30 November 2007
Did someone at the Chronicle get the Editorial mixed up with the Metropolitan section?
I was surprised to read Rick Casey's "Have pity on the poor DA" article this morning. Is it me, or does this belong on the editorial page? Why is this listed (on the website) under the metropolitan news pages? This is another example of someone's opinion (regardless if you agree with it or not) showing up as news. I would also like to point to another statement that got my attention:
The unfairness is made more serious by the growing competitiveness of the Democratic Party in Harris County. Three years ago, Democrat Reginald McKamie, a little-known personal injury lawyer with little criminal law experience and less campaign cash, won 45 percent of the vote. Next year, Rosenthal is likely to face former Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford, who already has better name recognition and is likely to be much better funded than McKamie was.
Well, perhaps another reason is some people aren't too thrilled with the DA's office performance as of late (let us not forget that his office did get an indictment against Bradford for perjury that was later dismissed). However, the assertion is that DA Rosenthal is going to face a tougher re-election battle than he did the last time. That shouldn't matter. The DA has a job to do and he/she should do it regardless of political affiliations. This next race should be interesting to watch.
Posted by Jason @ 11/30/07 11:16 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (12)
29 November 2007
When you lose Mrs. White...
Yesterday, Mrs. White surprised us with criticism of HPD's murder reporting (as first reported by KHOU-11's Mark Greenblatt).
As Greenblatt now reports, Mayor White has taken the lead after Chief Hurtt's poor handling of the situation:
And now, the Mayor's on the defensive.
“There's not been an intentional effort to hide data,” said White.
Intentional or not, the mayor is admitting to potential problems in at least six homicides the 11 News Defenders uncovered.
“Based off some of the issues you've raised… I think there's going be a lot more discipline in the way the reports are handled,” said White.
And in a major about face, the city’s finally admitting to problems in HPD’s investigation of Stephen McCoy's death that after being shot in the chest three times and then in the back of the head, police labeled a suicide even though the medical examiner ruled his death a homicide.
But now?
11 News: The investigation's now back open?
“Yes,” said White. “My take is: It was a murder and then it was ruled a suicide. And I'm asking (HPD) to take a new look at this case.”
That's quite a rebuke from the Mayor for his bungling police chief, considering that Chief Hurtt refused to take questions on the matter before Thanksgiving (in fairness, he might have had a plane to Phoenix to catch); and after Thanksgiving HPD merely took to repeating talking points that called Greenblatt's reporting "inaccurate and misleading." So much for Chief Hurtt's ghostblogger's effort to smear an award-winning reporter.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/29/07 10:35 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
City hopes to buy 15,000 foil bags, solve sewer clogging (really!)
KHOU-11's Lee McGuire reports on the problem of grease clogging the city's sewer lines, and one of the more bizarre proposals to find its way to Council in a while:
So to stop the problem at the source, the City of Houston wants to buy 15,000 foil bags. They are boxes, with two foil-lined fat-trapper bags inside. These would be used in your kitchen, instead of pouring the fat down the drain. The problem is, before this happens, the City Council has to approve it.
“Buying fat trapper bags when anyone could use an old tomato can or a piece of alumninum foil is to me a silly use of taxpayer dollars,” Anne Clutterbuck from the Houston City Council said.
It would cost $63,000 to hand the bags to only 15,000 people in a city of 2.1 million.
Some question whether this would really make a difference.
Clutterbuck is right.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/29/07 10:05 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (21)
28 November 2007
Dolcefino looks into Eversole campaign spending
KTRK-13's Wayne Dolcefino continues his reporting on County Commissioner Jerry Eversole's questionable ethics.
In his latest report, Dolcefino looks into "charitable" contributions from Eversole's campaign fund, contributions that allegedly resulted in personal gain for Eversole (an ethical and legal no-no).
The full report is posted here.
UPDATE (11-29-2007): The Chronicle's Bill Murphy reports that the Harris County DA is looking into Eversole's campaign finances:
The Harris County District Attorney's Office has launched an investigation into whether Precinct 4 Commissioner Jerry Eversole misused thousands of dollars in campaign contributions for his own benefit, District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said Wednesday.
The inquiry will focus, in part, on collector-quality guns and a Florida vacation Eversole bought at charity auctions.
The probe was prompted by stories about Eversole's work habits and campaign spending aired by KTRK (Channel 13) in recent weeks. A story by KTRK reporter Wayne Dolcefino questioned whether Eversole benefited from auction items purchased with campaign contributions.
Eversole defended the charity purchases during an interview with the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday, although he has refused to discuss the accusations with Dolcefino.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/28/07 11:18 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (15)
HPD officers sue over grooming policy
One of Chief Hurtt's big priorities upon arriving in Houston -- a policy banning facial hair on officers -- has resulted in a lawsuit against HPD and the city, according to the Chronicle's Cindy George:
Four Houston police officers placed on plain-clothes duty for wearing facial hair have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit claiming discrimination for a skin condition that primarily affects black men.
Sgts. Shelby Stewart and Kenneth Perkins said they wear goatees because they suffer from pseudofolliculitis barbae, a dermatological condition common among men of African descent. Shaving can cause severe irritation, rashes and ingrown hairs. Stewart and Perkins, who are not allowed to work in uniform and have been reassigned, estimated that more than 100 HPD officers have the condition.
The lawsuit, which was also filed Tuesday by officers Adrian White and Raul Collins, claims the Houston Police Department is enforcing only the part of its appearance and grooming standards that disproportionately afflicts black officers. The City of Houston also is named as a defendant.
HPD lawyer Craig Ferrell said the department adopted the standards because officers with facial hair cannot properly seal gas masks in the event of bioterrorism attacks. He said the policy was not discriminatory, but will be changed.
Police Chief Harold Hurtt will modify the rules to "accommodate as best we can" officers with skin conditions by identifying uniformed positions that can be performed with facial hair, Ferrell said.
Officers in those positions who cannot shave would be able to use an "escape masks" that can be worn over a beard.
In 2005, HPD revised its grooming policy to prohibit beards and goatees.
Given all the serious problems in the City of Houston, we never quite understood why facial hair was such a priority for Chief Hurtt. That said, we're not entirely convinced of the merits of this lawsuit. What do you think?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/28/07 11:10 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)
Miami-Dade's surveillance drones won't write traffic tickets?
Along with HPD, Miami-Dade is the other police department that will be testing unmanned surveillance drones as part of an FAA program. This story on the Florida city's upcoming experimental program is notable in that the spokesman fails to mention the UAV's would be used for issuing traffic tickets:
The unmanned aircraft will be used during SWAT team and tactical operations, especially when officers need video of a heavily armed suspect.
Shoot, Miami-Dade isn't thinking outside the box.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/28/07 10:14 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
Additional red light cameras help the city's coffers!
Those last twenty red light cameras the city hurriedly installed (to beat a state deadline) have provided Houston quite a tidy little stash of cash, according to the Chron's Matt Stiles. Stiles notes that the past several months had seen a downward trend in the number of tickets issued, but with the new cameras, revenues jumped quite nicely.
However, Chief Martha Montalvo assures us that sneaking those twenty cameras in had absolutely nothing to do with revenue. Oh no, no, no, no:
Police officials dismiss any suggestion that the cameras were installed to replace money being lost because of the new state law.
Montalvo said the department added the extra cameras because certain intersections still were seeing a lot of violations, even with the intense media publicity about the program.
"I never ever thought about those things," Montalvo said. "The whole purpose of the other approaches was to make people aware that their safety is important."
She never, EVER thought about the revenue!
Right.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/28/07 05:13 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (16)
27 November 2007
Any particular mall in north Houston?
Chron.com has a breaking news story posted which is a bit light on some necessary info:
Houston police were responding to reports of shots being fired at a mall in north Houston.
Police were checking out a report today that shots were fired inside the mall after a burglary was called in to authorities. A portion of the mall has been closed off.
A SWAT team was on the scene. There's no immediate word on injuries.
How did the SWAT team know which mall to converge upon?
If the Froot Loops bureau had been open, Chron.com would have known what KHOU-11, KTRK-13, and KPRC-2 were able to report: The mall in question is Greenspoint.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/27/07 11:42 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (9)
Kotkin: The rise of family-friendly cities
The always provocative Joel Kotkin has an interesting piece in today's Wall Street Journal. Here's an excerpt:
For much of the past decade, business recruiters, cities and urban developers have focused on the "young and restless," the "creative class," and the so-called "yuspie" -- the young urban single professional. Cities, they've said, should capture this so-called "dream demographic" if they wish to inhabit the top tiers of the economic food chain and enjoy the fastest and most sustained growth.
This focus -- epitomized by Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm's risible "Cool Cities" initiative -- is less successful than advertised. Cincinnati, Baltimore, Cleveland, Newark, Detroit and Memphis have danced to the tune of the hip and the cool, yet largely remain wallflowers in terms of economic and demographic growth. Instead, an analysis of migration data by my colleagues at the Praxis Strategy Group shows that the strongest job growth has consistently taken place in those regions -- such as Houston, Dallas, Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham -- with the largest net in-migration of young, educated families ranging from their mid-20s to mid-40s.
Urban centers that have been traditional favorites for young singles, such as Chicago, Boston, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, have experienced below-average job and population growth since 2000. San Francisco and Chicago lost population during that period; even immigrant-rich New York City and Los Angeles County have shown barely negligible population growth in the last two years, largely due to a major out-migration of middle class families.
Married people with children tend to be both successful and motivated, precisely the people who make economies go. They are twice as likely to be in the top 20% of income earners, according to the Census, and their incomes have been rising considerably faster than the national average.
Indeed, if you talk with recruiters and developers in the nation's fastest growing regions, you find that the critical ability to lure skilled workers, long term, lies not with bright lights and nightclubs, but with ample economic opportunities, affordable housing and family friendly communities not too distant from work.
As Houston-area leaders continue to pursue the latest, greatest amenities (like a park and shopping center in a part of town ceded to vagrants, or trolley-like "trains" that run down busy streets) that will allegedly make the city seem world-class to the young and hip, it's probably worth keeping in mind Kotkin's notion that Houston might just be doing some things right already (and what those things are).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/27/07 10:04 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
26 November 2007
Meyer: METRO's $3 billion limousine
Clear Thinker Tom Kirkendall has previously noted "the sheer lack of any perspective from the local mainstream media regarding the dubious nature of Metro's urban economics" and the "vacuity of media coverage of METRO."
For whatever reason, the Chronicle is particularly weak (and getting weaker) in terms of analyzing METRO and regional mobility policy in any critical, economic sense.
Fortunately, where the local media have dropped the ball, blogger Neal Meyer has stepped in with a lengthy post analyzing METRO spending, bus routes, revenues, and alternative mobility solutions. It's a fascinating post that mixes historical Houston transit data, economic analysis, and a good working knowledge of transit systems. There aren't pretty graphs (or simplistic cheerleading masquerading as analysis by an impartial transportation think tank), and the writing is a bit dense at times, so the approach may not interest the Chronicle. But for folks interested in a grown-up, cost/benefit-oriented discussion of local transit policy, it's a very interesting read (the first of several, we hope).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/26/07 11:01 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (2)
Chief Hurtt blasts "inaccurate and misleading" report
Last week, Chief Hurtt's blog promised to address Mark Greenblatt's KHOU-11 report criticizing HPD's refusal to classify some deaths as murders.
Today, Chief Hurtt's blog repeated the HPD PR talking points that Greenblatt's reporting was "inaccurate and misleading" and complained that Greenblatt failed to go into a lengthy discussion of the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting protocol.
Unfortunately, Chief Hurtt's blog failed to address any of the specific cases discussed in Greenblatt's reporting.
However, HPD last week conceded that at least one case should have been classified as a murder:
We also asked about other homicide cases like a 2006 arson fire on Delmar Street in East Houston, the day before Valentine’s Day.
Joseph Chryar died in that fire. The Houston Fire Department’s conclusion?
HFD Arson Chief Roy Paul: “I know this fire's a homicide. And it should have been reported as a murder.”
11 News: Your response?
HPD Captain Jett: “You're exactly right. Chryar's death should have been ruled a murder."
It's the first homicide the Department is admitting to making a mistake with and to leaving it off last year's report.
Apparently that aspect of the investigation by KHOU's award-winning reporter was neither inaccurate nor misleading!
Greenblatt also is reporting that HPD has changed its internal process for reviewing and classifying homicides:
The Houston Police Department announced internal changes to how it will review and report homicides in Houston. That announcement came Tuesday, less than 24 hours after an 11 News investigation exposed the department has been keeping many homicides off the books.
Do most city departments change procedures in response to "inaccurate and misleading" criticism by journalists? Just wondering.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/26/07 10:37 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
This Friday: Holiday Tree -- yes; Pancho Claus -- no
Mayor White would like you to join him Friday night as he lights the city's "Holiday Tree":
Mayor Bill White invites Houstonians to get into the holiday spirit with a festive Noontime Concert Series this week outside City Hall and the annual Mayor's Holiday Tree Lighting and Celebration featuring Grammy Award-winning songwriter / recording artist Peabo Bryson on Friday, November 30 at 6 p.m.
Music, fireworks, entertainment and the lighting of the City's official holiday tree will take place in Hermann Square. In addition to Bryson and KHOU TV's Debra Duncan, the celebration will include performances by Grupo Kache, the Bayou City Chorale, The Woodlands Dance Company, Planet Funk, the Star of Hope Voices of Hope Choir, and the Parker Elementary School Chorus. There will also be a special guest appearance by Santa Claus.
Apparently, after 2005, Christmas Trees went out of style.
PREVIOUSLY: Pancho Claus archives
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/26/07 06:40 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (3)
25 November 2007
2007 Turkeys of the Year
The Houston Press had lots of candidates for its Turkeys of the Year this time around -- METRO, Michael "Babe Pages" Berry, Priscilla Slade, the rodeo, carpetbagger City Council candidates, and more.
Click here to find out who won the awards this time around.
Congratulations (is that the right word?) to all the deserving winners!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/25/07 09:50 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
New park will surely attract residents
KTRK-13 has an interesting headline to a story by Miya Shay posted to its website:
Since Downtown and Midtown have effectively been ceded to aggressive panhandlers, we imagine the new park will attract quite a few residents indeed.
Shay's story isn't really about those sorts of residents, though.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/25/07 02:34 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
HPD "secretly" tests unmanned surveillance aircraft
Back in September, we were first alerted that HPD wanted to add drones to its force, to help with traffic and tactical situations:
Executive Assistant Chief Martha Montalvo confirmed the department is close to making it happen.
“And what's important and what needs to get out there is we are doing this in cooperation and assistance with the FAA,” said Montalvo.
[snip]
“I can tell you right now, I don't want to get into specifics, but we are looking at state of the art, actually drones that have been used by the military,” said Montalvo.
So it's unclear why the assistant police chief tried (unsuccessfully) to be all stealthy when HPD recently tested the surveillance drones, as KPRC-2 reported last week:
Neighbors in rural Waller County said they thought a top-secret military venture was under way among the farmland and ranches, some 70 miles northwest of Houston. KPRC Local 2 Investigates had four hidden cameras aimed at a row of mysterious black trucks. Satellite dishes and a swirling radar added to the neighbors' suspense.
Then, cameras were rolling as an unmanned aircraft was launched into the sky and operated by remote control.
Houston police cars were surrounding the land with a roadblock in place to check each of the dignitaries arriving for the invitation-only event. The invitation spelled out, "NO MEDIA ALLOWED."
HPD Chief Harold Hurtt attended, along with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and dozens of officers from various police agencies in the Houston area. Few of the guests would comment as they left the test site.
News Chopper 2 had a Local 2 Investigates team following the aircraft for more than one hour as it circled overhead. Its wings spanned 10 feet and it circled at an altitude of 1,500 feet. Operators from a private firm called Insitu, Inc. manned remote controls from inside the fleet of black trucks as the guests watched a live feed from the high-powered camera aboard the 40-pound aircraft.
"I wasn't ready to publicize this," Executive Assistant Police Chief Martha Montalvo said. She and other department leaders hastily organized a news conference when they realized Local 2 Investigates had captured the entire event on camera."We still haven't even decided how we were going to go forward on this task, so it seemed premature to me to announce this to the media," Montalvo said.
How could it be premature to announce it when there had already been a story in the media about it? And what's up with her saying "I wasn't ready to publicize this"?
Who's actually in charge at HPD?
KPRC's story continues with a few more Chief Montalvo highlights:
Montalvo told reporters the unmanned aircraft would be used for "mobility" or traffic issues, evacuations during storms, homeland security, search and rescue, and also "tactical." She admitted that could include covert police actions and she said she was not ruling out someday using the drones for writing traffic tickets.
[snip]
Houston police contacted KPRC from the test site, claiming the entire airspace was restricted by the Federal Aviation Administration. Police even threatened action from the FAA if the Local 2 helicopter remained in the area. However, KPRC reported it had already checked with the FAA on numerous occasions and found no flight restrictions around the site, a point conceded by Montalvo.
Montalvo wants to use the drones for writing traffic tickets! And HPD tried to intimidate a local media station as it was covering what is a pretty important story.
What the heck is going on at HPD?
The department has been fudging statistics, including numbers of homicides as we just learned; it has a severe manpower shortage that requires reactionary policing; response times are through the roof; and yet the department's leadership continues to focus on technological gadgetry.
As Scott Henson notes, Chief Hurtt has a "surveillance fetish." That sounds about right. Red light cameras, surveillance cameras, and now spy drones. Just remember, Chief Hurtt says if you aren't doing anything wrong, you've got nothing to worry about.
Is this really the kind of policing Houstonians want?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/25/07 06:24 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (14)
23 November 2007
Bye-bye Wi-Fi
KPRC-2 reports that Houston's deal with Earthlink for city-wide wi-fi is a no-go:
A public wireless network for the city of Houston is apparently dead, KPRC Local 2 reported Wednesday.
EarthLink, the company that was supposed to set up the Wi-Fi network, announced it is not doing that type of service anymore.
[snip]
"They had a change in their corporate leadership, looked at the business model and for whatever reasons decided they couldn't make it work financially," said Frank Michele with the mayor's office.
"For whatever reasons" is pretty funny. Government, of course, doesn't have to work under the constraints of a business model (as evidenced by the light rail boondoggle), so the notion that something could cost more money than it would bring in, and that outcome might not be good business, is mysterious reasoning to the mayor's spokesman.
But don't cry for Houston -- the mayor got $5 million out of Earthlink before the deal went kablooey.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/23/07 10:51 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
21 November 2007
Happy Thanksgiving
Posting is likely to get slow here as we gorge on turkey and dressing and football and such over the next few days.
Here's wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!
ANNE ADDS: Don't forget the shopping, Kevin!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/21/07 09:03 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (10)
Chief Hurtt refuses to answer questions about homicide stats (updated!)
It looks as if KHOU-11's Mark Greenblatt struck a nerve with his story about HPD fudging homicide numbers. As reported by Matt Stiles and Mark Greenblatt, Chief Hurtt held a press conference yesterday to refute KHOU's report:
Using strong language, Hurtt challenged the story and defended his department, saying his employees follow FBI guidelines while classifying homicides in public crime statistics. Hurtt said the story didn't distinguish between the various types of homicide. Some are justifiable, he said, or caused by accidents or negligence, and therefore not "murders" under the FBI's terms.
"That the news report failed to make this distinction grossly misinforms and fails to properly educate the public," he said.
That's from Matt Stiles on the City Hall blog. As Greenblatt notes, though, experts guided him in determining different types of homicide:
Chief Hurtt called 11 News’ report on hidden homicides, "inaccurate and misleading."
He wanted to make sure 11news understood this: that a homicide at the Medical Examiner's Office really means one human being has killed another. Not all deaths ruled a homicide there should be reported as a murder according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting rules. For instance, justifiable homicides such as a person shooting a burglar are excluded from the reporting requirements.
It's something KHOU already knew. It's also why we asked two expert criminologists ( Dr. James Fox and Dr. Lawrence Sherman) to review cases and help Channel 11 rule out any deaths that should not have been reported, long before we broadcast our first report.
And then Chief Hurtt did something that is just inexcusable -- he exited the room without answering questions, and left his subordinates to take the heat:
I was hoping an exchange between the chief and KHOU's reporter, Mark Greenblatt, might help clarify the issue. But Hurtt left without answering questions. (I asked why, and Hurtt's spokesman, Capt. Bruce Williams, actually said, "You'd have to ask him that.") Nonetheless, Greenblatt got to pepper the department's chief homicide investigator, Capt. Steve Jett, with some questions.
Maybe he had to pack for Thanksgiving weekend in Arizona. Who knows? But it's outrageous that the chief refused to deal with questions surrounding some very serious findings. Homicide numbers are an integral measure of how a police department is doing its job, and the chief, after mustering up all the righteous indignation he could, refused to answer questions about some very serious allegations.
So Capt. Steve Jett was left to deal with the mess that has been created under Chief Hurtt's watch. When Greenblatt asked about the case of a man who was shot in the back of the head, and was classified as a suicide by HPD, here's the response:
11 News: The medical examiner ruled it was scientifically impossible for Steven McCoy to kill himself. What's your response?
Captain Steve Jett: “I don't necessarily agree with that. We've had differences of opinions before.”
Medical Examiner spokesperson Beverly Begay notes the M.E. stands behind its ruling.
Further, they tell 11 News the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office is one of the few offices in the nation to hold two of the most prestigious accreditations in forensic pathology. Begay also notes more than one forensic pathologist reviewed McCoy’s autopsy before coding it a homicide.
So we asked HPD homicide Captain Steve Jett if he still thought McCoy really shot himself.
“It's unusual. Very unusual. But it does happen,” said Jett.
As Stiles noted, Greenblatt has five Edward R. Murrow awards. Chief Hurtt and HPD will have to do better if they have any hopes of putting a dent in this story.
Thankfully for MayorWhiteChiefHurtt, the Thanksgiving weekend is upon us, and with it folks will turn their attention to other things.
They hope.
UPDATE: On his blog, Chief Hurtt responds to a commenter, and leaves us all in suspense:
Anonymous said...
What do you think about channel 11's report on HPD covering up the murder rate?You'll hear more about that next week. -- Chief Hurtt
Ooooo! Next week. Stay tuned!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/21/07 05:18 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (25)
New traffic signal timing causes rush hour headaches
The city is working through some traffic signal issues, as rush hour traffic was a mess Monday and Tuesday. From the Chron's Rad Sallee:
Motorists were supposed to be able to drive through downtown at 28 mph without encountering a red light. The new timing may have worked well enough with sparse weekend traffic, but problems multiplied Monday when people returned to work.
It was "a disaster" for drivers on Louisiana, the major northbound artery that leads from downtown to the Katy Freeway, according to motorist David Rodi.
"This morning, I was lucky to go two blocks at a time before getting stopped by a red light, and traffic is much more congested overall," he wrote in an e-mail to the Houston Chronicle.
And from KHOU-11:
Instead, drivers said the new system has led to gridlock during rush hour.
“It’s not working,” said one driver.
“Once we got into town on Smith everything started to back up,” said Kathie Miller who drives in the area.
[snip]
It’s a different story at rush hour. Drivers said in some cases their commute time through downtown has doubled or tripled.
So, after two days of rush-hour gridlock, the Public Works Department has put a so-called “tweak team” on the streets, making changes to unclog the trouble spots.
City spokesman Alvin Wright said the problems were not "entirely unexpected," but Rad Sallee's initial story on the new sequencing didn't mention that the city anticipated problems during rush hour.
Downtown drivers have had enough headaches, what with years of road construction and light rail. Here's hoping the city gets it right...fast!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/21/07 04:49 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (5)
20 November 2007
A community wins one against TxDOT
Well here's something you don't see every day: the little guy came out on top in a battle against TxDOT (via KUHF-88.7)
TxDOT has been planning to build two overpasses -- one at the intersection of Westheimer and Highway 6 and the other at the intersection of Bellaire and Highway 6. David Harbers, who owns a Shipley's Donuts franchise, and several other business owners and community members made comments at H-GAC's Transportation Policy Council, urging the members to vote against the project because they say it will destroy commerce and do nothing to truly alleviate congestion and mobility in the Highway 6 corridor. Turns out, the council agreed. Harbers says he's overwhelmed by the decision.
"The little man was finally able to win. They finally listened to the people that are in the public rather than just doing it because we got money."
And there definitely was money -- $36 million to be exact. The money was a chunk of safety bond funding awarded to the Houston region specifically for these overpass projects. And since the projects were scrapped, the money goes back to the state for use elsewhere. TxDOT District Engineer Gary Trietsch says he's not disappointed about losing the money, as much as he's concerned this decision will delay any progress in that corridor.
[snip]
Three members of the council voted to move forward with the project, but the remaining members voted it down, including Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, who says the voice of the community underscored the need for a long-term plan to relieve congestion in that area.
"There are a lot of cases where the community doesn't want a transportation improvement, but it's still the right thing to do.
I do hope that's not an omen for Grand Parkway F-2 segment. Judge Emmett has already said it's a top priority of his to get it completed, but, as long-time readers of bH know, Tomball and Spring residents do not want it. It will just devastate our communities.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/20/07 07:24 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (7)
KHOU: HPD is undercounting homicides
This is a stunning discovery by KHOU-11's Mark Greenblatt:
In murder after murder and case after case, KHOU has discovered the Houston Police Department has found ways to wipe homicides off the books.
They don’t report them for Uniform Crime Report purposes.
The result?
An undercounting of how many murders take place in Houston, leaving some cases un-investigated and even possible murderers walking our streets.
“Cases that are clear cut homicides are not being counted,” said Dr. James Fox, a professor of criminology at Northeastern University.
He has gained worldwide attention for his expertise in homicide cases. Further, the U.S. Department of Justice trusts him to maintain a federal database on homicides.
11 News: Do you believe the City of Houston is lying to the public?
Fox: “Well someone is. Someone knows because someone is making these calls.”
What’s he talking about?
In 2006, HPD reported 377 murders to the FBI, and 334 in 2005.
But over that same time period, 11 News found nearly 30 homicides left off the books that experts say should have been counted.
Further, dozens more remain in question after HPD would not release case files to KHOU to review.
And if the Department had reported just two of many 2005 homicides we found?
It would have changed Houston’s national murder rate ranking, moving Houston past Dallas as the murder capital of Texas and into second place in the nation for cities with a population larger than 1 million.
Further, Fox says police undercounting might have lead to another serious consequence.
“Well a crime was committed and someone is not being charged with that crime,” he said.
A murderer is walking around, free to kill again. And HPD's response?
We're told the department won’t allow a single person out of their 6,000 employees to go on camera and explain its decisions.
That includes police Chief Harold Hurtt, who formally declined our repeated requests to talk.
HPD did issue a written statement, which says in part:
"We are in the process of looking into the cases you have brought to our attention.”
Wow.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/20/07 09:08 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (12)
City ready to cough up millions for new Dynamo stadium
What was the first thought that went through your mind when you learned the Dynamo had won their second MLS championship?
Let's give them a stadium!
The Houston Dynamo, fresh off the team's second straight championship, could have a private-public deal to build a stadium in place within weeks, city and team officials said Monday.
"I'm hopeful we can put a good deal together," said Andy Icken, the city's deputy director of public works, who is heading negotiations for the city. "If we're going to be successful, we'll be successful in the next two weeks."
Some members of the team, which won its second straight Major League Soccer championship Sunday by defeating the New England Revolution, said they are wondering why it is taking so long to secure a stadium deal.
"Mayor White, listen up: This team deserves it (a stadium)," Dynamo defender Craig Waibel said.
Feel free to kick in some money there, Mr. Waibel. No one "deserves" a stadium that uses taxpayer dollars, but the city is still willing to give the Dynamo millions:
White is seeking a deal that would not require the city to contribute public money. While AEG's proposal calls for the company to bear most of the construction costs, it still would require the city to provide millions of dollars in needed infrastructure improvements, city and team officials said.
"We're prepared to put in the preponderance of the money for the stadium," Luck said. "I'm reluctant to say whether it would be $60 million, $62 million or $72 million," he said. "But we are asking the city for some financial help, no two ways about it."
Infrastructure improvements could include building streets to a stadium site and paying for expanded water lines and other utilities, Icken said.
AEG and the city are negotiating a second deal that would call on the city to provide land for a team practice facility. It could be located in a proposed city soccer complex in south Houston near Texas 288 and Almeda-Genoa.
Recall back in February, Andy Icken admitted the city had not yet worked out how to pay for the millions the city has decided to invest. And remember when Mayor White worked hard to gut Proposition 2, because he thought it too limited the city's ability to "improve" Houston?
Millions for infrastructure improvements for a new soccer stadium should make Houston very Manhattan-like.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/20/07 05:12 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (24)
19 November 2007
Red light cameras get a mixed review on safety
Here's a local media outlet that has been keeping track of some red light camera stats: KPRC-2 has been keeping a tally of accident numbers at intersections with red light cameras. After one year, the conclusion is mixed:
We discovered at many intersections the cameras appear to be working.
On the west side, the intersection of Bellaire and Wilcrest had 23 accidents the year before red-light cameras. The year after, there were only 10. That's a 57 percent drop.
At Richmond and Dunvale, there were 16 accidents before red-light cameras. There were just eight after red-light cameras were installed. Accidents dropped 50 percent.
And I-10 east and Uvalde, the accidents went from 10 down to six -- a 40 percent decrease.
"We've seen a dramatic decline," said Houston Mayor Bill White.
White said the city's numbers show the total amount of accidents at all 50 intersections with red light cameras dropped from 529 to 345 this year compared to last year. "That is a dramatic decrease," White said. "It was cut down by a third."
But not all the intersections recorded decreases in accidents:
But we discovered intersections FM 1960 and Tomball Parkway tell a much different story. And it's one the mayor can't explain. There were five accidents at the intersection before red-light cameras and 16 after. That's a 220 percent increase in accidents.
At Gessner and Beechnut in southwest Houston, accidents increased from six to 11 -- up 83 percent.
In Clear Lake, at the intersection of Bay Area Boulevard and El Camino Real, accidents jumped from 16 before red-light cameras to 22 after they were installed. That's a 38 percent increase.
Out of the 18 intersections we tracked, 10 had fewer accidents, seven had more wrecks, and one intersection's accident numbers stayed the same.
Mayor White goes on to say the city has commissioned a study to figure it all out.
The first thing the city should do is make sure all engineering issues are dealt with at these intersections. That could be a big part of the problem, and could be a reason for the dramatic differences in accident rates.
RELATED: Matt Stiles notes on the City Hall blog that red light cameras may not be a "cash cow," after all.
We'll have to wait and see what Houston's numbers look like.
BLOGVERSATION: Houston's Clear Thinkers.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/19/07 08:06 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (6)
Some local reporters muff news story comment controversy
Local reporters seem to be having trouble today reporting on the controversy that erupted over a comment left on a Chron.com news story related to the David Temple murder trial.
Here is KHOU-11's Wendell Edwards:
In a brief hearing a man named Robert Fleming testified that he was a blogger.
His boss is on the jury.
He blogged Friday that his boss told him that the jury could have a verdict by the end of the day.
That happened.
The judge, however, said he saw no evidence of jury misconduct.
Here is KTRK-13's Mark Garay:
There was concern about a Chronicle blogger who stated that his boss was on the jury panel and who had predicted a verdict seven hours before the verdict came down.
The blogger took the stand and was identified as Robert Fleming. He did admit to speaking to one of the jurors at the office where he works with the juror at CenterPoint Energy. But he says he only asked the man if he thought he would be back to work soon, to which the juror replied, 'We may be done today.'
And here is KPRC-2's Phil Archer:
Before testimony began in the punishment phase of trial of a man convicted of killing his pregnant wife, the defense attorney filed a motion alleging jury misconduct.
David Temple was convicted Thursday of killing Belinda Temple in their Katy home in 1999.
The claim of juror misconduct was based on a blog entry in the Houston Chronicle on Thursday.
The entry was written by Robert Fleming, a CenterPoint Energy employee whose supervisor is the jury foreman.
Fleming's comment on the blog was in response to a story on final arguments in the case.
"My boss is on the jury," Fleming wrote on Thursday morning. "Thinks they'll have a verdict this afternoon."
The defense was concerned because jury members are prohibited from discussing the case with anyone, including fellow jurors, while testimony is still under way.
Fleming took the stand Monday and indicated there was no real discussion between him and his boss.
"I asked him how long he would be going through the deliberation process and his response was, 'Actually, we could be done today.'"
Judge Doug Shaver denied the defense motion, ruling there was no juror misconduct.
Three different reporters, three similarly inaccurate descriptions.
Here is a primer for folks reporting/editing this story:
The text in question was a COMMENT, not a BLOG ENTRY.
The COMMENT in question was not left in response to a Chron.com BLOG, but to a NEWS STORY.
Mr. Fleming was a COMMENTER on the Chron.com NEWS STORY, not a CHRONICLE BLOGGER.
Cindy George's coverage for the Chronicle actually gets the terminology right. Maybe the other reporters should read her before they continue reporting on that newfangled internet. Substantively, this bit is interesting:
Attorneys for Temple on Friday issued a subpoena to the Houston Chronicle seeking information that would help them identify the reader.
The story did not answer the question of whether her employer provided that information. I've emailed her to ask.
UPDATE: Neither the reporter nor interim reader representative Steve Jetton deigned to answer my email (very professional, folks!), but the story has been updated to include the following:
The Chronicle did not release the identity of REFster.
"We showed up this morning and all of a sudden he was there with a lawyer," DeGuerin said late Monday.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/19/07 01:39 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (0)
18 November 2007
This is what happens when yellow-light times are too short
A Dallas TV station timed yellow lights at intersections with red light cameras and found something interesting (via TheNewspaper.com):
The city's second highest revenue producing camera, for example, is located at the intersection of Greenville Avenue and Mockingbird Lane. It issued 9407 tickets worth $705,525 between January 1 and August 31, 2007. At the intersections on Greenville Avenue leadding up to the camera intersection, however, yellows are at least 3.5 or 4.0 seconds in duration, but the ticket producing intersection's yellow stands at just 3.15 seconds. The yellow is .35 seconds shorter than TxDOT's recommended bare minimum.
"For 30 miles per hour, if your yellow time was less than three and a half, you would not be giving that driver enough time to react and brake and stop prior to getting to the intersection," TxDOT Dallas District office transportation engineer supervisor Chris Blain told KDFW.
Sounds like shenanigans! Too bad Dallas doesn't have a Mayor White to guard against such things.
A small change in signal timing can have a great effect on the number of tickets issued. About four out of every five red light camera citations are issued before even a second has elapsed after the light changed to red, according to a report by the California State Auditor. This suggests that most citations are issued to those surprised by a quick-changing signal light.
[snip]
Dallas likewise installed the cameras at locations with existing short yellow times. A total of twenty-one camera intersections in Dallas have yellow times below TxDOT's bare minimum recommended amount. The Texas Transportation Institute study also found that shorter yellows generate a 110 percent jump in the number of tickets, but at the cost of safety. Increasing the yellow one second above the recommended minimum cut crashes by 40 percent.
Maybe one day one of our local news outlets will undertake a yellow-light timing investigation, just to make sure Houston is shenanigan-free.
BLOGVERSATION: Mike McGuff
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/18/07 04:04 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (4)
HEC dispatcher scolds 911 caller; city refuses to release tape
It's been awhile since we checked in with the Houston Emergency Center. So, anything new going on?
Two city of Houston Emergency Center dispatchers have been sanctioned over a 911 call that a motorist placed as he was being shot at on the West Loop.
Local 2 Investigates reported that the citywide policy is now being changed because of this call, but city leaders refused to release the tape recording of exactly what happened.
Uh oh.
Former military service member Patrick Fitzgerald dialed 911 as he was being shot at on Loop 610 near Bellaire on the morning of Aug. 28.
[snip]
He complained to the mayor's office that the dispatcher refused to take a description of the car or the gunman who was firing at him. He saw the car speed up the entrance ramp to U.S. 59, but since he was unsure whether the car headed north or south, he said the dispatcher scolded him.
Fitzgerald said, "Because I could not give a direction to the operator, she actually said to me, 'What, you want me to pull resources for this?' I was totally shocked. I was actually furious now at that point."
The city of Houston routinely releases 911 audio recordings, but in this case the tape was kept secret despite a formal Public Information Act request from Local 2 Investigates. The city asserted that the case is still under investigation, so releasing the recording would jeopardize that case.
However, Fitzgerald said he never received a single follow-up phone call from police, and the official offense report that was filed shows absolutely no entries detailing follow-up investigative work.
Nope, nothing new. Just the same old HEC.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/18/07 03:32 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
A big welcome back to Houston's newest Bikram Yoga instructor
For the past nine weeks or so, our fine copy editor Cathy has been out of town, immersed in intensive classes with none other than Bikram himself to become a Bikram Yoga instructor.
The training is finally done, and Houston's newest certified Bikram Yoga instructor is back among us.
We're really happy to welcome back our copy editor and favorite Bikram instructor. Well done, Cathy!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/18/07 11:14 AM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (5)
17 November 2007
Better late than never on traffic signal synchronization
The Chronicle's Rad Sallee reports that the city is finally beginning to synchronize traffic signals in a way that makes sense:
In recent years, the lights have changed color simultaneously in stretches several blocks long, a setting adopted to simplify traffic patterns during the Metropolitan Transit Authority's eight-year reconstruction of downtown and Midtown streets.
At the time, city engineers said deteriorating mechanical control boxes and a mix of new and old equipment would have made sequencing difficult.
Motorists responded by speeding to cover as much ground as possible before all the lights turned red. But the now-sequenced lights do not reward the speeder, who will have to slow down or stop at every intersection.
Sequencing makes driving easier and reduces long waits at red lights and their resulting emissions, Wright said.
The sequenced lights extend from Bagby to Chartres and Commerce to Webster — the inner freeway loop.
Wright said the cost of timing them was about $90,000. The program moves next into Midtown and then to north and west Houston, he said.
It was really nice of Sallee to help the administration push off blame for the first round of synchronization that wasn't done quite right. Funny, though, that the Mayor's press release announcing his big synchronization initiative in 2004 didn't mention any of that.
Back in June 2007, city officials seemed to treat Chron columnist Lisa Falkenberg in an exceedingly condescending manner when she raised questions about the city's flawed synchronization efforts. Five months later, it looks like the city is finally conceding her point(s).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/17/07 09:49 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (5)
Mayor and Council finally approve Mecom Fountain light replacement
Back in May, the Chronicle reported that Mecom Fountain had been dark for seven months, because brazen thieves stole the lights and nobody in municipal government seemed to care all that much about replacing them.
Finally, six months after that report (and after 13 months of darkness), Mayor White and his Council have acted to replace the lights in Mecom Fountain:
[N]o one’s found the vandal who pulled out all the light fixtures last fall. Now, the Houston City Council has approved the $77,000 it'll take to fix it.
"It's long overdue and one of the great visual icons in the city of Houston,” said Councilman Peter Brown.
[snip]
Houston’s Parks Department says it will take 4 to 6 weeks to install the lights once they’re delivered – so the fountain may remain dark for another few months.
It's embarrassing that vandals were able to darken a city landmark for 13 months (and counting).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/17/07 09:14 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)
Lawyers subpoena Chronicle for data on a commenter
The Chronicle reports that the newspaper has been subpoenaed for registration information of a commenter who left comments allegedly recounting statements from a juror in an ongoing trial. Here is an excerpt from Peggy O'Hare's reporting:
Attorneys for David Mark Temple issued a subpoena Friday to the Houston Chronicle, seeking information about a reader who suggested a juror inappropriately spoke with people outside the jury room about ongoing deliberations in the former high school football coach's murder trial well before the guilty verdict was announced.
Temple's attorneys are hoping to identify the reader, who claimed his or her boss was on the jury and predicted a verdict would come Thursday afternoon.
The reader, using the screen name "REFster," posted the remark in the "reader comments" section on the Chronicle's Web page about 9 a.m. Thursday — a full seven hours before the jury returned its verdict.
"Psst ... My boss is on the jury. Thinks they'll have a verdict this afternoon," REFster wrote.
[snip]
REFster's remark concerns Temple's attorneys because jurors are forbidden from discussing the case with anyone outside the jury room while the trial is still in progress. Temple's trial is set to resume Monday, when jurors will begin hearing testimony in the punishment phase of the case.
[snip]
The newspaper's management called the situation highly unusual and could not recall any other subpoenas received previously for a reader's Web page registration information. They have not yet decided how to respond to the subpoena.
"We're studying the situation," Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen said.
It will be interesting to see if the Chronicle defends the privacy of its user (and its data), or gives in on the matter.
Personally, I operate under the assumption that much personal information on the internet isn't as "private" as most people think, and act accordingly.
What do you think? Do you expect Chron.com to resist legal efforts to obtain personal data (such as email addresses, age, address, etc.) of registrants? What about this website?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/17/07 04:23 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (4)
Judge to speak with KPRC-2 reporter on juror chase
The Chronicle's Brian Rogers reports that a fellow journalist will have to answer to a local judge following a juror chase:
A verdict in a major trial always sends reporters scrambling for interviews with jurors. But the case has to be over before a juror can talk about their decision — a fact one television reporter seemed to forget after David Mark Temple was convicted Thursday of murdering his wife.
According to court documents, KPRC Channel 2's Kym Alvarado-Booth is slated to appear before visiting state District Judge Doug Shaver on Wednesday to explain why she should not be held in contempt.
A seasoned reporter, Alvarado-Booth is accused of chasing down the jurors as they left the courthouse escorted by two bailiffs.
Because those same jurors are set to begin considering Temple's punishment on Monday, the bailiffs refused to let the reporter talk to them or film them. According to an observer, bailiffs threatened to handcuff Alvarado-Booth if she resisted as they escorted her upstairs to see the judge, who had already left. The handcuffs weren't necessary.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/17/07 03:50 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (4)
City builds on business ties with Mexico
Sean Mattson of the San Antonio Express News reports that a delegation led by Mayor White signed an agreement yesterday to strengthen ties with the Mexican state of Nuevo León:
Houston and the Mexican border state of Nuevo León agreed to make formal and strengthen business ties under an agreement signed Friday by Houston Mayor Bill White and Nuevo León Gov. Natividad González Parás.
Houston and Nuevo León committed to designating representatives who will design programs to create opportunities in fields including energy, the environment, information technologies, logistics and culture, according to a draft of the agreement.
A delegation of about two dozen Houston city officials and members of the Greater Houston Partnership were part of the one-day trade mission. It included a visit to the Universal Forum of Cultures, an international fair, and a boat ride along the Paseo Santa Lucia, a downtown canal similar to San Antonio's River Walk.
It sounds like a good long-weekend junket, if nothing else. The golfing weather is probably better than Houston's today.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/17/07 03:06 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
More Chron.com spam
A month ago, Lou Minatti and I both received a Chron.com spam email. I clicked on the "opt-out" link just to make sure I wouldn't get any more Chron.com spam, even though I had never opted IN.
Yesterday, I got an annoying, graphic-heavy, Chron.com spam email, advising me I should pick up a paper copy of the Thanksgiving Chronicle for all the fabulous sales ads. It also advised:
You received this e-mail because you are subscribed to The Houston Chronicle Mailing List as [redacted]
To opt-out from this e-mail, please use this link.
I used the opt-out link a month ago, but apparently my request wasn't honored.
It's nice for users that the Chron gives free access to archives in exchange for registration. It's nice for the Chron that so many registered users provide free web content and boost page views via the comment and blog features. It's not nice that the Chron spams registered users who have not signed up for their junk email.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/17/07 02:45 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
16 November 2007
Survey respondents hope others will use mass transit
So, the new Houston Area Survey shows an overwhelming majority of residents "support mass transit as the best solution to traffic problems."
What most people support is others using mass transit to clear the roads for their own daily commute. That's what these surveys always find. The survey doesn't say that an overwhelming majority want to give up their cars and hop on mass transit to ease traffic problems.
Which is how we get to the point where Metro is spending billions on light rail, when less than one percent of Houston residents use Metro's services.
BLOGVERSATION: Houston Strategies, Lose an Eye, It's a Sport
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/16/07 05:09 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (8)
15 November 2007
Metro cedes bus stops to criminals
What else can we conclude from this KHOU-11 story by Jeff McShan that details the problems at Metro bus stops:
Searching through pages of Houston Police Department reports, in October alone, when Pamela was attacked, there were 35 other incidents at bus stops.
More than half were robberies and assaults. Many of the suspects were carrying guns, some had knives and baseball bats, but they were all preying on people just waiting for the bus.
Law enforcement sources said stops for bus 77, which travels south along MLK to Selinsky and North along Liberty to Mesa, are perhaps the most dangerous places to wait for a bus.
On a two-hour long bus ride on the number 77, several passengers, especially women, told 11 News that waiting for the bus around here can be frightening.
“And I think it would be much safer if people were patrolling and whatever — at least the little Metro police — and everything that could come by and make sure everybody is safe,” one young woman said.
She said she recently witnessed two men attack a woman and take her purse.
“I really try to travel with someone if I have to ride the bus,” she said.
At the end of the 77 line is the Mesa Transit Stop in far northeast Houston. One bus patron said they never see Metro police out there.
[snip]
To get a complete picture of crime at Metro bus stops, 11 News examined reports from both Metro and HPD because neither has all of the incidents logged.
From January through October, there were at least 326 crimes reported at the bus stops. That number includes five rapes, 128 robberies and 42 aggravated assaults.
Many commuters say Metro police patrols around the bus stops would help.
“Yeah, have them close so they can keep us safe,” a patron said. “Because just like people downtown need safety, we need safety too.”
Metro has put a lot of its police force downtown. A confidential memo 11 News obtained outlines a major crime enforcement initiative along the rail corridor. And the Park and Ride lots received a $16 million security boost.
But what about the Metro stops?
So, while the 7.5 mile rail line gets the benefit of Metro's elite counterterror unit, and perhaps a beefed up police presence (to deal with downtown's homeless?), and Park and Pillages get the $16 million defensive camera system, Metro's bus stops get...what exactly?
There are more than 12,000 Metro bus stops in Houston, and Metro said there is no way they can patrol every one of them and keep everybody safe. They hope neighborhoods will take action, check out their Web site, and adopt a Metro bus stop to keep it clean and safe.
Metro bus riders get to fend for themselves! Which is why Metro reminded customers more than two years ago that it's legal to carry a gun on a bus, as long as one has a concealed carry permit.
What an abomination! Metro's patrons have been raped, robbed, and assaulted at bus stops, and Metro whines that there are just too many to patrol. The truth is Metro chooses what it will and won't do, and Metro has chosen to focus on the Main Street Rail Line, which leaves bus patrons out of luck.
If Metro can't handle the job, it should get out of the business. What part of safety doesn't Chief Lambert understand?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/15/07 08:24 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (13)
Why did it take a week for press to learn of eSlate "adjustments?"
Yesterday, the Chronicle's Alan Bernstein reported that in last week's election, Harris County election officials actually had to go back and manually adjust some of the voting results because of ballot glitches. Here are some excerpts from Bernstein's important story:
The adjustments also highlighted the fact that, with multiple election boundaries snaking through precincts to separate city voters from county voters and municipal utility districts from emergency services districts, there usually are flaws that put voters in front of the wrong ballot screens.
Which is what happened in Emergency Services District No. 9, where 293 voters went to the polls early but never got to express an opinion on the issue as they voted on state and county bonds and other items because the tax vote didn't appear on their screens. (The tax proposal lost by 3,233 votes.)
The omission of the tax proposal on ballots in parts of three precincts was discovered thanks to an alert from a voter, and Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman's staff was able to get the tax question on the right ballots for Election Day — but it was too late to have those votes recorded on the main computer.
Instead, they were recorded separately and later added to the totals.
Voters in the emergency district, which includes 11 fire stations serving 250,000 people, never were notified that some of them missed the referendum during early voting or that Election Day votes were segregated.
Regardless, it was up to [Johnnie] German and assistant Randy Roberts to combine the segregated totals, printed on computer paper, into the county's final electronic vote tallies after the polls closed on Election Day.
The county Web site already showed that all precinct totals had been counted; three sheriff's deputies who guarded the counting process on the fourth floor of the County Administration Building in downtown Houston had been sent home.
Also in the locked, glass-walled room were Republican Kaufman and John R. Behrman, a computer expert and longtime election observer representing the Democratic Party. He said he considers Kaufman's staff the most knowledgeable election computer administrators on the continent and does not question their motives.
[snip]
"A hundred percent of precincts reporting, and everything had been distributed to the press," he said. "Then and only then did I see how they were going to do this, and frankly I never thought it was possible.
The story emphasizes concerns over the process by which results in eSlate voting can be manipulated with the right security codes (and Charles Kuffner post additional criticism by Dan Wallach that the process does not allow for proper accounting). Those are valid concerns, although it is worth noting that no election system is foolproof (back in the days of punch ballots, we heard of some poll watchers being told to follow the election judge as he/she delivered election boxes to the processing facility, just to be sure no shenanigans took place), and ultimately we bestow a great deal of trust on fellow citizens to conduct honest elections.
The concern that this story raises for me is that election results seem to have been adjusted after official reporting took place, and (so far as I can tell) this is the first local press account of the matter. We have been given no reason to question the integrity of Beverly Kaufman's operation, and it appears that partisan observers were invited to oversee this particular matter and raised no objections. However, it strikes us that the press should have been made aware of this important news immediately, and should have been included as observers.
If there is currently no mechanism in place to alert the press to these sorts of glitches (and since there is not even a mention of the "adjustments" on Kaufman's press release page, we assume there is not), Kaufman's office would be well advised to put one in place before the next elections.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport, Off the Kuff.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/15/07 10:33 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
The end of the Froot Loops Bureau?
Timesman Matt Bramanti calls our attention to this brief report on Chron.com from Wednesday morning:
The Wachovia bank in the 4400 block of North Freeway was robbed shortly after 9 a.m., according to police radio traffic.
The robber left the bank in a red Ford F-150 truck and was wearing a red and orange sweatshirt, the Houston Police Department reported.
Chron staffers listening to police traffic and doing their own reporting, instead of transcribing the morning's TV news reports over Froot Loops?
This seems like a big -- and (we hope) permanent -- improvement!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/15/07 08:45 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
Thundering Herd to visit HISD school
The HISD press office has sent out an interesting story about Marshall Middle School. Here's an excerpt:
Before the coaches and players of Marshall University's football team meet the University of Houston on the playing field, they will take time out of their busy schedule to meet the staff and students of HISD's Marshall Middle School. The team will visit on Friday, November 16, around 1:30 p.m.
The students and staff at the HISD school feel a special affinity for Marshall University for two reasons. Both are named after the fourth Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition, the faculty and staff were motivated by the movie, "We Are Marshall" which tells the story of the comeback of Marshall's football team after losing almost the entire team and coaching staff in a tragic plane crash on November 14, 1970.
Each faculty and staff member viewed the movie during a staff development day in August, and came away so inspired that they decided to adopt "We Are Marshall" as the school slogan.
When English department chair and journalism teacher Thelma Johnson learned that the current Marshall team would be coming to Houston, she organized a school-wide letter-writing campaign to invite the team to visit. More than 900 letters were mailed to the university and the team accepted the invitation.
Johnson said, “The letters written by our students show them that having the ability to communicate an idea effectively can make a difference.”
This Cougar fan will not be describing himself with the motto "We are Marshall" this weekend, but it's still kind of a nice story.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/15/07 08:35 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
14 November 2007
Chief Hurtt's blog officially open for business
Chief Hurtt's blog is officially open for business. Here's the announcement from HPD:
Houston Police Chief Harold L. Hurtt is now a blogger! Recognizing the need for a quick, informal way to communicate with the Houston residents he serves, Chief Hurtt has started an online weblog (often referred to as a "blog") in order to keep you informed of department initiatives, goals, and activities.
[snip]
In his first post, Chief Hurtt said, "I'm hoping to use this forum as a tool to let you see some of the 'behind the scenes' good work done by the men and women of the Houston Police Department * the kinds of things you aren't likely to see on the news." He also encouraged Houstonians to learn more about helping the department "Keep Houston Safe," and to serve their community by taking advantage of some of the many volunteer programs offered by HPD.Chief Hurtt will be updating the blog on a regular basis. We encourage you to let your viewers and readers know about it, perhaps by including links to it from your own Web site.
Here is an excerpt from the Chief's first post (dated November 7):
I plan to use this forum as a tool to let you see some of the "behind the scenes" good work done by the men and women of the Houston Police Department … the kinds of things you aren't likely to see on the news. As you probably realize, the news media doesn't always show you the positive stories … and at HPD, there are lots of good, positive things going on. Despite the headlines, violent crime is down, and, for its size, Houston is a safe city. And there are things you can do, in partnership with HPD, to make it even safer. I encourage you to check this site periodically because I'm hoping to show you how you can help make a difference in your neighborhood and this city.
Public organizations often feel like they get shortchanged by the media, which tend to emphasize "negative" stories over "positive" ones (the notion being that HPD doing its job isn't news, but HPD screwing up is news), so the Chief has a valid complaint to some extent.
Then again, we hope the Chief -- and whatever ghostbloggers may be "helping" him -- will use the blog truly to engage Houstonians, instead of adopting another local organization's blog-model of serving up barely readable, features-style PR cheerleading. We'd love to see a true give and take from the Chief on problems such as the crime lab, staffing shortages, CompStat, broken-windows policing, downtown's out-of-control problem with vagrants, the sanctuary directive, and other issues (of course, we'd also like to see Chief Hurtt's department stop "punishing" reporters who are trying to do their jobs -- I guess we'll have to wait and see on both counts). We hope never to see a post from the Chief describing where some employees go to lunch.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport, Lone Star Times.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/14/07 12:40 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)
GPS clearly shows HPD's manpower shortage (updated)
KTRK-13's Ted Oberg discovered that HPD's new GPS system affords the department the ability to know exactly where its officers are at any time. As Oberg also discovered, it shows how woefully short on personnel HPD is:
The mayor promises that one day...
"The criminals are going to have their hands full with HPD," said Houston Mayor Bill White.
But an Eyewitness News analysis reveals it's the other way around. HPD has its hands full just covering the city.
This summer, HPD outfitted patrol cars with GPS tracking devices. As officers drive around Houston, the devices send signals every few seconds detailing exactly where the patrol car is. It allows police dispatchers to see which officer is closest to a crime scene, but also reveals the secret of just how few officers are patrolling our city.
According to our analysis, there is an average of 268 officers available for 911 calls city wide any time of the day; not many when you consider a Houstonian calls 911 every 30 seconds. The highest number of on-duty units is at 3pm when there are 395. But at that hour, more than a third of them are parked at police substations.
The lowest number of units is at 2am, when just 186 officers are available to answer your call for help. It's also when Crime Tracker shows violent crime is near its daily peak.
"There just aren't enough and obviously your GPS will make someone think that," said Hans Marticiuc with the HPD Officers Union.
In the last year, the bodies of six women have been dumped in Acres Homes.
"Whoever is perpetrating these crimes believes the Acres Home community is a dumping ground and that they can do it and nobody is going to say anything," said HPD Assistant Chief Mike Dirden.
But maybe the killer knows no cops are watching. The last body was found in Acres Homes September 22. The GPS data from 10pm the night before shows the closest officer a mile away. At midnight, 1am and 2 am, there are officers on big streets, but not in the neighborhood where bodies have been dumped for more than a year.
"We just pray for more officers," said Acres Homes resident Roman Spiller.
When crime is peaking at 2 a.m., HPD has just 186 officers on patrol.
For years MayorWhiteChiefHurtt were warned that a manpower shortage was imminent, and for years, every other pet project was given a higher priority. Now that the mayor has decided to get serious about it, the city is having trouble recruiting officers, officers are left without ready backup, and (increasingly) citizens must fend for themselves in the critical early moments when a crime occurs.
UPDATE: On his blog, Ted Oberg notes that HPD officials aren't big fans of his, and in fact no one would go on-camera to discuss this story with him. Ah well. Maybe Chief Hurtt will blog about it.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: HPD's refusal to speak with Oberg on this report and others, if true (and there is no reason not to believe Oberg), is stunningly arrogant and unprofessional. Even if HPD feels that a previous story by Oberg was problematic, the fact is that Oberg is a high-profile reporter for a well-regarded local news organization, and HPD is not helping to inform the public with petty "punishment" of reporters doing stories that MayorWhiteChiefHurtt may not like.
PREVIOUSLY: KPRC: HPD response times continue to worsen
RELATED STORIES: Store owner, 2 others killed in separate shootings (Chronicle), Slain grocer remembered as generous (Chronicle), Teen charged with murder in Houston man's death (Chronicle), Friends grieve loss of 3 found slain in burning home (Chronicle)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/14/07 05:12 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)
13 November 2007
Pay your parking fee or get booted
KTRK-13's Jeff Ehling reports that some private parking lots downtown have begun placing boots on vehicles when the parking fee isn't paid:
The boot is a relatively new tool Houston parking lot operators are using on violators. The practice of booting is so new there are no city regulations in place. While this lot has signs that tell consumers what will happen if they park without paying, it's not required and the price to remove a boot is not controlled either. In Dawson's case it cost $100 to have the boot removed.
"There is a lot of concern and some awareness of the changes that are going on within the private parking industry," said Public Parking Commission Bob Eury.
Bob Eury is a member of Houston's public parking commission. He says the city is looking at immobilizing boots. One issue being considered, a place consumers can go if they feel their cars were booted improperly.
"That is an issue and there are issues like that that, that I know the city is looking at," Eury said.
The rules being considered are similar to those that regulate towing. Things like proper signs and a phone number consumers can call. If you think you're towed by mistake, you can head to tow court. And if a judge rules in your favor, the bill is thrown out.
Right now, none of these rules exist for the boot. The city of Houston has a parking boot draft ordinance, but it could be some Time before the draft ordinance becomes law.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/13/07 07:19 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (13)
Texans player sues HPD
KRIV-26 reports that Houston Texans offensive lineman Fred Weary is suing HPD:
Houston Texans offensive lineman Fred Weary filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the City of Houston and the two Houston Police Department officers who Tasered him after a traffic stop last year.
The lawsuit named the city and officers Margaret T. McGivern and Joe F. Vasquez for their "unlawful stop, use of excessive force, assault, unlawful arrest and detention" of Weary on Nov. 14, 2006 as he left Reliant Stadium after practicing with the Texans.
"We haven't seen the lawsuit," said Mayor Bill White's spokesperson, Frank Michel. "And even if we have, we would be limited in what we can say. I would refer you to the city attorney."
Weary was shot with a Taser and arrested that day after officers said he was stopped because he did not have a front license plate and was driving "suspiciously." A misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest was dismissed a week later because of insufficient evidence.
[snip]
Additionally, the suit alleges that HPD chief Harold Hurtt "acted with malice by defaming Mr. Weary to the Houston Chronicle." It pointed out that Hurtt stated that his officers "spared him from a more dire outcome" and that there could have been "a more deadlier encounter."
The trial could get really interesting if HPD's Chief (grammar mangler) testifies!
BLOGVERSATION: Houston's Clear Thinkers.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/13/07 12:51 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (15)
City reverses course: All restaurant violations to be posted online
More than three years ago, KHOU-11 did a story on how the public could access to the city's Health Department restaurant inspection reports:
When asked if these were public records that the public should be able to see, Salvagio agreed that they were public, and said she felt like the public already had access to them.
The city couldn't agree more.
"Call the health department and you can get the information you need," says Trahan.
The reality is that if you want to see an actual health inspection, you have to fax a request to the Health Department, wait about a week, go pick it up and pay 12.5 cents a page.
KHOU's Mark Greenblatt revisited the story yesterday and discovered the city is now posting some inspections online -- but not all:
It turns out the very worst violations, violations that could shut a restaurant down, are being intentionally hidden from you the public. And how do we know? Because believe it or not the city admits it.
“We’re not giving, apparently not giving the public all the information they need to make a decision,” Terasso said.
The problem: Anytime inspectors find the most serious health violations they write the restaurant a ticket. However, Houston officials have been leaving that information out of sight from the public. More than 4,000 of the most serious violations are simply missing from their Web site. And if you log online to lookup a restaurant’s inspection record? You won’t see a single note of the missing records.
11 News: “There are inspections with serious violations, missing from your public Web site. Would you agree that’s a serious problem?”
MT: “That is a serious problem.”
But he said city lawyers made the Health Department do it.
“I can’t guarantee that legal will release those in any timeframe,” he said.
But a little media sunshine has helped clear the city's thinking:
Very soon after KHOU sat down with the Health Department to question their policy of hiding the worst violations from the public, the City announced a complete reversal of that policy. A spokesperson for the Health Department told KHOU they had instructed their internet vendor to begin putting online all citation information previously withheld.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/13/07 05:15 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)
12 November 2007
Was the crazed slasher homeless or not?
This afternoon, KHOU-11 posted the following headline on their website:
Student attacked by homeless man
Here is an excerpt from the initial reporting:
A Lamar High School student had a harrowing start to her school day Monday when a homeless man attacked her on campus.
Catherine Sullivan, 14, said she was standing in front of the school on Westheimer, talking with a group of friends when Larry Paul Newton, 48, walked up to them and stood there, not saying anything.
When one of the kids in the group asked what he was doing, the man reportedly jumped on Sullivan.
Sullivan said he had two knives, one in each hand, and was slashing at her.
Strangely, the headline and story have now been updated to remove any reference to a homeless man (although in the video version of the story on the website, Greg Hurst introduces the report by referring to a homeless man).
KPRC-2's headline initially referred to a homeless man ("Homeless man cuts girl at school"), but the reference has since been changed (to "Police: Man With Knives Attacks Girl At School").
KTRH-740's story still refers to a homeless man:
Student Stabbed at Houston High School
Homeless man accused of knife attack on student.
By KTRH's Bill O'Neal
Monday, November 12, 2007
A Houston 9th grader needed several stitches in her arm after being stabbed by an apparent homeless man.
KTRK-13's coverage also refers to a homeless man:
HISD police say a homeless man stabbed a ninth grade female student in southwest
It happened around 8am at Lamar High School. Catherine Sullivan, 14, says she and four of her friends were standing outside the building on school property when they noticed a strange man approaching. That man, they say, appeared to be homeless.
Catherine says the man walked up behind her and, she says, attacked her.
The Chronicle's story never referred to a homeless man, so far as we can tell.
So, did four news organizations get the homeless reference wrong? Or is there some other explanation for the editing of two of the four stories that referenced a homeless man?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/12/07 09:16 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
Chronicle Poo-Poos Veterans Day
The lead story in the Veterans Day edition of the chronicle was enough to shake me out of my morning fog before my coffee could. Today is supposed to be a day where U.S. military veterans are honored for their courageous service and sacrifices for our freedom. Yet, reporter Carolyn Feibel apparently went searching for veterans to speak out against the war in Iraq.
"Their mood was somber. Returning from war was difficult for both. They fear for the military men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"It's just another Vietnam," Boissenet said. "They're fighting in a desert instead of a jungle." The two men rolled toward the elevator."
I have a high school friend who served in Iraq. He's rather proud of his service. Did the chronicle interview him?
I then read this comment from another brave veteran;
"That's when I started drinking. My first (downed) pilot mission, I had to pick up a part of a right leg, upper torso and half of his head. His dog tags were still on him,"
I think the chronicle gets confused about Veterans Day. The point is to honor the veterans, not to glorify war. I remember talking to a World War II veteran years ago. I remember his story where he launched from an aircraft carrier with two Japanese torpedos racing for his ship. He managed to strafe both torpedos using his maching guns. I remember asking him if he was nervous. I'll never forget his answer, "I wasn't nervous, the guys on the carrier were!" Did the chronicle interview him?
Then the article gives a free plug to a group called Veterans for Peace and documents how someone, obviously upset hosed them down. Leave it to the chronicle to take a somber day like veterans day and make it a worthless editorial page. I want to say 'thank you' to ALL veterans, not just the ones who agree with the chronicle.
Posted by Jason @ 11/12/07 10:24 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (25)
11 November 2007
Clear Thinking on the Astrodome redevelopment
Clear Thinker Tom Kirkendall wonders why the "Chronicle continues its apparent campaign to breath life into the second largest local urban boondoggle (second only to the Metro light rail system) -- the proposed Astrodome hotel project."
So do we.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/11/07 11:31 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
Downtown footwear store aims big (and laments lack of parking)
Commenter and blogger Neal Meyer calls attention to this Chronicle article about the difficulties a new business is facing downtown:
Thomas Nauls was so inspired when he read The Tipping Point, a book by Malcolm Gladwell, that he named his boutique sneaker shop on Main Street after it.
Not only that, but he also wrote his business plan based on the philosophy of the book, which argues that certain ideas, products and fads behave like epidemic diseases, spreading rapidly once they hit a critical mass.
"We are trying to introduce trends to the right people so that they spread quickly," Nauls said.
But the problem is, in order for a virus to thrive and reproduce, it must have bodies to infiltrate. And in the two months since he and partners Kenneth Baugh and Dace Graham opened, very few bodies are passing through The Tipping Point's doors.
He blames that on two problems facing retailers downtown: parking and a limited amount of foot traffic.
As Meyer observes, the story does not once mention light rail. Rather, the story emphasizes the importance of parking to the store's eventual success (or failure).
Undeterred, the store's partners are thinking big:
"What separates our stores from other stores is that we don't just have sneakers," he said.
"We are selling a lifestyle."
Although hope for a retail renaissance downtown is in its infancy, Nauls thinks that if he attracts the right crowd, the lifestyle he is selling could spread fast.
"We are trying to introduce trends to the right people so that they spread quickly," he said.
"It's a certain type of individual who is well read and sociable. Somebody that not only sees what is going on now, but sees what will be going on in the future. A forward thinker, so to speak."
Is that really the downtown crowd (and the large homeless population)? It strikes me that there were any number of locations that might be more suitable.
But if you're inclined to be a footwear trendsetter, here's the website for the store. Good luck with the parking and hobos!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/11/07 11:24 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (10)
UH's new leader takes the helm
As reported by the Chronicle's Matthew Tresaugue (here and here), UH's new chancellor/president officially took the helm at the institution this week.
The Editorial LiveJournalists weigh in with their thoughts today.
Of more interest is this note from Luke Gilman, a recent UH grad and current law student.
Like Gilman, we hope that Khator's experiences at South Florida have prepared her to lead UH forward as a major urban research university that continues to serve the needs of working students in the region.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/11/07 01:52 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
Lifestyles of the well-heeled (cont'd)
Following the big election, Mayor White and his Council got back to business this week, deciding to postpone consideration of an "emergency" ordinance that was hastily crafted by the mayor to placate influential constituents from a wealthy part of town. As Mike Snyder reports for the Chronicle, the decision to postpone the ordinance came in response to the developers agreeing to postpone their efforts:
The council postponed voting on the ordinance after the developers, Matthew Morgan and Kevin Kirton of Buckhead Investment Partners, agreed in writing not to seek any additional permits during the 90-day delay.
Morgan and Kirton said their agreement to halt the project for 90 days was prompted in part by concerns expressed by other developers.
"We believe we have an obligation to other developers in this city, as more and more ad hoc rules continue to be proposed for the development of private property," Morgan said. "We were willing to make this short-term sacrifice for the good of the industry and the community."
The mayor said he had initially put the ordinance on a fast track — it was drafted and placed on the council agenda within a few weeks [1] — because the developers insisted on moving their project forward despite concerns about its impact on traffic. Their agreement to wait, White said, allows time to review parts of the ordinance needing more work.
Morgan and Kirton said Wednesday that other developers had expressed concern about the potential impact of the ordinance on projects they were planning. These concerns were the subject of a meeting White held with several developers and builders last week.
Jeff Gray, president and founder of Grayco Partners, a multi-family development firm, said the Bissonnet project and its reaction at City Hall had generated considerable discussion among some of his industry colleagues. Some developers were concerned that the ordinance gave too much authority to the public works director to require changes in projects, he said. [2]
"If there's going to be a new standard, they just don't want it to be arbitrary and left to the discretion of a city department head," Gray said.
With regard to Note 1: Didn't Mayor White previously insist that the wealthy, politically connected anti-Ashby high-rise people had received no special treatment? Except here, he admits they did. The Mayor's communications team seems to be sending conflicting messages! Of course, even absent the