09 September 2006
Acres Homes residents don't want another crime-attracting park
KHOU-11 reports on the concerns of some Acres Homes residents about the city's plans to build another park in their community:
“Nothing but drug dealers hang out, selling drugs. Nothing good,” said resident Mary Taylor, “Wouldn’t nobody come here but some of the bad people.”
Taylor is talking about Acres Homes city parks, places she said welcome problems, not families.
When Taylor learned that the city is planning on building another park in her community, she rallied her neighbors.
“We want something better than a park,” Taylor said.
They want a YMCA.
“We fighting crime as it is without a park and if you put up a park out here with no kind of facilities or supervision or what have you, we just got more crime,” she said.
[snip]
The proposed park sits on 27-acres, enough, Taylor said, to build a YMCA where families can go and not be afraid.
Steubner-Ariline park, in Acres Homes is the same area where there have been problems including several women being murdered, a search for a serial killer.
When 11 News spoke with the City Parks department, they said this was the first they had heard of this proposition. They said they would listen to Taylor’s and the concerns of other residents.
Who can blame Ms. Taylor, really? Crime is on the rise and an unsupervised park can be a magnet for unsavory sorts of people. Are there adequate police patrols in the Acres Homes community? Did the city talk to Acres Homes residents when it was drawing up its plans for the new park? Will the new downtown park face the same problems?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/09/06 05:03 PM |
Why let ignorance get in the way of opining?
The outrage of the week for the Chronicle's Editorial LiveJournalists seems to be a movie that none of the LiveJournalists has seen (and which may be pulled by ABC before anyone sees the final cut). Here's the headline from yesterday's editorial:
Fabricating history: ABC docudrama on 9/11 jettisons accuracy in favor of fictional sensationalism
An email to the Chronicle confirmed that no member of the left-leaning Editorial Board has actually previewed the docudrama (unlike other reviewers who have written about the preview released to them), which makes their criticism of the unseen docudrama premature and their subheadline way too strong.
The right-leaning Investor's Business Daily also ran an editorial on the docudrama yesterday, and unsurprisingly their perspective was more sympathetic. Nobody from IBD answered my email as to whether they had viewed a preview copy of the production before opining on it.
While the production is billed as entertainment (hence the term docudrama), it is historical. One hopes that the producers don't take extreme liberties with what actual American foreign policymakers said or did. By extreme liberties, I mean inaccurately putting words in the mouths of people who never said such things. Entertainment shouldn't be license for libel/slander (although sometimes it seems to be), whether we're dealing with the Clinton or Bush or Reagan Administrations.
That said, it's amusing that editorialists and bloggers who have not yet seen even a preview of the docudrama nonetheless feel the need to write about it so authoritatively! Perhaps this advice from ABC would have been good advice for the Chronicle's Editorial LiveJournalists:
"No one has seen the final version of the film, because the editing process is not yet complete, so criticisms of film specifics are premature and irresponsible," the network said in a statement Thursday.
Premature and irresponsible? Our Editorial LiveJournalists? Shocking!
BLOGVERSATION: Isolated Desolation.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/09/06 12:07 PM |
08 September 2006
Let's rename it The Lee P. Brown Emergency Center
The problems keep on coming at the Houston Emergency Center (via KTRK-13):
The phone system at the center went down around 9:15am Friday. The center could not receive any 911 calls so they immediately re-routed those calls to Harris County call centers.
HEC Spokesman Joe Laud said, "We had seen a problem. We went to our contingency plan. The plan worked. As far as the details of the investigative results, that will be soon."
The phone system went back on line just over an hour later, but the officials had to spend some time testing the system.
This past July, the Houston Emergency Center experienced a computer failure which knocked out the automated dispatch system.
Let's see: a $53 million system that costs $40 million per year to operate. Seems about par for the course, as far as Lee P. Brown projects go.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/08/06 08:18 PM |
HPRA hosts East End anti-BRT speaker
The Houston Property Rights Association sends out this info on today's lunch speaker:
This Friday the HPRA lunch time speaker is Percy Gonzalez, a long time East End businessman who heads up the East End/Harrisburg Committee which he organized to fight Metro’s proposed plan to build a Bus Rapid Transit guideway on the primary commercial street in the Hispanic inner-city.
East End opponents of METRO's plans have not been as successful as Richmond-rail opponents at getting their message out, so Gonzalez's talk should be a good opportunity for people to hear their arguments.
HPRA meets at noon at the Courtyard restaurant, 1885 St. James Place. Lunch is optional, and is $14.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/08/06 07:59 AM |
07 September 2006
Council expands (little-enforced?) civility ordinance
Last week, Councilmember Ada Edwards compared a proposed civility ordinance to racism:
"We just can't keep moving people from point to point," she said. "It reminds me of the signs that said 'no blacks served here.' I find it very offensive and very frustrating. We need to find a way other than to criminalize these people."
As KTRH-740's Brent Fuller reports, Council extended the civility ordinance this week:
Avondale, Old Sixth Ward and Hyde Park are now covered by the City of Houston's "civility ordinance," which bans sitting or lying down on sidewalks for most of the day and previously applied only to Midtown and downtown.
Some at City Hall say the law should apply citywide. "To say something is illegal on one street and not on another makes no sense," said Councilwoman Addie Wiseman.Discussion of a more inclusive ban has centered on whether a citywide ordinance could pass constitutional muster. City Attorney Arturo Michel says some proof of necessity will be key. He suggested that a ban on "sleeping" should be a part of any blanket ordinance, "because on its face, that could be a safety hazard."
Councilman Adrian Garcia is calling for a specific ban on urban camping and says the question is not "are you homeless?" but rather "are you sleeping in a temporary facility inside the city limits that is not a designated camping area?"
Vagrants and panhandlers don't take Council's weak efforts to cut down on street panhandling seriously, and it doesn't seem likely that they are going to take this ordinance seriously either. In fact, if you click on the thumbnail, you can pull up a larger photo on Flickr that shows a vagrant who has set up a tent on a vacant lot in Midtown (where a civility ordinance has already been applied, but has gone unenforced), right across from the rail station. I don't think this is the sort of "development" all the rail Houtopians have in mind as they carry on about the wonders of light rail.
RELATED COVERAGE: Chronicle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/07/06 10:18 PM |
There's still time to join our football pool (update: no more time!)
There's still a little bit of time to join our blogHOUSTON Bad Sports football pool.
There's no charge, and you can test your skill picking winners of the week's NFL and top college games.
We'll offer up some prizes (as yet undetermined) to the top three finishers at the end of the season.
Deadline to submit picks is one hour before the first game each week. This week, that would be an hour before tonight's Dolphins-Steelers matchup.
Details on joining are here. Good luck to everyone!
UPDATE (6:35 pm): Gametime is an hour away, so picks are locked for this week. Good luck to everyone who's joined our pool!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/07/06 08:57 AM |
06 September 2006
Reporter and bicyclist crack on doctor-councilwoman
KHOU-11's Doug Miller and Houston bicyclist Bob Stein team up for a little hit on Councilmember and Congressional candidate Shelley Sekula-Gibbs tonight:
Shelley Sekula Gibbs is asking voters for their support for a general election write-in campaign and for a special election that would send her to Congress for just a few weeks.
But if voters give her what she wants the City of Houston will have to fill her empty council seat with a special election.
“The cost is not inconsequential, probably around two million dollars.” “So it’s going to cost two million dollars for a special election.” “Yes, it’ll cost two million dollars to fill her unexpired seat. And I don’t believe there will be anything else on the ballot,” said KHOU political analyst Bob Stein.
“Well, these issues are something that are done in the charter. It’s the city charter and really, we don’t have much control over that. It’s just unfortunate, but it’s part of the city charter,” said Sekula Gibbs.
It does seem like a somewhat selfish move that may cost the city quite a bit of money and is likely to be temporary at best (since the doctor-councilwoman has little chance of winning the regular election as a write-in candidate), but that is what is spelled out in the city charter.
Miller tosses out some fun gossip as to who might run if doctor-councilwoman leaves Council early:
Among the candidates talked about on the political grapevine are former state reps Melissa Noriega and Diana Davila-Martinez, former council candidate Jay Aiyer, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce head Richard Torres, a councilmember’s wife, Nandy Berry and district councilmember M.J. Khan, who could run for a citywide seat and build a citywide political base.
Aiyer would seem well positioned to make the run, if the seat does open up. Berry is certainly an interesting name.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/06/06 11:02 PM |
Hurtt's no-chase policy cited by man who fled authorities
KPRC-2 reports that one bad guy didn't get the word that Chief Hurtt's ill-advised no-chase policy had been temporarily suspended:
A man who thought law enforcement officers could not chase him led deputies on a chase Tuesday night, officials told KPRC Local 2.
Harris County sheriff's deputies said the man refused to stop for a traffic violation on Aldine Bender Road near Aldine Westfield Road at about 9:40 p.m.
The chase, which reached speeds above 80 mph, ended when the driver pulled over at a gas station on the Southwest Freeway near Kirby Drive, officials said.
Deputies said the man told them he thought Houston police officers were not allowed to chase him for a traffic violation.
"He said he thought the no-chase policy for the city was still in effect," Deputy Kevin Hanson said.
The man apparently did not realize that it was a sheriff's deputy who initiated the traffic stop, not a Houston police officer.
If Chief Hurtt's no-chase policy returns, we are likely to see even more bad guys emboldened by the fact that Mayor White's soft-on-crime police chief seems determined to place more obstacles in the way of HPD officers than Houston's bad guys.
ADDITIONAL COVERAGE: KHOU-11, Chronicle.
BLOGVERSATION: Cigars, Donuts, and Coffee, TBIFOC, Lone Star Times.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/06/06 09:01 AM |
05 September 2006
Letter: US steeped in "classicism"
The Chronicle ran an unintentionally entertaining letter from a Katrina refugee today:
I read Harper Jones' Aug. 27 letter, "A muck of poverty," with disdain. While statistics may help confirm Jones' assertion that Houston's crime increase is directly related to the "institutionalized welfare generations coddled in government housing projects," he should be aware that generalizations and stereotypes can be dangerous.
While it is true that historically many of New Orleans' citizens were trapped in the unforgiving clutches of poverty, let's also remember how badly history treated them. A country steeped in institutional racism, classicism and castigation of certain of its members has reaped a bountiful harvest of poor educational systems that "leave many behind," high rates of unemployment, poor health care, an economic divide and, even worse, a sense of hopelessness.
Mon cher, resilience is rooted in adversity, not in happy times.
I am grateful for the tremendous outpouring of generosity heaped upon us immediately following our arrival in Houston. But don't let your pride in that put you at risk of leaking arrogance disguised as superiority.
KATHY C. PATTERSON Katrina evacuee from Harvey, La., temporarily residing in Houston
Ah, Ms. Patterson, but were it so! We just can't help but think that a country truly steeped in "classicism" -- one that knows its Aristotle and Plato and Homer and Cicero -- would be a better place, but perhaps I reveal myself as an evil Straussian in putting forth such scandalous thoughts.
In any case, kudos to letters editor Judy Minshew, whose experience in the banking industry surely helps her pick out some interesting letters to run in the local Hearst daily.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/05/06 11:33 PM |
Hoffman: Just say no to dogs in restaurants
Chronicle columnist and dog lover Ken Hoffman takes Councilmember Michael Berry to task today:
Houston City Councilmember Michael Berry is set to propose an ordinance that would allow restaurants the option of permitting dogs on outside patios and outside seating areas.
Currently, it's against the law in Houston for dogs to be inside or outside a restaurant.
I think the current law is a smart idea.
I would never eat at a restaurant that allowed dogs to mingle with diners. It's a health issue, a safety issue and a disgust issue.
I don't want to be eating near a dog who decides, well, this is a good time to lick himself. Or pee. Or shake off excess moisture from his coat. Or bite me. Or get amorous with another dog ... or my leg.
You don't know anything about that dog, where it's been, whether it's had its shots, whether it has fleas or ticks or anything else.
Councilmember Berry has distinguished himself as a serious and thoughtful member of Council, especially over the most recent couple of terms, which is why it's unfortunate to see him pursuing this trivial matter. I'm a "dog person" like Hoffman, and because I'm a "dog person" I agree with Hoffman -- dogs have no place in restaurants or on cafe patios. Because they might shake off moisture or fleas or ticks, as Hoffman says, they create health issues. There's also the issue of shedding and dander (dog hair being blown on my Michael Berry Burger -- yum!). And, unfortunately, I've seen too many instances in Houston of boneheaded dog owners thinking they have absolute control over their off-leash dogs, only to have Fido go bounding away (usually to attack a dog that's on leash, as required by city ordinance) -- so yes, dogs in restaurants/patios must be regarded as a potential safety hazard.
There are many serious problems in the city of Houston that need to be considered by serious people. Changing the city's ban on dogs in restaurants isn't one of them.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/05/06 10:38 PM |
Push polling in HD 134 race?
The Chronicle asserts that push polling is taking place in the race for State House District 134 (here in Houston).
Evan at Perry vs. World thinks that is highly unlikely, and suggests that some journalists may not actually understand what push polling is.
Following on Evan's discussion -- Mystery Pollster has a good post on push polling (which isn't really polling at all) and legitimate polling (which sometimes does test negative messages) here.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/05/06 09:41 PM |
Light rail boondoggle (cont'd)
In the back and forth of the light rail debate, a big point that often gets missed is the overall benefit of light rail. Or lack of benefit, more accurately. Metro has already spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on a type of transit that a small fraction of Houstonians use. And we already know the per-rider subsidy is astronomical for light rail, when compared to bus service. The human cost is that Metro has sacrificed many bus routes, especially ones that provide service for the poor and the elderly, both to feed bus riders to the train, and to cut costs, since the train is a huge money drain.
Metro is a public transit agency, and the core mission of public transit is to provide transportation to those who otherwise wouldn't have it. Metro, however, has decided to change its focus and become a mass transit agency -- except that the "mass" part is misleading. Metro is actually trying to become an inner-loop taxi service. If it was actually doing some mass-transit service (Katy and The Woodlands commuter lines), in addition to providing the bus service for which it used to be known, perhaps Metro wouldn't be in its current shape.
Now go read Tom Kirkendall's post on the light rail boondoggle, and how we can look to Los Angeles to see what we are heading toward. Here's a taste:
I continue to be amazed by the Houston mainstream media's myopia in failing to take a look at the rail experience of Los Angeles, an area that shares many characteristics with the Houston metro area, but is much more densely-populated, which is normally a requirement for making an urban rail line successful.
That myopia is leading to a dangerous dynamic in the rail transit debate that USC urban economics professor Peter Gordon notes in commenting on this LA Times story regarding extension of the LA region's rail system. Professor Gordon observes that, despite irrefutable evidence that the LA rail system has been a boondoggle of massive proportions, the LA Times article does not even bother to address the threshold issue of whether more money should be dumped into the black hole rail transit system in the first place. Rather, the article assumes that the money will be spent and then simply addresses the issue of where it will go.
For the pro-rail crowd, it's more of a feel-good thing than a measurable benefit thing.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/05/06 08:25 PM |
04 September 2006
Hurtt's no-chase policy generates criticism
Last week, the Chronicle ran a letter from a police officer critical of Chief Hurtt's temporarily suspended no-chase policy:
THE Aug. 28 letter from Sondra Tucker "Hurtt's on the right track" was hard for me to understand. Having been a policeman for more than 20 years, I have learned that most car chases do not even involve the owner of the car.
So trying to get the license plate number and picking up the criminal later wouldn't work. Most chases involve a stolen car with some other crime preceding the taking of the car.
Also, when a person gets away with criminal activity, they often try again. Police officers do not always know when they are chasing a car if a felony has been committed by the driver.
Most officers have common sense and we have hired them to protect us. Why not let them do their job? We don't want to handcuff our police and then complain about their inability to catch criminals.
No one wants anyone to be hurt, but if we don't allow the police to chase criminals, the criminals will use this as a successful evasion tactic when the chance arises.
JAMES BERRY Huntsville
No disagreement here.
Later in the week, Councilmember Michael Berry and union chief Hans Marticiuc wrote an op-ed on the no-chase policy. Here is an excerpt:
[T]he two of us, and many others, were surprised and disappointed when [Chief] Hurtt last week announced that he wanted to ban Houston Police Department officers from pursuing so-called "Class C" minor traffic offenders. In announcing this "no-chase" policy, the chief cited legal liability and public safety concerns related to high-speed chases, and said officers could offer pursuit only if they know the person behind the wheel is a felon.
Otherwise, officers would be required to try to take down the license plate number, and someone else would theoretically follow up later and try to enforce the law. With staffing shortages at HPD, and legal concerns over issuing an arrest warrant based solely on a license plate number, this raises serious problems.
We were also disappointed to hear about this proposed new policy because we believe it sends exactly the wrong message, at the wrong time, to the wrong people. At a time of rising crime, it tells dangerous felons with weapons or drugs in their car to hit the gas, not the brake, when ordered to stop.
Both the chief and the Chronicle's Editorial Board seem to think that the question is whether to pursue a chase versus letting a minor traffic violator go. Would that it were so simple.
Criminals who flee from police typically do so to hide a more serious crime, and failing to pursue them deprives officers of a key crime-fighting tool.
Their op-ed, which should be read in its entirety, goes on to give examples of the current chase policy working well against bad guys.
Unfortunately, unless Houstonians raise heck (because Mayor White doesn't like negative publicity), Chief Hurtt's suspended policy is coming back. It will be officially "vetted" before Councilmember Adrian Garcia's committee (which begs the question -- why can't the police chief's sanctuary directive from 1992 be discussed similarly by Council, but we digress), but Chief Hurtt has made it clear that he intends for his new policy eventually to take effect, and Mayor White doesn't seem to disagree substantively with his handpicked, soft-on-crime police chief on the policy.
BLOGVERSATION: Cigars, Donuts, and Coffee.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/04/06 04:23 PM |
Framing a story: How to discount good education news
On Thursday of last week, HISD sent out a press release that stressed the following news about SAT scores in the district:
Scores of HISD students on the important college readiness test the SAT improved strongly this year while national and Texas averages fell, a new report from the College Board shows.
HISD’s average SAT reading score increased five points while the Texas average score fell two points and the national average score fell five points.
In math, HISD’s average SAT score was up five points, while the national average fell two points and the Texas average rose four points.
[snip]
HISD’s average reading score was 469, up from 464 in 2005. The average math score was 478, up from 473 in 2005. The Texas average reading score fell to 491, and the national average reading score fell to 503. The Texas average math score rose to 506, and the national average math score rose to 518 [bH note: According to the New York Times, it actually declined to 518].
HISD’s average SAT writing score, 468, was below that of the state, 487, and the nation, 497. At HISD, 4,401 students were tested, down by 373 students from last year.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/04/06 03:59 PM |
Another Bill angling to run for mayor (in 2009)?
The Chronicle runs a story by Kristen Mack on Bill King, the former mayor of Kemah, who is hinting that he wants to run for mayor of Houston in 2009:
Meet Bill King.
If the name sounds familiar but you can't quite place it, here are some reminders: He has made dire predictions of hurricane devastation and has become a top advocate of preparedness. And he's weathered political storms as part of the Texas Southern University board that ousted President Priscilla Slade.He was mayor of Kemah for four years.
Now he wants to be mayor of Houston.
No, he doesn't plan to challenge Mayor Bill White — who can run one more time under city term limits. King is looking past White to the 2009 election.
Even if it's early to talk about an election three years away, King, 54, an ambitious lawyer, lobbyist and civic leader, wants to be in whatever conversation there is.
The ubiquitous Bob Stein makes an appearance in the story. It's apparently very hard for local journalists to find anyone else who might have an opinion on Houston politics or bicycling. Maybe the oft-quoted Houston bicyclist should run for Mayor in 2009 also!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/04/06 12:36 PM |
AP profiles Dan Patrick
KHOU-11's website picks up an AP story on local talker and likely Texas Senator Dan Patrick.
Here's an excerpt:
Patrick’s laser focus on conservative issues and the ensuing bedlam his broadcasts can ignite have since become known around the Capitol as the “Dan Patrick Effect.”
Now Patrick hopes to set up shop in the Capitol himself—not only to continue beating up on politicians in his radio broadcasts, but as a state senator himself, representing northwest Houston. Patrick coasted to victory in the GOP primary and is heavily favored in the Nov. 7 general election.He plans to continue broadcasting as often as possible from a studio near the Capitol.
State Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, said the new job, if Patrick wins, might be an adjustment for him.
“He might have to get used to letting people talk so that all points of view are heard. That usually isn’t the case on the radio show,” Coleman said. “He may run the phone lines and board there, but he will not run the state government. His ideas will be looked at with everyone else’s.”
He’s already annoying his own party with stinging rebukes of fellow Republicans and on-air promises to bring budget cuts and fiscal restraint to Austin. He’s stirring up the Houston editorial pages with promises to curb illegal immigration and pass a “trigger law,” which would preemptively outlaw abortion in Texas if the Supreme Court overturns the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision.
Incidentally, the Chronicle has yet to correct its mischaracterization of South Dakota's trigger law in its editorial, and multiple emails to the Chronicle's reader representative on the topic have gone unanswered. It shouldn't require a reader forum for the newspaper's executive editorial leadership to figure out that correcting errors is a way to boost credibility and transparency.
Interesting tidbits from the AP story: 1) Patrick's "Democratic" opponent in his Senate race, Michael Kubosh, is one of twelve investors in Patrick's new Dallas-area radio station; 2) Richard Murray is referred to as a Democratic pollster; he and Houston bicyclist Bob Stein are rarely identified by local media as Democrats.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/04/06 12:05 PM |
Danger Train safety streak comes to an end
On the first of the month, METRO issued a press release which was picked up by the local media. METRO was celebrating the fact that the Danger Train enjoyed its first full month with no collisions with vehicles/wheelchairs/people:
METRO posted its first accident-free month on METRORail in August – an achievement it couldn’t have reached without the help of Houston’s motorists. By observing signs and traffic signals drivers helped keep themselves and METRORail running safe and accident-free since July 7, 2006.
Safety, though, is a team effort and METRO also wants to thank the entire Rail Operations organization, the Safety department and METRO Police for this accomplishment.
KTRK-13 reports that the streak has come to an end:
One of METRO's trains is in need of some repairs after it slammed into a car near downtown.
The crash happened Sunday afternoon on San Jacinto near Southmore. Police say the driver, who was not familiar with the area, stopped on the tracks. The train hit the car before the driver was able to get out of the way.
At-grade rail along a busy traffic corridor is a recipe for trouble, however much METRO has decided to emphasize safety since this line opened.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/04/06 10:50 AM |
03 September 2006
There's a teensy problem with Metro's new bus shelter stickers
Laurence Simon details Metro's latest oops:
Have you noticed the new stickers at the bus shelters (or bus stops when they're nothing more than a mushroom-like post that doesn't stop the rain or noonday sun) which have shelter numbers, the street intersection, and a few phone numbers for getting assistance?
I have. And at first, I thought they were a great idea. Maybe it could be the beginning of marking all stops for some kind of project involving GPS tracking of buses so you know if you've just missed your rarely-running route. Just type in the shelter number and the route number, text it to the FrankieBot, and the FrankieBot tells you that you've just missed it by 1 year, 24 days, 18 hours, and 55 minutes. Then FrankieBot says it in Spanish.
Cool, right?
Well, I thought so. Until I started actually reading the locations on them.
The rest is here.
Metro: Working hard to live up to the name on its headquarters.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/03/06 08:48 PM |
Chron reporter: Katrina evacuees need more compassion
It's always interesting when we get a hint as to what an objective, professional journalist really thinks. For example, today we discover that the Chron's Salatheia Bryant thinks Houstonians who are fed up with Katrina evacuees living off government assistance are a bunch of heartless yahoos:
Once they were displaced people worthy of human compassion, but our impatience with their progress has made them a dark collage of thugs, freeloaders, losers and nuisances.
Some of us, in fact, like those West Houston residents who attended a recent neighborhood meeting with Mayor Bill White, want nothing more than to have White send the evacuees home. It has become another them vs. us. They are the strange "others."
I guess we only meant for them to be our temporary project, our feel-good domestic mission trip. But in the words of blues man B.B. King, the thrill is gone — long gone. We lost it months ago. Instead of asking how we can help, we're singing the get-a-job-go-back-to-New Orleans-don't-bother-us-anymore song. We no longer want to be do-gooders but evictionists.
It's too bad that we see have come to view these Americans only as a burden. In those days under the Dome and in the months after, they showed themselves to be people who were innovative, capable of speaking up for themselves, dignified, willing to encourage each other — people in an individual and collective struggle to pick up the pieces.
Yes, they were people we were rooting for. These are things we usually applaud and appreciate, so where did we go wrong?
I propose that instead of examining them, we might regain our compassion if we examined ourselves. I know, I did. It reminded me that what I think should be easy to do isn't always. The old adage of walking a mile in their shoes came back to haunt me. They've got to first have boots before they can use the bootstraps to pull themselves up.
I have a question for Ms. Bryant: How long should Houstonians help support Katrina evacuees? Five years? Ten years? Forever? Is that how we define compassion?
How would Ms. Bryant like it if she welcomed someone into her home, didn't ask that person to pay rent or utilities, and after a year had passed, that person refused to leave, refused to take responsibility for rent and utilities, and sometimes behaved badly?
Somehow I don't think she would examine herself to regain her lost compassion.
RELATED: FEMA Money Ends For 2,800 Evacuee Families (KPRC-2)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/03/06 08:34 PM |
"Distinguished" visitors address City Council (2006-08-29)
"Senator" Robert Horton and "President" Joseph Charles separately address City Council during the public comment session.
UPDATE (09-04-2006): I captured another segment featuring a local activist who semi-regularly (and only semi-coherently) addresses Council, but YouTube was a little slow to process it. It is available here.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/03/06 01:32 PM |
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