31 August 2009

Last-minute entrant into Houston mayoral race stuns political observers

Houston political observers were still buzzing on Monday night after a last-minute entrant into the mayoral race surged to a huge lead in the latest public polling.

Candidate Don't Know, who had hinted at entering the race earlier in the year, only to back away from such plans during the summer, would easily coast to victory if the mayoral race were held today, according to a KHOU-11/KUHF-88.7 poll conducted by Bicyclist Bob Stein:

Poll of Likely Voters in Houston Mayoral Race (08/30/2009)

69.2% Don't Know
13.2% Annise Parker
09.6% Gene Locke
05.2% Peter Brown
02.8% Roy Morales

Margin of error: 4.5%; Source: KHOU-11/KUHF-88.7

A spokesperson for the Don't Know campaign said on Monday night that the candidate was enthusiastic about his commanding lead after a last-minute entry into the race: "It's astounding and flattering that we are so far ahead in this race, what with our late announcement and all. We believe it justifies our decision to enter the race after the three major contenders failed to distinguish themselves all summer long. We look forward to continuing to take a message other than 'me too!' all across this fine city and building on our lead!"

The Peter Brown campaign announced that they would be unveiling a plan for more television ads sometime next week, when the councilmember returns from his vacation in France.

City Controller Annise Parker tweeted that her campaign disputes the numbers, and that their internal polling shows that she is much more competitive against Don't Know.

The Gene Locke campaign reminded three bloggers at a hastily called Social Media Happy Hour that Locke has more endorsements from important organizations than any candidate, including Don't Know.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/31/09 10:20 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (7)

30 August 2009

Linkpost: 08/30/09

It's time to clear the blog links and get ready for a new week. Enjoy!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/30/09 07:48 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

The elephant that's always in the room

Today the Chron's Ericka Mellon profiles HISD's potential new superintendent Terry Grier as a man of reform, pushing hard, and making bold moves. HISD Superintendent Dr. Abe Saavedra also is a reformer who has pushed bold initiatives, including the idea of rewarding teachers with performance bonuses. Here's Mellon's characterization of Saavedra's tenure:

The Elephant in the Room
Abelardo Saavedra, the man Grier is in line to replace in Houston, endured more than his share of criticism for making big decisions without public input during nearly five years on the job. And many of Saavedra's biggest proposals — courting outside groups to take over troubled high schools and scaling back busing for HISD's popular magnet school program, for instance — failed after meeting swift and powerful opposition. His $805 million bond referendum in 2007 almost died because of intense lobbying from some of Houston's most powerful black politicians and activists, who felt left out of the process.

Hmmm, something's missing from this paragraph: Gayle "Beach House" Fallon, leader of the Houston Federation of Teachers. Any big idea has to meet with her approval, and if it doesn't, she and the Chronicle morph into the "powerful opposition."

Image of the Elephant in the Room by flickr user dotpolka, used via a Creative Commons license.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/30/09 12:05 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

29 August 2009

HMEPS board scuttles budget increase; Chron editorial board mischaracterizes

The Chronicle's Caucasian Think Tank weighed in today on the news that the board of the Houston Municipal Employees Pension System (HMEPS) scuttled a proposal to increase its staff payroll budget by 6% from last year's figure, mischaracterizing the proposal in its lede:

A proposal to raise city municipal pension staff salaries by 6 percent rightly raised a ruckus at City Hall this week.

Apparently, the Caucasian Think Tank did not bother to read Bradley Olson's reporting for their newspaper, which stated the following:

The 6 percent increase includes health benefit costs and money for unfilled positions and does not mean that each of the system's 30 employees will get a 6 percent raise.

Merit pay increases that equate to 3 percent per employee have been incorporated into the budget, but not every employee is guaranteed to get a raise, [HMEPS spokeswoman Laura] Tolley said.

The pension fund's investments declined last year, although much less sharply than many similar investments.

As Olson noted in his earlier reporting, director David Long has "quarreled" with Mayor White at times*, and the mayor attacked Long personally in a successful effort to head off the increased payroll budget:

“Do I think it's a good thing if somebody gets a pay raise while they have that kind of decline in their assets? Absolutely not. Period,” White said. “And I'll bet you this, if Mr. Long is getting a pay raise, there's not anybody else who would hire that guy. So how could you really say that it's justified by market conditions?”

We strongly suspect that Mayor White is dead wrong about that, and if David Long were on the market, there would be plenty of suitors.

Regardless, the question of the proposed budget increase certainly gave the mayor a political opening to play populist, beat up a sometime foe, AND try to gain more power over HMEPS with a last-minute appointment (which Council refused to support, to their credit). Mayor White seems to have a long memory for officials who defy his edicts (also see Tollett, Jordy).

Unfortunately, the entire debate over this relatively minor "scandal"** -- and the Caucasian Think Tank's mischaracterization of the details -- completely ignores the real ongoing scandal with regard to the city's pension funds: the massive unfunded liability.

We can certainly understand why Mayor White prefers not to talk about those details much these days, after some early efforts on his part to chip away at the liability. It will be the next mayor's problem.

We are reproducing relevant portions of the statement from the chairman of the board of the pension system below, since it lays out details of the proposed budget increase that seem not to have been understood very well.

* Another characterization would be that David Long has asserted the relative independence of HMEPS from Mayor White's meddling. Long is not a mayoral appointee, and answers to the HMEPS board. His job is to promote/defend the interests of the board and the system, not the political interests of Mayor White. It's not surprising that Mayor White would regard such independence as quarrelsome.

** Cory Crow's observations from two days ago seem spot on to us.

[Read More]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/29/09 04:22 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

27 August 2009

KTRK's Dolcefino checks in on the Mobility Response Team

KTRK-13's Wayne Dolcefino checked in last night with an update on the changes the City of Houston has made in response to his investigation of one of Mayor Bill White's pet projects, the Mobility Response Team*.

Feel free to watch his video report below, or to check out the story on KTRK's website.




* We are told of Mayor White's notoriety for running the city in "painstaking detail" but the flaws in this program didn't seem to get much attention until Dolcefino started following the scooter corps around.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/27/09 09:31 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)

Linkpost: 08/27/09

Here's another round of local blog links. Enjoy!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/27/09 06:51 AM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (4)

26 August 2009

Just when you think the local newspaper is dead... (updated)

We have to admit that the Chronicle has surprised us.

We thought they had largely given up on the watchdog journalism business (in favor of the user-submitted party photo online business), and suddenly *BAM* three provocative stories.

Here are links and excerpts:

Comments?

[Read More]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/26/09 10:45 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

25 August 2009

Locke offers his "me too!" on Ashby highrise; campaigns free to move on to other areas of agreement

On Sunday, we posted about the decision by the City of Houston late Friday to notify local media (but not the developers) about its decision to approve the latest revisions to the Ashby highrise proposal. We noted that mayoral candidate Annise Parker was first out of the gate with a Saturday news release crafted to appeal to the well-heeled residents opposed to the highrise, followed by Peter Brown's brief interruption of his vacation in France to tweet about the matter. Rich Connelly elaborated on their responses here yesterday.

Ashby Urban Plaza rendering
The Locke campaign did not weigh in immediately on the Ashby highrise, as campaign advisors undoubtedly preferred the media to focus on the HPOU endorsement of their guy, and candidate Locke did have the good sense/discipline not to muddy the establishment endorsements message with digressions. Today, however, Locke finally shared his "me too!" on the Ashby highrise decision that came out Friday, and Rich Connelly has those details here.

Wouldn't it be great if we had fewer "me too!" moments from our mayoral contenders, and a more diverse, robust debate on various issues?

Rendering of Ashby Urban Plaza courtesy of Buckhead Investment Partners.

UPDATE (08/27/09): And two days later, Mike Snyder offers his "me too!" by informing Chron.com readers of Gene Locke's "me too!"

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/25/09 10:37 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (11)

24 August 2009

Local officials promise "transparency," offer few details on stadium/jail/Astrodome TIRZ deal

The Chronicle's Bradley Olson reported today that the City and County are in negotiations to use TIRZ revenues to finance a soccer stadium, a jail, and Astrodome redevelopment:

The city of Houston and Harris County are negotiating a deal that could pave the way for construction of a new soccer stadium, a new jail and the redevelopment of the Astrodome, according to officials taking part in the talks.

The negotiations, which have been under way for several months and are reaching their final stage, focus on the use of tax increment reinvestment zones, or TIRZ, as vehicles for the major capital projects.

No real details follow, but one official apparently stressed, in all seriousness, the "complete transparency" of all these dealings that the public knows nothing about.

A couple of notable reactions immediately surfaced online. Blogger Tom Kirkendall tweeted about the absurd reference to transparency:

Local Houston officials promise "transparency," then essentially offer none in Chron article.

Blogger Scott Henson raises a potentially sticky issue:

This seems like a pretty blatant misuse of the TIRZ statute, which was created to encourage private economic development, not to override the will of the voters in bond elections.

Indeed, it's hard to see how Harris County can justify using a TIRZ to build a jail. By law, the county must certify that projects built "will significantly enhance the value of all the taxable real property in the zone," but a jail won't increase property values.

We can't wait until our transparent officials elaborate on all these details, so the public can try to sort it all out.

What do you think?

BLOGVERSATION: Houston's Clear Thinkers.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/24/09 10:32 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)

Linkpost: 08/24/09

It's past time to clear out the backlog of local blog links. Have fun clicking!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/24/09 09:17 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

Chronicle catching up to blawggers on brain drain at DA's Office?

Today's Chronicle features a story from Brian Rogers on the rapid departures of many veteran prosecutors from the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

The article focuses on Donna Goode, who left the office after 25 years:

Goode resigned after speaking up at a senior-level staff meeting June 23.

“I am not certain how to proceed, because, after 6 months with this administration, there are no written policies to guide me,” Goode wrote in a three-page resignation letter obtained by the Houston Chronicle through the Texas Open Records Act.

[snip]

Later, her computer was shut down remotely, and she was summoned to a “disciplinary committee” hearing before Jim Leitner, Lykos' first assistant, and General Counsel John Barnhill.

Goode wasn't fired. She was accused of poor judgement [sic] and threatened with termination, she wrote. She handed in her resignation letter the next day.

Blawgger (and former prosecutor) Murray Newman has been documenting these departures for quite some time now on his blog, Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center.

In a 24 June 2009 post, Newman blogged about the meeting that led to Goode's resignation:

During yesterday morning's weekly "Show and Tell" meeting (which is a regular update meeting attended by all Division chiefs, Bureau Chiefs and the Elected D.A.), he apparently went completely off the deep end. After being questioned on his rationale on decisions about Rusty Hardin, the diversion program, and the fact that more people learn about their Administration decisions from the paper than from the administrators, Bridgwater lashed out at none other than Donna Goode.

[snip]

When the meeting was over, he decided to file a complaint against Donna with the Disciplinary Committee for her remarks during "Show and Tell".

The complaint he made against her? Insubordination.

Newman has discussed other veteran prosecutors who have fled the Lykos DA's Office: Lester Blizzard, Stephen St. Martin and Ed Porter, Warren Diepraam and Syliva Escobedo

Kudos to Murray Newman for his blogging efforts (although one has to wonder why the Chronicle is just now writing about this). One also has to wonder if Brian Rogers consulted Newman's blog for his story, or Newman himself.

BLOGVERSATION: Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center.

Posted by Jason @ 08/24/09 12:17 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

23 August 2009

City notifies media of Ashby highrise decision, neglects to inform developers

Last week, the city's public works department did what many astute political agencies have done over the years, and dropped some controversial news into the perceived weekend media black hole.

In a press release, director Andy Icken informed the developers of the Ashby highrise local media that the most recent revisions to the proposed Ashby highrise development met his approval, sufficiently reducing estimated traffic to allow the developers to move forward. Icken also informed that his decision was partly motivated by the desire to avoid litigation, making it as much a political decision as a technocratic one -- not that the continued politicization of an ostensibly technocratic agency comes as any surprise to blogHOUSTON readers.

Michael Reed, whose reporting on this topic has been invaluable, got this great quote from the developers on Friday:

“We don’t know what kind of mood to be in. It’s kind of bittersweet,” Morgan said. “We found out from you. Thank you for the press release (forwarded from the city).”

Mayor Bill White, of course, came to oppose the development after affluent neighbors voiced their displeasure with him, and his administration managed to delay it for quite some time.

We're not entirely sure why Mayor White, in the last months of his administration and busily campaigning for another office, decided to let this latest proposal go through. Perhaps he decided it will be the next mayor's problem.

City Controller Annise Parker immediately made her bid to be the champion of the well-heeled anti-highrise crowd, criticizing the decision and arguing that a new ordinance is needed to govern such developments. Councilmember Peter Brown took time out from his vacation in France to tweet about the decision. Gene Locke... wants everyone to know he has the endorsement of the Houston Police Officers Union, but perhaps he has since issued a statement and we just missed it*.

NEWS COVERAGE: Chronicle, KIAH-39, KRIV-26, KHOU-11, KPRC-2.

[Read More]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/23/09 10:50 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

Chron's caucasian think tank* lauds Houston's "aggressive news corps"

The Chronicle's Caucasian Think Tank* had this laugher on the weekend editorial page:

Some advice to the incoming superintendent to prevent future heartburn: Houston has an aggressive news corps, and reporters will not settle for basing their stories simply on a superintendent's statements or district news releases.

Aggressive news corps?

They must be talking about the various TV investigative reporters, or maybeTexas Watchdog, and surely not their colleagues at 801 Texas Avenue.

Indeed, recent Chronicle "aggression" has resulted in embarrassment for the newspaper, and past Chronicle aggression with regard to HISD produced plenty of embarrassing errors from (then) reporter Jason Spencer. So maybe it's just as well for the Chronicle to leave that aggressive, watchdog stuff to others.

New HISD Superintendent Terry Grier
Ericka Mellon's reporting for the Chronicle on new superintendent Terry Grier has been informative, though. Please check it out. From what we've read, HISD seems to be getting a guy who will push real reforms and who will eventually rub some people the wrong way. That should be interesting! Please discuss.

* Cory Crow's nickname for the Chronicle editorial board.

Photo of Terry Grier courtesy of the San Diego Unified School District.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/23/09 08:59 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)

22 August 2009

Local headlines page added

We've replaced our old, outdated Chron headlines page with a local news page.

The page pulls headlines from the major news outlets in town via RSS feeds.

We've tested it in newer browsers, and everything mostly seems to be working (there's a random garbage character here and there that we can't seem to kill). Let us know if we've missed a local news organization that you'd like to see added (provided it has an RSS feed).

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/22/09 09:47 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (3)

20 August 2009

Another Chron adventure in bad journalism (cont'd)

Earlier this week, the Chronicle's junior metro/state diarist Lisa Falkenberg ran with a truly unfortunate "gotcha!" that backfired. Badly.

Falkenberg used her column effectively to accuse a U.S. military veteran of lying about his service:

On Twitter, where “Fleckman” has more than 6,600 followers, Fleckenstein identifies himself as a resident of Phoenix, husband, father of two, lover of the beach and “former Marine.”

Dear Diary... By Lisa
That last phrase gave me pause, since no Marine I've ever met used the word “former” to describe his service in the esteemed military branch. I tried to verify [Peter] Fleckenstein's service with the Marine Corps' Washington-based public affairs office and 1st Lt. Joshua Diddams said the office could find no record of a Peter Fleckenstein having served in the Marines.

Perhaps there's an explanation, such as a name change. I may never know.

As it turns out, there was an explanation, but because Falkenberg and her editors ran with their feelings instead of fact (or, things people "know"), a veteran was smeared unnecessarily.

Here is the "clarification" that the junior metro/state diarist was forced to issue (although it really should be called a correction, and the newspaper really should apologize for smearing a veteran):

On Tuesday, 1st Lt. Joshua Diddams informed me that Fleckenstein had called the Marine office after reading my column and provided a Social Security number, which verifiers used to confirm that he was indeed a Marine. Diddams said there was a mistake in the military record in which Fleckenstein’s last name was misspelled as “Fleckenstien.”

So, here's the recent scorecard for the Houston Chronicle on basic fact-checking:

When the newspaper should have been skeptical of the credentials of a not-doctor who testified at a town hall in favor of radical healthcare legislation, the Chronicle reporter and editors took the woman at her word instead of definitively vetting the information. They never issued a formal correction.

When presented with a man who identified himself as a Marine on a social networking site, the Chronicle diarist and editors had enough doubts to smear the man without definitively vetting the information. Falkenberg later issued a "clarification, " rather than a correction.

And, of course, there was the recent Andrew Prieditis experience (although in fairness, he also fooled much better newspapers than the Chronicle).

Are there any grownups overseeing the "journalism" at the Chronicle these days?

UPDATE (08/21/09): David Jennings, the hardest-working citizen-journalist in town, points us to the veteran's response to Falkenberg's shoddy journalism.

Dear Diary image by flickr user incurable hippie, used via a Creative Commons license.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/20/09 10:30 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (14)

Linkpost: 08/20/09

I'm Kevin Whited, and I approved these local blog links. Politifact? Probably not.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/20/09 12:49 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

19 August 2009

Topiary inspiration

Topiary Creature
METRO has announced a new "Swiftline" bus service, not to be confused with the "Quickline" bus service. You'll recall the Quickline service was behind schedule, not necessarily quick, and inspired METRO to create topiary bunnies. With luck, the new Swiftline route can morph into a Quickline route, according to METRO's highly paid blogger.

We can sense a trend...how about we help METRO choose the next bus route name? Ontimeline? Straightline? Zippyline? FasterthanJohnNovaLomaxline?

Maybe topiary cheetahs will be forthcoming. And can a topiary Abuelita be far behind?

Topiary photo by flickr user vertigogen, used via a Creative Commons license.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/19/09 06:25 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (6)

Where in Texas is Mayor White? (cont'd)

The Chronicle's Bradley Olson reports today that Senate Candidate Bill White's travel schedule has been cutting into the time Mayor Bill White can devote to issues in the City of Houston:

White acknowledged in an interview that he is working about 30 percent to 40 percent less in his mayoral capacity, and that much of the time he is spending on Houston issues has been between stops on the campaign trail as he travels from Marfa to Longview raising his statewide profile.

“We have built a very effective organization, and so every year that has gone by since I've been mayor, I've been able to delegate more and more effectively to people who know the style, the values and in particular, the fiscal discipline that we expect,” he said.

Not to worry, though -- several department heads say "they have not noticed any drop-off in workload as the mayor has become more heavily involved in his campaign," according to Olson, who editorializes in his lede about the mayor's notoriety for "painstaking detail."

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/19/09 07:56 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

Double standard for Gene Green (updated)

According to Congressman Gene Green's website;

Town hall meetings are one of my favorite ways to communicate with constituents. I have held hundreds during my years of service in Congress and always welcomed everyone to attend. Unfortunately, due to a coordinated effort to disrupt our town hall meetings, we will be restricting further attendance to residents of the 29th Congressional District and verifying residency by requiring photo identification.

So, in order to attend Gene Green's town hall meeting you will be required to show a photo ID. Yet, in September of 2006, Congressman Green voted against HR4844.

Someone should ask Congressman Green how he can vote against requiring a photo ID to vote in federal elections, yet require photo IDs to get into his town hall meetings. That seems hypocritical, don't you think?

KEVIN WHITED ADDS: The Baytown Sun picked up on Rep. Green's new ID requirements, which will apply to their community meeting tonight. Reporter Cierra Putman also secured a great quote:

“I think while politically it seems completely stupid, I don’t think it’s illegal,” said Charles Daughtry, member of the board of directors of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and legal representative for The Baytown Sun.

Politically stupid but not illegal -- not the preferred slogan of many politicians, we suspect!

Posted by Jason @ 08/19/09 12:08 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (21)

18 August 2009

Council to take up Fusco's contract tomorrow (updated)

Craig Malisow at the Houston Press Hair Balls blog informs that City Council will take up the question of BARC "Change Agent" Gerry Fusco's ridiculous contract tomorrow (August 19).

People who follow the matter -- including relevant councilmembers -- were apparently under the impression that Council would not be considering the contract until September. They were apparently under the wrong impression.

The story is here.

We wish Malisow's presentation had been more professional, because substantively it's spot on. Still, we can sympathize to some extent with journalists who turn to profanities as they start to bump up against The Houston Way.

UPDATE (08/20/09): Craig Malisow reports that Council delayed approval of Fusco's contract, but only because it wasn't quite ready for presentation. We guess this is another example of Mayor Bill White no longer micromanaging the city in "painstaking detail" (as a Chron reporter recently editorialized) since he is busy running for another office. The vote is likely to take place next week. Mayor White's agenda director laughingly insisted that all of this is the result of their devotion to "transparent" government.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/18/09 11:11 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

17 August 2009

King: Raise the rail in the Med Center

In Sunday's Chronicle, area businessman and former Kemah Mayor Bill King described problems with the rail line in The Medical Center area with which blogHOUSTON readers are very familiar:

2006DangerTrainFieldTrip 027

King's solution?

Elevate the rail, at least in the Med Center and other dense areas.

As King concedes, paying for such a good idea is the problem. Elevating the rail can drive two to five times higher, according to King. "Despite Metro's multiple groundbreaking ceremonies," he writes, "federal funds have yet to be approved in amounts sufficient to actually construct any portion of the rail line."

King suggests one possible solution is federal "Fixed Guideway Rehabilitation" funding, which could provide up to 80% of the cost of elevating the rail line by the time plans were ready, which could drive the overall cost to METRO and area taxpayers down to amounts that might be required to mitigate stray-current issues anyway.

The entire op-ed is here. Please go give it a good read.

CTA EL Train
We have long thought that laying rail down busy traffic corridors does nothing for overall mobility in Houston, and agree with King that great transit systems in the world don't do things this way. We would rather not have rail in Houston if this is the only system METRO's leaders can come up with, due to its inadequacies, lack of impact on overall mobility, and significant cost to taxpayers.

We have friends in the rail debate who argue it's important for Houston to move forward on rail as quickly as possible to set a precedent, however poor the plan, and fix any disastrous consequences later once a "rail culture" has taken hold. We have other friends in the debate who argue that rail is not a cost-effective solution for Houston because of the city's density, and that existing and future rail plans should simply be scrapped.

We take a position somewhere in the middle. Our friend Tory Gattis has argued that a rail network that connects Houston's major job centers/universities makes some sense. And that argument resonates to the extent that most serious people understand such a system needs to be aimed at future growth and needs (10, even 20 years down the road), since it's hard to argue we have the population density at the moment to support that kind of system. In reality, we have just enough density in certain areas to create more traffic nightmares if we continue laying rail down busy streets. That's why we should be talking about grade-separated rail (especially in denser areas) and connecting job centers inside the loop, with a view towards Houston's future growth. The next phase following construction of a well-planned, inner-city network would be enhancing commuter options (Park and Ride, commuter rail, and the like) -- since it doesn't make much sense to enhance those options if your transit organization can't get patrons to job centers effectively once they are inside the loop. Airports would be dead last on my list, given the distance involved, the cost, and the lack of immediate benefit to local taxpayers.

Obviously, constructing that sort of system would cost much more money than voters contemplated in the 2003 referendum (aspects of which METRO has disregarded anyway), and it shouldn't be undertaken without a robust, honest* debate over costs and benefits long-term -- and a vote. Unfortunately, we don't tend to have those sorts of debates over transit in Houston. And that's why Bill King's comparatively modest proposal likely didn't generate much more than a "harrumph" from Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson and METRO's acolytes.

* For example, we are tired of reading METRO claims that the next phase of light-rail expansion will create 60,000 jobs.

Photo of Med Center light rail/traffic sign from my personal flickr collection. Photo of a Chicago EL train by flickr user celikins, used via a Creative Commons license.

UPDATE (08/20/09): And here is the official "harrumph," in the form of a letter to the Chronicle, which we are reposting in its entirety due to the unreliability of Chron archives and the fact this is a statement from a public official:

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Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/17/09 09:08 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (8)

Linkpost: 08/17/09

I may physically be where the buffalo roam tonight, but I'm still reading Houston blogs, and you should be too!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/17/09 06:13 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

16 August 2009

KTRK: "Gateway to Houston" to remain dark

Dark Dunlavy Bridge
Back in January, KTRK-13 reported on the sad state of the fiber-optic lighting on the stylish bridges that span Southwest Freeway.

KTRK has followed up with an update: Unfortunately, TXDOT will not be restoring the lights.

The cost of repair, according to KTRK's reporting, is prohibitive ($96,000 for each of the bridges).

Wouldn't it have been nice to know how expensive these trinkets would be to maintain before they were installed on all the bridges?

Photo of dark Dunlavy Bridge by flickr user B.Tse, used via a Creative Commons license.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/16/09 10:30 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)

15 August 2009

Houston-area watchdog reporting roundup

Houston local media have engaged in some interesting local watchdog reporting over the last week (or so), most of which we did not manage to highlight here.*

KTRK-13's Undercover Man Wayne Dolcefino looked into a massive July police chase that drew dozens of officers. As Dolcefino learned from interviews and analysis of public information requests, many more officers abandoned their beats to go take part in this chase than should have under HPD policy, leading to lengthy response times along abandoned beats. The incident, he reports, is under review.

Chronicle reporter Bradley Olson discovered that some political candidates spent quite a bit of effort (and, in some cases, campaign cash) to gain the endorsement of the Tejano Democrats. Olson claimed the practice did not appear to be normal, but in fact it happened during the last municipal elections.

In other reporting for the big newspaper, Olson notes that a plugged-in political donor has resigned his Houston Sports Authority post after questions were raised about his sexually oriented businesses (and the fact they weren't registered as such, but conveniently managed to escape scrutiny from HPD). He had been appointed by Mayor Bill White, although spokesman Frank Michel denied that such appointments are ever made based on donations or political pull. Olson did not indicate if Michel winked after that statement.

On Friday, Craig Malisow posted a copy of MCV Consulting's (poorly written) report on BARC to the Houston Press Hair Balls blog (we have since uploaded it to Scribd, for those who do not like to download pdfs to read). In today's Chronicle, Bradley Olson** summarizes some of the report's findings, and adds a few quotes from interested parties.

Also on Friday, Paul Knight followed up on his earlier Houston Press reporting about the city's abandonment of David Mincberg's grand plan to spend $35 million to remake the blighted area surrounding Hobby Airport. City officials said those funds had been diverted to other projects. Knight reports that of those seven "other" projects listed by the city, only one has been completed. Interestingly, one is being developed by a group with two directors who donated to Bill White's political campaigns! Knight does not include a quote from Frank Michel, but we are certain Michel would assure us that these sorts of choices are never made based on donations or political pull. *wink* Knight has included a very helpful Google map detailing the locations of the various projects/boondoggles.

Finally, the crew at Texas Watchdog this week posted about METRO's expenditures on "media monitoring" and a La Porte councilmember who really likes to travel on the taxpayers' dime. They also published a handy interactive map of 2009 Harris County Commissioners Court financial disclosures.

Did you see a good example of watchdog reporting that we missed? If so, let us know in the comments or via email.***

[Read More]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/15/09 04:32 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

Where in Texas is Mayor White? (cont'd)

Last Tuesday Senate-Candidate White was in Longview, talking about bringing people together, and getting things done:

"I know how to bring people together and get things done," White said.

Er, exactly. Anyway, it's so soothingly vague as to be persuasive, apparently:

Big Tex's Boot, Texas State Fair
Mark McMahon, a local lawyer who attended the fundraiser, said he enjoyed White's speech.

"I think he'd make a good candidate," McMahon said. "He's mainstream and well-rounded."

Then on Thursday, Mr. Mainstream worked his progressive street cred at the always mainstream Netroots Nation convention...while wearing his cowboy boots. See? Bill White IS for Texas!

Photo of Big Tex's boot by flicker user ladybugbkt, used via a Creative Commons license.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/15/09 11:58 AM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (3)

14 August 2009

Linkpost: 08/14/09

It's the "I am a doctor, but not a physician" edition of local blog talk. Enjoy the links!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/14/09 08:22 AM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

13 August 2009

Another Chron adventure in bad journalism (updated)

It has not been a very good week or so for the Houston Chronicle.

Recall that the newspaper recently violated their own letters policy by running two letters by Andrew Prieditis within several days. As it turns out, Prieditis apparently doesn't even live in Houston, and had the same letter about Sarah Palin published in several U.S. newspapers, portraying himself as a resident of those cities. Indeed, he has had letters published in newspapers all over the world, claiming to be a resident of each newspaper's city. A cursory google search could have headed off this embarrassment, but that didn't seem to happen*.

On Tuesday, Richard Connelly posted that both a reporter and editor for one of the Chronicle neighborhood editions seemed to have some real problems with the basics of journalism.

The Chronicle's fact-checking/vetting has taken an even bigger hit with today's definitive reporting by the Lone Star Times that a woman who spoke in favor of health care reform at Rep. Sheila Jackson's Lee's town hall Tuesday and who was identified by the Houston Chronicle as a pediatric primary care physician turns out not to have been a doctor at all.

I emailed Chronicle reporter Cyndi Horswell early Wednesday afternoon about "Dr. Roxana Mayer" (as she had been identified in the story), basically asking Horswell if she knew where Mayer practiced medicine or where she was licensed, since my search of the Texas Medical Board database didn't turn up any physician by that name licensed in this state. Horswell never responded to that email.

Horswell did, however, respond to a similar query from Bramanti. Clearly, neither she nor any Chron editors bothered to do any verification of not-doctor Mayer's details. "This is the information that the woman gave at the meeting," Horsewell emailed Bramanti. "I would hate to think someone misrepresented themselves. She also told me that she had been an Obama state delegate," Horswell concluded.

People misrepresent themselves all the time. That's why professional journalists are supposed to verify key information. Indeed, the Chronicle gave every impression that they had vetted not-doctor Mayer's background. Here's the telling excerpt from their reporting:

One supporter, Dr. Roxana Mayer, a physician who does not live in Jackson Lee's district, praised the reform plan for overhauling a broken system.

“I don't know what there is in the bill that creates such panic,” she said.

Had the Chronicle simply described her as "a woman who identified herself as a physician," that would have been bad enough -- but the newspaper instead gave credence to what turned out to be a completely fabricated story.

Earlier this year, some Chronicle suit ordered all references to this blog removed from Chron.com. Now that Lone Star Times has exposed the newspaper's fact-checking as nonexistent, we suppose they might be next to be banished from Chron.com.

Wouldn't it be much nicer if some Chron suit could wave a magic wand and just as easily make all their junk journalism disappear?

It might even improve the bottom line of the ever shrinking enterprise.

* We emailed the Chronicle about their letters policy and their vetting, but their reader-rep-by-committee didn't deign to answer our questions.

UPDATE: The shenanigans also drew the attention of Patterico, who is not impressed from afar by Houston's Hearst daily. Trust us, the local view is worse!

UPDATE 2: And now, Chron.com has changed the erroneous reporting on both their story and their photo with no formal correction or indication the text has been changed. That's whitewash journalism, Chron-style, and it's dishonest.

BLOGVERSATION: Unca Darrell, Texas on the Potomac (Chron.com), Texas Sparkle, Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/13/09 12:14 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (7)

11 August 2009

Houston Press documents two Chron adventures in bad journalism

The Chron's junior metro/state diarist Lisa Falkenberg ventured outside of her comfort zone today to try, once again, to cover a grownup topic.

The effort wasn't much more successful than her first foray into the wonders of BARC (OMG!), as evidenced by her glowing profile of new BARC "change agent" (and self-promoter) Gerry Fusco:

“I think I'm gifted by God with very, very special talents,” said the 60-year-old turnaround consultant and volunteer career coach who says he experienced a spiritual awakening several years ago following two bouts with kidney cancer and a nasty divorce. “I've taken care of people and God has said to me now, you need to take care of the animals.”

[snip]

“You will find that I'm The One,” he tells me.

He says God has blessed him with “elite” communication, people and “visionary” skills. “I believe I have a unique ability to see and act quicker than others,” he says. “I'm a good judge of people.”

And maybe it ain't bragging if it's true.

Maybe (OMG)! But after this waste of space in the ever-shrinking Tuesday newspaper, readers still have no greater sense of Fusco's actual accomplishments in the business world, or why Mayor Bill White bypassed Council to rush him onto the job.

Craig Malisow, the Houston Press journalist who has owned this story, posted a lengthy critique here. Be sure to read the comments!

Elsewhere on the Hair Balls blog, Rich Connelly reports that both a Chronicle neighborhood edition reporter and an editor seem a little confused by the facts that reporters are not expected to hand out prefabricated quotes to people and ask them to fill in their names, or to report on, say, places where they work on the side.

Connelly does cut the Chronicle a little slack because the reporting was for the weekly zoned neighborhood section and not the big newspaper, but were we Jeff Cohen, we probably wouldn't be so tolerant. If the Houston Chronicle name is on the thing, the journalism ought to meet some standards, we would think.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/11/09 11:16 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)

Chron columnist burger smackdown!

Nearly two years ago, Chron editor Jeff Cohen's reputed distaste for his scribes' endorsing products on the radio seemingly led to the departure of one Chron sports columnist (John Lopez, who chose to stick with his radio gig) and a ban on others endorsing products on the radio.

In 2008, when the Chronicle still had a reader representative (and an associated blog!), Steve Jetton noted that sports columnist Jerome Solomon had to quit his radio show on KNFC-95.7 because the station wanted its hosts to read ads on the air. "The Chronicle's Ethics Policy," Jetton wrote, "prohibits editorial employees from endorsing products."

Chronicle columnist Ken Hoffman remains on KGOW-1560, even though he cannot read ads on the air. In his latest column for the Chronicle, he seems to have figured out a clever way around that limitation:

Spurred by envy, Chronicle sports columnist Richard Justice has talked Nick's Place into putting a “Justice Burger” on its menu.

Nick's Place is located on Rocky Ridge, off Westheimer just east of Gessner. It's a sports bar and pizza joint — hardly a burger barn.

Justice couldn't stand that I've been immortalized in Certified Angus Beef with the Hoffy Burger at Demeris BBQ on South Shepherd.

[snip]

I say good luck to the Justice Burger, but if I see an onion ring on top … we're suing.

Demeris BBQ and Nick's Place both advertise on 1560-The Game.

That Hoffman is creative!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/11/09 10:10 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

Linkpost: 08/11/09

Here's a new set of local blog links, guaranteed mostly dim-free or your money back!

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

10 August 2009

The arrogance of METRO (cont'd)

The poor Chron.com metro/state editors have been having a time of it lately.

The Chron.com edition of a weekend story by Bradley Olson on the mayoral candidates' timid approach to crime repeated grafs, which nobody caught*.

The Chron.com edition of today's column by Carolyn Feibel omitted a graf (the lede!). We'll just paste that in below as an image, in case the Chron.com editors are too busy to fix it.

Feibel lede, 2009-08-10

For that matter, we'll also post a correction, since Chron editors don't always get around to them any more: The Texas Watchdog story referenced in the column ran on Friday, not Thursday (as Feibel wrote).

The rest of the column is here.

Recall that METRO spokeswoman Raequel Roberts lashed out over Feibel's previous criticism of the inadequate notice of meetings, ranting that Chron reporters never attend the meetings in question, and METRO would basically continue to decide what is best in terms of notification. METRO board chair David Wolff offered Feibel yet another lame excuse for the ongoing lack of transparency regarding meetings:

Wolff contends that any reticence has developed defensively, after years of being under fierce attack by anti-rail political foes, notably former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Sugar Land Republican.

Translation: Screw transparency for the taxpayers AND for legislators responsible for our funding -- especially the ones who look at what we are doing closely.

Is there a more arrogant public organization in Texas?

BLOGVERSATION: Texas Watchdog.

* Frequently when the little un-blog points out such errors, they are quickly corrected. But not this time. [UPDATE (08/11/09): All three errors have now been corrected. Glad the un-blog could help!]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/10/09 09:58 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

Timid mayoral candidates reject "drastic" approach to crime

Houston's three mayoral contenders -- and even the other guy in the race -- all agree that we need more police on the street and need "smarter" policing.

None of them really goes into much detail how they will pay for those police, beyond "efficiencies" (or what "smarter" really means beyond "technology").

And they are all pretty timid when it comes to addressing crime, as this excerpt from Bradley Olson's reporting for the Sunday Chronicle (Chron.com editing errors and all) illustrates:

The four candidates' public safety plans share many elements, including a push toward more neighborhood-oriented policing, better cooperation with police agencies in the region and the use of technology for daily crime-fighting.

The four candidates' public safety plans share many elements, including a push toward more neighborhood-oriented policing, better cooperation with police agencies in the region and the use of technology for daily crime-fighting.

Houston's mayoral candidates, 2009

Although several candidates noted that having more police has not always been shown to equal less crime, they all generally agree that the department needs more officers. Where they part ways is in how they plan to reach that goal.

All said they would avoid taking steps as drastic as Mayor Bob Lanier's after his 1991 election, when he used hundreds of millions of dollars from the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County to pay for street construction, freeing up more money for police staffing.

Paul Magaziner has pointed out that METRO already owes millions to the city (and that the city doesn't seem inclined to collect), so we're not that surprised that none of these candidates is inclined to adopt former Mayor Bob's stance. The new precedent established by Mayor Bill White seems to be hands off METRO.

While it might be "drastic," we're not so sure pulling money from METRO to free the general fund for short-term, reactive policing would be all that effective anyway. We do think that HPD manpower levels are low and that we need to spend what it takes to boost those levels and sustain them, but we also think that HPD needs a better approach to crimefighting overall (CompStat).

In fact, here's our idea of "drastic" leadership when it comes to HPD. William Bratton just announced he's stepping down as police chief in Los Angeles. Is there a mayoral candidate bold enough to endorse bringing Bratton to Houston to implement CompStat (which is all about preventing crime by being smarter)?

That would be bold -- and distinguishing.

Photo of Houston's mayoral candidates by flickr user eschipul, used via a Creative Commons license.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/10/09 01:22 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)

Chronicle Doing Its Part? Or Just Coincidence?

Today the Chronicle has a gigantic header about the deaths caused by medical mistakes.

DEAD BY MISTAKE!!!!!!!!!!

That got everyone's attention, didn't it? I encourage everyone to read the whole article for yourself. It's filled with a lot of statistics, some tragic examples.

However, some points were not addressed in the article.

First, HIPAA. How much of this would be feasible under HIPAA regulations? After all, since employers cannot inquire as to why their employees are calling in sick, how can a doctor/hospital publicly say they goofed on a patient John Doe?

Second, if the government does run health care, who will be the doctors administering the health care services? It will most likely be the same people.

Third, if a medical practitioner makes a mistake, there are remedies through state licensing boards and in the civil courts. If the government is running the show and a doctor fouls up, who can the patients complain to?

It just seems odd, with all the recent negative backlash against the national health care bill, that the Chronicle would come out with this in such a dramatic fashion.

Posted by Jason @ 08/10/09 11:08 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (10)

09 August 2009

Linkpost: 08/09/09

It's time to clear out the weekend blog link backlog and get ready for the week. Enjoy!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/09/09 09:25 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

METRO board: We're not a rubber-stamp; we just all vote like it

The chair of METRO's board doesn't like being called a rubber stamp for CEO Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson.

Nevertheless, a board that once had vigorous debates no longer does, and votes almost seem predetermined.

To quote board member Jackie Freeman, "We end up voting in one voice... and it appears like it’s a rubber stamp, but there’s a lot of work that goes into it before each meeting.”

In a story on Friday, Texas Watchdog's Rosanna Ruiz sorted out METRO's new, please-don't-call-it-a-rubber-stamp approach to delivering near unanimity for Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson. Be sure to check it out if you haven't already.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/09/09 07:45 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)

Witness Mayor White's business expertise

You know how Mayor White loves to talk about how he runs the city like a business?

He's fond of using his management experience as a selling point in his senate campaign. Today's Chronicle story of how the feds raided a Southeast Houston waste facility contains a nice little example of that expertise:

The city sued the company in January, initially seeking to temporarily shut down the Griggs plant.

Houston Mayor Bill White
The two sides settled the next month, with CES agreeing to pay the city more than $100,000 to move some operations away from the facility and to put an end to the odors.

[snip]

Last week, Mayor Bill White defended the city's oft-questioned decision to settle with CES.

“We took action which was pretty aggressive, at least by historical city standards,” he said. As a result of the settlement, CES agreed to move “a significant portion” of its operations to another location.

“I know that various attorneys and inspectors have been on it,” White said. “The aggressive action we've taken has been vindicated.”

He wielded the power of his office to get a little revenue for the city, and then he walked away.* A few months later, after the feds swept in to shut things down, Mayor White became defensive (as he tends to do) when questioned about his administration's handling of the settlement, and used his standard "we were aggressive/tough" line -- a usual indicator that he's been neither.

But hey, he garnered $100,000 for the city. And by "historical" standards, he was aggressive. What more can Texans ask for?

*Perhaps the neighboring residents are not what the Chronicle's editorial board would call "well-heeled, civically-active voters," therefore not as deserving of Mayor White's attention as, say, Ashby high-rise opponents.

Photo of Houston Mayor Bill White by flickr user STANANDLOU, used via a Creative Commons license.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/09/09 04:59 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (2)

Mr. Andrew Prieditis, declared citizen of Houston and the world!

Today, we salute one Andrew Prieditis, prolific newspaper letter writer and citizen of the world!

Mr. Prieditis came to our attention as we were catching up on Chron letters to the editor over the past week. Although the Houston Chronicle has "an informal 90-day waiting period between letters being published," Mr. Prieditis of Houston managed to get two letters (one on Sarah Palin on 3 August, and one on Joe Biden on 7 August) published within days of each other.

"Punking" the local Hearst daily -- especially now that former letters editor Judy Minshew is no longer around to bring her banking-industry expertise to bear -- is a little like adults taking candy from children (or perhaps even like mayors trying to take the homes of mentally handicapped people). While it certainly can be done, it should probably not be a source of pride or praise.

Mr. Prieditis, however, took it one step further. Not only did he beat the Chron's 90-day limitation on letters from the same person, he managed to get the same Palin letter published in at least five other newspapers (signed Andrew Prieditis, Rosemont in the Chicago Sun-Times online and print, Andrew Prieditis, Seattle in the Seattle Times online and print, Andrew Prieditis, Dallas in the Dallas Morning News online and in print, Andrew Prieditis, San Francisco in the San Francisco Chronicle -- another Hearst paper!).

Surreal Portrait of The Mystery Man
Mr. Prieditis isn't a one-trick pony, nor is he just a man of this nation. He has managed to get letters on various topics published all over the the world. A cursory search turns up letters-to-the-editor from Andrew Prieditis, Torquay, QLD in The Australian, Andrew Prieditis, Leeson Street, Dublin in The Irish Independent, Andrew Prieditis, Hamilton in the The Southland (NZ) Times, Andrew Prieditis, Elland, West Yorkshire in the UK Independent, Andrew Prieditis, Manila (the address he gives is for a restaurant) in the Manila Times, and Andrew Prieditis, Germantown in the Washington Times.

We emailed a couple of hotmail addresses we found for Mr. Prieditis in hopes of scoring an interview, but haven't heard back from him. In 2007 at least, it would seem that the mysterious Mr. Prieditis was indeed a resident of Germantown, MD. But we prefer to think of him as a citizen of the world.

And to bring it back around to our hyperlocal angle, we view Mr. Prieditis's selection of Houston as one of his cities as yet further validation that WE ARE WORLD CLASS! So congrats to US -- and thank YOU, Andrew Prieditis!

Portrait of The Mystery Man by flickr user Sylvain Bourdos, used via a Creative Commons license.

UPDATE (08/13/09): Thanks to Romenesko for the link!

UPDATE (08/14/09): Eric Shackle emails us this great story that he did. Perhaps Andrew Prieditis was aiming to be the next Oscar Brittle!

UPDATE (08/17/09): Here is additional commentary from Eric Shackle and from Dan Bloom.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/09/09 02:44 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

07 August 2009

A little good news

Two events that occurred on the streets of our metroplex that won't make the news:

First: A teenage girl was home alone when two burglars pulled into the drive and started forcing their way into the home. A call to 911 was made and police made it to the residence relatively quickly. One determined officer arrived as the two burglars were running out of the back (abandoning their car) and hopped over a fence. The lone officer hopped the fence and two others in pursuit of the two burglars. He chased them down a bayou and ran them down. This lone officer was able to catch and arrest both suspects with nobody getting injured. On top of that, these guys are suspected in numerous other burglaries in that area. That lone officer's supervisor wrote a letter of commendation on the same day!

Second: Another officer on patrol attempted to stop a car. The car took off starting a short pursuit. The car went the wrong way; however, not very fast due to rush-hour traffic. The car hit another car head on (thankfully no injuries) and the two occupants fled on foot and were apprehended a short time later. It turns out that the car was taken in a robbery and both suspects were being investigated for other robberies in that part of town. One annoying thing is that the district attorney's office refused to charge them with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle (they did take the evading arrest in a motor vehicle charge though). The DA's office is very reluctant to take UUMV (auto theft in layman's terms) when the suspect has the key to the car. Originally this came about from too many cars reported stolen that were later learned to have been already recovered, or the car was loaned out and a dispute led to the owner calling to report it stolen. However, a car key taken by force usually doesn't constitute auto theft to many assistant DAs.

In conclusion, kudos to these two officers for getting some felons off of the streets!

Posted by Jason @ 08/07/09 11:41 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)

06 August 2009

Linkpost: 08/06/09

Here's another edition of local blog links, none of which are overrated!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/06/09 10:50 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

Mayor White backtracks from Senate-candidate White (cont'd)

My blogging colleague Anne Linehan was far ahead of the curve* in Houston when she pointed out, back in March, the difference between Mayor Bill White and Senate-Candidate Bill White.

As the city has gone on autopilot and Senate-Candidate White has ramped up his campaign, we've only seen more such instances of our mayor working to redefine himself (as the expensive political consultants put it) for Texans outside of Houston, while pursuing different sorts of policies here in town.

Immigration Detective
So, it came as no surprise today when Susan Carroll reported for the Houston Chronicle that Mayor White is interested in scaling back the city's newly adopted federal 287(g) program to screen people in the jail for immigration status:

City and police officials have been negotiating changes to the program since last month, when ICE approved Houston's request to train its jailers through 287(g).

The city wants to write in specific instructions for HPD jailers to turn over to ICE only suspected illegal immigrants with “serious” records, such as state jail felonies or certain federal convictions.

Senate-Candidate White, however, insists that his efforts to scale back the program really aren't efforts to scale back the program:

Mayor Bill White denied that the city would create a weaker version of the program implemented nationally. White said Wednesday that the city would target “noncitizens who have committed violent crimes, serious property crimes and serious narcotics crimes” to ensure they are deported after coming into the jails.

“That's pretty strong,” White added.

It may well be "pretty strong." It is also a weaker version of the program implemented nationally.

[Read More]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/06/09 10:27 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

Disconnect: Female firefighters praise HFD, City approves $190k contract related to racism/sexism complaints

Earlier in the week, Mayor Bill White met with over 20 female firefighters to discuss recent controversies in the department. Here is the takeaway line from Miya Shay's reporting for KTRK-13:

"We're being perceived like we're racist, that there is sexual harassment, there's gender discrimination," said Iris Rodriguez with the Houston Fire Department. "That's not the case."

HFD
Well, that's certainly some good news after a rocky few weeks!

Nevertheless, City Council yesterday approved a $190,000 contract for two law firms to review HFD's grievance and equal-opportunity policies, just as we predicted they would do two weeks ago. In terms of specifics, we are not exactly sure what the review will entail, or why at least one management-consulting firm wouldn't have been included, but The Houston Way is less about those sorts of questions than it is connections.

KHOU-11's Lee McGuire reported some interesting quotes from Councilmember Jolanda Jones (who voted against the contract, saying "Something doesn't smell right"), Councilmember Ron Green (who voted for the contract, despite lamenting the large amount of money going to lawyers instead of quality-of-life improvements), and Councilmember James Rodriguez (who voted against, wondering what the law firms will be doing exactly since HFD's own investigation isn't complete).

Bradley Olson has more coverage for the Chronicle. Meanwhile, KRIV-26's Isiah Carey asks why HFD refuses to honor his related public information request.

Photo of HFD truck by flickr user finnadat, used via a Creative Commons license.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/06/09 08:53 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

05 August 2009

Just a few tidbits on some METRO "olds" from July...

Turning to a bit of "olds" that has been in the bH blogging queue for a while now...

Readers probably will recall the story that Stephen Dean broke for KPRC-2 a couple of Fridays ago (July 24), on the indicted METRO VP. Here is an excerpt:

A Fort Bend County grand jury indicted William Murphy Madison, 44, of Houston, on charges of online solicitation of a minor, and he was arraigned before a district judge in Richmond this week.

[snip]

Metro has suspended Madison without pay from his $136,000 per year job, where was hired in 2007 as Associate Vice President of Infrastructure and New Initiatives.

The Chronicle finally managed to cover this story the following Monday (July 27). Here is an excerpt from Dale Lezon's reporting:

William Murphy Madison recently was indicted by a Fort Bend County grand jury for online solicitation of a minor, said Sgt. Dwayne Williams, of the Missouri City Police Department.

Williams said the department began investigating the case in September 2007 after a woman alerted authorities that she had found inappropriate images in e-mails on her 16-year-old son's computer.

Metro spokeswoman Raequel Roberts said that Madison, who had worked for the agency since September 2007 and had the title of associate vice president, was suspended without pay the day he was arrested pending the outcome of the investigation.

Notice anything missing? Okay, the bolded text gives it away: Neither of these two stories, several days apart, gave hard dates.

[Read More]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/05/09 12:46 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (10)

04 August 2009

Linkpost: 08/04/09

The day got away from us, so no new blog content tonight, but here is a bunch of good stuff from local bloggers, so please click click click! We'll try to crank out some copy of our own tomorrow.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/04/09 11:12 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

03 August 2009

TW on Turner, Hutchison: Conflicts of interest?

State Rep. Sylvester Turner has been in the news lately, defending normal people against those mean utility companies. None of the local stories we've seen mentioned one very interesting fact that Texas Watchdog's Jennifer Peebles pointed out here.

That interesting fact may not raise the question of conflict-of-interest so much as the question of whether a truly good investment has been made!

Elsewhere on the Texas Watchdog site, Peebles calls attention to an AP story by Jay Root that explores the appearance of conflicts of interest raised by Sen. Hutchison's advocacy of projects that sometimes have connections to her husband's work (including past dealings with METRO, an organization that Sen. Hutchison has boosted).

Ethics watchdogs question the appearance of some of the dealings. The Hutchisons say everything is aboveboard and their dealings are separate. And Gov. Rick Perry's campaign staff is surely smiling tonight.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/03/09 10:18 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

Olson: We're #1! (in violent crime in Texas)

In a front-page story for the Chronicle today, busy reporter Brad Olson took an in-depth look at FBI crime statistics and how Houston ranks among the largest 25 cities in the country.

The results, in terms of violent crime, aren't good at all. Despite recent chirping from MayorWhiteChiefHurtt that crime numbers in Houston are astoundingly good (and getting better!), the reality as demonstrated by Olson's analysis is that Houston is one of the most dangerous cities in the country. Indeed, Houston is ranked #8 nationwide in terms of violent crime per capita, and #1 in Texas.

Please go read Olson's story in its entirety (as journalists who do that amount of research and analysis at least deserve a proper cite, link, and an "attaboy"), and also check out his accompanying blog post and the crime data he compiled.

We have long made our opinion on Houston crime and policing clear. We think HPD is understaffed, a problem that emerged under Mayor Lee Brown and that remains with us today. We also think HPD is poorly managed, and could benefit from adopting a management philosophy (CompStat) that not only makes wiser use of technology, but is also proactive, strategic, and proven.

We hope our current mayoral candidates will be addressing HPD and crimefighting in much greater detail over the coming weeks and months. Because Houston can be better than #8.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/03/09 09:23 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)

02 August 2009

No progress on initiative to remake blighted Hobby area? Declare victory and move on!

Remember back in 2006 when Mayor Bill White's new Housing Czar David Mincberg (another successful BUSINESSMAN, we were told), announced with great fanfare that through various funding sources, the city would be overseeing a $35 million investment in renovating apartments surrounding Hobby Airport?

Then-Councilmember Carol Alvarado was giddy about the expected cleanup of the blighted area:

“When you’re driving either to or from Hobby you kind of just put your eyes over your head until you get to 45,” said City Councilwoman in Dist. I, Carol Alvarado.

Indeed.

And who better to lead the charge than David Mincberg, as Mike Snyder reported for the Chronicle:

Jerry Winograd, president of the Houston Apartment Association, said some developments experienced multiple foreclosures that led to a cycle of neglect and degradation. And in recent years, he said, apartment owners have been hard-pressed to pay for maintenance as rents have decreased while costs such as insurance and utilities increased.

After briefing the City Council on the plan, Mincberg explained it to about 200 apartment industry leaders in a luncheon speech. Winograd said the industry is supporting the effort in part because it is led by Mincberg, a longtime apartment industry executive.

"It was a brilliant move on the mayor's part to bring in an industry person to run the program," Winograd said.

Unfortunately, as Paul Knight reports for the Houston Press Hair Balls blog, that $35 million revamp of the Hobby area never materialized, so putting one's eyes over one's head, as Miss Alvarado put it, is still the norm.

[Read More]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/02/09 09:30 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

Linkpost: 08/02/09

It's time for local blog links, the post bH-bash edition.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/02/09 07:54 PM | Houston Blog Talk | Technorati | Comments (0)

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

We are baffled as to why Mayor White refuses to expend any political capital fixing the horrifying conditions at BARC. He has no problem browbeating local industries about pollution and work schedules; he loves to help his developer friends; he dreams up new revenue streams with the greatest of ease; he champions the cause of weatherizing poor Houstonians' homes. But when it comes to helpless little animals, he can't be bothered, other than to hire yet another consultant.

A $200,000 consultant will be of no use to an agency that can't even manage to feed the animals in its care.

If the "eagle-eyed lawyer" put half as much energy into BARC as he just put into CenterPoint, imagine what could change. That would be putting his faith into action.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/02/09 10:06 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)

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