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03 November 2009

MURRAY NEWMAN blogs about budget difficulties and broken promises in the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/03/09 11:10 PM | Comments (0)

TORY GATTIS calls attention to a Dallas Observer blog post on the congestion that rail expansion may produce in downtown Dallas. "My understanding is that Houston may face the same risk when the east-west line opens downtown," writes Gattis, "It will take some amazingly sophisticated train and traffic signal synchronization to keep things running smoothly down there. Same for the Uptown/Galleria line on Post Oak."

The coming light rail congestion in Downtown and Uptown isn't going to be pretty, although it is going to come as a surprise to most (since the topic doesn't seem to interest most media outlets in Houston).

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/03/09 11:06 PM | Comments (0)

THE CHRONICLE was forced to issue a lengthy correction to both a news story and staff editorial today:

An Oct. 24 story about a settlement reached in a federal lawsuit against former Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt quoted Harris County Democratic Chair Garry Birnberg using an incorrect figure regarding the number of voter registration applications rejected in 2008. That figure was repeated in a subsequent editorial. According to the county attorney's office, during 2007 and 2008 the voter registrar's office rejected 3,518 persons who applied for voter registration cards. During the same period, the tax office also sent 64,036 notices to voters who had submitted incomplete applications; of those, 29,386 registered, according to county records.

Does the newspaper employ any fact-checkers these days? At least they issued a correction, which is not always the case when errors are pointed out.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/03/09 10:28 PM | Comments (0)

SINCE HOUSTON-BASED CONTINENTAL AIRLINES switched alliances a few days ago, newspapers in Continental's other hub cities (Newark/NYC and Cleveland) have reporting interesting news from President Jeff Smisek, who takes over for CEO Larry Kellner next year.

Bloomberg reports that Smisek envisions more a-la-carte fees for Continental fliers. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Smisek may re-open merger talks with United if the Delta-Northwest merger proves profitable. The Houston Chronicle.... hasn't reported either bit of news.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/03/09 09:24 PM | Comments (1)

FOLLOWING THE LEAD of Nancy Sims and her Sams (awarded to all three major mayoral candidates -- no need to offend a potential future client after all!), Cory Crow has posted his own Significant Houston Internet Triumph awards. Well played, sir!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/03/09 01:13 PM | Comments (0)

LONGTIME HOUSTON PRESS FOOD REVIEWER ROBB WALSH has ditched the whole anonymity thing. In part, he's just following the lead of the New York Times and its new reviewer. In part, he says the job has changed:

But I didn't decide to ditch my anonymity just because everybody else was doing it. The fact is, my job is changing. I was hired as a newspaper restaurant critic and feature writer. Today I am, first and foremost, a blogger. It's a little ludicrous to try and maintain your anonymity while you are photographing your plate. And sometimes you need to identify yourself to get a interview. The time has come to adjust to fit my new job description.

The shift from anonymity doesn't bother us so much as the ongoing Village Voice shift towards amateurization, but kudos to Walsh for his honesty about the changes.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/03/09 12:48 PM | Comments (0)

LONE STAR TIMESMAN DAVID BENZION complains about "mainstream journalists confusing 'objectivity' (striving to be fair and accurate) with 'neutrality' (refusing to acknowledge reality because it means one side in a debate is closer to the truth than the other)," then offers an example.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/03/09 12:38 PM | Comments (0)

CONGRATS TO OUR FRIENDS AT TEXAS TRIBUNE on their debut today.

Their site is crisp, informative, mobile-friendly, and full of content (on Day One) from professional journalists (not amateurs) -- a real contemporary "newsie's" news site, in other words. Local sites like Hearst-Houston and Village Voice-Houston should take notes. The latest non-profit online news competitor has hit the ground running.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/03/09 10:15 AM | Comments (0)

THE BIG ELECTION is likely to dominate the news coverage today, so we're going to throw open the comments.

Please feel free to discuss the election, candidates, voting, etc.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/03/09 06:04 AM | Comments (9)

02 November 2009

THE HOUSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL reports that CompUSA will re-enter the Houston market, with a store expected to open by Black Friday at I-10 and Bunker Hill. This is good news for tech geeks (such as myself).

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/02/09 02:36 PM | Comments (3)

CORY CROW comments on Third Ward news, repurposed.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/02/09 08:11 AM | Comments (0)

LATE LAST WEEK, KHOU-11 REPORTER COURTNEY ZUBOWSKI reported that an area man had been prosecuted for voter fraud. Jack Crowder, who was not registered to vote, apparently used his deceased father's identity to cast a ballot illegally.

Crowder's name was on a list of potential dead voters compiled last fall by Texas Watchdog. It will be interesting to see if they follow up on this development.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/02/09 06:02 AM | Comments (0)

01 November 2009

KEVIN KIRTON presents his perspective on Houston growth and planning in a Chron op-ed today. Here's an excerpt:

People often assume there is no plan, and nearly any discussion of this topic these days includes a reference to our project at 1717 Bissonnet, mislabeled by opponents as the "Ashby high-rise," as an example of the need for more rules. What is often overlooked is that there is a plan; there are chapters of existing development regulations. The problem is that, in our case, city leaders have chosen simply not to follow them.

In a letter published in the newspaper earlier this week (scroll down), Kendall Miller of Houstonians for Responsible Growth offered related thoughts:

When it comes to land-use controls, Houston relies primarily on deed restrictions and lets the marketplace steer growth. This seems very odd to those who believe government knows best, but in every other city where land use is strictly controlled by government, three things happen: Prices go up dramatically, unexpected development occurs outside boundary lines, and corruption at City Hall finds an incubator.

Please be sure to click over and read both. These perspectives are sometimes underrepresented in straight news stories, so at least they are getting some play on the Chron opinion page and blogs. It's still surprising that the HRG website hasn't been a more active outlet.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/01/09 09:50 PM | Comments (0)

THE CHRON'S DAVID KAPLAN takes a look at Houston's highly successful downtown tunnel system, which continues to evolve nicely without the help of urban planners or bloated bureaucracies.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/01/09 08:48 PM | Comments (3)

IN RESPONSE TO RECENT NEGATIVE NEWS COVERAGE FROM THE CHRONICLE AND BLOOMBERG, Sports Authority Chief J. Kent Friedman took to the Chron editorial page today to repeat, again, that taxpayers won't be on the hook for any shortfalls at the Sports Authority. If you just repeat it enough times...

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/01/09 07:54 PM | Comments (2)

31 October 2009

THEY'RE MORE WHAT YOU'D CALL "GUIDELINES" THAN ACTUAL RULES: The Examiner's Rusty Graham notes that a Houston councilmember and local residents are questioning how TIRZ 17 operates. Councilwoman Jolanda Jones thinks there's a contract involved, but the board's chairman says it's more like an outline...you know, a guiding principles kind of thing.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/31/09 10:33 AM | Comments (0)

THE CHRON reports what many of us learned via social networking sites yesterday: Embattled Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole will be running for re-election. The Chron version does offer comment from the usual go-to sources (Democrats Richard Murray and Bicyclist Bob Stein), however.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/31/09 08:01 AM | Comments (0)

30 October 2009

FOR SOME REASON, THE NEW YORK TIMES decided Houston's mayoral race merited a story. To summarize: There's not much difference among the three major candidates, one of them is a lesbian but it's not that big a deal to most Houstonians, Republican voters appear to be up for grabs, and the NYT likes one of the same dull go-to sources that local media always uses.

Oh, and the Gray Lady says Mayor White "is stepping down to run for the United States Senate," when he is actually leaving office because of term limits (and hasn't let his current job get in the way of his Senate campaigning around the state).

UPDATE (10/31/09): Did the Gray Lady "borrow" from Mike Snyder and the Chron? A person could make that case.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/30/09 06:08 PM | Comments (0)

YESTERDAY KEVIN WHITED NOTED that METRO VP Raequel "9-volt battery" Roberts gave a snippy response to Texas Watchdog's Jennifer Peebles who was inquiring about media access to METRO Chairman David Wolff's upcoming speech to the Greater Houston Partnership. Roberts said that Wolff was just following the lead of other local leaders, including Mayor White and Judge Emmett. That prompted a response today from Joe Stinebaker, Judge Emmett's communications director:

As the communications director for Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, I can speak only to The "State Of The County" Address. We provide a free area in the room for the public and media to hear the address (sorry, no meal), and we actively encourage both to attend through news releases and public alerts. Afterward, Judge Emmett makes himself available at a publicly accessible news conference. In addition, the entire speech is videotaped and made available for some time on the judge's Web site (and GHP's, I believe). We try to ensure that the public is not only welcome, but encouraged, to hear what the judge has to say.

The ball is back in Roberts' court. Will METRO ensure that the media has access without paying for a (discounted!) $65 ticket?

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/30/09 05:55 PM | Comments (0)

AT LEAST ONE COLLEAGUE of Chron baseball reporter/McLane PR man Jesus Ortiz apparently isn't impressed with his work either. Astros County posts the details.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/30/09 05:42 PM | Comments (0)

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WEATHER/TRAFFIC

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ACTIVE TOPICS

Newman on the DA Office's budget problems and broken promises

Gattis on the coming rail/traffic congestion

So much for that "voter suppression" meme advanced by liberal bloggers

Bloomberg and Plain Dealer report Continental news of interest

The threads above are the most recently active in the blogHOUSTON comments (RSS).