24 August 2009

Local officials promise "transparency," offer few details on stadium/jail/Astrodome TIRZ deal

The Chronicle's Bradley Olson reported today that the City and County are in negotiations to use TIRZ revenues to finance a soccer stadium, a jail, and Astrodome redevelopment:

The city of Houston and Harris County are negotiating a deal that could pave the way for construction of a new soccer stadium, a new jail and the redevelopment of the Astrodome, according to officials taking part in the talks.

The negotiations, which have been under way for several months and are reaching their final stage, focus on the use of tax increment reinvestment zones, or TIRZ, as vehicles for the major capital projects.

No real details follow, but one official apparently stressed, in all seriousness, the "complete transparency" of all these dealings that the public knows nothing about.

A couple of notable reactions immediately surfaced online. Blogger Tom Kirkendall tweeted about the absurd reference to transparency:

Local Houston officials promise "transparency," then essentially offer none in Chron article.

Blogger Scott Henson raises a potentially sticky issue:

This seems like a pretty blatant misuse of the TIRZ statute, which was created to encourage private economic development, not to override the will of the voters in bond elections.

Indeed, it's hard to see how Harris County can justify using a TIRZ to build a jail. By law, the county must certify that projects built "will significantly enhance the value of all the taxable real property in the zone," but a jail won't increase property values.

We can't wait until our transparent officials elaborate on all these details, so the public can try to sort it all out.

What do you think?

BLOGVERSATION: Houston's Clear Thinkers.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/24/09 10:32 PM |

Linkpost: 08/24/09

It's past time to clear out the backlog of local blog links. Have fun clicking!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/24/09 09:17 PM |

Chronicle catching up to blawggers on brain drain at DA's Office?

Today's Chronicle features a story from Brian Rogers on the rapid departures of many veteran prosecutors from the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

The article focuses on Donna Goode, who left the office after 25 years:

Goode resigned after speaking up at a senior-level staff meeting June 23.

“I am not certain how to proceed, because, after 6 months with this administration, there are no written policies to guide me,” Goode wrote in a three-page resignation letter obtained by the Houston Chronicle through the Texas Open Records Act.

[snip]

Later, her computer was shut down remotely, and she was summoned to a “disciplinary committee” hearing before Jim Leitner, Lykos' first assistant, and General Counsel John Barnhill.

Goode wasn't fired. She was accused of poor judgement [sic] and threatened with termination, she wrote. She handed in her resignation letter the next day.

Blawgger (and former prosecutor) Murray Newman has been documenting these departures for quite some time now on his blog, Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center.

In a 24 June 2009 post, Newman blogged about the meeting that led to Goode's resignation:

During yesterday morning's weekly "Show and Tell" meeting (which is a regular update meeting attended by all Division chiefs, Bureau Chiefs and the Elected D.A.), he apparently went completely off the deep end. After being questioned on his rationale on decisions about Rusty Hardin, the diversion program, and the fact that more people learn about their Administration decisions from the paper than from the administrators, Bridgwater lashed out at none other than Donna Goode.

[snip]

When the meeting was over, he decided to file a complaint against Donna with the Disciplinary Committee for her remarks during "Show and Tell".

The complaint he made against her? Insubordination.

Newman has discussed other veteran prosecutors who have fled the Lykos DA's Office: Lester Blizzard, Stephen St. Martin and Ed Porter, Warren Diepraam and Syliva Escobedo

Kudos to Murray Newman for his blogging efforts (although one has to wonder why the Chronicle is just now writing about this). One also has to wonder if Brian Rogers consulted Newman's blog for his story, or Newman himself.

BLOGVERSATION: Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center.

Posted by Jason @ 08/24/09 12:17 PM |

23 August 2009

City notifies media of Ashby highrise decision, neglects to inform developers

Last week, the city's public works department did what many astute political agencies have done over the years, and dropped some controversial news into the perceived weekend media black hole.

In a press release, director Andy Icken informed the developers of the Ashby highrise local media that the most recent revisions to the proposed Ashby highrise development met his approval, sufficiently reducing estimated traffic to allow the developers to move forward. Icken also informed that his decision was partly motivated by the desire to avoid litigation, making it as much a political decision as a technocratic one -- not that the continued politicization of an ostensibly technocratic agency comes as any surprise to blogHOUSTON readers.

Michael Reed, whose reporting on this topic has been invaluable, got this great quote from the developers on Friday:

“We don’t know what kind of mood to be in. It’s kind of bittersweet,” Morgan said. “We found out from you. Thank you for the press release (forwarded from the city).”

Mayor Bill White, of course, came to oppose the development after affluent neighbors voiced their displeasure with him, and his administration managed to delay it for quite some time.

We're not entirely sure why Mayor White, in the last months of his administration and busily campaigning for another office, decided to let this latest proposal go through. Perhaps he decided it will be the next mayor's problem.

City Controller Annise Parker immediately made her bid to be the champion of the well-heeled anti-highrise crowd, criticizing the decision and arguing that a new ordinance is needed to govern such developments. Councilmember Peter Brown took time out from his vacation in France to tweet about the decision. Gene Locke... wants everyone to know he has the endorsement of the Houston Police Officers Union, but perhaps he has since issued a statement and we just missed it*.

NEWS COVERAGE: Chronicle, KIAH-39, KRIV-26, KHOU-11, KPRC-2.

[Read More]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/23/09 10:50 PM |

Chron's caucasian think tank* lauds Houston's "aggressive news corps"

The Chronicle's Caucasian Think Tank* had this laugher on the weekend editorial page:

Some advice to the incoming superintendent to prevent future heartburn: Houston has an aggressive news corps, and reporters will not settle for basing their stories simply on a superintendent's statements or district news releases.

Aggressive news corps?

They must be talking about the various TV investigative reporters, or maybeTexas Watchdog, and surely not their colleagues at 801 Texas Avenue.

Indeed, recent Chronicle "aggression" has resulted in embarrassment for the newspaper, and past Chronicle aggression with regard to HISD produced plenty of embarrassing errors from (then) reporter Jason Spencer. So maybe it's just as well for the Chronicle to leave that aggressive, watchdog stuff to others.

New HISD Superintendent Terry Grier
Ericka Mellon's reporting for the Chronicle on new superintendent Terry Grier has been informative, though. Please check it out. From what we've read, HISD seems to be getting a guy who will push real reforms and who will eventually rub some people the wrong way. That should be interesting! Please discuss.

* Cory Crow's nickname for the Chronicle editorial board.

Photo of Terry Grier courtesy of the San Diego Unified School District.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/23/09 08:59 PM |

22 August 2009

Local headlines page added

We've replaced our old, outdated Chron headlines page with a local news page.

The page pulls headlines from the major news outlets in town via RSS feeds.

We've tested it in newer browsers, and everything mostly seems to be working (there's a random garbage character here and there that we can't seem to kill). Let us know if we've missed a local news organization that you'd like to see added (provided it has an RSS feed).

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/22/09 09:47 PM |

20 August 2009

Another Chron adventure in bad journalism (cont'd)

Earlier this week, the Chronicle's junior metro/state diarist Lisa Falkenberg ran with a truly unfortunate "gotcha!" that backfired. Badly.

Falkenberg used her column effectively to accuse a U.S. military veteran of lying about his service:

On Twitter, where “Fleckman” has more than 6,600 followers, Fleckenstein identifies himself as a resident of Phoenix, husband, father of two, lover of the beach and “former Marine.”

Dear Diary... By Lisa
That last phrase gave me pause, since no Marine I've ever met used the word “former” to describe his service in the esteemed military branch. I tried to verify [Peter] Fleckenstein's service with the Marine Corps' Washington-based public affairs office and 1st Lt. Joshua Diddams said the office could find no record of a Peter Fleckenstein having served in the Marines.

Perhaps there's an explanation, such as a name change. I may never know.

As it turns out, there was an explanation, but because Falkenberg and her editors ran with their feelings instead of fact (or, things people "know"), a veteran was smeared unnecessarily.

Here is the "clarification" that the junior metro/state diarist was forced to issue (although it really should be called a correction, and the newspaper really should apologize for smearing a veteran):

On Tuesday, 1st Lt. Joshua Diddams informed me that Fleckenstein had called the Marine office after reading my column and provided a Social Security number, which verifiers used to confirm that he was indeed a Marine. Diddams said there was a mistake in the military record in which Fleckenstein’s last name was misspelled as “Fleckenstien.”

So, here's the recent scorecard for the Houston Chronicle on basic fact-checking:

When the newspaper should have been skeptical of the credentials of a not-doctor who testified at a town hall in favor of radical healthcare legislation, the Chronicle reporter and editors took the woman at her word instead of definitively vetting the information. They never issued a formal correction.

When presented with a man who identified himself as a Marine on a social networking site, the Chronicle diarist and editors had enough doubts to smear the man without definitively vetting the information. Falkenberg later issued a "clarification, " rather than a correction.

And, of course, there was the recent Andrew Prieditis experience (although in fairness, he also fooled much better newspapers than the Chronicle).

Are there any grownups overseeing the "journalism" at the Chronicle these days?

UPDATE (08/21/09): David Jennings, the hardest-working citizen-journalist in town, points us to the veteran's response to Falkenberg's shoddy journalism.

Dear Diary image by flickr user incurable hippie, used via a Creative Commons license.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/20/09 10:30 PM |

Linkpost: 08/20/09

I'm Kevin Whited, and I approved these local blog links. Politifact? Probably not.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/20/09 12:49 PM |

19 August 2009

Topiary inspiration

Topiary Creature
METRO has announced a new "Swiftline" bus service, not to be confused with the "Quickline" bus service. You'll recall the Quickline service was behind schedule, not necessarily quick, and inspired METRO to create topiary bunnies. With luck, the new Swiftline route can morph into a Quickline route, according to METRO's highly paid blogger.

We can sense a trend...how about we help METRO choose the next bus route name? Ontimeline? Straightline? Zippyline? FasterthanJohnNovaLomaxline?

Maybe topiary cheetahs will be forthcoming. And can a topiary Abuelita be far behind?

Topiary photo by flickr user vertigogen, used via a Creative Commons license.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/19/09 06:25 PM |

Where in Texas is Mayor White? (cont'd)

The Chronicle's Bradley Olson reports today that Senate Candidate Bill White's travel schedule has been cutting into the time Mayor Bill White can devote to issues in the City of Houston:

White acknowledged in an interview that he is working about 30 percent to 40 percent less in his mayoral capacity, and that much of the time he is spending on Houston issues has been between stops on the campaign trail as he travels from Marfa to Longview raising his statewide profile.

“We have built a very effective organization, and so every year that has gone by since I've been mayor, I've been able to delegate more and more effectively to people who know the style, the values and in particular, the fiscal discipline that we expect,” he said.

Not to worry, though -- several department heads say "they have not noticed any drop-off in workload as the mayor has become more heavily involved in his campaign," according to Olson, who editorializes in his lede about the mayor's notoriety for "painstaking detail."

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/19/09 07:56 AM |

Double standard for Gene Green (updated)

According to Congressman Gene Green's website;

Town hall meetings are one of my favorite ways to communicate with constituents. I have held hundreds during my years of service in Congress and always welcomed everyone to attend. Unfortunately, due to a coordinated effort to disrupt our town hall meetings, we will be restricting further attendance to residents of the 29th Congressional District and verifying residency by requiring photo identification.

So, in order to attend Gene Green's town hall meeting you will be required to show a photo ID. Yet, in September of 2006, Congressman Green voted against HR4844.

Someone should ask Congressman Green how he can vote against requiring a photo ID to vote in federal elections, yet require photo IDs to get into his town hall meetings. That seems hypocritical, don't you think?

KEVIN WHITED ADDS: The Baytown Sun picked up on Rep. Green's new ID requirements, which will apply to their community meeting tonight. Reporter Cierra Putman also secured a great quote:

“I think while politically it seems completely stupid, I don’t think it’s illegal,” said Charles Daughtry, member of the board of directors of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and legal representative for The Baytown Sun.

Politically stupid but not illegal -- not the preferred slogan of many politicians, we suspect!

Posted by Jason @ 08/19/09 12:08 AM |

18 August 2009

Council to take up Fusco's contract tomorrow (updated)

Craig Malisow at the Houston Press Hair Balls blog informs that City Council will take up the question of BARC "Change Agent" Gerry Fusco's ridiculous contract tomorrow (August 19).

People who follow the matter -- including relevant councilmembers -- were apparently under the impression that Council would not be considering the contract until September. They were apparently under the wrong impression.

The story is here.

We wish Malisow's presentation had been more professional, because substantively it's spot on. Still, we can sympathize to some extent with journalists who turn to profanities as they start to bump up against The Houston Way.

UPDATE (08/20/09): Craig Malisow reports that Council delayed approval of Fusco's contract, but only because it wasn't quite ready for presentation. We guess this is another example of Mayor Bill White no longer micromanaging the city in "painstaking detail" (as a Chron reporter recently editorialized) since he is busy running for another office. The vote is likely to take place next week. Mayor White's agenda director laughingly insisted that all of this is the result of their devotion to "transparent" government.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/18/09 11:11 PM |

17 August 2009

King: Raise the rail in the Med Center

In Sunday's Chronicle, area businessman and former Kemah Mayor Bill King described problems with the rail line in The Medical Center area with which blogHOUSTON readers are very familiar:

2006DangerTrainFieldTrip 027

King's solution?

Elevate the rail, at least in the Med Center and other dense areas.

As King concedes, paying for such a good idea is the problem. Elevating the rail can drive two to five times higher, according to King. "Despite Metro's multiple groundbreaking ceremonies," he writes, "federal funds have yet to be approved in amounts sufficient to actually construct any portion of the rail line."

King suggests one possible solution is federal "Fixed Guideway Rehabilitation" funding, which could provide up to 80% of the cost of elevating the rail line by the time plans were ready, which could drive the overall cost to METRO and area taxpayers down to amounts that might be required to mitigate stray-current issues anyway.

The entire op-ed is here. Please go give it a good read.

CTA EL Train
We have long thought that laying rail down busy traffic corridors does nothing for overall mobility in Houston, and agree with King that great transit systems in the world don't do things this way. We would rather not have rail in Houston if this is the only system METRO's leaders can come up with, due to its inadequacies, lack of impact on overall mobility, and significant cost to taxpayers.

We have friends in the rail debate who argue it's important for Houston to move forward on rail as quickly as possible to set a precedent, however poor the plan, and fix any disastrous consequences later once a "rail culture" has taken hold. We have other friends in the debate who argue that rail is not a cost-effective solution for Houston because of the city's density, and that existing and future rail plans should simply be scrapped.

We take a position somewhere in the middle. Our friend Tory Gattis has argued that a rail network that connects Houston's major job centers/universities makes some sense. And that argument resonates to the extent that most serious people understand such a system needs to be aimed at future growth and needs (10, even 20 years down the road), since it's hard to argue we have the population density at the moment to support that kind of system. In reality, we have just enough density in certain areas to create more traffic nightmares if we continue laying rail down busy streets. That's why we should be talking about grade-separated rail (especially in denser areas) and connecting job centers inside the loop, with a view towards Houston's future growth. The next phase following construction of a well-planned, inner-city network would be enhancing commuter options (Park and Ride, commuter rail, and the like) -- since it doesn't make much sense to enhance those options if your transit organization can't get patrons to job centers effectively once they are inside the loop. Airports would be dead last on my list, given the distance involved, the cost, and the lack of immediate benefit to local taxpayers.

Obviously, constructing that sort of system would cost much more money than voters contemplated in the 2003 referendum (aspects of which METRO has disregarded anyway), and it shouldn't be undertaken without a robust, honest* debate over costs and benefits long-term -- and a vote. Unfortunately, we don't tend to have those sorts of debates over transit in Houston. And that's why Bill King's comparatively modest proposal likely didn't generate much more than a "harrumph" from Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson and METRO's acolytes.

* For example, we are tired of reading METRO claims that the next phase of light-rail expansion will create 60,000 jobs.

Photo of Med Center light rail/traffic sign from my personal flickr collection. Photo of a Chicago EL train by flickr user celikins, used via a Creative Commons license.

UPDATE (08/20/09): And here is the official "harrumph," in the form of a letter to the Chronicle, which we are reposting in its entirety due to the unreliability of Chron archives and the fact this is a statement from a public official:

[Read More]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/17/09 09:08 PM |

Linkpost: 08/17/09

I may physically be where the buffalo roam tonight, but I'm still reading Houston blogs, and you should be too!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/17/09 06:13 PM |

16 August 2009

KTRK: "Gateway to Houston" to remain dark

Dark Dunlavy Bridge
Back in January, KTRK-13 reported on the sad state of the fiber-optic lighting on the stylish bridges that span Southwest Freeway.

KTRK has followed up with an update: Unfortunately, TXDOT will not be restoring the lights.

The cost of repair, according to KTRK's reporting, is prohibitive ($96,000 for each of the bridges).

Wouldn't it have been nice to know how expensive these trinkets would be to maintain before they were installed on all the bridges?

Photo of dark Dunlavy Bridge by flickr user B.Tse, used via a Creative Commons license.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/16/09 10:30 PM |

15 August 2009

Houston-area watchdog reporting roundup

Houston local media have engaged in some interesting local watchdog reporting over the last week (or so), most of which we did not manage to highlight here.*

KTRK-13's Undercover Man Wayne Dolcefino looked into a massive July police chase that drew dozens of officers. As Dolcefino learned from interviews and analysis of public information requests, many more officers abandoned their beats to go take part in this chase than should have under HPD policy, leading to lengthy response times along abandoned beats. The incident, he reports, is under review.

Chronicle reporter Bradley Olson discovered that some political candidates spent quite a bit of effort (and, in some cases, campaign cash) to gain the endorsement of the Tejano Democrats. Olson claimed the practice did not appear to be normal, but in fact it happened during the last municipal elections.

In other reporting for the big newspaper, Olson notes that a plugged-in political donor has resigned his Houston Sports Authority post after questions were raised about his sexually oriented businesses (and the fact they weren't registered as such, but conveniently managed to escape scrutiny from HPD). He had been appointed by Mayor Bill White, although spokesman Frank Michel denied that such appointments are ever made based on donations or political pull. Olson did not indicate if Michel winked after that statement.

On Friday, Craig Malisow posted a copy of MCV Consulting's (poorly written) report on BARC to the Houston Press Hair Balls blog (we have since uploaded it to Scribd, for those who do not like to download pdfs to read). In today's Chronicle, Bradley Olson** summarizes some of the report's findings, and adds a few quotes from interested parties.

Also on Friday, Paul Knight followed up on his earlier Houston Press reporting about the city's abandonment of David Mincberg's grand plan to spend $35 million to remake the blighted area surrounding Hobby Airport. City officials said those funds had been diverted to other projects. Knight reports that of those seven "other" projects listed by the city, only one has been completed. Interestingly, one is being developed by a group with two directors who donated to Bill White's political campaigns! Knight does not include a quote from Frank Michel, but we are certain Michel would assure us that these sorts of choices are never made based on donations or political pull. *wink* Knight has included a very helpful Google map detailing the locations of the various projects/boondoggles.

Finally, the crew at Texas Watchdog this week posted about METRO's expenditures on "media monitoring" and a La Porte councilmember who really likes to travel on the taxpayers' dime. They also published a handy interactive map of 2009 Harris County Commissioners Court financial disclosures.

Did you see a good example of watchdog reporting that we missed? If so, let us know in the comments or via email.***

[Read More]

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/15/09 04:32 PM |

Where in Texas is Mayor White? (cont'd)

Last Tuesday Senate-Candidate White was in Longview, talking about bringing people together, and getting things done:

"I know how to bring people together and get things done," White said.

Er, exactly. Anyway, it's so soothingly vague as to be persuasive, apparently:

Big Tex's Boot, Texas State Fair
Mark McMahon, a local lawyer who attended the fundraiser, said he enjoyed White's speech.

"I think he'd make a good candidate," McMahon said. "He's mainstream and well-rounded."

Then on Thursday, Mr. Mainstream worked his progressive street cred at the always mainstream Netroots Nation convention...while wearing his cowboy boots. See? Bill White IS for Texas!

Photo of Big Tex's boot by flicker user ladybugbkt, used via a Creative Commons license.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/15/09 11:58 AM |

14 August 2009

Linkpost: 08/14/09

It's the "I am a doctor, but not a physician" edition of local blog talk. Enjoy the links!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/14/09 08:22 AM |

13 August 2009

Another Chron adventure in bad journalism (updated)

It has not been a very good week or so for the Houston Chronicle.

Recall that the newspaper recently violated their own letters policy by running two letters by Andrew Prieditis within several days. As it turns out, Prieditis apparently doesn't even live in Houston, and had the same letter about Sarah Palin published in several U.S. newspapers, portraying himself as a resident of those cities. Indeed, he has had letters published in newspapers all over the world, claiming to be a resident of each newspaper's city. A cursory google search could have headed off this embarrassment, but that didn't seem to happen*.

On Tuesday, Richard Connelly posted that both a reporter and editor for one of the Chronicle neighborhood editions seemed to have some real problems with the basics of journalism.

The Chronicle's fact-checking/vetting has taken an even bigger hit with today's definitive reporting by the Lone Star Times that a woman who spoke in favor of health care reform at Rep. Sheila Jackson's Lee's town hall Tuesday and who was identified by the Houston Chronicle as a pediatric primary care physician turns out not to have been a doctor at all.

I emailed Chronicle reporter Cyndi Horswell early Wednesday afternoon about "Dr. Roxana Mayer" (as she had been identified in the story), basically asking Horswell if she knew where Mayer practiced medicine or where she was licensed, since my search of the Texas Medical Board database didn't turn up any physician by that name licensed in this state. Horswell never responded to that email.

Horswell did, however, respond to a similar query from Bramanti. Clearly, neither she nor any Chron editors bothered to do any verification of not-doctor Mayer's details. "This is the information that the woman gave at the meeting," Horsewell emailed Bramanti. "I would hate to think someone misrepresented themselves. She also told me that she had been an Obama state delegate," Horswell concluded.

People misrepresent themselves all the time. That's why professional journalists are supposed to verify key information. Indeed, the Chronicle gave every impression that they had vetted not-doctor Mayer's background. Here's the telling excerpt from their reporting:

One supporter, Dr. Roxana Mayer, a physician who does not live in Jackson Lee's district, praised the reform plan for overhauling a broken system.

“I don't know what there is in the bill that creates such panic,” she said.

Had the Chronicle simply described her as "a woman who identified herself as a physician," that would have been bad enough -- but the newspaper instead gave credence to what turned out to be a completely fabricated story.

Earlier this year, some Chronicle suit ordered all references to this blog removed from Chron.com. Now that Lone Star Times has exposed the newspaper's fact-checking as nonexistent, we suppose they might be next to be banished from Chron.com.

Wouldn't it be much nicer if some Chron suit could wave a magic wand and just as easily make all their junk journalism disappear?

It might even improve the bottom line of the ever shrinking enterprise.

* We emailed the Chronicle about their letters policy and their vetting, but their reader-rep-by-committee didn't deign to answer our questions.

UPDATE: The shenanigans also drew the attention of Patterico, who is not impressed from afar by Houston's Hearst daily. Trust us, the local view is worse!

UPDATE 2: And now, Chron.com has changed the erroneous reporting on both their story and their photo with no formal correction or indication the text has been changed. That's whitewash journalism, Chron-style, and it's dishonest.

BLOGVERSATION: Unca Darrell, Texas on the Potomac (Chron.com), Texas Sparkle, Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/13/09 12:14 AM |

11 August 2009

Houston Press documents two Chron adventures in bad journalism

The Chron's junior metro/state diarist Lisa Falkenberg ventured outside of her comfort zone today to try, once again, to cover a grownup topic.

The effort wasn't much more successful than her first foray into the wonders of BARC (OMG!), as evidenced by her glowing profile of new BARC "change agent" (and self-promoter) Gerry Fusco:

“I think I'm gifted by God with very, very special talents,” said the 60-year-old turnaround consultant and volunteer career coach who says he experienced a spiritual awakening several years ago following two bouts with kidney cancer and a nasty divorce. “I've taken care of people and God has said to me now, you need to take care of the animals.”

[snip]

“You will find that I'm The One,” he tells me.

He says God has blessed him with “elite” communication, people and “visionary” skills. “I believe I have a unique ability to see and act quicker than others,” he says. “I'm a good judge of people.”

And maybe it ain't bragging if it's true.

Maybe (OMG)! But after this waste of space in the ever-shrinking Tuesday newspaper, readers still have no greater sense of Fusco's actual accomplishments in the business world, or why Mayor Bill White bypassed Council to rush him onto the job.

Craig Malisow, the Houston Press journalist who has owned this story, posted a lengthy critique here. Be sure to read the comments!

Elsewhere on the Hair Balls blog, Rich Connelly reports that both a Chronicle neighborhood edition reporter and an editor seem a little confused by the facts that reporters are not expected to hand out prefabricated quotes to people and ask them to fill in their names, or to report on, say, places where they work on the side.

Connelly does cut the Chronicle a little slack because the reporting was for the weekly zoned neighborhood section and not the big newspaper, but were we Jeff Cohen, we probably wouldn't be so tolerant. If the Houston Chronicle name is on the thing, the journalism ought to meet some standards, we would think.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/11/09 11:16 PM |

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