12 July 2009

Coming soon to downtown: A train-traffic-pedestrian-infrastructure adventure only METRO could love!

The Chronicle's Mike Snyder reported on Wednesday that a revision to the archaic codes used by Mayor White to curry favor with powerful supporters and block the Ashby highrise development could conflict with the city's new transit corridors ordinance, which is being presented by supporters/media as a code to foster pedestrian-friendly development (but in reality represents a significant power grab).

One of the most important quotes in the story comes nearly at the end:

Chapter 15 was added to the design manual in the aftermath of the Ashby controversy, but it simply put into writing procedures that the city already followed, said Andy Icken, deputy director of the Department of Public Works and Engineering.

Icken said he will work with Marlene Gafrick, Houston’s planning and development director, to add language to the transit corridors ordinance clarifying that reduced automobile traffic is likely along corridors where people will be riding trains. That should reduce the need for any traffic mitigation, Icken said.

In other words, a city official who is supposed to be analytical/nonpolitical has just offered up a very helpful political solution to a problem created by the last very helpful political solution.

Leaving aside that element of The Houston Way, we do wish to highlight what city officials are generally loath to admit to the public: Reduced automobile traffic is likely along corridors where people will be riding trains.

Not only is it likely, but the tremendous impact of laying many miles of new light rail down busy streets (in downtown and uptown) -- in the form of greatly reduced traffic mobility -- is one of the great undercovered stories in Houston at the moment. Covering the story is not made all that easy by METRO, city planners, or even management districts (which exist to promote and protect the interests of businesses and people that live/work/reside within those districts), as documents can be difficult to obtain and difficult to reconcile with each other. So local media have largely stuck with easier fare, like bunnies and Safety Lou.

We decided it might be useful to reproduce some info from the relevant documents we have been able to obtain and/or review. We have focused only on downtown mobility issues here, although a preliminary review indicates that LOS problems and METRO mitigation "solutions" are even more shocking in the Uptown corridor.

[Read More]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/12/09 07:26 PM |

An accident METRO officials couldn't blame on anyone but themselves

Back on June 16th, Kevin Whited noted, incredulously, that the Danger Train somehow managed to derail, run into a power pole, and rear-end another train. It was unclear if METRO PD Chief Tom Lambert found some nearby pedestrians to berate for causing the accident.

A couple of weeks later, KHOU-11 followed up with the accident investigation results. As with anything related to METRO, all we can do is shake our heads:

1. The train was speeding, going 22 mph in a 15 mph zone. The investigation notes that part of the problem is METRO had three different speed limits within an 1100 foot section of the track.

2. The report recommends that for Danger Train expansion routes that have tight curves, METRO should either widen the track or install rail guards to keep trains from derailing.

3. METRO should stop applying rail lubricant manually along curves, and instead install an automatic lubrication system. "The report found that the lubricant can dry up quickly and become ineffective in Houston’s hot summers." Who knew?

4. METRO needs to preserve evidence after a derailment. The report noted that by the time investigators arrived five days after the accident, METRO had already begun repairs.

5. METRO has also discovered that it doesn't have a standardized program for Danger Train instructors. After 5+ years of operation, METRO just now discovers this?

Isn't it comforting to know that the experts in charge of 7.5 miles of downtown light rail are working on expanding it?

On a side note, The Downtown Aquarium train had a little rear-end accident last night. According to the Aquarium's press release, the mini-train will be operating today in spite of the accident. Be careful out there!

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Train driver who smashed bicyclist had permission

RELATED: Derailment Blamed on Human Error, METRO's Sit and Spin blog

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/12/09 07:52 AM |

Latest sales tax revenue allocations

Both the city of Houston's and METRO's sales tax revenue allocations have declined again. Houston's is down 4.7%, and METRO's is down 2.7% compared to July of last year.

Thanks to Tom Bazan for continuing to keep track of this information.

RELATED: Texas sales tax revenue down 11 percent in June, Houston Business Journal

UPDATE: We've posted the spreadsheet to Google Docs here. Feel free to peruse!

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/12/09 06:57 AM |

Why Bill White chose to run for senate

From Rick Casey's June 27th column:

He said Friday he is convinced that his background in energy both in the private sector and in Washington as deputy secretary of energy in the Clinton administration, as well as six years as mayor, gives him “experience that can make a difference for this state and country.”

He reportedly has said privately that another reason is that he could not with a straight face say as a gubernatorial candidate that he wouldn’t raise taxes in the face of the problems the state faces.

He fears he wouldn't be able to sweep the state's financial challenges under the rug as he has the city's pension mess, so he chose to run for the easier office?

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/12/09 06:37 AM |

11 July 2009

Gang of robbers off the streets!

For the last several months several businesses were getting robbed in the west side of Houston. The businesses primarily hit were Subway restaurants. So HPD decided to watch Subway restaurants when - lo and behold! - a vehicle pulls up and robs the Subway. The officers give chase. The vehicle leaves the roadway, crashes into a fence and hits a parked car, damaging the fleeing vehicle and slowing it down. At this point, two law enforcement agencies are after the vehicle. The robbers manage to strike four police vehicles. The robbers attempt to flee on foot and are quickly caught. The money and a pistol were recovered from the gang. Great job, police!

With all the news about the rising crime rates, I couldn't find this story on any of the major news sites. While some crime is going up, the police are still doing a good job getting criminals off the streets. However, the justice system will have them back on the streets soon enough.

Posted by Jason @ 07/11/09 12:20 AM |

10 July 2009

Linkpost: 07/10/09

Here's some blog reading to kick off the weekend.

UPDATE: We left this very special one out, due to technical difficulties:

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/10/09 11:05 PM |

It's a good thing there are layers of editors and fact-checkers...

The Chronicle print edition (and, by extension, e-edition) does something peculiar on its editorial page. For its op-eds, an editor apparently summarizes each story, in the form of those graphical blurbs that allegedly make the newspaper easier to read (at least easier to read for easily distracted people who don't much like reading). Some newspapers might actually take the time to find a representative quote from the op-ed, and feature it -- but not our Chron. They want to summarize the thing for you.

Unfortunately, when people who aren't that great at reading or writing try to summarize those who are good at these things (or at least people who are good enough to be syndicated), it can produce comical results. Here's a partial screencap of a qualifying summary that appeared today:

Editorial Page Screencap, 20090710

Note the summary. Compare it with the headline (which should have been the first clue to the person who wrote it). Then compare it with the third full paragraph in the second column.

The Chron summary doesn't actually summarize the column (available on Chron.com here, if you care to read it for yourself). Doh!

In other solid Chron work today, a story by Harvey Rice on a federal judgeship moving from Galveston to McAllen concluded as follows:

President Barack Obama will nominate a judge to fill the vacancy created by Kent’s resignation. The nomination must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Senate.

The last time we checked, a federal judge wasn't a treaty. Therefore, a simple majority of the Senate (not two-thirds) is required for confirmation. It is true that the threat of filibuster means Presidents may need a cloture-proof majority for nominations, but that's not two-thirds either. Doh!

UPDATE (07/25/09): Two weeks later, the Chronicle posted a correction to the judicial confirmation gaffe.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/10/09 09:19 PM |

09 July 2009

Texas Watchdog shines light on shadowy Houston Airport System business dealings

Today, Texas Watchdog has broken a big story on the Houston Airport System that details an intricate web of shadowy private-public companies (some of which are incorporated offshore) that are partly staffed by public employees of the Houston Airport System, with murky financial ties to the city, but which refuse to make financial records available to Texas Watchdog, to at least one member of City Council who has requested them, or even to City Controller Annise Parker.

Their detailed, five-part story is available here. We encourage you to click over and read the whole story. Obviously, many public information requests and man-hours went into putting together this story, which continues to raise even more questions about the Houston Airport System and the shadowy business relationships set up by the now-departed Richard Vacar.

One thing is now more clear than ever: Mayor White's appointment of City Hall insider Anthony Hall (who approved some of Vacar's expenses according to earlier reports) to review Vacar's expenses and travel is a wholly inadequate response to the questions raised by Vacar's departure, the last round of reporting done by Texas Watchdog, and certainly all the new questions raised by today's reporting.

We encourage Mayor White to set up a task force charged with auditing how public employees and monies were used by these private-public entities, what (if any) liabilities the taxpayers may have for their activities (say, if one of our "partners" were to play the nationalization game that is all the rage in Latin America these days), and what the actual return on investment (if any) has been for taxpayers on these deals. That task force should NOT include Anthony Hall or any other "Houston Way" insider who has been involved with Houston Airport System activities, and would preferably include representatives chosen by the mayor, City Council, and the City Controller.

The public deserves more answers than it has gotten so far on Vacar's departure and the interesting business relationships he established using the resources of the city.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/09/09 11:13 AM |

08 July 2009

Linkpost: 07/08/09

Linky goodness for you on this rather cool looking date. Enjoy! Oh, and by the way -- you can select the links and open them all in new tabs in Firefox 3.5, if you are so inclined (not sure about earlier versions or other browsers).

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/08/09 11:08 PM |

Roundup: Mayor White promises "change agent" for BARC

Yesterday, Craig Malisow posted the news to the Hair Balls blog that BARC bureau chief Ray Sim had been fired, and that BARC's spokeswoman declined to elaborate on the reasons behind the firing.

Bradley Olson had a much longer story on the firing that appeared in print and e-editions of today's Chronicle (strangely, only a shorter version without Michel's comment appears at the moment on Chron.com, where Houston may live but journalism does not always). BARC had little more to say to the newspaper about why Sim had been fired after only two months on the job, but Mayor White's press man did promise the following:

The mayor's spokesman, Frank Michel, said White takes the situation at BARC "very seriously."

"There is a plan put in place to turn this all around," he said. He offered no details but said it involves a timetable and a "change agent" who will be named "within at least the next 30 days."

Translation: All these passionate, caring animal activists are really starting to get under the skin of the mayor (who, by the way, happens to be running for statewide office).

The Chronicle's metro/state diarist came up with this amusing suggestion on her online journal:

Sometimes, I think if Mayor Bill, who prides himself on the efficiency and competence of his administration, would just get outraged about the situation over there, something would get done.

If he'd just tap into that post-Ike rage and open up a can of whoop-ass in the halls of BARC like he did at Reliant when the supply trucks weren't moving after the hurricane, things would change.

Cory Crow dismissed those juvenile ramblings with his usual good humor earlier, but we will treat them seriously just long enough to point out two things: 1) Mayor White's use of profanities towards the volunteers from Georgia assisting in the hurricane recovery efforts really weren't that productive and 2) Judge Emmett's leadership and experience in logistics went much further towards straightening out the bottlenecks during the recovery effort than Mayor White's temper tantrum. Now, if Frank Michel is suggesting Judge Emmett as the agent of change who can fix BARC, we'd be all for that. But we think the county judge is probably too busy.

Michel also described the mayor's confidence in Stephen Williams, whose department ultimately oversees BARC. BARC activist Kelly Cripe has a decidedly different view of Williams:

The only thing remarkable about Stephen Williams is that Bill White has allowed him to perpetuate BARC's culture of cruelty for five entire years. Stephen Williams has failed to address the problems at BARC and it is time for him to go.

Certainly, the guy hasn't done much to inspire confidence that he's suddenly going to solve the ongoing problems at BARC. And along with Cripe, we don't quite understand why the mayor would have any such confidence in Williams. Mayor White has sent much more powerful agency heads packing (think Jordy Tollett and Richard Vacar). Clearly, when it's a priority, our powerful mayor isn't afraid to make administrative changes. So again, we are left to wonder why BARC's suffering puppies (and other animals) aren't more of a priority for Mayor White after all these years.

BLOGVERSATION: Hair Balls.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/08/09 10:48 PM |

Eversole fined $75,000, happy to "dispose" of state ethics panel

Q: What do you get when you mix together an area political office of enormous power, an entrenched incumbent who's been running his little part of the fiefdom for what seems like forever without much challenge or scrutiny, and a newspaper that doesn't cover local with much in the way of resources or tenacity?

A: A whopping $75,000 fine, according to the Chron's Mike Tolson:

The Texas Ethics Commission has imposed a $75,000 fine on Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole for violations of campaign finance laws.

[snip]

Eversole said he signed what is known as an “order and agreed resolution” so as to dispose of the state’s review of his finances, which began with a series of stories by television station KTRK. Among the issues raised then were campaign money used to pay for collectible firearms, golf outings and vacation trips.

“I have accepted responsibility for the past errors and used it as an opportunity to completely revamp our campaign finance disclosure practices,” Eversole said in a prepared statement. “I am pleased to have put this TEC inquiry behind me, and am ready to move forward.”

Disposing of the TEC, as Eversole put it, may turn out to be much easier than putting off the FBI, which is reportedly investigating Eversole's political finances. Indeed, Eversole predicted last year that the FBI investigation would force him from office.

People interested in Eversole's job seem to be gearing up to make a run for it. As the Houston Politics blog has noted, Houston City Councilmember Toni Lawrence is apparently getting her residence in order for a possible run. And Dan Patrick political associate Court Koenning is reportedly trying to round up supporters. Other names have been tossed about as well.

UPDATE: We would be remiss if we didn't link to Wayne Dolcefino's commentary on the fine.

BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport, Red Ink: Texas.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/08/09 08:38 AM |

06 July 2009

Linkpost: 07/06/09

Time to clear out the blog link backlog after being out of town for a few days. Sorry that some of it is dated now.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/06/09 08:55 PM |

A most curious omission in the news

Friday afternoon, Rorschach, Royko, and I, plus who knows how many other blogHOUSTON regulars made our way, singly or in groups, to a little park near the George R. Brown Convention Center. Nary a hobo was in sight, but there were thousands of other people celebrating the Fourth a day early by telling their elected officials to take a hike.

Most people were sensible enough to set up under the trees to either side, leaving the center of the field empty until the sun hid behind buildings. HPD put the attendance at around 6,000 -- which, given the 102-degree heat and lack of fireworks, was just amazing. But last night, I noticed a most curious thing, while looking for news about the tea party.

There wasn't any.

Chron.com: Two articles on Cornyn getting booed at the SouthFork tea party, one was from the AP.
KHOU: No mention of tea parties
KPRC: No mention of tea parties
KTRK: No mention of tea parties
Fox26: No mention of tea parties

Plenty of stories about the loser who choked his son with a chain, Whacko Jacko, the guy who leaped from I-45... but not a thing about 6,000 people getting together in the hottest part of the day to protest the direction of their government.

Pravda means Truth, comrade.

Posted by Ubu Roi @ 07/06/09 09:40 AM |

05 July 2009

Stimulus money for local projects

Hope everyone is having a great Independence Day weekend. The blogHOUSTON crew is still in slow-posting mode, but this caught my eye: The Chron's Carolyn Feibel writes on local road-building projects that are receiving stimulus funds:

A little-known regional body, the Transportation Policy Council, decided how to spend most of the stimulus funds in the Houston area. The council represents the eight counties of the Houston metro region, and its 24 voting members are drawn from local governments and agencies such as the Texas Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Transit Authority.

It either chose stimulus projects directly or approved ones desired by TxDOT.

The stimulus has one big requirement: Projects must begin soon, to create jobs and boost the economy. The Transportation Policy Council focused on projects that were “shovel ready,” meaning the necessary government and environmental approvals were in place. After that, the council looked for projects that had been waiting a long time for funding.

The story includes special guest appearances by mass-transit fans Robin Holzer and David Crossley.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/05/09 07:07 AM |

03 July 2009

Mayor White: If HPOU wants more cadet classes, HPD officers can take a pay cut to pay for it

This is NOT senate-candidate White talking:

Houston’s largest police union, citing the death of six officers during Mayor Bill White’s tenure, called on the mayor and City Council this week to hire more officers, restore $14 million in overtime pay and overturn the long-standing policy of not questioning residents about their immigration status.

In a letter to White, Gary Blankinship, president of the Houston Police Officers Union, called last week’s slaying of veteran officer Henry Canales a “trifeca failure” of federal, state and city government to protect citizens and police officers from criminal illegal immigrants.

White responded with a news conference Thursday to make clear there would be no change in the department’s policy on illegal immigrants.

Adding four new cadet classes as the union wants would cost the city $20 million, requiring an increase in property taxes or a wide-ranging curtailment of city services that also would require laying off 500 civilian employees, White said.

Or, he said, the union could fund the cadet classes by voting to reduce their own pay by $4,000 an officer.

That is Mayor White speaking. First, he says there will be no change to Houston's sanctuary policy. You'll recall a few months back, senate-candidate White attempted to talk tough on illegal immigration, laughably saying that he was making it "a cause." Right. He said he would no longer "tolerate some of the excuses that we’ve heard about lack of resources." Which is exactly what MayorWhiteChiefHurtt have done for the past several years.

Second, he presents false choices to the HPOU and local Houstonians: the only way to get more staffing is to increase property taxes, curtail city services, or rank and file police officers could take a pay cut to pay for new police officers.

Hogwash. The city just gave $11 million to the Houston Arts Alliance, an agency that has proven it cannot manage the taxpayer dollars it is given. There's half the money right there. It would probably take our commenters a few nano-seconds to come up with other frivolous budget items that could be cut to fund the cadet classes AND overtime. How about getting METRO to fork over the money it still owes the city of Houston? That would fund the programs, and the city would still have money left over.

As Kevin Whited noted a couple of posts down, dealing with staffing issues will be the next mayor's problem, when MayorWhiteChiefHurtt are long gone.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/03/09 10:15 AM |

02 July 2009

Linkpost: 07/02/09

Here's our latest local blog reading. Enjoy!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/02/09 12:24 PM |

01 July 2009

Chron: Federal agents investigate Houston gun owners

The Chronicle ran an interesting story by Dane Schiller today that got priority treatment by Drudge for much of the day. Here is an excerpt:

All told, Mexican officials in 2008 asked federal agents to trace the origins of more than 7,500 firearms recovered at crime scenes in Mexico. Most of them were traced back to Texas, California and Arizona.

Among other things, the agents are combing neighborhoods and asking people about suspicious purchases as well as seeking explanations as to how their guns ended up used in murders, kidnappings and other crimes in Mexico.

“Ever turning up the heat on cartels, our law enforcement and military partners in the government of Mexico have been working more closely with the ATF by sharing information and intelligence,” Melson said Tuesday during a firearms-trafficking summit in New Mexico.

The ATF recently dispatched 100 veteran agents to its Houston division, which reaches to the border.

So, let me make sure I understand this -- federal officials have been dispatched to Houston at the request of Mexican officials to ask questions of American citizens about their gun ownership/purchasing. But MayorWhiteChiefHurtt insist that we must not have a discussion about a former police chief's directive that HPD officers not inquire about immigration status. Does this make sense?

UPDATE (07/02/09): Commenter Rorschach reminds that he wrote about this issue two months ago (here). Advantage: Red Ink: Texas!

BLOGVERSATION: Lone Star Times.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/01/09 10:53 PM |

HPD overtime cut; HPOU head warns of more crime

KRIV-26's Isiah Carey reports that the city's new fiscal year began today, and that means the end of significant HPD overtime spending that helped mask the department's ongoing understaffing issues:

And the head of the police union says it could also be the beginning of a crime wave. This comes after Houston city officials slashed $14 million dollars from HPD's overtime budget. Houston Police Union President Gary Blankenship says the overtime dollars were used to fill the gaps on the streets.

In other words, Blankenship says we can expect more crime because there will be less of a police presence on the ground. He and other officers point to areas like downtown Houston where overtime dollars were used to patrol main streets and address the homeless issue.

Any surge in crime will be the next mayor's problem (along with the staffing issues).

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/01/09 10:35 PM |

30 June 2009

Linkpost: 06/30/09

We refuse to link to any blogs offering the non-news that Sylvester Turner isn't running for mayor (when we checked yesterday, he wasn't running either), but there are all sorts of other local blog goodness that you should click on.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/30/09 09:08 PM |

KTRK: Council tackles pressing problem of.... electronic signs?

KTRK-13's Miya Shay reports that your City Council today passed an ordinance to regulate the pressing problem of.... electronic signs.

The ordinance could potentially affect schools and churches as well as businesses, but one busybody says that's too bad:

The neighborhood streets clause would mean many churches and area schools with electronic signs in neighborhoods would no longer be allowed to add new changeable signs. But [Alan] Atkinson says the broader repercussions would mean a better looking community for everyone.

"I need to have a higher quality of life in the city of Houston so my kids will stay here and not get lured to other cities," said Atkinson. "I want them to be here."

Given our city's problems, it is astounding what concerns some people (including our Mayor and Councilmembers).

Now it's reader participation time: If you know anyone whose quality of life in this city has been so negatively affected by the city's electronic signs that he/she (or the offspring!) have been "lured to other cities," please do leave us a comment. We want to hear from what is apparently a large and important demographic.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/30/09 08:01 PM |

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