Five great years for a great park and an awesome city amenity. Five years after its opening, more than 1 million people annually come to stretch out on the grassy slope to take in live music and movies with the skyline as a backdrop, to play with Frisbees and soccer balls, to splash in the [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Bill White’
Mayor Parker kicks off her campaign
It’s the time of the season for Mayor Parker, who has a serious challenger this time, but also a stronger hand to play. In her tenure, Parker has given teeth to the city’s historic preservation rules, broken a deadlock with Harris County to help build the Dynamo stadium, gave scandal-ridden Metro new leaders and revised [...]
Everybody sues the EPA
The state of Texas and our pollution-loving Attorney General do it because they think the EPA does too much to protect us from harm. Some other groups do it because they think the EPA isn’t doing enough. In the suit filed on Thursday, Air Alliance Houston and three other groups accuse the U.S. Environmental Protection [...]
If only it were that easy to get our act together
Outgoing Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has some blunt words for Houston about light rail. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood likes Houston’s light rail that’s up and running but warns that regional transit officials have squandered opportunities the past decade by not building greater consensus. “The region needs to get its act together,” LaHood said during [...]
Gubernatorial speculation: Mike Villarreal and Bill White
A few days back, BOR had a post about who was on deck for 2014, and the first two candidates they speculated about for Governor were two I had not talked about here before, State Rep. Mike Villarreal and 2010 candidate and former Houston Mayor Bill White. (They also listed State Sen. Kirk Watson, but [...]
Houston loses air pollution permit lawsuit
Bummer. The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that Houston may not effectively void a state air pollution permit. The justices agreed with Southern Crushed Concrete that Houston’s 2007 law restricting the location of concrete-crushing facilities violates state statute by nullifying a permit issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. In reversing an appeals court [...]
PPP polls Texas
I have three things to say about this. Texas voters- even Republicans- have had enough of Rick Perry. PPP’s newest poll finds that only 31% of voters think Perry should seek reelection next year, compared to 62% who think it’s time for him to step aside. He’s among the most unpopular Governors in the country, [...]
Draft Julian?
Who wants to see Julian Castro run for Governor in 2014? His fellow Bexar County Democrats, at least. Bexar County Democratic Party Chairman Manuel Medina launched a social media movement last week to draft Castro for the 2014 Texas governor’s race. Medina, who unseated former party Chairwoman Choco Meza in May, describes the push as [...]
Endorsement watch: For Ann Johnson
I noted on Monday that the Chron listed Ann Johnson as one of its endorsed candidates. Yesterday they wrote the endorsement editorial to go along with that. The tea party turnout of 2010 gave Republican candidate Sarah Davis the narrow victory she needed to win in District 134, a prosperous swing district that covers areas [...]
Waiting for an investment
Some day, the national Democratic Party will make an investment in Texas rather than just use us as a glorified ATM. Just don’t ask me when that day will be. Texans have become accustomed to occupying the nosebleed seats at the Democratic National Convention, extras in a production that favors states that are solidly blue [...]
Some coverage for Sadler
It’s a start. The Tea Party has toppled another mainstream Republican, this time in Texas. Lost in much of the coverage of the primary contest between Houston attorney Ted Cruz and Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst was the November general election, which will feature a real, live Democrat. The assumption behind the media oversight, of course, [...]
No term limits referendum this fall
Much as I dislike our silly term limits ordinance, I think this is the correct term of action. A City Council committee on Monday killed a proposal to ask voters whether to give the mayor, controller and council members up to 12 years in office. They currently are limited to six. Councilman Andrew Burks, whose [...]
The other PPP April polls
In addition to their Presidential poll, Public Policy Polling asked about the Senate race and the future of Rick Perry. In their poll of the GOP Senate primary, they see things tightening up. Every time PPP polls Texas the Republican Senate primary gets closer and closer. What was a 29 point lead for David Dewhurst [...]
It’s always easier to talk in the abstract
I have three things to say about this. The city of Houston has been papering over multimillion-dollar budget deficits for nine years by borrowing money, tapping its rainy day fund, selling buildings and just plain putting off bills to the future, according to city finance officials. [...] This year, Mayor Annise Parker has pledged not [...]
Runoff precinct analysis, At Large #5
Here are the numbers for the At Large #5 runoff between CM-elect Jack Christie and CM Jolanda Jones. As this was a rematch from 2009, I’m putting the 2011 numbers alongside the 2009 numbers, again with the caveat that they’re not really directly comparable. We work with what we’ve got, though, so here it is: [...]
BBVA Compass Stadium
Dynamo Stadium gets a new name. When the Dynamo first approached BBVA Compass before breaking ground on their new stadium, the two-time MLS Cup champions were looking for a loan to help finance the construction of the club’s venue on the East End. Now, the bank will have its name and a note on BBVA [...]
Precinct analysis: The 2011 Mayor’s race
I finally have a draft canvass of the 2011 Harris County vote. You know what that means. Here’s the breakdown in the Council districts for the Mayor’s race: Dist Simms Ullman Wilson Herrera Parker O’Connor ===================================================== A 4.41% 1.28% 16.31% 18.03% 41.89% 18.09% B 22.41% 3.02% 11.92% 12.71% 43.80% 6.14% C 1.65% 0.83% 9.11% 11.21% [...]
Endorsement watch: Bell for Jones
Former Council Member and Mayoral candidate Chris Bell has endorsed Jolanda Jones for re-election, writing his own letter of support for her, which you can see here. Normally, I’m not that interested in this sort of personal endorsement, but since I noted the unexpected endorsement of Jones’ opponent Jack Christie by former Mayor Bill White, [...]
Endorsement watch: White for Christie
This came as a surprise to me. Former Mayor Bill White has endorsed Jack Christie for the At-Large 5 City Council seat. It is the only endorsement the ex-mayor has made in this year’s city elections. White sent out a letter explaining his endorsement, which you can read here. I have been told by the [...]
No tax rate increase this year
No surprise. Mayor Annise Parker has officially proposed not raising taxes this year. Through her finance director, the mayor is asking the City Council at its Sept. 21 meeting to adopt the existing property tax rate of 0.63875 per $100 taxable value as this year’s rate. “It’s very hard in these times to not look [...]
The 70 Percent Solution
Where have I heard this before? November’s election really is about 2013, said lawyer, lobbyist and blogger Robert Miller. He speculates that the mayor needs to win big against low-profile opponents in November to discourage stronger candidates from running against her as she seeks a final term in 2013. “If she looks weak, blood attracts [...]
Finance reports and the Mayor’s race
Finance report updates: David Robinson has filed his corrected report, which includes the $53,095.57 cash on hand total that was omitted in the original. There were no other changes made. Mayoral candidate Kevin Simms has now filed his report. He lists $4,033.83 in contributions, $2,873.79 in expenses, and $1,160.04 on hand. Interestingly, he also lists [...]
Where the votes were and weren’t in 2006 and 2010
When I was doing the electoral analysis for the new Congressional districts, I also had data about how many votes were cast in each district. And in looking through that data, I saw some interesting things. What I was looking for was the change in Democratic turnout from 2006 to 2010. We know 2010 was [...]
“Sanctuary cities” bill passes the Senate
Once it was added to the call, this became inevitable. Senate Republicans finally passed a priority issue for their party early Wednesday morning when they outmuscled their Democratic colleagues on an immigration-related bill intended to make it easier for law enforcement to corral illegal immigrants. At its core, SB 9 allows law enforcement officers to [...]
You may say to yourself “Well, how did I get here?”
What’s missing from this story? The city of Houston’s budget crisis that has resulted in 747 employees getting pink slips last month and likely will close pools and community centers did not happen overnight. It has been brewing for the better part of a decade, the result of, among other things, spending more while taxing [...]
The Mayor and the firefighters
Despite the tone of this, I wouldn’t make too much of it. While looking for tens of millions of dollars through a combination of cuts, deferrals, savings and fee hikes, Mayor Annise Parker repeatedly has identified the Houston Fire Department as one of the largest of budget bogeymen. Whether describing an intransigent pension board, a [...]
Council will vote on SafeClear changes
Back in March, the city announced that it would be removing most of the subsidies for SafeClear as a cost-saving measure. The details have now been finalized and will be ready for Council action in June. Roadside services, such as changing a tire, would cost $30. The city had been paying that $50 per tow. [...]
No more free tows
Change is coming to SafeClear – it will now cost $50 for a tow on a highway inside the city, instead of it being provided for free. Passing the cost of towing to motorists is expected to save the city about $3.3 million a year, one of numerous steps the city is considering to close [...]
Don’t claim endorsements you don’t have
Seems like that lesson needs to be re-learned every cycle. We already have two examples of it this cycle. Here’s example one: City Council candidate Eric Dick apologized for advertising an upcoming fund-raiser by sending out a mailer featuring a photo of Sheriff Adrian Garcia standing with Dick in front of City Hall. “I didn’t [...]