27 April 2010
Chron adopts KHOU media-crit beat, ignores own shortcomings
LAST WEEK, KHOU-11'S MARK GREENBLATT reported some disturbing news about a METRO application for federal funding for its rail lines. METRO, according to Greenblatt, submitted overly optimistic economic projections to the transit organization, when more recent, less optimistic predictions were available. As noted in our blog post, Greenblatt's report featured UH economics professor Barton Smith, who questioned METRO's use of more optimistic economic figures. Professor Smith, of course, is rightly regarded as the area's economist of record, who has supplied authoritative statistics and projections about area economic growth over the years to media and government organizations (including METRO).
METRO's bloated PR shop responded predictably, by lashing out at Greenblatt, with one of the Chronicle's least skeptical/curious reporters piling on in a blog post.
Greenblatt, however, followed up with a communication from the FTA that seemed to substantiate his report's original contention that METRO has used overly optimistic numbers in its applications for federal transit funding:
The FTA does not develop sales tax projections. Rather, it reviews and analyzes the projections submitted by project sponsors. The FTA first signaled its concern with Houston’s aggressive tax revenue assumptions and insisted on revisions back in May of 2009. FTA is now analyzing even more updated revenue projections submitted by Houston. In the interest of protecting the taxpayer, the FTA will not approve full funding grant agreements for the North and Southeast Corridor light rail projects until we are confident that Houston Metro can afford to build and operate these two new lines while maintaining its existing system.
Paul Griffo
Spokesman
Federal Transit Administration
Washington, DC
Today, Lisa Falkenberg revised and extended Mike Snyder's previous efforts on the new KHOU media-criticism beat with a column that strongly suggested that Professor Smith now thinks Greenblatt's original report is inaccurate and quoted him out of context. If true, that would be a damning revelation that would certainly merit an update of our original post, not to mention a scolding.
To try and sort all this out, we put in our own call to Professor Smith, who told me that he thought both journalists had probably given the impression that he was more involved in the METRO federal funding process than is the case. He told me that he does provide his economics projections to METRO, but that he has no input how the organization uses those numbers after the fact, and is certainly not involved in the federal procurement process. He did tell me that obviously he gave Greenblatt his quote on camera, and stands by it so far as it goes. He further added that it now appears that METRO used projections that were more optimistic than his June 2009 projections, but less optimistic than his June 2008 projections.
We went on to have an interesting conversation about Greenblatt's original report, and the fact that it was really two-pronged: a factual news inquiry about METRO and the federal procurement process, along with highly critical comments from businessman Paul Magaziner and U.S. Rep. Ted Poe. With regard to the latter, Professor Smith told me that while they were certainly welcome to their opinions, he did not think his economic data necessarily supported their assertions about METRO's intent. He further added that he thought the report might have been stronger if he had been involved in some back and forth with the critics on the interpretation of his economics projections, although he understood that Greenblatt might have been operating under length constraints.
Professor Smith stressed that he thought both Greenblatt and Falkenberg had treated him fairly, and that he had told both of them he wished they would work together to get the facts out, and to promote a more intelligent conversation about transit.
Frankly, we agree with Professor Smith.
Whether or not one agrees with the critics Greenblatt quoted in his original reporting, there seems to be no disputing that METRO submitted overly optimistic economic projections to the FTA, something that the FTA has confirmed to Greenblatt. The public, local government, AND the federal government deserve the most accurate numbers METRO can put together, in the most transparent manner possible. Perhaps Greenblatt erred in giving critics too much airtime to speculate about METRO's intent, but it is somewhat shocking to see both Mike Snyder and Lisa Falkenberg engaging in media criticism over KHOU's editorial choices when, instead, the Chronicle might be cultivating their own sources within the FTA and METRO and emulating the award-winning Greenblatt's efforts to be a watchdog of the public treasury and a promoter of transparent government.
BLOGVERSATION: Harris County Almanac.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/27/10 09:40 PM |
What manpower shortage?
ANDREA LUCIA AT KHOU-11 reports that the Houston Police Department is reducing the number of academy classes from seven per year to just two.
More than likely it won't be anytime soon that the citizens of Houston will see a sufficiently staffed police department or an end to many hour-response times to certain calls for service.
Posted by Jason @ 04/27/10 12:29 PM |
Listening in on Lykos and staff
MURRAY NEWMAN recreates *ahem* a conversation between Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos and assistants Jim Leitner and Scott Durfee.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/27/10 07:34 AM |
26 April 2010
America's worst big city daily suffers double digit loss in circulation
NEW AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS numbers are out, and as usual the picture isn't pretty for the Houston Chronicle. America's Worst Big City Daily posted a staggering 13.77% decline in daily circulation, and a 9.76% decline in Sunday circulation.
The business section of America's Worst Big City Daily has posted the usual PR-spin-masquerading-as-news-story from publisher Jack Sweeney, who (roughly translated) says more people than ever are click-click-clicking the user party pics on chron.com! At least he doesn't force a real journalist to attach his/her name to these stories any more; on the down side, the thin-skinned folks who run the place seem to have disabled comments.
BLOGVERSATION: Houston's Clear Thinkers.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/26/10 02:56 PM |
HPD Crime Lab still backlogged
KHOU-11's JEREMY DESEL reports that the case backlog at HPD's beleaguered crime lab "is still out of control."
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/26/10 08:35 AM |
A new Chron Eye (04/26/2010)
AN EXECUTION is looming, so that means it's time for a new Chron Eye for the Death Row Killer Guy.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/26/10 08:29 AM |
23 April 2010
Guest commentary: The great water rate heist of 2010
THE MASSIVE WATER RATE INCREASES approved by Mayor Annise Parker and her Council have been touted by the administration as spreading the real costs of the water/sewer system to all users of the system -- single-family, multi-family, and commercial users. Local media have certainly run with that meme.
As guest editorialist Brutus explains in detail, it's simply not true: Single-family and commercial users are bearing the brunt of the increase, while owners of multi-family residences will continue to enjoy a significant advantage.
No wonder Mayor Parker and her Council rammed this thing through so quickly, without much in the way of public discussion and scrutiny!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/23/10 09:29 AM |
22 April 2010
Hair Balls mocks METRO's inept PR army
HAIR BALLS mocks the most recent efforts at spin coming from METRO's bloated PR department.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/22/10 08:43 PM |
METRO still in damage-control mode
THE EXAMINER'S MICHAEL REED reports that Frank Wilson is still METRO's chief (for now) after the big board meeting today.
The board also released the report commissioned by Wilson booster David Wolff. Unsurprisingly, the report found no financial wrongdoing on Wilson's part, albeit with an important qualification:
However, we offer no opinions as to the business necessity of the expenditures related to business trips, meals or hotels submitted by Mr. Wilson or Ms. Wright.
That's hardly surprising, since we all but predicted that an investigation commissioned by Wilson booster David Wolff would be limited in just such a manner. That's too bad. That Spain trip and the contract for new rail cars that may not mesh well with the existing Siemens-designed system might make for an interesting inquiry. Or not. You never know until you start poking around.
Reed notes that METRO's new board chairman -- not Wilson -- will be traveling to Washington to address some of the questions raised by KHOU-11's Mark Greenblatt. Greenblatt's first report drew fire from METRO (with an assist from America's worst big-city daily), yet apparently was serious and accurate enough that the FTA is unhappy, the radioactive Wilson is being sidelined, and METRO's new board chairman is off to try to fix the mess.
BLOGVERSATION: Hair Balls.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/22/10 07:50 PM |
Six years later: Chron comments on Wilson's NJ transit issues
THE CHRON'S JUNIOR METRO/STATE DIARIST LISA FALKENBERG surely surprised some readers (and perhaps some colleagues!) today with what was, so far as we can tell, the newspaper's first reference to the ethical cloud that current METRO chief Frank Wilson left behind in New Jersey as detailed nearly six years ago by that state's capable Commission of Investigation in E-ZPass: The Making of a Procurement Disaster.
Falkenberg went on to note that at the time of Wilson's hiring (before the damning report was released), her own newspaper was not very interested in accounts of Wilson's transgressions, dismissing them with a glowing quote from David Wolff about Wilson's greatness (interestingly, the same quote that appears in this 17 March 2010 blog post).
She did not add (but we will) that her own colleague, currently on the transit beat quoted Wolff in defense of Wilson just a few days ago, in a story of questionable balance. Old habits die hard at the newspaper, perhaps.
We're not quite sure if it's time to promote Falkenberg to Young Adult Columnist just yet -- today's column was just a rehash of very old material available on this and other blogs, after all, without even the addition of some quotes from the New Jersey Commission of Investigation or Frank Wilson himself (something that professional journalists are often expected to do and have time to do, unlike most hobby bloggers). Certainly, though, the sharpening, critical/skeptical perspective serves as confirmation that the establishment has soured on Wilson, and he's probably not going to be around much longer. That's welcome news, even if the Chron may shortly be in cheerleader mode* once more for whoever is hired to replace Wilson.
BLOGVERSATION: Harris County Almanac.
* In all fairness, the newspaper does cheerleading profile pieces very well.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/22/10 11:53 AM |
KHOU: Feds scold METRO
AFTER MARK GREENBLATT'S REPORT FOR KHOU-11 last week on possible METRO funding shenanigans, the rogue transit organization's bloated PR shop rushed to deem the report "distorted and just plain wrong" (with America's worst big-city daily jumping on for good measure).
Last night, Greenblatt followed up on his original reporting:
The Federal Transit Administration said it "won’t approve" federal funding right now on two light rail extensions proposed by Metro; until it can become confident the transit authority can afford to finish the jobs while still maintaining current service.
"In the interest of protecting the taxpayer, the FTA will not approve full funding grant agreements for the north and southeast corridor light rail projects until we are confident that Houston Metro can afford to build and operate these two new lines while maintaining its existing system," said Paul Griffo of the FTA.
Apparently, Greenblatt's reporting wasn't so "distorted and just plain wrong" as METRO's bloated PR shop would have people believe.
In other news dealing with the rogue transit organization, METRO's board will go into executive session this week to discuss Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson. Rumors swirled last week that Wilson was on his way out.
BLOGVERSATION: Harris County Almanac.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/22/10 07:48 AM |
21 April 2010
Paying the piper: Mayor faces tough decisions on water rates, HPD/HFD overtime
TWO CHRONICLE STORIES illustrate the problems that can result from deferring tough decisions on the city's budget.
Bradley Olson reports on rumblings that City Council may increase water rates by nearly 30% for the average homeowner, well above the 12% increase that was pitched previously by Mayor Annise Parker; the competing proposal goes easier on apartment and commercial users than Parker's. The goal of the increases is to address the multi-million-dollar deficits that have been run by the Combined Utility System for several years now -- in other words, to address what appear to be ongoing deficits in a businesslike manner. Unfortunately, Houston's water rates could become among the highest in the country for major cities.
Terri Langford reports that HPD and HFD overtime cost the city some $67 million last year:
A Houston Chronicle analysis shows that most of the money — $50 million — went to the Houston Police Department, long bedeviled by staffing shortages while trying to cover the nation's fourth largest city. At the Houston Fire Department, the cost was $17 million, largely for the same reasons.
This blog has been around since 2004, and it seems we've been addressing HPD's manpower issues over that entire period. When crime spiked, it was easy enough to spend more on policing via overtime, without sufficiently addressing the ongoing manpower shortage. Unfortunately, that sort of decisionmaking hits harder in recessionary times, when businesslike budgeting might well force cuts in the HPD overtime pay, and therefore cuts in needed police services.
UPDATE: Just like that, Council passed the massive water-rate increase. Aren't you glad you had so much time to let your feelings about the matter be known to your mayor and councilember? Oh, you didn't! Never mind.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/21/10 11:17 AM |
METRO's MLK streetcar plans draw criticism
KHOU-11'S RUCK RUSSELL reports that some activists are not happy with METRO and the City of Houston over a memorial on MLK boulevard.
METRO insists that they are working on plans for the memorial and the glorified streetcar to coexist.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/21/10 10:50 AM |
20 April 2010
Kirkendall: Houston METRO in a few years?
CLEAR THINKER TOM KIRKENDALL links to a report on the perilous, unsustainable financial condition of San Francisco's transit agency, and sounds this cautionary note:
Meanwhile, Houston Metro is currently proposing to sell $866 in general obligation bonds, yet it does not have non-tax revenue that is even close to covering debt service on that level of debt. Metro has not even floated what credit enhancement it proposes to provide in order to sell those bonds.
METRO has further proposed to take on more debt than was approved by voters in 2003 in what was thought (apparently erroneously) to be a check on the agency as well as a blueprint for moving forward. Here's hoping for saner behavior from Mayor Parker's new appointees.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/20/10 07:56 AM |
19 April 2010
About that "blog" part of the thing...
CORY CROW finds Texas Watchdog's latest video blog chat somewhat lacking in discussion of... actual blogs.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/19/10 09:48 PM |
Gattis on rethinking the transit plan
TORY GATTIS hopes that Mark Greenblatt's reporting on METRO's funny funding numbers might lead the agency to rethink its light rail plans:
My proposal would be to scale back the core LRT network to connecting just the major job centers and destinations. That network would free up money by temporarily switching the North, East, Southeast, and (probably) Uptown lines to fast, frequent signature bus service. They have relatively low ridership projections and are through neighborhoods with uncongested streets (except Uptown, of course, but it can ill-afford rail disruption on Post Oak) where buses work just fine for the demand. We can no longer afford speculative rail lines through uncongested low-density neighborhoods without major destinations, while hoping for long-term densification.
Gattis would have been a smart pick for METRO's board. It's too bad Mayor Parker didn't take that opportunity.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/19/10 09:32 PM |
"A blind squirrel rolling up on a nut?"
SLAMPO offers praise for the latest effort by the Chronicle's junior metro/state diarist, who nearly earned herself a promotion to "Young Adult" columnist.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/19/10 09:16 PM |
Hearst Austin does watchdog journalism; Chronicle waters it down
HAIR BALLS noticed an interesting piece of investigative journalism from Gary Scharrer of the Hearst Austin bureau (the combined capitol news desk of the San Antonio Express-News and the Houston Chronicle). The story questions the generous ongoing housing/commuting benefits being doled out to UT-Health Science Center Larry Kaiser.
San Antonio residents got to read the full story, including critical comments from Texas Watchdog's Trent Seibert. Chronicle readers, on the other hand, got to read a shorter, dumbed-down story with Seibert's criticism omitted.
In the old days of print journalism, the story might well have been cut to fit a physical space in the newspaper, but (as Hair Balls notes) that doesn't really explain why the dumbed-down version appeared on Chron.com. The best we can guess is that Seibert and Texas Watchdog have either been blacklisted blogHOUSTON-style by Chron management (in which case, welcome to the club!) or the Chron really prefers to stick with cheerleading* over that icky critical/skeptical watchdog reporting stuff.
* In all fairness, they do cheerleading perhaps better than any newspaper in America, so that's something we suppose.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/19/10 08:16 AM |
17 April 2010
Just another day at America's Worst Big City Daily
THE CHRONICLE ran into a bit of a problem putting together the print edition today:
Apparently, nobody caught the fact that the photo is of David Wolff, not Frank Wilson. Whoops!
Substantively, the story isn't much better. The only mildly critical voice (former Councilmember Peter Brown) is extremely weak, and the story concludes with praise of Wilson from two cheerleaders, one of whom is David Wolff (who hired Wilson and whose legacy can be said to be inextricably tied to Wilson). That's how America's Worst Big City Daily tends to roll on these types of stories.
Elsewhere, the newspaper decided to act as a PR arm for METRO in response to Mark Greenblatt's reporting on potential financial deception at the rogue transit organization. Greenblatt, of course, has won a number of awards for his watchdog reporting, most recently on the Texas National Guard, but before that on the city's inaccurate reporting of homicide rates (after the organizations in question initially downplayed his reporting). We're inclined to pay attention when Greenblatt reports skeptically on irregularities in government. America's Worst Big City Daily, which is often more interested in cheerleading than watchdog reporting and can't even seem to keep David Wolff and Frank Wilson straight? Not so much.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/17/10 10:29 PM |
16 April 2010
KRIV: Wilson to leave METRO
KRIV-26'S ISIAH CAREY reports that METRO CEO Frank Wilson "could likely be released from his contractual obligations on Friday."
It's good to see Mayor Parker's fumigation efforts beginning to produce results. We can't help but wonder if Wilson has already negotiated himself a nice new position with a current contractor, though, as has happened before....
UPDATE: On Friday, Wilson denied he's going anywhere. He must not have a new job with a METRO contractor lined up just yet. Mayor Parker may have to break out stronger pesticide.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/16/10 09:06 AM |
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