28 February 2009
The family that slays together, stays together...
A father and son have been charged with the February 21 murder of Walter Ventura. I used to patrol this area and know exactly which strip center they are talking about.
Police investigations led to 20-year-old Yovanni Valverde, who authorities say is a known gang member, and his father, Angel Guzman Valverde, 36. The older man was arrested in Houston. and the younger was found in Austin late last week. Both remain at the Harris County Jail.Wow! Usually these guys run off on the kids. Talk about staying together!
Posted by Jason @ 02/28/09 11:14 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
27 February 2009
Anyone for a tea party?
Are you among the many who didn't realize "change" and "hope" meant your national government's already profligate spending was going to skyrocket, conveniently funding (err, "stimulating") all sorts of Democratic pork projects, interest groups, and pet priorities?
If so, then you might want to join Houston's version of the Tea Party protests that have sprung up around the country. Here are the details, courtesy of the Houston group's facebook page:
Date: Friday, February 27, 2009
Time: 11:00am - 2:00pm
Location: Fondren Green at Discovery Green Park!!! Right in front of Amphitheatre!![snip]
Meet in Downtown Houston to protest the stimulus!
FONDREN LAWN AT DISCOVERY GREEN!
11 am brown bag tea party and ROUND UP!Wear your GO TEXAN gear and bring your tea!
NO TAXATION WITHOUT DELIBERATION!!!
REPEAL ALL IRRESPONSIBLE SPENDING OR WE'LL RETIRE YOU!!!
[snip]
Few simple rules, :
NO: breaking the law (e.g., loitering, vandalism)
NO: violence (physical or verbal)
NO: Offensive displays or messagesJUST: good cheer & a positive sense of public engagement & a smile & the message that our ideas work better!
It looks to be a beautiful day, so if you can actually shake free from your jobs (you know, the productive endeavor that funds the beast), this might be a worthwhile way to get a little sun and express your opinion.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/27/09 08:12 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (18)
25 February 2009
Clarence Bradford just wants to serve YOU
Failed Harris County DA candidate and former HPD police chief Clarence Bradford apparently came out of hiding long enough today to announce that he's running for City Council. Here is an excerpt from Alan Bernstein's reporting for the Chronicle:
Less than four months after losing a close race for Harris County district attorney, former Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford announced today that he is running for an at-large seat on the city council.
Bradford is aiming for the at-large #4 seat being vacated by Ronald Green, who is running for controller.[snip]
Bradford, a lawyer and security consultant, indicated in a written statement to news media that he is launching his second candidacy in two years because he wants to serve the public again.
[snip]
Bradford served as police chief from 1997 to 2003, when he retired amid a series of controversies such as errors and faked results by police crime lab personnel.
Oops, never mind. Apparently, Clarence Bradford remains in hiding. And honestly, if I were his campaign advisor, that's probably exactly where I would keep him. Otherwise, he might have to answer questions about his mismanagement of the HPD Crime Lab during those halcyon days known as the Lee Brown era (or more appropriately, error) in Houston politics.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/25/09 09:21 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (19)
SJL reminded there is a war going on!
This is an interesting article. State lawmaker Pete Olson, Rep. Michael McCaul and our favorite, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee toured Guantanamo Prison. According to the Chronicle article they were all "given chills". More evidence that our government is behind:
...Mohammed appeared every bit as bent on America’s destruction as the day he orchestrated the synchronized suicide attacks against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.They've been saying this for years; our elected representatives finally just now got the message!
What did our elected representatives have to say?
"It was eerie, kind of spooky, and it exuded evil to me,” said [Michael] McCaul, a Republican whose congressional district stretches from Houston suburbs to Austin.Good! Our elected representatives need to see this kind of evil face to face if they want to fight it!
[Pete] Olson, a Republican and former Navy pilot, said it was “an eye-opening experience” to see the American-educated Muhammad and other senior al-Qaida leaders awaiting military tribunals.The best one yet:
“I was riveted,” said Jackson Lee, a Democrat. “It became very, very real and sobering to me that our task dealing with terrorism is still ongoing.”Is she serious? I guess all those times she was jumping in front of a camera or trying to get hurricane names changed to be more racially diverse she forgot there was a war on terror going on.
Posted by Jason @ 02/25/09 11:03 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
24 February 2009
New CoH "product": Pay bills of bad credit risks to help secure home loans! (updated)
The Chronicle's Carolyn Feibel alerts us this morning to an interesting item on the City Council agenda.
We'll turn to the item first, then Feibel's reporting:
21. ORDINANCE deappropriating $444,064.90 from the TIRZ Affordable Housing Fund 2409 (Fund 2409) under Ordinance No. 2008-828 for the Temporary Emergency Home Repair Program (“TEHRP”) in connection with Hurricane Ike Damage; approving and authorizing guidelines for a New Credit Score Enhancement Program; reappropriating $386,390.00 from Fund 2409 to a New Credit Score Enhancement Program, including delivery costs; and reappropriating $57,674.90 to the TEHRP for Project Delivery Costs
Here is Feibel's description of what's going on:
Houston taxpayers could start footing the bill to help first-time homebuyers pay off debts and improve their credit scores, under a proposal before City Council this week.
The “Credit Score Enhancement Program” will give up to $3,000 in grants to individuals who are trying to qualify for mortgages through the city’s homebuyers assistance program. City officials say some applicants fall short of eligibility by only 10 or 20 points on their credit scores, and paying off some debt balances can quickly improve their numbers.
[snip]
The $444,000 for the program is leftover money from a $1.5 million appropriation the city made for emergency home and roof repairs after Hurricane Ike.
The city has three programs that provide grants for down payments and closing costs for qualified homebuyers. The most generous one offers a $37,500 grant to buy a home that costs $135,000 or less, but only in certain disadvantaged Houston neighborhoods the city is trying to revitalize. Participants cannot earn more than 80 percent of the Houston median income.
The story has some good back and forth between critics and proponents of the proposal.
Additional information can be found in the City Hall backup documents (PDF, Page 79). The language in that document is particularly amusing, as the city department actually calls this proposed (roughly half-million-dollar) program a "new product." Only in the warped view of big government is this sort of wealth redistribution program a "product." And it's a product whose "customers" are going to cost the rest of us hundreds of thousands of dollars!
So, to sum up -- bureaucratic busybodies in your municipal government are proposing to spend nearly half a million dollars on a "new product" that will help people who are credit risks game the system temporarily (at up to $3,000 a pop!) to take on home loans for which they wouldn't otherwise qualify.
Have we learned nothing about personal (and government) finance in the last year or so?
Have we simply gone mad?
Mayor White frequently tells us he brings a businessman's approach to municipal government. If that is anything more than campaign rhetoric, he will squash this bad idea.
UBU ROI ADDS: Not a chance. The agenda is 100% under the mayor's control in Houston. Nothing makes it into the agenda without his agreement, and the general practice by mayors for decades has been not to add anything to it that they don't have the votes for. Mayor White blew that once, when he tried to sell the land out from under the Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation. If he's put this on the agenda now, it's because he thinks bailouts are the cause of the day and he can push this one through.
UPDATE: Here's a fun video from Empower Texans.
UPDATE 2: The Chronicle reports that public outcry forced Mayor White to pull this proposal. However, we know that Mayor White rarely gives up on his grand plans, so expect something similar to return at some point, when fewer people are paying attention. It's The Houston Way!
BLOGVERSATION: Lone Star Times, Lose an Eye, It's a Sport, Brent's Blog, Texas Watchdog, Unca Darrell, Pondering Penguin.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/24/09 08:33 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (16)
23 February 2009
Why would anyone miss this when it's gone?
The Chronicle's six-days-per-week Austin bureau chief and one-day-per-week lefty editorialist offered this snippet in his latest opinion column:
Although a lifelong Republican of the traditional, country club genre (as opposed to the more-rabid social conservatives who now control the Texas GOP), Straus has in the past voted for Democrats for selected offices and presumably will do so in the future.
Nice, objective treatment from the Austin bureau chief.
I'm sure that's how (other) people who dislike social conservatives feel, anyway.
And I'm sure that Clay Robison's attitude would never come through while he is playing bureau chief the other six days of the week, when he's objective and evenhanded. *wink*
The Chronicle's erratic features editor keeps telling us we're going to miss them (them being newspapers) when they're gone. But this regular business from Robison, a deceitful editorial board, unethical impersonation of hurricane refugees, a featured columnist who's a plagiarist, or even the typical MeMo fare aren't really going to be missed.
We are hopeful some metro/state reporters will still be around if that dead weight is ever cast aside, though, because what they do is important and should be valued.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/23/09 09:00 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
22 February 2009
Harris County's secret bailout of Houston
Two months ago, without any mention in the media at all, Harris County bailed the City of Houston out of a bad deal by loaning it $118 million. As reported on the Chronicle's website on Sunday,
A series of unexpected market swings and a relationship with a troubled bank has left the city of Houston paying more than $600,000 a month in interest — far higher than the market rate for comparable securities — to a very unusual investor: Harris County.
The county came to Houston’s rescue in December after a bank that backed $182 million in city bonds had its credit downgraded, leaving the city with a 15 percent interest rate.
The timeline of events may be found here. One might note there's over $60 million difference in the two figures. Metro is apparently part of the difference, in an even more unusual transaction (emphasis added):
More and more, governments that depend on financing for everything from new sewer plants to overpasses are seeing the costs of debt soar, as the many parties involved in their complex municipal finance deals are seized by fear or faltering markets.
As a solution, they have begun to turn to investors that seem a little more stable and familiar: themselves. In October, when interest rates for short-term municipal investments shot up to the 8 percent to 10 percent range, the city of Houston and the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County agreed to invest $30 million in each other.
Moncur said the city, in addition to buying bonds from as far away as Broward County, Fla., also has begun investing millions of dollars in its own commercial paper.
Excuse me, but "commercial paper" means short-term loans. How does the city loan itself money? Remember a few months ago when the city refinanced its pension obligation, and those numbers didn't seem to add up either? Lo and behold, this was at the same time the city was being bailed out by the county.
Then there's the point that the city is not alone: "many parties involved in their complex municipal finance deals are seized by fear or faltering markets". The combination of these two statements seems to suggest that local governments across the nation are borrowing money from each other in order to, as they are sure to phrase it: "share the risk." A more appropriate phrase might be "chain-reaction disaster," as a financial collapse by any one of them touches off payment problems for all the rest down the line. We just saw how well banks, the real estate market, financial investment houses, the stock market, and government guarantors worked together to ensure a broad financial collapse. Are our cities, counties, and transit agencies all trying to replicate the same disaster?
Then there's the minor issue of the sheep being fleeced to finance this house of cards: taxpayers from other cities and the county. How do these areas feel about being put on the hook for the City of Houston's increasingly convoluted bookkeeping practices? And one more question -- does anyone remember something that was supposed to be around for times like these? I believe it was called "the rainy day fund." Whatever happened to that?
More and more, it's beginning to look as though the City of Houston is using accounting tricks to remain solvent and fund Mayor White's priorities. Given that the City Controller is thought to be the front-runner in the 2009 race, her cooperation in these questionable tail-chasing schemes and poor selection of investment banks could make 2009 a very interesting campaign year.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: I can't say how many times that I've heard Mayor White tell people he brings a businesslike approach to city government, or how many times I've heard that he'd eventually like to take his business and financial acumen to a statewide political office. So I guess I am left wondering how our hands-on mayor doesn't feature at all in this story of debt financing going awry on his watch -- or, as Ubu Roi alludes, why City Controller and mayoral wannabe Annise Parker also don't feature at all in this story. Shouldn't they have some comment on it?
Unfortunately, there is also no quote from Houston's expert-on-everything Bob Stein to tell me what I am supposed to think about this series of events, so we'll throw it out to commenters: What do you think about the story?
Posted by Ubu Roi @ 02/22/09 07:57 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (14)
21 February 2009
Thieves hit Kingwood Park and Pillage; METRO's $16 million security system takes a picture
Yesterday Cory Crow highlighted a yet another great moment for METRO PD's Chief Lambert: The Kingwood Park and Pillage was...pillaged:
Commuters were in for a nasty surprise when they got off the bus at the Kingwood Park & Ride Thursday afternoon.
Thieves reportedly broke into multiple cars there, leaving lots of broken glass and busted windows.
KHOU-11's story noted that it was unclear if anyone was watching the security camera feed at Transtar! Recall how METRO touted its $16 million "high-tech" security system back in 2006:
Now, finally, Metro is going to find out whether a camera can do the work of a human on the premises. The first camera was installed at the Kuykendahl Park & Ride lot in August and linked to the Houston TranStar control center, where Metro police can see what the camera sees, Lambert said recently.
Cameras are now being installed at six other lots: North Shepherd, Spring, Pinemont, West Little York, Northwest and Seton Lake. By the end of January, all 25 Park & Ride lots and the Hillcroft Transit Center will have them, Lambert said.
Since Metro eliminated full-time security guards at the lots, the remote security plan has become much more ambitious, with plans now calling for $16 million in new hardware.
"We've totally changed the project," Lambert said. "We didn't envision in the first phase that we would actually be able to remotely open and close and lock down a lot."
The sum covers the cameras, gates controllable from TranStar, call boxes that patrons can use to report crimes, loudspeakers to issue warnings and software to connect all this with the people who will run it.
The software can also identify cars entering the bus bays, suspicious objects left unattended, people moving suspiciously and people entering locations they shouldn't.
"Where Metro police can see what the camera sees." After the crime has been committed and the thief is long gone, that is. Nice job, Chief Lambert!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/21/09 11:37 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (0)
19 February 2009
Channel 2 fixes another red light camera ticket error
When last we checked in with KPRC-2's Ask Amy, she was helping a wrongly ticketed red light runner clear her name. At that time, we noted the moral of the story was to call local media if you received a ticket in error, because MayorWhiteChiefHurtt are not interested in helping red light camera victims.
Well, Ask Amy is at it again, cutting through HPD's uninterested bureaucracy, helping a red light camera victim:
After months of calls to the city's red-light program division, she's asking Amy to help clear her name. KPRC Local 2 Investigative reporter Amy Davis has yet another case of a driver getting the red-light runaround.
Christina Tyler tried to solve this problem herself. She said she spent four months making calls, filling out paperwork and faxing it in.
When none of that worked, she called Amy.The camera flashed at the corner of the Sam Houston Parkway and Bellaire Boulevard and Christina Tyler got the ticket.
There's the first problem."It was a picture of a vehicle I used to have," Tyler explained. "I haven't had it in over five years."
When Tyler last saw her Toyota Echo in 2004, it was smashed up from a car accident. She said the other driver's insurance company told her it couldn't be repaired.
But five years later it's back on the road, apparently running red lights, and doing it all with Christina Tyler's maiden name still on the title.
"It's not fair that someone's driving around with my identity for five years for crying out loud," Tyler told Local 2 Investigates. "I just don't think that's right."
Tyler called the city's red-light camera program and tracked down every document they asked for – no easy job after five years, four moves and a marriage.
You'll be shocked to learn that, after Christina Tyler provided everything HPD asked for, she still received warning letters telling her to pay up or else:
The last one came from an attorney's office and told her the city would file a civil suit and block her from registering her vehicle when the plates expired if she didn't pay up.
And there you have it: The city is now threatening not to renew vehicle registrations for those who have not paid red light camera fines, even if the ticket has been disputed.
So Ask Amy called HPD and voila! the ticket was deleted. That led Ask Amy to ask HPD why it takes a call from KPRC to clear up ticketing errors:
HPD chalked it up to yet another isolated case and said drivers have to remember the red-light camera program is still young. They said the city is still working out the kinks.
So HPD is doing on-the-job red light camera ticketing training? At citizens' expense? To the tune of millions of dollars in revenue? How many people have tried to fight a ticket and given up? How many years does it take before the kinks are worked out?
Is it shenanigans or incompetence? Frankly, it's outrageous, but that's MayorWhiteChiefHurtt's government for you.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/19/09 06:05 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (11)
18 February 2009
Babe Pages/MOJO experiment fails; Chris Baker back to KPRC
Mike McGuff and the Radio-Info boards both posted an interesting press release from Clear Channel, which we'll post in its entirety and comment afterwards:
Houston gets a Morning Cup of Joe and a Good Baker
KPRC-AM Announces Chris Baker to Follow Joe ‘Pags’ Pagliarulo Starting March 2nd
Houston, Texas , February 17, 2009 –Beginning Monday, March 2nd, Houstonians will get an ever better cup of 9-5-0 Radio Mojo when Chris Baker returns to the airwaves on his hometown station KPRC-AM announced Eddie Martiny, President and Market Manager for Clear Channel Radio Houston. The Chris Baker show will air live from 3-5pm daily, while award winning Joe ‘Pags’ Pagliarulo will move to mornings to host “your Morning Cup of Joe” from 6-9am.
“Chris has a lot of fans in Houston, and he’s incredibly talented. We are excited to bring him back to Houston, back to the same station and time slot in which he began on-air over eight years ago,” said Michael Berry, Operations Director for Clear Channel Radio Houston’s AM stations. “With Walton & Johnson moving up the dial to the Arrow, 93.7 FM, the morning show slot opened on The 9-5-0. ‘Pags’ was the perfect choice for the mornings. If ‘Pags’ can appear on Fox News Channel, CNN, Headline News, CNBC and fill in for Glen Beck, we know he will be the perfect cup-of morning Joe for Houston.” added Berry.
Joe ‘Pags has been honored with multiple AP and broadcast association awards of excellence, and has been ranked among the most influential talk show hosts in America. Chris Baker is a stand-up comic who has been making Houstonians laugh for years, but he also makes them think. Houston loves his brand of talk and humor, and Clear Channel is looking forward to his listeners responding to his message.
The new KPRC-AM 9-5-0 Radio Mojo line up will be:
Morning Cup of Joe with Joe ‘Pags’ Pagliarulo 6a-9a
Michael Garfield 9a-11a
Outlaw Dave 11a-1p
Dave Ramsey Show 1p-3p
The Chris Baker Show 3p-5p
The Michael Savage Show 5p-8pKPRC-AM is the first radio station in Texas, originally broadcasting in 1925. KPRC-AM’s legendary TalkRadio format transitioned to “guytalk” in July of 2007. With the exciting move of ‘Pags’ to the mornings and the addition of Baker and the station will retain the popular Radio Mojo format.
Retain the popular Radio Mojo format? This "new" lineup would seem to be confirmation that the Babe Pages/Radio Mojo approach has been an unmitigated disaster, since this lineup looks hardly anything like the original lineup.
The new lineup isn't bad, although we don't really understand why the nation's fourth largest city gets a non-local talker from San Antonio (Joe Pags) in the morning drive slot of a once-great station (for that matter, we don't understand why the Houston Chronicle has outsourced its UT and Texas A&M sports coverage to the San Antonio newspaper, but that's slightly off topic). And Michael Garfield's previous non-weekend stints have not always been examples of good radio, but at least he's local.
The Chronicle's David Barron couldn't secure a quote from Baker (Advantage: blogHOUSTON), but did manage to get this out of Michael "Babe Pages" Berry:
“Chris did not leave (Houston) because of performance issues, but to pursue other opportunities and over disagreements during contract negotiations,” said Michael Berry, AM operations director for Clear Channel’s Houston stations. “With a talented talk-show host, just as with a professional athlete, sometimes these differences occur.
“We did not want to lose him, and we have wanted him back since the day he left. This move accomplishes that. This is Chris Baker’s radio home.”
Everyone who follows Houston media knows that Chris Baker was terminated (despite his ratings, which were stellar) and that Michael Berry had a hand in it. As a political scientist, I expect politicians (and ex-politicians) to lie, and lie frequently, so I guess it shouldn't surprise me when Berry does what pols and ex-pols do. But let's just say I find it distasteful, and leave it at that.
Thank goodness we can all say goodbye to that dreadful Babe Pages/Radio Mojo experiment on KPRC (whether anyone at Clear Channel will admit it). They have so damaged that radio station in a short time that it may never return to its past glory, but getting Baker back where he belongs is a good first step.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/18/09 11:02 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (15)
17 February 2009
Does Bill White hate puppies? (cont'd)
The Chronicle has run another story on BARC, the city's long-problematic animal shelter that hasn't shown much improvement under our seemingly disinterested mayor.
Here's an excerpt, from the top of the story:
In 2005, Mayor Bill White’s task force on animal protection had a heady list of goals, none more ambitious than this: significantly reducing the euthanasia rate at the region’s animal shelters, including the city pound.
Four years later, city officials say progress has been made implementing the task force’s recommendations. The city pound — the Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care — has saved lives by transferring more pets to rescue groups. And BARC now scans animals for computer identification chips, making it more likely pets will be returned to their owners.
But city officials, including White, say killings at the facility have not gone down as much as they had hoped. And animal welfare activists say the pound, geared toward picking up roaming dogs and other animals, has not shouldered the responsibility of finding homes for them, work that will require cooperation with volunteers and rescue groups.
“We want a dramatic double-digit percentage decrease in the number of animals that are euthanized,” White said. “There needs to be a new culture at BARC that is friendly to volunteers, works well with nonprofit organizations and survives the loss of a director,” he said, referring to Kent Robertson, who resigned as bureau chief and has not been replaced.
Some animal welfare activists say BARC is poorly run, in part, because it is underfunded. City officials acknowledge that BARC’s statistics on euthanasia are unreliable, and some activists wonder if the euthanasia rate has gone down at all.“BARC’s philosophy is still round the animals up and kill them,” said Margaret Gondo, longtime volunteer at BARC and a member of the 2005 task force. “This goes back to Bill White. He doesn’t want to foot the bill for animal control. He wants the private sector to foot the bill.”
Goals and lofty rhetoric and task forces are great (great ways to put off activists, anyway), but hard statistics might tell us more about how the city is following through on all of the hot air from the politicians.
Unfortunately, BARC still does not keep reliable statistics, which we only learn at the bottom of the story:
The [2005 Task Force] concluded that BARC had not kept reliable statistics on animal intake and euthanasia. That hasn’t changed. BARC officials said they could not provide the Chronicle with reliable statistics for 2005-2008 but said the percentage of animals being killed had decreased.
That says quite a lot about the philosophy at BARC (pre and post-Task Force) -- and it says to me that nothing has changed.
We know that Mayor White doesn't much like criticism, so it's not surprising that he's so defensive with reporters about the problems at BARC. His underlings have been taking pretty much the same approach -- whining to activists that the administration doesn't get enough credit from them for good things they do (to which we reply -- we have all the respect in the world for the animal lovers doing great work for the City. The BARC management and thin-skinned pols in denial about the inhumane conditions? Not so much).
To be fair, these are problems that preceded Bill White. And they seem to be problems that are going to outlast him, unfortunately.
Maybe the next mayor will be a bigger fan of puppies.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/17/09 09:18 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
Calamity: Government officials are putting off some purchases!
We're in the midst of an economic downturn. People are losing jobs and homes. The credit market is tight. And there is a great deal of uncertainty (malaise, even).
Naturally, it's time for the area's newspaper of record to focus on how bad your government has it:
They’re not feeling the economic storm quite yet, but local governments across the Houston region are hunkering down anyway. Some have frozen hiring, others have stopped filling potholes. Planned purchases of police cars, golf course mowers, Tasers and sewage equipment have been halted.
The caution infecting budget offices is universal, whether down south, where Galveston County is anticipating shrinking its budget by $5 million, or up north, where Montgomery County continues to rake in the tax dollars from growth. All are playing it safe, waiting for property reassessments and 2009 sales tax figures to come in before making any major decisions.
“We need to be watching every dollar that we spend,” said Cheryl Hunter, Texas City’s director of finance. The recession may have come to Southeast Texas late, but it has come. Public finance officers fear a future double-punch: lower tax revenues from a slower economy, combined with Hurricane Ike’s destructive effect on tax rolls in coastal towns, counties, and school districts. After years of growth and decreasing tax rates, budget officers now just want to hold on.
If there's one thing I know as a political scientist, it's that government in America does not get smaller. Sure, some purchases may be postponed for a while. If the recession is sharp, some services may suffer in the short term. But beyond the short term -- government in America does not get smaller. So we aren't shedding too many tears just yet for the woes of the government officials quoted in this story.
A journalist friend of mine actually had a slightly different take on the story: "Real readers don’t care about this sort of thing – this is a story written chiefly for the reporter’s sources ABOUT the reporter’s sources." It's hard to disagree, although I think some editors may care much more about these sorts of stories than reporters (hence their recurring nature).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/17/09 08:23 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
16 February 2009
Texas Watchdog is looking for a metro reporter
The Chronicle may be in the midst of its latest downsizing, but not everybody in the news biz is shrinking.
Texas Watchdog, the local watchdog journalism outfit, is looking to add a metro reporter. Here's the ad from JournalismJobs.com:
Company: Texas Watchdog
Position: Seeking Houston political reporter
Location: Houston, Texas
Job Status: Full-time
[snip]
Description: We’re Texas Watchdog, a news Web site that covers state and local government. We’re looking for an experienced enterprise reporter to cover Houston politics. The ideal candidate will demonstrate a firm understanding of public records law and will have a passion for freedom of information, government transparency and getting the goods on politicians and bureaucrats gone bad. The reporter will break news through writing enterprise and investigative pieces, as well as blog for www.texaswatchdog.org. Knowledge of Houston political players is a must. Do you have video and multimedia chops? That would be a plus.
When: Hire date targeted for April.
Where: Houston, Texas.
Learn more: www.texaswatchdog.org
Please send a cover letter and clips to Deputy Editor Jennifer Peebles at news@texaswatchdog.org
We know journos of all sorts read the little blog, so if you know anybody who might fit the bill, please point 'em towards Texas Watchdog. A city can never have enough (paid) metro reporters chasing stories!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/16/09 08:55 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (6)
15 February 2009
Terry Hayes, RIP
Matt Stiles passes along word via twitter that Terry Hayes, the Chronicle's "Cancer Diva" blogger, has passed away from the disease.
Chron.com has posted the unfortunate news here.
The Cancer Diva blog was a real inspiration, and so was Terry Hayes by all accounts. Our thoughts are with her family and loved ones tonight.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/15/09 09:19 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (5)
Happy Valentine's Day
Hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day. There are thousands of good people who love each other celebrating with each other. It's kind of odd that the Houston Chronicle's Jennifer Leahy writes a touching story of Harris County jail inmates' Valentine's Day. I'm sure you all were concerned about the love lives of inmates.
Posted by Jason @ 02/15/09 01:13 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
14 February 2009
Talk about Karma
Last year 25-year old Nicholas Hernandez was arrested for drunk driving:
Harris County Assistant District Attorney Brent Mayr said Hernandez was arrested after the Aug. 3, wreck which killed James Kelleher, 26, and his passenger, 23-year-old Suzanne Penland, who were hit head-on as they drove south on Texas 288.This wasn't Hernandez's first time driving drunk:Mayr said Hernandez was driving a Chevrolet Impala the wrong way on the highway and had a blood alcohol concentration of .30, more than three times the legal limit, when he hit the two friends who were in a Buick LeSabre.
Hernandez was convicted of driving while intoxicated in 2002 and again in 2003. Because a third DWI would be a felony, Mayr said Hernandez was charged in last year’s wreck with felony murder, which carries a sentence ranging from probation to 99 years or life in prison. He had been released from jail on $100,000 bond.He was going to be tried for murder following the precedent set by ADA Warren Diepraam years ago. Now it's all a moot point because Hernandez was killed in a crash. He was a passenger in a car that hit a light pole. The driver was . . . drunk! Talk about Karma!
Chronicle story here.
Posted by Jason @ 02/14/09 12:01 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
13 February 2009
More staff reductions at the Chron
The Chronicle has announced more staff layoffs. This time, at least 10% of the workforce will be cut.
Banjo Jones has posted the memo from Jack Sweeney.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/13/09 08:58 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
12 February 2009
Activists sue to force City Council expansion, redistricting
The Chronicle's Bradley Olson reports that activists have sued to force Mayor White's administration to expand City Council:
Community activists have filed a lawsuit alleging the city of Houston has violated the Voting Rights Act by putting off the redistricting of City Council boundaries as required by its own charter and a decades-old court settlement.
The lawsuit, which seeks to force the city to begin redrawing voting boundaries, could have far-reaching implications, including delaying an upcoming special election to fill the council seat vacated by Sheriff Adrian Garcia and, possibly, even the November elections, plaintiffs claim.
Mayor Bill White, all 13 council members and City Controller Annise Parker are named as co-defendants in the suit, which was filed in federal court today.
The thrust of the filing is that the city is required, based on a 1979 agreement with the Department of Justice to ensure that minorities were fairly represented in local elections, to add two council seats once its population reached 2.1 million.
The city’s failure to take that action has galvanized minority leaders, who see the creation of new seats as a chance to increase the number of minorities on City Council.
For some years now, the administration has been using a population figure beyond 2.1 million (for various funding formulas and the crime rate). It's certainly disingenuous now for the White administration to claim that it doesn't understand the population figures it's been using well enough to expand council and engage in redistricting, although it is true that new census figures would probably make redistricting more accurate and representative.
What a fine mess!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/12/09 09:36 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
11 February 2009
Lawrence Marshall clobbers...the big city
KUHF-88.7's Laurie Johnson notes that the bankruptcy of the Lawrence Marshall dealership will impact the city of Houston:
An interesting item showed up on the city council agenda. It was an ordinance appropriating more than $93,000 to a company that no longer exists.
The contract with Lawrence Marshall Chrysler was supposed to cover a new ambulance for the Houston Fire Department.
This raised some confusion at the council meeting.
"Chair recognizes Councilmember Green" "Mayor I also need some clarification. Are we — how can we appropriate the funds without a vendor?"
After some discussion with the city's legal department, council concluded they could still authorize the expenditure but award it to a different contractor.
Houston Mayor Bill White says the city may end up in litigation over Lawrence Marshall's bankruptcy filing.
[snip]
Lawrence Marshall was a city vendor for everything from ambulances to recycled parts and upholstery services.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/11/09 06:08 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
KHOU's Desel returns to the newsroom after health scare
The Chronicle's David Barron has a nice profile today on KHOU-11 reporter Jeremy Desel, who is back to work after a health scare that involved heart surgery back in December.
It's good to hear he's making a full recovery, and also good for Houston news consumers that he's back to work. But take it easy for a little while, guy, okay?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/11/09 09:49 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (3)
New Chron Eye profiles killer/rapist
There's a new Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy today.
The profile centers on Johnny Ray Johnson, whose rap sheet includes four murders and more than a dozen rapes (including the rape of his pre-teen niece).
As usual for these sorts of efforts, this Chron Eye takes a look at Johnson's "abusive childhood" and alleged problems with the case (claims that his confessions to heinous crimes were coerced by detectives at gunpoint).
The only thing really missing in this Chron Eye is a discussion of the man's discovery (in prison) of his love of poetry. Or ballet. Or some such.* However, the conclusion makes up for that omission a bit:
“God has a time for everybody,” the killer said. “Regardless of what happens, I know that I will be in heaven.”
It's a shame that the area's newspaper of record fritters so much of its credibility (and space) with these insipid profiles of some of the worst criminals ever put away. On those occasions when real doubt is raised about someone on death row, Chron readers can't help but wonder if it's just another of Jeff Cohen/Kathryn Kase Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/11/09 09:24 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
10 February 2009
Chron Froot Loops update, 02/10/09 edition
The Chron Froot Loops Bureau offers this update from KHOU-11 today:
A man who was shot to death by Houston police after refusing to drop a shotgun had sent a text message saying he planned to kill himself, police said today.
Police have not disclosed the name of the man, who was killed about 11 p.m. Monday at the Hammerly Oaks Apartments at 8791 Hammerly at Hollister, according to KHOU Channel 11.
Officers went to the address after being alerted that a man was wandering around the complex with a shotgun, KHOU reported.
Here is a link to the KHOU story (in case you prefer actual reporting to some guy rewriting what he saw on the TV while eating his cereal).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/10/09 12:22 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
09 February 2009
Chapter Three of the Elizabeth Shelton story
Remember the Shelton mess? First, 19 year-old Elizabeth Shelton is drunk and driving on the freeway while her boyfriend is hanging out of the window. Drunk Elizabeth hits a box car from behind and winds up killing her boyfriend. Elizabeth is the daughter of Harris County Juvenile Court Judge Pat Shelton. Their defense was that little drunk Elizabeth didn't cause the accident that killed the young man. It was the driver of the box truck that little drunk Elizabeth hit from behind. The classic 'blame the victim' defense. Fortunately the jury didn't buy it and convicted Elizabeth. She served a few months in jail and is currently on probation. Aside from the relatively light sentence, we thought that was the end of it. Well, we were all shocked when little Elizabeth's poor decision-making skills made it back into the news. She, along with the family of her dead boyfriend, is suing the driver of the box truck she hit from behind for damaging her Lexus Utility and for "mental anguish."
Now for the third chapter of the Shelton family mess: The accident reconstruction "expert" hired by the defense hasn't been paid for his services. So he is suing defense attorney George Secrest who in turn is saying little Elizabeth's daddy Judge Shelton is responsible for the $25,000 (or more) bill. Of course, the judge's lawyer is saying the bill is exaggerated. Don't lawyers and experts work out a price before the service is delivered? Oh well, in a way who can blame the Shelton party for not paying. After all, they hired Joseph Hinton to tell a jury that little drunk Elizabeth isn't responsible for the crash or the death of the young man. How much should it really cost to pay someone to tell others what you want them to hear?
Posted by Jason @ 02/09/09 06:45 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
08 February 2009
World-renowned scientist to head UH research center
On Thursday, the University of Houston and Gov. Rick Perry announced the establishment of a major research center at the university. Here is a snippet from the official press release:
Gov. Rick Perry today announced the awarding of a $5.5 million grant to the University of Houston through the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (ETF).
As a result of the ETF grant, UH has recruited a top hormones researcher and his team to carry out laboratory research and to create next-generation pharmaceuticals and medical technologies at a world-class center to be established by UH and The Methodist Hospital Research Institute (TMHRI).
“The biomedical industry is one of the largest in our state, and has the potential to greatly improve many Texans’ quality of life with continued research and expansion,” Gov. Perry said. “This world-class research team will lead the charge in developing treatments for diseases that plague our citizens and enhance the University of Houston’s presence as a biomedical research institution.”
Jan-Åke Gustafsson, a renowned figure in the study of hormones and a member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the Nobel Assembly, accepted an appointment this summer to expand his revolutionary research efforts at the University of Houston. He arrived on campus in late January.
“We are delighted to have Dr. Gustafsson join our faculty as a key leader in our biomedical initiative,” said Renu Khator, president of UH and chancellor of the UH System. “He was courted by Ivy League institutions and determined the University of Houston offered the best opportunity to advance his research. He will play an important role in our quest for flagship university status.”
Gustafsson’s hiring represents a key element in fulfilling Khator’s vision for the university, which includes a UH Health Initiative that will expand the university’s presence and its partnerships with Texas Medical Center institutions, filling gaps that currently exist and advancing strengths already in place.
This is a smart move for the university, and another step in making the case for tier-one status.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/08/09 07:18 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Does Bill White hate puppies?
There is more bad news about the city's long-problematic animal shelter, BARC, although as usual, it doesn't seem to be a priority for anyone in city government.
At the end of January, the Houston Press' Craig Malisow posted the latest news of BARC's (alleged) mismanagement, animal suffering, and indifference from city leaders.
About the same time, the Chronicle's Bill Murphy reported further instances of (alleged) animal suffering at the hands of a seemingly incompetent veterinarian (David Rundell, since suspended).
Last week, BARC made news again when it terminated part-time veterinarian Gil Costas, whom animal-rights activists have praised as a whistleblower who has called attention to BARC's dismal practices and management. Craig Malisow took apart the city's official reason for the firing of Costas in this blog post. A related blog post from Malisow suggests that there may have been other motivation for the firing:
Costas in 2008 accused Rundell of animal cruelty by neglecting to euthanize a dying puppy in a timely manner, allowing it to sit on a cold cement floor for hours while Rundell performed other duties, such as taking a cigar break. In a subsequent Houston Police Department Inspector General's investigation, Rundell accused Costas of fabricating the complaint as a retaliation for accusations Rundell previously made against Costas. (Those accusations including the falsifaction of medical records.)
Sources for the Houston Press's recent story on problems at BARC described Costas as a compassionate, competent veterinarian.
In his complaint to then-BARC Director Kent Robertson about Rundell's alleged animal cruelty, Costas seemingly foretold his future: "More often than not, employees at BARC tend to not want to be involved. There have been examples in the past where the messenger ends up suffering the consequences."
Unfortunately, attempting to squelch the messenger by firing him probably won't improve the dismal, even inhumane, conditions at BARC. Indeed, from the sounds of things, the facility apparently has now chased a desperately needed caring and capable vet at a time when it is shorthanded.
For reasons we cannot fathom, Mayor White apparently has no interest in fixing the ongoing problems at BARC, even though it seems fairly clear that his 2005 task force that supposedly dealt with the issue hasn't accomplished much. Perhaps he's too busy furthering the interests of Houston's powerful (via The Houston Way) to bother with trivial matters like humane care for animals. Perhaps he's too busy running for Senate. Who knows?
However, we are pretty sure that as Mayor White's Senate campaign cranks up, some opposition researcher/strategist is going to ask the following question: Why in the world does Bill White hate puppies?
If he continues to look the other way as BARC's ongoing problems are documented by local media, maybe it's not such an outrageous question to ask.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/08/09 07:06 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
07 February 2009
Quanell X and Marvin Driver now on defense
The three Houston Police Officers at the center of the alleged Marvin Driver abuse have filed a lawsuit. They are suing Mr. Driver and Quanell X for false statements made against them during the investigation. Last November Mr. Driver was arrested for open warrants and brought to the HPD southeast jail where he was unresponsive. Mr. Driver went to the hospital where he claimed he was beaten and forced to ingest cocaine (trying to explain the cocaine that was found in his system). Quanell doing what he does best, jumped in front of any news camera to grandstand. Now, Quanell is going to have to defend himself against someone else's allegations. A nice bit of role reversal. Quanell has police-hating ACLU attorney Randall Kallinen representing him. Whenever there is a chance to slam police officers you'll find Mr. Kallinen.
Randall Kallinen, attorney for Quanell X on the defamation case, said the lawsuit is simply retaliation. ''This is another attempt by the police who use whatever means necessary to silence a police critic,'' Kallinen said.Question for Attorney Kallinen: How about police officers' rights to be protected against malicious accusations that cause them harm?
Using his logic, they have no rights.
Posted by Jason @ 02/07/09 12:48 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
Chronicle looking for discontent...again
This Saturday's edition of the Chronicle gives us two stories of sour grapes.
First, reporter Dane Schiller apparently went to Fort Bend asking people who think they should be given free money from anonymous donors instead of the deputy sheriffs what they thought of the anonymous gift. That's like asking you how you feel about your annoying neighbor winning the million dollar lottery.
“I just think it is weird. Why are they giving them money?” said Dianna Batres, 21, as she finished getting her hair done at Royal Styles beauty salon. “My boyfriend was like, ‘What if it is a drug dealer?’"Amazing she could be interrupted from her text messaging to offer such analysis.
In the next story, reporter Liz Austin Peterson found 'some' who think new Sheriff Adrian Garcia isn't moving fast enough with his sweeping changes. The man has only been in office for little more than a month. He had no help in transitioning from former Sheriff Tommy Thomas. So Sheriff Garcia has probably spent his first month trying to learn his way around. Patience guys, patience! I wonder if the Harris County deputies were asked about the Fort Bend deputies getting bonuses.
Posted by Jason @ 02/07/09 12:04 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
06 February 2009
Suspected virus shuts down Houston municipal courts
Multiple media outlets are reporting the news that a suspected computer virus has led the city to shut down the entire municipal courts computer system (and has led HPD to suspend arrests for outstanding traffic warrants).
Here is an excerpt from Lee McGuire's reporting for KHOU-11, which has been the most detailed so far:
Problems with city government computers first cropped up Wednesday morning at the Municipal Court building at 1400 Lubbock. Gwendolyn Goins, a spokesperson for the court system, said employees noticed the systems were slowing down and denying access to some files.
“On Thursday, the problem seemed to spread to other computers,” she said.
By Thursday night, city officials were scrambling to contain the damage from a computer virus they now suspect is the “Conficker” virus, the latest super virus to spread around the Web. Named after a German pun that means “program that manipulates the configuration,” Conficker infected nearly nine million computers worldwide last month.
Houston’s Information Technology Department authorized an emergency contract with an outside agency late Thursday to help stop the spread of the virus and repair infected computers at a cost of up to $25,000.
On Friday morning, Municipal Court workers had added extra shifts and were conducting court business with pens and paper. Goins said that while the system had slowed down, court business was still being conducted. “We don’t have any significant delays in the courtroom, but some courtrooms are a little bit busier than others simply because the docket is longer,” she said.
Defense attorneys disagreed. Two of them – Kameron Searle and Sid McNeice – approached an 11News crews to say that most judges were simply resetting court cases for a later date, rather than processing them. “The courts are a mess,” Searle said. “Justice ceases, and there’s really nothing going on in the building.”
Mayor Bill White ordered all Municipal Courts across the city to close at 4 p.m. Friday. Those courts would normally be open throughout the evening and weekend. Goins said that all cases that had been scheduled through Monday evening would be automatically postponed for a later date.
Other Municipal Court services, like the payment of tickets and fees, would still be available both in-person and on-line, she said.
According to a spokesman for the Houston Information Technology Department, the virus appears to be contained to the Municipal Court and Parking Management systems within the City of Houston. While the virus has blocked access to most data on computer hard drives, it does not appear to have erased any information.
The Houston office of my employer has been pounded this week with some sort of virus/malware that has been propagating (not affecting my machine thankfully, as I take precautions beyond corporate IT's), but our IT department has not shared details on what they think it is (if they even know at this point).
The Conficker virus has apparently gone crazy in the last few weeks. That's a shame, because Microsoft issued a patch back in October to deal with the threat. That leads to the question -- has the city's IT department been applying such patches faithfully? And if not, why not?
In any case, now might be a good time for readers to make sure their antivirus and operating system software is up to date.
BLOGVERSATION: Houblog.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/06/09 06:37 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
05 February 2009
HPD: Let's expand red light camera program
In response to the city's questionable red light camera study which concluded that accidents increased at intersections with at least one red light camera, HPD is considering adding more red light cameras:
The Houston Police Department is considering changes — possibly even expansion — to its red-light camera program after a city-commissioned study showed that crashes went up at intersections where the devices have been installed.
“What we’re concerned about is safety, safety, safety at these intersections,” said Executive Assistant Chief Timothy Oettmeier, whose command includes the camera system. “We want fewer injuries, we certainly don’t want any death, and we want a reduction in accidents.”
How about lengthening yellow light times?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/05/09 05:03 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (5)
Mr. Wilson goes to Washington
With his hat in his hand, begging for some of the "stimulus" pie:
Frank J. Wilson, our president & CEO, was scheduled to host the chat. He had to fly to Washington today for an unexpected trip to meet with Congressional leaders on METRO's funding needs, as part of the proposed economic stimulus package.
And the head of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee says things are looking good for METRO:
Houston Metro is due to receive as much as $180 million over the next 12 months from a huge economic stimulus bill to help jump-start construction of two light rail lines, a House committee chairman said Wednesday.
The long-delayed rail lines on the city’s north and southeast sides are a “very high-rated project,” said Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., who heads the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The project, he said, is ready to go and has cleared all but one step of a federal review.
“I will work with the Houston (congressional) delegation and with the Federal Transit Administration to process this project along,” Oberstar told the Houston Chronicle.
Asked if Metro’s overall request for $410 million from the economic stimulus bill had been realistic, Oberstar replied, “I should think so.”
[snip]
Oberstar’s comments followed an hourlong, closed-door meeting with a delegation that included Frank J. Wilson, the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s president and CEO, and Democratic Reps. Al Green and Sheila Jackson Lee. Also present were Houston Metro board members Burt Ballanfant. George DeMontrond and Jimmy Stewart, and Houston City Council member Sue Lovell.
“We are delighted with what we heard today,” Wilson said after the meeting, adding that Metro has a champion in Oberstar.
Like flies drawn to ... well, you know.
One can only imagine the backflips Mr. Procurement Disaster was doing after his meeting.
Meanwhile, in unrelated news, while METRO continues to scratch its head over declining ridership numbers, a homeless man was killed by a METRO bus after getting "into a scuffle with another man at a METRO bus stop, possibly over food the other man had." Who wouldn't want to ride the bus and witness such events?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/05/09 04:54 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (4)
04 February 2009
UH to offer undergraduate program in petroleum engineering
The University of Houston has announced a new undergraduate degree program that will be offered starting this fall:
At the University of Houston, a bachelor's degree plan in petroleum engineering will be offered starting next fall to help replenish the industry's aging workforce.
"Launching a new undergraduate program in petroleum engineering is a significant step toward meeting the workforce needs of the energy industry," said Cullen College of Engineering dean Joseph W. Tedesco. "The demand for petroleum engineers has never been greater, and we are now situated to better serve our energy-centered region as well as our nation."
The Society of Petroleum Engineers projects 40 percent of the industry's workforce will reach retirement age next year. That, coupled with growth in the industry and a national decline in the number of students pursuing degrees in technical fields, has businesses scrambling for talent.
[snip]
Approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board on Thursday, the degree program will combine the fundamentals of petroleum engineering and geosciences with economics, energy law and business. The program, along with a pre-existing master's degree option, aims to fill gaps in the workforce and arm graduates with the skills needed to respond to the evolving industry.
The curriculum was established after consulting extensively with the college's petroleum engineering advisory board, which is made up of industry professionals, and Devon Energy and Marathon Oil have contributed $1.6 million toward the program.
"This unique degree program is highly interdisciplinary and combines fundamentals in petroleum engineering and geosciences with business, economics and energy law - created through collaboration with industry," said Ramanan Krishnamoorti, chair of the college's department of chemical and biomolecular engineering, where the program is housed. "The degree will also include a revolutionary modular curriculum allowing students to focus their degrees in areas of specialization, such as reservoir engineering and petroleum geology."
Ray Flumerfelt, the petroleum program's director, said UH was perfectly positioned to provide a petroleum engineering program. "We are in the center of the industry and, as a university, we couldn't ignore this need," he said.
He might have added, "any longer."
This is a smart move for UH, in terms of the degree offering and the partnership with local industry.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/04/09 08:34 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)
03 February 2009
Bicyclist Stein opines on Houston dining
For a guy who complains about allegedly being misquoted by the press, Bicyclist Bob Stein, Houston's expert on everything, sure does like to give his opinion to the press on, well, pretty much everything.
Here is Stein's latest, from Bloomberg:
Consumers across the U.S. may be tightening their belts during the recession, but Texans are bellying up for more restaurant meals.
Sales at Texas restaurants are projected to rise 4 percent this year, more than in any other state, the National Restaurant Association forecast. That outstrips its 2.4 percent estimate for all U.S. restaurant sales.
Restaurateurs are being encouraged by the Texas economy, said Mike Donohue, spokesman for the Washington-based trade group. The state’s population will increase 1.7 percent this year and disposable incomes will rise 2 percent, according to the group’s estimates. The December jobless rate in Texas was 6 percent, compared with 7.2 percent nationwide.
“We’re certainly glad we’re not opening in a city that revolves around the financial industry,” said Tom Kaplan, senior managing partner for Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, based in Las Vegas, whose grand opening for Five-Sixty, atop Dallas’s Reunion Tower, is next week. “What we’re seeing is instilling confidence in Texas.”
Demographics play a role in big cities such as Houston, said Bob Stein, sociology and political science professor at Rice University. Thirty-seven percent of Houston households include children under 18 years old, he said.“It’s not just about having the money, it’s about juggling the day,” Stein said. “A high population of families with school-age kids and two wage earners is a perfect recipe for eating out a lot.”
We had no idea (from his vita) that Bicyclist Stein had ever researched Houston or urban dining patterns. He truly is a knowledgeable man of the world, and we always enjoy reading his opinions on... well, everything!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/03/09 07:47 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (5)
METRO: Don't call it a trend!
Tom Bazan sent out an email blast this weekend with METRO's latest ridership figures, and he noted that December's bus ridership declined a whopping 32 percent from the previous December. Add to that the previous three months'-worth of declining bus ridership numbers (a 21 percent decrease for the quarter) and you might think METRO has a trend.
Nope. You'd be wrong, as the Chron's Rosanna Ruiz found out when she decided to write a story on it and called Raequel Roberts for METRO's reaction.
Metro has reported an across-the-board drop in total ridership for a fourth consecutive month, blaming cheaper gas prices and continued blow-back from last year’s fare increases. Officials had predicted that ridership would go down, but not by this much.
In the last three months of 2008, system-wide ridership fell by 12 percent, compared to the same period the year before, to 21 million from 24 million. Metro officials are confident riders will be back after a short cooling-off period.
Although the numbers show a consistent, downward trajectory over four months, Metro spokeswoman Raequel Roberts was reluctant to call it an outright trend.
Which raises the question: At what point does it become a trend? Six months? A year? And what, if anything, should be done about it?
Nothing will happen because it's METRO we are dealing with. Couple lower gas prices with the frustration and inconvenience of having to deal with METRO's scheduling and it's not too hard to figure out why bus ridership has declined. Just read the comments to the Chron's story.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/03/09 04:59 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (7)
02 February 2009
Congresswoman Jackson Lee tells crime fearing residents they may get help from "stimulus" bill
Residents of the lovely Heights neighborhood are on edge because of recent home invasions. At a meeting, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee instead of addressing the problem tries to plug the pending stimulus (or socialist) bill in Congress. The Houston Chronicle quotes her as saying:
Jackson Lee, a Houston Democrat, said the stimulus bill currently in Congress may include funds for public safety, which could trickle all the way down to more patrol officers for Houston streets, but that local and state officials will have to fight for their share.So, to the residents of the Heights, despite four home invasion burglaries since the start of the year, the hyped "stimulus" bill MAY include funds for public safety (then again it may not). The funds COULD trickle down to Houston (then again, they may not).
Congresswoman Jackson Lee is apparently still out of touch.
Posted by Jason @ 02/02/09 11:16 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)
Annise Parker kicks off her mayoral campaign
The Chron's Alan Bernstein does a mini-profile of Houston Controller Annise Parker in preparation for her announcement today that she's entering the mayoral race:
“Houstonians want a mayor who can lead the city through tough economic times, and a mayor who can continue our forward progress with jobs and neighborhoods,” she said in an interview last week.
“I have the skill set to do these things,” she added as she prepared her announcement — an e-mail blast referring voters to an online video of her speaking to voters.
Parker, 52, started thinking about running for mayor long before the nation’s economic picture grew dark. But now that, in her words, “the No. 1 issue is going to be the economy and jobs,” Parker is touting the ways she can cut city expenses. She’s also worked as an engineering technologist for an oil company and as co-owner several years ago of a feminist bookstore.
Of the four or five others being mentioned as potential candidates in the Nov. 3 election, Parker easily has the most experience running for and serving in office citywide. After losing two City Council races, she won an at-large seat in 1997, 1999 and 2001. She was elected controller in 2003 and was re-elected with no opponents in 2005 and 2007.
And as mayor what will she focus on?
As mayor, she would foster partnerships among energy companies, government and researchers to put Houston in the forefront of developing alternative energy sources, she said.
She cited neighborhood protection and preservation as a top concern, pointing out that on City Council, she spurred ordinances on minimum lot sizes and setback requirements for buildings.
She's also not in favor of HPD identifying illegal immigrants, same as her presumed opponents.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/02/09 05:04 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (12)
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