28 March 2008
Bridging the wireless internet gap (WIG)
The Editorial LiveJournalists weighed in today with an editorial celebrating Mayor White's wifi bubbles (with an odd digression on "technology overload").
Cory Crow gives the editorial a serious treatment here, but we're kind of partial to this comment on Chron.com from MousePotato:
Ah, okay. Thanks for explaining that. And thank you, Houston, for finally acknowledging the truth about poverty. It isn’t caused by a lack of education, or affordable healthcare. It isn’t about opportunity or saying no to drugs. It isn’t about indiscriminate breeding and generations on welfare. It’s about the wireless Internet gap, or “wig” as it’s known on the streets.
I recall being a young country mouse, moving to Houston with my city mouse cousin and marveling at all the technology. In my home our computers were all connected by clumsy wires. I remember thinking “if only I had wireless Internet access, all of my problems would be solved!” Alas, the road to hell is paved with CAT5 cable. It was a daily struggle for we poor folk. We knew wiggy was holding us down. We had to ask ourselves “do I need a DHCP server or do we go static? Can I trust the rich man’s switch to properly route packets?” My server was my castle, but I never felt safe. I couldn’t trust the SpyCops, so I installed metal bars over each open port. Sometimes I got so angry I wanted to shout “GD America!” Of course I did not. My web cam was on and I was the spiritual advisor to all my cats. I was afraid I might damage their political careers.
I watched my children go to school with their cell phones and mp3 players, faces burning with shame that they needed two different devices. I watched the news on my big screen TV while yearning for a plasma set.
I was a proud mouse, though, and I never took charity. Not even from the many wealthy Nigerians who were begging to share their country’s apparently infinite riches with me. When I became frustrated, I recalled the words of the blessed Dr. King when he said “I have a dream that one day BRI traffic and WEP traffic can come together on the same subnet without conflict.” I remembered Gandhi bravely refusing to check his email. I was inspired.
And now my patience has paid off. As God is my witness I will never go coax again!
Amen!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/28/08 10:35 PM |
What's a cartoon worth to you?
Matt Bramanti reports that Chronicle cartoonist Nick Anderson's efforts to raise money for the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists by auctioning his illustrations on e-bay aren't drawing much interest.
Strike that -- as of this evening, the auction hasn't generated a single bid.
At least in Houston, there are other options to raise cash.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/28/08 09:54 PM |
Chron.com: dumbed down and trashed up (cont'd.)
Jennifer Ringwald (of Houston's best cover band) posts this observation about Chron.com:
Of 12 headlines on the Houston Chronicle homepage, 3 concerned strippers. Doesn't that seem oddly balanced? This is actually preferable to yesterday, when the main article was about which Spring colors were expected to be hot. I guess I need to find another place to get my daily Dear Abby.
Hard news isn't exactly the focus of Chron.com these days.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/28/08 09:40 PM |
Carol Alvarado, METRO consultant
The Chron's Carolyn Feibel put up a great blog post on the Houston Politics blog today. It's not a long post -- six paragraphs -- but since the subject of the post is Carol Alvarado, it's just chock full of good stuff:
Carol Alvarado really did look kind of relieved today, after two of her former employees at City Hall reached a plea deal today in an embezzlement case.
"The plea agreements validate what I said two years ago, that I neither authorized or condoned this illegal activity," Alvarado said. "I'm glad to see there will be a repayment of sorts to the taxpayers. This has been going on for two years, and I'm glad we're able to finally move on."
The judge ordered the two employees to pay back the city and to apologize to Alvarado.
"I will gladly accept that apology," she said. "I feel like individuals broke my trust and took advantage of the system we had in place for the pro tem office and betrayed me and the taxpayers of Houston."
Alvarado, who is working as METRO consultant now, also took some questions on the just announced news that the planned East Side light rail line will stop six blocks short of the Magnolia Transit Center. Now the city and the agency are scrambling for federal money to try to build a bridge for the light rail over the train tracks that block it.
"I think everybody's going to have to pitch in, the city certainly, but talking to Congressman Gene Green, he's going to be working on securing some federal funding and we also have support from the Greater Rail Task Force," Alvardo said.
Egads.
Regarding the illegal activity of her staffers, the complaint was that her managerial ineptitude contributed to an atmosphere that allowed the illegal activity to occur. As Kevin Whited noted at the height of the scandal:
Alvarado's lack of oversight and inattention to detail seem to have allowed $130,000 of the people's money to be stolen. That's not the same as Alvarado stealing the money herself, and nobody is making that accusation against her. However, it does call into question her personnel-judgment and fiscal-management skills.
If she feels vindicated, then she doesn't grasp what the real problem was. That's not encouraging, but it is predictable.
As for the revelation that she's working for METRO, what kind of a consultant is she? Is it anything like this? Will she stay on as a consultant after she's elected to Rick Noriega's old seat?
And she really was serious when she said term limits have deprived Houston of her greatness. She's still telling Mayor White what to do, as evidenced by her matter-of-fact statement that the city will "certainly" have to pitch in to get that bridge built.
BLOGVERSATION: TBIFOC.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/28/08 07:18 PM |
A rail impasse
The Chron's Rad Sallee notes there seems to be a bit of a problem with METRO's East End light rail line:
Metro board chairman David Wolff said Thursday that the roadblock is the former Houston Belt & Terminal Railway tracks, now owned by Union Pacific Railroad. The crossing, on Harrisburg between 65th and Oldham, is familiar to motorists and pedestrians delayed by freight trains.
Wolff said Metro had considered crossing the double tracks at street level.
"But it doesn't seem the railroad is too enthusiastic about that."
Metro spokeswoman Sandra Salazar later said UP would not agree to share its right of way with Metro trains.
UP officials could not be reached for comment, but the railroad often has cited the dangers of mixing freight operations with street traffic and pedestrians.
A Danger Train and a freight train...hard to figure out why Union Pacific is queasy about that pairing.
Sallee asked METRO why this problem was just now coming to light. METRO's answer is classic METRO:
Metro has been planning the line almost since voters approved it in a 2003 referendum. Asked why the issue is surfacing now, Salazar said Metro initially hoped to obtain permission from the railroad for a street-level crossing.
In 2003, when Metro changed its plans from light rail to Bus Rapid Transit, thinking that was necessary to qualify for federal funding, the issue was moot because the buses would cross the tracks with other street traffic.
"The issue became critical again in 2007 when we changed back to light rail," Salazar said.
Because METRO's plans are ever-changing! But METRO chairman David Wolff has a plan -- Houston taxpayers will help bail out the transit agency:
Wolff said he hoped the city of Houston would build an overpass at the tracks. That may enable Metro to extend the line to the transit center within two to four years after its scheduled completion in 2012. Until then, he said, Metro would bridge the gap with a bus shuttle.
An overpass for street traffic is recommended in the Texas Department of Transportation's Houston Region Freight Rail Study, which estimates the cost at $14 million.
However, the study does not mention light rail sharing the crossing, which could require a longer and stronger span, raising the cost sharply.
That's no problem for METRO -- it's flush these days.
Wolff said he thought the city will build an overpass "at some point" and added, "We'd rather go over the bridge with the city than build our own bridge."
Frank Michel, spokesman for Mayor Bill White, said the city and Metro have not discussed an overpass yet, nor is funding for such a project in the city's current five-year capital improvement plan. "But shortly, we are going to start a major mobility study and we could consider a grade separation at that point," Michel said.
There's hope!
And then the most revealing part of the story is one sentence toward the end:
Wolff revealed the possible change after Thursday's monthly board meeting.
That's the METRO-way. Just ask Tom Bazan.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport, Intermodality, Houston Politics.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/28/08 04:52 AM |
26 March 2008
HPD sweeps reduce crime; Council responds with convenience store rules
Various media outlets have reported on HPD's recent success in reducing crime in the Denver Harbor area. Here's an excerpt from the Chronicle's reporting on the topic:
Crime has dropped almost 30 percent overall in Denver Harbor after a two-month Houston police overtime program that sent seven additional patrol officers to the area, authorities said today.
The largest decline was a 50 percent reduction in home burglaries in that east Houston neighborhood during the first two months of 2008, compared with the same period last year, officials said.
Aggravated assaults and car burglaries also saw significant drops — 23 percent and 27 percent, respectively, police said.
The actual crime numbers accounting for the reductions were not immediately available.
[snip]
Gene Smith, the principal of Eliot Elementary School in Denver Harbor, said he has noticed a change since the program began.
"The police force is always around the campus," Smith said. "Whenever I need them, they are just one call away."
HPD officials said they will maintain an overtime police presence in Denver Harbor even after the conclusion of the program.
Let's hope they can find the resources to do so.
In another story, KHOU-11's Lee McGuire reports on another successful reduction in crime:
For six weeks, these bike patrol officers have come to know this neighborhood in ways cops in cars, can’t. In that time, property crime here has dropped by more than one-third.
“After several weeks of addressing it, it’s a totally different, it looks like a totally different community and the citizens are out walking their dogs and kids are out playing,” HPD Lt. Randy Wallace said. “It makes a tremendous difference on the overall quality of life.”
This is Operation Green Sweep: Houston Police on bikes and horses, not responding to crime — but hunting for it.
Crime statistics for one Montrose-area neighborhood indicate auto theft is down 16 percent; car break-ins are down 38 percent; and burglary is down 57 percent.
[snip]
Since green sweep started, police have warned or cited more than 350 people. Ten more were arrested for felonies, and 80 people they stopped had warrants out for their arrest.
The money for this, nearly half a million dollars, comes out of the police overtime budget. But here’s the problem: “We’re understaffed right now and have been understaffed for quite a while, just like the rest of the department,” Lt. Wallace said.
There aren’t enough horses or bike patrol officers to cover more than two areas:
[snip]
... [F]or all its successes, this program won’t last forever. The funding runs out on June 30.
Lesson One: Strategic deployment of police resources can make a difference in crime.
Lesson Two: Manpower and funding issues limit the effectiveness of these approaches.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/26/08 10:47 PM |
KHOU: Beware street scammers
KHOU-11's Jeff McShan reports on the scam artists who beg on Houston's busy streets:
On my way to work, I often pass by a veteran named James, who’s always in his wheelchair on North Shepherd.
A friend of mine said at the end of the day, James wheels himself a few blocks away, climbs out of his chair and walks.
Apparently one driver learned the hard way.
“He said, ‘I know you can walk,’” James recalled. “I said, ‘what does that mean?’ – ‘well, some people think you are misrepresenting yourself.’
“Well, I can’t stand up for five to six hours out there,” James said.
James says the Veterans Administration pays for his rent, and he is in good health.
“I am not sick,” he said. “Everything on there is true.”
All he needs, he said, is just some extra cash.
A few miles away on West Dallas, 11 News cameras followed a seemingly blind man named Nathan trying to cross a busy street.
Nathan is well known around here, but not by everybody. He walks out in front of cars, hoping they’ll stop and help him. When they do, he asks for money.
Once he gets to the other side though, he walks back the other way. And he gets frustrated when nobody stops.
“It’s not very common that you would have a blind person running around aimlessly,” Dave, a motorist who would only give his first name, said. He said after he stopped, he became suspicious and decided to talk to a deputy who ended up giving Nathan a lecture.
The police around here know Nathan too.
Nathan quickly moved on.
Houston Mayor Bill White says we should not give hand outs to people begging on our streets, and that abstaining from it will force them to get the real help they need from professionals at places, such as the Star of Hope.
But people like Nathan and James apparently don’t need a place to stay or mental health care.
They’re smart: They know about human nature.
I don't know that I'd call a (seemingly) blind man playing in traffic smart.
Regardless, neither these scammers nor "independent" Chronicle contractors should be in the middle of busy streets doing what they do.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/26/08 10:19 PM |
25 March 2008
Clarence Bradford sighting!
Clarence Bradford, the Democratic candidate for District Attorney who has seemingly been in a witness protection program since announcing his candidacy, has been sighted!
Chronicle diarist Lisa Falkenberg actually secured a quote from him on the topic of a public defender's office:
"It promotes fairness and justice, period," said former Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford, Democrat for district attorney.[snip]
Bradford, who will face Lykos or Siegler in the general election for DA, said Harris County needs a system similar to other large jurisdictions, where the judge "is not involved in the type of defense the defendant gets."
"There has been a tendency to accept the principle of locking everybody up and throwing away the key is the answer," Bradford said. "That has failed."
What a great opportunity for the Chronicle to ask Clarence Bradford about his role in mismanaging HPD's crime lab! Too bad it was a missed opportunity. But perhaps there will be another Clarence Bradford sighting before the general election, and the intrepid local media will get around to asking him more questions.
BLOGVERSATION: Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/25/08 10:40 PM |
Houston Housing Authority strikes again (cont'd.)
Last week, I posted about the Houston Housing Authority, which is dead set on charging 61 tenants (or forcing them to pay third parties) about $3,400 each to regain access to their material possessions, now sealed inside the Bellerive Apartments after a fire. The money is needed for asbestos abatement; otherwise, the Authority says it is too hazardous to let tenants back into the property.
A point of contention (which even drew a rare response from the local Hearst daily) was that I had confused the HHA with the City of Houston's Housing and Community Development Department. Technically that's correct, although it's an easy mistake to make, when one considers that the HHA board is appointed by the Mayor.
That is a point which did not escape the tenants of Bellerive either, as today they showed up en masse at the city council meeting to appeal to Mayor White and the council. From KHOU:
Last week, the displaced residents said they wanted their things back, but they just can’t afford the $3,400 price. That’s what the Houston Housing Authority says it will cost to clean each of the estimated 61 contaminated units.
“If they don’t want to clean it, let us get our equipment out. That’s all we’re asking,” tenant Fred Anderson said.
I wish KHOU had been a little more precise in either the prior article or this one, as they seem to contradict each other on a key point: What is the $3,400 supposed to clean? The tenants' possessions, or the units themselves? Given that a TV station has to place a premium on words, they might simply be saying "61 contaminated units" as a shorthand for "the tenants' possessions in 61 contaminated units."
Either way, the Mayor was quick to make all the politically correct sounds without actually committing to do anything. The council may be a bit more action-oriented.
Councilmembers were discussing whether to hold a special staff meeting to try to come up with a solution that will both protect the city and meet the tenants’ concerns.
One option is having the tenants sign some sort of waiver before retrieving their things.
Yet another sign that the HHA (not a city department) is not all that independent if the council can "suggest" that their staff meet with...whom, exactly? Housing and Community Development? The city's Legal Department? The HHA almost has to have its own legal staff, which means the City and the not-a-city-department could end up having a difference of opinion in that meeting. Ironically it could end up with the HHA's legal staff trying to protect the city and the City Legal Department trying to convince them to compromise.
Side issue worth noting: the council can only suggest, not order. All departments are under the direct control of the Mayor, and the HHA board, as previously noted, is appointed by the Mayor. In the end, everyone can posture, but only one posture matters, and that's Bill White's.
Meanwhile, I still want to know exactly who is going to be doing the cleaning, and how they got selected for the job. Then I want to know why the HHA apparently never anticipated this problem, especially if they knew in advance (as they must have) that the building had asbestos.
Posted by Ubu Roi @ 03/25/08 10:04 PM |
24 March 2008
Mayor White continues digital bridge building!
The Chronicle's early coverage of Mayor White's big wifi announcement today was disappointing:
Houston is aiming to turn Earthlink's lemons into the city's lemonade.
The company had to pay the city $5 million after defaulting on a contract to build a citywide wireless network last year. Today, Mayor Bill White announced the city will use about $3.5 million of that money to build 10 wifi network "bubbles" in low-income parts of Houston to give residents Internet access they otherwise would do without.
The long-term possibility, White said, is that the areas between the bubbles could eventually be included, providing access across the city.
No mention of the digital divide? That's no good.
KHOU-11 had much more fanfare beginning with the headline:
Bridging the digital divide in Houston
And just to drive the point home, here's the magic quote (in bold):
Even while he eats lunch at the Breakfast Club, Glenn Phillips is never far from his laptop.
"It's my Day-Timer, notebook, account file, everything," Phillips said.
But accessing free Internet service in Houston isn't always so simple.
"In the past, I would have to pull up to an office building that I thought might have wi-fi to get online, before I had a phone card," Phillips said.
In some parts of Houston, that will soon change.
Mayor Bill White, along with the Houston Public Libary, launched the city's first wireless empowered community access network.
"It's about how we bridge that digital divide," White said.
The first one is in the Gulfton area, but the goal is to provide free high-speed Internet access to 10 other low-income neighborhoods.
If you just repeat that phrase often enough, eventually it should make good fodder for the next, bigger campaign!
The second most entertaining aspect of KHOU's story is the fact that the Breakfast Klub offers free wifi, happily bridging the digital divide for its customers without Mayor White's help.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport, Off the Kuff.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/24/08 11:54 PM |
Copper thieves target phone lines
KHOU-11's Leigh Frillici provides an update on the latest brazen area copper thievery:
Last week, copper thieves climbed up telephone poles and took the wire. Leaving an entire neighborhood without phone service.
After 11 News first reported the thefts, the phone company quickly got out there, replaced all the stolen wire, and restored phone service. Thing is, the thieves have done it again.
Katie Stillwell's journal traces her daily life and you can track her phone troubles there are well.
After having lost her phone service because of copper thieves, the phone started ringing again on Feb. 28. But that was just the beginning of her phone problems
Phone service went down again on Monday, and according to her journal her last call came in at 11:29 a.m. on March 17.
And Stillwell is not the only AT&T customer experiencing problems
The phone company said that the lines along Westmount Houston have been cut three times. Cutting service to about 1,000 people.
The phone company believes thieves are after the copper in the wires. This time, someone stole about 400 feet of the cable.
Maybe Council could pass an ordinance requiring the phone company to maintain surveillance cameras on its phone lines (extending the convenience-store camera ordinance logic)?
UPDATE: Er, I missed Anne Linehan's earlier post on the topic (traveling). Sorry for the repeat!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/24/08 10:57 PM |
Houston's Church of the Holy Cheeto
On what must have been a very slow news day last week, KTRK-13 reported the following important religious news:
A couple of years ago, the youth director at Memorial Drive United Methodist Church in Houston was snacking in the church youth offices when he noticed an odd-shaped Cheeto. Upon further inspection, Steve Cragg determined he could see a familiar image of Jesus in the shape of the cheese curl.
One of the church youth named the item in question 'Cheesus.'
'Cheesus' has remained on a bookcase in Cragg's office since its discovery.
"I do not think that God makes Cheetos that look like Jesus or creates images of Himself on screen doors. I do know that God reveals Himself to us in a zillion different ways," Cragg said. "Seeing the image of Christ in a Cheeto means that I was able to imagine it. God's creation is full of signs and things that can and do remind us of Him."
Some time ago, local self-help preacher Joel Osteen devoted several sermons to healthy eating and reducing one's intake of processed, packaged foods. People might have to rethink that otherwise sound advice in light of the Cheesus revelation!
BLOGVERSATION: Half Empty.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/24/08 10:51 PM |
23 March 2008
Shutter the D.C. bureau (cont'd)
Kudos to Banjo Jones and the Brazosport News for picking up an absolute gem from Politico -- it seems that some of the D.C. press corps are ... bored:
[S]enioritis is common in the final months of any eight-year administration. But this year, said reporters, the historically important and just plain exciting presidential race, coupled with the minimalist agenda of an unpopular president, has led to overall Bush fatigue that outranks the waning days of the Clinton administration.
“You can’t attribute it all to the presidential campaign,” said Julie Mason, White House correspondent for the Houston Chronicle. “[Bush’s] rhetoric is so exhausted. He rarely makes any news. It’s rarely worth anyone’s time to cover him like we used to.”
In addition to covering the president, Mason often chronicled the White House press corps in photos on her blog. But now, Mason said, “I don’t do it as much because there’s nobody here.”
“You hear a lot of grumbling here from people who are stuck in the White House and not getting out on the campaign,” Mason added.
It must be tough getting up to go to work in the morning knowing that you're unlikely to add to your blog photo collection of your White House press corps mates.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/23/08 11:24 PM |
22 March 2008
Habitat for Humanity NWHC benefits from San Felipe teardown
Recycling on a massive scale (via Bellaire Examiner):
Friday was a green day for Houston. It was the day a developer announced it would let volunteers salvage what they could from a major teardown rather than just raze it, thereby diverting tons of ruined building materials from a landfill.
As student volunteers from Mount Ida College carried out armloads of wood flooring, high-end office furniture, plumbing fixtures, ceiling tiles and doors from the 1960s era office building at 7703 San Felipe, Lee Schnell, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Harris County, was admiring the planks of tongue-and-groove redwood siding that sheath the 100,000-square-foot low-rise complex.
Habitat NWHC has about two months to salvage what it can, inside and out, for its ReStore before Cherry Demolition comes in to salvage the buildings’ steel framing and concrete parking areas for two more months. After that, Azorim, a Boymelgreen Holdings development company, begins construction of its LEED-certified condominium project.
[snip]
Habitat for Humanity NWHC has deconstructed homes in Houston and one other commercial project at a local retirement community, but nothing on this scale. This deconstruction project is Houston’s largest, the partners said.
Schnell said the goal is to recycle 75 percent of building materials from the interior and exterior. Habitat has rented storage space to handle the volume of material it will funnel through its ReStore, which is located on state Highway 249 near the intersection of Bammel North. The store is a first stop for many homebuilders and remodelers because its sells building materials at a discount. Many of the items being salvaged, such as cabinets and wood moldings, will be sold almost as soon as they are unloaded from the truck, he said.
BLOGVERSATION: San Felipe Condominiums: Two New Towers in Memorial (Swamplot)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/22/08 11:15 AM |
Discovery Green nears completion
KTRK-13's Deborah Wrigley notes that opening day for Houston's new Discovery Green is April 13:
For more than a year it's been taking shape across from the George R. Brown Convention Center. Land has been transformed into a lure to get more people back to a downtown that's been hard to populate on weekends and at night. It's called Discovery Green, but nearly everyone we asked had no idea what it is.
Prepare to hear a lot about Discovery Green as it prepares to bring a new look to the downtown area. It's no sprawling Central Park, but it includes some of its features, from open spaces to a concert stage. Besides the entertainment, there's the chance for outdoor recreation.
Susanne Theis, Director of Programming for Discovery Green, explained, "We wanted this to be a place where people came together that is more of an active park."
A couple of weeks ago, the Chron's Lisa Gray wrote a nice column exploring the dynamics of a successful park:
"Urban parks are hard to get right," admits Guy Hagstette, president of the nonprofit Discovery Green Conservancy. "It's not just 'If you build it, they will come.'"
Hagstette understands that lesson deeply. In 1986, he and two other young architects won the national competition to design Sesquicentennial Park, which now curls along the banks of Buffalo Bayou next to the Wortham Center. The park is beautiful and well-maintained but eerie: Hardly anyone but the occasional homeless person goes there.
Market Square Park, ringed by restaurants and close to office buildings, suffers the same problem. Jones Plaza comes alive when there's a band on its stage; but when there's no music, which is most of the time, the park feels weird, like a theater without a show.
For help, Hagstette turned to Project for Public Spaces, a nonprofit urban planning and design group founded to carry out the ideas of William H. Whyte, one of the sharpest observers of urban life. While working with the New York City Planning Commission in 1969, Whyte wondered which of the city's new public spaces were working well and why. To find out, he began watching the places and talking to people, even using time-lapse photos to observe "schmoozing patterns, the rituals of street encounters." His conclusions about public spaces were the kind that seem to crystallize something you already knew:
• "What attracts people most, it would appear, is other people."
• "So-called 'undesirables' are not the problem. It is the measures taken to combat them that are the problem. ... The best way to handle the problem of undesirables is to make the place attractive to everybody else."
• "If you want to seed a place with activity, put out food."
Project for Public Spaces argues that to be successful, a big urban park like Discovery Green needs to pack in activities that will attract lots of different kinds of people, because those people will attract other people. A park with people in it is an interesting place to be.
I am looking forward to checking out the park when it opens, but park and city officials had better take the problem of "undesirables" seriously. Downtown and midtown public spaces have been quite the magnet for the homeless, with police doing an occasional crackdown. Park officials don't want to be forced to rename the park.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/22/08 07:43 AM |
21 March 2008
METRO blogger interviews METRO chief for new METRO talk show
METRO's blogger announced that the transit agency has launched a new "talk show" which will air on Houston's public access channel. Mary Sit says, "It's a new way for us to communicate with you." The first guest was (drumroll) METRO President Frank J. "Procurement Disaster" Wilson.
Here are some (rapidly scribbled) notes from the interview:
-- New Baytown service: There is no cost to METRO. County pays all costs, and Wilson said this area really needs to be a part of METRO's service area. (Contrast that with folks who DO pay into METRO but get no service whatsoever.)
-- METRO needs consent agreements with City of Houston to proceed with rail lines, and Mayor White wants one consent agreement to cover all five lines. Wilson says he wants one consent agreement to cover all of METRO Solutions.
-- METRO will be launching a new bus service to IAH. Cost will be $15 and will run every thirty minutes between IAH and the Downtown Transit Center. (See here for an entertaining look at a past experience with an IAH Express Bus Route.)
-- New "signature bus service" called Quick Line is a precursor to light rail, as buses will provide quicker service and be able to go through traffic signals. UH OH!!
-- Q Card: Standard usage at other transit agencies is 2-10%. In the first two months of METRO's Q Card program, usage is 44%. (Visit Laurence Simon for an alternative view of the Q Card program.)
-- What is METRO CEO's biggest challenge? "We need more time."
-- METRO is "committed to remaking the face of Houston."
-- "Growth is great, but must be managed."
-- Frank thinks pretty highly of himself -- he told Mary Sit twice that he was a very special guest to have on her new show, and after he talked on and on, he said that she hadn't asked him certain questions, but he'd answer them anyway.
Were there any other unasked questions? Why yes! Mary Sit didn't ask him about his "rich experience in both the public and private sectors," and she didn't ask him about his $1,000 per month car allowance.
But it was kind of hard for her to get a word in edge-wise.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/21/08 09:31 AM |
Chron.com: dumbed down and trashed up (cont'd.)
Geez. I stopped going to the Chron.com homepage because it's such a mess, but Cory Crow bravely continues sacrificing his brain cells and spots this.
As the Chron's reader rep admits, it's all about "traffic spikes."
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/21/08 07:39 AM |
20 March 2008
Copper thievery continues
HPD needs a task force and an acronym:
Last week, copper thieves climbed up telephone poles and took the wire. Leaving an entire neighborhood without phone service.
After 11 News first reported the thefts, the phone company quickly got out there, replaced all the stolen wire, and restored phone service. Thing is, the thieves have done it again. [snip]
[snip]
The phone company said that the lines along Westmount Houston have been cut three times. Cutting service to about 1,000 people.
The phone company believes thieves are after the copper in the wires. This time, someone stole about 400 feet of the cable.
AT&T wouldn’t say what the value of the stolen cable is, but did say there's a greater cost to customers.
Customers who in times of emergency can't even call 911. So, crews were working around the clock to patch things up -- for a third time.
It sounds as if it's time for another HPD Copper Crime Sweep.
PREVIOUSLY: If you see a copper thief, be sure to call HPD, Copper thieves shut down downtown library
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/20/08 07:54 PM |
19 March 2008
Houston Housing Authority strikes again
Well, they're at it again, the one department that continues to embarrass the city only somewhat less than the HPD Crime Lab. This time, the Houston Housing Authority is holding hostage all the remaining worldly possessions of several elderly immigrants, for the "best" of reasons, of course.
Back in November, the Bellerive apartments had a four-alarm fire, which destroyed several units and left 200 homeless. From the KHOU article, dated 11/27/07, the day of the fire:
More than a dozen Red Cross Caseworkers met Tuesday with elderly residents displaced by Monday’s four-alarm apartment fire... The Houston Housing Authority has placed the residents in hotels and is providing meals for them. About 150 rooms are occupied by these residents at the Hilton in southwest Houston.
Well, here it is months later, and I have to ask if they are still in hotel rooms or if they've found other places to stay, because the apartments aren't repaired yet. In fact, the building hasn't even been cleared of the tenants' possessions -- unless it's been by thieves. The KHOU report was somewhat light on details, like exactly how many residents are affected, but obviously repairs are nowhere near beginning, since HHA isn't letting some or all of the tenants back in to retrieve their clothes and personal items four months after the blaze. Why?
Asbestos, it says.
Abatement of the units and cleaning of all the items has to be done before they can be returned to their owners. The HHA insists that since the items belong to the tenants, the tenants have to pay to have their stuff cleaned. "But wait," you say, "why isn't the landlord responsible? Or the landlord's insurer? Aren't they responsible for such costs?"
Ah, therein lies the rub. You see, the Houston Housing Authority is the landlord, and, as mentioned in today's report, it blames the tenants for not having the money to get their goods back:
The money would pay for the asbestos cleanup, which is required to salvage their personal belongings left inside. Housing officials say that could cost up to $3,400 per unit.. "People would normally have renter's insurance. The fact of the matter is the Housing Authority's insurance does not cover tenant's content,” said Horace Allison, the housing authority’s vice president.
As I said, the tenants are elderly, and some are immigrants. KHOU only found those to interview today, although from the November article it is clear that the residents were, ah, largely multi-cultural. However, the text of the article posted on the website cuts off just before what I found to be the most interesting part of the televised report.
UPDATE: Reader El Capitan notes a glaring mistake in this article: the HHA is not directly a part of the city. Its board is appointed by the Mayor, but it is not a part of the City of Houston's Housing and Comunity Develompent Department
From the Chron:
Both agencies provide housing to low- and moderate-income families, but they do this through different programs and services. Both receive most of their funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and both have experienced considerable conflict and controversy.
I suppose that at least the Chronicle appreciated the chance for a little payback, given the number of times we have criticised them in the past. Of course we don't have all those layers of editors -- but I think our readers are sharper.
Posted by Ubu Roi @ 03/19/08 11:34 PM |
MayorWhiteChiefHurtt duck questions on HPD family-violence policy
In this week's Houston Press, Rich Connelly details another example of our city's fine leadership on crime:
Texas Observer recently took a look at the Houston Police Department's method of handling family-violence calls and came away decidedly unimpressed.
HPD officers, TO said, are not required — as officers in other agencies often are — to seek arrest warrants for alleged abusers who have fled the scene. Instead they just tell the victims to, essentially, be careful out there.HPD Chief Harold Hurtt, who loudly proclaims domestic violence to be a priority, wouldn't talk with TO or with us, and the office of Mayor White — another loud proclaimer of the priority of fighting domestic violence — referred us to HPD.
Instead, the department spokesman was forced to talk substantively about the policy (or, rather, the lack thereof) and the department's manpower shortage.
Strange, but we think of that as MayorWhiteChiefHurtt's job -- especially since this is a pet issue (at least in speeches, sometimes).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/19/08 10:40 PM |
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