31 October 2006
Chron spins circulation decline
As predicted yesterday, the Chronicle's press-release-spin-posing-as-news article on the newspaper's latest big circulation decline has been posted. Here's the lede:
The Houston Chronicle is now the seventh-largest metropolitan newspaper in the nation on Sundays — up from eighth — the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported Monday, even as circulation declined.
Lemonade from lemons!
Here's publisher Jack Sweeney's spin:
The Chronicle remained the seventh-largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the nation, and home delivery circulation is up on Sundays, Chronicle Publisher and President Jack Sweeney said.
"We feel it's the start of a home delivery growth trend," Sweeney said.
"Our free, digitized information world has certainly put pressure on paid news products," Sweeney said. "But there is still plenty of demand for a compelling local newspaper."
There is. And we remain hopeful that in this woefully poor written-word town, Philip Anschutz will eventually deliver one!
BLOGVERSATION: Texas Yankee.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/31/06 09:02 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (6)
Mayor was told last year some SafeClear drivers had criminal backgrounds
It took two more SafeClear-related deaths for city officials to revisit their program (here was the first) to see how tow truck drivers are getting their licenses (via the Chronicle):
The city has suspended the licenses of 16 wrecker drivers who work under the Safe Clear mandatory towing program as part of an effort to tighten rules, Mayor Bill White announced Monday.
Many of those drivers should not have obtained licenses because they had criminal records, White said. They first were denied, but later succeeded through a too-lenient appeals process, he said.
Good grief. SafeClear proponents assured the public when the program was rolled out that a thorough screening process was in place to prevent criminals from being a part of the forced-towing program. What's most amazing to me is that Mayor White never asked anyone to review the process that licensed tow truck drivers, even after he and Council were told there was a problem one year ago:
Suzanne Poole, president of the Houston Professional Towing Association and a critic of Safe Clear, supports the new rules, saying they will strengthen the licensing process.
"I think it's going to give it accountability and it's going to take away the discretion of a hearing officer," she said.
Poole had complained to the City Council in November 2005 that felons were granted licenses after their applications initially were denied.
Asked about her comment, White said Monday he had discounted Poole as a critic, but that she was right.
There's some arrogance for you. Mayor White just dismisses critics instead of considering there could be some merit to the complaint.
Again, Mayor White and City Council were told one year ago that criminals were driving Safe Clear wreckers and no investigation was initiated. That's outrageous.
Now there are new rules in place to prevent this from happening again:
To tighten the process, the Houston Police Department now will require a retired assistant chief to preside over appeals hearings instead of a sergeant. The chief must create a written record of why the denial was upheld or overturned and request a letter of recommendation from the officer in charge of the mobility incident division.
"People were just routinely being able to overturn the decision of police officers on appeal," said White, who called the appeals process flawed. "That's not what we intended."
The rules change also means dozens of wrecker drivers not in the Safe Clear program will have to reapply for their city licenses, White said.
Imagine, a government program that wasn't running as was intended. Perhaps this time the mayor will make sure the licensing process is reviewed periodically.
BLOGVERSATION: Isiah Carey's Insite
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/31/06 07:00 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
30 October 2006
E&P: Chron circulation declines 3.6% over last six months
Editor & Publisher is reporting that the nation's major newspapers have seen more erosion in circulation, according to the latest data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Here is Jennifer Saba's assessment for E&P:
The Audit Bureau of Circulations FAS-FAX report for the six-month period ending September 2006 released this morning confirmed yet again that major metros are struggling to show growth. The losses are steep while the gains are meager.
This is the fourth consecutive semi-annual report to register a severe drop in daily circulation and -- perhaps more troubling to the industry -- Sunday copies. While the estimated decline 2.5% for daily circulation for all reporting papers may seem negligible, consider that in years past that decrease averaged around 1%. Sunday, considered the industry's bread-and-butter, is losing more, with a decline of 3%.
The Houston Chronicle registered a 3.6% decline in circulation over the last six months, according to E&P.
It will be entertaining to see how Chronicle publisher Jack Sweeney spins the decline in the press-release-posing-as-news article that is sure to come soon.
RELATED: Old media evolves slowly.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/30/06 08:11 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (11)
29 October 2006
Longest Chron Eye ever?
There's a new Chron Eye For The Death Row Killer Guy posted today.
The Chron Eye is the local Hearst daily's regular effort to humanize death-row killers as they await execution. This one is by Sarah Viren, who seems to have produced the longest Chron Eye ever -- nearly 1,200 words!
The death-row killer, Donell O'Keith Jackson, is scheduled to depart this world on Wednesday.
BLOGVERSATION: Cigars, Donuts, and Coffee.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/06 10:54 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Old media evolves slowly
A correction on Chron.com caught my eye today:
Two players listed as Rockets in today's NBA season preview (Section K) are no longer with the team. Ryan Bowen and Casey Jacobsen were waived Friday, one day after the Chronicle's press deadline.
Media outlets that react so slowly to the world will either find ways to react more quickly or continue to lose relevance, we would guess.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/06 04:21 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
If a tree falls in the forest...
Four Chronicle reporters update us on the impact of the big janitors strike today:
The Service Employees International Union says 1,700 janitors are on strike, no longer picking up the trash, cleaning the toilets and straightening up in dozens of buildings around town.
But an informal survey of tenants who work in the buildings being struck downtown, at Greenway Plaza and near Tanglewood found few signs of overflowing wastebaskets, messy bathrooms or dirty floors.
"I didn't know they were on strike," said Laura Lee, director of administration at Dancie Perugini Ware Public Relations at the Chase Tower, which is one of the buildings the SEIU has publicly targeted for its strike.
Our bustling, booming entrepreneurial city isn't going to shut down because a few hundred unskilled workers have gone on strike.
There must not be much local news if the Chron city desk was able to put four reporters on that tough topic!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/06 03:52 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
How does one get a $95 tax bill?
A veritable who's who of Harris County and Houston good ol' boys got together to roast and toast retiring state Sen. Jon Lindsay, and Matt Bramanti highlighted it as only Matt can.
LST wishes him well on his retirement. Hopefully he’s got enough cash stashed away to pay the $95 tax bill on his 13-acre tree farm.
Goodbye, Sen. Lindsay.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/29/06 08:40 AM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (4)
28 October 2006
City bonuses subject of audit
Matt Stiles reports that the DA's office has asked Houston controller Annise Parker to begin an audit of all incentive bonuses handed out to city employees, because the bonuses could violate state law:
At the request of Harris County prosecutors, Parker recently began an audit of incentive payments since January 2004 in all city departments, including City Council and those that rewarded salaried employees with one-time bonuses for long hours worked during last year's hurricanes.
Parker said she thinks all the pay was authorized by supervisors, unlike the bonuses that led to the indictments last month of four workers in the Office of Mayor Pro Tem.
But some could have violated a provision in the Texas Constitution that prohibits using public money for gifts. Generally, cities must have incentive plans in place before giving employees extra compensation, Parker said.
"We honestly don't believe that there were any more illegal bonuses in the sense that someone had their hands in the till and no one was aware of it," she said after the Houston Chronicle obtained a copy of a memo notifying Mayor Bill White of the audit. "We think it's an inadvertent violation under state law."
[snip]
The Chronicle reported in March that one in six city employees had received some incentive pay during White's tenure, totaling about $4 million.
White strongly encourages one-time incentive payments for city employees, based on set performance criteria, as a way to reward hard work and improve service.
He has approved plans for employees at the 311 Service Helpline, for example, to receive extra pay when they meet their productivity goals.
Meeting goals gets a city employee bonus pay??? How about exceeding goals (usually the measure in the real world)? Meeting goals should mean one gets to keep one's job. Things sure are different when one has a government job, eh?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/28/06 07:18 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
Keeping a public transit agency's focus where it belongs
We've often noted the fact that Metro has done a great disservice to the public it supposedly serves by drastically cutting and altering bus routes over the past several years.
Reason's Out of Control blog points to an LA Times story that says Los Angeles' transit agency has just been relieved of a decade of court oversight which forced it to improve bus service for poor and minority riders. During the last ten years, LA's Metropolitan Transit Authority (unwillingly) transformed itself into a model transit agency after neglecting the riders it was intended to serve in the first place:
Under the consent decree, the MTA reluctantly purchased 1,472 natural gas-powered buses, added 1.3 million hours of service and increased security while maintaining low fares.
Those actions transformed the county's transportation system — once plagued by inoperable buses and frequent breakdowns, a lack of drivers, poor adherence to schedules and insufficient capacity — into a nationally recognized transit leader.
This month, the MTA — whose 2,000-bus fleet went from being one of the nation's oldest and dirtiest to one of its newest and cleanest — was ranked among the nation's best transit agencies by its trade group, the American Public Transportation Assn.
Where had the MTA's focus gone? To light rail that served affluent areas.
The NAACP, which represented bus riders, says it will be watching to see if the MTA goes back to its old ways:
Larson and others fear that, without the court's watchful eye, transit officials will return to neglecting the county's heavily used bus system to build and operate expensive subway and light-rail lines through more affluent neighborhoods.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/28/06 03:31 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
The Houston Zoo's role in saving Panamanian frogs
The Chron's Jeannie Kever has the fascinating story of how some folks from the Houston Zoo are aiding efforts to save endangered frogs in Panama from a fatal virus.
Room service for frogs -- what an image!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/28/06 02:11 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
27 October 2006
Food and drink roundup (10-27-2006 edition)
It seemed as if it would never come, but it's Friday. What a perfect day for a food and drink roundup.
Alison Cook gives us two reviews this week. Sushi is first on the menu (sorry) at Aka Japanese Cuisine out in far west Houston. The venerable Cafe Annie gets a look this week, too. It's a big city, and it's bound to happen, so Alison asks in her Chron blog what you would have done.
Robb Walsh has some interesting offerings. I neglected to mention this in the last roundup. He continued in his search for tacos de trompo by heading over to Taqueria Monterrey Chiquito. My diet has gone to heck already, so I'm going to have to make room for this before I come to my senses:
They call the sausage salchicha rioja. It isn't exactly a hot dog -- it looks like a fat red knockwurst. The pleasantly spicy red sausage is slit down the middle and the incision is stuffed with cheese, and then the whole thing is wrapped in bacon and grilled. The cheesy bacon dog is folded into a flour tortilla and garnished with avocado slices. For Latin American junk-food aficionados, this is a major find.
Yummy. He also tries Indika in Montrose. Finally, he does part Chinese buffet/part dim sum on the outskirts of Sharpstown's Chinatown at a new location of Kim Son. At least, I think it's the outskirts. That Chinatown area is growing.
Nicki Britton goes searching for the healthiest beef.
Dai Huynh marvels over the plethora of pomegranate products. Surely I'm not the only one who thinks pomegranate ale sounds good.
Ken Hoffman doesn't help my fall off the diet wagon with his review of Dunkin' Donuts' French Toast Twist.
In other news, Diedrich's Coffeehouse on Westheimer is shuttering November 6 to make room for an expanding hair salon next door. The booming local economy is helping local high-end restaurants see some profits. And Denis' Seafood not only has experienced a management change of late, it's going to get a new name as well. (Ah Houstonians. Take an infant to a seafood restaurant, know that infants aren't supposed to be exposed to seafood, and then complain there isn't anything but seafood on the menu. *sigh*)
And Kobain gets the attention of the Chron's Clubs and Bars section.
World Class all of it!! Enjoy!!
Posted by Callie Markantonis @ 10/27/06 11:04 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (1)
METRO hopes to spread message via new blog
The Chronicle's Alexis Grant reports that METRO is about to enter the local blogosphere:
The Metropolitan Transit Authority is hoping for heavy traffic — to its blog.
The agency plans to unveil a Web site before the end of the year to communicate directly with the public and has hired a full-time blogger, former Houston Chronicle reporter Mary Sit.
"Communication is something we're always striving to improve on," said Raequel Roberts, spokeswoman for Metro. "A free-ranging dialogue is important, and we're hoping that we can establish this through a blog site."
Roberts said Sit just started developing the blog, so it's unclear what features it will include.
If the blog includes robust commenting functionality and METRO's leadership actually reads/responds to it, then a METRO blog could be a very useful tool for METRO riders with complaints/concerns.
The bolded excerpt, however, implies that METRO views its blog as simply another PR outlet, and that somehow the current outlets (the current website, the local media) aren't sufficient to get METRO's message out. We'd suggest that METRO's bigger problem is that it isn't sufficiently responsive/accountable to the public and to its users, not that it can't get its "message" out to the public. Here's hoping the blog helps with the former. METRO doesn't really need another outlet to issue misleading press releases on Friday nights!
On a purely self-referential note, we were amused that Grant worked in a reference to the "Danger Train." It greatly amuses me that the term was actually coined by my good, pro-rail friend John Vaughn one night after we saw some music at the Continental Club (along the rail line).
UPDATE: Grant's story also mentions HPD has looked into a blog. Maybe Chief Hurtt could post photos and stories from Phoenix on the weekends! And when spring training starts in the Phoenix 'burbs, he could even post baseball updates from the Cactus League!
BLOGVERSATION: Lone Star Times, On Message, TBIFOC.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/27/06 08:00 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (19)
26 October 2006
Houston crime victims' advocate gets results
The Associated Press is running a story on Andy Kahan, director of the Mayor's crime victims' office.
Kahan recently convinced the Texas Department of Public Safety to change a policy under which it removed names of deported illegal immigrants from its sex offender database. As police discovered after the tragic death of officer Rodney Johnson, sometimes deported sex offenders return to our fine city! Apparently, Kahan was convincing, as the DPS moved quickly to change the policy after his request.
KTRK-13 reported the story last week, and Isiah Carey had a good blog post on the topic.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/26/06 10:30 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
25 October 2006
"Lucy" will be visiting Houston
The Chronicle's Eric Berger reports that "Lucy," the famous fossil, will be visiting Houston next year:
After four years of negotiations, officials with the Houston Museum of Natural Science and Ethiopia signed an agreement Tuesday finalizing details of a six-year U.S. tour beginning in September in Houston. Other confirmed cities include Washington, New York, Denver and Chicago.[snip]
The bones have never been exhibited abroad, and normally rest outside of public view in an Ethiopian Natural History Museum vault.
[snip]
It is not known how much the Houston museum and others will pay Ethiopia for the right to exhibit Lucy's bones, which will be titled Lucy's Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia.
This is an unbelievable coup for Houston.
BLOGVERSATION: Texas Yankee.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/25/06 09:09 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (22)
Crackdown on "existing" in Spring Branch?
KTRK-13 reports that HPD has cracked down on loitering in Spring Branch:
Houston police are cracking down on loitering in the Spring Branch area.
Residents have complained of large groups drinking alcohol and even fighting in convenience store parking lots. The northwest patrol division swept that area Tuesday night. At least nine people were arrested for public intoxication and littering. Two of the men were also wanted on felony warrants out of California.
Police say minor crimes like public intoxication and loitering can lead to much bigger problems.
As Callie remarked earlier, one person's loitering is another person's "existing."
Incidentally, Houston police were apparently able to pull off this move despite the fact that Councilmember Garcia has not managed to tighten the curfew, which may come as a surprise to Chief Hurtt.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/25/06 08:57 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
Local group pulls questionable radio ads
The Chronicle's Bill Murphy reports that some questionable political ads have been pulled from the air:
A Vietnamese community group agreed Tuesday to pull radio ads that county officials said might violate election laws by offering $5 coupons to people who vote.
The Vietnamese Community of Houston and Vicinity, a nonprofit organization, agreed to pull the ads on Vietnamese-language KJOJ-AM (880) and KYND-AM (1520) after the county clerk's office notified station officials that the spots likely were illegal, said David Beirne, spokesman for Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman.
State and federal laws prohibit cash incentives for voting.
A $5 coupon isn't quite the same as cash, but it seems close enough to violate the spirit of the election laws.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/25/06 08:09 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
Chron urges passage of all propositions
The Chronicle came out today in favor of all propositions on the ballot:
At the bottom of the Nov. 7 election ballot, city voters will encounter six city of Houston proposed bond issues and two proposed charter changes. The Chronicle recommends voters say yes to all.
Mayor White and the downtown establishment want something. Was there ever any question how the Editorial LiveJournalists would respond?
A dissenting view can be found at HoustonTABOR.com.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/25/06 08:00 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
24 October 2006
SAFEclear bad press gets mayor's attention
A couple of days ago, Anne Linehan noted a KHOU-11 report about a SAFEclear wrecker driver with convictions for drunk driving.
Today, KTRK-13's Kevin Quinn elaborated on the criminal background of the driver (whose reckless driving killed an elderly couple):
A wrecker driver's criminal history is under fire, and a heartbroken family is calling for change. Their parents were killed in an accident with a tow truck driver, and what we've uncovered about the driver's past has even the mayor demanding answers.
That driver has a rap sheet that includes DWI arrests, drug convictions and more. It has many people asking why that tow truck driver was allowed to be on the road in the first place.
It's the criminal history of the man driving that Safe Clear wrecker which the victim's family finds so disturbing.
Back when the White/Stein/Berry SAFEclear scheme was first imposed on motorists and was under fire, one major complaint was that forcing motorists to accept a tow from potentially unsavory operators created safety concerns. Mayor White assured citizens that a rigorous screening program rendered such concerns moot. So, it's not surprising that the Mayor's press shop has responded strongly (as they tend to do after they get negative publicity). From KPRC-2:
The mayor said he wants a formal investigation into how Gonzalaz was granted a SAFEClear license even though he was a convicted felon.
"Applying the standard adopted by council, this person shouldn't have been in the program," White said.
The mayor said there might be many more wrecker drivers who are operating under a SAFEClear permit when they should have been denied.
"I have some information that somebody in the legal department of HPD has overruled numerous recommendations by police officers who are relying on our ordinance. If there's a rogue city employee who is not following city law, then I want that person to be relieved of their city employment," White said.
And from the KTRK story:
City leaders insist the background checks for Safe Clear wreckers are the most extensive in the state.
It doesn't matter how extensive the background checks are if they're ignored, and there's not really any way to spin it otherwise. The Mayor is right to be concerned about the integrity of the screening process for his SAFEclear program. After all, he's promised it's safe.
BLOGVERSATION: Isiah Carey's Insite.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/24/06 10:49 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)
Essence Festival returning to New Orleans
The Associated Press reports that the Essence Festival will be returning to New Orleans:
The Essence Music Festival, relocated to Houston after Hurricane Katrina, is on its way back to New Orleans.
Essence will return to New Orleans for the next three years under new deal struck Monday that includes more marketing money from the state for the nation's pre-eminent celebration of contemporary urban music.
In reaching a deal with magazine publisher Essence Communications Inc., which owns the festival, the New Orleans tourism industry beat out Houston, which tried to keep the festival after hosting it in 2006. The festival was moved to Houston when it wasn't clear that the Superdome and Ernest N. Morial Convention Center would be ready in time to stage the annual Fourth of July weekend event.
Organizers complained about Houston's version of the event, which took place at the Reliant Complex. The Chronicle editorial board responded by lecturing the organizers that Houston deserved to host the festival for another year. They're probably taking this lack of appreciation of Houston's world-classness pretty hard.
UPDATE (10-25-2006): The Chronicle posts their own coverage today.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/24/06 10:02 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
From SafeClear to SafePark
Apparently it's time for a new revenue stream, and Isiah Carey has the scoop:
The city of Houston is looking at unpdate of their Valet Parking service ordinance. The Insite hears the city will soon reuqire the companies to have licenses and permits. Also council members are looking at cosmetic issues with the parking attendants like uniformity in their dress code.
Is there much left to regulate in Houston?
Let's guess who might be in charge of overseeing the new SafePark program -- Lilliana Rambo.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/24/06 05:51 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)
More food and drink roundup opportunities
Houston Pavilions has landed six new dining establishments, including one that will be new to Houston (via Houston Business Journal):
New restaurant tenants at the Pavilions include:
* Lawry's, The Prime Rib: The restaurant will feature prime rib specialties in what will be its first location in the Houston area and only its fifth location in the U.S.
* Tuscany: The old world gourmet coffee shop's third Houston location is headed for the Pavilions.
* Yao's Restaurant and Bar: The second Houston location for the sports-themed restaurant, owned by the family of Houston Rockets superstar Yao Ming.
* Antica Osteria: One of the most popular Italian restaurants in the city, will serve northern and southern Italian delicacies that its loyal patrons have enjoyed in the restaurant's existing location on Bissonnet for years.
* Red Cat Jazz Cafe: Already one of the top live music venues in Houston, Red Cat Jazz Cafe will feature soulful blues and cool jazz with its Creole and southern cuisine at its second downtown location.
* McCormick & Schmick's: The Pavilions will be the second Houston location for this nationwide seafood restaurant.
More opportunities for local food reviewers to do what they do best, which will help keep bH's food and drink roundup in business. =)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/24/06 06:12 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (4)
23 October 2006
Garcia still focused on tightening youth curfew
The Chronicle's Alexis Grant reports that Councilmember Adrian Garcia still has not given up on efforts to make Houston's curfew more restrictive:
As chair of the council's public safety committee, Garcia has tried for months to persuade his colleagues to approve an earlier night curfew. But they thought his original proposal — requiring youths to be off the streets by 10 p.m. on weeknights and 11 p.m. on weekends — was too early.
So Garcia, a former police officer, recently came up with a compromise: keep the midnight deadline on weekends, but change it to 10 p.m. on weeknights.
He also would remove 17-year-olds from the curfew, making it apply only to those 16 and younger. That would bring the city's curfew more in line with Harris County's, which requires children younger than 17 to be off the streets from midnight to 6 a.m.
"We're trying to balance a sensitivity to a youthful life, but at the same time it's a public safety issue," said Garcia, who thinks getting young people off the streets earlier would reduce crime.
He hopes the council will consider that proposal in the next few weeks, but Mayor Bill White isn't likely to put it on the agenda until he's sure it has enough votes to pass.
Do you ever get the sense that your elected officials are fiddling while Rome burns?
And some unelected officials, for that matter:
Police Chief Harold Hurtt supports Garcia's proposal for an earlier curfew, saying it would give officers a tool to deal with unruly young crowds."We're not going to be out there arresting two kids driving down the street coming home from a ball game or coming home from church or their job," he said.
Did the police chief really just say he plans selectively to enforce the law if somehow Councilmember Garcia gets it passed?
Nice. We can treat curfew enforcement like immigration!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/23/06 11:27 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (13)
Some Senators should be treated decently...
The Chronicle's Kyrie "MeMo" O'Connor has been all upset lately, because high-minded political debate has been displaced by personal attacks and pettiness re Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Strange, but I don't remember the suddenly moralistic Chron features editor ever apologizing for her own tacky comments re former Sen. Danforth some time ago.
She who casts stones... and all that. Whatever.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/23/06 11:03 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
22 October 2006
A carping non-endorsement for CD 07
The Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists have been fun this endorsement season.
They've run an anti-endorsement of a gubernatorial candidate along with their endorsement of a gubernatorial candidate (which the Associated Press politely described as "unusual").
And today, instead of endorsing a Congressional candidate, they conceded that Rep. John Culberson (a longtime Editorial LiveJournalist "bad guy") was going to win his race, and he'd be well advised in the future to start listening to the Editorial LiveJournalists!
Because, you know, they're obviously much more enlightened than the conservative voters of the 7th Congressional District.
Maybe it was better back when the Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists seemed to forget that there were elections, and that most editorial boards saw fit to endorse candidates. These recent efforts do not seem reflective of an ideal state.
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/22/06 10:33 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
SafeClear's rigorous screening process fails to catch four DUI's
Did you hear about that couple killed by a wrecker driver last week as they left a Bible study? Turns out the wrecker driver was a SafeClear driver with four previous DUI convictions. Oh, and he was going 90 mph when he hit the couple. KHOU-11 dug up the details:
Sergio Gonzalez has a criminal record that includes several DUI convictions.
Investigators believe Gonzalez' tow truck was going 90 miles an hour when it slammed into the car carrying Leon and Maurine Roberson.
[snip]
11 News went to the company that owns the wrecker Gonzales was driving but couldn't get past an iron gate.
State records show Autos R Us' license will not expire until next summer and that the company is allowed to operate more than 100 wreckers.
It is also part of the City of Houston's Safe Clear program.
Ken Ulmer with the Safe Clear Management Group told 11 News by phone: "Drivers are screened. They go through a rigorous process for Safe Clear identification -- much mroe [sic] stringent than any other identification process, than any other city license than I'm aware of."
How rigorous can the screening process be if the screener missed four DUI convictions?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/22/06 06:50 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (14)
Lone Star Emmy Awards
The Lone Star Emmy Awards were held last night at the Verizon Theater, and Isiah Carey has the photographic proof -- which is currently all we have, since local media don't appear to have posted any stories on the event yet. Guess they were all at the party and didn't go back to their newsrooms after the fun ended? Who can blame them...
Anyway, according to Isiah, KRIV-26, KTRK-13 and KHOU-11 all did well, as did the folks in these pictures. (How did this nominee do?)
Congratulations to all the winners! Now, get back to work. =)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/22/06 09:16 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (3)
Mayor White rides in police car, says crime will go down
On Friday night, Mayor White did another of his HPD Ride Alongs:
With Houston crime under the microscope, Mayor Bill White went along with police to see for himself how new tactics are working.
On Friday night, Mayor White patrolled with officers through the northwest side's hot spots. Officers are working overtime on the northwest side to add police manpower to the streets. The mayor hopes that will be enough to curtail crime until the 70 cadets who started this week in the academy can graduate and until 358 recruited officers get assigned to the area.
"We'll get experienced police officers in the street and when you put those officers in the street at the right places at the right time, you see crime go down," said Mayor White.
The mayor says the city is now working with only 200 officers fewer than before he became mayor. He says crime rates are lower than before he took office.
Did he do it by himself, or did Chief Hurtt postpone his trip home to Phoenix so he could join the mayor?
PREVIOUSLY: Mayor White rides in police car, says crime will end, Mayor White's Ride Alongs
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/22/06 08:26 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
21 October 2006
Just wondering...
If Houstonians could vote on a smoking ban, what would be the outcome?
If Houstonians could vote on red light cameras (or surveillance cameras), what would be the outcome?
If Houstonians could vote on giving millions of dollars to a local (liberal) group so it could build subsidized housing in one particular neighborhood, what would be the outcome?
If Houstonians could vote on a stadium for the Houston Dynamo, what would be the outcome? (Maybe the Dynamo can talk to Cy-Fair ISD.)
But Houstonians WILL get the opportunity to vote on Mayor White's effort to nullify Prop. 2, so he can continue his free-spending ways. Funny how Mayor White got those before the voters.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/21/06 08:03 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)
Chron: Murder rate could be highest in a decade
The headline from today's Chronicle is pretty telling:
The Administration's spinners go on to try to explain to us why the numbers aren't really that bad, and even if they are that bad, it's all the fault of Katrina.
The fact is, HPD's manpower crisis was known when Mayor White came to office well before Katrina, and it wasn't a priority at that time. Mayor White's handpicked, bumbling police chief Harold Hurtt hasn't exactly overcome the manpower limitations with *ahem* strong leadership. And the Katrina influx has certainly contributed to what was already a deteriorating public safety situation.
But hey, look on the bright side -- we'll soon have a new world-class downtown hobo destination to go with our world-class murder rate!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/21/06 02:22 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
20 October 2006
Time for a new crimefighting acronym!
KTRK-13 reports the rollout of another acronym to take on Houston's surging crime:
Police will soon have new eyes and ears inside Houston apartment complexes with the creation of a new program.
It's called The Police Apartment Clergy Team, or PACT. Officers work with local clergy to recruit married couples to live in local apartment complexes. The couples will serve as activity directors inside certain complexes to get to know the neighbors. From there, they'll act as liaisons between the tenants, the police and outside groups like the YMCA.
"There [sic] role is not to be a snitch," said with Jim Myers Brays with Oak Management District. "There [sic] role is to work with the tenants to make the complex a better complex, to answer some of the questions and some of the needs of the tenants."
It's impossible to make this stuff up. It's like The Onion meets clueless Houston political leaders, with surging murders and an out-of-town police chief all thrown in for fun! Well, fun except for the dead, injured, and burgled victims.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/20/06 11:01 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (13)
Murders up 25% from 2005
KTRH-740's Brent Fuller reports the following news:
Police Chief Harold Hurtt said Thursday that Houston has recorded 316 homicides in the 289 days from January 1 through October 16. He said that was about a 25 percent increase over the same period from 2005.
One can understand why Chief Hurtt heads to Phoenix on weekends. It's probably much safer there.
Have a happy Friday everyone!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/20/06 09:09 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
AP: Chron anti-endorsement "unusual"
Yesterday, the Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists posted their endorsement for Governor.
They also posted their anti-endorsement for Governor.
We weren't the only ones to think that a bit odd:
The Chronicle also published an unusual editorial just below the endorsement that advises Friedman's supporters to reconsider. The editorial says Friedman has poor judgment, is unqualified and can't win.
"Unusual" is a relatively nice adjective for that editorial page.
BLOGVERSATION: Lou Minatti.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/20/06 08:07 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (12)
19 October 2006
KPRC trumpets email allegedly critical of Jordy Tollett
KPRC-2 "has obtained" an email "regarding" an alleged vote of no-confidence by a local hotel group against Jordy Tollett.
That seems like a slim factual basis for a news story, but KPRC doesn't seem to have any trepidation over running with information perceived as damaging to Tollett.
It's been clear for some time that Mayor White wants Tollett out at GHCVB, but it's not clear that this latest KPRC hit piece is all that helpful to the mayor.
UPDATE (10-20-2006): KPRC's Robert Arnold emails us that there was definitely a no-confidence vote by the hotel group, that he spoke to two sources who cast ballots during the vote and a third source who was not present but confirmed that the vote took place. Arnold indicates that the email quoted in the story was sent by the group to all board members.
None of that was clear from the story, so we appreciate Mr. Arnold's email and permission to update this post with that relevant information!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/19/06 10:33 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
KTRK: METRO bus strikes, kills pedestrian in Midtown
KTRK-13 reports that a METRO bus has killed a man in Midtown:
A pedestrian has been struck by a bus in downtown Houston.The accident happened at about 4:30pm Thursday at the corner of Smith and McGowen. A man about 60 years old was apparently crossing the street outside the crosswalk when he was struck by a METRO bus.
He was taken to Ben Taub Hospital where he later died.
Within a month's time in 2003, two pedestrians were struck and killed by METRO buses in separate incidents.
Be careful out there.
ADDITIONAL COVERAGE: KHOU-11, Chronicle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/19/06 08:55 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
18 October 2006
Mayor touts subsidized housing spending
With all the excitement over the naming of the park (not to mention our soggy Monday), some news from the weekend didn't get much attention. As KTRK-13 reported, your city just committed $2-3 million to subsidize housing for a certain neighborhood:
There will be more affordable housing for those who need it. That's the goal of the city of Houston.
Mayor Bill White announced Sunday the city will give $3 million to The Metropolitan Organization to build 60 single family homes and buy land in the near north side. Property values in that area have increased 26% in the past year. The homes will be targeted at people making $25,000 to $30,000 per year.
"Somebody in the middle class can buy a house in the city limits and doesn't have to move away and fight all that freeway traffic on the way to work," said Mayor White.
Mayor White also says the city plans on providing the same affordable housing plan in other neighborhoods.
The Chronicle's resident lefty plagiarist, Rick Casey, likes the move:
[Mayor White] also said citizens shouldn't look at the program as welfare.
"This is a high return on public investment," he said. "These will be taxpaying properties here in the city limits. And with more families moving in, they'll be safer neighborhoods. Our hope for maintaining property tax discipline is to encourage developments in these neighborhoods."
It makes sense.
Sure. Tossing millions to subsidize housing in certain neighborhoods makes great sense at a time when the city's leaders refuse to budget adequately for basic municipal services like policing (HPD's manpower shortage and associated surge in violent crime, anyone?) or flood control (as many parts of town experienced Monday).
It is useful to keep in mind Mayor White's spending priorities, especially as he's urging passage of various November propositions on revenues/spending.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/18/06 10:57 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
Hotel Icon: Where PR doesn't quite match reality
The Houston Business Journal posts this real-estate news:
Real estate investor and developer Lowe Enterprises Investors has acquired Hotel Icon -- a 135-room luxury hotel located in downtown Houston -- for undisclosed terms from an undisclosed buyer.
Los Angeles-based Lowe Enterprises acquired the property, located at 220 Main, on behalf of Lowe Hospitality Investment Partners, a $266 million discretionary fund that invests solely in hotel and resort properties.
Lowe's affiliate company Destination Hotels & Resorts will assume management of the hotel.
That's not nearly as good as this priceless tidbit from the Lowe Enterprises press release:
“Hotel Icon is an exquisite property. Every aspect of its renovation exhibits the highest standards of quality and attention to detail, from the richly appointed lobby and public spaces to the large comfortable guest rooms,” said Bleecker Seaman, managing director of Lowe Enterprises Investors. “Located in the heart of downtown, it is walking distance to the arts and entertainment district as well as the many other attractions such as the convention center and the ballpark. The METROrail light rail line, located adjacent to the hotel, offers guests convenient access to destinations throughout greater Houston.”
The Danger Train? Destinations throughout greater Houston?
Right.
That bit of hilarity is not exactly a great moment in Houston public relations.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/18/06 10:20 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
KHOU gets into the non-descriptive description act
KHOU-11 reports that HPD is on the lookout for a bad guy:
Houston police are looking for a suspect in a string of crimes that started around 8 p.m. Tuesday.
The suspect is wanted for a robbery, carjacking and shootout.
It happened at the Popeye's in the 8500 block of Jensen Drive.
[snip]
Houston police said the suspect is 5 feet 6 inches tall, was wearing a bandana and had a black gun.
It is very disappointing that KHOU injected race into their description of the gun!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/18/06 10:12 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (4)
Houston Greeters
Beginning October 26, visitors to Houston can turn to local volunteer "greeters" to learn more about the city (via Houston Business Journal):
The Houston Greeters is a free service which pairs visitors and new residents with volunteer greeters. The greeters use their knowledge of local facts to show out-of-towners and new residents the city's hidden gems.
[snip]
The program includes more than 60 greeters from various backgrounds, including proficiency in 11 languages.
The Houston organization is modeled after the Big Apple Greeter in New York City, and has taken the lead in organizing the Global Greeter Network that currently includes similar programs in Chicago, Toronto, Fairbanks, Buenos Aires, as well as Melbourne and Adelaide, Australia.
All the programs are free of charge for individuals or small groups of six or less, and all use public transportation.
In Houston, the organization has partnered with Metro Rail to provide free passes for visitors and their greeters during city tours.
The Houston Greeters website is here.
What a nice idea, although experiencing the Danger Train up close and personal could be more exciting than visitors expect.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/18/06 07:30 PM | Houston Arts/Culture | Technorati | Comments (3)
Smoking ban expansion passes overwhelmingly
After all the talk last week about possible amendments to the proposed smoking ban and lack of consensus and alleged uncertainty, Council today overwhelmingly expanded the smoking ban, approving the ordinance 13-2 while shooting down various amendments. Alexis Grant reports for the Chronicle:
The City Council voted today to extend Houston's indoor smoking ban to bars but to continue allowing smoking in outdoor patios and in bars that promote cigar smoking and derive significant revenue from tobacco sales.
The 13-2 vote was a victory for Mayor Bill White, who wanted to extend the ban while leaving some locations available for public smoking. The only dissenters were council members Addie Wiseman and Michael Berry, who had said previously that they opposed any extension of the ban and that the decision on whether to allow smoking should be up to individual businesses.
The council rejected several amendments that would have weakened the ordinance or extended its reach. The only amendment approved expands the ban to include meetings of nonprofit organizations at their own facilities.
Apparently, the influence of lobbyists on this issue (which concerned the Editorial LiveJournalists) was way overestimated, as Mayor White and Councilmember Alvarado easily won approval of the ban they wanted, and Councilmembers Berry and Wiseman stood in opposition to the ordinance, just as they promised they would all along. The best guess here is that some of these amendments were just window dressing to allow certain councilmembers to tell constituents they tried to improve the ordinance, but their colleagues wouldn't go along, and they had to do something.
The ordinance will not take effect until September 2007.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/18/06 01:19 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (22)
17 October 2006
Michael Berry is podcasting
As Michael Berry promised last week, podcasts of his KPRC-950 show are now available.
For those who can't catch the show live or just prefer the convenience of podcasts, they're available here.
I've missed Councilmember Berry's shows this week, so it's going to be nice to catch up at some point.
UPDATE (10-18-2006): I just caught up on Monday's show, which was a smart discussion of drainage issues in the city of Houston. The mp3s are available here and here.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/17/06 10:18 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (14)
Downtown park named Discovery Green
Houston's new downtown hobo destination now has a name: Discovery Green.
Mike Snyder has the details for the Chronicle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/17/06 02:49 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (27)
Emergency vehicle-only onramp
In Monday's Move It! column, Rad Sallee reports that TxDOT's new Blodgett to 59 south onramp is for emergency vehicles only. Really:
For several months now, the daily list of road closings from the Texas Department of Transportation has included the new ramp from Blodgett to the southbound Southwest Freeway (U.S. 59). It's listed as a long-term closure, but Paul Beutel and Joel Shepherd ask if it's a permanent one.
It seems so, although emergency vehicles will be able to use it.
In May, shortly after the ramp was opened, motorists were calling it scary, and TxDOT made observations that generally bore that out.
"We found limited gaps in the U.S. 59 traffic stream and observed some ramp motorists using the right shoulder during freeway merging, creating unexpected high-speed conflicts with outbound Spur 527 travel lanes immediately downstream of the ramp," said district spokeswoman Janelle Gbur.
"Most motorists using this ramp had some difficulty entering within the available merge area," she said.
"In consideration of the high-traffic volumes ... the limited merge distance, low Blodgett ramp traffic volumes, available freeway ramps nearby and constrained right of way, we have determined that closing this ramp is the best alternative," Gbur said.
"The ramp will be gated and available for emergency use and incident management."
How much did that winning design cost taxpayers?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/17/06 06:12 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (4)
16 October 2006
KTRK CrimeTracker: There's some percentage of crime downtown, we think
KTRK-13 broke out the CrimeTracker to take a look at downtown crime.
Here's the online report:
Overall, violent crime is up 4%. Of the 138 reported violent crimes, 93 of them happened between 7pm and 7am.
On the 6 pm on-air broadcast, Andy Cerota reported that "about 50%" of those crimes happened between 7pm and 7am.
Obviously, 93 of 138 reported violent crimes is not "about 50%."
So, we're not really sure exactly what Cerota and the CrimeTracker have figured out about downtown.
We did see one woman interviewed, and she accurately described the homeless beggar situation: If you are a female downtown, it's quite likely you'll be approached by the growing hobo population.
That's not very appealing. But hey, at least MayorWhiteChiefHurtt have the renegade downtown jaywalkers under control!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/16/06 10:39 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (17)
How the Chron turns good news into bad news
Last week, as part of a news round up, the Chron printed a blurb about HISD seeking class-size waivers from the state. See if you can spot something a bit odd:
Class-size waiver requests increase
HISD will appeal to the Texas Education Agency this week for permission to exceed maximum class-size standards for 659 classes, from kindergarten through fourth grade, with more than 22 students.
That's up slightly from the district's low of 641 waivers in 2004, but down dramatically from the more than 1,500 waivers that the state approved in 1999.
This is 2006, and the request is 659. That's up from 2004's request of 641.
Er, what happened to 2005? How many waiver requests were there last year? You know, the most recent year to make a comparison.
Well, a little info from HISD's press office tells us that in 2005, 933 waivers were requested. Now why didn't the writer use that number? Why did the writer go back two years to say that HISD's waiver request had increased? Common sense says one might use last year's number as the benchmark, or even list a whole bunch of years, like this:
2006: 659
2005: 933
2004: 641
2003: 672
2001: 1334
2000: 1319
1999: 1508
1998: 1380
1997: 1244
Well. Now 659 looks like an improving trend, doesn't it? And the Chron's headline looks very strange.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/16/06 08:28 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (4)
15 October 2006
Dave Ward: 40 years of Houston TV news
Ward is about to celebrate 40 years on the air in Houston, and many many years of leading the news ratings chase in town.
Congrats to Dave, who remains my personal fav for local news (even though KTRK's news was better with Shara)!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/15/06 10:25 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (3)
Houston's sales tax revenue up almost 20%
The Houston Business Journal reports the latest state sales tax disbursements:
The state of Texas collected $1.51 billion in sales tax revenue in September, 13.7 percent more than the same period a year ago.
Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn also disbursed $415.5 million in sales-tax payments to cities, counties, transit authorities and special-purpose taxing districts for the month of October.
Of this amount, Houston received $36.3 million, up 19.4 percent from October 2005.
Harris County does not collect a sales tax. However, the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County collects a 1 percent tax. Metro received $35.9 million from the state in October.
Wow! Add in red light camera revenue, and Houston's sitting pretty! As for Metro, that revenue sure helps with the substantial losses the agency incurs every month as it subsidizes the Danger Train.
Along the line of municipality revenue, a blogHOUSTON reader alerted us to a Federal Reserve study that concludes cities use traffic ticket revenue to bolster lagging city revenues. From the report's abstract:
Specifically, positive changes in revenue have no effect on traffic tickets, but negative revenue changes increase the number of traffic tickets issued. A one percentage point decrease in revenue yields a 0.38 percentage point increase in traffic tickets. We calculate that traffic ticket revenue supplements a low percentage of local revenue losses.
And if that's true of hand-written traffic tickets, imagine what a study would conclude when the subject is camera tickets.
RELATED: Study: Traffic Tickets Rise as City Income Falls (theNewspaper.com)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/15/06 07:51 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Editorial LiveJournalists don't like some lobbying
The Chronicle's Editorial LiveJournalists blast City Hall lobbyists today:
Mayor Bill White, who has made his disdain for City Hall lobbyists well-known during his two terms, doubts they will have much effect on the outcome. "It's the witnesses who are doctors treating cancer patients and people who have respiratory illnesses related to secondhand smoke who work in bars and the merchants who are concerned who have impact on council members in this debate," the mayor said.
Let's hope that's the case. The public, including the business and medical communities, has had abundant opportunity to address council on the pros and cons of the smoking ban. The presence of lobbyists who say whatever they are paid to say, regardless of the obvious public good, is not needed and does little to elevate the debate.
This view may put me in the minority, but downtown lobbyists who go in front of Council to speak in favor of a position don't bother me that much. Yes, they're paid spokesmen for a cause, but we know that, and they do put forth points of view that ought to be considered. For example, during the recent debate before Council's decision to curry favor with Yellow Cab by putting Texans Shuttle out of business, a paid lobbyist for those opposed to the move put forward some very good arguments why it was a bad decision. Presumably, that lobbyist also attended various committee meetings on that topic and made himself heard, along with other stakeholders in that issue. That's not a "bad thing" in my view, so long as it's transparent. Indeed, the "lobbyist" said quite a few things that I might have told Council, if I could ignore job and life commitments to go hang out at City Hall for public comment.
It's unfortunate that the Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists chose to criticize transparent lobbying on the smoking issue, but chose completely to ignore the manner in which Yellow Cab company persuaded the city's aviation director and members of Council to put a competitor out of business a few weeks ago. Apparently, transparent "lobbying" is worse than non-transparent anti-competitive dealmaking to benefit City-Hall-favored companies, at least in the view of the Editorial LiveJournalists.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/15/06 09:01 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
Will hobos appreciate the Homeric undertones of the new park's name?
The Chronicle's Mike Snyder today updates us on Mayor White's new downtown hobo destination park, which will be named on Monday:
The explorer archetype is a powerful theme in classical literature, from Odysseus' quest to find his way home in Homer's Odyssey to the narrator's search for spiritual revelation in Dante's Divine Comedy.
These ideas might seem a bit high-concept for choosing the name of a 12-acre park in downtown Houston....
Yes.
There's more:
"The personality that we realized that we're going after is one of exploration with kind of a dash of magic thrown in," said Guy Hagstette, the conservancy's park director.
Accordingly, the firm the conservancy hired to help select a name settled on the explorer as the primary archetype for the park, with the magician as a secondary theme.
Archetype? Dante? Homer?
At least the firm gave the park's busybodies some fancy-schmancy soundbites to go with what was likely a hefty bill for its consulting services.
Prizes will be awarded tomorrow:
The entrant whose name is selected will win dinner for two at a park restaurant, a framed political cartoon by Houston Chronicle cartoonist Nick Anderson and a collection of Houston Astros merchandise.
Ah, they're not offering a video iPod and one of Anderson's bizarre animations? THAT would have been archetypically world-class! The iPod, not the animation. The Astros gear is pretty cool, though.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/15/06 08:45 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (17)
Let's start calling them "suggested guidelines"
The Editorial LiveJournalists are relieved that FEMA is (again) not enforcing a housing recertification "deadline":
Houston social service agencies and Hurricane Katrina victims living in the city welcomed a decision by Federal Emergency Management Agency officials to extend housing subsidies past an Oct. 31 deadline for recertification for at least another four months. The specter of thousands of jobless people being thrown out of their apartments onto the streets still remains, but the FEMA action provides a window of opportunity to prevent that from happening.
The federal disaster relief agency dropped its requirement for extensive documentation for housing assistance recertification after few of the estimated 21,000 evacuee households in Houston made submissions. Instead, a simple one-page form is being accepted, with an automatic extension of all housing payments through the end of February.
So stop calling them deadlines.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/15/06 07:30 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
Appraisal protests in Harris County clog up the system
It's time for property tax bills to hit the mail, but the good news is Harris County isn't ready (via KTRH-740):
Harris County residents won't be seeing their property tax bills the first week in Novemeber because officials won't be able to mail them on time.
"You'll probably get the bills the week of Thanksgiving," Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt told KTRH News. "The state law is real clear. You have to have listened to 95 percent of the total value protests, before the chief appraiser can take a roll from his appraisal review board."
Bettencourt said that's not possible yet, because "this year there's been almost a quarter-million protests."
Outstanding! And until the Lege does anything meaningful on an appraisal cap, boatloads of protests are the only way to get the attention of local appraisal boards. Make those boards earn every penny they are taking from hard working Texans.
Now, about that big property tax cut the Legislature and Governor Perry promised property owners:
Property owners shouldn't be surprised if they don't see the promised $2,000 property tax cut from Austin, Bettencourt said. The tax-cut figures, he said, are based on home sales, not appraisal numbers, and the cut may actually be so gradual that, for some, it will be a wash because of rising property values.
That figures.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/15/06 07:17 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
14 October 2006
A mother's joy
A big reason why my blogging has been so limited lately is because my children are all immersed in activities -- swimming, gymnastics, baseball, honors band, and orchestra. You should see the weekly activity schedule and witness the juggling that goes on to make sure everyone gets to where they are supposed to be (and back home again!).
This morning my eldest tried out for the All-Region Band* (he plays the clarinet in the Hildebrandt Intermediate School honors band and orchestra) and he made it! Woo hoo! I am one proud mom! He loves playing the clarinet and can't wait to head to Klein Oak High School next year and join the marching band there.
Congratulations, Austen! You did good!
*Region 9 -- ISDs include Spring, Klein, Tomball, Conroe, Montgomery, and Huntsville.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/14/06 01:36 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
Fun with Council campaign finance disclosure
Slampo's been poring over City Council's campaign finance reports, and is sharing the fun in the form of trivia quizzes.
Here are part one and part two.
Better keep checking in. Who knows what Slampo may turn up while the Chronicle is focused like a laser beam on Yao Ming's toe!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/14/06 09:23 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
Smoking ban = World Class Houston
Heard in the Linehan mobile Friday evening: a pro-smoking ban ad on KTRH-740 that said if Houston wants to be World Class, then Houston needs a smoking ban. And don't forget to call City Council.
What's left on the World Class checklist?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/14/06 07:36 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
13 October 2006
Houston's ghostbusters
They call themselves the Phenomena Police, and have a website that resembles the dvd case of a good sci-fi flick.
So, if you're having some sort of paranormal problem (haunting, demonic possession, poltergeist), now you have a local resource to help!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/13/06 09:49 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Dangerous time/place/behavior update
Recall that back in June, Chief Hurtt downplayed the surge in crime in Houston:
"Overall in the city of Houston, you're pretty safe," says Hurtt. "If you're not involved in specific types of behavior, not out on the streets at particular times of night and particular areas of the city, you have a pretty good chance of not becoming a victim of violent crime in the city of Houston."
KTRK-13 reports this bit of crime news from yesterday:
The search is on for a bank robber.
The Capital One Bank on Voss near San Felipe was hit just before 2pm Thursday. Surveillance photos show the robber, who pretended to make a deposit before he demanded money. He left with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Everyone add "2pm, inside bank, at Voss near San Felipe" to your list of times/places/behaviors that you should avoid if you're concerned about not becoming a victim of violent crime in Houston.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/13/06 08:29 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
12 October 2006
Time for audio/video of editorial board interviews (cont'd)
This week, the Editorial LiveJournalists met with Iraq's Ambassador to the United States.
They also met with Carol Keeton Strayhorn.
Unfortunately, the only accounts of those meetings are here, here, here, and here.
That's not enough.
Why can't the blog-happy, podcast-happy Chronicle make use of audio/video technology to open up these secretive meetings with newsmakers, so readers can have the full picture of what was said (by the newsmakers and by the journalists)?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/12/06 11:20 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (4)
Jeff Van Gundy must be smiling
Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy must be smiling.
That prompted a Chronicle story. And another. And a feature.
And a Chronicle sports column.
And today, the Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists weighed in!
Cracking on Reebok.
Somehow, I don't think journalists in the world's greatest media city would have given the perpetually dour coach's shoe complaints quite so much play back when he was heading up the Knicks.
Seriously, can you imagine the New York Times editorial page weighing in on such a trivial matter?
No. That wouldn't be world class.
BLOGVERSATION: Slampo's Place.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/12/06 10:36 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Doh!
Today, the Chronicle runs an important correction to a recipe that ran in the newspaper yesterday:
A recipe on Page F2 of Wednesday's Flavor section contained directions for baking chicken in a paper bag. The USDA recommends commercial oven cooking bags instead because ink, glue and recycled materials in some paper bags may emit toxic fumes when exposed to heat.
Then again, if you really want to spice up your chicken, that might be the way to go!
As noted previously, we recommend waiting several days for corrections before trying any recipes published in the local Hearst daily.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/12/06 08:17 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
11 October 2006
Council delays graffiti ordinance decision
This whole graffiti ordinance debate is odd, isn't it? The notion of penalizing property owners who didn't do anything wrong is just screwy. So screwy, in fact, that Council has taken a pass on it again this week:
Houston City Council delayed a vote Wednesday on a new ordinance that would crack down on graffiti, KPRC Local 2 reported.
The proposed ordinance would give city inspectors and police the authority to go onto someone's property to tell them they have 10 days to remove the graffiti that was painted on their building.
And property owners who don't clean it up can expect to get fined, up to $500.
What's missing from the debate? What about the graffiti "artists"? Or as Councilman Michael Berry calls them, the "little punks":
"I don't hear anyone say, 'You know, I'm driving around this town and I couldn't be more furious. These people have graffiti painted on their walls. They sit there and let it sit there and I'm so mad at them how long they let it sit there.' I hear people say, 'There are little punks terrorizing our community.' And I know council member Garcia has tried to catch these kids and I know it's very difficult, but let's be honest, we are today saying, 'We cannot catch these little kids who run through the neighborhoods and spray paint the buildings.' That's clear. We've told the world that," Houston city councilman Michael Berry said.
The focus is not in the right place.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/11/06 09:48 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
CenterPoint wants more money
Jeff Ehling (KTRK-13) reported last night that CenterPoint Energy is seeking some fee increases...some BIG fee increases. Check out the details on KTRK's Consumer Blog and see if anything strikes you about the proposed changes.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/11/06 09:08 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
10 October 2006
KTRK CrimeTracker: Violent crime surges in West Houston
KTRK-13 has broken out the CrimeTracker to take a look at west Houston, and the results are grim:
We put our exclusive Crime Tracker to work, taking a closer look at what's happening in district 20. It's the portion of Houston's west side loosely bordered by the Katy Freeway, the Westpark Tollway, Gessner and the city's west border. Overall violent crimes are up 4.7 percent for the first eight months of 2006 versus 2005.
The greatest gain -- murders. They're up to 15 from 9 the year before. That's an increase of nearly 67%. A third of the homicides in this part of town happened near Westpark and the beltway.
Aggravated assaults are also on the rise. They're up to 380 from 330. That's an increase of more than 15%.
Rapes are up slightly -- 12%. Only robberies have decreased, and only by 4%.
Let us recall what Chief Hurtt said back in June when people were starting to take note of increased crime:
"Overall in the city of Houston, you're pretty safe," says Hurtt. "If you're not involved in specific types of behavior, not out on the streets at particular times of night and particular areas of the city, you have a pretty good chance of not becoming a victim of violent crime in the city of Houston."
And if you're in west Houston, out on the streets, in the daytime, breathing -- well, good luck!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/10/06 10:18 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
"Ethnic bars" to be exempted from smoking ban?
On Friday, KTRH-740 talker Chris Baker spent quite a bit of time on Council's proposed revisions to the smoking ordinance.
Baker interviewed Councilmember Peter Brown on the topic, and one part of the interview (still available via KTRH's podcasts) was particularly interesting:
BAKER: Would you like to have this ordinance affect cigar bars and tobacco bars?
BROWN: Well, I concur that the bars... the cigar bars, tobacco bars, and tobacco shops, and there are other kinds of uhh specialist uhh ethnic bars where smoking is part of the culture -- those would be exempted. I support that.BAKER: Would you want to close down a cigar bar?
BROWN: I'm going to support the retention of existing cigar bars. And that's the way the ordinance is written.
BAKER: So if a business owner wants to open a cigar bar in the future, would you stand in the way of that?
BROWN: Well, I'm only one in 15 votes, but I think that we could make some exceptions for that sort of thing, although that's not in the ordinance right now. That would have to be an amendment to the draft ordinance that's on the table.
BROWN: So do you want to just ban smoking in houston altogether?
BAKER: That's generally the direction we're headed....
So, if you are a current owner of a cigar bar in Houston, the City of Houston is about to ensure a great return on your investment by protecting your existing business from new competition. That's an even sweeter deal than Yellow Cab typically extracts from Council and the Airport Director!
Councilmember Brown's reference to "ethnic bars where smoking is part of the culture" is just bizarre. How in the world will that work? For example, how would the cultural "exemption" not include American culture, which gave us the Marlboro Man after all?
Council takes up the topic this week.
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/10/06 09:36 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (24)
09 October 2006
Ethics committee praises Chron reporter
City Council's Ethics Committee praised Chronicle reporter Matt Stiles today for his efforts in helping push along better campaign finance reporting in the city.
KRIV-26's Isiah Carey has the details on his blog, along with a photo of the Chron's hard-working City Hall reporter.
There's no escaping Carey's camera. He's everywhere with it.
UPDATE (10-10-2006): Here is Matt Stiles' coverage of what is being proposed by the committee.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/09/06 10:58 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (0)
Sanctuary policy revisions effective today
KHOU-11's News Blog reports that changes to HPD's sanctuary policy are now in effect:
Houston police put their new immigration policy into effect Monday.
Now, anyone who's arrested, even for a misdemeanor, could be asked to show proof of residency.
If they can't, they may be turned over to immigration officials.
Officers are still not allowed to inquire about a person's residency status before they're arrested.
When will City Council be taking up the topic of General Order 500-5?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/09/06 08:43 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)
Continental gives Mayor White's Prop. G a big boost
Continental Airlines has decided to throw all its weight behind Proposition G, Mayor White's effort to do an end-run around Proposition 2 (via KHOU-11):
Political insiders have told 11 News that Continental plans to spend whatever it takes to pass Proposition G.
Something you don’t see every day is top business executives handing out campaign signs inside their corporate headquarters, asking workers for their votes.
Continental Airlines has launched a corporate campaign blitz asking its 20,000 local employees to vote for an amendment to Houston’s city charter.
“Continental asked because otherwise, we could see the growth of the Houston airport limited. And we don’t want to fall behind American at Dallas/Ft. Worth or Delta in Atlanta,” said Larry Kellner, Continental Airlines CEO.
So Continental is throwing a still-undisclosed amount of money into a political campaign
Everything from Proposition G billboards to a Web site to its airline magazine, in which the CEO urges travelers to back Prop G.
Proposition G would remove Houston’s Aviation Department and a couple of other city departments that actually make money, from limits on the growth of city revenues.
Those limits were passed by voters two years ago in a charter change backed by conservative activists.
“It’s kicking out the stools out from taxpayer protections that the citizens overwhelmingly put into place in 2004,” said Bruce Hotze.
“We already had to put on hold one airport project because of the uncertainty caused by the people who are suing the city,” Bill White, Houston mayor.
Here's the ballot language. Scroll down for Propositions G and H.
Continental's help will certainly be welcomed by Mayor White, as will the votes of many of its 20,000 employees. Imagine the reaction if a big local entity encouraged its employees to vote against something Mayor White wanted.
Does anyone know what airport project the city put on hold due to Prop. 2? I can't recall a story on that.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/09/06 07:55 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
TxDOT is planting trees; Wulfe & Co. is bulldozing them
Rad Sallee has an informative Q & A with a TxDOT official, discussing all the tree planting (reforestation) TxDOT has been doing along our freeways:
Q: So basically you're planting something like a real forest, not a landscaped garden.
A: It's a reforestation-type planting. The concept was developed in cooperation with the Forest Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas Commission for Environmental Quality, the Quality of Life Coalition, Trees For Houston, community groups and organizations and the general public.
By contrast, in far north Harris County, a strip of heavily forested land along FM 2920 just east of Falvel Road was bulldozed last winter. When that was done, Wulfe & Co. signs went up, advertising the available land. WulfeCo. couldn't even leave a fringe of trees along the perimeter. Nope, had to strip it bare. All those big, beautiful pine trees gone, just like that. And that's just one example.
Whatever happened to Harris County's tree preservation regulations? Land is being clear cut up here at a rapid pace. Another example: the forested area north of the green arrow in this link is in the process of being bulldozed right now, and the forested area to the right of the arrow is already gone. Sigh.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/09/06 06:42 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
KTRK: Council to take up graffiti ordinance this week
KTRK-13's Mark Garay reports that Council is about to take up the latest proposal to deal with the city's graffiti problem:
It's a million dollar problem in Houston, and one you may notice when you drive down any street -- graffiti. There's a new effort to stop it. This week, Houston's city council will talk about a new ordinance designed to make those who paint and spray buildings think twice.
[snip]
"It will be against the law for minors or juveniles to purchase or possess graffiti implements," [Councilmember Adrian] Garcia explained.
That includes not only aerosol cans, but also certain pens and markers.
[Councilmember Sue] Lovell said, "There will be a fine of $500 if you do sell graffiti implements, and it will be unlawful for minors to have those implements on their person."
Under the new plan, fines will go up, depending on damage costs. Also, people who cause more than $1,500 in damage will be charged with a felony. What's more, property reported as tagged needs to be cleaned up within 10 days, whether privately or publicly owned. The current window is 30 days.
Earlier proposals included a $500 fine for businesses that do not clean up the graffiti within 10 day of being notified by the City of Houston; Garay did not mention whether that is still in the proposed ordinance.
It's also not clear if any changes are being proposed to improve the reporting system. My experience with a recent complaint was that it took two months and multiple emails to 311 and Councilmembers even to get a city inspector to go look at a defaced property in order to get the 30-day process moving along. The city's graffiti efforts are hindered both by inadequacies in the 311 system and limited manpower (for inspections of reported properties). Those problems will need to be addressed if the new ordinance is to work as effectively as Councilmembers Garcia and Lovell hope.
UPDATE: KHOU-11's Carolyn Campbell says the hefty fine for not abating graffiti within 10 days is still part of the proposal.
BLOGVERSATION: Isiah Carey's Insite.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/09/06 07:53 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
08 October 2006
Hines covers Washington ... via the internet and C-SPAN
It's good that the Chronicle has its very own D.C. bureau, with a coveted spot in the White House briefing room on the fifth row with other regional newspapers AND its very own opinion columnist to pound the pavement in Washington and dig up the stories important to Houstonians.
And when Cragg Hines is too busy to pound the pavement, well, there's always the good old internet:
Just because much of Washington so easily turns to wallowing in eruptions such as the House page outrage doesn't mean that some of the nation's best minds — or even Newt Gingrich — don't have time for more far-reaching issues.
That was the case when Justice Stephen Breyer and former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor led a conference on fair and independent courts at Georgetown University Law Center co-sponsored by the American Law Institute. It was a natural outgrowth of recent verbal assaults on the judiciary from the Republican right, including suggestions that there should be no surprise at violence against judges.
[snip]
I was out of town during the conference but have caught up by way of Georgetown Law's superb Internet coverage, including a number of transcripts and archived Webcasts, at www.law.georgetown.edu/judiciary/program.html.
Why in the world does the Chronicle maintain an expensive D.C. bureau so its Washington columnist can write about what he finds on C-SPAN and the internet?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/08/06 09:05 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Councilmember suggests a smoking ban revenue stream
Now and then a local news story will feature an idea or quote from a local pol that seems so familiar. Here's an example from a KTRH-740 story on the latest smoking ban debate:
Meanwhile, Council Member Jarvis Johnson advocated making bar owners pay a yearly permit fee to the city, and accept more stringent health requirements, in exchange for Houston allowing those businesses to take down the "no-smoking" sign.
"I want Houston to go smoke-free," said Johnson, "but if an establishment wants to be a smoking establishment, that is their right."
What a fine, Mayor White-style idea! A new revenue stream! But why does it ring a bell?
Dermatologist-Councilwoman Gibbs has led the charge on this matter, calling for an outright ban.
We think Mayor White could reclaim this issue, and give it his signature touch. That's right -- why not turn it into a possibility for a new revenue stream?
Ban smoking outright for now. Allow restaurants that meet certain specifications to allow smoking in designated parts of their restaurants. Create a new "Smoking Establishment Permit" and accompanying bureaucracy for the thing! There you go -- a new revenue stream AND cleaner air!
Mayor White's thinking small on this one. In a city that has a sign inspector and that requires delivery trucks to pay for loading zone permits, surely our creative mayor can figure out a way to squeeze restaurants that would like to allow patrons to smoke.
Because Kevin Whited suggested it one and a half years ago.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/08/06 07:55 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (3)
07 October 2006
Revenue caps likely to force property tax rate cut
KTRH-740's Brent Fuller reported on Thursday that the City of Houston may have to offer a larger tax-rate cut than Mayor White had planned:
A 2004 voter-approved referendum, known as the "tax cap" or "Proposition 1", required the city to budget its yearly property tax revenue at or below the combined rate of population and inflation growth or 4.5 percent, whichever is lower. The idea is to prevent city administrations from overestimating the money they'll get, which can often leave them scrambling to make cut backs later in the year.
However, Houston's population growth in the past year, mostly due to the influx of Hurricane Katrina evacuees, has not been reflected in the most recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. So the city's tax revenue has risen much faster than the reported growth in inflation and population, triggering a legally mandated property tax cut.
Mayor White, who likes to portray himself as a fiscal conservative, already has a backup plan in place to protect his spending priorities:
White has also put forth a new proposition on this November's ballot, known as "Proposition H," which would allow Houston to take in $90 million more than the cap allows for public safety emergencies.
That's a pretty clever way of getting voter approval for significantly higher spending than voters approved via the two spending caps. Mayor White's resourceful that way.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/07/06 02:54 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (7)
06 October 2006
Food and drink roundup (10-06-2006 edition)
Oh my, how time flies. It's been ages since a roundup went up. Let's get started, shall we?
Alison Cook loved the burgers at Christian's Tailgate Bar & Grill in Midtown. I don't know if I can talk myself into going to a chic Midtown ice house, but her description of the burgers might just convince me to give it a try. She also reviewed Nelore Churrascaria Brazilian Steakhouse located in Montrose. Several bH-ers had dinner there last night, some of us for the second time. Alison was right. Some days the place is good; some days it's so so. Last night it was good.
Robb Walsh reviewed Gulfgate's Doneraki Authentic Mexican Restaurant. One reason I love to read Robb Walsh, it's not just about the restaurant. One gets a food history too. Only in a Robb Walsh review could little gyros figure into a review of a local Tex-Mex restaurant. He also tried Afghan Tandoori King on Bissonnet and doesn't recommend the lunch buffet.
Ken Hoffman found Subway's Steak & Cheese Sub lacking in the meat department.
Last week, Zeke Minaya wrote a nice article on Rice's Valhalla.
And Lance Scott Walker checks out Club Tejano Country in the city's East End.
Last but not least, it's Greek Festival time.
World Class, all of it. Enjoy!!
Posted by Callie Markantonis @ 10/06/06 12:12 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (7)
Two councilmembers asked for payroll-related records
The latest developments in the investigation related to the Mayor Pro Tem's office got buried somewhat by yesterday's power outage at Chron.com.
As Matt Stiles reported for the Chronicle, the DA's office has asked for records of two other councilmembers as part of a broader investigation of council payrolls:
Harris County prosecutors have requested campaign-finance records filed by City Council members Michael Berry and Jarvis Johnson as part of the probe sparked by payroll padding in the Office of Mayor Pro Tem.
An investigator working for District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal last month asked the city for Berry's forms going back four years and Johnson's records for 2006, according to a letter obtained by the Houston Chronicle under the Texas Public Information Act.
Rosenthal has said previously that his office was reviewing city procedures and officials beyond the unauthorized bonuses and pay increases in the Office of Mayor Pro Tem. He has declined to elaborate on the latter probe.
Rosenthal said Wednesday that his staff was "just trying to be thorough" in asking for the records, even though the letter states that the campaign reports were needed "pursuant to an official investigation."
"I don't think it would be accurate to say that these records were part of an ongoing investigation," he said. "We just need to have them."
Berry and Johnson, interviewed at City Hall on Wednesday, said they hadn't been contacted by investigators.
Later in the story, Stiles suggests the interest in these particular records may be related to the late filing of recent campaign reports by Berry and Johnson. Both councilmembers pledged to cooperate fully with investigators, if it comes to that.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/06/06 08:11 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Cy-Fair ISD to raise tax rates; trustees don't feel residents' pain
So, officials in Cy-Fair ISD (home of the fabulous $70 million Berry Center) want to raise the property tax rate and some local residents are none too happy about that idea (KTRH-740):
The school district’s administration, headed up by Superintendent Dr. David Anthony, is recommending trustees raise the maintenance and operations property tax rate to just over $1.35 per $100 valuation. It was lowered from $1.50 to $1.33 per $100 valuation under the school finance reform passed this year by lawmakers in Austin.
[snip]
School Trustee Al Martinez Jr. said “I will not apologize for the Berry Center. We could have a Stadium on Barker Cypress, an arena on Skinner, a food service center somewhere else…combining it all was a savings to the district. If we’re going to support our kids, we need the facilities to support them.”
Well, that's easy for Trustee Martinez to say since, as Lone Star Times helpfully pointed out, Martinez is one of several Cy-Fair ISD board members who hasn't seen an increase in his property appraisal in several years.
And Superintendent David Anthony adds a typical educrat scare tactic:
Anthony also said the alternative to this tax hike is cutting programs that help kids, like tutoring.
Let's have a look-see at Cy-Fair's budget and see if all the fluff has already been cut out. How many extra administrators and associated administrative costs have been cut? How about administrative junkets, meetings, parties, team-building seminars, etc, etc.?
The first thing on Superintendent Anthony's list to cut is tutoring for students. And anyone who opposes his plan will be villified.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/06/06 06:47 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)
05 October 2006
Sarnoff returns to Chronicle
Back in June, we whined about the news that Chronicle real-estate columnist Nancy Sarnoff had left the newspaper.
We were happy to see the news on James Campbell's blog that Sarnoff will be returning to the Chronicle.
Campbell also notes the return of Jerome Solomon to the sports pages, which we commented on previously at Bad Sports.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/05/06 03:26 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Parts of downtown without power
KTRH-740 is reporting that parts of downtown are without power this morning because of a fire at a power substation.
We're told that the outage has affected the offices of the Chronicle. The Chron.com main page was down earlier, but has now been replaced with a temporary news weblog.
UPDATE (12:42 pm): Chron.com seems to be coming back online, several hours after power was reported to be restored downtown.
BLOGVERSATION: Lone Star Times.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/05/06 07:27 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
04 October 2006
Opa!
The 40th annual Greek Festival put on by Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church opens Thursday and continues through Sunday.
Indeed, it's consistently one of the better ethnic festivals put on in the city.
Parking can be difficult near the festival. If you're not familiar with Montrose, a good option is to park at Lamar High School and take the free Metro shuttle (details here).
Best food bets are the souvlaki, tiropita, spanokopita, and baklava. The (bad) Greek wine should be avoided. The beautiful bozouki music is nice. The crowds are not (off times are recommended).
Opa!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/04/06 09:49 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
Council taxi move to boost downtown's World-Classness?
The City of Houston took another step towards World-Classness today, if we are to believe the local media's celebration of a big hike in downtown cab fares. Here's how the Chronicle described the move:
In a move intended to make downtown friendlier to taxi cabs and their passengers, the Houston City Council today approved more cab stands and a flat fare of $6 for all trips in the downtown area.
City officials and business groups hope the move will increase cab ridership by visitors without cars, and entice workers to share a cab for a crosstown lunch instead of reaching for their car keys.
The plan passed unanimously without discussion.
The flat fare is designed to provide an incentive for the cab companies, which now charge $3.50 to $6.75, depending upon trip length, for rides in the area bounded by Interstate 45, Interstate 10 and U.S. 59. Some riders might pay a little more than they do now, but they would have a set price that does not depend on the meter, and multiple passengers could split the $6 fare.
We really aren't given enough information to know if "some" or many riders "might pay a little more," since the story doesn't describe the average length of a downtown taxi ride (if such statistics are even kept, or credible). However, if the old fare ranged from $3.50 to $6.75, and the new fare is now a flat $6, then "some riders" will be paying about 70% more for their ride. The reporting should have stuck to reporting the numbers, and done a little less cheerleading.
Of course, the whole thing is just intended to move Houston's downtown a little closer to World-Classness (well, and perhaps to boost the bottom line of the city's taxi industry because that's important -- but hey, at least our fine Council didn't put anyone out of business this time around). As KHOU-11's Doug Miller tells us:
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/04/06 09:38 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
03 October 2006
Stinking up the editorial page
On his Chron.com blog, reader representative James T. Campbell recounts the serious discussions that have taken place down at 801 Texas Avenue relative to the newspaper's use of the term "fart" in a headline on the editorial pages.
The Chief Editorial LiveJournalist James Howard Gibbons was apparently away, which may have contributed to the breakdown. Veronica Bucio, who once embarrassed herself and the newspaper by calling the U.S. Attorney General a liar, seems to have made the call to go with the stinky term, although she seems also to have consulted Leftover Specialist Andrea Georgsson and David Langworthy.
The reader representative does not indicate whether he was consulted before the headline was chosen, although he does express displeasure with it. More importantly, Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen didn't like it.
That begs the question -- why didn't someone think to ask Cohen his opinion before the headline was chosen. He is the editor after all.
But the weather has been really nice. It's entirely possible he was out on the links, with cell phone turned off. That's one of the perks of being the top dog at a newspaper with a spot on the fifth row in the White House press briefing room, we suppose.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/03/06 10:40 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
KTRK Crime Tracker: Crime up at METRO's park-and-pillage lots
KTRK-13 breaks out its "exclusive Eyewitness News Crime Tracker" to take a look at the situation at METRO's Park-and-Pillage lots:
METRO reports some 119 crimes occurred since the start of the year. The good news is that most of the crime we found was non-violent. The bad news is it's happening more and more.
When Pamela Boone gets dropped off at the Spring Park and Ride, her husband never leaves until the bus does.
"I won't leave her here by herself," said Lucky Boone. "Not at all, not for no reason."
Like many here, he's heard the stories about crime and even witnessed a case himself.
"He had a brand new Escalade and four tires were gone," he told us. "He was sitting up on blocks."
An Escalade was robbed of its tires!
That certainly must be reassuring to Park-and-Pillage users.
METRO police chief Tom Lambert, who makes HPD's increasingly beleaguered soft-on-crime chief (Harold Hurtt) look almost competent by comparison, had these words of wisdom:
"Any crime is unacceptable," said METRO Police Chief Tom Lambert. "The fact of the matter is we have seen increases in crime on our Park and Rides."[snip]
Chief Lambert tells us METRO has used security guards in the past, but it was cost prohibitive.
The "fact of the matter is" (to quote Chief Lambert) that the rise in crime at the Park-and-Pillage lots was entirely predictable, and METRO's decision to end the uniformed security presence at those lots was ill-advised.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/03/06 10:11 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
Take a ride in an HPD helicopter
This seems rather strange: the city is holding an online auction (that's not the strange part) to raise money for its municipal campaign, and one of the items up for bid is a ride in an HPD helicopter (this is the strange part):
City departments are asked to donate items like a round of golf with the department head or a tasty firehouse meal.
Then there is HPD's contribution: How would you like to take a spin around the city -- way above the city?
The current bid for a ride-along in one of the HPD choppers is $150.
[snip]
So is it going to cost you as a taxpayer to raise a few hundred dollars for charity?
"The helicopter that will be used will actually be in service at that time, too," said Capt. Ready. "This is not something where we are taking the helicopter or the pilot out of service to do. So if there is a chase or a call from a patrol officer so have the helicopter check by, the helicopter will be checking by and performing actual police services."
Just with an extra set of eyes on a real-life thrill ride.
The idea behind the auction is admirable; however, I don't think a ride in a helicopter is what HPD should be offering up. How about bidding on a ride with HPD's mounted patrol, or maybe even having lunch with Chief Hurtt at the airport on a Friday afternoon, before he heads off to Phoenix?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/03/06 06:02 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
02 October 2006
Laff Stop to relocate
The Chronicle's Katherine Feser reports that a Houston comedy institution will be relocating at the start of next year:
The Laff Stop is bringing down the curtains in its River Oaks Shopping Center location and will relocate to a newer space on Waugh Drive in January.
[snip]
A high-visibility location near Allen Parkway in the Waugh Drive Retail Center at 526 Waugh Drive will open up an opportunity to market to area offices and residential developments. It is within two miles of the existing location. The main competitor — which also books talent with TV or movie credits — is the Houston Improv on the Katy Freeway outside Loop 610.
Drew Beeson of Beeson Properties represented the landlord, Beeson Properties/KNA Partners, in the new 7,800-square-foot lease. The River Oaks space totaled 6,159 square feet.
This interesting nugget was tucked away towards the end:
Weingarten Realty said a new lease has been signed for the space at the River Oaks Shopping Center but declined to disclose the tenant. Talk of possible negotiations with Barnes & Noble for a store at West Gray and Shepherd called part of the center's future into question, but a Weingarten spokesman said the company has no plans to redevelop the center at this time.
"At this time" leaves Weingarten plenty of wiggle room, so it's probably unwise to read much into that statement. At least they're talking to the local press now, though. That hasn't always been the case.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/02/06 10:52 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
The downtown skyline at night
Charles Kuffner points to this post by Tory Gattis about the wonderful nighttime view of downtown Houston from I-45:
That drive, especially at night, is one of the most spectacular drives in our city. The view of downtown is amazing. I just love the elevated wrap-around of the west side of downtown, with the skyline on one side and the Buffalo Bayou on the other. I've loved that drive as long as I've lived in Houston, and sometimes will go out of my way on trips just to see it. Friends, family, and visitors have voiced their admiration too. It really is one of our city's great treasures, even if it is "just a freeway." And it's a treasure shared by just about everyone that lives in Houston at one time or another as they drive around the city, vs. the very small portion that actually work, live, or play downtown.
I wholeheartedly agree! My family has done the same thing -- gone out of our way just to see downtown at night. It's spectacular!
There's more to Tory's post, so go read it if you haven't already.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/02/06 07:30 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
LULAC "supports" sanctuary policy revisions; warns of racial profiling
As expected, city officials announced at a Sunday afternoon press conference (!!) that they are revising Houston's sanctuary policy (via the Chronicle):
The death of officer Rodney Johnson expedited the Houston Police Department's new policy of asking people arrested in minor crimes for identification and running criminal background checks on those who cannot provide it, but the change was being formulated before he was killed during the arrest of an illegal immigrant, Mayor Bill White said Sunday.
"That did provide an additional impetus to bring this to conclusion, but it was in the works anyway," White said at a news conference Sunday formally announcing the change. "Both Chief (Hurtt) and I, after that death, we asked for an expedited review of everything we could to identify people who are wanted (for criminal activity)."
[snip]
"(We are) specifically targeting those people that have been convicted of felonies in this country and have been previously deported and re-entered the country," Hurtt said.
Under the policy, Houston police will ask all arrested suspects whether they are citizens, then fingerprint anyone without identification and check for criminal histories in a national database.
If that search shows a person is accused of returning to the country after being deported for a crime or defying an order to leave the country — both of which carry felony charges — police will hold the person for immigration officials.
Those who cannot provide proper identification but have no criminal record will not be turned over to immigration officials.
Okay, but it's still not enough. A fourteen-year-old memo needs to be honestly and openly debated, and HPD's leadership should face tough questioning about the policy by City Council. MayorWhiteChiefHurtt are trying to deflect just enough negative attention so they can once again bury the topic.
Depending on which local news story you read, LULAC is either supportive of the changes or wary of the changes. Supportive:
At a news conference, support for the new policy appeared to be strong and widespread, from the Mexican Consulate to LULAC.
“If you have warrants or you have committed a crime, they need to take you in. And I think in that sense, it’s good. What I would tell immigrants is pay your tickets, stay out of trouble, carry identification and you’ll be OK,” said Rick Dovalina.
Wary:
"We're going to monitor how it affects everybody," said Rick Dovalina, Houston president of the League of United Latin American Citizens Houston. The group will watch to see if "there is racial profiling ... that type of thing ... how much strain it's put on police, because, obviously, when they take people in, it's time off the street."
This ought to be interesting.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/02/06 07:05 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (4)
If only MetroLift riders lived along the light rail line
KHOU-11 reports that MetroLift is having problems keeping to its scheduled pick-up times:
“I pay for this [MetroLift] and I call and call and complain and complain and all they say is we’ll try to do better but they never get better,” said Flores.
The wait has become the topic of conversation at the Senior Citizen Center in southeast Houston.
Alicia Valadez knows the drill all too well. “It’s okay, 30 minutes, but when they don’t come in one hour is when you’re feeling so bad.”
Monday, 11 News waited with the women and tried figuring out why their ride was 30 minutes late.
Finally, one hour after the scheduled pick up time, the wait was over.
Art Jackson manages the MetroLift services.
He said the delays are not acceptable and are due in part to changes within the department. “It’s going to be an inconvenience for many of our customers right now but we’re working through those.”
[snip]
Metro said the transition process won’t be complete for another few months.
Well, well. Here's a nice little look into the current state of (rail-obsessed) Metro. We have often made the point that Metro's main purpose is to provide transportation services to the poor and the elderly. MetroLift is one of those services that is crucial to so many people who don't have any other transportation options, yet it's obviously low on Metro's priority page, as Metro officials focus on how to get light rail and bus rapid transit lines approved.
So, let's visit the MetroLift page to see what's what:
Please call the Dispatch office at 713-225-0410 the night before your trip to find out what time the driver has you scheduled. This will help pinpoint your scheduled time. Be ready and waiting 15 minutes before your scheduled time.
[snip]
We rely on you to let us know if your vehicle is late. The longer you wait, the longer it takes for us to respond. If the vehicle has not arrived at the scheduled time, call 713-225-0410 immediately. Repeat this process every 15 minutes until you receive service. If a third call is necessary, ask to speak to a supervisor. By contacting METROLift immediately, you assist in eliminating unnecessary delays in providing service. Remember, don't wait if your vehicle is late.
Nowhere on MetroLift's information page did I find details of a "transition process." Did Metro send out a notice to MetroLift patrons with details of the transition process and how it could impact riders? Did KHOU-11's reporter ask any further questions of Metro? How much longer will Mayor White and City Council allow Metro to treat the public it's supposed to serve so poorly?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/02/06 06:07 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (4)
01 October 2006
Higher ed board scrambles plans for UH Northwest campus
On Friday, the University of Houston backed away from a proposal to establish a UH Northwest campus after a Texas higher education committee hopelessly scrambled the plans. Matthew Tresaugue reports for the Chronicle:
The University of Houston withdrew a proposal to establish a satellite campus in the growing northwest suburbs Friday, claiming state-imposed rules would cripple the project.
University of Houston President Jay Gogue notified the state's higher education commissioner, Raymund Paredes, of the decision less than 24 hours after the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved the new campus with a series of last-minute conditions.
The board extended neighboring Prairie View A&M University's right to block UH from offering 14 popular courses at the new campus by one year through 2012, while preventing UH from seeking additional state funding for the project.
It also increased the period that Prairie View A&M and Sam Houston State University could lease or buy space at the new campus by five years to 2012.
"It reached a point where we couldn't make it work financially," Gogue said. "That's when I had to pull the plug."
[snip]
The UH System's governing board identified the area two years ago as the next place for expansion because of the region's surging population. About 1.4 million reside in the area, up from about 875,000 in 1990. Within a 10-mile radius of the proposed campus, the population is projected to grow more than 15 percent over five years. The coordinating board made the late changes in response to concerns raised by Prairie View A&M, which operates a branch roughly four miles from UH's planned campus.
State lawmakers and Prairie View A&M leaders have said UH's new campus would undermine federal and state civil rights agreements that called for Texas to bolster facilities and academic programs at the historically black institution.
This move seemed like a no-brainer in terms of the higher-education demand that would be met and the readily available property. Unfortunately, when it comes to the University of Houston, Texas political concerns sometimes find a way to derail even the most sensible proposals.
As one emailer pointed out to us, perhaps the lack of distinct Houston-area voices on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board influenced this bad decision. Since Gov. Rick Perry is ultimately the person to hold to account for the actions of that board, Houston-area voters may want to keep in mind how that board scuttled a higher-education proposal that would have served our area well when making their choice for governor in November.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/01/06 09:20 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)
Most major gubernatorial candidates address Houston crime
As reported by the Chronicle, Gov. Rick Perry is the latest major political candidate to address Houston's surge in crime:
One day after Houston buried a slain police officer, Gov. Rick Perry visited the city to announce a one-time $10 million infusion to help coordinate law-enforcement efforts throughout the metropolitan area.
[snip]
The governor announced that he was making available $10 million to establish a "joint operations intelligence center" that would help coordinate crime-fighting efforts among more than 100 law-enforcement agencies in Harris, Brazoria, Fort Bend and Galveston counties.
[snip]
Perry's announcement is a nod toward what has quickly become one of the most contentious political issues in the Houston area - crime. Recent spikes in violent crime rates in the city have been attributed to a porous Mexican border, the influx last year of more than 100,000 evacuees from Hurricane Katrina and a manpower shortage with the Houston Police Department.
In recent weeks, three of the four major gubernatorial candidates have visited Houston to announce crime-fighting proposals.
[snip]
Democratic candidate Chris Bell, a former Houston city councilman, has not made any major proposals on crime in Houston.
SARCASM ALERT: There is no crime problem in Houston. The ads that Mayor White is running on radio stations touting propositions his administration supports say that there's only a surge in violent crime in a few spots. And the Mayor's new spokesman is adamant on the topic! END SARCASM
As for Chris Bell -- does anyone really expect such an opportunistic Democratic pol to step on the toes of a fellow Democrat (Mayor Bill White) who is viewed as a strong future candidate for statewide office? I certainly don't.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/01/06 01:46 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
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