We made it back to Houston last night without incident, and I am going to brave the streets to go to the office for at least a few hours. Technically, I don't have to - it's closed for anyone who isn't required to be there till Monday - but as I deal in BlackBerry and have a lot of customers from outside the Houston area, I've got stuff to catch up on. We'll see how it goes. I hope everyone remembers the old adage about treating intersections with un-powered traffic lights as four-way stops.
One thing I do know is that I won't be competing with school-related traffic, and that will continue to be true for at least the beginning of next week.
Carl Boland, director of the Harris County Department of Education's Center for Safe and Secure Schools, said he is confident the "lion's share" of districts will reopen Monday.Katy, Tomball, Spring Branch and Cy-Fair are among those hoping for a Monday reopening.
The Houston Independent School District, the state's largest district, likely will have to wait, Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra said. As of Thursday afternoon, only 106 of the district's 300 campuses had power.
About 170 other HISD schools will be ready to open as soon as power is restored. Seventeen schools, including Austin, Furr and Milby high schools, aren't repaired yet, but could be by the weekend, officials said.
"I would hope we could reopen sometime next week," Saavedra said
Courtesy of State Rep. Jessica Farrar, here's some Ike resources - POD locations, shelters, other stuff - in English and Spanish.
Some post-Ike photos from my neck of the woods in Houstonist and Texas Monthly.
Not too surprisingly, the Progressive Forum lecture by Markos Moulitsas that was scheduled for Monday, September 22, has been cancelled. If you bought a ticket, you'll get an email advising you that you can transfer it to the October 22 event featuring Eleanor Clift, or get a refund.
And finally, a message from Joe Jaworski:
Dear Friends and Neighbors,Thank you to everyone who has reached out to me and my family, as well as the campaign staff, regarding our safety and well-being. My family and the entire campaign staff safely evacuated and are doing well. However, many of our friends and neighbors were not as fortunate and need our help now, more than ever. That is why we have temporarily suspended our campaign. Myself, our campaign staff and organization will be focused on helping to distribute supplies and clean up neighborhoods throughout Galveston and all the cities and areas affected by Ike. All scheduled events are cancelled until further notice.
Because of the difficulty of going back and forth to Galveston Island, we are relocating our campaign headquarters to the BAND/HCDP Clear Lake office located at 568 El Dorado, Webster, TX (at the corner of Hwy 3 and El Dorado - map), where we will organize our volunteers for the relief effort. Please contact Field Director Brooke Heller at 512-569-0097 or brooke@jaworskifortexas.com for more information on volunteering. (Please note that cell phone service is intermittent, so please be patient and keep trying.) Keep an eye on your email, as we will send out detailed volunteer information in the coming days.
Additionally, we have created a page on our website with assistance information: http://jaworskifortexas.com/home/hurricane-ike-information/
Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this storm. Please contact our campaign at info@jaworskifortexas.com or 409-789-0299 if you need anything or have any questions. We will assist you any way we can.
Take care,
Joe Jaworski
