30 January 2007
Chron tries to keep Ruben Cantu story alive
The Chronicle's efforts to win that elusive first Pulitzer via the Ruben Cantu story have stalled somewhat, but the local Hearst daily just keeps plugging along in its efforts to keep the story alive:
Sam Millsap Jr. knows that most people in his home state disagree with his fervent opposition to the death penalty, but the former Bexar County district attorney remains puzzled by a particular expression of sympathy he gets from many of his fellow Texans.
They frequently admonish him not to beat himself up over the execution of Ruben Cantu, a potentially innocent man Millsap helped send to the death chamber.
And why is Cantu potentially innocent? The story elaborates:
Ruben Cantu, a gang member convicted of a robbery-related murder when he was 18, was executed on Aug. 24, 1993. In 2005, a Chronicle investigation suggested that Cantu was possibly innocent.
Here is some background on the Ruben Cantu story that should make clear his "innocence" is hardly a decided question. It's also useful when evaluating the Chronicle's death-penalty stories to keep in mind the Chronicle's fervent anti-death-penalty stance and the fact that editor Jeff Cohen's wife is a noted anti-death-penalty activist.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/30/07 11:07 PM |
KTRH: Houston Federal Reserve branch flies Mexican flag
KTRH-740's Josh Carroll and Scott Braddock report that Houston's Federal Reserve bank branch flew the Mexican flag today:
The flag of Mexico flew at the Federal Reserve Bank’s Branch in Houston Tuesday because Mexican dignitaries are in town, officials said.
“They’re holding a conference on trade between Mexico and the U.S.,” Federal Reserve Vice President for Houston, Robert Smith said.
Several callers to KTRH Tuesday afternoon were upset by the display. But, it is proper procedure for a foreign flag to fly at the same height as the U.S. flag on federal property during the visits of foreign officials, Smith said.
Edd Hendee and Pat Gray are NOT going to be happy about this!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/30/07 10:43 PM |
New Chron Galveston bureau reporter could use a little balance
In a story that appeared on Chron.com momentarily on Saturday, then disappeared, then reappeared on Sunday, Harvey Rice reported on some rail utopians on the island:
A passenger train between Houston and Galveston could begin rolling along the oldest rail line in Texas in as little as five years, according to members of a study group trying to make it happen.
The group is working on a blueprint for the city of Galveston, which it expects to complete in June, that will specify the costs and construction needs for reviving passenger service that ceased in 1967.
The passenger line is needed to ease steadily worsening traffic congestion on the Gulf Freeway and reduce automobile pollution that is contributing to the Houston area's failure to meet federal clean-air standards, proponents say.
The commuter rail line would cost far less than light rail or expanding the freeway, allow an increase in rail-freight service and offer an efficient evacuation route from Galveston when hurricanes threaten, they say.
"It has all the elements that would make it eminently possible," said study-group member John Bertini, chairman of the Galveston Railroad Museum board.
If by "eminently possible" we mean that Houston-Galveston rail could be built at great expense for reasons that are not compelling, then yes, anything is possible. Councilmember Michael Berry, on the other hand, offered a far more skeptical view on his KPRC-950 program Monday, available for a limited time for download on this page.
Rice is fairly new to the Galveston beat, having replaced Kevin Moran, who covered it for years. It's a shame his story was written entirely from the perspective of the Galveston rail utopians, with no counterbalance. It's as if the new reporter on the scene has already been captured by the natives, or rail utopianism, or something. Here's hoping there will be less cheerleading from Rice's future Galveston bureau reporting.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/30/07 10:32 PM |
29 January 2007
Chron: METRO cuts bus service six days, claims net weekly increase
In an article about rider complaints over METRO's latest "service adjustments," the Chronicle's Rad Sallee takes a closer look at the recent changes:
Ever since the massive 2004 revamping to coordinate bus service with the new MetroRail — which replaced all the buses on Main Street — critics have accused the agency of cutting bus service and forcing riders onto the light rail to boost its ridership.
At first glance, the current changes do look like a cut in bus service. As Metro describes them in capsule summaries, 18 say "discontinue trip" and another 10 say "remove service."
On the plus side, seven of the changes "add a trip," two "extend trips" and one will "increase frequency."
Another 10 are described with the neutral term "adjust." The reasons given include "to match ridership demand," "for more effective service," "to eliminate passenger overloads," "to operate directly to downtown," and — yes — "to allow connection with MetroRail."
Overall, there will be fewer bus hours on weekdays and Sundays and more on Saturdays, for a modest net increase of 20 hours a week, [METRO spokeswoman and former Chron staffer Raequel] Roberts said. The sum includes the new Cypress Park & Ride.
Those numbers seem a bit unusual, since Roberts is effectively saying METRO has cut bus hours systemwide six days of the week, but has increased bus hours systemwide enough on one day (Saturdays) for an overall weekly increase.
In any case, it seems far short of METRO's promise in the 2003 referendum to boost bus service by 50%. Of course, METRO doesn't always see the need to stand by its promises to voters, instead letting real-estate developers and other special interests drive the area's transit policymaking.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/29/07 10:28 PM |
Stephen Smith, we hardly knew ya!
The Washington Post's Frank Ahrens reports that the Washington Examiner has scored a high-profile new editor, luring him away from our own Chronicle, where he served as the Hearst daily's D.C. bureau chief for roughly two years:
So why, then, is [Smith] leaving his latest job as head of the Houston Chronicle's Washington bureau to take over the two-year-old tabloid Examiner, which has a staff of 55 and is given away free?
"I think the Examiner represents a new model of newspapering that really reflects how people want their papers organized, what sort of content they want and how they want [the papers] delivered," Smith said Friday. "I look at life as an adventure. This is an opportunity to do something new and stretch my talent."
At the same time, Smith said he had increasingly thought that his strengths and interests as a journalist no longer aligned with what the Houston paper wanted out of its Washington bureau.
"I've been here a little over two years, and the newspaper landscape has changed dramatically," Smith said. "Now the paper is wanting more enterprise stories, and that's a tricky word. It means different things to different people."
Like all U.S. newspapers, the Chronicle has had tough times, with circulation and advertising declines. Most papers are beefing up their Web sites and rethinking their coverage in an attempt to make themselves more relevant to readers. For many large papers, that has meant de-emphasizing prestige (and expensive) coverage -- such as foreign and Washington bureaus -- in favor of highly local coverage.
The Chronicle should seriously consider shutting down its D.C. bureau and beefing up its regional and state coverage, but instead the D.C. bureau just seems to live on, uncertain what it should be beyond a vehicle for Cragg Hines' frothing, Julie Mason's blogging, and the occasional fluff piece. Given Smith's pedigree, he'll likely be much happier at a newspaper with bigger aspirations.
In an amusing twist, the Chronicle has covered news of Smith's departure from the Chronicle with an AP story.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/29/07 12:29 PM |
28 January 2007
Chron, Texas Monthly cover Sunnyside, Gulfton Ghetto
Over the weekend, the Chronicle ran a story by Robert Crowe on Houston's Sunnyside neighborhood (where Robert McIntosh was recently shot), and the drug culture that prevails there. Here's an excerpt:
Parts of Sunnyside are saturated in a drug culture that is at once celebrated in Houston's unique rap music and vilified by older residents who say Houston is losing an entire generation to drugs like sherm, crack and codeine syrup.
"We want the drugs off the street," said the Rev. James Nash of St. Paul Baptist Church and a member of Houston Ministers Against Crime.
But Nash said the traditional police response to drugs can lead to the types of scuffles that end with the use of stun guns or deadly force. Police responded to more than 400 calls about narcotics activity in Sunnyside last year. At least eight were made to Knoxville and seven to Kings Row.
"We don't want these young men injured and killed (by police) just because they're using drugs," Nash said. "We got to find another way."
Houston Police Department officials say force is sometimes an unavoidable consequence in the line of duty, especially when suspects resist arrest.
It's a fascinating (and disturbing) read on one of Houston's problematic neighborhoods. Indeed, we'd like to see more stories written by and for grownups (like this one), and less of this sort of treatment of serious issues.
While we're on the topic of good journalism about Houston, we should have called attention long ago to an outstanding article by Skip Hollandsworth that appeared in the December 2006 Texas Monthly. Hollandsworth managed to spend some "quality" time with gang leaders in the infamous Gulfton Ghetto area of Southwest Houston, and the result was an even more fascinating (and disturbing) read. Here's an excerpt:
Since the spring of 2005, the police department has expanded its gang unit, established a “gang murder squad” in the homicide division, and budgeted approximately $10.5 million in overtime pay to send more officers into what are described as high-crime hot spots, most of them plagued by gangs. In August of this year, police chief Harold Hurtt announced the formation of the Violent Gang Initiative, a task force composed of members of the department’s own specialized “gang unit” as well as agents from the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; the Drug Enforcement Administration; Immigrations and Customs Enforcement; and the Department of Public Safety. Hurtt declared that the task force would “target the most violent gangs in Houston” and “disrupt and dismantle the gangs themselves.”
But so far, the task force has not come close to dismantling a single gang. And nowhere is that more glaringly evident than in the former Swinglesville—an area that some police officers are now calling Gang Land.
“No one seems to have any idea what is happening down here,” says Amanda Escobedo, a 65-year-old community advocate in southwest Houston who has spent nearly twenty years holding workshops and speaking at schools, trying to persuade kids to stay out of gangs. “The nice Houston people who live in the nice Houston neighborhoods and who come shop at the nice Galleria don’t have any idea—or don’t care—that the apartments that they all used to live in have now become a war zone. And it is a war zone, make no mistake about it. Every week, I hear about a stabbing or a shooting or a drive-by that doesn’t make the newspapers. It never, ever stops.”
It is indeed difficult for an outsider to imagine that this area is a war zone. (To get to Gang Land, all you have to do, if you’re at the Galleria, is drive for about half a mile down Loop 610, turn south onto Texas Highway 59, then take one of the next few exits—Fountainview, Bellaire, Hillcroft, or Fondren.)
If you have a Texas Monthly login (the link may not work for nonsubscribers), this one is certainly worth your time.
We love it when grownups produce such interesting writing about our city.
The mayor's PR spin machine operators probably don't share our enthusiasm.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/28/07 09:26 PM |
Fun with Metroblog
The suspense is over: Sit and Spin is the "official" name of Metro's new blog, although bH didn't wait for the final results to start using it.
Last week's Sit and Spin offerings are not terribly encouraging, but some posts are leading to high humor in the comments. For example, check out this comment by Bobby J Moon (responding to Matt Bramanti) who works in Metro's CIA department (or something like that):
Mr. Bramanti,
I am very proud of my 20-year record as METRO's Manager of Audit-Contracts. You are "right on" about my frugality in my professional life as well. My professional staff of CPAs; CIAs; CFEs and CGFMs work very hard and diligently to advise METRO's Procurement Department and Project Managers relating to the work that various contractors and subcontractors do for our Authority from procurement of buses to designing METRORail line extensions. We are very proud to identify in excess of $500K in cost savings for the Authority in FY06.....frugal, yes!
Bobby J Moon CIA CFE CGFM
Manager of Audit-Contracts
METRO Transit Authority
Which completely underwhelmed Matt:
"We are very proud to identify in excess of $500K in cost savings for the Authority in FY06.....frugal, yes!"
Forgive me if I'm less than floored, but you're talking about an organization with a budget of more than $750 million.
Your $500,000 in identified savings represents less than 1/10 of 1 percent of the FY07 budget.
That's like patting yourself on the back for using a 10-cent-off coupon on a $100 grocery bill.
Hahahaha! Too funny!
Then there's this post with Chief Lambert's Top Ten Reasons Why METRO Needs Security Cameras on Park & Ride Lots (and I think it was a serious post, too) which led to this amusing rebuttal by commenter duhmoose, and this post over at Metro Is Full of Crap with Laurence Simon's interpretation of Chief Lambert's Top Ten.
Oh my, that's good stuff!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/28/07 06:30 PM |
Teachers, salaries, and bonuses
The Chronicle's editorial board has written a conventional-wisdom type of piece today filled with the usual nonsense about underpaid teachers. The editorial is partly a response to HISD's handing out of bonuses last week. (More on that in a minute.)
The LJ's editorial thesis is that teachers are so underpaid, their morale is somewhere deep in the earth's crust. I hate this tired conventional wisdom because by and large it's just not true. The key is the number of days each year a teacher works. Everyone knows teachers get gobs more vacation days than average working folks do.
Let's say a teacher making $40,000 a year works 186 days a year -- that works out to $215 per day. Divide that by eight hours and the teacher is making almost $27 per hour. Factor in benefits -- and thanks to teachers unions, teachers have good benefits that don't come out of their paychecks like private sector employees' benefits -- and teachers aren't doing badly at all. That $40,000 salary is actually well-beyond $50,000 with benefits added in!
As for summer vacation -- teachers can save their money so they can take a two-month vacation, or they can teach summer school and make even more money.
How many non-teaching folks can take 60 vacation days a year and not lose their jobs? Eh, I certainly can't!
Plus, with increased longevity within a district, and the earning of a master's degree, teachers can increase their pay quite nicely.
Generally speaking, once a teacher has spent a good number of years in a district and earned a master's degree, a teacher is paid a pretty good salary, for 180+ days of work!
Now take your average working person (AWP) who makes $40,000 a year. Let's assume AWP gets weekends off, two weeks of vacation a year, and five holidays. AWP works 246 days a year, which means AWP makes $20 per hour AND gets benefits taken out of each paycheck.
That's quite a difference!
If the editorial board wants teachers to be "paid what they are worth to society," I'd like to know if the editors have put any REAL thought into the matter. Do the editors have a dollar figure in mind? Would $30 per hour be sufficient? How about $40? And at what level? Is that entry-level? Let's get specific!
Where there is low morale in schools, other factors are often the cause -- unruly students, uninvolved parents, weak-willed administrators, dumbed-down curricula geared to lower-level students, etc. Pay isn't generally at the top of the list of gripes. Teachers who love to teach aren't doing it to get rich. They love to help students learn.
Then there's the issue of the Chronicle posting every teacher's name who received a bonus, along with the amount of the bonus. I have a problem with that. I don't have a problem with the Chronicle posting the amounts, the schools and the subjects, but there was no reason for the names to be printed. (Although Gayle Fallon must have enjoyed the blog brawl that ensued. Anything that can get her closer to ALL teachers getting ALL the bonus money is a win for her. More union dues money -- yay!)
Yes, it's public money and that makes it perfectly reasonable to disclose the amounts. It strikes me though that issues of individual pay should be private whenever possible, just as entities are loathe to disclose personnel matters. Can HISD go back to the drawing table to fine-tune the bonus program? Certainly. And that's something the private sector has been doing for years, but the decision to print the names was unnecessary. The teachers are public sector employees, but generally don't put themselves in the public eye, and that's something I wish the Chronicle had considered.
BLOGVERSATION: Stories From a Teaching Life.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/28/07 03:49 PM |
Chron: White/HPD will cut overtime funding
As noted in an update to this post, Mayor White rushed a memo to Council after a critical report by KHOU-11's Jeff McShan regarding alleged plans to cut back on police overtime and cadet classes. In the memo, the mayor disputed some of the assertions in McShan's story.
Later, the Chronicle posted a story by Matt Stiles ("HPD plans to cut overtime jobs") that would seem to confirm some of the assertions in the earlier KHOU story. Here is an excerpt:
Houston police plan to slow spending on overtime programs credited with reducing crime so they can stretch the diminishing grant money that funded the effort, officials said Thursday.
Knowing that the city's crime rate declined 5 percent last year, Mayor Bill White asked the department to "phase down" grant-funded overtime spending to avoid an abrupt halt in officer presence in certain high-crime areas when the money runs out.
Mayor White flatly denied that he plans to cut cadet classes for this fiscal year, however:
White said the re-evaluation of overtime spending will have no effect on the three remaining police-cadet classes scheduled for this fiscal year, which runs through June 30.
Meanwhile, KTRK-13's Miya Shay notes that Mayor White's bumbling police chief was in Austin (strangely referred to as the Hill, evoking thoughts of the national capital) clumsily lobbying not on Houston issues, but in his capacity as head of a large city police chiefs' organization. It will not come as a surprise to Houstonians that he seems not to have made a very good impression.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/28/07 01:30 PM |
27 January 2007
Love to travel? Bookmark this one
If you love to travel, and also love to get a good deal on travel (since that means you can afford even MORE travel), you need to bookmark a new Chron.com site, and/or add it to your RSS feed reader of choice.
Houston Departures seems to have launched a couple of weeks ago.
Blogger Bill Montgomery is a traveler after my own heart. He seems to scour all the airline deals, and posts the best ones on the blog. And they are some good ones indeed! Here's what he promises in his first post:
Just as I've been doing for myself and my friends for years, I'll forgo the delights of late-night TV and instead troll the Web in search of bargains that are of interest to Houston travelers. I'll post what I find here, and you won't even need to buy me a hummingbird feeder, as one grateful friend did when he saved several hundred dollars on two tickets to Atlanta with my help.
I'll coach you on the best way to play the frequent-flier game, I'll offer tips on searching for your own fares, and I'll prove the flight doesn't have to be the most stressful part of your vacation.
Subsequent posts seem to deliver the goods.
My only suggestion would be to connect a Chron.com forum to the site, so that readers can easily add any travel deals they find to the conversation.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/27/07 06:54 PM |
Residents want West Alabama bike lanes restored
Ken Fountain reports for the Examiner newspapers that people who live near West Alabama are wondering why the street has not been restored to its previous (non-contraflow lane) configuration, now that the Spur 527 construction that forced the changes is complete:
Nearly eight months after the completion of the reconstruction of Spur 527 from the Southwest Freeway into downtown, some neighbors along West Alabama Street wonder why the once primarily residential street has not been returned to its original configuration.
Two residents who were involved in the original controversy and the city councilwoman whose district the street runs through said it was their understanding that officials promised the street would be restored after the spur’s completion.
[snip]
Both [Neil] McKenna and Ray Jones, the founder of the West Alabama Quality of Life Coalition, say they heard officials say during a hearing in the federal proceeding prior to the spur reconstruction project that once it was completed, West Alabama would be restored to its original configuration.
District D Councilwoman Ada Edwards, who had only recently taken office when the spur project began, said she doesn’t specifically recall who may have said that the street would be returned to its original status, but that was her understanding of what would happen.
However, Wes Johnson, spokesman for the city’s Public Works Department, said that commitment was never made.
I lived in that neighborhood when these changes were implemented and followed the issue closely. I recall most officials involved with the project refusing to give clear answers about what would happen after the Spur was finished, and I certainly don't recall any official promising that West Alabama would be switched back. A search of the Chronicle's archives does not turn up any such promise. One Chronicle report from October 2004 does indicate that the problem was still on the minds of residents:
The re-striping and reversible lane on West Alabama - designed to carry traffic during the reconstruction of U.S. 59 and Spur 527 - were cited as major problems, Brewster said.
Bicyclists who live in the neighborhoods near West Alabama want assurances that the bike lanes on that street will be preserved once the freeway construction is finished, Brewster said.
If those people were still asking for commitments about restoring the street back then, it seems unlikely that public officials had previously committed to such changes in public.
It also seems unlikely that the City of Houston is going to switch the lanes back to the earlier configuration, because that will require spending on a matter that is nowhere to be found on Mayor White's list of spending priorities. However, here's wishing Councilmember Ada Edwards luck in getting funding for the reconfiguration, if that's what her constituents want. Maybe if she proposes some revenue-generating red-light cameras at affected intersections, it will improve her chances at winning over the mayor!
BLOGVERSATION: Off the Kuff.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/27/07 04:52 PM |
Local Congressmembers want promised light rail, not bus rapid transit
The Chronicle's Rad Sallee reports that two area Democratic members of Congress are pushing for federal money to fund light-rail lines that METRO promised voters in the 2003 referendum:
As Metro began negotiations with a contractor to oversee construction of four planned bus rapid transit lines, two local members of Congress said Thursday they will push for federal money to fund light rail lines instead.
Metro said last year it would build the lines with rail in the ground and operate buses in their own right-of-way — separated from other traffic — along the track until ridership grows enough to justify switching to trains.
Some residents who voted for light rail in a 2003 referendum have objected to that, and Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green, both D-Houston, said they would work with the Democratic majority in Congress to get the rail funding.
We do not often print the following words, but Reps. Jackson Lee and Green are correct.
The 2003 referendum specified light rail (not bus rapid transit) routes, and it promised a 50% increase in bus service. Minority communities such as those represented by Reps. Jackson Lee and Green were targeted by pro-rail advocates, and likely provided the winning margin in the referendum vote.
Since then, those communities have seen cuts in bus service (called service improvements!), and bus rapid transit lines substituted for the promised light rail lines. There has also been an effort to route the Westpark light rail line away from Westpark (which would best service riders in the impoverished Gulfton area) to areas that are favored by Galleria-area real-estate developers, architects whose firms hope to capitalize on certain types of projects, bloggers who live in the Heights, and other special interests.
At some point, we would expect some communities that are more dependent on mass transit than others to ask what METRO is doing for them.
UPDATE: In a semi-related story, Bennett Roth of the Chronicle's vestigial D.C. bureau speculates that new Congressional rules on earmarks may or may not affect funding of Houston projects, including transit projects.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/27/07 04:16 PM |
Houston Auto Show starts today
Cory Crow reminds us that the Houston Auto Show gets underway today.
I haven't been to the show in a number of years, largely for the reasons described in Brett Clanton's story for the Chronicle:
There will be plenty of cars and trucks to drool over this weekend at the Houston Auto Show. But there also will be a few glaring absences.
Some of the highest-profile vehicles making the rounds at auto shows this year won't be stopping in Houston — again.
Never mind that Houston is the fourth-largest city in the nation, one of the biggest U.S. markets for new-vehicle sales or that the nine-day Houston Auto Show attracts more than half a million visitors.
With a few exceptions, automakers save their best stuff for more prominent auto shows in Detroit, Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles and a handful of other regional and international events.
That has been the case as long I can remember (about 11+ years living in Houston now), which is why I only make it out to the show every 4-5 years.
It's a shame that event planners can't convince the exhibitors that Houston is a world-class market deserving of a world-class auto show -- but it's still a fun time, especially if a person hasn't been in a while.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/27/07 03:09 PM |
Advantage: Insite!
While at the gym yesterday, I saw a report by KPRC-2's Robert Arnold on the drunk driving arrest of Mayor White's daughter, and the fact that some sources who have seen the police video have suggested the prosecution's case may be weak.
That sounded pretty familiar -- in fact, it sounded a lot like Isiah Carey's blog post from a week ago.
Advantage: Isiah Carey and the local blogosphere!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/27/07 01:45 PM |
The state of the editorial page is not good (cont'd)
The Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists lead today's effort as follows:
A commission appointed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry to reform the property appraisal system has come out with a raft of proposals that provide little in the way of reform.
The Editorial LiveJournalists then devote the rest of their editorial to complaining about the reforms proposed by the Pauken Commission.
First Question: If there are no real reforms being proposed, then why do the Editorial LiveJournalists spend so much time complaining about the non-reforms?
First Answer: Apparently, they confuse reforms they don't like with lack of reform.
Second Question: Do any Hearst grownups actually read these editorials for factual accuracy and logical consistency before they go out for public consumption?
Second Answer: It sure doesn't seem like it much of the time.
The public would certainly benefit from an intelligent conversation about the issue of Texas property taxes and the problem of appraisal creep, and there are certainly intelligent competing perspectives on the issue -- not that one would know it from reading the editorial page of Houston's Hearst daily.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/27/07 01:26 PM |
26 January 2007
METRO Communications Web Log Specialist rakes in the cash
HouStoned's Keith Plocek inquired with METRO about blogger Communications Web Log Specialist Mary Sit's salary and job description, and was told he needed to file a public information request for that info.
He did, and discovered that the proprietor of METRO's Sit and Spin blog rakes in $76,622 per year!
He has posted a PDF with the salary and job description here.
It appears that METRO employees enjoy 8 paid holidays and 3 "employee days" per year. It's not clear how much vacation time the Communications Web Log Specialist receives, but we'll go conservative and assume 10 days. Since the Sit and Spin blog has averaged one post per business day so far, we'll assume that at the end of the year, the Communications Web Log Specialist will have crafted roughly 239 posts. That means the transit organization is paying the weblog communications specialist approximately $320 per post.
That's a pretty good rate (especially since many of the posts read like recycled press releases)!
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC, Houstonist, Deskmerc.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/26/07 03:20 PM |
KHOU: Mayor slashes HPD manpower initiatives
Since the big "state of the city" address, the mayor's PR machine has been in full spin mode on the absolutely fabulous job the administration has done on crime.
The Chronicle's reporting after the big blitz from the administration emphasized that one measurement of crime (overall crime per 100,000 residents) saw a 5.7% drop year on year, even though murders per 100,000 residents saw a 5% increase year on year. The reporting did not make clear that those figures rely heavily on city estimates of population increases, nor did the reporting equally emphasize raw crime statistics.
Those raw crime statistics were available in an accompanying graphics box, and it's easy to see why the administration preferred not emphasize them. Of the seven categories measured, four saw increases, two saw declines, and one remained roughly the same from year to year. That's useful information. It's also useful to compare the crime statistics with earlier years (pdf link) -- for example, murders have surged above 300+ per year in the last two years of the White Administration, after remaining below that for several years.
But the Administration really doesn't want people looking at those numbers too closely. Indeed, as Jeff McShan reports for KHOU-11, Mayor White is really tired of this tedious crime stuff and wants to move on to other spending priorities:
There are big changes in the Houston Police Department as all overtime for Houston police officers is being cut and classes to train new police new officers are also being scaled back.
There is a fear among many inside the department that crime stats will soon rise again, thanks to a big financial cutback quietly handed down by Mayor Bill White.
[snip]
High ranking sources inside HPD told 11 News that overtime programs that have blanketed crime ridden areas for months deterring a lot of crime are now gone.
Police Chief Harold Hurtt reportedly asked the mayor for $15 million to pay for continued overtime patrols through June but that request was refused.
We learned he relayed the bad news to his command staff at a retreat in Galveston Wednesday.
Since a close look at the statistics shows crime is still increasing across several categories and is still well above pre-Katrina figures, it is not good news at all for Houstonians that Mayor White has decided once again to de-prioritize HPD's significant manpower shortage.
RELATED COVERAGE: Chief Hurtt says Houston's crime rate is down, others aren't so sure (Gene Apodaca, KTRK-13).
UPDATE (01-26-2007): A reader passes along a memo from Mayor White that disputes assertions in the KHOU story referenced above. I've asked the Mayor's press shop to be added to their press distribution lists countless times, without the courtesy of a response one way or the other. Obviously, there's no way for the little blog to post such information if we never receive it, but at least we can note that mayor disputes the story. We'll post any followup as well.
UPDATE (01-28-2007): Followup posted here.
BLOGVERSATION: Red Ink: Texas, Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/26/07 12:00 AM |
25 January 2007
The state of the editorial page is not good
In 1975, then-President Gerald Ford declared that "the state of the union is not good."
Since then, politicians at all levels of government have figured out that it's much better to extol the brilliance of their leadership, exaggerate their accomplishments, and ignore their failures in various "state of" addresses.
For that reason, we didn't see much reason to comment on the most recent "state of the city" address by Houston's mayor, since it followed the post-Ford "state of" formula very well.
As exaggerations go, however, Mr. White had nothing on the Editorial LiveJournalists (aka Mrs. White), whose own "state of the city" editorial contained the following whopper:
Somehow, that spirit and compassion must find a way to elevate the two-fifths of Houston households that live in abject poverty.
As Matt Bramanti points out, the Census Bureau estimates that roughly 20% of Houston households live below the poverty line (as of 2005). That's one-fifth of Houston households, not two-fifths (completely leaving aside the "abject" characterization).
We expect "state of" addresses to be full of exaggeration, but it's a real shame that the editorial page of Houston's only newspaper is even more out touch with reality.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/25/07 11:00 PM |
Ken Hoffman is now a blogger
It's been a LONG time coming, but Chronicle columnist Ken Hoffman has finally joined the blogosphere.
As he describes in today's column, he'll be blogging about his experiences as a little league coach:
For the fifth time, I'll be managing a team in West U. Little League. I should be ready for a visit from those friendly men in white lab coats waving butterfly nets, oh, around March 20 — Opening Day.
This time, I won't put up a struggle. I'll go with them to the Happy Shade Home for Fritzed-Out Little League Managers.Another thing different this time — I'll be writing a blog about my Little League season.
The blog will be called No Crying in Baseball.
They gave me that name. And if you've ever been to a Little League game, you know it's not accurate. There certainly is crying in baseball, for crying out loud.
Lots of crying and whining and temper tantrum-throwing.
I'm talking about the coaches and parents.
Sometimes the children cry, too.
The blog is available here.
This should be very entertaining. Welcome to the blogosphere, Mr. Hoffman!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/25/07 08:46 AM |
24 January 2007
Celebrate Houston's Arbor Day by planting a forest!
Have you had enough of the cold and rain? Tired of being cooped up? Ready to get out in the sun?
Well, this Saturday the city is looking for volunteers to help plant a whole lotta trees along Will Clayton Parkway -- 20,000 of them, in fact:
On January 27, 2007 a forest of 20,000 trees will put down roots on the Will Clayton Parkway esplanades between Lee Road and Highway 59 with a lot of help from willing volunteers. 2,000 volunteers are needed (rain or shine) to help accomplish this massive tree planting effort. Getting dirty is not optional; it’s required! Who can resist that? Bug spray and sunscreen are recommended. Volunteers must bring their own shovels, rakes and gloves. All volunteers must register and sign waiver forms prior to planting.
If the lure of being part of this great project isn’t enough to get you to volunteer, water, refreshments, and lunch will be provided.
Follow this link for registration information. Visit Trees for Houston here.
RELATED: Houston Gets Ready to Plant Thousands of Trees (KUHF-88.7)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/24/07 08:39 PM |
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