31 October 2009
Eversole will run for re-election
THE CHRON reports what many of us learned via social networking sites yesterday: Embattled Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole will be running for re-election. The Chron version does offer comment from the usual go-to sources (Democrats Richard Murray and Bicyclist Bob Stein), however.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/31/09 08:01 AM |
30 October 2009
NYT covers Houston mayoral race (superficially)
FOR SOME REASON, THE NEW YORK TIMES decided Houston's mayoral race merited a story. To summarize: There's not much difference among the three major candidates, one of them is a lesbian but it's not that big a deal to most Houstonians, Republican voters appear to be up for grabs, and the NYT likes one of the same dull go-to sources that local media always uses.
Oh, and the Gray Lady says Mayor White "is stepping down to run for the United States Senate," when he is actually leaving office because of term limits (and hasn't let his current job get in the way of his Senate campaigning around the state).
UPDATE (10/31/09): Did the Gray Lady "borrow" from Mike Snyder and the Chron? A person could make that case.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/30/09 06:08 PM |
Back to you, Raequel
YESTERDAY KEVIN WHITED NOTED that METRO VP Raequel "9-volt battery" Roberts gave a snippy response to Texas Watchdog's Jennifer Peebles who was inquiring about media access to METRO Chairman David Wolff's upcoming speech to the Greater Houston Partnership. Roberts said that Wolff was just following the lead of other local leaders, including Mayor White and Judge Emmett. That prompted a response today from Joe Stinebaker, Judge Emmett's communications director:
As the communications director for Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, I can speak only to The "State Of The County" Address. We provide a free area in the room for the public and media to hear the address (sorry, no meal), and we actively encourage both to attend through news releases and public alerts. Afterward, Judge Emmett makes himself available at a publicly accessible news conference. In addition, the entire speech is videotaped and made available for some time on the judge's Web site (and GHP's, I believe). We try to ensure that the public is not only welcome, but encouraged, to hear what the judge has to say.
The ball is back in Roberts' court. Will METRO ensure that the media has access without paying for a (discounted!) $65 ticket?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/30/09 05:55 PM |
Astros County: Alyson Footer calls out Chron's Jesus Ortiz
AT LEAST ONE COLLEAGUE of Chron baseball reporter/McLane PR man Jesus Ortiz apparently isn't impressed with his work either. Astros County posts the details.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/30/09 05:42 PM |
The Holm KCOH-1430 gambit
CONTROLLER CANDIDATE PAM HOLM has purchased a 30-minute block on KCOH-1430 to allow opponent Ron Green "to explain his more than $120,000 federal income tax debt to you and to Houston voters." We don't expect Green to take the bait, but we do plan on tuning in.
So what do you think: Is this maneuver a political masterstroke or looming disaster for Holm? Or for Green?
UPDATE: Green IS on the show. Good for him and good for us. This should be an interesting conversation.
UPDATE 2: That was a civil and informative discussion. For those of you who listened, what do you think?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/30/09 08:53 AM |
City of Houston hypocrisy
SO THE CITY OF HOUSTON wants Harris County to go after vehicle owners who haven't paid red light camera tickets, but the city is unwilling to pay county toll fines incurred by drivers of city cars (via the Chron's James Pinkerton):
"Harris Co. have (sic) been sending individual tickets without pictures (no proof) and expecting someone to pay," finance department employee Al Owens wrote. "That someone would be the driver and not the City of Houston. The City of Houston is not responsible for tickets incurred by employees with city vehicles."
As is often the case when government is involved, there are two standards: one the political class foists on average citizens, and one the political class saves for itself.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/30/09 04:28 AM |
29 October 2009
Dolcefino on Spring ISD spending, part 3
KTRK-13 UNDERCOVER MAN WAYNE DOLCEFINO offers Part Three of his investigation into allegedly wasteful spending by Spring ISD administrators. This time, he looks at more travel boondoggles and an expensive consultant named Spence Rogers (no word on whether the consultant refers to himself as "The One.")
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/09 06:45 PM |
Ho, ho ho, it's magic!
WHICH OF HOUSTON'S MAYORAL CANDIDATES promises magic? Slampo has the answer.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/09 06:10 PM |
State of METRO
STATE OF METRO: METRO's expensive blogger notes that Chairman David Wolff will be speaking at the Greater Houston Partnership next week:
If you want to find out exactly what's going on at METRO, our current condition and where we're headed, come listen to METRO Chairman David S. Wolff.
We highly doubt the TRUE state of METRO will be presented.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: The address will set you back $65 if you want to attend, which is outrageous. Check out the testy exchange Texas Watchdog's Jennifer Peebles had with METRO spokeswoman Raequel Roberts on this topic. It says a great deal about that organization's arrogance and unprofessionalism. Some mayoral candidates have promised to fire METRO bigwigs. We'd suggest there are some more good candidates in the organization's bloated media shop.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/29/09 06:09 PM |
On "Write on METRO" we concur with the mockery
CORY CROW mocks this ongoing waste of tax dollars. Chron.com's whimsical opinion-section linkblog also linked it, sans mockery.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/09 05:57 PM |
Ortiz: Drayton, my Drayton!
ASTROS OWNER DRAYTON MCLANE'S REPUTATION has been taking a justified hit of late, over everything from front-office/coaching instability to high concession prices to incessant meddling to poor results on the field to the bungled attempt to hire top managerial choice Manny Acta.
Fortunately, McLane's PR man at the Chronicle Jesus Ortiz (who poses as the baseball beat reporter) has had the owner's back for years. Here's the latest effort, which emphasizes that McLane is a "proud man" who really is in tune with fans' pain.
A better sports section would force rewrites of this sort of source-worship posing as beat reporting.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/09 05:49 PM |
TW: HISD issues credit cards to employees with bankruptcies
TEXAS WATCHDOG'S STEVE MILLER reports that over a thousand HISD employees have been issued district credit cards, despite the fact that some of those cardholders have serious credit issues.
Perhaps it's time for HISD's new superintendent to reconsider this program, or at least to beef up the internal controls (beyond the cited 96-page user's manual) and external accountability.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/09 09:28 AM |
Serial arsonist strikes again?
ANOTHER SUSPICIOUS FIRE occurred this morning in the Heights (KTRK-13, Chronicle).
Maybe the crack HPD leadership should deploy its new Plainclothes/Vagrant Battalion to hold up "Please don't burn buildings" signs in the neighborhood?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/09 06:14 AM |
Austin "reality based community" attacks HC Tax Assessor, endorses Parker (updated)
THE AUSTIN-BASED LIBERAL BLOG BURNT ORANGE REPORT (which recently endorsed Houston mayoral candidate Annise Parker, lately the hot pick of liberal bloggers) has posted a scorching critique of the Harris County Tax Office, contending the office admitted to "voter suppression" and other wrongdoing in its recent settlement of a lawsuit initiated by Texas Democrats.
Certainly, the Ed Johnson situation raised questions of propriety and opened the office to criticism, but we don't find the alleged admissions of wrongdoing in the Harris County Tax Office's press release or the settlement agreement (although we do find some good policies that Democrats, Republicans, and others ought to support). Your mileage may vary.
UPDATE: The Chron's Caucasian Think Tank interprets the matter much as we did (as opposed to the Austin Reality-Based Community). We didn't necessarily see THAT coming.
UPDATE 2: Cory Crow's perspective is eminently sensible (and efficient).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/29/09 06:07 AM |
28 October 2009
HPD rolls out innovative new revenue stream (sans acronym, sadly)
KTRK-13 reports that HPD is rolling out a new program "to crack down on aggressive drivers."
One element of the program will involve plainclothes police officers standing on the sides of surface streets, creating a distraction for drivers by holding signs that say things like "Buckle Up" (and radioing ahead so tickets can be issued to those who aren't, of course).
Apparently, nobody has told the geniuses who designed this innovative new municipal revenue stream that there is a manpower shortage at HPD and officers might be put to better use.
Image courtesy of Houston Police Department.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/28/09 08:03 PM |
Dolcefino on Spring ISD spending, part 2
KTRK-13 UNDERCOVER MAN WAYNE DOLCEFINO offers Part Two of his investigation into allegedly wasteful spending by Spring ISD administrators, who still don't want to talk to the reporter.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/28/09 02:41 PM |
Casey: Seeking salvation or votes?
CHRON METRO/STATE COLUMNIST RICK CASEY follows up today with more discussion of area black churches and campaign finance, raising questions about various candidates' donations to black churches and how campaigns/individuals account for the same (the questions are bigger than Peter Brown, in our view, although he is the one seemingly in Casey's crosshairs).
Frankly, we'd like to see much more detailed reporting on this seemingly taboo local topic.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/28/09 12:52 PM |
Chron: Flooding is an issue with no cheap solution
THE CHRON'S MIKE SNYDER reports on an increasingly important topic in Houston, Texas: Flood control.
As the subheadline notes, it's "an issue with no cheap solution." And as Houston continues to grow, our flood-control issues will grow also (and may already be more critical than, say, traffic congestion, which we have managed relatively well given our growth). Further complicating matters, Houston is broke.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/28/09 08:09 AM |
Because there's so little going on locally
INCREDIBLY, THIS IS A CHRON EDITORIAL: "Social science research recently revealed a connection that we, at least, had never made: The more housework you do, the more often you're likely to have sex with your spouse."
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/28/09 04:35 AM |
No decision on red light camera tickets
ONCE AGAIN, COMMISSIONERS COURT has postponed a decision on the city's request that the county block vehicle registrations for those who don't pay their red light camera tickets.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/28/09 04:30 AM |
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