Oops. A campaign video shows Ben Hall, the former city attorney who is now running for mayor, sitting in a classroom amid a group of schoolchildren as his voiceover talks about the importance of education. “Our children are our future,” Hall says, with music swelling in the background. “They deserve the very best education that [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Houston’
Fare enforcement for Metro
Dodging the fare on the light rail lines could become more difficult to do. Provided a key piece of state legislation comes through, Metro officials said the plan is to have new monitors in place when the new North, East and Southeast lines start ferrying passengers along the city’s rail system. “It is growing a [...]
No gay Scouts for Houston
Despite a proposed change at the national level, if you’re gay the Boy Scouts in Houston still don’t want you. On Monday, Sam Houston Area Council members said they would continue the current national policy of the Irving-based Boy Scouts of America. Like the military’s former “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy about gay troops, the [...]
The Houston Hackathon
From the Mayor’s office: Houston Mayor Annise Parker today announced the City of Houston will host a 24-hour “Open Innovation Hackathon” on May 17-18 at the Houston Technology Center and at Start Houston. A hackathon is a day-long event in which software developers, designers, and data analysts collaborate intensively on data and software projects. Over [...]
Have your say on the Uptown/Memorial Park TIRZ
From the inbox, and the office of CM Oliver Pennington: To the Residents of District G: As many of you are aware, the May 1, 2013, Council Agenda contained several items related to the Reinvestment Zone Number Sixteen (Uptown Zone), also known as TIRZ 16. Included on the agenda today were Items 15 (enlarging the [...]
North Forest still fighting as the deadlines approach
Never give up, never surrender. North Forest ISD has spent more than $595,000 appealing the state’s order to shut down, newly obtained records show, and the school district is continuing the court fight as its July closure date nears. Despite the district’s ongoing appeal before an Austin court, the Texas Education Agency has ordered North [...]
Questions about the Memorial Park part of the Uptown/Memorial TIRZ
Lisa Falkenberg reports that some people have raised questions about the Memorial Park part of the Uptown/Memorial TIRZ. Reforestation is sorely needed in a park devastated by hurricane damage and drought. This is a great deal, city leaders and supporters say, a great way to restore our crown jewel to its former beauty. And we [...]
UH goes smoke-free
Good for them. The University of Houston, which educates more than 40,000 students each year on its 667-acre campus, will become tobacco-free June 1, school officials announced Thursday. The new policy, approved by UH Chancellor Renu Khator, bans the use of tobacco products in all university buildings and grounds, including parking areas, sidewalks and walkways. [...]
The 2013 Houston Area Survey
The 2013 Houston Area Survey shows that tolerance is prevalent in our region. The results, according to institute co-director Stephen Klineberg, may reflect the region’s growing ethnic diversity, younger residents’ acceptance of change and the emergence of live-and-let-live “tolerant traditionalists.” Part of a larger survey of attitudes in the 10-county Houston metropolitan region, the 32nd [...]
HISD to begin laptops for all program
Starting small, and presumably growing from there. Houston ISD officials announced Thursday that they are prepared to give students at up to 18 high schools their own laptops next school year, becoming among the first big-city districts to launch a one-to-one computing program. “This is a way of transforming what and how we teach,” HISD [...]
Tweet My Jobs Houston
On Friday, Mayor Parker delivered the State of the City 2013. Her address was heavy on accomplishments from the past year – there are a lot of them, and there is an election coming up – but there were also announcements of new things to come. One is Tweet My Jobs Houston, and I’ll refer [...]
Revamped Chapter 42 ordinance finally passes
Strangely enough, in the end it was not very contentious. Houston City Council on Wednesday voted 14-3 to allow greater single-family home density outside Loop 610, while also strengthening the proposal’s already robust protections for neighborhoods concerned about unwelcome development. Council voted to drop the threshold of support needed to impose a minimum lot size [...]
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 [...]
For the Uptown/Memorial TIRZ
Ed Wulfe never mentions Mattress Mack or his recent diatribe in the Chron about the proposed Uptown/Memorial Park TIRZ, but his op-ed in the Chron is clearly aimed at countering naysayers like Mattress Mack. Uptown is one of the most successful mixed-use urban environments in the United States and a leading economic driver of Houston; [...]
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, [...]
Today is Chapter 42 day
Actually, today is almost certainly the day that the Chapter 42 revisions get tagged by multiple members of Council, thus pushing it back for a week. Nonetheless, this is the beginning of the end of a long, long journey. Here’s another story about what that will mean. The Fourth Ward would not look quite the [...]
Grier asks for Apollo money
It is his signature program. Houston ISD Superintendent Terry Grier on Thursday lobbied the school board for at least $17 million to expand his Apollo school reform effort, noting new research showing its benefits. Grier is facing resistance from some trustees – though likely not enough to defeat his plan – as they consider a [...]
Adios, Aeros
It was nice knowing you. After 19 years, the Houston Aeros will be no more after this season. The Minnesota Wild, who own the majority of the Aeros AHL franchise, were unable to reach a new lease agreement with the Toyota Center. According to person familiar with the situation, the team [sought approval] Thursday from [...]
Mattress Mack’s Uptown rant
There’s a lot missing from Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale’s screed in the Sunday op-ed pages. When you get right down to it, the recent announcement that the Uptown Houston Management District wants to spend $177.5 million to “redesign and widen” Post Oak Boulevard and build a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system through the heart of [...]
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 [...]
Don’t expect B-Cycle in the Heights anytime soon
I know there are a lot of people in the Heights that would like to see some bike share kiosks here, but as The Leader News reports, it will be awhile before that happens. Although running through arguably the most bike-conscious set of communities in Houston, the bike paths along White Oak Bayou and through [...]
It’s Chapter 42 week
We won’t know for years what the upcoming revisions to Chapter 42, the development and density codes in Houston, will mean to the city and its development and population patterns. There’s certainly a lot of hope that the changes will be positive. Southwest Houston, with its glut of apartments and condominiums, is three times denser [...]
The Uptown/Memorial TIRZ
Big projects, big plans, big funding mechanism. Transit and trees – things that make urban areas move quickly and look pretty – are the centerpieces of a $500 million project that would remake the Uptown area and reinvigorate Memorial Park. Mayor Annise Parker and other officials announced a plan Thursday that would fund construction of [...]
Fifth Ward revitalization
I’m very glad to see this renewal project going on it the Fifth Ward. But now the stains of that past are being scrubbed clean by the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation with what it calls the Lyons Avenue Renaissance. The multimillion-dollar project aims to attract new businesses and homeowners to one of Houston’s oldest [...]
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 [...]
How will Chapter 42 affect housing in Houston?
Yes, we’re still talking about Chapter 42, the local development and density code. One of the goals of revamping Chapter 42 is to make it easier and more attractive to build mid-range housing in the city limits. How do we hope that will work? “We have housing for the working poor, we have a lot [...]
Another reason why graduate school sucks
I just shook my head when I read this. English Department teaching fellows at the University of Houston ended their sit-in Monday after UH Chancellor Renu Khator committed $1 million a year to improve their wages – potentially enough money to bring the roughly 70 teaching fellows up to the living wage for which they’d [...]
Houston considers a “Safe Passing” ordinance
Glad to hear it. Though it boasts a growing biking culture, Houston is the only major city in Texas without a safe-passing law requiring motorists to share the road with cyclists and others. City leaders now want to change that. City attorneys proposed an ordinance to the City Council’s public safety committee Wednesday that officials [...]
Is this the end of hockey in Houston again?
Looks like it. As the Houston Chronicle first reported in January, it appears the Houston Aeros’ 19-year run in Houston is all but over. An announcement could be coming in the next couple of weeks, basically after the Aeros’ season, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported Tuesday. The Aeros, affliated with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, are expected [...]
Get ready to hear more about Texas high speed rail
I for one can’t wait. Texas Central High-Speed Railway has spent the last few years privately — very privately — looking at how to connect Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston with a bullet train moving upwards of 200 miles per hour. But soon, they say, those private plans will become quite public when they issue a notice of intent. [...]
Biking to transit
KUHF has an update. Metro’s Strategic Planning Committee got an update on the “Bike and Ride” Access Study. Metro says it wants to make it easier for Houstonians to combine bike and bus travel. Metro officials say between 10,000 and 15,000 people every month bring their bikes aboard when they use the bus. Every bus [...]
Feeling good about the Super Bowl bid
The city of Houston has submitted its bid to host Super Bowl LI in 2017, and they feel pretty good about their chances. Houston’s competition will be San Francisco or Miami – the city that fails to get the coveted Super Bowl L. League owners will vote on both Super Bowls on May 22 in [...]
Skilling might get a sentence reduction
But don’t expect him to get out of jail anytime soon. Attorneys for former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling and the Department of Justice are discussing an agreement to reduce his prison time and possibly avert a drawn-out court battle. Those involved didn’t disclose Thursday how much his 24-year sentence might be shortened through a settlement, [...]