garner was the only shooting victim who survived. However, he could not positively identify Soffar as the shooter.
"You figure an 18-year-old kid with a gun sticking in his face, and you know he's scared to death, and after he gets shot, who's he going to identify?" Garner's father, Ira Garner, said.
Greg Garner, who was an employee at the bowling ally, is disfigured from a gunshot wound to the back of his head.
Soffar has been on death row since 1981. An appeals court panel with the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned his conviction in December 2000 after determining his rights had been violated because an attorney was not present during his confession. The full court reinstated the conviction in September 2001.
The same court ordered a new trial for Soffar in 2005 after judges decided that his lawyer, Joe Cannon, failed to represent him effectively during his first trial.
Soffar's supporters include David Dow, Kinky Friedman, and Kathryn Kase (the wife of the Chronicle's editor).
RELATED COVERAGE: KHOU-11.
UPDATE (02-07-2006): The Chronicle's coverage appears today, and includes a photo of Kathryn Kase conferring with the defendant.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/06/06 09:32 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
The serial killer that wasn't
If one is to believe various news reports from this weekend, a serial killer who shoots and then torches his victims is on the loose in the southwest part of town.
Here's KTRK-13's report:
A man was found dead and on fire just before dawn Saturday in southwest Houston.
The victim's body was found burning underneath a bridge on Alief-Clodine just off the Westpark Toll Road. A police officer spotted the small fire and discovered the body.
Here's KPRC-2's report:
The body of an unidentified man was found burned inside of a trash dumpster on Alief Clodine Road early Saturday morning, police said.
Police said the man was discovered by firefighters at about 3 a.m. Saturday after neighbors reported a grass fire. The identity of the male victim is pending verification by the Harris County Medical Examiner's office. He suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.
A call to HPD confirmed that indeed only one body was found under a bridge.
So did the story change, or did KPRC just get it wrong?
In any case, we've cancelled our call to the Criminal Minds Behavioral Analysis crew.
Posted by Callie Markantonis @ 02/06/06 09:20 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (0)
The LiveJournalists discuss bilingual education
The LiveJournalists got in over their heads with today's editorial on bilingual education. ¡Ah mi!
The LJ's should do themselves (and their readers) a favor and read Slampo, who explains what is really going on with bilingual education these days, as opposed to the educational theorists' ideal state of bilingual education.
The only thing I would add to Slampo's excellent analysis is that many Hispanic students come to U. S. schools unable to read. It is not always the case that these students can read in Spanish -- sometimes they can't read (or write) at all! It is not unusual for these kids never to have been in school before!
At the end of the editorial, the LiveJournalists express hope that a study will be done so that Hispanic dropout rates will be reduced. Again, Slampo explains why the current state of bilingual education leads to high Hispanic dropout rates. And in a parting shot, the editorial idealists say:
An atmosphere of hidden agendas and open resentment of immigrants will only prevent sound conclusions.
Actually, an atmosphere of unproven educational theories and open resentment of traditional learning will prevent Hispanic students from succeeding and graduating. That is a sound conclusion we can bet on.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/06/06 08:39 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Builder plans tree murder
A neighborhood in southwest Houston is attempting to save a huge, old oak tree from a developer's planned project:
“If we were to just go straight around we’re at 56-and-a-half caliper inches,” said neighbor Mary Hintikka.
The huge diameter alone is one of the reasons why people on Southgate Street love the live oak.
It’s been around as long as any of them can remember.
“We’re concerned about the preservation of our neighborhood and the existing trees,” Hintikka said.
She lives next door.
Several lots in her neighborhood have old homes reduced to rubble as developers make plans for bigger ones.
A builder recently told Hintikka that is the future of the old live oak.
[snip]
There is hardly anything in Houston’s city ordinance protecting trees on private property.
Just a few blocks away from the tree is the city of West University Place, where there is an ordinance on the books that makes it tougher for builders to knock down large, old trees.
They have to get a permit that requires them to replace any removed trees with one or more new ones.
Everyone knows trees enhance a property's value, and are especially welcome during Houston's summers. I do wish developers and builders would work harder to save existing trees during new construction, instead of bulldozing them over.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/06/06 06:38 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
05 February 2006
Blogging the Enron trial: Week one (updated)
The Chronicle has several staffers blogging the Enron trial, and early in the week, Dwight Silverman posted on the logistics of the blog coverage:
In addition to posting in the Enron: Trial Watch blog, [reporter Mary] Flood also is writing the main story for each morning's paper. Her blog posts are the starting point for what she crafts for the print edition.
Helping out are John Roper, who's physically sitting in the courtroom, and business writer Tom Fowler and state desk writer Mark Babineck working on additional stories. Any one of them could contribute to the trial blog as well.
The staffers are posting directly into our Movable Type blog software via WiFi, and when they're done, they flag editors here at the Chronicle. Online News Editor Dean Betz and Online Local News Editor Sylvia Wood are editing and approving the trial blog posts; I've been working Steffy's entries.
Judging from the spelling and other errors making it into the blog posts, the editing is not heavy-handed. And in this instance, that's good. Getting the information out in a timely manner is of greater value to news consumers than waiting for the cleaner, more sanitized, styleguide-perfect copy to come out in the next day's newspaper (or not to come out at all, in the case of much interesting information that might otherwise be struck for reasons of space or even the whims of print-version editors).
Another interesting aspect of the Enron blogging by Chronicle staffers is the difference in the blog posts of the straight news reporters and the opinion columnists. For example, both Mary Flood and Loren Steffy tend to report facts. But Steffy, an opinion columnist on the business pages, mixes in both facts and opinion/analysis in his blog posts.
Here's one example:
As testimony resumes this afternoon from Enron's former investor relations head Mark Koenig, it's clear what Koenig does and doesn't do for the prosecution's case. He is basically the beginning of the chain. To prove that Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling lied to investors, prosecutors first have to establish what investors were told.
Koenig's testimony doesn't show that Lay and Skilling were directly involved in created distorted numbers, merely that they were aware of the financial situation of the company and told investors something different. Koenig wasn't in the kitchen when the books were being cooked. He was more like the waiter, serving up the numbers for investors who had no idea what they were getting.
From here, I'd expect the prosecution to move back up the chain, showing how those numbers were compiled and baked, until they put the head chef, former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, on the stand.
And this example:
I've been a little surprised at how thin the defense arguments seem to be in these opening statements, but you have to hand it to Lay attorney Mike Ramsey. His folksy style seems to resonate with jurors. He has a delivery that's a little like being told stories by your grandfather. He uses phrases like "the cattle were restless" and "the odor of the wolf." Prosecutors seem to have the evidence on their side, but they don't have the style points.
And one more for good measure:
I don't know what Rebecca Smith did or didn't do, but I don't think Kenny Boy is going to beat this rap by trashing the press, revered tactic though it may be.
Both the straight-news trialblogging at Chron.com's Enron: Trialwatch blog and the news-opinion trialblogging at Loren Steffy's Full Disclosure blog represent interesting, evolutionary experiments in journalism. Here's hoping they can keep up the pace over the next few months, especially as national media lose interest and move on. The Chronicle really should own this story.
UPDATE (02-06-2006): "Cantankerous" Chron.com blogger Loren Steffy calls attention to this New York Times snippet on the Enron trialblogging.
BLOGVERSATION: Houston's Clear Thinkers
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/05/06 09:47 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Washington Post covers Houston's crime problem
Here's the Washington Post's view of Houston and our rising crime problem, something WaPo calls "Katrina crime." Here's one brief excerpt:
Most of the homicides that occurred in the last quarter of 2005 occurred in the city's apartment complexes. But there are not just homicides. Police said they have seen a significant increase in calls for service across the board. The first indication of such change became evident several months ago in the number of "calls holding," or calls for police service that one shift had to take on when a previous shift of officers went off duty.
"We used to have five calls holding, then it was 30, 40, 50, 60 calls holding or left over," said Officer John M. Trevino of the 19th District, which covers one of the new crime hot spots in southwest Houston. "It's crazy. The board was full of calls."
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/05/06 08:26 PM | Hurricane Stuff | Technorati | Comments (2)
Privacy is determined by the media
It's no secret that the Chronicle's editorial leadership is opposed to the NSA eavesdropping on terrorist phone calls (to the point of rewriting the Constitution), and not enthusiastic about the Patriot Act, but when it comes to writing a story, the Chronicle can decide to throw an individual's privacy out the window, apparently, to further the story.
James Campbell's column today touches on this subject in relation to a recent Chronicle story on the death of a Bellaire student. The story included details of the family's personal life:
Readers also learned that Finkelman occasionally hung with the wrong crowd, flirted with drugs and faced disciplinary problems at school, according to classmates. His parents are divorced and both of his older brothers have had brushes with the law and drugs.
To backstop our description of Finkelman's comfortable upbringing, we reported that days before his death he had returned from a cruise to Belize and Cozumel with his father and brothers. We reported that his father, Alan Finkelman, heads a wholesale men's apparel company and lives in a 4,300-square-foot home in Bellaire worth about $500,000. The home also has a spa and swimming pool.
Campbell says he has since received emails expressing concern that those kinds of details invaded the family's privacy. He agrees in part, then adds the reasoning of day city editor Ronnie Crocker:
"I think that when you have a homicide in a part of town and involving students at one of our premier high schools that's unusual," Crocker explained. "And unusual is one of the definitions of news. As far [sic] the appraisal district information, his home life and background convey a fact that an adjective couldn't. We always want to use facts in lieu of adjectives. We felt that his home life was a significant part of the story. But it's never our intention to add to the suffering of grieving families, and we are conscientious about not sensationalizing crime or other tragedies. At the same time, we're obligated to report on events and issues of interest to the community. We work hard to strike a balance there."
Basically we are left to conclude that the media believes it is the final arbiter of what should or should not be private. When the media feels the need to invade someone's privacy, then it's a-okay! (Except for those instances where something backfires.)
Perhaps Editor Crocker should read the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics:
# Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy.
# Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.
And after reading that, Crocker should rethink whether including some of those details was really necessary. Were they essential to the story?
Or we could put it this way: what if it was, God forbid, a Chronicle editor's or staffer's son who had died. Would those same details have been included? We can guess the answer is no.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/05/06 07:44 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
When TV reporters tackle social-science modelling...
KHOU-11 ran a story on Friday that purported to determine the effect of Katrina refugees on Houston crime:
So we calculated New Orleans' murder rate before Katrina. We then used that to estimate how many more murders there would be among 150,000 new residents, the estimated number of evacuees now living here.
We then compared that to how many murders there'd be using Houston's lower murder rate.
The result: if evacuees were involved in murders at the same rate in Houston as they were back in New Orleans, Houston would register about 80 more murders a year, or about seven more a month.
Using Houston's lower rate, there'd be only about 2 more murders a month.
The reality is that since September, HPD says there have been 26 Katrina-related murders, or about five a month.
In other words, Katrina evacuees seem to be involved in murder at a rate not quite as high as back in New Orleans, but higher than Houston's.
If the murders continue, Houston's overall murder rate would rise.
But will that really happen?
Consider what has happened at Fred Bhandara's complex.
Since the murder there in December, HPD has flooded this area with task force officers.
The complex added its own security patrols and Crime Watch program.
They've had no more murders at the complex.
About all this exercise tells us is that we have seen an increase in violent crime following the influx of Katrina evacuees. It's not unreasonable to ask if a criminal element among the Katrina evacuees is disproportionately responsible for the increase. But it's also important to keep in mind that HPD's manpower shortage was a problem before the influx of Katrina refugees. It may well be that the spike in violent crime is also reflective of that manpower shortage (though perhaps the Katrina influx has exacerbated the problem). A properly specified model would take that into consideration.
Now that the local press is finally reporting on HPD's manpower shortage with some regularity, MayorWhiteChiefHurtt are cognizant of the need to get someone else to pay for them to boost HPD's manpower after several years of indifference:
HPD will be asking Uncle Sam for $40 million to fund 400 new officers.
And crime stats will be used to make it's case: Houston needs help.
More power to MayorWhiteChiefHurtt if they can convince the feds to help us out, but the manpower problem is mostly one of our own politicians' making.
RELATED: New Orleans failures led crime here (Kim Cobb, Houston Chronicle).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/05/06 11:27 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
Chron corrections: The vignette that didn't pass muster
The Chronicle continued a recent pattern of unusual corrections yesterday:
Cliff Stricklin grew up in Dallas and was immediately accepted to Washington and Lee University School of Law after a stint working for the Drug Enforcement Administration. A story on Page A25 Sunday incorrectly described his admission to the university.
Here's the original story:
When Cliff Stricklin decided to study law, he was eager to attend an elite school, so he applied at Washington & Lee in Virginia, among the oldest and most respected in the nation.
His undergraduate grades at Baylor were good but not great, and Stricklin was rejected.
Stricklin, who lived in Washington, D.C., at the time and was working for the Drug Enforcement Administration, persuaded the dean to meet with him. The dean agreed but limited the meeting to 15 minutes.
"He ended up meeting with the dean for an hour and a half," said Gil Stricklin, his father.
When it was over, after discussing a shared passion for American history, the dean stood up, extended her hand and said: "Congratulations, counselor. You've won your first case."
That odd vignette has now been excised completely from the version of the story currently posted online, which notes that an earlier version contained errors.
It's good that the errors have been corrected, but one wonders how they made it through the vaunted fact-checking process in the first place. Alas, since the reader rep has fallen down on his promise to blog about these matters daily, we're probably not going to find out.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/05/06 10:48 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
04 February 2006
Maybe they could name it the Houston American-Statesman?
Today, the University of Houston men's basketball team won a tough road game in overtime.
The Rice men's basketball team narrowly lost to #3 Memphis at Autry Court.
And here is Chron.com's scoreboard:
Nice coverage of the local guys.
A reader could at least turn to the posted AP coverage of the UH game:
Lanny Smith scored 20 points and Brian Latham tallied 17 points and 18 rebounds to lead Houston to a 64-60 overtime win against East Carolina on Saturday.
Houston (14-6, 5-3 Conference USA) shot only 28.6 percent from the field in the first half, and East Carolina (7-14, 1-7) went to the locker room at the break with a 35-28 lead having shot 44 percent.
Whoops. That was Ramon Dyer who tallied 17 points and 18 rebounds, not Brian Latham. Guard, forward, what professional sports journalist can tell the difference?
The newspaper will surely post Michael Murphy's coverage tomorrow (probably replacing the AP story with it), and Murphy does a good job covering UH athletics. But that really doesn't address the dysfunctional online scoreboard (which strangely can show UT and Texas A&M scores, but never the local guys) or the fact that a (temporary) online story about a local team contained errors.
As Dwight Silverman might say, Chron.com's coverage of local sports really needs to evolve.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/04/06 09:59 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (5)
Is "unsafe and careless action" a fireable offense?
In METRO news related to Anne Linehan's earlier post, the Chronicle's Rad Sallee reports that the driver involved in the accident that killed a pedestrian was fired on Friday:
A Metropolitan Transit Authority bus driver was fired Friday for "unsafe and careless action and disregard for established safety procedures" in a fatal accident with a pedestrian, Metro spokeswoman Raequel Roberts said.
Metro also revealed Friday, with the permission of the driver, Romain Alexandre, 56, that drug and alcohol tests he took after the Jan. 20 accident that killed Domitila Leon, 43, were negative.
[snip]
Alexandre, who had only minor infractions on his record since being hired in 1993, was cited for failure to yield right-of-way to a pedestrian and had been suspended with pay during the investigation.
Witnesses said his bus, westbound on Hogan, turned south on Main and struck Leon in the crosswalk, dragging her about 20 feet and running over her.
Have we finally seen a fireable offense at a local public entity? Or will a civil service commission insist on the reinstatement of the driver at some point?
Stay tuned.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/04/06 07:08 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
More banking industry lessons on the Chron letters page
Does anyone see the irony in this:
METRO Responds to Chronicle Editorial
Feb. 2, 1006This morning, the Houston Chronicle ran a letter from METRO President and CEO Frank Wilson responding to a Jan. 29th editorial critical of METRO's response to pedestrian fatalities. Some of Mr. Wilson's comments were edited out of the letter. We would like you to see the letter in its entirety.
That's rich!
Remember when Rep. John Culberson's letter to the editor about Metro funding was (interestingly) edited? Since we ran Rep. Culberson's full letter (no space constraints on blogHOUSTON, unlike Chron.com apparently), we'll helpfully run Wilson's complete letter in the extended entry.
For some reason I am reminded of banking industry loan failure rates.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/04/06 05:37 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
03 February 2006
Because multiple blogs, cams, a carnival, and podcasting weren't enough
Laurence Simon has taken on catblogging duties at Chron.com. His blog is called Catcall, although I, too, liked the Houston Scratching Post.
Can Laurence be tamed for the (mostly) family-friendly environment at Chron.com? Keep checking Catcall to find out.
Post lots of kitty pictures, Laurence!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/03/06 08:02 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (9)
Phew, Chron Editor Emeritus is still among the living
Via today's Chronicle:
Houston Chronicle Editor Emeritus Jack Loftis was honored Thursday by Crime Stoppers of Houston for his ongoing commitment to the anti-crime program.
[snip]
"When we all got involved in Crime Stoppers, we didn't realize how effective it would be," said Loftis, who retired from the Chronicle in 2002 after 15 years as editor and nearly four decades with the paper. "After we found out we were onto something, the Chronicle was very strongly behind it."
The Chronicle recently honored Mr. Loftis by removing his name from its masthead. The Chronicle also removed the name of Chairman Emeritus Richard J.V. Johnson, presumably because he passed away. It's unclear why Editor Emeritus Loftis was erased from the top of the editorial page.
(Thanks to Vernon Guy for pointing out the Chronicle masthead's new look.)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/03/06 07:20 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Cactus Music is closing at the end of March
H-Town Grooves and Jeff Balke both have posted that Cactus Music and Video is closing up shop.
A phone call to the venerable record store confirmed the bad news: Cactus is indeed closing at the end of March.
That's quite a blow, as Cactus was a merchant for many Houston and Texas independent acts that megamerchants like Best Buy would never stock. Cactus also hosted many in-store performances for local, regional, and even national acts.
UPDATE: The Chronicle has the story posted.
MORE BLOGVERSATION: Hand Stamp, Mike McGuff.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/03/06 01:38 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (14)
Oz Bar films patrons in restroom
It's about time for the local television news outlets to start their titillating "undercover" investigations for ratings purposes.
KHOU-11's Mark Greenblatt jumped right in last night with a report on cameras in the restrooms at the Oz Bar in north Houston.
The owner of the bar, Randy Ozburn, came off looking pretty bad in the KHOU report.
He compounded the problem just a while ago with a phone call to the Michael Berry show on KPRC-950. Ozburn repeatedly stuck foot in mouth. He also managed to sneak a "bullshit" bomb past the KPRC censors, at least on the streaming audio version.
Let's hope Councilmember Addie Wiseman wasn't listening, or Councilmember Berry and Ken Charles are likely to get all kinds of grief!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/03/06 09:54 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (3)
How they see Judge Sim Lake
Judge Sim Lake, who is overseeing the Enron fraud trial, has been profiled by two prominent newspapers today.
The Financial Times profile gets off to a predictable start:
Judge Sim Lake has spent most of his life in the Lone Star State. Yet he could hardly be further removed from the stereotypical strutting Texan.
Belated warning to any international media in Houston -- beware of the stereotypical strutting Texans! But be even more wary of the Danger Train. It kills.
The Washington Post profile dives right into substance:
As the trial of Enron Corp.'s former leaders ends its first week, U.S. District Judge Simeon T. Lake III is turning into its most active player. Thursday, he beat back repeated defense objections, urged the government to file color-coded document lists and stepped in on occasion to pose his own questions of the prosecution's first witness.
It was quintessential Lake. He is a man in control -- of his emotions, of his fitness regimen, and, most especially, of his courtroom.
So there you have it. Hat tip to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog for the links.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/03/06 08:57 AM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (3)
02 February 2006
Houston airports are world class!
The Houston Business Journal reports that the Houston Airport system has launched a revamped, more interactive website.
We clicked over, and were pleased to learn from the banner that our airports are world class.
Yeah!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/02/06 10:33 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
Is Rick Casey "borrowing" without attribution again? (upated)
Sedosi Alhambra noticed something interesting about the latest offering from Chronicle metro/state editorialist and gossip columnist Rick Casey.
In the column, Casey effectively uses a decision by an Austin bankruptcy judge to criticize the recent Congressional reworking of bankruptcy law.
It's not a bad read. A couple of excerpts are of interest, though:
FRANK Monroe used to be a bankruptcy lawyer at a prominent Houston firm.
Now he's a bankruptcy judge in Austin.
An angry bankruptcy judge in Austin.
[snip]
"This Court views this requirement as inane," Monroe wrote in his memorandum of opinion. "However, it is a clear and unambiguous provision obviously designed by Congress to protect consumers."
Quoting that last sentence out of context does not begin to convey the sarcasm with which it was clearly written.
Earlier in the memorandum, Judge Monroe began warming up: "Those responsible for the passing of the Act did all in their power to avoid the proffered input from sitting United States Bankruptcy Judges, various professors of bankruptcy law at distinguished universities, and many professional associations filled with the best of the bankruptcy lawyers in the country as to the perceived flaws in the Act.
"This because the parties pushing the passage of the Act had their own agenda. It was apparently an agenda to make more money off the backs of the consumers in this country."
Monroe wrote that "to call the Act a 'consumer protection' Act is the grossest of misnomers."
Here's Tom Kirkendall's post on this topic from a week ago. Kirkendall cites the same text as Casey, then concludes:
Moreover, he's just getting warmed up in the foregoing passage. Read the whole thing. Steve Jakubowski comments and provides more context here.
Jakubowski's blog provides the following background:
To put this opinion in its context, you need to know something about Judge Monroe, former member of the great Houston-based bankruptcy firm of Sheinfeld, Maley & Kay, which dissolved in 2001 (ironically, according to one partner, "because of the resurgence of bankruptcy as a very hot practice area"). Judge Monroe practiced at SM&K continuously starting fresh out of the University of Texas law school in 1969, even serving as its managing partner for several years. His investiture as bankruptcy judge occurred on March 31, 2002.
As Sedosi notes, it's interesting that Casey uses much the same information as two legal bloggers who wrote on this topic a week ago, and even a key term that Kirkendall used to characterize the very same excerpt.
Perhaps it's a coincidence. Indeed, it surely must be a coincidence, because after Casey got caught brazenly ripping off whole phrases from the work of others and presenting it as his own nearly two years ago, one would think he'd be careful at least to rephrase his "borrowing" more carefully. If he is indeed still borrowing.
UPDATE (02-03-2006): Rick Casey covers another topic (Governor Perry's so-called "65% plan") from a reliably lefty point of view in his Friday column. As Sedosi notes, this same criticism has already been offered by a number of lefty blogs. The Chronicle's metro/state editorialist/gossip columnist may need a vacation if the best he can do is recycle old blog posts. Or he may need to retire.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/02/06 10:14 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Kevin Whited in the Wall Street Journal
Yesterday's Wall Street Journal carried a subscriber-only story that featured a quote from blogHOUSTON's own Kevin Whited.
The story, by Susan Warren, was about the Enron trial -- how local media is covering it, and how Houston in general is reacting to the trial. Since the story is not available online, I will excerpt only two paragraphs from the story, including Kevin's quote:
Houston television and radio stations also are running multiple stories and carving out big blocks of space on their Web sites for parsing the Enron trial with news features, analysis, editorials and blogs by reporters and commentators.
"The circus is officially under way," said Kevin Whited, a Houston energy analyst who writes about local politics and media on bloghouston.net.
Oh wait, I might have to excerpt one more sentence:
At the time of Enron's collapse in 2001, the Houston Chronicle and other media were viewed as slow in picking up the story.
Yup.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/02/06 07:23 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (14)
KHOU: Federal judge rules in favor of reassigned police officer
KHOU-11 is reporting that a federal judge has ruled in favor of officer Tom Nixon, who brought suit after being assigned to desk duty for speaking out against the department's pursuit policy:
A Houston police officer is once again criticizing his department’s chase policy Thursday morning.
A federal judge ruled Thursday morning that he, in fact, could do that.
HPD commanders gave officer Thomas Nixon desk duty after he complained the department is unnecessarily putting the public in danger.
His comments came after a chase last month in which a suspect hit a family head-on.
Nixon said it could have been avoided if officers had permission to ram the suspect’s car.
But HPD commanders punished him for his comments.
A federal judge overruled that Thursday morning.
Nixon remains under suspension while HPD investigates articles he wrote for Houston's 002 magazine.
UPDATE: Chris Baker says that Nixon will be on his program on KTRH-740 today.
RELATED COVERAGE: Houston Chronicle, KTRK-13.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/02/06 01:31 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)
Free tickets to Rice baseball or basketball
Are you interested in Rice basketball or baseball?
If so, you have a couple of days left to score free tickets:
Make it a day with the Owls on Sat., Feb. 4, as Rice's baseball and basketball teams are in action. See the fourth-ranked Rice Baseball team open the season against Central Missouri State at 2 pm at Reckling Park and then support the Rice Owls Basketball team as it hosts number-three ranked Memphis at 6:05 pm at Autry Court.
Free tickets for both events will be given away during lunch-time at the Whataburger restaurants on 59/Shepherd and the Southwest Freeway/Edloe (across from Lakewood Church) locations starting Jan. 30 through Feb. 3.
Rice's baseball team is, of course, a national power. Rice's basketball team is not, but their opponent (Memphis) is.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/02/06 11:50 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (1)
Queen Sheila heads for the Enron cameras
Fresh off her usual appearance at the State of the Union proceedings, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D) has made a beeline for the media horde covering Enron. The Chronicle's Mary Flood blogs about it:
The ubiquitous Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee appeared in the courtroom this morning. Though she would not speak on the record, she did kiss both Ken Lay and his wife Linda.She said she will visit the trial often and plans to make a comment at another time.
She will visit the trial often so long as the national media remains engaged. If national media outlets begin to reduce their coverage, then we probably will not see as much of Queen Sheila.
BLOGVERSATION: Brazosport News, Slampo's Place.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/02/06 11:14 AM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (10)
Stealing or accounting oversight?
Last week, reports surfaced that officials at Texas Southern University here in town are investigating the use of funds by the institution's president on her private residence (some people might call that use of funds "stealing").
The Chronicle's Matthew Tresaugue follows up on the story today:
Texas Southern University President Priscilla Slade has reimbursed the university more than $138,000 for the cost of landscaping her new home, according to records released Wednesday.
Slade, who wrote the check Monday, is hoping to get back into the good graces of the university's board of regents before they meet Friday to discuss her future. She is also under scrutiny for charging roughly $87,000 to TSU for household furnishings, according to a source familiar with the inquiry.
So, it's possible that she used over $200,000 of university (really, taxpayers') funds for personal expenditures (again, people more judgmental than this humble scribe might be inclined to call that use of funds "stealing"). The story indicates that an investigation is ongoing. The matter is complicated by the fact that TSU does not provide an official residence for its president, and thus Dr. Slade's private residence is frequently used for university business.
Tom Kirkendall noted the following irony in the story:
Slade, 54, who earned a doctorate in accounting from UT-Austin, has received high marks during her tenure as president of the university.
A doctorate in accounting? You would think Dr. Slade of all people would be diligent about not using public funds for private purposes (again, some people might call that "stealing").
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/02/06 10:32 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
01 February 2006
Why Harris County might want to sell HCTRA
In a post over at the Houston Architecture Info Forum about Harris County studying whether or not it should keep HCTRA (Harris County Toll Road Authority), there are a couple of intriguing responses:
Because they (may) want a short term gain, the future be damned since they won't be around to deal with it. Obviously, the future cash flow can belong to Harris County or a private firm, and the since the private firm needs to earn a profit and pay all the Wall Street fees, and net present value to Harris County has to be less than if it remained in County control.
Don't underestimate politicians desire to mortgage the future. Bush can do it by explosively increasing the national debt. State and local governments need to use indirect methods to mortgage the future (such as unfunded pension obligations), and now with mechanisms like selling off transportation assets they have a new way to realize a near-term gain.
And:
My sources say Harris County TR has so much debt, it's hurting their bond rating.
That's [why] they are looking to sell.
BLOGVERSATION: Houblog.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/01/06 08:27 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (6)
Icing down the Azalea Trail
We've had a wonderful winter this year, temperature-wise, which is bad when one is trying to time azalea blooming:
Thanks to this mild winter, spring is inching ever closer. Too close for Bart Brechter, garden curator at Bayou Bend.
Hundreds of azaleas thrive throughout the wooded 14-acre estate, a perennial stop on the River Oaks Garden Club's annual azalea trail. This year's event is March 10-12, but some of the plants are already beginning to show color — so Brechter has been looking for ways to delay blooms.
His solution? Eight thousand pounds of ice.
Tuesday, crews spread 40-pound bags of ice cubes around 600-700 azaleas. An insulating layer of mulch was then applied on the ice to help keep temperatures down.
Cool! =)
(P.S. Some of us would LOVE to see a Kathy Huber gardening blog on Chron.com.)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/01/06 08:14 PM | Houston Arts/Culture | Technorati | Comments (0)
Mayor White's Ride Alongs
Mayor White has gone on patrol with HPD again:
Mayor Bill White got a first-hand look at what police officers see on a regular basis Tuesday night when he rode along in a squad car.
The mayor spent time in a high-crime area of southeast Houston.
Mayor White said he wants officers to know everyday citizens are backing them up.
"I just want to tell them we're proud of what they do. We have people risking their lives for us every day. We have people going undercover. It's not easy," said the mayor. "The officer I was with -- we apprehended a couple of people. It could have been dangerous."
The mayor, who has made crime one of his top priorities, says it's important for citizens to work together and with law enforcement officers to help crack down on crime.
Along with acronyms and task forces, we'll have to add Mayor White's Ride Alongs.
PREVIOUSLY: Mayor White rides in police car, says crime will end
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/01/06 07:39 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
"Elephant snot" graffiti remover
HPD is looking for the perfect graffiti remover:
The Houston Police Department is looking into new options for graffiti removal that don't include the traditional paint over.
One alternative uses something called elephant snot.
"I think they are going to look at us real funny," said HPD Officer John Eikman with the Neighborhood Abatement Program.
It may sound funny but officers tell us the thick, gooey, green substance -- which does not, by the way, come from elephants -- will help control the tagging problem.
Another way involves using concentrated chemicals which can erase the writing in a matter of seconds.
"Worked darn good and it's easily useable, spray bottle is great," said Eikman.
Over the next month, police will look at results from those two methods and one other to see which works the best.
UPDATE: Wow! That's quite an oversight: I forgot to link to KHOU-11's story. Thanks to Dwight Silverman for pointing out my lapse.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/01/06 07:24 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
Editorial LiveJournal: Mr. Gibbons and the car show!
The Houston Chronicle editorial page ventured into personal-diary territory again today, as opinion page editor James Howard Gibbons carried on about the Houston auto show and purchasing a car.
Here are some excerpts:
Every 12 years I buy another car, whether I need one or not. Last fall the time came due, and so I exchanged a 15-year-old Japanese sedan for a 3-year-old German one. I wish I had waited until I had attended the Houston Auto Show at Reliant Center. My choice might have been different.
Judging by the number of people climbing in and out of the pickup trucks and SUVs on display, Texans have not lost their love affair with vehicles able to hold more than one family or homestead. The latest models offer slightly better gas mileage than their predecessors, and if I belonged to a large tribe I might have bought one.[snip]
Half of my cars have been red convertibles, and there were several in the auto show that tempted me again, including the Mazda Miata and the new Pontiac Solstice.
[snip]
My wife has a hankering for a Toyota RAV4 small SUV. Unfortunately, the redesigned RAV4 is elongated and not as cute as the original — a lesson that some things are not easily improved.
General Motors CEO Richard Wagoner told the Chronicle's editorial board Friday that GM's most difficult task was fixing its product line.
[snip]
I have never owned an American car, and have not studied one closely since the birth of the Mustang, Camaro and GTO during the '60s.
Shouldn't these big boosters of light rail be using the public transportation? And shouldn't they be considering a vehicle other than an SUV, even if it is a small SUV?
But here's a better question -- is this really fodder for the editorial page of a serious newspaper?
No, it is not.
For those who are new to blogHOUSTON and wonder why we call the Chronicle editorial board the "Editorial LiveJournalists," it's because they continue to publish these personal diaries on the editorial page, when there is a much better forum for such diaries. It's really hard to take this editorial page seriously for that reason.
BLOGVERSATION: Isolated Desolation.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/01/06 06:35 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
More on the Port Authority resignation
Yesterday, the Chronicle editorial board focused on a question that Sedosi raised in regard to the resignation of a Port Authority commissioner:
Recently, after Thompson-Draper complained about fellow Commissioner Kase Lawal's status as vice chairman, the story of the racial remark surfaced in a letter from Harris County Commissioner El Franco Lee to county and port officials. Once the media got copies of the missive, pressure built on Thompson-Draper, and Friday she resigned from the commission. In her farewell letter, the commissioner denied making such a comment and wrote: "I wish the allegations had been raised at that time (seven months ago) when I could have more readily defended myself." So do we.
The manner in which the allegation surfaced is troubling. It leaves the strong implication that whatever the accuracy of accounts of the racial remarks made in China, the timing of its dissemination to the public was dictated by Thompson-Draper's criticism of a politically connected colleague. It appears politics as well as moral outrage played a role in the events leading to her resignation.
[snip]
Racially offensive statements by public officials are intolerable, particularly by port commissioners who represent our ethnically diverse city in international arenas. By letting Thompson-Draper's alleged remarks fester for seven months, port officials allowed the issue to become confused with petty politics.
In the future, traveling commissioners should be on notice that if they engage in inappropriate comments or behavior, be it in Shanghai or Timbuktu, such actions will not be swept under the rug or filed away to be resurrected when politically convenient.
So does that last paragraph mean the Chronicle editorial board will be opening up their secretive meetings with "important" people to cameras, so we can see what "important" people say as they say it, instead of tempting the Chronicle editorialists to let it filter out when convenient?
Yeah, probably not.
We're a little curious as to why El Franco Lee's role in the matter doesn't get a little more scrutiny from the editorialists, speaking of "important" people.
Sedosi comments further on the editorial here.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/01/06 01:22 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
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