15 July 2008
Chron (syndicated) columnist criticizes Washington sports boondoggle
Here is an excerpt from a bizarre column by Chronicle "Couch Slouch" columnist Norman Chad:
To: My hometown of Washington
From: A fallen son who will not return
Re: Your new baseball stadium
So, how's that spanking-new, paid-for-by-the-people Nationals Park working out? The Nats are 12th out of 16 National League teams in home attendance in the first year of the fresh-faced, gleaming facility — your tax dollars hard at work!
Washington: First in War, First in Peace and First in Half-Filled State-of-the-Art Ballparks Funded Entirely From Public Coffers That Are Now Nearly Empty.
I first saw the retro ball yard on opening day, courtesy of ESPN. It looked like a picture postcard. Outside, the city looks like a living nightmare.
(Sure, some readers might ask: Why are you moaning about the Nationals' new park one week after moaning about the new Yankee Stadium? Because I'm tired of sports franchises feeding off the public dime and I'm tired of the public's compliance in this process. I'm tired of rich men pillaging the poor and then asking them to clean up afterward. If Nero were alive today, he'd be fiddling in a luxury suite at the Colosseum while Rome burned.)
Actually, some readers -- including this one -- might ask, why so much interest in what other cities are doing in terms of sports boondoggles, and not Houston? Isn't our city in the middle of trying to build another one, and didn't Jeff Cohen once say the name of the newspaper is the HoustonChronicle?
And while we're asking questions -- what is the purpose of a "couch slouch" column in the sports section anyway?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/15/08 10:44 PM |
14 July 2008
Houston blog talk linkpost: 07/14/08
In the never-ending quest to get our link posts just right, we're going to try it as a semi-regular aggregated listing of interesting posts from local blogs, to try to cut down on the RSS traffic generated by the individual link posts (some people have found that distracting, and it's a fair point).
- Sallee: Fed says what they didn't say (Lose an Eye, It's a Sport)
- Chron shoots for cops, hits reporters (Bayou City Madman)
- "...no enforcement in the County." (HCSO Blog)
- In Focus? Nah, still pretty blurred from where I sit (HSCO Blog)
- Stros 2008 Season Review, Part Three (Houston's Clear Thinkers)
- Randy on Robb on Voice (She Eats)
- Randy vs. Rob vs. Misha in a Foodie Cage match of death!!! (I've got the Munchies)
- So Fresh and So Green (Houstonist)
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/14/08 11:16 PM |
Mayor asks EPA for improved area emissions measurements
Last week, various media outlets reported that Mayor White asked the EPA to reconsider its methods of calculating emissions from area industry. Here is an excerpt from the Chronicle account:
Mayor Bill White on Thursday challenged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's methods for calculating emissions from large refineries and chemical plants, saying that the approach significantly underreports the amount of pollution in Houston's skies.
White said studies show that actual emissions can be 100 times greater than EPA estimates, which are based on industry-provided data.
To produce more reliable information, the federal agency should require refineries and chemical plants to verify the accuracy of their emissions with emerging laser technology and fence-line monitors, among other steps, White said.
"Up until now, the EPA has relied on rough estimates, and the companies themselves have done the estimates," he said. "It's a simple request, but it's a very bold request. It's a request that will allow the people of Houston to know what's in their air."
The mayor said federal, state and local governments must have reliable data to make decisions regarding public health.
If what the mayor claims about the current EPA methodology is true (and we have no reason to believe it is not), then his proposal for more accurate collection of emissions data by independent parties seems eminently sensible (much more so than previous threats to engage in dubious legal wrangling over emissions). Indeed, we would suggest that gathering accurate data to measure performance is important in many different areas of public policy.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/14/08 09:32 PM |
13 July 2008
Chron D.C. bureau on top of Culberson twitter crusade (a few days late)
The New York Times ran a story today on the Congressional dustup over twitter, led in part by social media advocate (geek?) Rep. John Culberson.
That seems to have attracted the attention (finally) of the Chron's vaunted D.C. bureau, which offers a post with blockquotes from the Times story, and promises:
Let us know what you think. We'll keep you posted on the latest developments.
Really?
Since we posted about the matter five days before the big New York newspaper finally called the D.C. bureau's attention to the social-media activities of a Houston Congressman (Rep. Culberson had already been discussing the matter on twitter before that), we're thinking that the Chron D.C. bureau may not be the best way to keep up with "the latest developments." Perhaps a better choice would be the Congressman's twitter page, or local blogs?
UPDATE (07-14-08): Here is an interview with Rep. Culberson on this topic by Tim O'Brien.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/13/08 11:02 PM |
Bradford comes out of hiding, spreads the blame for the crime lab mess
Alan Bernstein's profile of Democratic Harris County District Attorney candidate Clarence Bradford (which has already generated discussion here and elsewhere) heads into almost virgin territory for this campaign, as Bernstein actually managed to entice Bradford out of hiding to talk about various scandals during his time as HPD Chief.
Given the (low) quality of the answers, one can certainly understand why Bradford's handlers prefer him hiding from the press.
Here are some sidebar comments on Bradford's notion of responsibility:
- "Anytime something goes wrong in the police department the chief is responsible. If the toilet doesn't flush in the police building, the chief has to take responsibility for that. That's part of the job"
- "9/11 happened when President Bush was president. I don't blame the president for 9/11 happening because he was president at the time, OK? Things happen"
Things happen, yes. But as the Bromwich reports made clear, life-and-death things happened with the HPD crime lab during Bradford's watch, and Bradford was part of the problem.
Bradford, though, admits that he hasn't read those reports -- reports for which area government spent millions so we could try finally to fix the problems of the crime lab -- and that he doesn't plan to:
The former chief, however, said he had no intention of reading all of the reports on the two-year, $5.3 million investigation of the crime lab by a team led by Michael Bromwich, a former U.S. Justice Department inspector.
Asked why, Bradford replied: "Because I was part of the process (of the investigation). I am familiar with the reports; I have read the summary of all of them."
The reports repeatedly fault HPD's "chain of command" for lax oversight. Bradford said he disagrees with some of the conclusions.
Any candidate for Harris County District Attorney who has pledged NOT to read more than a summary of the Bromwich reports on the crime lab should be disqualified from pursuing the office. That's just an astounding, damning, admission.
Moving on from the responsibility theme, Bradford does have in mind who's really to blame for mismanagement of the crime lab:
"What I should have done — which I didn't see until this all blew up — I should have at least annually gotten independent audits of the crime lab, as opposed to relying on, like the two previous chiefs had done, this particular supervisor ... stating the crime lab met all the federal standards," he said. "So, yes, that's when I dropped the ball. I relied too heavily on the people with the science and biology degrees."
The experts let Clarence the Delegator down! Oh, and so did the other member of Houston's Dynamic Duo at the time:
Bradford, 52, said he was unable to increase lab staffing because of tight budgets dictated by Lanier's successor, Lee Brown — whose law enforcement consulting company, Brown Group International, has employed him since his retirement.
So, this man who won't be capable of trying major cases in court because of lack of experience and has said -- in this profile even -- that as District Attorney, he will be a major public voice and manager rather than a prosecutor -- wasn't able to persuade Lee Brown, Council, or the public that perhaps funding to deal with some known issues at the crime lab would be a good idea? That seems like a guy who isn't likely to be a persuasive public-facing District Attorney either.
But he wants voters to know he's learned from the ordeal:
Bradford, with degrees in criminal justice, public administration and law as well as training by the FBI National Academy and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, considers the lab failures a plus for him now: "I am able to learn from those and move forward. ... That makes me more prepared to go in and deal with organizational issues such as these."
Defendants whose evidence was mangled as the leaders ultimately responsible for the Crime Lab fiddled, so to speak, will surely be pleased to know there's a silver lining to the mess.
Good for Bernstein for finally getting Bradford to answer some of these important questions. We suspect, given some of these disastrous answers, that we may not see Bradford answering many more press inquiries in the near future.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/13/08 10:48 PM |
Klein ISD faces lawsuit over bond election
The Klein ISD bond election is being challenged in court, and the Chron's Kim Jackson has details:
Klein school district resident Fred Blanton has filed a lawsuit contesting the results of the school district’s May 10 school bond election because of several incidents that occurred at various voting locations on Election Day.
He said the incidents violated the Texas Election Code.
In his suit, filed in state district court June 19, Blanton said those “mistakes and possible fraud” could have affected the outcome of the election. The election results should be declared void, Blanton said, and a new bond election called Nov. 4.
Blanton’s lawsuit focuses on an incident at the Brill Elementary School polling site. He said the election judge, assistant judge and election clerk assigned to that location, Precinct 109, left the polling location at 7:45 p.m. on May 10 without one of the “Judge’s Boot Controllers,” a device that records votes cast on the eSlate voting machines used in the election. After realizing that the controller was missing after arriving at the district’s central tallying location, the lawsuit states, one of the election judges returned to Brill Elementary with a police escort to retrieve the device.
By that point, Blanton said, the device had been left unattended and unsecured for “several hours.” The final vote count at the Brill location was 622 for the bond referendum and 248 against. He said no other voting location demonstrated such a large margin of victory.
The violations Blanton’s lawsuit alleges at the remaining 13 voting locations related to gaps and mistakes in the records that are required to be kept by those assigned to oversee each site.
Klein voters approved the $646.9 million bond referendum in a close election, with 4,732 voting for the measure and 4,420 against, according to information posted on the Klein ISD Web site.
Fred Blanton's lawsuit addresses problems at voting locations that included numbers of votes not matching signatures, and chain of custody issues. Klein ISD's response was:
“In response to the extent that the matters he describes are true, nothing individually or collectively rises as the basis for overturning the election,” Feldman said.
Regardless of how the lawsuit turns out, all has not been smoothed over in the district. Voters outside of Klein High are not happy with the district's leadership and direction, something officials might want to keep in mind when board members come up for reelection.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/13/08 05:08 PM |
Chronicle's Alan Bernstein (didn't miss) History (Corrected)
Late Precinct 7 Constable A.B. Chambers with Constable May Walker in 2005
Today Alan Bernstein penned this nice little puff piece about Democratic DA Candidate Clarence Bradford. Click here to read the story for yourself. However, here's one small problem with his story:
The county never has elected an African-American to a law enforcement job.
I guess Mr. Bernstein forgot that in 1973, Harris County voters elected A. B. Chambers as Constable of Precinct 7. Constable Chambers is the first black, Constable in Harris County.
In 2001, voters elected Perry Wooten as Precinct 7 Constable. However, he wound up on trial and a convicted felon (remember "racism, sexism, all kind of isms!").
In 2004, voters elected May Walker, the first black, female Constable in Harris County.
So Mr. Bernstein, just why would you overlook this tiny fact?
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: In a forum comment and in an email, Mr. Bernstein points out that countywide, no African-American has been elected to a law-enforcement job, the point he was trying to make with the line in question. We regret the misunderstanding.
Regardless, I think the information about African-American law enforcement pioneers in Harris County adds value to the conversation, even though their election took place in parts of the county rather than countywide.
Posted by Jason @ 07/13/08 11:11 AM |
12 July 2008
Skateboarders and loft residents not living in perfect harmony
According to the Chron's Michelle Casady, all is not well in the lofts near the city's new skatepark:
Even on a rainy Wednesday afternoon, kids and parents were lined up and waiting for the Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark to reopen. Across the street, through a parking lot and behind a gate, residents of the Sabine Street Lofts were hoping the weather would grant them a reprieve.
Since the 30,000-square-foot park alongside Buffalo Bayou opened June 1, an average of 320 people have skated its ramps and concrete bowls every day.
Lofts residents say the skaters also have tagged city property, left behind soda cans and snack-food trash and even trespassed onto loft property to skate in the parking garage.
Topping their complaints is illegal parking on the Sabine Street bridge, which they say constricts the route they use into and out of the complex.
"I just think when they build something as large as that, that has such a huge impact on the community, there should be a public hearing process, but there wasn't one," said Dee Carpenter, who has lived in the lofts for four years. "No one ever checked to see if parking was going to be an issue, and it has been."
[snip]
Carpenter said some residents have discussed moving.
"There's some people here who are like, 'Hey, my lease is up in June, July, August. We'll see where we are then, but we might move,' " she said.
This seems to conflict with a local advocacy group's promise of an idyllic world if only the city would build a skatepark (via Swamplot):
If you want to get the kids off the streets, get them to quit tearing up your ledges and your rails, and put them some place where they can actually have some fun and stay out of trouble, a place where families can come hang out — there’s a real need for it in a city this big.
Just hanging out, and having fun. The loft residents are probably being unreasonable.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/12/08 08:38 PM |
Editorial LiveJournalists tackle...office distractions
It would seem MeMo was in charge of today's inexplicable editorial offering:
Feeling distracted? Plagued by constant interruptions? Can't concentrate on the job? Drowning in a flood of data and stimulae?
Now it can be known: You're not alone. According to the New York-based consulting firm Basex, the typical American office worker spends no more than three minutes on task before being interrupted. Many U.S. workers — those in the news media, for instance — would give much to have three uninterrupted minutes.
The distractions stem from e-mails, calls, visitors, colleagues dropping by to chat, the temptation to visit YouTube or another amusing Web site. Added to those are environmental noise from construction, traffic, air handlers, and seemingly omnipresent radios and televisions.
Basex reports that such distractions waste 28 percent of a worker's shift, costing businesses $650 billion a year.
So Chron employees waste 28 percent of their work time? This explains many things at 801 Texas Avenue.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 07/12/08 08:51 AM |
10 July 2008
HouStoned is not long for this world (HouStoned)
The Houston Press blog HouStoned will soon be getting a name change and a bigger dose of Rich Connelly (HouStoned).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/10/08 10:22 PM |
Houston speed traps (Bayou City Madman)
I.J. Reilly describes "what happens when a 'business-minded' mayor remodels a major metropolitan police force after the stellar examples of Roscoe P. Coltrane and Boss Hogg" (Bayou City Madman).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/10/08 10:12 PM |
METRO: Why waste the brain cells?
This week's "Move It!" column in the Chronicle concluded with more useless filler than usual:
It's hard to get answers to some perfectly reasonable questions.
"I was wondering," writes Joel Santos Shepherd, "if Metro is denied federal funding to build a few of their next light rail lines, will they still continue with construction of the East End line, since they had planned to pay for that one out-of-pocket anyway?"
That a reasonable inference, but in such dire straits, Metro may re-evaluate its overall plan, compare the five planned lines against each other for costs and benefits, and rank them by priority. We asked, of course.
"Why speculate on something that likely won't happen? Waste of brain cells," Metro spokeswoman Raequel Roberts said. "Plus, the variations on the question are endless."
It's always nice when public representatives blow off legitimate questions from the public about the organization they represent.
One Chron.com commenter did have a nice response, though:
Perfect.
"Why waste the brain cells", needs to be adopted as Metro's Mission Statement. It is the attitude. Might as well be the logo. HAHAHA
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/10/08 10:01 PM |
ULI CHF panel on Houston's future (+Metro North LRT) (Houston Strategies)
Tory Gattis discusses the estimated cost of METRO's North light rail line ($116 million per mile... and $34K of capital investment per daily boarder ... $68K per daily round trip passenger"), and asks readers, "Does this sounds reasonable?" (Houston Strategies).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/10/08 09:51 PM |
'Controll'ing the candidates (ABC13 Political Blog)
Miya Shay breaks down the potential candidates for City Controller (ABC13 Political Blog).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/10/08 07:39 AM |
Stephanie Guadian and KTRK part ways (Matt Lavine's Left Field News)
Matt Lavine posts that weekend anchor Stephanie Guadian has left KTRK-13 (Matt Lavine's Left Field News).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/10/08 07:36 AM |
09 July 2008
Sylvia Garcia's amazing turnaround (HCSO Blog)
Did local media inquiries prompt Sylvia Garcia's turnaround on contract deputies at Commissioner's Court (HCSO Blog)?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/09/08 11:41 PM |
Timing is everything (Lose an Eye, It's a Sport)
Cory Crow is suspicious of the timing of the Chron Austin bureau's feel-good dispatch on Sen. Whitmire (Lose an Eye, It's a Sport).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/09/08 11:38 PM |
Meyers challenges slumlord-Rep. Vo on knowledge of apartment problems
In a press release yesterday, the Greg Meyers campaign challenged Slumlord-Rep. Hubert Vo's assertions that he didn't know about the significant problems at his apartments until recent publicity:
Lawsuits on file at the Harris County Courthouse reveal a startling pattern of management neglect, inadequate safety, physical intimidation, racial discrimination and retaliation at apartment complexes owned by State Rep. Hubert Vo.These lawsuits directly contradict Rep. Vo’s previous claims to not have known about conditions at his apartment complexes prior to being confronted by city inspectors and recent media scrutiny. The lawsuits cover a period from 1996 to 2007 and were all confidentially
settled out of court by Rep. Vo.
The page goes on to describe details of the lawsuits, as well as PDFs of the legal filings.
Texas Monthly's Paul Burka notes that Vo's reputation as a slumlord has become the major issue in the race, although he still thinks Vo is the favorite to win.
PREVIOUSLY: Slumlord-Rep. Vo: I hope voters won't hold this against me, Slumlord-Rep. Vo cleans up his act, Stiles: Slumlord-Rep. Vo urged HPD to ease up on his slums, The serial slumlord saga continues, State Rep. Vo is a serial slumlord, Hubert Vo's "next step toward positive change": ridding himself of slumlord status!.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/09/08 11:09 PM |
Gray: "In his personal life, [Mincberg]'s a teardown kind of guy"
The Chronicle's Lisa Gray expands on a topic covered on local blogs previously in a column about David Mincberg's plans to tear down an architecturally interesting home on his property:
David Mincberg, the Democratic candidate for county judge, promises that if elected to Harris County's top job, he'll do everything possible to save the Astrodome. But in his personal life, he's a teardown kind of guy.
In April, Mincberg bought an architecturally significant house at 6040 Glen Cove, a few blocks east of Memorial Park, with plans to raze it and build a new house for his family.
The Harris County Appraisal District values the house and its land at $2.8 million, an impressive price for a teardown even in this gilded age. (Mincberg has appealed the appraisal.) But the 1.3-acre property, complete with a turtle pond and ravine, is a significant trophy, and it lies in a neighborhood that's a magnet for expensive new development.
[snip]
Mincberg doesn't think that his razing the house will faze voters. ``The public sees an enormous disparity between the Astrodome and a house,'' he says.
The Astrodome, he notes, is a beloved, publicly owned icon in a highly visible part of Houston. He fondly remembers watching baseball there as a boy. ``We have to explore every conceivable option to preserve it,'' he says.
At some point, the expensive albatross known as the Astrodome is going to need to be destroyed. Nobody wants to say it, but that's the most likely scenario. As for Mincberg's home -- it's his property, and if he wants to tear down an architecturally significant home to replace it with a McMansion, that's certainly his right. But Gray's contrast of his rationales in each case is interesting, as is her conclusion:
Mincberg says he hoped his family could live in the Crispin house. But he says previous owners neglected the house, and that it's been flooded.
During the option period, Mincberg had it inspected twice. He says his inspectors found termites, foundation troubles, mechanical problems, ``you name it'' - major problems he says render the house unlivable. But instead of leaving those problems to some other buyer, he closed the deal, with plans to tear the house down and build something new on its lot.
Historic buildings often suffer structural infirmities. And fixing them doesn't come cheap. But TLC has revived many an abused old building - and revived a piece of its city's history along with it.
From what I could tell, the Glen Cove house isn't an extreme case. According to Harris County tax appraisers, the house's condition is ``above average.'' Termites may have chewed some of the house's trim, but it's hard to see how they could hurt a steel frame. And the house certainly looks solid, both from the street and in photos that the previous owner used to market it.
I asked Mincberg to share the inspectors' report with me. He declined.
I trust he'd be more transparent in his dealings with the Astrodome.
Does running government "like a business" include transparency? Hmm, that's refreshing to know.
Previously, Swamplot and Lose an Eye commented on Gray's current subject matter.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/09/08 10:53 PM |
For All To See
Today, the Houston Chronicle has posted the 2007 salaries of just about every public servant in the Houston-Harris County metroplex. The Chronicle asks "are your tax dollars well spent." I wonder if the chronicle is referring to the elected officials, the head of entities like Metro, HISD, HCTRA, etc. Or, is that clerk who made a little over $19,000 last year an example of wasting tax money in their eyes?
Posted by Jason @ 07/09/08 07:26 PM |
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