30 July 2009

Houston Shakespeare Festival opens this weekend

The Chronicle's Everett Evans has a nice writeup of the Houston Shakespeare Festival, which opens its 35th season this weekend.

This year, the festival will feature Twelfth Night (which they have done before) and Pericles (which they have not done before). More information is available on their website.

The Shakespeare Festival is one of the city's true treasures. If you've never taken in one of the free performances (or even if you have), give it some consideration. They do a great job every year.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/30/09 09:55 PM | Houston Arts/Culture | Technorati | Comments (0)

29 July 2009

Linkpost: 07/29/09

It's an extra-large group of blog links tonight, since we hear some talk-radio hosts like that sort of thing. Enjoy!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/29/09 11:21 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

August Texas Monthly offers interesting article on Houston dogfighting, and a Tribute To White

The Chronicle's Bradley Olson calls our attention to Mimi Swartz's Texas Monthly article on the Houston Mayoral race.

It almost reads like Mrs. White* back in the day: Bill White good, VERY VERY good. In comparison, the three serious contenders to replace him are small.

There are other touches that remind us of Houston's Biggest Blog**:

“We’ve never had a mayor who wanted to run for higher office,” says Bob Stein, a political science professor at Rice University. “Different ambitions set up different agendas. . . . Lanier’s idea was to pick three things and do one. White picked ten things and did fifteen—well.”

That's Houston's Expert on Everything, Bob Stein, a sometime mayoral advisor. Oh, and someone named Marty Stein is the mayor's agenda director. Those little tidbits don't turn up in the story.

There is a reference to Bill King, who decided not to run for the office this time:

For more than a year, a prominent conservative businessman, Bill King, has been showing local breakfast groups a Cassandra-like PowerPoint presentation that purports to reveal how the city employee pension fund and other “unfunded liabilities” will bring financial disaster to Houston soon—maybe even before the election. If King is right, Brown and Parker, as public servants, will be in big trouble. “Annise hasn’t been waving her hands and saying the sky is falling,” said one campaign junkie. “After eleven years, she can’t run as an agent of change.” A fiscal crisis in the middle of a Senate run would also be bad for White—if he saw one looming. “In brief, Mr. King is just wrong,” White says. “Because we planned ahead and built up cash reserves, Houston is in far better shape than other cities...."

In a relative sense, perhaps, but that bit of politico-speak doesn't really refute the story that King has been telling. As we've noted for quite some time on the little blog, the unfunded pension fund liabilities still loom, despite minor improvements that Mayor White made early in his administration. We hope Mr. King keeps talking about municipal finances***, and that whoever wins the race taps his expertise in addressing the looming problems.

Anyway, those were the parts we found most interesting in this Great White Tribute.

Unsurprisingly, we didn't even think that was the best Houston-centric article in the August issue. We would bestow that honor on Skip Hollandsworth, for his fine (but disturbing) article on the undercover officers who got inside Houston's underground dogfighting culture, before busting many of the sickos involved in it. It's well worth reading if you're a subscriber.

* Cory Crow's name for an earlier Chron editorial board.
** AKA the Chronicle, another term coined by Crow.
*** We're not a breakfast group, but we'd welcome his presentation at a future blogger meetup.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/29/09 10:56 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)

Feds: Houston's crime rate is too low to qualify for COPS funding

KPRC-2 has Mayor White's reaction to the news that Houston is one of several major cities that will not be receiving federal Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) funding:

"This is the wrong decision for the wrong reasons," Houston Mayor Bill White said. "We were told that Houston did not receive funding because our city budget is not distressed and our crime rates have gone down to the lowest levels in decades. Cities should not be penalized for good law enforcement and sound financial practices."

Ironically, a couple of years ago, KHOU-11's Mark Greenblatt caught HPD under-reporting crime statistics. Chief Hurtt was apoplectic when Greenblatt dared challenge HPD's numbers, but after a while, HPD began reclassifying some homicides as murders.

Who knows if the city's crime stats are accurate these days, but the Justice Department is using that criteria as one reason why Houston doesn't need extra COPS funding.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/29/09 04:48 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (14)

28 July 2009

Texas Watchdog: Some councilmembers late paying their property taxes

Texas Watchdog's Lee Ann O'Neal noticed that some of members of City Council hadn't managed to pay their property taxes on time (click the link to find out which ones).

Interestingly enough, those late taxes got paid in a hurry once it was brought to the attention of the councilmembers.

Whoops!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/28/09 10:21 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

Chron goes with team coverage of Bernstein GOP beat

We wondered who might cover the local Republican beat for the Chronicle after Alan Bernstein went to work for Democratic Sheriff Adrian Garcia.

It appears that there will be a team approach (with a heavy dose of red, if you will).

So, who's going to be covering the local Democratic party activities for the newspaper?

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/28/09 10:03 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

blogHOUSTON gathering Saturday, 2pm, Stag's Head Pub

We've decided it's time to have another gathering.

If you're a blogHOUSTON reader, commenter, linker, lurker, or just want to come by and say hi, we and some other local bloggers will be hanging out at the Stag's Head Pub this Saturday (August 1), from 2pm until.... sometime.

Hope to see ya there!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/28/09 09:40 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (7)

27 July 2009

Why won't "transparent" METRO post committee meeting times online?

The Chronicle's Carolyn Feibel looked into the posting of METRO's meetings, and discovered that the organization doesn't exactly make it easy for people to attend its committee meetings:

Metro does post the time of its regular monthly board meeting on its Web site, but not for the committee meetings....

Metro's media contact, Raequel Roberts, said the only way to find out when the committees meet every month is to go to Metro headquarters downtown and check the lobby bulletin board. A meeting notice also is posted at the downtown Harris County courthouse, she said.

I asked her if there was someone I could call to find out the meeting schedule without using so much time, gasoline or Metro fare. Roberts told me no.

The notices are physically posted on the bulletin board 72 hours before meetings, as required by law. There is no good reason the meeting schedules couldn't be posted to the web (or even given to interested parties who might call). They just aren't. And for some reason, neither Raequel Roberts nor her boss answered Feibel's followup questions about posting the meeting times on the web.

Recall that two years ago, METRO chief Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson asserted "we operate the METRO organization in a completely transparent manner."

Ignoring legitimate questions from the media is not completely transparent. It would be completely transparent (not to mention convenient for METRO patrons with impaired mobility and/or means) to post the meeting times on the web, like any other major 21st century public organization. Surely an organization that can squander resources on TV documentaries and topiary bunnies could make that small, inexpensive improvement. Perhaps posting the meeting notices could even be added to Mary Sit's duties, since her blogging output is so limited!

UPDATE (07/29/09): The Chronicle's Caucasian Think Tank scolds METRO (really!) for its lack of transparency.

RELATED: Just a few tidbits on some METRO "olds" from July (bH).

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/27/09 09:31 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (10)

Linkpost: 07/27/09

Here are the latest local blog links, for your clicking pleasure.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/27/09 08:42 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (2)

Does Mayor Bill White hate puppies? (cont'd)

Houston Press reporter Craig Malisow reports the disturbing news that a puppy was "washed down" a drain and killed last week thanks to the latest example of negligence/incompetence at BARC. BARC spokeswoman Kathy Barton told him that the employee who effectively caused the poor puppy's death has been suspended for a week, and 68 puppies have been transferred to the Houston Humane Society so their cages can be reconfigured.

Malisow concludes:

Hair Balls isn't exactly sure why it took the idiotic death of a puppy to make the cages puppy-safe. It sort of begs the question, "What in God's name has the Incident Command Team been doing for the last ten months, or however long it is they've been commanding incidents?"

But now that the city is planning on throwing $208,000 at the problem, via "change agent" Gerry Fusco, we can only hope that no more puppies have to be sucked down a drain anytime soon.

The latest incident begs one more question: Does Mayor White hate puppies?

Because fixing the problems at BARC sure hasn't been a priority for him.

BLOGVERSATION: Bears Blog.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/27/09 08:21 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)

26 July 2009

Texas Watchdog, KHOU raise questions about METRO's no-bid contracts; Chron cheers!

On July 16, Texas Watchdog posted a story by Rosanna Ruiz on one of METRO's expensive no-bid contracts. The balanced reporting contained questions from others about the contracts, and included comments from METRO defending the contracts.

On July 22, KHOU-11's Brad Woodard picked up the story. KHOU's reporting included comments from Texas Watchdog raising concerns about the outside contracts, as well as comments from METRO defending the contracts.

Yesterday, the Chronicle decided to report on some of METRO's no-bid contracts. The story does not reference the earlier reporting by Texas Watchdog or KHOU. Indeed, the reporting doesn't even acknowledge that anyone raised any concerns whatsoever about the no-bid contracts. The only comments included in the story came from pro-contract people praising the contracts. It reads like something that might appear on METRO's expensive blog.

Apparently, that represents Jeff Cohen's vision of watchdog reporting at the new, slimmed-down Chronicle (or as Cory Crow has taken to calling it, Houston's Biggest Blog).

BLOGVERSATION: Texas Watchdog.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/26/09 09:48 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

Magaziner: Part One of METRO Solutions -- The Other Side of the Story

We're running a guest editorial essay today by Paul Magaziner, a local businessman and a member of Corridors United. As an alternative local opinion outlet, blogHOUSTON is interested in running more occasional opinion pieces by outside authors (which we have done in the past). If interested, please feel free to contact us. We should note that the views expressed are, as with our blog posts, those of the author.

Part One of METRO Solutions: The Other Side of the Story

By Paul Magaziner

If it's true that you can't teach old dogs new tricks, then METRO must be in the ranks of Moses. Everyone knows METRO started the construction of the Main Street alignment in Year 2000 without voter approval or federal funds. METRO even started construction in the middle of the night. Bad Habits are hard to break.

Business people always study their business's past history, from failures to successes. The following is my version of the history of METRO under Mayor White, David Wolff and Frank Wilson.

[Read More]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/26/09 09:25 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)

25 July 2009

Councilmember, firefighter union chief go at it over "house negro" reference; Mayor White comments on Sen. Cornyn

Local print media, television news, and talk radio were buzzing at the end of the week over the latest controversy involving the Houston Fire Department.

Apparently, a discussion between Councilmember Jolanda Jones and Jeff Caynon, the head of a local firefighters' union, grew heated -- so heated that (according to a letter from Caynon) Councilmember Jones made reference to Caynon and used the term "house negro" (both parties seem to agree that the term was used, but seem to disagree over the exact context; we obviously weren't there, hence this disclaimer).

The local media jumped all over that, and supporters and critics of both Jones and Caynon jumped right into the fray, which ensnared HFD in yet another controversy. Rich Connelly summarizes the mess as well as anyone for the Houston Press.

To his credit, Mayor Bill White is often a calming influence in our city, and there is no doubt that Council during his tenure has been much more collegial and professional than the dysfunctional bickering mess it had become by the end of the Lee Brown era. So we searched various news stories (Chronicle, KRIV-26, KTRK-13, KHOU-11, KPRC-2) to see if Mayor White had reacted publicly to the latest HFD controversy.

We searched in vain. But we did find this update on twitter:

Candidate @billwhitefortx speaks out about Cornyn's vote on Sotomayor: http://bit.ly/15cW4b

Maybe Senate Candidate White is working behind the scenes on this latest local controversy.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/25/09 02:07 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)

24 July 2009

Linkpost: 07/24/09

Here are some local blog links to kick off the weekend. Enjoy!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/24/09 11:45 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

23 July 2009

HASDC finally coughs up some info; Mayor's office adopts our view on HAS review (updated)

Texas Watchdog's Steve Miller reports that the City Controller finally has obtained requested documents from the nonprofit spinoff of the Houston Airport System. The nonprofit had previously rebuffed efforts by City Controller, one councilmember, and Texas Watchdog to examine the information.

The press office for Mayor Bill White, which just last week told Texas Watchdog that the mayor's office had also been unable to obtain the requested information, apparently misled the media:

In a letter accompanying the release of the financial documents to Parker this week, [HASDC attorney Hank] Coleman notes that the records “were provided to the Mayor three weeks ago on June 26.”

But as late as last week the mayor’s spokesman Patrick Trahan told Texas Watchdog, in response to requests for HASDC financial records, that the mayor’s office did not have the documents.

On Wednesday, he explained that the records likely went directly through his office to a third party that is reviewing the HASDC financial records for the city.

This must be the latest example of how transparency works when you're busy "running the city like a business," as Senate Candidate Bill White is fond of telling the folks around Texas.

That bolded bit of "oh-by-the-way" news from the mayor's press office is interesting as well. Here is more:

The mayor initially said in May that the review would be conducted by [Anthony] Hall. A group of business experts is now conducting the review, according to the mayor’s office.

“For Mr. Hall to do this would be a conflict of interest,” Trahan said. “Anthony is not doing the review.”

Texas Watchdog has additional questions into the mayor’s office concerning what the conflict might be and who, specifically, is conducting the internal review.

We first criticized the mayor's selection of Hall to conduct this audit on June 28, and called for an independent review committee to be appointed on July 9 and again on July 14. We're pleased that Mayor White has come around to our view on Hall's role in the audit, especially since it seems to have flown under the radar of the Chronicle editorial board and metro/state columnists Rick Casey and Lisa Falkenberg.

The next step in transparency (as we understand the term) would be answering Texas Watchdog's questions about the exact composition of the "group of business experts" now conducting this review and questions about how much money this consulting effort will cost the city (especially important in light of recent controversies over the mayor's consulting picks).

UPDATE (07/25/09): As noted in the comments, Texas Watchdog filed a story Friday night that updates the information above. The two key bits of information are:

  1. The City is using the Bracewell & Giuliani law firm to review HASDC financial activities.
  2. Mayoral press staffer Patrick Trahan now claims he "misspoke" in the earlier Texas Watchdog story, and now says that City Hall insider Anthony Hall is "still over the review" and that there is no conflict of interest.

Huh?

As previous reporting has noted, Anthony Hall was involved in approving some of Vacar's activities. As we have argued previously, that alone means Anthony Hall should not be a part of any audit of Vacar's activities (aside from providing any requested information to the auditors). He certainly should not be "over the review" (whatever that means).

Furthermore, Trahan's change of tune raises another issue. He previously told Texas Watchdog that the mayor's office hadn't been able to obtain the requested financial information from HASDC. Documents later showed that the mayor's office had been in possession of those documents for weeks. When Trahan was asked why he said the mayor's office couldn't obtain the documents when clearly HASDC had provided the mayor's office those documents, Trahan told Texas Watchdog that it was because Anthony Hall was no longer involved and the documents had apparently simply been forwarded on to the firm conducting the audit. But if that story isn't true (or someone "misspoke"), and Hall is still involved, then we are back to the question of why Mayor White's press office misled the press about documents in their possession.

Somebody in Mayor White's press shop, which loves to tout the administration's transparency, needs to get the story straight!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/23/09 12:35 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

22 July 2009

HPD chief, METRO chairman like mayoral candidate Gene Locke

A few days ago, Chron reporter Bradley Olson posted the news that HPD Chief Harold Hurtt and his wife had donated to mayoral candidate Gene Locke.

Blogger David Ortez has since posted a compilation of donors who gave the maximum ($5,000) to candidates, and that list has turned up another interesting name.

It seems that David Wolff, chairman of METRO, gave Gene Locke $5,000.

Certainly, there is no law against high-profile unelected community leaders donating to political candidates.

But is it a good idea?

We'd rather our high-profile unelected officials maintain at least some degree of political impartiality while they are supposedly serving the public.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/22/09 10:34 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)

City traffic bureaucrats reject Ashby again

The River Oaks Examiner reports that the City of Houston has, for the tenth time, rejected plans from the Ashby high-rise developers:

Plans for the Ashby high-rise were rejected for the 10th time Tuesday with the city saying its own traffic evaluation now shows the projects impact would push the Bissonnet Street at Shepherd Drive intersection to nearly an “F” level.

[snip]

The rejected plans were submitted April 7, making the three months until they were returned to the developers unusually long.

Developer Matthew Morgan had said Friday the length of time that passed was “somewhat unorthodox” and that Buckhead partners would resubmit plans prior a receiving decision from the Public Works Department.

It's interesting that this development has effectively been put on hold by the city's traffic bureaucrats because Level of Service (LOS) allegedly declines to F for one intersection, yet the city's traffic bureaucrats remain mute on unbelievable METRO traffic estimates that lane closures, turn restrictions, interlining, and signal issues will have NO impact on downtown traffic mobility (see Coming soon to downtown: A train-traffic-pedestrian-infrastructure adventure only METRO could love).

Unfortunately, this is what can happen when what should be a technocratic bureaucracy begins to serve political interests instead of the public interest. It's not a good precedent that has been set by the White Administration.

BLOGVERSATION: Swamplot.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/22/09 10:13 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)

Linkpost: 07/22/09

It's time to throw out a little local blog reading. Enjoy!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/22/09 07:59 AM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

Mayor White wants to spend $200k on BARC consulting; HFD consulting proposal hits temporary roadblock

Craig Malisow reports on the Houston Press blog that Houston consultant Gerry Fusco is apparently the "change agent" for BARC that Mayor Bill White's press staff recently promised:

BARC has inked a six-month contract with Houston consultant Gerry Fusco to address physical, financial and operational procedures at the troubled animal-control facility.

Houston Health and Human Services spokeswoman Kathy Barton told Hair Balls that Fusco will be paid approximately $200,000 and is slated to begin Thursday.

Conveniently, the contract extends just past the end of Mayor White's term, which seems calculated to make this issue go away so he can focus on that Senate race.

Fusco, who appears to be a Six-Sigma practitioner, does not appear to have any particular expertise in managing an animal-care facility such as BARC. According to Malisow, his hefty contract has apparently been designed so that he can begin work immediately, with Council's rubberstamping of the mayor's spending to follow in two weeks.

THAT raises questions of how and why Fusco was selected as the "change agent" to clean up BARC immediately (after so many years of neglect), why it couldn't have waited for a proper public discussion at Council, and just who Busco might know at City Hall.

If that last sounds overly cynical, we would point out that Mayor White's other recent spending proposal for about the same amount seems to have run into a little roadblock today, according to KRIV-26's Isiah Carey:

WE'VE LEARNED A VOTE BY HOUSTON'S CITY COUNCIL ON A PROPOSAL TO HIRE TWO LAW FIRMS TO ADDRESS SENSITIVITY IN THE FIRE DEPARTMENT WILL LIKELY BE DELAYED TOMORROW. THIS COMES AS HOUSTON CITY ATTORNEY ARTURO MICHEL ADMITS TIES TO AT LEAST ONE OF THE AGENCIES HE PLAYED A ROLE IN CHOOSING. MICHEL PLANS TO SEND A MEMO TO COUNCIL MEMBERS ON WEDNESDAY TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE.

HOUSTON CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JOLANDA JONES TELLS FOX 26 SHE HAS PLANS TO TAGGED THE PROPOSAL TO HIRE THE TWO OUTSIDE FIRMS. JONES WENT ON TO SAY SHE'S LIKE TO SEE AN AGENCY WITH MORE EXPERTISE IN THE FIELD OF HUMAN RESOURCES HANDLE THE MATTER.

Houston's passive Council will almost certainly roll over for the mayor in two weeks, but it really shouldn't. It's not at all clear why these firms were chosen or what their mandate will be, and the public deserves to know those details. Furthermore, while $200,000 may not seem like a lot of money to someone who's busy raising millions for a Senate race, it's not an insignificant sum, and a little (or even a lot of) sunshine is always preferable to no-bid contracts put together by staffers for a seemingly distracted mayor.*

* We learned this lesson during the Lee Brown era.

BLOGVERSATION: The Dog Nanny, Texas Watchdog, ABC13 Political Blog, Hair Balls, Noah's Ark PAC.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/22/09 12:44 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

21 July 2009

Dangerous time/place/behavior update (local reporter edition)

It's been a while, but it seems we have another dangerous time/place/behavior situation (via Mike McGuff):

A Houston television reporter was carjacked and kidnapped at gunpoint early Monday and forced to drive to Beaumont, KPRC Local 2 reported.

Houston police said the gunman approached ABC-13 reporter Eric James at a red light on Westheimer Road near West Creek at about 3 a.m. Investigators said James had just left his apartment and was headed to work.

Okay, so following Chief Hurtt's advice, local reporters should not head to work at 3 a.m. on Westheimer Road near West Creek, if they want to avoid becoming another crime statistic.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/21/09 07:37 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

20 July 2009

Chron laments number of women in HFD, calls it a news story

In today's Chronicle, reporter Mike Tolson penned one of those one-sided "news analysis" pieces that has, unfortunately, displaced so much hard-news reporting from newspapers all over.

The thrust of the 22-graf, front-page story is that women are underrepresented in fire departments across the country and in Houston. The story also implicitly links recent harassment and bad behavior in the HFD with the "under-representation." Here are some illustrative grafs:

At the same time that U.S. military branches and law enforcement agencies were successfully bringing women into their ranks, the great majority of fire departments — including HFD — failed to follow suit. The result is a percentage of female firefighters well below that of most occupations and much smaller than what anyone might have expected a generation ago when lawsuits and affirmative action put an end to the firehouse as an exclusively white male domain.

Women may represent about 13 percent of law enforcement patrol officers according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, but they are less than 5 percent of the nation's firefighters.

Houston's numbers are even lower than the national average. Its 103 female employees account for only 2.6 percent of the department. That's barely more than one woman per station, meaning that some shifts and some fire houses remain de facto all male, and that women in some stations continue to feel as if they are unwelcome pioneers.

[snip]

“If you put one woman in a fraternity of men, you can pretty much figure out how they are going to be treated,” said attorney Joe Ahmad, who represents the two HFD women whose complaints of harassment recently became front-page news. “If the numbers don't change, it's virtually impossible to fix the problem.”

Synopsis: Women are "underrepresented" in fire departments, especially in Houston, which paves the way for horrible treatment, which perpetuates the mean boys club. And not a single disagreeing voice is quoted! What a fine editorial posing as a news story.

Never mind, of course, that (as Michael Berry pointed out on the radio today) firefighters are expected to pass demanding physical exams, that some women are unable to do so, and that the number of applicants is likely limited, in part, by the physical demands of the job. That realistic view isn't addressed seriously in this editorial posing as a news story.

Now, none of this is offered as an excuse for the firemen who have behaved badly in the department, which probably does dissuade some physically qualified women from pursuing HFD careers. The City of Houston should make every effort to root out those misbehaving employees, and to establish a culture that does not condone such activity.

Beyond that, though, we're okay with requiring our firefighters to meet appropriate physical qualifications (that might come into play, say, when rescuing people from fires).

If the Chronicle wants to editorialize on the matter, we'd suggest the opinion page is the right place for that. Well, except for the fact that Jeff Cohen fired the only two women on his editorial board in the last purge (since adding one woman to the remaining Caucasian Male think tank). Maybe that section doesn't have the most credibility on the topic.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/20/09 10:02 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)

They're watching your speed (sort of, if you have an EZ Tag)

In today's Chronicle, Carolyn Feibel discusses the role of EZ Tag transponders in helping TranStar estimate freeway traffic velocity and congestion.

Area bloggers had that discussion nearly five years ago, here.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/20/09 09:12 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)

Chron: Some in East End start to feel pinch of rail expansion

Today's Chronicle runs a story by Allan Turner on Lenox Barbecue, a longtime East End barbecue joint that will be forced to close down because of the light-rail expansion.

In what is now a familiar refrain, some members of the community feel like METRO has not been responsive to their concerns about the expansion:

East End voters approved Metro's light rail plan in 2003 by a 14 percent margin, but since then, a number of issues have left area residents in an uproar.

“We really feel badly about Lenox,” said Diane Lipton, president of the East End Chamber of Commerce, “but we don't have any control over it.”

Lipton said her group favors light rail development on Harrisburg, but believes Metro disregarded community concerns in designing the project.

“We can't get a response from Metro,” she charged. “They do things behind our backs. They are not community-responsive.”

We feel for those who were naïve enough to trust their political leaders (some of whom undoubtedly have profited from a positive relationship with METRO) and their regional transit authority.

But the political reality has always been this: METRO needed the votes of this community in passing the rail referendum overall. That was the input that most concerned METRO. Details of construction and the impact on the community after the vote? Well, input from "experts" who don't live in the area (but who are affiliated with firms that will benefit handsomely from the expansion) tends to carry much more weight with the like-minded "experts" at METRO. That's The Houston Way, after all!

Incidentally, for those who might wonder what other fun changes are coming to Harrisburg, be sure to check out some of the links (to the various EIS statements and to the Parsons contract) in this post. It's dense, but informative, reading.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/20/09 09:00 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)

19 July 2009

Linkpost: 07/19/09

Here's an abbreviated, end-of-weekend/time-to-start-fresh dump of local blog links. Enjoy!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/19/09 10:12 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

Mayor/Senate Candidate White's press office announces plan to spend nearly $200k on HFD legal consultants (updated)

In a two-reporter, eight-paragraph story on Saturday, the Chronicle reported that Mayor/Senate Candidate Bill White would like to spend nearly $200,000 so two law firms can look further into issues of equality within the Houston Fire Department:

Mayor Bill White wants to hire two local law firms to examine “equal employment opportunity processes and practices” in the Houston Fire Department, his office announced Friday*.

The effort to initiate an outside review comes about 10 days after two women found racist and misogynistic graffiti near their quarters at a department fire station.

White has asked City Council to authorize a contract of up to $190,000 with the law firms Thompson and Horton, L.L.P. and Lemond and Lemond, L.L.C, who will “work jointly to review, assess and recommend policies and practives on issues that include diversity, conflict resolution, preventive practices, compliance, communication and management practices,” said a city news release*.

[snip]

“In any organization there is always room for improvement. We want this expertise to help us examine how we can do that,” White said in a statement*.

The rest of the story updates us on the lack of significant new developments in the HFD investigation. The two reporters do not, however, inform us what precisely Thompson and Horton or Lemond and Lemond will be doing (beyond the platitudes in the mayor's statement) or shed any light on why those two law firms were chosen (as opposed, to say, management consulting firms or any number of other firms). Apparently the mayor's staff wasn't able to shed much light on those issues either.

We did find one interesting connection. It turns out that Thompson and Horton employs a young associate lawyer by the name of Annie Stein. Ms. Stein, we are fairly certain,** is the daughter of Marty Stein (Mayor White's agenda director) and Bob Stein (Houston's expert on everything).

Now, are we suggesting that the selection of a law firm to handle ambiguous consulting for HFD has much to do with a junior associate lawyer who is related** to the mayor's agenda director? Not at all. It's probably complete coincidence. We are just amused by the small-town feel of Houston at times (being from a small town ourselves).

* Was our mayor too busy running for his next office to participate in this HFD announcement?
** Our multiple layers of fact-checkers and research assistants are out, it being the weekend and all.

UPDATE (07-22-09): As it turns out, there were even more interesting connections between Mayor White's staff and the law firms that apparently influenced their selection without any input from Council or public vetting. See this story from the Chronicle for more details.

BLOGVERSATION: Isiah Carey's Insite.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/19/09 09:47 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

Chron editorial board discovers appraisal creep (then moves on)

We were shocked Saturday to see this graf tucked away in a Chron editorial on Harris County property taxes:

Under state law, valuations for residences cannot be increased by more than 10 percent annually; on the other hand, in areas where home values have risen significantly over the past decade, a 10 percent increase in valuations has come to be viewed as almost automatic. This has fed an active cynicism among many homeowners that elected officials have conveniently been shielded from the onerous chore of voting to increase taxes by these seemingly automatic bumps in valuations dependably churned out every year by HCAD.

It's as if the Chronicle's Caucasian Think Tank* has just now discovered appraisal creep, which became a big issue several years ago (not that a reader of the Chron editorial page ever would have known). Apparently that solitary mention was enough for them, though, as they quickly moved on to... well, we're not quite sure, as the rest of the editorial just kind of rambles on with no clear thesis.

Nonetheless, we're pleased to welcome the Chron's editorial board to the conversation about local property taxes, even if it's a few years late.

* Cory Crow's fine name for the new Chronicle editorial board.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/19/09 02:06 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)

METRO goes on high alert for anti-rail protesters

Last week, METRO threw itself a big party at Union Station to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Southeast and North Corridors. We hear METRO feared anti-rail protesters would crash the party, so METRO flew into action: There was a special area set aside for protesters, there were bomb-sniffing dogs scouring the premises, there were plans to confiscate banners that might be brought in to disrupt the festivities, etc, etc.

We also hear the massive hordes of violent anti-rail protesters failed to materialize.

We are sure Chief Lambert appreciated an opportunity to deploy his elite counterterror unit, including his sharpshooters, bomb-sniffing dogs, and bomb robot. It's unclear what role METRO's Boat Rescue Squad played, but maybe they provided security for Frank Wilson on his taxpayer-subsidized commute to and from work. You know, to protect him from all those violent anti-rail protesters.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/19/09 07:33 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (6)

18 July 2009

Texas Watchdog: HASDC refuses to provide information to Mayor's office

Texas Watchdog's Steve Miller reports that the nonprofit HAS Development Corp. has refused to turn over documents requested by the office of Mayor Bill White:

“The HASDC wrote to the Attorney General’s office … It feels that it doesn’t have to provide these records,” said Patrick Trahan, the mayor’s press secretary. “We are waiting to hear.”

Trahan told Miller the mayor's office will continue to press for the information. Mayor White likes to have things his way, so we can't imagine being told "no" by a quasi-public spinoff of the city's airport system is likely to sit well with him (at least if getting the information is actually a priority for his office).

Texas Watchdog, one city councilmember, and the city controller have all been similarly rebuffed in their efforts to obtain financial information about the shadowy spinoff created and operated at least partly with taxpayer resources.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/18/09 07:43 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

Linkpost: 07/18/09

Here's some Saturday morning blog link goodness for you!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/18/09 07:26 AM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

17 July 2009

Hair Balls on METRO's "civil rights trainwreck" (updated)

The Houston Press Hairballs blog takes a break momentarily from amateurish, incomprehensible rambling to post actual work from a professional journalist* related to METRO. Here's a snippet from Paul Knight, commenting on METRO's adventures with civil-rights laws:

A couple months back, we wrote about Metro receiving notification from the Federal Transit Administration, saying Metro had violated federal civil rights laws, but we hadn't seen a draft of the preliminary report. Now we have, and, apparently, Metro hasn't been too concerned with the federal laws.

According to the report, "the general consensus among the staff was that there was little to no awareness of METRO's Title VI Program," a program designed to ensure that Metro doesn't discriminate based on race, color, or national origin, and it evaluates the "social and economic effects of programs and activities on minority populations and low-income populations."

Furthermore, the report says, no one on staff interviewed by the FTA even knew that there was a person or department where Title VI complaints should be directed.

Tom Bazan, a Houston resident whose name should be familiar to people who follow Metro, obtained the report from the FTA, but since a lot of information has been redacted from the draft, he feels that the agency is still stonewalling him.

"For all their transparency, they still seem to be reluctant to talk about unpleasant topics," Bazan tell Hair Balls.

Our METRO?

Surely not.

* Yes, apparently there are a few such creatures left at the place.

ANNE LINEHAN ADDS: Paul Knight's post includes an update:

Raequel Roberts, a Metro spokeswoman, responded to our questions about the report and said that Metro has responded to the FTA report, adding that the agency's final report is complete. (The FTA hasn't responded to Hair Balls.)

Since Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson insists that METRO operates in a "completely transparent manner," METRO should encourage the release of the final report so we can all see METRO's response.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/17/09 11:33 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)

16 July 2009

Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson awards large no-bid contract to former associate

Former Chron reporter Rosanna Ruiz has a nice story for Texas Watchdog today on curious expenditures by METRO.

As Ruiz notes, METRO is apparently paying a California-based former associate of Frank Wilson roughly $300/hour to oversee the contract for the light-rail buildout. Wilson was able to secure a no-bid contract for his former associate, and it has been extended three times. The consultant will wind up making around half a million bucks for a year-and-a-half of work. Wilson says the hire is justified, because nobody at METRO is qualified to do the sort of work his former colleague is handling.

Since there's really nobody to hold METRO/Wilson accountable to the public/taxpayers (Senate Candidate White is certainly much too busy these days), that's probably about the last word on the subject.

Of course, nobody familiar with Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson's background should be terribly surprised by any of it.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/16/09 11:28 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (4)

Mayor White backtracks from Senate-candidate White

Remember when Senate-candidate White tried not to look so wimpy on illegal immigration?

Standing in front of a bank of TV cameras this week, Houston Mayor Bill White took the federal government to task for not deporting an illegal immigrant with a criminal record before he allegedly shot a Houston police officer during a recent drug raid.

[snip]

To plug any potential remaining gaps, White this week said he plans to ask Hurtt to consider participating in the federal government’s controversial 287(g) program, which trains local jailers to assist immigration agents.

Of course he didn't mean it:

It was interesting to read this blog post from Katherine Leal Unmuth of the Dallas News. She reported on a recent LULAC event White helped headline in Dallas.

The mayor gets a little defensive when pressed about immigration training for Houston jailers through the 287g program. He emphasizes that he hasn't signed off anything yet, even though he hasn't indicated locally any reluctance to join the program.

Different audience, different position.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/16/09 06:30 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (4)

Linkpost: 07/16/09

Here is the latest local blog roundup to get the day rolling.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/16/09 07:58 AM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

Dem commissioners endorse John Sharp; Eversole lashes out

In a two-reporter (!) blog post, the Chronicle reports that Democratic Harris County Commissioners Sylvia Garcia and El Franco Lee endorsed John Sharp (and not Mayor Bill White) for the expected U.S. Senate race. The two Chron scribes link to a press release from the Sharp campaign, which claims the commissioners offered their news together after the latest Commissioners Court meeting.

KTRK-13's Miya Shay has an amusing observation about that joint "announcement" on her blog:

Now, I was there, and Lee and Garcia didn't stand there and make any pronouncements. I guess that's why they have press releases.

Whoops!

Other interesting Commissioners Court news came from Commissioner Jerry Eversole in response to questioning from KTRK-13's Wayne Dolcefino. Their exchange is reported by the Chronicle's Mike Tolson. Eversole told Dolcefino that he will not be resigning his seat, despite the ethics problems KTRK and Dolcefino helped bring to light.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/16/09 07:12 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

15 July 2009

METRO Boat Rescue Squad ready to serve!

Did you realize that in addition to its Elite Counterterror Squad, METRO also has a Boat Rescue Squad?

We didn't either, but METRO's expensive blogger Mary Sit spelled it out for us in this post:

The documentary details how METRO responds to natural disasters, such as storms. A boat rescue squad practices regularly on how to rescue in debris-filled water, including buoy rescues and tethered rescues.

Initially, that seemed to us like another wasteful duplication of services already provided by other safety agencies.

And then we realized that METRO actually does need its own dedicated Boat Rescue Squad.

How else would the organization get passengers off the stranded Danger Train and onto buses when there is three inches of rain?

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/15/09 08:45 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (9)

14 July 2009

Texas Watchdog highlights revolving door at HAS; White Administration refuses comment

Last week, Texas Watchdog broke the news that the Houston Airport System, under the direction of Richard Vacar, had created a web of public-private offshore companies that have, to date, been shielded from public review, press review, and even review by the city controller and one councilmember.

Today, Texas Watchdog's Steve Miller follows up with the news that not only were public resources tied to creating and operating these shadowy offshore companies, but that public officials working for the Houston Airport System routinely cycled into high-level positions with the "private" spinoff companies that were created.

Houston Mayor Bill White, who frequently talks about transparency, has refused to answer Texas Watchdog's questions about the latest revelations.

Meanwhile, White Administration staffer (and former Brown Administration insider) Anthony Hall apparently continues to oversee a review of Vacar's expense reports and other activities, despite the fact that Hall was the White Administration's point man for approving many of Vacar's requests (according to previous reporting).

Given the ongoing revelations about the Houston Airport System, it's well past time that Mayor White, acting with the City Controller and City Council, appoint an audit committee (whose members are not tied in any way to the Houston Airport System) and charge them with getting to the bottom of the questions that have been raised to date (and maybe some others).

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/14/09 12:45 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

Linkpost: 07/14/09

Here's our latest roundup of local blog posts that we've found interesting. Enjoy!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/14/09 07:55 AM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

13 July 2009

KHOU finds history of fire-code violations at Gallery Furniture

In a story posted this weekend, KHOU-11 finally reported on documents (inexplicably) withheld by the City of Houston after the big arson incident at Gallery Furniture.

We're not going to steal KHOU's thunder by blockquoting extensively -- please go read their original watchdog reporting.

We will say that the pattern of violations, and Mattress Mack's spinning, and internal HFD discussion related to "Mr. McIngvale" all make for some very interesting reading.

The Houston Chronicle also "covered" this news:

In inspections dating back to 2002, the city fire marshal's office found dozens of violations across the multi-building site, according to records the Houston Chronicle obtained through its partnership with KHOU.

Well, at least KHOU covered it. But we're pleased to see Paige Hewitt back at work after the short stint at KTRK, at least.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/13/09 10:32 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)

What is this Chonicle?

If you're diminutive Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen, how do you know if you've finally fired too many essential staffers (say, copy editors and web editors)?

[Read More]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/13/09 09:53 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (6)

12 July 2009

Mayor to oversee HFD investigation; HAS player still overseeing HAS audit

Here's a tale of two investigations.

On Thursday, Mayor White vowed to take charge of investigating incidents of HFD firemen (or perhaps fireman) behaving badly (very badly):

Houston's mayor said on Thursday that he will personally oversee an investigation into racial, sexual and threatening graffiti left at female living quarters in a Houston fire station, and will seek outside help in improving the department, KPRC Local 2 reported.

Following Texas Watchdog's latest riveting story on the Houston Airport System, detailing a shadowy web of offshore companies (staffed partly by City of Houston employees) that refuse to provide any accounting of activities to Texas Watchdog, Houston taxpayers, or even elected officials (including the City Controller and one Councilmember), Mayor White's response was... to allow Anthony Hall, who was the White Administration's point man in dealing with Vacar and his activities (and a Lee Brown Administration insider back in the day), to continue his audit of Vacar's activities.

The public deserves better than that. Even if Mayor White is disinclined, the City Controller not to mention City Council should be demanding answers from the Houston Airport System and all of the shadowy spinoffs Vacar created, in part with the resources and backing of the City of Houston and the Houston Airport System.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/12/09 08:24 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

Coming soon to downtown: A train-traffic-pedestrian-infrastructure adventure only METRO could love!

The Chronicle's Mike Snyder reported on Wednesday that a revision to the archaic codes used by Mayor White to curry favor with powerful supporters and block the Ashby highrise development could conflict with the city's new transit corridors ordinance, which is being presented by supporters/media as a code to foster pedestrian-friendly development (but in reality represents a significant power grab).

One of the most important quotes in the story comes nearly at the end:

Chapter 15 was added to the design manual in the aftermath of the Ashby controversy, but it simply put into writing procedures that the city already followed, said Andy Icken, deputy director of the Department of Public Works and Engineering.

Icken said he will work with Marlene Gafrick, Houston’s planning and development director, to add language to the transit corridors ordinance clarifying that reduced automobile traffic is likely along corridors where people will be riding trains. That should reduce the need for any traffic mitigation, Icken said.

In other words, a city official who is supposed to be analytical/nonpolitical has just offered up a very helpful political solution to a problem created by the last very helpful political solution.

Leaving aside that element of The Houston Way, we do wish to highlight what city officials are generally loath to admit to the public: Reduced automobile traffic is likely along corridors where people will be riding trains.

Not only is it likely, but the tremendous impact of laying many miles of new light rail down busy streets (in downtown and uptown) -- in the form of greatly reduced traffic mobility -- is one of the great undercovered stories in Houston at the moment. Covering the story is not made all that easy by METRO, city planners, or even management districts (which exist to promote and protect the interests of businesses and people that live/work/reside within those districts), as documents can be difficult to obtain and difficult to reconcile with each other. So local media have largely stuck with easier fare, like bunnies and Safety Lou.

We decided it might be useful to reproduce some info from the relevant documents we have been able to obtain and/or review. We have focused only on downtown mobility issues here, although a preliminary review indicates that LOS problems and METRO mitigation "solutions" are even more shocking in the Uptown corridor.

[Read More]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/12/09 07:26 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (4)

An accident METRO officials couldn't blame on anyone but themselves

Back on June 16th, Kevin Whited noted, incredulously, that the Danger Train somehow managed to derail, run into a power pole, and rear-end another train. It was unclear if METRO PD Chief Tom Lambert found some nearby pedestrians to berate for causing the accident.

A couple of weeks later, KHOU-11 followed up with the accident investigation results. As with anything related to METRO, all we can do is shake our heads:

1. The train was speeding, going 22 mph in a 15 mph zone. The investigation notes that part of the problem is METRO had three different speed limits within an 1100 foot section of the track.

2. The report recommends that for Danger Train expansion routes that have tight curves, METRO should either widen the track or install rail guards to keep trains from derailing.

3. METRO should stop applying rail lubricant manually along curves, and instead install an automatic lubrication system. "The report found that the lubricant can dry up quickly and become ineffective in Houston’s hot summers." Who knew?

4. METRO needs to preserve evidence after a derailment. The report noted that by the time investigators arrived five days after the accident, METRO had already begun repairs.

5. METRO has also discovered that it doesn't have a standardized program for Danger Train instructors. After 5+ years of operation, METRO just now discovers this?

Isn't it comforting to know that the experts in charge of 7.5 miles of downtown light rail are working on expanding it?

On a side note, The Downtown Aquarium train had a little rear-end accident last night. According to the Aquarium's press release, the mini-train will be operating today in spite of the accident. Be careful out there!

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Train driver who smashed bicyclist had permission

RELATED: Derailment Blamed on Human Error, METRO's Sit and Spin blog

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/12/09 07:52 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)

Latest sales tax revenue allocations

Both the city of Houston's and METRO's sales tax revenue allocations have declined again. Houston's is down 4.7%, and METRO's is down 2.7% compared to July of last year.

Thanks to Tom Bazan for continuing to keep track of this information.

RELATED: Texas sales tax revenue down 11 percent in June, Houston Business Journal

UPDATE: We've posted the spreadsheet to Google Docs here. Feel free to peruse!

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/12/09 06:57 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

Why Bill White chose to run for senate

From Rick Casey's June 27th column:

He said Friday he is convinced that his background in energy both in the private sector and in Washington as deputy secretary of energy in the Clinton administration, as well as six years as mayor, gives him “experience that can make a difference for this state and country.”

He reportedly has said privately that another reason is that he could not with a straight face say as a gubernatorial candidate that he wouldn’t raise taxes in the face of the problems the state faces.

He fears he wouldn't be able to sweep the state's financial challenges under the rug as he has the city's pension mess, so he chose to run for the easier office?

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/12/09 06:37 AM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (0)

11 July 2009

Gang of robbers off the streets!

For the last several months several businesses were getting robbed in the west side of Houston. The businesses primarily hit were Subway restaurants. So HPD decided to watch Subway restaurants when - lo and behold! - a vehicle pulls up and robs the Subway. The officers give chase. The vehicle leaves the roadway, crashes into a fence and hits a parked car, damaging the fleeing vehicle and slowing it down. At this point, two law enforcement agencies are after the vehicle. The robbers manage to strike four police vehicles. The robbers attempt to flee on foot and are quickly caught. The money and a pistol were recovered from the gang. Great job, police!

With all the news about the rising crime rates, I couldn't find this story on any of the major news sites. While some crime is going up, the police are still doing a good job getting criminals off the streets. However, the justice system will have them back on the streets soon enough.

Posted by Jason @ 07/11/09 12:20 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

10 July 2009

Linkpost: 07/10/09

Here's some blog reading to kick off the weekend.

UPDATE: We left this very special one out, due to technical difficulties:

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/10/09 11:05 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

It's a good thing there are layers of editors and fact-checkers...

The Chronicle print edition (and, by extension, e-edition) does something peculiar on its editorial page. For its op-eds, an editor apparently summarizes each story, in the form of those graphical blurbs that allegedly make the newspaper easier to read (at least easier to read for easily distracted people who don't much like reading). Some newspapers might actually take the time to find a representative quote from the op-ed, and feature it -- but not our Chron. They want to summarize the thing for you.

Unfortunately, when people who aren't that great at reading or writing try to summarize those who are good at these things (or at least people who are good enough to be syndicated), it can produce comical results. Here's a partial screencap of a qualifying summary that appeared today:

Editorial Page Screencap, 20090710

Note the summary. Compare it with the headline (which should have been the first clue to the person who wrote it). Then compare it with the third full paragraph in the second column.

The Chron summary doesn't actually summarize the column (available on Chron.com here, if you care to read it for yourself). Doh!

In other solid Chron work today, a story by Harvey Rice on a federal judgeship moving from Galveston to McAllen concluded as follows:

President Barack Obama will nominate a judge to fill the vacancy created by Kent’s resignation. The nomination must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Senate.

The last time we checked, a federal judge wasn't a treaty. Therefore, a simple majority of the Senate (not two-thirds) is required for confirmation. It is true that the threat of filibuster means Presidents may need a cloture-proof majority for nominations, but that's not two-thirds either. Doh!

UPDATE (07/25/09): Two weeks later, the Chronicle posted a correction to the judicial confirmation gaffe.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/10/09 09:19 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)

09 July 2009

Texas Watchdog shines light on shadowy Houston Airport System business dealings

Today, Texas Watchdog has broken a big story on the Houston Airport System that details an intricate web of shadowy private-public companies (some of which are incorporated offshore) that are partly staffed by public employees of the Houston Airport System, with murky financial ties to the city, but which refuse to make financial records available to Texas Watchdog, to at least one member of City Council who has requested them, or even to City Controller Annise Parker.

Their detailed, five-part story is available here. We encourage you to click over and read the whole story. Obviously, many public information requests and man-hours went into putting together this story, which continues to raise even more questions about the Houston Airport System and the shadowy business relationships set up by the now-departed Richard Vacar.

One thing is now more clear than ever: Mayor White's appointment of City Hall insider Anthony Hall (who approved some of Vacar's expenses according to earlier reports) to review Vacar's expenses and travel is a wholly inadequate response to the questions raised by Vacar's departure, the last round of reporting done by Texas Watchdog, and certainly all the new questions raised by today's reporting.

We encourage Mayor White to set up a task force charged with auditing how public employees and monies were used by these private-public entities, what (if any) liabilities the taxpayers may have for their activities (say, if one of our "partners" were to play the nationalization game that is all the rage in Latin America these days), and what the actual return on investment (if any) has been for taxpayers on these deals. That task force should NOT include Anthony Hall or any other "Houston Way" insider who has been involved with Houston Airport System activities, and would preferably include representatives chosen by the mayor, City Council, and the City Controller.

The public deserves more answers than it has gotten so far on Vacar's departure and the interesting business relationships he established using the resources of the city.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/09/09 11:13 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

08 July 2009

Linkpost: 07/08/09

Linky goodness for you on this rather cool looking date. Enjoy! Oh, and by the way -- you can select the links and open them all in new tabs in Firefox 3.5, if you are so inclined (not sure about earlier versions or other browsers).

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/08/09 11:08 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

Roundup: Mayor White promises "change agent" for BARC

Yesterday, Craig Malisow posted the news to the Hair Balls blog that BARC bureau chief Ray Sim had been fired, and that BARC's spokeswoman declined to elaborate on the reasons behind the firing.

Bradley Olson had a much longer story on the firing that appeared in print and e-editions of today's Chronicle (strangely, only a shorter version without Michel's comment appears at the moment on Chron.com, where Houston may live but journalism does not always). BARC had little more to say to the newspaper about why Sim had been fired after only two months on the job, but Mayor White's press man did promise the following:

The mayor's spokesman, Frank Michel, said White takes the situation at BARC "very seriously."

"There is a plan put in place to turn this all around," he said. He offered no details but said it involves a timetable and a "change agent" who will be named "within at least the next 30 days."

Translation: All these passionate, caring animal activists are really starting to get under the skin of the mayor (who, by the way, happens to be running for statewide office).

The Chronicle's metro/state diarist came up with this amusing suggestion on her online journal:

Sometimes, I think if Mayor Bill, who prides himself on the efficiency and competence of his administration, would just get outraged about the situation over there, something would get done.

If he'd just tap into that post-Ike rage and open up a can of whoop-ass in the halls of BARC like he did at Reliant when the supply trucks weren't moving after the hurricane, things would change.

Cory Crow dismissed those juvenile ramblings with his usual good humor earlier, but we will treat them seriously just long enough to point out two things: 1) Mayor White's use of profanities towards the volunteers from Georgia assisting in the hurricane recovery efforts really weren't that productive and 2) Judge Emmett's leadership and experience in logistics went much further towards straightening out the bottlenecks during the recovery effort than Mayor White's temper tantrum. Now, if Frank Michel is suggesting Judge Emmett as the agent of change who can fix BARC, we'd be all for that. But we think the county judge is probably too busy.

Michel also described the mayor's confidence in Stephen Williams, whose department ultimately oversees BARC. BARC activist Kelly Cripe has a decidedly different view of Williams:

The only thing remarkable about Stephen Williams is that Bill White has allowed him to perpetuate BARC's culture of cruelty for five entire years. Stephen Williams has failed to address the problems at BARC and it is time for him to go.

Certainly, the guy hasn't done much to inspire confidence that he's suddenly going to solve the ongoing problems at BARC. And along with Cripe, we don't quite understand why the mayor would have any such confidence in Williams. Mayor White has sent much more powerful agency heads packing (think Jordy Tollett and Richard Vacar). Clearly, when it's a priority, our powerful mayor isn't afraid to make administrative changes. So again, we are left to wonder why BARC's suffering puppies (and other animals) aren't more of a priority for Mayor White after all these years.

BLOGVERSATION: Hair Balls.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/08/09 10:48 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

Eversole fined $75,000, happy to "dispose" of state ethics panel

Q: What do you get when you mix together an area political office of enormous power, an entrenched incumbent who's been running his little part of the fiefdom for what seems like forever without much challenge or scrutiny, and a newspaper that doesn't cover local with much in the way of resources or tenacity?

A: A whopping $75,000 fine, according to the Chron's Mike Tolson:

The Texas Ethics Commission has imposed a $75,000 fine on Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole for violations of campaign finance laws.

[snip]

Eversole said he signed what is known as an “order and agreed resolution” so as to dispose of the state’s review of his finances, which began with a series of stories by television station KTRK. Among the issues raised then were campaign money used to pay for collectible firearms, golf outings and vacation trips.

“I have accepted responsibility for the past errors and used it as an opportunity to completely revamp our campaign finance disclosure practices,” Eversole said in a prepared statement. “I am pleased to have put this TEC inquiry behind me, and am ready to move forward.”

Disposing of the TEC, as Eversole put it, may turn out to be much easier than putting off the FBI, which is reportedly investigating Eversole's political finances. Indeed, Eversole predicted last year that the FBI investigation would force him from office.

People interested in Eversole's job seem to be gearing up to make a run for it. As the Houston Politics blog has noted, Houston City Councilmember Toni Lawrence is apparently getting her residence in order for a possible run. And Dan Patrick political associate Court Koenning is reportedly trying to round up supporters. Other names have been tossed about as well.

UPDATE: We would be remiss if we didn't link to Wayne Dolcefino's commentary on the fine.

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

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/08/09 08:38 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

06 July 2009

Linkpost: 07/06/09

Time to clear out the blog link backlog after being out of town for a few days. Sorry that some of it is dated now.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/06/09 08:55 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

A most curious omission in the news

Friday afternoon, Rorschach, Royko, and I, plus who knows how many other blogHOUSTON regulars made our way, singly or in groups, to a little park near the George R. Brown Convention Center. Nary a hobo was in sight, but there were thousands of other people celebrating the Fourth a day early by telling their elected officials to take a hike.

Most people were sensible enough to set up under the trees to either side, leaving the center of the field empty until the sun hid behind buildings. HPD put the attendance at around 6,000 -- which, given the 102-degree heat and lack of fireworks, was just amazing. But last night, I noticed a most curious thing, while looking for news about the tea party.

There wasn't any.

Chron.com: Two articles on Cornyn getting booed at the SouthFork tea party, one was from the AP.
KHOU: No mention of tea parties
KPRC: No mention of tea parties
KTRK: No mention of tea parties
Fox26: No mention of tea parties

Plenty of stories about the loser who choked his son with a chain, Whacko Jacko, the guy who leaped from I-45... but not a thing about 6,000 people getting together in the hottest part of the day to protest the direction of their government.

Pravda means Truth, comrade.

Posted by Ubu Roi @ 07/06/09 09:40 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (28)

05 July 2009

Stimulus money for local projects

Hope everyone is having a great Independence Day weekend. The blogHOUSTON crew is still in slow-posting mode, but this caught my eye: The Chron's Carolyn Feibel writes on local road-building projects that are receiving stimulus funds:

A little-known regional body, the Transportation Policy Council, decided how to spend most of the stimulus funds in the Houston area. The council represents the eight counties of the Houston metro region, and its 24 voting members are drawn from local governments and agencies such as the Texas Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Transit Authority.

It either chose stimulus projects directly or approved ones desired by TxDOT.

The stimulus has one big requirement: Projects must begin soon, to create jobs and boost the economy. The Transportation Policy Council focused on projects that were “shovel ready,” meaning the necessary government and environmental approvals were in place. After that, the council looked for projects that had been waiting a long time for funding.

The story includes special guest appearances by mass-transit fans Robin Holzer and David Crossley.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/05/09 07:07 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (5)

03 July 2009

Mayor White: If HPOU wants more cadet classes, HPD officers can take a pay cut to pay for it

This is NOT senate-candidate White talking:

Houston’s largest police union, citing the death of six officers during Mayor Bill White’s tenure, called on the mayor and City Council this week to hire more officers, restore $14 million in overtime pay and overturn the long-standing policy of not questioning residents about their immigration status.

In a letter to White, Gary Blankinship, president of the Houston Police Officers Union, called last week’s slaying of veteran officer Henry Canales a “trifeca failure” of federal, state and city government to protect citizens and police officers from criminal illegal immigrants.

White responded with a news conference Thursday to make clear there would be no change in the department’s policy on illegal immigrants.

Adding four new cadet classes as the union wants would cost the city $20 million, requiring an increase in property taxes or a wide-ranging curtailment of city services that also would require laying off 500 civilian employees, White said.

Or, he said, the union could fund the cadet classes by voting to reduce their own pay by $4,000 an officer.

That is Mayor White speaking. First, he says there will be no change to Houston's sanctuary policy. You'll recall a few months back, senate-candidate White attempted to talk tough on illegal immigration, laughably saying that he was making it "a cause." Right. He said he would no longer "tolerate some of the excuses that we’ve heard about lack of resources." Which is exactly what MayorWhiteChiefHurtt have done for the past several years.

Second, he presents false choices to the HPOU and local Houstonians: the only way to get more staffing is to increase property taxes, curtail city services, or rank and file police officers could take a pay cut to pay for new police officers.

Hogwash. The city just gave $11 million to the Houston Arts Alliance, an agency that has proven it cannot manage the taxpayer dollars it is given. There's half the money right there. It would probably take our commenters a few nano-seconds to come up with other frivolous budget items that could be cut to fund the cadet classes AND overtime. How about getting METRO to fork over the money it still owes the city of Houston? That would fund the programs, and the city would still have money left over.

As Kevin Whited noted a couple of posts down, dealing with staffing issues will be the next mayor's problem, when MayorWhiteChiefHurtt are long gone.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/03/09 10:15 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (8)

02 July 2009

Linkpost: 07/02/09

Here's our latest local blog reading. Enjoy!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/02/09 12:24 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

01 July 2009

Chron: Federal agents investigate Houston gun owners

The Chronicle ran an interesting story by Dane Schiller today that got priority treatment by Drudge for much of the day. Here is an excerpt:

All told, Mexican officials in 2008 asked federal agents to trace the origins of more than 7,500 firearms recovered at crime scenes in Mexico. Most of them were traced back to Texas, California and Arizona.

Among other things, the agents are combing neighborhoods and asking people about suspicious purchases as well as seeking explanations as to how their guns ended up used in murders, kidnappings and other crimes in Mexico.

“Ever turning up the heat on cartels, our law enforcement and military partners in the government of Mexico have been working more closely with the ATF by sharing information and intelligence,” Melson said Tuesday during a firearms-trafficking summit in New Mexico.

The ATF recently dispatched 100 veteran agents to its Houston division, which reaches to the border.

So, let me make sure I understand this -- federal officials have been dispatched to Houston at the request of Mexican officials to ask questions of American citizens about their gun ownership/purchasing. But MayorWhiteChiefHurtt insist that we must not have a discussion about a former police chief's directive that HPD officers not inquire about immigration status. Does this make sense?

UPDATE (07/02/09): Commenter Rorschach reminds that he wrote about this issue two months ago (here). Advantage: Red Ink: Texas!

BLOGVERSATION: Lone Star Times.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/01/09 10:53 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)

HPD overtime cut; HPOU head warns of more crime

KRIV-26's Isiah Carey reports that the city's new fiscal year began today, and that means the end of significant HPD overtime spending that helped mask the department's ongoing understaffing issues:

And the head of the police union says it could also be the beginning of a crime wave. This comes after Houston city officials slashed $14 million dollars from HPD's overtime budget. Houston Police Union President Gary Blankenship says the overtime dollars were used to fill the gaps on the streets.

In other words, Blankenship says we can expect more crime because there will be less of a police presence on the ground. He and other officers point to areas like downtown Houston where overtime dollars were used to patrol main streets and address the homeless issue.

Any surge in crime will be the next mayor's problem (along with the staffing issues).

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/01/09 10:35 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)

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