20 November 2008
Greek festival time (finally!)
Thanks to Hurricane Ike, the 42nd annual Greek Festival (put on by Annunciation Orthodox Church) was postponed from its usual time in early October. Not to worry -- your chance for good souvlaki and spanokopita and sweets and more is finally here!
Parking is always difficult near the festival. If you're not familiar with Montrose, your best bet is to park at Lamar High School and take the free Metro shuttle (details here).
Opa!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/20/08 10:02 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (10)
Outstanding red-light camera ticket? No car registration for you!
City Council has approved MayorWhiteChiefHurtt's latest plan to get red light runners to pay their tickets:
The City Council on Wednesday approved a measure that will allow the state to deny vehicle registration to drivers who do not pay their red-light camera tickets after repeated warnings.
As many as 25 percent of those who receive the $75 citation never pay up. Until now, there was nothing the city could do about it.
Under the measure approved Wednesday, if a driver does not pay after 85 days, the city can get the Texas Department of Transportation to put a "hold'' on the vehicle owner's registration that cannot be cleared until the ticket is paid.
"It's not complex,'' Mayor Bill White said. "If you get a citation when you're running the red light, then you pay the citation. Or, if you think there's some mistaken identity, then you go and contest it. It's pretty simple. But what you don't have an option to do is just ignore the citation."
Yeah, if you want to contest a ticket, all you have to do is take time off work, arrange daycare for the kids, drive all the way to downtown, pay for parking, etc, etc. Simple.
Despite Mayor White's assertion that "it's not complex," there are concerns from other quarters:
Not so fast, said George Hammerlein, who handles local governmental affairs for Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt's office.
Because that office administers registration renewals, the city would have to reach an interlocal agreement with the county, a step for which there still were a number of hurdles, Hammerlein said.
"We had a meeting and identified a series of areas we had concerns about before we could even think about going forward, and they haven't addressed them all yet," he said.
Hammerlein said a primary concern is customer service. If 100,000 people a year fail to pay red-light tickets, he said, that would mean 100,000 people could end up waiting in long lines at county offices to get new registrations, only to be turned away.
"That has a big impact on our lines and the overall customer service level that we strive for," he said.
And Councilman Sullivan wasn't sold on the plan:
Sullivan said he was skeptical of the ordinance for a number of reasons: What if a couple goes through a divorce and the notice of a ticket goes to the wrong address? What if someone gives away a vehicle as a gift? He also cast doubt on whether the process would be fluid, given that it involves the city; a private contractor that administers the cameras; the county, which handles vehicle registration renewals; and the state, which would apply the holds.
What could possibly go wrong?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/20/08 05:38 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (11)
19 November 2008
METRO addresses Danger Train collisions, financial deals gone bad
METRO's expensive blogger would like you to know that the organization has a plan for dealing with those pesky cars that keep running into the Danger Train:
For the past few months, left-hand turn accidents between cars and METRO trains have been increasing in the downtown area.
Now, METRO and the City of Houston Department of Public Works and Engineering, Traffic and Transportation Division has [sic] launched a pilot program to curb those accidents. It calls for a three-pronged approach that includes:
* Signal priority adjustments for METRORail
* New traffic-light fixtures
* Increased METRO police enforcement along the Red LineThe changes - implemented by METRO, the City of Houston Department of Public Works and Engineering, Traffic and Transportation Division - will also improve safety and help traffic move along Main Street and major intersections.
[snip]
With the resignaling, this means METRORail will get a green light first, before motorists get a green light to proceed. This allows the train to proceed ahead of regular traffic at intersections. Westbound and eastbound traffic will not be affected.
If all it takes to cut down on the number of traffic/train collisions is changing a few traffic signals, why in the world has it taken years of collisions to implement the plan? At-grade rail down a busy traffic corridor used by (bad) Houston drivers seems like the problem (more so than traffic signals). Nevertheless, the organization plans on building even more at-grade rail. Won't busy Richmond be a hoot when even heavier traffic blends with another Danger Train?
Meanwhile, METRO is begging the federal government to help save the profits it made by entering into sell/lease-back deals that required financial backing from firms like AIG (now in default -- uh oh!):
The Metropolitan Transit Authority joined 10 other transit agencies across the nation Tuesday as they urged Congress for help with financing deals imperiled by the credit crisis.
The move is the latest attempt by Metro and the other agencies to avoid millions in default payments triggered by the collapse of insurance giant American International Group.
AIG provided payment guarantees on lease agreements between Metro and several banks. Those deals required payment guarantees from insurers, such as AIG, with high credit ratings. The deals guaranteed by AIG now are in technical default as a result of the insurance giant's slashed credit rating.
[snip]
Metro entered into dozens of the deals, which allow transit agencies to sell rail cars, buses and other assets to banks and them lease them back.
All of the lease agreements were lawful and approved by the Federal Transit Administration.
Metro could be on the hook for about $14 million, roughly the amount in revenue it earned from the deals, officials have said.
Sometimes when a deal seems too good to be true...
Perhaps some intrepid reporter(s) will follow up with some obvious questions to the transit agency about future deals of this nature, and what it has done to mitigate its risks moving forward.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/19/08 10:02 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Armchair quarterbacking at HPD
Remember the police chase in which a man claiming to be a federal agent was shot and killed after he initiated a pursuit? Well, Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt has disciplined two officers involved in the shooting. A major pet peeve of police officers is being second guessed by administrators who weren't even there. Of course there is a video and you can watch the video attached to the link. I'd like to know how Chief Hurtt was watching this video. The internal investigation found that:
Sgt. Andrew J. Washington and Officer Cecil A.T. Foster did not use sound judgment and did not follow department policy in the incident.
The department policy . . . they didn't talk to the man at the end of the chase! One officer was given a one-day suspension and the other officer was given a written reprimand. Both are appealing their punishments.
One could ask if Chief Hurtt and IAD were watching the video through the eyes of an officer in that situation, at that exact moment in time. Or with the eyes of a long time police administrator trying to use the benefit of hindsight, and "what ifs." Because the city is now being sued over this, were they watching this video looking for the slightest policy violation so that disciplinary action could be handed out to cover the city? Watch the video at the end of the chase. You can hear officers giving verbal commands that are plainly being ignored, so they are talking to him but he isn't listening.
Something to keep in mind is that a violation of policy doesn't mean a violation of the law or liability. Department policies are rules and guidelines that are supposed to have all officers act the same way in any situation. Well, policies, like laws, are interpreted differently by different people. Also, policies cannot foresee every possible situation and that's when officer discretion has to kick in. Think about this. Situations can change in an instant; policies and procedures don't change. For example, let's say a department has a policy that says officers, while involved in a vehicle pursuit, cannot chase the criminal the wrong way on the highway. Let's say the man running just killed a woman and kidnapped her baby. Knowing this policy, he drives east in the westbound lanes and, by a stroke of luck, there is no westbound traffic. Now what is this officer supposed to do? Follow department policy and not chase the kidnapper? Or use judgment and go after the kidnapper the wrong way on an empty road?
At least HPD's internal investigation found the shooting to be justified.
Posted by Jason @ 11/19/08 10:57 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (26)
18 November 2008
City to repay $15 million in HUD funds
Back in March, we noted that the city had been told to repay $15.5 million in HUD grants due to misuse of the funds. After months of negotiations, the city has finally agreed to repay the amount, and city council will vote on the proposed settlement this week (via the Chron's Mike Snyder):
The City Council on Wednesday will consider the five-year repayment plan, which city officials have been negotiating with HUD since May 2007.
The $15.5 million sum is unchanged from the amount HUD demanded in a letter to the city in March, although it is far less than about $32 million the agency once said the city owed. Even so, it represents one of the largest repayments HUD has ever demanded from a local government receiving its funds, the agency said.
Local and federal officials said they believe the settlement will signal a new era of cooperation after a troubled relationship that dates back 20 years. The problems peaked in 2005, when an audit of spending found that Houston's housing department chose projects based on its directors' whims, allowed for massive defaults on loans and created opportunities for conflicts of interest and fraud.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/18/08 04:59 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
17 November 2008
Chron: Suspected illegal immigrants out on bail frequently disappear (UPDATED)
The Chronicle has posted some troubling reporting by Susan Carroll on illegal immigration and crime in the Houston area. Here's an excerpt from the story:
A Houston Chronicle investigation found dozens of cases in Harris County involving suspected illegal immigrants who posted bail and absconded on criminal charges, including murder, aggravated sexual assault of a child and drug trafficking.
The Chronicle examined arrest and immigration records for 3,500 inmates who told jailers that they were in the country illegally during a span of eight months starting in June 2007, the earliest immigration records available.
The review found at least 178 cases involving suspects who absconded, meaning they had their bails revoked for missing court dates or allegedly committing more crimes. Of those, 30 cases involved felony charges and two-thirds had initial bails set below $35,000 — the minimum recommended in the county's bail schedule for illegal immigrants accused of felonies.
Local officials said the problems stem from a shortage of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents dedicated to identifying illegal immigrants in the county's jails.
The entire story is well worth reading. Also see this related story.
Most readers here are aware of the broken-down immigration system and have some sense of the resulting illegal-immigration problem. But this story makes concrete the criminal impact of the illegal-immigration problem on the area (as opposed to, say, MayorWhiteChiefHurtt denying that Houston is a sanctuary city while simultaneously defending sanctuary policies as useful in getting illegal immigrants to trust the police and report crimes). It's the sort of analytical local journalism we like to see.
Carroll follows up with a report tonight that Sen. John Cornyn has called for an investigation of the ICE screening process in the Harris County jail.
UPDATE (11-18-2008): Another installment in the series is posted here. This one explores the use of probation in cases where deportation is an option.
The Chronicle's Teen Diarist also peeps in on the series to chide all you racist Houstonians for having your prejudices confirmed by... Carroll's detailed, analytical reporting. Here is one of the Teen Diarist's rambles:
There are many lessons from the Houston Chronicle's three-part series on federal officials' failure to detain or deport admitted illegal immigrants who commit crimes.
One is that immigration officials should spend more time at the Harris County Jail and less raiding Shipley Donuts, rag factories and meat-packing plants.
Another, confirmed by reader response to the articles, is that hatred knows no nuance.
Actually, the lessons from reality are that immigration officials need to enforce immigration law at the workplace (Shipley Donuts, rag factories, meat-packing plants, and other places that employ illegal immigrants... illegally!) AND that immigration officials definitely need to step up their game at the Harris County Jail. Thanks to Susan Carroll's excellent reporting, we know the latter, which we would not know if we relied on the Teen Diarist's opinion on such matters (we would just know that the Teen Diarist thinks many Houstonians who are critical of illegal immigration are racists).
Speaking of the Teen Diarist and race issues, this is a fine correction in today's column:
My apologies to Harris County prosecutor Tiffany Johnson. In my column Thursday about former prosecutor Mekisha Murray's decision to change her name to Jane after losing a judicial race, I mentioned how a trial bureau chief at the DA's office used to confuse Mekisha, who is white, with Tiffany, who, I wrote "happened to be white." I ended up making the same mistake as the trial chief. Tiffany is black.
It is unfortunate that this is what Jeff Cohen offers as a metro columnist in the nation's fourth-largest city (alongside a plagiarist whose background is San Antonio). I know the quality of a John Kass is a bit much to hope for, but surely Houston can do better than this.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/17/08 10:31 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (11)
A new Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy!
Allan Turner offers up a Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy* today.
The Death Row Killer Guy's lawyer declined to talk to the Chronicle, and the newspaper could not reach members of the victim's family, so Turner was reduced to building this Chron Eye from court testimony:
Cathey's sister, Charlotte Ezeh, testified that the killer was pampered at home. But his mother, Willie Lee Cathey, told jurors that the family's home life was tumultuous, with her husband drinking, using drugs and accosting family members with firearms.
Cathey married at 17 and fathered two children, jurors were told.
Luke Ezeh, Cathey's now former brother-in-law, said he employed the killer in his battery shop.
"He was a very good guy," Ezeh said. "He sold batteries and kept the money and never took anything from me. I don't think he deserves to die. He made a mistake, but he should be corrected, not put to death."
Ezeh said Cathey was a musician whose partner had absconded with a recording. "He was trying to locate him through the girl and things got out of hand," he said. "That is what I heard. I was not there."
In a death row interview, Cathey insisted he had spent the night of the murder watching television with his girlfriend.
"I am not guilty of the crime," Cathey said. "I never met the woman."
The killer admitted he had been convicted of an earlier drug offense, but said he had never served prison time.
Upon arriving on death row, he said, he was "very fearful."
"I knew that I didn't do anything," he said. "I had a sense of hopelessness. ... I had seen guys who had gone off to their executions."
Now, he added, "I play it by ear. I'm praying to God to work things out."
We trust that He will.
This Chron Eye does continue the very recent practice of working in the term "Huntsville death house," which the author/editors would surely deny is subtle editorializing** (despite the fact it tends to be used -- derisively -- by those opposed to the death penalty).
Why a shrinking business with declining readership continues to expend so many resources on pet political causes favored by the editor's wife is an ongoing mystery.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/17/08 10:11 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
16 November 2008
Dolcefino shines light on arts spending, draws fire from arts community
Over the past week, KTRK-13's Wayne Dolcefino spent some time looking at publicly funded art in Houston.
In this report, Dolcefino criticizes the expense of various projects and the lack of completed projects, and talks to an unimpressed city controller Annise Parker.
In this report, Dolcefino looks at some public art in a city sewer plant, proposed art in the form of yet another new sign at the airport, and even more projects that have yet to be completed.
And in this report, Dolcefino decries the lack of visible results after nearly $2 million annual "arts tourism" expenditures in the Museum District.
Needless to say, Dolcefino's stories haven't gone over very well in the Houston arts community. The La Dame San Regrets, Houston Arts Alliance, and Pithy blogs all responded to the reports.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/16/08 07:55 PM | Houston Arts/Culture | Technorati | Comments (33)
There's (more) poo poo in the bayou!
Last week, KTRK-13 reported on another nasty mess in one of our bayous:
Volunteers made a gross discovery in Buffalo Bayou while trying to clean up a park.
They found sewage leaking into the bayou. According to those volunteers, the problem stems from a hole in a sewage pipe that runs underneath a bridge.
They say the dirty water discharges when excess pressure builds up in the pipe.
Crews say they've been complaining about the leak for five years, but no one has fixed it yet.
Hey, the matter of investing in infrastructure to prevent recurring problems of poo-poo in the bayou just can't compete with trinket governance!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/16/08 04:24 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
14 November 2008
Papal exhibit coming to local museum
The Houston Business Journal reports that Houston will be hosting a unique papal exhibit later this month:
Houston’s National Museum of Funeral History will host the world’s first papal exhibit outside of the Vatican on Nov. 25.
The 5,000-square-foot exhibit, “Celebrating the Lives and Deaths of a Pope,” features the rituals by which popes have been elected and buried over the last 2,000 years.
The exhibit is part of a three-year collaboration between the Vatican and the not-for-profit National Museum of Funeral History, a collector of funeral memorabilia located at 415 Barren Springs Dr.
I have to admit that my sense of the macabre led me to our Museum of Funeral History years ago. It's worth the trip.
And the first papal exhibit outside of the Vatican? That almost sounds world class!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/14/08 10:32 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
What's in an election? Perhaps more than a name
The local newspaper's teen diarist chronicles one (losing) local judicial candidate's lament that her unusual name may have caused her loss last week. It reads a little like a bad Lifetime movie (or is "bad Lifetime movie" redundant?).
Meanwhile, the legal set over at A Harris County Lawyer's blawg offers supplemental discussion for grownups. This one was particularly entertaining.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/14/08 09:14 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (7)
Local corporate alt-weekly wants a political blogger
Remember back in the day when the Public News and the Houston Press covered local politics, and alt-media names like Fleck and Simmon and Woodall actually mattered?
That seems like a long time ago. These days, the corporate alt-media rag is practically begging for someone to write about local politics:
Hair Balls is looking for a good political blogger, one who can keep up with local and state goings-on.
We're not looking for inside-baseball minutia, but we don't want broad-brush "The Other Side Sucks!!" stuff linking to Daily Kos or NRO's The Corner.
It's Internet money, so you won't get rich, but you will get a chance to have a platform.
If you're a local political blogger and want to lend your talents to a publication that once covered local politics and occasionally shook things up, shoot 'em an email. We're looking forward to reading about local politics in the Press again (or at least reading the website).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/14/08 08:43 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (1)
13 November 2008
That's Peter Brown, ARCHITECT
KHOU-11's Lee McGuire has a great quote from Councilmember Peter Brown on some goofy construction at the new Costco on Richmond:
We found a traffic signal and utility pole sticking out of a handicap ramp on the sidewalk.
The maze lines one side of the new Costco shopping complex along Richmond. The sidewalk is part of Houston's effort to become more pedestrian friendly.
[snip]
Houston City Council Member Peter Brown saw the sidewalk for himself on Thursday."Well that's a brand new pole," Brown said. "This is really the dumbest kind of construction I've seen in a long time and you know I'm an architect."
[snip]
"It's really frightening, it's atrocious that this would happen in a new project," Brown said. "But, you know, you can't blame anybody particularly, except I would blame the city for not having standards."
Peter Brown is an architect? Who knew?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/13/08 09:50 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (15)
12 November 2008
Another Houston driver takes on Danger Train, loses
In a rare bit of reporting on the topic, the Chron notes that a Danger Train crash took place earlier:
Three passengers on a MetroRail train were taken to a hospital this morning after the train collided with a car at a downtown intersection.
The accident occurred about 9:20 a.m. as the driver of the car attempted an illegal left turn at Main and Leeland, said Metro spoieswoman Raequel Roberts.
The passengers were taken to St. Joseph Medical Center with injuries that were deemed non-life-threatening, Roberts said.
The car was traveling on Leeland when it crossed the northbound train's path and was struck on the driver's side, Roberts said.
The driver, who was not injured, was cited by police for turning illegally, she said.
Northbound train service resumed about 10:50 a.m.
So, the Danger Train, METRO's "transit backbone," was out of service for an hour-and-a-half because at-grade light rail and bad Houston drivers continue to be a bad mix.
Imagine how well the coming at-grade rail lines in busy corridors like Richmond (which is how METRO and its sycophants translate "Westpark") will mix with Houston drivers!
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/12/08 02:18 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (9)
The Big Flip: HC GOP recriminations and navel-gazing (11/12/08 edition)
Texas Watchdog calls our attention to some interesting posts on National Review about Harris County's flip to the Dems
Last Thursday, David Frum apparently noticed the flip.
Since then, he's added three posts of reader emails interpreting the results, here, here, and here.
Shortly after the election, former Harris County GOP chair Gary Polland blasted the way the current regime (i.e. Woodfill/Blakemore) conducted the election. Sadly, the article will eventually scroll from the front page of the site, and there is no permalink currently available, which is something of a statement in itself on the local GOP's technological competence. The County Seat adds some perspective to the Polland broadside.
Those of you who followed the links and read the commentary -- what's your take? What are these folks getting right, getting wrong, and leaving out in terms of Harris County's big flip?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/12/08 12:36 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)
10 November 2008
Upper Kirby TIRZ to put construction on hold for holiday shopping
The Chronicle's Rosanna Ruiz notes that progress (in the form of the massive Kirby reconstruction/drainage project) will be delayed over the holidays, so Upper Kirby businesses can sell you stuff:
Construction work will pause from Nov. 21 through Jan. 2, said Travis Younkin, capital projects coordinator for the Upper Kirby District.
Work along side streets will continue, though.
"We can't have construction crews working on the street during the busiest shopping season of the year," Younkin said.
The $18 million project, managed by the Upper Kirby District Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, is scheduled to be completed by next November.
Kirby, from Richmond to Westheimer, will have three somewhat wider lanes in each direction, raised esplanades, wider sidewalks and more street lighting.
Overhead utility lines also will be placed underground, which should reduce worries about downed power lines during storms that would otherwise paralyze Kirby businesses.
Rarely are TIRZ officials so forthright about whose interests they prioritize.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/10/08 11:06 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
'We stopped in because we saw the bulldog'
How many of you have been driving down the freeway, when a giant inflatable gorilla caught your eye, and you said, "I gotta go shopping!"?
Well, if some city councilmembers have their way, the big advertising balloons will be a thing of the past:
The gorillas — along with the giant eagles, balloon rockets and Uncle Sams that sometimes appear on the rooftops of car dealerships and other retail outlets — contribute to visual clutter and pose a potentially dangerous distraction to drivers, city officials say.
The City Council could vote on the ban at its Wednesday meeting. If approved, the ban also would prohibit flashy and motion-driven devices, such as dancing wind puppets, spinning pinwheels, pennants, streamers and strobe and spotlights.
"I call them attention-distracting devices," said Jeff Ross of the city's planning commission. Ross said getting rid of them will make Houston more competitive with other cities that have banned them, such as Dallas, Austin and St. Louis.
"They distract the eye, create potential safety obstacles, obscure permanent signage and create visual blight," said Tommy Friedlander, who chaired Mayor Bill White's On-Premise Sign Task Force.
Banning inflatable balloons is what will make Houston more competitive?? What about the sports stadiums? And the light rail? And the Pavilions?
What about the smoking ban? And the second city-funded convention center hotel? And the downtown park? And the skate park?
Shoot, if all that was required was banning some inflatable balloons, why didn't someone mention it sooner? Think of all the tax dollars that could have been saved!
Back to the story:
Shane Rhodes has a giant, inflated bulldog on the roof of his car dealership on Long Point.
"We get three or four customers a month who say, 'We stopped in because we saw the bulldog,' " Rhodes said.
I'm not sure how common that shopping strategy is, but to each their own. That's what makes America great.
Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck isn't sold on the ban:
Officials said holiday displays and residential lawn decorations would be exempted from the ban. The prohibition would apply only to attention-getting devices used for commercial purposes.
That troubles Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck. She asked how the city would distinguish between attention-getting devices and the holiday lights, bows and sparkly stars installed in Rice Village and the Galleria area.
"Both (are) used for commercial purposes," Clutterbuck said. "We deem those as tasteful and the others as tacky."
That's not the Ready! Fire! Aim! spirit Houston's known for! Why get bogged down in those pesky details?
Fittingly, the city already HAS an ordinance banning "attention-getting devices," but the city's Andy Icken complains it's unenforceable. How Houston-like!
For a strong close, here's Councilman James Rodriguez selling the ban:
They just make the neighborhoods look bad, they lower property values," he said of the inflatable animals. A giant duck that sits atop a check-cashing store in the Gulf Crest neighborhood has prompted residents to complain to his office, Rodriguez said.
"Their homes are their sanctuaries, and they want to go out into their backyards, and they look up and see this big duck."
It's what we all dream of -- a backyard view that doesn't include a giant duck.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/10/08 07:33 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (19)
08 November 2008
Bicyclist Bob Stein goes international, downplays Obama's accomplishments vis-a-vis Hillary Clinton
Bicyclist Bob Stein, Houston's (Democratic) expert on everything and every (lazy) local political journalist's go-to man for the obvious quote, has gone international! The bicyclist is featured in today's Ottawa Citizen:
Bob Stein, author and political science professor at Rice University in Houston, agrees that the Clinton campaign was more substantive than Mr. Obama's.
"She was far more specific on policy," he says. "And my guess now is that she is more interested in her policies than she is in position."Pushing Mrs. Clinton as Senate majority leader would be controversial and difficult, says Ms. Parry-Giles, who is writing a book about media coverage of the former first lady dating back to her pre-White House days.
[snip]
Whatever becomes of Mrs. Clinton, she remains very much in the political game, adds Mr. Stein.
"Nobody thought that either a black man or a woman could be a candidate for president," he says, "and what she achieved was breaking a glass ceiling that was even more formidable than the barriers to electing a black man."
Huh?!
Gee, we wonder whom the bicyclist supported in the primaries? Not that he would ever let us know, given the reputation of impartial bicyclist/political observer that he must uphold (for lazy local political journalists, at least). *wink* *nod*
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/08/08 07:34 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (1)
County attorney-elect promotes watchdog role
Many of us are weary of both pre-election and post-election commentary, but here's a snippet on Harris County Attorney-elect Vince Ryan that's worth posting:
Ryan, a lawyer, said he is the right person to be coming into government now. The County Attorney's Office, he said, can play the role of watchdog and try to insist that county officials and employees take the ethical high road.
"What county government needs is a group of watchdogs, not lapdogs," Ryan said. "The County Attorney's Office is an absolute key to the checks and balances on county government."
We hope the new county attorney is serious about playing the role of watchdog, and will do so in an impartial and nonpartisan manner. County government would be better for it.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/08/08 01:37 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
City removes negligent apartment owner, enters "uncharted territory"
The Chronicle's Matt Stiles and Bradley Olson have details on the city's actions this week in removing the owner of a rundown apartment complex:
In the latest case involving La Casita Apartments, 313 Sunnyside, Mayor Bill White marshaled the help of an old high school friend who retired in 2004 as a federal bankruptcy judge. With his help, city lawyers were able in less than 24 hours to get a judge to turn control of the property over to a new management company.
"I felt that we needed to act immediately to both hold the owner accountable and use the legal remedies in bankruptcy to protect the property," White said. "We are getting much better at identifying and remedying substandard apartments."
[snip]
City officials also said they do not expect to recoup $1.3 million in federal housing money loaned to the property for improvements that state records show began about a decade ago.
Still, officials said the initial success with La Casita was good news, since it can be replicated with other substandard complexes that have vexed inspectors and police.
"This is a great step," said City Councilman James Rodriguez, who has taken an active role in the crackdown. "I know we're in uncharted territory here, but we have to be proactive. Enough is enough."
Houston's push against bad housing began last year after two children were shocked by an unguarded power transformer at an apartment complex, but began in earnest this summer after several Houston Chronicle stories documented substandard conditions in a number of properties.
White announced plans to spend $1 million a year to create a new team of multifamily inspectors. That team, which has yet to be completely formed, now can proactively visit properties and issue citations instead of making trips only after complaints, as had been done in the past.
Since White announced plans to add inspectors, two children have died after being crushed by a staircase that collapsed at a complex that had not been inspected since 1996. Another toddler drowned in a squalid apartment complex last month, only hours after an inspections coordinator had visited the property and noted a damaged fence around the pool.
Hopefully, this won't end up in the category of "Ready! Fire! Aim!" governance.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/08/08 10:36 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
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- +B.S. Houston ArtBlog
- +Baboon Pirates
- +Bayou City Madman
- +Beldar Blog
- +Blue Bayou
- +Boyd's Blog
- +Brazosport News
- +Business Unusual
- +By the Bayou
- +Chelsea Hotel No. 2
- +Chief Hurtt's Blog
- +Connections
- +Custos Fidei
- +Defending People (Mark Bennett)
- +Diana's Place
- +Dissonance
- +Down the Writer's Path
- +Fabulous Jen
- +Fireballs, Lightning Bolts and Hell Storms
- +Food In Houston
- +Greg's Opinion
- +H-Town Grooves
- +High Tech Texan
- +Houblog.com
- +Houston Calling
- +Houston Consigliere
- +Houston Photobloggers
- +Houston Strategies
- +Houston's Clear Thinkers
- +Houston, Hot and Humid
- +Houstonist
- +Houtopia
- +Intermodality
- +Jeff Balke
- +John Little
- +Laurence Simon
- +Laurie Kendrick
- +Liberty's Blog
- +Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center
- +Lone Star Times
- +Lose an Eye
- +Lou Minatti
- +Metroblogging Houston
- +Midtown Live
- +Misunderestimation
- +Off the Kuff
- +Perfectly Cromulent
- +Perry vs World
- +Polimom
- +Professors R-Squared
- +PubliusTX.net
- +Quaint Quiescence
- +Rant Fever
- +Red Ink: Texas
- +Rep. John Culberson's Blog
- +Right of Texas
- +Run Houston
- +She Eats
- +Sit, Ubu, Sit!
- +Slampo's Place
- +Stolen Thunder
- +Talk In Texas
- +Texas Liberal
- +Texas Safety Forum
- +Texas Yankee
- +The County Seat
- +The Light Bulb
- +Twelve Two Two Fondue
- +WILLisms
- +Write on METRO
- Journo Bloggers
- +Brent Clanton
- +HC: About Chron
- +HC: About Last Night
- +HC: Baseball
- +HC: Bayou City History
- +HC: Cook's Tour
- +HC: David Barron
- +HC: Hand Stamp
- +HC: Helpline
- +HC: Houston Departures
- +HC: Houston Politics
- +HC: Inside Central Houston
- +HC: Jerome Solomon
- +HC: John McClain/NFL
- +HC: Loren Steffy
- +HC: MeMo
- +HC: Nick Anderson
- +HC: School Zone
- +HC: SciGuy
- +HC: Sports Justice
- +HC: Sports Soup
- +HC: Tag's Baseball Plays
- +HC: Tech Blog
- +HC: Texas on the Potomac
- +HC: The Unofficial Scorer
- +HC: UH Cougars
- +HP: Eating Our Words
- +HP: HouStoned
- +HP: HouStoned Ballz
- +HP: HouStoned Rocks
- +Isiah Carey's Insite
- +KTRK: Consumer Blog
- +KTRK: Miya Shay
- +KTRK: Prof 13
- +KTRK: Roussel Report
- +KTRK: Tim Heller
- +Matt Lavine's Left Field News
- +Mike McGuff
The local blogs above cover topics of interest. Drop us a line if you blog about local topics and would like us to consider your blog. While a link back to blogHOUSTON is not required, it would be much appreciated.
LOCAL NEWS
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+Houston Business Journal
+Houston Chronicle
+Houston Community News
+Houston Forward Times
+Houston Press
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+KRIV-26 (FOX)
+KTRH-740 AM
+KPRC-950 AM
+KUHF-88.7 FM (NPR)
LOCAL INFO
+AOL Cityguide
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+Citysearch Houston
+Crime Maps & Stats
+Houston Architecture Info Forum
+Houston Chronicle Dining
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+Links to Houston
+Pollstar (Houston)
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+Red Pub
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