10 November 2008
Upper Kirby TIRZ to put construction on hold for holiday shopping
The Chronicle's Rosanna Ruiz notes that progress (in the form of the massive Kirby reconstruction/drainage project) will be delayed over the holidays, so Upper Kirby businesses can sell you stuff:
Construction work will pause from Nov. 21 through Jan. 2, said Travis Younkin, capital projects coordinator for the Upper Kirby District.
Work along side streets will continue, though.
"We can't have construction crews working on the street during the busiest shopping season of the year," Younkin said.
The $18 million project, managed by the Upper Kirby District Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, is scheduled to be completed by next November.
Kirby, from Richmond to Westheimer, will have three somewhat wider lanes in each direction, raised esplanades, wider sidewalks and more street lighting.
Overhead utility lines also will be placed underground, which should reduce worries about downed power lines during storms that would otherwise paralyze Kirby businesses.
Rarely are TIRZ officials so forthright about whose interests they prioritize.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/10/08 11:06 PM |
'We stopped in because we saw the bulldog'
How many of you have been driving down the freeway, when a giant inflatable gorilla caught your eye, and you said, "I gotta go shopping!"?
Well, if some city councilmembers have their way, the big advertising balloons will be a thing of the past:
The gorillas — along with the giant eagles, balloon rockets and Uncle Sams that sometimes appear on the rooftops of car dealerships and other retail outlets — contribute to visual clutter and pose a potentially dangerous distraction to drivers, city officials say.
The City Council could vote on the ban at its Wednesday meeting. If approved, the ban also would prohibit flashy and motion-driven devices, such as dancing wind puppets, spinning pinwheels, pennants, streamers and strobe and spotlights.
"I call them attention-distracting devices," said Jeff Ross of the city's planning commission. Ross said getting rid of them will make Houston more competitive with other cities that have banned them, such as Dallas, Austin and St. Louis.
"They distract the eye, create potential safety obstacles, obscure permanent signage and create visual blight," said Tommy Friedlander, who chaired Mayor Bill White's On-Premise Sign Task Force.
Banning inflatable balloons is what will make Houston more competitive?? What about the sports stadiums? And the light rail? And the Pavilions?
What about the smoking ban? And the second city-funded convention center hotel? And the downtown park? And the skate park?
Shoot, if all that was required was banning some inflatable balloons, why didn't someone mention it sooner? Think of all the tax dollars that could have been saved!
Back to the story:
Shane Rhodes has a giant, inflated bulldog on the roof of his car dealership on Long Point.
"We get three or four customers a month who say, 'We stopped in because we saw the bulldog,' " Rhodes said.
I'm not sure how common that shopping strategy is, but to each their own. That's what makes America great.
Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck isn't sold on the ban:
Officials said holiday displays and residential lawn decorations would be exempted from the ban. The prohibition would apply only to attention-getting devices used for commercial purposes.
That troubles Councilwoman Anne Clutterbuck. She asked how the city would distinguish between attention-getting devices and the holiday lights, bows and sparkly stars installed in Rice Village and the Galleria area.
"Both (are) used for commercial purposes," Clutterbuck said. "We deem those as tasteful and the others as tacky."
That's not the Ready! Fire! Aim! spirit Houston's known for! Why get bogged down in those pesky details?
Fittingly, the city already HAS an ordinance banning "attention-getting devices," but the city's Andy Icken complains it's unenforceable. How Houston-like!
For a strong close, here's Councilman James Rodriguez selling the ban:
They just make the neighborhoods look bad, they lower property values," he said of the inflatable animals. A giant duck that sits atop a check-cashing store in the Gulf Crest neighborhood has prompted residents to complain to his office, Rodriguez said.
"Their homes are their sanctuaries, and they want to go out into their backyards, and they look up and see this big duck."
It's what we all dream of -- a backyard view that doesn't include a giant duck.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/10/08 07:33 PM |
08 November 2008
Bicyclist Bob Stein goes international, downplays Obama's accomplishments vis-a-vis Hillary Clinton
Bicyclist Bob Stein, Houston's (Democratic) expert on everything and every (lazy) local political journalist's go-to man for the obvious quote, has gone international! The bicyclist is featured in today's Ottawa Citizen:
Bob Stein, author and political science professor at Rice University in Houston, agrees that the Clinton campaign was more substantive than Mr. Obama's.
"She was far more specific on policy," he says. "And my guess now is that she is more interested in her policies than she is in position."Pushing Mrs. Clinton as Senate majority leader would be controversial and difficult, says Ms. Parry-Giles, who is writing a book about media coverage of the former first lady dating back to her pre-White House days.
[snip]
Whatever becomes of Mrs. Clinton, she remains very much in the political game, adds Mr. Stein.
"Nobody thought that either a black man or a woman could be a candidate for president," he says, "and what she achieved was breaking a glass ceiling that was even more formidable than the barriers to electing a black man."
Huh?!
Gee, we wonder whom the bicyclist supported in the primaries? Not that he would ever let us know, given the reputation of impartial bicyclist/political observer that he must uphold (for lazy local political journalists, at least). *wink* *nod*
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/08/08 07:34 PM |
County attorney-elect promotes watchdog role
Many of us are weary of both pre-election and post-election commentary, but here's a snippet on Harris County Attorney-elect Vince Ryan that's worth posting:
Ryan, a lawyer, said he is the right person to be coming into government now. The County Attorney's Office, he said, can play the role of watchdog and try to insist that county officials and employees take the ethical high road.
"What county government needs is a group of watchdogs, not lapdogs," Ryan said. "The County Attorney's Office is an absolute key to the checks and balances on county government."
We hope the new county attorney is serious about playing the role of watchdog, and will do so in an impartial and nonpartisan manner. County government would be better for it.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/08/08 01:37 PM |
City removes negligent apartment owner, enters "uncharted territory"
The Chronicle's Matt Stiles and Bradley Olson have details on the city's actions this week in removing the owner of a rundown apartment complex:
In the latest case involving La Casita Apartments, 313 Sunnyside, Mayor Bill White marshaled the help of an old high school friend who retired in 2004 as a federal bankruptcy judge. With his help, city lawyers were able in less than 24 hours to get a judge to turn control of the property over to a new management company.
"I felt that we needed to act immediately to both hold the owner accountable and use the legal remedies in bankruptcy to protect the property," White said. "We are getting much better at identifying and remedying substandard apartments."
[snip]
City officials also said they do not expect to recoup $1.3 million in federal housing money loaned to the property for improvements that state records show began about a decade ago.
Still, officials said the initial success with La Casita was good news, since it can be replicated with other substandard complexes that have vexed inspectors and police.
"This is a great step," said City Councilman James Rodriguez, who has taken an active role in the crackdown. "I know we're in uncharted territory here, but we have to be proactive. Enough is enough."
Houston's push against bad housing began last year after two children were shocked by an unguarded power transformer at an apartment complex, but began in earnest this summer after several Houston Chronicle stories documented substandard conditions in a number of properties.
White announced plans to spend $1 million a year to create a new team of multifamily inspectors. That team, which has yet to be completely formed, now can proactively visit properties and issue citations instead of making trips only after complaints, as had been done in the past.
Since White announced plans to add inspectors, two children have died after being crushed by a staircase that collapsed at a complex that had not been inspected since 1996. Another toddler drowned in a squalid apartment complex last month, only hours after an inspections coordinator had visited the property and noted a damaged fence around the pool.
Hopefully, this won't end up in the category of "Ready! Fire! Aim!" governance.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/08/08 10:36 AM |
05 November 2008
Election '08: The next day
As expected, the Harris County GOP took quite a pounding last night, although it was not the complete sweep that seemed like a real possibility.
We have an ongoing discussion in this comments thread from yesterday, so feel free to drop in and join the conversation We're especially interested in your thoughts on the area races, and what the new faces are likely to mean for Harris County government and criminal justice.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/05/08 09:29 AM |
03 November 2008
Election Day '08 is here!
The Big Election is finally upon us, and we'll soon say goodbye to all the annoying political ads, mailers, signs, robocalls, and the like, at least for a little while (but Peter Brown really wants to be mayor, so it likely won't last long).
While the little blog is generally not partisan (we believe the major political parties have ample resources to put out their messages without our help) and doesn't do endorsements, we are definitely supportive of free markets, free minds, transparent government, and responsible journalism. We are generally conservative in our political outlook, which should not come as a surprise to many.
Needless to say, the results tomorrow are not likely to make very many conservatives all that happy, at the national level or here locally. Especially here locally, since that's the focus of the little blog. More on that in a moment*, but in light of Tuesday's likely results, I'd like to post some thoughts from my friend Orrin Judd, who runs what I consider the finest conservative blog going:
If it is natural for those who don't genuinely believe in American ideals to be easily alienated, it is thoroughly unnatural for we who believe devoutly to succumb to similar despair. What, after all, is an unwelcome election result or an inept politician or even an unfortunate law or two in comparison to your family, your friends, your neighbors, your community, your relationship with God?
I had two people tell me remarkably similar stories this weekend about being at social events and having people launch into tirades about religion or conservatives or both. One had a friend say: "I'm sure I'm offending you, but...." To which they responded, bewildered: "What? But you don't care?" We can pity the folk who behave (misbehave) in this manner, but we must not react by aping them. The impulse to vent must be subordinated to the values of friendship, citizenship, comity, and, yes, love. Where it is inexplicable to the Bright that anyone could differ with them, it is doctrine to us that people will disagree, even on the most fundamental issues. Where it is unimaginable to them that Reason could have yielded up an erroneous answer, it is obvious to us that Fallen Man is prone to mistake, oneself no less than another. Where they seem to think that spilling enough bile will act as a solvent to disagreements, we know such divisions to be part of the human predicament and the proper response to be an attempt at understanding, not an intellectual bludgeoning.
I've been absurdly fortunate in life and not at all unfortunate in politics. My first vote was cast for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and since then my preference has prevailed more often than not. But in 1992 we were living in Chicago and I walked out of the polling place facing the seemingly dire prospect that, despite my vote, Bill Clinton, Carol Mosely-Braun, and Dan Rostenkowski would be announced as winners later that night. Woe the Republic, eh? Well, last night our eldest asked what the best decade of the 20th Century was. And there's really only one honest response to that question: the 1990s.
A good many of us may feel a tad homeless as we walk out of the polling place on Tuesday, but we'll emerge into the sunlight (or snow here) very much at home. And there's every possibility that we'll be more at home in the months and years to come than those who vote differently. America is rather more resilient than we're prone to imagine in our darkest moments and politics means rather less than we're wont to recognize in the midst of a campaign. Think about what truly matters and be happy. Life is awfully good.
With all that, we're going to throw open the thread for your election thoughts. Most anything related to the election is fair game -- national, local, whatever. We'll just ask that you keep in mind Orrin's comments and also our general rules that we should try to treat each other courteously, and focus on ideas rather than personalities.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/03/08 10:30 PM |
A quarter of a million to tag taco trucks?
The Chronicle's Carolyn Feibel posts that Council this week will consider an expenditure of $250,000 and a bit of change for a radio tag system that will be used to track whether taco trucks are complying with city regulations.
Feibel editorializes in favor of the expenditure:
Before I get too snarky, I'll admit that it's good to see the city taking steps to enforce one of its regulations. Too often, officials pass well-meaning regulations, but there's no impetus or budget to enforce the law. And just last week, the council decided to discard a bike-permit regulation after city officials admitted that enforcement was not a priority, and few followed the law, including the mayor himself. (Story).
So, perhaps tagging the taco trucks is a high-tech answer to enforcement, at least in this arena.
What say you, blogHOUSTONians?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/03/08 08:34 PM |
02 November 2008
Pasadena to get METRO service
Meanwhile, the outer reaches of Harris County still get nothing. Except taxed, of course.
The last Chron Move It! column had news of Pasadena's new service:
Metro approved a proposal to expand bus service to Pasadena beginning next year. Metro expects to run buses from Houston to Pasadena's Town Square Mall with a stop at the Monroe Park and Ride.
Similar service from the Monroe site is now available to Baytown.
Metro predicts an annual cost of $79,000. Harris County and federal funds are expected to cover the new route since it lies outside Metro's service area.
How nice for them.
Here's an idea: If METRO can expand its service to non-taxed areas by contract, how about if non-serviced areas have the ability to terminate their taxed contract with METRO?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/02/08 12:58 PM |
In anticipation of the the Grand Parkway's F-2 segment...
...a Dallas developer has bought a chunk of land at Spring Steubner and Kuykendahl for a new retail center:
The undeveloped land bought by Hopkins Commercial Real Estate Inc. is located at the southeast corner of Kuykendahl and Spring Stuebner, just north of Houston. The property was purchased last month from three separate owners for an undisclosed amount. Most of the property was previously earmarked for residential construction.
Steve Gregory, president of Dallas-based Hopkins Commercial, said the site is a long-term investment for a retail center that will be built, possibly in one to three years. The site is attractive to the company because a leg of the Grand Parkway that will start construction in late 2010 will go by the 56 acres.
Swell.
PREVIOUSLY: Grand Parkway archives
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/02/08 12:13 PM |
31 October 2008
Kelley pays the Ibarra brothers
Remember a couple of weeks ago when I brought to the forefront Rick Casey's article about Lloyd Kelley and his legal math?
Well, Mr. Casey has written a follow-up article.
Mr. Kelley has paid the Ibarra brothers $115,000. Now, it doesn't stop there. The Ibarra brothers have filed a complaint with the state bar of Texas.
What a mess!
Posted by Jason @ 10/31/08 09:30 AM |
30 October 2008
Chron reports on TSU plagiarism, still silent on editorial board plagiarism
The Chronicle today reported on a plagiarism accusation against a professor at Texas Southern University.
It's not at all clear why the newspaper considers this news, since it employs plagiarists on the editorial board and in the metro/state section.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/30/08 10:20 PM |
29 October 2008
City kills largely ignored bike registration law
City Council today repealed a mostly ignored law requiring citizens to register bicycles. Here is some background on the archaic law:
The law requires owners to register their two-wheelers at a local fire station for $1 and place a little license sticker on the bike.
"This is something that I think is sporadically done," said Randy Zamora, the city's chief prosecutor. "And I think the firemen have better things to do."
Why the law was passed in 1968 remains a mystery, though city officials guess it was meant to deter theft and track stolen bicycles.
[snip]
Police officers do still occasionally write tickets for unregistered bikes, Zamora said. Since April 2006, officers have written 206 citations. The fine is only $5, but includes $67 in court costs. Zamora said he doesn't enforce the law.
"Most of the time the officer doesn't come (to testify), or we dismiss it," he said.
It would be great if even more of the city's archaic and/or ineffective laws could be repealed -- likely including some passed by this mayor, not to mention the archaic driveway ordinance currently being (mis)used to constrain the Ashby high-rise development.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/08 10:46 PM |
Houston priorities: METRO over flooding
The Chron's Bradley Olson follows up on the city's plan to scale back projects because of the current credit crisis, and includes an example of the city's priorities:
The city has drawn up plans to roll back spending by around $100 million on parks, corroded water and sewer lines and other major infrastructure projects in what officials characterize as a cautious approach to the credit crisis.
[snip]
Marcotte and Issa Dadoush, who heads the city's General Services Department, said they avoided putting off projects for which design and engineering work had been completed; those that had funding or involvement from other governmental entities such as METRO; and infrastructure plans that had to be completed to comply with state or federal regulations.
Of course!
But this list didn't sit too well with some on Council:
"I am against reducing infrastructure improvements," said Councilman M.J. Khan, who noted that the city invested far too little in infrastructure in the previous decade and often paid the price when neighborhoods with poor drainage are flooded or water mains break. "I don't like when the first ax falls on infrastructure projects."
Councilman James Rodriguez said he did not understand why one neighborhood reconstruction project in his southeast Houston district was delayed, even though his constituents have been awaiting its completion for almost 10 years.
"I think it's unfair for them to have to wait any longer," he said. "I want to make sure that my district doesn't get shortchanged here. I understand we're in a financial crisis, but I want to make sure we look at alternatives."
It's a safe bet that Councilman Rodriguez's constituents aren't the "well-heeled, civically-active" types who rightfully wield more influence, as the Chronicle's editorial board likes to characterize it. They should not expect any help from the city's elites.
And the pretty train that stops running whenever there are a couple of inches of water on the tracks will continue to be a city priority, but infrastructure improvements to reduce flooding will be put on hold. That should work out well.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/29/08 05:10 AM |
27 October 2008
Chron circulation plummets; Sweeney spins himself silly
The Audit Bureau of Circulations released the latest newspaper circulation numbers today, and the results weren't pretty for the Houston Chronicle, which saw a decline of 11.66% in daily circulation. Among the 25 largest newspapers in the country, that drop was exceeded only by that of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (13.62%). The Chronicle Sunday edition did manage to click in atop the Top 25, though, with a whopping circulation decline of 15.73%!
Chron publisher and spinner Jack Sweeney said the big decline was just part of the newspaper's strategy:
Chronicle Publisher and President Jack Sweeney attributed most of the declines to strategic decisions made by the newspaper to discontinue circulation outside a 90-mile radius of downtown Houston, increase the daily newsstand price to 75 cents and eliminate advertiser-sponsored distribution. Hurricane Ike also affected circulation in coastal communities.
Matt Bramanti takes apart Sweeney's business "strategy" here.
People may not be buying the newspaper like they once did, but Chron.com is doing well, according to Sweeney:
And chron.com has seen a 20 percent jump in readers who don’t buy the Chronicle. Chron.com exceeded 90 million page views in August and spiked to 185 million in September due to Hurricane Ike coverage.
“Our journalists keep consumers of Chronicle content engaged no matter what platform they choose,” Sweeney said. “It could be our City&State section, Gloss or one of our online channels like Moms or Houston Belief.”
More likely, it would be chron.com's comic section, a popular online attraction. Or perhaps user-contributed party pics!
BLOGVERSATION: Lone Star Times, Brazosport News.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/27/08 10:27 PM |
26 October 2008
Gattis: The Opportunity City weathers all storms
Local blogger Tory Gattis has a new article posted at New Geography, "The Opportunity city weathers all storms."
While much of the information won't be new to those of us here in town, it's a nice, upbeat wrapup of Houston, post-Ike. Be sure to check it out.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/26/08 10:15 PM |
AgendaWatch: 10/28/08
Slow week, after all. Most of the agenda is routine business, but there are three items I'd like to flag for everyone's attention. One key item was held over from last week: a series of motions related to the purchase of the new police radio system. Councilmembers Holm and Clutterbuck tagged several separate related items -- and I seem to have missed some interesting parts -- or someone did, at least... I don't remember seeing items a, c, and d. Under their new numbers:
#38: Purchase agreement with Motorola. (Initial cost is about $16 million; the maximum cost provided for is $123 million. Say what?)
#38a: Rental of 2550 N. Loop for the office space for COH and Motorola personnel who will be performing the installation. ($11k+/month, $1.45/sq.ft; Motorola to pay "a proportional cost."
#38b: Legal services from Miller and Van Eaton, L.L.P.C. for legal services related to drafting interolocal agreements with Harris County and Centerpoint. Wait, we've selected our hardware, and NOW we're going to talk about inter-interoperability with Centerpoint and Harris County? ($100,000)
#38c & d: Appropriations to pay for office furniture for the Radio Communications Division at 2550 N. Loop. ($217,000 from Police and IT Department funds. 12 offices, 2 conference rooms, 6 workstations, and a break room.)
Item #33 is a contract to pay for various emergency repairs to the sewer system. Expect more of these in future years if necessary physical upgrades and replacements continue to be deferred, because the city's borrowing practices have made it vulnerable to the current market turmoil.
Item #36: Of interest to citizens who follow land use regulation in this city -- A request to set a public hearing date of November 19, 2008 (but no mention of where), to review a report on land use regulations for the areas around the three city airports. The Airport Commission published its report on October 16, and forwarded its proposed regulations. These were presented to the Council Committee on Transportation, Infrastructure, & Aviation on the 23rd, and it was recommended that they be forwarded to the full council.
It would be nice if the regulations and maps had been included in the council backup, since this will be the public's chance to comment. You know how it is: "The regulations were considered in a public hearing, and nobody objected." Well, fortunately, blogHOUSTON is here -- and the Aviation page with links to the various maps, proposed ordinance, and the regulations is here. However, you may have missed your chance ... from what I can tell, this is only to review the report -- if you wanted to give input to the regulations, you'd have to have attended the well publicized meeting of September 29th.
You do remember how well it was publicized, don't you, citizen?
Posted by Ubu Roi @ 10/26/08 09:29 PM |
Competing priorities, election-year grandstanding stoke voter registration battle
KHOU-11's Mark Greenblatt has been reporting on voter registration issues in Harris County.
Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar Paul Bettencourt comes under fire from Greenblatt and Dem pols for allegedly over-aggressive efforts to purge voter rolls of illegitimate voters (resulting in some legitimate voters apparently being rejected). Bettencourt's past assertions of "ironclad" cases of voter fraud are also subject to criticism. What is not clear from the reporting is how the number of legitimate registrations that have been rejected compares to the number of legitimate registrations struck from voter rolls in other counties. Since we will never be able fully to remove human error from human activities, it would be helpful to know the numbers of errors made elsewhere compared to here (which might then help us to judge knowledgeably if a more systematic problem is at work, which is suggested by the reporting). These probably aren't easy numbers to gather, but they would be helpful to know.
Partisans on both sides have legitimate points. On the one hand, everyone who is eligible to vote in our elections should be able to register to do so with minimal hassle. On the other hand, it's not unreasonable to take some steps to prevent illegitimate voters from participating in our elections. With a big election at hand (underway even, since early voting has begun), we'll probably continue to see passionate arguments over these sometimes-competing priorities (maybe even in our forums -- please do try to keep it civil).
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/26/08 09:28 PM |
24 October 2008
Chron editorial board endorses Judge Ed Emmett
The unethical and unprofessional Chronicle editorial board endorsed Ed Emmett for county judge today.
The Chronicle editorial board probably felt it had no other choice given David Mincberg's disastrous post-Ike campaign AND the fact that editorial board member Andrea Georgsson was caught donating to Mincberg. Perhaps even the editorial board's discomfort with the resulting mess explains the typo and grammatical error in the endorsement (or perhaps that's giving them too much credit, and they just write poorly when not plagiarizing from well-written material).
We confirmed with officials from both campaigns that Georgsson was NOT present at the candidate screening described by Liz Peterson in this blog post*. That's too bad. While the Chronicle's reader rep(s) PR spinners refuse to answer questions about how the newspaper has handled the matter, it seems at the very least Georgsson should have been suspended from editorial board activity for a significant period of time AND have been asked to appear at the start of this particular screening to apologize to both candidates for effectively reducing the value of a Chronicle editorial board endorsement through her unethical and unprofessional behavior.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/24/08 07:58 AM |
23 October 2008
Texas Watchdog posts financial disclosures of state pols
The AP's Jay Root reports on the latest efforts from Texas Watchdog:
For years the Texas Legislature has resisted calls to publish politicians' personal financial information on the Internet. But the modern world caught up with state lawmakers when a fledgling watchdog group posted the disclosures online.
Texas Watchdog, a nonpartisan organization that uses public records to pull back the curtain on state government, obtained scanned copies of the financial disclosures for the major state officeholders and published them on their Web site Wednesday.
Before the forms were only available on paper at the state Ethics Commission in Austin.
"If the public can't easily get at these records, they don't do voters and taxpayers much good," said Trent Seibert, editor of Texas Watchdog. "Through this site, Texas residents will be able to keep a close eye on public officials and sound the alarm if they spot a conflict of interest."
The ethics commission, which collects the data, was all but barred from publishing the information on its Web site.
The story and links are here on the Texas Watchdog site.
The interactive Google map is a nice touch. Indeed, overall that's another nice bit of work from the new guys in town.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/23/08 12:46 PM |
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