Previously, I gave the July campaign finance numbers for Houston elected officials who are eligible for the ballot this fall. Here now are the cash on hand figures from the January reports, with all incumbents and a few assorted extras thrown in: Dist Name Cash on hand ================================= Myr Parker 1,043,827 Ctrl R Green 35,753 [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Houston City Council’
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 [...]
A first look at the 2013 elections
It is 2013, right? So while we have the SD06 special election and the new legislative session to worry about, it’s not too early to start talking about the 2013 elections. Let’s start with a peek at the campaign finance reports from last July of the Houston officeholders who will be on the ballot this [...]
One year of Helena
The Observer‘s Emily dePrang takes a look at CM Helena Brown, one year after her upset win in District A. When she took office, Brown made waves for her nearly satirical level of budget hawkery. She made simplistic government-bad, free-market-good speeches that evoked The Colbert Report to justify voting against funding meals for the elderly, [...]
Council approves Washington Avenue parking benefit district
We’ll see how this works. The Houston City Council on Wednesday formed a special parking district along Washington Avenue, intended to ease the woes associated with the bustling corridor’s mix of bars, restaurants and residential streets. The plan will add parking meters on about 350 spaces along Washington, and will make it easier for residents [...]
City wins Census recount
It’s official: The city of Houston really did have 2.1 million people as of the 2010 Census. The U.S. Census Bureau has adjusted the city’s 2010 population from 2,099,451 to 2,100,263. The difference is only 812 people, but it’s enough to push the city over the 2.1 million mark, a threshold for adding City Council [...]
Germantown gets historic designation
Congratulations to what may be the last historic district created in the city of Houston. The first historic district created under a stricter rewrite of Houston’s preservation ordinance passed City Council on Wednesday, though conservationists predicted future districts will be scarce even as they cheered the milestone. With council’s 11-5 vote, Germantown Historic District – [...]
On the Parking Benefit District
A proposed ordinance to create a parking benefit district in the Washington Avenue corridor was on Council’s agenda this week, but it was tagged and will wait a week while everyone gets up to speed on it. District C Council member Ellen Cohen says the city has been working with business owners to come up [...]
CM Brown reimburses the city for her magnets
Score one for David Feldman. Houston City Councilwoman Helena Brown has repaid the city nearly $3,000 in taxpayer money she spent on refrigerator magnets that the Texas Ethics Commission says amount to campaign swag. City Attorney David Feldman, who had asked Brown to reimburse the city before the commission issued its opinion Thursday, said Brown [...]
Could this be the catalyst for Astrodome redevelopment?
Maybe. The city of Houston and Harris County are preparing to create a mammoth, two-part economic development zone covering more than 11 square miles along the South Loop and at the northeast end of downtown. The plan stems from a deal the two governments struck three years ago to secure a new soccer stadium east [...]
A third act for Jolanda?
Maybe. Jolanda Jones, who lost her at-large position 5 seat in last December’s runoff election, may run in next year’s elections to win a third term on Council — but this time it would be representing District D. The seat will be open next year because Councilwoman Wanda Adams is termed out. “I’m keeping my [...]
On helping District B
District B Council Member Jerry Davis is taking a direct approach to improving his district. Davis hopes to inspire through his do-it-yourself approach a strengthened ethic of self-reliance. The answers to the challenges of District B, and there are many – high poverty, low graduation rates, abandoned homes, illegal dumping and crumbling streets – often [...]
On the city bonds
Here’s an overview of the city bond issues. The city of Houston is asking voters on Nov. 6 for permission to borrow $410 million to shore up its parks, police stations, libraries, other government buildings and substandard housing. Propositions A, B, C, D and E for the most part are what Mayor Annise Parker calls [...]
Endorsement watch: HCDE and District E
The Chron endorses three Democrats for the Harris County Department of Education. At-Large Position 3: Democratic challenger Diane Trautman would bring expertise and professionalism to the job. As a professor of education at Stephen F. Austin State University, she taught courses in ethics and leadership – areas that would be useful on the county board, [...]
Strip clubs sue city over $5 fee
Remember the $5 per customer strip club fee that was added as a budget amendment by CM Ellen Cohen as a way to fund clearing HPD’s backlog of rape kits? The clubs threatened to sue the city at the time this was debated, and last Thursday they followed through on that threat. In the lawsuit [...]
District E overview
Here’s the Chron overview of the special election in City Council District E to replace CM Mike Sullivan. The establishment guy is David Martin, a member of the Humble Independent School District board. Until he resigned in August, he was one of Mayor Annise Parker’s appointees to the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority. He has the [...]
Two for I
Yeah, we’re still two weeks out from the start of early voting for 2012. But that hasn’t stopped two people from announcing their candidacies for City Council District I next year. Graciana ”Graci” Garces, chief of staff for District I Councilman James Rodriguez, is running to succeed him next year when he’s termed out. If [...]
Interview with Sue Lovell
Former Council member Sue Lovell was not directly involved in the current Metro referendum, but as the past Chair of the Transportation Committee on Council under Mayor Bill White, she was instrumental in the creation and adoption of the city’s operating agreement with Metro, which is what authorized Metro to begin construction on the 2012 [...]
Helena’s magnets
It’s been awhile since my last Helena Brown post, hasn’t it? Houston City Attorney David Feldman has asked Councilwoman Helena Brown to reimburse the city nearly $3,000 in taxpayer money she spent on refrigerator magnets that he contends amount to re-election swag. Brown’s office has declined to pay the money back, and both sides have [...]
The case against the food trucks
Reggie Coachman, president of the Greater Houston Restaurant Association, tries to make a case against giving food trucks freer rein downtown. Currently there are more than 939 active mobile units permitted in the city of Houston, including 774 trucks and trailers equipped with kitchens. The Mobile Food Unit Coalition primarily represents a small number (less [...]
MFU Houston encounters some resistance
No one ever said updating Houston’s food truck ordinances would be easy. On Tuesday, more than 50 mobile food truck owners and supporters showed up at a council committee hearing to push for changes to the city’s mobile food unit ordinance, saying it would promote economic growth and improve vitality downtown. “The way the ordinance [...]
MFU Houston
From the inbox: The Houston Mobile Food Unit (MFU) Collective will present City Council Members with stakeholder-driven Ordinance changes in September, which will further promote business growth and entrepreneurship in Houston. The proposed Ordinance changes will eliminate the 60-foot distance between Mobile Food Units; allow 1 propane (LP) permit to cover multiple locations; provide access [...]
The 2013 campaign season has officially begun
Sort of, anyway. Some of us received this email in our inboxes recently, touting the virtues of former Bill White chief of staff Terence Fontaine as a candidate for District D; incumbent Wanda Adams is term-limited out next year. I don’t know Mr. Fontaine and I don’t have any opinions on who might or should [...]
Three for E
There will probably be more when all is said and done, but at this time there are three candidates running for District E this November. The candidates are: Lonnie Allsbrooks – Former owner of Beer Island bar in the Heights. Ran for At-Large Position 1 council seat in 2009. Moved to Kingwood earlier this year. [...]
More Green woes
Maybe it’s the name. A 28-year-old nonprofit workforce training organization is teetering on the brink of extinction after four years under the leadership of Houston City Councilman Larry Green. Green left HoustonWorks USA in May by what he and board president Howard Lederer called a mutual agreement so Green could dedicate himself to his $55,770-a-year [...]
City says No to some of CM Brown’s expense reports
It’s always something. Councilwoman Helena Brown hired a private attorney to sit in on meetings with her publicly paid attorney, then tried to bill taxpayers for it. Records obtained by the Houston Chronicle reveal that Brown sought reimbursement for $850 she paid lawyer Kevin Colbert for meetings she had with the mayor and City Attorney [...]
After school programs
I see a lot of merit in this. After-school programs prevent crime, Councilman C.O. Bradford said, so some of them should be paid for by the police. “This sounds strange to hear a gun-packing, badge-toting, 24-year cop talking about this,” said Bradford, Houston’s former police chief, but he proposes hiring 20 fewer police officers in [...]
Here come the city bonds
For your approval. Houston voters will decide in November whether local governments can borrow more than $2.7 billion for schools, parks, libraries and public safety. City Council OK’d its portion of that total Wednesday, a $410 million package of bond measures. The crowded and costly ballot during a presidential election has some questioning whether voters [...]
Gearing up in District A
And they’re off. It appears unlikely that former District A Councilwoman Brenda Stardig will get a one-on-one shot at a comeback from her 2011 loss to current Councilwoman Helena Brown. “It is my plan to run for District A,” Amy Peck, district director for state Sen. Dan Patrick, told me Monday. Stardig has said it [...]
Petitions to overturn homeless feeding ordinance submitted
There’s plenty of signatures, but no guarantee that this will make it onto the ballot. Activists seeking to repeal a new law requiring City Hall’s permission to serve charitable meals on city-owned land turned in 34,000 petition signatures on Monday asking that the issue be put to voters in November. Despite the passion surrounding the [...]
Pothole app
Harris County now has an app for reporting potholes and other problems. Users must download the app and set up a profile. After that, one can take a photo of the problem, point to its spot on the map or let GPS technology mark the location, label the report with a category – say, “dead [...]
The door will stay open
Good decision. A proposal to give Houston City Council the ability to meet behind closed doors is dead. What a mayor’s spokeswoman called a “lack of consensus” was manifest in a committee meeting last week during which several council members criticized the idea as bad policy and bad timing. [...] Mayor Annise Parker’s agenda for [...]