04 August 2010
Yellow Cab snaps, Parker and Council jump
SWAMPLOT reports that Mayor Parker and her Council nixed small jitneys today.
Yellow Cab doesn't especially like competition, you see, and as we've noted before, what Yellow Cab wants from Houston's pols, it usually is able to buy.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/04/10 08:24 PM |
03 August 2010
METRO: METRO PD's a prestigious flagship agency!
METRO'S EXPENSIVE BLOGGER cheers the METRO police department's recognition as a "prestigious 'Flagship Agency.'"
She did not include Tom Bazan's classic snapshot of a METRO police officer snoozing in her car during work hours.
UPDATE: Tom Bazan passes along word that he did not take the photo. It was passed along to him, and he later circulated it.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/03/10 10:20 PM |
Why has Mayor Parker de-emphasized Crime Victims Assistance?
HOUSTON is somewhat unique in that it has long maintained a Crime Victims Assistance unit as a branch of the mayor's office.
KTRK-13's Andy Cerota follows up on earlier reporting that current Mayor Annise Parker has transferred the unit to HPD, effectively de-emphasizing it.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/03/10 09:40 PM |
Mighty Wizard METRO rail update
THE MIGHTY WIZARD posts a very informative roundup of recent events concerning METRO.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/03/10 09:17 PM |
Tax first, plan later (what could go wrong!?)
CORY CROW links to this KTRK-13 story on an interest group's proposed drainage tax, noting properly that "it's not a drainage plan, it's a funding plan with the promise that, if passed, a plan will soon follow."
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/03/10 09:03 PM |
02 August 2010
Chron ed board stays timely
THE EDITORIAL BOARD at America's worst big-city daily weighed in today on the HISD story that Texas Watchdog reported on 20 July, and their own newspaper finally covered on 27 July.
Way to stay timely, Chron!
RELATED (08/11/2010): Be sure to see the clarification at the bottom of this post.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/02/10 10:31 PM |
Looking more closely at that "nonpartisan" Houston voter outreach group
BIG JOLLY posts about Houston Votes, a "nonpartisan" effort by the Texas Together nonprofit that aims to boost voter registration in Harris County.
The disappointing Texas Tribune played up the "nonpartisan" background of the group in a story back in June. Of course, tax-advantaged nonprofits are required to be technically nonpartisan, so those sorts of legal descriptions aren't very helpful to readers.
Big Jolly notes that Fred Lewis, the public driver of the effort, likes to donate to lots of Dem and Progresssive causes. That's easy research the Tribune reporter might have done, but didn't. It's a not-insignificant part of the story.
So, too, is the composition of the board of Texans Together: James Aldrete (Dem consultant based in Austin), Christopher Ashby (appointed by Bill Clinton to an ambassadorship, donor to Dems), Ann Del Llano (lobbyist, consultant, and activist for Progressive change), John Donisi (aide to former Governor Ann Richards, Dem supporter), Cris Feldman (Dem Party attorney who pursued action against Tom DeLay), Rita Lucido (Progressive/Dem donor, onetime board member of Planned Parenthood), Keir Murray (Dem consultant), Andres Pereira (self-described "longtime Democratic activist"), Keith Wade (Dem consultant).
Certainly, there's nothing illegal about a Progressive nonprofit working to boost Harris County election turnout by registering voters via a legally "nonpartisan" front group staffed by Dems and Progressive activists (heck, maybe conservatives with deep pockets should give this sort of "grow the vote" electioneering a try -- but they should be careful not to get sued by a Texans Together board member!). However, media organizations* could do a much better job of identifying the interests behind such organizations, especially when it requires so little effort.
* Of course, Texas Tribune itself was born as the vanity project of a Dem activist/donor with millions of dollars apparently burning a hole in his pocket, so maybe more junior colleagues there just don't consider it all that important.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/02/10 10:13 PM |
01 August 2010
Well hello again, Houston. We're back.
Judging by the amount of media coverage in the three weeks we've been on hiatus, apparently the only significant news we missed was the corpse flower.
In all seriousness, why do Houston news organizations do some of the things they do?
Here are some quick thoughts to catch up on the news while we were away:
- The "new" METRO decided to kill that stinky Houston Way real-estate deal that Michael Reed reported on a while back. While a blogHOUSTON editorial urged METRO to kill it a month ago, neither the editorial board at America's Worst Big-City Daily nor Houston's Sexiest Blogger* had anything timely to say about it that we could find. Hey, if it's not in the New York Times or easily blockquoted at copyright-abusing lengths, we don't expect much original work from either of those sources. Kudos to Michael Reed for his watchdog journalism!
- The Chronicle's Bradley Olson quaintly describes Council's latest efforts to rework jitney rules in order "to encourage the growth of jitney services in downtown and other major thoroughfares...." Of course, Yellow Cab has long opposed true jitney service in Houston, and as we've noted previously, what Yellow Cab wants, Yellow Cab usually buys from our local pols. BH favs Matt Bramanti and Alison Cook provided succinct perspectives that mysteriously eluded the Chron's experienced City Hall beat reporter; we're happy to link to them.
- Wal-Mart is coming to The Heights (not really The Heights proper, but hey, who wants to dissuade these folks from entertaining us). Here's hoping all the nice Heights residents put out gawd-awful ugly signs like the anti-Ashby high-rise folks.
- HPD's new chief tries to live
updown to the reputations of the last few buffoons who held the job by ordering that officers will not show up for court subpoenas before 1:00 pm. It's hard to know what to say. Perhaps our commenters can help out. - America's worst big-city daily basically rewrote** a Texas Watchdog story that appeared a week earlier and posted it as "news." With no attribution, and no development of the story. As friend Cory Crow has said, the area newspaper of record isn't even trying any more. Pathetic.
- The FTA gave METRO a green light on one of the last remaining technical roadblocks for the Westpark/Richmond/University line, but one little problem stands in the way of METRO actually starting land acquisition: They're broke. Bill King elaborates on other problems that will be familiar to readers of this blog.
- The whimsical linkblog that Dwight Silverman used to maintain on the Chron.com editorial page has disappeared without explanation. *poof* Silverman's probably too busy these days playing on Twitter and apologizing for Apple's latest shortcomings. That's okay, though. We like linking to good local stuff, and (frankly) are better at it (at least when we're not on hiatus).
Finally, a quick thanks to those of you who shot me a note or email or text message over the last few weeks. Your kindness was comforting and much appreciated.
* Hat tip to Slampo.
** CLARIFICATION (08/11/2010): We are not accusing the Chronicle of LITERALLY rewriting a Texas Watchdog story. Obviously, the Chronicle wrote a very similar story using similar data. A week later. With no further development of the story or reference to the organization that actually did wind up breaking the story. The following email excerpt from the Chronicle today prompted this clarification, lest any other LITERAL readers be misled by our commentary:
The Chronicle's latest story about the E-rate scandal in HISD was based off a public document.... Our story was all original reporting.
We are happy to provide this clarification for any readers who may have read our tongue-in-cheek characterization 100% literally, and apologize for any misunderstanding.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/01/10 09:59 PM |
12 July 2010
Hiatus
THE BLOG will be on hiatus for a short time due to a personal matter.
Please feel free to discuss any newsworthy items in the forum!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/12/10 09:15 AM |
08 July 2010
A couple of asides, in case you missed 'em...
THE CHRONICLE reports* that former Mayor Bill White's prized SAFEclear program just cost the city about $4.2 million. To quote Cory Crow, that would be the same "program that was touted as being revenue neutral by Houston's former 'business savvy' Mayor who's now promising to take that same level of fiscal prowess to Austin." Don't expect the mainstream Texas political press or PolitiFarce to delve too deeply into such matters, though.
Also, Ubu Roi elaborates on the city's water-rate increases.
* Is that the proper way to describe a tiny blurb tucked away in a sidebar? We're not sure.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/08/10 09:15 AM |
07 July 2010
News roundup, 07/07/2010 edition
HERE'S A QUICK ROUNDUP of news tidbits that caught my eye after the too-short vacation.
- Councilmember Jarvis Johnson told police he didn't pull over immediately a few nights ago when he was arrested because he was doing something more important, prosecutors contend. Johnson's attorney denied that he said any such thing, according to the Chronicle report.
- Hans' Bier Haus keeps its alcohol license despite the best efforts of neighboring condo residents (who knowingly moved in beside the bar). The rotting meat apparently will stay as well. Adults acting like five-year-olds are entertaining!
- Cory Crow rightly assesses the huge humor potential in Wal-Mart's preliminary efforts to build a store in The Heights.
- One guy who wants to tell Houstonians how to live got together with some other folks who want to tell Houstonians how to live. It was once easy to giggle at such "smart-growth" busybodies in pro-development, get-it-done, business-friendly Houston, but sometimes coordinated busybodies manage to move their agenda during the giggling. Anybody heard from Houstonians for Responsible Growth lately? Bill King? Anybody?
- Houston's Bicyclist Bob Stein, expert in everything, offers his expertise to San Antonio's KENS-5. We can't help but wonder if he was able get through that long quote without a breath!
- When your newspaper lays off so many veteran reporters and editors, the remaining staffers (interns?) sometimes produce truly dreadful writing (even as one of the least useful senior journalists at the Chronicle prattles on about good writing).
- Unca Darrell dissects Chron editorialist/columnist Lisa Gray's discovery of the Ixtoc spill. We gave it a brief treatment here.
- The Chronicle's resident Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy lead author blazes new territory with this dreck. Is there any conceivable constituency that would read this and then pay the newspaper money for a subscription? Seriously, does this sort of story appeal to anyone who might buy the newspaper? Does it appeal to anyone besides the editor's activist wife, even? You'd think as circulation continues to plummet that somebody at 801 Texas Avenue might give questions like that some thought, and redeploy resources (like the Chron Eye writer, the Urban Affairs/METRO PR mouthpiece, and the entire editorial board) to useful beats. Instead, the geniuses think banning links to this blog is somehow the answer!
- Harris County Commissioner Steve Radack continues to defend his $2 million soap-box-derby-hill boondoggle.
- We've sometimes given Tim Heller grief for getting a little hyper in the past, but there's no better source for weather info in Houston right now. He blogs, he tweets, he writes well, and unlike some faith-based global-warming enthusiasts who talk weather/climate, he has that nice little AMS seal backing his commentary. Be sure to check Heller as weather approaches -- he's everywhere!
- The University of Houston has a new baseball coach, and it looks like a smart hire. Years ago, when the baseball Coogs were good and I had season tickets, Whitting was an assistant. The program has steadily declined from regularly ranked to mediocre since his departure. Here's hoping he can get it turned around, just like he helped TCU turn it around.
What did we miss?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/07/10 10:02 PM |
02 July 2010
Blog Vacation
THE BLOG is going on a long-weekend vacation to celebrate Independence Day.
But, if any local news worthy of discussion pops up (CM Johnson's arrest, CM Clutterbuck calling out CM Bradford on crime lab issues, etc), feel free to start a discussion in the open-comments forum, or in this thread.
And Happy Fourth everyone!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/02/10 02:21 PM |
01 July 2010
Culture Map: Chron quietly lays off staff
CULTURE MAP'S CLIFFORD PUGH wonders why nobody had much to say about recent Chronicle layoffs, especially given the Village Voice corporate weekly's posts about the last big bloodletting on 801 Texas Avenue.
Several reasons come to mind. First, there weren't as many people involved in these layoffs, and the Chron seems to have kept a tighter lid on things this time. Second, as local media criticism goes, the local Village Voice corporate weekly seems much more focused on amateurish Chron-blogging (pot/kettle?) and KTRH beats. So who's left to say much? Culture Map, we guess.
Hat tip to local media news watcher Mike McGuff for the Culture Map link!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/01/10 12:31 PM |
Harris County Almanac: A great sucking increase...
CORY CROW takes a closer look at recent growth numbers for Harris County, and finds things not as rosy as they seem on the surface.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/01/10 10:01 AM |
Councilmember Johnson breaks through storm coverage
Councilmember Jarvis Johnson has done his part to rescue us from the extensive news coverage of the hurricane that is not very close to Houston.
According to TV news reports (KTRK-13, KHOU-11, KPRC-2), Councilmember Johnson was arrested overnight on felony charges of evading arrest after allegedly refusing to stop for a traffic stop. KHOU-11's report says that when he eventually stopped a few blocks later, he tried to run away (UPDATE: KHOU has now removed that from their report, without explanation, Chron-style). KTRK-13 reports that police officials say the councilmember did not appear to be intoxicated.
We look forward to hearing the councilmember's side of the story (much more so than seeing another poor reporter standing in the rain saying "it's raining").
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/01/10 06:28 AM |
30 June 2010
Campos: Redistricting to run through CM Sullivan's committee
MARC CAMPOS reports an interesting bit of news to come from City Council discussion today: Apparently, the council redistricting process will flow through Councilmember Mike Sullivan's Ethics and Council Governance committee, rather than a special committee created for the purpose. Although council races are officially nonpartisan, Sullivan is regarded as a Republican.
We suspect that a few LibDem partybloggers will not be as sanguine as Campos about this development.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/30/10 12:38 PM |
Tidbits: Watchdog journalism, and WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE
THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE/TEXAS TRIBUNE partnership has produced an interesting watchdog story on those with criminal records being approved to work in foster-care positions.
The wall-to-wall storm coverage* may well drown out the story (pardon the bad pun), but we thought it was a nice bit of work.
* Seriously, isn't it always fun to watch area news teams mobilize for the season's first serious storm? WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE (err, just practicing, this time, but do stay tuned!).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/30/10 09:41 AM |
28 June 2010
McGuff media updates
MIKE MCGUFF notes that Alan Hemberger is no longer with KIAH-39 news and that Mary Flood has departed the Chronicle.
McGuff beats everyone to the interesting media news these days!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/28/10 08:47 PM |
Chron: Budget remainders
THE CHRON'S BRADLEY OLSON posts some city budget remainders (and a spreadsheet) here.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/28/10 08:05 AM |
26 June 2010
Texas Watchdog: Sheltering Arms weatherization official out
TEXAS WATCHDOG reports that Sheltering Arms Senior Services of Houston has removed the director of a "stimulus" weatherization program. The move comes after some damning reporting by the Houston-based watchdog news organization on shoddy workmanship and lack of transparency regarding the weatherization program.
The deposed director tells Texas Watchdog the move was part of a reorganization planned prior to the earlier Texas Watchdog reporting. *wink* Nobody at the organization would discuss the move.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/26/10 01:22 PM |
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