31 January 2007
Casey: Texas governors to blame for TSU's problems (huh?)
Chron lefty plagiarist Rick Casey launches today's column on TSU as follows:
Gov. Rick Perry could have done much more than appoint a blue-ribbon panel to help address the financial scandals at Texas Southern University.
He could have appointed a czar to run the place.
Casey (probably with some help from his research assistant) then spends 18 paragraphs (some of the one-sentence variety that he favors) recounting how the governor roughly thirty years ago was given the power to appoint a conservator to run troubled universities.
After that fascinating tale, he writes:
Ironically, Slade was promoted to president because six years ago the university was still having problems with financial management. With a doctorate in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin and years of teaching at TSU's business school, she was considered the right person to clean up persistent financial problems.
With this pattern of long-term problems, neither the blue-ribbon panel the governor has promised nor a czar — even if he or she served the full two years provided by law — is a solution to the problem.
Nothing like knocking the thesis that led the column right out from under it about two-thirds of the way through!
Casey concludes by criticizing Texas governors for not appointing regents who would hold Texas Southern to account over the years and for not taking TSU as seriously as UT and A&M. Talk about being all over the place!
The difficulty with blaming the problems of TSU on Texas governors (current and past) is that while we have plenty of state institutions of higher learning that are less prestigious than A&M and UT, those less prestigious institutions don't seem to have the recurring problems of TSU.
The problems at TSU almost seem systemic at this point. It's not clear that Texas governors have caused the problem (never mind the nice history lesson that Casey's research assistant dug up), or that Texas governors really have that much power to effect a solution, given the school's historic mission and certain sensitivities that cause most people to shy away from a real debate on truly holding TSU to account (or finally folding it into a university system that will).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/31/07 11:01 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
Breaking news you CAN get elsewhere (cont'd)
The Chron.com Froot Loop bureau checks in this morning with the following account of a shooting courtesy of the local TV news:
A man was shot in the parking lot of Haude Elementary School when an attempted carjacking went wrong Tuesday night, according to reports this morning by KHOU-TV (Channel 11).
The reporter gave this account: The crime happened around 9:30 p.m. at Louetta and Haude in north Harris County when investigators said the victim pulled into the parking lot to work on his car. An armed man then approached him and demanded the red Camaro.
They got into a scuffle, and the victim was shot twice. He's in serious but stable condition. Deputies are looking for the suspect, who fled the scene.
A Klein ISD patrol officer will remain at the school as students arrive today. Investigators told KHOU that there are no signs of what happened Tuesday night in the parking lot, so children won't see something they shouldn't.
There's nothing like a local newspaper getting out and covering the local beat! And if that's not possible, well, you can always post what other organizations covered while you were watching television and enjoying your cereal.
UPDATE: There's more reporting posted from the Chron.com Froot Loop bureau:
A standoff between a Conroe man and a pit bull ended with the dog's death early this morning, according to a report by KHOU-TV (Channel 11).
A KHOU-TV reporter gave this account: . . ."
Is there ANYBODY at the Chron city desk to cover the area's news today?
UPDATE 2: The second linked story has been updated with coverage from a Chronicle reporter.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/31/07 10:55 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (6)
30 January 2007
Chron headline writers strike again (cont'd)
A Chron.com story with this headline appeared in various neighborhood sections of the online newspaper today:
Here is the lede:
The Harris County Hospital District's Troubleshooters mobile immunization outreach program is offering $5 flu shots to the general public.
$5 or free -- who can tell the difference?
UPDATE (01-31-2007): They changed the headline finally. Glad we could help out, guys.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/30/07 11:19 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
Chron tries to keep Ruben Cantu story alive
The Chronicle's efforts to win that elusive first Pulitzer via the Ruben Cantu story have stalled somewhat, but the local Hearst daily just keeps plugging along in its efforts to keep the story alive:
Sam Millsap Jr. knows that most people in his home state disagree with his fervent opposition to the death penalty, but the former Bexar County district attorney remains puzzled by a particular expression of sympathy he gets from many of his fellow Texans.
They frequently admonish him not to beat himself up over the execution of Ruben Cantu, a potentially innocent man Millsap helped send to the death chamber.
And why is Cantu potentially innocent? The story elaborates:
Ruben Cantu, a gang member convicted of a robbery-related murder when he was 18, was executed on Aug. 24, 1993. In 2005, a Chronicle investigation suggested that Cantu was possibly innocent.
Here is some background on the Ruben Cantu story that should make clear his "innocence" is hardly a decided question. It's also useful when evaluating the Chronicle's death-penalty stories to keep in mind the Chronicle's fervent anti-death-penalty stance and the fact that editor Jeff Cohen's wife is a noted anti-death-penalty activist.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/30/07 11:07 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (7)
KTRH: Houston Federal Reserve branch flies Mexican flag
KTRH-740's Josh Carroll and Scott Braddock report that Houston's Federal Reserve bank branch flew the Mexican flag today:
The flag of Mexico flew at the Federal Reserve Bank’s Branch in Houston Tuesday because Mexican dignitaries are in town, officials said.
“They’re holding a conference on trade between Mexico and the U.S.,” Federal Reserve Vice President for Houston, Robert Smith said.
Several callers to KTRH Tuesday afternoon were upset by the display. But, it is proper procedure for a foreign flag to fly at the same height as the U.S. flag on federal property during the visits of foreign officials, Smith said.
Edd Hendee and Pat Gray are NOT going to be happy about this!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/30/07 10:43 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
New Chron Galveston bureau reporter could use a little balance
In a story that appeared on Chron.com momentarily on Saturday, then disappeared, then reappeared on Sunday, Harvey Rice reported on some rail utopians on the island:
A passenger train between Houston and Galveston could begin rolling along the oldest rail line in Texas in as little as five years, according to members of a study group trying to make it happen.
The group is working on a blueprint for the city of Galveston, which it expects to complete in June, that will specify the costs and construction needs for reviving passenger service that ceased in 1967.
The passenger line is needed to ease steadily worsening traffic congestion on the Gulf Freeway and reduce automobile pollution that is contributing to the Houston area's failure to meet federal clean-air standards, proponents say.
The commuter rail line would cost far less than light rail or expanding the freeway, allow an increase in rail-freight service and offer an efficient evacuation route from Galveston when hurricanes threaten, they say.
"It has all the elements that would make it eminently possible," said study-group member John Bertini, chairman of the Galveston Railroad Museum board.
If by "eminently possible" we mean that Houston-Galveston rail could be built at great expense for reasons that are not compelling, then yes, anything is possible. Councilmember Michael Berry, on the other hand, offered a far more skeptical view on his KPRC-950 program Monday, available for a limited time for download on this page.
Rice is fairly new to the Galveston beat, having replaced Kevin Moran, who covered it for years. It's a shame his story was written entirely from the perspective of the Galveston rail utopians, with no counterbalance. It's as if the new reporter on the scene has already been captured by the natives, or rail utopianism, or something. Here's hoping there will be less cheerleading from Rice's future Galveston bureau reporting.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/30/07 10:32 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
29 January 2007
Chron: METRO cuts bus service six days, claims net weekly increase
In an article about rider complaints over METRO's latest "service adjustments," the Chronicle's Rad Sallee takes a closer look at the recent changes:
Ever since the massive 2004 revamping to coordinate bus service with the new MetroRail — which replaced all the buses on Main Street — critics have accused the agency of cutting bus service and forcing riders onto the light rail to boost its ridership.
At first glance, the current changes do look like a cut in bus service. As Metro describes them in capsule summaries, 18 say "discontinue trip" and another 10 say "remove service."
On the plus side, seven of the changes "add a trip," two "extend trips" and one will "increase frequency."
Another 10 are described with the neutral term "adjust." The reasons given include "to match ridership demand," "for more effective service," "to eliminate passenger overloads," "to operate directly to downtown," and — yes — "to allow connection with MetroRail."
Overall, there will be fewer bus hours on weekdays and Sundays and more on Saturdays, for a modest net increase of 20 hours a week, [METRO spokeswoman and former Chron staffer Raequel] Roberts said. The sum includes the new Cypress Park & Ride.
Those numbers seem a bit unusual, since Roberts is effectively saying METRO has cut bus hours systemwide six days of the week, but has increased bus hours systemwide enough on one day (Saturdays) for an overall weekly increase.
In any case, it seems far short of METRO's promise in the 2003 referendum to boost bus service by 50%. Of course, METRO doesn't always see the need to stand by its promises to voters, instead letting real-estate developers and other special interests drive the area's transit policymaking.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/29/07 10:28 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (6)
Stephen Smith, we hardly knew ya!
The Washington Post's Frank Ahrens reports that the Washington Examiner has scored a high-profile new editor, luring him away from our own Chronicle, where he served as the Hearst daily's D.C. bureau chief for roughly two years:
So why, then, is [Smith] leaving his latest job as head of the Houston Chronicle's Washington bureau to take over the two-year-old tabloid Examiner, which has a staff of 55 and is given away free?
"I think the Examiner represents a new model of newspapering that really reflects how people want their papers organized, what sort of content they want and how they want [the papers] delivered," Smith said Friday. "I look at life as an adventure. This is an opportunity to do something new and stretch my talent."
At the same time, Smith said he had increasingly thought that his strengths and interests as a journalist no longer aligned with what the Houston paper wanted out of its Washington bureau.
"I've been here a little over two years, and the newspaper landscape has changed dramatically," Smith said. "Now the paper is wanting more enterprise stories, and that's a tricky word. It means different things to different people."
Like all U.S. newspapers, the Chronicle has had tough times, with circulation and advertising declines. Most papers are beefing up their Web sites and rethinking their coverage in an attempt to make themselves more relevant to readers. For many large papers, that has meant de-emphasizing prestige (and expensive) coverage -- such as foreign and Washington bureaus -- in favor of highly local coverage.
The Chronicle should seriously consider shutting down its D.C. bureau and beefing up its regional and state coverage, but instead the D.C. bureau just seems to live on, uncertain what it should be beyond a vehicle for Cragg Hines' frothing, Julie Mason's blogging, and the occasional fluff piece. Given Smith's pedigree, he'll likely be much happier at a newspaper with bigger aspirations.
In an amusing twist, the Chronicle has covered news of Smith's departure from the Chronicle with an AP story.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/29/07 12:29 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (5)
28 January 2007
Chron, Texas Monthly cover Sunnyside, Gulfton Ghetto
Over the weekend, the Chronicle ran a story by Robert Crowe on Houston's Sunnyside neighborhood (where Robert McIntosh was recently shot), and the drug culture that prevails there. Here's an excerpt:
Parts of Sunnyside are saturated in a drug culture that is at once celebrated in Houston's unique rap music and vilified by older residents who say Houston is losing an entire generation to drugs like sherm, crack and codeine syrup.
"We want the drugs off the street," said the Rev. James Nash of St. Paul Baptist Church and a member of Houston Ministers Against Crime.
But Nash said the traditional police response to drugs can lead to the types of scuffles that end with the use of stun guns or deadly force. Police responded to more than 400 calls about narcotics activity in Sunnyside last year. At least eight were made to Knoxville and seven to Kings Row.
"We don't want these young men injured and killed (by police) just because they're using drugs," Nash said. "We got to find another way."
Houston Police Department officials say force is sometimes an unavoidable consequence in the line of duty, especially when suspects resist arrest.
It's a fascinating (and disturbing) read on one of Houston's problematic neighborhoods. Indeed, we'd like to see more stories written by and for grownups (like this one), and less of this sort of treatment of serious issues.
While we're on the topic of good journalism about Houston, we should have called attention long ago to an outstanding article by Skip Hollandsworth that appeared in the December 2006 Texas Monthly. Hollandsworth managed to spend some "quality" time with gang leaders in the infamous Gulfton Ghetto area of Southwest Houston, and the result was an even more fascinating (and disturbing) read. Here's an excerpt:
Since the spring of 2005, the police department has expanded its gang unit, established a “gang murder squad” in the homicide division, and budgeted approximately $10.5 million in overtime pay to send more officers into what are described as high-crime hot spots, most of them plagued by gangs. In August of this year, police chief Harold Hurtt announced the formation of the Violent Gang Initiative, a task force composed of members of the department’s own specialized “gang unit” as well as agents from the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; the Drug Enforcement Administration; Immigrations and Customs Enforcement; and the Department of Public Safety. Hurtt declared that the task force would “target the most violent gangs in Houston” and “disrupt and dismantle the gangs themselves.”
But so far, the task force has not come close to dismantling a single gang. And nowhere is that more glaringly evident than in the former Swinglesville—an area that some police officers are now calling Gang Land.
“No one seems to have any idea what is happening down here,” says Amanda Escobedo, a 65-year-old community advocate in southwest Houston who has spent nearly twenty years holding workshops and speaking at schools, trying to persuade kids to stay out of gangs. “The nice Houston people who live in the nice Houston neighborhoods and who come shop at the nice Galleria don’t have any idea—or don’t care—that the apartments that they all used to live in have now become a war zone. And it is a war zone, make no mistake about it. Every week, I hear about a stabbing or a shooting or a drive-by that doesn’t make the newspapers. It never, ever stops.”
It is indeed difficult for an outsider to imagine that this area is a war zone. (To get to Gang Land, all you have to do, if you’re at the Galleria, is drive for about half a mile down Loop 610, turn south onto Texas Highway 59, then take one of the next few exits—Fountainview, Bellaire, Hillcroft, or Fondren.)
If you have a Texas Monthly login (the link may not work for nonsubscribers), this one is certainly worth your time.
We love it when grownups produce such interesting writing about our city.
The mayor's PR spin machine operators probably don't share our enthusiasm.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/28/07 09:26 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Fun with Metroblog
The suspense is over: Sit and Spin is the "official" name of Metro's new blog, although bH didn't wait for the final results to start using it.
Last week's Sit and Spin offerings are not terribly encouraging, but some posts are leading to high humor in the comments. For example, check out this comment by Bobby J Moon (responding to Matt Bramanti) who works in Metro's CIA department (or something like that):
Mr. Bramanti,
I am very proud of my 20-year record as METRO's Manager of Audit-Contracts. You are "right on" about my frugality in my professional life as well. My professional staff of CPAs; CIAs; CFEs and CGFMs work very hard and diligently to advise METRO's Procurement Department and Project Managers relating to the work that various contractors and subcontractors do for our Authority from procurement of buses to designing METRORail line extensions. We are very proud to identify in excess of $500K in cost savings for the Authority in FY06.....frugal, yes!
Bobby J Moon CIA CFE CGFM
Manager of Audit-Contracts
METRO Transit Authority
Which completely underwhelmed Matt:
"We are very proud to identify in excess of $500K in cost savings for the Authority in FY06.....frugal, yes!"
Forgive me if I'm less than floored, but you're talking about an organization with a budget of more than $750 million.
Your $500,000 in identified savings represents less than 1/10 of 1 percent of the FY07 budget.
That's like patting yourself on the back for using a 10-cent-off coupon on a $100 grocery bill.
Hahahaha! Too funny!
Then there's this post with Chief Lambert's Top Ten Reasons Why METRO Needs Security Cameras on Park & Ride Lots (and I think it was a serious post, too) which led to this amusing rebuttal by commenter duhmoose, and this post over at Metro Is Full of Crap with Laurence Simon's interpretation of Chief Lambert's Top Ten.
Oh my, that's good stuff!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/28/07 06:30 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (7)
Teachers, salaries, and bonuses
The Chronicle's editorial board has written a conventional-wisdom type of piece today filled with the usual nonsense about underpaid teachers. The editorial is partly a response to HISD's handing out of bonuses last week. (More on that in a minute.)
The LJ's editorial thesis is that teachers are so underpaid, their morale is somewhere deep in the earth's crust. I hate this tired conventional wisdom because by and large it's just not true. The key is the number of days each year a teacher works. Everyone knows teachers get gobs more vacation days than average working folks do.
Let's say a teacher making $40,000 a year works 186 days a year -- that works out to $215 per day. Divide that by eight hours and the teacher is making almost $27 per hour. Factor in benefits -- and thanks to teachers unions, teachers have good benefits that don't come out of their paychecks like private sector employees' benefits -- and teachers aren't doing badly at all. That $40,000 salary is actually well-beyond $50,000 with benefits added in!
As for summer vacation -- teachers can save their money so they can take a two-month vacation, or they can teach summer school and make even more money.
How many non-teaching folks can take 60 vacation days a year and not lose their jobs? Eh, I certainly can't!
Plus, with increased longevity within a district, and the earning of a master's degree, teachers can increase their pay quite nicely.
Generally speaking, once a teacher has spent a good number of years in a district and earned a master's degree, a teacher is paid a pretty good salary, for 180+ days of work!
Now take your average working person (AWP) who makes $40,000 a year. Let's assume AWP gets weekends off, two weeks of vacation a year, and five holidays. AWP works 246 days a year, which means AWP makes $20 per hour AND gets benefits taken out of each paycheck.
That's quite a difference!
If the editorial board wants teachers to be "paid what they are worth to society," I'd like to know if the editors have put any REAL thought into the matter. Do the editors have a dollar figure in mind? Would $30 per hour be sufficient? How about $40? And at what level? Is that entry-level? Let's get specific!
Where there is low morale in schools, other factors are often the cause -- unruly students, uninvolved parents, weak-willed administrators, dumbed-down curricula geared to lower-level students, etc. Pay isn't generally at the top of the list of gripes. Teachers who love to teach aren't doing it to get rich. They love to help students learn.
Then there's the issue of the Chronicle posting every teacher's name who received a bonus, along with the amount of the bonus. I have a problem with that. I don't have a problem with the Chronicle posting the amounts, the schools and the subjects, but there was no reason for the names to be printed. (Although Gayle Fallon must have enjoyed the blog brawl that ensued. Anything that can get her closer to ALL teachers getting ALL the bonus money is a win for her. More union dues money -- yay!)
Yes, it's public money and that makes it perfectly reasonable to disclose the amounts. It strikes me though that issues of individual pay should be private whenever possible, just as entities are loathe to disclose personnel matters. Can HISD go back to the drawing table to fine-tune the bonus program? Certainly. And that's something the private sector has been doing for years, but the decision to print the names was unnecessary. The teachers are public sector employees, but generally don't put themselves in the public eye, and that's something I wish the Chronicle had considered.
BLOGVERSATION: Stories From a Teaching Life.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/28/07 03:49 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (15)
Chron: White/HPD will cut overtime funding
As noted in an update to this post, Mayor White rushed a memo to Council after a critical report by KHOU-11's Jeff McShan regarding alleged plans to cut back on police overtime and cadet classes. In the memo, the mayor disputed some of the assertions in McShan's story.
Later, the Chronicle posted a story by Matt Stiles ("HPD plans to cut overtime jobs") that would seem to confirm some of the assertions in the earlier KHOU story. Here is an excerpt:
Houston police plan to slow spending on overtime programs credited with reducing crime so they can stretch the diminishing grant money that funded the effort, officials said Thursday.
Knowing that the city's crime rate declined 5 percent last year, Mayor Bill White asked the department to "phase down" grant-funded overtime spending to avoid an abrupt halt in officer presence in certain high-crime areas when the money runs out.
Mayor White flatly denied that he plans to cut cadet classes for this fiscal year, however:
White said the re-evaluation of overtime spending will have no effect on the three remaining police-cadet classes scheduled for this fiscal year, which runs through June 30.
Meanwhile, KTRK-13's Miya Shay notes that Mayor White's bumbling police chief was in Austin (strangely referred to as the Hill, evoking thoughts of the national capital) clumsily lobbying not on Houston issues, but in his capacity as head of a large city police chiefs' organization. It will not come as a surprise to Houstonians that he seems not to have made a very good impression.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/28/07 01:30 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
27 January 2007
Love to travel? Bookmark this one
If you love to travel, and also love to get a good deal on travel (since that means you can afford even MORE travel), you need to bookmark a new Chron.com site, and/or add it to your RSS feed reader of choice.
Houston Departures seems to have launched a couple of weeks ago.
Blogger Bill Montgomery is a traveler after my own heart. He seems to scour all the airline deals, and posts the best ones on the blog. And they are some good ones indeed! Here's what he promises in his first post:
Just as I've been doing for myself and my friends for years, I'll forgo the delights of late-night TV and instead troll the Web in search of bargains that are of interest to Houston travelers. I'll post what I find here, and you won't even need to buy me a hummingbird feeder, as one grateful friend did when he saved several hundred dollars on two tickets to Atlanta with my help.
I'll coach you on the best way to play the frequent-flier game, I'll offer tips on searching for your own fares, and I'll prove the flight doesn't have to be the most stressful part of your vacation.
Subsequent posts seem to deliver the goods.
My only suggestion would be to connect a Chron.com forum to the site, so that readers can easily add any travel deals they find to the conversation.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/27/07 06:54 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
Residents want West Alabama bike lanes restored
Ken Fountain reports for the Examiner newspapers that people who live near West Alabama are wondering why the street has not been restored to its previous (non-contraflow lane) configuration, now that the Spur 527 construction that forced the changes is complete:
Nearly eight months after the completion of the reconstruction of Spur 527 from the Southwest Freeway into downtown, some neighbors along West Alabama Street wonder why the once primarily residential street has not been returned to its original configuration.
Two residents who were involved in the original controversy and the city councilwoman whose district the street runs through said it was their understanding that officials promised the street would be restored after the spur’s completion.
[snip]
Both [Neil] McKenna and Ray Jones, the founder of the West Alabama Quality of Life Coalition, say they heard officials say during a hearing in the federal proceeding prior to the spur reconstruction project that once it was completed, West Alabama would be restored to its original configuration.
District D Councilwoman Ada Edwards, who had only recently taken office when the spur project began, said she doesn’t specifically recall who may have said that the street would be returned to its original status, but that was her understanding of what would happen.
However, Wes Johnson, spokesman for the city’s Public Works Department, said that commitment was never made.
I lived in that neighborhood when these changes were implemented and followed the issue closely. I recall most officials involved with the project refusing to give clear answers about what would happen after the Spur was finished, and I certainly don't recall any official promising that West Alabama would be switched back. A search of the Chronicle's archives does not turn up any such promise. One Chronicle report from October 2004 does indicate that the problem was still on the minds of residents:
The re-striping and reversible lane on West Alabama - designed to carry traffic during the reconstruction of U.S. 59 and Spur 527 - were cited as major problems, Brewster said.
Bicyclists who live in the neighborhoods near West Alabama want assurances that the bike lanes on that street will be preserved once the freeway construction is finished, Brewster said.
If those people were still asking for commitments about restoring the street back then, it seems unlikely that public officials had previously committed to such changes in public.
It also seems unlikely that the City of Houston is going to switch the lanes back to the earlier configuration, because that will require spending on a matter that is nowhere to be found on Mayor White's list of spending priorities. However, here's wishing Councilmember Ada Edwards luck in getting funding for the reconfiguration, if that's what her constituents want. Maybe if she proposes some revenue-generating red-light cameras at affected intersections, it will improve her chances at winning over the mayor!
BLOGVERSATION: Off the Kuff.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/27/07 04:52 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (1)
Local Congressmembers want promised light rail, not bus rapid transit
The Chronicle's Rad Sallee reports that two area Democratic members of Congress are pushing for federal money to fund light-rail lines that METRO promised voters in the 2003 referendum:
As Metro began negotiations with a contractor to oversee construction of four planned bus rapid transit lines, two local members of Congress said Thursday they will push for federal money to fund light rail lines instead.
Metro said last year it would build the lines with rail in the ground and operate buses in their own right-of-way — separated from other traffic — along the track until ridership grows enough to justify switching to trains.
Some residents who voted for light rail in a 2003 referendum have objected to that, and Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green, both D-Houston, said they would work with the Democratic majority in Congress to get the rail funding.
We do not often print the following words, but Reps. Jackson Lee and Green are correct.
The 2003 referendum specified light rail (not bus rapid transit) routes, and it promised a 50% increase in bus service. Minority communities such as those represented by Reps. Jackson Lee and Green were targeted by pro-rail advocates, and likely provided the winning margin in the referendum vote.
Since then, those communities have seen cuts in bus service (called service improvements!), and bus rapid transit lines substituted for the promised light rail lines. There has also been an effort to route the Westpark light rail line away from Westpark (which would best service riders in the impoverished Gulfton area) to areas that are favored by Galleria-area real-estate developers, architects whose firms hope to capitalize on certain types of projects, bloggers who live in the Heights, and other special interests.
At some point, we would expect some communities that are more dependent on mass transit than others to ask what METRO is doing for them.
UPDATE: In a semi-related story, Bennett Roth of the Chronicle's vestigial D.C. bureau speculates that new Congressional rules on earmarks may or may not affect funding of Houston projects, including transit projects.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/27/07 04:16 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)
Houston Auto Show starts today
Cory Crow reminds us that the Houston Auto Show gets underway today.
I haven't been to the show in a number of years, largely for the reasons described in Brett Clanton's story for the Chronicle:
There will be plenty of cars and trucks to drool over this weekend at the Houston Auto Show. But there also will be a few glaring absences.
Some of the highest-profile vehicles making the rounds at auto shows this year won't be stopping in Houston — again.
Never mind that Houston is the fourth-largest city in the nation, one of the biggest U.S. markets for new-vehicle sales or that the nine-day Houston Auto Show attracts more than half a million visitors.
With a few exceptions, automakers save their best stuff for more prominent auto shows in Detroit, Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles and a handful of other regional and international events.
That has been the case as long I can remember (about 11+ years living in Houston now), which is why I only make it out to the show every 4-5 years.
It's a shame that event planners can't convince the exhibitors that Houston is a world-class market deserving of a world-class auto show -- but it's still a fun time, especially if a person hasn't been in a while.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/27/07 03:09 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (2)
Advantage: Insite!
While at the gym yesterday, I saw a report by KPRC-2's Robert Arnold on the drunk driving arrest of Mayor White's daughter, and the fact that some sources who have seen the police video have suggested the prosecution's case may be weak.
That sounded pretty familiar -- in fact, it sounded a lot like Isiah Carey's blog post from a week ago.
Advantage: Isiah Carey and the local blogosphere!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/27/07 01:45 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (2)
The state of the editorial page is not good (cont'd)
The Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists lead today's effort as follows:
A commission appointed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry to reform the property appraisal system has come out with a raft of proposals that provide little in the way of reform.
The Editorial LiveJournalists then devote the rest of their editorial to complaining about the reforms proposed by the Pauken Commission.
First Question: If there are no real reforms being proposed, then why do the Editorial LiveJournalists spend so much time complaining about the non-reforms?
First Answer: Apparently, they confuse reforms they don't like with lack of reform.
Second Question: Do any Hearst grownups actually read these editorials for factual accuracy and logical consistency before they go out for public consumption?
Second Answer: It sure doesn't seem like it much of the time.
The public would certainly benefit from an intelligent conversation about the issue of Texas property taxes and the problem of appraisal creep, and there are certainly intelligent competing perspectives on the issue -- not that one would know it from reading the editorial page of Houston's Hearst daily.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/27/07 01:26 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
26 January 2007
METRO Communications Web Log Specialist rakes in the cash
HouStoned's Keith Plocek inquired with METRO about blogger Communications Web Log Specialist Mary Sit's salary and job description, and was told he needed to file a public information request for that info.
He did, and discovered that the proprietor of METRO's Sit and Spin blog rakes in $76,622 per year!
He has posted a PDF with the salary and job description here.
It appears that METRO employees enjoy 8 paid holidays and 3 "employee days" per year. It's not clear how much vacation time the Communications Web Log Specialist receives, but we'll go conservative and assume 10 days. Since the Sit and Spin blog has averaged one post per business day so far, we'll assume that at the end of the year, the Communications Web Log Specialist will have crafted roughly 239 posts. That means the transit organization is paying the weblog communications specialist approximately $320 per post.
That's a pretty good rate (especially since many of the posts read like recycled press releases)!
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC, Houstonist, Deskmerc.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/26/07 03:20 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (26)
KHOU: Mayor slashes HPD manpower initiatives
Since the big "state of the city" address, the mayor's PR machine has been in full spin mode on the absolutely fabulous job the administration has done on crime.
The Chronicle's reporting after the big blitz from the administration emphasized that one measurement of crime (overall crime per 100,000 residents) saw a 5.7% drop year on year, even though murders per 100,000 residents saw a 5% increase year on year. The reporting did not make clear that those figures rely heavily on city estimates of population increases, nor did the reporting equally emphasize raw crime statistics.
Those raw crime statistics were available in an accompanying graphics box, and it's easy to see why the administration preferred not emphasize them. Of the seven categories measured, four saw increases, two saw declines, and one remained roughly the same from year to year. That's useful information. It's also useful to compare the crime statistics with earlier years (pdf link) -- for example, murders have surged above 300+ per year in the last two years of the White Administration, after remaining below that for several years.
But the Administration really doesn't want people looking at those numbers too closely. Indeed, as Jeff McShan reports for KHOU-11, Mayor White is really tired of this tedious crime stuff and wants to move on to other spending priorities:
There are big changes in the Houston Police Department as all overtime for Houston police officers is being cut and classes to train new police new officers are also being scaled back.
There is a fear among many inside the department that crime stats will soon rise again, thanks to a big financial cutback quietly handed down by Mayor Bill White.
[snip]
High ranking sources inside HPD told 11 News that overtime programs that have blanketed crime ridden areas for months deterring a lot of crime are now gone.
Police Chief Harold Hurtt reportedly asked the mayor for $15 million to pay for continued overtime patrols through June but that request was refused.
We learned he relayed the bad news to his command staff at a retreat in Galveston Wednesday.
Since a close look at the statistics shows crime is still increasing across several categories and is still well above pre-Katrina figures, it is not good news at all for Houstonians that Mayor White has decided once again to de-prioritize HPD's significant manpower shortage.
RELATED COVERAGE: Chief Hurtt says Houston's crime rate is down, others aren't so sure (Gene Apodaca, KTRK-13).
UPDATE (01-26-2007): A reader passes along a memo from Mayor White that disputes assertions in the KHOU story referenced above. I've asked the Mayor's press shop to be added to their press distribution lists countless times, without the courtesy of a response one way or the other. Obviously, there's no way for the little blog to post such information if we never receive it, but at least we can note that mayor disputes the story. We'll post any followup as well.
UPDATE (01-28-2007): Followup posted here.
BLOGVERSATION: Red Ink: Texas, Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/26/07 12:00 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
25 January 2007
The state of the editorial page is not good
In 1975, then-President Gerald Ford declared that "the state of the union is not good."
Since then, politicians at all levels of government have figured out that it's much better to extol the brilliance of their leadership, exaggerate their accomplishments, and ignore their failures in various "state of" addresses.
For that reason, we didn't see much reason to comment on the most recent "state of the city" address by Houston's mayor, since it followed the post-Ford "state of" formula very well.
As exaggerations go, however, Mr. White had nothing on the Editorial LiveJournalists (aka Mrs. White), whose own "state of the city" editorial contained the following whopper:
Somehow, that spirit and compassion must find a way to elevate the two-fifths of Houston households that live in abject poverty.
As Matt Bramanti points out, the Census Bureau estimates that roughly 20% of Houston households live below the poverty line (as of 2005). That's one-fifth of Houston households, not two-fifths (completely leaving aside the "abject" characterization).
We expect "state of" addresses to be full of exaggeration, but it's a real shame that the editorial page of Houston's only newspaper is even more out touch with reality.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/25/07 11:00 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
Ken Hoffman is now a blogger
It's been a LONG time coming, but Chronicle columnist Ken Hoffman has finally joined the blogosphere.
As he describes in today's column, he'll be blogging about his experiences as a little league coach:
For the fifth time, I'll be managing a team in West U. Little League. I should be ready for a visit from those friendly men in white lab coats waving butterfly nets, oh, around March 20 — Opening Day.
This time, I won't put up a struggle. I'll go with them to the Happy Shade Home for Fritzed-Out Little League Managers.Another thing different this time — I'll be writing a blog about my Little League season.
The blog will be called No Crying in Baseball.
They gave me that name. And if you've ever been to a Little League game, you know it's not accurate. There certainly is crying in baseball, for crying out loud.
Lots of crying and whining and temper tantrum-throwing.
I'm talking about the coaches and parents.
Sometimes the children cry, too.
The blog is available here.
This should be very entertaining. Welcome to the blogosphere, Mr. Hoffman!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/25/07 08:46 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (3)
24 January 2007
Celebrate Houston's Arbor Day by planting a forest!
Have you had enough of the cold and rain? Tired of being cooped up? Ready to get out in the sun?
Well, this Saturday the city is looking for volunteers to help plant a whole lotta trees along Will Clayton Parkway -- 20,000 of them, in fact:
On January 27, 2007 a forest of 20,000 trees will put down roots on the Will Clayton Parkway esplanades between Lee Road and Highway 59 with a lot of help from willing volunteers. 2,000 volunteers are needed (rain or shine) to help accomplish this massive tree planting effort. Getting dirty is not optional; it’s required! Who can resist that? Bug spray and sunscreen are recommended. Volunteers must bring their own shovels, rakes and gloves. All volunteers must register and sign waiver forms prior to planting.
If the lure of being part of this great project isn’t enough to get you to volunteer, water, refreshments, and lunch will be provided.
Follow this link for registration information. Visit Trees for Houston here.
RELATED: Houston Gets Ready to Plant Thousands of Trees (KUHF-88.7)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/24/07 08:39 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
UH considers medical school proposal
The Chronicle's Todd Ackerman reports that leaders at the University of Houston are seriously considering a proposal to develop a medical school:
In a move that would ratchet up an ongoing rivalry in the Texas Medical Center, the University of Houston is considering starting a medical school in partnership with The Methodist Hospital and Cornell University.
The idea, quietly explored by UH leaders in recent months, comes amid appeals for medical school expansion because of projected statewide and nationwide doctor shortages. Houston now has two medical schools — Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
"We would be remiss if we didn't explore the possibility," UH President Jay Gogue said. "When you're sitting next to the world's largest medical center, in a state that's 41st out of 50th in physicians per capita, it would be almost unconscionable not to do due diligence."
Under a consultant's proposal, UH would provide students' basic-science training in their first two years and Cornell-affiliated physicians at Methodist would provide the clinical training in the last two years. Students would get a medical degree jointly awarded by UH and Cornell.
UH acknowledged its interest in a medical school only after the Houston Chronicle filed a Texas Open Records request.
Developing a medical school is a natural component of UH's ambitions of becoming a top tier public urban research university, and the university (not to mention the greater Houston area) can make a compelling case for both.
Unfortunately, the compelling case is not likely enough to overcome longstanding academic/political realities that favor two state flagship educational institutions over all others -- logic, reason, and other concerns be damned.
It also is of no help when shortsighted lawmakers play the following sorts of games:
The University of Texas-Austin also is interested in starting a medical school, and state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, is pushing for a medical school affiliated with Prairie View A&M."It would be my preference that Prairie View gets a medical school before UH or UT," said Coleman, UH's representative.
He's an embarrassment.
BLOGVERSATION: Houston's Clear Thinkers.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/24/07 02:42 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (13)
Imagine if each Park and Pillage had its own Jim Archer...
On their Sit and Spin blog today, METRO celebrates the first days of operation of its new HP/Cypress Park and Pillage facility:
Wednesday, January 24, 2007 12:38 PM [sic] On its second day of operation, the new 217 HP/Cypress Park & Ride was a resounding hit with most of its riders.
It had 26 percent higher ridership- or boardings - on opening day than the previous best Park & Ride – and 232 percent more ridership than the average Park & Ride during its first week of operation.
Jim Archer, manager of ridership analysis and service evaluation, stood in the parking lot for all 21 bus trips on Monday and watched passengers get on and off the buses.
That was probably reassuring to people who have heard about the crime at METRO's other Park and Pillages since the decision to remove security staff from the lots.
Unfortunately, Jim Archer probably isn't going to be standing out there every day. Good luck to the folks who park there when he's back in the office!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/24/07 02:02 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (3)
23 January 2007
Kellner: Airport likely to retain hub status
As the Chronicle's Bill Hensel reports, Continental chairman Larry Kellner was doing a little bit of damage control earlier this week in light of recent airline merger talk:
Continental Airlines Chairman Larry Kellner said Monday that he expects Houston to keep its status as a major connection point for airlines no matter the outcome of recent merger talks.
"It would be a little surprising to me not to see Houston have a big hub here for a very long time," Kellner said.
His remarks came in response to concerns raised at a meeting of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston about the airline industry's recent merger talks.
Houston has a considerable investment in Continental's hub operation at Bush Intercontinental, so it's hard to imagine Kellner saying anything different to a Houston crowd.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/23/07 11:10 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
News you CAN get elsewhere (cont'd)
Chron.com has been better of late about updating its Froot Loop morning news "reporting" with details gathered by the newspaper's own reporters later.
Their reporters must have been too busy to fill in details today, though, as this morning report remains on the website:
Police are searching for a gunman they believe shot two men in northwest Harris County early this morning, according to televised reports by KTRK (Channel 13) and KHOU (Channel 11).
Authorities gave reporters this account: Police responded to reports of a shooting at an apartment at the 100 block of Hollow Tree near Interstate 45. Police found one man shot and several men fleeing the scene in a Ford Crown Victoria or Mercury Marquis with Louisiana plates.
The vehicle was later found at a nearby Lexus dealership where a security guard found a man hiding and other man shot in the stomach.
Police recovered a gun at the apartment parking lot and have one man in custody. The investigation continues at the crime scene. No word on the conditions of the men.
At least Chron.com is now crediting their early-morning news sources (which makes Chron.com look a little less dumb if those sources happen to get some facts wrong). It would be better, though, if the Chronicle city desk was actually doing its own city reporting.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/23/07 10:43 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Looking back at Bob Lanier's 1991 campaign dream team
On Sunday, the Chronicle's Rick Casey took a fascinating look back at Bob Lanier's 1991 campaign team -- and how members of that dream team have gone on to much bigger things.
It's an interesting read, especially coming from a columnist who did not live here during the Lanier campaign or administration and whose expertise is San Antonio.
Perhaps this line that effectively sets up the substance of the column is telling:
Consider this lineup of then-30 somethings, drawn largely from a short list culled for Lanier by longtime Houston political operative Dave Walden:
Does anyone else think that Walden dropped this great column idea on Casey, who then paid him back with that nice mention (nicely timed before the next municipal races)?
That would be a smooth move from a top local political operative. If it happened that way, of course.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/23/07 10:16 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
22 January 2007
METRO fails Cuney Homes residents
METRO's latest service "improvements" have kicked in, and some people aren't happy. KHOU-11's Rucks Russell reports:
[Mary Thomas] said she’s used the same bus stop for 40 years – just a stone’s throw from her back porch – to get her to and from work.
But now that’s all changed.
“I’m angry. I’m very angry,” Thomas said.
Thomas’ bus, the No. 68 Brays Bayou, started traveling a brand new route Sunday, leaving behind The Cuney Homes and an 81-year-old loyal customer.
Now Thomas and other Cuney Homes residents have to walk several city blocks to catch their bus … and that has many in the neighborhood hopping mad.
[snip]
A Metro representative said that when a route moves, it may hurt one patron but help several others.
But that doesn’t help the residents of the Cuney Homes – or the TSU students just across the street. A number of students even said they believe the new routes could place their safety in jeopardy.
“These aren’t necessarily the safest places for high school, college students, young women to be roaming by themselves,” Jade Cooper, a student, said.
It's not the safest place, no.
Unfortunately, METRO more and more seems to think of itself as a real-estate redevelopment organization, instead of a transit organization focused on mobility (and especially on mobility of those who are less fortunate). Good for you, if you live in a loft along Main or plan on purchasing one at the redeveloped AstroWorld site. Too bad if you are a transit-dependent resident of one of Houston's poorer neighborhoods.
RELATED: METRO route changes worry some riders (KTRK-13).
BLOGVERSATION: METRO Is Full Of Crap.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/22/07 11:37 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)
21 January 2007
Foronda: I'm just tired of the spotlight
The Chronicle's Clifford Pugh checks in today on former KHOU-11 anchor Lisa Foronda, who walked away from the station she helped propel to the top of Houston's news ratings:
She has heard many of the rumors over the abrupt end to her broadcasting career, including a rift with management (false), an affair with a co-worker (false) and a change in sexual orientation (false). "The most outrageous (rumor) is that I'm a kept woman and that my sugar daddy doesn't want me working," she said with a laugh.She has a boyfriend close to her age, but even if he were richer than Bill Gates, which he isn't, she would never depend on a man for financial survival.
"I've never had a man take care of me and I don't ever want one to take care of me," she said. "Everything I've bought, I've done on my own. My mama taught me to save."
She maintains the real story of her departure is not nearly as sexy: She was simply tired of the spotlight and craved a life out of the public eye.
It's still a big loss for KHOU, and for Houston viewers.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/21/07 10:28 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (34)
Chron STAR section not for 8-year-olds
In today's Chronicle, reader representative James Campbell followed up on an earlier blog post about the STAR section's recent decision to reprint a New York Times feature on fiftysomething year-old porn stars. The decision upset some readers who didn't think the spread (pardon the pun) belonged in a family newspaper and asked "Where were the editors?"
The newspaper's features editor responded as follows:
Kyrie O'Connor, deputy managing editor/features, responded: "We didn't choose the 50-plus porn star story deliberately to annoy people. We chose it because it was one of the most interesting stories we'd seen in a long time, well-written, lively, unusual. It's true that it may not be the first story you would want your 8-year-old to read that day, but while we need to be respectful of our readers, we don't need to plan the newspaper for 8-year-olds. Any child who could read that story should have his or her questions answered about it by a thoughtful adult. Our desire was not to endorse the over-50 porn star lifestyle or advocate for it — that's not what we do — but to give people something to read and think about, to be amused or mildly provoked, as they choose. The picture was not risqué."
She's right about one thing -- The STAR section sometimes seems run as if 12-year-olds just starting to hit puberty (not 8-year-olds) are both in charge and the targeted audience.
Campbell concludes:
So, where is the boundary when it comes to publishing stories about sex and sexuality? I agree with O'Connor that the story was "interesting." For some readers, however, it ultimately was about hedonistic sex and the too-salacious-to-discuss-in-public subject of pornography.
For those readers, the story crossed the line of good taste and judgment.
Those readers are right.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport, Custos Fidei.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/21/07 10:22 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (8)
AstroWorld site developers seek management district designation
The Chronicle's Nancy Sarnoff reports that the group redeveloping the old AstroWorld site hopes to create a municipal management district and get a light rail extension:
Angel/McIver Interests is seeking the creation of a municipal management district for the site.
The special district would help finance infrastructure, such as roads and drainage systems, as well as parking facilities, landscaping and security, according to Robert Randolph, an attorney working with the Conroe-based company that bought the acreage last summer.
The investment group is planning a mixed-use transit-oriented development for the former theme park land. It would include high-density residential units, offices, shops and a hotel.
The management district would sell bonds to build the facilities, as well as collect taxes, user fees, parking revenues and potentially levy special assessments on property owners to pay for the bonds.
Part of the plan includes a proposal to reroute the light rail line through the property.
A Metro spokeswoman said the Metropolitan Transit Authority has requested a proposal from Angel/McIver, but it has not yet received it.
Why does it so often seem like METRO views itself as a vehicle for real-estate development, rather than a transit organization?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/21/07 10:06 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)
City's still in no rush to upgrade emergency radio system
More than three years ago, the city of Houston learned that HPD's radio system was outdated. Two years ago, KHOU-11 got its hands on the report and asked Mayor White what the city was going to do about it. His answer?
"It's not a problem that's going to be solved in one day. It will be over a period of years," said Mayor Bill White.
And he wasn't kidding. A year and a half after its first report, KHOU followed up to check on the progress of a new emergency radio system. The conclusion? No progress. Zip, zilch, nada.
Today the Chronicle gets into the act, questioning HPD's unreliable, unpredictable radio system. What's Mayor White's response this time?
Mayor Bill White scoffed at the criticism, insisting the city remains well prepared for disasters. He noted that the city's radio system withstood Hurricane Rita when more than a million people evacuated.
''I think that there tends to be an overemphasis in Washington on hardware and an underemphasis on the planning and cooperation and ability to improvise by our community," White said.
Planning and cooperation are going to be worth squat if Houston's front-line emergency responders don't have the ability to communicate with each other.
Steven Jones, executive director of the First Response Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group that promotes for advanced communications systems for police, fire and other agencies called Houston's incompatibility with other local agencies "incredibly alarming."
[snip]
As the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington made emphatically clear, emergency response crews must be able to communicate with each other during disasters. In New York, commanders were unable to radio firefighters to direct them to evacuate the World Trade Center before the towers collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001.
And the Chron's story points out that in addition to the 2003 study, the city commissioned ANOTHER study last year!
Here's the bottom line: The city has had years of notice that its emergency radio system is woefully inadequate, and the city, under Mayor White's leadership, has done nothing to start fixing the problem. (Two studies don't count.) The city is drawing in record tax revenue, has new revenue streams in place, and last year was sitting on a surplus. Considering that some of the cost of a new radio system will be covered by federal grants, Houston should be well into the upgrading process by now. Since the city has taken no steps to get a new system in place, it is facing a critical problem that will be much harder to tackle since it won't be able to do it in pieces, like Harris County has done.
As it stands now, the city says it's probably five years away from the radio system it needs. But Mayor White says he'll be ready to tackle it...down the road. He just needs to be reelected again:
"If the public allows me to keep the job for the next three years, I do want to put in place a strategy and contracts and a financing plan to get us into a state-of-the-art public safety communications system," White said.
Meanwhile, take any of Mayor White's pet causes over the past several years and note how fast he's moved to implement them: $AFEclear, Parking Authority, red light cameras, smoking ban, downtown park, Proposition 1, Proposition G, commercial vehicle parking ordinance, subsidized housing, apartment remodeling, etc., etc.
It's quite a contrast.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/21/07 04:26 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
Editorial LiveJournalists open mouth, insert foot
The Chronicle's Editorial LiveJournalists came out today strongly in favor of keeping the Houston's Gay Pride parade in Montrose:
Few events are as unique to a neighborhood as this city's best-known gay celebration, the Pride Houston Parade, is to Montrose. For nearly 30 years, that midtown neighborhood has not merely served as a place to stage the pride parade and its associated festivities; it has been the soul of Houston's gay community.
That is why the idea to relocate the event to the humdrum environs of downtown should be rejected.
Humdrum environs?
That certainly caught Cory Crow's eye:
Humdrum environs? Our "vibrant, and energetic" Downtown district?
The same district that has been "revitalized" by the DangerTrain, new bars, more bars, the Theatre District expansion, Minute Maid Park, Toyota Center, and more bars?
Humdrum?
To quote Matt Bramanti: Heh.
We'll see that "heh" and raise!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/21/07 03:23 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
HPD officers accused of bad behavior
News of alleged wrongdoing by HPD officers has dominated the local news this weekend.
The Chronicle reports that HPD's internal affairs division has busted an officer for taking bribes:
A veteran Houston police officer arrested Friday in an undercover bribery sting is among the highest paid and most-disciplined employees on the force, city records show.
The officer, Alfred Alaniz, is charged with felony bribery after police allege he took cash during a traffic stop from an undercover officer posing as a civilian motorist.
A complaint about Alaniz, a 20-year veteran accident investigator, prompted the Houston Police Department's internal affairs division to conduct the roadside sting.
"The department had received information that he was accepting money in exchange for not writing citations," said Assistant Chief Michael Dirden, who heads internal affairs.
KRIV-26's Isiah Carey reports that HPD's internal affairs division is also investigating the arrest of a local political activist on a gun charge, even though the woman has a concealed carry permit. Carey reports that the woman says she was tipped off by an HPD sergeant that the arrest was retaliation for a complaint she registered with the department's internal affairs division. The video report is available here. Carey promises to stay on top of HPD's internal affairs investigation.
We're always hesitant to blame cops first, as some people do, in part because they're doing a hard job in tough circumstances right now (thanks to the manpower shortage and surge in bad guys). But if there are cops behaving badly, here's hoping that the internal affairs division gets it sorted out -- quickly.
BLOGVERSATION: Isiah Carey's Insite.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/21/07 12:50 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (18)
20 January 2007
Put red light camera money to good use
Yesterday ten more red light cameras starting clicking away in Houston; for safety purposes, of course, not revenue purposes (wink, wink).
Interestingly, Charlotte, North Carolina, ended its red light camera program last week after a state appeals court said revenue generated from fines must be turned over to public schools. It would seem Charlotte city officials weren't that interested in safety if it meant losing ticket revenue while still having to pay the camera vendor.
Closer to home, MayorWhiteChiefHurtt could prove their dedication to safety by giving all Houston red light camera revenue to a very worthwhile cause: funding an adoption-only municipal animal care facility.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/20/07 10:58 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (4)
19 January 2007
Hurricane LeeP hits New Orleans
A week ago, KHOU-11 reported that Lee Brown had been hired to help New Orleans with its crime problem (really!).
Today, the Chronicle's Kristen Mack devoted over half of her weekly column (really!) to this bit of news. Here's an excerpt:
Former Mayor Lee Brown is headed to New Orleans to help the storm-ravaged city develop community-policing tactics he pioneered while he was Houston's police chief back in the 1980s.His consulting company, Brown Group International, will evaluate the New Orleans Police Department and help it improve its relationship with residents.
BGI's specialties include public safety, homeland security, crisis management and government relations.
Hmm, many Houstonians understand the "specialties" of Brown Group International somewhat differently from Mack's glossy version!
After his disastrous run as Houston mayor, Brown spent a year as "scholar in residence" (using that term lightly) at Rice University, allegedly to complete a textbook on neighborhood policing. His hagiographer at the Chronicle is forced to concede it still has not been completed:
After leaving the mayor's office in 2002, Brown spent a year as a "scholar in residence" at Rice University writing a textbook on community policing. It has yet to be published. Brown said he's done with the research, now he just needs to finish writing."It's long overdue," Brown said. "I would not give you a deadline. I've passed all the past deadlines."
At least now he can show another city how it's done before people there can refer to his book and figure it out for themselves.
Ha ha ha, what a jokester that Mack is.
Or, of course, the people of New Orleans may figure out that the bumbling Brown's inattention to detail and deadlines related to the overdue book is just a manifestation of his general incompetence.
BLOGVERSATION: Lone Star Times I, Lone Star Times II.
BLAST FROM THE PAST: Mayor Pothole's Archives (TBIFOC).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/19/07 09:39 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (10)
Romantic Houston
Just in time for Valentine's Day, Texas Highways magazine highlights Houston's "Flirty Dozen" -- twelve places to inspire romance. Here's an excerpt:
THE CHOCOLATE BAR
Sweets for your sweet
If you imagine anything appealing that can be done with chocolate, you can probably find it in this well-appointed shop in Houston's Montrose District (see "Move Over, Godiva...," page 20 of the print issue). You can smell the aroma before you enter, and watch chocolate being made once you do.
Ice cream. Chocolate-covered fruit. Chocolate pizza. And all things covered in chocolate, from Nutter Butters to popcorn. Get it to go or eat it here. There's an ice-cream wing, where the staff will scoop multiple flavors to your fancy, and, in the cake wing, enough cake to get you through the worst heartbreaks. You'll fall in love with the best-selling Aunt Etta's Cake. This rich, moist chocolate cake lives up to every great chocolate-cake experience you've ever had. It's a decadent meal in itself.
JPMORGAN CHASE TOWER OBERVATION DECK
Room with a view
Need a little inspiration? Take a trip up to the Chase Tower's 60th-floor "Sky Lobby" observation deck for a terrific view of the cityscape. As it gets dark, you can see the countless stars in the sky and the millions of city lights below the horizon.
Formerly the Texas Commerce Tower, the 75-story building was designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei and was the tallest building west of the Mississippi until the Library Tower building went up in Los Angeles. (It's only got 16 feet on the Chase.)
The entire article is not available online, so here are the top twelve:
1. Events
2. The Chocolate Bar
3. Houston Arboretum
4. JPMorgan Chase Tower Observation Deck
5. Cocktails at Marfreless
6. Dinner at the Rainbow Lodge
7. Stages Repertory Theatre
8. Bergamos Spa Retreat
9. Picnic at The Menil
10. Williams Tower Park
11. Nazar's
12. The Lancaster Hotel
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/19/07 08:45 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (5)
"Ice storm" leads to severe blood shortage in local hospitals
Local hospitals are having to cancel surgeries because of a shortage of blood, due in part to this week's weather hysteria:
The Texas Medical Center and other hospitals around town were hit hard by the winter weather in Houston and across Texas. It not only kept regular donors away, but also forced organizers to cancel blood drives and blocked shipments expected from other cities.
They're actually having to ration blood at the worlds biggest cancer center. They have been canceling cancer surgeries this week with no end in sight.
"We've had to cancel between 10 and 15 cases over the last three days because of the shortage," said Dr. Garrett Walsh, head of surgical services at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
The blood supply there is so low, they think surgeries Friday and all of next week will also be canceled. And that's a real hardship for patients.
"They come from all areas of the U.S.; they come to Houston. They get geared to the time of surgery and then when you tell them the operation is canceled because of a blood shortage, there's obviously a tremendous amount of anxiety surrounding that," said Dr. Walsh.
Surgeries are often timed between radiation and chemotherapy treatment programs. And canceling is hard, too, because many surgeries involve huge medical teams because they're so complex.
Thankfully, the Houston area is recovering from the "ice storm." Hopefully, blood donation levels will recover too.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/19/07 07:57 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
18 January 2007
A tale of two headlines
This is an example of a bad headline:
This is an example of a better headline:
Continental has profitable 2006 after cutting fourth-quarter losses
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/18/07 11:21 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (4)
Light rail no boon to Wheeler Watch Clinic
Several days ago, the Chronicle's Mason Lerner reported that the promise by light-rail boosters of increased foot traffic and untold commercial possibilities hasn't worked out so well for one business on Main:
In its 50 years downtown, Wheeler Watch Clinic has survived three moves and changed generations once — major feats for any small business.
But its owners say the threat to its business by Houston's light rail is a new challenge that's getting hard to take.
"We were doing really well before the train came along," said John Galvan, who with his three brothers has taken charge of the business founded by their father, Richard Galvan Sr. "We still get business, but we don't have the volume that we used to."
Galvan did not want to disclose his store's revenue, but he estimated that it is down by about a third since the train started running by in 2004.
He attributed this to the fact that the train has decreased foot traffic passing by the store and made it much harder for drivers to park nearby.
Galvan explained that the only way drivers coming from the west side of town can reach the store is by using cross streets several blocks away.
"People used to come and see me from all over the city," he said. "Now it's more difficult for them to get here, so we are losing them all."
To "balance" the story, the reporter found a University of Houston intellectual who thinks the problems are easily solved. James Evans, the director of the University of Houston Small Business Development Center within its prestigious Bauer College of Business Administration, advises the following:
[Evans] suggested that the business deal with the decrease in customer traffic by focusing on new residential developments in the downtown and Midtown areas nearby.
"They have to market to those people," he said. "They have to make colorful, attention-grabbing fliers and distribute them throughout the neighborhood."
Colorful fliers! It's so obvious, yet so elusive. We hope the Galvans are paying attention to that cutting-edge business advice from Houston's university.
We thought perhaps METRO's Sit and Spin blog might comment on the story, but apparently the site has simply become a daily press-release depository.
BLOGVERSATION: METRO Is Full Of Crap, This Blog Is Full Of Crap.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/18/07 10:55 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (21)
So this is running government like a business?
Slampo's been poking around on the webpages of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, and has a few observations:
In addition to advising the mayor on immigration policy---which we thought he himself has said is a federal matter---the office seeks to “inform and educate the public about immigrant and immigration policies, act as a liaison between immigrant communities and city government [and] advocate on behalf of constituents.”
Some picky sorts might take issue with the notion that all people living in Houston are entitled to the “full benefits” offered by the city “regardless of … current citizenship status,” but we wouldn’t quibble with the larger notion that in a city with so many immigrants---many of them legal!---the mayor’s office ought to have some sort of formal liaison with the newcomers and the various institutions, organizations, Bar card holders and gum-beaters who represent them.
But check out almost any issue of MOIRA’s newsletter and it’s apparent that this arm of the mayor’s office takes its charge to “advocate on behalf of constituents” (which constituents, by the way?) to mean advocate in one of the most blatantly partisan and political manners that we’ve seen in supposedly non-partisan city government.
It's the usual good stuff from Slampo, so better go read it all.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/18/07 10:17 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (4)
17 January 2007
New Metro service "improvements" coming January 21st!
It's a new year and Metro has decided it's time for some new service adjustments. (Alas, Metro no longer calls them service "improvements." What a shame.) Metro is so excited about this latest round of adjustments (including some route downsizing), there's an exclamation point at the end of the press release title! Woo hoo!
METRO Service Adjustments Coming Sunday, January 21, 2007!
METRO is implementing the following route and schedule modifications to provide more efficient service. The information within this brochure will inform you of any changes that may affect your daily travel.
Please note that METRO peak service hours are Monday through Friday from 5 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 7 p.m. Late Evening service begins at 7 p.m. and continues until the last trip of the night. The frequency of each bus is calculated by how often, on average, a bus arrives at each stop along its route. Of course, weather, traffic and the number of boardings may affect the frequency of a route.
The list of adjustments follows:
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/17/07 04:56 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (6)
Houston survives latest severe weather
This morning on KPRC-950, Michael Berry and guest Ken Hoffman discussed one of the Chronicle columnist's favorite topics: Houston's out-of-control weathermen.
The streaming audio of the show is available here (downloadable version here). It's pretty funny stuff.
UPDATE: Chris Baker is hitting the same topic today on his show on KTRH-740.
BLOGVERSATION: Mike McGuff.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/17/07 01:45 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (25)
16 January 2007
Launch of METRO's stored-value card system delayed again
Yesterday, the Chronicle's Rad Sallee reported that the date for METRO's launch of its much delayed stored-value card system has slipped once again (although METRO spins the slippage more positively):
To work out the expected bugs and soften the shock to transit riders, Metro says it will phase in its new fare structure and "Q Card" payment system over several months and hopes to complete the changeover this summer.
"We're planning a rolling start rather than dumping an entire new system on patrons at once," said Metropolitan Transit Authority spokeswoman Raequel Roberts.
"It's just such a massive thing that to start Feb. 4 (the previously announced date) and expect everybody to be on board would have been too overwhelming," she said. "We don't want people getting on the bus and having all kinds of problems."
Let's hope the Q Card rollout at least goes more smoothly than Frank Wilson's E-Z Pass "procurement disaster" in New Jersey. So far, the record is not good.
METRO does deserve credit for recruiting testers for the new cards and fares:
Metro has recruited about 600 riders from all parts of the transit system — including local bus, Park & Ride bus, MetroRail and MetroLift — as part of an eventual sample of 1,000 who will use the new cards and report any glitches.
This cross-section of riders, dubbed "Q Boosters," are being issued Q Cards with $10 of stored value on them and will receive partial refunds for charging the cards up again when that runs out, Smalley said.
Oistad said these riders will use the new system and fill out forms about their experiences.
Among other things, they'll be surveyed about use of the card readers on buses, error codes they may observe in the reader window, whether they were able to transfer within a route, and when and where they rode.
The group also will test new fares, Smalley said. "If you're a student, for instance, the fare will go up from 25 cents to 50 cents, and we're testing to make sure the card reads 50 cents."
All Q Boosters should be on the job by Feb. 4 and will continue to report during the phase-in.
They should have recruited Laurence Simon, who already documents his experiences with METRO.
METRO blogger Mary Sit was busy today writing about the rubber sidewalks (that really have nothing to do with METRO) that Tory Gattis blogged about last October, but promises some comment on Sallee's Monday reporting on Wednesday. Hey, if the launch of the stored-value card system can't be timely, why should the blog spinning of the same?
UPDATE (01-17-2007): It's another late-afternoon blog post over at Sit and Spin, which probably means it took the PR folks most of the day to turn the Q-Card press release into this blog post.
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
BACKGROUND: METRO still waiting for working "Smart Card" system, METRO stops paying smart card developer, METRO's "smart card" saga rolls on, ACS gets contract to develop Metro's "smart card" system, METRO's new smart card system appears to be working, METRO advises rider to board bus that doesn't exist.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/16/07 11:04 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (2)
HPD faulted for inadequate tracking of overtime expenditures
The Chronicle's Matt Stiles stole a bit of City Controller Annise Parker's thunder today, as his analysis of HPD overtime from payroll records was posted before the release of Parker's report on the same subject. Here's an excerpt from Stiles' reporting:
The Chronicle examined 2006 payroll figures for all police employees using data obtained under the Texas Public Information Act.
The department paid $53 million in overtime last year, about 10 percent of its budget for all personnel costs in the current fiscal year. The average overtime total was about $10,000 per department employee, up from $6,000 in 2005.
Only 74 of the city's roughly 21,000 employees made more than $50,000 in overtime last year. Three were from the fire department, and the rest work as police officers or sergeants.
Police commanders say the concentration of high overtime pay in a small group of rank-and-file officers reflects several factors.
The story goes into much more detail, and should be read in its entirety. HPD's severe staffing shortage contributed significantly to the overtime expenditures, of course.
Controller Parker's report is available here (pdf). In her press release, she criticized HPD for inadequate control and tracking of overtime hours:
A performance audit released today by Houston City Controller Annise Parker concludes the Houston Police Department lacks adequate controls to manage the amount of overtime and extra job hours worked by its classified officers. Auditors found no correlation between overtime worked for HPD and on the job injuries, accidents or disciplinary actions. However, they were unable to reach any conclusions regarding the impact of extra employment on job performance because the data was not available.
[snip]
HPD policy limits officers to no more than 16 hours on the job per 24-hour period and/or a total of 80 hours per workweek. According to the performance audit, the department lacks a process for identifying, tracking and reporting regular hours, overtime hours and extra job hours worked by officers. Officers are not routinely required to report hours worked on second jobs. As a result, there is no way to ensure compliance with the work hour limit. In fact, auditors noted that one officer included in the test group averaged pay for over 79 hours per week for the entire period covered by the audit without including extra employment, which he also worked.
The audit recommends HPD develop an internal program for scheduling and tracking overtime and extra employment hours worked by officers. “If anything, this is a matter of utilizing available computer technology to help HPD more effectively meet the very important demands of protecting Houstonians. HPD should know where every uniformed officer is working throughout the city. A manual system should be utilized until the new computer system kicks in. Other departments around the country are already doing this. ” Parker points out.
The audit was done at the request of Police Chief Harold Hurtt.
On the surface, it looks as if the city's watchdog media and one official watchdog (the Controller's office) have done some good work.
What do you think?
BLOGVERSATION: About: Chron.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/16/07 10:20 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
Nothing like stating the obvious
The following observation appears in R.G. Ratcliffe's Chronicle story about the inauguration and coming legislative session:
"When I take my hand off the Bible, I'll be 100 percent governor. I won't be 39 percent governor. I'll have 100 percent of the authority," Perry said. "When the session is done, take a look, and I believe we'll have had a pretty successful session."
At the moment, though, the scorecard is mostly blank.
Really? At the start of the legislative session? Shocking.
You can't get cutting-edge analysis like that from just any news organization's Austin bureau!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/16/07 02:24 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Rumbo continues downsizing in Houston
The Houston Business Journal reports that the Spanish language newspaper Rumbo is further scaling back its operations:
Spanish-language newspaper chain Rumbo, which had previously been published daily, has started publishing its Houston paper weekly.
The chain, owned by San Antonio-based Meximerica Media, is also reducing frequency of its hometown paper to a weekly as well, citing the success of its existing weekly in the Rio Grande Valley.
The company says the weekly format responds to Hispanic media buying trends which are heavily on weekend editions, delivered to newsstands on Friday and to homes on Saturday.
Rumbo's circulation in Houston is 100,000 copies, 50,000 in San Antonio and 45,000 in the Rio Grande Valley.
Less than a year ago, the publication pegged Houston distribution at 230,000 copies weekly while announcing it would be cutting its publishing schedule to Monday/Wednesday/Friday. The publication launched with lots of hype about its local focus and talented journalists. Unfortunately, they seem to have overestimated the market for such a product.
ADDITIONAL COVERAGE: Associated Press.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/16/07 01:27 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (3)
Doctor-Former-Congresswoman lauds her perfect attendance
Last week, Doctor-Former-Congresswoman Shelley Sekula Gibbs sent out an email lauding her perfect attendance and voting record as she filled out the term of former Rep. Tom DeLay. Doctor-Former-Congresswoman tells us she participated in 25 roll call votes!
She vowed to continue working for the people of CD-22:
With the close of the Congressional session, Congresswoman Sekula Gibbs met with top law enforcement officials in Laredo, TX to talk about border security. National, state and local officials along the U.S./Mexico border have their hands full dealing with numerous challenges such as the crackdown on illegal immigration, the constant flow of illegal drugs brought in from Mexico, and an exploding crime problem caused by turf battles between rival drug organizations.Congresswoman Sekula Gibbs pledged her support to the law enforcement efforts and vowed to return regularly to monitor progress being made and future needs that call for Congressional support.
Has someone told her she's not going to be much help providing Congressional support since she's no longer a member of Congress?
Or perhaps she meant that differently, and she's planning on some sort of Doctors Without Borders free dermatological clinic just across the border in Mexico?
Hard to say.
Isiah Carey has posted the entire email here.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/16/07 01:06 AM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (5)
How about some municipal crackblogging?
The Chronicle's Dwight Silverman comments on an interesting article by New York Times columnist David Carr on journalists and blogging:
When I'm trying to sell a colleague on doing a blog (Ken Hoffman, you listening?), I tell them about how addictive it can be. For a writer who cares about what her or his readers think, I say, it's the ultimate pleasure.
You write, your readers respond almost instantly, your original piece grows with a depth it didn't have before they contributed to it. Even when the crowd disagrees and turns surly, what you wrote is more than it was before. It's a conversation.
To Silverman's credit, he's been able to convince many of the Chronicle's columnists to start blogs, and that has made them and the newspaper more interesting (although some are obviously better than others). And there also are Chron group blogs that cover topics such as education and music.
What is noticeably absent after all the talk of "news as a conversation" is a Chron.com local news blog.
On any given day, the Chron city desk has put together a wealth of information that will never make it into the print newspaper because it's too specific, or there are space limitations, or an editor won't pull the trigger, or what have you. But that's still potentially interesting news about our city that could be posted online for readers, where the cost of reproducing the information is minimal, and where the feedback from readers can be of value.
A group blog by the Chronicle's municipal reporters/columnists would seem to be a no-brainer for such a blog-heavy newspaper. Alas, there's no such creature. Instead, we sometimes get Chron.com postings on television news reports about Houston!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/16/07 12:36 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
City to replace ailing trees along Allen Parkway
The Chronicle's Rad Sallee posts an update on trees being removed from the median along Allen Parkway:
Former Houston Chronicle business writer Greg Hassell wonders why trees are being removed from the Allen Parkway median from Taft to Shepherd.
Some of those remaining but marked with red paint "looked a little shabby as if some disease had got them," he said.
The good news is that the median is not about to be paved over. The bad news is that the 33 trees, all Shumard oaks from Tennessee, have failed to thrive in Houston's climate.
"I have no idea why they decided to buy them from Tennessee. Nobody here remembers," said city parks spokeswoman Estella Espinosa.
I wonder if the purchase was made during the glory days of Parks Director (and, as we now know, crook) Oliver Spellman during the Brown Administration. UPDATE: No. As a commenter points out, the story says the purchase was made in the 1980s, predating Lee P!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/16/07 12:09 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)
15 January 2007
The reader rep returns!
We had been wondering what happened to the Sunday Chronicle's "About: Chron" column by reader representative James Campbell when, lo and behold, it returned this weekend. We were afraid that the big newspaper execs had discontinued the column, since the reader rep sometimes criticizes the newspaper.
Substantively, the column treated the newspaper's recent coverage of two shootings by HPD officers. Some astute reader sent Campbell the following email, which he posted to his blog today:
You've got guts to criticize de facto the Chron's editorial re: police shootings. My hat's off to you, James Campbell.
I bet the reader representative would deny that he was criticizing the editorial since he was quoting another reader in his Sunday column, but it did sort of read that way.
In today's blog post, Campbell also responded to justified criticism from readers about the decision to run a feature on older women who appear in "adult films."
Now the RR is hardly prudish but seeing the story, along with a photo of a suggestively-clad, 50-year-old wannabe woman porn actress did have me questioning our rationale and judgment for publishing the story. So per the reader's request, I asked the Features Department hierarchy who made the call to publish the story?
Deputy managing editor for features Kyrie O'Connor responded:
I think it was consensus.
Perhaps the better question should have been: "Why" did we publish it, particularly on a Sunday and did we think the story may have been not suitable for a "family newspaper".
You'd think some grownups at the newspaper might ask questions like that, yes. But maybe there are no grownups in the Features Department.
In any case, it's good to see Campbell churning out the columns and blog posts again!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/15/07 11:15 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
Oh my aching knee
This sometime blogHOUSTON contributor finished the 35th Chevron Houston Marathon yesterday.
In this day and age of road rage and crime, inconsiderate behavior and selfishness, being cheered on by complete strangers, give or take a few familiar faces, for an entire 26 miles as I finished something very personal to me was nothing short of amazing. Who says Houston doesn't love a good party?
Highlights: it took quite a while to get used to people saying my name (it was on my bib). I took communion before the race started from a Catholic priest at a Mass held at the George R. Brown Convention Center at 5:45 a.m. I was amazed at how well organized and planned this was. I've never done a marathon, but this one seemed well run, no pun intended. The first few miles of the race took us to the Heights, where I saw and recognized a childhood friend cheering us on. I pulled out of the pack to say hi to him. I realized the unfairness of being a chick when we passed several port-a-potty stands and guys decided to use the bushes instead of waiting in line for a turn. I took off my MP3 player around the 6th mile to take in the sounds and sights around me. There was more than enough to distract me from the effort at hand. In West U there was an Episcopalian priest handing out communion to runners while a parishioner sprinkled runners with holy water. There was a water station in Tanglewilde manned by Elvis impersonators as Elvis serenaded us in the background. There were numerous bands playing along the way. There were neighborhood parties in West U and Tanglewilde. There was a water station near the beginning of the final stretch at the West Loop "manned" by belly dancers. And two very dear friends of mine waited by the fountain on Allen Parkway with hand-painted signs to cheer me on. I think I was inconsolable at that point. As I approached downtown, I came upon one runner who had slowed down to gently encourage another on. Unlike runner KRamsauer, I did not look both ways for the train when I crossed Main. With three tenths or so of a mile left, all I could think of was finishing. Being hit by the train would have put me out of my misery, and that might've been welcome at that point. The cheers at the finish line were unbelievably deafening and energizing. I only wish I had seen Former President George Bush and Barbara Bush, who were apparently at my left as I finished. Instead, I looked for another blogHOUSTON contributor, whose encouragement along the route is probably the only reason I managed to finish.
People sat out in their yards and handed out orange slices and pretzels. I smiled through the pain when I passed one family with a ghetto blaster blaring the theme from Rocky in a loop. In several spots, P.A. systems had been set up and someone would call out names and encouragement to runners. I marveled at all the well-behaved dogs that joined their owners as spectators. They seemed to be enjoying the party atmosphere along the way as well.
It was an amazing Houston experience, and I'm glad I attempted it. Thanks, Houston, for making it memorable.
Now, if my knee would forgive me for pounding the pavement with it for 26 miles, that would be good.
BLOGVERSATION: Houston Running.
Posted by Callie Markantonis @ 01/15/07 10:36 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (27)
14 January 2007
At the finish line
I was watching the Finish Line Cam via KTRK-13 and former President Bush and Mrs. Bush were there congratulating runners. That's pretty neat!
President Bush was using a walker as he recovers from hip replacement surgery, but he looked good out there, shaking hands, talking with the folks, and posing for pictures, along with Mrs. Bush.
blogHOUSTON reader KRamsauer reports that he safely crossed Main St., after looking both ways for the Danger Train.
Congratulations to all the participants. That's quite an achievement!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/14/07 01:26 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
If he could just hang in there at least four more months...
Isiah Carey filed a video report for KRIV-26 of a local convenience store owner who is so fed up with being robbed -- 20 times in 26 years of business -- that he's decided to close up shop.
Store owner Jack Hamid said that he is frustrated with HPD's slow response to his case, and in fact, he told Isiah Carey that his store was burglarized the same night after he had been robbed.
We'd suggest members of MayorWhiteChiefHurtt's new convenience store task force contact Mr. Hamid, as it sounds like he'd have a few things to tell them. We'd also suggest Chief Hurtt contact Mr. Hamid, but it's the weekend and he might not be in town.
RELATED: Mayor White tackles convenience store crime with a task force!, Not exactly a rapid response-type of task force
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/14/07 07:44 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
And they're off!
Sunday morning, thousands of runners and spectators will gather for the annual Houston Marathon, which kicks off officially at 7:00 AM.
Thankfully, the planners were able to put together the event once again, apparently not suffering from Councilmember Carol Alvarado's "Event-ed Out" Syndrome.
The marathon website lists the associated street closures around town, as well as the marathon route.
The marathon route crosses the Main Street rail line, but there is no mention of service disruptions on METRO's website or blog (perhaps Mary Sit was simply too exhausted from the torrid pace of her first week of blogging to discuss the impact of one of Houston's biggest civic events on METRO services).
My quick search of Chron.com didn't turn up any specific information about the marathon and Danger Train service disruptions either, but perhaps if the TV stations have that news in the morning, Chron.com will post something. Here's Lucas Wall's Chronicle account of the Danger Train service changes related to the marathon two years ago. Nothing quite says "World Class Transit" like shutting down parts of your alleged transit backbone for a marathon!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/14/07 12:02 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
13 January 2007
Not a very extravagant inaugural
Current headline on Chron.com:
Corporations to pay bulk of Perry's $2 ceremony
And it's been like that for several hours now.
I don't think our in-house grammarians have wepted, but considering the point of the story, the headline oops is amusing.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/13/07 04:19 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Metro's new blog takes a three day weekend (updated)
After a grueling week of five, no wait, six posts, Metro's new blogger is taking a well-deserved long weekend to recoup.
She has obviously typed her fingers to the bone!
Just for fun, let's take a moment to run the numbers: Mary Sit said in her welcome post that she was going to post every day. We can now interpret that to mean she'll post every work/week day. She will take holidays off (15 or so), and she probably has two weeks of vacation each year (10 days). As we have seen this week, her trend is to post once a day (except for yesterday when she did an extra post announcing her long weekend), so out of 365 posting opportunities each year, she'll write about 236 posts.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS (01-14-2007): Is METRO embarrassed over that MLK post? Perhaps so, because the post has simply vanished this morning, and clicking the link above produces an error message! Fortunately, Bloglines cached the post from the Sit and Spin blog's RSS feed, so we'll just post that here:
By Mary Sit
Monday, Jan. 15, is a METRO holiday to celebrate MLK Day. I'll post again on Tuesday.
Deleting posts because they draw criticism isn't something good bloggers do, and it's certainly not the way for METRO to demonstrate its commitment to open, transparent dialogue with the public.
Then again, maybe it DOES demonstrate METRO's commitment in that regard.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/13/07 09:16 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (4)
Lee P. Brown heads off to New Orleans
Offered up without comment (because it leaves one speechless):
Houston’s former Mayor and Police Chief Lee Brown has been hired to help handle New Orleans’ growing crime problem.
This comes one day after hundreds of people marched in the streets demanding something be done about the violence.So far this year, nine people have been killed.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says Brown’s company will evaluate the city’s police department and help establish community police policies.
Brown says that should take about six months.
Wow.
RELATED: Visit Kevin Whited's personal blog's archives for plenty of Lee Brown memories.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/13/07 08:11 AM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (11)
12 January 2007
"I am the David Hasselhoff of the Danger Train"
METRO CEO Frank Wilson makes an appearance today on METRO Is Full of Crap!
So, we're admittedly biased in favor of hyperlocal blogging.
But hyperlocal humor blogging takes it to a whole new level.
Good times!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/12/07 09:50 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
Unity, Houston style
Laurence Simon posts a few pointed comments about Houston's feuding Martin Luther King celebration factions.
As he makes clear, the squabbling "leaders" really should be ashamed of themselves.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/12/07 08:41 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
11 January 2007
News you CAN get elsewhere (cont'd)
As noted by Cory Crow earlier, the Chron city desk has been busy watching the morning television news again:
Houston-area firefighters were kept busy overnight battling two blazes, according to morning televised reports.
Crow says it's time for the Chron to stop pilfering TV news and go do some reporting.
Isn't that what world-class newspapers should do?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/11/07 11:37 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
KHOU analyzes Park and Pillage crime surge; METROblog spins
Wednesday, KHOU-11's Jason Whitely followed up on an earlier story about the predictable surge in crime at METRO's Park and Pillage lots after the agency decided to remove live security personnel:
As we first told you last week Metro is trying to suppress a crime surge at its Park & Ride lots.
“It’s just tax money. Who cares?,” said Metro critic Tom Bazan.
But after our report, Bazan said Metro is overpaying for a system that won’t prevent anything.
“They were doing a better job of preventing crime when they were spending less. So it’s not a matter of how much money you throw at the problem it’s a matter of how effective you are,” Bazan said.
That may be true. Metro put guards in booths and only paid $1 million a year and crime was low.
But when money got tight, the transit agency got rid of the guards and crime surged more than 30 percent.
So Metro is now spending $16 million to install cameras and a public address system, gates that can be closed by remote control and emergency call stations.
But no guards.
“One security guard cannot see everything on a Park & Ride lot,” said Chief Tom Lambert, Metro Police Chief.
In his previous report, Whitely also described the surge in crime:
It's not just bus riders. Park & Rides passengers are targeted too.
For the last fiscal year, thefts went up 16-percent. The incease in robberies was even more alarming.
They skyrocketed by 400-percent compared to the fiscal year before.
Add it all up and crimes at bus stops, along the light rail and at Park & Rides were up 32-percent in the last year.
METRO's exciting (and expensive!) new blog was slow to post today (posts the previous two days have gone up in the 9:00 AM hour), so we suspected the PR flacks were hard at work spinning what any sane person had to regard as bad news (and perhaps even incompetence on the part of Chief Lambert). Sure enough, it took until 1:14 PM today for METRO's blogger to Sit and Spin the news (no doubt with help from colleagues):
The crime rate has crept up – but the city ‘s population has also surged as has its crime rate.
Is METRO’s new high-tech camera security system worth $16 million?
The cameras will be working 24/7, rotating 360 degrees to monitor loitering, crowded platforms, suspicious packages and non-bus vehicles that pull up in the bus lane. Hiring guards at $10/hour for 24/7 would cost $2.7 million a year.
That doesn’t include the cost of supervision, management structure or communications.
“As you continue to expand, you’d have to expand that,” said Lambert. “One guard on these lots could not clearly observe what this technology can observe.”
The security guards who sat in the guard shacks on METRO’s Park and Ride lots were never trained officers from METRO’s police department. They were contract security guards who were “trained to use the telephone – use their eyes and ears to call in a report,” said Capt. Tim Kelly of MPD.
The guards had no arrest authority and were unarmed.
“We’re not removing the human element,” Lambert explained later.
Actually, that's exactly what Chief Lambert and METRO are doing. Jason Whitely isn't stupid. The people who watched his accurate reporting aren't stupid. The people who read this blog (and others) and wonder about the METRO Police Chief's competence aren't stupid.
What is stupid is this statement from METRO's blogger:
The crime rate has crept up – but the city ‘s population has also surged as has its crime rate.
Well which is it? Has the crime rate crept up? Or has it surged? Because those are two very different characterizations. If the post took until 1:14 PM for a group of PR spinners to put together, you'd think the language would at least be consistent.
As we've noted previously, the population is estimated by the city's planning department to have increased, but we don't yet have census figures, so we need to be careful in how we discuss this estimated "surge." As we've also noted previously, some Chronicle reporters throwing about characterizations of crime in Houston need to be more careful. And as Matt Bramanti noted forcefully earlier, Mary Sit and the rest of the METRO spinners most certainly need to be more careful.
The fact is that METRO and Chief Lambert removed the security personnel. Crime surged, which was entirely predictable. METRO and Chief Lambert took forever to begin deploying cameras, which are not an effective replacement for "boots on the ground" (so to speak). And crime continues to be beyond acceptable levels at METRO's Park and Pillage lots.
A well-run business would concede that perhaps it made a mistake in eliminating the security presence at the Park and Pillage lots, and work hard to ensure the safety of its customers and their property. METRO and Chief Lambert, on the other hand, apparently think the problem will be solved by cameras and mischaracterizing the problem on METRO's Sit and Spin blog.
BACKGROUND: More problems at METRO's Park and Pillage lots, Park and Pillage lots get security cams and call boxes, KTRK Crime Tracker: Crime up at METRO's park-and-pillage lots, Park and Pillage safety takes a "quantum leap forward", METRO still looking at some technology for Park and Pillages, Chief Lambert: When a crime is reported, we'll rewind the tape, Metro's security track record does not inspire confidence, Beware tailgate thievery at Park and Pillages, Lambert: Park and Rides just need technology -- where do we get some, Metro's Park and Pillage, METRO pulls security from Park and Ride lots.
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/11/07 11:13 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Chron columnist still pushing for new soccer stadium
Check out the latest effort from the Chron's soccer columnist to stir up some interest in a new home for the Houston Dynamo:
The Dynamo need a facility where they can control scheduling, concessions, parking and security and support the bottom line. Thinking bigger, soccer needs its own home in a city of international recognition like Houston.
I would love to see a stadium built in downtown Houston. The whole experience of going downtown for a game would give more suburbanites a reason to enjoy that great part of our city.
A downtown stadium also would give Dynamo games more of a major-league feel, not to mention the fact there are a lot of haunts where fans could gather before and after a game.
We already have downtown sports venues, including a stadium. Three brand new ones. Really expensive ones that taxpayers built (plus a big empty one that costs millions just to maintain). In fact, Harris County has the highest rental car taxes in the nation to help pay for those expensive stadiums. And the Sports Authority has already had one close-call with junk-bond status.
What Harris County doesn't need is another sports team coming in here, sticking taxpayers with a big fat bill for a new venue, then controlling the revenue associated with that venue. Now if Dynamo officials can build a stadium with their own money, fine.
As for the bolded part -- yeah, that's just what suburbanites have been waiting for. A downtown soccer stadium.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/11/07 08:56 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (11)
10 January 2007
Harris County deputy acquitted
Over at Red Ink Texas, Rorschach brings us the news that a Harris County deputy charged with aggravated assault by a public official for shooting at a suspect during a car chase has been acquitted.
The incident has been a hot topic on the Chris Baker program on KTRH-740, and Rorschach had early coverage of it on the Lone Star Times blog, before his post mysteriously disappeared. Luckily, he's kept up with the story on his other blog.
Here is the early Chronicle coverage of the acquittal.
BLOGVERSATION: Isiah Carey's Insite.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/10/07 11:02 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
Mayor bows to reality on Council special election
The Chronicle's Kristen Mack reports that Mayor White has set a May election date to fill the seat once held by Doctor-former Congresswoman Shelley Sekula Gibbs, who resigned her seat to go to Washington for a few weeks:
Giving up on efforts to delay the vote until November, Mayor Bill White today called a May 12 special election to fill the City Council seat vacated by Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs when she resigned in November for a brief stint in the U.S. House.
White had hoped for a change in state law to let the city wait until November's regular election to fill the seat, avoiding the cost of a special election that he estimated could cost as much as $4 million.
As the the [sic] legislative session opened this week, however, White realized that he did not have the support of Harris County legislators to push the change through.
Given the speed with which the state government would have had to move on the mayor's request, it was always highly unlikely that he was going to be able to postpone this election. His Boss Hogg White act simply doesn't play in Austin like it does here in town.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/10/07 05:36 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (10)
Blog zinger of the young year
HouStoned's Richard Connelly concludes this post on Paula Zahn's foray into the Houston Taser/racism debate with the blog zinger of the young year.
Laurence Simon follows up with a zinger of a comment himself.
We don't have much to contribute to the hilarity, other than this still shot of Ada Edwards in her Comets jersey.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/10/07 05:01 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
Graybeard robs Houston bank, escapes on his bicycle
The Chronicle reports that an old guy on a bike knocked over a bank yesterday:
The FBI Bank Robbery Task Force is seeking assistance in identifying a man who escaped on a bicycle after robbing the Wachovia Bank on West 20th St. Tuesday afternoon.
The man rode up to the bank on the bike shortly before 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. Once inside, he approached the teller, demanded money and said he had a bomb. The robber then gave the teller a note demanding money.
The teller complied and the robber escaped on his bicycle. No one was injured during the robbery.
The robber is described as a white male, 50-55 years of age, approximately 5'8" tall, 170-200 pounds. He had long gray hair pulled back in a pony tail and a gray beard.
They included race in a crime description? Oh my. Can't that lead to the sort of racial scorekeeping that the Chronicle tries to avoid?
KPRC-2 posts a video surveillance shot of the robber. First thought: Why is ZZ Top's Dusty Hill robbing banks on his bike?
BLOGVERSATION: Lone Star Times.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/10/07 04:37 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
09 January 2007
Dan Patrick loses first Senate battle
As various media outlets and blogs have noted, local talker and new state senator Dan Patrick lost his first Senate battle today.
Today, the talk radio host lectured his colleagues on his notion of the requirements of democratic government, after which they promptly outvoted him 30-1 on the matter.
The Blocker Bill tradition continues to strike me (and apparently Evan at Perry vs World) as a conservative tradition, so it's probably best in the long run for conservative governance that Patrick lost.
Patrick, incidentally, has gotten interesting coverage recently in the Economist and Texas Monthly.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/09/07 09:33 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (7)
Did that Jimmy Hendricks guy play the guitar?
Slampo's Place made us laugh out loud with this one.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/09/07 09:15 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
Parts of the ideal state sometimes get stale
The Chronicle's Dwight Silverman is in Las Vegas covering the 2007 CES, and as usual when Silverman is busy, his whimsical link blog on the Chron.com opinion page is being neglected. It hasn't seen an update for several days now.
For over a week around Christmas/New Year's, someone posted a note on the editorial page that the whimsical link blog would be on hiatus. Maybe they forgot to do that this time.
In any case, the most prominent real estate on the online editorial page is occupied by some pretty static, stale content (the rarely updated reader rep's blog, and the whimsical link blog that apparently only Silverman can maintain, when he's not busy doing other things like he is now).
Somehow, I thought the ideal state would be less... stale.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/09/07 08:57 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
More breaking coverage you CAN get elsewhere
Was the new Chron city desk editor enjoying the morning TV news with his Froot Loops again today?
It sure seems like it from this brief report that was posted on Chron.com this morning:
Several vehicles were vandalized at a parking of a Montrose club overnight, according to televised reports this morning.
Windows were smashed and tires were slashed at EJ's, located on Ralph and Westheimer.
Police are investigating the crime.
Hmm, if Houston's Leading Information Source pilfers its news from the television, is it really Houston's Leading Information Source?
Anyway, online readers of the Chronicle missed the important details found in this KPRC-2 reporting:
Dozens of patrons of a gay club found their vehicles vandalized in a parking lot Tuesday, KPRC Local 2 reported.
The vehicles were parked behind EJ's in the 2500 block of Ralph Street near Westheimer Road at about 2:20 a.m.
Customers said about 28 vehicles were damaged. Some of the vehicles' tires were slashed and some had smashed windows or windshields.
"I have two flat tires and a damaged windshield," victim Andre Wagner said.
Some of the men said they believe they were the victims of a hate crime.
"I really honestly do think this was a hate crime and that people are tired of the gays parking on their lot," victim Ronnie Siebert said. "It's really sad what has happened here tonight."
There's nothing like getting scooped by Channel 2 on basic local reporting.
UPDATE: There's more! Here's another recent report cribbed from local TV news reporting:
A man was shot in the face during a carjacking attempt in Houston early this morning, according to televised reports.
And another:
A pickup driver who fled an accident was killed after he and his passenger tried to run across Interstate 610 Sunday night, according to televised reports this morning.
That Chron city desk sure has things covered! Readers should probably hope that their cable TV subscription doesn't get cut, though.
UPDATE (01-10-2007): And another this morning:
A man was shot Tuesday night after he tried to stop two men from stealing a woman's purse in north Houston, according to televised reports this morning.
Does the Chronicle city desk even bother to check with HPD in the mornings, or do they just watch the television news and write up what they see?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/09/07 08:40 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
08 January 2007
Write On Metro
Metro's blog is underway...with a welcome post. Hopefully posting will pick up speed.
I'm disappointed with the site's look. I don't know what the correct tech terms are, but the site seems to be lacking sophistication, and the colors are disjointed. The varying shades of purple don't blend with Metro's main site. Weird. If you look at any of the Chron blogs, it's very clear they belong to Chron.com. Purple is just not a color associated with Metro -- red and blue are.
Amusingly, Laurence Simon's parody site looks much more polished by comparison.
As for the content, Mary Sit says in her post that she's listening. I'd like to know if Metro's upper management is listening as well. There's little point to the blog if they aren't. Also, will there be opportunities for Metro customers to air complaints or get questions answered, since Metro's Customer Service Hotline isn't very functional? I hope so. That would be a great way to improve dialog, something Sit lists as a priority.
BLOGVERSATION: On Message.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/08/07 08:00 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (14)
Changes with Time Warner/Comcast
So, the big local switch from Time Warner to Comcast is under way.
Today's snail mail brought the first real evidence -- "important information" on Time Warner stationery about my account.
The information is that account numbers will be changing.
Oh, and if you have cable internet service, you'll now be charged $3.00 per month to lease your modem. There's no word whether customers can buy their own.
Nice move, though, making the announcement on Time Warner (not Comcast) stationery. And stating "We value your business." That's always important to say.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/08/07 06:31 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
Not exactly a rapid response-type of task force
Here's an excerpt from KHOU-11's story on Mayor White's convenience store task force:
“Convenience store work is one of the most dangerous lines of work and yet, very low pay work,” Houston City Councilman M.J. Khan said. “So these people have no attention to them at all.
“This task force, which Mayor White has appointed, will go a long way towards doing something about this horrible crime situation,” he said.
The task force will suggest ways store owners can protect themselves and ways the city can back them up – possibly by changing rules about lighting and surveillance cameras.
The task force will have four months to present its recommendations to the City Council. They are hoping to hear from many people who work in the convenience store industry, from managers to clerks to customers.
City officials can't possibly wonder why people scoff at these types of announcements, can they?
So if you are an employee in one of the most dangerous lines of work in Houston, do what you can to stay safe (or at least alive) for about four months (barring any postponement) to see what the task force recommends. Then tack on several more months for anything to actually happen.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/08/07 05:51 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
07 January 2007
Houston musters up the strength to honor Martin Luther King Jr.
Oh look: Houston's not "evented-out" after all.
While some city councilwomen are pooped, others have been resting up, it would seem.
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/07/07 03:56 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (5)
Will Metro keeps its promise to start blogging Monday?
A little birdy (a reliable, not dead birdy) tells us that Metro's blog is scheduled to launch Monday. Metro doesn't always keep its promises, so we'll have to see if this is one they follow through on.
Mary Sit's blog should be very interesting. Will she undertake this blog as an effort truly to have an open dialog with the public, warts and all, or will Metro make her use it as a PR arm (which is completely unnecessary since the Chronicle's editors are already most helpful in that regard)?
No one has done more to document the real world failings of Metro than Laurence Simon. Day after day, his transportation escapades (which often turn into nightmares) are blog fodder. Appropriately, Laurence is readying his own Metro blog: Metro is full of crap.
Stay tuned!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/07/07 02:58 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (9)
Carey: Narrow streets a concern for Cottage Grove
KRIV-26's Isiah Carey links to his TV report on the Cottage Grove neighborhood, and the potential dangers posed by the growing neighborhood's narrow streets.
Councilmember Peter Brown, who is popping up more lately than bicyclist Bob Stein, appears in the report. He is concerned about the narrow streets, and (surprise!) thinks the neighborhood would benefit from better planning.
I'm starting to get the sense that Brown hopes to run for mayor when term limits force out Bill White.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/07/07 12:08 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
06 January 2007
Jordy Tollett sounds like The Terminator
In today's offering, the Chronicle's Editorial LiveJournalists ran a fun quote from Jordy Tollett, who recently stepped down as head of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau:
For those who figure Tollett's service at the city is finished, think again. Previously caricatured as someone who'll outlive the cockroaches at City Hall, Tollett said those writing his municipal epitaph might be premature. "I just can't wait to come back, working for the next mayor."
Unlike those elected to city offices, people who can make things happen in Houston don't have term limits. Tollett probably will find his way back into the downtown power structure after White's tenure ends. Tollett might just as easily have told the Editorial LiveJournalists "I'll be back."
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/06/07 11:39 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (7)
East End fears rising crime
KHOU-11's Chau Nguyen reports that people living in Houston's East End fear that crime is rising, again:
There is a sense of fear among some residents in Houston’s East End, because they say crime is once again on the rise.
It’s happening on the southeast side of the area, near Harrisburg and 75 th.
Business owners and residents there say recent incidents indicate the safety of their neighborhood may be in jeopardy.
That can't be so, because MayorWhiteChiefHurtt keep saying that crime is now under control, and that crime is really under control if you take into account estimated population increases (some Chronicle reporters and/or editors who aren't very good at math say the same thing, interestingly).
In any case, the East End folks aren't waiting for MayorWhiteChiefHurtt to form a task force to look into their concerns:
Two years ago, crime got so bad that residents banded together to form their own patrols.
And they’re promising to do that again, as well as ask police to step up patrols to keep their neighborhood safe.
It's a shame that the city can't provide basic services.
Incidentally, the East End also has the most effective graffiti abatement program in the city.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/06/07 11:16 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Mayor White tackles convenience store crime with a task force!
Yes, Houston needs a task force to figure out how to reduce convenience store crime:
Mayor Bill White announced today the formation of the Mayor's Task Force on Convenience Store Security. Members will make recommendations aimed at curbing violent crime in convenience stores by reviewing new technologies, building codes, management processes, and law enforcement procedures.
Which means new city regulations will be required because that's how cities fix problems.
The answer is simple, as blogHOUSTON readers will know: punish convenience store owners for allowing crime to happen on their properties.
It's the logical approach to crime-fighting -- think graffiti and apartments --and it's easy to do. Fine store owners $20,000 or so each time their store is held up, then require that within two weeks, city-mandated security upgrades have been installed (see Metro Park and Pillage lots for guidance), and any building code violations have been addressed. After that, ensure that convenience store personnel attend management training classes conducted by the city (for a fee, of course), to learn how best to handle a robbery.
All this should be directed by a new city department. A contest will be held to come up with the acronym naming this new initiative. Leave your suggestions in the forum.
MORE: I just saw the Chron's story. The end (naturally!) includes a hint to another crime-fighting approach:
As the task force begins considering ways to make the industry safer, the store clerks suggested more patrols by Houston police officers, more street lights and enforcement of the Houston youth curfew.
Both clerks also agreed that more street lighting would improve overall neighborhood safety.
"It is too dark out here," Nguyen said. "And, everybody knows that Houston needs more police officers."
More police officers? Better street lighting? You mean the store clerks didn't suggest a task force to fix the crime problem?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/06/07 07:13 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (15)
05 January 2007
Food and drink roundup (01-05-07 edition)
The first week of the year seems like a good time to bring the food and drink roundup out of hiatus. Let's get started, shall we?
Alison Cook checked out Bombay Brasserie, a regular Indian haunt of some of bH's contributors. She's right, there are times when the place fails to wow, but there are times (like the last time bH-ers partook there) that the food is simply amazing. And the service is all that. She also ventured out to Katy to try Pulcinella Ristorante.
Robb Walsh tried Thai Gourmet, another favorite of some of us, way back in November. He's right about the heat. That place knows how to dish it out. Mary'z Lebanese Cuisine, another bH favorite, was his focus another week.
Peggy Grodinsky talks up tofu in this week's Chron food section.
Ken Hoffman heads over to IHOP to try their new and redundant sounding Corn Cake Pancakes.
And Lance Scott Walker makes the East End's Harrisburg Country Club sound interesting.
World Class, all of it. Enjoy!!
Posted by Callie Markantonis @ 01/05/07 08:44 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (3)
04 January 2007
Councilmember tackles problem of... utility poles?
KRIV-26's Isiah Carey blogs that Councilmember (and architect!) Peter Brown is working hard on a new initiative:
Houston City Council member Peter Brown is on a mission to clean up Houston's scenic view. He says the city has been littered with overhead power poles that only taint Houston's beauty. Brown says power companies like CenterPoint Energy should look at burying their cables or installing their untility poles on easements behind properties instead of locating them directly in front of homes and businesses.[snip]
CenterPoint spokesperson Alicia Dixon tells The Insite their company is more than willing to work with the council member and the community. She says however underground utility lines are 15 times more expensive than overhead. She says the extra expense would be passed on to the consumer and or the developer.
Maybe we can just bill Councilmember Brown?
In any case, it's reassuring to know that all the major, pressing problems of the city have been solved, and we have now turned to solving the trifling matters. And it seems exactly the right person is on the case!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/04/07 10:31 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (15)
KTRK: More red-light cameras are on the way
KTRK-13 reports that more red-light cameras are going up:
Police say 20 cameras have caught on camera several close calls and crashes as well. That's why in just about two weeks, 10 more cameras will be set up at more intersections.
"We're not at to try to catch people in a sneaky way," said Sgt. Michael Muench with the Houston Police Department. "We want people to be aware that the cameras are out there."
Great. Then why not improve the signage around the intersections deemed to be so dangerous as to require red-light cameras? If it's all about safety, then why not work harder to improve public awareness of the dangerous intersections? It wouldn't cost much to improve the signage warning motorists of the dangerous intersections and the red-light camera enforcement -- surely the revenues would more than pay for a few signs. And if it improves public safety, we're ALL for that, right?
KTRK notes that nearly 16,000 tickets (at $75 a pop) have been issued thus far.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/04/07 10:19 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)
Crime surge hits METRO
KHOU-11's Jason Whitely reports that METRO is dealing with the same surge in crime as the rest of the city:
It's not just bus riders. Park & Rides passengers are targeted too.
For the last fiscal year, thefts went up 16-percent. The incease in robberies was even more alarming.
They skyrocketed by 400-percent compared to the fiscal year before.
Add it all up and crimes at bus stops, along the light rail and at Park & Rides were up 32-percent in the last year.
METRO Police Chief Tom Lambert is featured, and touts new cameras and a boost in manpower as steps the agency has taken in response to the increase in crime.
Unsurprisingly, Chief Lambert does not mention his decision to remove security personnel from the Park and Ride lots, effectively turning them into Park and Pillage lots.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/04/07 09:59 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
HPD gets serious about recruiting
KUHF's Capella Tucker reported today on various changes HPD is considering to help in the recruitment of officers.
Tucker did not report on HPD's initiative to recruit officers in Puerto Rico, which KTRK-13 reported on yesterday. Even if the officers don't recruit a soul in Puerto Rico, we're sure they enjoyed those 80 degree days much more than wet, miserable Houston this week!
BLOGVERSATION: Lone Star Times.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/04/07 09:45 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)
03 January 2007
Painful shoe pun
Temporarily-Not Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado, who recently explained forgetting to plan a New Year's celebration by saying the city was "event-ed out," had this to say in response to Jordy Tollett's deal to step aside as head of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau (but remain as a well compensated consultant):
"The board is going to have a difficult time finding a replacement for Jordy. Whoever fills the position is going to have colorful shoes to fill," said Councilwoman Carol Alvarado. "Jordy was the biggest promoter of our city, not because it was his job but because it was his home and he loved this city."
That's just a painful shoe pun.
Still, it's entertaining (for bloggers, at least) now that she's talking to reporters again instead of hiding behind her PR and legal teams.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/03/07 10:51 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (13)
Descent of Jon Matthews continues
The Chronicle's Eric Hanson reports on the latest twist in the case of former KSEV-700 talker Jon Matthews. Prosecutors have asked a state judge to revoke the parole of Matthews and sentence him to prison. Matthews' attorney asked the judge to reschedule the hearing so he could prepare adequately. It was reset for February 9.
Hanson's report goes into some of the details of the state's case against Matthews:
According to a July 5 report prepared by the Community Supervision and Corrections Department of Fort Bend County, Matthews tested positive for alcohol in June of last year and again on July 3.
"He admitted to abusing alcohol for approximately three weeks before testing positive," the report said.Matthews also was terminated from a sex offenders counseling program because he had been engaging in inappropriate online sexual conduct, according to court documents.
The report said the Texas Attorney General's Office found that Matthews had been viewing obscene material over the Internet and participated in an Internet fantasy message exchange in which he described sex acts performed on a 3-year-old boy.
"Mr. Matthews presented himself to be a female stripper who took her three-year-old son to work with her. The defendant described sexual acts between the strippers and the three-year-old boy," the report said. Matthews does not have a 3-year-old son.
Yikes. Matthews is one disturbed, likely dangerous, guy.
As David Benzion points out again at Lone Star Times, it is time for Jon Matthews to go to jail. Here's hoping somewhere along the way he finds the professional help he certainly needs.
BLOGVERSATION: HouStoned.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/03/07 06:37 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (17)
02 January 2007
Making sense of muffed crime reporting/editorializing
On January 1, Chron.com posted a story by Peggy O'Hare that seemed like a rushed effort to get unofficial 2006 crime statistics posted to the web.
Here's the story's third paragraph:
Despite another annual increase, residents here are not necessarily at greater risk of becoming a homicide victim. That's because Houston's homicide rate per 100,000 residents rose only incrementally in 2006 — since the city's population is estimated to have surged by more than 148,000 people, due largely to an influx of Hurricane Katrina evacuees.
That bolded editorializing is curious, since this is allegedly a news story. Perhaps the reporter should have stuck simply to reporting the facts and not editorializing about them, because she later seems to contradict herself:
In 2006, the Houston Police Department recorded 379 homicides as of Dec. 31, a 13.5 percent increase from the 334 homicides recorded in 2005. The 2006 total is the highest since 1994, when 419 homicides were reported in the city.
It was the second consecutive year for a steep jump, although the increase was not nearly as alarming as the 23 percent rise in homicides seen at the end of 2005.
Despite the upward trend, Houston's homicide rate per 100,000 residents hardly changed at all. That number increased from 16.33 in 2005 to 17.24 in 2006.
The reason? Houston's population jumped by 7.5 percent during that same 12-month period — a massive increase.
Those bolded parts are interesting. Houston's homicide rate per 100,000 residents increased by 5.57% from 2005 to 2006, which (the reporter editorializes) is hardly a change at all. Houston's population "jumped" by 7.5% over the same period, however, which the reporter characterizes as "a massive increase." Apparently at the Chron city desk, percentage increases of 6% or so don't register as change at all, but anything much larger is massive!
In any case, there is a measurably greater risk of becoming a homicide victim in Houston, contrary to the characterization in the story's third sentence.
Again, less editorializing probably would have served this reporter and the Chronicle better, since this effort is just a mess. In fact, editing might have helped a bit too -- but who knows, maybe the new city editor was tied up watching the TV news again! And all of this per-capita-crime editorializing/reporting assumes the city's population estimates are accurate, even though those estimates are not yet supported by official Census data.
There was some improvement in the murder numbers over the last three months of 2006 (if the Chronicle reporting is accurate), and some improvement in rates of other types of crime over the last year. It would be nice if we've seen the worst of the crime surge, although overall crime levels are still high and HPD manpower is still low -- not necessarily a winning combination.
Incidentally, Houston bicyclist Bob Stein is quoted by the reporter. Nowhere does the reporter mention that Stein's wife is the White Administration's agenda director. That probably is worth a mention if the newspaper is going to cite the man's evaluation of crime in a city where his wife serves as a key advisor to the mayor.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/02/07 10:24 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (15)
Gladwell: Enron wasn’t really a puzzle. It was a mystery.
The New Yorker has published a fascinating article by Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point) about the fall of Enron.
In typical fashion, Gladwell uses the particulars of the Enron collapse to make a point about how we should think about financial disclosure in today's information-rich business environment.
Gladwell's discussion of the particulars is especially worth reading and considering. More than a few pundits have vilified top executives for their alleged roles in the "fraud" of Enron, but many of those pundits tend to have trouble describing the particulars of the crimes committed (or just ignore those details altogether in favor of purely emotional appeals). Gladwell has done a real service for thoughtful people who want to delve more deeply into the crimes committed by the Enron principals (or crimes not committed, as some would contend).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/02/07 08:46 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
Popular talker wonders how city forgot New Year's event
The fact that Houston's leaders apparently forgot to plan a New Year's celebration was a hot topic today on the radio program of KTRH-740's popular Chris Baker.
Baker sounds even more mystified than we about how city leaders forgot this "annual" event. For those who missed the live show and might be interested, podcasts of the program are available here. The interview with Councilmember Peter Brown was particularly entertaining, although not in a way that is necessarily flattering to the councilmember.
BLOGVERSATION: Mike McGuff.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/02/07 06:15 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
01 January 2007
City water meters say "answer unclear--try again later"
KHOU had a segment on Thursday's news about the faulty transmitters used by the City of Houston Public Works department to obtain water meter readings. It's not the first time they've looked into this issue, either; it's not even the second time. It seems the Brown-era program to read electronically all water meters in the city, now $21 million (and counting) over budget, and nearly four years overdue, hasn't worked quite as advertised. Surprisingly, sticking electronic devices into often-flooded holes in the ground (and then running over them with everything from lawnmowers to large tractor trailers) has led to a very high failure rate, quoted at 47%. Perhaps we can suggest using a "Magic 8-ball" to improve reliability?
Carroll Shanks from Kingwood said he uses about as much water as the next guy, so you can imagine his surprise when he got a letter in the mail that began, “Dear Sir or Madam, due to an inadvertent reading[sic] of your water meter you now owe $1,486.”
The problem is that the city’s electronic water meter wasn’t tracking his usage and although he continued to be billed, it was only for a minimum amount.
Conceived in the late 1990s as a way to reduce costs by making a large meter reading staff unnecessary, Public Works sold the council on the project by claiming that only about seven techs would be needed to maintain over 400,000 transmitters across the city. The council of that time was concerned by the idea that no one would be checking up on the electronics, and extracted a promise from Public Works that it would read every meter at least once per year to ensure that the transmitters were reporting correctly.
Posted by Ubu Roi @ 01/01/07 07:25 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)
Clear Channel's vision for Houston-area radio
The Houston Business Journal has posted a print edition Q & A with local Clear Channel GM Eddie Martiny that includes some interesting information. Here are a couple of bites:
HBJ: You have an extensive line-up of FM and AM shows. Where do you plan to make changes, if any?
Martiny: The main programming changes have been on our AM radio stations (NewsRadio KTRH 740 AM and TalkRadio 950 KPRC).
We're moving Rush Limbaugh to KTRH for a few simple reasons: Rush is America's most popular on-air personality. Moving to our 50,000 watt giant gives Rush the opportunity to broadcast to a larger audience on one of the most powerful radio stations in America.
The changes we made on KPRC are designed to give listeners more live and local programming. While nationally syndicated hosts are popular, some of the marketplace has been seeking more local viewpoints.
[snip]
HBJ: With Houston a Top 10 radio market, where do you see the city's future heading?
Martiny: I believe the future of the radio industry is bright. Radio revenue for 2006 will most likely reach an all-time high for the city of Houston (approximately $330 million). This is a reflection of the quality of our talented team and a robust local economy.
It's not just our company. There are several first-rate radio companies in Houston. Houston radio is competitive, which results in great radio for the listeners.
As long as Houston continues to thrive, so will radio.
We've long noted the market for local issue-oriented talk, and Clear Channel's recent scheduling changes make the most of what KTRH-740 and KPRC-950 can deliver signal-wise: putting the powerhouse hosts on KTRH's big blowtorch (as Chris Baker calls it), and putting the local hosts, dealing with issues of local interest, on KPRC. It's a win-win for Clear Channel and for Houston-area listeners.
PREVIOUSLY: KTRH-740 and KPRC-950 changing shows, schedules
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/01/07 07:54 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (18)
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