14 September 2009

King argues for fare rollback, community discussion on METRO's goals/resources

Last week, we posted the most recent METRO transit utilization data from Tom Bazan, which show a significant, ongoing decline in ridership across the system.

On Sunday, the Chronicle ran the latest public-policy op-ed from Bill King. His latest topic? The ongoing decline in METRO's ridership.

We encourage you to go read King's argument in its entirety. We found these points most notable:

The op-ed has produced grumbling from some Dem partybloggers (King is a Republican after all, and that is disqualification enough for some), but like Cory Crow we think it ought to generate a more substantive discussion.

Isn't it time to have King's community discussion about METRO's goals and the resources required to achieve them, instead of just deferring to Frank Wilson's whims? Are the projects and budget numbers laid out by METRO Solutions at all realistic in 2009? Should we consider rolling back the fare increases, and further subsidizing poorer riders who depend upon transit? Do our mayoral candidates have any opinions beyond "me too!" on these topics?

Please discuss.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/14/09 10:05 PM |

Chron editorial board struggles with basic facts (again), should have just linked to local blogs

The Chronicle's Caucasian Think Tank* had a few problems in their one editorial in today's tiny newspaper.

The trouble starts with the lede:

Houston Community College Board Chairman Abel Davila pulled one of the more dramatic no-shows in Houston's electoral history last week, when he failed to file for re-election.

The problem is that the filing deadline wasn't last week, but on 2 September -- nearly two weeks ago.

The Chronicle reported on the filings, but local bloggers actually described the significance of the Davila maneuver before the newspaper, which got around to that angle in a 5 September story.

And that brings us to the second problem with today's editorial:

A Chronicle op-ed written by Davila effusively praising HCC Chancellor Mary Spangler that ran the day after he failed to file contained no mention that he wouldn't be around to enjoy her future company at board meetings.

The op-ed actually ran in the 5 September edition, the same day as the belated Chron news story on the filing intrigue (but several days after the filing deadline). This was also noted on local blogs at the time.

Is it too much to ask for timely topics and minimal fact-checking from the Chronicle editorial board?

Apparently so.

They would have been better off outsourcing to local bloggers on this one.

* Cory Crow's amusing nickname for the editorial board that was formed after the March 2009 bloodletting.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/14/09 09:13 PM |

13 September 2009

Sports Authority may need infusion of taxpayer cash

Five years ago, the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority came face-to-face with declining tax revenues, and had to issue millions in new bonds to make up for the shortage (via Kevin Whited's Publiustx.net):

Issuing the bonds was necessary to persuade one of the three major investment rating agencies, Moody's, not to downgrade the authority's bonds from investment grade status to junk bonds, said Ric Campo, chairman of the authority's finance committee.

The new bonds were needed to make up for declining hotel and car rental tax revenues, which the authority receives to pay off bond debt. In 2002 and 2003, the revenues sagged 10 percent.

To meet the annual payments for $900 million in previously issued bonds, the authority had projected annual 3 percent increases in hotel and car rental tax revenues.

And taxpayers were assured that all was well:

Many of those who supported building the venues said the county's residents would not pay the bills -- they would be borne by visitors who stayed in local hotels and rented cars.

"The taxpayers of Harris County really aren't affected," said Sue Millican, the authority's chief financial officer.

Not everyone believed all was well, however, and despite calls to shut down the unaccountable, quasi-governmental agency, the behemoth survived. Former HCHSA CEO Oliver Luck worked to bring a MLS franchise here, then became president of it. Former Houston City Attorney Gene Locke became general counsel to the Sports Authority, and now is a mayoral candidate. The agency is politically well-connected and will not be dismantled, despite its dubious raison d'être.

Remember KTRK-13's Wayne Dolcefino's exposé of the agency? How the Sports Authority foots the bill for the Rockets' parking garage while the Rockets pocket most of the earnings? How the agency was maintaining a suite at Minute Maid Park? And don't forget how former chairman Billy Burge let slip that the Sports Authority even paid for the ice for Aeros games.

And now we await the inevitable announcement that the city and county will be working together to help build a new soccer stadium. However, in today's Chronicle we learn that, contrary to every assurance that Harris County taxpayers wouldn't have to pay for the stadiums, the Sports Authority faces new financial challenges that may force officials to break that promise:

Harris County may be forced to pay $4 million or more to the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority due to a cascading series of challenges initiated when $117 million in stadium bonds soured at the peak of the financial crisis last year.

The payments indirectly could upend a promise to taxpayers that public money would not be spent on professional sports stadiums.

City, county and stadium authority officials have struggled to avoid that outcome for months as the due date for a balloon debt payment approaches in November.

The sports authority debt ran into trouble about a year ago when MBIA, a financial firm that insured the variable-rate bonds, was downgraded by investor analysts. The city recently experienced similar problems with about $182 million in variable-rate debt. It avoided heavy charges by using the county as an investor of last resort.

So, by all means, let's add a new soccer stadium to the mix. What could go wrong?

KEVIN WHITED ADDS: If anyone EVER wondered why we are so skeptical of government promises (of utopia, world-classness, a free ride, or what have you), we're happy to point to this as the latest illustration. We are admittedly skeptical when government tells us that taxpayers won't be on the hook for quasi-governmental projects (whether it's the sports authority or the convoluted dealings of the Houston Airport System that Richard Vacar put together with some as yet unclear level of supervision from Anthony Hall and Mayor Bill White, who assure everything is fine).

The question is, why aren't local media just a little more skeptical?

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/13/09 12:22 PM |

10 September 2009

"Ladies for Locke" draws rebuke

Nancy Sims, who describes herself as the primary female blogger covering the mayoral race, isn't pleased with some recent campaign literature that targets female voters.

Specifically, the "Ladies for Locke" invitation, posted on Sims's "Mayoral Musings" blog, was not a hit with her or others in her office:

Ladies
Honestly. It is 2009. When are the women going to get seats on the Finance Committee and stop being segregated? When? Women can raise funds for political campaigns. Frankly, we don’t need to be segregated.

The Locke campaign had a boilerplate response for Sims:

Kim Devlin, spokesperson for the campaign indicated that the invite was the work of an overzealous supporter and it did not receive approval from the campaign prior to distribution.

Funny, but when I look at the invitation, I can read very clearly at the bottom: "Political Advertising Paid for by Gene Locke Campaign."

Maybe the campaign should be vetting materials that it's paying for more carefully. If the candidate and his staff can't manage that, it's not a good indicator that they can manage the more numerous and important details of municipal government.

Ladies by flickr user thenoodleator used via a Creative Commons License.

BLOGVERSATION: Houston Politics.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/10/09 08:18 PM |

Linkpost: 09/10/09

It's a "slow news week" edition of the blog links, so click away for some good local blogging! And don't forget to check our Local News Headlines links through the day!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/10/09 10:21 AM |

09 September 2009

Transit system continues to suffer from declining ridership, collisions

Tom Bazan passes along the latest information he has obtained from METRO via his public information requests.

Here is the METRO ridership/revenue spreadsheet compiled through July 2009.

Here is the Main Street light rail accident information from January through July 2009.

Obviously, the declining ridership figures for 2009 stand out. The accidents won't look so bad compared to the at-grade rail alignments that are being proposed downtown and in the Galleria.

Please discuss this and anything else you find interesting.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/09/09 08:49 PM |

07 September 2009

Better wait a few days before trying the Chron recipes (cont'd)

The Chronicle corrections page (which frequently declines to correct factual errors like this one) is usually pretty good about correcting errors on previously published recipes (doh!), which occur with such regularity that we recommend waiting at least a week before trying any recipe published in the newspaper. Here is the latest correction, from the 3 September 2009 edition:

A recipe for pesto on Page B6 Wednesday left out an ingredient. For the complete recipe, see Page B8 today in the Letters column.

Thanks!

Surely most Chron readers already look to the letters column several days later to see why the recipe they pulled from the Chronicle wasn't a big hit. *eyeroll*

Or not. As a friendly Public Service Announcement to all, we would suggest once more that it's a really good idea to wait at least a week -- and to check the corrections section during that time -- before trying any recipes published in the Houston Chronicle.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/07/09 09:05 PM |

05 September 2009

Linkpost: 09/05/09

Here are some local blog links to click open when you're taking a break during all those glorious football games. Happy Labor Day Weekend everyone!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/05/09 12:43 PM |

04 September 2009

Harris County Sheriff's Office makes the right call on media access

We were amused yesterday when Harris County Republican Party chairman Jared Woodfill issued his latest* over-the-top** email blast.

According to Woodfill, Democratic Sheriff Adrian Garcia had irresponsibly signed off on a plan for a quasi-terrorist organization to infiltrate the Harris County Jail! Here's an excerpt:

I was shocked and highly troubled to learn that our Democrat Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia had agreed to open the doors to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) to the Arab media network, Al-Jazeera. As you probably know, Al-Jazeera has been linked to Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, Hamas and numerous other terrorist organizations committed to the destruction of America and our allies.

Harris County Republican Chairman Jared Woodfill
These links are well established and not the stuff of closeted rumors. Examples include the Al-Jazeera reporter, Tayssir Alouni, who was jailed and charged in Spain for collaborating with al-Qaeda.

Even more disturbing is an account that parallels the Harris County visit, which was reported by Accuracy in Media, that reported, “Al-Jazeera International made a visit in May to Crosby, North Dakota, prompting inquiries from the local Sheriff, Lauren Throntvei, and U.S. Border Patrol. The local paper, the Crosby Journal, quoted a Border Patrol official as asking, ‘What is the interest of an Arab news organization in Crosby, North Dakota?’ The paper said that a U.S. Border Patrol agent asked for the names of the Al-Jazeera journalists, whether they had been near the border, and their stated motivations. The agent "said there were potential international implications to the journalists' visit, on which he could not elaborate." Read the full story by clicking here.

Apparently, Sheriff Garcia does not share Sheriff Throntvei’s suspicions of terrorist-linked media groups.

Woodfill went on to exhort recipients to call the sheriff's office and voice their displeasure. His initial email apparently included the dispatch number, which reportedly clogged up dispatch lines for a time.

Now, before we turn to the local angle, please indulge me for a moment while I lay out some thoughts on Al Jazeera. I suspect many Americans have not actually watched Al Jazeera's English television news broadcasts, or followed the news on their website. I use both, because my day job requires that I collect news from all over the world. Now, it's certainly true that the news organization's "perspective"*** on Israel, not to mention some Arab/Muslim nations and their relations with the United States, can come through strongly in its reporting, and sometimes that perspective is jolting to many of us (to say the least). However, it's also true that the organization covers some neglected parts of the world as well as any news organization, and that much of its English news reporting is pretty good (when traveling internationally, I'd rather watch it than CNN International if given the choice).

Turning back to the portion of Woodfill's email that I've bolded -- here is the news report by Al Jazeera English that resulted from that suspicious trip to Crosby, North Dakota:

That seems like much more of a respectful, almost Tocquevillian, look at the depopulation of rural middle America than it does quasi-terrorist propaganda! And Part 2 is well worth watching, for anyone who's so inclined. By the way, the reporting was done by Josh Rushing, the same individual who is here in town to visit our jail facilities (and to speak with HPD Chief Harold Hurtt). Today's Chronicle story describes Rushing as "a former public affairs officer for the U.S. Marine Corps in Iraq." To be fair, he has also done more controversial reporting, as highlighted by David Benzion on Lone Star Times. But the question of what in the world he was doing in North Dakota seems to be answered sufficiently by the video I've embedded.

And now for the local angle.... According to Bradley Olson's reporting for the Chronicle, Rushing and Al Jazeera are working on "a long-form news story about treatment of the mentally ill by U.S. law enforcement." Olson's story notes that Chief Hurtt agreed to be interviewed. Sheriff Garcia was not interviewed, but did provide access to the Harris County jail (with a chaperone).

This afternoon, I spoke with Alan Bernstein, the director of public affairs for the Harris County Sheriff's Office, about the process of approving the request from Al Jazeera. Bernstein told me that when any such request comes in, the office basically asks two questions: 1) Is the request coming from a legitimate media organization? and 2) Is the level of access appropriate for the story being proposed?

[Read More]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/04/09 06:39 PM |

02 September 2009

Council drama (real and fake) plays out over The One's lucrative contract

Today's City Council meeting had two types of theatrics, one of which we are not accustomed to seeing under Mayor Bill White. There was the very real drama of a councilmember who dared to defy the mayor, and prevailed despite a rare council vote on the matter of upholding a tag, and the very fake drama of "change agent" Gerry Fusco (aka The One) threatening to take his gifts from God right on to the next savior-seeking client as a result of the delay in approving his lucrative contract.

Self-described change agent Gerry Fusco
Earlier reporting indicated that Mayor White had cut a deal with Fusco for $208,000 for roughly six months of consulting. $49,500 was paid on a no-bid contract that didn't require Council approval so The One could get started right away, with the rest of the contract to be approved later by Council*. Recently, the amount was reduced, so Mayor White was hoping to have the remainder of the new contract -- $135,000 over the next five months -- approved at today's meeting.

Councilmember Jolanda Jones gummed up The Houston Way, so to speak, when she put a "tag" on the matter, a prerogative of councilmembers that delays a vote until the next Council meeting. The councilmember indicated that she (like many of us!) had questions about Fusco and the contract that had not been answered satisfactorily. As Bradley Olson reported for the Chronicle, this led to some very real drama:

White, who appeared irritated in the meeting, urged council members to override the tag, saying that it would send “the wrong signal” to Fusco and many other corporate officials he's attempted to bring into the city.

[snip]

Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck proposed that [Jones'] tag be overridden, but that vote failed to capture the required 10 votes, with several council members stating they did not want to create a precedent for overriding tags.

Fusco's current lucrative deal will expire on Friday. Since Council is not meeting next week, that means that he won't be paid further for at least two weeks.

And that brings us to the very fake "drama" that also played out today.

[Read More]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/02/09 09:57 PM |

Linkpost: 09/02/09

It's a midweek local blogtalk compilation, for your clicking pleasure!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/02/09 04:32 PM |

01 September 2009

Mayor's spokesman confirms BARC move, following last week's denial

An email from a city official was floating around earlier today, and KRIV-26's Isiah Carey has confirmed the news with Mayor Bill White's communications director Frank Michel: BARC will be moving out from under the city's Health Department.

Click here for Michel's statement. According to Michel, the city is still deciding whether BARC might become its own department.

Interestingly, when Carey first reported a week ago that he was hearing rumors BARC might move, the same Frank Michel emphatically denied the rumor:

The fact is BARC will remain under the auspices of the Health Department. There are no plans to move it.

I am happy to speak to you if you have further questions.

Regards,

Frank M.

So, the possibilities would seem to be that: 1) Michel misled the media about this move, 2) Michel didn't know about the move for some reason, or 3) Mayor White decided to reverse course over the last week for some reason that he could share with the public, perhaps, being the transparent executive and all.

UPDATE: The Chronicle's reporting on the topic has been interesting as it has "evolved" today. Here is the lede that was posted on this afternoon's version of the story:

Mayor Bill White on Tuesday reversed course and announced the troubled Bureau of Animal Registration and Care will be moved out of the city health department and could be run as a free-standing agency or added to another city department, top aides confirmed.

Later in the day, that lede evolved to this much more positive one (with no warning to readers):

Mayor Bill White, impatient with the slow place [sic] of reform at the city's Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care, has changed course and decided to separate the troubled agency from the city Department of Health and Human Services.

To interrupt the cheerleading for just one second.... given how long this problem has lingered because it hasn't been a mayoral priority, isn't it a little silly to editorialize about the mayor's impatience" at the "place" of reform? And wasn't the earlier lede, with just the facts and without the editorializing, in fact a better news lede?

BLOGVERSATION: Hair Balls.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/01/09 02:29 PM |

31 August 2009

Last-minute entrant into Houston mayoral race stuns political observers

Houston political observers were still buzzing on Monday night after a last-minute entrant into the mayoral race surged to a huge lead in the latest public polling.

Candidate Don't Know, who had hinted at entering the race earlier in the year, only to back away from such plans during the summer, would easily coast to victory if the mayoral race were held today, according to a KHOU-11/KUHF-88.7 poll conducted by Bicyclist Bob Stein:

Poll of Likely Voters in Houston Mayoral Race (08/30/2009)

69.2% Don't Know
13.2% Annise Parker
09.6% Gene Locke
05.2% Peter Brown
02.8% Roy Morales

Margin of error: 4.5%; Source: KHOU-11/KUHF-88.7

A spokesperson for the Don't Know campaign said on Monday night that the candidate was enthusiastic about his commanding lead after a last-minute entry into the race: "It's astounding and flattering that we are so far ahead in this race, what with our late announcement and all. We believe it justifies our decision to enter the race after the three major contenders failed to distinguish themselves all summer long. We look forward to continuing to take a message other than 'me too!' all across this fine city and building on our lead!"

The Peter Brown campaign announced that they would be unveiling a plan for more television ads sometime next week, when the councilmember returns from his vacation in France.

City Controller Annise Parker tweeted that her campaign disputes the numbers, and that their internal polling shows that she is much more competitive against Don't Know.

The Gene Locke campaign reminded three bloggers at a hastily called Social Media Happy Hour that Locke has more endorsements from important organizations than any candidate, including Don't Know.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/31/09 10:20 PM |

30 August 2009

Linkpost: 08/30/09

It's time to clear the blog links and get ready for a new week. Enjoy!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/30/09 07:48 PM |

The elephant that's always in the room

Today the Chron's Ericka Mellon profiles HISD's potential new superintendent Terry Grier as a man of reform, pushing hard, and making bold moves. HISD Superintendent Dr. Abe Saavedra also is a reformer who has pushed bold initiatives, including the idea of rewarding teachers with performance bonuses. Here's Mellon's characterization of Saavedra's tenure:

The Elephant in the Room
Abelardo Saavedra, the man Grier is in line to replace in Houston, endured more than his share of criticism for making big decisions without public input during nearly five years on the job. And many of Saavedra's biggest proposals — courting outside groups to take over troubled high schools and scaling back busing for HISD's popular magnet school program, for instance — failed after meeting swift and powerful opposition. His $805 million bond referendum in 2007 almost died because of intense lobbying from some of Houston's most powerful black politicians and activists, who felt left out of the process.

Hmmm, something's missing from this paragraph: Gayle "Beach House" Fallon, leader of the Houston Federation of Teachers. Any big idea has to meet with her approval, and if it doesn't, she and the Chronicle morph into the "powerful opposition."

Image of the Elephant in the Room by flickr user dotpolka, used via a Creative Commons license.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/30/09 12:05 PM |

29 August 2009

HMEPS board scuttles budget increase; Chron editorial board mischaracterizes

The Chronicle's Caucasian Think Tank weighed in today on the news that the board of the Houston Municipal Employees Pension System (HMEPS) scuttled a proposal to increase its staff payroll budget by 6% from last year's figure, mischaracterizing the proposal in its lede:

A proposal to raise city municipal pension staff salaries by 6 percent rightly raised a ruckus at City Hall this week.

Apparently, the Caucasian Think Tank did not bother to read Bradley Olson's reporting for their newspaper, which stated the following:

The 6 percent increase includes health benefit costs and money for unfilled positions and does not mean that each of the system's 30 employees will get a 6 percent raise.

Merit pay increases that equate to 3 percent per employee have been incorporated into the budget, but not every employee is guaranteed to get a raise, [HMEPS spokeswoman Laura] Tolley said.

The pension fund's investments declined last year, although much less sharply than many similar investments.

As Olson noted in his earlier reporting, director David Long has "quarreled" with Mayor White at times*, and the mayor attacked Long personally in a successful effort to head off the increased payroll budget:

“Do I think it's a good thing if somebody gets a pay raise while they have that kind of decline in their assets? Absolutely not. Period,” White said. “And I'll bet you this, if Mr. Long is getting a pay raise, there's not anybody else who would hire that guy. So how could you really say that it's justified by market conditions?”

We strongly suspect that Mayor White is dead wrong about that, and if David Long were on the market, there would be plenty of suitors.

Regardless, the question of the proposed budget increase certainly gave the mayor a political opening to play populist, beat up a sometime foe, AND try to gain more power over HMEPS with a last-minute appointment (which Council refused to support, to their credit). Mayor White seems to have a long memory for officials who defy his edicts (also see Tollett, Jordy).

Unfortunately, the entire debate over this relatively minor "scandal"** -- and the Caucasian Think Tank's mischaracterization of the details -- completely ignores the real ongoing scandal with regard to the city's pension funds: the massive unfunded liability.

We can certainly understand why Mayor White prefers not to talk about those details much these days, after some early efforts on his part to chip away at the liability. It will be the next mayor's problem.

We are reproducing relevant portions of the statement from the chairman of the board of the pension system below, since it lays out details of the proposed budget increase that seem not to have been understood very well.

* Another characterization would be that David Long has asserted the relative independence of HMEPS from Mayor White's meddling. Long is not a mayoral appointee, and answers to the HMEPS board. His job is to promote/defend the interests of the board and the system, not the political interests of Mayor White. It's not surprising that Mayor White would regard such independence as quarrelsome.

** Cory Crow's observations from two days ago seem spot on to us.

[Read More]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/29/09 04:22 PM |

27 August 2009

KTRK's Dolcefino checks in on the Mobility Response Team

KTRK-13's Wayne Dolcefino checked in last night with an update on the changes the City of Houston has made in response to his investigation of one of Mayor Bill White's pet projects, the Mobility Response Team*.

Feel free to watch his video report below, or to check out the story on KTRK's website.




* We are told of Mayor White's notoriety for running the city in "painstaking detail" but the flaws in this program didn't seem to get much attention until Dolcefino started following the scooter corps around.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/27/09 09:31 PM |

Linkpost: 08/27/09

Here's another round of local blog links. Enjoy!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/27/09 06:51 AM |

26 August 2009

Just when you think the local newspaper is dead... (updated)

We have to admit that the Chronicle has surprised us.

We thought they had largely given up on the watchdog journalism business (in favor of the user-submitted party photo online business), and suddenly *BAM* three provocative stories.

Here are links and excerpts:

Comments?

[Read More]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/26/09 10:45 PM |

25 August 2009

Locke offers his "me too!" on Ashby highrise; campaigns free to move on to other areas of agreement

On Sunday, we posted about the decision by the City of Houston late Friday to notify local media (but not the developers) about its decision to approve the latest revisions to the Ashby highrise proposal. We noted that mayoral candidate Annise Parker was first out of the gate with a Saturday news release crafted to appeal to the well-heeled residents opposed to the highrise, followed by Peter Brown's brief interruption of his vacation in France to tweet about the matter. Rich Connelly elaborated on their responses here yesterday.

Ashby Urban Plaza rendering
The Locke campaign did not weigh in immediately on the Ashby highrise, as campaign advisors undoubtedly preferred the media to focus on the HPOU endorsement of their guy, and candidate Locke did have the good sense/discipline not to muddy the establishment endorsements message with digressions. Today, however, Locke finally shared his "me too!" on the Ashby highrise decision that came out Friday, and Rich Connelly has those details here.

Wouldn't it be great if we had fewer "me too!" moments from our mayoral contenders, and a more diverse, robust debate on various issues?

Rendering of Ashby Urban Plaza courtesy of Buckhead Investment Partners.

UPDATE (08/27/09): And two days later, Mike Snyder offers his "me too!" by informing Chron.com readers of Gene Locke's "me too!"

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/25/09 10:37 PM |

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