03 December 2008
KHOU's Greenblatt continues scrutiny of Hilton Americas/pension fund finances
KHOU-11's Mark Greenblatt is continuing his reporting on the pension fund shortfall and related Hilton Americas accounting.
Yesterday, Greenblatt described the refinancing proposal that was discussed in a budget hearing:
The problem started when Houston tried to use the Hilton Americas Hotel to reduce some of the debt it owed to pension plans by handing over a promissory note. The note promised that the city would eventually pay $300 million to the pension fund.
The $300 million was supposed to come from the sale of the convention center hotel. But the city has not found a buyer yet, which means it still owes the debt.
“I called it an accounting sleight of hand,” said City Controller Annise Parker.
Parker said she warned city leaders years ago not to do the deal. However, the promissory note is not the only thing she doesn’t like.
Parker doesn’t like the huge interest rate that the city agreed to pay on the $300 million loan.
“We have been deferring the interest on those payments. So you do not have just the 8.5 percent, but the interest on the interest,” said Parker.
Greenblatt had difficulty getting any sort of substantive response from Mayor White's staff on the matter.
Today, Mayor White defended the financial arrangement:
“I want to assure Houston employees that their pensions are secure. And I want the taxpayers to know that these debts are all affordable,” said Mayor White.
[snip]
“We have borrowed money to make some of the pension payments. And that's because the pension payments are a long term obligation,” said the mayor, when asked if this is the right thing to do.
Local accountant Bob Lemer is unconvinced:
“When you cut through all the fluff, all the Mayor did was take an existing debt and shove it into the future,” said Bob Lemer, retired partner from Houston’s Ernst and Young. “It’s beyond me why they are turning their head to this.”
It seems fairly simple, actually. Most politicians prefer to defer painful decisions if at all possible. Shrinking that unfunded liability in the pension plan significantly would have required either upsetting municipal workers by going after promised benefits, dedicating much larger contributions to the pension fund (most likely funded by a tax increase), or some combination of the two. Painful! Therefore, the problem gets some band-aids and future pols will get to revisit the issue.
But hey, we'll have a Tolerance Bridge at least!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/03/08 11:14 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (9)
02 December 2008
The Lykos political purge begins
Harris County District Attorney-elect Pat Lykos has already begun to purge perceived political enemies from the DA's office.
Here's an excerpt from A Harris County Lawyer, the prosecutor whose blog has provided an invaluable look inside the DA's Office, about the process:
The Lykos Administration took affect last week with District Attorney Ken Magidson extending the professional courtesy to Jim Leitner of hiring him on to do Pat Lykos' bidding prior to her taking office on January 1, 2009.
Yesterday, all District Attorney employees learned the drill: Leitner sent you an e-mail that invited you for a "meeting" where he told you that the Lykos Administration would not be re-hiring you as an employee. By the end of yesterday's count, he had taken out four investigators and one prosecutor.
[snip]
We walked into his Office, where former-Judge Roger Bridgwater was working.
Jim started fumbling with his desk, saying he didn't know where "the letter" was. Judge Bridgwater told him it was in his desk. Jim ultimately found it.
It was a letter from Lykos thanking me for my service, but letting me know that my services were not needed under her administration. I found it a bit disingenuous considering the letter she had sent all District Attorney employees after the Republican primary run-off where she told us all that as long as we didn't campaign for Bradford that our jobs would be okay.
Wow. Never trust a politician. Who knew?
So, anyway, I read my "thanks for trying 55 felony cases more than I will ever try" letter from Lykos and calmly put it back in the envelope.
Go read the whole thing.
While these sorts of purges are to be expected -- certainly from someone with Pat Lykos' reputation for vindictiveness -- one would hope that the local media would at least give it a little bit of attention as some good career public servants are shown the door and Lykos acts... pretty much as those in the legal community who know her expected she would.
UPDATE: The Chronicle reports on the issue here.
UPDATE 2: KPRC-2 has more.
RELATED: Week of Republican hatchet jobs continues (Defending People), In defense of Murray Newman (Ron's Insanity), Lyin' Patty Lykos starts swinging her claws (Lone Star Times), The Lykos strikes back (Lose an Eye, It's a Sport), Lykos brings changes to Harris DA (Grits for Breakfast), A very, very rare purge begins at the DA's office (Hair Balls).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/02/08 11:53 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (8)
That's Peter Brown, ARCHITECT (cont'd)
The Chronicle posted this letter from Councilmember Peter Brown on HISD's recently proposed school closings/consolidations:
The proposed HISD closings and consolidations of Carnegie Vanguard High School and eight neighborhood elementary schools disregard the expressed concerns of the communities they serve, and run counter to modern urban educational policy. In the face of unacceptable dropout rates and a divided community, the Houston Independent School District continues to erode the public trust. As a recent Gates Foundation study concludes, smaller neighborhood schools are better. They have higher attendance rates, more parental involvement and provide a safer, more personal teaching and learning environment, especially in the urban context. This is clearly demonstrated by our better charter schools — KIPP and Yes Academy. One way HISD could think outside the box is to allow successful charter schools to take over the campuses slated for closure. Larger schools have disadvantages — higher costs of transportation, busing, administration and security. As an architect, I can say that the renovation of existing schools can be less costly to the taxpayer than consolidation and new construction.
The councilmember (and mayoral candidate) makes some good points.
And in case you didn't know by now, he's an architect.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/02/08 11:32 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
Move It column covers METRO audit, expensive fuel contracts
The Chronicle's Rosanna Ruiz reports that METRO has commissioned a required performance review of itself:
An inside look, including customer complaints, at how Metro manages itself is now in the works. The board awarded a $225,000 contract to Booz, Allen & Hamilton Inc. to conduct a state-mandated performance review. The same firm has done at least two previous audits of the transit agency.
The last audit, in 2005, found that passenger fare revenues plunged more than 14 percent during the previous four years while operating expenses per passenger rose 35 percent.
Passenger complaints increased significantly last year — a majority concerned driver behavior. The audit also found ridership declines, which it said needed to be corrected and not hidden in adjusted statistics.
This year's figures, recently cited by Wilson, were also fuzzy. He offered ridership numbers that were adjusted to make up for failures with noncalibrated electronic counters on some buses. And he also provided nonadjusted figures.
Metro says ridership increases are not in dispute and points to a surge in ridership thanks to the cost of fuel and more Park and Ride users, although some of those numbers can be attributed to Metro's two new Park and Ride lots.
Let's see which ridership numbers the auditors choose.
That will be an important factor, but what will also be important is a detailed breakdown of the fare revenues by types of service (rail, bus, Park and Ride, etc.). Let's hope that METRO will be more forthcoming with the audit firm on those figures than it sometimes is with mere citizens who try to obtain them.
Elsewhere in the column, Ruiz describes METRO's Chairman David Wolff's defense of the organization's costly fuel contracts to the Chronicle editorial board. It's too bad Chairman Wolff's visit with the generally supportive editorial board wasn't recorded and posted online, but maybe one day the editorial board will make better use of technology to inform and engage the community.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/02/08 11:26 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)
01 December 2008
State Auditor's Office, Queen Sheila raise concerns over METRO
Isiah Carey and Texas Watchdog both call attention to this audit report by the State Auditor's Office on METRO.
The report (which should be read in its entirety) is generally complimentary of METRO. However, the most interesting section (Chapter Three, beginning about page 16) raises questions about optimistic projections by METRO, as well as concerns over debt. METRO responds at some length to the questions (beginning around page 19).
In the meantime, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who has been thinking about Houston light rail since she was a six-year-old running around the Jamaica area of Queens, has scheduled a press conference to criticize METRO -- not over the questions raised in the audit report. No no, that would be timely and salient. Instead, Queen Sheila apparently is upset because METRO isn't functioning well enough as a local jobs program. See her press release after the [Read More] jump. The release indicates that a press conference will be held downtown on Wednesday, December 2, so we're not sure exactly when it is going to take place. But if you make it, please leave us a comment and let us know about it.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/01/08 10:43 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (9)
30 November 2008
City lays out agenda for Austin, prefers that you not think about city pensions too much
The Chronicle's Carolyn Feibel lays out Mayor White's to-do list for the 2009 legislative session in Austin.
Closer to home, KHOU-11's Mark Greenblatt ran a story just before Thanksgiving on the perilous state of Houston's municipal employee pension fund finances. It's too comprehensive to excerpt, so we urge readers to go have a closer look.
Many Houstonians are probably under the mistaken impression that the referenced pension plan problems were "solved" shortly after Mayor White took office and discovered the "gift" (in the form of a massive unfunded liability) he had been left by Lee Brown.
In reality, the political pain of completely solving the problem would have been much too high for someone of Mayor White's ambitions, so band-aids were applied, some structural adjustments were made for the future, and the issue was largely left for the next mayor. But the unfunded liability was and remains huge, as we have pointed out from time to time. Kudos to Greenblatt for reminding Houstonians (not to mention Mayor White and the "watchdog"* city controller who wants to be mayor).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/30/08 10:04 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (10)
Houston trauma centers struggle to take up UTMB slack
KHOU-11's Leigh Frillici reports on the local trauma-center impact of Ike's UTMB devastation:
Damage and financial troubles after Hurricane Ike cost UTMB at Galveston its level one trauma center. Now patients are flown to the next closest center with a helipad, which is Memorial Hermann.
"We usually see 450 trauma admissions a month. This October, we did over 600," said [Memorial Hermann E.R. Director Dr. James ] McCarthy. "It was our busiest month on record for the last 10 years."
With about 4.5 million people in the Greater Houston area, we should have four trauma centers. But what we had before Hurricane Ike was three, and now with UTMB losing their major center, Houston is down to two.
Money is what it will take to get another major trauma center on line.
"What we're talking about is creating a trauma network in Houston that will take care of you and your family when you get into a car accident on your way home from work, or on your way home from a holiday get together,” said McCarthy.
UTMB is such an important resource for our community and our entire state. It would be nice if some of the pols who were so busy grandstanding in the aftermath of Ike were just as committed to rebuilding and restoring the important resource that is UTMB as quickly as possible. We would like to see some of our local officials pushing the issue more forcefully also.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/30/08 09:16 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)
METRO IAH express bus service long overdue, but expensive
The Chronicle's Rosanna Ruiz does a nice job with this METRO press release posing as a news article:
Houston residents and out-of-town travelers can rely ... on taxis, shuttles and now nonstop bus service to George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
Metro has added nonstop bus service to the airport for $30 round-trip.
The buses, similar to those used by Park and Ride commuters, run every 30 minutes to and from Metro's downtown passenger plaza, 815 Pierce, to Bush airport's Terminal C.
[snip]
In comparison, SuperShuttle vans cost $23 for a trip to the Bush airport and $44 round-trip.
Yellow Cabs cost $44.50 to downtown, $51 to get to the Galleria area and $55 to travel to Reliant Stadium.
This is a needed, long overdue service that METRO should have been shamed into offering years ago.
That being said, it's also an expensive, needed, long overdue service.
The Chronicle reporter might have done some comparisons on large cities that offer similar services, and how much it costs to get into the central business area. Chicago, St. Louis, and Philadelphia (to name a few) all offer train rides into their central business areas for less money. Surely other cities offer express bus service. But the reporter doesn't take the initiative to provide those comparisons, which probably weren't included in METRO's press information either.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/30/08 09:06 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (8)
Houston makes affordable homes less affordable
The city of Houston has added thousands of dollars to the cost of building new homes (via the Chron's Carolyn Feibel):
New homes built in Houston will have to meet more stringent energy-saving standards starting next October under a new energy code approved Wednesday by the City Council.
"The modern trend among both some of the finer small and large home builders is to build much more energy-efficient homes," said Mayor Bill White. "In fact, you're going to see people are drawn into the city because we have good building standards."
The council passed the code unanimously with no discussion.
The new code requires new residential construction up to three stories to attain a 15 percent energy savings over the existing 2006 International Residential Code.
While it's a noble goal, should it really be mandated through regulation, or should it be voluntary? For example, if someone wants to buy a green home, shouldn't they just buy from a builder who chooses to build green homes?
Right now, local homebuilders are struggling to stay afloat for a myriad of reasons, including the high cost of materials and the credit crunch. They cannot eat the costs associated with building "greener" houses; the costs will be passed on to the consumer. When one is an entry-level homebuyer, this will inevitably price some out of the lowest end of the market.
The Greater Houston Builders Association approved of the changes, but wants to see the city add some incentives, said Adam Aschmann, the group's government affairs director.
For example, he said, the group would like the city to pay for the cost of energy compliance inspections for homes that sell for less than $175,000.
Aschmann said the energy goals could add between $1,000 and $2,000 to the construction cost of a median-priced home.
The new energy code also would apply to home additions of 500 square feet or more.
Barry Klein, president of the Houston Property Rights Association, said he feared the regulations would hurt homebuyers.
"For new construction, the cost becomes more and more prohibitive for people to purchase those new homes," Klein said. "There is a long established pattern of people moving out of the city to escape the city's regulations. I'm sure this is the kind of thing that will accelerate that."
Aschmann's estimate of the extra costs is probably optimistic at best for some homebuilders -- especially the ones who build affordable homes which have not been Energy Star certified previously.
Unfortunately, Mayor White's justification shows a lack of real-world understanding:
White said homeowners will recoup the added costs on their utility bills within four or five years.
"So, that is a good investment, and it makes it so homes are more affordable in the long run," he said. "If somebody is, say, laid off or suffers a financial reverse, then they will be able to stay in their house longer, and I would encourage people to shop for energy-efficient homes."
The extra money required to build the house will be tacked on to the purchase price. At the most affordable end of the housing market, that means some people will not be able to buy a starter house, with the extra cost included. Therefore, recouping the added cost is out of the picture.
BLOGVERSATION: When Houston grows up it wants to be just like Paris, Lose an Eye, It's a Sport
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/30/08 07:38 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (12)
What happens to Bolsover Street?
With the recent news that Lamesa Properties has been unable to secure financing for its proposed Sonoma development, what will end up happening to Bolsover Street, which the city sold to the developer (via the Examiner's Michael Reed):
Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck of District C, where the project is located, said while she is “saddened” by the announcement, she expects to eventually “see a project similar to what was presented to the community” at the site.
In an effort make the project possible, the City Council on Aug. 8, 2007 voted to sell the 2400 block of Bolsover Street to Lamesa for $1.74 million, or about $60 a square foot.
The sale of the street was contingent on completion of the project “as substantially presented to the community” and the installation of left-turn bays approaching Kelvin and Morningside at the Rice Boulevard intersections by December 2012.
The building that once stood where Phase 1 was planned on the north side of Bolsover, containing Nit Noi restaurant and other businesses, was demolished in October 2007.
Clutterbuck said it is her understanding Lamesa intends to fence off most of the property from the public for the time being, and that it will be “kept it in the manner befitting the community.”
She said there has also been talk of using part of the site for such things as a community market or a staging area for other projects in the area.
Meanwhile, Walgreens spokesman Robert Elfinger said Monday the Rice Village store will close Dec. 31 as planned and will not be relocated.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/30/08 06:33 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
29 November 2008
Downtown District invites you to come and enjoy the Christmas lights
Er, maybe that should be "Holiday" lights.
Yesterday's Chronicle story highlighted the Downtown District's attempt to recreate a Christmas tradition: visiting downtown to see the Christmas lights and decorations. Perhaps this tradition will hold up better than the city's "annual" New Year's Eve star raising -- a tradition that lasted one year because former Councilwoman Carol Alvarado was too pooped to party the next year.
If you make it down there, have fun. Just beware the red light cameras (and the city wants to add more!), the Wild West parking, the Danger Train, and the homeless.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/29/08 05:57 AM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (38)
27 November 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!
We take a break from our feasting to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Here at the little blog, we're thankful for everyone (bloggers, commenters, emailers, readers, lurkers) who have made this little hobby of ours so enjoyable. With rare exceptions, we manage to have a civil and informed (if sometimes spirited) discussion about the Houston area, and we appreciate everyone who helps keep it going.
Now, back to the feast.... :)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/27/08 01:30 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (7)
Shock: Desired behavior leads to undesirable outcome
On Monday, METRO's expensive blogger wrote a post titled, "When Public Transit's Cash Cow Runs Dry." The first paragraph is a doozy:
Americans are driving fewer miles this year than last year - and that means the Highway Trust Fund, fueled by the gasoline tax, took in billions of fewer dollars in Fiscal Year 2008. We drove 90 billion miles less in a period of 11 months in FY08 compared to the year before, reported the U.S. Department of Transportation last week.
Isn't that the goal of transit experts, agencies, and enthusiasts? For Americans to drive less? So, public transit fans get their desired outcome, but suddenly realize there's a downside.
Genius.
And the solution? Increase taxes, of course!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/27/08 07:13 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)
Greenspoint still most crime-plagued mall in Houston
Earlier this week, KPRC-2's Amy Davis looked at crime stats for local malls, as we approach the busiest shopping time of the year. The top five for crime are:
1. Greenspoint
2. Willowbrook
3. Galleria
4. Sharpstown
5. tie between West Oaks and Almeda
Yay for online shopping!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/27/08 06:55 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
25 November 2008
Local attorney bestows special award on Jared Woodfill
Various news sources have reported an old story with a new (?) twist: Harris County GOP Jared Woodfill has called for a Harris County judge to resign over emails that apparently sparked some controversy in 2006.
In the meantime, be sure to read attorney Mark Bennett's nicely crafted post on the matter. Rather than excerpting, we'll just say that he makes a good case for bestowing his "Asshat Lawyer of the Day" award on Jared Woodfill.
Why Woodfill is still the Harris County GOP chair is one of the area's ongoing mysteries. But we are guessing he might be in the running for bigger things in the future (say, an "Asshat Lawyer of the Month" award...)!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/25/08 09:25 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)
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 | Hurricane Stuff | Technorati | Comments (2)
23 November 2008
Excitement* at Commissioners Court
The Chronicle's Liz Austin Peterson reported on some excitement at Commissioners Court this week:
Fresh from a decisive re-election victory, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett is wasting no time trying to build his office's influence as he fights for more authority over the county's lobbying effort in Austin.
He brought the matter to Commissioners Court on Tuesday, the first regular meeting since Election Day, and butted heads with County Attorney-elect Vince Ryan and Commissioner Sylvia Garcia when the two Democrats sought to delay a vote on the change.
For a body known to vote on an entire agenda without discussing a single item at length, the debate offered a public peek at the increasingly tense relationships between some court members.
The county's Office of Legislative Relations has been a part of the county attorney's office since 2006. Ryan said he wanted to have a chance to evaluate the proposal once he takes office in January. Garcia said she does not believe the office should fall under any one member of Commissioners Court, and she questioned Emmett's motives for proposing the switch.
Since 2006? In other words, all of... two years.
The Chronicle's Rick Casey provides some useful background on this maneuvering in his most recent column:
The fact is, in this skirmish [Vince Ryan] was poorly armed. He lacked any arguments for why the lobbying squad should remain in his bailiwick. The location doesn't actually seem to make a whole lot of difference.
It was in the county judge's office until 2001, when it was moved to the office of Dick Raycraft, the county's director of management services. I'm not sure why.
Two years ago it was moved to County Attorney Stafford's office, apparently because Cathy Sisk, who was tapped to lead the lobbying operation, already worked for Stafford as an attorney specializing in environmental matters and preferred not to move.
Nobody thought her location was worth worrying about. Emmett was appointed county judge later and, he says, at some subsequent point later he began worrying about it.
He says he had talked to his staff about recapturing the office well before the election and planned on bringing the matter to Commissioners Court as soon as he solidified his position by winning an election, even if Republican Stafford had won re-election.
"I'm the one legislators call," he said, asserting that it was not a power grab, but an effort to assert control.
After all, it's Commissioners Court that sets the county's legislative agenda, always by unanimous vote, not the county attorney.
From an institutional perspective, the change proposed by Judge Emmett makes sense.
From the perspective of partisan politics and politician egos, it probably would have been wiser for Judge Emmett to take a page from Mayor White's playbook, and get his Commissioner's Court colleagues on board ahead of time by consulting with them as he apparently did his staff.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/23/08 08:55 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Houston should consider "broken-windows" approach to crimefighting
Over the little blog's short lifetime, we have posted with some regularity on broken-windows policing and CompStat, two approaches to crimefighting popularized by Rudy Giuliani in New York City (and treated with some disdain by MayorWhiteChiefHurtt).
The Economist runs some interesting news on a "broken-windows" social experiment:
A PLACE that is covered in graffiti and festooned with rubbish makes people feel uneasy. And with good reason, according to a group of researchers in the Netherlands. Kees Keizer and his colleagues at the University of Groningen deliberately created such settings as a part of a series of experiments designed to discover if signs of vandalism, litter and low-level lawbreaking could change the way people behave. They found that they could, by a lot: doubling the number who are prepared to litter and steal.
The idea that observing disorder can have a psychological effect on people has been around for a while. In the late 1980s George Kelling, a former probation officer who now works at Rutgers University, initiated what became a vigorous campaign to remove graffiti from New York City’s subway system, which was followed by a reduction in petty crime. This idea also underpinned the “zero tolerance” which Rudy Giuliani subsequently brought to the city’s streets when he became mayor.
Many cities and communities around the world now try to get on top of anti-social behaviour as a way of deterring crime. But the idea remains a controversial one, not least because it is often difficult to account for other factors that could influence crime reduction, such as changes in poverty levels, housing conditions and sentencing policy—even, some people have argued, the removal of lead from petrol. An experimental test of the “broken windows theory”, as Dr Kelling and his colleague James Wilson later called the idea, is therefore long overdue. And that is what Dr Keizer and his colleagues have provided.
The rest of the story is here.
We hope as the policing era of MayorWhiteChiefHurtt winds down and the mayoral race gets underway that the candidates will discuss (and embrace) innovative approaches to crime that continue to be proven effective -- especially since HPD remains short on manpower.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/23/08 08:29 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)
Andrea Georgsson has left the Chronicle
Andrea Georgsson, the Houston Chronicle editorial board member who apparently violated newspaper policy by donating to political candidates, has left the newspaper.
Georgsson left the newspaper just after the election, according to this column from Richard Prince:
Andrea Georgsson, the only African American editorial writer at the Houston Chronicle, left the paper Wednesday after being at the paper since 1987 and a member of the editorial board since 1995. "It was my own decision," Georgsson told Journal-isms. "I'm going to just follow my bliss," Georgsson, 44, said. She said she has three little boys to take care of and may do volunteer work.
Media monitor Cision (as well as Georgsson's own Facebook page) confirms the departure:
Longtime Houston Chronicle staffer leaves
Posted on: 11/10/2008Andrea Georgsson recently left her post as an editorial page writer for the Houston Chronicle. She previously served as an education reporter. Prior to that, she covered Harris County and state news. She joined the paper as an intern in 1987. To learn more, call 713-362-7171.
If anyone calls the number, please let us know if you "learn more." We would be surprised.
Recall that we found Georgsson had donated to the Harris County Judge campaign of David Mincberg (not to mention the presidential campaign of Barack Obama). Such donations apparently violate newspaper policy, and for good reason -- it is hard for an editorial board to preach transparency for others when it doesn't practice what it preaches. Even worse than the lack of transparency, it is thought that Georgsson penned at least one editorial about Harris County ethics (which referenced Ed Emmett, the incumbent opponent of Mincberg) -- an editorial that was quickly posted to Mincberg's campaign site.
The Houston Chronicle refused to answer substantive email queries about Georgsson in the leadup to the election, and has not addressed the scandal publicly. On the surface, it appears that Georgsson left the newspaper of her own accord. It seems likely, however, that both she and the newspaper concluded that it would be best for all if she moved on. We would email the reader representative and ask, but we have yet to see evidence that he actually uses email.
It's too bad that the Chronicle didn't take the opportunity to practice what it preaches about transparency and to inform readers about the scandal. Chronicle execs like to describe the editorial board as leading a community discussion, but more often it seems like the insular editorialists are simply lecturing to the community, without much interest in an actual conversation.
And it's not even a very good lecture these days. In recent weeks, the editorial board -- sans Georgsson and James Howard Gibbons -- has turned out some truly clunky prose. We certainly didn't agree wth Georgsson or Gibbons on most issues, but who knew their departures would give readers even less cause to visit a so-so, left-leaning editorial page?
Perhaps it's another reason for the Editorial Board to start a blog (as we've suggested before). Even poor writers can get better if they really work at the craft (practice, practice, practice!). Frequent blog posts on local affairs could be just the sort of practice that is needed. And who knows -- a little interaction with readers might actually improve a product that could use it.
BLOGVERSATION: Lone Star Times, Hair Balls.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/23/08 08:11 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
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)
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- +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.
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LOCAL INFO
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+Citysearch Houston
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+Houston Architecture Info Forum
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