09 May 2009
Hey! We thought these things were the cause of unworldclassness
The Houston Press' Hairballs blog notes that there's some serious visual blight at Discovery Green:
Nothing says seat belt safety like five oversized inflated balloons in the shape of a cowboy, duck, bull, Godzilla monster and Elvis look-alike.
At least that's what the Texas law enforcement community is hoping, as they unveiled the 24-foot-tall "safety ambassadors" this morning at Discovery Green as part of the 8th annual TxDOT "Click It or Ticket" seat belt safety campaign.
Did TxDOT get permission from Mayor White and City Council?
Oh! Maybe the city is classifying these as "residential lawn decorations." Yeah, that's probably it.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/09/09 11:39 AM |
03 May 2009
Channel 2 investigates parking at HPD headquarters
Back in 2005, Mayor White decided he wanted a parking authority, and his right hand voiced the reasons why it was needed:
"You really need an element, an entity, an authority that focuses strictly on parking, on enforcement, on the meters, making sure that they're all working, responsible for valet zones, cab zones, and enforcements of those ordinances," said Carol Alvarado, Houston Mayor Pro Tem.
Last week, KPRC-2 Local 2 Investigates publicized a weeks-long investigation of the parking situation around HPD headquarters. The result: HPD employees think rules are for other people:
Parking spaces were often scarce or non-existent for downtown visitors in a five-block area surrounding the 1200 Travis headquarters, as officers and other employees displayed "Official Police Business" or "Police On Duty" signs in their windshields.
"It's not fair," said Quentin Thompson, who struggled to find a space to have lunch in the area.
"It's an abuse of authority, I think," he said. He was forced to park in a more expensive $8 lot since not a single space was open on Clay Street, one block south of the headquarters high-rise.
Local 2 Investigates recorded license plates and vehicle positions over a three-week time frame, finding entire streets off limits for other public parking on some days. Each day, dozens of HPD employees' cars remained in the same spot without moving for the entire day.
"No comment, please don't do this," said one officer whose pickup truck was a daily fixture, as Local 2 Investigates approached with a camera to ask questions.
Other employees tried some far-fetched tricks to avoid answering questions after word began spreading that news cameras were nearby.
At least three employees walked more than a block out of their way. One officer had unlocked his car, but then rushed away from the camera. One Burglary and Theft Division officer even pretended his car was unfamiliar to him, as he tried to avoid questions about his daily parking routine. He walked a block out of his way, then zig-zagged to jump on a METRO Rail ride to avoid answering questions. He was spotted in his car days later, but he had found a new parking space.
Other employees slammed their doors and sped away without a word as they were questioned.
And what does the city have to say about it?
Mayor Bill White reacted, saying, "People ought to be obeying the policy of the department, period."
Which is...what, exactly? Well, after Channel 2 confronted HPD, a new memo was sent out explaining the department's parking policy for employees.
And where, pray tell, has the Houston Parking Authority been all this time? After all, these are metered spaces that could be pulling in revenue for the city:
On some blocks, each of the 17 to 19 spaces were occupied by police employee cars, but those spaces could be generating $1.25 per hour for the city, or even more if cars leave early and new cars arrive.
The Houston Parking Management Division provided records showing the parking meters that are tied up with police employee cars are pulling in a fraction of the revenue that other meters are collecting.
While some meters, which cover an entire side of a street, record 41 transactions or more each day, the meters near HPD headquarters only recorded eight or nine transactions during the entire day from a sample week in April.
Liliana Rambo, the city's parking management director, issued a written statement.
"We recognize that there needs to be an improvement of the management of the curb space in the area around Police Department Headquarters. We recognize that an alternative solution needs to be developed for the parking of vehicles driven by police personnel. We are working in collaboration with the police department in putting a plan in place to solve this issue."
She did not address a question e-mailed to her by Local 2 Investigates, inquiring about why her enforcement personnel seem to have stopped patrolling the areas heavily occupied by the police employee cars.
Has she been hanging out with Clarence Bradford?
Recall in the past Ms. Rambo tried to crack down on legitimate handicapped parking, for the purpose of creating "more turnover so that everybody has access to that particular parking space [...]" But when it comes to the metered spaces around HPD, she hasn't been so interested.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/03/09 07:08 AM |
15 March 2009
Senate-candidate White tries to beef up his illegal immigration bonafides
Now that Mayor White wants to become Senator White, the "It's the feds' fault!" message he has cultivated for the past few years just won't fly, so he's having to add a bit of nuance. You see, it IS still the Feds' fault, but now he's going to make it a "cause" (via the Chron's Susan Carroll and Bradley Olson):
Standing in front of a bank of TV cameras this week, Houston Mayor Bill White took the federal government to task for not deporting an illegal immigrant with a criminal record before he allegedly shot a Houston police officer during a recent drug raid.
“I vowed after talking to the officer’s wife that I was going to make this a cause,” the mayor said Tuesday, “and I wasn’t going to tolerate some of the excuses that we’ve heard about lack of resources.”
That is truly pathetic. As if being mayor of Houston has been an out-of-body experience for him. Who's been making excuses? Mayor White. Who said HPD resources couldn't be spent doing the federal government's job? Mayor White.
But, you see, with a statewide run for office in progress, NOW it's become a cause. It wasn't a cause in 2006 when HPD Officer Rodney Johnson was murdered by an illegal alien criminal.
Here's Mayor White in 2005:
"The protection of our borders is essentially a federal function," the mayor said. "I am not going to take our police out of the neighborhoods" to start looking for illegal immigrants. "Our police priority is going to be public safety."
And here:
Mayor White and Police Chief Harold Hurtt have defended the current policy. Immigration is a federal responsibility and local police are busy fighting more serious crimes, said a spokesman for White, Frank Michel.
The city's police force has shrunk to 4,600 officers from 5,200 since mid-2003. Many officers retired early to avoid having benefits reduced by a plan that the city enacted to shore up its police pension.
And after Officer Johnson's murder in 2006 (what's more serious than murder?), MayorWhiteChiefHurtt confirmed their support for the city's sanctuary policy directive:
The department's current policy forbids officers from asking about someone's immigration status, unless they've committed at least a Class B misdemeanor. It also prevents officers from inquiring about citizenship if a person has committed no crime.
Both White and Police Chief Harold Hurtt supported that policy. However, White said Wednesday at a City Hall press conference that certain "operational refinements" could still be made. "I think it's fair game for discussion with a committee," said White.
Here's how HPD refined the sanctuary directive:
[...]if an officer should decide to arrest an individual and bring them to the city jail, "We will be checking fingerprints of Class C offenders," said City Council Public Safety Committee Chairman Adrian Garcia. "If there's information that comes back in relation to questionable immigration status, we will put a 'hold' on you until Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials can investigate."
The Chron's story notes how the modification panned out:
Recent documents obtained by the Houston Chronicle through a public records request show that very few illegal immigrants are being identified in the city jail. Last year, HPD jailers detained for immigration officials less than 1 percent of the 58,774 suspects booked only into the city’s jails and not transferred to the Harris County Jail. From October 2006 through January, HPD identified and detained 372 suspected illegal immigrants for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The recently obtained documents include a November e-mail from Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt to White that reported “several thousand” illegal immigrants eligible for deportation had passed through the city’s lockups.
But now that Senate-candidate White has a new cause, change is on the horizon:
To plug any potential remaining gaps, White this week said he plans to ask Hurtt to consider participating in the federal government’s controversial 287(g) program, which trains local jailers to assist immigration agents. The move is a departure from the mayor’s past position that local police should have limited involvement in immigration enforcement. The mayor and Hurtt this week also committed to using a Homeland Security database that automatically checks suspects’ immigration history.
Well, maybe change is on the horizon, but since Mayor White's going to "ask" Chief Hurtt to "consider" participating in the federal program, we shouldn't hold our breath.
Back in 2008 when Harris County became the first law enforcement agency in Texas to receive the training, the Chronicle's Carolyn Feibel questioned not-yet-a-candidate-for-Senate Bill White about HPD participating:
White said, in essence, no.
"I think it will erode the capacity of local law enforcement if local law enforcement starts assuming more and more federal functions."
[snip]
"I'd rather have our police figure out how to catch people who commit violent crimes, than become immigration lawyers."
That's the REAL Bill White.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/15/09 08:43 AM |
25 February 2009
Clarence Bradford just wants to serve YOU
Failed Harris County DA candidate and former HPD police chief Clarence Bradford apparently came out of hiding long enough today to announce that he's running for City Council. Here is an excerpt from Alan Bernstein's reporting for the Chronicle:
Less than four months after losing a close race for Harris County district attorney, former Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford announced today that he is running for an at-large seat on the city council.
Bradford is aiming for the at-large #4 seat being vacated by Ronald Green, who is running for controller.[snip]
Bradford, a lawyer and security consultant, indicated in a written statement to news media that he is launching his second candidacy in two years because he wants to serve the public again.
[snip]
Bradford served as police chief from 1997 to 2003, when he retired amid a series of controversies such as errors and faked results by police crime lab personnel.
Oops, never mind. Apparently, Clarence Bradford remains in hiding. And honestly, if I were his campaign advisor, that's probably exactly where I would keep him. Otherwise, he might have to answer questions about his mismanagement of the HPD Crime Lab during those halcyon days known as the Lee Brown era (or more appropriately, error) in Houston politics.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/25/09 09:21 PM |
22 February 2009
Harris County's secret bailout of Houston
Two months ago, without any mention in the media at all, Harris County bailed the City of Houston out of a bad deal by loaning it $118 million. As reported on the Chronicle's website on Sunday,
A series of unexpected market swings and a relationship with a troubled bank has left the city of Houston paying more than $600,000 a month in interest — far higher than the market rate for comparable securities — to a very unusual investor: Harris County.
The county came to Houston’s rescue in December after a bank that backed $182 million in city bonds had its credit downgraded, leaving the city with a 15 percent interest rate.
The timeline of events may be found here. One might note there's over $60 million difference in the two figures. Metro is apparently part of the difference, in an even more unusual transaction (emphasis added):
More and more, governments that depend on financing for everything from new sewer plants to overpasses are seeing the costs of debt soar, as the many parties involved in their complex municipal finance deals are seized by fear or faltering markets.
As a solution, they have begun to turn to investors that seem a little more stable and familiar: themselves. In October, when interest rates for short-term municipal investments shot up to the 8 percent to 10 percent range, the city of Houston and the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County agreed to invest $30 million in each other.
Moncur said the city, in addition to buying bonds from as far away as Broward County, Fla., also has begun investing millions of dollars in its own commercial paper.
Excuse me, but "commercial paper" means short-term loans. How does the city loan itself money? Remember a few months ago when the city refinanced its pension obligation, and those numbers didn't seem to add up either? Lo and behold, this was at the same time the city was being bailed out by the county.
Then there's the point that the city is not alone: "many parties involved in their complex municipal finance deals are seized by fear or faltering markets". The combination of these two statements seems to suggest that local governments across the nation are borrowing money from each other in order to, as they are sure to phrase it: "share the risk." A more appropriate phrase might be "chain-reaction disaster," as a financial collapse by any one of them touches off payment problems for all the rest down the line. We just saw how well banks, the real estate market, financial investment houses, the stock market, and government guarantors worked together to ensure a broad financial collapse. Are our cities, counties, and transit agencies all trying to replicate the same disaster?
Then there's the minor issue of the sheep being fleeced to finance this house of cards: taxpayers from other cities and the county. How do these areas feel about being put on the hook for the City of Houston's increasingly convoluted bookkeeping practices? And one more question -- does anyone remember something that was supposed to be around for times like these? I believe it was called "the rainy day fund." Whatever happened to that?
More and more, it's beginning to look as though the City of Houston is using accounting tricks to remain solvent and fund Mayor White's priorities. Given that the City Controller is thought to be the front-runner in the 2009 race, her cooperation in these questionable tail-chasing schemes and poor selection of investment banks could make 2009 a very interesting campaign year.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: I can't say how many times that I've heard Mayor White tell people he brings a businesslike approach to city government, or how many times I've heard that he'd eventually like to take his business and financial acumen to a statewide political office. So I guess I am left wondering how our hands-on mayor doesn't feature at all in this story of debt financing going awry on his watch -- or, as Ubu Roi alludes, why City Controller and mayoral wannabe Annise Parker also don't feature at all in this story. Shouldn't they have some comment on it?
Unfortunately, there is also no quote from Houston's expert-on-everything Bob Stein to tell me what I am supposed to think about this series of events, so we'll throw it out to commenters: What do you think about the story?
Posted by Ubu Roi @ 02/22/09 07:57 PM |
19 February 2009
Channel 2 fixes another red light camera ticket error
When last we checked in with KPRC-2's Ask Amy, she was helping a wrongly ticketed red light runner clear her name. At that time, we noted the moral of the story was to call local media if you received a ticket in error, because MayorWhiteChiefHurtt are not interested in helping red light camera victims.
Well, Ask Amy is at it again, cutting through HPD's uninterested bureaucracy, helping a red light camera victim:
After months of calls to the city's red-light program division, she's asking Amy to help clear her name. KPRC Local 2 Investigative reporter Amy Davis has yet another case of a driver getting the red-light runaround.
Christina Tyler tried to solve this problem herself. She said she spent four months making calls, filling out paperwork and faxing it in.
When none of that worked, she called Amy.The camera flashed at the corner of the Sam Houston Parkway and Bellaire Boulevard and Christina Tyler got the ticket.
There's the first problem."It was a picture of a vehicle I used to have," Tyler explained. "I haven't had it in over five years."
When Tyler last saw her Toyota Echo in 2004, it was smashed up from a car accident. She said the other driver's insurance company told her it couldn't be repaired.
But five years later it's back on the road, apparently running red lights, and doing it all with Christina Tyler's maiden name still on the title.
"It's not fair that someone's driving around with my identity for five years for crying out loud," Tyler told Local 2 Investigates. "I just don't think that's right."
Tyler called the city's red-light camera program and tracked down every document they asked for – no easy job after five years, four moves and a marriage.
You'll be shocked to learn that, after Christina Tyler provided everything HPD asked for, she still received warning letters telling her to pay up or else:
The last one came from an attorney's office and told her the city would file a civil suit and block her from registering her vehicle when the plates expired if she didn't pay up.
And there you have it: The city is now threatening not to renew vehicle registrations for those who have not paid red light camera fines, even if the ticket has been disputed.
So Ask Amy called HPD and voila! the ticket was deleted. That led Ask Amy to ask HPD why it takes a call from KPRC to clear up ticketing errors:
HPD chalked it up to yet another isolated case and said drivers have to remember the red-light camera program is still young. They said the city is still working out the kinks.
So HPD is doing on-the-job red light camera ticketing training? At citizens' expense? To the tune of millions of dollars in revenue? How many people have tried to fight a ticket and given up? How many years does it take before the kinks are worked out?
Is it shenanigans or incompetence? Frankly, it's outrageous, but that's MayorWhiteChiefHurtt's government for you.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/19/09 06:05 PM |
02 February 2009
Annise Parker kicks off her mayoral campaign
The Chron's Alan Bernstein does a mini-profile of Houston Controller Annise Parker in preparation for her announcement today that she's entering the mayoral race:
“Houstonians want a mayor who can lead the city through tough economic times, and a mayor who can continue our forward progress with jobs and neighborhoods,” she said in an interview last week.
“I have the skill set to do these things,” she added as she prepared her announcement — an e-mail blast referring voters to an online video of her speaking to voters.
Parker, 52, started thinking about running for mayor long before the nation’s economic picture grew dark. But now that, in her words, “the No. 1 issue is going to be the economy and jobs,” Parker is touting the ways she can cut city expenses. She’s also worked as an engineering technologist for an oil company and as co-owner several years ago of a feminist bookstore.
Of the four or five others being mentioned as potential candidates in the Nov. 3 election, Parker easily has the most experience running for and serving in office citywide. After losing two City Council races, she won an at-large seat in 1997, 1999 and 2001. She was elected controller in 2003 and was re-elected with no opponents in 2005 and 2007.
And as mayor what will she focus on?
As mayor, she would foster partnerships among energy companies, government and researchers to put Houston in the forefront of developing alternative energy sources, she said.
She cited neighborhood protection and preservation as a top concern, pointing out that on City Council, she spurred ordinances on minimum lot sizes and setback requirements for buildings.
She's also not in favor of HPD identifying illegal immigrants, same as her presumed opponents.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/02/09 05:04 AM |
30 January 2009
Least surprising news of the week (updated with a Bob Stein revision!)
That HPD tried to tweak the city's questionable red light camera study to produce a more favorable conclusion -- one more in line with what MayorWhiteChiefHurtt have been peddling ever since the cameras were first installed:
The Houston Police Department tried to influence the outcome of a controversial city-commissioned study by changing how crashes at intersections with red-light cameras were counted, according to documents included in a lawsuit.
HPD’s request was refused by the study’s authors, however, who concluded the number of accidents at 50 intersections with the cameras had increased, not decreased as city officials expected, documents say.
Attorneys fighting to end Houston’s 2-year-old red-light camera program seized on the documents — released after an open records lawsuit they filed against the city — as evidence the study was tainted by a purposefully skewed methodology.
[snip]
According to an e-mail included in the lawsuit, an HPD official asked Stein in April to rule out accidents if they occurred more than 100 feet from the intersection. Kallinen also said that documents he obtained indicated the department attempted to rule out crashes that did not involve a red-light violation. Either of those steps would be more likely to lead to results showing the cameras reduced crashes, Kallinen said.
Stein, whose involvement has been criticized because his wife works for White, said the study’s other authors rejected HPD’s suggested change because they were using what they believed was the best methodology.
Mayoral spokesman Patrick Trahan said the police had legitimate reasons to consider limiting the crashes that way, as they did not want the study to include collisions that had nothing to do with running red lights or the cameras.
UPDATE: Over at the Houston' Press' Hairballs blog, Houston bicyclist Bob Stein goes on a tear, giving his side of things, including this:
Third, Stein argues that he was misquoted when he reportedly said that "collisions are going up all over the city." This quote appeared in a January Associated Press story as well as elsewhere in the media.
It was "A complete and gross misrepresentation of the quote," says Stein. "I said, 'collisions are going up all over the city at the intersections that we studied,' not that they were going up all over the city. They in fact are going down, which is clearly demonstrated in the emails. Collisions throughout the city are not what we were studying."
Hmmmm, here's what was written in the Chronicle at the end of December:
Study authors said the reason for the increase at "monitored approaches" is actually that the city has seen a major uptick in collisions during the past year, one that they believe red-light cameras helped mitigate. In other words, the study, released today, concludes that there were far fewer collisions at intersections with red-light cameras than there otherwise would have been if the cameras had not been installed.
"Collisions are going up all over the city," said Bob Stein, a Rice University political science professor and one of report's four authors. "But red-light cameras have held back that increase at approaches where they have been installed."
Clear as mud.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/30/09 06:39 PM |
22 January 2009
A little problem for one mayoral aspirant?
KTRK-13's Miya Shay blogs about a potential problem for possible mayoral candidate Ben Hall: One must actually live in the city to run for mayor.
Not to worry, though -- Hall is looking into buying Slumlord-Rep. Hubert Vo's mansion within the city limits.
Or maybe to worry -- local blogger Houtopia asserts in a comment that if Shay's reporting is accurate and Hall truly lives in Piney Point, then it's too late for him to decide he lives in Houston for the purpose of running for mayor.
This could get interesting.
BLOGVERSATION: Swamplot, Prof 13.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/22/09 10:46 PM |
15 January 2009
Optimism abounds for Dynamo stadium deal
The Chron's Liz Austin Peterson says officials from the city, the county, and the Dynamo are moving closer to a deal:
Houston Mayor Bill White asked the county in July to contribute $10 million to the project by joining the city’s East Downtown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, which includes the stadium’s proposed site.
Harris County Commissioners El Franco Lee and Sylvia Garcia tentatively agreed late last month to join the project as long as the city agreed to conditions including restricting the use of county money to building the public amenities and infrastructure serving the stadium, rather than the physical structure itself. That could include water and sewer lines for the stadium, or the parking lots and tree-lined plazas surrounding it.
Other conditions include guarantees that Texas Southern University will be allowed to play home games at the stadium and that 15 percent of the seats never will be sold for more than the average price of a movie ticket. The county also wants Dynamo to be held responsible for all facility upkeep and proposes the team fund such repairs through a monthly fee in addition to the lease.
Dynamo president and general manager Oliver Luck said the team is amenable to working with the county on the conditions that involve its operations.
White spokesman Frank Michel said the city is reasonably optimistic it will be able to reach an agreement with the county.
And then there's this:
Dynamo co-owner Anschutz Entertainment Group is willing to invest $60 million to build the $85 million stadium, Luck said, with the rest coming from federal tax credits and other sources.
The city's $20 million land purchase for the stadium doesn't appear to be included in those numbers.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/15/09 04:59 AM |
28 December 2008
The Houston Way paves the way in Galleria-area land taking
Lately, quite a bit of attention has been focused on "the Chicago Way," the complex web of cronyism, patronage, and machine politics that can make (think both of the Mayors Daley) or break (think recent governors) Illinois pols.
Locally, we have The Houston Way, which doesn't factor into our state politics quite as prominently, but is no less intriguing when it comes to cronyism, patronage, and the benefits that always seem to accrue to the city's powerful and well-connected.
As Houston Chronicle reporters Carolyn Feibel and Bradley Olson make clear today in an outstanding followup to a March 2008 story by Mike Snyder on the city's abuse of its eminent domain power, The Houston Way hardly went away when Lee Brown finally was term-limited out of office and Bill White took charge (even though Mayor White's press staff surely loves it when journalists give the impression that White singlehandedly restored ethics to Houston government). Rather, one might say it reverted back to the more refined practices of, say, the Lanier Administration (more refined in the sense that we doubt any White Administration staffers will wind up indicted like various Brown Administration staffers, who were bunglers in The Houston Way really).
Recall back in March that we and other blogs commented on the story by Snyder, which described a lawsuit filed by two brothers contesting the city's effort to take their small Galleria-area property and make it into a so-small-as-to-be-useless "public park" that would conveniently double as ornamentation for a huge planned real-estate development. To recap Snyder's reporting: The brothers had acquired that property in 1982, and had been approached by the Uptown Houston District in February 2004 about selling it for parkland. In April 2004, Wulfe & Co. became interested in acquiring the land, and within a year had announced plans to redevelop a surrounding plot into the multi-acre BLVD Place mixed-use development. In July 2006, Wulfe & Co made a sizable offer for the land, which the brothers declined. In October 2006, the City of Houston said it wanted to acquire the land for a park. In May 2007, the city made an offer for the land, which the brothers declined. In November 2007, the City filed to acquire the property by eminent domain for the Uptown Houston District -- for more than a million dollars less than Wulfe & Co had once offered. At the time, Joe Turner, the City's Parks and Recreation director, said the move was justified, and that there was a "shortage of parks" in the area. The reporting noted that Ed Wulfe had a seat on the Uptown Houston District's board, and "is well-known at City Hall."
At the time, some of us didn't think this passed the smell test.
In today's intricate, detailed followup to the original story, we learn quite a bit more about this deal that makes it smell even worse. In no particular order, here are more of the damning details:
- The Hanover Company (which would acquire 1.48 acres of land from Wulfe & Co for a residential tower) stipulated that the brothers' property (which was adjacent) had to be a part of any deal -- and it eventually was, courtesy of the Uptown Houston District and the city's eminent domain power. Like Wulfe, Hanover President John Nash is a member of the Uptown Houston District board.
- In depositions related to the lawsuit, Joe Turner (the Parks and Recreation director) now says he did not want to seize the land for the park, that the idea did not originate with his office (which has not used condemnation to acquire parkland in his tenure), and that Councilmember Pam Holm pushed the idea and provided him a memo to sign off on backing the deal.
- Mayor White's March 2008 memo after some critical press coverage seems to betray the fact that there was no public-purpose behind the land grab.
- There still are no plans for the land's use as a park.
- Hanover executives and Wulfe are big contributors to Mayor Bill White, Councilmember Pam Holm, and Councilmember Peter Brown, all of whom supported the eminent domain proceeding enthusiastically.
- Councilmember Peter Brown's wife just happened to be an investor in BLVD Place, but City Attorney Arturo Michel apparently told Brown that this didn't represent a conflict of interest.
- Mayor Bill White and Councilmember Peter Brown are both resisting deposition efforts.
We'll leave it to readers to draw their own conclusions about this smelly, incestuous mess, although we suspect all but the most partisan cheerleaders for Mayor White will at least agree that it's a smelly incestuous mess.
We do take exception with one small part of the otherwise fine reporting by Feibel and Olson:
[C]ritics of City Hall contend that officials too often shape policy and decisions to aid developers.
That's not untrue, but a better description of The Houston Way is that officials too often shape policy and decisions to aid the city's powerful and well-connected (at the expense of the less powerful).
Notable recent examples of The Houston Way in action would include: Mayor White, Council, and Richard Vacar putting an airport shuttle company out of business at the behest of Yellow Cab, which wanted the business to itself; Mayor White's use of an archaic driveway ordinance to continue to frustrate a planned high-rise development (that had seemingly met existing regulatory hurdles) once well-connected supporters demanded it be stopped (this would be a key example of developers NOT shaping policy); Mayor White and Council extending the IAH Terminal C concession for the well-connected Jason Yoo despite the abysmal job he has done; and of course the unsuccessful effort to boot the Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation from its prime real estate (for developers never named?).
In a town with a columnist like John Kass, we might look forward to many scathing columns in the future about The Houston Way and all of its incestuous relationships and deals. Alas, The Plagiarist is more expert in The San Antonio Way than ours, the Teen Diarist's range is *ahem* limited as well, and the Houston Press gave up trying to write about politics years ago. Too bad.
BLOGVERSATION: Red Ink: Texas, Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/28/08 10:32 PM |
16 December 2008
Surprise! Mayor White wants to be Senator White
It's official: Mayor White is running for the U.S. Senate.
His campaign and his supporters will portray him as a moderate Democrat, a businessman who gets things done. What they won't mention is that he's fond of stealth taxation (revenue streams), creating new regulations, and kicking undesirable problems down the road so he doesn't have to address them.
He's been known to shake down the mentally retarded for millions of dollars, award lucrative, non-competitive contracts to political faves, and to approve selling a portion of a street to a developer using suspect appraisals, afterwards admitting that the process was less than ideal.
He has favored liberal pet projects and policies over basic municipal needs.
Plus, he can be thin-skinned, and he doesn't appreciate dissent.
Supporters will say to look at how competently he's run the city; common sense would say former Mayor Lee P. Brown set such a low bar, it was hard to go anywhere but up.
This will be fun to watch play out.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/16/08 06:58 PM |
15 December 2008
Houston priorities: Clinton Climate Initiative before flooding
Last week, Texas Watchdog noted that Houston was one of many cities submitting a bailout wish list to the feds:
The two biggest items the city says it needs federal tax dollars for are:
+A city-wide flood control program. That comes to $221 million and 4,420 jobs.
+Infrastructure improvements to make way for the Metro Houston Intermodal Terminal near downtown. That’s a project priced at $175 million wih 4,870 new jobs.
In all, Houston is asking for $587.7 million in projects that the city says will create 12,500 jobs.
You may recall that the city recently decided to scale back $100 million-worth of infrastructure improvements due to the credit crisis.
In other city news, the mayor announced that 11 million square feet of city buildings will be retrofitted to meet the Clinton Climate Initiative's Energy Efficiency program standards.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/15/08 06:43 PM |
13 December 2008
Don't call METRO insensitive
A couple of weeks ago, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee held a press conference (give or take a day) accusing METRO of insensitivity toward Houston's small business community.
Yesterday, METRO sprang into action, holding a small business seminar. METRO's expensive blogger highlighted the exciting details:
Nadeem Ainuddin, METRO's senior contract specialist in procurement, had the audience laughing as he encouraged them to "bug" him and call him with questions, telling them that he, too, was once an entrepreneur and understood their issues.
Will Rep. Lee hold another press conference, applauding METRO's increased sensitivity (and humor!)?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/13/08 12:58 PM |
11 December 2008
City borrows more money for pension obligations
A week ago, the Chron's Carolyn Feibel reported on a "positive" development in the city's looming pension nightmare.
Over at Houblog, Ubu Roi took a closer look, and came to a, um, different conclusion:
This article is pitched as good news, but what it really says is that the City just borrowed an additional $59 million to finance the police pension fund and $41 million just to pay the deferred interest on the previous $300 million debt. The last sentence of the quote makes it obvious that the first sentence is misleading. Worse, the math doesn’t add up. Here’s what happened, if we cut out all the smoke and mirrors.
Go forth and read. And shake your head.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/11/08 07:16 PM |
07 December 2008
What happens to Bolsover Street? (cont'd)
The Examiner's Michael Reed answers the question of what happens to Bolsover Street now that Lamesa Properties has been unable to secure financing for its Sonoma project: Pretty much nothing:
The 2400 block of Bolsover could remain undeveloped and in the possession of Lamesa Properties another seven-and-half years, according to the terms of the ordinance approving the street’s abandonment.
A spokesman for the city said Monday in addition to the five years the agreement allowed for the completion of the retail-residential project and some traffic-related construction, an additional three-year extension can be granted at the “sole discretion” of the director of Public Works.
Under the terms of the sale of the street, the additional time could be allowed “for extenuating circumstances,” city spokesman Alvin Wright said.
Those circumstances were not defined by the ordinance, which went into effect Aug. 21, 2007.
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 Street and Morningside Boulevard at the Rice Boulevard intersections within five years of that date.
An extension by the Public Works director, which does not require council action, could push that date back to Aug. 21, 2015. Failure to grant an extension request cannot be appealed by the property owner.
According to Wright, “The developer has satisfied all commitments and contract requirements to date, and there are no others until Aug. 21, 2012.”
That seems to have worked out well...for Lamesa Properties.
PREVIOUSLY: Bolsover appraisals raise questions over abandonment process
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/07/08 01:29 PM |
10 November 2008
'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 |
05 November 2008
Election '08: The next day
As expected, the Harris County GOP took quite a pounding last night, although it was not the complete sweep that seemed like a real possibility.
We have an ongoing discussion in this comments thread from yesterday, so feel free to drop in and join the conversation We're especially interested in your thoughts on the area races, and what the new faces are likely to mean for Harris County government and criminal justice.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/05/08 09:29 AM |
29 October 2008
Houston priorities: METRO over flooding
The Chron's Bradley Olson follows up on the city's plan to scale back projects because of the current credit crisis, and includes an example of the city's priorities:
The city has drawn up plans to roll back spending by around $100 million on parks, corroded water and sewer lines and other major infrastructure projects in what officials characterize as a cautious approach to the credit crisis.
[snip]
Marcotte and Issa Dadoush, who heads the city's General Services Department, said they avoided putting off projects for which design and engineering work had been completed; those that had funding or involvement from other governmental entities such as METRO; and infrastructure plans that had to be completed to comply with state or federal regulations.
Of course!
But this list didn't sit too well with some on Council:
"I am against reducing infrastructure improvements," said Councilman M.J. Khan, who noted that the city invested far too little in infrastructure in the previous decade and often paid the price when neighborhoods with poor drainage are flooded or water mains break. "I don't like when the first ax falls on infrastructure projects."
Councilman James Rodriguez said he did not understand why one neighborhood reconstruction project in his southeast Houston district was delayed, even though his constituents have been awaiting its completion for almost 10 years.
"I think it's unfair for them to have to wait any longer," he said. "I want to make sure that my district doesn't get shortchanged here. I understand we're in a financial crisis, but I want to make sure we look at alternatives."
It's a safe bet that Councilman Rodriguez's constituents aren't the "well-heeled, civically-active" types who rightfully wield more influence, as the Chronicle's editorial board likes to characterize it. They should not expect any help from the city's elites.
And the pretty train that stops running whenever there are a couple of inches of water on the tracks will continue to be a city priority, but infrastructure improvements to reduce flooding will be put on hold. That should work out well.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/29/08 05:10 AM |
12 October 2008
The county judge race
Here are a couple of stories from last week highlighting the current state of the county judge race:
The Examiner's Michael Reed gives us a detailed account of a recent debate, and the Chronicle's Liz Austin Peterson analyzes Mincberg's uphill battle. Chron-story bonus: a Bob Stein-sighting!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/12/08 06:25 AM |
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