03 May 2008
Mincberg: Allegations about my former properties are gutter politics
So ... as the Texas Democratic Party deploys resources to Harris County in an effort to defeat Judge Ed Emmett and throws criticisms of Emmett all over the place, Dem Candidate David Mincberg says any criticisms of apartment complexes HE developed are out of line.
Gutter politics, he says.
Does Mincberg have thin skin? Local media haven't focused on him, so as an outside observer I have no idea. There is this old Houston Press story about his time as Harris County Dem Chairman. It's an interesting read, exploring his head-butting with local Dems, and toward the end of the piece the author delves into Mincberg's business -- apartment complex development:
Mincberg is obviously uncomfortable talking about his troubles in Albuquerque, and he seems anxious to know where details of the lawsuit, which is a matter of public record, first surfaced. Sources say he became angry with a party activist last week, accusing her of leaking information about the lawsuit in an attempt to sully his reputation.
Since MIncberg is touting his business record as his qualification to be county judge, he'd better expect his business record to be explored. That's not gutter politics.
Oh, and when he became head of the city's Housing and Community Development Department, he didn't quit working his other job. So his time as a city official and his time as a business executive are all fair game ... just as they are with Judge Emmett.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/03/08 07:16 AM |
01 May 2008
And the race for county judge is on
On the Chron's Houston Politics blog, Liz Peterson relays a Harris County Democratic Party press release complaining about the timing of Judge Emmett's trip to India:
The Harris County Democratic Party is criticizing Republican County Judge Ed Emmett for jetting to India and missing this week's hurricane preparedness drill.
The annual statewide exercise is coordinated by the governor's emergency management division. Representatives from more than 50 Harris County departments participated, along with transportation officials, first responders and community groups.
"Protecting Harris County residents from another disaster like Hurricane Rita should be a top priority of the county judge," party spokeswoman Amber Moon said in a statement. "The fact that Ed Emmett would choose traveling to India over emergency preparedness speaks volumes about his priorities."
Through a spokesman, Emmett called Moon's comments a "sickening attempt to play politics with public safety." He said his 10-day trade mission was planned last year before dates for the drill were firmed up.
That seems like a fairly lame criticism for the Dems to make, but it is election season. Do people really think a governmental body cannot function if the leader is not present? Do people really think that if a hurricane was forecast for a potential Gulf Coast landfall, Judge Emmett wouldn't have cancelled his trip?
The comments to the post are also fairly lame, with the first commenter being especially ill-informed:
Great, why are we paying him to jet around on a 10 day tour of India? How much is this costing us in his monthly wage and our tax dollars.
Junkets need to be outlawed.
Posted by: CB at May 1, 2008 08:16 AM
As we noted here previously, Judge Emmett did not use any taxpayer dollars to pay his way to India. If Houston Politics commenters want to go that route, maybe they could inquire if Mayor Bill White was paid to jet around the Middle East on an eight-day trade mission? Did Mayor White pay his own way? I don't know; maybe someone can inquire.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/01/08 06:25 PM |
29 April 2008
What would Richard Vacar do?
Cab drivers who work at Bush Intercontinental have filed a lawsuit in an effort to get the city to improve their working conditions:
Two miles from all the terminals at Bush Intercontinental Airport, sits this massive staging area for taxicabs.
It is a large parking lot where hundreds of drivers sit, wait and even at times sleep for four to six hours.
All that waiting for:
11 News: To pick up one person?
Cabbie: Yes to pick up a fare. Yes sir.
Then they return, just to hurry up and wait all over again.
But attorney Reginald McKamie says his clients; nearly 1,000 independent taxi cab drivers are victims of discrimination.
“These men and women are the ambassadors for Houston,” said McKamie. “They are living or working in deplorable conditions. They are working in conditions worse than Third World country conditions.”
McKamie points to bathroom and shower facilities in the staging area that he says are in horrible condition.
A few years ago, the city added the portable facilities and promised the cabbies they would have running water.
But?
“I assumed at this point that they would get around to it,” said cabbie Tommy Breedlove. “But I have been working out there for 20-years and they haven't done anything.”
And Breedlove says they are forbidden to go to the bathroom at the terminals.
So, to get the city's attention, the drivers have decided to file a federal discrimination suit.
[snip]
“They have had discussions with the mayor. He has ignored it. City council has ignored it. Something has to be done,” said McKamie.
As soon as Houston Airports Director Richard Vacar decides how he wants to handle this, Mayor White and City Council will act.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 04/29/08 05:03 AM |
24 April 2008
Judge Emmett to promote trade with India
At the Houston Politics blog, Liz Peterson notes that Harris County Judge Ed Emmett is beginning a ten-day trip to India to promote trade with Harris County. Accompanying him are officials from the Port of Houston, the GHP and the GHCVB. She includes this at the end:
By the way, Emmett says he's paying for most of his own expenses during the trip, including his airfare.
That's not something you see everyday! Good for Judge Emmett.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 04/24/08 04:56 AM |
18 April 2008
METRO pays Carol Alvarado $150 per hour!
Right after we learned (permanently no longer a councilwoman) Carol Alvarado had been hired by METRO as a consultant, Tom Bazan filed a TxPIA to find out all the details.
I don't think he's heard back from METRO yet (shocker!!!), but Matt Stiles got a response to his TxPIA request:
Turns out the deal, a copy of which I just obtained under the Texas Public Information Act today, specifically excludes Alvarado from representing METRO before city officials, including Mayor White and City Council members. By the way, the contract is dated five days after Alvarado left the city.
But the agency can ask her for help with various other local agencies, including the Houston-Galveston Area Council and the Gulf Coast Freight Rail District.
The terms? They pay $150 an hour, with a maximum of 600 hours per year. So far she's been paid about $6,000, METRO officials say.
So while Carol was boo-hooing that the city was going to be deprived of her greatness, she was already working on a nice gig with METRO.
As one commenter to Stiles' post noted:
CA has never had a real job her entire adult life. Why should she start now?
She's just serving the public, making sure the Houston area doesn't get shortchanged by losing her talents.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 04/18/08 04:53 AM |
28 March 2008
Carol Alvarado, METRO consultant
The Chron's Carolyn Feibel put up a great blog post on the Houston Politics blog today. It's not a long post -- six paragraphs -- but since the subject of the post is Carol Alvarado, it's just chock full of good stuff:
Carol Alvarado really did look kind of relieved today, after two of her former employees at City Hall reached a plea deal today in an embezzlement case.
"The plea agreements validate what I said two years ago, that I neither authorized or condoned this illegal activity," Alvarado said. "I'm glad to see there will be a repayment of sorts to the taxpayers. This has been going on for two years, and I'm glad we're able to finally move on."
The judge ordered the two employees to pay back the city and to apologize to Alvarado.
"I will gladly accept that apology," she said. "I feel like individuals broke my trust and took advantage of the system we had in place for the pro tem office and betrayed me and the taxpayers of Houston."
Alvarado, who is working as METRO consultant now, also took some questions on the just announced news that the planned East Side light rail line will stop six blocks short of the Magnolia Transit Center. Now the city and the agency are scrambling for federal money to try to build a bridge for the light rail over the train tracks that block it.
"I think everybody's going to have to pitch in, the city certainly, but talking to Congressman Gene Green, he's going to be working on securing some federal funding and we also have support from the Greater Rail Task Force," Alvardo said.
Egads.
Regarding the illegal activity of her staffers, the complaint was that her managerial ineptitude contributed to an atmosphere that allowed the illegal activity to occur. As Kevin Whited noted at the height of the scandal:
Alvarado's lack of oversight and inattention to detail seem to have allowed $130,000 of the people's money to be stolen. That's not the same as Alvarado stealing the money herself, and nobody is making that accusation against her. However, it does call into question her personnel-judgment and fiscal-management skills.
If she feels vindicated, then she doesn't grasp what the real problem was. That's not encouraging, but it is predictable.
As for the revelation that she's working for METRO, what kind of a consultant is she? Is it anything like this? Will she stay on as a consultant after she's elected to Rick Noriega's old seat?
And she really was serious when she said term limits have deprived Houston of her greatness. She's still telling Mayor White what to do, as evidenced by her matter-of-fact statement that the city will "certainly" have to pitch in to get that bridge built.
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/28/08 07:18 PM |
17 March 2008
This has "revenue stream" written all over it
The Chron's Jennifer Radcliffe notes that a certain mayor who is fond of revenue streams is interested in West U.'s possible school zone cell phone ban:
Houston-area officials are watching West University Place as elected officials there consider banning cell phones in the school zone near the community's lone elementary campus.
The move would put the affluent suburb on the map as the first Houston-area municipality to take a stand against drivers talking on their phones as children travel to and from school. The community is following in the footsteps of Dallas and several North Texas suburbs that have recently approved bans.
"We'll be watching with interest to see what happens," said Linda Clarke, director of education and special projects for Houston Mayor Bill White. "We'll certainly be looking and wanting to know more about it."
I'll bet! The revenue possibilities are exciting.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/17/08 05:02 PM |
06 March 2008
Just a coincidence?
The city of Houston buys six blocks of land at an inflated price, using property tax money and water/sewer funds to pay off political insiders.
Dallas will have snow... in March.
Coincidence? Yes. Hell is only supposed to freeze over when something unusual happens.
Oh, three other minor notes -- first, don't look for the article about this fine example of public cronyism planning on the front of the Chron's website. The link's already disappeared.
Second, look at the raw URL for the story linked above: www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/sports/5596697.html
Gee, that's an interesting editorial choice, isn't it?
And third, just FYI, this Bloomberg news article appeared on the Chron's website today: Houston Borrowing Costs Skyrocket.
Banks and brokers built the market for auction-rate bonds by marketing the debt to investors as safe, cash-like securities and to municipal borrowers as a low-cost source of financing. Until mid-February, banks supported prices by bidding for bonds that went unsold, preventing auctions they ran from failing.
"There's always a shiny new deal, and the banks make money every time they participate," said Houston City Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck, head of the council's budget and fiscal affairs committee. The city's borrowing costs rose by $3 million a month in February when rates on some of its debt soared to 7.8 percent from 4.25 percent. "It's going to put pressure on us as we prepare our budget."
You can also find the same article here, on Bloomberg's site.
Hinky financing and shady deals. Don't worry, it's just business as usual downtown.
Posted by Ubu Roi @ 03/06/08 11:06 AM |
02 March 2008
No Mayor White riding to the rescue?
Not all Houston residents can count on Mayor White to intervene when a developer proposes building a high-density project (via the Chronicle):
A San Antonio developer of low-income, multi-family apartments has plans to build a $26 million complex with 252 one- to four-bedroom units on South Gessner, between West Bellfort and McGee Lane, using $13 million in tax credits and private funding.
Some southwest Houston residents, however, are opposing the plans to build Costa del Rey, citing the approximately 96 apartments already saturating the 3-mile radius of the proposed site with tenants who place a heavy burden on area schools, law enforcement and infrastructure.
[snip]
Elaine Gascamp, president of the Super Neighborhood No. 36 and the city's Super Neighborhood Alliance, and director on the Brays Oaks Management District, said the area is Houston's second-highest in density only to Greenspoint.
She said the new proposal would place the complex in one of the area's most densely populated neighborhoods — on South Gessner across from Welch Middle School and adjacent to Mount Olive Baptist Church.
Gascamp said she was not mollified by NRP's assurances that Costa del Rey would only accept qualified professionals and others who earned near the $27,000 to $47,000 mark, since area schools are already at capacity and local police are stretched to deal with the existing population.
These South Gessner residents must be an example of the "low-income residents who might have less time or inclination to vote and take part in civic affairs" that the Chronicle editors described when they defended Mayor White against charges of favoritism in the Ashby high rise brouhaha. They shouldn't hold their breath that Mayor White will provide any assistance.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/02/08 12:40 PM |
22 February 2008
Harris County DA debate posted on KHOU website
Earlier in the week, the GOP candidates for Harris County District Attorney squared off in a debate (Democrat Clarence Bradford was invited, but apparently is still hiding somewhere hoping never to answer a tough question).
KHOU-11 could not be bothered actually to televise this important debate over the public airwaves, but they did have a live webcast, and the video is also available (Part One and Part Two).
In my view, the debate further illustrated that there are two highly qualified DA candidates on the GOP side, and two others -- but maybe you'll have other thoughts after watching the debate. Feel free to discuss in the forum.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/22/08 10:24 PM |
20 February 2008
Mayor White: Just give me $16 million for soccer stadium land and don't ask any questions (updated!)
Remember when Mayor White and Council extended a long-term no-bid airport concession contract last fall? And recall how Mayor White said he'd learned his lesson about transparency?
James Rodriguez, who represents Lambert’s area, and Anne Clutterbuck, a soccer fan, say they’d at least like to have a public hearing before spending $16 million on a possible stadium site.
But Mayor Bill White says it’s too early for public input.
“I think it’s fair if there’s a particular plan or proposal, which there’s not right now, to talk to the neighbors and the people who live right along there,” White said.
Nope, no particular plan or proposal. Just $16 million for a speculative land buy.
Except that taxpayer money is involved, Mayor White. If the mayor was buying the land with his own money, that would be different, but taxpayers have a right to ask questions about where their money is going.
Then, as noted here in the forum, Rad Sallee has a story in today's Chron that quotes Bob Eury (head of the Downtown Houston Management District) saying Metro will have no problem rerouting light rail tracks around the (speculative?) stadium. Eury also said any extra cost Metro would incur to change routing would be offset by added ridership the stadium would attract.
Right.
As FilioScotia wrote in the forum:
Metro will do this to keep the Mayor and the downtown business crowd happy, but it won't adjust the rail route on the west side to make residents along Richmond happy?
Yep, that's how it works.
UPDATE: A story on Chron.com says the vote has been delayed, and Mayor White has blinked:
Mayor Bill White said he could not rule out the possibility of some public funds being used for the stadium's construction. But he will negotiate for the Dynamo's owners to absorb the entire cost, he said.
But of course!
MORE: Let's visit the archives. This is from November 20, 2007:
White is seeking a deal that would not require the city to contribute public money. While AEG's proposal calls for the company to bear most of the construction costs, it still would require the city to provide millions of dollars in needed infrastructure improvements, city and team officials said.
This is from January 9, 2008:
"It's not going to be done the way it was done with other stadiums, where the taxpayers picked up the tab," said White said.
And this is from January 14, 2008:
Mayor Bill White said he doesn't want public funds used for the actual stadium construction.
And here's Oliver Luck from way back in 2005:
And among the first promises [newly named club president Oliver] Luck announced was a most important one that every sports fan should note: A soccer-specific stadium here would not be financed like every other sports mansion on the local landscape.
Financing will not be another tax burden on citizens.
Goooooaaaaalllll!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/20/08 07:20 PM |
18 February 2008
Area GOP primary candidate questions/answers
With a little encouragement from the blogging sidelines, local blogger Cory Crow has taken the lead in compiling and submitting detailed policy questionnaires to Republican primary candidates for several area offices.
As he receives answers and posts them on his blog, we'll update this post with links to his posts, along with an indicator of the date of the response and the race. As the general election approaches, we'll do something similar in a new post (and link to Charles Kuffner's interviews with the Democratic candidates as well). Thanks in advance to all the candidates who participate!
Without further ado, here's the list of responses to date:
Candidate (Office Sought, Date Answers Posted)
Jim Leitner (Harris County District Attorney, 02/18/2008)
Robert Talton (Congressional District 22, 02/21/2008)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/18/08 09:24 AM |
17 February 2008
Soccer stadium land on Council agenda
Thanks to Tom Bazan for noting what's on this week's City Council agenda (#16):
16. ORDINANCE appropriating a total of $15,542,042.00 from the reimbursement of Equipment/Projects Fund (Fund 1850), approving and authorizing the purchase of land known as Blocks 203, 204, 205, 218 and 219, SSBB, Harris County, Texas, from the following parties, as their respective interests appear: (1) Louis Macey, Trustee, on behalf of a trust created pursuant to an agreement dated November 17, 1997, (2) Louis Macey, Trustee, on behalf of undisclosed parties; (3) Macey Family Properties, Ltd., a Texas Limited Partnership; and (4) Macey Family Properties II, Ltd., a Texas Limited Partnership; approving necessary documents related thereto; finding and determining that public convenience and necessity no longer require the continued use of a portion of public street right-of-way consisting of Jackson Street between Rusk Avenue and Capitol Avenue, vacating and abandoning said public street right-of-way to the abutting owner Macey Family Properties II, Ltd., a Texas Limited Partnership and to LAM Block 100, Ltd., a Texas Limited Partnership, as their respective interests appear, for the appraised fair market value; approving the conveyance of the City’s interest in the real property underlying such street to the abutting owners Macey Family Properties II, Ltd., a Texas Limited Partnership and to LAM Block 100, Ltd., a Texas Limited Partnership, as their respective interests appear, for the appraised fair market value while reserving and retaining easement rights for the public utilities currently in place until the abutting owners grant acceptable permanent utilities easements to the City and move the utilities to such easements at their expense - DISTRICT I - RODRIGUEZ
It appears item #17 may be related:
17. ORDINANCE approving and authorizing the conveyance of land known as Block 193, SSBB, Harris County, Texas and the improvements thereon in exchange for (1) $250,000.00, (2) the acquisition of land known as Block 220, SSBB, Harris County, Texas, and the improvements thereon, from 800 Dowling, LP, a Texas Limited Partnership; and the entering into of a lease-back agreement by the City as “Tenant” and 800 Dowling, LP as “Landlord” of Block 193, SSBB, and the improvements thereon; approving necessary documents related thereto - DISTRICT I ‑ RODRIGUEZ
And perhaps item #46, too:
46. SET A PUBLIC HEARING DATE relative to proposed amendment of the Project Plan and Reinvestment Zone Financing Plan for Reinvestment Zone Number 15, City of Houston, Texas (East Downtown Zone) - DISTRICT I - RODRIGUEZ
SUGGESTED HEARING DATE - WEDNESDAY - FEBRUARY 27, 2008 - 9:00 A.M.
That's about $16 million, not including tax breaks and upcoming infrastructure improvements the Dynamo will require. Oh, and a street right-of-way that is no longer needed for "public convenience."
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/17/08 04:55 PM |
28 January 2008
Chron profiles GOP DA candidates
Yesterday, the Chronicle ran profiles of the four GOP candidates running for Harris County district attorney.
Here are links to the stories by Alan Bernstein:
Siegler's career in court comes with controversy
Lykos drops the charm to make court stricter
Leitner was prosecutor, now a defense attorney
HPD supervisor touts accounting, law skills
There was no accompanying profile of Clarence Bradford, but perhaps he couldn't be found by the local press, as he (understandably) tends to hide and go mute whenever the HPD crime lab is in the news.
BLOGVERSATION: Harris County Criminal Justice (I, II).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/28/08 09:26 PM |
26 January 2008
Lee Brown's legacy
In Matt Stiles' story about the arrest of Mike Surface and Andrew Schatte, he garnered a laugh-out-loud quote from former Mayor Lee Brown:
Brown said Friday that the corruption alleged in the indictment should not tarnish his legacy of running the city.
He noted, for example, that the city's inspector general had launched an investigation of McGilbra before deferring to the federal authorities. Brown also said he had no dealings with Schatte or Surface.
"Many very positive things happened during my administration," the former mayor said. "It's one event, which does not characterize six years of my administration."
Pause and let that sink in for a minute. Actually, it may take several minutes, once you realize he wasn't kidding.
How should Mayor Brown's administration be characterized? Well, there was plenty of corruption, as has already come to the fore.
He loved going on international trade missions, earning the nickname Out-of-Town Brown. He abhorred bandit signs, with a passion. He didn't get bogged down in the intricacies of public infrastructure. And his dazzling budget skills eventually landed him the chairman's seat at a bank.
How about some more?
He left behind a $1.5 billion pension mess; he required a personal chef; and government work seemed to go on without him even when he was in the same room.
Remember when Laurence Simon cracked that Rice University would use a dumpster to house Mayor Brown's personal papers? Yeah, that's closer to Lee Brown's legacy.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/26/08 06:02 PM |
25 January 2008
Mayor White will encourage Dynamo to use sports complex
A common theme in Tom Kirkendall's posts on Houston boondoggles is how the city would be much better off spending money on infrastructure improvements. That comes to mind when reading yesterday's Chronicle story about Mayor White's proposal to buy land for a sports complex he hopes the Dynamo will use:
The complex, a long-awaited home for youth and adult soccer teams, will probably include 18 playing fields, Mayor Bill White said. The council will need to approve the land purchase for $6.42 million.
Councilwomen Anne Clutterbuck and Melissa Noriega placed a one-week hold on the item. Clutterbuck said the administration did not give council members enough time before the Wednesday vote to review the details of the purchase.
The property is just northwest of the intersection of Almeda-Genoa and Texas 288.
White said the complex would include parking, but added that not all fields would be used for soccer.
He said the city would explore funding partnerships with corporate sponsors, Harris County and surrounding cities. The Houston Parks Board, a private nonprofit that supports parkland, will help raise private funds, White said.
White said the city will "highly encourage the Dynamo to build a practice facility on that land and pay a fair rental rate."
The city is still negotiating to purchase land downtown for a possible stadium for the MLS team. White reiterated his position that the stadium itself be privately constructed. He also said that if the deal with the Dynamo falls through, the city would find another use for the land or sell it.
That's an awful lot of wishing and hoping with millions of taxpayer dollars at stake. One would think these deals would be solid -- you know, with signatures and guarantees -- before the city loosens up the purse strings.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/25/08 05:07 AM |
21 January 2008
Soccer stadium and rail lines
Last week in our Local Blog Talk section, Kevin linked to Christof Spieler's post about how Mayor White's newly proposed downtown soccer stadium sits right in the middle of two proposed light rail lines.
In today's Move It! column, Rad Sallee takes up the topic and refers to "local bloggers" having raised the issue, without actually naming the local bloggER -- singular. As Cory Crow notes, it's odd that Sallee didn't name Spieler, and link to his post.
But then there's this quote in Sallee's story:
Mayor Bill White's spokesman Frank Michel said that is no surprise to the city or Metropolitan Transit Authority, since both have been involved in stadium talks with the Houston Dynamo soccer team since last spring.
Whoa! Are we to infer then that this location has been the preferred location since last spring? That would have been news to many of us! But then again, Mayor White was very stingy with details as negotiations dragged on.
Maybe the new stadium location wasn't a surprise to the city or Metro or the Dynamo. But it surely was to just about everyone else.
One commenter to Sallee's column wonders if the Dynamo will pay all the costs associated with making changes to the two light rail lines. Good question!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/21/08 08:27 PM |
Borris and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week
KTRK-13's Miya Shay sums up state Rep. Borris Miles' current situation:
1. He's facing a tough primary challenge from the man he defeated, Former State Rep. Al Edwards, 2. He's being investigated by the District Attorney's office, 3. He's being sued, with a hearing on Friday, 4. He's recently been in the hospital, recovering from pneumonia.
Whew...
Yep, pretty much.
What's needed in the Houston-area is an infusion of integrity -- on both sides of the aisle.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/21/08 07:55 PM |
15 January 2008
Commissioner Eversole wants a do-over
Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole has decided to deal with at least one of the issues uncovered by KTRK-13's Wayne Dolcefino:
Acknowledging "numerous errors" in previous campaign-finance records, Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole said today that he planned to review old reports to ensure they comply with the law.
Eversole, a commissioner since 1991, blamed "ignorance of applicable laws" for errors on state-mandated campaign reports that detailed his fundraising and spending.
In a written statement from prominent Republican campaign consultant Allen Blakemore, Eversole said he had retained former Harris County Judge Robert Eckels to handle his future campaign reports.
He also said he asked Eckels, who resigned as the county chief executive last year and now works for the Fulbright & Jaworski law firm, to review his past reports and fix any errors.
Eversole has been under media scrutiny since late last year after KTRK-TV (Channel 13) aired reports questioning Eversole's use of campaign funds.
The Houston Chronicle also has reported that hundreds of the four commissioners' campaign expenses, particularly Eversole's, were labeled with vague descriptions such as "public relations" and "misc." Such designations could encompass everything from meals to purchases at boutique gift shops, and offer few clues about what was purchased or who benefited from those purchases.
Errors on campaign reports can result in fines by the Texas Ethics Commission, but the Harris County District Attorney's Office has launched an investigation into whether Eversole misused thousands of dollars in campaign contributions for his own benefit.
"A number of errors were pointed out in our past reports. They were a result of poor reporting practices and ignorance of the applicable laws. I have taken the criticism to heart and adopted a "best practices" approach to my campaign finances. I have made a dramatic shift in procedures and practices," Eversole said in the statement.
It's big of Commissioner Eversole to take time out from his Starbuck's visits, golf course outings, and gym workouts to attend to, you know, his actual commissioner duties. It would have been even better if he had been attending to his duties all along. And it's never a good sign when one tries to use the old "ignorance" excuse.
How much money does he get paid again?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/15/08 06:59 PM |
14 January 2008
Soccer stadium land could cost $20 million! (updated)
Remember how Mayor White has said time and again that a new soccer stadium would not require the city to contribute public funding?
Well, today Carolyn Feibel reports that through some kind of government financing-magic, Mayor White will have to find up to $20 million for the stadium land:
The city could spend up to $20 million to buy six downtown blocks for a Dynamo soccer stadium, and it remains unclear if the team would reimburse the costs.
The blocks that officials are eyeing — just east of U.S. 59 in the warehouse district — have a total appraised value of about $5.1 million, according to the Harris County Appraisal District, or HCAD.
But local property owners who want to sell have been asking for triple or even quadruple the appraised values, as the area is seen as "hot" for development.
"I do not believe the appraisal value reflects even half of the market value," said Dan Nip, chairman of the East Downtown Redevelopment Authority. HCAD has appraised properties in the six-block area at $12.50 per square foot.
But asking prices by nearby owners have been $30 or more per square foot, Nip said. "If you have the whole square block, you can get as high as $40-$50."
City officials have not said how they would pay for the property. Mayor Bill White said he doesn't want public funds used for the actual stadium construction.
The property is bounded by Texas, Dowling, Walker and Hutchins streets.
Four of the six blocks are owned by former Councilman Louis Macey, who represented District C from 1976 to 1979. A fifth block is owned by HBS Warehouse Associates, and the sixth block is subdivided between two other owners, according to HCAD records.
But wait! There's more:
"It's important for us economically to have the Dynamo here because if we don't have a stadium for them, they're going to go somewhere else," said Councilman Peter Brown.
But Brown said the city should insist on plans for mixed-use development and shared parking around the future stadium.
"We built George R. Brown and Minute Maid Park without a master plan; we just sort of let development happen around them," Brown said. "This is an opportunity to take a more mature approach ... it's how you buffer the adverse impacts."
No concern for the "adverse impacts" on taxpayers' wallets, of course. Councilman Brown doesn't have to worry about such things.
And we all know a "more mature approach" involves lots and lots of money. Gigantic sums of public investment. No wonder Mayor White's position is, "we do not plan to provide any answers to specific questions."
MORE: I've been thinking about the evolution of Mayor White's language. In early stories, we'd get a quote from the mayor using the words, "no public funding." But as time went on, we'd see stories that included the words, "no property taxes." And now Cory Crow notes the fine-tuned wording in today's story:
Mayor Bill White said he doesn't want public funds used for the actual stadium construction.
A differentiation between land and stadium? There are millions of dollars of wiggle room in that language!
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport, Houston's Clear Thinkers.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/14/08 05:09 AM |
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