31 December 2008

Happy New Year's

Happy New Year's, everyone.

Be safe out there tonight. And please don't get behind the wheel if you've been drinking.

See ya'll in 2009!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/31/08 04:01 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (11)

30 December 2008

Houston tops a list it doesn't want to be on

I found an interesting article in the Houston Chronicle. It's titled:

"Study: Houston leads in homicides by black youths"

Allan Turner writes a good article citing a study done by James Fox and Marc Swatt. Their study puts Houston at the top of the list of homicides by young black youths. Mostly the victims are also black youths.

Focusing on the period between 2000-01 and 2006-07, the study found Houston at the top of a list of 28 U.S. cities, with a 139 percent increase in the number of young African-Americans suspected in killings.

In 2006-07, 129 young black men were murdered in the city, up from 42 in 2000-01.

This is a touchy subject due to the politically correct status quo we live in. So, to avoid controversy, what do these academics suggest is the reason?

Fox and his associate, criminologist Marc Swatt, argued in the report that the increases occurred as the federal government cut support for community policing and intervention programs put in place to combat a rise in gang violence in the 1990s.

Okay, we've got the federal government to blame.

"Kids can't wait, and crime doesn't wait," Fox said. "There is a significant need here — a large group of kids with inadequate, inferior education and a ready access to guns. A teenager with a gun in his hand is a dangerous individual."

Okay, kids and guns don't mix. Never mind that millions of kids (like me and my brother) were raised around guns but were taught about responsibility and consequences at an early age by our father.

Of course Quanell has to weigh in since he is the Chronicle's duly appointed community activist.

Houston community activist Quanell X called the study a "blanket indictment of the city and government officials in the city and a greater indictment of ministers and political leaders of the African-American community."

Isn't he considered a 'leader in the African-American community?' Then this is an indictment of him too.

Shape Community Center's Deloyd Parker questioned the way the study was conducted. "When they say 'offender,' does that mean someone who's charged with a crime or been convicted?" he said. "Sometimes even being convicted doesn't mean you're actually guilty."

Of course we have the 'ostrich' response!

I wish I could find the young black woman I met two years ago in southwest Houston. She works hard trying to raise her two young boys whose father left them. Her oldest son was on probation and her youngest son had just been arrested for auto theft. Who did she blame? She was upset at her son, not the police. Ask her. She could shed some light on this problem. We talked for over an hour about absentee fathers, lack of positive role models, the glorification of the 'gangsta' lifestyle by rap music, and the lack of personal responsibility. This extraordinary woman could answer this problem better than academia. I wonder how Houston will wear this scarlet letter!

Posted by Jason @ 12/30/08 11:17 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

29 December 2008

Chron: Wrecks more than doubled at intersections with at least one red-light camera

Finally, the study has been released (completely unrelated to that lawsuit, we're sure), and incredibly, Mayor White and Bob Stein have decided they're going to sell a different conclusion, saying red light cameras have actually improved public safety: (via the Chron's Bradley Olsen):

Red-light cameras installed at some of Houston's most dangerous intersections did not reduce the number of crashes there, according to a long-awaited study the city commissioned on the matter.

In fact, wrecks at intersections with at least one red-light camera more than doubled, the data shows. The analysis examined accident data at intersections that had at least one camera which monitored traffic in one direction, or "approach" of the intersection.

Study authors said the reason for the increase at "monitored approaches" is actually that the city has seen a major uptick in collisions during the past year, one that they believe red-light cameras helped mitigate. In other words, the study, released today, concludes that there were far fewer collisions at intersections with red-light cameras than there otherwise would have been if the cameras had not been installed.

"Collisions are going up all over the city," said Bob Stein, a Rice University political science professor and one of report's four authors. "But red-light cameras have held back that increase at approaches where they have been installed."

Regarding the bolded sentence, read the following from the study:

Although this study supports the idea that that red light cameras have a positive effect in reducing collisions at monitored approaches in comparison with non-monitored approaches, several questions have been raised by these findings. The most important of these is “Why have accidents at non-monitored approaches increased so dramatically in the past year?” As suggested above, these results could be evidence of an increase in collisions across the city. The selection in 2006 of intersections with high rates of collisions could be serving to magnify this effect.

Currently, conclusions on a general increase in collisions across the city are not supportable with available data. Population growth and congestion stand out as possible factors behind slower traffic flow and increased collisions on a citywide level. However, this hypothesis is beyond the scope of this report and will have to be tested with specific data and rigorous analysis.

Just something to consider, as you read MayorWhiteBobStein's spin:

Mayor Bill White said the findings prove that the red light cameras are making city streets safer.

"The program is proving successful in improving public safety, which has been the goal since the beginning," White said in a written statement. "We believe the findings and conclusions provide sound evidence of that."

Or something else.

UPDATE: Kevin and Cory have struggled through the study. Both now need aspirin.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/29/08 07:48 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (7)

28 December 2008

The Houston Way paves the way in Galleria-area land taking

Lately, quite a bit of attention has been focused on "the Chicago Way," the complex web of cronyism, patronage, and machine politics that can make (think both of the Mayors Daley) or break (think recent governors) Illinois pols.

Locally, we have The Houston Way, which doesn't factor into our state politics quite as prominently, but is no less intriguing when it comes to cronyism, patronage, and the benefits that always seem to accrue to the city's powerful and well-connected.

As Houston Chronicle reporters Carolyn Feibel and Bradley Olson make clear today in an outstanding followup to a March 2008 story by Mike Snyder on the city's abuse of its eminent domain power, The Houston Way hardly went away when Lee Brown finally was term-limited out of office and Bill White took charge (even though Mayor White's press staff surely loves it when journalists give the impression that White singlehandedly restored ethics to Houston government). Rather, one might say it reverted back to the more refined practices of, say, the Lanier Administration (more refined in the sense that we doubt any White Administration staffers will wind up indicted like various Brown Administration staffers, who were bunglers in The Houston Way really).

Recall back in March that we and other blogs commented on the story by Snyder, which described a lawsuit filed by two brothers contesting the city's effort to take their small Galleria-area property and make it into a so-small-as-to-be-useless "public park" that would conveniently double as ornamentation for a huge planned real-estate development. To recap Snyder's reporting: The brothers had acquired that property in 1982, and had been approached by the Uptown Houston District in February 2004 about selling it for parkland. In April 2004, Wulfe & Co. became interested in acquiring the land, and within a year had announced plans to redevelop a surrounding plot into the multi-acre BLVD Place mixed-use development. In July 2006, Wulfe & Co made a sizable offer for the land, which the brothers declined. In October 2006, the City of Houston said it wanted to acquire the land for a park. In May 2007, the city made an offer for the land, which the brothers declined. In November 2007, the City filed to acquire the property by eminent domain for the Uptown Houston District -- for more than a million dollars less than Wulfe & Co had once offered. At the time, Joe Turner, the City's Parks and Recreation director, said the move was justified, and that there was a "shortage of parks" in the area. The reporting noted that Ed Wulfe had a seat on the Uptown Houston District's board, and "is well-known at City Hall."

At the time, some of us didn't think this passed the smell test.

In today's intricate, detailed followup to the original story, we learn quite a bit more about this deal that makes it smell even worse. In no particular order, here are more of the damning details:

The Hanover Company (which would acquire 1.48 acres of land from Wulfe & Co for a residential tower) stipulated that the brothers' property (which was adjacent) had to be a part of any deal -- and it eventually was, courtesy of the Uptown Houston District and the city's eminent domain power. Like Wulfe, Hanover President John Nash is a member of the Uptown Houston District board.

In depositions related to the lawsuit, Joe Turner (the Parks and Recreation director) now says he did not want to seize the land for the park, that the idea did not originate with his office (which has not used condemnation to acquire parkland in his tenure), and that Councilmember Pam Holm pushed the idea and provided him a memo to sign off on backing the deal.

Mayor White's March 2008 memo after some critical press coverage seems to betray the fact that there was no public-purpose behind the land grab.

There still are no plans for the land's use as a park.

Hanover executives and Wulfe are big contributors to Mayor Bill White, Councilmember Pam Holm, and Councilmember Peter Brown, all of whom supported the eminent domain proceeding enthusiastically.

Councilmember Peter Brown's wife just happened to be an investor in BLVD Place, but City Attorney Arturo Michel apparently told Brown that this didn't represent a conflict of interest.

Mayor Bill White and Councilmember Peter Brown are both resisting deposition efforts.

We'll leave it to readers to draw their own conclusions about this smelly, incestuous mess, although we suspect all but the most partisan cheerleaders for Mayor White will at least agree that it's a smelly incestuous mess.

We do take exception with one small part of the otherwise fine reporting by Feibel and Olson:

[C]ritics of City Hall contend that officials too often shape policy and decisions to aid developers.

That's not untrue, but a better description of The Houston Way is that officials too often shape policy and decisions to aid the city's powerful and well-connected (at the expense of the less powerful).

Notable recent examples of The Houston Way in action would include: Mayor White, Council, and Richard Vacar putting an airport shuttle company out of business at the behest of Yellow Cab, which wanted the business to itself; Mayor White's use of an archaic driveway ordinance to continue to frustrate a planned high-rise development (that had seemingly met existing regulatory hurdles) once well-connected supporters demanded it be stopped (this would be a key example of developers NOT shaping policy); Mayor White and Council extending the IAH Terminal C concession for the well-connected Jason Yoo despite the abysmal job he has done; and of course the unsuccessful effort to boot the Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation from its prime real estate (for developers never named?).

In a town with a columnist like John Kass, we might look forward to many scathing columns in the future about The Houston Way and all of its incestuous relationships and deals. Alas, The Plagiarist is more expert in The San Antonio Way than ours, the Teen Diarist's range is *ahem* limited as well, and the Houston Press gave up trying to write about politics years ago. Too bad.

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

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/28/08 10:32 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (9)

Art in Houston: Chron offers "guidance about what is good for the people of Houston"

Remember when Chron editor Jeff Cohen said the editorial board's purpose was to "offer guidance about what is good for the people of Houston"?

Well, the Chron's Christmas day editorial was a doozy, opining that "Houstonians can thank the publicly/privately funded Houston Art Alliance for the coming artistic bounty."

That's just hilarious, considering Wayne Dolcefino's recent look at the taxpayer-funded Houston Art Alliance. So, just for fun, here's a little compare/contrast:

27 December 2008

Holiday slowdown linkpost

We're still playing with new Christmas toys, but here are a few local stories that have caught our attention:

Vasquez sworn in as county tax assessor

City sends woman a $4,700 water bill as an early Christmas present Lest you think the city doesn't have a heart, "The city agreed to reduce the bill from $4,000 to $1,000, which is still a big jump from Baylous’ $10 a month bill."

City's pension plans lose $1.9 billion in value But, the experts assure that there's nothing to worry about.

Garcia, Lee offer deal for Dynamo: Commissioners propose to offer $10 million for stadium project

Suit claims city withholding red-light camera study

Mayor Bill White's office attacked the lawsuit as a publicity stunt.

Considering the study was supposed to be released in "a couple of days" back on December 10th, there might be some merit to the suit. Maybe NOW the city will release the study...after it's cleaned up:

The mayor's office later asked Stein to make some changes for clarity so the public and reporters could more easily understand the conclusions.

Ooooo, a Bob Stein-sighting!

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/27/08 08:39 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)

23 December 2008

Holiday slowdown

Are you procrastinating? Or have you finished all your shopping?

With just one weekend left before Christmas, the average person has completed nearly 65 percent of their holiday shopping.

But about 44.5 million people, or 20 percent, haven’t even made their list or checked it twice, the survey found.

Posting will most likely be slow over the next few days as we busy ourselves with final holiday preparations, and then celebrate Christmas with our families.

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

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/23/08 05:34 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (6)

People like their cars

Yesterday's Move It! column noted that METRO's ridership is down:

Ridership went down in November for all of Metro's primary modes of transportation: rail, Park and Ride and local bus service.

The slide in Metro's ridership comes at a time when commuters now rely upon public transportation at record levels, according to a recent report from the American Public Transportation Association.

METRO's ridership bookkeeping has always been mysterious, so who knows what the agency's real numbers are. But it's not hard to figure out that a contributing factor in the reduced number of riders is what happened to gas prices. Given a choice -- affordable gas prices vs. late, uncomfortable, inflexible mass transit -- the vast majority of people will choose to drive their cars. It's personal freedom.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/23/08 05:10 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (8)

20 December 2008

Area transit agency manipulating statistics? Just call it the Houston Way

The Chronicle's Rosanna Ruiz reports that the performance of METRO's bus service is registering complaints from management and riders alike:

Metro buses continue to run late and have failed to achieve the agency's modest goal of 61 percent on-time performance, a feat that does not evoke confidence in the transit agency, board chairman David Wolff complained Thursday.

Metro buses have run on schedule 59 percent of the time for the first two months of this fiscal year. The agency reported a 55 percent on-time percentage in 2008.

"I get letters from people saying, 'I wait and wait. I'm going to quit taking the bus because I can't depend on it,' " Wolff said during the board's monthly meeting. "An important part of running a transit service is dependability. An important part of dependability is punctuality."

[snip]

During the public-comment portion of Thursday's meeting, board members waited on Bellaire resident Marta Epps to breathlessly make her way to the podium, where she wanted to complain about Metro's decision to raise the fare from $1 to $1.25.

Epps apologized, but said a late bus was to blame for her tardiness.

That's priceless.

The following comment -- not so much:

David F. Feeley, the agency's senior vice president of operations, said the 61 percent goal is nothing to boast about, but he blamed the shortfall on the way Metro measures its travel times.

"I don't think that number accurately reflects the actual performance," Feeley said about Metro's arrival and departure times in October and November.

According to Metro staff, the agency calculates its on-time performance through on-board devices that count passengers and time of arrival at each stop. The agency collects data for each stop, not simply at the start and end of each route. If one bus along a route, for instance, experiences a delay because of a parked train, subsequent stops also will be behind and recorded as late arrivals.

Buses are considered late if they are more than five minutes behind schedule. Delays of 20 minutes or more are considered "anomalous" and are excluded from the final tally.

We had to re-read that bold part a few times to make sure we were reading it correctly.

Upon reflection, however, it does not not surprise. After all, if MayorWhiteChiefHurtt's police department can miscategorize murders so that Houston won't be designated the murder capital of Texas on their watch, why shouldn't the local transit agency lie about delays to make their dismal numbers look a little less dismal? We've been learning a lot recently about the "Chicago Way" in terms of politics -- maybe we can deem this sort of deception the "Houston way!"

In any case, it's good to see the Chronicle transportation reporter offering a little more criticism of METRO than either of the last two reporters on the beat (Rad Sallee and Lucas Wall).

Cory Crow asks some pointed questions in his post on the story. We'll conclude with a "what he said."

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/20/08 11:58 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (7)

Better wait a few days before trying the recipes (cont'd)

As we've noted before, it's always good to wait a few days (for corrections) before trying any recipe that appears in the Chronicle.

Here's something from recent corrections that helps make the point:

A recipe for Beef Tamales on Page F5 of Wednesday's Flavor section was mistitled. Also, the ingredients should have called for 4 ounces of dried New Mexico chilies and 4 cups of masa mix. For the corrected recipe please see chron.com/food.

Happy cooking (once you've checked the corrections)!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/20/08 11:05 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)

18 December 2008

METRO police babysit the Danger Train

For the past month, METRO police officers have been doing something a little different:

The transit agency has parked officers at six downtown intersections every day for the past month, aimed at preventing motorists from making illegal turns into the path of oncoming light rail trains.

There have been 57 accidents on the rail line this year — five fewer than in the first year of operation — many of them the result of illegal turns, the transit agency has said.

The officers are monitoring the intersections as part of a pilot program that began Nov. 17, said Police Chief Tom Lambert of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County. Last month, the city of Houston and Metro made adjustments to traffic signals at the same intersections to allow rail cars to proceed a few moments ahead of motorists.

"Some may say we're being very aggressive with having officers at every intersection," Lambert said. "But we have a responsibility to public safety to make sure we reduce accidents."

Lambert said he will scale back the number of officers at the intersections along Main at St. Joseph, Franklin, Texas, Prairie, Preston and Congress. He said his review revealed no accidents had occurred at those sites since the start of the pilot program.

Starting Friday, he said, officers will be assigned to patrol "as appropriate" between Pierce and Commerce.

The change could not come soon enough for Metro officers, who have questioned the wisdom of requiring police to sit at the intersections for an entire shift rather than being out on patrol, said Dean Goodrick, the president of the Houston Police Patrolman's Union.

Remember, this is the same police department that said it cannot possibly patrol its entire service area. But it can spare 6 officers to sit and watch the Danger Train all day long.

That's how Chief Lambert does safety.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/18/08 07:33 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (15)

Elizabeth Shelton sues driver she hit, while drunk, for her mental suffering!

Remember Elizabeth Shelton? The daughter of the Harris County judge who was drunk, rear ended a box truck and ended up killing her boyfriend who was her passenger? I can't remember her ever showing remorse that her boyfriend was killed. She and her father blamed the truck driver for the accident, trying to distract the jury from the fact that she was 20 (too young to be legally drinking alcohol) and three times the legal limit. In other words, the girl was drunk!!!! She was given basically a slap on the wrist. Again she amazes us all with her poor sense of judgment! She is suing the box truck driver she hit while she was drunk!

Shelton, her family and the family of the boyfriend who was killed are suing for $20,000 for the destruction of the Lexus SUV she was driving and an undetermined amount for mental anguish, pain and suffering.

So she is arguing that while she was driving drunk, she rear ended a box truck, killed her boyfriend, and she's suffering mental anguish! She must still be in denial or trying to convince the public it wasn't her fault even though she was drunk. Or her insurance won't pay off or got canceled because she was drunk and she wants a new Lexus SUV. I didn't want to lump her in with her father's position as a judge. Even judges can have bad apples. Yet, according to the article, her family, and the family of the dead man are also suing the box truck driver. So maybe she isn't the only one with a lapse in reasoning.

Posted by Jason @ 12/18/08 11:07 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (25)

17 December 2008

A New Year's resolution for Houston: Be more eventful in 2009!

This reminded me of when Carol Alvarado said Houston was "event-ed out" in 2006:

The Bayou City fell six spots to No. 13 on the 2008 list of “Most Eventful Cities,” a survey published by San Diego-based Eventful Inc. that ranks U.S. cities according to the number and diversity of local events for residents and visitors.

[snip]

Though he could not cite specific reasons for why the city dropped from its seventh place ranking last year, Jordan Glazier, chief executive officer of Eventful, said Hurricane Ike’s appearance in September likely was the culprit, though other cities might also have beefed up their event roster.

“It’s actually impressive that Houston was able to stay at No. 13 instead of completely falling off of the list, considering you had a hurricane,” Glazier said.

It also says something about Houston, he said, that the city was able to remain in the Top 10 for categories such as best outdoor events (No. 5) and family events (No. 6).

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/17/08 08:13 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (4)

Airport survey to cost almost $700k

KHOU-11 reports that city council has approved Houston Airport System's request for a passenger survey:

The people that run Houston two major airports want to know what you think about them.

They asked the city to spend $686,000 on a survey of passengers passing through Bush Intercontinental Airport and Hobby Airport.

The city council agreed. The survey will ask about everything from ground transportation to ticketing to concessions.

I'd LOVE to see what people think of Terminal C's concessions.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/17/08 06:41 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)

16 December 2008

Surprise! Mayor White wants to be Senator White

It's official: Mayor White is running for the U.S. Senate.

His campaign and his supporters will portray him as a moderate Democrat, a businessman who gets things done. What they won't mention is that he's fond of stealth taxation (revenue streams), creating new regulations, and kicking undesirable problems down the road so he doesn't have to address them.

He's been known to shake down the mentally retarded for millions of dollars, award lucrative, non-competitive contracts to political faves, and to approve selling a portion of a street to a developer using suspect appraisals, afterwards admitting that the process was less than ideal.

He has favored liberal pet projects and policies over basic municipal needs.

Plus, he can be thin-skinned, and he doesn't appreciate dissent.

Supporters will say to look at how competently he's run the city; common sense would say former Mayor Lee P. Brown set such a low bar, it was hard to go anywhere but up.

This will be fun to watch play out.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/16/08 06:58 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (19)

15 December 2008

Houston priorities: Clinton Climate Initiative before flooding

Last week, Texas Watchdog noted that Houston was one of many cities submitting a bailout wish list to the feds:

The two biggest items the city says it needs federal tax dollars for are:

+A city-wide flood control program. That comes to $221 million and 4,420 jobs.

+Infrastructure improvements to make way for the Metro Houston Intermodal Terminal near downtown. That’s a project priced at $175 million wih 4,870 new jobs.

In all, Houston is asking for $587.7 million in projects that the city says will create 12,500 jobs.

You may recall that the city recently decided to scale back $100 million-worth of infrastructure improvements due to the credit crisis.

In other city news, the mayor announced that 11 million square feet of city buildings will be retrofitted to meet the Clinton Climate Initiative's Energy Efficiency program standards.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/15/08 06:43 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (11)

13 December 2008

Swamplot award nominations (updated!)

Swamplot has added to the Houston real estate fun by introducing the Swampies -- awards dedicated to the "best and most of Houston Real Estate in 2008." There are ten categories, and the blog's proprietor(s) are looking for nominations.

I have my own idea about what is the "Greatest Moment in Houston Real Estate in 2008," but we'll see if it makes the cut.

Best of luck to all the nominees!

UPDATE: And the nominees are:

1. Construction Is Completed on the Katy Freeway

2. Vestalia Opens for Business

3. The Astrodome Goes Dark

4. Discovery Tower Begins Construction

5. The Opening of Discovery Green

6. Inland Houston Escapes Extensive Flooding

7. Get-to-Know-Your-Neighbor Week

My fave made the list! Woo!

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/13/08 02:34 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)

Don't call METRO insensitive

A couple of weeks ago, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee held a press conference (give or take a day) accusing METRO of insensitivity toward Houston's small business community.

Yesterday, METRO sprang into action, holding a small business seminar. METRO's expensive blogger highlighted the exciting details:

Nadeem Ainuddin, METRO's senior contract specialist in procurement, had the audience laughing as he encouraged them to "bug" him and call him with questions, telling them that he, too, was once an entrepreneur and understood their issues.

Will Rep. Lee hold another press conference, applauding METRO's increased sensitivity (and humor!)?

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/13/08 12:58 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (3)

Shuttle fly-by

How cool is this?

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/13/08 12:19 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)

Klein Oak student accesses non-password protected file with school-issued laptop, gets expelled

Via KHOU-11:

At Klein Oak High, a freshman reportedly gained computer access to thousands of employees’ personal information while in class.

"He was just clicking on folders in a network. Then he clicked on a folder that was not password protected," said Daniel Merritt, the boy’s father.

When Klein Oak handed out 3,000 laptops last fall, it became apparent within, oh, about 30 seconds that Klein ISD was in over its head. That's about how long it took the teens to start exploring their new little toys. And we all know how kids love to test boundaries.

What it essentially boils down to is that the district was completely unprepared, which is just mind-boggling.

Michael Garfield, a computer expert, said that a network is a shared pipeline where any number of people can share the same files.

“If you don't want anybody else accessing it, you have to make sure it’s locked down with password encryption,” said Garfield.

Daniel's father and uncle are standing behind him. They said the teen realizes he made a mistake, but so did the school.

The school district admitted that not all files are password protected, but other restrictions are in place to prohibit access.

"Not all files are password protected." Stunning.

And so, yesterday, a computer generated call was made to all Klein Oak parents warning of the consequences of students doing things they shouldn't be doing:

On behalf of Klein Oak High School administration, beginning Monday, December 15th, students will no longer be issued warnings for technology violations. All technology violations will receive a discipline based upon the severity of the incident. Please remember that these disciplinary measures may affect your child's exemption status.

Secondly, due to the number of violations of the district's technology acceptable use procedures, students will no longer be able to run executable files from their USB or media ports. Also, in lieu collecting the tablets for the holiday and in order to ensure safety and prevent violations of the acceptable use procedures over the winter break, all students will be denied internet access except to the district's LMS site from the afternoon of December 19th to the morning of January 5th. During this period, students will also have zero access to USB and or media ports.

In the comments at the end of KHOU's story is this:

Klein ISD knew they had poor security back in October. They were warned by a security expert.

So when does Due Diligence play a part for Klein ISD when it comes to protecting peoples data? Giving students access to the same network this data is stored on only proves they have a very poor understanding of security.

Their new policy to restrict the use of portable devices via the USB port will NOT stop a full breech of the system.

As for the student:

Simply taking the files because they were in an unlocked folder is the same as saying it’s ok to take stuff from someone’s house because they didn't lock their door; it simply doesn't fly.

That being said Klein MUST accept the fact that THEY failed to practice Due Diligence and therefore MUST accept at least HALF the responsibility of this breech.

Following the same analogy of the house:

If you live in a violent neighborhood (and any network can be violent) and are warned to lock your doors, and fail to do so and get robbed, you must accept at least half the responsibility of the theft as you failed to follow due diligence in protecting yourself.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/13/08 11:16 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (25)

11 December 2008

City borrows more money for pension obligations

A week ago, the Chron's Carolyn Feibel reported on a "positive" development in the city's looming pension nightmare.

Over at Houblog, Ubu Roi took a closer look, and came to a, um, different conclusion:

This article is pitched as good news, but what it really says is that the City just borrowed an additional $59 million to finance the police pension fund and $41 million just to pay the deferred interest on the previous $300 million debt. The last sentence of the quote makes it obvious that the first sentence is misleading. Worse, the math doesn’t add up. Here’s what happened, if we cut out all the smoke and mirrors.

Go forth and read. And shake your head.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/11/08 07:16 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (7)

10 December 2008

Snow?!

Goodness! It was snowing as I left work this afternoon, and it had actually covered my windshield. That was unexpected!

Thankfully, no shoveling needed. We moved here to get away from that nonsense. =)

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/10/08 06:33 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (10)

The OTHER red-light camera study

The Houston Press' Hair Balls blog hears that there's another red-light camera study, and this time it focuses solely on Houston:

Much is being made of a Texas A&M study recently released saying that red light cameras reduce accidents by 30 percent across the state.

But Hair Balls has gotten a whiff that there's another study out there looking specifically at Houston and that the results are not so rosy. What's more, a local civil rights lawyer says the City of Houston is refusing to release it.

Attorney Randall Kallinen says Rice University professor Robert Stein (who is no enemy of the mayoral administration) completed a study three months ago and turned it over to the city. Kallinen says he spoke to Stein about the report.

"Legally," says Kallinen, "I could tell you everything I know about that study, but morally I told Mr. Stein that I wouldn't say much about it. But let me tell you, that draft report is in direct odds to what the report from A&M said."

So far the city is refusing to release the study in response to TxPIA requests, but mayoral spokesman Pat Trahan says it will be released in a few days.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/10/08 04:54 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (5)

09 December 2008

Dynamo Stadium (con't)

KHOU-11 has a blurb posted with the latest on Dynamo Stadium negotiations:

Dynamo officials are prepared to invest $50 million in the stadium, but they still need approximately $10 million from the city and another $10 million from the county.

The Dynamo presented a plan to the county, but on Tuesday Commissioners Sylvia Garcia and El Franco Lee said they will ask the county to run the numbers again.

They said they want to make sure that the deal is feasible in a weak economy.

Back in June, it was a $110 million project; now it's $70 million? And since the city's already spent $15 million for land, is Mayor White willing to drop another $10 million on a sports stadium, at the same time he's planning on cutting back on infrastructure improvements due to the credit crisis?

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/09/08 07:39 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)

08 December 2008

Fast Company profiles Opportunity Houston

The latest Fast Company has a feature on Opportunity Houston, the Greater Houston Partnership's multimillion dollar effort to market Houston. Here is an excerpt from the article:

Houston's corporate mandarins set a goal of creating 600,000 new jobs by 2016. But the region was doing a lackluster job selling itself. "Houston had no brand," says John Hofmeister, an architect of Opportunity Houston and former president of Shell Oil. Even when companies took the initiative to inquire about moving to Houston, the partnership, with its shoestring budget, had little capacity to reply helpfully. Its leaders regularly declined invitations to fly to make presentations, citing a lack of funds. The city government did little -- it had only one full-time economic-development employee.

So two years ago, Hofmeister joined Moseley, Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane, and marketer Gio Tomasini on a fund-raising tour of executive suites. They collected $30 million, a fund initially directed toward building buzz with a new marketing push and attending economic-development conferences. In March, Richard was recruited from the consultancy Hawes Hill Calderon to help turn hype into deals.

Since last spring, the relocation pipeline has ballooned from fewer than 500 corporate candidates to well over 1,100. And during 2007, Opportunity Houston's pilot year, the partnership tallied $500 million in new capital investment and $15.2 billion in new foreign trade directly related to its efforts.

The entire story is here. Please give it a read and come back to discuss!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/08/08 10:09 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)

Olds: Prospects for Astrodome Hotel financing still dicey

Here is the lede on Bill Murphy's latest Chronicle story on the proposed Astrodome Hotel boondoggle:

The credit crunch has not killed the effort to turn the Astrodome into an upscale convention hotel, but the project's developers and county officials are unsure whether financing for the $450 million plan can be obtained.

As Tom Kirkendall has pointed out since Astrodome hotel fantasy first surfaced, the prospects of anyone financing the dubious project (absent a huge "investment" by government) were always slim, not that one would ever guess from Murphy's cheerleading/reporting.

Indeed, in a serious newspaper with more demanding editors, Murphy would never have been allowed to report so optimistically and glowingly for so long about the dreamed-of boondoggle without at least including some hard financial analysis to balance the cheerleading. Cory Crow also points out that the Texans and the Rodeo remain as significant hurdles that have yet to be overcome.

At some point, we're going to have to start considering some realistic solutions to the Astrodome problem. Judge Emmett has peeked at the little blog in the past -- so feel free to leave him your recommendations in the comments!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/08/08 09:35 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (10)

07 December 2008

Reform you can believe in: Lykos targets short skirts!

Following last week's purge of experienced prosecutors and investigators who supported the wrong political candidate, the new regime in the Harris County District Attorney's Office took the opportunity to address misdemeanor prosecutors.

Given the problems the DA's office has suffered in the last year, not to mention the big "reform" campaigns run by both candidates, one might expect that top Lykos lieutenant Jim Leitner had plenty of serious issues to discuss.

And perhaps he will, one day. But as Murray Newman reports on his blog, last week's message was that Pat Lykos is not opposed to pant suits. Seriously. However, Lykos apparently does NOT like short skirts. Seriously!

Mark Bennett has a nice post on this "Reassurance of the Pants."

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/07/08 02:12 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)

What happens to Bolsover Street? (cont'd)

The Examiner's Michael Reed answers the question of what happens to Bolsover Street now that Lamesa Properties has been unable to secure financing for its Sonoma project: Pretty much nothing:

The 2400 block of Bolsover could remain undeveloped and in the possession of Lamesa Properties another seven-and-half years, according to the terms of the ordinance approving the street’s abandonment.

A spokesman for the city said Monday in addition to the five years the agreement allowed for the completion of the retail-residential project and some traffic-related construction, an additional three-year extension can be granted at the “sole discretion” of the director of Public Works.

Under the terms of the sale of the street, the additional time could be allowed “for extenuating circumstances,” city spokesman Alvin Wright said.

Those circumstances were not defined by the ordinance, which went into effect Aug. 21, 2007.

The sale of the street was contingent on completion of the project “as substantially presented to the community” and the installation of left-turn bays approaching Kelvin Street and Morningside Boulevard at the Rice Boulevard intersections within five years of that date.

An extension by the Public Works director, which does not require council action, could push that date back to Aug. 21, 2015. Failure to grant an extension request cannot be appealed by the property owner.

According to Wright, “The developer has satisfied all commitments and contract requirements to date, and there are no others until Aug. 21, 2012.”

That seems to have worked out well...for Lamesa Properties.

PREVIOUSLY: Bolsover appraisals raise questions over abandonment process

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/07/08 01:29 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (1)

Adventures in homeownership

Sometimes owning a home can be a challenge (via KPRC-2):

Mountains Of Hurricane Mulch Invade Houston Neighborhood
If you haven't already, you should watch the video to see just how big the mountains of mulch are.

Homeowner Finds Roof In Unexpected Place
And this is unbelievable. Maybe the homeowner should see if the roofer in question has registered with the city.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/07/08 07:51 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

05 December 2008

KRIV: Bettencourt resigns! (UPDATED)

KRIV-26 is reporting some shocking political news (via Mike McGuff and Twitter):

FOX 26 News has learned Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt has turned in his resignation to Harris County Judge Ed Emmett.

Sources tell FOX 26 Bettencourt turned in his resignation letter Thursday, and it is effective Wednesday.

Betterncourt has been unavailable for comment.

[snip]

Sources said Bettencourt has chosen to work in the private sector.

There's not much to say until this story is fleshed out a bit more, but if this is another case of a popular Republican running and winning while planning to step down the whole time (à la Judge Eckels), the little blog will be displeased once again. But perhaps there are mitigating circumstances, so we'll withhold judgment for now.

UPDATE: The Chronicle is now reporting the same story, citing Joe Stinebaker.

UPDATE 2: KHOU-11's Doug Miller has more.

UPDATE 3: The story seems to be that Bettencourt resigned to pursue a business opportunity he just received. Maybe that's even true. Unfortunately, the appearance is that Bettencourt misled voters about his intention to serve them just as Robert Eckels misled voters about his intention to serve them, because local Republican Party leaders (oxymoron?) knew that a non-incumbent Harris County Republican running in 2008 (and on) would be in a lot of trouble. Perhaps someone should inform the aspiring Machiavelli behind these moves that the Texas Republican brand is damaged, and that misleading voters about one's intention to serve if elected further damages the brand.

UPDATE 4: Paul Burka speculates about what's behind the Bettencourt resignation.

UPDATE 5 (12/07/2008): Bettencourt is finally quoted in the Chronicle, and doesn't seem at all bothered about misleading voters and citizens, who had every reason to expect he would serve out his term:

"I've had a wonderful 10 years of service with great people at the office who have done good things for the taxpayers of Harris County," Bettencourt, 50, said Saturday, a day after word of his planned departure was leaked to the media and broken on the late-night news.

"But there comes a time when you decide that further challenges await you and that you know you need to accept those challenges before maybe you get to the age where someone won't offer you the opportunity," he said.

[snip]

Bettencourt said he first entertained the idea of leaving the county during the summer, well after the GOP primary, when it looked like he and every other Republican in Harris County were headed for defeat. But he insisted no serious discussions about the offer he chose to accept occurred before the Nov. 4 election.

"This business venture is something that took shape after the election and not before," he said.

"You can always think pie in the sky, what do I do if the election doesn't turn out your way. It's another thing to have a thought like that and be approached to have a discussion about a new business venture.

In other words, the man isn't bothered by breaking his commitment to voters but has offered no compelling information as to why we shouldn't be bothered. It's the latest case of a local GOP official misleading citizens and voters, and it's deplorable.

Meanwhile, the Chronicle's Liz Austin Peterson has this quote from Bicyclist Bob Stein:

It is almost unheard of for an incumbent to resign before being sworn in to his new term, Rice University political scientist Bob Stein said. The timing of Bettencourt's decision was suspect, he said, because a lesser-known Republican might have struggled to win in a year Democrats so heavily dominated countywide elections.

True enough. However, Peterson might have added that Bob Stein is a Democrat. For that matter, perhaps the Chronicle could, on occasion, find some source other than Bob Stein to cite.

Peterson does confirm that the news was leaked to local media late Friday. There's only one reason to leak political news that way: Because it stinks and someone wants to bury it. While one can understand why the Harris County GOP's local Machiavellis might want to hide the fact that they have deceived voters and citizens (again), a better move would have been not to do it in the first place, especially after the Eckels example!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/05/08 09:59 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (28)

04 December 2008

Study: Accidents in Texas decline signficantly at red-light-camera intersections

Earlier in the week, the Chronicle's Matt Stiles reported on a state-mandated red-light camera study:

A statewide study by institute researchers shows that monitored intersections had an overall 30 percent decrease in collisions.

The state-mandated report, released Tuesday by the Texas Department of Transportation, examined data from 56 intersections across the state, including many in Houston, from July 1, 2007, to June 30.

The data and analysis are limited because some cities' cameras went online during the study period and their post-installation data were not complete. But the report states that the cameras could be changing driver behavior.

"While these results cannot conclusively determine that red light cameras are responsible for the overall reduction in crashes ... the presence of the treatment provided some effect on the frequency of crashes at the selected intersections for the limited time period of this analysis," the report states.

The study examined crashes at select intersections from 12 cities that were required to report accidents under a new state law. The data show that right-angle collisions were reduced by 43 percent, while rear-end collisions increased by 5 percent, mirroring the results of other studies across the nation.

Chronicle letter writer Dell Ayres remains skeptical, however:

In response to Wednesday's Page One story "RED-LIGHT CAMERAS CUT WRECKS 30% / A&M analysis finds that system does more than collect millions of dollars for cities": I would be more impressed with the 30 percent reduction figure if Texas A&M University had also included statistics from a comparable number of intersections that do not have cameras.

I suspect that $4-a-gallon gas had more to do with the drop than cameras. Since there were fewer cars on the road, it makes sense that there would be fewer accidents. Camera or no camera.

It's doubtful that traffic at dangerous intersections declined 43% (the reduction in right-angle collisions at monitored intersections), but the letter writer does raise a good point about needing to have some standard of comparison. It would be helpful to know statistics about dangerous intersections that don't currently have red-light cameras.

It does stand to reason that highly-publicized enforcement efforts are likely to result in a reduction of the undesired behavior, all things being equal. That's why I've never understood why the signage at intersections monitored by red-light cameras in Houston is so minimal (almost invisible). Some communities that use red-light cameras have much more prominent signage, which acts as a deterrent. Indeed, some places have even been known to use prominent signage and dummy camera equipment for the deterrent effect. If it's all about safety (and not at all about the revenue), then one might expect more prominent signage at Houston's camera-monitored intersections. But there is minimal signage in Houston, and the city refuses to do more.

And that brings us to my other longstanding concern. Even if the city's motive is some combination of revenue and safety, the red-light camera vendor's motive is revenue. In other cities, we have seen the red-light times adjusted in ways that "catch" more violators and boost revenue. We trust Mayor White when he says that he won't put up with that here, but the fact is he's already plotting his next political campaign, and won't always be in charge here -- but the company that has an incentive to boost its revenues will still be around.

And finally, we come to my last objection to the current system -- the inconvenience it causes to someone wrongly accused. The city could easily have required a system that would snap a photo of the driver and provide positive ID of violators, but it declined to build what would have been a fairer system. We do know that camera-enforcement errors can happen, and it's a pain to straighten out such errors. It would have been nice if Houston's system had been designed with more of a positive ID-component.

Still, it's good news that bad drivers are paying a little more attention to red lights at some intersections. If the cameras are responsible, great. They're obviously not going away. So who could object to improving the signage, educational, and due-process components of Houston's system (if it's not at all about the revenue)?

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

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/04/08 11:33 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)

03 December 2008

KHOU's Greenblatt continues scrutiny of Hilton Americas/pension fund finances

KHOU-11's Mark Greenblatt is continuing his reporting on the pension fund shortfall and related Hilton Americas accounting.

Yesterday, Greenblatt described the refinancing proposal that was discussed in a budget hearing:

The problem started when Houston tried to use the Hilton Americas Hotel to reduce some of the debt it owed to pension plans by handing over a promissory note. The note promised that the city would eventually pay $300 million to the pension fund.

The $300 million was supposed to come from the sale of the convention center hotel. But the city has not found a buyer yet, which means it still owes the debt.

“I called it an accounting sleight of hand,” said City Controller Annise Parker.

Parker said she warned city leaders years ago not to do the deal. However, the promissory note is not the only thing she doesn’t like.

Parker doesn’t like the huge interest rate that the city agreed to pay on the $300 million loan.

“We have been deferring the interest on those payments. So you do not have just the 8.5 percent, but the interest on the interest,” said Parker.

Greenblatt had difficulty getting any sort of substantive response from Mayor White's staff on the matter.

Today, Mayor White defended the financial arrangement:

“I want to assure Houston employees that their pensions are secure. And I want the taxpayers to know that these debts are all affordable,” said Mayor White.

[snip]

“We have borrowed money to make some of the pension payments. And that's because the pension payments are a long term obligation,” said the mayor, when asked if this is the right thing to do.

Local accountant Bob Lemer is unconvinced:

“When you cut through all the fluff, all the Mayor did was take an existing debt and shove it into the future,” said Bob Lemer, retired partner from Houston’s Ernst and Young. “It’s beyond me why they are turning their head to this.”

It seems fairly simple, actually. Most politicians prefer to defer painful decisions if at all possible. Shrinking that unfunded liability in the pension plan significantly would have required either upsetting municipal workers by going after promised benefits, dedicating much larger contributions to the pension fund (most likely funded by a tax increase), or some combination of the two. Painful! Therefore, the problem gets some band-aids and future pols will get to revisit the issue.

But hey, we'll have a Tolerance Bridge at least!

UPDATE: Carolyn Feibel reports some better news re: the hotel and pension fund (which still has a huge unfunded liability, but not quite as huge).

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/03/08 11:14 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (25)

02 December 2008

The Lykos political purge begins

Harris County District Attorney-elect Pat Lykos has already begun to purge perceived political enemies from the DA's office.

Here's an excerpt from A Harris County Lawyer, the prosecutor whose blog has provided an invaluable look inside the DA's Office, about the process:

The Lykos Administration took affect last week with District Attorney Ken Magidson extending the professional courtesy to Jim Leitner of hiring him on to do Pat Lykos' bidding prior to her taking office on January 1, 2009.

Yesterday, all District Attorney employees learned the drill: Leitner sent you an e-mail that invited you for a "meeting" where he told you that the Lykos Administration would not be re-hiring you as an employee. By the end of yesterday's count, he had taken out four investigators and one prosecutor.

[snip]

We walked into his Office, where former-Judge Roger Bridgwater was working.

Jim started fumbling with his desk, saying he didn't know where "the letter" was. Judge Bridgwater told him it was in his desk. Jim ultimately found it.

It was a letter from Lykos thanking me for my service, but letting me know that my services were not needed under her administration. I found it a bit disingenuous considering the letter she had sent all District Attorney employees after the Republican primary run-off where she told us all that as long as we didn't campaign for Bradford that our jobs would be okay.

Wow. Never trust a politician. Who knew?

So, anyway, I read my "thanks for trying 55 felony cases more than I will ever try" letter from Lykos and calmly put it back in the envelope.

Go read the whole thing.

While these sorts of purges are to be expected -- certainly from someone with Pat Lykos' reputation for vindictiveness -- one would hope that the local media would at least give it a little bit of attention as some good career public servants are shown the door and Lykos acts... pretty much as those in the legal community who know her expected she would.

UPDATE: The Chronicle reports on the issue here.

UPDATE 2: KPRC-2 has more.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/02/08 11:53 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)

That's Peter Brown, ARCHITECT (cont'd)

The Chronicle posted this letter from Councilmember Peter Brown on HISD's recently proposed school closings/consolidations:

The proposed HISD closings and consolidations of Carnegie Vanguard High School and eight neighborhood elementary schools disregard the expressed concerns of the communities they serve, and run counter to modern urban educational policy. In the face of unacceptable dropout rates and a divided community, the Houston Independent School District continues to erode the public trust. As a recent Gates Foundation study concludes, smaller neighborhood schools are better. They have higher attendance rates, more parental involvement and provide a safer, more personal teaching and learning environment, especially in the urban context. This is clearly demonstrated by our better charter schools — KIPP and Yes Academy. One way HISD could think outside the box is to allow successful charter schools to take over the campuses slated for closure. Larger schools have disadvantages — higher costs of transportation, busing, administration and security. As an architect, I can say that the renovation of existing schools can be less costly to the taxpayer than consolidation and new construction.

The councilmember (and mayoral candidate) makes some good points.

And in case you didn't know by now, he's an architect.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/02/08 11:32 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)

Move It column covers METRO audit, expensive fuel contracts

The Chronicle's Rosanna Ruiz reports that METRO has commissioned a required performance review of itself:

An inside look, including customer complaints, at how Metro manages itself is now in the works. The board awarded a $225,000 contract to Booz, Allen & Hamilton Inc. to conduct a state-mandated performance review. The same firm has done at least two previous audits of the transit agency.

The last audit, in 2005, found that passenger fare revenues plunged more than 14 percent during the previous four years while operating expenses per passenger rose 35 percent.

Passenger complaints increased significantly last year — a majority concerned driver behavior. The audit also found ridership declines, which it said needed to be corrected and not hidden in adjusted statistics.

This year's figures, recently cited by Wilson, were also fuzzy. He offered ridership numbers that were adjusted to make up for failures with noncalibrated electronic counters on some buses. And he also provided nonadjusted figures.

Metro says ridership increases are not in dispute and points to a surge in ridership thanks to the cost of fuel and more Park and Ride users, although some of those numbers can be attributed to Metro's two new Park and Ride lots.

Let's see which ridership numbers the auditors choose.

That will be an important factor, but what will also be important is a detailed breakdown of the fare revenues by types of service (rail, bus, Park and Ride, etc.). Let's hope that METRO will be more forthcoming with the audit firm on those figures than it sometimes is with mere citizens who try to obtain them.

Elsewhere in the column, Ruiz describes METRO's Chairman David Wolff's defense of the organization's costly fuel contracts to the Chronicle editorial board. It's too bad Chairman Wolff's visit with the generally supportive editorial board wasn't recorded and posted online, but maybe one day the editorial board will make better use of technology to inform and engage the community.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/02/08 11:26 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

01 December 2008

State Auditor's Office, Queen Sheila raise concerns over METRO

Isiah Carey and Texas Watchdog both call attention to this audit report by the State Auditor's Office on METRO.

The report (which should be read in its entirety) is generally complimentary of METRO. However, the most interesting section (Chapter Three, beginning about page 16) raises questions about optimistic projections by METRO, as well as concerns over debt. METRO responds at some length to the questions (beginning around page 19).

In the meantime, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who has been thinking about Houston light rail since she was a six-year-old running around the Jamaica area of Queens, has scheduled a press conference to criticize METRO -- not over the questions raised in the audit report. No no, that would be timely and salient. Instead, Queen Sheila apparently is upset because METRO isn't functioning well enough as a local jobs program. See her press release after the [Read More] jump. The release indicates that a press conference will be held downtown on Wednesday, December 2, so we're not sure exactly when it is going to take place. But if you make it, please leave us a comment and let us know about it.

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