31 May 2008

Council committee dares to question METRO

For the second time in three weeks, a city council committee on Friday raised numerous questions and objections to an agreement that would give the Metropolitan Transit Authority permission to build five new light rail lines on Houston streets.

Several members of the Transportation, Infrastructure and Airports Committee said they want Metro to expand its rail system, but said they would have opposed the "consent agreement" had it come to a vote.

Among council members' concerns were sidewalks, street beautification, the impact of construction, the danger of trains operating in residential neighborhoods and uncertainties about routes. After more than two hours of discussion, committee chair Sue Lovell adjourned the meeting.

Recall that METRO President Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson wanted one consent agreement to cover the ENTIRE (remade) Solutions plan. That was optimistic!

After the disastrous way METRO built seven miles of downtown light rail, and the way METRO simply threw out the voter-approved original Solutions plan and came up with a new one, it's heartening to see local officials take a dim view of METRO's unending obfuscation, even if it's only temporary.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/31/08 12:31 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (2)

30 May 2008

Mayor White gets Houston moving

Readers in the Galleria area might want to plan to avoid the intersection of Richmond/Chimney Rock in the immediate future.

I just got hung up in a big mess of a bottleneck that turned a five-minute drive into a twenty-minute one. Construction seems to have closed all but one lane each way on Richmond at the intersection, and there's no warning on approach -- which means it's easy to get stuck in the mess. There was also no sign of Mayor White's celebrated trinket Mobility Response Team (and their cool scooters!), which allegedly was created to help deal with such problems.

At least it's good that Mayor White is "getting Houston moving" as his campaign theme states. Who knows how long lunchtime motorists might get stuck in silly bottlenecks otherwise?

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/30/08 12:34 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)

29 May 2008

KHOU checks in on HPD murder misreporting scandal

KHOU-11's Mark Greenblatt checked in tonight with an update on HPD's underreporting of murders in recent years. Interestingly, the department has quietly reclassified some 16 incidents as murders since Greenblatt started reporting on the issue.

In some of the years in which murders were misreported, Houston -- not Dallas -- would have been the murder capital of Texas.

And what of Chief Hurtt's (or Chief Hurtt's ghostwriter's) recent editorializing? Somewhat misleading, according to Greenblatt:

Recently, a guest editorial in the Houston Chronicle called on HPD to have an independent, comprehensive audit of its crime statistics conducted.

HPD Chief Harold Hurtt responded with his own guest editorial, claiming the FBI has checked out and approved HPD’s records from 2007.

The only problem? Out of more than 200 thousand incidents that took place in Houston during 2007, the feds looked at just 277 records.

Further, Hurtt claimed to the Chronicle the State had conducted its own audits of HPD as well, writing: “In fact, the Texas Department of Public Safety has conducted several audits within our Records Division (2001, 2002, 2004 and 2007).”

But the Defenders called DPS to check on that statement. DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said: “We have not done an audit of their uniform crime reporting program since the year 2000.”

11 News: “So the audits you have done have absolutely nothing to do with crime statistics?

DPS: “That is correct.”

DPS spokeswoman Mange went on to say that the only time DPS has audited Houston crime statistics was back in 1995. A different Houston police chief requested the audit back then. Mange said DPS cannot begin an audit on its own- stressing that HPD would have to request an audit for the process to begin.

So, we can't trust HPD's murder reporting under MayorWhiteChiefHurtt, and it seems we can't trust Chief Hurtt himself.

This further illustrates why we need the audit that Jay Wall and associates have suggested.

So, what's the over/under on the number of days before Chief Hurtt's ghostblogger tries to smear Greenblatt again?

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/29/08 10:46 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)

Are we finally World Class?!

The fine folks at Kiplinger's pass along word that they've just posted their 2008 list of Best Cities to Live, Work, and Play, and look who's #1:

No. 1: Houston

No. 2: Raleigh

No. 3: Omaha

No. 4: Boise

No. 5: Colorado Springs

No. 6: Austin

No. 7: Fayettville

No. 8: Sacramento

No. 9: Des Moines

No. 10: Provo

It probably won't be enough to overcome the inferiority complexes of some locals in hot pursuit of world-classness, but it's nice recognition nonetheless!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/29/08 08:17 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (13)

28 May 2008

KTRK continues investigation of Sheriff's Office email/spy-gate

While I was away playing last week, KTRK-13 continued its investigation into emails that the Sheriff's Department has worked hard to keep away from KTRK. Here's an excerpt from Wayne Dolcefino's report on May 20:

There are new developments in a 13 Undercover investigation. We've learned the district attorney has opened up an investigation into the sheriff's department over its secret surveillance squad.

We first told you about how the squad conducted surveillance on Erik and Sean Ibarra after they sued the department. Some lawmakers have spoken out saying that squad smells of impropriety.

The revelation of the criminal investigation came this afternoon, via a letter the DA sent to the attorney general that we've obtained. 13 Undercover first confirmed the surveillance of the Ibarra brothers last week. They were the ones who sued the sheriff's office for civil rights violations and won a big judgment against the sheriff. The surveillance occurred just weeks before the trial. Lawmakers demanded the state investigate the spying.

Dolcefino followed with a lengthy, detailed report on May 21 (no excerpt, best to click over and read it all).

Here's an excerpt from Kevin Quinn's followup on May 22:

We have the latest on the Harris County Sheriff's Department's secret squad and its inability to tell us who they watch and when. And now, we're comparing how the Houston Police Department and others have conducted surveillance, and what records they say they have kept.

Generally, law enforcement must be suspicious of some criminal activity before they set up surveillance on someone. That was not the case with the Ibarra brothers, the men who settled a civil rights lawsuit against the Harris County Sheriff's Office for nearly $2 million.

If the Houston Police Department is sued, Chief Harold Hurtt says under no circumstances does he use officers to investigate the plaintiffs. He says they are only used for internal affairs and criminal investigations.

[snip]

Any surveillance done by his officers, he insists, would result in pages of reports and documentation.

"Whatever information or tactics that we use would be recorded in that report," said Chief Hurtt.

Compare that to the Harris County Sheriff's Office's secret surveillance of Erik and Sean Ibarra, the brothers who sued the sheriff's office, claiming their civil rights were violate when they were roughed up during a drug raid.

The only documentation we've seen of that is a single email. It was an email the sheriff tried to destroy months ago, an email only preserved because of legal action by 13 Undercover. That email details few specifics from the 5-6 hours the sheriff's special investigative unit said they spent tailing the Ibarras over the course of three days. It concludes only that there was no suspicious activity.

And here's an excerpt from a related followup by Dolcefino last night:

Remember when the sheriff defended that mass deletion of 750,000 emails in the midst of the Ibarra lawsuit? High ranking commanders testified under oath that emails being deleted detailing investigations had been saved.

Judge Bernal was reacting to our stories last week. It was our discovery of an email detailing surveillance of the brothers who had sued the sheriff's office for civil rights violations. It is the only written evidence of a surveillance operation now under criminal investigation by a grand jury.

The county's explanation was it was the only email being destroyed that should have been saved. The judge wasn't buying it.

The sheriff's office also unsuccessfully fought to keep the email a law enforcement secret.

13 Undercover complained that having the sheriffs special assistant make the call on what the public sees simply won't do going forward. Plus the pace of email inspection is going too slowly.

Apparently, the judge -- not the sheriff's office -- will now be making the call on what stays secret.

This just keeps getting more interesting!

Question: Exciting stories like this one eventually must have "-gate" attached to them. So is this Email-gate or Spy-gate?

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/28/08 10:51 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

Hoffman on CW39 news, Chron scoops

The Chronicle's Ken Hoffman has good news for local news junkies:

Eight years ago, the half-hour Channel 39 News at 9 p.m. with anchors Sherry Williams and Alan Hemberger signed on.

And almost from the start there were rumors it was being shut down.

That was because the owner of the station, the Tribune Company, was canceling the local news on similar stations it owned in other markets.

But Channel 39 News at 9 p.m. survived.

Then a new owner, Chicago billionaire businessman Sam Zell, took over the station in January.

What a difference an owner can make.

On June 30 — forget being canceled — Channel 39 News will expand to one hour Monday through Friday.

"This is something I've been lobbying for from the get-go," said Channel 39 news director Joe Nolan. "It hasn't been easy. It's hard to think of expanding the news when you keep hearing those rumors that we're being shut down. The economy hasn't exactly been kind to media companies recently."

Nolan got the OK to expand the news back in March. While that is twice the time, it won't mean he gets to double his staff.

While he can hire a new reporter and photographer team, a new editor and a few behind-the-scenes people, twice the time means the current staff simply will do more.

[snip]

"Everybody around here is excited and pumped. The reporters will get more time to develop and tell their stories. We hope to create some new franchises, too. Mia Gradney will do more with her entertainment coverage, and Steve Simon will do more technology news. We will give Elizabeth Lee more time with consumer stories. It was very difficult to cram all the news in Houston into 30 minutes. This is a very newsworthy city," Nolan said.

Good for Nolan and the CW39 crew. This city could use more -- and more serious -- news coverage. Now if we could just get an RSS feed on the CW39 news page....

Further down the column, Hoffman calls attention to a couple of Chron headlines:

A headline in Tuesday's Houston Chronicle caught my eye:

KHOU's Neil Frank announces retirement during newscast

Wow! What a scoop. I never saw that one coming.

But I liked this headline from Dec. 13, 2007 even more:

Meteorologist Neil Frank to retire in 2008

What's he going to do next?

Go on tour with Cher? She's the retiring kind, too.

As the blogfather would say, heh, indeed.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/28/08 10:27 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (0)

Different sorts of Chron eyes

With the Supreme Court ruling on lethal injection, we expected a steady stream of the Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy as the state once again resumed executions.

A couple of recent stories, though, had a different focus. First, there was this one by Rosanna Ruiz:

It was midnight, but Melody Flowers had to get something off her chest.

The single mother of five woke her eldest. "If something should ever happen to me," she whispered to 8-year-old Tameka, "I want you to know that I will always love you all. I want you to be there for your brothers and sisters. Even if you are not able to see me, I'm still with you all."

The next afternoon, the 27-year-old Flowers was dead.

She had been bludgeoned with a claw hammer, raped, strangled and stabbed. Her body was dumped in the partially filled bathtub of her Humble apartment. The lifeless body of her toddler, Patrick, also stabbed, lay on top of her.

Now, 17 years later, memories of the horrific murders and the years that followed came to the fore for her surviving children with word that their mother's killer would be executed.

Derrick Sonnier, who authorities said stalked Flowers for months, was convicted of the Sept. 16, 1991, murders and sentenced to die. On June 3, the 40-year-old will be the first in Texas to be executed since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injections last month.

[snip]

Tameka Traylor, 25, and Sebrina Flowers, 23, Melody Flowers' daughters, plan to witness his execution in Huntsville.

"He took everything from us," said Traylor, now a married mother of four. "Nothing will ever bring Melody and Patrick back or remove all the hurt and pain we had to endure. When he gave them the death sentence, he took the only person that loved us away from us ... and my brother didn't even have a chance to live his life."

Most death row killer guys have torn apart lives beyond their immediate victims.

The second story with a focus on victims also came from Rosanna Ruiz:

Their husbands were their soulmates.

They intended to watch their children grow up, then grow old with their spouses.

If not for the fateful 2006 meeting of their husbands, Joslyn Johnson and Theresa Quintero likely would never have laid eyes on each other.

During a traffic stop, Juan Leonardo Quintero, a landscaper, shot officer Rodney Johnson, 40, seven times, killing him. A Harris County jury last week sentenced Quintero, 34, to life in prison without parole.

While Joslyn Johnson will mourn the loss of her husband for the rest of her life, prison bars will separate Theresa Quintero from hers.

It's not the way either imagined their lives would turn out.

In the courtroom, the two women always sat on opposite sides, just a few feet from one another.

Wrestling with emotions
Joslyn Johnson said the seething anger she managed to staunch before the trial resurfaced the moment she locked eyes with Juan Quintero.

"I just wanted to jump over there and choke him," she said.

Theresa Quintero wrestled with different emotions. She wanted to slap the man she married in 1997 but also embrace him.

The emotionalism doesn't really appeal to me (then again, I'm not part of the demographic to which it's supposed to appeal), but the focus on the victims is unusual for the Chronicle.

Maybe the old Chron Eyes have been retired. We certainly hope that's the case.

BLOGVERSATION: Texas Digital Epitaph.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/28/08 10:08 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)

Putting space between MayorWhiteChiefHurtt

KHOU-11's Lee McGuire has details of a development in HPD's facial hair policy fight:

Houston City Council heard from those officers while debating whether to spend $150,000 on private attorneys to defend the no-beard policy.

Officer Raul Collins says he’s suing to get back on the street.

The Mayor is now suggesting mediation without going before a judge.

Since it appears HPD's basis for the policy is in question (gas masks do fit over beards, according to the officers), this is a ridiculous policy for the city to have to defend, and Mayor White probably would rather it just go away.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/28/08 07:33 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (14)

27 May 2008

Even with rising gas prices, METRO's March ridership declined

Six weeks after METRO stopped collecting March data, METRO finally fulfilled Tom Bazan's TxPIA request for March ridership numbers.

Guess what? Ridership declined, both for bus and light rail, when compared to data for March, 2007. Bus ridership was down almost nine percent, and train boardings were down four percent.

Unfortunately, METRO still doesn't provide convenient, timely service for most people, so even with gas prices rising, METRO just isn't a viable alternative.

RELATED: Checking out Houston on the tour bus (Tom Kirkendall); Houston METRO Touted as Model for Transit Solutions (Write on METRO)

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/27/08 08:55 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (26)

25 May 2008

Chief Hurtt whines

In an op-ed for the Chronicle, Chief Hurtt complains that critics of his department are being unfair. After a laundry list of criticisms, he concludes:

We will continue to work hard to maintain our transparency to the citizens we serve. When mistakes are made, we acknowledge them and take steps to immediately fix the problem(s).

We have continuously demonstrated this, as shown by the work to rebuild the Crime Lab and Property Room operations, to improve extra employment accountability, to demonstrate accountability with Conducted Energy Devices (Tasers, etc).

We want to make our department a more desirable place for our employees to work. We want citizens to have confidence in the effectiveness and efficiency of services we provide. We also want to continuously encourage citizens to join us in our efforts to make Houston one of the safest cities in the United States.

HPD's transparency often begins only after a local media exposé.

The fact that there are so many varied criticisms of HPD, and the criticisms come from varied segments of the populace, puts the lie to Chief Hurtt's complaint that HPD is being unfairly targeted. Many, if not most, of HPD's problems can be traced back to poor leadership, and Chief Hurtt is in charge of that.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/25/08 07:40 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (16)

24 May 2008

More on city's floodway ordinance

We've blogged previously about the city's heavy-handed floodway ordinance. Last week, the Chron's Kim Jackson wrote an informative story on the topic:

McKee, a Hedwig Village resident, said about a year ago he and his brother, David McKee, were offered $3.5 million for the commercial property their family has owned off Shepherd Drive and Interstate 10 near White Oak Bayou since 1967.

The deal fell through, he said, when the buyer said he could not purchase the property because most of it was in the floodway, and a city of Houston ordinance prohibited any new construction on vacant floodway property.

Rick McKee said he and his brother did not know their property was in the floodway and were not aware City Council revised the ordinance in August 2006.

"The city wants me to continue paying taxes on land I can't sell because of the city's ordinance," McKee said. "It is against the Constitution of the United States to take property without compensation and this is inverse condemnation. We get to keep our property, but they have taken away our property rights by telling us what we can and cannot do with it.

[snip]

Norcini said the ordinance affects about 3,500 vacant properties and a total of 109,000 properties within the city.

He said the city gave almost no notice to the public before making the changes.

"They did this in the dark. They posted notice on a 3-by-5 card on a board in city hall," Norcini said. "They ought to be ashamed of themselves."

Last year we highlighted Councilman Adrian Garcia's reaction to the ordinance:

Councilman Adrian Garcia, whose district includes Shady Acres, said during the Sept. 20 committee meeting that council members didn't get enough information about the measure's impact before they voted on it.

"Why didn't we let folks know in advance that we were going to be going down this track?" Garcia asked. "Everybody has reared up because a lot of people were caught by surprise. At council, we had almost no discussion on this."

Mayor White doesn't like surprises or dissent, and he has shown a tendency to push the most punitive actions as a first resort. Couple that with the fact that local governments don't post public notices in a citizen-friendly manner*, and hold meetings when most folks are at work, and you have a recipe for a government that operates as if the people work for it, instead of the other way around.

22 May 2008

Memorial Weekend slowdown

Memorial Day weekend is nearly upon us, and that means a slowdown in posting here (especially since some bHers are off on a camping/floating trip).

Here's wishing everyone a restful, long weekend!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/22/08 08:34 AM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (17)

Red light camera tickets increase dramatically in some locations

Matt Stiles has the latest figures from HPD's red light cameras, and this month he noticed something strange:

The latest numbers detailing the Houston Police Department's red-light camera program show significant increases in citations at several intersections.

Take northbound Wilcrest at the Southwest Freeway, for example. There were 140 citations in March and 1,261 in April -- an 800 percent increase. That's also a significant spike over the six-month average before April.

Other intersections saw dramatic increases, too, while numbers declined elsewhere. Overall, citations increased 10 percent from March to April. Here's a list of all monitored approaches, sorted by percentage increase.

We called Houston police, who said the numbers were accurate, but they aren't yet sure what caused the spike. We're hoping to hear back from them soon with a theory.

Hmmmmm. One intersection goes from 140 tickets to 1261 tickets in one month? Talk about odd!

From Stiles' list, I noticed the most heavily ticketed intersection (aside from the strange instance above) is the one at FM 1960 and the northbound 249 feeder road, over by Willowbrook Mall. I drive through that intersection most days, and there's a reason it's a problem: short green time, medium yellow time, longer red time -- I should try to time it one day. If a driver isn't familiar with that light, the driver stands a good chance of being caught unaware when the light turns red. Also, those "rolling red" right-turn tickets are probably a boon for the city at that intersection as people try to get onto 249.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/22/08 05:11 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (7)

21 May 2008

Officer Johnson's widow wants two officers in each patrol car

In the end, the jury deciding the fate of illegal immigrant/cop killer Juan Quintero said he should spend his life behind bars as punishment for shooting HPD officer Rodney Johnson three times in the face. As local news reports make clear, Officer Johnson's family was not happy with the decision, as Quintero was shown more mercy than he had for Officer Johnson.

Officer Johnson's widow, Josslyn Johnson, has filed suit against the man who employed Juan Quintero, and she has threatened to sue the city if HPD doesn't start requiring two officers in each patrol car (via KPRC-2):

Josslyn Johnson said she wants the city to require two police officers per patrol car for the officers' safety. If the city does not make the policy change by June, Josslyn Johnson said she will seek damages from the city from her husband's death.

"The fact that we go home every night is important to us and our family and it shouldn't be an issue," she said. "We need two men in each unit. You need someone there with you to back you up when you arrive on the scene. You just don't know what the scene will result in."

The city of Houston responded to Josslyn Johnson's threat.

"It will be up to Chief Harold Hurtt and his command to make the decision as to what to do with the HPD resources," a spokesman for the city said.

That doesn't inspire confidence. Chief Hurtt blames the feds for not securing the border, but HPD follows General Order 500-05 issued in 1992 which forbids officers from inquiring about a person's immigration status. Under pressure after Officer Johnson's murder, the city revised the directive a bit so that now if someone is arrested, he or she COULD be asked to prove residency.

The Houston Police Department Union said it supports and agrees with Jossyln Johnson.

"The bottom line is HPD needs more man power. Before Officer Johnson was killed, two other officers were killed in he line of duty because they were alone," a union spokesman said.

HPD has needed more police officers for several years. It hasn't been a concern for MayorWhiteChiefHurtt until recently.

RELATED: KHOU-11, KTRK-13, Chron.com

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/21/08 05:08 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (14)

19 May 2008

KPRC-2 reports on abuses by Liliana Rambo's Busybody Brigade

KPRC-2 Stephen Dean reports on another of Mayor White's bad ideas in action:

A new state law intended to crack down on one type of parking problem is leading to other parking hassles, Local 2 Investigates reported Thursday.

Parking citation books handed out by the City of Houston are allowing security guards and everyday citizens to cause major inconvenience and frustration, leading some people to pay fines that they are not legally required to pay.

They are the same ticket forms that are issued to police and parking meter attendants throughout the city.

Colette Clift-Mayers of west Houston found out the hard way when she said a private security guard rudely informed her he was writing her a ticket.

She said she was parked legally in a private lot with a storeowner's permission when she was ticketed with an official Houston Municipal Court parking citation.

She said the man seemed power-hungry, able to hand out the same tickets being issued by police officers and parking meter attendants throughout Houston. The security guard routinely wears commando boots and drives a car that looks similar to a police cruiser.

"I believe that he sits in the parking lot and contrives to write tickets," she said. "I think that that is his whole purpose throughout the day."

Local 2 Investigates recorded the security guard in action at a strip center on Eldridge Parkway at Briar Forest Drive.

A review of municipal court records found he wrote some tickets for handicap parking space violators, which is legal.

But he also forced people to pay up or fight in court such violations as double parking, being parked "not wholly within a space" and parking in a fire lane. The ticket book issued by the city gives him much more power than other security guards, who would normally have to call police to have official citations written.

Houston's top parking official, Liliana Rambo, said "We will make sure that we call the volunteer in, and that we explain to the volunteer what they're doing wrong. If it's something that keeps on happening, we could revoke the privilege of that person writing those tickets."

She said citizens can appeal their tickets through a hearing officer at municipal court if they receive tickets from volunteers that have nothing to do with parking for the disabled.

Rambo said abuses are rare for the 450 volunteers trained to write handicap-parking tickets. She calls the city's program is a huge success that is being mirrored by smaller cities.

Asked whether the training for volunteers is truly getting the point across to volunteers that they have no legal authority to write tickets for any other violations, Rambo answered, "I believe so."

Liliana believes so?

Nice.

And if her belief doesn't conform with reality, well, you can always experience the fun of appealing your fraudulent ticket from her Busybody Brigade at muni court. Good times!

We believe we were right to question this bad idea of Mayor White from the start.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/19/08 10:58 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (21)

Super Bowl 2012

Supposedly Houston's on the short list, and if so, you just know there's a big ol' price tag to go along with it.

It's taken more than $5 billion to get downtown in the shape it's in today, but you can bet it won't be good enough for Super Bowl 2012.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/19/08 06:32 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (13)

18 May 2008

Helfman, et al., call for audit of HPD crime reporting

In their latest op-ed on Houston crime, Alan Helfman, Jay Wall, and Bill Wolff call for an audit of HPD's crime reporting.

They make a persuasive case:

What is the true state of crime in Houston? Unfortunately, neither we nor the leaders of HPD know for sure. Basic answers to basic questions are impossible to ascertain with any degree of certainty.

Perhaps the most striking example of this was provided in the recent news stories surrounding HPD's crime counting methods. Just before ThanksgivingIn late November 2007 [sic], KHOU's (Channel 11) Mark Greenblatt revealed that HPD underreported murders in both 2005 and 2006. In perhaps the most egregious case to date, the HPD classified the death of Stephen McCoy, who suffered three gunshot wounds to the chest and one to the back of the head, as a "suicide."

Other homicides, in one instance two deaths indisputably by arson, were put into the limbo category of "under investigation." Cases "under investigation" (as to cause of death) may not be classified as murders.

Thus far, due largely to Greenblatt's prodding, six Houston cases "under investigation" have recently been reclassified as murder by HPD.

Far from the norm, miscounting murders is significantly more than just a disagreement about interpreting facts or applying rules. Dr. Lawrence Sherman, dean of the Jerry Lee Center of Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania has said, "There is something fundamentally wrong with the practices of the HPD in keeping count of its homicides. There appears to be a clear undercounting."

Other nationally recognized experts agree. Dr. James Fox, professor of law, policy and society at Northeastern University in Boston, a visiting fellow with the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the Department of Justice and the man USA Today described as "arguably the nation's foremost criminologist," was asked directly if he thought the city of Houston was lying about its homicide statistics. He answered: "Well, someone is. Cases that are clear-cut homicides are not being counted."

Yet the beat goes on: The above example of McCoy's death has still not been reclassified to murder, only moved from the category of suicide to "under investigation."

Six cases may not seem like very many, a statistical blip easily repaired. But murder has long been considered a unique bellwether crime because, as Jack Maple, the late crime-fighter who organized CompStat under William J. Bratton in the NYPD once stated, "there are no secret police cemeteries" in which to hide the bodies.

Yet, now we find that in Houston, at least, such a place actually does exist, constructed out of paper much like the Potemkin villages that so pleased the Russian czar.

And the "sharp pencils" that Bratton so loathed were not confined only to the homicide squad. Examples of failures to properly count crimes in other categories abound. Year after year, HPD reported zero (as in none) cases of embezzlement; other recent press reports detailed the use of multiple sets of books to count DWI arrests.

[snip]

Were such similar, repeated and blatant errors committed in a publicly held corporation, the fallout would be swift and painful.

Please click over and read their op-ed in its entirety.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/18/08 09:18 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (24)

In hot pursuit of world class!

As I've caught back up on the news since being out of the country, it's good to see that some Houstonians continue to toss out bad ideas in the hot (mad?) pursuit of world-classness. It lets me know I'm home!

Anne Linehan already noted that Mayor White wants the city to throw out its rules on obnoxious sign lighting downtown for the Pavilions (in the pursuit of worldclassness).

The Astrodome Hotel people continue to pitch their boondoggle, and if that falls through, well, maybe the decrepit old stadium can be turned into a movie studio (in the pursuit of worldclassness).

And then there was this great proposal during the debate over the consent agreement for METRO's ill-advised plans to lay yet more rail down very busy streets:

Stanley "Skip" Almoney, president of Friends of Mandell Park, said Metro should create a "pedestrian corridor" by leaving only one lane of Richmond open.

In the last month, I've zipped along on excellent transit systems in Philadelphia, Athens, and Amsterdam (no trains running down the middle of busy streets!). Those transit systems enhance mobility, rather than purposely reducing it, so they must not be world class. *ahem*

Seriously, it is mind-boggling that anyone thinks Houston will somehow be more world-class if we can just further choke traffic on important streets. Or create another boondoggle convention hotel that demand really doesn't justify. Or have tacky lights on a downtown "destination" that won't be a destination without them.

Maybe one day, we'll just come to grips with being Houston-class, and be okay with that. Because for anyone who sets foot in actual world cities on occasion, this local pursuit of world-classness can be cringe-inducing at times.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/18/08 08:43 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)

Action 13 Angels help out Chron newspaper vendor (after job injury)

KTRK-13 recently ran this story about a Chronicle street vendor who was partly disabled when a car ran over her foot as she was helping distribute the Hearst daily.

According to the report, two Lakewood church bigwigs ran across the disabled woman (after driving right by her for several months -- apparently the Lord was a little slow to alert them to this woman in need, but not TOO slow thankfully!), decided to try to help her out, and ultimately got her hooked up with a surgeon who agreed to help repair her injured foot. As KTRK-13 reports, she is doing much better now.

We can only imagine the outrage of, say, the Chronicle's Editorial LiveJournalists or the Plagiarist or the Teen Diarist, if some company that's considered a Chron "bad guy" had treated an ~~employee~~ independent contractor so shabbily. But we haven't seen anything about it in the Hearst daily -- only a KTRK-13 video.

The Chronicle really needs to end this dangerous practice of selling newspapers in the streets.

PREVIOUSLY: Chronicle vendor killed in unsafe work environment, Chron sues for constitutional right to sell papers in streets, Newspaper vendor killed in west Houston, Chron: Bad news story is mining company's fault.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/18/08 08:13 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

Chron letters: METRO undercover cops harass downtown professional

From the Chronicle letter section comes another edition of METRO customer-service excellence:

On May 9, I exited the Metro train at the TMC Transit Center station and a man called out to me asking me to stop. I looked at him, saw that he was dressed in a University of Houston jersey, and thought he was trying to hand out information or advertise something. I turned away from him to continue down the platform so I could go to work. He ran up to me before I reached the end of the platform, screamed at me and grabbed my arm. It was only at this time that I recognized him as a plain-clothed Metro police officer.

The only form of identification he had was a badge hanging on his neck that previously was not visible because of the crowd. Even when he identified himself, he shoved me toward the center of the platform where his partner in harassment, dressed in a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey, verbally berated me as well. This rude behavior from an officer in plain clothes is needless to verify that I, a 34-year-old man in professional dress, paid a dollar to ride the train.

This whole incident could have been avoided if the men were in uniform and clearly identified as Metro police.

CHRISTOPHER DONOHOE
Tomball

Were these undercover members of METRO's elite counterterror unit? We'll probably never know. But if you're riding METRO and someone in a Cougar or Steelers jersey acts belligerently, better snap to attention -- you wouldn't want to get Tasered by Tom Lambert's finest!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/18/08 07:50 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (13)

David Mincberg: Champion of ethics, stickler for deadlines

Good news for Tom Bazan: He now has an ally in his fight to get timely TxPIA requests out of METRO:

David Mincberg, Ed Emmett's Democratic opponent, wants to know why the ethics reform task force the county judge appointed in February hasn't delivered its recommendations.

According to this story about Emmett's announcement of the task force, the panel was supposed to report back within three months, i.e. yesterday.

"I'm surprised Ed Emmett failed to follow through on this promise," Mincberg said in a statement. "He's simply dropped the ball. We need an independent Board of Ethics that is both free of politics and gets the job done."

Finally someone will tell Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson to stop stalling on TxPIA's.

Just curious, though. Back in 2007 the City of Houston dropped the ball in releasing a critical budget report, missing a deadline by months:

Houston Mayor Bill White is under scrutiny concerning last year's city budget report, KPRC Local 2 reported Wednesday.

The chairman of the Harris County Republican party wants to know why city leaders are already looking ahead to next year's budget when last year's report still has not been released.

Party officials said it's taxpayer money and it's time residents knew how their money was spent in 2006. But they said the mayor's office has still not completed an audit of the annual financial statement.

[snip]

There is nearly a four-month-long grace period after the October deadline.

But the city missed that and is now in violation of local code.

[snip]

The mayor said Houstonians should expect to see results soon.

"It's going to be out any day now. Not in response to the letter, but in response to me and the controller saying repeatedly, 'We need to get this thing wrapped up.' And that was an estimate that was given some days ago before I saw this letter," White said.

Let's see Mincberg's correspondence with Mayor White demanding the release of the 2006 budget report. I mean, he's a stickler for deadlines! I imagine he was all over Mayor White's case for what ended up being a multi-month delay in releasing information that is required by law.

And why doesn't he release his communication with Mayor White where he chastised the agenda-setter for handing over a NO-BID, long-term airport concessions contract to a company whose owner, coincidentally, of course, had donated generously to city councilmembers and the mayor?

But above all else, let's see have a look at Mincberg's business dealings, both as an apartment complex developer, and as the city's $1 per year head of Department of Housing and Community Development, to get an idea of his own personal code of ethics.

By the way, if Mr. Mincberg is interested in helping, Tom Bazan's latest TxPIA request is actually a third request for information about all consultants on METRO's payroll. We know of two: Frank Wilson's buddy, Frank Russo, and former Houston councilwoman Carol Alvarado. I'm sure Bazan would appreciate some assistance in getting that information released.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/18/08 12:23 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)

The Chron's Ethics Policy

Chron Reader Rep. Steve Jetton notes that the newspaper's set-in-concrete-and-rebar Ethics Policy has claimed a victim:

The Chronicle's Ethics Policy has cost one of its sports columnist his extra job as a radio talk show host. Jerome Solomon was hired by KNFC to host a talk show after the radio station adopted an all-sports format last year. All went well until the station decided it needed Solomon to contribute to the bottom line by doing commercials. The Chronicle's Ethics Policy prohibits editorial employees from endorsing products. Solomon had to decline and the station replaced him.

At the Chronicle, there is a wall between editorial employees and advertising employees. Editorial employees don't sell ads and advertising employees don't write stories or edit copy. The paper doesn't want readers to get the impression that the business side of the paper seeps into the editorial product. To allow otherwise would call into question the paper's editorial integrity. For example, if Solomon accepted pay from the Texans or Rockets to tout the team, readers would be justified in wondering if the opinions he expressed in his column had been softened because of the financial relationship. Furthermore, if Solomon and other employees can't sell ads for the Chronicle, they sure can't sell them for a radio station or other media.

Back in 2005, Banjo Jones blogged about Jeff Cohen's Ethics Declaration:

It turns out the rodeo spends a preposterous amount of money to furnish its offices and provide free booze to its friends and volunteers. And, oh, by the way, they give free tickets and free drink coupons to media organizations that provide the interminable, over-the-top coverage of the world's largest rodeo.

(The Chron was quick to point out that only two of its employees made use of the free drink coupons while a shocking seventeen Channel 13 employees used them, which the newspaper evidently felt gave it the moral high ground.)

In addition, the media freebies gave Chronicle Editor Jeff Cohen an opening to flex his ethical muscles and declare the city's only newspaper won't be accepting any more free tickets ("outside our sponsorship agreements"), which should further endear him to rank and file employees who will feel better about themselves now that they've been ethically cleansed from on high.

Jetton doesn't elaborate on the what the Chron's Ethics Policy says about the "firewall" between opinion and news. Maybe he can scan the entire Chron Ethics Policy and provide a link to it, in the interest of transparency. Maybe we'll see that the Policy addresses plagiarism.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/18/08 08:26 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (5)

17 May 2008

METRO violates Clean Water Act

Well, it appears Mayor White needs to go after METRO:

The Clean Water Act is designed to clean up our waters.

Thousands of people pass through METRO Transit Centers every day, but 11 News discovered that what they’re leaving behind could end up in Galveston Bay.

One of the act’s guidelines says you must prevent dirty water from going down storm drains. Regularly scheduled pressure washing goes on at all 19 METRO transit centers throughout the county.

“It was our understanding we were in compliance,” METRO spokeswoman Raequel Roberts said.

But 11 News uncovered they aren’t in compliance.

“The rules really require us to take all available measures to protect the water around us, and the storm sewer system is how all the water gets to the bayou,” Deputy Director of Public Works Andy Icken said.

Here’s one way you can do it: Collect the potentially contaminated water.

Think it’s a lot of work for nothing? Think again. There are high levels of oil, grease, metals and bacteria polluting Galveston Bay.

Galveston Bay is the second most productive estuary for seafood in the country.

Woops! Raequel Roberts (who famously said stray current leakage was akin to what a 9-volt battery discharges) first says METRO thought it was in compliance, but later in the story says, "Now we have a better idea of exactly what is needed to follow the regulations, and we’re going to do that." Which essentially means METRO couldn't have thought it was in compliance because that would have meant METRO had done its homework, and METRO would have known what it was doing was in violation of the Clean Water Act.

Mayor White needs to get on this. This has to be right up there with refinery pollution.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/17/08 05:05 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

16 May 2008

MN quashes red-light-revenue-stream overreach

Chris Baker, our old friend and the Twin Cities' hottest talker, passes along this interesting bit of news from his new home:

Drivers nabbed by the now-outlawed photo-cop red-light enforcement program in Minneapolis will get most of their fines back and their records cleansed under a settlement approved today by the Minneapolis City Council.

The proposed $2.6 million settlement would reimburse roughly 15,000 drivers who got tickets under the program, according to attorneys. They paid $142 each but legal fees and other costs will be subtracted from that under the settlement.

But the city's sign-off on the settlement is contingent on the state and Hennepin County also agreeing to their split of the fine money toward the settlements.

The conviction for running a red light will also be expunged from driving records, according to Marshall Tanick, the lead attorney for drivers involved.

"That's very important to people," he said. The city will pay $10,000 toward the state's costs to expunge records.

Tanick said that those convicted also will get a letter that they can use with their insurer to argue against cancellation or revocation of insurance or rate increases that may have resulted.

The city's photo surveillance program used images of vehicles that ran red lights to cite the owner of the vehicle. The Minnesota Supreme Court last year backed the ruling of lower courts that holding the owner of a vehicle responsible for the actions of whoever was driving it was unconstitutional.

The county had earlier dismissed citations issued to 4,200 people that hadn't been sent on to the court.

The agreement was negotiated in a class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of the drivers where were ticketed and paid fines. The city also agreed to pay the state $10,000 for the costs of expunging the offense from driver license records.

We've long criticized Houston's red-light camera scheme on due-process grounds, since the owner of a car is presumed guilty of running a red light even in the complete absence of positive photo proof that he/she was actually driving. It's good to see that the highest court of at least one state shares those concerns.

Of course, the municipalities and small-time pols who engaged in red-light-revenue-stream overreach probably aren't too happy about it.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/16/08 10:17 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)

A little bit of Greece...

Houston's other big Greek Orthodox Church is putting on its Greek Festival this weekend.

If you're in West Houston, be sure to check it out.

Apparently there will even be a gyro-eating contest. In our two weeks recently spent in Greece, we ran across no such contests. I feel so ripped off now!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/16/08 09:59 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

15 May 2008

Mayor White wants to streamline permitting

KHOU-11's Lee McGuire has a story about how difficult one man has found it to get his guide dog's license renewed every year. This prompted Mayor White to send a memo to all city departments:

“I am not satisfied with the way our city handles the billing and collection of fees,” Mayor Bill White said in the memo.

And some agree.

“Today I think it’s probably a pain,” Alfred Moran with the Administration and Regulatory Affairs said.

Moran is in charge of fixing the problem, and after four months he thinks he has the solution.

It seems like Houston requires permits for not just dog tags but for many things. Permits for antique dealers, burglar alarms, valet parking and fruit ripening are only a few.

We have noted for several years that Mayor White has a revenue-stream fetish, but fruit ripening?? Really?!

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/15/08 08:17 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

Kirby Drive project oops (updated)

The Chron's Jennifer Friedberg reports that the Kirby Drive expansion has run into a problem:

A design error could set back the start date for half of Segment 4 from Bissonnet to U.S. 59 by about two years, possibly costing the city an extra $1 million or more and involving a 15-foot condemnation of businesses on the east side or both sides of Kirby.

With Segment 3 from Swift to Robinhood in progress and Segment 4 from Robinhood to U.S. 59 in the design phase, design engineer firm Brown & Gay Engineers Inc. realized several months ago it had miscalculated the amount of land the city of Houston has and what it needs to finish off the project.

Specifically, the snafu was that Brown & Gay believed Houston had a 100-foot right of way to work with from Bissonnet north to U.S. 59.

That assumption was off by 15 feet in five spots on Kirby, with designers believing the city owned a uniform 15-foot segment between the curb and business property lines.

The areas where Houston does not own that 15 feet include the land in front of Helfman River Oaks Chrysler Jeep, Charisma Car Wash, Burger King, Goode Company Barbecue, and a sliver of land between Goode Co. and the Burger King.

So now Segment 4 is being divided into Phases A and B, breaking at Bissonnet. Phase B is being redesigned.

UPDATE: I'm amused: A reader notes that the West U and River Oaks Examiners carried this story on April 29th, so the Chron was actually reporting some serious "olds."

And of course, then there's me posting on the olds and not having been aware of when it was news. Ah well.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/15/08 04:54 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (7)

14 May 2008

The Ants

Just what we need -- crazy ants that are hard to kill:

In what sounds like a really low-budget horror film, voracious swarming ants that apparently arrived in Texas aboard a cargo ship are invading homes and yards across the Houston area, shorting out electrical boxes and messing up computers.

[snip]

The ants—formally known as “paratrenicha species near pubens”—have spread to five Houston-area counties since they were first spotted in Texas in 2002.

The newly recognized species is believed to have arrived in a cargo shipment through the port of Houston. Scientists are not sure exactly where the ants came from, but their cousins, commonly called crazy ants, are found in the Southeast and the Caribbean.

“At this point, it would be nearly impossible to eradicate the ant because it is so widely dispersed,” said Roger Gold, a Texas A&M University entomologist.

The good news? They eat fire ants, the stinging red terrors of Texas summers.

But the ants also like to suck the sweet juices from plants, feed on such beneficial insects as ladybugs, and eat the hatchlings of a small, endangered type of grouse known as the Attwater prairie chicken.

They also bite humans, though not with a stinger like fire ants.

Worse, they, like some other species of ants, are attracted to electrical equipment, for reasons that are not well understood by scientists.

They have ruined pumps at sewage pumping stations, fouled computers and at least one homeowner’s gas meter, and caused fire alarms to malfunction. They have been spotted at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and close to Hobby Airport, though they haven’t caused any major problems there yet.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/14/08 08:28 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (10)

Mayor White's FY 2009 budget

Yesterday, Mayor White rolled out his proposed 2009 budget:

Mayor Bill White unveiled a record $4 billion budget proposal Tuesday, calling for a sharp increase in spending on public safety while cutting the property tax rate by a half-cent.

The mayor's fiscal 2009 budget also would, if approved, create a dedicated set-aside of tax revenues to pay for drainage improvements, fund the addition of 150 police officers and add 50,000 homes to the curbside recycling program.

"Because we've enjoyed strong economic growth, and because we're running City Hall more efficiently, we can afford a tax rate cut of half a penny per $100 of valuation to bring our tax rate down," White said.

City revenue is projected to be $4.07 billion in the new fiscal year, which begins July 1. That would be an increase of 6.7 percent over the current fiscal year.

The budget would provide an additional $105 million for police, fire and EMS. Public safety spending makes up 58 percent of the general fund.

The city will fund seven police cadet classes and shift 98 officers from desk and court duties to patrol.

The total police force should reach 5,194 by next summer, according to the spending plan.

White also pointed out plans for 300 new patrol cars, a new police station and property room, new helicopters, and the first phase of a new integrated radio system for first responders.

New to this year's budget is a dedicated funding source for drainage improvements. Subject to council approval, 0.3 cents of every $100 in property value would be dedicated to flooding projects.

More than four years after the city learned that its emergency radio system is antiquated, Mayor White is ready to tackle the first phase of what will ultimately cost at least $160 million. There were just so many other pressing needs ahead of that priority.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/14/08 04:57 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)

13 May 2008

Houston Pavilions: People won't see us unless we have 80 ft tall brightly lit signs!

Mayor White backs an exemption that would allow the Houston Pavilions to have bigger, brighter signs than current rules allow:

Downtown boosters want the city to relax its sign rules for the Houston Pavilions, a $170 million retail and entertainment complex set to open in the fall.

If approved, the change would allow brightly lit signs and heights up to 80 feet above the ground, neither of which currently is allowed through most of downtown, which is a designated "scenic district."

Beautification advocates are balking at the creation of a one-time exception for a single project, arguing the move could open the door to demands from other developers.

The City Council could vote on the change to the sign code as early as Wednesday.

The White administration backs the change, which would create signage guidelines for a special "Entertainment and Retail District" in the three blocks occupied by the Houston Pavilions. The project sits between Main, Caroline, Dallas and Polk.

Planners said the Houston Pavilions requires more visibility and branding, to better attract convention goers and to fill a pedestrian void between downtown hotels and the George R. Brown Convention Center.

[snip]

Downtown is designated a scenic district, so direct illumination, such as neon signs or bare bulbs, is not allowed. Signs also are not allowed to be higher than 42.5 feet. The special district would allow the tenants at Houston Pavilions to use direct illumination, and would allow signs to be placed as high as 80 feet above ground.

The city has invested $5.5 million and Harris County $8.8 million in the project through the Main Street/Market Square TIRZ, or Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone.

Think big, Houston. Think Vegas.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/13/08 06:07 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (26)

A city department tightens its belt

HPD has looked at its budget numbers and determined it needs to cut back on overtime until the end of the fiscal year:

The temporary reduction amounts to slightly less than 10 percent of the approximately $1 million per week that the department has been using to fund overtime pay, officials said.

The cuts are expected to run through June — the end of this fiscal year.

"It's basically an end-of-the-year adjustment. It's nothing new," said Capt. Bruce Williams, an HPD spokesman.

HPD has spent about $38 million so far out of the $54 million allocated this year for the overtime pay.

"We've got about six weeks or so left" in the fiscal year, said Frank Michel, Mayor Bill White's communication director. "You don't want to cut off anything altogether, so you begin to monitor your spending."

It's refreshing to see a government entity so concerned about spending, but this is the one city department that should NOT be cutting back.

Surely something can be cut somewhere else so HPD doesn't have to cut back on protecting Houstonians. Does the city still have a surplus it can use for the one of the most important reasons to have government at all?

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/13/08 05:42 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)

Apartments owned by Sugar Land JP cited by Houston

Matt Stiles continues investigating slum-like apartment buildings, and he found another one with a high-profile owner:

Code enforcement inspectors have issued three misdemeanor citations against Justice of the Peace Jim Richard of Sugar Land, alleging "unsafe" electrical conditions at a complex he owns in southwest Houston.

The inspectors say they warned Richard about the problems at the Braes Timbers Apartments in January but only issued the citations late last month when repairs were not made.

Richard, whose job includes presiding over disputes between landlords and tenants, also has not secured a "certificate of occupancy" — the basic document needed to rent apartments lawfully, officials say.

[snip]

"It's very unfortunate that they dragged my name through the dirt," he said. "I'm continuing to fix the tenant-caused problems, and had (inspectors) notified me, I would have corrected them before they gave me a citation."

Susan McMillian, a deputy director in the city's Public Works and Engineering Department, said code inspectors affixed a bright "red tag" sticker to a prominent wall on the complex in January. She said that it and another notice have since been removed, in violation of city code.

Richard is the second elected official in recent months to be under scrutiny over an apartment complex. Last month, inspectors issued citations under similar circumstances against Vo, a Houston Democrat who has pledged to make repairs at his properties.

Vo and Richard, a Republican elected in 1998, both own "Class D" properties — complexes at the lowest end of an economic scale used by appraisers. That fact surprises at least one consumer advocate.

"You're in a glasshouse. Why would you allow this to happen?" said Dan Parsons, president of the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Houston Inc. "It's so easy to find out, and you put yourself in harm's way."

On the Houston Politics blog, Stiles adds:

The Neighborhood Protection Corps has also ordered repairs at the property three times since last fall. Those inspectors found a damaged parking lot, broken windows, excess trash, loose railings and more.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/13/08 05:06 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

12 May 2008

This seems like a good use of taxpayer dollars...

KHOU-11 reports that the City of Houston will decide whether or not to allocate $150,000 to defend Chief Hurtt's no facial hair policy:

The case centers around four Houston police officers who filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against HPD over their beards.

The officers have not been allowed to wear a uniform because of the department’s strict no facial hair policy.

Yeah, with HPD's manpower shortage, this idea was pure genius: Sideline four officers AND spend thousands of dollars!

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/12/08 07:15 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

Shopping cart retrieval program needs a catchy acronym

Cory Crow is most pleased with HPD's latest crime-reducing program: retrieving abandoned shopping carts:

So, if you add up the benefits of cost control for the owners, crime prevention and neighborhood beautification you end up with a nice, tidy program that actually does something to combat crime.

All of that without an acronym. Good job HPD.

I dunno. This program seems tailor-made for an acronym.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/12/08 07:06 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)

The Chronicle's cheerleading for a soccer stadium

Last week Tom Kirkendall took the Chronicle to task for its sports writers' seemingly pie-in-the-sky hope that TSU will partner with the Dynamo to fund a downtown soccer stadium:

Of course, the article is utterly devoid of details, such as how TSU is going to find any money to throw at this deal, much less make a multi-million dollar investment in it. Heck, the TSU athletic director and the Dynamo's president haven't even met yet, so it doesn't even appear that Dynamo management takes TSU's involvement seriously. Why don't the Chronicle editors just come out and say that they really want the city to finance the downtown soccer stadium and spare us such vapid articles as this one?

Tom also points to a post by Jon Taylor, now blogging at PoliSci@UST, that addresses the economic realities of pro sport franchises and the venues taxpayers buy them. Short point: The benefits generally are slim to none for taxpayers who foot the bill, but quite high for the franchise owner. What a surprise! Five billion dollars of investment downtown, but it's still missing something!

The only thing I would add is that, for all we know, the Chronicle's editorial board could have made a decision to push for a soccer stadium. A couple of years ago, Chron Editor Emeritus Jack Loftis admitted that's what the editorial leadership of the paper decided to do when the city was debating a baseball stadium. And don't forget the Chron's push for light rail. The Chron's editor Jeff Cohen thinks it's the editorial board's business to, "offer guidance about what is good for the people of Houston."

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/12/08 05:13 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)

11 May 2008

Well, no wonder the Klein bond Yes people were out stealing Vote No signs!

And no wonder Klein ISD sent home a flyer with elementary school kids titled, "The Truth about the Bond."

The district barely eked out a victory, by a margin of only 312 votes. That's much closer than I ever expected it to be.

A look at the results by elementary school shows that, generally speaking, schools that feed into Klein High voted for the bond, and schools that feed into the other high schools (Klein Forest, Klein Collins, and Klein Oak) voted against the bond. What this shows is a divided district -- a district that doesn't agree that Klein High is the be all and end all, sucking up precious financial resources which other parts of the district desperately need.

One of the complaints Superintendent Dr. Jim Cain made in the flyer sent home with students is that opponents have wrongly suggested planning is already underway for a 2012 bond. He says, "The district has not planned the next bond, whether for 2012 or any other time." Except that Klein ISD's Chief Financial Officer Thomas Petrek sent the following email to a Klein For All Kids member:

Based on PASA's growth projections, we will need an estimated authorization of approximately $500M - $550M in 2012 or 2013. The debt service rate would peak at the 50 cent limit in 2017-18 and then proceed to decrease from there.

It was based on projections that we will build four elementaries at a cost of approx. $100M, one intermediate at $45M, one high school at $175M, three pre-k centers at $35M, $45M in short technology, facility assessments/renovations district-wide at $70M, stadium at $50M, all other at $30M.

Four new elementaries, one middle school and one new high school will need to be built -- those are the projects that opponents of the 2008 bond wanted to see funded with the 2008 bond.

You know, sometimes these types of decisions have consequences.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/11/08 12:01 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)

METRO Consent Agreement up for discussion this week

This Tuesday, City Council's Transportation, Infrastructure and Aviation Committee will discuss an important topic:

AGENDA

May 13, 2008
10:00 a.m.

City Council Chambers
901 Bagby, 2nd Floor

I. Welcome – Council Member Sue Lovell, Chair

II. METRO Consent Agreement

III. Public Comments

Action may be taken on any of the above items. For special needs or information about this committee, please contact Ryan Leach 832-393-3013.

The posted agenda is a tad light on details, so it's not clear if this is related to one line, five lines, or all of METRO Solutions. You may recall an interview Mary Sit conducted with METRO CEO Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson during which it was stated that Mayor White wants one consent agreement to cover all five rail lines, but Wilson wants one consent agreement to cover the entire METRO Solutions program.

Of course, since these meetings are always held on weekdays during traditional work hours, most of us can't attend. But if you're lucky enough to have some flexibility, you might want to mosey on down there and see what's going on.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/11/08 07:21 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (2)

10 May 2008

Randal O'Toole is coming to Houston

Barry Klein passes along this email announcement from Randal O'Toole:

Last week, the Cato Institute released my report on rail transit and the environment. The report shows that most light-rail lines use as much energy per passenger mile as an SUV and emit as much greenhouse gases as the average automobile. I conclude that cities that want to save energy or minimize greenhouse gas emissions should not build rail transit, but should instead take steps to reduce emissions from automobiles by relieving congestion.

You can download the full report from http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-615.pdf

I will present this report at the 2008 Preserving the American Dream conference in Houston this May 16-18. The conference will also feature speakers on the environmental impacts of various land uses and residential densities as well as many other topics. Plus this will be an unparalleled opportunity to see what life is like in a major city without zoning. For more information, go to http://americandreamcoalition.org/pad08.html

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/10/08 05:08 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (11)

Voting day

I just returned from voting in the Lone Star College bond referendum, and also drove through our local elementary school parking lot where Klein ISD bond voting was taking place. I took advantage of early voting last week to vote no on the Klein bond.

Both locations were pretty darn empty this morning.

School bond votes really should be held in November when there would be a much greater turnout. I imagine the "school lobby" would not be in favor of that.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/10/08 12:26 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

08 May 2008

Carol Alvarado's grueling 40 hour work-month

Tom Bazan forwarded METRO's contract with Carol Alvarado which he received following a TxPIA request. Here are several excerpts:

Consulting services will be provided as requested and will include consulting on issues such as, but not limited to the following: advice and guidance on working cooperatively with local entities to help facilitate the successful implementation of the METRO Solutions program, to serve as liaison to and develop and maintain relationships with various stakeholders and entities such as The Gulf Coast Freight Rail District, H-GAC, local chambers of commerce and various community organizations, serve as METRO's representative for the strategic planning of public policy initiatives by working in cooperation with the Texas Transit Association, The Southwest Transit Association and similar organizations, communicate with elected officials at the federal, state and local levels as required to ensure that METRO's programs and initiatives receive support, work proactively with the community to identify and resolve problems and concerns of stakeholders and provide assistance to METRO in attracting eligible small businesses and employee recruitment. These consulting services consist only of advisory services to METRO and specifically exclude any representation of METRO to or before the Mayor of the City of Houston, Houston City Council, or departments of the City of Houston during this agreement.

[snip]

Consultant shall be compensated at the rate of $150.00 per hour for services performed under this contract.

[snip]

Payment will be made monthly to the Consultant within thirty (30) calendar days after receipt of a properly prepared invoice[...]

What follows is Carol Alvarado's first invoice. Note the extraordinary detail she included:

Consulting work performed January 14-February 14, 2008. 40 hrs @ $150.00 and [sic] hour.

Consulting work covers briefings and staff meetings with METRO representatives. Included during this period includes meetings (in person and phone) with various elected officials and their staff, East Downtown TIRZ representatives and various community representatives. In addition, meeting preparation, phone and email responding.

TOTAL DUE: $6000.00

Forty hours of work, $6,000 due, and METRO says it cannot find a single document related to her consultant work.

Wow.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/08/08 07:19 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (18)

Why are concealed carry applications on the rise?

State officials may be baffled, but I have a theory:

METRO says their ridership numbers have been increasing.

PREVIOUSLY: "Metro says you can legally carry a gun on a bus if you have a concealed weapons permit for it."

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/08/08 05:05 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (20)

07 May 2008

Klein ISD bond proponents getting ruffled

Anyone who drives around the Klein ISD area has seen the big VOTE YES signs all over the place. Well, the VOTE NO side invested in some signs as well (not nearly as many of course, but a few), and we have put a few up.

Today I noticed that my VOTE NO sign had disappeared. Gone!

I emailed my friend Connie O'Donnell to tell her, and she replied that she caught some people as they were trying to take her VOTE NO sign out of her front yard late this afternoon! They drove off when she opened her front door to see what was going on.

Good grief! There are very few VOTE NO signs in comparison to the VOTE YES signs. What can proponents possibly be worried about?

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/07/08 08:04 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (17)

Carol Alvarado's paperless trail

Back in April Tom Bazan filed a TxPIA request with METRO regarding Carol Alvarado's employment as a consultant:

I received the METRO contract [LA0800024] engaging Consultant Alvarado, and an invoice for services performed on behalf of METRO between January 14 through February 14, 2008. I also asked for a copy of her resume, any METRO RFQ, along with any letters, memos, notes, and/or consultant reports she has generated on behalf of METRO.

Thank you,

Tom Bazan

After a second request for a resume, a METRO RFQ, along with any letters, memos, notes, and/or consultant reports generated by Ms. Alvarado, Tom received a response from METRO:

Dear Mr. Bazan,

Regarding your request for a copy of Ms. Carol Alvarado's resume, METRO RFQ, along with any letters, memos, notes, and/or consultant reports Ms. Alvarado has generated on behalf of METRO, please be advised that while Ms. Alvarado has provided consultant services pursuant to the contract, there are no documents responsive to your specific request.

That's just priceless!

PREVIOUSLY: METRO pays Carol Alvarado $150 per hour!

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/07/08 07:46 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (14)

Mayor White talks TIRZs

Via KUHF-88.7:

Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones keep a lot of the tax revenues within its boundaries. But that means taxes generated above a set baseline are not shared with the rest of the city. Mayor Bill White says that creates a situation where some areas benefit over others.

"Right now, you have the areas with the highest property value of the city like downtown and the Galleria area for example, who pay a much, much, much smaller percentage of their property taxes for things like the salaries of police officers than do other parts of the city."

Council members like Pam Holm and Toni Lawrence defended TIRZs.

"I understand clearly what you're saying in money is there is misused for the infrastructure. I know that sometimes we don't agree on this, but I think that there are opportunities in the city our size, as large as we are, that we manage it. We put the criteria the city that we manage and it gives us opportunity, really for more infrastructure."

[snip]

Mayor White says they need to find a way for the entire city to share revenue.

[snip]

White says soon almost half the money available for capital improvements within the city under the general fund will be within the TIRZ.

UPDATE: Unsurprisingly, Cory Crow covered this yesterday, and I'm late to see it. He remembers Mayor White's previous stance on TIRZs. It differs from his latest stance.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/07/08 07:24 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)

Scariest job in Houston?

If it's not, it's in the top two or three. The Chron's Dane Schiller visits with the men cleaning the windows and granite of the Chase Tower:

When cleaning granite and washing windows on the 1,049-foot-tall JPMorgan Chase Tower in downtown Houston, one wrong move can make for a very bad day.

"It is in the hands of God ... destiny," Jose-Luis Riquelme, who specializes in working at extreme heights, said Tuesday. "If I die doing this, I'll die doing what I enjoy."

That's not to say they are daredevils. They take plenty of precautions as they attack a three-month project to bathe the five-sided building, which has about 3,100 windows and more than two acres of glass.

Before a day's work can begin, safety harnesses are double-checked, and everything from squeegees to cell phones are tied or fastened with straps to ensure that if they're dropped, they won't plunge to the ground.

A falling phone could hit 120 mph before reaching the sidewalk.

The weather is closely monitored as it can quickly bring thunderstorms and high winds. If gusts hit 25 mph, work is halted.

The key to success for the job, which pays as much as $22 an hour, is not working scared, but staying aware that working on the sides of a 75-level building is a uniquely perilous situation.

Among the guidelines: No quick movements, leave stresses at home, equally distribute weight across the scaffolding.

They earn every bit of their salaries.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/07/08 04:54 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)

06 May 2008

Mapping METRORail

Christof Spieler has the latest on METRO's light rail alignments.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/06/08 08:28 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (11)

MLS prez: Letter to Mayor White was private

Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber is confident the city of Houston will meet the Dynamo's needs for a soccer stadium:

"We're having our challenges in Houston, but ultimately we've been through a lot of challenging stadium deals," said Garber of temporary standstills in most league cities that now feature MLS-driven facilities. "At the end of the day they get done. It's going to require a lot of work on our part and hopefully some flexibility on the city's part."

And then he whined:

When a private letter Garber sent to persuade White to change his stance was made public by the mayor, the commissioner came off heavy-handed. Garber stated the team, which only just arrived in the final days of 2005, might be forced to move again if a project couldn't be bargained.

[snip]

"I didn't think that was playing fair," says Garber of the public release. "But this is a tough business we're in and the mayor is not somebody we've had a close relationship with. That wasn't a public document. For whatever agenda he had, he released it, but that's not the worst that's happened to us in my nine years as commissioner and I'm sure it won't be the worst thing going forward."

Tom Kirkendall guesses Mayor White will cave to the tune of $50-$75 million. He's already $20 million of the way there!

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/06/08 08:10 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (13)

The "logical" thinking of the Chron's editorial board

The Chron's editorial board lists the reasons why a federal gas tax holiday is such a bad idea:

The proposal insults the intelligence of American voters, assuming they will be swayed by a few dollars over the course of the summer to vote for Clinton instead of Sen. Barack Obama, or McCain rather than the Democratic nominee, as yet undecided.

Politicians insult the intelligence of American citizens every day, whether or not it's election season. For that matter, the leadership of the Houston Chronicle insults the intelligence of its readers on a near daily basis, but we don't hear of any changes in the boardroom.

At a time when U.S. highways and bridges are desperately in need of repairs or replacement, a suspension of the gasoline tax would divert about $30 billion from that vital task. Even if the government shifted tax dollars from other sources to the highway fund, the result would be an unneeded and irresponsible addition to the annual federal budget deficit. Clinton says she would cover the loss with a windfall profits tax on the oil industry. All that would do is discourage production and send oil prices even higher.

Politicians divert money from specific funds all the time. If the editors are worried about irresponsible additions to the federal budget deficit, they might want to undertake a federal house-cleaning, budget-wise, to reduce the layers upon layers of federally-funded programs that duplicate efforts. Or maybe tackle entitlements.

With high energy prices likely to be a feature of life for years to come, the United States needs to conserve its use of oil and gasoline and develop cleaner, alternative energy sources. Suspending the gasoline tax would encourage Americans to drive more, not less, and postpone the day when the country adopts a rational energy policy to cope with global warming and tightening supplies of crude.

The US needs to be drilling for our own oil, and building new refineries. That would make us energy independent. Alternative energy sources, mass transit, and driving less will not keep the American engine running, nor keep us in the forefront of innovation.

Clinton asks what's wrong with helping working Americans hurt by high food and energy prices. Nothing is wrong with that, but suspending the gas tax would hurt all Americans in the long run by sending the wrong signal to the markets and consumers. Americans need to make better use of mass transit and live in smaller, denser housing in order to be closer to work.

Congress wasn't too worried about sending the wrong signal when it decided to send taxpayers stimulus checks. And many in Congress want to bail out the tiny percentage of irresponsible homeowners who got themselves into mortgages they couldn't afford. How about THAT for a wrong signal!

Government has a voracious appetite and it never thinks it should go without money. Government doesn't think it should have to make financial choices, or tighten budgets, which citizens have to do all the time.

The Chronicle's editors are stupid if they think rising gas prices are going to make people "live in smaller, denser housing in order to be closer to work." It's not going to happen.

And the final best reason for a gas tax holiday? It's our money to begin with. We earned it, but government takes it. Let us keep a "few dollars" of our own money.

RELATED: The Incoherence of Nancy Pelosi (Power Line)

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/06/08 05:15 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (24)

05 May 2008

If METRO went where people needed to go...

...METRO wouldn't need to run an ad campaign.

And if it didn't take umpteen transfers and hours to complete a trip, maybe more people would find it convenient. As it is, METRO doesn't generally make it easy or convenient, celebrity endorsements notwithstanding.

Now, if METRO would focus more resources on its Park and Pillage, er, Ride service...

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/05/08 07:18 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (18)

Klein ISD bond voting is underway

Early voting is underway for the Klein ISD bond election. Proponents of the bond are saying opponents don't want what's best for the kids, teachers face layoffs if the bond isn't passed, and that Klein ISD faces severe overcrowding if this bond isn't enacted. Actually, opponents of this bond DO agree a bond is needed. What opponents don't agree with is how the school district is allocating the $640 million bond.

Bonds do not fund salaries, and the district is already facing a dire overcrowding situation which this bond will not fix.

Opponents of this bond would like to see less money for palatial high schools, and more money for new elementary school construction. Opponents would like to see two NEW high schools, not one new one and one rebuilt one. Opponents would not like to see unnecessary and unwanted $1400 tablet PC's financed with a 25-year bond. Opponents would like to see a Steering Committee that's made up of a majority of parents representative of all areas of the district, not a majority made up of district employees.

Opponents would like to see a well-thought-out bond that won't require the district to come and ask for another $700 million in four more years to build the schools it should have planned to build with this bond. And planning for a new bond in 2012 is already underway.

Visit www.kleinforall.com for more detailed information.

Early voting locations:

May 5-6, 7am to 4pm, Klein ISD Central Office (7200 Spring Cypress Rd.)

Elementary Schools:

May 5, 12noon to 8pm: Lemm, Klenk, Kohrville, Theiss, Northampton, Kuehnle
May 6, 12noon to 8pm: Benignus, Schultz, Epps Island, Roth, Mittelstadt, Frank, Kreinhop

Election Day: May 10, 7am to 7pm
Registered voters can vote at the elementary school in their attendance zone

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/05/08 05:51 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)

04 May 2008

An editorial light on the bear facts

Yesterday the Chronicle's editorial board penned a missive on the plight of polar bears and the effort to get them listed as an endangered species:

U.S. Geological Survey scientists estimate that the thawing Arctic could result in the near-extinction of polar bears in Alaska by midcentury. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed 18 months ago that the animals be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The listing would require federal officials to come up with a plan to protect the snow white carnivores. It could also make the species the first mammal to be designated as threatened by the effects of global warming.

[snip]

The polar bears' peril results from global warming, which is melting the ice floes upon which they hunt. The situation is further complicated by the fact that much of their habitat sits atop prime oil and gas drilling tracts. The administration has opposed mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions blamed for climate change, while pushing for expanded drilling in the Arctic.

Actually as PowerLine noted, there is evidence that manmade global warming has nothing to do with melting Arctic ice:

In October 2007, NASA announced the results of an in-depth study of Arctic sea-ice melting and found that what has caused the unusually large melting seen in the last eight years was not greenhouse gas-induced global warming. In the press release describing the study, team leader Son Nghiem explained that the warming of recent years was, in fact, caused by a change in wind patterns. "Unusual atmospheric conditions set up wind patterns that compressed the sea ice, loaded it into the Transpolar Drift Stream and then sped its flow out of the Arctic," he said. When that sea ice reached lower latitudes, it rapidly melted in the warmer waters.

And then there's the whole question of whether or not polar bears are even endangered.

Blogger and radio host Hugh Hewitt is also an expert in environmental law. He has been warning of the profound impact designating polar bears as an endangered species would have:

Once listed, the Federal Endangered Species Act is very clear: Any federal action that might impact the polar bear must be reviewed by the U.S. Fish &Wildlife Service under Section 7 of the Act.

What sort of federal actions? The most obvious would be any activity on or near Arctic ice, but that's not the gold ring the environmentalists are reaching for.

They will argue that every federal permit that allows directly or indirectly for increased emissions of hydrocarbons is a federal act that might impact the polar bear --every port expansion, every refinery opening or repair, every Army Corps of Engineers permit that allows for more homes or office buildings to rise.

Don't believe me. Believe the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs in the suit filed to force the listing.

You can follow this link to read the rest.

Now Hewitt has read the Chron's editorial and wonders:

Note that the writers present no contrary evidence to the case that ice loss is imperiling the bears.

Even more telling is that the editorial doesn't even hint at the vast impact of the listing in the lower 48. Do you suspect the writers don't know, or just prefer to keep their readers in the dark?

Our readers, of course, are not at all surprised the editorial board members either left out facts, or just plain don't know the facts. Smart money would bet that the ed board doesn't actually know many of the facts related to this topic.

But that has never stopped them before.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/04/08 01:35 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (12)

03 May 2008

Lunchtime with Frank

Mary Sit has posted the questions and answers from yesterday's lunchtime chat with METRO CEO Frank Wilson. Here are a few fun ones:

Q : If the rail running along Richmond and connecting Uof H, TSU and Richmond all the way west was a good idea, then why hasn't bus service been put on this route to show how valuable it would be.

A : Good suggestion. We might do it.

[snip]

Q : Why use split canopies at rail stops that leave part of the platform uncovered? When walking along the platform during a rainstorm (or even under the blazing summer sun), the uncovered gap is a nuisance.,

A : Careful design dictated that we cover the entry and exit ways to the rail cars and not the areas of the train that doesn't provide customer access. Yes, I am finding it hard to believe, as well, but that's what the METRO historians tell me.

I'll do my best to make sure that our new platforms have continuous shelters and people can stand wherever they choose while they wait to board our train.

[snip]

Q : Has any consideration been given to pressure washing the beautiful paving at the Metro Rail Stations? They are starting to look stained and dirty. Twice a year may help keep them from looking like NYC Subway stations.

A : I agree with you. But we already require our contractors to steam clean these stations approximately every two weeks. So we either need more steam or more cleaning.

Q : What is METRO's stance on the lawsuit filed yesterday by the Texas Medical Center regarding the stray current from the light rail?

A : We have been working with all the institutions and the utilities in the Medical Center area over the last three years. We have determined that there is no stray current problem, and the Medical Center itself through their own technical studies have determined that there's no stray current problem [not exactly, ed], that no building or utility sustained any damage as a result of stray current. Therefore, as you can imagine, we don't understand their lawsuit.

[snip]

Q : When will METRO hold a referendum to build rail to the suburbs?

A : It was done in 2003. The referendum in 2003 provided for rail into the suburbs.

And METRO disregarded the referendum and embarked on its own version of METRO Solutions!

As Kevin Whited once said regarding Chief Hurtt, "Every time that man opens his mouth, it's an adventure."

It works for Frank J. Wilson, too.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/03/08 12:49 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (4)

Mincberg: Allegations about my former properties are gutter politics

Oh brother.

So ... as the Texas Democratic Party deploys resources to Harris County in an effort to defeat Judge Ed Emmett and throws criticisms of Emmett all over the place, Dem Candidate David Mincberg says any criticisms of apartment complexes HE developed are out of line.

Gutter politics, he says.

Does Mincberg have thin skin? Local media haven't focused on him, so as an outside observer I have no idea. There is this old Houston Press story about his time as Harris County Dem Chairman. It's an interesting read, exploring his head-butting with local Dems, and toward the end of the piece the author delves into Mincberg's business -- apartment complex development:

Mincberg is obviously uncomfortable talking about his troubles in Albuquerque, and he seems anxious to know where details of the lawsuit, which is a matter of public record, first surfaced. Sources say he became angry with a party activist last week, accusing her of leaking information about the lawsuit in an attempt to sully his reputation.

Since MIncberg is touting his business record as his qualification to be county judge, he'd better expect his business record to be explored. That's not gutter politics.

Oh, and when he became head of the city's Housing and Community Development Department, he didn't quit working his other job. So his time as a city official and his time as a business executive are all fair game ... just as they are with Judge Emmett.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/03/08 07:16 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (5)

02 May 2008

Hope lost: SimDesk fails to bridge the digital divide (updated)

The Chron's Carolyn Feibel reports that SimDesk has shut down:

SimDesk Technologies, the company that provided online computer applications to Houston residents through a controversial contract with the city, has gone out of business.

The service was shut down Thursday, according to the company's Web site and an e-mail circulated to customers. No one answered the phone at the company on Thursday.

At the behest of former Mayor Lee Brown, the city awarded SimDesk a $9.5 million contract in 2002 with the hopes that the service would help bridge the "digital divide."

Residents without home computers could use SimDesk at public library computers to create and store documents online.

The Brown administration also touted the potential savings at City Hall, suggesting as many half of city work stations could be replaced with SimDesk, enabling the city to cut its computer hardware costs. Although the city had a few employees try the system, it did not work out, and no employees currently use SimDesk, according to Richard Lewis, the city's director of information technology.

[snip]

Mayor Bill White re-examined the SimDesk contract after winning office and chose to renegotiate it. SimDesk failed some performance tests, explained Lewis.

As part of the amended contract, the city stopped paying SimDesk in 2004, having paid only $2.5 million on the contract. SimDesk agreed to continue providing the service to 800,000 public users until 2010.

But no more than 30,000 people ever used SimDesk through the city's contract, Lewis said.

The Chron has a correction to the story:

A story on Friday's page B1 misstated the number of recent users of SimDesk Technologies' online products. The actual figure, according to the city of Houston's technology director, was 145.

145!

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/02/08 04:50 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)

01 May 2008

HPD wants to boot red light running delinquents

Violations are dropping, one fourth of the people who have received red light tickets haven't paid, and HPD is getting desperate:

“Something we’re going to start exploring immediately is whether we can boot vehicles of people who fail to pay their violations,” said Vicki King who is an HPD assistant chief.

Whoa! What happened to Martha Montalvo?

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/01/08 06:50 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (28)

Med Center tries to get METRO's attention on stray current

Via KHOU-11:

On Thursday, the Texas Medical Center filed a lawsuit against Metro for the potential damage of electrical current leaking from Metro's rail line.

It is a story 11 News has been covering for more than two years now. A study commissioned by the Texas Medical Center confirms that as Metro's electrical light rail line passes through the area, it is emitting a stray current that travels through the ground.

As that current reaches underground pipes and other metal, it can speed up corrosion.

In the case of the miles of high-pressure steam and the chiller pipes that cool the Medical Center buildings, corrosion is not a good thing.

"It's like waves eroding a beach,” said Stephen Swinson, of Thermal Energy. “Over time it’s just going to get worse and worse and worse. The alarm system should not be steam's blowing out of the ground.”

But two years into this dispute, the statute of limitations, and patience is running out.

No agreement on a solution or even on monitoring the potential problem has been ironed out with Metro.

So, the Texas Medical Center and the Thermal Energy Corporation filed a lawsuit asking a judge to force Metro to act.

[snip]

The suit does not ask for money. It asks that Metro agree to an annual monitoring program, and that they come up with a plan to eliminate or minimize the problem or current leakage.

This Friday, another Metro Chat is scheduled, and this time the topic is open. Maybe this will come up.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/01/08 06:33 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (10)

And the race for county judge is on

On the Chron's Houston Politics blog, Liz Peterson relays a Harris County Democratic Party press release complaining about the timing of Judge Emmett's trip to India:

The Harris County Democratic Party is criticizing Republican County Judge Ed Emmett for jetting to India and missing this week's hurricane preparedness drill.

The annual statewide exercise is coordinated by the governor's emergency management division. Representatives from more than 50 Harris County departments participated, along with transportation officials, first responders and community groups.

"Protecting Harris County residents from another disaster like Hurricane Rita should be a top priority of the county judge," party spokeswoman Amber Moon said in a statement. "The fact that Ed Emmett would choose traveling to India over emergency preparedness speaks volumes about his priorities."

Through a spokesman, Emmett called Moon's comments a "sickening attempt to play politics with public safety." He said his 10-day trade mission was planned last year before dates for the drill were firmed up.

That seems like a fairly lame criticism for the Dems to make, but it is election season. Do people really think a governmental body cannot function if the leader is not present? Do people really think that if a hurricane was forecast for a potential Gulf Coast landfall, Judge Emmett wouldn't have cancelled his trip?

The comments to the post are also fairly lame, with the first commenter being especially ill-informed:

Great, why are we paying him to jet around on a 10 day tour of India? How much is this costing us in his monthly wage and our tax dollars.

Junkets need to be outlawed.

Posted by: CB at May 1, 2008 08:16 AM

As we noted here previously, Judge Emmett did not use any taxpayer dollars to pay his way to India. If Houston Politics commenters want to go that route, maybe they could inquire if Mayor Bill White was paid to jet around the Middle East on an eight-day trade mission? Did Mayor White pay his own way? I don't know; maybe someone can inquire.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/01/08 06:25 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (0)

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