25 November 2008
Maybe Houston's red light cams can apply for a FEMA grant
The Chron's Matt Stiles notes that Hurricane Ike caused the city to lose some expected revenue from the red light cameras...er, not that those cams are there to make money, of course:
Only about 9,000 citations were issued during the month of September, Houston police records show, about half the monthly average. The department issued 17,000 in August, for example, and about 19,500 in October.
Police say many of the cameras stopped working after the storm brought high winds and left power outages in its wake. (You'll remember that some traffic signals were out for weeks after the storm.)
The outage could be costly. Let's assume that the city didn't issue about 9,000 tickets. Then factor in the 70-percent collection rate on the $75 tickets. That's a potential loss of $500,000 in revenue.
As one commenter on Stiles' post notes:
Well, since it's not supposed to be a money making project for the city, but more of a safety patrol instead, I don't see the problem here!
Yep!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/25/08 04:48 AM |
12 October 2008
Mayor White fights for a roofing revenue stream
Post-Ike, Mayor White wants all roofers to register with the city:
Mayor Bill White's plan to require roofers to register with the city and show proof of insurance before they can begin work on thousands of Ike-damaged homes ran into a storm of opposition at the City Council table Wednesday.
Council members were almost unanimous in their objections to the measure, prompting White at times to grow visibly frustrated and raise his voice as he reiterated a need to "protect consumers."
"This will end up penalizing only the legitimate roofers," Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck said. She said "the bad guys" simply will continue to flout the rules.
[snip]
The new ordinance would require companies to register as roofers before they can obtain permits to do any work. The process would cost $75 and take about 15 minutes, city officials said.
Questions: If/when it passes, does all repair work have to come to a halt until companies register? Who's going to drive around the city enforcing the registration requirement? What recourse do Houstonians have if they used a roofer who didn't register/pay?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/12/08 06:41 AM |
28 September 2008
Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion blown to bits by Ike
I missed this among all the Hurricane Ike news:
The Pavilion suffered severe damage to its Teflon coated Fiberglas fabric roof and support structure over the reserved seating area, said officials.
A structural engineering firm inspected the facility and concluded that The Pavilion should not be used for public gatherings until the fabric roof system and steel structure have been completely repaired.
“Our facility is unsafe in its current condition to hold any type of public event do to the damage,” said Jerry MacDonald, president and CEO of The Pavilion.
As for Reliant Stadium, work has begun to repair the damaged roof, as well as interior walls and carpets that were damaged by flooding when the roof panels were blown off.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/28/08 07:25 AM |
22 September 2008
Biz Journal: Recovering from Ike
Houston Business Journal: How Houston was piecing itself back together in the wake of one of the strongest hurricanes in recent history.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/22/08 05:03 AM |
21 September 2008
Peter Brown: "Use Ike to rebuild a sustainable Houston...and become like Amsterdam"
What about life after Ike? Is it back to "business as usual," waiting for the next hurricane, hoping that it will strike somewhere else? Or do we regroup, and start organizing and planning, for a different kind of Houston, a city much more resilient to the forces of nature?
Urban experts agree that "sustainability" will define the great cities of the 21st century. Mother Nature has sent us a stern warning. In no uncertain terms, Ike, not really "the big one," is serving to redefine "sustainability" -- in local Houston terms the ability to stay in business after a major storm.
[snip]
Yet with the same vision and fortitude that built the Houston Ship Channel we can become like Amsterdam — a city recognized for its bold actions to overcome its vulnerability to flooding and storms.
To ensure this future as a thriving coastal city, we must make three major investments — in flood control, more stringent building standards and in a "hurricane-ready" electrical power distribution network.
What would we do without urban experts? Does Houston really want to "become like Amsterdam"?
You know how the councilman/mayoral-wannabe wants to fix electrical power distribution:
Houston City Council member Peter Brown is on a mission to clean up Houston's scenic view. He says the city has been littered with overhead power poles that only taint Houston's beauty. Brown says power companies like CenterPoint Energy should look at burying their cables or installing their untility poles on easements behind properties instead of locating them directly in front of homes and businesses.
[snip]
CenterPoint spokesperson Alicia Dixon tells The Insite their company is more than willing to work with the council member and the community. She says however underground utility lines are 15 times more expensive than overhead. She says the extra expense would be passed on to the consumer and or the developer.
Previously, he objected to power lines because they littered his view. Now he can mold his argument around disaster-preparedness; the problem, however, is that it's extremely cost-prohibitive. And while passed-on cost isn't an issue for the wealthy councilman, fifteen-times more expensive will be an issue for folks of more average means.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/21/08 09:34 AM |
20 September 2008
HISD talks make-up days; Gayle Fallon whines
Here's HISD exploring how to handle make-up days:
To the disappointment of some, Saavedra said students will have to make up seven days of school they missed. He is considering adding an hour to the school day, but has not decided on a final approach.
"A certain number of days may be waived by the state, but our principals feel we need to make up the instructional time anyway for the benefit of the students," HISD spokesman Norm Uhl said.
Here's Houston Federation of Teachers President Gayle Fallon's response:
Gayle Fallon, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, disagreed with the decision to make up the seven missed days. But if teachers are required to work beyond their typical work day, she said, they should be paid overtime.
"They're showing a total lack of consideration for their staff," Fallon said. "Do they think the staff wasn't injured in any way by this storm?"
Now, now, Gayle. Please recall what the Chron's editorial board wrote yesterday:
No one says making schools sound enough to get kids back to their desks will be easy. But HISD officials must rise to the occasion, keeping foremost in their plans what's best for the students, not their own convenience.
The teachers union must also "rise to the occasion, keeping foremost in their plans what's best for the students."
Ending question: Were teachers paid during this unexpected time off?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/20/08 08:18 AM |
19 September 2008
Houston SPCA
The Houston SPCA has taken in many lost and abandoned animals from Galveston and is now sponsoring "Operation Save A Life":
In the wake of Hurricane Ike, many animals have been lost, abandoned, and injured on Galveston Island. The Houston SPCA is asking the community to help give these storm victims a second chance at life by participating in “Operation Save a Life.”
The Houston SPCA’s “Operation Save a Life” is asking every family who is able to foster a Galveston pet for ten days. If after ten days, the displaced animal is not reclaimed by its original owner, the foster parent has the option to adopt the animal or return him/her to the shelter for placement.
Follow this link for more info, or to make a donation to help the HSPCA continue its fine work.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/19/08 04:00 PM |
11 September 2008
Here's comes Ike, ready or not! (Discuss)
Hurricane Ike seems determined to pay us a visit.
Here's wishing everyone who must evacuate is safely on the road.
Here's wishing everyone who doesn't need to evacuate stays OFF the major roads.
We're gonna throw this thread open for Hurricane Ike discussion. If you have any interesting news, tales of Heller Hysterics, links to good hurricane coverage, or anything else related to Ike, please feel free to share your thoughts. Consider this the blogHOUSTON hurricane watch party (who knows, before it's over, we may have a real one at the West Alabama). :)
UPDATE: Please post your hurricane photos to our newly created Flickr group.
UPDATE (ANNE ADDS): This is bad. I hope the photographer was able to find someone to rescue these dogs.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/11/08 12:57 PM |
19 January 2008
Harris County's Housing Authority takes on national responsibility
KUHF-88.7's Jim Bell reports that as Harris County's Housing Authority has done such a capable job managing the local Katrina housing assistance and voucher program, it will now administer the program for 37 states:
The Harris County Housing Authority has taken over the job of providing housing assistance for Louisiana hurricane victims in New Orleans and more than three dozen other states. Houston Public Radio's Jim Bell explains.
A New Orleans newspaper reports HUD handed this job to the Harris County Housing Authority to improve the rent voucher system, do a better job of finding housing for storm victims and paying landlords on time. Director Guy Rankin is now in charge of Disaster Housing Assistance in New Orleans, Houston, and in all the other states where storm victims were sent.
"The Harris County Housing Authority has been charged with helping those 250 housing authorities in 37 states take care of persons involved in Katrina and Rita. We're here to help people move back to New Orleans, and also those people who are here with their rental assistance through the Disaster Housing Assistance Program."
Rankin says the Harris County Housing Authority was placed in charge of the New Orleans and national housing assistance programs because it's done such a good job of helping storm evacuees in the Houston area.
"We dealt with it in Houston well, so it gained credibility, then we opened the DHAP center in Houston and that gained us more credibility. And then, quite frankly, they were having troubles in New Orleans, and they looked for who's the closest, who's the best, who can turn that project around and house people quickly."
What's interesting about this story is what's lacking: any mention of Houston's Housing Authority [edit: This is not criticism of the reporter; it's criticism of the city's Housing Department, as I try to explain here]. There was a time when Houston's Housing and Community Development Department (recently headed by FoB David Mincberg, currently a candidate for Harris County Judge) was involved with Harris County in administering the housing assistance program for Katrina evacuees.
Is Houston no longer involved in the program? Are there still problems with the city's housing authority, as brought to light by this April, 2005, audit?
These would be interesting questions for local media to investigate, as the answers may tell us something about candidate Mincberg's ability to manage public institutions.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/19/08 08:23 PM |
25 July 2007
Just be honest and say they are lifetime benefits
Every few months, local media treat us to the latest story of how Hurricane Katrina victims will have their housing aid extended. Here's KTRK-13:
Families that received federal housing assistance before getting displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita will get extensions of up to nine months on their disaster benefits, government officials said Monday.
About 11,400 families have been part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Disaster Voucher Program, which was scheduled to end Sept. 30. About 3,500 of the families are in the Houston area.
"What happened two years ago had a devastating affect on people's lives," HUD secretary Alphonso Jackson told a group of Katrina evacuees at an apartment complex for seniors that still has 80 relocated families. "We can't change what God does, but we can make the best of it."
Katrina hit Aug. 29, 2005, devastating a large swath of the Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana coasts and flooding 80 percent of New Orleans. Rita hit southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas less than a month later.
At its peak, 30,700 families were using the Disaster Voucher Program to cover their housing costs.
On Jan. 1, 7,600 of the remaining families will go back to HUD's Housing Choice Voucher Program, also known as Section 8, which they were on before the storm. Under this program, participants get help paying their rent to a private landlord.
"Extensions of up to nine months." Please. We all know whatever "deadline" is given will be extended...and extended...and extended.
In effect, two years later nothing has changed, except how the housing assistance is coded. It's still taxpayer dollars taken from hard-working folks in order to subsidize others.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/25/07 06:47 PM |
03 August 2006
Mayor White: FEMA aid is not an entitlement
Chron.com runs an AP story on yet another so-called FEMA deadline:
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been helping thousands of displaced residents pay for temporary housing and utilities. When the storms hit last August and September, most of the evacuees — about 150,000 — retreated to Houston.
About 16,000 families in Texas still eligible for assistance must recertify with FEMA by Oct. 31. They would receive aid until the end of February.
Another 4,000 evacuees now determined to be ineligible for more federal aid have until Aug. 31 to begin paying for their own housing. That deadline was extended last month from July 31.
Houston Mayor Bill White urged evacuees to meet the deadlines or prepare to live without the assistance.
"We all know it will not be forever. It's not an entitlement," White said. "Those who are able-bodied are expected to work, those people who do have plans to return home need to take personal responsibility."
Not an entitlement? That may well come as news to some people!
KUHF-88.7's Jack Williams chimes in with more:
For New Orleans evacuees like Dionne Rogers, the housing crisis is already here. She's homeless after being told she had to leave an apartment that FEMA had been paying for since August. She works as a fill-in nurse, but still can't afford regular housing in Houston.
"It's not the money situation, it's you can't find nowhere to live. Out here, it's too high, it's $875 for a three bedroom. I can't afford that. I'm a single mom with five kids. You know, it's hard right now so I'm just doing what I can do. I'm living in a one bedroom house with five kids with a friend I knew from New Orleans."
Thousands of evacuees are in the same situation. They've either lost their short term housing or face a FEMA deadline early next year when emergency assistance runs out.
The odds are probably good that the latest FEMA deadline will be extended yet again. Indeed, it wouldn't shock if taxpayers are still paying the bills of some Katrina evacuees a year or two from now.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/03/06 09:35 PM |
29 July 2006
Another FEMA deadline extended
Katrina evacuees enrolled in a program that pays their rent and utilities will now have more time to recertify for that housing assistance. As Houston Public Radio's Jack Williams reports, FEMA has extended a deadline three months in order to clear-up confusion.
The extension affects thousands of evacuee families in Houston who qualified for emergency housing assistance after last year's hurricanes. Typically, families have to prove that they're using the assistance money to pay their rent and utilities every three months in order to continue in the program. FEMA's Franchesca Ramos says many evacuees didn't realize they had to recertify.
"We understand that many people had July 31st and August 31st deadlines to recertify and we understand that this can create confusion for evacuee families on the different government programs, so we have provided this extended period to allow them time to provide to us the necessary documentation in order for them to recertify."
FEMA says thousands of evacuee families received letters informing them about the recertification requirements, but only about 10-percent responded. The agency feared that almost 30,000 evacuees would have to be recertified at the end of August, but because of the extended deadline, that's no longer the case.
(Professional sensitives should not read any further.)
Unbelievable. Evacuees were sent letters from FEMA telling them to recertify and 90% ignored the directives? So now they will get three more months to ignore more letters? How do they function if they can't follow basic directions?
Their rent and utilities will be paid through next February and we all know what will happen then -- another extension. How long will Houston have to provide a home for those who will not get jobs and support themselves? Even Mayor White's patience is running out (AP story via CBSNews.com):
Houston Mayor Bill White, standing beside newly re-elected New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, said evacuees could answer Nagin's plea to return home, or they were welcome to stay in Houston, if they got jobs.
And in Houston, finding a job just shouldn't be that hard:
Job counselor Ayodele Ogunye of WorkSource, the city's employment assistance program, said jobless evacuees complain about the overwhelming bus and rail systems that make navigation difficult, or the bureaucratic holdups like professional licenses that are invalid in Texas.
But some of it, Ogunye said, is in their heads.
The fear of a new hurricane season worried one of her clients so much that "it was like it set her back 10 months." Others do not know how to market themselves or lack confidence, which Ogunye thinks is traced to feelings of isolation in the "evacuee" corner of their apartment complexes, where no one socializes like their lifelong neighbors in New Orleans.
"I cannot help to wonder if (the unemployment) has anything to do with the uniqueness of the community," Ogunye said. "It seems like some have never had to make choices or decide for themselves."
This is what dependence on government will get you. It is not compassionate to continue to let taxpayers foot the bill for those who can do for themselves but refuse to do so. That is what fosters an entitlement mentality, and it does not promote self-worth.
Asked if there was any reason why a person who wanted a job in Houston could not find one, Ron Rodriguez, director of operations for WorkSource, said, "No."
That sentiment is shared at WorkSource's southwest office, where about seven of every 10 clients Ogunye meets is a Katrina refugee. The WorkSource building conspicuously stands out on a street of fast-food restaurants and strip malls, some with "Help Wanted" on the marquees.
Ogunye said "one does begin to wonder" why so many are still jobless after 10 months. Fellow counselor Melodie Lee was more blunt: "(Katrina) was awful, but let's move on. It is time you had a Plan B."
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/29/06 08:17 AM |
26 May 2006
Evacuee students beat the odds and graduate
There is a wonderful success story coming out of HISD this weekend: among the 7,700 HISD high school graduates are 100+ Katrina evacuee students:
Travis Hill-Williams has always considered himself an optimist.
That attitude was put to the test in August when Hurricane Katrina forced his family to flee New Orleans and make a new life in Houston just as he was starting his senior year in high school.
But even one of the most destructive storms in history wasn't enough to dull his outlook, and he is about to graduate from Houston's Jones High School in the top 10% of his class.
"I consider it a blessing that Hurricane Katrina came. I met new friends. I hold them dear to my heart," the 17-year-old said. "It has been a wonderful experience even though it was in the face of catastrophe and disaster."
Hill-Williams will be one of more than 100 Katrina evacuees set to graduate this weekend from the Houston school district.
"They've hung in there and adapted to a completely different place," said Superintendent Abe Saavedra. "They stayed focused in their studies, made friends and became an important, integral part of our schools."
"We're glad they came," he said. "We've worked hard to give them a good education and a good start to the rest of their lives."
Inexplicably, the Chron is running the AP story, so let's visit HISD's website for more:
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/26/06 02:17 PM |
25 May 2006
Mayors White, Nagin discuss getting evacuees back to New Orleans
KHOU's News Blog has a post summarizing a meeting between Mayor White and New Orleans' Mayor Ray Nagin:
The mayors of Houston and New Orleans are working on ways to get hurricane evacuees home again.
Bill White and Ray Nagin met to discuss everything from housing to transferring jail inmates back to Louisiana.
Three centers will open in Houston to provide information on housing and job opportunities in New Orleans.
White said a Return to New Orleans task force is also in the works.
The mayors also talked about ways to get evacuees arrested in Texas transferred to Louisiana jails.
White emphasized that evacuees who want to stay in Houston are welcome if they get jobs.
Does that mean if evacuees don't get jobs they need to go back to New Orleans?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/25/06 09:51 AM |
22 May 2006
HPD introduces New Orleans criminals to Texas law
blogHOUSTON reader Vernon Guy passes on this Time magazine story entitled, "What Happened To The Gangs of New Orleans? Before Katrina, New Orleans had a murder rate 10 times worse than the U.S. average. The killers evacuated too. Tracing the criminal exodus."
Here's an interesting excerpt:
In January, Houston police officers held a press conference and promised to introduce the evacuees to "Texas law." They arrested eight New Orleanians suspected in 11 murders in the Houston area. The department spent $6.5 million on overtime.
But when police interviewed the suspects, they suddenly understood why New Orleans was so violent. No matter what police said, they couldn't get the suspects to talk. They had no leverage because no one took their threats seriously. It was a logical response: in New Orleans, 93% of people arrested from 2003 to 2004 never went to prison. "It was a real eye-opening experience," says Sergeant Harris. "People born and raised in Houston seem to have an understanding of consequences, of punishment. You can show them the options, and they start thinking, Wow, maybe I should start cooperating." With New Orleans evacuees, Sergeant Harris says, "there is no baseline. They have no concept of consequence."
It was the first time the Houston police had heard the phrase "60-day homicide." Suspects would say, "This ain't nothing but a 60-day homicide," meaning that if they kept quiet for 60 days, they would walk--just as they had too often in New Orleans. So Houston police started letting evacuees spend a few days in jail before questioning them in depth. While they waited, the suspects talked with other inmates and had court appearances--which did not end with release. Eventually, for some, the reality of Texas law began to sink in. "As they stay here more, they seem to talk more," Sergeant Harris says.
That bolded part is outstanding (but please don't tell the ACLU or the Chron's editorial board).
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/22/06 08:37 PM |
18 May 2006
Houston gets $24 million FEMA grant
The money will pay for evacuee housing:
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved a $24 million grant for the city of Houston as reimbursement for evacuee housing expenses, Texas senators said Thursday.
The Public Assistance Program grant will pay for May housing costs, as well as utilities in April and May, said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Sen. John Cornyn.
"Houston has provided shelter for thousands of people displaced by Katrina and the city's generosity will not be forgotten," Cornyn said in a statement.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/18/06 01:09 PM |
03 May 2006
Houston's Katrina cost: $200 million and counting
KHOU-11's News Blog has posted a breakdown of Houston's Katrina expenditures, which it obtained from the city controller's office.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/03/06 08:07 PM |
02 May 2006
The Houston Experiment
City Journal's Nicole Gelinas has written a very interesting in-depth piece titled "Houston's Noble Experiment: Can good government uplift the New Orleans evacuees whom bad government harmed?"
The entire article is well-worth reading, but I'll excerpt one part of particular interest to me: public education:
Stasia Marie Davis, who evacuated from New Orleans East and was about to start work as a teacher’s aide when I spoke to her, says that her two high school–age daughters had been in gifted programs at a New Orleans public school but “are struggling to keep up” at Houston’s Westfield High School. “In New Orleans, they are preparing them for the tourism business. Here, they are preparing them for college,” she told me.
Ariane Daughtry, a Catholic Charities caseworker from New Orleans now working with evacuees, notes that she paid $250 a month in New Orleans to send her son to private school, but in Houston he’s thriving, even playing the violin, at a public school where nearly all the kids can read and do math at grade level. William Coleman, who has custody of his grandchildren, told me that the Houston school the children attend call the house if the kids are late or absent: “They didn’t do that in New Orleans,” he marveled.
[snip]
Teachers as well as parents are pleased. Before evacuating, Warren Johnson taught English at McDonogh #35, one of New Orleans’s few high-performing public schools. Now teaching at Yates High School in Houston, he’s thrilled with the quality of resources and plans to stay. He notes that the school is well managed and has good security, and the administration works efficiently and “without so much politics.” “I hate to talk bad about my city,” he says, but some things in Houston “are a bit more logical.”
Texas and Houston have already determined that evacuee students badly trail their new peers when it comes to basic skills. Just one measure of the shocking disparity: on a standardized state reading test administered in February, 89 percent of Texas third-graders could read at grade level, while only 59 percent of evacuee students, most from New Orleans, could do the same. In fifth-grade reading, 80 percent of Texas students passed, while more than half of evacuee students failed. (Texas has not yet released reading scores at the school-district level, but Houston students’ reading scores have been nearly identical to those of their peers across Texas in the past.) The mayor took note early on of the challenge that New Orleans students face in Texas schools, and used a federal grant to help schools hire 100 tutors and teachers from New Orleans beginning last fall to give evacuee children extra help.
Gelinas' conclusion:
Houston’s openhearted outreach to New Orleans in its hour of need was an extraordinary gesture, and it saved lives. But Houston will have accomplished a truly heroic task if it can redeem the undereducated, underpoliced, and unmarried underclass that made New Orleans a disaster long before Katrina.
Houston approaches this task with a crucial advantage: its leaders and citizens don’t instinctively see big government as the solution—only good government.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/02/06 07:23 AM |
26 February 2006
FEMA agrees to pay for Katrina housing costs
Mayor White's office has announced that FEMA has agreed in principle to continue paying for housing and public safety costs related to Hurricane Katrina evacuees:
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which had threatened in November to halt housing voucher reimbursements on March 1, has now formally agreed to continue the reimbursements for a year, White spokesman Frank Michel said.
Michel said the latest figures show the city has paid rent for more than 90,000 evacuees placed in apartments throughout the area. The estimated final cost will be about $300 million, he said.
The city had also asked FEMA for $6.5 million to offset the costs of providing police service associated with the influx of new residents who fled Louisiana and Mississippi after Katrina.
White wants to use the money to establish a task force focusing on "hot spots" for violent crime, which has increased recently.
Michel said FEMA had agreed to reimburse the city for police officers' overtime pay related to the evacuees. City officials are compiling the necessary documentation, he said.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/26/06 08:16 AM |
24 February 2006
Berger: Houston health services feeling Katrina crunch
The Chronicle's Eric Berger reports on evidence of increasing demand on local health services from uninsured Katrina refugees. His reporting also notes a post-Katrina increase in local reports of sexually transmitted diseases.
Instead of excerpting, I'm just going to link the story.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/24/06 10:55 PM |
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