11 January 2007
Chron columnist still pushing for new soccer stadium
Check out the latest effort from the Chron's soccer columnist to stir up some interest in a new home for the Houston Dynamo:
The Dynamo need a facility where they can control scheduling, concessions, parking and security and support the bottom line. Thinking bigger, soccer needs its own home in a city of international recognition like Houston.
I would love to see a stadium built in downtown Houston. The whole experience of going downtown for a game would give more suburbanites a reason to enjoy that great part of our city.
A downtown stadium also would give Dynamo games more of a major-league feel, not to mention the fact there are a lot of haunts where fans could gather before and after a game.
We already have downtown sports venues, including a stadium. Three brand new ones. Really expensive ones that taxpayers built (plus a big empty one that costs millions just to maintain). In fact, Harris County has the highest rental car taxes in the nation to help pay for those expensive stadiums. And the Sports Authority has already had one close-call with junk-bond status.
What Harris County doesn't need is another sports team coming in here, sticking taxpayers with a big fat bill for a new venue, then controlling the revenue associated with that venue. Now if Dynamo officials can build a stadium with their own money, fine.
As for the bolded part -- yeah, that's just what suburbanites have been waiting for. A downtown soccer stadium.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/11/07 08:56 PM |
10 January 2007
Harris County deputy acquitted
Over at Red Ink Texas, Rorschach brings us the news that a Harris County deputy charged with aggravated assault by a public official for shooting at a suspect during a car chase has been acquitted.
The incident has been a hot topic on the Chris Baker program on KTRH-740, and Rorschach had early coverage of it on the Lone Star Times blog, before his post mysteriously disappeared. Luckily, he's kept up with the story on his other blog.
Here is the early Chronicle coverage of the acquittal.
BLOGVERSATION: Isiah Carey's Insite.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/10/07 11:02 PM |
Mayor bows to reality on Council special election
The Chronicle's Kristen Mack reports that Mayor White has set a May election date to fill the seat once held by Doctor-former Congresswoman Shelley Sekula Gibbs, who resigned her seat to go to Washington for a few weeks:
Giving up on efforts to delay the vote until November, Mayor Bill White today called a May 12 special election to fill the City Council seat vacated by Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs when she resigned in November for a brief stint in the U.S. House.
White had hoped for a change in state law to let the city wait until November's regular election to fill the seat, avoiding the cost of a special election that he estimated could cost as much as $4 million.
As the the [sic] legislative session opened this week, however, White realized that he did not have the support of Harris County legislators to push the change through.
Given the speed with which the state government would have had to move on the mayor's request, it was always highly unlikely that he was going to be able to postpone this election. His Boss Hogg White act simply doesn't play in Austin like it does here in town.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/10/07 05:36 PM |
Blog zinger of the young year
HouStoned's Richard Connelly concludes this post on Paula Zahn's foray into the Houston Taser/racism debate with the blog zinger of the young year.
Laurence Simon follows up with a zinger of a comment himself.
We don't have much to contribute to the hilarity, other than this still shot of Ada Edwards in her Comets jersey.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/10/07 05:01 PM |
Graybeard robs Houston bank, escapes on his bicycle
The Chronicle reports that an old guy on a bike knocked over a bank yesterday:
The FBI Bank Robbery Task Force is seeking assistance in identifying a man who escaped on a bicycle after robbing the Wachovia Bank on West 20th St. Tuesday afternoon.
The man rode up to the bank on the bike shortly before 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. Once inside, he approached the teller, demanded money and said he had a bomb. The robber then gave the teller a note demanding money.
The teller complied and the robber escaped on his bicycle. No one was injured during the robbery.
The robber is described as a white male, 50-55 years of age, approximately 5'8" tall, 170-200 pounds. He had long gray hair pulled back in a pony tail and a gray beard.
They included race in a crime description? Oh my. Can't that lead to the sort of racial scorekeeping that the Chronicle tries to avoid?
KPRC-2 posts a video surveillance shot of the robber. First thought: Why is ZZ Top's Dusty Hill robbing banks on his bike?
BLOGVERSATION: Lone Star Times.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/10/07 04:37 PM |
09 January 2007
Dan Patrick loses first Senate battle
As various media outlets and blogs have noted, local talker and new state senator Dan Patrick lost his first Senate battle today.
Today, the talk radio host lectured his colleagues on his notion of the requirements of democratic government, after which they promptly outvoted him 30-1 on the matter.
The Blocker Bill tradition continues to strike me (and apparently Evan at Perry vs World) as a conservative tradition, so it's probably best in the long run for conservative governance that Patrick lost.
Patrick, incidentally, has gotten interesting coverage recently in the Economist and Texas Monthly.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/09/07 09:33 PM |
Did that Jimmy Hendricks guy play the guitar?
Slampo's Place made us laugh out loud with this one.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/09/07 09:15 PM |
Parts of the ideal state sometimes get stale
The Chronicle's Dwight Silverman is in Las Vegas covering the 2007 CES, and as usual when Silverman is busy, his whimsical link blog on the Chron.com opinion page is being neglected. It hasn't seen an update for several days now.
For over a week around Christmas/New Year's, someone posted a note on the editorial page that the whimsical link blog would be on hiatus. Maybe they forgot to do that this time.
In any case, the most prominent real estate on the online editorial page is occupied by some pretty static, stale content (the rarely updated reader rep's blog, and the whimsical link blog that apparently only Silverman can maintain, when he's not busy doing other things like he is now).
Somehow, I thought the ideal state would be less... stale.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/09/07 08:57 PM |
More breaking coverage you CAN get elsewhere
Was the new Chron city desk editor enjoying the morning TV news with his Froot Loops again today?
It sure seems like it from this brief report that was posted on Chron.com this morning:
Several vehicles were vandalized at a parking of a Montrose club overnight, according to televised reports this morning.
Windows were smashed and tires were slashed at EJ's, located on Ralph and Westheimer.
Police are investigating the crime.
Hmm, if Houston's Leading Information Source pilfers its news from the television, is it really Houston's Leading Information Source?
Anyway, online readers of the Chronicle missed the important details found in this KPRC-2 reporting:
Dozens of patrons of a gay club found their vehicles vandalized in a parking lot Tuesday, KPRC Local 2 reported.
The vehicles were parked behind EJ's in the 2500 block of Ralph Street near Westheimer Road at about 2:20 a.m.
Customers said about 28 vehicles were damaged. Some of the vehicles' tires were slashed and some had smashed windows or windshields.
"I have two flat tires and a damaged windshield," victim Andre Wagner said.
Some of the men said they believe they were the victims of a hate crime.
"I really honestly do think this was a hate crime and that people are tired of the gays parking on their lot," victim Ronnie Siebert said. "It's really sad what has happened here tonight."
There's nothing like getting scooped by Channel 2 on basic local reporting.
UPDATE: There's more! Here's another recent report cribbed from local TV news reporting:
A man was shot in the face during a carjacking attempt in Houston early this morning, according to televised reports.
And another:
A pickup driver who fled an accident was killed after he and his passenger tried to run across Interstate 610 Sunday night, according to televised reports this morning.
That Chron city desk sure has things covered! Readers should probably hope that their cable TV subscription doesn't get cut, though.
UPDATE (01-10-2007): And another this morning:
A man was shot Tuesday night after he tried to stop two men from stealing a woman's purse in north Houston, according to televised reports this morning.
Does the Chronicle city desk even bother to check with HPD in the mornings, or do they just watch the television news and write up what they see?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/09/07 08:40 PM |
08 January 2007
Write On Metro
Metro's blog is underway...with a welcome post. Hopefully posting will pick up speed.
I'm disappointed with the site's look. I don't know what the correct tech terms are, but the site seems to be lacking sophistication, and the colors are disjointed. The varying shades of purple don't blend with Metro's main site. Weird. If you look at any of the Chron blogs, it's very clear they belong to Chron.com. Purple is just not a color associated with Metro -- red and blue are.
Amusingly, Laurence Simon's parody site looks much more polished by comparison.
As for the content, Mary Sit says in her post that she's listening. I'd like to know if Metro's upper management is listening as well. There's little point to the blog if they aren't. Also, will there be opportunities for Metro customers to air complaints or get questions answered, since Metro's Customer Service Hotline isn't very functional? I hope so. That would be a great way to improve dialog, something Sit lists as a priority.
BLOGVERSATION: On Message.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/08/07 08:00 PM |
Changes with Time Warner/Comcast
So, the big local switch from Time Warner to Comcast is under way.
Today's snail mail brought the first real evidence -- "important information" on Time Warner stationery about my account.
The information is that account numbers will be changing.
Oh, and if you have cable internet service, you'll now be charged $3.00 per month to lease your modem. There's no word whether customers can buy their own.
Nice move, though, making the announcement on Time Warner (not Comcast) stationery. And stating "We value your business." That's always important to say.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/08/07 06:31 PM |
Not exactly a rapid response-type of task force
Here's an excerpt from KHOU-11's story on Mayor White's convenience store task force:
“Convenience store work is one of the most dangerous lines of work and yet, very low pay work,” Houston City Councilman M.J. Khan said. “So these people have no attention to them at all.
“This task force, which Mayor White has appointed, will go a long way towards doing something about this horrible crime situation,” he said.
The task force will suggest ways store owners can protect themselves and ways the city can back them up – possibly by changing rules about lighting and surveillance cameras.
The task force will have four months to present its recommendations to the City Council. They are hoping to hear from many people who work in the convenience store industry, from managers to clerks to customers.
City officials can't possibly wonder why people scoff at these types of announcements, can they?
So if you are an employee in one of the most dangerous lines of work in Houston, do what you can to stay safe (or at least alive) for about four months (barring any postponement) to see what the task force recommends. Then tack on several more months for anything to actually happen.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/08/07 05:51 AM |
07 January 2007
Houston musters up the strength to honor Martin Luther King Jr.
Oh look: Houston's not "evented-out" after all.
While some city councilwomen are pooped, others have been resting up, it would seem.
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/07/07 03:56 PM |
Will Metro keeps its promise to start blogging Monday?
A little birdy (a reliable, not dead birdy) tells us that Metro's blog is scheduled to launch Monday. Metro doesn't always keep its promises, so we'll have to see if this is one they follow through on.
Mary Sit's blog should be very interesting. Will she undertake this blog as an effort truly to have an open dialog with the public, warts and all, or will Metro make her use it as a PR arm (which is completely unnecessary since the Chronicle's editors are already most helpful in that regard)?
No one has done more to document the real world failings of Metro than Laurence Simon. Day after day, his transportation escapades (which often turn into nightmares) are blog fodder. Appropriately, Laurence is readying his own Metro blog: Metro is full of crap.
Stay tuned!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/07/07 02:58 PM |
Carey: Narrow streets a concern for Cottage Grove
KRIV-26's Isiah Carey links to his TV report on the Cottage Grove neighborhood, and the potential dangers posed by the growing neighborhood's narrow streets.
Councilmember Peter Brown, who is popping up more lately than bicyclist Bob Stein, appears in the report. He is concerned about the narrow streets, and (surprise!) thinks the neighborhood would benefit from better planning.
I'm starting to get the sense that Brown hopes to run for mayor when term limits force out Bill White.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/07/07 12:08 AM |
06 January 2007
Jordy Tollett sounds like The Terminator
In today's offering, the Chronicle's Editorial LiveJournalists ran a fun quote from Jordy Tollett, who recently stepped down as head of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau:
For those who figure Tollett's service at the city is finished, think again. Previously caricatured as someone who'll outlive the cockroaches at City Hall, Tollett said those writing his municipal epitaph might be premature. "I just can't wait to come back, working for the next mayor."
Unlike those elected to city offices, people who can make things happen in Houston don't have term limits. Tollett probably will find his way back into the downtown power structure after White's tenure ends. Tollett might just as easily have told the Editorial LiveJournalists "I'll be back."
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/06/07 11:39 PM |
East End fears rising crime
KHOU-11's Chau Nguyen reports that people living in Houston's East End fear that crime is rising, again:
There is a sense of fear among some residents in Houston’s East End, because they say crime is once again on the rise.
It’s happening on the southeast side of the area, near Harrisburg and 75 th.
Business owners and residents there say recent incidents indicate the safety of their neighborhood may be in jeopardy.
That can't be so, because MayorWhiteChiefHurtt keep saying that crime is now under control, and that crime is really under control if you take into account estimated population increases (some Chronicle reporters and/or editors who aren't very good at math say the same thing, interestingly).
In any case, the East End folks aren't waiting for MayorWhiteChiefHurtt to form a task force to look into their concerns:
Two years ago, crime got so bad that residents banded together to form their own patrols.
And they’re promising to do that again, as well as ask police to step up patrols to keep their neighborhood safe.
It's a shame that the city can't provide basic services.
Incidentally, the East End also has the most effective graffiti abatement program in the city.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/06/07 11:16 PM |
Mayor White tackles convenience store crime with a task force!
Yes, Houston needs a task force to figure out how to reduce convenience store crime:
Mayor Bill White announced today the formation of the Mayor's Task Force on Convenience Store Security. Members will make recommendations aimed at curbing violent crime in convenience stores by reviewing new technologies, building codes, management processes, and law enforcement procedures.
Which means new city regulations will be required because that's how cities fix problems.
The answer is simple, as blogHOUSTON readers will know: punish convenience store owners for allowing crime to happen on their properties.
It's the logical approach to crime-fighting -- think graffiti and apartments --and it's easy to do. Fine store owners $20,000 or so each time their store is held up, then require that within two weeks, city-mandated security upgrades have been installed (see Metro Park and Pillage lots for guidance), and any building code violations have been addressed. After that, ensure that convenience store personnel attend management training classes conducted by the city (for a fee, of course), to learn how best to handle a robbery.
All this should be directed by a new city department. A contest will be held to come up with the acronym naming this new initiative. Leave your suggestions in the forum.
MORE: I just saw the Chron's story. The end (naturally!) includes a hint to another crime-fighting approach:
As the task force begins considering ways to make the industry safer, the store clerks suggested more patrols by Houston police officers, more street lights and enforcement of the Houston youth curfew.
Both clerks also agreed that more street lighting would improve overall neighborhood safety.
"It is too dark out here," Nguyen said. "And, everybody knows that Houston needs more police officers."
More police officers? Better street lighting? You mean the store clerks didn't suggest a task force to fix the crime problem?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/06/07 07:13 AM |
05 January 2007
Food and drink roundup (01-05-07 edition)
The first week of the year seems like a good time to bring the food and drink roundup out of hiatus. Let's get started, shall we?
Alison Cook checked out Bombay Brasserie, a regular Indian haunt of some of bH's contributors. She's right, there are times when the place fails to wow, but there are times (like the last time bH-ers partook there) that the food is simply amazing. And the service is all that. She also ventured out to Katy to try Pulcinella Ristorante.
Robb Walsh tried Thai Gourmet, another favorite of some of us, way back in November. He's right about the heat. That place knows how to dish it out. Mary'z Lebanese Cuisine, another bH favorite, was his focus another week.
Peggy Grodinsky talks up tofu in this week's Chron food section.
Ken Hoffman heads over to IHOP to try their new and redundant sounding Corn Cake Pancakes.
And Lance Scott Walker makes the East End's Harrisburg Country Club sound interesting.
World Class, all of it. Enjoy!!
Posted by Callie Markantonis @ 01/05/07 08:44 AM |
04 January 2007
Councilmember tackles problem of... utility poles?
KRIV-26's Isiah Carey blogs that Councilmember (and architect!) Peter Brown is working hard on a new initiative:
Houston City Council member Peter Brown is on a mission to clean up Houston's scenic view. He says the city has been littered with overhead power poles that only taint Houston's beauty. Brown says power companies like CenterPoint Energy should look at burying their cables or installing their untility poles on easements behind properties instead of locating them directly in front of homes and businesses.[snip]
CenterPoint spokesperson Alicia Dixon tells The Insite their company is more than willing to work with the council member and the community. She says however underground utility lines are 15 times more expensive than overhead. She says the extra expense would be passed on to the consumer and or the developer.
Maybe we can just bill Councilmember Brown?
In any case, it's reassuring to know that all the major, pressing problems of the city have been solved, and we have now turned to solving the trifling matters. And it seems exactly the right person is on the case!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/04/07 10:31 PM |
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