Maybe more. Most discussion of the Uptown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone’s plan, which goes before City Council this week, has been about a proposal to annex Memorial Park into the zone and spend $100 million restoring the drought-stricken park. The centerpiece of the zone’s plan, however, is a $187.5 million vision to widen and rebuild [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Oliver Pennington’
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 [...]
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 [...]
Council adopts strip club fee
Here it comes. Seeking a solution to the bedeviling problem of untested rape evidence that is in some cases decades old, council imposed a $5-per-customer fee on strip clubs Wednesday so it can buy speedier lab work. That simple solution, however, may come with complications of its own, starting with court costs. “Houston has now [...]
Council defers on strip club fee
Tagged for a week. Consideration of a $5-per-head fee on customers of strip clubs to pay for reducing the city’s backlog of untested rape kits has been delayed for a week. Council members Melissa Noriega and Al Hoang both tagged the item, a parliamentary maneuver that puts off an agenda item for one week, no [...]
Going green to save some green
The city of Houston has made significant investments in energy savings. The U.S. Conference of Mayors named Mayor Annise Parker the winner of Mayors’ Climate Protection Award last year for green building initiatives that incentivize conservation and energy-efficient design features. “We don’t do it just because we get attention. We do it because it’s been [...]
Feeding the homeless
I’m still trying to wrap my mind around this. Mayor Annise Parker is asking the council to adopt rules that would require organizations and people who feed the homeless to register with the city, take a food safety class, prepare the food in certified kitchens, serve only at three public parks, and leave those parks [...]
30 day finance reports for City of Houston races
The 30 day campaign finance reports for City of Houston elections were due last week, and they are now mostly up on the city’s campaign finance report website, with a large number showing up today. Already I’m seeing questionable, curious, and interesting things in the reports. Some highlights so far: Helena Brown, the late-filing candidate [...]
Endorsement watch: René and Pennington
Today we learned that the Chron is apparently not endorsing in uncontested elections, as they skipped over CM Mike Sullivan in District E, and we got our first endorsement of a challenger over an incumbent. After a series of controversies involving incumbent Al Hoang divided his Vietnamese-American base, Hoang indicated he would not stand for [...]
Interview with CM Oliver Pennington
CM Oliver Pennington was elected in 2009 as the Council member for District G. Pennington was a partner at the law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski, where he specialized in various aspects of municipal law. He’s also a graduate of Rice University, which as you know always counts for a little extra with me. Here’s [...]
More on the red light camera ruling
I said before that what happens next with the red light camera ruling is a political decision. Here’s how that’s shaping up. City Attorney Dave Feldman said Friday’s ruling will force the city to choose from canceling the contract with American Traffic Solutions — which might cost the city $16 million — or keeping the [...]
Cohen looking at City Council
Former State Rep. Ellen Cohen is exploring a run for City Council in the updated District C. “It has a real appeal to me,” added Cohen. Potential candidates do not have to register until August at the earliest, though Cohen may act long before. “I’ll know where I’m heading on this soon,” she said. Cohen, [...]
Council adopts higher water rate hike
City Council voted to adopt the higher water rate hike that was proposed this week. And apparently set the stage for a lawsuit. Council members Mike Sullivan, Oliver Pennington and C.O. Bradford voted against the plan. Pennington, Bradford and several council members who voted for the increases expressed concerns that the rate hikes would violate [...]
Council approves Lakewood sale
This had generated a lot of discussion, but in the end it went through. The Houston City Council on Wednesday approved the sale of the former Compaq Center to Lakewood Church for $7.5 million. The vote was 13-to-2, with Councilmen Oliver Pennington and Stephen Costello opposed. [...] As they received more information about the proposed [...]
Endorsement watch: ABCDEFG
I’ve been hard on the Chron lately for being so lackadaisical about getting to some of their endorsements. In my opinion, they should all be done before Early Voting begins, or else their value erodes. So I’m pleased to see that they have made their endorsements for all contested District Council races today. This means [...]
Interview with Oliver Pennington
Moving over to District G, my next interview is with Oliver Pennnington. Pennington is a retired attorney, a partner at Fulbright and Jaworski, whose practice focused on municipal law, and a Rice alumnus. Pennington has lived in District G for 40 years and now resides in River Oaks. Download the MP3 file. PREVIOUSLY: Karen Derr, [...]
City campaign finance reports come rolling in
As the campaign finance reports for City of Houston races come online, I’ve been collecting all the reports and putting them together into an easier-to-read format. I’ve also received a bunch of press releases, which I’ll be reproducing beneath the fold. Here are some quick hits. – According to his press release, Houston Mayoral candidate [...]
Another City Council lineup update
Time for our periodic check on who’s running for what this fall. The Memorial Examiner gets us started. Five confirmed candidates are vying to replace Lawrence in District A. Jeff Downing, Amy Peck, Bob Schellkopf, Brenda Stardig and Alex Wathen are campaign-ready, having filed campaign treasurer forms. Not running in District A is P.M. Clinton, [...]
Bradford announces for At Large #4, Pennington announces in G
We know he had been contemplating the possibility, but now former HPD Chief C.O. Bradford has made it official: He’s going to run for the open At Large #4 City Council seat. From his email: Chief Bradford has been a resident of the city of Houston since 1979. He has lived in the Hiram Clarke, [...]
Election date set for District H
City Council has officially set the date for the District H special election. As noted in Item 42 of the Council agenda, the special election date is Saturday, May 9, which is the next uniform election date. If there are any other potential candidates out there, expect them to emerge soon. It’s been a week [...]