From the Inbox, from CM Noriega: Council Member Melissa Noriega announces a Special Called Transportation, Technology & Infrastructure Committee meeting Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. TTI committee members will review the changes to Chapter 9, Stormwater Design Requirements, Chapter 13, Stormwater Quality Design Requirements and receive public comments. The Standards Review Committee (SRC), Department of [...]
Posts under ‘Local politics’
Mike Anderson reveals that he has cancer
Very sorry to hear this. Mike Anderson, Harris County’s district attorney, informed his staff Thursday that he has been diagnosed with cancer. “I have great doctors and am undergoing treatment. I fully intend to beat this,” said a brief email sent Thursday and signed “Mike.” “Many people have asked how they can help me. I [...]
It sure is nice to budget when you have money
Mayor Parker has released her FY2014 budget, and it’s great news for those of you that have been waiting for their single-stream recycling bin. More than 100,000 Houston homes will be added to the city’s single-stream recycling program by this fall, doubling the number of households receiving the 96-gallon green bins. About 35,000 homes will [...]
MBIA lawsuit against Sports Authority dismissed
I haven’t seen a story about this in the print edition for whatever the reason. A state district court judge on Tuesday ruled that the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority cannot be sued by the company that insures the $1 billion in debt that the agency services on local sports stadiums. Bond insurer MBIA, with the [...]
On HCAD and rigging the system
This Houston Press cover story on the Harris County Appraisal District is provocative, to say the least. A months-long investigation by the Houston Press finds that Brookfield isn’t the only mega-dollar company that’s sitting pretty with a momentous tax break. According to a June 2012 Service Employees International Union report, corporate giants such as Chevron, [...]
Astrodome anti-climax
That’s it?!?!?!? The Harris County Sports & Convention Corp. board of directors approved a resolution Wednesday calling for staff to collect ideas for what to do with the vacant Reliant Astrodome between now and June 10. The Sports Corp., the agency that manages Reliant Park, would analyze any proposals its receives before bringing them to [...]
Someone will do something sort of soon about the Dome
I can’t be more specific than that. While Houston’s Super Bowl Host Committee continues its bid to win the vote for Super Bowl LI, the next step in the possible demolition of the Astrodome could be taken next week by the board of directors of the Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation. The HCSCC presides [...]
Watch the county’s business
I wholeheartedly approve of this. Meetings of the Harris County Commissioners Court and the governing boards of the Port of Houston Authority, the Harris Health System and the Harris County Department of Education soon could be streamed live online. County Judge Ed Emmett on Tuesday [asked] the court for permission to find a vendor to [...]
Developer impact fee approved by Council
I did not know that this hadn’t been done yet. Developers will join property owners in paying drainage fees following City Council’s approval Wednesday. The developer impact fee was included in the voter-approved 2010 city charter amendment now known as Rebuild Houston, but city officials said the unwieldy process of setting the fee under state [...]
Are we getting close to a Dome decision?
Maybe by the end of the year. But don’t rush County Judge Ed Emmett, who has a few things to say about that study that claimed it would be cheaper than originally reported to demolish the Astrodome. Harris County Judge Ed Emmett put that study with all the ones that have been done over the [...]
Carl Whitmarsh
From the inbox: Here’s the donation link. I sent a check, because I’m just old-fashioned. Carl has done a lot for Democrats in Harris County for a long time, and he deserves our support in his time of need. Please help if you can. Thanks very much.
City response on “One Bin For All”
Last week, I asked several environmental groups for feedback on the city’s One Bin For All proposal. I said I would follow up on that with the city. I have their response here, but before I get to it I want to report that I got some further feedback from David Weinberg of the Texas [...]
The Lykos era officially ends
That’s all she wrote. A grand jury scrutinizing former District Attorney Pat Lykos and her administration declined Thursday to indict Lykos regarding allegations of misuse of public resources. The Harris County grand jury’s decision to end its term without action ends a yearlong probe. It was initiated when the Texas Rangers asked for a special [...]
County redistricting lawsuit costing a bundle
Redistricting is expensive, y’all. Harris County has spent nearly $1.3 million fighting a 2011 lawsuit filed by a group of Hispanic activists against the redistricting plan it adopted that year for its four county commissioner precincts. The plaintiffs, led by Houston City Councilmen James Rodriguez and Ed Gonzalez, and represented by Chad Dunn, general counsel [...]
Houston’s health care cost problem
This is a problem for which there’s no easy solution. Hoping to contain rising health care costs, Mayor Annise Parker recently hiked premiums and cut benefits for employees, a move union leaders said overburdens workers and some City Council members said does not adequately cut costs. Health benefits, long a budget-buster for governments, jumped from [...]
The next step to closing the city jail
The sobering center was Step 1. Step 2 is a joint processing center with the county, and that is now closer to happening. With backing from the city of Houston, Harris County is reviving a long-discussed plan to build a facility to process inmates into the county jail, and to offer the mental health services [...]
One size does not fit all, parking regulations department
This makes a lot of sense to me. A proposed rewrite of Houston’s off-street parking rules could allow some areas to alter the new requirements or ditch them altogether, part of what Mayor Annise Parker said is an effort to allow tailored solutions in this “city of neighborhoods.” City planners say the off-street parking ordinance, [...]
What to expect from clearing the rape kit backlog
As you know, two weeks ago Mayor Parker announced that the city would allocate funds to clear the backlog of rape kits, thus bringing to a conclusions one of the city’s longest-standing issues. City Council has now unanimously approved the plan, in which out of state labs will provide the analyses. What was fascinating to [...]
HCDE hires Eversole to lobby for them
From the Things That Make Me Do A Facepalm department: The HCDE has hired Jerry Eversole as a lobbyist. Yeah, that Jerry Eversole. Eversole was taciturn in discussing his work Thursday, saying department of education officials approached him. His contract will pay $45,000, plus expenses, between Dec. 1, 2012, and Aug. 31, and calls for [...]
Harris Health System plans to serve more patients via Medicaid waiver
The story about what they’re going to do leaves a few details out, however. Harris Health System leaders plan to serve 100,000 new patients in the next three years. That is a 37 percent increase from today, and is particularly ambitious when you consider how many patients the system added in the last year: about [...]
Yes, Ed Emmett supports Medicaid expansion
As I’m sure you’re aware, I’ve been banging the drum pretty much nonstop for Medicaid expansion. I see it not only as a state issue but a county issue as well, which is why I’ve made a big deal about what Harris County is or isn’t doing about it. I haven’t seen the subject come [...]
Not a big enough picture
The headline on this story reads “County mulls big-picture health council”, but a read of the story makes it clear that there’s a big piece of this picture missing from the discussion. Harris County is discussing a big-picture approach to its complex and overlapping health care costs, proposing the creation of a council to coordinate [...]
Clearing the rape kit backlog
Some excellent news from the Mayor’s office. Mayor Annise Parker and the Houston Police Department today announced details of a plan that will eliminate the backlog of untested sexual assault kits (SAK). Under the plan, which will be formally considered by Houston City Council next week, the untested kits will be sent to two outside [...]
The off-street parking debate
I believe the new offstreet parking requirements that have been proposed and are being debated are at least as big a deal as the Chapter 42 revisions. We really need to get this right. Under the new rules, some eateries – dessert shops, carryout restaurants – would need less parking, but requirements on most restaurants [...]
City wants the Lege to deal with payday lending
That’s what came out of the presentation to Council on payday lending on Tuesday. Houston leaders say they will wait to see whether the Legislature acts during its current session before voting on their proposal. Mayor Annise Parker has said the industry “cries out for regulation” and called the state’s failure to do so “disgraceful.” [...]
Ready or not, here comes Chapter 42
Changes are coming to Chapter 42, the section of Houston’s ordinances that deal with density and development, and to Chapter 26, the section on off-street parking for bars and restaurants and what have you. The revisions would allow neighborhoods to create special parking areas tailored to their needs, reduce parking requirements for historic buildings, allow [...]
Payday and title loan regulation in Houston
From Nonsequiteuse, who got the following email in her inbox: Proposed City of Houston Lending Ordinance Presentation to Council Committee Tuesday, February 5, 2013 The City of Houston Legal Department has proposed new regulations for credit access businesses, commonly referred to as payday loan or title loan institutions. The lending practices employed by these various [...]
Schechter’s seat filled
The HCC Board of Trustees has named a replacement for the outgoing Richard Schechter. Houston Community College trustees unanimously agreed Thursday to appoint attorney Leila Feldman to fill a recently vacated seat on the school board. Feldman served as associate general counsel for HCC from March 2009 to June 2010 and is now the general [...]
Sports Authority gets sued
MBIA, the company that insures the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority’s bonds, has filed a lawsuit to force the Sports Authority to collect more money to pay its obligations. If MBIA must cover payment shortfalls and cannot reimburse itself from the authority’s reserves, the amount owed to the insurer will accumulate with interest. In such a [...]
Tell us more about these HCC concerns
The Chron expresses some concerns about recent happenings with the HCC Board of Trustees. As many longtime Houston residents are well aware, HCC has too frequently been plagued by problems involving the approval of contracts to board members’ supporters and relatives. Our endorsement of the bond issue was conditioned on the assurance that such problems [...]
Inside baseball with the hospital district
I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to learn from this article about the political relationship between the Harris County Hospital District and Commissioners Court. You have to wonder if David Lopez ever feels like he’s in the circus. When Lopez, the CEO of Harris Health System, Harris County’s public hospital district, visits Commissioners Court [...]
Some things you can vaccinate against
Saying dumb things isn’t one of them. As the council considered a proposal Wednesday to accept $3.1 million in federal funding for childhood immunizations, Councilman Jack Christie voiced his opposition to the measure, apparently conflating it with flu vaccinations. “I’m going to vote against this,” Christie said before the 15-1 vote. “You don’t die from [...]
City pension funds make their case
This deserves more visibility than it’s gotten. Representatives of Houston’s three employee pension boards told a Houston City Council committee Monday that the sky is not falling and pleaded with council members to be patient in examining the city’s pension obligations. The presentations from the firefighters’ pension, the municipal employees’ pension and the police pension [...]