11 February 2010
1717 Bissonnet high-rise developers sue City of Houston
BUCKHEAD INVESTMENT PARTNERS, the group hoping to develop a mixed-use high-rise property at 1717 Bissonnet (the so-called Ashby high-rise) sued the City of Houston today (KRIV-26, Chronicle).
The Chronicle story ends in a curious manner:
The dispute over the project came to symbolize land-use controversy in Houston, the nation's only major city without zoning, and led to the creation of a political action committee aimed at preserving a business environment friendly to developers.
Is that how the group describes itself, or is that more editorializing in a Chronicle news story? *gasp* A good editor would clean that up. Maybe the Chron story will "evolve."
If this lawsuit gets very far, the testimony over the city's (ab)use of an archaic driveway ordinance to stop a development that bothered people with Bill White's cell phone number ought to be entertaining!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/11/10 08:26 PM |
No IAH EZ Tag parking, but $50k for a Robert Eckels boondoggle
THE CHRON'S CHRIS MORAN reports that Harris County Commissioners Court has decided to pay a $50,000 bribe in hopes of improving Harris County's chances in the great high-speed-rail-the-federal-government-can't-afford boondoggle. Well, he framed it a little differently, but we like to cut to the chase here.
Here's a fun excerpt from the story:
About two years ago, the county dropped out of the corporation and two other transportation groups at County Judge Ed Emmett's recommendation. At the time, Emmett said, he did not believe membership was worth the $200,000 it was costing the county.
[snip]
The nonprofit rail corporation brings together local governments pushing for high-speed rail and is now chaired by Robert Eckels, Emmett's predecessor as county judge.
Judge Emmett probably had it right the first time -- unless, of course, the feds really do come through with some funding, in which case the bribe will have been worth it we suppose (and we should all remember to send China a thank-you note for underwriting all that federal debt).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/11/10 08:25 PM |
Faith-healing: Is there an app for that?
KTRK-13'S DEBORAH WRIGLEY reports that the Lakewood/Osteen self-help congregation has started a drive-through faith-healing service.
Can the Lakewood Remote Faith-Healing editions for the Wii and iPhone be far behind?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/11/10 08:23 AM |
10 February 2010
The 420/30 view of METRO's mission, courtesy of Chron.com
ON MONDAY, THE CHRONICLE reported that Mayor Annise Parker is open to rethinking area transit issues, including a proposal pitched by Bill King roughly two years ago to eliminate METRO fares altogether. As we suggested then, we do not think that the fare structure significantly dampens area transit utilization, making this a solution in search of a problem. On this particular story, we'll defer to commenter RebellionRevolution to make the case:
With all due respect, it isn't the fares that are keeping people from riding Metro. It's Metro's lack of providing a consistently dependable product to it's customers that keeps people from riding Metro. Free fares aren't the solution,. Getting people to work on time, everyday, is.
That comment, incidentally, has generated 420 "thumbs ups" to only 30 "thumbs downs," an impressive ratio.
Turning back to the story, we find this interesting graf laying out one of several of the mayor's upcoming "choices on a number of difficult policy questions":
What should the city and Metro do to encourage dense, walkable development along rail lines that could absorb growth and spare prairies and fields from being paved over with subdivisions and shopping centers?
We don't have much evidence in Houston that rail lines "absorb growth and spare prairies and fields from being paved over." Rather, if one rides the Main Street rail line, one sees "development" in the form of parking lots and fields where buildings once stood, not to mention a few derelict buildings, all still awaiting the promised transformation to Houtopia if we would just build rail.
So, we would suggest that if Mike Snyder is the one who provided that editorial comment in a news story, it should have been struck. And if that's how Mayor Parker's advisors are thinking about this issue (since it's really not clear who was editorializing in the news story), we would suggest that the mayor might want to go read the comment above (with the 420/30 positive ratio*) and ask if METRO-as-Smart-Growth-Developer fits commenter RebellionRevolution's sensible, popular view of the mission of the area's taxpayer-supported transit organization.
* We expect pols and journos alike can understand math that is so simple.
BLOGVERSATION: Rhymes with Right.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/10/10 09:44 PM |
Iceberg? What iceberg?
SS CHRON PRIORITIES: Editor Dwight Silverman conducts an in-house class on "advanced Twitter usage." Editor Kyrie O'Connor attends but gets distracted analyzing what the men in the room are wearing.
Apparently, this is not a joke.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/10/10 07:13 PM |
KHOU: City can take months, even years, on blight complaints
KHOU-11's Jeremy Rogalski follows up on previous reporting on the area's problems with abandoned buildings with a nice analysis of City of Houston response times to citizen complaints about the same. The results are not impressive (even though we seem to remember the last mayor talking tough about addressing this problem).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/10/10 07:08 PM |
09 February 2010
KTRK, KHOU on abandoned properties
KTRK-13'S TED OBERG reports that the City of Houston is taking action to tear down a derelict building, "two weeks after Eyewitness News" reported on it as part of a story on the demolition backlog.
In a related story, KHOU-11's Jeremy Rogalski reports that the city and county own a large number of those run-down, neglected properties that so many pols (including the current and former mayor!) criticize.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/09/10 07:48 AM |
08 February 2010
Danger Train, METRO bus collide near the METRO Palace
THE DANGER TRAIN AND A METRO BUS collided downtown earlier today, right near METRO headquarters (Chronicle, KPRC-2, KHOU-11, KTRK-13, KRIV-26).
Remind us again why so many smart Houtopians think building rail at grade down busy streets is such a good idea?
The spin that eventually comes from METRO's massive PR shop should prove interesting, at least.
ANNE LINEHAN ADDS: Maybe Chief Lambert can explain why METRO's own bus drivers don't understand safety.
UPDATE (02/09/10): Chron print editors thought the story so important they buried it on B3 (with a B1 photo refer).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/08/10 06:24 PM |
Slampo on The Good Life (Part Two)
SLAMPO recounts his conversation with the Chronicle's erratic features editor, Kyrie O'Connor, over the newspaper's new "The Good Life" gambit, which he posted about previously. That man deserves some sort of Blogurbatin'-hazardous-duty pay (or at the very least, a good stiff drink on us at a future meetup).
As for The Good Life, we noticed while walking the dog last night that the rag was still littering many driveways in our west-Houston neighborhood. The visual clutter is not world-class.
MORE: Harris County Almanac.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/08/10 09:58 AM |
07 February 2010
Wall and Burton: Public safety matters
BLOGHOUSTON FAVS JAY WALL AND STAN BURTON offer Mayor Parker a number of public-safety recommendations in this op-ed in today's Chronicle.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/07/10 08:09 PM |
METRO Airport Express, Airport EZ Tag fuel debate
METRO says it will continue its Airport Express bus service despite a KTRK-13/Ted Oberg story this week criticizing the per-passenger cost of the service (caused by low ridership so far).
Count me among those who thinks the city could use affordable airport transportation options besides the ones dominated by Yellow Cab (whose Super Shuttle, readers may recall, was "given" the exclusive IAH shuttle franchise by Richard Vacar, Bill White, and Council, who shamefully put an existing shuttle service out of business). Indeed, perhaps METRO should even consider cutting the cost of the service to boost ridership (which probably won't happen, because Yellow Cab wouldn't like that), or should run small vans instead of more expensive large luxury buses when there are only two passengers. Do we really want to return to the days of the METRO 102 "Express"?
In related airport news this past week, the Chronicle's Chris Moran posted an analysis of the EZ Tag Airport Parking program that was recently killed by Harris County Commissioners Court. The deal negotiated by the Harris County Toll Road Authority never quite lived up to expectations, and will wind up costing taxpayers some $3-3.5 million before it shuts down, according to Moran.
Still, the service was/is a convenient one for travelers, and we'd like to see it return under a deal that allows it to sustain itself. Like Charles Kuffner (who posted most of the story, just in case it rolls to archives or you'd rather click there than Chron.com), we're not sure why this turned into such an expensive fiasco.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/07/10 08:02 PM |
So much better than the amateur blog content
THIS WEEK'S HOUSTON PRESS features a really solid local story by an actual professional journalist*: John Nova Lomax takes a look the sharp change in the prosecution of vehicular crimes under Harris Country District Attorney Patricia** Lykos. The story features commentary from local blawggers Murray Newman and Mark Bennett.
* The Village Voice Houston corporate alt-weekly occasionally throws a curveball.
** We've noticed that many publications have started referring to our media-obsessed DA as "Patricia" rather than "Pat," the name that seemed to work just fine for years.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/07/10 07:31 PM |
We would have liked rapping topiary bunnies
METRO'S MARKETING DEPARTMENT WANTED to do something that showed "METRO isn't just a government entity," so they thought and they thought, and shazam! it hit them: Let's make a rap video with kids. As the video's director said, "It's a subtle and unique way to get people to pay attention to METRO and its services without following the same old route." Uh, okay.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/07/10 06:47 AM |
04 February 2010
Say it ain't so, Unca
YESTERDAY, UNCA DARRELL skewered the Chronicle editorial board, as he is wont to do on his intelligent blog.
Today, he announced that he's shutting things down.
Unless he's becoming the Chron's conservative staff columnist (right!), we think that's a real drag. Take a break and reconsider, Unca Darrell!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/04/10 10:24 PM |
McGuff on the Mia Gradney Chron profile
MIKE MCGUFF thinks CW39 should be pretty happy with the Chron's glowing profile of Mia Gradney, even if the timing is a little puzzling.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/04/10 10:14 PM |
Just another day at America's worst big city daily
THE CHRON'S JUNIOR METRO/STATE COLUMNIST returns to the print version of the newspaper today with an essay not about metro/state matters... but about herself.
Congratulations go out to the new mother, of course. But we can't quite comprehend why any editor at America's worst big city daily thought this dreck should actually make it to print in the metro/state section.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/04/10 10:09 PM |
Saturday blogger/beer/BS gathering
IT'S BEEN A WHILE, so we thought we'd have one of our blogger/beer/BS gatherings.
We'll be hitting the Stag's Head Pub on Saturday from 2pm - ????
Come on by, have an adult beverage, and say hello if you have time Saturday.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/04/10 08:36 PM |
03 February 2010
Water rate increase discussion moves to the Chron
THE MOVE TO INCREASE WATER RATES* that blogger Ubu Roi has been warning about for some time has finally spilled onto the pages of the Chronicle. Here is the ominous warning from our mayor:
“Council members are going to have to make some hard choices,” Parker said. “This is a problem that's been out there for a very long time.”
Too bad effectively dealing with that longstanding problem (and the crime lab, pension underfunding, HPD understaffing, etc) wasn't a priority of the mayor who purported to "run the city like a business" (although a better description might have been, "run the city like a big statewide campaign prop, while punting hard decisions and problems to future administrations").
It is no secret that we have been highly critical of Clarence Bradford over the years. But we'll give the councilmember (!) points for this sensible (if slightly ineloquent) defense of fiscal conservatism:
“Our economy is now sagging terribly down,” Councilman C.O. Bradford said. He added that he opposed any increases in taxes, fees or rates, “particularly when we haven't had a healthy, productive broad discussion about reducing spending. ... We must start with reducing spending and looking at core services.”
* As Cory Crow properly notes, you can regard it as a tax increase.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/03/10 09:34 AM |
01 February 2010
On The Good Life
SLAMPO POSTS about the Chron's latest effort to generate some interest (while apparently littering driveways of non-subscribers).
We're a little more bullish on the enterprise -- maybe with the addition of some reader party pics and excerpts from the online blogs, The Good Life could be made even better!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/01/10 09:38 PM |
Chron: "Troubleshooter" moves from Public Works to Mayor's Office
ANDY ICKEN, quaintly described as former Mayor Bill White's City Hall "troubleshooter" by the Chron.com Houston Politics blog, will be moving from Public Works to Mayor Parker's office.
Since so much of his *ahem* troubleshooting for the previous administration gave the appearance of politicizing an ostensibly technocratic agency, moving him to a more purely political *ahem* troubleshooting role seems appropriate.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/01/10 09:16 PM |
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