25 March 2007
McGuff interviews KTRK's Ed Brandon
Mike McGuff has posted an absolutely fascininating interview with Ed Brandon, the longtime KTRK-13 weatherman.
There's a little bit of EVERYTHING in this interview -- Brandon's heart issues, Steve Olafson/Banjo Jones, Dan Patrick, Austin in the '60s, and more.
Interestingly enough, Brandon's a fan of blogs:
I go to right wing blogs, I go to left wing blogs. I'm fascinated by the Internet, that's why I wanted to talk about this on the blog instead. I'm not the kind of person that wants to put out a press release and say here's what I'm doing. It just seems a little egocentric.
I would be interested in participating in the blogosphere to some point. Maybe I don't know what I want to be.
blogHOUSTON can have a login ready in about 30 seconds, Mr. Brandon. Just give the word!
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC, MobilePodcast.org, Lone Star Times.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/25/07 10:19 PM |
24 March 2007
Metro's transparency in action (cont'd)
Rad Sallee reports that our local quasi-governmental transit agency is at it again:
Four Near Northside residents pleaded with the Metro board Thursday not to leave them in limbo, as one put it, about its plans for an Intermodal Terminal near their homes.
Chairman David Wolff responded that the board would vote during the meeting to buy land for the terminal — a step toward clarifying their issues.
But after the vote, Metropolitan Transit Authority officials would not identify the specific parcel the board had approved for purchase.
George and Sharon Jacobs told the board they love their home on North Main but need to know its fate. "I spent this last year in limbo," Sharon Jacobs said. "It's stressful. It's torturous."
Todd Mason, Metro vice president of real estate services, said he does not believe the townhome property will be needed for construction but that it might qualify for "inverse condemnation," meaning purchasing a project to compensate the owner for loss of value.
Wolff apologized that the residents had been in the dark so long and blamed delays on the complexity of the sprawling, multi-level terminal for buses and light rail.
[snip]
The Chronicle asked Metro on Wednesday for descriptions and maps of the properties. A Metro spokeswoman recommended filing an open records request, which was done.
All in a day's work at Metro.
Let's recall Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson's recent statement:
We operate the METRO organization in a completely transparent manner.
Riiiiiiight. We can't wait for the Chron's editorial board to weigh in, since they are fans of government sunshine.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/24/07 09:59 AM |
Someone tell Peter Brown that utility poles can come in handy
Isiah Carey has pictures of the city's new wi-fi thingys (technical name: mesh routers) which will be placed on utility poles, and this has Isiah concerned:
My concern is that it may bother Houston council member Peter Brown. He has been on a mission to reduce the clutter on utility poles around the city. I wonder how he will react to these bread boxes placed on light poles around the city of Houston!
Actually, Councilmember Brown wants utility poles buried underground, not just de-cluttered. Isiah needn't have worried though -- as he posted later, Councilmember Brown was otherwise occupied in Dallas, taking notes on how Houston can be more World Class.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/24/07 08:27 AM |
A new look for the Bill White Vermin And Solid Waste Memorial Park
Mike McGuff says things aren't looking so good around the George R. Brown Convention Center right now as construction for Discovery Green has left giant piles of dirt in the GRB's parking lot.
Can we assume the hobos have been (temporarily) displaced?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/24/07 07:52 AM |
23 March 2007
The sound of nitwits (cont'd)
The Chronicle's Dale Lezon checks in on the latest legal activity from the local radio lunatic fringe:
A Houston peace activist and board member of public radio station KPFT-FM (90.1) filed suit this week after the general manager of the station barred him from its Montrose studio.
Ken Freeland alleges that Duane Bradley unfairly prohibited him from coming to the station after Jane Tucker Bradley, no relation, accused Freeland of assaulting her.
Freeland, a member of Houston Coalition for Justice Not War, denied the accusation.
Duane Bradley said he banned Freeland from the station to protect Jane Bradley and other staff members.
Jane Bradley said she feared Freeland after a confrontation with him during a forum for candidates seeking election to the station board in October. She said Freeland "jumped into my face" and yelled at her about the forum's organization.
He didn't hit her, she said, but she filed a complaint against him with the Houston Police Department.
"His baseball cap was bumping into my forehead," she said. "I felt he was a threat to me."
Freeland said he didn't touch Bradley, and said he yelled at her only after she had yelled at him.
It can be entertaining when the peace activists get all riled up (although sometimes it's not very good for Houston radio)!
BLOGVERSATION: Lone Star Times.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/23/07 09:45 PM |
White defends airport parking perk for elected officials
The Chronicle's Matt Stiles got Mayor White to comment on the slow-news-week revelation by KTRK-13 earlier this week that elected officials enjoy parking perks at the Houston Airport system:
Mayor Bill White defended the free-parking program at the city's airports Thursday, saying local elected officials who get the perk are "critical for the success and development of the aviation system."
But he acknowledged "fair questions" about the necessity and appropriateness of the program, and said local elected representatives eligible for the perk should comply with the city's guidelines restricting its use to official travel.
"They ought to be aware that all of us are scrutinized by the public," said White, who is eligible to park for free but hasn't. "The public is always skeptical of any perks or special privileges for elected officials."
We do not always agree with Mayor White, so let it be duly noted that his comments on this matter seem eminently sensible.
It does not seem unreasonable for a taxpayer-supported entity like the airport to extend parking privileges to taxpayer-supported elected officials (rather than making them pay and later turn in an expense report for reimbursement, like most private-sector employees would do when traveling on business), which is why some of the media coverage this week seemed a little overblown.
Then again, elected officials shouldn't abuse the perk, so maybe a little media attention during a slow news week isn't entirely a bad thing.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/23/07 09:35 PM |
Most news outlets report on abduction attempt at HISD (updated)
On Wednesday, HISD issued a press release about actions taken by HISD in response to an attempted abduction of a student. Here's an excerpt from the press release email* I received from HISD:
The principal of HISD’s Scarborough High School telephoned nearly 500 homes today to warn parents about an attempted abduction of a student on a city street.
Scarborough Principal Moses Diaz contacted 489 homes in minutes using the district’s new automatic phone messaging system to warn parents about a man who attempted to abduct a 9th grade student as she walked to school. (Audio of phone call is attached.)
Principal Diaz told parents that about 8:15 a.m. today, a Hispanic male driving a blue four-door Dodge truck attempted to abduct the girl from a street corner at Antoine and Libby.
“The man was between the ages of 25 to 30 years, 5-feet 6-inches tall with short black spiked hair with excessive acne on his face. He was wearing a royal blue button up shirt and blue jeans. The student who was involved is a 9th grader at Scarborough High School and was able to escape this attempted abduction and was not physically harmed,” Principal Diaz told parents.
The principal said HISD Police and Houston Police are investigating, and that extra police patrols have been added in the area.
The local television news outlets reported this news story the same day (KPRC-2, KHOU-11, KTRK-13, KRIV-26).
Strangely enough, Houston's Leading Information Source didn't run an actual story on the matter.
However, Chronicle education editor Jason Spencer, who whined recently on his Chron.com blog about HISD issuing press releases in an effort to gain favorable media coverage of HISD topics (shocking!), did mention the story on the same Chron.com blog yesterday, while pointing out that HISD's press office issued a press release on the attempted abduction but did not issue a press release on a teaching assistant accused of sexually assaulting a student off campus.
We've long suspected that the Chronicle editor's apparent animus towards HISD spokesman Terry Abbott adversely affects the Chronicle's coverage of HISD. The absence of any non-blog coverage of an attempted abduction -- considered with these recent blog posts -- lends further credence to the notion.
UPDATE: Lo and behold, as I was putting the finishing touches on this very blog post, Chron.com finally posted a news story about the abduction this morning! Better late than never, we suppose, although it certainly was late; maybe the Chron.com Froot Loop bureau should have helped out with this one! I have no idea if the story made it into this morning's print editions.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/23/07 09:24 AM |
22 March 2007
A peek behind the scenes in the Tynesha Stewart case
KRIV-26's Isiah Carey posts an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the Tynesha Stewart case, and how events unfolded yesterday.
RELATED COVERAGE: Chronicle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/22/07 07:34 AM |
21 March 2007
Ken Charles headed to Miami
The Radio-Info.com site posts that Clear Channel programming guru Ken Charles will be leaving Houston for a Clear Channel gig in Miami.
Best of luck to Mr. Charles in Florida. At least Houston has prepared him for the humidity!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/21/07 10:29 PM |
Chron: "Magical art colony" to descend upon Memorial Park
The Chronicle's Seshadri Kumar reminds us that the Bayou City Art Festival takes place this weekend in Memorial Park:
Houston's Bayou City Art Festival will celebrate its 10th year in Memorial Park from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday-Sunday.
More than 300 visual and performing artists are expected to transform the park into a magical art colony, with juried art and multicultural music, dance and culinary delights.
A magical art colony?
Look, it's a pretty neat festival, and definitely worth a visit, especially if you've never been. But past experience suggests that it may not live up to the billing as "a magical art colony," unless you hit the wine pretty hard.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/21/07 10:10 PM |
20 March 2007
Flight attendant tries to live her best life now
The Chronicle's Dale Lezon reports some of the entertaining details of the lawsuit against Lakewood Church's Victoria Osteen, relating to her temper tantrum on a Continental jet in 2005:
The Osteens were on board Continental Airlines Flight 1602 at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport, bound for Vail, Colo., on Dec. 19, 2005.
Victoria Osteen found a liquid on the arm rest of her seat and asked fight attendants to clean it up, according to Brown's lawsuit. The flight attendants did not immediately take action, however, and after they said a cleaning crew would be called, Osteen shoved, grabbed and pulled them, the lawsuit alleges.The suit states that Osteen elbowed Brown, the flight manager, in the left breast while trying to get into the cockpit. After Osteen was asked to leave the plane, she and her family complied.
The Federal Aviation Administration fined Osteen $3,000 for interfering with a flight crew member. She paid the fine, but payment is not an admission of guilt.
Brown's lawsuit claims that she suffered pain and bruising. It seeks unspecified damages for the medical care, emotional pain and mental anguish she claims to have suffered and may suffer because of the incident.
The lawsuit seems overblown, but then again, it doesn't seem very Christian to elbow a flight attendant in the breast, so maybe there's some sort of karma at work in the whole thing.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/20/07 10:48 PM |
Rep. Isett's red light camera bill is up for discussion
Over at Grits for Breakfast, Scott Henson has details on state Rep. Carl Isett's proposed bill that could put an end to red light cameras in Texas:
Those concerned with using cameras instead of police officers for traffic enforcement may want to make their views known to the Urban Affairs Committee supporting HB 985 by Rep. Carl Isett, which will be heard there tomorrow.
[snip]
This bill takes that opposition one step further and prohibits speeding and other traffic enforcement in addition to red light enfocement via cameras at intersections. (In the Senate, John Carona has legislation that would split revenue between locals and the state.)
Scott also provides a thorough list of why red light camera programs are such a bad idea, especially when there are much better ways to minimize red light running -- ways MayorWhiteChiefHurtt wouldn't even consider.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/20/07 08:34 PM |
19 March 2007
Credit where credit is due
The Chronicle's Jennifer Leahy reports on a somber event that took place yesterday:
While thousands of families were enjoying a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Hermann Park, hundreds of people gathered in the park's Miller Outdoor Theatre to remember those who never got to experience such a lovely spring day.
The inaugural "A Life to Remember" ceremony, a commemoration of the babies lost through miscarriage, stillbirth or newborn death was presented by local support groups and area hospitals.
Babies?
How did that reference (and not "fetuses") get by the editors?
Hat tip to Jennifer Leahy for the characterization and Matt Bramanti for the catch.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/19/07 10:00 PM |
Reports: UH to lose president to Auburn
The Birmingham News (via Houstonist) reports that University of Houston President Jay Gogue, an Auburn alum, has been named the sole finalist to become that institution's president:
University of Houston President Jay Gogue, a 1969 graduate of Auburn University, has been named as the sole finalist to become his alma mater's 18th president.
Gogue was named the only finalist for the job by the school's Presidential Search Committee which met Monday and by 2:30 p.m. voted to name Gogue as its candidate for AU's top job.
Search committee members have spent months reviewing resumes of applicants for the job and narrowing the list of those interested in the job.
The 59-year-old Gogue, a native of Waycross, Ga., is expected to be on campus by Wednesday where he will make the rounds meeting with faculty, students, administrators and community leaders.
On Thursday the Auburn University Board of Trustees will meet and are expected to interview Gogue and then possibly vote to hire him.
This sounds as if it's pretty much a done deal, and one that Gogue can hardly pass up. That will be quite a blow to the University of Houston, as Gogue's work revamping/formulating UH's Master Plan has been instrumental in raising/changing expectations around the traditional commuter institution.
RELATED COVERAGE: Chronicle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/19/07 09:45 PM |
18 March 2007
Denied Council candidate blasts city
Earlier in the week, the Chronicle's Matt Stiles broke another interesting story from City Hall -- this time on the inconsistent treatment of candidate applications by city officials in recent years.
He followed that story with a report on the complaint by a candidate whose application was recently rejected on a technicality:
Ray Jones Jr., who was denied a space on the ballot for the May 12 special election to replace former Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, filed a petition in state appellate court trying to force the city to let him run.
He contends that city officials denied his notarized application because he left an oath section blank while other candidates with mistakes on their forms were approved.
In a petition to the 14th Court of Appeals on Thursday, Jones' attorney, Richard Leach, also suggested that his client's advocacy on behalf of the disabled in conflict with the city may have played a role.
His daughter, Kristen Jones, who is disabled, recently won a federal court case against Mayor Bill White and the city in which the judge required that dozens of curbs be fixed or rebuilt to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Jones also said he has appeared before the council and other groups to complain about White's policies on mobility and parking.
"It appears that, if you're favorable to the city, then the city will allow you to run," Leach said. "If the city doesn't like you, as in the case of Ray Jones, then it doesn't allow you to run."
We're pretty sure that the current Mayor of Houston has more important things to do with his time than to micromanage the vetting of applications for City Council races.
However, given the earlier reporting by Stiles about the inconsistent application of standards in these matters, it doesn't look good that one of the rejected candidates just happens to be a thorn in the side of the city. We hope that's just an unfortunate coincidence.
BLOGVERSATION: NewsWatch: City Hall, KTRK Political Blog.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/18/07 10:28 PM |
PvW: Crime issue may hinder statewide run by White
Evan at Perry vs World posts some thoughts on Houston's crime problem, and how it might hurt Mayor White if he eventually runs for statewide office:
Crime has certainly lost some of its potency as an issue. But it will be salient in White's record, and the sort of suburban female swing voters who might swing towards White will be very turned off by his record as mayor. Everyone knew that the Houston Police Department was facing an impending shortage of officers, and yet Bill White did nothing. Houston's sharp rise in crime is directly attributable to Bill White's decisions. Whether he is soft-on-crime or not, the buck stops there.
He links to an earlier post at the Professors R Squared blog that also discusses White and crime.
White's local PR operation is pretty good, but if he decides to run statewide, he'll be stepping into the big leagues, where opposition researchers are going to look more closely at his record on crime (and other issues) than some locals. It's an issue that could hurt him.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/18/07 10:10 PM |
Death row inmate refuses food
The Chronicle's Allan Turner reports that a potential Chron Eye subject is refusing food:
Life on death row, says Roy Lee Pippin — condemned for killing two men in a Harris County narcotics murder — is a living hell.
And unless courts spare his life, Pippin says, he plans to go to his March 29 execution on an empty stomach. He's trying to draw attention to what he considers horrendous conditions at Texas' massive, ultra-maximum-security death row.
A one-time air conditioner repairman, Pippin has spent almost 12 years on death row, roughly half of them at the forbidding, electric- and barbed-wire encircled Allan B. Polunsky Unit just west of Livingston. Pippin, 51, the latest in a series of inmates who have stopped eating to protest prison conditions, started his hunger strike on Feb. 19 and had lost more than 20 pounds.
Pippin, who consumes only water, undergoes daily medical evaluation. If his condition seriously deteriorates, doctors could order that he be fed intravenously.
Didn't Anne Linehan see this coming about a year ago?
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/18/07 09:55 PM |
Daneshy: How to maintain Houston's dominance as energy capital
In an op-ed for the Chronicle today, Ali Daneshy, the director of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Houston, comments on Halliburton's recent decision to relocate its headquarters to Dubai and what Houston can do to maintain its dominance as energy capital of the world.
Unsurprisingly, Daneshy identifies the University of Houston as an underutilized asset:
In light of this, Houston must strengthen its technology infrastructure within the metropolitan area. The University of Houston can serve as the focal point for much of this strategy. Surprisingly, the city that claims to be the energy capital of the world does not offer an undergraduate petroleum engineering education. This needs to be rectified quickly.
It also wouldn't hurt for the university to promote petroleum economics/finance/management programs as well.
Daneshy's op-ed is available here.
UPDATE: The Chronicle's Brett Clanton reports on the general topic.
BLOGVERSATION: Loren Steffy.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/18/07 02:01 PM |
Tour de Houston
The city's third annual bike ride was supposed to take place yesterday, but did it? I can't find any local news coverage of the event. If you participated in it, let us know how it went!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/18/07 01:32 PM |
A perfect day to visit the Houston Zoo
We hadn't been to the zoo in a while, so yesterday we took advantage of the great weather and headed out.
The highlight of our visit was definitely Mac, the baby elephant. What a cutie!
And this time, we were early enough to catch some lion activity -- one of the lionesses chasing a bird. The male lion lifted his head, looked around for a bit, then went back to snoozing. We were also amused by the black spotted something-or-other (leopard maybe?) that was napping on his back with his paws in the air. How the animals can sleep through all the noise zoo visitors make is beyond me.
The only suggestion I'd have for zoo folks is to add more benches around the Duck Lake concessions area. It's a little tough to feed hungry kids with nowhere to sit! Other than that, though, we had a terrific time.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/18/07 10:14 AM |
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