31 December 2006

Happy New Year!

Here's wishing a Happy New Year (in advance) to everyone.

Thanks to all the readers, commenters, and emailers who made this little site so much fun in 2006. We're looking forward to an even better 2007!

Since our lame city leaders couldn't manage to put on their "annual" New Year's event this year, here are pictures of New York's famous New Year's Eve ball and a rendering of Houston's New Year's star from last year's "annual" New Year's celebration here in town.

Can we say LAME one more time? Yes, I think we can.

If you're heading out tonight, please be careful (and don't drive if you've been drinking).

UPDATE (01-01-2007): If Chris Baker's post here is any indicator, he may well have something to say on his show tomorrow about Houston's lack of a New Year celebration.

BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/31/06 04:02 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)

29 December 2006

Jordy Tollett resigns

Via the Chronicle:

Gerard J. "Jordy" Tollett announced today that he is leaving his post as president and CEO of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau.

He said he has decided to pursue other ventures.

He will serve as a consultant until 2008.

GHCVB chairman Doug Horn and chairman emeritus Don Henderson will coordinate day-to-day operations at the GHCVB.

The executive board of the bureau voted in November to search for a possible replacement for Tollett.

Considerable pressure was applied on the board's 28 members, who cast secret ballots when deciding whether to follow up on Mayor Bill White's recommendation to enlist a national executive search firm to find candidates when Tollett's contract expires in February.

Mayor White can really turn those screws, eh?

BLOGVERSATION: HouStoned, People Mover.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/29/06 05:25 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (25)

DeBakey discusses receiving the surgery he pioneered

On Christmas day, the New York Times posted a great story by Lawrence K. Altman on Houston's renowned Dr. Michael DeBakey, who became the oldest living recipient of the heart surgery he helped pioneer.

It's a fascinating tale of how Dr. DeBakey actually diagnosed himself, left a directive advising no surgery, and was eventually overruled by his wife and the Methodist Hospital ethics board (interestingly enough, given the determination by some hospitals in Houston to end lives deemed unworthy).

Houston's newspaper of record was forced to run a short AP account of the New York Times story. Apparently, the New York Times reporter has a longtime relationship with Dr. DeBakey, and that helped secure this great story for the newspaper:

Dr. DeBakey agreed to talk, and permitted his doctors to talk, because of a professional relationship of decades with this reporter, who is also a physician, and because he wanted to set the record straight for the public about what happened and explain how a man nearly 100 years old could survive.

That's the second time in a week that the New York Times has published a story with a Houston angle. Does that mean our little city is becoming world class?

BLOGVERSATION: Houston's Clear Thinkers,

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/29/06 05:03 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)

Editorial LiveJournalists reject Mayor's spin on crime

Last week, we noted the release of the latest FBI crime statistics, which only confirmed what most Houstonians know to be true about violent crime in the city (it's increasing).

Nonetheless, that didn't stop MayorWhiteChiefHurtt's press shop from going into full spin mode for the local media. Here are excerpts from KHOU-11's story that appeared shortly after the FBI information was widely reported:

When the population increase is factored in, the murder rate is still up 11 percent, but violent crimes as a whole – including forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault – are down 4 percent, a number the city says more accurately reflects the rate of crime in the area.

“In the last three years since I’ve been mayor, we’ll have less total violent crime than the three years before I was mayor...even though we have a much larger population,” Mayor Bill White said.

The bolded part is the sort of reporting that sometimes results when people don't understand basic statistics (and when spinners take advantage of people who don't understand basic statistics). "Violent crimes as a whole" are up, and up significantly. There is no spinning the raw numbers. What the reporter perhaps meant to say is that per capita violent crime is not up if one figures in estimated population figures supplied by HPD -- and we italicize the "if" to emphasize that those numbers are simply estimates.

Both the raw statistics and the per capita statistics are useful, and neither should be viewed in isolation (or spun for political purposes to mislead the public about what is a real crime problem in Houston).

Interestingly, the Editorial LiveJournalists (sometimes referred to as Mrs. White for their unwavering devotion to their man) weren't totally buying the mayor's spin this time:

A graph charting the rise in the rate of all violent crimes in Houston for the first half of 2006 would show a line rising relatively slowly. A graph of the number of Houston police officers in recent years would show a line rapidly descending.

Both of those lines are heading in the wrong direction. Unless the decline in the number of police officers is reversed, Houston risks continued increases in the rate of violent crimes.

According to figures compiled by the FBI, per capita violent crimes in Houston rose by 5.9 percent — not quite twice the national rate. The murder rate, however, jumped a startling 28 percent, from 158 during the first six months of 2005 to 202 for the same period this year.

During Mayor Bill White's tenure, retirements in the veteran force have shrunk the department by about 600 officers. At the same time, the city's population has been burgeoning, even without the influx of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. The result: a sharp decline in the number of officers per 1,000 residents.

That assessment won't surprise blogHOUSTON readers, but seeing those four paragraphs coming from Mrs. White made me wonder who wrote that editorial! Maybe a bright young intern did it while everyone else was enjoying spiked egg nog?

The conclusion was a bit weak, though:

The first priority, however, must be for HPD to redouble its efforts to recruit, train and deploy new officers. If the force continues to decline at a time of swift population growth, the department could find itself in a personnel hole from which it could not easily extricate itself.

We agree with the first sentence, of course. As for the second sentence, it would seem that HPD is in a pretty serious "personnel hole" now -- and partly because the editorial page of the city's major news daily was disinterested in the problem for years, when the problem might have been addressed more easily.

(Apologies for blogging this bit of "olds" but work, travel, Christmas, and my ThinkPad mishap all conspired to delay this post beyond the usual level of freshness!)

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/29/06 01:29 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

28 December 2006

Will the New Year's Eve star shine upon Houston again? (update: Carol Alvarado says Houston is "event-ed out")

We may have poked a bit of fun last year at the city's New Year's Eve celebration with its ascending, Chronicle-esque star, but what's the deal this year? Last year's KHOU-11 story made it sound like this was going to be an annual event:

City officials hope to someday rival the New York City ball drop, but for this year at least, the symbol stays small, and if all goes well, rises to the occasion without a hitch.

Mike McGuff also wonders what happened to New Year's Eve Houston, and is working on a list of alternative events.

Has anyone heard about a city-planned party for this year?

UPDATE: And just like that, the Chron has a story today on what happened to the (almost) annual star-raising celebration:

The Downtown Entertainment District Alliance, a volunteer group of business owners around lower Main Street, organized the star-raising event last New Year's Eve.

With a crowd estimated at 10,000 looking on, the star began to rise at 10 p.m., growing brighter as it ascended. It reached the top of the 12-story Binz Building at Main and Texas at midnight.

The volunteer group hoped to move the event this year to 3 Allen Center, a 50-story skyscraper on downtown's west side, but a change in the building's ownership complicated planning, said John Zotos, a downtown restaurateur who co-chairs the alliance.

Zotos said last year's event was a success, but organizers wanted to move it away from the Main Street rail line, which limited space for crowds to gather.

Move it away from the Danger Train? Say it ain't so!

Alvarado, whose district includes downtown, said several factors contributed to the one-year delay in repeating the event.

Planning should have begun sooner, she said, and city government and the Convention and Visitors Bureau must assume bigger roles in organizing and marketing the celebration.

"We didn't want to just throw something together just to have an event," Alvarado said. "And after the big events in the last couple of years, I think people were just a little event-ed out."

Folks were too "event-ed out" to plan a New Year's Eve party? That's not very world-class!

Imagine where New York City would be (the city we are trying to emulate) if they didn't plan a New Year's Eve party because the planning folks were "event-ed out"?

BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC, Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/28/06 06:50 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (11)

Frank Wilson: Metro makes Houston livable

You know, Metro's really raking in the dough these days. Lots and lots of tax revenue. The problem is Metro has to dedicate a large portion of that money to the Danger Train and its planned offspring, so other parts of the Metro empire suffer.

Such as customer service. Still. And again. (Will someone either ask for a definition of Metro Time or buy Metro a clock?)

Such as bus service and bus stops:

Thanks to a Montrose restaurant owner and various community groups, the Metropolitan Transit Authority is bringing back its adopt-a-stop and adopt-a-shelter programs, which can help curb crime at Houston bus stops.

The program, which died a few years ago because of a lack of interest, was revived in the fall when Dimitrios Fetokakis, owner of Niko Niko's Greek and American Café at 2520 Montrose, called Houston District D City Councilwoman Ada Edwards to complain about criminal activity at the bus stop across from his business.

"My employees were afraid to walk across the street where we park our employee cars," he said. "It just doesn't look good when we have customers sitting on the patio and they see drug deals."

Fetokakis said there were also problems with trash and prostitution.

[snip]

"Every time I drive by a bus stop, the trash is always full, there's graffiti on the bus stops, it's just time for the bus stops to be fixed. They look very old," Carson said. "When it comes to crime, we know some of the issues we have in Hyde Park also coincide with some of the issues we have at the bus stops.

Nice. Who needs security? Look how well things have worked out at the Park and Rides. And don't forget Metro's suggestion that bus riders who are worried about safety can take advantage of Texas' concealed carry law.

However, as Laurence Simon points out, there is one area where Metro has decided to spend a little money -- a blogger. At least I'm assuming former Chron reporter Mary Sit isn't working for free.

Back in October, Metro boss Frank Wilson said, "“If Houston didn't have METRO, it would cease to be a livable city.” Some might argue that Houston already lost some of its livability once Metro began focusing on light rail.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/28/06 06:03 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (6)

Houston celebrates a successful 2006

Here's a Los Angeles Times story on Houston's current economic good fortune:

FINE wine flows freely at Tony's, the dining room of the rich and powerful in this dynamic Sun Belt city. But it always flows a little faster when the price of crude oil is high — and these days, owner Tony Vallone said, the bottles are emptying at a brisk pace.

On a recent Friday evening, socialites in fur coats stepped past the cascading sheets of water at the glass entrance, into an airy room adorned with vibrant Robert Rauschenberg paintings. Waiters wheeled out enormous souffles and whole red snappers encrusted in salt. The richest man in town, oil pipeline magnate Dan Duncan, was dining there for the third time in four days.

At the center table, Ileana Trevino, the head of a hospital foundation, was celebrating her 51st birthday with about a dozen close friends and her husband, Michael, a Marathon Oil executive. She was asked what she wanted to drink.

"Whatever's expensive," Trevino replied, and laughed. The sommelier recommended bottles of a $50 red from Spain's Montsant region, a modest option at a restaurant that offers magnums of 1945 Chateau Petrus Bordeaux for $30,000.

"It's almost palpable, isn't it?" said attorney Michael Solar, one of Trevino's friends, as he waved his glass to indicate the wealth in the packed room. "When the rest of the country is doing well, it seems like Houston is often struggling. But when the rest of the country is struggling, it seems like Houston is often doing well."

High oil, natural gas and electricity prices may bring pain to families and business owners elsewhere, but in America's energy capital, they bring prosperity.

Two out of every five Houstonians owe their jobs to energy — many big oil and gas companies have their world or American headquarters in Houston — and the industry's spectacular profits in recent years have helped the nation's fourth-largest city outdistance the country as a whole in economic growth.

The story continues on, noting that housing is affordable, high-end spas and social clubs have waiting lists, gas-guzzling SUVs are popular (think Hummers!), and Houstonians love to eat out. It reads almost like a primer for Angelenos, describing a foreign land and people.

The only thing missing from the story was a quote from Bob Stein.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/28/06 01:56 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (1)

Rick's Cabaret celebrates a successful 2006

Via the Houston Business Journal:

Adult entertainment company Rick's Cabaret Inc. reported stronger annual net income and revenue Thursday, aided by robust performances [Anne adds: I'll bet!] from both new and existing nightclubs.

[snip]

"The excellent performance of Rick's Cabaret-New York City gave us a strong revenue boost for the fiscal year and this club continues to grow steadily each month," said Eric Langan, president and CEO of Rick's Cabaret. "Our growth program is on track and we are looking forward to another strong year in 2007 from our existing clubs and the four acquisitions we have made recently."

Langan added that the company plans to evaluate possible additional acquisitions that fit the company's business model and can provide a quick boost to earnings.

Rick's (NASDAQ: RICK) operates upscale adult nightclubs serving primarily businessmen and professionals who offer live adult entertainment, restaurant and bar operations.

If Mayor White wins his battle to oust Jordy Tollett from the GHCVB, perhaps Jordy can land a job at Rick's, working in the PR department:

When Houston Civic Center Director Jordy Tollett explained why he spent several thousand dollars in taxpayers' money escorting visitors to Rick's, [his answer that] "They wanted to go there" became the quote on another billboard. Tollett's public reprimand from the mayor led to what may have been the apogee of Rick's public acceptance, a Houston Chronicle editorial that declared, "As a city trying to attract convention business, we must spend money to make money, and if Tollett was bowing to the demands of clients to go to topless bars, we probably shouldn't fault him too much."

(Thanks to Charles Kuffner for posting that classic gem.)

I may be in the minority here, but I'm rooting for Jordy to keep his job. He's quite a character!

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/28/06 12:56 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (6)

Dumped baggage probably stolen in "holiday grab bag"

Rad Sallee has much more on the story of the dumpster full of luggage found near IAH. Apparently, stealing luggage from airports isn't unheard of:

The 68 pieces of baggage that turned up in a trash bin Tuesday near George Bush Intercontinental Airport were probably stolen by a team of thieves in a single day's work while airline staffers were stretched thin by the demands of holiday travel, a Texas travel adviser theorized Wednesday.

"It sounds like a hit-or-miss holiday grab bag," said Tom Parsons, of Arlington, who operates Bestfares.com. "They probably grabbed enough to fill up a little van, then went off somewhere and rifled through it."

[snip]

Parsons said it is costly for the airlines to pay tag-checkers. It is a job that neither the Houston Airport System, which oversees operations at Bush and Hobby, nor the federal Transportation Security Administration performs.

Continental Airlines spokeswoman Mary Clark said many travelers would object to the delay that checking would cause. The airline does not check tags against bags, she said.

Not checking is standard practice at most U.S. airports, Parsons said, but checks are more frequent elsewhere. He said his bags were checked recently when he picked them up in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Although 68 bags may seem "an amazing number" to steal from carousels, it's not that hard to do for a gang, he said.

"We had something like that in Dallas. A group of guys would go from one terminal to another and pick up a couple of bags each place and throw them into their car," he said. The group would later hold garage sales to sell their loot, including the luggage, he said.

At Bush, Parsons speculated, "Those guys were working at different terminals, they took their time and then moved on.

"When you look at the number of terminals and the number of places where you can pick up your bags, it doesn't take that many stops before you've got 70."

"Some bags will sit there on the carousel and go around for three or four laps, and that's a good sign of a missed connection. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that maybe nobody is going to claim this bag," he said.

Airlines have personnel to remove those bags to prevent theft, but sometimes they're busy elsewhere, Parsons said.

One year a member of my family shipped some luggage via UPS, before visiting us for Christmas. Maybe UPS and FedEx need to offer a new service, since airlines don't seem to be interested in safeguarding passengers' bags.

In the Chron story, Continental suggests that luggage theft "is rare," but this KHOU-11 story suggests it might be more of a problem than airlines want to admit:

Police sources told 11 News that more often than not the bags are not mishandled or lost, but stolen, sometimes by people on the other side of the security check points. The source tells us that police become frustrated because the incidents are not reported by the airlines.

It makes for bad publicity the source said.

BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC, Slampo's Place.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/28/06 10:51 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

That'll be an expensive fix

Copper thieves were pretty brazen at a park in southeast Houston, using a bulldozer to dig up the valuable wiring:

Someone used a chain and a bulldozer to steal 2,400 feet of buried copper lines from the Blackhawk sports complex on Fuqua. Those lines were supposed to serve as the facility's main power source.

"It makes me angry and frustrated," said Jeremy Ward with the South Belt Youth Football League. "To see that somebody would stoop to that level to tear down something that somebody is trying to put together for the kids of the community."

Replacing the copper wiring and repairing the damage will cost the park nearly $50,000.

Houston city council is already working on a plan to stop copper thieves, in part, by making it tougher to sell scrap metal to dealers. A proposed ordinance calls for strict record-keeping by scrap metal dealers, surveillance video of all transactions and fingerprint impressions. A vote on the ordinance is pending.

Unless there are copper wires in the surveillance cameras, which means those will be a target as well.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/28/06 08:06 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)

27 December 2006

An alternative (and award-winning) graffiti-abatement program

We all know how Houston has decided to handle graffiti -- punish property owners who are the victims of taggers. Another way of dealing with the problem is exhibited by the Greater East End Management District:

Hansen said the district started the program in the fall of 2000 after hearing about a similar program in Cincinnati, Ohio.

"They had graffiti mobile so we bought a second-hand truck and got started," she said.

Since it began, the graffiti abatement program has gone from sending out the truck five days a week to now using it only one or 1 1/2 days a week.

"We hardly have any graffiti in the East End now," Hansen said. "If we do, we get rid of it within days."

Martin Chavez, the district constituent services manager, supervises the program, which employs one full-time painter and uses Harris County probationers sentenced to community service to help in cleaning up the graffiti.

After sites are identified, usually by call-ins from law enforcement officials or community members, Chavez's team seeks permission from the property owners to paint over the affected sites.

He said some owners are skeptical when he calls them and lets them know he wants to help them with their graffiti problem.

"This is a free program to all commercial property owners," Chavez said. "Some of them can't believe someone would come out and do this for free."

It has worked out so well, the district recently won an award:

With more than 3,800 graffiti sites now a memory because of the district's efforts, the organization was recently awarded a Quality of Life Visionary Award from the Greater Houston Partnership.

"We're very excited because we had no idea (we were nominated)," said Mary Margaret Hansen, president of the Greater East End Management District.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/27/06 06:36 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

How did all that luggage get in a dumpster?

Talk about a strange story: A dumpster full of luggage was discovered at a pet store near Bush Intercontinental:

Airline workers are trying to match 68 pieces of stolen luggage with lost claims while police search for clues into the theft of the bags that were found in a trash container outside a pet store near George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

The bags found Tuesday were from passengers of as many as nine airlines and all appeared to have been rummaged through, said Sgt. Nate McDuell, a Houston police spokesman. Authorities have not identified any suspects or a motive. They are interviewing employees of Pet City, who reported the luggage Tuesday, and people who may have handled the luggage at the airport.

McDuell said he was not aware of a theft like this involving so many pieces of luggage.

“This is certainly out of the ordinary,” said Continental Airlines spokeswoman Mary Clark. She said she had never seen anything like this happen before.

Houston-based Continental is sorting through the baggage, Clark said, matching pieces with lost claims people filed. The bags were from international and domestic flights that were scheduled within the last week or so, she said.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/27/06 06:16 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

26 December 2006

Danger Train collision

As mentioned in the forum today, the Danger Train crashed into a red light-running car this afternoon. KHOU-11 has video and a few more details:

An onboard camera captured video of a Metro rail colliding with a car near the Medical Center Tuesday morning.

A couple for Willis was on their way to the Medical Center for an appointment when the crash occurred at Fannin and Wichita, just north of the bridges on Highway 59.

Luckily, no one was hurt.

Enlightened Houstonians (including the Chron's editorial board) would no doubt suggest that the couple from Willis would have been better off riding the Danger Train to the Medical Center, instead of driving there. Never mind that in order to do so, they'd have had to drive into downtown, park, purchase a ticket, then get on the train.

Anyway, I hope the train's windshield is undamaged since Metro just spent almost $50,000 on new windshields. It would appear MetroRail windshields don't have a long lifespan.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/26/06 07:45 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (13)

Do we need to get him a present?

Today is Wayne Dolcefino Day!

Harris County Judge Robert Eckels and Houston City Councilman Michael Berry have proclaimed December 26, 2006 as Wayne Dolcefino Day. It's also Wayne's 50th birthday.

The proclamation lists Wayne's achievements while working with 13 Undercover. In the last year, 13 Undercover got $2 million back for Houston taxpayers after exposing possible fraud in the city's garbage bills. Wayne also exposed handicapped parking cheaters and a scheme to fake marriages for immigration fraud.

We're still awaiting the (shelved) Rodeo exposé that caused such a stir almost two years ago.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/26/06 02:14 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (9)

Cross-training at the Chronicle?

Today the Chron's Middle East Bureau (did you know there is one?) has a local news story posted.

Did the Chron fly the Middle East Bureau reporter in from wherever his Middle East office is to do the local reporting?

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/26/06 11:39 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)

Metro makes some personnel changes

Metro's been busy at the tail-end of 2006 with some high-profile personnel moves. Here's the first announcement:

METRO Board of Directors member Louise Richman, will join METRO’s staff January 3, 2007 as its new Vice President/Chief Financial Officer.

METRO President and CEO Frank Wilson made the announcement of her hiring and resignation from the Board at today’s Board meeting.

[snip]

She will replace METRO Vice President Francis Britton, who has worked at METRO for 20 years. Britton will stay on at METRO to assist Richman’s transition into her new job, Wilson said.

A Director of Finance for the City of Bellaire since 2002, Richman is a Certified Public Accountant with more than 20 years of accounting, administrative, financial and tax experience, including senior management and policy making functions for municipal governments, not-for-profit organizations and private industry.

And here's the second announcement:

METRO’s search of candidates for three senior management positions culminated with the selection of Ms. Helen Cavazos as Vice President of Human Resources & Diversity, Mr. Arthur C. Smiley III as Vice President of Audit, and Ms. Deborah Richard as Vice President of Administrative Services.

Ms. Cavazos brings over 22 years of professional experience in all facets of Human Resources management, diversity and leadership development training. She has held senior managerial positions with the McDonald’s Corporation, the Stanford Financial Group, and Clear Channel Communications. Ms. Cavazos was the founder and owner of a management consulting company, whose major clients included McDonald’s Corporation, Shell Oil, BP, General Motors, Aero México Airlines, Baker Communications, and Houston Community College.

Mr. Smiley joined the METRO Audit Department in 1984 as an expert in financial and investment analysis with an emphasis on regulatory compliance and quality-assurance programs, as well as investment of working capital funds and pension-fund investment activities. Smiley also boasts a strong expertise in ridership statistics and estimation techniques. He is a certified public accountant, internal auditor and fraud examiner, and holds a master's degree in business administration from Columbia University and a bachelor's degree in economics from Stanford University.

Ms. Richard now heads the new Department of Administrative Services, which manages METRO’s Print Shop, Mail Room, the METRO Solutions 2 Compliance function, Strategic Recruiting, and Business Assistance. She joined METRO in 2002 as a senior staff attorney specializing in labor and employment law. Prior to joining Metro in 2002, she has worked as in-house employment counsel with private employers such as Sears and Marshall Field & Co. In 2005, she was promoted to the position of Senior Director – Compliance for the METRO Solutions 2 project.

Two thoughts: Mr. Smiley's "strong expertise" in ridership stats and estimation techniques is amusing, considering Metro's history of counting boardings, which leads to inflated ridership reporting; and notice how Metro has casually changed Metro Solutions to Metro Solutions 2. Just like that! No need to ask voters if they approve of Metro Solutions 2, as opposed to the original Metro Solutions that was voted on in 2003.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/26/06 08:49 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (11)

25 December 2006

Feliz Navidad!

Via Chron.com (above), we're pleased to see that Pancho Claus made an appearance in Houston for Christmas. Anne Linehan had previously expressed concern that Mayor White did not include Pancho Claus in his holiday festivities.

Here's hoping everyone is enjoying the day, spirit, etc. That reminds me, I have a nice Cabernet awaiting, so that's enough blogging for a while. :)

ANNE ADDS: Pancho Claus has a website! Here's hoping the city includes him in next year's "Holiday" festivities.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/25/06 02:21 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)

23 December 2006

Holiday slowdown

The big holiday weekend is finally upon us, and posting will likely be slow to nonexistent over the next few days.

Here's wishing everyone a Merry Whatever Holiday You Celebrate!

ANNE ADDS: Merry Christmas everyone!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/23/06 08:06 AM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (9)

22 December 2006

Slampo rains on the Project Row Houses parade

Crazy bloggers.

Sometimes they just can't resist providing a little... what is that word?

Perspective. Yeah, that's it. But I've gotten a little ahead of myself.

Backtrack to December 17, when the New York Times ran a fawning feature on Houston's Project Row Houses.

Not to be outdone, the Editorial LiveJournalists swung into action for the Chronicle's December 20 edition:

The Third Ward, and the whole city, got an early Christmas gift this month when City Council approved a $975,000 grant to Project Row Houses. The "zero interest performance-based loan,"as it's called, allows founder Rick Lowe and his staff to add 16 low-income rental units to their nonprofit complex.

The project's swath of Holman Street "may be the most impressive and visionary public art project in the country," the New York Times declared on Sunday. But the project's import is hardly news to the 150 artists who have worked from its restored shotgun house/studios, or the 40 young mothers who have moved toward self-sufficiency in the project's affordable-housing units. It's also little surprise to the ever-rippling circles of Third Ward residents and other Houstonians who've been nourished by visits to the place.

While practically gushing over the "zero interest performance-based loan" (known to some as a giveaway -- and an interesting priority for Mayor White and his Council), the Editorial LiveJournalists neglected one very interesting bit of news that did not escape the notice of Houston's best blogger, Slampo:

And somehow, in its giddy celebration of Project Row Houses’ big score at City Hall, the Chronicle failed to note a somewhat discouraging word about the project that was buried back in the newspaper a month ago. That was the “news” that Project Row House’s longtime financial director, Lajuanda Malone, had pleaded guilty to felony theft of more than $200,000 from the nonprofit and was tagged, as the paper put it in an uncharacteristically raffish turn of phrase, with “10 years in the state penitentiary” (is there not more than one?).

That's surely interesting! And Slampo has more. More perspective, if you will. A needed perspective on this story that's curiously missing from any MSM outlet in town.

It's good that sometimes lowly bloggers can supply some of that, even if they don't reside in the ideal state of one James Howard Gibbons.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/22/06 10:49 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)

Channel 2 is getting serious!

The Chronicle's David Barron reports that KPRC-2 is planning to "get serious about sports" ... by chasing longtime Houston sports guy Steve Mark. Because, you know, chasing guys has been so effective at getting channel 2 out of the ratings cellar in the past (see Roberts, Craig).

Anyway, Chron columnist and blogger Richard Justice smacks around Channel 2's news director a bit:

"We're going to get serious about sports," Channel 2's news director Skip Valet tells David Barron, who speculates this might mean airing more features outside the traditional sports block. Uh, Skip, just between us, it's this kind of thinking that has your ratings where they now are. If you didn't already know that sports is an important part of your news coverage, you maybe should have, well, found another line of work. Here's how you improve your sportscast: (1) give sports a bigger chunk of your newscast; (2) spend more money. For instance, if the Texans play a game, you might consider sending a reporter. I know this is a far-fetched notion to you, but these times call for a novel approach. Sure, a flight to Jacksonville will cost maybe $140. Go for it, Skip! And if you can't spring to go see the Texans don't tell a newspaper reporter that it's because the NFL is restricting your access. You weren't going before the NFL changed it's rules. Don't be a martyr, Skip. That dog won't hunt. Trust me on this, Skip. Sports is like politics. It's local. And in this town, it's not complicated: Astros, Texans, Rockets, Dynamo, UH, Rice, UT, A&M and high schools. Stick to the basics, Skip. You'll thank me for it later.

Burn! (btw, please don't shoot the messenger Skip -- we're just excerpting and linking)

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/22/06 10:16 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (0)

Embarrassing, much?

Earlier, KTRK-13's Deborah Wrigley reported that graffiti vandals tagged HPD's Montrose substation and police cars:

The graffiti fight turned very personal for police officers Thursday night. Vandals targeted among other things, an HPD storefront and police cars. Now, the department is vowing not to get mad, but just get those responsible arrested.

It happened at the Neartown police storefront on Westheimer near Montrose. It was tagged with illegible writing and symbols. Two police cars were marked up as well.

[snip]

"We saw them when they were running away and we ran behind them," said Rouge Restaurant Chef Aldo El-Sharif. "They were too fast for us."

Overnight though, there was no thrill of the chase. No one was at the police storefront. It's no longer open around the clock. Sia Ravari donated the building for use as a place for patrol officers to work out of.

"We're short on police right now and they close at night, so that's what happened," he told us.

MayorWhiteChiefHurtt's press shop can spin Houston's surging crime any way they want, but it's not hard for the average person on the street to figure out there's a crime problem when police substations and vehicles are vandalized with impunity, despite the best crimefighting efforts of... a chef, and only a chef.

KHOU-11's Doug Miller reports that HPD quickly cleaned up the mess, putting the effort well under the ten days allowed by the new graffiti ordinance. That's actually pretty impressive. I gave up trying to get the city to come and remove graffiti from several Midtown traffic signals earlier this year after several months of complaints to 311 and elsewhere, and finally painted over them myself. It's good to know that some graffiti vandalism will embarrass the city into cleanup.

As one of our commenters points out, the local Hearst daily didn't actually bother to report this story. Perhaps the new city desk editor wasn't watching his television and that one got by him?

UPDATE: The Chronicle finally covered the incident.

BLOGVERSATION: Lone Star Times.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/22/06 09:47 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (12)

Meet the TSU 3

Thanks to a blogHOUSTON reader for forwarding this amazing, in-depth story from Diverse Education magazine about the maddening saga of TSU and Priscilla Slade.

Did you know that three TSU students did most of the work, unearthing details of (alleged) payoffs, (alleged) conflicts of interest, and (alleged) corruption? I didn't. They also paid a heavy price for their investigative efforts, and subsequent insistence on accountability and change.

It's unclear if any local media was ever contacted by the three students with this story; if they were and chose not to look into it, shame on them. This is a prime example of where a watchdog media was needed.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/22/06 06:14 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (10)

Fixing Transtar's growing pains

KUHF-88.7 reports that as Transtar's mission continues to increase beyond just keeping an eye on Houston traffic, the agency will double the size of its office space:

As part of the expansion, the county's 9-1-1 system will move to Transtar. This does not affect the city's 9-1-1 system that is housed in the Houston emergency center. Whaley says the expansion will also help them operate better during natural disasters.

"one of the things we found during Rita was that we had lots of people over here and it was standing room only. So we decided to ask for federal funds to help on That part of it. So we'll combine all those projects into one and the county public infrastructure department will be in charge of it."

Because of the evacuation issues Houston faces, the federal Government is chipping in $6 million for that part of the expansion. The county contributes about $25 million for the expansion. Transtar sits on state property. Whaley explains the building is maintained by the county and the city helps with the operation.

[snip]

Whaley says about 70,000 square feet of space will be added, more than doubling the size of the current size of the building. The county hired the architects this week to Draw up a plan. Whaley estimates it'll take two to three years to complete the project.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/22/06 05:51 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

21 December 2006

METRO announces Westpark corridor alternatives

The Chronicle's Matt Stiles reports on the METRO Solutions Westpark corridor routes unveiled today by the transit organization:

At Metro's regular monthly board meeting, officials unveiled three recommended routes for the western segment of the planned University Line, none of which include the segment of Richmond that runs through the neighborhood just inside the West Loop.

[snip]

One of the three westward routes would divert south to Westpark at Greenway Plaza. Another makes a similar move at Cummins. The third would divert the line south at Montrose to the Southwest Freeway and then to Westpark. The latter option was a response to Culberson's objection to any significant rail presence on Richmond, Metro board chairman Davis Wolff said.

All would end at the Hillcroft Transit Center.

With the Lampson/Appropriations wishful thinking now totally off the table, METRO seems to be hedging its bets somewhat with at least one option that Rep. Culberson can support. It will be interesting to see what the response is from the Congressman.

PREVIOUSLY: METRO to announce Westpark METRO Solutions alternatives.

BLOGVERSATION: Houston Strategies.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/21/06 01:21 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (6)

Breaking coverage you CAN get elsewhere

The local Hearst daily reports on a morning fire near downtown:

A two-alarm blaze destroyed a strip mall just south of downtown early this morning, according to televised reports.

Firefighters had a difficult time finding the source of the inferno, but with help from additional fire crews, the blaze at Blodgett and Crawford was extinguished.

Most of the units in the building were vacant. No one was injured, but crews remain at the scene as they clean up the area and investigate the cause.

It's good that the local newspaper really covers its own back yard!

Or at least deploys people to watch the television news and write about what they see on the tube that is related to their own back yard.

In possibly related news, the Chronicle reader representative notes that as of yesterday, the city desk has a new acting editor who will shortly have the "acting" removed from his title. In only his second day with that new title, he already seems to be pushing the journalistic envelope with cutting-edge coverage of the city via television news. Maybe tomorrow, we'll get coverage of what they're talking about on the city's radio stations! After all, Jeff Cohen promises they're going to "rethink the City & State section from front to back."

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/21/06 10:14 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)

Chief Hurtt defends HPD's Tasers

Chief Hurtt is trying to do Taser damage control, so to speak, as there are now calls from several lawmakers to limit their use (via the Chronicle):

"My legislative intent is to come up with a real policy that will protect police and citizens," Coleman said. "Clearly, there's a disproportionate use of Tasers not only in the city of Houston but in the country in general."

Coleman maintained that current policies on Tasers in Houston and other places are too loose, allowing use of the devices in particular against mentally ill people when stunning is not justified.

White called for a study after the city received repeated complaints that Tasers are used disproportionately on blacks.

The call was prompted in part by the Nov. 14 use of a Taser on Houston Texans lineman Fred Weary after police said he "became verbally combative and extremely argumentative" during a traffic stop.

Weary, 29, denied any wrongdoing and a judge later dismissed charges of resisting arrest. Hurtt defended his department's Taser-use policy.

Chief Hurtt is not taking this lying down:

If Coleman files a bill that would ban Taser use, Hurtt said he will fight it "by going up and making my position known at the state level."

Unless the hearings happen on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Is the chief back from Phoenix on Mondays? Just to be safe, Rep. Coleman is advised to hold hearings midweek.

Hurtt said he plans to commission a study of the department's use of Tasers since it began in December 2004 "as soon as possible."

The department is trying to identify researchers at universities who have studied Taser use.

"We want to make sure that we have people with the appropriate expertise," Hurtt said.

We know someone who is an expert on almost everything: Bob Stein! He'd be perfect for the chief's Taser study.

One last point: about a year and a half ago, there was discussion of a federal Taser study in which Houston was going to participate. Does anyone recall hearing anything further on that study?

RELATED: KTRK-13

BLOGVERSATION: Cigars...donuts...and coffee, TBIFOC.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/21/06 06:01 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

20 December 2006

METRO to announce Westpark METRO Solutions alternatives

METRO has posted the following meeting agenda to its website:

Agenda
Metropolitan Transit Authority
Board Of Directors
Thursday, December 21, 2006 - 10:00 A.M.
1900 Main - Board Room - 2nd Floor

1. Approval of the Minutes of the Board Meeting of November 16, 2006
2. Public Comments
3. President & CEO's Business Report
4. Approval of a short list of University Line Alternatives

Executive Session: Pursuant to TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE §551.071(2), 551.072, 551.074, 551.076, 551.087 the Board will consult with its attorneys on legal matters in which the attorneys’ duties are governed by the State Bar (Code of Conduct) and will deliberate, in accordance with the above statues, real estate matters, personnel matters, security devices and economic development negotiations.

5. Other matters as may come before the Board.

Presumably, METRO has now narrowed the possible routes it is considering for the Westpark leg of METRO Solutions.

Will it include an alternative that Rep. John Culberson (aka the guy who will still deliver METRO's funding -- or not) can support? We'll find out tomorrow.

BLOGVERSATION: Off the Kuff.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/20/06 08:20 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (14)

19 December 2006

Houston crime outpaces national, regional levels

The Chronicle's Rosanna Ruiz today reports that statistics back up what most Houstonians know to be true about Houston's surge in crime (unless they've been listening to the spin coming from MayorWhite ChiefHurtt):

Violent crime in Houston increased at nearly twice the national level for the first half of this year, compared with the same period last year, a preliminary FBI report indicates.

Nationwide, robberies were up by almost 10 percent, killings increased 1.4 percent and aggravated assaults increased 1.2 percent, while rapes decreased less than 0.1 percent. Overall, violent crime increased in all four regions of the country from January to June this year, compared with the same period last year.

Violent crimes, including killings and rapes, rose by 5.9 percent in Houston, the report indicates, compared with 3.7 percent nationwide. Killings in Houston during that period rose by a staggering 28 percent — from 158 last year to 202 this year. Rapes, aggravated assaults and property crimes all remained at about the same level.

Elsewhere in Texas, violent crimes in Dallas, El Paso and Lubbock remained about the same.

As both Cory Crow and Laurence Simon point out, there are multiple factors that help to explain this surge in crime: HPD's lack of manpower (that came about from politicians ignoring what was a looming problem for years), the Katrina influx, a rise in organized gang activity (possibly with Latin American ties), questionable management of the police department by the Mayor's handpicked soft-on-crime police chief (who retreats to Phoenix on weekends), declining morale in the department as a result of Chief Hurtt's management, and Houston's growing population.

If Mayor White is seriously considering running for statewide elected office in Texas (and most people think he is), it's baffling that he hasn't taken more of a hands-on, activist approach to Houston's crime problems, starting with sending his bumbling, ineffective police chief back to Arizona fulltime and installing a police chief that both he and the rank and file can work with to tackle the problem. It's not too late for him to take that approach, we suppose, although other priorities and gimmicks (SAFEclear, citywide wifi, red-light cameras, electric provider choice websites, don't-give-to-the-homeless campaigns, affordable housing partnerships, the downtown park, etc) always seem to rank higher.

BLOGVERSATION: Professors R-Squared.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/19/06 11:34 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (10)

18 December 2006

White's campaign rhetoric, reality diverge on HPD staffing

The Chronicle's Matt Stiles checks in on HPD's efforts to boost its manpower.

Unsurprisingly, he finds that Mayor White's political rhetoric during the last campaign season doesn't match reality:

Mayor Bill White's sales pitch to voters for his city ballot propositions this fall came in part with a simple pledge: Vote yes, and "put more police on patrol."

"Criminals, get packing," he warned in one television spot, complete with moving police cruisers and flashing lights. "We're coming at you with more."

The reality, though, is more complex.

[snip]

White and Chief Harold Hurtt say they are aware of the challenges, and they are trying to accelerate recruiting while spending hefty sums on police overtime to keep the streets safe.

That effort, however, won't directly be funded by voters' approval of White's propositions.

It's true that a large portion of the bond money authorized Nov. 7 is devoted to public safety, among other city purposes, but it will go toward capital improvements, not hiring. That's a distinction lost in White's campaign commercials, though he's been clear with the City Council.

This is nice reporting, but it might have had more impact had voters seen it on October 17 instead of December 17.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/18/06 10:57 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)

17 December 2006

Lampson can't land Appropriations appointment

The Chronicle's Michelle Mittelstadt reported last week that Rep. Nick Lampson was not rewarded with a seat on the House Appropriations Committee:

Nick Lampson, who earned bragging rights for Democrats by claiming the seat once held by Republican powerbroker Tom DeLay of Sugar Land, lost a three-way Texas derby for an Appropriations Committee seat.

The job is a political plum because it permits members to steer millions of dollars in federal funds to their home districts and determine the spending of billions more.

Pelosi's hand-picked Democratic Steering Committee chose for the seat Ciro Rodriguez, the former congressman from San Antonio who thrilled his party with a come-from-behind runoff victory Tuesday over 14-year Republican incumbent Henry Bonilla.

Pelosi's move can be interpreted as bolstering the Texas Democrat with the better chance of being re-elected in 2008. That's Rodriguez, not Lampson.

Before the decision, speculation had surfaced that if Lampson were appointed to Appropriations, he might push to fund the Richmond METRO light-rail option opposed by Rep. John Culberson. That always seemed more like METRO wishful thinking than reality, but this news should put such speculation to rest.

BLOGVERSATION: Perry vs World.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/17/06 10:46 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (22)

Interesting perspectives

Here are two interesting perspectives I ran across today:

1) Loren Steffy advises Continental's Larry Kellner to forget about merging with United.

and

2) Tom Kirkendall checks in on the University of Houston's ambitious master plan.

Feel free to discuss.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/17/06 10:10 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

St. Arnold's, other microbrewers press for direct sales

Yesterday, the San Antonio Express-News posted a story on an effort spearheaded by Houston's St. Arnold's brewery and supported by other microbreweries in Texas to ease state laws that restrict direct distribution of their brews. Here's an excerpt:

Texas' five microbreweries have teamed up to lobby the Legislature next year to make their beer more available to the consumer and ensure the survival of their businesses.

They want the same privilege that lawmakers gave to Texas wineries in 2005: selling directly to consumers where the beverage is made. If they get their wish, the breweries would be able to sell up to 5,000 barrels of their lagers and ales a year, such as at the end of tours or keg sales from their docks.

"It would be so great at the end of a brewery tour to sell them a six-pack," said St. Arnold Brewing Co. founder Brock Wagner. The Saturday tours of St. Arnold's Houston brewery routinely draw 100 to 200 people.

"The end result would be a huge boon for microbreweries," said Wagner, who is preparing to spend a lot of time in Austin to make the small brewers' voices heard. "It creates a connection between the customer and the brewery."

The Houston Chronicle chose to run a condensed version of the story from their sister Hearst daily. Perhaps there were just no local reporters who could be spared to cover Houston's own St. Arnold's.

The Express-News version of the story also links to the St. Arnold Goes to Austin blog, which is documenting the group's efforts to press its case in Austin. Houston and Texas blog readers may recognize one of their bloggers, Evan (of Perry vs World), who is assisting the St. Arnold's people.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/17/06 08:58 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

Friend of Bill no substitute for diligent oversight

Back on December 6, the White Administration had a big press blitz to announce its plans to remodel certain "affordable housing" apartment complexes in town.

The Editorial LiveJournalists (aka Mrs. White) were a little slow to praise their man's latest initiative, but they finally got around to it yesterday:

The program is dubbed "apartments to standard." Interim city housing director David Mincberg makes the case that upgrading these acres of apartment blocks will attract more stable tenants, reduce crime and spark new business development. If successful, the program could strengthen the tax base and bring higher tax collections, which would provide new revenues for further infrastructure improvements in the same way that former Mayor Bob Lanier's "neighborhoods to standard" program helped revitalize the city core through better street lighting, sidewalks and the like.

The improvements need not be a giveaway that rewards neglectful landlords. City officials are considering making loans on favorable terms to eligible owners. Another tactic calls for the city to arrange for private or nonprofit developers to purchase and renovate apartment projects.

However the plan is structured, it must receive careful oversight to ensure that it does not join the ranks of past city housing projects that have crashed in embarrassments of wasteful spending, fraud and mismanagement. Mincberg has had significant success with his private sector real estate ventures. His appointment to this housing post brings a measure of confidence that such a large-scale, publicly funded apartment renovation plan can achieve its goals.

Why? Because he's a Friend of Bill?

We're all too familiar with the way these sorts of well-intentioned programs have tended to be plagued by fraud, cronyism, and corruption in the past. Let's hope the city's watchdog media and elected officials help to keep this program cleaner.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/17/06 08:29 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)

Mayor White wants counties to pass smoking bans, too

Kristen Mack's Friday column about Mayor White's agenda for the next state legislative session included this:

The city also is likely to push for expanding counties' powers to regulate smoking in public places.

White has said Houston's smoking ban, which will expand to bars in September, will be more effective if counties also enact such measures.

This also would keep city establishments from losing business to smoking-permitted venues just outside city limits.

Is Mayor White worried about Houston establishments losing business due to the smoking ban? I don't recall that being a part of the debate, from his end!

Now Houston's mayor wants to influence counties to pass smoking bans as well, so as to limit any business losses Houston establishments might incur. But in a 2005 Chronicle story on the first, less-restrictive smoking ban Council passed, Mayor White said:

"Today council acted decisively to make more of Houston smoke-free," White said after the 9-4 vote. "This is Texas, where we do balance freedoms."

It seems to me there's a balance when surrounding counties allow smoking, as opposed to Houston which doesn't. Houston-area residents and visitors get to exercise their freedom to choose which restaurant or bar they'll patronize.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/17/06 04:52 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)

Chron, mayor agree Houston benefits from annexation deal

You'll recall that state Senator John Whitmire recently said, "Residents of The Woodlands enjoy the golden goose of Houston. They get the benefits of working here during the day and then going back to their comfortable, homogenous, bedroom communities at night."

In an editorial today, Mayor White acknowledges it's actually the other way around:

As Mayor Bill White told the Chronicle editorial board last week, The Woodlands is no longer a bedroom community. The master-planned development draws more workers than it sends out and is about to get its own law enforcement organization. For these and other reasons, the agreement to free The Woodlands from the threat of annexation by Houston is a benefit to both communities.

[snip]

Although Houston would give up new tax revenue, of the two entities, Houston might be the deal's greater beneficiary. The Woodlands is 27 miles from downtown. Houston would incur high costs were it required to provide parks, libraries and police and fire protection. In the first years, these costs would exceed any new tax revenue.

At the moment, Houston cannot hire and train enough police officers to replace retirees and keep pace with its own population growth. Annexing The Woodlands and its 80,000 residents would place a needless and perhaps intolerable strain on public safety. That was the case when Houston annexed the Kingwood subdivision in 1996.

Forgoing annexation of The Woodlands, Houston avoids costs and acquires up to $60 million for parks and mass transit benefiting the region.

Yes. Houston IS the greater beneficiary of this deal, but, again, it's still the best deal The Woodlands could hope to gain under current conditions.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/17/06 04:05 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)

16 December 2006

Stage Left Productions' "The Nutcracker"

Today a small group of us (including two very excited little girls) went to see "The Nutcracker" put on by Stage Left Productions at the Berry Center.

It was wonderful! The production is geared for children, but was fun and funny for the grownups, too. During some set changes, the actors would come out into the audience and interact with the children; in fact, there was quite a bit of audience participation throughout the show, and the kids loved it.

We especially enjoyed Kalob Martinez's performance(s). He played the dad, the Mouseking, the Snowking, Bittersweet and Bon-Bon. Talk about a character!

And I'd like to say a special thanks to the residents of Cy-Fair ISD for building the Berry Center (wink, wink). My goodness that's a BIG complex!

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/16/06 06:40 PM | Houston Arts/Culture | Technorati | Comments (1)

They're "public" records when HPD says they are

KTRK-13 reports that HPD doesn't want the public looking at footage from its Tasers that actually have cameras installed at this point:

The Houston Police Department has video of officers firing Tasers, but they don't want you to see it just yet.

HPD wants to install cameras on all its Tasers. About 50 of the weapons already have the test equipment. We put in a request to see the Taser tapes. Instead, we got a copy of a letter sent to the Texas attorney general in which HPD asks to withhold the recordings.

"Those are active criminal investigations that are working their way through the process," said Lt. Thomas Jennings with the Houston Police Department. "So we don't want to do anything that jeopardizes the integrity of those investigations."

The tapes are considered public information and HPD says it will comply with the attorney general's ruling.

They did not add, "When we feel like it, perhaps." But they could have. HPD is not the most cooperative or forthcoming government agency when it comes to fulfilling public information requests in a timely manner.

We'd be really interested in seeing any HPD footage (Taser or patrol car) related to the shock-and-arrest of Houston Texan Fred Weary back in November. A judge later dismissed the charge of resisting arrest, saying the charge was not merited, which led activists to call for closer scrutiny of HPD's Taser program and policies.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/16/06 06:35 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

Serial rapist targets young men in east Harris County

The Chronicle's Cindy Horswell reports that area law-enforcement officials are looking for a serial rapist who has been targeting young men in east Harris County since April:

The serial rapist-robber began his attacks in east Harris County in April and his assaults have occurred every 30 to 60 days.

But what makes this case so unusual is that women are not the target. So far the five victims have all been young, white males in their late teens or early 20s, mostly students still living at their parents' homes.

The attacker is described as a light-skinned black male, clean-cut and nicely dressed, in his late 20s. He stands 5-foot-6 to 6 feet tall and weighs about 200 pounds.

Investigators have released a composite sketch, based on victims' recollections, and are working with the FBI to develop a profile to determine whether the crimes are racially motivated or what other forces might be driving them.

In some crime reporting, the Chronicle declines to publish potentially relevant information about at-large criminals in order to avoid what the reader representative has called "racial scorekeeping." Apparently, this is not like those instances.

The Chronicle reproduces a Baytown Police Department sketch of the perpetrator here. The report indicates that the FBI will be assisting with a profile.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/16/06 02:28 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)

Carey: Local reporters "get shot at"

KRIV-26's Isiah Carey reports some local reporters were shot at yesterday!

But it was a simulation put on by the Harris County sheriff's department for local media, to help them understand the dangerous situations regularly handled by local law enforcement.

As Carey put it,

I have a new respect for law enforcement officers. We were given the chance to go through a simulated active crime scene where there was a crook in an office and we had to apprehend the suspect. It didn't go well. Ted Oberg from KTRK served as my partner and when it was all over we were both dead.

Not two of our favorite reporters! Nooo!

Seriously, this is a good move by the sheriff's department to invite reporters out for this simulation. I've long meant to go out on a ride-along with HPD just to get a closer look at what officers on the street are seeing, but this sort of exercise is good too, especially for people who do crime reporting on a regular basis.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: KHOU-11, KUHF-88.7.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/16/06 01:45 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (9)

Pakistan ambassador spins Afghanistan for Editorial LiveJournalists

Several days ago, the Editorial LiveJournalists reported on their interview with Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, Mahmud Ali Durrani:

While Pakistan frequently strays from elected government, gives women few rights and protections, and engages in a nuclear arms race with India, the ambassador said there is one sin of which Pakistan is not guilty: supporting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. Durrani admitted that Pakistan had supported the mujahedeen freedom fighters (as had the CIA) during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Pakistan also backed the fighters when they became the Taliban as a means of stabilizing an Afghanistan torn apart by war lords.

That was apparently good enough for the Editorial LiveJournalists, who didn't press the issue.

Also several days ago, the New York Times reported on this somewhat different assessment from Afghanistan's elected president:

In strikingly strong language, President Hamid Karzai warned Tuesday that a failure to bring peace to Afghanistan would destroy the whole region, and laid the blame squarely on neighboring Pakistan.

[snip]

Mr. Karzai charged that elements of the Pakistani government were still supporting Islamic militants, as they had in the past, and that if such sources of terrorism were not defeated, Afghans and international soldiers would continue to die.

“The state of Pakistan was supporting the Taliban, so we presume if there is still any Taliban, that they are still being supported by a state element,” he said.

“In Afghanistan we are fighting the symptoms of terrorism, not the roots of it,” he added. “We feel we should go to the sources of terrorism and fight it there, or we’ll keep losing men, Afghan and international, in a vicious circle.”

The charge that Pakistan is supporting extremists to destabilize Afghanistan is an old and contentious one between the nations. The Pakistani intelligence agency has long used Islamic militant groups as a tool to press rival governments in Afghanistan and India.

Today Pakistan says it has ceased that support, though evidence is mounting that hundreds of suicide bombers and other militants — from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia — are being recruited and trained in Pakistan’s tribal areas along the Afghan border.

Recall that some time ago, Editorial LiveJournalist and apparent hothead Veronica Bucio rudely called the U.S. Attorney General a liar to his face over a matter of his family's background during one of the LiveJournalist sessions. She (apparently) didn't pull out that rude stunt for the ambassador's assertions about his country's involvement in Afghanistan (whether passive or active), although it might have been nice to see the Editorial LiveJournalists at least challenge his spin instead of printing it uncritically.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/16/06 12:48 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)

Red light camera tickets are mailed from Arizona

The Chron's Alexis Grant notes this Wrap Up tidbit:

Drivers ticketed for running red lights at camera-monitored intersections in Houston are sometimes surprised that the tickets are mailed to them not from the city, but from Arizona.

That's because the notices are sent by American Traffic Solutions Inc., the Mesa, Ariz.-based company that runs Houston's camera system.

Violators' payments also go out of state, to a post office box in Ohio, because American Traffic Solutions' payment-processing partner, U.S. Bank, is headquartered in Cincinnati. So drivers who choose not to pay the $75 fine online or contest the violation must send a check or money order payable to the city of Houston, but destined for a Cincinnati address.

U.S. Bank then deposits the money in a city of Houston account, said ATS chief executive officer Jim Tuton.

"Most people are accustomed to sending payments to various locations for payment processing," he said.

All collections go to the city, which pays ATS as much as $5,000 per month per camera.

The city has 20 red-light cameras.

Houston sure has developed some Arizona connections, hasn't it?

Dan Patrick (KSEV-700) was interviewing one of the Kubosh brothers last week (I didn't catch which one) who said that City Controller Annise Parker reported to Council back in November that the red light camera ticket payment rate was 11%. It'd be interesting to know what the percentage is now.

As we've noted before, since the city has changed the red light running-standard to a civil offense at intersections with cameras, the city's only recourse to force payment is to send non-payments to a collection agency. Kubosh said it's unclear whether or not credit agencies will be willing to put those disputes on a person's credit report, with only a camera picture as evidence.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/16/06 09:16 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (4)

15 December 2006

Keep an eye out for 790's sports van!

The Chronicle's sports media guy David Barron posts the following to his blog:

This may sound like a radio station engaging in promotional hype, but KBME (790 AM) talk show host Carl Dukes swears it's true.

Dukes says that station employees prepared a 50-foot by 75-foot banner reading "Carr Must Go" to be signed by Texans fans who support the contention that the Texans need to replace quarterback David Carr.

Before employees could take to the road with the banner, however, Dukes says someone stole the station van with the banner inside.

"This is like high school, where your mascot gets stolen," Dukes said. "How do you steal a vehicle that has '790 The Sports Animal' on it and think you'll get away with it?"

As of today, the vehicle, and the banner, remain at large.

Dukes is kidding, right?

Surely he realizes we're short hundreds of police officers and crime is soaring. We've grown pretty accustomed to brazen crime under MayorWhiteChiefHurtt.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/15/06 08:39 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)

Grammarians wepted as well

Some interesting gaffes made it by the Chron editors today.

A reader passed along this line from a Chron story early this morning:

"It's been seven years, so I can deal with a few more hours," said Amezaquita as he and his relatives wepted and hugged in the early morning fog outside the Harris County Inmate Processing Center on Commerce in downtown Houston.

We wepted a little bit too when we saw that in print.

Then there's this headline:

You gotta see the sites in Houston

We were expecting one of those periodic stories in which MSM features reporters talk about blogs. Alas, it is a story about a new book of places readers "gotta" see.

It's ~~Christmas~~ holiday time, so maybe the editors have been hitting the hard egg nog.

UPDATE: "Wepted" has been corrected. No need for thanks, guys. We're happy to help with your routine copy editing! :)

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/15/06 08:00 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (6)

14 December 2006

13 December 2006

Outage

The server that hosts blogHOUSTON crashed a bit earlier.

Everything seems to have been restored.

Sorry for the down time!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/13/06 10:48 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (11)

12 December 2006

Continental, United talking merger?

The Chronicle is reporting that Continental and United are in the early stages of merger talks:

Continental and United airlines are in preliminary talks regarding a possible merger, a source in New York familiar with the talks said today.

Talks between the two big carriers have been under way since before US Airways made a hostile bid for Delta Air Lines several weeks ago, the source said today.

The Chicago Tribune and Houston Business Journal are reporting similar information. Unsurprisingly, the New York Times covers the story with much more depth.

BLOGVERSATION: Houston's Clear Thinkers.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/12/06 10:43 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)

City tows legally parked vehicles (followup and rejoinder)

Remember a couple of weeks ago when KTRK-13's Miya Shay posted on her blog about a car that got towed because of the city's parking-spot-rental program, and we wondered if Parking Management busybody Liliana Rambo read it?

Well, it seems as if both Rambo and someone at the Chronicle reads Shay's blog, as the intrepid Hearst daily ran a similar story on Monday. It wasn't entirely a copycat story, though, as Ms. Rambo had to weigh in:

When a space is rented, a parking enforcement officer puts a no-parking bag over the meter the night before.

Spaces are free overnight, but paid parking resumes at 7 a.m.

So if a space is bagged during the evening after a car is already parked there, the driver is expected to move the car before 7 the next morning.

A local TV station reported recently that a driver returned to his car one morning to find it had been towed because parking enforcement officers had turned the metered space into a rented one overnight.

Rambo said the driver failed to return to his vehicle by 7 a.m., and his vehicle was towed about 9 a.m.

Had the meter not been bagged, he would have been ticketed for failing to pay the meter instead of being towed for parking illegally.

"That person was parked there more than 14 hours," she said. "You will not get your vehicle towed because we happen to bag a parking meter."

The Houston Police Department calls for a tow once it's requested by the person who rented the space, Rambo said.

That's nice of the Parking Management busybody to clear that up two weeks after the fact, but that's not exactly the situation that Shay described on her blog. Indeed, in a rather pointed post, Shay followed up on the matter yesterday:

Hey, this is a blog! It has a name! Or, heck, just write ABC 13! On top of that, the vague reference was inaccurate. I did not write that the meter was bagged overnight. In fact, there was a witness who told me the meter was not bagged until that morning. I know it's supposed to be bagged the night before, but we're all suppose[d] to do a lot of things.

Maybe in two more weeks, the Chron and Ms. Rambo will have another followup!

Anyway, just to make sure we don't get on Shay's bad side, once more that's Miya Shay's KTRK-13 Political Blog. ;)

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/12/06 10:09 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

Metro advises rider to board bus that doesn't exist

Three years ago Kevin Whited began noting that Metro planned to cut bus routes as part of its plan to feed riders onto the Danger Train.

Monday's Move It! column reminded us of it:

"I bought a Metro stored value card thinking it was a better deal than carrying cash," says investments executive Mark Vance, who knows good deals.

"But something's wrong," Vance said. "Seems it is only good for one-way travel."

Vance takes a morning bus to the Texas Medical Center and gets a transfer to MetroRail to reach his office downtown.

"The problem is the return trip," he said. "There is no way to use the card at the rail platform ticket dispenser." Metro advised him to board a bus downtown just to get a transfer, and then hop on the train for his outbound trip.

But since MetroRail began operating, Vance said, there are no longer buses on Main. Catch-22. We've written variations on this theme before.

Gosh, that's mighty inconvenient, isn't it? And what's Metro's response?

"There is no solution at this time to the problem, which is one of many reasons why we are going to the 'smart' Q Card," said Metro spokeswoman Raequel Roberts. Q Cards will be loaded up with value like a toll road EZ Tag, then tapped against card readers on the rail platforms to deduct the fare.

Yeah, Metro's losing sleep over this rider's predicament, but it fits Metro's pattern of customer service. By the way, the Q card system won't be operational until February 4th. Unless it gets postponed again.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/12/06 06:34 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (7)

Capture the Christmas spirit at Zilkha Hall this weekend

And now for a little change of pace: If you’re searching for an alternative to the annual performance of The Nutcracker and still want to capture the Christmas spirit, consider the ballet performance of Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitor.” The ballet, performed by the Sandra Organ Dance and choreographed by James Sewell, tells the story of a young boy, Amahl, and his widowed mother who meet three kings. The kings are engaged in a journey to find a rather now-famous star. Classic and contemporary dance are combined with American Sign Language to retell the story. You can enjoy this modern one-hour rendition Friday and Saturday (December 15 and 16) at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts in Zilkha Hall. Performances are at 2:00 pm and at 7:30pm.

Posted by Vikk Simmons @ 12/12/06 04:25 PM | Houston Arts/Culture | Technorati | Comments (0)

11 December 2006

DeLay joins the blogosphere

As various blogs noted earlier, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has now joined the blogosphere.

The Hill posted a bit more background on the blog effort today.

There's no word whether DeLay blogs in his pajamas, though.

UPDATE (12-12-2006): Houston Bicyclist and media go-to guy Bob Stein makes an appearance in the Chronicle's coverage of DeLay's new blog. Stein, some may remember, was involved in that methodologically flawed DeLay poll conducted for the Chronicle earlier this year. Interestingly, Stein and crew were dropped from Chron polling this fall, and replaced by Zogby.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/11/06 09:11 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)

Former KPRC talker Pat Gray lands at KSEV

Court Koenning passes along word that Pat Gray, recently fired from his talk show on KPRC-950, will be joining KSEV-700.

He will apparently team up with Edd Hendee in the mornings from 7-9 am, and will also fill in when Hendee and/or Dan Patrick (4-6 pm) are unavailable.

Lone Star Times reproduces the Koenning press release in full.

Pat Gray has also posted an mp3 announcement on his website. It is... different. He promises PatGray.com will continue, and that he'll be posting KSEV's morning show as a podcast every day.

UPDATE (12-12-2006): On the air this morning, Gray said that next year (in January), he'll be doing the show on the Dallas station from 6-7, then a joint show with Hendee in Houston from 7-9. Hey, if Clear Channel can have a San Antonio guy doing Houston talk, I guess Patrick can have a Katy/Houston guy doing Dallas talk.

BLOGVERSATION: Mike McGuff, TBIFOC.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/11/06 06:57 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (8)

10 December 2006

Chron profiles animal rescue group

The Chron dispatched Allan Turner to profile one of Houston's many animal rescue organizations, Scout's Honor:

Since its start in May, the Houston volunteer group has rescued at least 150 animals from extreme peril. More than 100 of them have been placed in loving homes. But even with the success of Scout's Honor and similar volunteer groups around the city, the need is never met. "There's a need for 100 groups to do this in the Houston area," said President Dana Dicker. "There are just more animals than there are rescuers."

Scout's Honor, named after a rescued spaniel mix who did not survive, consists of six core members and a citywide network of volunteers and temporary caretakers.

The group's founders, Dicker said, previously worked with other rescue groups, some of which were selective in which breeds would be saved. Scout's Honor accepts all comers.

"We do not discriminate in breed, age, health or injuries," she said.

Discriminate? That's a strangely pejorative term to use just after lamenting that the city needs more rescue groups. The fact is, the city could use more animal rescue groups. But there are also many existing groups that have been doing fine rescue work for many years (not just since May), some of which specialize in rescuing and placing certain breeds for adoption. It probably was not Ms. Dicker's intent to slight them with her comment, but it sort of came off that way.

Incidentally, the second paragraph of this profile was strange:

It's about those other dogs and cats, the luckless, the abandoned, sick or tortured, who struggle simply to survive. It's about those animals that would wish — if animals were capable of wishing — simply to die and be done with the pain.

If animals were capable of wishing? Okay!

Turner sometimes pens installments of the Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy, so maybe he just couldn't help himself.

But, it's nice to see animal rescue work get some media attention in any case.

BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/10/06 10:12 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

Chron Editorial LiveJournalists muff sports editorial

The Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists decided to tackle sports today.

The results were not very good.

Here's the first error:

It has been a season for second guessing in Houston. In making defensive end Mario Williams their top draft choice, the Texans stepped over the best running back available, Reggie Bush of Southern Cal. When training camp came around, they found themselves without a proven rusher when injuries sidelined last year's starter, Dominick Davis.

Err, that should have been Domanick Davis. Whoops!

Coach Kubiak's decision to stick with former first round draft pick David Carr at quarterback has been increasingly questioned as Carr's fumbles and inability to move the offense contributed to the team's disappointing 4-8 record. Even though the Texans beat Oakland last week, Carr actually had minus passing yardage due to five sacks.

No, Carr actually had 32 yards passing last week. The team's net passing yardage was -5 yards, because sack yardage is subtracted from total passing yardage to calculate that statistic in the NFL. Check the box score. The error by the Editorial LiveJournalists was a minor one, but it was still an error.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/10/06 08:26 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (10)

Newspapers love to cover their (formerly) own

The Chronicle has posted a nice story on John Williams, who once wrote the Chronicle's politics column but left in 2004 to work for James Baker:

The Iraq Study Group Report rocketed to No. 2 on Amazon.com's best-seller list Thursday. But the names of its two Houston authors, and two other co-writers, are nowhere on the cover.

In fact, the fou