The Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation has plenty of material to work with as it prepares to make a recommendation to Commissioners Court about the Astrodome. Harris County Sports & Convention Corp. staff will spend the next week evaluating 19 plans for redeveloping the Astrodome and putting the finishing touches on the agency’s own [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Commissioners Court’
The Texans and the Rodeo will have their say on the fate of the Dome
There’s this little matter of their lease agreement to deal with. Five years ago, Harris County appeared on the brink of striking a deal with a group of entrepreneurs to turn the Astrodome into a 1,300-room hotel and convention center, a $450 million plan that never came to fruition. County officials say its failure came [...]
Astrodome-palooza
In case you aren’t completely full of my opining on the Astrodome and its possible fate, I was the author of a op-ed in the Sunday Chron on the subject. It’s kind of the Reader’s Digest version of the things I’ve been saying here, so if you don’t click over you won’t miss anything new [...]
The fault lies not with Commissioners Court
Chron columnist Ken Hoffman fired a shot in his Sunday column. What to do with the Astrodome? It’s had its day. Let it go before it becomes even more of an embarrassing money pit. Dump the Dome! M. Meagher, Houston I figured out why the Astrodome is just sitting there falling into disrepair – because [...]
It’s about use, not just sentiment
NYT reporter Jere Longman, who hails from Houston, penned a love letter to the Astrodome after hearing about its possible impending demise. So it was despairing to hear that the vacant Astrodome might be torn down and its site paved over as Houston prepares to host the 2017 Super Bowl. Demolition would be a failure [...]
Making San Antonio more musical
San Antonio is a little jealous of Austin, it seems. Tired of San Antonio playing second fiddle to Austin when it comes to a live music scene, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff on Friday laid out ambitious plans to change that. Wolff said he’s ready to work with two top-notch promoters to raise San Antonio’s [...]
Does the Super Bowl doom the Dome?
The Texican ponders what the announcement about Houston landing Super Bowl LI means for everyone’s favorite unused arena. So what does this mean for our Dome? A parking garage would be an ignoble end for the Dome, though I am sure many would settle for parking somewhere in the former lodge section if it meant [...]
Getting all of the courts ready for e-filing
I confess to being a little confused at first when I read this. A half-dozen Harris County departments will spend the rest of the year scrambling to fulfill a Texas Supreme Court mandate that all civil courts accept only electronic filings, starting next January. In a ruling issued last December, the high court said large [...]
A Q&A about the TCDCC
Last week, I introduced you to the Texas County Democratic Campaign Committee (TCDCC), which is focused on recruiting and supporting county-level Democratic candidates outside of our current urban strongholds. It’s an idea and an organization that is long overdue. I wanted to know more about it, so I sent some questions to TCDCC founder Robert [...]
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 [...]
The emotional Dome decision
Nobody really wants to tear the Astrodome down. That in a nutshell is why the process to determine what to do with it has taken so long even though there aren’t any viable alternatives to demolition at this time. A failure to come up with a feasible plan with the financing to make it happen [...]
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 [...]
A STEM vision for the Astrodome
Tory Gattis has an idea for what to do with the Astrodome. Where can America’s kids go to be inspired toward careers in our country’s most crucial need: science, technology, engineering and math (aka STEM)? Something far beyond their little local science or children’s museum? Houston could be that city, building not only on our [...]
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 [...]
Fort Bend County Commissioners Court supports Medicaid expansion
Fort Bend County, y’all. RESOLUTION OF THE FORT BEND COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT IN SUPPORT OF EXPANSION OF MEDICAIL) COVERAGE WHEREAS, Texas has the highest rate of uninsured [24%) and underinsured in the United States and 23% of the residents of Fort Bend County are uninsured, and WHEREAS, Expanding Medicaid would ensure 1.5 million more Texans [...]
The Chron would like someone to do something about the Dome
Something other than turning it into a parking lot, please. Whatever we do with the former Astrodome location should bolster Reliant Stadium’s capability to host events and make the overall complex a more attractive location during bidding processes. For inspiration, county officials should look north along the light rail line to downtown’s Discovery Green. During [...]
Harris County wants to be like the city in regulating eight-liners
One of the main differences between Houston and Harris County is that the city can generally do what it wants to do while the county had to get a law passed to do the same thing. When the city of Houston began enforcing stricter regulations on topless clubs and massage parlors, officials saw complaints against [...]
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 [...]
County disputes cheaper Dome demolition price tag
It’s on. Harris County officials on Thursday disputed an estimate released this week showing it would cost $29 million to implode the vacant Reliant Astrodome and build a 1,600-space parking lot in two and a half years. The figure, calculated by local firms Linbeck Construction and Walter P. Moore and Associates after a three-month study [...]
Maybe it wouldn’t be so expensive to demolish the Dome after all
Hey, look! It’s another What To Do With The Astrodome study! Woo hoo! The Houston Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo have commissioned a study showing it would cost $29 million to demolish the 48-year-old stadium and build a 1,600-space parking lot, less than half what consultants hired by the Harris County Sports [...]
No increase in jail population as yet
Good to hear. When Harris County District Attorney Mike Anderson toppled incumbent Pat Lykos in last year’s Republican primary, some county budget hawks got fidgety. The campaign’s central issue, after all, was Anderson’s opposition to a Lykos policy that treated cases with drug residue of less than 1/100th of a gram as misdemeanors. Lykos was [...]
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 [...]
No Dome referendum yet
If you’ve been waiting for a chance to vote on the fate of the Astrodome, you’ll just have to keep waiting. Harris County officials unveiled options for the future of the long-vacant Astrodome last summer, with some members of Commissioners Court saying voters might be presented with a bond referendum last November, or perhaps this [...]
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 [...]
More counties for Medicaid expansion
All of these are from last week. Bexar County: On a bipartisan vote, Bexar County commissioners Tuesday urged Texas lawmakers to expand the state’s Medicaid program and take advantage of federal matching funds under the Affordable Care Act. “From 2014 to 2017, expansion will bring $27.2 billion in federal revenue to Texas for just over [...]
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 [...]
Report recommends against privatizing the Harris County jail
Very good news. Privatizing the Harris County jail would be risky and may not result in savings, according to an internal county memo recommending that Commissioners Court keep the state’s largest lockup in Sheriff Adrian Garcia’s hands. The confidential Feb. 11 memo, obtained by the Houston Chronicle, comes after more than a year of study [...]
Medicaid expansion pressure is having an effect
Despite the mountains of evidence in its favor, I still can’t say that I see a path to Medicaid expansion in Texas. But stories like this do give me some hope. Adamantly opposed to expanding Medicaid coverage under President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst had seemingly [...]
Riddle wants to abolish the HCDE
From Big Jolly: State Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-150) filed HB945 [last] week. If enacted, it would abolish the Harris County Department of Education, transferring control of the assets to the Harris County Commissioners Court, and giving the commissioners one year to liquidate them. The brains behind this, if you can call them that, is former [...]
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 [...]
January finance reports for Harris County offices
For the most part, it’s way too early to start thinking about the 2014 Harris County elections – we have a legislative session and a city election cycle to get through first – but since January 15 is a reporting deadline for county officeholders, I figure I may as well have a peek at who [...]