MeMo documents downtown tow truck/HPD revenue stream
The Chronicle's Kyrie O'Connor verges dangerously close to blogHOUSTON territory today:
Almost every day between 4 and 5 I glance down onto the street and note the tow-truck activity outside my spacious but ill-appointed office on the 5th floor of the Chronicle building in downtown Houston. The trucks and cops at that hour are removing illegal parkers. I've got to believe they're doing this in anticipation of the impending rush of traffic. But I've got to say, I've never really seen the traffic part. Maybe I just don't notice. I took these notes yesterday at 4:48 p.m.:
There are five tow trucks visible on Milam from my office window. Two have cars hooked up to them. There is one police car with its lights flashing, in the middle of the scrum of trucks and cars.
The traffic I can see on Milam is this: six cars, three taxis, one bus. And this is during a red light.
MayorWhiteChiefHurtt do have to pay for those Tasers and shiny new badges somehow! Oh, and that little matter of the $600,000 lawsuit.
So, limited HPD resources are devoted to managing downtown parking to ensure traffic flow (a burgeoning problem that may soon require a new Parking Authority! *wink wink*), managing downtown speeding, managing poorly designed downtown rail/auto intersections, and keeping those pesky downtown jaywalkers from walking into the train. All in the name of productivity!
It's not like we have problems with gangs, or home invasions, or vandalism that might benefit from more visible police patrols.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/06/05 05:21 PM | Print |
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