14 December 2004
Austin bureau chief in favor of cameras in Houston
The Chronicle's Austin bureau chief took time out from covering the news in Austin this past weekend to let us know he's in favor of the White/Hurtt push to install cameras at red lights all over town.
It's a typically simplistic Chron editorial:
White is asking the Houston City Council to install cameras at intersections with high accident rates, so that violators can be assessed civil fines by mail.It's a good idea but is predictably generating some moaning and groaning, mostly from people who will be in a hurry some day to get to their own funerals. (Just don't try to hurry the rest of us to ours, please.)
No one has an unrestricted right to drive a car. Government, in the interest of promoting public safety, already has the long-established authority to set age and competency requirements for driver licenses, impose traffic laws and require drivers to have insurance. Using cameras for enforcement is a reasonable extension of that authority, provided the city imposes adequate safeguards on how the cameras are operated and revenue collected.
There are just a few problems here.
First, the Mayor isn't proposing to fine violators after positive identification (as is the case when an officer typically issues a citation); Mayor White is proposing to fine the owners of cars identified by an outside firm by looking up license plates based on camera imagery. That's a BIG difference for those of us who generally believe in the notion of positive identification when assessing fines (of course, the recent performance of HPD's crime lab suggests that positive identification isn't always a priority for the city). Besides, this is the sort of thing likely to get Marvin Zindler riled up, and we don't think the Mayor wants to cross Marvin.
Second, what procedures will ensure that the private contractor does not abuse the system in order to generate more revenue for itself? Even Robison favors "adequate safeguards" in this area, yet we've not heard what those will be. Citizens deserve to know before Council rams through another of Mayor White's proposals.
Third, what does the city plan to do with the extra revenue (because this is all about generating new revenue)? Will it be used to fund HPD cadet classes that Mayor White and his council have ignored thus far? Or will it fund some boondoggle? Again, citizens deserve to know.
To its credit, the Chronicle actually has run some letters critical of the White/Hurtt revenue enhancement plan.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/14/04 10:55 PM |
Spellman admits accepting bribe
In a surprise move, Oliver Spellman, former Mayor Lee Brown's chief of staff, pleaded guilty to bribery charges:
"I took money from an individual in return for favor in winning government contracts," Spellman told U.S. District Judge James Gwin of Cleveland.
He said he took the bribe in July 2002. Although neither he nor the criminal information document filed last week named the person who paid the bribe, other court documents indicate it was well-connected Cleveland businessman Nate Gray.
Gray has not been charged.
The criminal information said Spellman -- not Gray, as incorrectly reported earlier -- took money to influence contracts for a shuttle service at Intercontinental Airport and city energy services. City officials say the contracts in question were subcontracts not awarded directly by the city.
Prosecutors said the plea agreement is contingent upon Spellman's cooperation with a multistate corruption investigation that already has resulted in criminal charges against a Cleveland city councilman and conviction of a suburban mayor.
Gwin set a $25,000 unsecured bond. It was not immediately clear if Spellman, who now lives in New York, would be released today.
He faces eight to 14 months in prison on the single count of bribery conspiracy filed Dec. 7.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/14/04 03:22 PM |
08 December 2004
Lee Brown: the legacy continues to grow
The Chronicle's Mike Snyder reports the following bad news about a Houston "affordable housing" program:
City officials are struggling to limit financial losses and protect tenants' rent restrictions after the top recipient of the city's apartment loan program plunged into bankruptcy and default.
The developer, Don Sowell of Prairie View, has received $19.1 million from the city since 1999 through business ventures he created to buy and renovate Houston apartment developments and lease them to low-income tenants at reduced rents. The sum represents 27 percent of the city's federally funded apartment lending program.
[snip]
City officials said the potential loss of millions of dollars means that less money will be available to increase the city's stock of badly needed affordable housing. The problems with the loans to Sowell also illustrate the need for better management in the city's Housing and Community Development Department, officials said.
In other news, a former top aide to Mayor Brown and more recently to county commissioner Sylvia Garcia is facing legal charges:
A chief of staff to former Mayor Lee Brown was charged Tuesday in Ohio with accepting bribes in exchange for helping a Cleveland consultant who was trying to win city of Houston contracts.
The charge against Oliver Spellman, who more recently worked as a top aide to County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, is part of a continuing investigation that already has resulted in the bribery indictment of a Cleveland city councilman.
Garcia said Spellman resigned suddenly Friday as her chief of staff for operations. As a precaution, in light of Tuesday's charges, Garcia said she has asked the county attorney to review all contracts handled by Spellman.
It could not be determined Tuesday night whether the city of Houston awarded any contracts to the consultant, who was alleged to have bribed Spellman with $2,000 to $3,000 cash and a Las Vegas hotel stay.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports further here. Neither newspaper could reach Brown, often derisively called "Out of Town Brown" when he was mayor, for comment.
Like the potholes he left behind, Lee Brown's legacy continues to grow.
RELATED: Who is Nate Gray?, Mayor to review city contracts for impropriety
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/08/04 07:28 PM |
07 December 2004
NASA and Rep. DeLay
Over at Houston's Clear Thinkers, Tom Kirkendall notes a Washington Post story from yesterday about Rep. Tom DeLay and his impact on NASA's budget:
NASA was identified as a major sticking point when Senate and House conferees sat down to craft the final version of the omnibus spending bill near midnight Nov. 19, but Bolten, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and DeLay were holding out for more money.
The negotiators appeared to agree on $15.9 billion for NASA, but that wasn't good enough, DeLay said later at the Space Center. "The main responsibility of the majority leader is to set the agenda for the House floor. I wouldn't schedule the bill until NASA was taken care of," he said.
And it was.
"Once you get into an omnibus bill, the leadership takes over, and you need to have an advocate in that circle," Walsh said. DeLay "was getting me more allocation every time he stepped up to the plate. He made the difference."
Wonder if Richard Morrison could have delivered that, if he had been elected instead of DeLay?
Wonder why the Chronicle hasn't picked up this Washington Post story yet or, even better, put its Washington bureau to work on it?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/07/04 12:07 PM |
01 December 2004
Full speed ahead on the downtown park
KHOU-11 reports that Mayor White's plans to develop an expensive downtown park that he never mentioned during the last mayoral campaign are proceeding at full speed:
Houston's city council has given a green light to more green space downtown.
The city government will spend $8 million dollars to buy the so-called superblock in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center.
And a new, quasi-government corporation will receive $750,000 taxpayer dollars a year for developing and maintaining that new downtown park.
The city can't find enough money to fund new HPD cadet classes (despite manpower shortages), or enough money to fund adequate traffic accident investigations. But there's plenty of money to enrich the developers holding the land in front of the convention center and to buy Tasers.
Mayor White and city council certainly have curious priorities for the city.
(12-02-2004 Update) Ron Nissimov reports for the Chronicle. Mayor White contends that private funding will cover the cost of property acquisition, and promises increased property values will provide enough new revenue to cover operations of the park. blogHOUSTON has not been able to confirm whether Mayor White's wildly optimistic financial team includes Pancho Claus, but we have our suspicions.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/01/04 09:41 PM |
25 November 2004
Heflin campaign goes nuclear
Republican Talmadge Heflin's campaign has now "gone nuclear" with regard to his most recent race against Democrat Hubert Vo (the certified winner of the race):
State Rep. Talmadge Heflin asked the state House of Representatives today to overturn the results of his failed re-election bid and either order him returned to the Legislature or call for a new election.
Heflin's attorney, Andy Taylor, said the election results in state House District 149 in southwest Harris County were fraught with voting irregularities and potential fraud, most of which occurred in predominantly Democratic precincts.
"The true outcome of this election was stolen from the voters in House District 149," Taylor said Tuesday. "We will prove that Representative Talmadge Heflin was re-elected."
Heflin, a Republican member of the House since 1983 and chairman of its Appropriations Committee, lost to Democratic businessman Hubert Vo by 32 votes earlier this month. But Heflin's campaign alleges that those election results include at least 248 irregularities that could have altered the outcome.
I'm rarely surprised by political events -- indeed, I make a living by predicting such events (at least in the international sphere) -- but this one surprises me.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/25/04 11:35 AM |
16 November 2004
Moving on and moving in
Heflin team in limbo over election challenge: Many in Capitol ready to move on after defeat by Vo (from the Chronicle):
Although veteran Republican state Rep. Talmadge Heflin still is contemplating a challenge to his 31-vote defeat, some members of both parties are acting like he's out and some are saying openly that he should accept his loss.
Heflin's lawyers said they hope to decide by Friday whether to request a recount, although the deadline for doing so isn't until after the Texas secretary of state certifies the election result next week. The Houston lawmaker also could contest the election in the state House.
[snip]
Some people in Austin already are waiting to move in, with a senior legislator claiming Heflin's Capitol office in a ritual that follows legislative elections. Based on seniority, returning House members get the chance to pick new offices being vacated by retiring or defeated members.
State Rep. Edmund Kuempel, R-Seguin, the only remaining member of the legislative group first seated in 1983 along with Heflin, claimed Heflin's third-floor office, one of the bigger ones in the Capitol.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/16/04 06:31 AM |
04 November 2004
How long before Houston imitates Fort Worth?
Mayor White and Chief Hurtt defend the decision to spend $5 million on Taser equipment (despite the city's failure to address HPD's manpower shortages) because they contend it will save lives.
Meanwhile, our friends at Y'all Blog report that a Fort Worth man has died after police there used a Taser on him. The man had allegedly been stealing electricity by running an extension cord to a utility pole.
Is this really something that should be a priority in Houston?
Mayor White and uniformless Chief Hurtt apparently think so.
(11-05-2004 Update) Predictably, Chronicle reporters Lise Olsen and Rhea Davis go to work spinning the news in favor of the White/Hurtt position. It's unclear why it took two reporters to reproduce the Hurtt/Taser International talking points. Maybe one of these days, the Chronicle can spare one reporter to press city officials on HPD's manpower issues.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/04/04 08:29 PM |
03 November 2004
Hurtt gets his stun guns
Two weeks ago, City Council shelved a decision to pay $5 million for Taser equipment.
KHOU-11 reports that City Council approved the purchase today.
It's good to know that city has $5 million to throw around for stun guns, but the Mayor and Council have yet to address HPD's manpower issues.
(11-04-2004 Update) Mike Snyder covers the story for the Chronicle. Councilmembers Addie Wiseman and Ada Edwards voted against the authorization, arguing against the expenditure in light of the fact the city has not addressed HPD manpower shortages. A Houston police officers' union also argued the city should forego Tasers and spend the money on addressing manpower problems.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/03/04 08:36 PM |
Three city propositions pass
All three propositions on municipal ballots passed yesterday.
Proposition 1 garnered more votes than Proposition 2, which almost certainly means that it will take precedence once possible legal challenges are done.
Our friend David Benzion urges Mayor White to abide by both propositions, but it seems pretty clear (and has for a while even to listeners of KSEV if not readers of Chronically Biased) that he's under no legal obligation to do so.
The Proposition 2 folks lost, to a mayor who outmaneuvered them. It's doubtful KSEV/Chronically Biased had the reach to have overcome the final losing margin, but one can't help but think it couldn't have hurt their cause for Dan Patrick to spend a little more pushing Proposition 2 and a little less time on constantly changing election predictions and "Astros Destiny" prognostication.
Interestingly, Proposition 3 cruised to an easy victory. That one may prove to be more of an irritant to the mayor's office over time than either of the revenue limitation proposals.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/03/04 02:47 PM |
01 November 2004
Police or playgrounds?
Here's a "Wrap-Up" story in today's Chronicle:
In a project called "City of Houston: Problem Solved," teams of fourth- and fifth-graders have been learning about government by allocating a fictitious $2.8 million among city departments.
Needless to say, the departments' needs exceed the money available.
At first, said computer lab teacher Lilene Caldwell, "some of the children wanted all the departments to get the same amount of money. Otherwise, they said, 'It's not fair.' "
Caldwell said she explained, "You can do that if you want to, but you're going to have to fire half the police."
Then there's this:
City Councilman Mark Goldberg, whose district includes the school, visited with the students recently.
"They were really interested, on more of an adult level than a children's level," he said. "There wasn't much talk about playgrounds. It was more about public safety and what the police do. There was even one question about the pension."
Interesting, huh? Fourth- and fifth-graders, when faced with city budget funding dilemmas, chose to fund public safety over playgrounds. Mayor White, on the other hand, when faced with a police manpower shortage, has chosen to focus on Houston's own Central Park. Among other things.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/01/04 09:44 AM |
31 October 2004
What about Proposition 3?
Chronicle metro/state columnist Rick Casey wrote a column on Friday in favor of Proposition 3.
While Propositions 1 and 2 have been discussed quite a bit, Proposition 3 has received far less attention. Basically, as Casey explains, the proposition would grant the city controller authority to conduct performance audits of city offices and services.
In terms of providing another check on the Mayor and Council, the proposal makes sense institutionally. However, one potential drawback is, as Casey points out, that the authority might be used in a purely vindictive manner, as has been the case with state controller Carol Keeton Strayhorn, whose use of the power became so personal that the state legislature finally stripped her of it.
Even with the potential drawbacks, Casey's conclusion seems compelling to me:
But in a city that gives its mayor more power than virtually any other mayor in the nation, we need an elected official with the authority to seek and present independent information.
When the mayor and the controller squabble, as they inevitably will, the public can choose whom to believe.
We might add that future squabbles between the mayor and city controller might also serve the purpose of forcing the city's only newspaper to cover municipal politics more closely. The public would certainly benefit.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/31/04 10:18 PM |
Mayor still using false FAA revenue attack to discredit Prop. 2
Last week, I ran across this AP story about the Prop. 1/Prop. 2 battle:
Proposition 1, created by Mayor Bill White and other city leaders, would limit increases in property taxes and water and sewer rates. Those rates could only be raised by the combined increases of population and inflation or 4.5 percent, whichever is lower.
Proposition 2, developed by a group called RevCap and placed on the ballot through a petition drive, asks for a cap on all revenue collected by the city also based on the combined rate of population and inflation, with any excess revenue refunded to taxpayers.
Both initiatives require voter approval before the city can spend any revenue that would exceed their respective caps.
It gets interesting when Mayor White is allowed to characterize Prop. 2, the initiative the mayor doesn't support:
But White says Proposition 2 would limit revenues from water services, airport landing fees and pollution fines that vary from year to year. Those fluctuations could force the city to cut crucial services to stay below the cap because enterprise funds only can be used for specific expenditures, he said.
The Federal Aviation Administration has warned White that if airport revenue is used for property tax refunds, the city could risk losing federal grants for improvements.
"Anything that would cut the federal funding for airport expansion or would result in cutting police protection is not what I would think of as (fiscally) conservative," he said.
The problem is that airport revenue cannot be used for property tax refunds, according to Harris County Tax Assessor Paul Bettencourt. Chronically Biased dealt with this recently:
In a nutshell, the news release is based upon a letter from the Federal Aviation Administration, which Mr. Frank Michel from the Mayor's office agreed was based upon a faulty premise. The faulty premise is that the FAA was told that airport revenue could be used for property tax refunds. According to Mr. Bettencourt, and Mr. Michel agreed, this is not correct.
Frank Michel agreed with Paul Bettencourt on KSEV that what the FAA letter said was wrong, yet the mayor is still out there repeating it.
And the intrepid AP reporter didn't do any further digging. But he should have.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/31/04 09:56 AM |
30 October 2004
A mole in Mayor White's administration?
Dan Patrick's successor website to Chronically Biased has obtained what appears to be an internal memo to Mayor White highlighting a loophole in city finances that might allow the city to evade the requirements of Proposition 2 if it passes.
While I'm not completely surprised that the administration would be researching ways to mitigate the impact of Proposition 2, one does hope they are just as diligently researching areas of the city budget that could use some discipline, even if said discipline ultimately has to be imposed by voters.
One thing that does surprise me is that Mayor White's administration apparently has a mole. I wonder who shot that memo over to Dan Patrick. And does that make David Benzion the new HouSnitch?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/30/04 02:18 PM |
28 October 2004
Effectiveness of Tasers questioned
We have previously questioned the city's priorities in light of plans to purchase nearly $5 million in Taser equipment at a time when HPD is having to deal with manpower shortages because political leaders have not allocated adequate resources to training and recruitment of new officers.
In a Houston Press article this week, Sarah Fenske points out that Tasers are not the panacea that uniformless HPD chief Harold Hurtt has made them out to be.
I'm not going to excerpt this one. Just go read it in its entirety.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/28/04 09:48 PM |
27 October 2004
The dueling propositions
The Chronicle specializes in simplistic house editorials, and today's endorsement of Proposition 1 was certainly a good example.
Indeed, the headline really tells you all you need to know about what's coming: Proposition No. 1 is useful and desirable; Proposition No. 2 isn't
In the interest of providing an alternative voice, this political scientist will offer some voting advice:
If you are serious about limiting the growth of municipal government by constraining the revenues it takes in from all sources, then you should vote for Proposition 2.
If you think there should be no such artificial limitations on the growth of municipal government (one reason being we elect representatives to make that determination), then you should vote for neither proposition.
If you fear that your fellow voters, if given the choice between a true revenue limitation mechanism or none at all, will choose the true revenue limitation mechanism (Proposition 2), then you might consider a defensive vote in favor of Proposition 1, which limits some income streams for the city, but not in a very stringent manner. The vote would be defensive, since the proposition with the most votes takes precedence if both win a majority. Mayor White's a shrewd politician who understands Houston moderates. That's why Proposition 1 is on the ballot.
Anyway, there's something to chew on for those of you who still haven't made up your mind on the dueling propositions.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/27/04 10:38 PM |
25 October 2004
Hurtt on manpower issues: patrol city desks more vigorously!
Carolyn Campbell of KHOU-11 reports that the Houston Police Department is moving cops from the city beat to the desk beat:
Dozens of Houston police officers are being pulled off the street next week and some say they're being punished for writing too few traffic tickets.
Some officers say they're being punished because they didn't meet a ticket quota.
An officer with a radar gun is probably the last thing you want to see if you're speeding. But writing tickets is one way officers are measured by their supervisors.
Patrol officers are also expected to respond to citizens' calls, make arrests and investigate crimes.
Approximately 30 patrol officers will be taken off the streets on Monday because their supervisors say they're not productive enough.
"We want to ensure that the taxpayers get full value for their dollar," said HPD Lt. Robert Manzo.
The low-performing officers in every sub-station will be reassigned for 20 days to answer non-emergency calls from citizens in the Teleserve Division.
"This was not a decision that was arrived at lightly," said Manzo. "We took great deal of effort to ensure that this process was done as fairly as could possibly have been done."
Teleserve usually is staffed by officers who have been injured or assigned to desk duty.
We share the reservations of Hans Marticiuc:
"We can't afford to lose any more people out of the patrol loop," said Hans Marticiuc, head of the Houston Patrol Officers Union.
To elaborate -- we can't afford to lose any more street manpower because it's already dangerously thin!
Whether the name is Brown or Bradford or Hurtt, HPD seems to suffer from chronic mismanagement.
Other city leaders aren't much help when it comes to public safety either, with their focus on smoking, Tasers, African-American museums, and downtown park boondoggles.
More: Additional coverage from KHOU-11's Carolyn Campbell.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/25/04 09:13 PM |
Dermatologist-councilwoman won't give up on smoking ban
Dermatologist-councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs just won't give up on her grand plans to ban smoking in Houston.
Today, she chooses to ignore any scientific evidence she might deploy for her cause in favor of pure emotionalism:
My fight against secondhand smoking started more than 20 years ago during my family practice residency at a Jacksonville, Fla., charity hospital. There, I met 7-year-old Charlie, a beautiful little boy with a frail body and big eyes. Charlie suffered from severe asthma. His medical chart was thick, and he visited the emergency room so frequently that we all grew attached. Charlie knew he needed help and didn't like to leave the hospital. He constantly worried about breathing and preferred the emergency room to his home, where nearly all of his family members smoked. When you are out of breath, you are so frightened, and Charlie always seemed so innocent and vulnerable.
One day, I noticed Charlie had stopped coming to the emergency room. When I asked around, one of the nurses told me that paramedics had found him dead, clutching his inhaler. Charlie's death filled my heart with sorrow and strengthened my resolve that no one should have to breathe secondhand smoke.
At the time, doctors and nurses still smoked in the emergency room. The first step was to eliminate smoke in hospitals. Next, we needed to clean up the air in other workplace environments.
We've come a long way in 20 years, but more work needs to be done.
It's time for a smoke-free Houston.
Since the dermatologist-councilwoman is not proposing to ban smoking in private homes (we don't think), poor Charlie would still have suffered from secondhand smoke, even if he had lived to enjoy dermatologist-councilwoman Gibbs' proposed ban on smoking in all of Houston's public places.
But seriously, do we actually believe that emergency room professionals actually smoked in treatment areas in the hospital? I can't help but think dermatologist-councilwoman Gibbs is exaggerating.
In any case, City Council should have many higher priorities than banning smoking citywide. We encourage dermatologist-councilwoman Gibbs to read these pages more frequently if she can't figure them out on her own.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/25/04 08:36 PM |
The Dallas Morning News on the crime lab controversy
The Dallas Morning News ran a column by Bruce Nichols last Friday on the ongoing controversy over Houston's disgraced police crime lab.
The story is noteworthy because it actually treats the controversy in a balanced manner, unlike the Chronicle, which has engaged in one-sided reporting and mischaracterized Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal's position repeatedly.
Here are some excerpts from the Nichols story that would never make it into the Chronicle:
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/25/04 07:20 PM |
24 October 2004
Propositions one and two to be discussed
blogHOUSTON hears that Bill Balleza's Newsmakers program will feature an interesting discussion of Proposition One and Proposition Two.
The program airs on KPRC-2 at 9 am on Sunday, for those who are interested.
MORE: Websites in support of Proposition One and Proposition Two.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/24/04 07:34 AM |
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