31 March 2006
Houston Press: Run over by Metro
The Houston Press has conducted an in-depth look at Metro bus safety and how the transit agency handles the aftermath of accidents. It's a disturbing exposé, but it's important to read it all.
The story includes details of how Metro has dealt with the death of Domitila Leon-Herrera on January 20:
The day after the January 20, 2006, accident, Metro went into full-blown damage-control mode. Smalley, a senior manager, led a press conference in which he defended Metro's safety record by claiming that Metro drivers are involved in 0.68 accidents per 100,000 miles. This statistic includes neither accidents involving First Transit drivers nor less-serious crashes that Metro classifies as "incidents."
To the cameras and reporters, Smalley extended "sympathy and condolences" to Leon-Herrera's family. But Avila and his siblings say they never received any apology. And neither did Lorenzo Hernandez, her longtime boyfriend.
Metro still has not provided financial compensation for the accident. Not that any amount of money could make things right.
Thanks to Laurence and TP for the heads up.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/31/06 10:00 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (3)
CoH: downtown parking is bad, be prepared to walk
I suppose this counts as KTRK-13's Parking Commission story -- a story that explains how downtown parking sucks and you might as well just walk:
The good news is that downtown Houston is getting more and more vibrant every day. The bad news is that with the growth comes growing pains. And that pain includes a perceived and problematic lack of parking. For anyone who's been downtown once or a thousand times, you know parking can be tough.
"It's very hard and inconvenient," said downtown driver Barbara Clark. "By the time you get where you're going, you're all sweaty and stinky."
"It's pretty crowded," agreed downtown driver Colin Amann. "It's hard to find and you've got to walk a fair piece to get to where you're going."
Hmmm, they forgot about MetroRail, I guess.
And in front of the courthouse complex, it could get worse even after construction is finished. One lot is about to go away, meaning roughly 200 fewer spots in favor of a new park in what is one of the busiest area of downtown.
"We're looking at being able to increase the number of on-street spaces," said Liliana Rambo with the city of Houston. "We're working with the public works department."
The city is also holding town meetings to coach suburbanites where to park when they come downtown and that if they can walk a couple of blocks, they'll find a reasonable space, despite the constant desire to find something closer.
Suburbanite meetings? Has anyone seen any info on those? And who wants to walk extra blocks in the middle of July and August to visit downtown, not to mention the courage required to drive anywhere around the Danger Train.
The city is also working on changing parking meters for the better. Their advice is to be patient. Be prepared to walk. And get to where you're going early just in case.
That's catchy! A new downtown slogan: Be Prepared to Walk.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/31/06 09:13 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (3)
Metro bus hits pedestrian (again) (cont'd.)
Maybe more pedestrians are wearing city camouflage:
A pedestrian was hit by a Metro bus this afternoon at the Metro Transit Center, at Fannin and Pressler. The man stepped into the pedestrian crosswalk, "so the operator will be at fault," said Raequel Roberts , a spokeswoman for Metro.
The pedestrian was taken to an area hospital, "but his injuries do not appear to be life-threatening," Roberts said.
Recent Metro bus accidents have occurred on March 23, February 13, and a fatal one on January 21. Obviously Metro Police Chief Tom Lambert needs to have a chat with Metro bus drivers about their understanding of safety.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/31/06 07:28 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (8)
30 March 2006
FBI enters City Hall probe
The FBI has requested Councilwoman Carol Alvarado's bank records:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation asked for the bank records of Houston City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado as it entered the investigation into improper bonuses at City Hall, KPRC Local 2 reported Thursday.
It's the first indication that the federal government is involved in the probe.
The FBI request is for all of Alvarado's bank accounts, open or closed. It went out Wednesday to major banks across the country through what's known as the loss avoidance alert system, which is an electronic network connecting banks with law enforcement.
The FBI would not comment on the investigation. But Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal confirmed for KPRC that the federal request was made.
As usual, Alvarado's attorney, Rusty Hardin, says this was completely expected, which means the councilwoman must've said, "Sí, yo puedo."
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/30/06 06:13 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (10)
The LiveJournalists wake up; protest-fever must be over (updated)
We can only assume the media's interest in "La Gran Marcha" has peaked, since the Editorial LiveJournalists have now weighed in with not one, but two approving editorials. They applaud the school-ditching, Mexican-flag waving youth activists, and look forward to the time when the students graduate from school and vote (although they do caution the "children" that carrying Mexican flags and shouting "Viva Mexico" might not be the best way to get their message across...whatever their message is).
The most hilarious quote of the day is in the Chron's news story, from a very earnest high school freshman:
"There's no other way to be heard ... It's not the best way or the right way, but it's our way," Reagan freshman Jose Lopez, 14, said of the effort.
That's a kid who really needs to get back to class!
Second most hilarious quote of the day:
Jose Cantu, 18, a junior at Reagan, said he read the 54-page bill Wednesday so he could understand why he's protesting. "It got confusing," he said. "So I wanted to see the whole thing."
Oookay.
Slampo covers all the bases in this post, including our fine local media's reporting efforts, and the fact that many of these students appear to have snoozed through history classes in 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, etc., grades.
And Banjo points out that protesting in '06 is much easier than it was back in the '60s. (Speaking of which, the Chron's story notes that sending HISD buses to fetch Tuesday's protesters, after they met with Mayor White and Councilwoman Carol Alvarado, cost taxpayers $5,500.)
UPDATE: Fun and games and ditching school are over. HPD and HISD have had enough:
Dozens of HISD student protesters were stopped in their tracks by Houston police Thursday morning.
Twenty-six students were arrested on curfew violations and taken to the juvenile detention center.
The HISD students walked out of classrooms again Thursday to protest proposed immigration reform in the U.S. Senate.
According to HISD spokesman Terry Abbott, about 150 students from Madison High School and Dowling Middle School left school.
They were planning to march to Westbury High School but several HPD officers stopped the students before they could get to Westbury. Some of the students were questioned, frisked and arrested.
One girl was transported to the hospital after reportedly having an asthma attack.
HISD sent buses to pick up the rest of the students and take them back to school.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/30/06 10:06 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (18)
29 March 2006
Dynamo's ticket sales a bit lackluster
This story about the Houston Dynamo's ho-hum ticket sales:
The team will host the Colorado Rapids on Sunday in what will be Houston's debut in Major League Soccer, and word out of the Dynamo ticket office is that sales of season tickets barely have cracked the 2,000 mark.
On Tuesday, total tickets sold for the match, including season and individual-game tickets, hovered "in the low teens," Dynamo president Oliver Luck said.
reminded me of what Rob Booth wrote:
Many brave men and women risked their lives and died so that Texas would be independent from Mexico. AEG, Sylvia Garcia, and Prof. Ramos don't think their sacrifice should be honored. That is stunning beyond words. If they literally spit on Sam Houston's grave I wouldn't be more flabbergasted.
[snip]
I had six people lined up to go to opening day and was working on six more. I couldn't commit to season tickets, but I mentally was hyped to go to a bunch of matches.
Now, no way am I giving AEG $25 of my hard-earned money. I can't fathom the idea of putting my butt in one of those seats and watch men run around kicking a ball on the ground that people died to liberate, and giving $25 to people who spit on their sacrifice. That's what I'd be thinking the whole time.
I certainly hope Sylvia Garcia, Professor Ramos and all the other professional sensitives who had a hissy fit have bought their season tickets.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/29/06 07:34 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
DA's office delivers Bonusgate subpoenas
The city hall probe rolls along, as grand jury subpoenas are handed out:
The district attorney's office handed out grand jury subpoenas Wednesday. One went to the mayor pro tem's office and a number went to other city departments.
The grand jury subpoena was delivered to the office of the mayor pro tem around noon on Wednesday. It asked that the acting mayor pro tem, Michael Berry, appear in front of the grand jury Friday morning. Or, in lieu of that action, to deliver a series of documents requested by the district attorney's office.
The subpoena asks for documents detailing the bonus policies and procedures, not only in the mayor pro tem's office, but in the offices of every single councilmember, though Carol Alvarado's spokesperson says she hasn't received a subpoena yet.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/29/06 07:15 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (3)
Chron's Spur 527 map leads to confusion?
The reopened Spur 527 is still slow as molasses, apparently, and a visit to the Chronicle Corrections box could explain part of the reason:
The outbound lanes of Spur 527 enter the southbound lanes of U.S. 59 on the right-hand side of the freeway. A map on Page A4 Tuesday depicted the alignment incorrectly. A graphic showing the correct alignment appears on Page B3.
Those readers who didn't have time to get to the inside of the B section were looking at an incorrect map!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/29/06 01:18 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Parents support protesting students (updated)
Students protested again today, although in smaller numbers:
More than 50 students from Marshall Middle School did not immediately show up for class Wednesday morning. Instead they showed up the reflection pond by City Hall. The protest was not as large Tuesday's protest at City Hall and ended before 11 a.m.
[snip]
The students ended their protest by wading in the reflection pond before getting on two Houston Independent School District buses to go back to class.
Sylvia Lopez, the mother of one of the students who protested, said she was not upset that her daughter missed her first classes.
"I am proud of my daughter because she is here. That means she cares about what is going on. I don't have to explain it to her. I don't have to tell her what's going on … she understood that," Lopez said.
[snip]
Unlike previous protests, there was not a long march for students at North Shore High School. The student protesters were corralled into the Galena Park Independent School District stadium and kept there.
"Now, they are treating us like dogs. They won't let anybody out. They don't want to hear us out. They think we are playing," a student told KPRC Local 2.
Parents were allowed to pick up their students and return them to school without an absence.
The parents who KPRC Local 2 spoke with said they support their children's actions.
"They are voicing their opinions. The kids … they are no different than us. They may not know exactly how to do it but this is the only way they know how," one parent said.
Lovely parents. Did the students get another meeting with Mayor White and (temporarily only a) Councilwoman Carol Alvarado?
And then there's this:
"The news is saying that we are just walking, looking dumb, talking about we don't know where we are going. We know what we are doing. We are standing up for our beliefs so we can stay and get a better education, and so our future children can have a better life," Aguilar said.
Where? In America or in Mexico? It's confusing with all those Mexican flags being waved around.
By the way, TAKS testing gets underway again next week. Protesting during school hours won't help these kids with TAKS prep.
UPDATE: Oh my:
The Mexican flag was flying outside Reagan High School Wednesday morning alongside the U.S. and Texas flags.
Reagan principal Robert Pambello decided to fly the flag after a discussion with his students, according to HISD spokesman Terry Abbott.
When someone saw the flag and complained, the regional HISD supervisor called the principal and ordered him to remove the flag.
Abbott said possible punishment for Pambello is under discussion.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/29/06 12:54 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)
Another boondoggle to add to the Lee P. Brown files
This KPRC-2 story on Houston's (not-functioning-very-well) automated water meter reading system is mind-blowing:
In 1999, former Houston Mayor Lee Brown trumpeted Houston as the first city to have a completely automated water meter reading system.
The goal of the program was to save the city millions of dollars by eliminating a small army of employees who physically read the meters. Instead, radio transmitters beam the information from the meter to a computer in a van as it drives by.
The project was supposed to cost $50 million and be complete in 2003. Instead, it's now costing approximately $75 million and won't be complete until 2008.
"The failure rate is beyond anything that we should have experienced," Houston City Controller Annise Parker said.
The Troubleshooters started asking questions about this program last summer. That prompted Parker to do her own review. She found the radio transmitters on the water meters have a 47 percent failure rate.
Forty-seven percent failure rate? $25 million cost overrun? Where's THAT money coming from?
But wait, it gets worse:
"That's something that we're not really proud of," said Wes Johnson, with the public works department.
Johnson said part of the problem is the new meters did not stand up that well to Houston's climate.
"This is cutting edge technology. Nobody has ever done this before in a city this size," he said.
Holy cow. A $50 million project with cutting edge technology that had never been done on this scale before, and no one thought to ask if it could stand up to Houston's weather??? Again, who's footing the bill for all this?
But wait, there's more:
The other part of the problem came when the city first started installing the transmitters. Initially, city employees did the work.
"A significant number of these were damaged. Some of our guys and gals didn't exactly know how to install them and damaged them during installation," Johnson said.
Aaargh!
But wait, there's even more:
But that's not the end of it. There are still at least 55,000 of the transmitters that are not working, are out of warranty and the city has no idea why they won't work.
"It almost reminds you of the $700 toilet that the Air Force bought years ago. It's sort of like, 'How bad can it get for the taxpayer?'" Houston City Councilman Michael Berry said.
How bad? So far, it's cost more than $3 million just to replace bad transmitters.
This is a perfect example of why government is rarely the answer to...anything.
So, here are the obligatory questions: Who's the genius who sold the city this project? What company is getting all this money for a product that doesn't work? Who's the moron who had untrained city employees installing what are obviously very sensitive meters?
At least Metro is attempting to recover taxpayer money lost on a non-working smart card fare system. Is the city going to sue the manufacturer of this barely-functioning water meter system? Why should taxpayers have to fund all these cost overruns for something that doesn't work? Why don't government contracts have escape clauses built in to make sure taxpayers don't get stuck paying for these boondoggles?
And call me a cynic, but which Mayor Brown official (or officials) was rewarded for getting this contract going? That IS how government (especially local government) operates.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/29/06 07:16 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (12)
28 March 2006
HISD: student protesters face discipline
HISD superintendent Dr. Abe Saavedra has issued a statement about today's student walkout/protest. Here's an excerpt:
All the students who participated in today’s walkouts will be disciplined. The parents of each student who participated will be contacted and informed of the student’s actions. Each student action associated with today’s events will be reviewed by school officials, and students may, at the discretion of the principal, be placed in detention or in-school suspension, and may also be subject to other sanctions.
If these demonstrations continue on Wednesday or another time in the future, the consequence for students who violate the standards of conduct will be more severe. A repeat of today’s demonstrations could cause students to be suspended for up to three days, or be removed.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/28/06 08:31 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)
New face at KHOU?
Isiah Carey has heard who the newest member of KHOU-11's news team will be:
Sources tell The Insite that KHOU has hired former NBC network correspondent and Today show fill in anchor Len Cannon as their new anchor. He steps in where Jerome Gray stepped out according to sources. He's expected to start on the air April 10th...
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/28/06 07:03 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (0)
A new Chron eye
There is a new Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy.
This one isn't as horrible as some, but it's really not clear why the newspaper devoted so much column space to the story of Death Row Killer Guy Kevin Kincy.
It's also not clear why he is referred to as "Kinsy" at one point in the story.
Those layers of editors and fact-checkers must have missed that one.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/28/06 04:35 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Texans invest in security software
The Chronicle posts some tongue-in-cheek news about the Texans:
DAVID Carr could only dream of such protection.
Carr, the Houston Texans quarterback, was sacked 68 times last season, more than any other player in the National Football League. The team's security technology, it turns out, is more advanced than its offensive line and is one of the league leaders.
The organization has spent $40,000, plus periodic maintenance fees, for PacketSure, a Palisade Systems product designed to prevent users on the team's internal network from sending sensitive information to outsiders, said Nick Ignatiev, director of information technology for the Texans and McNair Group. This can include the team's playbook, scouting reports and financial information about customers.
Who needs any of that information? The game film was all the ammo opponents needed against the Texans last season.
If they could come up with some sort of software to keep the general manager from attempting to save his job by leaking all sorts of info to a certain local sportswriter (who ran with it at the time, but now says Casserly should have been fired), THAT would be a very good investment for the team.
But I suspect that general manager will be looking for a job after next season regardless. Once the Kubiak regime is fully up to speed, it won't need a general manager who leaks negative information about the head coach to local sports journalists when a season starts poorly.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/28/06 04:29 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
Carol Alvarado to student protesters: Si se puede (updated)
(Temporarily not Mayor Pro Tem) Carol Alvarado greeted student protesters this morning at City Hall:
Upon reaching City Hall, the crowd of students was greeted outside by Councilwoman Carol Alvardo, who chanted with the students "Si Se Puede'' - meaning "Yes we can."
She congratulated the students for walking through the rain and standing up for their rights.
Two of the students met with Mayor Bill White and Alvarado before scores of them boarded buses back to their schools. As many as a thousand students were expected later today, police [sic].
"They feel like they want someone to listen to them,'' Alvarado said. "They feel very hurt because they see that their families come here to work."
Perhaps Councilwoman Alvarado should have encouraged the students to get back to school and focus on their studies.
It's unclear from the story if today's youth solidarity event was part of Joe Householder's efforts to cast the councilwoman in a more favorable light.
UPDATE: And here's what Mayor White apparently told students:
“[Mayor White] told us to keep on going, to not stop, to spread the word with everyone,” student Edgar Martinez said.
The mayor said he appreciates all the work the students are doing to get their message out, but he admitted it is a federal issue.
Chris Baker is wondering why the protesters are carrying Mexican flags if they want American citizenship. Hey Carol: ¿Dónde están las banderas Americanas?
UPDATE 2: Matt Bramanti: Skip school and you too can become a journalist!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/28/06 12:48 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (19)
Most painful story on Monday night's local news (updated)
It's no surprise it was from KHOU-11's Shern-Min Chow:
It was a vivid civics lesson Monday as scores of students skipped class from Eisenhower and Humble high schools to protest HB 4437.
[snip]
Among those watching, Julian Hernandez and Jorge Mateo, seniors at the school.
"I'm in top 5 percent of my class," said Milby student Julian Hernandez.
"I'm also taking AP calculus, taking AP government/economics, AP chemistry," said student Jorge Mateo.
The 17-year-olds are both excellent students. Both have been accepted to UT Austin, the prestigious engineering and business schools. Both are illegal.
"It's not my fault I was brought into the country. Why should I have to pay for decisions that were made before I was even born?" said Hernandez.
Jorge came as a baby. Today he lives in a tiny efficiency apartment with his mom. His American Dream may only come thru DREAM Act, for good students.
It applies to those brought to the U.S. more than five years ago when they were 15 years old or younger, who graduate from high school and have good moral characters.
The measure grants them conditional residency.
"They're given six years to be here legally, to be able to work and either get a 2-year degree, two years towards a 4-year degree or two years in the military," said Magali Candler, Tindall & Foster immigration attorneys.
Then, permanent residency and citizenship could follow.
There's more, if you can stomach it, and you had to see it on the 10 o'clock news last night to get the full impact of how bad this piece of advocacy journalism was.
As for civics lessons, there's another one that happens in November and our elected officials are well aware of it.
UPDATE: Now KHOU-11 is reporting that some protesting students have been arrested this morning. Hey! This could be another civics lesson! Maybe they'll get extra credit when they finally go back to school.
ANOTHER UPDATE: KPRC-950 news says the protesters are walking down Main Street. Watch out for the Danger Train!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/28/06 09:42 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (12)
27 March 2006
If Queen Sheila was there, cameras must've been rolling
What's got the media's attention today? High school students fighting for their rights, of course.
And who makes an appearance? Why, it's none other than Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee:
Students protesting proposed federal immigration legislation greeted Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and other elected officials with signs Monday outside the federal building in downtown Houston as they gathered to discuss the immigration debate going on in Washington, D.C.
"It is the earned access to legalization," said Lee. "What that means is we put together a package that answers the concerns of Americans that believe that we should not affirm illegal acts. But what we do affirm is individuals who have jobs, who have roots, who have homes and have been paying taxes."
Lee said she will go back to Washington Tuesday and introduce legislation that will give all undocumented workers a temporary identification while the reform is being debated.
She has certainly mastered the art of DC-speak.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/27/06 07:19 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (17)
Harris County's dirty waters
KUHF-88.7 has details of a new report on pollution in Harris County waters:
A new report says industrial and municipal facilities in Harris County are some of the worst violators of the Federal Clean Water Act, polluting rivers, lakes, bayous and the ship channel at record pace.
[snip]
The report, titled Troubled Waters, an Analysis of Clean Water Act Compliance, was released by Austin-based Environment Texas. It says hundreds of Texas companies and municipalities exceeded their permit limits between July of 2003 and December of 2004. More than 100 reported instances where they exceeded their permits by at least 500 percent. Luke Metzger is with Environment Texas and says polluters are using waters in Harris County as their own dumping grounds.
"Harris County is actually number one in the nation in our report for Clean Water Act exceedances. 99 oil refineries and chemical plants and other facilities discharged toxic chemicals like cyanide and copper into our waterways greater than their own permits allow."
Metzger says penalties for clean water violations have very little bite and that ignoring the guidelines often makes more economic sense to companies and municipalities than following the rules does.
"You could just do the math. The fines are so low it's cheaper to just pay a fine occasionally than actually take the steps to comply with the law. So actually it's just a perverse incentive to break the law because out state is failing to adequately enforce them."
According to the report, 348 polluters in Texas exceeded the guidelines more than 2000 times between 2003 and 2004. The City of Houston was fined almost a million dollars last year for violations at a wastewater treatment plant. Terry Clawson is with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and says the agency does what it can to punish water polluters.
PREVIOUSLY: Houston earns "world class" environmental penalty
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/27/06 06:39 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
Slow posting
I'll be involved in some business travel over the next week, and posting is likely to be slow or even nonexistent from me.
Would you all please try not to let Houston fall apart during this stretch? :)
There is a new sports podcast posted for your amusement. I'll see you all as time allows!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/27/06 08:32 AM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (0)
26 March 2006
The Chronicle misses the real story
In what is not an isolated case, the Chron took a story and buried the real lede. Slampo has the details:
Take this fer instance we stumbled across in the weekly Alief/Southwest section of Thursday’s Houston Chronicle, in a story on the latest get-together of the Alief school board. The story opened with the “news” that the district trustees had voted to nominate their superintendent for the “Superintendent of the Year” award given by the Texas Association of School Boards. The board deemed the super to be deserving of the honor partly because of the district’s acclaimed welcoming response to the flood of Katrina evacuee students into its schools.
The story ambled on in this vein until the 17th or so paragraph, when it allowed that one “concern” of the Alief Community Coalition, an area support organization for the school district, is Alief’s “burgeoning homeless population.”
That one pulled us up short, but we hit the wall at the next paragraph:
According to [an Alief ISD administrator], the influx of hurricane evacuees elevated Alief’s homeless population from 435 in 2005 to more than 4,000 in 2006.
Jumpin’ Jesus, stop the presses! If that were true---and we’re skeptical---shouldn’t that be all over the front page of the daily paper, rather than buried inside a story in a zoned section that no one but us and 12 or 13 other damned souls will bother to read?
You know, there is so much the Chron could have done with that...
Where's the interview with city leaders asking what they are doing to help these people? Where are the interviews with homeless advocates and others who run homeless shelters to ask how they are coping with this huge increase? How is Alief ISD dealing with the homeless children? Is this happening in other parts of Houston and its surrounding communities? Is anyone looking out for the libraries? (That one's for Laurence.)
We have long lamented the Chron's lack of in-depth local news coverage (and lackluster editorial leadership). Yes, the "This Week" sections are nice, but too many times we have seen stories hidden in those that really should be in the main paper, getting to a much bigger audience. One solution (as Kevin has pointed out often) is to shutter the weak DC bureau and redirect those resources, but the Chron doesn't appear interested in that.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/26/06 08:07 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
25 March 2006
MST's Ouroboros shines
The play, directed by Robert de los Reyes, has gotten solid reviews from both the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Press, but the reviews themselves are interesting because of the difference in quality. The Press review literally blows the Chronicle review away.
Here is a representative excerpt from the Chronicle review by Everett Evans:
MST is alternating the two versions, but it's not necessary to attend both. The material is the same in both, though the order of the scenes is reversed.
If this sounds confusing, it often is. Beyond the "time trap" premise, Jacobson mixes Twilight Zone fantasy, travel adventure, Will & Grace-style banter (in mischievous Tors' flip humor) and earnest exploration of faith, myth and miracles. Plus (inevitably) lots of jokes on whether Catholics, Lutherans or Jews inflict the heaviest guilt trips. If the mixture sometimes feels uneasy, certain lines strained, certain situations contrived — well, is it any wonder?
Yet the play usually remains intriguing. Give Jacobson credit for trying something different, keeping things unpredictable. This may be the first "Americans in Italy" tale in which not a single character falls madly in love with a gorgeous Italian.
[snip]
Director Robert de los Reyes has his hands full with all this and acquits himself resourcefully. It's tough to establish a secure tone in a play encompassing everything from hymn-singing to risqué quips about seducing priests, but Reyes and his cast make a game effort.
In the Nun's Tale version (which I attended), Celeste Roberts' searching and patient Margaret and Justin Doran's wryly irreverent (but with secret depths) Tor seem to predominate. Fritz Dickmann's distraught Phillip and Sara Gaston's volatile Catherine are convincingly agitated as the pair who (in this chronology) know from the first appearance that something weird is happening. Given Catherine's hysteria and hallucinations, Gaston may have the most challenging role and does pretty well at making a rather mind-boggling character credible.
That's pretty superficial analysis that actually gets wrong a critical point (bolded, to which I'll turn momentarily).
Contrast that lackluster account with the following representative excerpt from the Houston Press review by Lee Williams:
Tom Jacobson's Ouroboros might be one of the most richly textured works Main Street Theater has put on in years. The story is told from two points of view in two productions shown on alternative nights. One is a comedy, A Nun's Tale; the other a tragedy, A Priest's Tale. Both stories collide in the middle, when the minister and the nun make love. Faith, death, the possibilities of miracles, and the corporal sorrows of human love are all at stake in this strange and fascinating work about two lonely couples who meet in Italy. They go searching for answers to some very heady questions.
[snip]
Soon enough, we discover that Philip and his wife are sad, and their marriage is in deep trouble. Though Margaret, the nun, is the one who starts out the play seeming unbalanced, we quickly learn that it is Catherine who is taking antidepressants. "They don't work," she tells us frankly. Guilt-ridden because he's unhappy with his marriage, Philip has resigned himself to his sorry situation, spending most of his time nursing his fragile wife through her suicide attempts and obsessive-compulsive behaviors. The Lutheran minister has lost faith. He has trouble believing in the simple joys of life, much less in any miracle.
Just as Philip has lost his faith, Margaret, the nun, is also in a bit of a spiritual crisis. She recently witnessed a death that left her terrified. Her gay friend Tor's longtime partner passed away; beforehand, he had a very dark vision of what awaited him on the other side. It has shaken Margaret to the core. Tor, on the other hand, is simply grieving. He has followed Margaret to Italy to distract himself from his sorrow and to fulfill a longtime sexual fantasy: He wants to sleep with a priest.
The story takes us through Venice, Florence, Siena and Rome. The characters make strange and mystical discoveries involving a pair of golden rings, the head of Saint Catherine and a darkly violent priest. Somehow, these odd happenings manage to add up to a story that's perfect for the theater. It touches the kinds of profound mysteries – death, love, faith – that only art and spirituality can answer. Both highly dramatic and wonderfully eccentric, the script and this production are intelligent and so provocative, it's hard to see one show without longing to see the other.
Earlier in the review, Williams notes that (s)he had only seen the play in one direction (A Priest's Tale), although (s)he perceptively writes in the opening of the review that the direction of the play (i.e. A Priest's Tale or A Nun's Tale) effectively sets the overall tone.
Williams (and the guide to the play) suggests that the direction sets the play as either a comedy or a tragedy, but that's not quite how I would describe it. Having seen both versions of the play, I can state emphatically that the direction does establish the tone, with one version growing more bleak and desperate as it progresses (the priest's tale), and one growing more positive (the nun's tale). The priest's tale is definitely the darker version. And the Chronicle reviewer just blew it by implying that the direction makes no difference, which is a pretty crucial thing to blow given the nature (and name!) of the play.
If you have any interest in theater, I highly recommend both versions of this play. Robert de los Reyes has done a spectatular job interpreting a very difficult story, and the actors really pull it off (it would be easy for the actor portraying Tor to overdo it, for example, and steal the show while overshadowing the story; Justin Doran does not). The fact that they pull off this difficult story within the unique room that is the Main Street Theater (audience on four sides) is just another testament to the skill of the cast, crew, and director. The play runs through April 9. Information is available on the Main Street Theater website.
UPDATE (03-26-2006) It's been pointed out that reviewer Lee Williams might be female. Since I don't know for sure, I changed the gender references above.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/25/06 03:49 PM | Houston Arts/Culture | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chronicle should have stuck with AP copy on Martinez stay
With the recent revelation that a conservative blogger hired by the Washington Post was actually a plagiarist (a story carried in today's Chronicle), it's probably worth asking what constitutes legitimate use of wire copy in crafting a newspaper story, and what amount of borrowing requires a journalist to note that a wire service (or other external source) contributed to the report.
Today's case in point concerns a story in today's Chronicle by Zeke Minaya that does not credit the AP. Here is "Minaya's" lede:
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday held up the execution of Raymond Leon Martinez, who was slated to die Tuesday for the 1983 killing of a Houston bar owner.
And here is the lede from Matt Curry's AP story that preceded "Minaya's" story on Chron.com (and elsewhere):
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals today put off the execution of Raymond Martinez, who was scheduled to die Tuesday for the 1983 slaying of a Houston bar owner.
Does changing two words and adding a middle name REALLY get Minaya around the need to credit AP reporter Matt Curry for contributing to "Minaya's" report?
"Minaya's" reporting is also made weaker by the fact that the Chronicle chose not to reproduce Curry's description of Martinez's brutal crimes, a description that logically should have followed the quotation from Harris County Assistant District Attorney Lynn Hardaway in "Minaya's" story.
In short, the local reporter appears to have borrowed the AP writer's lede without proper attribution, and the final report omitted detail that gave the story more of a local context. The newspaper would have been better off sticking with the AP copy, lede and all.
BACKGROUND: Here is an example of the Chronicle crediting the AP's contribution to a story.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/25/06 02:37 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (9)
Patrick continues political evolution (cont'd)
Fresh off his convincing victory over three primary opponents, Texas Senate candidate and local talker Dan Patrick will be getting a little help from Texas lobbyists to retire his campaign debt. The Chronicle's Clay Robison reports:
State Senate nominee Dan Patrick, who blasted an opponent in the recent Republican primary for taking contributions from lobbyists, is having a fundraising reception in Austin next week, hosted by lobbyists for a range of special interests, including casinos.
Lobbyist Steve Bresnen, whose clients include the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, the Texas State Association of Fire Fighters and the Bingo Interest Group, said he organized the Thursday event at the private Austin Club.[snip]
It is not unusual for newly elected legislators or legislative candidates to have Austin fundraisers, but Patrick, campaigning before the primary as a political outsider, all but condemned the lobby.
In a campaign television spot, he urged voters to help him "take our state back from the special interests and the lobbyists."
"It's time for change," he said.
In an interview Thursday, Patrick said his principles haven't changed. He said he still isn't soliciting special interest money but would take some donations if they were offered with the understanding that no strings were attached.
"I have a lot of debt (more than $300,000) to retire," he said.
It is probably not a coincidence that the amount of money that the wealthy Patrick personally loaned his campaign was in the neighborhood of $300,000.
And so, as we've pointed out before, the "insurgent" continues his transition to ordinary politician. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as they say.
PREVIOUSLY: Patrick makes quick transition from insurgent to politician, Patrick continues transition from insurgent to pol.
BLOGVERSATION: Greg's Opinion, Off the Kuff, Isolated Desolation.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/25/06 02:03 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (0)
HPD to boost police academy classes?
The Chronicle's Monica Guzman reports that HPD is finalizing a plan to boost HPD cadet classes in order to address the worsening manpower problem:
If the city approves funding, HPD's 20 proposed academy classes could add up to 1,500 officers to the department between now and the end of fiscal year 2008 — nearly double the number initially planned.
Officials also will begin accepting applications year-round for seats in the department's modified entry academy class, a 13-week course designed to expedite training for peace officers from other departments. Classes will be scheduled to accommodate qualified candidates as they apply.
The low number of cadets enrolled in the first modified entry class this year highlights the difficulty in finding such candidates and the need for officials to do more to find them.
As Laurence Simon notes, landing recruits might be a bigger problem than anticipated. This can happen when growing problems are ignored for years by politicians, and then must be addressed quickly once they can no longer be ignored.
Guzman's reporting contained this snippet:
In addition to general funding, police officials may be able to use part of $20 million the city recently received from the Department of Justice, the bulk of which will fund a $1 million-per-month HPD overtime program whose FEMA funding expires at the end of the month.
In the Hutchison/DeLay/White/Hurtt press conference announcing the $20 million federal allocation to the city, Mayor White expressed his interest in using some of the money to boost cadet classes. Chronicle print readers wouldn't know that, however, because the newspaper inexplicably chose not to cover the news in its print editions.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/25/06 01:39 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
TXDOT paints stripe on Spur 527 suicide merge
On Thursday, KHOU-11's Jeremy Desel followed up on Chronicle Move It columnist Rad Sallee's earlier reporting on the dangerous merge on the reopened Spur 527.
Desel reports that TXDOT actually broke out some paint in an effort to make the dangerous entrance safer:
A sound wall built to protect the nearby neighborhood makes it difficult for merging drivers to see each other, even causing one driver to yell to 11 News, "This is dangerous".
Another called it a "suicide merge".
"It looks a little bit different than what they are used to," said Quincy Allen, TxDOT.
Quincy Allen is the TXDOT Project engineer for the Spur 527.
In the 10 days the ramp has been open he has heard the complaints, which was enough to get him to reevaluate.
"Some folks it appeared that you had to make an immediate merge. So we put the stripe there to improve that merge," he said.
It's a 100-foot stripe aimed at aiming drivers in the right direction.
"It's really difficult to figure out where you are going anymore," said one driver.
But the biggest problem says TXDOT isn't the signs, or the paint, or the wall, but drivers who are already on the spur.
"Looking at this it looks maybe like a freeway. But the speed limit on the spur in this location is 35 miles an hour."
For engineers to blame drivers for being on a road and behaving like drivers is kind of ridiculous. The fact is, that merge has terrible sight lines, is too short, and is (therefore) dangerous.
I had a look at that 100-foot stripe yesterday. It seems like it might be shorter than 100 feet, although I wasn't about to stand in traffic to measure it! But even assuming it is 100 feet -- just think how quickly that likely Texans first-round pick Reggie Bush covers 30 yards when running full speed. That's at one Reggiepower. Now imagine how fast a heavy hunk of metal with an engine of anywhere from 100 to 300 horsepower can cover that 30 yards. And just for fun, make it impossible to see the rest of the field (keeping with our football analogy) for the last ten yards or so, with lots of traffic (linebackers and safeties!) just waiting to put the big hit on.
That's just scary. And on such an expensive project, it's really an unfortunate oversight.
Even TXDOT's designated apologist Janelle Gbur is going to have trouble convincing people that reality is not reality, and the suicide merge really is just fine.
In further Spur 527 news, the Southwest Freeway from Shepherd to the Spur is closed this weekend, while TXDOT prepares to reopen the other side of the Spur. That should help immensely with the Southwest Freeway/Downtown traffic bottleneck drivers have experienced since the Spur reconstruction began.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/25/06 08:30 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (2)
Houston's new Parking Commission will get to the bottom of this
Hart received the notice last month. It's a reminder to pay $25 for a parking violation. So this week, after paying $3 for parking in the lot across the street and standing in line, the judge told Hart what he already knew. There was a mistake and he wasn't the only one.
Four-thousand people got the same notice. Apparently the vendor the city uses to generate them had a computer problem.
"It was just a glitch of the system that happened at that particular time," Liliana Rambo with the Houston parking management division told us.
Case closed, right? Wrong. What about Hart's $3 that he paid for parking, multiplied by the others who may have done the same thing? .
"Three dollars times 4,000. That's $12,000 and that's just the bare minimum we're talking about," said Hart. "It could be more if people paid money without contesting it."
At first, he was told he couldn't get his money back
"The city is going to make money off of it," he said. "It's revenue they shouldn't be making."
We took the issue to the parking commission.
"We'll be able to refund him the three dollars for being in the parking lot," said Rambo.
How many people won't come forward for refunds? That little "glitch" could turn into a nice chunk of change for the city.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/25/06 08:28 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
24 March 2006
Alvarado headlining "financial literacy" seminar
David Benzion at Lone Star Times notes that former Mayor Pro Tem and current Councilmember Carol Alvarado will be holding a "Town Hall Meeting On Financial Literacy" this weekend with State Sen. Rodney Ellis.
As we know after weeks of news coverage, Alvarado at the very least was inattentive in overseeing the finances of the Mayor Pro Tem's office (she defends her inattention by calling herself a victim!), one of the few non-ceremonial roles of that office. And more recent coverage suggests that the District Attorney's office is conducting a broader investigation of possible financial wrongdoing in the Mayor Pro Tem's office. The situation is serious for a politician with aspirations of bigger and better things, as evidenced by Alvarado's retention of an expensive defense attorney and PR firm.
So, the notion that she's going to be conducting a seminar on financial literacy this weekend is just kind of hilarious, considering her own plight.
We can't help but wonder if she ran this idea by her expensive PR firm, given how ludicrous it seems. And, as David Benzion points out, it's hard to imagine Joe Householder approved of the clip art used on the flyer.
For anyone who wants to learn how to avoid being victimized by subordinates who might give themselves unauthorized pay raises, the seminar will be held on Saturday, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm, at the HCC Central Campus Gymnasium (1300 Holman).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/24/06 08:55 AM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (16)
Mack connects the red light camera dots
We (bH bloggers and commenters) have speculated before on any connections the winning red light camera vendor (ATS) might have with MayorWhiteChiefHurtt. Today Kristen Mack has the details:
HPD maintains that ATS won because it had the best overall package.
As is typical in efforts to land profitable city contracts, someone on every side has some City Hall connection.
ATS' ties are through former Texas Land Commissioner Gary Mauro, a good friend of White.
Mauro, though, says he was hired to consult ATS, not to lobby City Hall.
[snip]
The council approved the use of cameras to catch red-light violators in December 2004.
Those plans were stalled while the city fought legislative attempts to ban red-light cameras last year. Helping the city in the fight were prospective vendors, hoping for the lucrative city business.
The city won in Austin, with help from former City Councilman Bert Keller, who is vice president of sales for the southeast region for Rhode Island-based Nestor Traffic Systems. Nestor believed it could win the contract if the city kept the right to install red light cameras. But Nestor placed third among the three bidders.
Lawyer Darryl Carter, who lobbies on behalf of Dallas-based ACS, also kept close tabs on key developments in Austin.
ACS, which placed second, hasn't publicly fought the outcome — possibly because it has a motivation for maintaining warm relations with the city. ACS already collects city ambulance fees and is in line for a lucrative parking meter contract.
[snip]
By contrast, ATS, which didn't lobby at the Legislature, seemed to arrive out of nowhere. Based on the way business is usually done at City Hall, watchers were wondering how ATS was connected.
All they've been able to find is Mauro's longtime ties to White. Both worked in 1975 for then-U.S. Rep. Bob Krueger, D-New Braunfels. City Hall chatter to the contrary, Krueger says he has no ties to ATS.
But Mauro and White have other political connections. Mauro headed Bill Clinton's presidential campaigns in Texas. White worked in Clinton's administration as a deputy energy secretary.
That's good stuff from Mack...and some sunshine that needs to shine.
Let's not forget that the rules were changed during the camera test period, and that Nestor used collision-avoidance technology -- technology the city doesn't want to use.
But rest assured, Mayor White is still protecting Houstonians from red light camera shenanigans.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/24/06 08:19 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (8)
Chronicle reporters analyze city's performance-pay spending
The Chronicle's Matt Stiles and Alexis Grant have been poring over records of bonuses to Houston municipal employees, and write about their findings in a story today.
Their entire story is worth reading, but I'm going to excerpt some notable findings:
About one in six city employees received extra money in their paychecks since Mayor Bill White took office in January 2004 under various performance-pay programs. They've collected about $4 million, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis of electronic payroll records.
[snip]
White defends authorized performance payments, saying they spur hard work and save money through efficiencies.
"Modern, successful organizations pay for performance," he said. "Part of my goal is to have the amount of city services we deliver increase much faster than the money we spend. That means rewarding efficiency."
[snip]
The top recipient of authorized bonuses is a 20-year veteran police mechanic who has received at least $95,000 more than his $33,000 base salary since 2004. He finishes front-end alignments and brake jobs faster than even his most skilled colleagues, police superiors say, earning him daily bonuses for beating average job times.
"I call him the Tiger Woods of fixing cars," said Ronald Young, who oversees the police fleet's maintenance operations.
The Police Department has led the city in bonus pay, spending at least $2.1 million since 2004, much of it to mechanics and their supply staffs. Uniformed employees, such as police officers and firefighters, don't receive performance bonuses.
Seven of the 10 city employees who got the most in bonuses were police mechanics. They received about $410,000 since 2004. The program started before White was elected.
Though they didn't provide any documentation, city and police officials say the program saves taxpayers' money.
Later in the story, Paul Bettencourt criticizes pay bonuses in general.
I don't have a problem in principle with performance bonuses of some sort, but when it gets to the point that a $33,000 mechanic is earning more than his salary in performance bonuses, it seems likely that the performance requirements are too low. City and police officials need to provide documentation of how the program saves taxpayers' money, rather than simply providing vague assurances.
Houblog has more detailed thoughts on the story.
What do you think? Do you agree with Mayor White or with Paul Bettencourt on performance bonuses? And how should a municipality structure performance bonuses so that the system isn't simply a mechanism for boosting salaries (and not performance necessarily)? Please leave your thoughts.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/24/06 08:15 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Press release coverage of the Parking Commission
As noted here, City Council approved Mayor White's appointments to the new Parking Commission, and the mayor has issued a press release. KPRC-2, being ever vigilant, got the press release and posted a little something:
The City of Houston has a new commission set up to ensure citizens get a parking spot in downtown.
The formation of the Public Parking Commission was announced Wednesday.
Officials said the commission would evaluate the city's current parking situation, what needs to be improved and where new parking spots could be allocated.
It will also analyze parking-related ordinances.
For pity's sake.
The formation of the new parking authority was not announced Wednesday. The idea of the unaccountable, quasi-governmental agency was first floated in February of 2005 and it was approved by Council in August of 2005. What happened on Wednesday was approval of the people who will rule over the authority, and in turn, Houston's parking.
KPRC's blurb ("where local news comes first") is just pathetic. The Houston Business Journal posted a story that's more accurate, but clearly comes straight from the mayor's press release.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/24/06 07:08 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
23 March 2006
Chron reader rep cracks on TMi page (again)
For the second time, the Houston Chronicle reader representative has publicly called out the newspaper's inane TMi page (in the STAR section) for questionable editorial judgment.
Here is what James Campbell wrote today, in the conclusion to his post about the decision to run a photo of full rear nudity on the TMi page yesterday:
On Wednesdays I dread turning to the page. Last Wednesday's page shows why.
In his earlier column, Campbell wrote that the newspaper gets "very little feedback on the page."
Today, Campbell wrote:
Readers of the print edition often complain about the page....
Frequent complaints would seem to be feedback of the sort that the newspaper doesn't want. Perhaps it's time for the Chronicle to do some market research to determine if that inane TMi page is at all attractive to subscribers (as opposed to the people who put it together and obviously intend it to be shocking, or self-fulfilling, or something). If somebody has done that research, perhaps it should be shared with the reader representative. Or perhaps *gasp* the Chronicle ought to consider listening to the complaints of its readers (and its reader representative).
We realize that last one might be tough for STAR journalists whose inclination is sometimes to lash out irrationally at readers, but it's just a friendly suggestion. Diversity is beauty, after all (even diversity of thought).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/23/06 01:19 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (12)
METRO bus hits downtown pedestrian
The KHOU-11 news blog reports that a METRO bus has struck a pedestrian (again):
A mother and daughter were crossing the street when the 67-year-old mom was struck by a Metro bus at the intersection of Fannin and Congress around 10 a.m.The victim was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital. Two witnesses at the scene report the women were crossing with the light when then accident occurred.
Metro said the bus driver would be cited for failure to yield the right of way.
Be careful out there, people. Especially if you see any vehicle with the METRO logo.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/23/06 12:07 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)
22 March 2006
Alvarado now the subject of criminal inquiry
After several weeks of (misleading) assurances from Mayor White and Carol Alvarado's PR people that Alvarado was not the subject of the investigation by OIG, it turns out that Alvarado is being investigated by the District Attorney's office. KPRC-2 reports:
Houston City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Harris County District Attorney's Office, KPRC Local 2 reported Wednesday.The district attorney's office is investigating an allegation of criminal wrongdoing by the former mayor pro tem.
District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal told KPRC Local 2 that there are questions about whether Alvarado asked her employees to perform tasks unrelated to city business. The exact nature of the jobs was not disclosed, but it could be illegal if the tasks were carried out while the employees were on the clock for the city.
Rosenthal's office would be expected to investigate Alvarado to some extent simply as a matter of due diligence, so this wouldn't be particularly newsworthy save for the fact that Mayor White and Alvarado's PR team went out of their way to trumpet the fact Alvarado was not a subject of the earlier OIG investigation.
BLOGVERSATION: Houblog.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/22/06 10:25 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (9)
AP eye for the death row baby killer guy
The Chronicle chose not to dispatch a member of its staff to cover the execution of a baby killer in the form of a Chron Eye, instead running AP copy today:
[Robert] Salazar, 27, was the sixth prisoner put to death this year in Texas and the second of four scheduled this month in the nation's busiest capital punishment state.
Salazar told police he just wanted Adriana, whom he was baby-sitting, to stop crying. So he pushed her with the back of his hand, causing her to fall down in a bathtub and hit her head.
``I did not mean to hurt Adriana,'' Salazar told police in a statement after his arrest for the girl's death in her Lubbock home. ``I don't want people to think I'm a bad person for what I did.''
But authorities said Salazar did more than push the toddler. In a violent rage, he inflicted injuries on Adriana that a pathologist who testified at his trial said were worse than those suffered by victims of auto accidents.
Nice guy.
Apparently, even the Chronicle's anti-death-penalty editors draw the line at sending out staff to portray an admitted baby-killer sympathetically.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/22/06 09:54 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
DeLay, Hutchison secure $20 million for Houston cops
Yesterday, Mayor Bill White, Police Chief Harold Hurtt, U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison held a press conference downtown to discuss $20 million in funding secured by DeLay and Hutchison to boost Houston law enforcement (in partial response to the demands placed on HPD by the influx of hurricane refugees).
The money will be used to fund ongoing acronym crimefighting efforts (involving overtime expenditures) as well as cadet classes (to tackle the bigger manpower problem at HPD).
MEDIA COVERAGE: KPRC-2, KHOU-11, Chronicle.
UPDATE: As it turns out, the online story linked above didn't appear in the print version of the Chronicle. That's pathetic.
BLOGVERSATION: Texas Safety Forum.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/22/06 09:42 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Houston happenings
Let's take a look at Breaking City News on the City of Houston's website.
The city's water and sewer rates are going up, effective April 1:
In accordance with City of Houston, Code of Ordinance 2004-299, Water and Sewer Rates are adjusted annually based on the increase in costs in the region. A 3.6% adjustment (based on the Consumer Price Index) will take effect April 1, 2006 and will allow the City to deal with rising costs without having to cut back on services. This adjustment is also key in funding investments to prevent flooding in our neighborhoods, to rehabilitate aging water and sewer lines and to safeguard the security of our water supply.
Do you have a comment to share about the Tour de Houston? The city is soliciting feedback.
Here's information on the Mayor's Youth Council and Teen Task Force. There was a meeting last night...I wonder if local media covered it?
The city is moving ahead with Project Houston Hope's affordable housing:
The City of Houston is seeking comments on a draft request for proposals for turning vacant lots into affordable housing. The City is foreclosing on delinquent properties and will build housing allowing truly affordable home ownership. The first RFP will include about 175 lots suitable for 195 or more housing units. Down payment assistance shall be used to bring monthly payments down to a level where many working families now renting can instead build equity in their homes.
That's swell that Houston will work to get monthly house payments down to an affordable level, but what about property taxes? That's where many lower-income people end up losing their homes -- they can't afford the sky-high property taxes. Is Mayor White going to do something about that? Prop. 2 would help.
And the city is sponsoring the Government Procurement Connections conference at the George R. Brown Convention Center April 3 and 4.
Oh, and Council approved the mayor's recommendations to the Parking Commission, and the renaming of West Little York Park to Sylvester Turner Park.
UPDATE: I just saw something funny: on the city's main page the Tour de Houston headline says, "Give us your comments On Guarantee Bank Tour de Houston Bike Ride." Of course, it's Guaranty Bank.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/22/06 04:33 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
Downtown Houston parking trap?
Isiah Carey goes on a parking rant:
This is the site [sic] that just kills me...people parked at meters in downtown Houston that are victimized when the the meter maids show up out of no where with the blue bags. The clueless driver then finds himself at a meter that's now off limits. You get a fat $65.00 ticket. It happened to me a month ago. The city of Houston should place up signs saying "Hey Dummy, even though you paid for this spot ten minutes ago you're still breaking the law and you're gonna get a big ticket." I think it's a scheme by parking enforcement to dig deep in our pockets. City Council Members where are you - make an ordinance for proper signage warning us poor Houston drivers that you're rolling into a trap.
He's got pictures, so follow the link. Maybe Carey can stick a camera in the new Parking Commission members' faces and ask them what's up. Then they can put their hands up to shield their faces while they run to their cars and he can chase after them. It'll make for a great news story!
UPDATE: Carey follows up with a response from Liliana Rambo, the city's head of parking enforcement.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/22/06 07:08 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (5)
Mayor White to defend his SAFEclear program in court (updated)
Mayor White is heading to court today to defend one of his cornerstone programs: SAFEclear:
"We'll fight. We will fight the towing industry for the safety of the public," said Mayor White on Tuesday. "We do know that there are federal laws and state laws that might protect some activities by the towing operators. I just want to make sure they're fighting for the safety of the people in our region."
Mayor White is voluntarily testifying in federal court Wednesday. He will try to convince a federal judge that the city is actually complying with an order handed down last fall.
"We believe we complied with the court's order," said White.
When Safe Clear first began, only wreckers with contracts could tow stalled cars off Houston's highways. The court order forced the city to allow people to call their own wreckers, but the group that filed the lawsuit says the changes aren't good enough.
"They're still excluding us from doing business the way we did before in Houston," said Suzanne Pool with the Professional Towing Association.
Pool says she hopes to convince the federal judge that all wreckers, not just those with contracts, should be allowed to clear cars off Houston's highways. And she'd like that order handed down sooner rather than later.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: Until the KTRK-13 story was posted, I hadn't seen any real detail in the other stories as to the specific legal complaint from Pool's group. If I'm reading this correctly, it would seem that Pool is insisting that federal law doesn't allow exclusive tow contracts of any sort. I don't know that a federal court is going to agree with that.
UPDATE (12:15 pm): Various media outlets are reporting that the federal judge declined to hear from Mayor White, and also declined to hold the city in contempt (of the court's previous order) after hearing from attorneys. Basically, that means that the SAFEclear program as presently construed will continue (as predicted above). The complainants have promised new legal action.
PREVIOUSLY: SAFEclear archives
LOCAL MEDIA COVERAGE: Chronicle, KUHF-88.7, KPRC-2, KHOU-11, KTRH-740
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/22/06 06:58 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (6)
Metro's University Line town hall meeting (updated)
Local media covered Monday night's Metro town hall meeting discussing which route the University Line should take -- Westpark or Richmond. It appears from media accounts that the majority of those who attended the meeting opposed Metro's plan to put a new light rail line down Richmond. (In 2003 voters approved Metro's plan to put a line down Westpark.)
Rad Sallee's story included Robin Holzer of the Citizens' Transportation Coalition, who apparently is in favor of Richmond Avenue being used. I must say I was taken aback by her favoring Richmond, since she has been such a strong advocate for residents and municipalities having a say in road building projects:
"The process isn't always designed to engage the public," said Robin Holzer, who chairs the coalition. "We want to solve problems in the planning stage before contracts are let and before the bulldozers break ground."
The coalition wants road-building entities, such as the Harris County Toll Road Authority, to seek approval of their projects from affected residents or municipalities and hold at least three public meetings — day, evening and weekend.
Yet in writing about Metro's February board meeting, Robin said this:
What’s most notable to me about the elected officials’ comments is less about what they said than what they did not say: no one called for another expensive transit referendum and no one demanded that Richmond be taken off the table before it is studied. Chalk up one victory for democratic process and informed decision making!
I hope the CTC WILL support the democratic process by backing up what a majority of affected residents and business owners want when it comes to the University Line.
UPDATE: Chris Tritico is filling in for Chris Baker today and he thinks the 2003 referendum vote might be invalid, in the case of Westpark vs. Richmond, since Metro got approval for Westpark but now wants to build down Richmond.
I have used this example before and I still think it's a valid comparison: let's say a school district sells a bond vote by saying the funds will go to building a new library, a new science lab and a new health clinic. The citizens say yes to the bonds, then the school district comes in and says, well, we changed our minds. We think that instead of building the library, the science lab and the health clinic, we'd like to build a new media box for the football stadium, a new indoor swimming pool and some soccer fields.
A school district can't do that. They sold the vote on a specific list of items and the district needs to abide by what was on the ballot, or present a new list of wants for a new vote.
BLOGVERSATION: Off the Kuff
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/22/06 06:46 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (23)
21 March 2006
HISD's latest TAKS test results
The results from HISD's February's TAKS reading tests are in and the numbers appear to be encouraging, with fifth-graders making strong gains:
According to officials at the Texas Education Agency, eight out of 10 HISD third graders passed the TAKS reading test in English this year, and seven out of 10 fifth graders passed.
HISD saw a big increase—five percentage points—in the number of third graders reaching "commended" status, up from 29 percent in 2005 on the third-grade English-language reading test to 34 percent in 2006.
On March 10, the Texas Education Agency released the scores of third and fifth graders who took the reading test in February.
The passing rate for HISD's third graders was about the same in 2006 as in 2005, but fifth graders saw a strong increase. The passing rate for English-speaking students on the fifth-grade reading test increased from 62 percent in 2005 to 70 percent this year, and increased from 68 percent to 71 percent for Spanish-speaking students.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/21/06 10:35 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
Mayor Pro Tem's office: Forgeries R Us?
Remember when (temporarily former) Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado was shaken as she saw a memo that contained her allegedly forged initials? Courtesy of Houblog, here is the side-by-side comparison of Councilwoman Alvarado's initials and the allegedly forged ones.
Then Isiah Carey posted a couple of other Bonusgate documents with an entirely different set of initials/signatures (lower left corner). And as Ubu Roi points out, who signed in Mayor White's spot (lower right corner)?
And now fired Mayor Pro Tem office staffer Christopher Mays says that HIS signature was forged:
Mays collected more than $30,000 in extra pay. His signature appears on many of the documents that allowed the employees under investigation to pad their paychecks.
Now, there are questions about whether Mays' signature was forged.
He told KPRC by phone, "I can tell you this. My signature was forged, forged many times."
KPRC checked some documents to compare Mays' signature with his authentic signature.
One of the documents was a memo from former City Councilman Gordon Quan that surfaced last week.
A former employee of Quan said a memo requesting additional money for the mayor pro tem's office is absolutely fake. She is not sure if Mays was in on it.
Another document approving the bonuses showed Mays as the one who prepared the paperwork. But sources told KPRC Local 2 that Mays did not have access to the software that would have allowed him to fill out the document.
Are there ANY initials or signatures on ANY documents from the Mayor Pro Tem's office that can be authenticated??? Was this only going on in the Mayor Pro Tem's office under Alvarado, or is this SOP throughout city government?
PREVIOUSLY: Now it's Gordon Quan's initials that may have been forged
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/21/06 09:57 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (13)
Meals on Wheels program struggles to meet demand
The Chronicle ran a troubling story last week on the difficulties that Houston's Meals On Wheels is facing:
Now, almost 4,000 elderly, homebound Houston-area residents receive free meals through Meals on Wheels programs sponsored by Interfaith Ministries, the YWCA of Houston and the Jewish Community Center. Free meals are also served at various sites across the city.The three agencies' waiting lists have steadily increased in the past few months, and because Interfaith Ministries delivers more meals (3,000) than the other agencies, its waiting list has seen the most growth. In the past six months, 50 residents have signed up each month, and 1,003 residents are waiting for service. The agency said increased awareness of the program and more referrals from health care providers are driving the surge in demand.
The agency must raise more than $1 million to cover costs and accommodate the additional 1,000 clients, said David Roberts, director of Interfaith's senior nutrition services.
In south Houston's Sunnyside neighborhood, about 200 people are on the YWCA's waiting list. The agency serves 610 elderly residents.
"Times are bad," said Rhonda Thornton, director of senior services.
In southwest Houston, the Jewish Community Center's 75 volunteers deliver free meals to 330 residents during the week, said Jerry Wische, the center's director. About 50 people are awaiting the service, he said.
Those on waiting lists sometimes are added to service rolls when a client dies, moves away or no longer needs service. Others are added when a new route opens up. Still, agency leaders said they are mindful of how long elderly residents are on the lists.
Interfaith Ministries' goal of serving all of those on its waiting list poses real financial obstacles.
"Once you ratchet up to feed another 1,000 people, you're going to have to feed those people. It's not a one time deal," the Jewish Community Center's Wische said. "It becomes a base increase."
The Meals on Wheels agencies receive funding from the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, United Way, area churches, businesses and private donations.
In the past few years, Harris County Area Agency on Aging figures show slight decreases in funding for meal-delivery agencies. Interfaith Ministries receives about $2.5 million each year from the agency on aging, covering about 60 percent of its $3.9 million annual budget, Roberts said.
Each meal costs $5, and the annual cost per client is $1,200.
Strangely, the Chronicle (good corporate citizen that it is *ahem*) omitted any information on how generous Houstonians might donate to the Meal on Wheels program. Here is the Meals on Wheels donation page for Interfaith Ministries.
UPDATE: KTRK-13 reports that Mayor White is trying to raise awareness of the program. Their reporting also contains the link provided above.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/21/06 08:30 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
20 March 2006
City Council topics: Parking Commission members and renaming a park
This week's city council agenda has a couple of interesting items.
First, Mayor White's recommendations for the city's new Parking Commission:
3. REQUEST from Mayor for confirmation of the appointment of the following to the PUBLIC PARKING COMMISSION:
Position Six - MR. ROBERT EURY, as an ex-officio representative of the City’s Municipal Management Districts
Position Seven - MR. GERARD TORRES, for a term to expire 12/31/2006
Position Eight - MR. MARCUS L. DAVIS, for a term to expire 12/31/2007
Position Nine - MR. M. MARVIN KATZ, and to serve as Chair, for a term to expire 12/31/2006
Position Ten - MS. MICHELLE LYNN COLVARD, for a term to expire 12/31/2007
Position Eleven - MR. JOE R. MARTIN, for a term to expire 12/31/2006
Position Twelve - MR. ANDREW F. ICKEN, for a term to expire 12/31/2007
Position Thirteen - MS. EVALYN LAING KRUDY, for a term to expire 12/31/2006
Position Fourteen - MR. CHARLES D. REEDSTROM, for a term to expire 12/31/2007
Position Fifteen - MS. MARY JO (JODY) MCFADDEN, for a term to expire 12/31/2006
There are definitely some Houston Cocktail Party Circuit names on that list. Thanks to Tom Bazan for the heads up and no thanks to our local media for their coverage. Talk about dropping the ball! A whole new quasi-governmental agency is getting underway and our local newshounds can't be bothered to tell us who will be doing the decision-making (as unelected officials). So much for our watchdog media that keeps the public's right to know at the forefront. Mayor White must be pleased.
Second is this fun one, courtesy of bH commenter Vernon Guy:
5. RECOMMENDATION from Director Parks & Recreation Department to change the name of WEST LITTLE YORK PARK, located at 2800 West Little York to SYLVESTER TURNER PARK DISTRICT A - LAWRENCE
I guess we now know what some of those Tour de Houston funds will go to -- new park signage.
UPDATE: Ubu Roi does some Googling on the soon-to-be Parking Commission members.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/20/06 05:34 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (14)
Bonusgate documents
Isiah Carey has posted copies of a couple of Bonusgate documents. Go check them out.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/20/06 05:05 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (9)
Motorists complain about Spur 527 ramp; TXDOT spins
One component of the Spur 527 reconstruction has now opened, and motorists are already complaining to the Chronicle's Rad Sallee about the poor design:
The news is better on Spur 527, which links the southwest side of downtown with the Southwest Freeway. Its outbound lanes reopened last week after being closed since February 2004 for rebuilding. And by the end of the month, the inbound lanes should be open too, TxDOT said.
Not everyone is pleased with the result, however. Patti Roth writes that the outbound entrance ramp to the rebuilt spur from Milam and Richmond is "so short it's nearly impossible to merge on."
"Not only that, you're coming up to the spur and it's coming down to meet the ramp, so there is no way to see anyone as you're merging," she said.
Stu MacPherson has a similar warning. "I used the new on-ramp to U.S. 59 South at Milam and Alabama for the first time Monday afternoon and nearly lost my life!" he wrote.
"The ramp spills out onto the main spur ... with absolutely no merge lane and zero visibility of the traffic already on the spur. Had I been 1 second later, the Suburban doing 70 mph in my (our) lane would have obliterated me," he said.
Sallee's correspondents are right. I stopped using the lane after one use, and now go out of my way to enter the Spur from Smith, because the Milam entrance ramp to the spur is effectively a suicide merge. There is simply no excuse for TXDOT to have done such a poor job with that ramp.
Of course, that doesn't stop TXDOT's designated apologist from spinning:
TxDOT spokeswoman Janelle Gbur said she believes both readers are talking about the same ramp, which comes off Milam between Alabama and Richmond, and she acknowledged it is a tight merge.
TxDOT will monitor the site for problems and verify that it complies with required design standards, Gbur said. "But it is not our practice to start piling on modifications within a couple of days after opening a new facility," she said.
Gbur added that project engineer Quincy Allen inspected the ramp and agreed that because the spur has been raised about 9 feet and has higher guardrails than before, it lacks the visibility that drivers are used to on entrance ramps.
Gbur disagreed that there is no merge lane. She said a "reasonable" distance is allowed for entering traffic to merge."But because of the limited visibility, motorists may feel they have no time at all," she said.
Translation: Until someone dies, we're really not that concerned with what mere motorists think of our edifice, and we'll continue to put forth our version of reality, where limited visibility and a suicide merge are "reasonable."
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/20/06 12:46 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (19)
19 March 2006
Second annual Tour de Houston
Saturday was Tour de Houston bike ride day:
Among the roughly 2,500 participants was one cyclist diligently leading the crusade of inspiring Houstonians to ramp up their level of activity via marathons or bicycle rides.
"I just want to let people know that keeping fit can be fun. It's not like any big sacrifice," said Major Bill White, an avid cyclist. "Leadership is about setting a good example."
White has doggedly tried to encourage Houstonians to seek fitness. He was joined Saturday morning by Houston Councilwoman Carol Alvarado and another cycling enthusiast.
"I fought obesity most of my life, and I suspect that I'll continue that battle," said District 13 State Senator Rodney Ellis. "From liquid solutions to diet pills, finally I matured enough to get an exercise program and a nutritionist to help me learn how to eat.
Proceeds from the Tour will benefit the Houston Parks and Recreation Department.
I'm disappointed. The story doesn't mention Houston bicyclist Bob Stein.
As for the proceeds, let's hope Councilwoman Alvarado won't be overseeing those funds as they make their way to Parks and Rec.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/19/06 09:42 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (5)
Metro's new PR campaign
Metro has decided to go on offense and Rad Sallee has the details:
Metro's board heard a staff report Thursday on the agency's new "Communication, Education and Awareness Plan," days before a crucial public meeting on a proposed University light rail line.
CEAP. Hmmm. Metro should get with Chief Hurtt for a better acronym.
President and CEO Frank Wilson added, "We need to do status reports and updates, so people will know where we are." He said there is "extreme interest from the community" about Metro's plans — particularly for the University line — along with "a lot of misinformation and a lot of fear."
[snip]
Karen Marshall, Metro director of community outreach and government affairs, said the increased public information efforts include ads in news media and an enhanced Web site.
[snip]
Metro's enhanced Web page includes a link to an article in Houston Intown Magazine headlined "Why the Richmond Rail Line Makes Sense," by planner and "smart growth" advocate David Crossley.
Wilson said the page will also include testimonials from business people who weathered the years of light rail construction on Main Street and are now benefiting from the line.
Asked if it would only post material favorable to Metro's plans, Wilson said he would post anything "pertinent and germane."
"It's an open forum," he said. "I can learn something from a criticism as well as I can a compliment."
Asked about using tax dollars to advertise its programs, he said, "We're not advertising the program. We're providing information."
Oh right! Just some info. If Metro really wants to provide information, it would start posting all Danger Train crash details on its website. You know, the details Tom Bazan has to do an open records request to get. (Funny how the Chronicle didn't make that a part of its Sunshine Week coverage.)
We won't hold our breath for any links to criticism.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/19/06 08:45 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (2)
The ongoing quest for a "world-class" downtown destination
The Chronicle's Alexis Grant plays up the City of Houston's latest effort to create a "world-class" downtown destination:
With a new wireless network, contemporary furniture and a cafe, the renovated downtown library could become a weekend destination for fun, relaxation and, of course, research.
That's the hope of John Middleton, who's coordinating the renovation of the Central Library's Jesse H. Jones Building, which is scheduled to start next month. It's planned to be completed by the end of 2007.
Why can't we just renovate the library with the goal of building the best darn library that we can reasonably afford?
Why must the inferiority complex of so many members of the downtown establishment always lead to these grandiose expectations (okay, I guess I built the answer into the question)? Why can't the renovation just be a renovation, and not the creation of a weekend destination for fun and relaxation?!
Of course, some members of the "world class" crowd aren't buying what is being sold:
Architectural writer Barrie Scardino said the city should build a new downtown library instead of revamping the old one.
"It's a good building, it's just not a good library for today's needs," Scardino said. "Why spend the money to make this building work when (building a new one) is probably inevitable anyway?"
Houston should have a library that rivals that of Seattle, Scardino said. Seattle's $165 million, 11-story glass-and-steel building is revered by architecture experts.
Middleton, however, said a new library likely won't be built in the next few years. A Seattle-like investment in the downtown library would not make sense in Houston, he said, because the city's sprawl prevents large numbers of people from using it. Most people use their local branch instead, he said.
"The difference in justifying a huge Central Library is we don't have a huge central population," he said. "When half of the population would have to drive 25 miles to get here or 30 or 40 miles or more, it's not the same dynamic."
In other words, even an architectural marvel like Seattle's "world-class" library wouldn't create a downtown destination in Houston, an admission that contradicts Grant's pronouncement at the beginning of the story.
I guess that's balance, Chron-style.
PREVIOUSLY: Downtown library to close for renovation.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/19/06 05:29 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (10)
18 March 2006
Schiavo gives Chron editors difficulty
In a staff editorial, the Chronicle's editorial LiveJournalists apparently got so excited about former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's warnings about the coming American dictatorship that they wrote the following:
O'Connor then singled out by deed, though not by name, two Texas politicians for their verbal attacks upon the court for doing its job. Last year, criticizing federal and state court rulings that allowed Terry Schiavo's vegetative state to end in death, then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said, "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior."
Who is Terry Schiavo?
Do they mean the late Terri Schiavo?
That wasn't the only bungled reference to Schiavo in recent Chronicle editions. The news section managed to "edit" a reprint of an article by the Washington Post's Charles Lane to introduce the same error Friday. Lane's column in yesterday's Post ran just over 800 words, and included the following reference (roughly one-third of the way through):
Some conservatives are still fuming over the federal courts' refusal to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case last year.
The Chronicle chopped Lane's column to roughly 260 words, and the Chron.com version concluded as follows:
Some conservatives are still fuming over the federal courts' refusal to intervene in the Terry Schiavo case last year.
That's just really poorly done.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/18/06 10:54 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
17 March 2006
West U. supports Metro's Richmond rail line
The West U. City Council has told Richmond-line opponents that it does not intend to fight Metro's new planned route:
State Rep. Martha Wong, R-District 134, and a small contingent of business owners and stakeholders trying to stop Metro from placing its University Line project along Richmond Avenue appeared before the council to gauge the city's interest in joining them in their effort to route the line on Westpark.
But council members said running the new line along Richmond would prove more beneficial to West U., as well as to people who would use the line to get to the Galleria and Greenway Plaza, the two major employment centers along its route.
[snip]
Wong said the initial referendum called for the Westpark line to serve both Bellaire and West University Place, but Councilman Mike Woods said having the line run along Richmond makes more sense for the city.
"I don't think it's as appropriate for accessing major employment centers as it is on Richmond, which is what makes light rail successful," Woods said. "There are some very good reasons for it going down Richmond. Greenway Plaza and the Galleria are better served than they would be on Westpark."
Said councilman Dick Yehle, "My definition of a successful line is one that goes where I need to go. The line needs to go to places that people would otherwise drive to and for this line, that's the Galleria and Greenway Plaza."
If it was so obvious that the line needed to go down Richmond, why did Metro choose Westpark for the referendum?
Wong said residents who live and work along Richmond are overwhelmingly in favor of having the line run along Westpark.
But West U. Mayor Burt Ballanfant said it's for the same reasons those residents are worried — the hassle and negative effects on business that will come with construction of the line — that most West U. residents would want to keep it off Westpark.
"I think Metro learned from Main Street that they were very insensitive to businesses during construction," Ballanfant said. "In the long run, it may be good for businesses, but I think owners here would be worried about the construction process if the line were to go along Westpark."
In related news, a town hall meeting will be held Monday evening to discuss Metro's proposed rail routes. Expected to attend are Councilwomen Anne Clutterbuck, Ada Edwards and Pam Holm; Rep. John Culberson; Mayor White; and Metro's Frank Wilson.
BLOGVERSATION: Off the Kuff.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/17/06 08:55 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (8)
New giraffe at the Houston Zoo
The Houston Zoo is welcoming a new resident: an adorable baby giraffe:
The male giraffe was 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighed 102 pounds at birth on Wednesday, zoo officials said.
A contest will be held to name the Masai giraffe, whose father is named Kiva and mother is Noel, officials said. Both parents are 10 years old.
"He has been on exhibit since his birth, but we had kind of kept the public at a distance until today, to give mom and baby a little peace and quiet and a little opportunity to get to know each other," zoo spokesman Brian Hill told The Associated Press.
The calf was born at approximately 9:40 a.m. Wednesday and stood about two hours after birth.
Be sure to check out the pictures with the AP story. Chronicle photographer; AP story. Sigh.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/17/06 08:34 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (2)
Computers, Blackberry devices seized from Alvarado council office
KHOU-11 reports that computers and Blackberry communicators have been seized from Carol Alvarado's district council office:
With subpoenas in hand, officials with the Harris County District Attorney's office removed at least six computers and six Blackberrys from Councilwoman Carol Alvarado's district council office Friday afternoon.This marks a change in the investigation because prior to Friday, the focus had been Alvarado's mayor pro tem office, not her council office. The D.A.'s general investigation into the pro tem's office is broader than the previous Office of Inspector General review and includes current and even previous mayor pro tem office procedures.
Assistant Chief Mike Dirden who is also the inspector general said the search was initiated because the grand jury wanted more information. "We're not looking for anything specific, we're responding to a request from the grand jury."
Carol Alvarado's spokesman Joe Householder said the councilwoman expected the computer seizure.
With regard to the second bolded excerpt -- maybe Alvarado's hiring of one of the best defense attorneys in the city was an indicator? Just a thought.
KHOU also reports that all four employees fired from the Mayor Pro Tem's office have appealed their firings, which will provide a nice test case for our ongoing quest to find any fireable offense at the City of Houston.
ADDITIONAL COVERAGE: KPRC-2, Chronicle.
BLOGVERSATION: Off the Kuff,
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/17/06 06:19 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)
The process of sunshine in government
The Chronicle's Lisa Viator writes an interesting story today, about how an entity -- in this case HISD -- handles open records requests:
"The public information request process is a valuable way to disseminate information, and also takes an enormous amount of time and resources," district spokesperson Terry Abbott said. "But at any time and for anybody who makes a request, it is incumbent on us to go and find that information."
Such was the case when the Houston Chronicle made a public records request last month for Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra's salary and compensation information. It was made as part of a survey of school superintendent salaries in conjunction with Sunshine Week, a national program that underscores the importance of open public records.
That's odd. Why wouldn't this story say what an earlier editorial said: that the requests were filed by students on behalf of the Chronicle?
The request was one of hundreds the district receives each year.
Abbott said it wouldn't be an exaggeration to calculate in the thousands the number of hours spent investigating public information requests. Understandably, periods of information request influx tend to coincide with network television sweeps in February, May and November each year, he said.
And HISD is routinely a target during sweeps.
According to district records, during the 2004-05 school year — the latest on which district number crunchers have firm statistics — 870 public information requests were filed.
The general public tallied first in those, filing in person or asking via e-mail or fax for 671 open records requests.
Houston media outlets were the second most requesting entities, filing 92 requests; education unions made 68 requests and the remaining 39 requests were spread out among schools, non-Houston media, government, military as well as one lone request categorized as other organizations.
Now, if we could just get local media to use the open records request process to look at Metro, City Hall, HPD, the Sports Authority, the Parking Authority...
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/17/06 06:17 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (1)
Now it's Gordon Quan's initials that may have been forged (updated)
Local media keeps digging and this time it's the Chron's Matt Stiles who has the latest twist in the scandal at the Mayor Pro Tem's office:
Another memo found in the City Hall office where employees received improper bonuses appears forged — this one bearing the initials of former City Councilman Gordon Quan.
The document to the Office of Mayor Pro Tem, which purportedly authorizes spending $2,500 for a newsletter, contains initials that Quan and Alice Lee, his former office manager, say are forged.
"It's clearly not my handwriting," Quan said Thursday.
"It wasn't really even close to my initials," he said later.
[snip]
The document with Quan's initials is dated December 2005 and appears to request that his council office be charged the cost of a newsletter to commemorate the end of his six-year council term. The memo refers to Quan as mayor pro tem, a post he left more than two years prior. It also bears a scrawled "GQ" that is different than other memos with Quan's initials that the Houston Chronicle has obtained since the pro tem bonuses were revealed Feb. 15.
[snip]
At the end of his council term, Quan said, he told pro tem employees he wanted to use surplus money from his council budget to pay for the cost of printing a final newsletter. After he had the work done, he said, pro tem employees rejected an invoice in January, saying it was too late for the transaction. So, Quan said he had to pay for the cost from his campaign funds.
But the pro tem office got credited as though it had paid for the $2,500 charge, according to budget documents previously obtained by the Chronicle. That and the disputed initials raise questions about where the money actually went, he said.
What in the heck was going on in that office? It seems that forging initials, shuffling money, and lying were just part of the daily routine.
UPDATE: And now the DA's office has seized computers and Blackberrys from Councilwoman Alvarado's council office:
This marks a change in the investigation because prior to this the focus had always been Alvarado's mayor pro tem office, not her council office.
The D.A.'s office considers the equipment to be potential evidence in the broader investigation into the procedures of the mayor pro tem's office.
BLOGVERSATION: Houblog, Isolated Desolation.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/17/06 05:53 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)
16 March 2006
KPRC: DA bonusgate investigation to start from scratch
KPRC-2 reports that the Harris County District Attorney's office will be starting over with the investigation of financial irregularities in the Mayor Pro Tem's office:
The Harris County district attorney said the investigation into the City Hall bonus scandal would have to start all over again, KPRC Local 2 reported Wednesday.
The Office of the Investigator General conducted the initial investigation into the improper bonuses that four employees of the Mayor Pro Tem's Office received.
District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said the investigation his office's investigation into the incident will start from the beginning since the OIG's investigation was not as beefed up as it could have been.
"They didn't do a criminal investigation so we're basically going to have to start from scratch. They can't investigate elected officials, but there are people with (the Houston Police Department) that are able to do that," Rosenthal said.
Rosenthal said his office would investigate every city office and employee, elected or appointed.
More and more, the OIG investigation seems simply to have provided political cover for the administration, perhaps with the hope that the issue would die for lack of public and/or media interest. Clearly, that didn't happen, and a more thorough investigation will now take place.
UPDATE: KHOU-11's Doug Miller also reported on the investigation last night. The travel of former Councilmember Orlando Sanchez may be drawing attention, according to Miller.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/16/06 10:10 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (5)
Editorial LiveJournalists praise... Rosenthal?
Yesterday, the Chronicle reported that Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal would honor a request from the Innocence Project to review 45 HPD crime lab cases that an independent investigator deemed troubling:
Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said Tuesday that he has pledged to cooperate with lawyers who will study 18 cases involving serology tests and 27 involving DNA, all of which an independent investigator identified in January as having "major issues."
Barry Scheck, a founder of the New York-based Innocence Project, and his counterparts in Texas contacted Rosenthal about their desire to review the cases after the January release of the latest report from special investigator Michael Bromwich.
[snip]
Rosenthal said he will not oppose efforts by the Innocence Project to have DNA testing conducted in questionable cases.
He added that he will give lawyers access to his files in the cases and provide a representative from his office to help go through them.
"I told him we'd be glad to do that," Rosenthal said.
We wondered what the response of the Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists would be to this news, since they (and Rick Casey) have unfairly smeared Rosenthal in the past. Surprisingly, the Editorial LiveJournalists had praise for Rosenthal today:
Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal is equally forthright in welcoming Scheck's offer and pledging complete cooperation.
That doesn't make up for past unfair treatment of Rosenthal (on the crime lab issue even!), but it's a start. It also demonstrates that the Editorial LiveJournalists CAN write an editorial based on news that appeared the day before, and seemingly get it right. That isn't always the case. It's worth noting these baby steps.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/16/06 08:19 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Metro Board Meetings today
It's Metro Board Meeting Thursday. The Future Programs Committee Meeting looks as if it has a full agenda of future-type stuff (related to new rail lines?), and the Operations Committee Meeting will include discussion of getting rid of "surplus" trolleys for at least $50,000 each. Anyone want one? Metro should say they are Certified Pre-Owned trolleys, so Metro can get more money for them.
PREVIOUSLY: The end of the downtown trolleys, Lucas Wall-style
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/16/06 05:51 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
15 March 2006
More problems with HEC and HPD response times (updated)
As Anne Linehan noted earlier, Chief Hurtt gave himself a nice pat on the back at a press conference earlier today. He was congratulating himself because the manpower supplied by temporary overtime expenditures seems to have dampened the city's recent surge in violent crime.
Maybe he should hold a press conference tomorrow to address this KTRK-13 reporting:
A family's home was under assault. And while their frantic calls for help were answered, that help didn't arrive for hours. And now, our questions are sparking an official investigation.We wanted to find out why it took so long for police to arrive when a man was trying to beat his way through their front door. All the while, the victims were making repeated calls for help. We found out there's no good answer.
The Houston Police Department says its officers did exactly what they're supposed to do, but 911 calls go to dispatchers first. That is where officials believe the calls may have been mishandled.
Incessant pounding and ringing at the front door; the terrifying noise kept Britney Keyworth, her grandmother, and aunt on edge for hours. It came from an angry strange man who wanted inside.
"We were scared," said Britney. "We were afraid he was going to get in, but they never showed."
The police showed up, but not until at least an hour after the family began calling 911.
[snip]
Five frantic calls were handled by dispatchers at the Houston Emergency Center, known as HEC. Dispatchers gave the calls a medium priority level designation, called code three. The Houston Police Department believes the calls needed more immediate attention.
"It was obviously a situation that required someone to, a police officer, to respond as quickly as possible," said Lt. Robert Manzo with the Houston Police Department. "Unfortunately, the Houston communications employee who took this call assigned it priority three."
Since Eyewitness News started asking questions, HEC administrators are re-evaluating the case.
"We have initiated an investigation because we feel there were some discrepancies that we have encountered, but right now we're in the initial steps of the investigation," said Joe Laud with the Houston Emergency Center.
Well, it's good they're in the initial steps of the investigation they initiated after some bad press. Maybe they'll get back to us in three months to let us know what went wrong.
Or perhaps Mayor White could put aside his precious downtown wifi internet bubble for just a little while, and Chief Hurtt could put aside his precious Fear Reduction Initiative, and the two of them could focus some attention on why we continue to have problems with the HEC, and HPD continues to have problems with response times.
Houblog has more.
UPDATE (03-16-2006): KHOU-11 also ran a story on HEC/HPD response times last night. Here's an excerpt:
The 11 News Defenders have exposed possible trouble with emergency calls for help, discovering thousands of 911 callers might not be getting an answer.
When you need the help of 911, you need it right now, not later.
But that's what we found, tens of thousands of cases in which emergency operators didn't answer when they were supposed to.
What's more, the city isn't doing much about it.
[snip]
11 News Defenders: "So in other words, year after year goes by, and tens of thousands of calls are over 20 seconds to answer, and nobody knows anything about them?"
[HEC Director David] Cutler: "Correct."
11 News Defenders: "And life goes on?"
Cutler: "Yes."
And when we asked the city for the information? We were shocked by this: An estimate of charges for $458,000.
The city's legal department said it would take 158 months -- 13 years --because the city claims the only way to do it is to print out a million records page by page.
Houblog also has more on this astounding story.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/15/06 11:45 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (14)
Osteen nails multimillion-dollar book deal
The Chronicle ran a New York Times story on local pastor Joel Osteen's big new book deal today:
Multimillion-dollar book deals are usually the realm of presidents, popes and Federal Reserve chairmen, plus the occasional best-selling novelist such as Michael Crichton.
Add to that list Joel Osteen, the pastor of Houston's Lakewood Church, one of the nation's largest congregations, and the author of Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential.
Osteen has signed a book deal with Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, that publishing insiders say is potentially one of the richest for a nonfiction book and could bring the author more than $10 million.
How sad that the Chronicle didn't manage to cover this story with local reporters.
What a whopping deal for Osteen. The preaching of self-help and self-fulfillment is big business.
BLOGVERSATION: Isolated Desolation, Custos Fidei, Faith Based Blog.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/15/06 11:09 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (15)
TSU regents call emergency meeting to discuss Slade (updated)
KPRC-2 reports that an emergency meeting will be held by the regents of Texas Southern University Thursday to discuss the future of President Priscilla Slade:
The Texas Southern University's Board of Regents will hold the emergency meeting at 10 a.m.
Sources told KPRC Local 2 that the board will discuss Slade's employment status with the university and that the majority of the board has lost confidence in her leadership.
Sources told KPRC that regents would likely give Slade notice of termination. The other options include suspension or taking no action.
It was helpful of KPRC to clear up those options for any imbeciles who might have been following the story.
UPDATE (03-16-2006): The Chronicle reports that Slade has been suspended indefinitely:
TSU's board of regents suspended President Priscilla Slade indefinitely tonight after spending 10 hours discussing her questionable use of university money on her new home.
KPRC-2 reports that Slade will take a paid leave during the ongoing investigation, and that the vice president of business (who passed personal hot checks in the past) has been fired:
President Priscilla Slade will take a voluntary, paid leave of absence pending the outcome of the investigation by an independent audit.
[snip]
The regents decided the employment status of TSU vice president of business, Quentin Wiggins. He has been fired after being suspended for authorizing payment of Slade's expenses.
UPDATE (03-17-2006): Today's Chronicle story provides more details.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/15/06 10:55 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chief Hurtt press conference: no mention of illegal immigrant shootout?
Chief Hurtt held a press conference this morning and according to KTRK-13's report, the chief is optimistic that Houston's crime problem has peaked:
The police chief says he's been able to achieve some success, including arresting over 1,800 people on various charges, including misdemeanors and felonies over the last couple of months. Hurtt also talked about the ongoing effort to address hotspots, specifically in apartment complexes, which has resulted in an increased number of charges being filed in the district attorney's office.
Crime in itself is still up a little bit according the chief. So far this year, the Houston area has had 72 murders. That's seven murders ahead of this time last year. Still, Chief Hurtt says a lot of the incentives and plans he has put in place are slowly but surely taking an affect.
"We're able to put equipments and another 200 officers on the street from the overtime program, the one that we started in December and the one in January, for a total of about $10 million," said Chief Hurtt. "As well, we started, remember we already got 70 officers out of the jail. So we've got more people working night. We are focusing on specific areas where there's a higher rate of criminal activity and where we believe the criminals live and congregate."
Chief Hurtt says he's now adding an additional 20 officers to the southwest Houston area. In addition, particularly in all hotspots throughout the city, he's adding officers when he has them available. He expects to ask for additional police cadet classes as well -- as many as seven or eight cadet classes next fiscal year. That begins in July of 2006.
If he mentioned that wild shootout yesterday, between rival illegal immigrant smugglers, it wasn't included in this story. Will the chief now concede that the city's unofficial official sanctuary policy needs to end? Will the city now stop funding day labor sites? Must Houston's neighborhoods become war zones due to illegal immigration, all so we can be tolerant and inclusive?
It's outrageous. And it's (apparently) ignored by Chief Hurtt.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/15/06 08:29 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
Free Starbucks coffee!
Want a free cup of Starbucks coffee? This morning from 10 am to 12 noon, Starbucks is giving it away. Not the fancy coffee drinks, though. Just a regular cup of joe.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS (7:15 AM): My favorite baristas at the Starbucks at Shepherd/Greenbriar (by the 59 Diner) were giving away coffee at 7 o'clock this morning, so other Houston-area Starbucks stores might already be doing it as well.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/15/06 05:57 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
14 March 2006
Nothing like that Chron firewall between opinion and reporting
That impregnable Chronicle firewall between opinion and reporting was on display in a death-penalty story today:
Nearly four months after Bexar County prosecutors promised to vigorously reinvestigate the questionable execution of Ruben Cantu, they have yet to obtain full statements from the three witnesses who claim he was innocent.
Just because the execution of Cantu is questioned by anti-death-penalty advocates and crusading Chronicle journalists does not mean that they have yet proven that the execution was questionable. Indeed, that would be the point of carrying out the investigation they have been urging.
Opinion frequently is substituted for straight reporting at the Chronicle when it comes to the death penalty. This is but one of many examples, unfortunately.
PREVIOUSLY: Chron pushes death-penalty case hard in leadup to Thanksgiving, A busy death-penalty week for the Chronicle.
GREATEST HITS: Chron eye for the death row killer guy.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/14/06 11:01 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (9)
Investigators seize more documents from Mayor Pro Tem's office (updated)
For the second time Tuesday, investigators from the district attorney's office took documents from former Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado's office.
In their second trip, they took one box from the office.
Officials would not comment on what kind of documents were in the box.
Earlier Tuesday, a source told 11 News five or six investigators took about five filing cabinets' worth of documents from the office.
KTRH-740 is reporting that the DA's office is looking for more than just Bonusgate information. District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said his office is looking for evidence that "city officials and not necessarily elected officials" may have used the Mayor Pro Tem's office to run expenses through that they didn't want showing up in their own offices' expenses. (I'm going off memory here, but that was the basic gist of what the KTRH report said.)
UPDATE: KTRK-13's story carries even more details:
On Tuesday morning, a truck full of boxes containing documents were removed from the mayor pro tem's office. Rosenthal apparently got a tip on Monday night that if he didn't remove the boxes by Tuesday, they would disappear.
"There have been allegations made over the years that that office has also been used by some city officials to use their budget to do some things that officials didn't want to do on their own budget," said Rosenthal.
[snip]
We asked Rosenthal to give us an example of what he might look into. He says over the years, he's heard rumors that perhaps an elected official would want to take a trip that wouldn't appear proper going through that person's budget. Rosenthal says he's heard that the official would funnel the trip through the mayor pro tem's budget.
He says he's heard those allegations for years, but never had an opportunity to investigate. Now he has that opportunity. Rosenthal says he plans to look back as far as the statute of limitations allows, which could stretch back to the Lee Brown administration.
Wow!
KEVIN WHITED ADDS (10:40 pm): Charles Kuffner points out in the comments that the linked KTRK story has changed, and is now different from the excerpt reproduced above. That's really annoying when that happens.
KHOU-11 reports the following:
The DA's investigators came without warning, armed with a letter making a request from the embattled mayor pro tem's office.
They wanted documents, lots of documents.
The file cabinets are now empty at the mayor pro tem's office.
There were thousands of pages seized Tuesday.
"They pretty much took everything," said Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal.
That's because Rosenthal says his investigation is moving well beyond the four city employees fired in the "bonus scandal".
Rosenthal confirmed they were talking about multiple city departments and multiple elected officials being affected.
The investigation's speed picked up Monday evening after a phone call to the DA from a person he said he trusts.
"It was his contention that there may be documents in the file cabinets in the mayor pro tem's office that would disappear," Rosenthal said.
KPRC-2 runs a similar report.
Hang on folks. This could get much more interesting.
UPDATE (03-15-2006): KRIV-26 reporter Isiah Carey posts to his blog (here and here) some comments from and about Harris Country District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal that didn't show up in the MSM accounts linked above.
BLOGVERSATION: Houblog, More Houblog, Off the Kuff, Isolated Desolation, Lone Star Times.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/14/06 03:59 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (21)
City of Houston Department of GLBT Travel
That's what we need, apparently:
Houston hosts one of the biggest and best gay pride parades in the county, while Dallas' parade pales in comparison. Yet, Big D recently made headlines by creating a direct link to gay travel on the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau Web site.
"Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender travelers spend $65 billion a year on travel and we want to make sure Dallas positions itself to take advantage of that," said Dallas CVB chief executive officer Phillip Jones.
When viewers visit Dallas' Web site and click on the Diverse Dallas button, the site shows pictured icon groups that spotlight segmented communities of the city's population, including the African-American, Asian and Hispanic communities. The Web site now includes a link to the GLBT community.
The Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau Web site doesn't have anything similar.
Get ready for Mayor White to spring into action.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/14/06 03:21 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (8)
13 March 2006
DA's office investigating TSU spending scandal
The Chronicle's Matthew Tresaugue continues to keep an eye on the spending scandal at Texas Southern University. Last week, he reported:
While Texas Southern University's inquiry into the personal expenses of President Priscilla Slade nears an end, local prosecutors are questioning board members about Slade's use of school money on her private residence.
This week, William E. King became the third TSU regent to meet with the Harris County District Attorney's Office, following board Chairman J. Paul Johnson and George Williams.
Slade, meanwhile, explained her spending for the first time to Bracewell & Giuliani, the law firm conducting the university's investigation into her expenses.
The concurrent inquiries could determine if Slade keeps the job she has held for seven years or faces criminal charges.
The board of regents may meet as soon as next week to discuss their investigation's results and decide how to proceed with Slade, while the criminal investigation could take several months.
[snip]
The nine-member board, which is made up of lawyers, executives and religious and financial leaders, curtailed Slade's spending authority on an unanimous vote last month, pending Bracewell & Giuliani's investigation.
The regents also suspended Quintin F. Wiggins, the chief financial officer, who is under prosecutors' scrutiny. Records show Wiggins has been convicted nine times on misdemeanor charges of writing bad checks. The job application he filed with TSU only asked about felony convictions.
In a truly just world, a university president would be dismissed simply for employing a chief financial officer with a record of passing hot checks. But academia is not the real world, so the chief financial officer will probably be reinstated with back pay once the controversy dies down.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/13/06 10:22 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
Bridging the digital divide, Grant/White style!
Last week, the Chronicle's Alexis Grant ran a story on Mayor White's plan to get private companies to build a downtown wireless internet bubble that could eventually be expanded to cover the whole city.
Grant stresses that taxpayers won't be footing the bill, which is good news. But then she sells the mayor's plan (instead of merely reporting on it) as follows:
The project could help Houston bridge the digital divide between Internet haves and have-nots.
There may be benefits to the city of getting a private firm to build it a wireless network downtown, but bridging the "digital divide?" That's a bit over the top.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/13/06 10:13 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
City of Houston Parking Management website
The City of Houston's new Parking Authority now has a dedicated website. It includes FAQ's, parking tips and a section on how to resolve tickets.
Unlike other cities' parking authorities, this site does not include a section on how the new quasi-governmental agency is set up, who is on the board, how the board is chosen, whether or not it has the power of eminent domain, bond-issuance, and debt management.
In the interest of transparent government, surely the city will add all this information -- very soon.
PREVIOUSLY: Most of the Parking Commission members have been chosen
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/13/06 07:21 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
Are you in the market for a parking garage?
The Fannin Street Garage at 1112 Clay Street is for sale. PowerPoint display and relevant links are here.
Happy bidding!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/13/06 01:02 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Culberson: NASA's 2007 budget "devastates" scientific research
SciGuy Eric Berger posts on NASA's 2007 budget cuts for scientific research, and Rep. John Culberson's concern about the cuts. Rep. Culberson's letter provides a road map for how funding can be restored and points out that he spearheaded Congressional legislation directing NASA specifically to start the Europa mission. Not only did NASA ignore Congress, but NASA cancelled the mission.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/13/06 10:57 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
Metro's effort to reduce light rail accidents
Metro is trying to reduce accidents at two locations along the Danger Train route by installing flashing red lights. Rad Sallee has the details in today's Move It! column.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/13/06 10:25 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (12)
Chron bolsters its research department
By using student labor:
This year, Texas newspapers and schools have joined the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas in encouraging open-records research for students. The Chronicle has asked students at 32 area school districts to research salaries and contract information of their superintendents. All the districts replied within the specified time frame, and their results will be published in the Chronicle's City and State section this Wednesday.
Were the students compensated? If so, was it more than minimum wage? What about health benefits? Paid holidays? Generous retirement benefits? Union representation?
RELATED: Brain drain at the Houston Chronicle? (The Brazosport News)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/13/06 08:25 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (6)
12 March 2006
Food and drink roundup (03-12-2006 edition)
It's time for a Sunday night food and drink roundup. Let's get started, shall we?
Alison Cook hopes downtown's El Centro Restaurant sticks around for a while. She has also started an excellent new Chron blog called Cook's Tour. There is absolutely nothing wrong with getting to read more Alison.
Wine seems to be a theme lately. Robb Walsh tries Cova on Washington, raves about it, and readers get an excellent primer on allocated wines as a result.
Wine connoisseur and sommelier of Brenner's Steakhouse Kim Wallace sits down for a Q&A for the Chron.
For Dai Huynh, to decant or not to decant seems to be the question.
And for Peggy Grodinsky, to splurge or not to splurge on the wine in coq au vin seems to be the question. Ending our wine tour, she also reviews Houston's farmers markets.
Mary Vuong checks out the eatin's at this year's Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Where else can one get pizza on a stick, half-pound hot dogs, deep-fried candy bars, and of course funnel cake?
Ken Hoffman visits Baskin-Robbins for their new Happy Camper Waffle Cone Sundae, made with, what else, trail mix.
And Lance Scott Walker reviews cool-sounding Boaka Bar.
World Class, all of it. Enjoy!!
Posted by Callie Markantonis @ 03/12/06 10:28 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
City's credit rating outlook downgraded
dBusinessnews Austin reports that Houston's credit outlook has been downgraded:
Fitch assigns an 'AA-' rating to the $63.8 million taxable pension obligation bonds, series 2006A; $23.2 million public improvement refunding bonds, series 2006B; and $3.5 million certificates of obligation, series 2006C, of Houston, Texas. Additionally, Fitch affirms the 'AA-' rating on the city's $1.8 billion in general obligation bonds, $81.9 million in certificates of obligation, and $2.8 million in tax notes outstanding. The issues are scheduled for a negotiated sale through a group led by Morgan Stanley during the week of March 6. The Rating Outlook is revised to Negative from Stable.
The change in Rating Outlook to Negative reflects increased uncertainty in general fund operations in light of a summary judgment by a district court judge who upheld the enforceability of one of two revenue limitations measure recently approved by voters. Fitch typically views revenue limitations negatively given that they restrict financial maneuverability. The all-encompassing nature of one of the two propositions (Proposition 2) is cause for additional concern, and Fitch considers its possible implementation as a potential challenge to the city's credit quality, given ongoing and future spending pressures. The city does maintain several options regarding the limitations, and an outcome in the city's favor could result in a more stable credit profile.
[snip]
The two revenue limitations, also referred to as Proposition 1 and Proposition 2, were approved by voters in November 2004 and are scheduled to take effect in fiscal 2006. Proposition 1 is a city council initiative and targets only ad valorem tax revenue and water and sewer system revenues. Proposition 2, which is a citizen initiative, targets combined revenues of essentially all city operations and has the potential to more severely restrict revenue growth.
[snip]
Despite recently agreed upon program changes and funding commitments that have reduced the $1.8 billion unfunded actuarial accrued liability (UAAL) of the city's municipal employee pension system by an estimated one-half, that program and the police officers' and firefighters' pension plans all face potentially sizeable increases in UAAL over the near term. In addition, Fitch views the city's debt financing of a portion of the city's annual contribution to both the municipal and police pension systems as an indication of financial stress.
The White Administration bought itself some time with regard to the unfunded pension liabilities that it inherited, but as this reporting makes clear, the administration (or its eventual successor) still has some work left to do in shoring up those unfunded liabilities. The legacy of Lee Brown continues to affect Houston.
UPDATE: Mayor White took the opportunity to play politics with the downgrade, criticizing Proposition 2 in a press release. He neglected to comment on the unfunded liabilities in the pension funds, however.
BLOGVERSATION: Houblog.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/12/06 07:20 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)
Chron explains last week's embarrassing editorial
Chron Reader Rep. James Campbell has a column in today's Outlook section on that embarrassing editorial oops from last Sunday. He also wrote a blog post about it last week and the comments are quite illuminating.
We learn that the Outlook section is finalized on Friday night so it can be delivered on Saturday in the Sunday paper. Phew! That's rather dinosaur-ish.
We also learn that the editorial writer did NOT watch the videos (that were alongside the story), as the editorial implied. Instead Campbell says the Editorial LiveJournalist writer researched other news stories to come up with his/her editorial. Kinda funny, eh? A news person getting burned by bad reporting in other news outlets!
Those of us who watched the videos (that were alongside the story) could see that the AP's account of what was on the videos didn't accurately reflect what was on the videos.
It's also odd that the Editorial LiveJournalist writer didn't see fit to mention the subsequent AP story that had Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco telling President Bush that the levees had not been breached. That story was out well before the Friday-written editorial was put to bed. Some research!
And we learn that editorial page Editor James Howard Gibbons was on vacation and should not be held responsible for what happened. Er, except that we have seen plenty of instances where Chronicle editorials have called for President Bush to be held responsible for things that have been out of his control (especially when he's on vacation in Crawford!). Check out Sedosi for the latest example of that.
Toward the end of Campbell's column he writes:
A church/state separation exists between the editorial board and the newsroom. It probably never occurred to the copy desk editor to contact the editorial board or vice versa about the correction. Of course, this kind of territorial divide can make for some interesting and embarrassing blindsides, as was the case this time.
A church/state separation? Maybe it's time to knock down that (not in the Constitution) wall.
And:
We issued a correction of the editorial on Tuesday that read: "An editorial on Page E2 of Sunday's Chronicle repeated an error in an Associated Press story. A White House video showed President Bush being warned that floodwaters could flow over New Orleans' levees. He was not told the levees could be breached."
Ah yes. The teensy weensy correction box on the bottom of page 2. And the original editorial still doesn't note the correction.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/12/06 07:52 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (5)
11 March 2006
Chron's Mason interviewed in National Journal Hotline
The National Journal's Hotline just ran an interview with Chronicle White House correspondent Julie Mason.
The Hotline is subscriber-only, but here's a brief, fair-use excerpt of the interview:
What is your favorite book and why?
Confederacy of Dunces. Over the years, I have surreptitiously slipped one or two Confederacy references into newspaper stories, just little turns of phrase. And sometimes, when I am having a bad newspaper day, I silently invoke Ignatius J. Reilly's trenchant line, "My excellence confuses them." It's a great comfort to me and my valve.
Maybe Mason will post more of her answers on her new blog (they're her answers, so that surely wouldn't violate copyright).
Thanks to Evan for the heads up on the interview.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/11/06 10:51 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (8)
Covering the news important to journalists
Today, the Chronicle is back to pushing its favorite special-interest legislation (of course they don't call it that -- special interests are things that other groups want but that the Chronicle executive editorial leadership opposes).
The news pages inform readers that Texas media organizations will again be pushing for a journalist shield law in the next legislative session.
And the editorial page runs an op-ed pushing for a journalist shield law in the next legislative session.
As we've stated before, we see no reason that professional journalists need the legislature to confer on them any special privileges not already granted by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Still, look for the Chron to keep beating its special-interest drum on this issue. Unfortunately.
PREVIOUSLY: Texas shield law for journalists rears its head again, Give us an example of why journalists need shield law, Chron: Now the journalist shield law is too weak.
RELATED: David Shaw -- Shield laws are for me, not for you (Matt Welch).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/11/06 10:38 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
10 March 2006
A dented file cabinet -- Bonusgate intrigue?
I am wondering if this story about a dented city council file cabinet:
Damage to a locked cabinet containing documents from the Office of Mayor Pro Tem, which is at the center of a payroll-padding probe, has prompted officials to notify police investigators about possible tampering.
The black, 5-foot-tall filing cabinet, which sat in an unlocked City Council break room adjacent to the pro tem office, contains a visible dent just above a drawer handle. The cabinet was accessible to at least 80 council employees.
...which contains this paragraph:
The damage was discovered when an employee asked the City Hall Annex building manager to unlock the cabinet so documents could be retrieved. The records had been requested under the Texas Public Information Act, Michel said.
...means that Tom Bazan's FOIA request will be filled.
Don't forget, Sunshine (in government) Week is nearly upon us!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/10/06 08:39 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (15)
09 March 2006
Were "values" the deciding factor in DeLay/Patrick victories?
The Chronicle ran an editorial on the DeLay/Patrick Republican primary victories that reads more like two editorials.
The first half of the editorial is a fairly straightforward explanation of why the two candidates won their respective races (although it doesn't get into specific issues/policies emphasized by the candidates). The second half of the editorial is a four-paragraph digression into the Christian conservatism of both men.
David Benzion analyzed the odd editorial over at Lone Star Times, noting:
[It's] interesting that the Chronicle’s editorial writers choose to highlight the importance of the candidate’s religious beliefs, while discounting the significance of the actual issues and positions they promoted during their campaigns.
It's not clear to me whether this is a deliberate Chron editorial board smear of Republican primary voters (as mindless Christians with no real focus on issues), or simply the harmless ramblings of an editorial board that needs to get out of the offices at 801 Texas Avenue a little more often and interact some with some of those mysterious Republican primary voters. What do you think?
BLOGVERSATION: Isolated Desolation.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/09/06 09:13 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (11)
An erratic day for local radio news/commentary
KTRH-740 continues to report on the Dubai Ports World deal, and for some reason has been stating that the now-scuttled deal would have turned over security at some ports to a company owned by the UAE government.
In actuality, the deal would have involved management of the ports, not security. Houston's radio news leader usually doesn't make those sorts of errors. The story posted online (from UPI) characterizes the deal accurately.
ANNE LINEHAN ADDS: And then there's Chris Begala on KSEV-700. In his first monologue he must have said the port deal was a DISASTER (heavy emphasis) for President Bush and Republicans at least 20 times. He said President Bush needs to beg Karen Hughes to come back to work for him, and he said the president needs to clean house (meaning staff) or else. Not quite sure what the "or else" might be. He also said that he had said the President needed to dump this deal from day one and now he's been proven right.
Then Begala went to a break, came back, talked about the Katy Freeway closure this weekend, THEN said the port deal was NOT a disaster for Republicans!
Talk about your whiplash radio.
He also said it is GORgeous outside (which it is), 82 degrees but with some humidity. Huh? We have extemely low humidity right now which is why we are under a fire watch!
And Begala needs to knock off the Carol Keeton Strayhorn Rabinowitz Johnson schtick. It's not funny and it's sexist.
Oh, and I forgot to add his bit about the Carol Alvarado investigation. Begala told listeners about the leak/clarification that the OIG can't investigate elected officials. And that his sources tell him the DA's Public Integrity unit is deep into an investigation. Begala's got the pulse of Bonusgate, for sure.
And for the 1,000th time I wonder why Dan Patrick didn't choose David Benzion to be the fill-in host while he's off campaigning. Sigh.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/09/06 05:37 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (7)
Law-and-order Republican needs to take down bandit signs
Now that Linda Storey has narrowly won her Republican primary race against incumbent Judge Lynn-Bradshaw Hull, perhaps she could tell her supporters to go take down the illegal, obnoxious bandit campaign signs that are stapled to utility polls all along Richmond.
It's two days after the election, and the signs look hideous (in addition to being illegal). One expects better of "law-and-order" judicial types.
UPDATE: Feel free to call out any other politicians who need to take down bandit signs in the forum.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/09/06 04:48 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (14)
Houston's hurricane response leads to online water bill payment
Rich Connelly found a letter from Mayor White in his latest water bill that explains the city's new online payment system is courtesy of the city's generous outreach to Katrina evacuees...or something like that:
Houstonians received a letter from White with their most recent water bills, informing them they could now pay those bills online. (Welcome to the 21st century!! Finally.) Somehow, that mundane announcement tied in with our sainthood: "We, as a community, have opened our arms to new residents displaced by the recent events on the Gulf Coast," White's letter began. "With that, we recognize our continued responsibility to serve our own citizens. We thank everyone for their generosity and good will shown to the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and now as much as ever the City of Houston's top priority is to serve everyone's needs efficiently."
Huh?
Connelly decides there's gold in the mayor's thinking:
We can hardly wait for other improvements to city documents:
"As Katrina showed, Houstonians have hearts as big as Texas. That said, you have jury duty in municipal court."
"Unlike Houstonians, who passed with flying colors an inspection of their generosity in trying times, the inspection sticker on your car was expired as you drove near Richmond and Montrose at 2:17 p.m. March 2. Pay up."
"Martin Luther King could not have been more giving than Houstonians were during Katrina. Therefore, there will be no trash pickup on January 15, MLK's birthday."
Apparently the city of Houston has a Department of Non Sequiturs!
It's reminiscent of the Chron's many "In the aftermath of Katrina (or Rita)..." editorials. Not really related to anything, but a sort of claim to fame, nonetheless.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/09/06 11:22 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (7)
08 March 2006
Bonusgate investigation expands; Editorial LiveJournalists dismayed?
KHOU-11's Doug Miller is reporting that the OIG's investigation has been expanded to other City Council offices, and that the four Mayor Pro Tem employees in question have been fired. The link includes an audio report.
KTRH-740's report includes this from the lawyer of one of the terminated employees:
Meanwhile, a lawyer for Hernandez suggests that City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado knew what was going on in the pro tem office when the improper bonuses were being paid. Attorney Walter Boyd says only "one side of the story" has been aired, and what the public has heard so far is only "posturing" by politicans.
As an advocate for his client, Boyd could be saying that for the media's benefit, but if there is anything there, the DA's office will get to the bottom of it.
And as pointed out in the forum, here's Nick Anderson's take on Bonusgate. Maybe he will turn out to be an equal opportunity skewerer occasionally.
UPDATE: KHOU-11 now adds this from Mayor White:
Mayor White later tried to clarify some remarks about how the OIG had been investigating some City Council offices, which caught reporters by surprise.
The mayor said they had not, to his knowledge, found any problems in those offices, but the OIG was taking a look anyway just to make sure.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: The Chronicle editorial board's latest apologia for Carol Alvarado seems as if it could have been written by the embattled councilmember's high-priced PR firm.
Here's the opening:
SINCE a city of Houston official uncovered excessive bonuses and raises given to four employees she was supposed to supervise, Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado has taken much of the heat for the scandal. After waffling about who was to blame for the breakdown in supervision, Alvarado accepted full responsibility for trusting the employees enough to delegate to them authority to sign funding requests.
She accepted full responsibility for those BAAAAAAAAD (unsupervised) employees victimizing her? Sorry, Editorial LiveJournalists, but the Alvarado-as-Victim meme didn't resonate with anyone on the first try.
It continues:
After reviewing a report by the city's inspector general, Mayor Bill White said the evidence indicates the workers improperly authorized their own illegal payments, and nothing links Alvarado to "any aspect of these payments or the scheme."
Of course, the Office of Inspector General couldn't actually investigate Alvarado, as a KHOU report indicates, but why let inconvenient facts get in the way of good PR work?
There's more:
At a joint news conference with the mayor at City Hall Monday, Alvarado wisely decided to remove herself from the public line of fire by temporarily relinquishing the mayor pro tem post until the Harris County district attorney and a grand jury review the evidence. As she described it, the decision was made after discussions with the mayor and was motivated by the desire to allow City Council to move on to other matters.
The Editorial LiveJournalists just HAD to work in "temporarily." Meanwhile, back to the world of political reality: Had Alvarado not resigned ("wisely") when she did, Anthony Hall almost certainly would have announced (on behalf of the mayor) that she would be replaced. She was allowed to save face, and still managed to put the mayor on the spot with her talk of "temporarily" stepping down.
They're not done:
If Alvarado's sole failure is misplaced trust in deceptive employees, then she should be allowed to resume her previous status with no penalty after the criminal investigation is completed.
Her failure wasn't misplaced trust. Rather, at the least, her lack of oversight was professionally and politically negligent, and she cannot be trusted to return as Mayor Pro Tem. Period. Someone else will have to be found to build consensus on smoking bans.
And the grand finale:
The district attorney is deciding whether to charge the four city employees. With both Mayor White and Councilwoman Alvarado providing full cooperation, the investigation of City Hall's bonusgate should be quickly put behind us.
The DA also has to decide whether an actual investigation of Alvarado or anyone else is merited, and Anthony Hall announced today that the investigation had been expanded, so this matter is far from over. The Editorial LiveJournalists are more out of touch with political reality than usual if they think it's time to sweep this mess under the carpet and move on.
RELATED: Chronicle
BLOGVERSATION: Incompetence, not such a bad thing after all. (Isolated Desolation)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/08/06 12:13 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (17)
07 March 2006
Fear Reduction Initiative: Chief Hurtt says not to worry!
Police chief Harold Hurtt wants citizens in dangerous parts of town to feel better about crime.
Here's the HPD press release:
HPD Seeks to Reassure Public Through Fear Reduction Initiative
March 7, 2006 -- In an effort to reduce the level of fear reported by residents living in areas affected by recent crimes, Chief Harold Hurtt turned to his Community Relations Unit (CRU) to implement a Fear Reduction Initiative.With a reduction in personnel and limited resources, law enforcement agencies often become more keenly focused on addressing actual crimes while monitoring the fear of crime. However, "our perception of crime and the fear it produces can significantly impact our quality of life," says Sergeant Babb, who leads the CRU. "Fear of crime has the potential to impact our lives more than crime itself," says Babb. "While a violent crime may directly affect one individual, the resulting fear can be quite substantial and affect an entire community's day-to-day activities by causing some people to think twice before allowing their kids to play in the park, or walk to the corner store or school" said Babb.
We can't wait to hear what Chris Baker thinks of those first two paragraphs.
In fairness, this "initiative" mostly seems like making sure cops are getting out of their squad cars and getting into neighborhoods:
The CRU began their effort in those parts of the city experiencing an increase of crime. To date, officers have visited approximately 200 families. They focus on making personal contact with crime victims followed by door-to-door visits with others to hear their concerns and offer assistance when appropriate. Many of their visits are conducted in plain-clothes; however, they always display their law enforcement identification and badges.
It's not clear why Chief Hurtt is promoting this as yet another "initiative," since Chief and then Mayor Lee P. Brown was a major proponent of "neighborhood oriented policing" in the first place. Chief Hurtt really needs to come up with a better acronym and marketing plan for this one, though. The "fear reduction" psychobabble just comes off as... well, psychobabble. And psychobabble is no substitute for cops on the street engaging in a crime reduction initiative!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/07/06 10:56 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (19)
KHOU: OIG did not investigate Alvarado
For several weeks, local journalists have stressed that Councilmember Carol Alvarado was not the subject of the investigation by the Office of Inspector General.
As it turns out, KHOU-11's Jeff McShan reports that there was an institutional reason that Alvarado was not investigated by OIG:
The investigation into mayor pro-tem Carol Alvarado's office is far from over.
If you have been following the City Hall probe, you know that the Office Of Inspector General (O.I.G.) was completed and sent to the district attorney's office last Friday.
But what you may not know is the Inspector General's office is limited as what it can investigate.
Sources tell 11 News that elected officials are "off limits", meaning that the mayor pro-tem, who temporarily stepped aside Monday, could not be thoroughly investigated.
For example, the O.I.G., 11 News was told, looked into the bank accounts of the four employees who worked for Alvarado, but not hers.
Sources said that in fact, the district attorney's office will start a whole new investigation into the unauthorized bonuses scam that has been plaguing city hall for weeks.
It will be interesting to see what Chuck Rosenthal's Public Integrity Unit uncovers. But Alvarado shouldn't sweat too much. Having Rusty Hardin in your corner is pretty good insurance.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/07/06 10:39 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (13)
Budget warnings were sent to Mayor Pro Tem's office
KHOU-11 and KPRC-2 are reporting that warnings were given to the Mayor Pro Tem's office about budget overruns. This is from KPRC:
Judy Gray Johnson, the director of the city's Finance and Administration Department, said during a fiscal affairs committee meeting Tuesday morning that the Mayor Pro Tem's Office was sent at least three warnings that they were going over budget.
KPRC Local 2 left messages for Johnson but she did not return the calls.
"I didn't get them," Alvarado said.
She said not only did she not see any warning letters, no one from the Finance and Administration Department contacted her directly.
"When something would potentially become a problem in my district office, I would get an e-mail. There were times I would get an e-mail from Regina Dixon in F&A. That never happened with the pro tem office," Alvarado said.
And from KHOU:
Also Tuesday, finance officials with Mayor White's office said they had warned Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado months ago that her office was spending too much money.
But Alvarado said she never got the warnings.
When asked if this was more evidence that she should have kept a closer eye on her budget, she got testy.
"We've been through all this, I'm not answering any more questions about that. I answered these questions when this first happened, so I'm not going there," she said.
"I want justice to be served," said Alvarado. "We have people that stole taxpayer money and there need to be -- uh, it needs to go through the proper procedure, through a grand jury, and people need to pay for what they did."
Maybe Rosie Hernandez intercepted the warnings. She seems to have done everything else in that office.
BLOGVERSATION: You Were Warned! Sort of… (Houblog)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/07/06 08:03 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
Rodeo fans need to watch out for the Danger Train
A truck turning into the Reliant Stadium parking lot collided with a Metro rail train today.
Rodeo traffic along Fannin was slowed because of the accident, but no one was injured.
Jim McElhaney, who was driving the truck, said he was turning into the rodeo grounds to pick up a friend for lunch when his truck hit the train.
He said the driver of the train saw he was turning and tried to brake, but couldn't stop in time.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: Today, Ken Hoffman wrote about his exciting experience with the Danger Train:
I used to make fun of the idiot drivers who get hit by Houston's light-rail train. You'd have to be the world's worst driver to be involved in a train-car accident.
The trains run on tracks, so they can't swerve into another lane and hit you. The trains make a lot of noise with bells and whistles. They're big. They have lights. They have blinking guard rails.
And everybody knows the trains run on Main Street, right?
For the life of me, I can't understand how 122 idiot drivers (so far) could hit the train.
Saturday afternoon, I almost became Idiot No. 123.
Usually I avoid Main Street in downtown altogether; it's not worth the risk. Milam, Louisiana, Travis and Smith get me where I need to go, and they don't have trains on them.
But Saturday, I wasn't concentrating. I had just gotten a new cell phone that has photos and text messaging and a hundred other things I'll never use. My old phone was technologically one step behind smoke signals.
So I was half driving, half playing with the phone and half dancing to a really hot disco song on the radio.
Anyway, I wound up at a red light on Main Street ... I didn't see the warning sign ... I pulled up too far ... and ...
Lights starting flashing and the railroad crossing guard came down BEHIND me. The train was coming. I couldn't back up. I thought I was trapped.
I figured, this is it: See you on the 10 p.m. news.
I put the phone down and did an escape maneuver with my car that would make Smokey and the Bandit proud. Good thing there wasn't a camera on that corner. I'd be paying tickets for the next 10 years.
That's how idiot drivers can have an accident with trains. They're not paying attention. Like I wasn't paying attention.
I have to disagree with Hoffman somewhat. There are two rail intersections that I can use on my daily commute (Main/Richmond and Fannin/San Jacinto/Wentworth), and because of traffic getting backed up and short signals, I've seen some pretty interesting situations develop that weren't entirely the fault of drivers (although I haven't seen a crash yet). While idiot drivers have certainly contributed their part to the total number of crashes, the dangerous, poorly-conceived at-grade design has also contributed.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/07/06 02:46 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (8)
Alvarado: taking responsibility for doing nothing wrong
Here's another Carol Alvarado quote from yesterday's Bonusgate press conference:
"I did nothing improper and I've accepted responsibility."
She did nothing improper and she's accepted responsibility.
But if she really thinks she's done nothing wrong (er, improper), then what is she taking responsibility for?
Even after almost four weeks of this, she refuses to admit what she did wrong, and of course she did something wrong: she didn't exercise oversight of her staff, a basic duty of anyone in a leadership position. The fact that she still refuses to acknowledge this is a huge black mark on her leadership ability.
In a soundbite on KTRH-740 this morning she said that she is sorry this has become a distraction. She didn't apologize for her failure as a manager, or for not being a good steward of the taxpayers' hard-earned money, or for besmirching the character of so many decent, hard-working city employees. No. She apologized for the distraction.
A distraction caused by her failure.
Now she is all about helping Mayor White come up with reforms so this will never happen again -- reforms that are necessary due to her unwillingness or inability to supervise her own staff! Mayor White will use this as an opportunity to look like a reform mayor, while he increases mayoral power and reduces councilmembers' control over their own employees.
Thanks to Carol Alvarado.
But she did nothing wrong...or improper.
PREVIOUSLY: Alvarado: Oh all right, I'll take responsibility...but it's still not my fault
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/07/06 10:02 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (8)
An inadequate correction on Sunday's editorial
The Chron is running a little correction relating to Sunday's editorial:
An editorial on Page E2 of Sunday's Chronicle repeated an error in an Associated Press story. A White House video showed President Bush being warned that floodwaters could flow over New Orleans' levees. He was not told the levees could be breached.
Uh huh. Except that the hapless Editorial LiveJournalists said this in their editorial:
While Bush stated days after the storm that no one expected a breach of the New Orleans levees, the tapes show experts warning him of that specific possibility.
The Chron's correction places the blame on the AP, instead of the LiveJournalists. If they had watched the video, and Sunday's editorial implies they did, they would have known that Bush was not warned of the "specific possibility" of levee breaches, and presumably they would not have written the erroneous editorial.
And when we go back to the editorial, we can see there is no correction noted. So unless one reads that teensy little corrections box, or follows the online link to the corrections page, one would never know there is a huge problem with that editorial.
BLOGVERSATION: About: Chron.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/07/06 09:13 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
06 March 2006
New anchors join KPRC-2; KTRK-13 and KHOU-11 battle for first
The Chronicle's Mike McDaniel reports on KPRC-2's new anchors:
Wendy Corona, an anchor at ABC station WPLG in Miami, and Lauren Freeman, an anchor at independent station WJXT in Jacksonville, Fla., have been added to the roster at KPRC /Channel 2.
In April, Corona will occupy the seat vacated by Linda Lorelle, anchoring at 4 and 6 p.m. In August, she will be joined by former KHOU anchor Jerome Gray.
Freeman will team with relative newcomer Owen Conflenti as KPRC's morning anchor team. She starts March 20.
Both Corona and Freeman have Texas backgrounds. Freeman grew up in Childress, attended Baylor and worked on television stations in Waco. Corona, a Southern California native and USC grad, once worked on El Paso TV.
KPRC, WPLG and WJXT are all Post-Newsweek stations. KPRC general manager Larry Blackerby also came here from WJXT.
Corona's bio is still posted on the WPLG site, and Freeman's bio is still posted on the WJXT site. Maybe they're posted on the KPRC-2 site by now, but it's hard to find anything on the jumbled site.
Corona and Freeman are joining the perennial third-place news team at KPRC. McDaniel reports that KTRK-13 news won February sweeps for morning, midday, 4pm, and 10pm news, while KHOU-11 news won the 5pm and 6pm slots.
BLOGVERSATION: Mike McGuff.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/06/06 10:16 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (6)
Do they read these things before printing them?
The Chronicle editorial board follows yesterday's editorial gaffe with an editorial today that again makes us wonder if any adults actually read these things before they go to the printing press.
In twelve paragraphs, the Editorial LiveJournalists ramble on about the paradox of obese people being hungry, poor people making bad nutritional choices, Hurricane Katrina, the Houston Food bank, and a few other items from the Editorial LiveJournalists' kitchen sink. The headline also introduces an assertion (Houston is one of America's fattest cities) that is contained nowhere in the editorial itself. And there are entire sentences that I still haven't been able to parse (here's one: "Unlike rent assistance and other direct monetary aid that pay $1 of benefit for every dollar donated, food can be donated much more cheaply than its actual value to recipients"). It's a typical Chronicle editorial page mess.
It's really too bad, because many of us agree that it's shameful that pockets of poverty and hunger endure here in the most affluent nation in the history of the world, and many of us agree that organizations like America's Second Harvest and the Houston Food Bank do an incredible job of helping a lot of people who really need it, and of really stretching donations.
It's not clear why the Editorial LiveJournalists -- allegedly professional writers -- couldn't have crafted a more effective two-to-three-paragraph editorial that highlighted those important organizations and suggested that Houstonians consider supporting them (especially during this season in which so many politicians think THEY need donations instead).
Instead, we just got an odd, rambling editorial that seemed to suggest that starving people need to make better nutritional choices. It's good that the Editorial LiveJournalists could clear that up for us, and in just twelve paragraphs!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/06/06 09:58 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Beginning week four of Bonusgate (updated: Alvarado steps aside)
***Keep scrolling for updates***
Here's what's going on so far today:
KHOU-11 is reporting that the four employees in the Mayor Pro Tem's office will be suspended indefinitely (government-speak for fired?).
The Chronicle's Matt Stiles reports that the DA's office has received a "partial report" from the Houston Police Office of Inspector General, and prosecutors are reviewing the material.
Also, Mayor White is expected to discuss the report later today with the media, but may not release the full report, according to spokesman Frank Michel.
And on KTRH-740 this morning a councilmember (maybe Councilwoman Sekula-Gibbs?) was complaining that Mayor White is leaving Council in the dark about details of the investigation.
UPDATE: KHOU-11 is now reporting that Carol Alvarado will temporarily step down as Mayor Pro Tem:
Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado will temporarily step aside as a result of the payroll scandal in her office. Mayor Bill White issued a statement that "the Office of Inspector General's report reveals a pattern of misconduct of the mayor pro tem's office."
The mayor went on to reveal there was some evidence of attempts to conceal the activities that granted four employees of that office more than $140,000 in improper bonuses.
Well. That's intriguing.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: As noted previously, Alvarado's move was entirely expected.
In my view, the move is likely to be permanent, not temporary. Mayor White's agenda and priorities trump Carol Alvarado's political needs.
ANNE ADDS MORE: KPRC-950 news is reporting that Michael Berry will take over Mayor Pro Tem duties, and the office's responsibilities will be curtailed.
Check out this Alvarado quote from Matt Stiles' updated story:
"I intend to temporarily - make sure you wrote that down right - temporarily, step down, pending the outcome of the investigation," she said.
We got it. Temporarily. Wanna bet? (Not that we do that here at bH, of course.)
MORE: From KTRK-13:
"Clearly, this is not what I prefer, but I think it's the right thing to do for the Houston city council and for the city as a whole," said Alvarado.
But it IS what Mayor White preferred. Refer to Kevin Adds above.
EVEN MORE: Mayor White's statement.
That's a pretty fast turnaround for a mayoral press release. Often we hear or read something in the local media relating to Mayor White, and it takes days and days before the press release shows up on the city's website. Obviously, this situation is such that the mayor wants to make sure there is NO delay in getting his side of things on the public record.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS MORE: KSEV-700 substitute talker Chris Begala is claiming on air that he "broke" the rumor that Alvarado would resign on Friday. At 5:20 pm. Except by that time, the scuttlebutt had been circulating among the city's journalists for hours. And KRIV-26's Isiah Carey had posted about it on his blog at 1:32 pm.
So no, Chris Begala didn't "break" the story at 5:20 pm, and his claim that he did shows a clownish lack of awareness of local media that we've seen before over at KSEV.
BY THE WAY: Rosie Hernandez is still listed as the contact person on Carol Alvarado's website:
All invites or scheduling requests can be emailed to Rosie.Hernandez@cityofhouston.net.
Or, they can be faxed directly to Rosie Hernandez, Scheduler, at 713.247.3413.
BLOGVERSATION: Houblog
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/06/06 12:21 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (12)
Most of the Parking Commission members have been chosen
Whoa! At the very end of this Chron story on new downtown parking meters is a whole 'nother -- much more important -- story:
A new city Parking Commission will determine where meters are placed. The City Council approved the creation of the group last fall, and 13 of its 15 members have been chosen, Rambo said. The commission will comprise nine voting members with experience in the field and six non-voting members who represent the city, county and Metropolitan Transit Authority.
Hello! Thirteen of the 15 members have been chosen? Where's the story on THAT? Who are they? Who chose them? When did this happen?
It's almost Sunshine (in government) Week. Would the Chronicle or any other local media outlet care to shine a light on Houston's new Parking Commission?
RELATED: Blueprint Houston November 2005 interview with Liliana Rambo (Word doc.)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/06/06 11:07 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
Houston 1836 is now Houston Dynamo
The Houston MLS soccer team is now officially the Houston Dynamo.
The team called a morning press conference to announce the change, which has been in the works for several weeks after a handful of professional sensitives objected to the name 1836.
Perhaps we'll work 1836 into the name of the little sports podcast, just to annoy the professional sensitives.
BLOGVERSATION: The General, Soccer y Futbol, TBIFOC, Liberty's Blog, Rob Booth.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/06/06 10:32 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (15)
05 March 2006
Chief Hurtt's jailer "initiative" creeping along
KTRK-13's Andy Cerota checks in on the Chief Hurtt's efforts to move police officers from jail duty back to the streets (previously, the department had decided to replace jailers with police officers):
There's been a shakeup at the Houston city jail. Just over a year after civilian employees were let go and replaced with police officers, the department has changed its mind. Now the civilians are returning.
The city says it needs more officers to get criminals off the streets, not babysit the ones who have already been caught. This plan is really a case of taking what resources you have and putting them to better use. Not only is this an opportunity for HPD to beef up its police presence, it's also a chance for some of the civilian jailers who lost their jobs to try and get them back.
[snip]
So far, seventy officers have been reassigned in recent months. The goal is to move another 30 out of the jails by the end of this month -- a move that puts an additional 100 cops back on patrol.
Back in June 2005, KHOU-11 reported the following:
Chief Hurtt also says that about 100 more officers will soon be hitting the streets. Those officers currently work in the city jail and the city plans to replace them with civilian workers.
The Chronicle reported in December 2005 that the hundred police officer/jailers would be on regular police duty by March.
Chief Hurtt's "initiatives" seem to move along at a snail's pace.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/05/06 02:11 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
How embarrassing for the Chron's editorial board!
The hapless Editorial LiveJournalists wrote up a doozy for the big Sunday Outlook section: an editorial about how President Bush KNEW those levees were at risk of being breached:
Although reports documenting the federal government's slow and inadequate response during last summer's Hurricane Katrina disaster have already been issued, video of President George W. Bush's conference call briefing from his Crawford ranch on the eve of the storm's landfall has provoked new criticism of his leadership during the disaster.
While Bush stated days after the storm that no one expected a breach of the New Orleans levees, the tapes show experts warning him of that specific possibility.
Did the Editorial LiveJournalists watch the tapes? Because the tapes do not show experts warning President Bush of the specific possibility that the levees could be breached, and the AP was forced to issue a late Friday clarification acknowledging that point, which blows up the editorial's thesis.
How do things work at 801 Texas Avenue, anyway? When are Sunday editorials written? (We can guess.) Who handles corrections/clarifications? Where is editorial board member James Campbell?
Isn't this weird? If the Editorial LiveJournalists are going to take weekends off, maybe they should consider having a backup editorial ready, for instances like this.
RELATED: What's in a Word? (Wizbang.com)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/05/06 09:28 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Would this be considered a red light camera shenanigan?
TheNewspaper.com covers Houston's delayed red light camera contract and adds this:
The initial police request for contract proposals specified that the red light camera system must photograph both the front and rear of vehicles. Systems that photograph the front of the car allow identification of the driver, ensuring that the ticket only goes to the individual responsible for the infraction. At the last minute, officials changed the requirement to rear photos only when they learned that sending tickets to vehicle owners regardless of whether they committed any crime would generate substantially more revenue. Rhode Island vendor Nestor Inc. complained that they were not given sufficient notice of this change.
"I got notification during the demo or right before the demo that it wasn't going to be front-plate capture," said Bert Keller, a Nestor lobbyist and former Houston city councilman.
Which officials made the change? Remember when Houston bicyclist Bob Stein assured us that Mayor White would be on the lookout for shenanigans? Did Mayor White know about this last minute photo change (that just so happens to produce more money for the city)?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/05/06 07:11 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)
04 March 2006
When will Alvarado resign?
Local media outlets can't seem to agree whether or not the report on the bonus pay scandal in Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado's office has been passed on to Mayor White and the Harris County District Attorney's office. The Chronicle and KUHF-88.7 say the report will be out next week. KTRK-13 got two answers from Mayor White on the report (that it should be out next week AND that he expected to see it this weekend). KHOU-11 says the report is already in the hands of the DA's office.
It does seem to be the case that the White Administration is beginning to nudge Carol Alvarado out of the Mayor Pro Tem position.
From the Chronicle:
Mayor Bill White spoke with some City Council members Friday to feel them out about who should be mayor pro tem if Councilwoman Carol Alvarado relinquishes the post amid a payroll-padding scandal.
"I want to get this OIG investigation complete before drawing any conclusions," White said. "I haven't done a formal poll of all the council members. I have asked some people what we do to get this behind us."
The mayor would not go into further detail, but one of the council members with whom he met on Friday was Ada Edwards.
"That's his call," Edwards said about whether Alvarado should step down. "He didn't ask me my opinion when he appointed her. It's not clear to me why he needs my opinion about what he should do now."
White also met with Councilwoman Toni Lawrence.
"He's considering one of the council members who's been in the same party as he has," said Lawrence, a Republican.
The nature of politics suggests that when councilmembers start talking to the press about their conversations with the mayor on potential replacements for the Mayor Pro Tem, the current Mayor Pro Tem isn't going to be holding the job much longer.
BLOGVERSATION: Houblog, Isiah Carey's Insite (I, II).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/04/06 09:56 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (4)
No big headlines and front page story for this clarification
The latest media hysteria -- Bush KNEW those levees would be breached! -- has taken a rather quiet turn. The AP issued a clarification, and the Chron has included part of the clarification in its little corrections box:
•In a March 2 story headlined "In videos, Bush, Chertoff warned before Katrina," the Associated Press reported that federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees in New Orleans, citing confidential video footage of an Aug. 28 briefing among U.S. officials. The Army Corps of Engineers considers a breach a hole developing in a levee rather than an overrun. The story should have made clear that Bush was warned about floodwaters overrunning the levees, rather than the levees breaking.
And here's the full clarification:
Clarification : Katrina -Video story
Eds: Subscribers who used BC-NA-GEN--US- Katrina -Video of March 1
and 2 may wish to use the following, which explains how risks of
levee breaches were discussed among federal disaster officials and
President George W. Bush.WASHINGTON (AP) _ In a March 1 story, The Associated Press
reported that federal disaster officials warned President George W.
Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina
struck that the storm could breach levees in New Orleans, citing
confidential video footage of an Aug. 28 briefing among U.S.
officials.The Army Corps of Engineers considers a breach a hole developing
in a levee rather than an overrun. The story should have made clear
that Bush was warned about floodwaters overrunning the levees,
rather than the levees breaking.The day before the storm hit, Bush was told there were grave
concerns that the levees could be overrun. It wasn't until the next
morning, as the storm was hitting, that Michael Brown, then head of
the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Bush had inquired
about reports of breaches. Bush did not participate in that
briefing.
On to the next media outrage...
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/04/06 08:19 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
03 March 2006
Mayor White to ask Alvarado to step down as Mayor Pro Tem?
Embattled Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado is still a hot topic among local journalists, despite the best efforts of her high-powered PR firm to change the subject.
The Chronicle's Kristen Mack devoted her entire politics column to Alvarado's difficulties:
Alvarado's natural instinct was to talk, but she didn't help herself with the things she said.She said she felt betrayed. And to subsequent questions about a $66,000 increase in this year's mayor pro tem office budget, she said. "I don't know why this $50,000, or $60,000, is such a hot issue."
Having Marc Campos, her political consultant, serve as her mouthpiece — once she decided to stop talking about the investigation a week after the fact — only made it look like she was looking for a political solution. This week the role of speaking for Alvarado passed to Householder.
Hiring Householder and Hardin underscored Alvarado's realization that the payroll matter is serious and not going away anytime soon.
Metro/state/New Orleans editorialist and gossip columnist Rick Casey also took up the topic, although he devotes most of his column space to past clients of Alvarado's PR and legal firms. His research assistant must have been busy with that one.
And finally, KRIV-26 reporter Isiah Carey posts some buzz about the future of Mayor Pro Tem Alvarado:
The Insite has learned from credible sources that Mayor Bill White 'may' have quietly consulted with some Houston City Council members to gain their support in 'possibly' asking embattled council member Carol Alvarado to step down from the Mayor Pro Tem's office...
KTRH-740 has also been reporting on speculation that Mayor Pro Tem Alvarado will be asked to resign from the post, so it's obviously a hot topic at City Hall today, at least among journalists.
And that's Alvarado's biggest problem right now. Mayor White has given Mayor Pro Tem Alvarado a reasonable amount of time to get this issue under control, and she hasn't been able to do so. It's beginning to crowd out press coverage of the mayor's agenda and priorities, which can't please the administration. And the fact that Houston now has a Mayor Pro Tem who will only speak through a PR firm is an embarrassment for the city and for the mayor who selected her for the position.
It's difficult to imagine that Alvarado can retain the office much longer.
UPDATE: KPRC-2 reports that Mayor White has been soliciting opinions from other councilmembers on Alvarado's status.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/03/06 05:59 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (7)
Mayor White's not going to be happy
KHOU-11's Doug Miller reports (via Audioblog) that MayorWhiteChiefHurtt's plan to install red-light cameras will be delayed. With a contract awaiting approval, a City Council committee instead has referred the matter back to the White Administration for reasons Miller discusses in an audioblog here. Basically, the process will start over and companies will have to submit bids again.
Mayor White surely won't be happy that those pesky other elected municipal officials put the brakes on one of his initiatives, even if only temporarily.
UPDATE: KHOU has now posted text for the story to the website. KHOU is increasingly beating everyone in town with their use of the web to cover local news.
UPDATE 2: Chron.com posts a blurb from Alexis Grant.
ANNE ADDS: From KUHF-88.7:
[The mayor] says one of his concerns is that a new contract selection could delay the red light plan by weeks or months.
"I'd like to make sure that our citizens are safer as soon as I can. But -- you know -- I also know that we do have public procurement processes, this is the first time that we've done something like this, there's a lot of people that are lobbying hard behind the scenes and we need to make sure that the process is as fair as possible."
We all know how to properly translate that: The City of Houston is losing money! Lots and lots of money!
This is really not a fine way to end MayorWhiteChiefHurtt's week.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/03/06 01:25 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
02 March 2006
Houston's daily entertainment source (cont'd)
The Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists are now backing away from an earlier, emotional editorial that criticized President Bush on the ports issue.
Here is an entertaining excerpt from today's editorial:
Mistaken reporting and some political leaders of the controversy mischaracterized aspects of the deal's nature. Contrary to some beliefs, for instance, DP World will not be "controlling," or "running," much less buying, any U.S. port. The firm certainly won't be in charge of port security, which is the shared responsibility of the Coast Guard, U.S. Customs, individual port authorities and private businesses.
Apparently, the Editorial LiveJournalists decided to take Anne Linehan's earlier advice and read their own newspaper's reporting on the issue!
As for that "mistaken reporting" on port security that the Editorial LiveJournalists criticize, it's worth reminding readers of the headline on the Chronicle's first editorial on this topic:
PORT SECURITY: Relying on Middle East country to keep our ports safe doesn't make sense
In other words, the Editorial LiveJournalists were part of that "mistaken reporting" that they now criticize!
The same Editorial LiveJournalists who also criticized newspapers that ran cartoons that served as a pretext for violent Muslim protests and lawlessness seem suddenly concerned about offending Arabs:
In any case, the United States must show the utmost respect for Dubai throughout the review process. The Arab world wants to see if our policies toward them are based on knee-jerk hatred — as many assume. That assumption costs American lives. It's indeed a matter of security to use the upcoming six weeks well: by showing a review process marked by transparency and calm debate.
Translation: Don't come bomb us because of our original knee-jerk editorial! We're the reasonable, tolerant Editorial LiveJournalists!
It is increasingly difficult to take seriously anything written by the Editorial LiveJournalists.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/02/06 09:59 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Chron.com wipes the big-newspaper field in blogging
New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen (whose PressThink blog is popular among alt-media enthusiasts like ourselves) and a collection of journalism students just completed a study of blogging by the nation's 100-largest newspapers. Rosen's team rated newspaper blogging efforts by various criteria, coming up with overall scores by which the newspapers could then be compared.
The runaway winner? The Houston Chronicle, which has launched dozens of Movable Type blogs under the leadership of Dwight Silverman and Scott Clark since the newspaper's clumsy early attempt to embrace the medium.
Dwight Silverman takes a bow over at his Tech Blog, and it's well deserved. Anytime your newspaper finishes first in a systematic study -- and literally blows away the competition -- that's a big deal. Good for the Chron.com crew for helping show the way for other big newspapers (although we wish the Chron.com folks would have given at least a nod towards the Greensboro News-Record, which was ahead of most newspapers in embracing blogs and "news as conversation" and was happy to share its vision with Silverman when he was still in research mode).
The study is interesting as a macro-level comparison of newspapers, but as is well established, our perspective here is micro-level and hyper-local. With that in mind, a couple of quick takes from me and Anne on the study and the Chron-blogosphere are below the [Read More] link.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/02/06 07:02 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
TMC: Metro needs to fix "stray current" problem
Despite Metro's best (and continuous) efforts to downplay whatever-in-the-heck is going on underneath the Danger Train, the issue of "stray current" will not go away:
Electrical current escaping from the Metropolitan Transit Authority's light rail tracks is "very much a concern" for the Texas Medical Center, and Metro should fix it promptly, the head of the sprawling complex said this week.
"You need to know that the Texas Medical Center is uncomfortable. I'm uncomfortable, and a number of our institutions are uncomfortable," said Dr. Richard Wainerdi, TMC president and chief executive officer.
Metro responded in a statement, "During the past 10 months we have worked with various institutions at the TMC. We have no evidence of a problem, but if they do have any such evidence, bring it forward."
Metro, whose line runs along Fannin past several hospitals and doctors' buildings, has acknowledged since May that so-called "stray current" is escaping into the ground at several points on the tracks instead of returning to a power station by rail as intended.
Agency officials said in December that the problem had been corrected at two locations, the bridges over Brays and Buffalo bayous, but leakage persisted at several switches along the 7 1/2 -mile route.
If rails, bridges or switches are not well-insulated, electricity can escape and damage metal objects, such as pipes and structural steel nearby. Such damage is generally quite slow, but it often goes undetected.
"You can't tell if a pipe that's buried 20 feet under ground is corroded or not. How quick the corrosion is depends on a number of factors, but it ain't good, and it's irreversible," Wainerdi said. "It is not a small problem. It is a big problem," he said. "Get them to fix it. It's been going on three years."
[snip]
Steve Swinson, president of Thermal Energy Cooperative, which generates power for TMC, said the company's measurements show ground current increasing when MetroRail is operating. He said the agency has shared the information with Metro.
By all means, Metro should build more light rail!
PREVIOUSLY: MetroRail's "stray current" problem, TMC officials concerned about "stray current" damage
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/02/06 03:50 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (8)
Will a twice-convicted triple murderer get the death penalty? (Updated)
[UPDATE: Yes. See below]
The Chronicle's Dale Lezon checks in on the Max Soffar trial, reporting that jurors failed to reach a decision yesterday on the death penalty:
Jurors determining the fate of convicted murderer Max Alexander Soffar are scheduled to resume deliberations this morning, deciding whether to send him to prison for life or to death row.Jurors spent the night at an area hotel, where they were sequestered after deliberating six hours Wednesday. Deliberations are scheduled to resume at 9:30 a.m.
[snip]
In closing arguments Wednesday, prosecutors argued that Soffar is a danger to society if he is not executed.
Defense attorneys said Soffar deserves a life sentence because he has learned to live in prison without violating rules and because he was failed by his parents and the state as a child with mental health problems.
His adoptive parents, defense attorneys argue, didn't offer him proper psychiatric care for childhood psychological and behavioral problems.
He was placed in a state mental hospital for nearly two years when he was about 13 and given shock treatments, they said.
"Who fried this boy's brain? The state of Texas did," defense attorney Kathryn Kase told the jury. "It's not too late to reach out and help Max Soffar."
Kathryn Kase is not identified as the wife of Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen, whose editorial page is strident in its opposition to the death penalty. But who knows -- perhaps Cohen and Kase have separated.
The article tucks away this news, which presumably is of more interest to readers than its placement would indicate:
If Soffar is sentenced to life in prison, he would be eligible for parole in 20 years. But since he has served more than 20 years already, he could be eligible immediately, prosecutors said after the jury left the courtroom to begin deliberating.
What a glorious day that would be for Soffar supporters like Kinky Friedman and Kathryn Kase! The thought of a brutal, twice-convicted triple murderer walking the streets always puts a spring in my step!
UPDATE: KHOU-11 reports that the jury has sentenced Soffar to death. Again. Let the weeping from Kase and Kinky commence.
BLOGVERSATION: Slampo's Place.
UPDATE 2: The Chronicle's coverage of the verdict includes yet another quote from Kathryn Kase, who is not identified as the wife of Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen. The coverage from KPRC-2 and the AP (picked up by KHOU-11 and KTRK-13) does not include quotes from Kase.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/02/06 09:37 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
01 March 2006
New Orleans added to Chron's metro/state coverage
The Chronicle dispatched its featured metro/state editorialist and gossip columnist to New Orleans, and he posted a column about Mardi Gras today.
Because Mardi Gras in New Orleans is all about Houston Texas err, never mind.
We're not sure why the Chronicle sent him to New Orleans, but today's effort contained fewer smears and less gossip than usual. Maybe he could just stay over there, and head up a New Orleans bureau for the metro/state section.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/01/06 10:57 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
Oh those Chron headline writers
Here's a headline from a staff editorial in the Chronicle today:
It's impressive when a newspaper's headline writers haven't mastered basic subject-verb agreement.
The dead-tree version contained the error as well.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/01/06 10:49 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Transit backbone still suffering from osteoporosis (updated)
The Main Street light rail system, METRO's so-called "transit backbone," is still facing service disruptions caused by a water main break. KHOU-11's news blog has the details:
The break washed out support under the tracks at San Jacinto and Hermann Drive.
Wednesday morning's crews found more air pockets under the track and are keeping the area closed while they search for more.
Metro officials said if no more problems are found, the track could be open again late Thursday.
UPDATE (4:30 pm): A METRO cop was, once again, acting as the traffic signal for the "transit backbone" at Wentworth and San Jacinto, where the train is still running on one track.
ANNE ADDS: Thank goodness for buses!
METRO also provides supplemental, bus-bridge service, which runs every 12 minutes, between the Smith Lands Station and Wheeler Station. You may board the bus adjacent to each train platform. Look for the bus stop sign which reads, "METRORail Emergency Shuttle Bus Stop." Bus destination signs are marked, "700 Rail Shuttle Bus." METRO personnel will continue to offer assistance along the rail line and bus-bridge route.
This situation has been difficult for everyone, and we appreciate your patience as we work to ensure your safety on METRORail.
UPDATE (11:09 pm): The KHOU-11 news blog reports that service will indeed be back to normal on Thursday morning, beginning at 4:30 am.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/01/06 11:09 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (9)
Alvarado: Oh all right, I'll take responsibility...but it's still not my fault
Embattled Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado's PR team has seemingly convinced her that playing the victim is not the way to go, if she wants to survive politically. So, in an about-face, she has written an op-ed for the Chronicle and sent out a letter to her constituents (paid for with campaign funds) saying that she really, really, really does take full responsibility:
As mayor pro-tem, I accept responsibility for what happened — as well as the responsibility for making sure it never happens again. I employed these individuals and gave them my trust, and I trusted that the systems the city has in place to make sure we properly handle the taxpayers' money worked. I was wrong on both counts.
Well, okay. She takes full responsibility for her staff and government failing her. It's still the fault of the people she trusted and the city for not having the proper checks and balances in place. Oversight, shmoversight.
Meanwhile, at City Hall, I intend to work with Mayor Bill White and his Finance and Administration Department, City Controller Annise Parker and her staff as well as all of my colleagues on City Council to refine the process to ensure that this sort of thing cannot be repeated.
It would appear that officials who actually review budgets and other financial documents haven't had the problems we are now seeing with Councilwoman Alvarado's "leadership."
In my District I City Council office and in the office of the mayor pro-tem, I intend to make sure the people I employ are of the highest ethical and moral character, as well as the most professionally skilled individuals available. I will supervise them intently.
How many years has she been a public official living on the taxpayer's dime, and NOW she decides she will supervise her staff intently??! That inspires confidence, doesn't it?
It would be easy for me to point fingers of blame and attempt to deflect responsibility for this violation of the public trust.
Which she did, up until a couple of days ago...
Instead, I do accept responsibility for what occurred under my watch, and I accept the responsibility of fixing the problem and maintaining the confidence of the people who have elected me to this office.
For any government to meet the needs of the people it serves, it must have an effective mechanism in place to manage all of the matters for which that government is responsible.
Again, she accepts responsibility...by saying that government failed. What Councilwoman Alvarado still won't admit is that one of the mechanisms in place is her oversight of her staff, which she hasn't been exercising!
Even if what occurred resulted in the misuse of only a single taxpayer dollar, as opposed to tens of thousands of dollars, it cannot be tolerated.
That would be more believable if she or the PR people she has hired hadn't insisted on that correction Kevin Whited noted yesterday. The above quote is a sentence inspired by her new PR people and is not what Ms. Alvarado really thinks. What she really thinks is what first popped out of her mouth when this whole thing initially came to light, "I don't know why this $50,000, or $60,000, is such a hot issue."
One last point: it appears the Chronicle decided to run this op-ed as an op-ed and not as a chopped up letter to the editor, as it did with op-eds submitted by Rep. John Culberson and D.A. Chuck Rosenthal. Strange.
BLOGVERSATION: Off the Kuff, Isolated Desolation, Houblog.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/01/06 10:34 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (20)
ADVERTISING
DISCLAIMER
All content © 2004-09, blogHOUSTON and the respective authors.
blogHOUSTON.net is powered by Nucleus.
Site design and Nucleus customization are by Kevin Whited.