LULAC opposes $AFEclear: now the mayor is in trouble!
Back before $AFEclear became such a hot topic, I did a post on the upcoming forced towing program and a very smart commenter saw a potential problem.
He was almost right, because today's Chronicle has the details of LULAC heading to Austin, with a group of tow truck drivers, to complain about $AFEclear:
"We've been at it since March," said Patricia Gonzales of the Houston-area chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens. "Mayor (Bill) White didn't hear us out."
That confuses me. The media usually hops to attention when LULAC heads to a microphone, so I don't know how we could have all missed LULAC's concern, beginning last March.
City Council is expected to consider White's proposed changes today.
But LULAC and the Houston Professional Towing Association are circulating petitions denouncing the ordinance. The groups claim to have collected 20,000 signatures from people who say the ordinance unfairly hurts low-income drivers and small wrecker companies.
The ordinance grants exclusive towing authority in 29 freeway zones divided among 11 wrecker companies, which together pay the city about $1 million a year for the contracts.
And that is one big reason the mayor is doing everything he can to salvage this program and get the public on his side: He does not want to give back the $1 million in franchise fee money.
Later in the story, Councilman Michael Berry provides some $AFEclear spin:
But Councilman Michael Berry, who chairs the transportation committee, said Safe Clear is a rare example of public policy that wasn't driven by industry, special interest, or even a true constituency.
He said the ordinance emerged from the need to address Houston's congested freeways and that the protesting drivers are unhappy that they didn't get contracts.
That's a bit of a whopper when Berry says $AFEclear "wasn't driven by industry, special interest, or even a true constituency," because there absolutely was "a very special" interest involved here: the city's coffers. And everyone, from drivers using Houston freeways to area tow truck drivers, have had to learn a new set of rules in order to make the city coffers happy.
The mayor said in his speech yesterday that he is hearing from drivers that the congestion problem is better and people are getting to their destinations faster. But anecdotal evidence does not prove anything. Show us the studies! Every day on the local traffic reports we hear of traffic backups related to things $AFEclear does not address. Do $AFEclear supporters have a plan for those problems, too? When a big rig breaks down, we know $AFEclear can't do anything about it, and what about road construction that ties up everything? And then there's the problem of debris on the road. Last Friday during rush hour it was a load of manure that overturned on a freeway. I'll bet that didn't get cleaned up in six minutes. But it did make for a great Debris Game!
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: At least the Chronicle is reporting the $1 million in fees, which is a fairly crucial part of the story that had been omitted from their reporting, until Bob Stein let it slip and a certain blog jumped all over it.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/25/05 08:54 AM | Houston Politics | Print | Comments (4)
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