12 January 2008
Sales tax revenue up for Houston, Metro...again! (cont'd)
Houston received a sales tax payment of $39.3 million in January, up 10 percent from $35.7 million the previous year.
The city's Metropolitan Transit Authority received a sales tax payment of $40.1 million, up 8 percent from $37.1 million in January 2007.
OTHER NEWS YOU MAY FIND INTERESTING: Projected surplus jumps to $12 million (City Controller's office)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/12/08 12:32 PM |
11 January 2008
Instant News Network: Timely, hyperlocal, online news reporting
The greater Houston area has a new player in online news reporting: Instant News Network.
Here is the organization's press release:
InstantNewsNetwork.com announced today it has bought FortBendNow.com and plans to launch constantly updated neighborhood news sites across Houston and Dallas.
"We deliver neighborhood news to your computer when it happens, not your front lawn a week later," said George Boehme, managing director of InstantNewsNetwork.com.
The lack of timeliness in neighborhood news is what drove InstantNewsNetwork.com Editorial Director Bob Dunn to create FortBendNow.com in September 2005. Today, the website averages more than 10,000 daily visits, more than 320,000 monthly visits, and more than 1.6 million monthly page views.
InstantNewsNetwork.com will expand FortBendNow.com, immediately adding two additional mobile journalists to the staff and providing a redesign that will bring additional features to the site, including marketplace and business directories.
In addition to Dunn and Boehme, InstantNewsNetwork.com's partners include Clayton Harris, most recently director of business operations for Houston Community Newspapers, as well as Lane Smith, former manager of online development for Houston Community Newspapers.
Boehme is the founder and former publisher of Examiner Newspaper Group. Houston Community Newspapers bought Examiner Newspaper Group in April, 2006.
Planned for the first quarter 2008 are three more neighborhood news sites, in West University, Bellaire and Cinco Ranch. Within 18 months, InstantNewsNetwork.com expects to be managing more than 20 neighborhood news web sites in key Houston and Dallas markets.
Boehme tells us that the organization's focus "will be very very local and timely hard news." He further reveals that FortBendNow.com's mobile journalists will each be posting 4-7 times per day, with some video, for 12-21 timely, hyperlocal news stories daily.
If Instant News Network can pull it off, then they will OWN that local news market. And they will truly be showing the big boys how news should be done in the internet age.
Of course, most newsies have envisioned the future of news reporting as looking something like this. But will it be able to make money, and thereby support the folks gathering the news (and the owners and the overhead)? When asked how the enterprise will make money, Boehme offered a one-liner: "Advertising."
We hope he's right, as we're fans of hyperlocal news reporting and efforts at developing the (online) newspaper of the future.
BLOGVERSATION: Brazosport News.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/11/08 11:50 PM |
Dolcefino checks out a country home
KTRK-13's Wayne Dolcefino (aka undercoverman) has been poking around into Harris County affairs again, this time discovering something interesting about the ranch home of Sheriff Tommy Thomas. Here's an excerpt:
You know who helped with the design of some the sheriff's ranch house? It was Leroy Hermes. The architecture firm he founded now has the contract to design the new 1,100 bed county jail off Atascosita Road. A jail project the sheriff plays a role in approving.
"I'm sure I agreed to it, but I don't recall whether I signed off on it, I just don't recall," he said.
Thomas says Hermes volunteered to help redesign the sheriffs house plans to avoid removing huge live oak trees on the property.
"He doesn't design houses, he designs buildings," Thomas said. "It's a hobby and he said he'd be honored if he could help, I said ok."
I asked how much that would cost in the private sector.
"I have no idea," he responded.
The sheriff says the offer was made from one good friend to another, not because of the county business Hermes' firm would eventually solicit.
"This has nothing to do with any contracts with Harris County," Thomas said.
Thomas says he's been friends with Hermes 15 years.
"Leroy is a good friend, he was doing it out of the goodness of his heart, I don't think there was anything more to it than that," Thomas told us.
The remainder of Dolcefino's report gets even more interesting.
For those who still aren't clear why it's so interesting, Dolcefino elaborates on his blog:
For the record, I could care less where the Sheriff lives. Or where his second house is. Even though it's nice to see a career lawman and government official with $1 million worth of property, including a $500,000 retirement house on it.
Why the public has a right to know is because the sheriff acknowledges he got help with the architectural plans for the house from Leroy Hermes, the founder of the architectural firm the Sheriff OKed to build the new jail. He says "Leroy" and him have been friends for years, and maybe you're just fine with the Sheriff's good friend getting the deal for the new $33 million jail.
Should he have recused himself from the process because his good friend was involved? Should we care that Hermes PAC gave the Sheriff the largest political contribution days after the company got the deal? Should we care that the same deal had to be approved by the Commissioner of Precinct 4, Jerry Eversole, and that the plans for Eversole's house have the architectural stamp of --- guess who? -- Leroy Hermes. Should government officials have to disclose when people they've done business with get contracts with the government?
I don't care where the Sheriff has a weekend house. Why won't he and Commissioner Eversole disclose the extent of their financial relationships with County contractors? Why won’t he and the commissioner say how much they paid for Leroy hermes services? Was it fair market value – or something less?
The problem with these cozy relationships -- even if, as Thomas contends, it's merely a matter of friendship and not any sort of effort to influence county contracting -- is that it just doesn't look quite right. It's difficult to believe that county officials don't understand why people would raise questions over these sorts of relationships. Indeed, the recent push by some candidates for "ethics reform" at the county level suggests that at least a few local pols DO seem to understand.
County officials had best start minding their Ps and Qs. The area's newspaper of record may not devote much in the way of resources to county politics, but the undercoverman seems to be on a roll!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/11/08 09:58 PM |
Why do Houstonians insist on dashing across busy freeways?
The Chronicle's Kevin Moran reports that yet another pedestrian has been killed trying to cross a busy freeway:
A man died after being hit by two 18-wheel trucks and two cars on the East Freeway near Mercury early today, police said.
The man ran across the eastbound lanes of the freeway at about 12:10 a.m., then jumped into the westbound lanes and was hit by the first truck, Houston police accident investigator Officer D. J. Guiterrez said.
"We know he was hit by at least four vehicles," he said. "He got hit by one 18-wheeler, then he was run over by two cars and then by another 18-wheeler."
The drivers of the four vehicles either stopped or called police after the incident, Gutierrez said.
No positive identification of the man had been made by 5 a.m., Gutierrez said.
The incident marks at least the third pedestrian highway death in recent weeks.
Indeed, we've seen many more reports like this over the last year or so.
Does this happen anywhere else with such frequency? What makes anyone think this is a good idea?
And can any of our readers think of a good acronym, in case Chief Hurtt decides HPD needs an education campaign on the matter?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/11/08 09:54 AM |
10 January 2008
Chron's Gray on Houston's new boomtown
The Chronicle's Lisa Gray does a nice job describing one of Houston's most interesting neighborhoods, "new" Chinatown:
This isn't a Chinatown like the old-style ones in New York or San Francisco — jampacked, uniformly Chinese and, because they're more than a hundred years old, built for pedestrians and maybe horses but not for cars. This Chinatown is more Houston-style, an ethnic stew with easy parking, a place where the pioneering businesses date only to 1983. It resembles other new Chinatowns, ones that sprouted in car-dominated places such as the Los Angeles suburbs and Silicon Valley.
Cars promote ethnic diversity, even in a Chinatown. In places where people get around on foot, new immigrants by necessity clump tightly with people much like them, creating enclaves where it's possible to lead your entire life. A Cantonese hair salon would naturally set up shop next to a Cantonese restaurant and a Cantonese grocery store.
But cars change that equation. When it's easy for immigrant customers to drive, merchants are freer to spread out, to set up shop wherever there's space and the rent seems cheap. Cars lead to the suburban-Chinatown mix: The Cantonese hair salon may sit next to a Malaysian restaurant. The Korean music store can occupy the storefront next to a Japanese gift store catering to little girls enamored of Hello Kitty.
Of those new car-ruled Chinatowns, Houston's is among the biggest — a bit over six square miles — and most muscular. The Asian American Business Council estimates that land values along the Bellaire strip have soared between 25 percent and 50 percent since 2004, and says that more than 2 million square feet of new construction, including high-end condos, is expected over the next two years. And as the last of the open land is developed, those once-cheap rents are likely to rise.
Even so, Houston's Chinatown seems likely to remain a bargain compared to others around the country. "Flocking from SoCal to Houston," trumpeted a Los Angeles Times headline in December. "Vietnamese Americans are lured to the Texas city by cheap real estate, a lower cost of living and a burgeoning cultural enclave." Sell your house in Los Angeles, Houston Realtors urge, then buy a bigger one here for a third the cost and invest the rest in your business.
The gold rush appears to be on, and new settlers are setting up shop in the boomtown.
Interestingly, southwest Houston's boomtown has managed to boom without light rail, major sports facilities, a Pavilions project, convention center complexes, Discovery Green, or, dare we say it, excessive planning!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/10/08 09:49 PM |
Godspeed, little Frisky
The Simon family has lost another precious kitty -- Frisky, a very fluffy kitty indeed.
One of the funniest things Frisky did was to race outside on those occasions Laurence let him out. Laurence caught the hilarity on video one time, but I can't find it. If I recall correctly, one of those racing adventures led to Frisky getting lost for a day or so, and after he finally returned home, that was the end of the Frisky Races.
He's now free to race again, with his buddies Edloe and Piper cheering him on.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/10/08 08:46 AM |
09 January 2008
Thoughts on the Rosenthal email flap (parts two and three)
We return to the topic of Chuck Rosenthal and email.
As described in part one, the overly romantic emails from Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal to a female subordinate were bad enough (maybe if she had just been an intern... but we digress).
Then there was the matter of deleting emails (part two -- which didn't even get its own post because we've moved on so quickly to part three). While we're not entirely sure that the public's right to know legally requires that all emails to/from public officials be preserved forever, we're pretty sure that when a federal judge is interested in the emails, it's not a good idea to go deleting hundreds of them.
And finally, there is the matter of another batch of recently released emails to/from Rosenthal that have been described by various journalists and bloggers as misogynistic, racist, and pornographic for starters. Oh, and throw in some (likely illegal) politicking too.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/09/08 11:34 PM |
City signs letter of intent for soccer stadium land
That's the headline on Chron.com:
The city took a major step towards acquiring land for a permanent home stadium for the Dynamos, Mayor Bill White said today.
City officials signed letters of intent Monday to purchase parcels of land east of 59, near the downtown central business district. Officials would not identify the exact location, but said that discussions with the Dynamos were proceeding, with the intent of having the team finance construction of the stadium.
The preferred location of Anschutz Entertainment Group, owner of the Dynamo, has been between the George R. Brown Convention Center and Minute Maid Park on the other side of U.S. 59.
"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.
The city is also "very close" to signing letters of intent for a regional amateur soccer complex, White said. The 18-field complex would be home to the Dynamos' practice facility and to amateur clubs.
The city is considering two locations just west of 288 in southern Houston. One is immediately north of Sims Bayou and the other is north of Almeda-Genoa Road.
Then who's going to pick up the tab? It's not like the city can print money. It's incredible that Mayor White has not yet been pushed to specify where this financing will come from. Undoubtedly there will be some smooth politician-speak from the mayor when he does disclose the source of tax funds that will be used to pay for the soccer stadium land, and the millions of dollars in infrastructure improvements that will be needed.
RELATED: KHOU-11
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/09/08 01:50 PM |
Rearranging councilmember offices in the City Hall Annex
Via Matt Stiles at Chron.com's City Hall blog:
One of the perks of being Mayor Pro Tem, at least during recent administrations, is the spacious and private office suite on the second floor of the City Hall Annex, where council members and their staffs work.
Councilman Adrian Garcia, the new pro tem, is moving there this weekend. His new digs will have relatively spiffy furniture, and his staff will be separated from the open-cubicle maze that other council workers endure.
Garcia's move, however, means new Councilman James Rodriguez, who's been on the job less than a week, has to abandon the space once held by his predecessor, former District I Councilwoman (and pro tem) Carol Alvarado.
She kept the office, by the way, even after former Councilman Michael Berry served as pro tem for nearly two years after the bonus scandal.
How completely unsurprising that Carol Alvarado didn't move out of the spacious and private mayor pro tem office suite even when she was forced to give up the title. As her recent complaints about terms limits make clear, she STILL thinks she should be in that office, blessing Houstonians with her numerous talents, which include (but are not limited to) road work, garbage pick-up, park beautification, and airport construction.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/09/08 10:50 AM |
08 January 2008
Candidates for county judge agree on online campaign-finance reporting
The Chronicle's Chase Davis reports that online campaign finance disclosure may eventually make it to Harris County politics:
About six months after Houston officials began filing their campaign contribution and spending reports in a searchable online database, Harris County's top executive says he wants the county to follow suit.
Faced with the rising profile of campaign ethics as a platform issue in the Harris County judge's race, incumbent Ed Emmett is proposing a series of reforms, beginning early this year, that he said will make county campaigns more transparent to voters.
Among other proposed changes, Emmett said he intends to lobby the Texas Legislature in 2009 for the power, if not the requirement, to make large counties disclose their elected officials' campaign filings in an online database, similar to those used by state lawmakers and Houston city officials.
A preliminary review of the issue last month by the Harris County Attorney's office suggested the county could not make the change without legislative approval.
[snip]
Charles Bacarisse, Emmett's opponent in the upcoming Republican primary election, announced before his official filing in early December that he would make ethics reform one of the five core issues of his campaign.
Democratic county judge candidate David Mincberg also trumpeted ethics as a central campaign issue when he filed for the race last month.
Bacarisse, who voluntarily posted his July campaign filing on his Web site, called Emmett's proposals "lip service" and said he will soon unveil his own proposals with the support of state Rep. Beverly Woolley, a Houston Republican.
Since all of the pols seem to agree on the matter (when does THAT happen?), then let's get on with it! Online, searchable campaign-finance disclosure is long overdue in Harris County.
Apparently, the Chronicle has tried to construct its own database:
The only two U.S. counties larger than Harris County — Los Angeles County, Calif., and Cook County, Ill., — both keep their officials' campaign reports available in online databases. But here, that information is available only in paper reports, which, unlike databases, cannot easily be searched and sorted, even if scanned and posted online.
Those scans, required of large counties under a 2005 state law, are often searchable only by hand. Therefore, voters curious about how much money a donor has given must comb through stacks of reports in order to total relevant contributions.
The Chronicle has created a database of those paper reports, which is posted online at chron.com.
Great! Would any of our readers be kind enough to supply a link? I can't find it.
UPDATE (01-09-2008): Here is the link.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/08/08 09:13 PM |
Lampson: Panama Canal widening demands smart growth planning here
According to KUHF-88.7, something called the "Economic Action Summit" was held in Pearland (not sure when) to discuss "unplanned growth" in the counties surrounding Houston. You won't be surprised at one person who was present:
A sumit of area mayors and county officials in Pearland provided a forum to discuss future economic development plans for the region.
[snip]
Unplanned growth threatens [!!] the quality of life in Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery and Galveston Counties, but counties have little authority under state law to respond. Predicting that the Houston region will add another 3.5 million people to the 5 million, an Economic Action Summit in Pearland is looking at smart growth, as David Crossley of the Gulf Coast Institute explains.
"What do we actually want this region and out towns and cities to feel like in 30 or 50 years, and then what do we have to do in order to get to that place? What kind of investments do we have to make, what kind of plans?" Ed: "What are the factors that you have to consider, what are the realities?" "Maybe the biggest reality is that we have of a 144 towns and cities that are incorporated places inside these eight counties, with a sort of bare majority of the people living in the towns and cities, and the minority living in the other places where there are no mayors, there are no rules, there are no...and so how do we deal with that in the future if we want to preserve green space, if we want clean air, we want good water, particularly with the counties, as I say, not having the authority to do any planning."
No mayors and no rules? Shoot, there ought to be a law against that! How DO the folks in the unincorporated areas get along, anyway? Well, besides ruining all the green space, clean air, and good water for the city folks.
The story finishes with some rambling quotes from Rep. Nick Lampson who says, among other things, that we need to begin smart growth planning now to be ready for the impact of the Panama Canal widening.
Really.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/08/08 08:06 PM |
07 January 2008
Just because he doesn't have to resign from Council...
Last week was a busy one for Adrian Garcia, as the councilmember announced he was running for Harris County Sheriff AND was named Mayor Pro Tem.
Councilmember Garcia says not to worry, that he can campaign for another office AND handle his municipal duties:
Garcia's position is largely ceremonial but is high profile as he prepares to run for Harris County sheriff. He said he does not see a conflict between his city council position and his campaign for higher office.
"I don't believe there will be a conflict in terms of the balance," he said. "I think you know me to be a hard worker. I spend a lot of time in my office, I spend a lot of time in my community and so it is just going to be really challenging myself to do more of that."
A recent Chron story on a Friendswood councilmember who was forced by state law to resign to run for another office raised questions about whether Garcia would also be forced to resign, but Matt Stiles explains that Garcia will not be forced to resign.
Nevertheless, just as we once suggested that Doctor Councilwoman Shelley Sekula Gibbs should resign her council seat to campaign for another office, we also think that Councilmember Garcia should resign his council seat if he believes campaigning for another office is more important than tending to the one he currently occupies.
As an interesting sidenote, Garcia's campaign is yet another local one that has the backing of Mustafa Tameez's Outreach Strategists. Given Tameez's involvement in a number of high-profile area races this time around (and with his party looking to make a big dent in the GOP's dominance of Harris County politics), it may be time for some local journalist to update this out-of-date profile of the political consultant.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/07/08 10:42 PM |
City opens new underground parking garage
Construction is now complete on a new city-owned parking garage across from the George R. Brown Convention Center, and under the (not yet completed) Discovery Green park:
The city has opened a 675-vehicle garage off of Avenida de las Americas that replaces two surface lots that were razed to make way for Discovery Green park, which is expected to open in April.
The Convention District Parking garage, beneath the park, will open to the public for the Bridal Extravaganza and the Houston Cat Show Jan. 12 and 13 at the convention center. Event parking is $10.
Convention District Parking is owned and operated by the City of Houston Convention & Entertainment Facilities Department.
RELATED: City of Houston Convention and Entertainment Facilities Department website
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/07/08 07:35 PM |
City battles perceptions about crime
Last week, Mayor White seemed puzzled that local perceptions about crime don't match HPD's improving crime figures (via Chron.com's City Hall blog):
"There are some neighborhoods that felt a lot more insecure after Katrina," White said. The police department has deployed additional manpower to southwest Houston, and has gotten results, he said.
Still, fear of crime has not lessened. "You go to the civic clubs, you don't get the feedback that people feel more secure," White admitted.
And this report from KHOU-11 isn't likely to help those perceptions:
The first weekend of the New Year proved to be busy for law enforcement and deadly for some Houstonians.
Overnight, police were called to the scene of multiple shootings and stabbings.
You may recall more than a year ago when Chief Hurtt offered this assessment in a meeting with the Chronicle's editorial board:
"Overall in the city of Houston, you're pretty safe," says Hurtt. "If you're not involved in specific types of behavior, not out on the streets at particular times of night and particular areas of the city, you have a pretty good chance of not becoming a victim of violent crime in the city of Houston."
Unfortunately, this past weekend, too many people were involved in dangerous time/place/behavior situations, and became victims of violent crime.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/07/08 07:16 PM |
06 January 2008
Chron: Downtown boutique hotel business booming
The Chronicle's David Kaplan reports that the downtown boutique hotel business seems to be booming:
When the Hotel Icon opened in 2004, it drew the beautiful people. Guests have included Paris Hilton, Sting and Michael Jordan.
Until recently, the Icon featured Bank, the chic creation of New York-based chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and Whiskey Bar, owned by Rande Gerber, the jet-setting hubby of Cindy Crawford.
Bank and Whiskey Bar are no more: The Icon is joining other downtown boutique hotels in getting a makeover.
Its plush lobby will take on a modern look. Its new restaurant, Voice, will be less pricey and serve regional cuisine. Voice chef Michael Kramer is a nonjet-setter whose favorite way to travel is on a bicycle.
The hotel is spending $4 million on the redo, which will be unveiled March 23.
Most of downtown's boutique hotels, including the Icon, Alden, Inn at the Ballpark and the Magnolia Hotel, are fairly new properties. Their renovations could be a sign that they've survived birth pangs and are here for the long haul.
That's great news. Let's hope it means that, in the case of the Magnolia, the City of Houston has managed finally to get a cut of the action!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/06/08 04:47 PM |
Mayor to O'Reilly: Don't use the S word!
Just before Christmas, in response to some immigration bluster from Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, the Chronicle ran a story asking once again if Houston is a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants.
We've grown a bit tired of the increasingly pedantic nature of that debate (since it tends to obscure the fact that our local elected leaders seem not to want to consider the issue at all), but we did find the following snippets of interest:
For years, White has tried to shed the sanctuary label, bestowed on Houston and more than 30 other cities and counties by a 2006 Congressional Research Service report. The report described sanctuary cities as having a "don't ask, don't tell" policy when it comes to questioning illegal immigrants about their immigration status.
White has twice tightened up the policy for dealing with suspected illegal immigrants, most recently after the death of Houston police Officer Rodney Johnson, who was shot in the head during a traffic stop in September 2006. The alleged gunman, Juan Leonardo Quintero, was an illegal immigrant with a criminal record.
In the past year, Houston spent $800,000 in overtime to improve screening of suspects, including those accused of minor crimes, such as traffic tickets, the mayor's office said.
And, of course, it's the local daily's job to regurgitate what the mayor's office says (apparently).
It is worth noting that the firestorm that emerged following Officer Johnson's death at the hands of an illegal immigrant forced our mayor -- who reportedly has ambitions to higher political office in Texas -- to deal with the sanctuary issue.
Continuing:
"Unlike many other cities in the United States, the governing body of the city of Houston has never adopted some sanctuary city policy or resolution," White said. "The Houston Police Department ... cooperates fully with ICE, including undertaking criminal raids against undocumented people who are engaged in criminal activities."
Technically, that's right. HPD's earlier "don't ask" sanctuary policy (previously supported by Mayor White) was the result of a directive from an unelected police chief in 1992, and not any elected body. The mayor, of course, controls the Council agenda, and apparently neither Mayor White nor any other Houston mayor has wanted this issue to come before the city's elected policymakers for real discussion, debate, and vetting of an official policy. Maybe there's no need, since our immigration problem obviously hasn't grown worse in a decade and a half (er, or maybe our elected leaders DO need to have that discussion, since the story does trumpet the fact that the policy has changed under MayorWhiteChiefHurtt -- this spin all gets so hard to keep straight!). In any case, it's helpful background to keep in mind (and helpful background curiously omitted from the story).
All pedantry over our "sanctuary" status aside, perhaps we can at least agree that that the illegal immigration issue is only growing in importance, even if you agree with Mayor White that it's apparently not a matter that should be discussed or debated by our elected leaders around the Council table.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/06/08 04:25 PM |
METRO rolls out 2008 service "improvements," fare increases
KHOU-11's Wendell Edwards reports that a Houston non-profit isn't too pleased with planned fare changes:
At the Star of Hope, caseworkers hand out small tokens to help some clients get to appointments and job interviews.
The tokens, worth a dollar each, are used for Metro fares.
“It will help them get on the bus to get them to their necessary destination,” Star of Hope case worker Ural Williams said.But under new plans, Metro will change the system for charities.
In the past, they could purchase the tokens from Metro at a discount. But now the dollar tokens will become a thing of the past, replaced by $5 vouchers.
Williams says that’s a bit much for charities to just give away.
“They can abuse the system with it. They could sell it or it could become a temptation,” he said.
[snip]
The changes aren’t scheduled to take place until the end of March. The charities are hoping they still have enough time to convince Metro to change the plan.
A Metro spokeswoman said officials are sympathetic to the problem.
“We will be talking with these agencies to develop an alternative that best serves both our needs,” she said in a statement.
Let's hope so. Because the regional mobility organization frequently seems less concerned about the people who most need its services than about affluent types who want light-rail to be like a cheap, heavily subsidized "world-class" taxi that will take them right where they want to go (and about affluent developers, architects, consultants, planners, and others who hope to secure business from METRO).
The big news to start the year, of course, is that METRO has finally rolled out the Q Card (and associated fare increases) after weeks months years of inexplicable delays. Cory Crow gave that about the best treatment we've seen in the local blogosphere, and it's certainly a more skeptical treatment than one is likely to find among the local METRO cheerleaders at the city's big daily newspaper.
Speaking of skepticism, we meant to post about this Free Press Houston story on METRO that we found weeks ago via the B.S. Houston Arts Blog, but just never got around to it. While the story is a bit lacking in terms of editing (it comes from a tiny alt-weekly after all), the author's willingness to analyze METRO instead of simply regurgitating the organization's press releases and attacks on critics is refreshing. Perhaps some of the city's other print journalists will follow that lead in 2008!
RELATED COVERAGE: METRO rolls out new fare system (KPRC-2 News), METRO bus riders learning the 'Q' lingo (KHOU-11 News).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/06/08 03:26 PM |
Remembering back when...
KTRK-13's Mike McGuff closed out 2007 with an interesting look back at various Houston landmarks that have shut down.
The report (with video) is posted here.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/06/08 02:50 PM |
05 January 2008
Dolcefino: FBI launches City Hall investigation
KTRK-13's Wayne Dolcefino reported last night that the FBI has subpoenaed City Hall in a new investigation:
We've learned the FBI has delivered subpoenas to Houston City Hall looking for records of dealings with two companies and contractors with close ties to a slew of local politicians involved in the creation of city fire stations, county jails and even our football stadium.
[snip]
We know the feds are examining the deals for the city's emergency dispatch center and at least two Houston fire facilities. But it's the names of the contractors under scrutiny and their millions of dollars in government contracts that may lead to lots of questions in the coming weeks for lots of elected officials.
Dolcefino has more details in the story posted here.
This one could get interesting!
RELATED COVERAGE: Chronicle.
UPDATE: Ubu Roi posts some related thoughts that are well worth the read.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/05/08 09:12 AM |
03 January 2008
Mayor White is now ready to focus on crime
In his final two years as mayor, Bill White says he'll make crime reduction a priority:
On the other hand though, the Mayor said more work needs to be done, and one area of concern is property crimes, which have been on the rise in Houston in recent months.
"As of said on a number of occasions this last year, it's too high, we want to see that number drop," White said. "When we have the Real Time Crime Center up that will help us track those serial burglars, plus we’re doing some other things, number one of which is just getting more people in the field."
Real Time Crime Center? How does it compare to CompStat, which other large cities have used very effectively to help reduce crime, and which Chief Hurtt has refused to consider?
"We've made some real progress in Houston, Texas. And then when you compare the homicide rate per 100-thousand in Houston now, compared to where it was 15 or 16 years ago, it's a small fraction as to where it was," the Mayor said Thursday.
That was this week's other big news -- the city's murder rate for 2007, which the city says is down from 2006, if you trust HPD's numbers. HPD has just been caught fudging the official stats in previous years, so who knows if the numbers released this week are accurate. Maybe Mark Greenblatt's looking into it.
Over at Lose an Eye, Cory Crow makes an excellent point about the murder rate:
If you were to "draw a line" through 2006, writing off the large increase in murders during 2006 as a "one off" event sparked by the confusion surrounding the influx of a criminal element from New Orleans (Not to be confused with the 'normal folks' who were displaced by Katrina mind you) then you'd see that the "murder rate" in Houston is actually still on the uptick (albeit slight), and the only reason the numbers appear lower is due to the fact that 2006 was exceptionally high.
And, again, we've just learned HPD has problems accurately counting murders; the numbers could still increase as HPD admits:
Authorities warn that Houstonians shouldn't get too excited about the unofficial tally.
As cases are reviewed, the numbers will likely increase.
"There are delayed deaths and delays in rulings," Jett said. "In the case of an arson death, it may take six months for it to be ruled a homicide. Infant deaths are the same way."
The problems Mark Greenblatt uncovered, though, were not related to delays in rulings.
And then there's the whole issue of population numbers. It would be helpful if the story disclosed the source the city is using.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/03/08 08:26 PM |
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