16 April 2010
Another METRO bait-and-switch?
KHOU-11'S MARK GREENBLATT reports that METRO, when faced with declining sales tax estimates that might have jeopardized its application for federal funding to build more glorified streetcars down busy streets, simply provided the feds with older, less accurate but rosier, sales tax projections. The economist who generates those statistics tells Greenblatt METRO should have used the more accurate numbers:
“The feds ought've been given the updated numbers,” said University of Houston economist Dr. Barton Smith, who has been predicting sales tax revenue numbers for Metro for about 15 years.
Smith says his 2008 pre-crash report that Metro used in its application for federal grant money does not come close to representing the financial reality on the ground in Houston today.
[snip]
For instance, for 2010 alone he predicts a $95 million drop in sales tax revenue from the forecast Metro passed on to the federal government.
[snip]
In fact, for the next 15 years combined, Smith downgraded his tax revenue projection by $2.4 billion, but KHOU discovered Metro never shared that information with the federal government.
That, we presume, is just another example of the rogue transit organization being run "in a completely transparent manner."
BLOGVERSATION: Harris County Almanac, Houston Strategies, Perry vs World.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/16/10 07:35 AM |
15 April 2010
Mayor Parker names new aviation director
MAYOR ANNISE PARKER yesterday announced her choice to head the Houston Airport System: Mario C. Diaz, who comes to Houston from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, where he served as deputy general manager. Before that, Diaz worked for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, overseeing a number of redevelopment and financing projects at Newark Liberty International Airport, the other major hub for Houston-based Continental Airlines.
The position opened when former Mayor Bill White reportedly forced out longtime director Richard Vacar after various shadowy offshore business interests created by Vacar drew scrutiny from local media.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/15/10 02:13 PM |
The County Seat: Houston has a whorehouse in it!
THE COUNTY SEAT comments on "the political red light district that has built up within the organization of the Harris County Republican Party."
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/15/10 07:34 AM |
14 April 2010
Slampo on the White/Perry dropout dustup
SLAMPO addresses Bill White's Big Dropout Problem.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/14/10 10:06 PM |
13 April 2010
West U smell test fail
OUR FRIENDS IN WEST U apparently have decided to try The Houston Way on for size.
Sort of. The Houston Way tends to be a little more subtle, and only to smell years later.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/13/10 09:59 PM |
Why are we still having this discussion?
THE CHRONICLE'S CHRIS MORAN revisits the topic of the moneypit once called the Eight Wonder of the World, reporting that the soccer stadium deal to be taken up by Commissioners Court today includes a redevelopment zone for the Astrodome (details of which are murky).
Moran reports that various county estimates place the remaining debt on the decrepit 'Dome at anywhere from $19 million to $32 million. Insurance, maintenance, utilities, and security for the unused facility run about $2 million per year.
It's well past time to raze this costly building. Have a big contest to determine who gets to push the button (like the Texas Stadium folks did). Sell off pieces of the thing to all those folks who want something physical to supplement their priceless memories. But at least get the maintenance costs for an unused/unusable facility off the books, finally.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/13/10 07:47 AM |
Buses save the transit backbone (again)
CHRON.COM posts that Texas Children's Hospital is building a bridge that will require closing a part of Fannin this weekend.
Apparently, this will shut down the entire Main Street streetcar line that METRO has, at times, called its transit backbone. Fortunately, buses are available to get people around.
Meanwhile, METRO is moving full speed ahead to lay more glorified streetcar lines down busy streets.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/13/10 07:31 AM |
12 April 2010
Fun with words
WE'VE GROWN USED TO POLITICIANS (and their consultants) abusing the language, but two current news items are still good enough for a laugh.
We have the recent announcement (from the Begala/McGrath consulting firm) that Mattress Mack's new PAC is up and running, and touting the wonders of red-light cameras, or rather, intersection safety cameras. Who can object, if it's for "safety" or "the children," right?
We also have today's announcement from Dan Patrick that he is forming a new group, the Independent Conservative Republicans of Texas, which will surely stand out from those dastardly dependent, not-conservative other Republicans of Texas (anyone who happens to get in KDAN's crosshairs on any given day, we imagine).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/12/10 12:56 PM |
10 April 2010
Transit: Good enough for you, but not METRO's execs
TEXAS WATCHDOG'S STEVE MILLER has posted a story detailing the ridiculous car allowances provided to various senior METRO officials.
The widespread, exorbitant car allowances at a transit organization are bad enough, but they are even more offensive during an economic downturn that has seen many other state/local government agencies forced into budget cutbacks.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/10/10 02:01 PM |
08 April 2010
METRO's negative news count shoots up
KPRC-2 is reporting that METRO's offices were raided by officials from the Harris County District Attorney's investigators today, apparently to collect information related to Shreddergate.
In other negative news, a METRO bus and SUV collided yesterday, although reports have not determined who was to blame. Another collision between a METRO bus and vehicle took place this afternoon, again with no determination of who was at fault.
The rogue organization's media monitoring service is going to be busy!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/08/10 04:41 PM |
Chronically out of touch
THE CHRON EDITORIAL BOARD took on the issue of predatory lending in a recent editorial.
As Matt Bramanti pointed out to us, their main example of the evil Big Banking interests in action is.... lattes, bought via overdraft.
Obviously, something MUST BE DONE!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/08/10 04:27 PM |
07 April 2010
KPRC-2 investigates pothole repair
KPRC-2 investigated City of Houston pothole repair and discovered.... more potholes are repaired in west Houston than any other part of the city.
They also discovered that more potholes are reported to 311 in west Houston than any other part of the city.
Lesson: Report potholes and other problems to 311 for resolution. They can also be emailed at [email protected].
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/07/10 05:55 PM |
Texas Watchdog updates on Shreddergate, Texas voter fraud
TEXAS WATCHDOG has been busy today.
Steve Miller has broken an important story on voter fraud in south Texas. Obviously, that's a bit outside our usual coverage area, but we thought it would be helpful to call it to the attention of our faithful readers at 801 Texas Avenue, in case the Chronicle editorial board would like to revise their previous characterization of Voter ID legislation as an unneeded, partisan effort by Republicans "fearful for their future political viability." Surely, journalists at the Chronicle and across the state can no longer rely on the assertion by a Rice sociology professor that "There is no credible evidence" that voter fraud is a problem in Texas. If a small journalism nonprofit with limited resources can run a truck through that assertion, we look forward to seeing what some of the bigger, better-funded news operations in the state can do.
Jennifer Peebles follows that story with an interesting look at some METRO internal correspondence related to Shreddergate and obtained through public information request. Some of it can only be described as bizarre.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/07/10 05:42 PM |
Parker Administration's fiscal priorities take shape
VARIOUS MEDIA OUTLETS report that the Parker Administration is planning large increases in water/sewer rates to offset ongoing deficits in the city's Combined Utility System. The Chronicle ran this telling exchange:
Councilman Oliver Pennington asked why the city did not raise rates sooner, when deficits were apparent.
“I just wonder what you guys were thinking,” he said.
Marcotte noted that when the system was restructured in 2004, prompting what at the time was the largest rate increase in the city's history, another major rate increase was contemplated for 2010....
“We can't just keep kicking the proverbial can down the road,” Councilmember Ed Gonzalez said.
Politically, it's always wise to get these sorts of painful fiscal moves out of the way early and leave the next round to the next mayor. Perhaps the Parker Administration will treat the issue in a more *ahem* businesslike fashion than Mayor Bill White before her, but we do seem to have these sorts of discussions every six years.
The Chronicle story also contained this helpful comparison:
For single-family residential consumers, the increase would make Houston's water and sewer rates higher than those in San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth and slightly lower than those of Los Angeles and Austin, according to city documents.
In other budget news, the Chronicle reports that Mayor Parker says the City of Houston might be willing to "give back" General Mobility funds to METRO, but only after METRO re-establishes "credibility" with the public. Given the rogue organization's ongoing disregard for the public in the form of violating the 2003 referendum (by planning to take on more debt than was approved, changing the location of lines, ignoring the requirement to expand bus service by 50%, etc.), that could take a while. And there is that pesky detail -- from our understanding -- that the public will have to approve forgoing those General Mobility funds.
Indeed, with water/sewer rates increasing, city contributions to retiree benefit packages decreasing, and a big hole in the budget, we'd like to see Mayor Parker working more aggressively to collect the $160+ million in general mobility funds owed by METRO to the City (the Mayor's preference for quarterly General Mobility payments from METRO instead of vague future promises is a small step in the right direction), and less aggressively to spend $10 million on the soccer stadium boondoggle. We are of the quaint notion that smart fiscal priorities and keeping promises made to the public go a long ways towards establishing/maintaining credibility.
BLOGVERSATION: Harris County Almanac (and more).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/07/10 09:09 AM |
06 April 2010
KHOU wins Peabody Award
BELATED CONGRATS GO OUT TO THE KHOU-11 DEFENDERS for winning a Peabody award for their work on the Texas National Guard.
As Mike McGuff wrote nearly a week ago, this is a really big deal! Well done.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/06/10 07:37 AM |
05 April 2010
Catching up
THE BLOGHOUSTON CREW unplugged and fully enjoyed this beautiful weekend....
Thankfully, two bloggers whose posts regularly exceed the quality of the output from the Chron's paid metro/state columnists put out some good stuff. In particular....
1) Unca Darrell skewers the ignorance of Chronicle editorialists when it comes to economics and international politics. Now, that may seem a little like shooting fish in a barrel, but Unca Darrell's post is really informative.
2) Slampo comments on Mayor Annise Parker's recent announcement that under-65 City retirees will be asked to contribute considerably more towards their health-insurance costs. On the chance we are among the silent legions of conservative bloggers Slampo identifies, the quick thought on this decision is that we aren't huge fans of balancing the budget on the backs of retired muni workers only (agreeing once again with Councilmember Bradford!), but we also aren't huge fans of balancing the budget via furloughs for, say, active police and fire personnel (as some cities are experiencing because of budget woes). Being mayor during tough economic times is certainly much less fun than overspending during boom times (thanks, Bill White for Texas).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/05/10 09:39 AM |
01 April 2010
CM Bradford on savvy budgeting
IN A RECENT OP-ED, COUNCILMEMBER CLARENCE BRADFORD offered some smart suggestions for City of Houston budget planning and prioritization.
The blog has given Bradford some grief over the years, so it's only fair to call attention to sensible proposals.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/01/10 09:19 PM |
Harrisburg: Another train/traffic adventure only METRO could love
KTRK-13 ran a news blurb last week indicating that METRO rail work on the East End had begun.
The blurb did not report that METRO and the City will be closing 28 of 40 intersecting lanes.
The blurb did not report that engineers recommend such lane closures because at-grade rail in busy traffic corridors with numerous intersections creates unsafe conditions.
The blurb also did not report that one of the city's ostensibly technocratic/analytical departments -- politicized in various ways under former Mayor Bill White -- has indicated that some neighborhood traffic conditions caused by the above will just have to be mitigated after construction of the light rail system (a contrast with the near-hysterical clampdown on the Ashby High Rise developers because various constituents insisted the former mayor do something).
All of those tidbits have to be teased out of various traffic/design analysis documents passed along by Paul Magaziner and posted here.
Not to worry, though -- because David Wolff says so!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/01/10 07:46 PM |
Lose a great reviewer? No prob!
LAST WEEK'S NEWS that food writer extraordinaire Robb Walsh was leaving the Houston Press prompted this prediction:
We presume the tired corporate alt-weekly will take this "opportunity" to build on the Village Voice strategy of proliferating nonprofessional (but relatively cheap!) content, along with other stunts to boost pageviews artificially.
That was certainly easy (h/t Cory Crow).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/01/10 04:50 PM |
The perils of single points of failure
CHRON.COM'S WHIMSICAL LINK BLOG box has been quiet for about a week now.
That must mean that the only guy (apparently) in the Hearst empire who can update the thing is on vacation or otherwise occupied this week.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/01/10 04:34 PM |
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