27 August 2006
Just because she doesn't have to resign from Council...
Today, the Chronicle ran the inevitable fluff piece on the write-in Congressional campaign of doctor-councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs. This snippet caught our eye:
Sekula-Gibbs said from the start that she would play by the party's rules, formal and informal, as she sought a place on the ballot and, when courts ruled against that, the party's blessing as a write-in.She has little to lose politically because she doesn't have to resign from the Houston City Council to run and is term-limited after next year anyway. Even if she falls short in the write-in effort against Democrat Nick Lampson, she has a chance to prove her political chops and emerge as the front-runner for the GOP nomination to reclaim the district for the party in 2008.
She doesn't have to resign, but given the fact that many people in Congressional District 22 do not know the Houston councilmember, she could certainly have resigned her Council seat to show she was serious about introducing herself to the people of the Congressional District and trying to make a real race of it (not to mention to show she was serious about not shirking her responsibilities as an elected member of City Council while busily campaigning for another office).
It's clear that the doctor-councilwoman intends this write-in candidacy to give her a leg up for 2008, with the grassroots and party elites. Still, it would be nice if just one journalist in this town would get doctor-councilwoman Sekula-Gibbs to answer the question of why she's not resigning her Council seat, for the record. Our local journalists sometimes seem much too "nice" to ask hard questions, but this is a reasonably straightforward question that deserves an answer (as we pointed out twice in this post from nearly two weeks ago).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/27/06 12:49 PM |
A tuna fish sandwich to meow for!
Did you read L.M. Sixel's column from the other day, on disappearing office lunches? It's laugh-out-loud funny.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/27/06 08:19 AM |
26 August 2006
More Metro math
A light rail tidbit from KHOU-11:
These are the first cost and ridership estimates: The Richmond allignment [sic] in this section would cost $90 million to build, $9.8 million for property and generate 1600 riders; The so-called Clutterbuck alignment would cost $215 million, require $17.3 million for property and generate 700 riders. That's more than double the cost of the Richmond alignment with less than half the riders.
If those are Metro numbers, it would be wise to take them with a grain of salt. As we know, Metro has a tendency to be dishonest when it reports ridership. If one person makes multiple boardings, Metro counts each of those boardings as riders. That's how Metro comes up with fantastical announcements like this:
Sometime Friday, August 4, the 25 millionth passenger will board a METRORail train, marking yet another milestone in the history of the 2 1/2-year-old light-rail line.
And this:
MetroRail officials say they could easily use 15 more cars because Houston has reached its capacity, transporting about 12 million passengers a year. They didn't expect to reach that level of ridership for another 20 years.
Using Metro math would get my kids an F in school.
ADD ON: Following up on Matt's doing-the-math comment here, a big gripe of light rail proponents is the Katy Freeway expansion. But let's do the math on that: if the Katy expansion cost is close to three billion dollars, and there are 220,000 drivers per day on the Katy, that's a per rider cost of around $13,600. Using the figures (of unknown origin) in the KHOU story, Matt's math says the Richmond line would have a per rider cost of $62,000.
Now, wouldn't it be interesting if Metro had started off with two commuter rail lines -- one along the Katy Freeway, and one along the Hardy Toll Road (with a little something that could service IAH), both ending at a transit facility near downtown. Riders would then take buses to their final destinations. That's the type of rail I used when I live in the S.F. Bay Area, and commuted to San Jose. And that's a rail plan I could support -- getting serious numbers of drivers off the freeways, and putting a serious dent in congestion.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/26/06 05:31 PM |
"Distinguished" visitors address City Council (2006-08-22)
Senator Robert Horton and President Joseph Charles both addressed City Council this week at the end of the public comment session. This week, President Charles disputes that Senator Horton is actually a Senator, and chides the city secretary for the way the names are listed!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/26/06 12:26 PM |
Luxury sports venues for public schools
via the Chronicle, your tax dollars at work:
With the opening of several multimillion-dollar arenas, so-called minor sports such as volleyball and basketball are stepping into the spotlight at schools across the Greater Houston area.
Three new facilities, built in the past two years, are setting a standard for school districts throughout the state. Katy ISD's Merrell Center, Cy-Fair ISD' s Berry Center and Clear Creek ISD's Bill Krueger Field House are state-of the-art venues that are placing focus on the sports and the teams that play in them.
In addition, they show the growth of girls sports, even in a state where football rules.
"The greatest thing about it is that it shows the students on the volleyball and basketball teams that this district really embraces them and cares about what they are out there doing," Clear Lake High School girls basketball coach Terry Farrell said of the 2,800-seat Krueger Field House.
The fieldhouse was approved by voters in 2004. Though there had been talk of making major improvements to the football stadium, when the fieldhouse appeared on a single ticket at the bond election that year, it was strongly supported. The vote was a victory for the "other" sports.
Multi-million dollar arenas for public school sports. Maybe the Dynamo can begin stadium talks with these districts which are so flush with tax dollars, instead of bugging HISD.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/26/06 09:28 AM |
25 August 2006
Residue magically becomes a half stick of dynamite
Several hours ago, Chron.com and other news organizations reported that "dynamite residue" was found on baggage on a flight that arrived at Intercontinental airport. References to "dynamite residue" in those early versions of the story can be found via Google News searching, but they won't be found in the current version of the story posted on Chron.com (even if one follows the Google News link), which just changed without any indication that the earlier version of the story was either in error or was being supplemented by new information.
The current version of the story on Chron.com now indicates that half a stick of dynamite was found in the bag, and the earlier references to "dynamite residue" (not to mention a statement by the owner of the bag that he works in mining, with explosives) are excised.
It's understandable that when a story is evolving, new facts will sometimes emerge, and news organizations need to roll out those facts in new stories. It's nice, though, when news organizations offer some explanation when they update reporting with newer, better information. Chron.com has had the annoying habit of not doing so for a long time.
As of the time of this post, the early version of the AP story may still be found on the New York Sun website.
Making things even more interesting, KHOU-11 is currently reporting that a fertilizer-based explosive was also found in the luggage!
Maybe all the editors and fact-checkers will get it straight by the morning -- and then Chron.com can paste over the old stories with the latest versions.
UPDATE: KTRK-13 has the following headline and information:
Bomb-making items found on Continental jet
(8/25/06 - HOUSTON) - Eyewitness News has learned that a passenger on board a Continental Airlines flight from Argentina was carrying more than just half a stick of dynamite as first reported this morning.
We first broke exclusive information on this story around 3pm when we learned what else was on board.
The passenger, identified as Howard McFarland Fish, 21, is a U.S. Citizen from Connecticut. Law enforcement sources at the airport say not only did they find a quarter-pound stick of dynamite in the checked luggage, but in other checked luggage belonging to Fish, they also found a blasting cap, a homemade fuse, and a quarter-pound of ammonium nitrate.
Note that KTRK provides new information, makes the point that these materials constitute a potential bomb, not just dynamite or residue, AND points out how the new information supersedes earlier reporting. THAT is the way to do it.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/25/06 08:57 PM |
Food and drink roundup (08-25-2006 edition)
It's time for a quick and sweet food and drink roundup. The weekend's a-wastin'.
Robb Walsh samples the "organ meats" or sweetbreads offered up in tacos at Taqueria Tacambaro.
Peggy Grodinsky heads out on the Gulf for a closer look at a day in the life of a shrimper.
Andrew Guy Jr. samples some pricey tequilas.
Ken Hoffman goes to Domino's for brownies. Yes, brownies. Free ones, at that.
And Lance Scott Walker checks out Woodrow's on Chimney Rock.
World Class, all of it. Enjoy!!
Posted by Callie Markantonis @ 08/25/06 06:45 PM |
24 August 2006
500 strong and growing
At some point this week, the number of registered members on the message board shot over 500. That seemed like a number worth noting.
Thanks to the hundreds of you who visit the little blog and offer your perspective in the forum. It certainly makes the whole thing a lot more fun and interesting. And it's quite rare that there's ever a problem in the forum, so give yourselves a pat on the back for being such good commenters! It's appreciated.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/24/06 10:14 PM |
Lightning knocks KSBJ down to very low power
Listeners who have tried to tune in to KSBJ 89.3 in the past couple of days have likely gotten silence. As KHOU-11 reports, that's because lightning hit the Christian station's tower earlier this week:
A Christian radio station was knocked off the air after its tower was hit by lightning earlier this week.
The station, KSBJ 89.3 FM, has a main tower in Plum Grove, near Cleveland. It was hit at about 8 p.m. Tuesday and is operating at reduced power, the station said.Typically, the station, which has a contemporary Christian music format, broadcasts at 100,000 watts, but is currently operating at only 50 watts.
The station said that crews are working to repair the problem, but that it will be several days until it will be completely fixed.
The station said that listeners can instead hear programming on their website, at www.ksbj.org.
We presume God is still listening, and doesn't need the full 100,000 watts.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/24/06 09:39 PM |
Jordy Tollett back in the saddle of GHCVB
Tollett had asked for the leave of absence back in July to attend to "problems in his life." He recently led the annual "state of" the bureau luncheon, suggesting his return was imminent. The unanimous board action suggests that Mayor White hasn't made much headway in his efforts to dislodge Tollett, following the KPRC-2 hit piece on Tollett that put this whole recent chain of events into motion.
UPDATE (08-25-2006): The Chronicle picks up the story today.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/24/06 03:31 PM |
Surprise! Mayor's anti-Prop. 2 initiative(s) gets through Council
It seems many important people don't like what the voters said a couple of years ago, so Mayor White wants to make the voters say something different. KHOU-11's Jeremy Desel has the story:
Houston voters will decide in November whether to basically roll back part of Proposition 2, a limited government city charter change supported by anti-tax activists.
Mayor Bill White, who spent much of Tuesday afternoon meeting privately with conservative backers of Proposition 2, passed through city council a measure that will put a new proposition on the ballot this year.
The council vote came during an unusual meeting at Houston City Hall. White, backed by a majority of councilmembers, basically split the usual Wednesday meeting into two parts. As councilmembers wandered off to lunch and other business, the mayor talked privately with conservative anti-tax activists. The council reconvened late in the afternoon and, following White's lead, voted to put his proposition on the November ballot.
Proposition 2 basically restricts the growth of city government, establishing a complicated formula tying city revenue increases to population growth and economic inflation. If the city's revenues exceed the formula's restrictions, Proposition 2 requires the city government to somehow refund money to taxpayers.
Do you think when Jeremy Desel discovers he has overpaid for something, he expects a refund of the amount he overpaid? Do you think Mayor White expects a refund when his insurance company overcharges him? Or a utility company? What about when he looks at his bill from a store and sees he has paid too much for something? Does he expect to be refunded what he overpaid or does he just tell the company to keep the money?
White's plan would exclude from the formula so-called "enterprise funds," such as the Aviation Department, which generate their own streams of income. The mayor argued that Proposition 2 could needlessly force cuts in essential city services that aren't linked to the "enterprise funds." For example, the mayor suggested, after a good year at the airports, Houston might be forced to cut public safety expenses.
Continental Airlines actively supported White's position, arguing that Proposition 2 could restrict the growth of Houston's airports and eventually cost airline employees their jobs.
[snip]
In addition, a separate proposition will allow the city government to spend up to $90-million beyond Proposition 2's limits, provided the money is spent on public safety.
So, what's Mayor White doing with that big surplus the city is sitting on? Is it going to public safety? Or is it going to an African-American Cultural Museum? Maybe it's going to pay for anti-panhandling ads. What else has the city been wasting money on lately that just can't possibly be refunded back to taxpayers? I doubt much has gone toward road repair or graffiti abatement.
RELATED COVERAGE: Chronicle.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/24/06 06:42 AM |
23 August 2006
Council committee considers expanding smoking ban
KHOU-11's Doug Miller reports that on Thursday, a Council committee will take up discussion on a broader smoking ban.
Councilmember Carol Alvarado is quoted in the story. She favors a broader smoking ban.
Doctor-Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, who spearheaded the current ban despite early resistance from Mayor White, is not quoted in the story. She has long favored the broader ban on smoking.
Perhaps she was just too busy campaigning for Congress for Miller to find her for a quote. Surely he had a good reason for omitting her.
UPDATE (08-24-2006): KTRH-740 included a soundbite from Doctor-Councilwoman Sekula-Gibbs in its on-air reporting this morning. And the Chronicle's Alexis Grant managed to get a quote. Perhaps Doug Miller was on deadline, and didn't have time to get a quote from the Councilmember who has pushed hardest to ban smoking in Houston.
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/23/06 10:24 PM |
Council considers expanding civility ordinance
KTRK-13 reports that City Council is considering expanding the so-called "civility ordinance" that targets homeless squatters.
"It's amazing to me that here in 2006, that we're still doing the same type of thing, just prohibiting people from existing," said Houston City Councilmember Ada Edwards. "I didn't know it was against the law to sit in a public space in America."
If the ordinance passes, perhaps violators can be transported to "exist" on Ada Edwards' sidewalk. Heck, maybe she'll even invite them to "exist" on her front lawn! That would mark her as a true progressive.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/23/06 10:11 PM |
Where is the Hurtt/Marticiuc babysitter?
KRIV-26 reporter Isiah Carey has been downtown covering the HPD chase policy story that he broke yesterday.
The video isn't available yet on the KRIV website [UPDATE: It's now posted here], but on the 9pm broadcast, Carey covered Chief Hurtt's comments to the media on the chase policy. He then asked union chief Hans Marticiuc to comment on some of the specifics, and Marticiuc responded by calling Chief Hurtt a "liar," more than once!
We're thinking that both bad boys are going to get called into the babysitter's office tomorrow.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/23/06 09:29 PM |
Local bloggers amaze Chron cartoonist!
The Chronicle's Nick Anderson sure can dish out the criticism with his editorial cartoons, but it seems he doesn't much like criticism in his blog comments.
Matt Bramanti posts the details over at Lone Star Times.
Alternative media like blogs and talk radio must be very frustrating for editorialists in mainstream media who have grown accustomed to having the last word always. But, time and technology march on, whether professional editorialists do or not.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/23/06 08:51 PM |
Is Houston allowed to celebrate its birthday?
Isn't that, you know, insensitive? But KTRK-13 is out there with a story saying there's a big to-do planned this evening:
ZZ Top will be inducted into Houston's Hall of Fame Wednesday. It's part of the city's 170th birthday bash. The band formed in Houston back in 1969 and has always kept a base here in the Bayou City.
Houston's 170th birthday party will happen at the Wortham Theater on Texas and Bagby downtown. It gets started at 6pm. Mayor Bill White will be there to give out the honors.
Hopefully Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia and UH Professor Raul Ramos don't know about the shindig.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/23/06 07:04 PM |
Hurtt revises HPD chase policy, doesn't inform public/media
Beleaguered police chief Harold Hurtt has approved a revised policy on chases, a policy that is not going over well with officers on the street (many of whom have already expressed their concerns with Hurtt's leadership).
KHOU-11's Jeff McShan has also posted a report.
UPDATE (08-23-2006): The Chronicle apparently threw together a story at the last minute. It does not quote any member of Council.
UPDATE 2 (08-23-2006): KPRC-950's Pat Gray is jamming on this topic today.
UPDATE 3 (08-23-2006): KTRH-740's Chris Baker is blasting on MayorWhiteChiefHurtt as well.
BLOGVERSATION: Lone Star Times, Cigars, Donuts, and Coffee, TBIFOC, Lone Star Pundit, Houstonist.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/23/06 12:12 AM |
22 August 2006
Editorial LiveJournalists tackle geopolitics of energy
The Chronicle's Editorial LiveJournalists crept up on genuine insight today before quickly veering off:
In February, President Chavez, contrary to Citgo's pledge, threatened to cut off all crude oil exports to the United States if the U.S. government went over the line in its opposition to Chavez' leftist regime. Chavez could not make good on his promise, though, without depriving Citgo's refineries of their raw material and high profits.If Chavez means what he says, perhaps more of Citgo's assets will go on the block. That would unlock billions of dollars in cash that Chavez could use for his political ambitions without fear that the United States could seize Venezuelan assets here following some outrage Chavez might be plotting.
"It's not where we've been," Citgo proclaims. "It's where we are heading that can make a world of difference."
That's what we're afraid of.
Chavez likely won't make good on his "promise" because, as the Editorial LiveJournalists seem to understand, he really needs the hard cash from crude exports to the United States (to fund his domestic social welfare utopia, not to mention his foreign policy initiatives). In addition, he needs the United States to import his oil (because our refineries can handle Venezuela's heavy, sour crude, not a trivial consideration). Chavez might still wield the crude-oil weapon one day, but if he does, he will hurt himself in the process; so far, he seems to understand that.
Whether Chavez's whims result in the selloff of Citgo assets in the United States is sort of a tangential concern (so the Editorial LiveJournalists focus on it). The bigger concern is that Chavez's whims have resulted in the politicization and de-professionalization of PDVSA, hindering the once-respected state company's ability to manage Venezuela's exploration and production for years to come.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/22/06 10:59 PM |
Isiah Carey tries out the Mayor's new policy
KRIV-26 reporter Isiah Carey tried out Mayor White's preferred approach for dealing with street beggars Monday.
BACKGROUND: Homeless court, panhandling campaign kick off this week.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/22/06 10:03 PM |
Astrodome convention center proposal creeps forward
KTRH-740's Brent Fuller was early to report that Harris County Commissioners Court unanimously approved a letter of intent by a private group that hopes redevelop the Astrodome:
Today, commissioners formally approved a letter of intent which allows the corporation to begin design work. They must present final plans to commissioners within the next six months before construction can start.
The outline of the deal includes a "convention-oriented hotel" with at least 1,000 rooms, entertainment attractions, restaurants and other amenities. A 2,100 space parking garage would be included.
The Chronicle's Bill Murphy adds these details:
The letter of intent states that by March 2007, Astrodome Redevelopment must obtain financing and the approval from Reliant Park's tenants, the Houston Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Hotel construction would begin at the earliest late next year.
The county would lease the Dome to Astrodome Redevelopment for 50 years and give it an option to extend the lease another 20 years.
Astrodome Redevelopment would pay the county $2.5 million in rent annually and 2 percent-3 percent of gross revenues.
The letter of intent prohibits Astrodome Redevelopment from operating a casino or sexually oriented businesses.
That bolded portion remains the key. Public money has been ruled out, and it is difficult to imagine that sensible investors will want to have anything to do with this highly questionable venture.
Of course, it was also difficult to imagine that anyone would let Lee P. Brown run a bank after his disastrous reign as Houston's mayor, so perhaps we'll be surprised in this case also.
Tom Kirkendall has previously expressed skepticism about Astrodome Redevelopment's fantastic plans.
BLOGVERSATION: Lou Minatti.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/22/06 09:57 PM |
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