17 November 2007
Judge to speak with KPRC-2 reporter on juror chase
The Chronicle's Brian Rogers reports that a fellow journalist will have to answer to a local judge following a juror chase:
A verdict in a major trial always sends reporters scrambling for interviews with jurors. But the case has to be over before a juror can talk about their decision — a fact one television reporter seemed to forget after David Mark Temple was convicted Thursday of murdering his wife.
According to court documents, KPRC Channel 2's Kym Alvarado-Booth is slated to appear before visiting state District Judge Doug Shaver on Wednesday to explain why she should not be held in contempt.
A seasoned reporter, Alvarado-Booth is accused of chasing down the jurors as they left the courthouse escorted by two bailiffs.
Because those same jurors are set to begin considering Temple's punishment on Monday, the bailiffs refused to let the reporter talk to them or film them. According to an observer, bailiffs threatened to handcuff Alvarado-Booth if she resisted as they escorted her upstairs to see the judge, who had already left. The handcuffs weren't necessary.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/17/07 03:50 PM |
City builds on business ties with Mexico
Sean Mattson of the San Antonio Express News reports that a delegation led by Mayor White signed an agreement yesterday to strengthen ties with the Mexican state of Nuevo León:
Houston and the Mexican border state of Nuevo León agreed to make formal and strengthen business ties under an agreement signed Friday by Houston Mayor Bill White and Nuevo León Gov. Natividad González Parás.
Houston and Nuevo León committed to designating representatives who will design programs to create opportunities in fields including energy, the environment, information technologies, logistics and culture, according to a draft of the agreement.
A delegation of about two dozen Houston city officials and members of the Greater Houston Partnership were part of the one-day trade mission. It included a visit to the Universal Forum of Cultures, an international fair, and a boat ride along the Paseo Santa Lucia, a downtown canal similar to San Antonio's River Walk.
It sounds like a good long-weekend junket, if nothing else. The golfing weather is probably better than Houston's today.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/17/07 03:06 PM |
More Chron.com spam
A month ago, Lou Minatti and I both received a Chron.com spam email. I clicked on the "opt-out" link just to make sure I wouldn't get any more Chron.com spam, even though I had never opted IN.
Yesterday, I got an annoying, graphic-heavy, Chron.com spam email, advising me I should pick up a paper copy of the Thanksgiving Chronicle for all the fabulous sales ads. It also advised:
You received this e-mail because you are subscribed to The Houston Chronicle Mailing List as [redacted]
To opt-out from this e-mail, please use this link.
I used the opt-out link a month ago, but apparently my request wasn't honored.
It's nice for users that the Chron gives free access to archives in exchange for registration. It's nice for the Chron that so many registered users provide free web content and boost page views via the comment and blog features. It's not nice that the Chron spams registered users who have not signed up for their junk email.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/17/07 02:45 PM |
16 November 2007
Survey respondents hope others will use mass transit
So, the new Houston Area Survey shows an overwhelming majority of residents "support mass transit as the best solution to traffic problems."
What most people support is others using mass transit to clear the roads for their own daily commute. That's what these surveys always find. The survey doesn't say that an overwhelming majority want to give up their cars and hop on mass transit to ease traffic problems.
Which is how we get to the point where Metro is spending billions on light rail, when less than one percent of Houston residents use Metro's services.
BLOGVERSATION: Houston Strategies, Lose an Eye, It's a Sport
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/16/07 05:09 AM |
15 November 2007
Metro cedes bus stops to criminals
What else can we conclude from this KHOU-11 story by Jeff McShan that details the problems at Metro bus stops:
Searching through pages of Houston Police Department reports, in October alone, when Pamela was attacked, there were 35 other incidents at bus stops.
More than half were robberies and assaults. Many of the suspects were carrying guns, some had knives and baseball bats, but they were all preying on people just waiting for the bus.
Law enforcement sources said stops for bus 77, which travels south along MLK to Selinsky and North along Liberty to Mesa, are perhaps the most dangerous places to wait for a bus.
On a two-hour long bus ride on the number 77, several passengers, especially women, told 11 News that waiting for the bus around here can be frightening.
“And I think it would be much safer if people were patrolling and whatever — at least the little Metro police — and everything that could come by and make sure everybody is safe,” one young woman said.
She said she recently witnessed two men attack a woman and take her purse.
“I really try to travel with someone if I have to ride the bus,” she said.
At the end of the 77 line is the Mesa Transit Stop in far northeast Houston. One bus patron said they never see Metro police out there.
[snip]
To get a complete picture of crime at Metro bus stops, 11 News examined reports from both Metro and HPD because neither has all of the incidents logged.
From January through October, there were at least 326 crimes reported at the bus stops. That number includes five rapes, 128 robberies and 42 aggravated assaults.
Many commuters say Metro police patrols around the bus stops would help.
“Yeah, have them close so they can keep us safe,” a patron said. “Because just like people downtown need safety, we need safety too.”
Metro has put a lot of its police force downtown. A confidential memo 11 News obtained outlines a major crime enforcement initiative along the rail corridor. And the Park and Ride lots received a $16 million security boost.
But what about the Metro stops?
So, while the 7.5 mile rail line gets the benefit of Metro's elite counterterror unit, and perhaps a beefed up police presence (to deal with downtown's homeless?), and Park and Pillages get the $16 million defensive camera system, Metro's bus stops get...what exactly?
There are more than 12,000 Metro bus stops in Houston, and Metro said there is no way they can patrol every one of them and keep everybody safe. They hope neighborhoods will take action, check out their Web site, and adopt a Metro bus stop to keep it clean and safe.
Metro bus riders get to fend for themselves! Which is why Metro reminded customers more than two years ago that it's legal to carry a gun on a bus, as long as one has a concealed carry permit.
What an abomination! Metro's patrons have been raped, robbed, and assaulted at bus stops, and Metro whines that there are just too many to patrol. The truth is Metro chooses what it will and won't do, and Metro has chosen to focus on the Main Street Rail Line, which leaves bus patrons out of luck.
If Metro can't handle the job, it should get out of the business. What part of safety doesn't Chief Lambert understand?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/15/07 08:24 PM |
Why did it take a week for press to learn of eSlate "adjustments?"
Yesterday, the Chronicle's Alan Bernstein reported that in last week's election, Harris County election officials actually had to go back and manually adjust some of the voting results because of ballot glitches. Here are some excerpts from Bernstein's important story:
The adjustments also highlighted the fact that, with multiple election boundaries snaking through precincts to separate city voters from county voters and municipal utility districts from emergency services districts, there usually are flaws that put voters in front of the wrong ballot screens.
Which is what happened in Emergency Services District No. 9, where 293 voters went to the polls early but never got to express an opinion on the issue as they voted on state and county bonds and other items because the tax vote didn't appear on their screens. (The tax proposal lost by 3,233 votes.)
The omission of the tax proposal on ballots in parts of three precincts was discovered thanks to an alert from a voter, and Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman's staff was able to get the tax question on the right ballots for Election Day — but it was too late to have those votes recorded on the main computer.
Instead, they were recorded separately and later added to the totals.
Voters in the emergency district, which includes 11 fire stations serving 250,000 people, never were notified that some of them missed the referendum during early voting or that Election Day votes were segregated.
Regardless, it was up to [Johnnie] German and assistant Randy Roberts to combine the segregated totals, printed on computer paper, into the county's final electronic vote tallies after the polls closed on Election Day.
The county Web site already showed that all precinct totals had been counted; three sheriff's deputies who guarded the counting process on the fourth floor of the County Administration Building in downtown Houston had been sent home.
Also in the locked, glass-walled room were Republican Kaufman and John R. Behrman, a computer expert and longtime election observer representing the Democratic Party. He said he considers Kaufman's staff the most knowledgeable election computer administrators on the continent and does not question their motives.
[snip]
"A hundred percent of precincts reporting, and everything had been distributed to the press," he said. "Then and only then did I see how they were going to do this, and frankly I never thought it was possible.
The story emphasizes concerns over the process by which results in eSlate voting can be manipulated with the right security codes (and Charles Kuffner post additional criticism by Dan Wallach that the process does not allow for proper accounting). Those are valid concerns, although it is worth noting that no election system is foolproof (back in the days of punch ballots, we heard of some poll watchers being told to follow the election judge as he/she delivered election boxes to the processing facility, just to be sure no shenanigans took place), and ultimately we bestow a great deal of trust on fellow citizens to conduct honest elections.
The concern that this story raises for me is that election results seem to have been adjusted after official reporting took place, and (so far as I can tell) this is the first local press account of the matter. We have been given no reason to question the integrity of Beverly Kaufman's operation, and it appears that partisan observers were invited to oversee this particular matter and raised no objections. However, it strikes us that the press should have been made aware of this important news immediately, and should have been included as observers.
If there is currently no mechanism in place to alert the press to these sorts of glitches (and since there is not even a mention of the "adjustments" on Kaufman's press release page, we assume there is not), Kaufman's office would be well advised to put one in place before the next elections.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport, Off the Kuff.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/15/07 10:33 AM |
The end of the Froot Loops Bureau?
Timesman Matt Bramanti calls our attention to this brief report on Chron.com from Wednesday morning:
The Wachovia bank in the 4400 block of North Freeway was robbed shortly after 9 a.m., according to police radio traffic.
The robber left the bank in a red Ford F-150 truck and was wearing a red and orange sweatshirt, the Houston Police Department reported.
Chron staffers listening to police traffic and doing their own reporting, instead of transcribing the morning's TV news reports over Froot Loops?
This seems like a big -- and (we hope) permanent -- improvement!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/15/07 08:45 AM |
Thundering Herd to visit HISD school
The HISD press office has sent out an interesting story about Marshall Middle School. Here's an excerpt:
Before the coaches and players of Marshall University's football team meet the University of Houston on the playing field, they will take time out of their busy schedule to meet the staff and students of HISD's Marshall Middle School. The team will visit on Friday, November 16, around 1:30 p.m.
The students and staff at the HISD school feel a special affinity for Marshall University for two reasons. Both are named after the fourth Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition, the faculty and staff were motivated by the movie, "We Are Marshall" which tells the story of the comeback of Marshall's football team after losing almost the entire team and coaching staff in a tragic plane crash on November 14, 1970.
Each faculty and staff member viewed the movie during a staff development day in August, and came away so inspired that they decided to adopt "We Are Marshall" as the school slogan.
When English department chair and journalism teacher Thelma Johnson learned that the current Marshall team would be coming to Houston, she organized a school-wide letter-writing campaign to invite the team to visit. More than 900 letters were mailed to the university and the team accepted the invitation.
Johnson said, “The letters written by our students show them that having the ability to communicate an idea effectively can make a difference.”
This Cougar fan will not be describing himself with the motto "We are Marshall" this weekend, but it's still kind of a nice story.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/15/07 08:35 AM |
14 November 2007
Chief Hurtt's blog officially open for business
Chief Hurtt's blog is officially open for business. Here's the announcement from HPD:
Houston Police Chief Harold L. Hurtt is now a blogger! Recognizing the need for a quick, informal way to communicate with the Houston residents he serves, Chief Hurtt has started an online weblog (often referred to as a "blog") in order to keep you informed of department initiatives, goals, and activities.
[snip]
In his first post, Chief Hurtt said, "I'm hoping to use this forum as a tool to let you see some of the 'behind the scenes' good work done by the men and women of the Houston Police Department * the kinds of things you aren't likely to see on the news." He also encouraged Houstonians to learn more about helping the department "Keep Houston Safe," and to serve their community by taking advantage of some of the many volunteer programs offered by HPD.Chief Hurtt will be updating the blog on a regular basis. We encourage you to let your viewers and readers know about it, perhaps by including links to it from your own Web site.
Here is an excerpt from the Chief's first post (dated November 7):
I plan to use this forum as a tool to let you see some of the "behind the scenes" good work done by the men and women of the Houston Police Department … the kinds of things you aren't likely to see on the news. As you probably realize, the news media doesn't always show you the positive stories … and at HPD, there are lots of good, positive things going on. Despite the headlines, violent crime is down, and, for its size, Houston is a safe city. And there are things you can do, in partnership with HPD, to make it even safer. I encourage you to check this site periodically because I'm hoping to show you how you can help make a difference in your neighborhood and this city.
Public organizations often feel like they get shortchanged by the media, which tend to emphasize "negative" stories over "positive" ones (the notion being that HPD doing its job isn't news, but HPD screwing up is news), so the Chief has a valid complaint to some extent.
Then again, we hope the Chief -- and whatever ghostbloggers may be "helping" him -- will use the blog truly to engage Houstonians, instead of adopting another local organization's blog-model of serving up barely readable, features-style PR cheerleading. We'd love to see a true give and take from the Chief on problems such as the crime lab, staffing shortages, CompStat, broken-windows policing, downtown's out-of-control problem with vagrants, the sanctuary directive, and other issues (of course, we'd also like to see Chief Hurtt's department stop "punishing" reporters who are trying to do their jobs -- I guess we'll have to wait and see on both counts). We hope never to see a post from the Chief describing where some employees go to lunch.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport, Lone Star Times.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/14/07 12:40 PM |
GPS clearly shows HPD's manpower shortage (updated)
KTRK-13's Ted Oberg discovered that HPD's new GPS system affords the department the ability to know exactly where its officers are at any time. As Oberg also discovered, it shows how woefully short on personnel HPD is:
The mayor promises that one day...
"The criminals are going to have their hands full with HPD," said Houston Mayor Bill White.
But an Eyewitness News analysis reveals it's the other way around. HPD has its hands full just covering the city.
This summer, HPD outfitted patrol cars with GPS tracking devices. As officers drive around Houston, the devices send signals every few seconds detailing exactly where the patrol car is. It allows police dispatchers to see which officer is closest to a crime scene, but also reveals the secret of just how few officers are patrolling our city.
According to our analysis, there is an average of 268 officers available for 911 calls city wide any time of the day; not many when you consider a Houstonian calls 911 every 30 seconds. The highest number of on-duty units is at 3pm when there are 395. But at that hour, more than a third of them are parked at police substations.
The lowest number of units is at 2am, when just 186 officers are available to answer your call for help. It's also when Crime Tracker shows violent crime is near its daily peak.
"There just aren't enough and obviously your GPS will make someone think that," said Hans Marticiuc with the HPD Officers Union.
In the last year, the bodies of six women have been dumped in Acres Homes.
"Whoever is perpetrating these crimes believes the Acres Home community is a dumping ground and that they can do it and nobody is going to say anything," said HPD Assistant Chief Mike Dirden.
But maybe the killer knows no cops are watching. The last body was found in Acres Homes September 22. The GPS data from 10pm the night before shows the closest officer a mile away. At midnight, 1am and 2 am, there are officers on big streets, but not in the neighborhood where bodies have been dumped for more than a year.
"We just pray for more officers," said Acres Homes resident Roman Spiller.
When crime is peaking at 2 a.m., HPD has just 186 officers on patrol.
For years MayorWhiteChiefHurtt were warned that a manpower shortage was imminent, and for years, every other pet project was given a higher priority. Now that the mayor has decided to get serious about it, the city is having trouble recruiting officers, officers are left without ready backup, and (increasingly) citizens must fend for themselves in the critical early moments when a crime occurs.
UPDATE: On his blog, Ted Oberg notes that HPD officials aren't big fans of his, and in fact no one would go on-camera to discuss this story with him. Ah well. Maybe Chief Hurtt will blog about it.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: HPD's refusal to speak with Oberg on this report and others, if true (and there is no reason not to believe Oberg), is stunningly arrogant and unprofessional. Even if HPD feels that a previous story by Oberg was problematic, the fact is that Oberg is a high-profile reporter for a well-regarded local news organization, and HPD is not helping to inform the public with petty "punishment" of reporters doing stories that MayorWhiteChiefHurtt may not like.
PREVIOUSLY: KPRC: HPD response times continue to worsen
RELATED STORIES: Store owner, 2 others killed in separate shootings (Chronicle), Slain grocer remembered as generous (Chronicle), Teen charged with murder in Houston man's death (Chronicle), Friends grieve loss of 3 found slain in burning home (Chronicle)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/14/07 05:12 AM |
13 November 2007
Pay your parking fee or get booted
KTRK-13's Jeff Ehling reports that some private parking lots downtown have begun placing boots on vehicles when the parking fee isn't paid:
The boot is a relatively new tool Houston parking lot operators are using on violators. The practice of booting is so new there are no city regulations in place. While this lot has signs that tell consumers what will happen if they park without paying, it's not required and the price to remove a boot is not controlled either. In Dawson's case it cost $100 to have the boot removed.
"There is a lot of concern and some awareness of the changes that are going on within the private parking industry," said Public Parking Commission Bob Eury.
Bob Eury is a member of Houston's public parking commission. He says the city is looking at immobilizing boots. One issue being considered, a place consumers can go if they feel their cars were booted improperly.
"That is an issue and there are issues like that that, that I know the city is looking at," Eury said.
The rules being considered are similar to those that regulate towing. Things like proper signs and a phone number consumers can call. If you think you're towed by mistake, you can head to tow court. And if a judge rules in your favor, the bill is thrown out.
Right now, none of these rules exist for the boot. The city of Houston has a parking boot draft ordinance, but it could be some Time before the draft ordinance becomes law.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/13/07 07:19 PM |
Texans player sues HPD
KRIV-26 reports that Houston Texans offensive lineman Fred Weary is suing HPD:
Houston Texans offensive lineman Fred Weary filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the City of Houston and the two Houston Police Department officers who Tasered him after a traffic stop last year.
The lawsuit named the city and officers Margaret T. McGivern and Joe F. Vasquez for their "unlawful stop, use of excessive force, assault, unlawful arrest and detention" of Weary on Nov. 14, 2006 as he left Reliant Stadium after practicing with the Texans.
"We haven't seen the lawsuit," said Mayor Bill White's spokesperson, Frank Michel. "And even if we have, we would be limited in what we can say. I would refer you to the city attorney."
Weary was shot with a Taser and arrested that day after officers said he was stopped because he did not have a front license plate and was driving "suspiciously." A misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest was dismissed a week later because of insufficient evidence.
[snip]
Additionally, the suit alleges that HPD chief Harold Hurtt "acted with malice by defaming Mr. Weary to the Houston Chronicle." It pointed out that Hurtt stated that his officers "spared him from a more dire outcome" and that there could have been "a more deadlier encounter."
The trial could get really interesting if HPD's Chief (grammar mangler) testifies!
BLOGVERSATION: Houston's Clear Thinkers.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/13/07 12:51 PM |
City reverses course: All restaurant violations to be posted online
More than three years ago, KHOU-11 did a story on how the public could access to the city's Health Department restaurant inspection reports:
When asked if these were public records that the public should be able to see, Salvagio agreed that they were public, and said she felt like the public already had access to them.
The city couldn't agree more.
"Call the health department and you can get the information you need," says Trahan.
The reality is that if you want to see an actual health inspection, you have to fax a request to the Health Department, wait about a week, go pick it up and pay 12.5 cents a page.
KHOU's Mark Greenblatt revisited the story yesterday and discovered the city is now posting some inspections online -- but not all:
It turns out the very worst violations, violations that could shut a restaurant down, are being intentionally hidden from you the public. And how do we know? Because believe it or not the city admits it.
“We’re not giving, apparently not giving the public all the information they need to make a decision,” Terasso said.
The problem: Anytime inspectors find the most serious health violations they write the restaurant a ticket. However, Houston officials have been leaving that information out of sight from the public. More than 4,000 of the most serious violations are simply missing from their Web site. And if you log online to lookup a restaurant’s inspection record? You won’t see a single note of the missing records.
11 News: “There are inspections with serious violations, missing from your public Web site. Would you agree that’s a serious problem?”
MT: “That is a serious problem.”
But he said city lawyers made the Health Department do it.
“I can’t guarantee that legal will release those in any timeframe,” he said.
But a little media sunshine has helped clear the city's thinking:
Very soon after KHOU sat down with the Health Department to question their policy of hiding the worst violations from the public, the City announced a complete reversal of that policy. A spokesperson for the Health Department told KHOU they had instructed their internet vendor to begin putting online all citation information previously withheld.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/13/07 05:15 AM |
12 November 2007
Was the crazed slasher homeless or not?
This afternoon, KHOU-11 posted the following headline on their website:
Student attacked by homeless man
Here is an excerpt from the initial reporting:
A Lamar High School student had a harrowing start to her school day Monday when a homeless man attacked her on campus.
Catherine Sullivan, 14, said she was standing in front of the school on Westheimer, talking with a group of friends when Larry Paul Newton, 48, walked up to them and stood there, not saying anything.
When one of the kids in the group asked what he was doing, the man reportedly jumped on Sullivan.
Sullivan said he had two knives, one in each hand, and was slashing at her.
Strangely, the headline and story have now been updated to remove any reference to a homeless man (although in the video version of the story on the website, Greg Hurst introduces the report by referring to a homeless man).
KPRC-2's headline initially referred to a homeless man ("Homeless man cuts girl at school"), but the reference has since been changed (to "Police: Man With Knives Attacks Girl At School").
KTRH-740's story still refers to a homeless man:
Student Stabbed at Houston High School
Homeless man accused of knife attack on student.
By KTRH's Bill O'Neal
Monday, November 12, 2007
A Houston 9th grader needed several stitches in her arm after being stabbed by an apparent homeless man.
KTRK-13's coverage also refers to a homeless man:
HISD police say a homeless man stabbed a ninth grade female student in southwest
It happened around 8am at Lamar High School. Catherine Sullivan, 14, says she and four of her friends were standing outside the building on school property when they noticed a strange man approaching. That man, they say, appeared to be homeless.
Catherine says the man walked up behind her and, she says, attacked her.
The Chronicle's story never referred to a homeless man, so far as we can tell.
So, did four news organizations get the homeless reference wrong? Or is there some other explanation for the editing of two of the four stories that referenced a homeless man?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/12/07 09:16 PM |
Chronicle Poo-Poos Veterans Day
The lead story in the Veterans Day edition of the chronicle was enough to shake me out of my morning fog before my coffee could. Today is supposed to be a day where U.S. military veterans are honored for their courageous service and sacrifices for our freedom. Yet, reporter Carolyn Feibel apparently went searching for veterans to speak out against the war in Iraq.
"Their mood was somber. Returning from war was difficult for both. They fear for the military men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"It's just another Vietnam," Boissenet said. "They're fighting in a desert instead of a jungle." The two men rolled toward the elevator."
I have a high school friend who served in Iraq. He's rather proud of his service. Did the chronicle interview him?
I then read this comment from another brave veteran;
"That's when I started drinking. My first (downed) pilot mission, I had to pick up a part of a right leg, upper torso and half of his head. His dog tags were still on him,"
I think the chronicle gets confused about Veterans Day. The point is to honor the veterans, not to glorify war. I remember talking to a World War II veteran years ago. I remember his story where he launched from an aircraft carrier with two Japanese torpedos racing for his ship. He managed to strafe both torpedos using his maching guns. I remember asking him if he was nervous. I'll never forget his answer, "I wasn't nervous, the guys on the carrier were!" Did the chronicle interview him?
Then the article gives a free plug to a group called Veterans for Peace and documents how someone, obviously upset hosed them down. Leave it to the chronicle to take a somber day like veterans day and make it a worthless editorial page. I want to say 'thank you' to ALL veterans, not just the ones who agree with the chronicle.
Posted by Jason @ 11/12/07 10:24 AM |
11 November 2007
Clear Thinking on the Astrodome redevelopment
Clear Thinker Tom Kirkendall wonders why the "Chronicle continues its apparent campaign to breath life into the second largest local urban boondoggle (second only to the Metro light rail system) -- the proposed Astrodome hotel project."
So do we.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/11/07 11:31 PM |
Downtown footwear store aims big (and laments lack of parking)
Commenter and blogger Neal Meyer calls attention to this Chronicle article about the difficulties a new business is facing downtown:
Thomas Nauls was so inspired when he read The Tipping Point, a book by Malcolm Gladwell, that he named his boutique sneaker shop on Main Street after it.
Not only that, but he also wrote his business plan based on the philosophy of the book, which argues that certain ideas, products and fads behave like epidemic diseases, spreading rapidly once they hit a critical mass.
"We are trying to introduce trends to the right people so that they spread quickly," Nauls said.
But the problem is, in order for a virus to thrive and reproduce, it must have bodies to infiltrate. And in the two months since he and partners Kenneth Baugh and Dace Graham opened, very few bodies are passing through The Tipping Point's doors.
He blames that on two problems facing retailers downtown: parking and a limited amount of foot traffic.
As Meyer observes, the story does not once mention light rail. Rather, the story emphasizes the importance of parking to the store's eventual success (or failure).
Undeterred, the store's partners are thinking big:
"What separates our stores from other stores is that we don't just have sneakers," he said.
"We are selling a lifestyle."
Although hope for a retail renaissance downtown is in its infancy, Nauls thinks that if he attracts the right crowd, the lifestyle he is selling could spread fast.
"We are trying to introduce trends to the right people so that they spread quickly," he said.
"It's a certain type of individual who is well read and sociable. Somebody that not only sees what is going on now, but sees what will be going on in the future. A forward thinker, so to speak."
Is that really the downtown crowd (and the large homeless population)? It strikes me that there were any number of locations that might be more suitable.
But if you're inclined to be a footwear trendsetter, here's the website for the store. Good luck with the parking and hobos!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/11/07 11:24 PM |
UH's new leader takes the helm
As reported by the Chronicle's Matthew Tresaugue (here and here), UH's new chancellor/president officially took the helm at the institution this week.
The Editorial LiveJournalists weigh in with their thoughts today.
Of more interest is this note from Luke Gilman, a recent UH grad and current law student.
Like Gilman, we hope that Khator's experiences at South Florida have prepared her to lead UH forward as a major urban research university that continues to serve the needs of working students in the region.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/11/07 01:52 PM |
Lifestyles of the well-heeled (cont'd)
Following the big election, Mayor White and his Council got back to business this week, deciding to postpone consideration of an "emergency" ordinance that was hastily crafted by the mayor to placate influential constituents from a wealthy part of town. As Mike Snyder reports for the Chronicle, the decision to postpone the ordinance came in response to the developers agreeing to postpone their efforts:
The council postponed voting on the ordinance after the developers, Matthew Morgan and Kevin Kirton of Buckhead Investment Partners, agreed in writing not to seek any additional permits during the 90-day delay.
Morgan and Kirton said their agreement to halt the project for 90 days was prompted in part by concerns expressed by other developers.
"We believe we have an obligation to other developers in this city, as more and more ad hoc rules continue to be proposed for the development of private property," Morgan said. "We were willing to make this short-term sacrifice for the good of the industry and the community."
The mayor said he had initially put the ordinance on a fast track — it was drafted and placed on the council agenda within a few weeks [1] — because the developers insisted on moving their project forward despite concerns about its impact on traffic. Their agreement to wait, White said, allows time to review parts of the ordinance needing more work.
Morgan and Kirton said Wednesday that other developers had expressed concern about the potential impact of the ordinance on projects they were planning. These concerns were the subject of a meeting White held with several developers and builders last week.
Jeff Gray, president and founder of Grayco Partners, a multi-family development firm, said the Bissonnet project and its reaction at City Hall had generated considerable discussion among some of his industry colleagues. Some developers were concerned that the ordinance gave too much authority to the public works director to require changes in projects, he said. [2]
"If there's going to be a new standard, they just don't want it to be arbitrary and left to the discretion of a city department head," Gray said.
With regard to Note 1: Didn't Mayor White previously insist that the wealthy, politically connected anti-Ashby high-rise people had received no special treatment? Except here, he admits they did. The Mayor's communications team seems to be sending conflicting messages! Of course, even absent the Mayor's admission, it is fairly obvious that the Mayor put this ordinance on an "unusually fast" (to quote the Chronicle) track, bypassing the usual vetting process.
And that takes us to Note 2: In the haste to throw together an emergency ordinance to benefit a wealthy, politically connected constituency, the Mayor and Council seemed ready to transfer a considerable amount of discretionary power to the city's public works director, with no real analysis of potential consequences and ramifications. As we have noted previously, that is not the best way to make policy.
Finally, we see that Mayor White has written to the Chronicle today, to argue with citizens who dare suggest that the hastily crafted anti-Ashby high rise ordinance amounts to special treatment for a wealthy, politically connected constituency:
In this section in the Chronicle, several citizens have asserted that this administration has moved more aggressively on an ordinance to blunt the traffic impacts of high-rise developments because one of those developments threatens a higher-income neighborhood. That is not true. The vast bulk of the neighborhood protection activity during this administration — as measured by spending, personnel and new laws — has dealt with chronic problems in some of the city's most neglected neighborhoods. We moved swiftly, for example, to shut down two apartment buildings with health violations in moderate- to low-income areas.
Note the rhetorical technique employed: "The accusation we have engaged in A is not true, because we have engaged in B." Of course, that formulation falls apart if both A and B can be true. We don't dispute that the White Administration has boosted neighborhood protection activities, as he suggests. But -- back to Note 1 -- even the Mayor admits that he put the concerns of a well-heeled constituency on a fast track. He may even have thought there were important reasons to do so that aren't crassly politically (we aren't mind readers, so we can't claim to know). But the fact is, a well-heeled constituency did receive special treatment, and developers who thought they had followed the pertinent regulations to develop their property have effectively seen the value of their investment reduced because Mayor White produced a punitive (unvetted) ordinance with unprecedented haste in response to the demands of wealthy, politically connected constituents.
At least the delay offers the Mayor and his Council a chance to reconsider the hastily-crafted, punitive ordinance, and to vet it with some semblance of a deliberative process.
Perhaps. The anti-Ashby high rise organizers don't sound too pleased about additional deliberations over their ordinance:
Neighborhood leaders said they were gratified that the mayor had reinforced his determination to block the project. But they were concerned about what might happen during a 90-day delay.
Leaders of other neighborhoods with concerns about negative effects of proposed developments might try to get their issues included in the ordinance, making its impact so broad that it becomes politically untouchable, said Chris Amandes, an attorney who co-chairs a task force of leaders of the Southampton and Boulevard Oaks neighborhoods adjoining the project site.
To quote Slampo: "In other words, Away with your wagon and other nettlesome development issues. This is our ordinance."
And that concludes our latest Lifestyles of the Well-Heeled update.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/11/07 12:55 PM |
10 November 2007
City Council's suite at Toyota Center
Over in the Local Blog Talk section, Kevin has linked to a post by KTRK-13's Wayne Dolcefino about a story he has coming up on Sunday night:
Sunday night Hannah Montana hits the stage at Toyota Center. Unless you are rich, or very lucky, you and your kids aren’t going to be there. Tickets on Ebay last week were going for up to $1200. I secretly hid the fact she was even coming from my kids because there was no way I could afford to go.
Too bad I'm not a Houston City Councilmember. You see, city officials have been getting free tickets in a fancy twelve seat suite at Toyota Center for every concert, every event, every game.
There's just one little correction that needs to be made:
Free grub and free cocktails, all at Aramark prices. That ain’t cheap.
The city got the suite for the $20 million YOU spent for Toyota Center. It is supposed to be used to promote the city. You know, a place to help bring in convention business. So why are city officials taking their families? Munching out on a vendors tab?
Aramark doesn't hold the Toyota Center contract -- Levy Restaurants does. Aramark has the contracts at Reliant and Minute Maid.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/10/07 09:07 AM |
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