Last Tuesday, while I was out of town, Council Member Stephen Costello did a presentation about Renew Houston at HCDP headquarters. (CM Sue Lovell was supposed to be with him but was unable to make it because a committee meeting for which she was the chair went long.) I wasn’t there, I don’t know how [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Stephen Costello’
Renew Houston submits petitions
Renew Houston has submitted signatures to get its drainage improvement proposition on the ballot this November. Renew Houston, a group of influential local engineers, has collected more than 30,000 signatures in a push to seek voter approval for an $8 billion initiative — and a monthly drainage fee – to better prevent flooding across the [...]
Followup on Renew Houston
So I attended that blogger briefing I wrote about last week to learn more about Renew Houston. It was very informative, and I want to thank CM Costello and his staff for taking the time to talk to us. They have a slick presentation, which we were given in paper form, but it’s unfortunately not [...]
More on Renew Houston
The effort to create a dedicated fund for flooding and drainage is moving along at a good clip. Renew Houston, the non-profit committee formed to seek at least 22,000 ballot signatures in a bid to put the matter to voters in November, sent direct mail this week to about 150,000 households. Many received automated phone [...]
Drainage update
City Council Members Stephen Costello and Ed Gonzalez had a public meeting last week to bring folks up to date on their efforts to upgrade Houston’s drainage system. Neighborhoods that report drainage problems to the city wait five years for funding to tackle their projects, Gonzalez said; neighborhood street reconstructions — more extensive overhauls that [...]
Renew Houston
The fact that Houston is currently in the throes of a severe revenue shortage doesn’t change the fact that there’s a great need to renovate and repair large portions of the city’s infrastructure. Naturally, that will cost a lot of money, which we don’t have. But with a new revenue source, we could do it. [...]
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 [...]
Selling Lakewood
We’ve known for awhile that one way the city will try to bridge its revenue gap is by selling some properties. Among those in the For Sale pile is the building formerly known as the Summit, now occupied by Lakewood Church. City Council [was] scheduled to vote on the proposed sale Wednesday, which would end [...]
Council meeting on flooding and drainage
From the Inbox: City of Houston Council Committee on Flooding and Drainage Council Member Stephen C. Costello, Chair ________________________________________________________________________ Ed Gonzalez, District H, Vice-Chair Brenda Stardig, District A James G. Rodriguez, District I Anne Clutterbuck, District C Melissa Noriega, Position 3 Wanda Adams, District D Jolanda “Jo” Jones, Position 5 Oliver Pennington, District G AGENDA [...]
Flooding survey
From the inbox: COUNCIL MEMBERS COSTELLO AND GONZALEZ ASKING FOR PUBLIC FLOODING AND DRAINAGE FEEDBACK THROUGH SURVEY Survey to guide Flooding and Drainage Committee in identifying flooding issues and concerns February 12, 2010 – Houston, TX. Houston residents are being asked to fill out a short five question survey about their personal experiences with flooding [...]
Runoff precinct analysis, At Large Council races
Continuing on with the precinct analyses from the runoff, here’s a look at the City Council At Large races. First up, At Large #1: Dist Derr Costello Derr% Cost% ==================================== A 7,200 8,160 46.9 53.1 B 5,737 4,859 54.1 45.9 C 9,001 9,870 47.7 52.3 D 11,804 7,487 61.2 38.8 E 5,754 9,154 38.6 61.4 [...]
Initial thoughts on the runoffs
I’ll go through them one race at a time, with the unofficial vote totals minus Montgomery County for each. Once I have precinct results, I’ll go through those and do a more detailed analysis. Mayor Annise Parker – 81,971, 52.78% Gene Locke – 73,331, 47.22% This was perhaps a bit closer than one might have [...]
Eight days out finance reports, At Large candidates
Continuing on with our look at the eight days out reports, here’s how things stack up for the At Large Council candidates in the runoffs. Candidate Raised Spent Loans Cash PAC $$ PAC % =============================================================== Derr 26,692 13,034 5,000 5,487 8,650 32.4 Costello 193,225 165,200 15,000 16,065 71,000 36.7 Candidate TV Radio Mail Phone Field [...]
At Large #1 runoff overview
I believe this will be the last of the runoff overview stories. The runoff for an at-large City Council seat has devolved into a battle over the subtle connotations of the phrase “city contractor.” One of the candidates for Position One, Stephen Costello, has worked as a drainage engineer for Houston, Harris County and numerous [...]
What the others are saying about Hotze’s endorsement
So here’s the Chron coverage of the Hotze endorsement. Of the many things I find unfathomable about this, here’s the item at the top of the list. Kris Banks, president of Houston’s GLBT Political Caucus, which has endorsed Parker, questioned why Locke did not distance himself from Hotze. “He came to us seeking our endorsements, [...]
Hotze endorses Locke
It’s what we’ve all been waiting for, and now it’s on its way to a mailbox near you, as local hatemeister Steven Hotze has endorsed candidates in all six City of Houston runoffs and sent a mail piece out touting his preferred slate. Martha has all of the scans of the mailers. Pay particular attention [...]
Council turnover
One underappreciated aspect of this year’s election is that we may wind up with more than two new At Large City Council members. We started with two open seats, and with incumbents Sue Lovell and Jolanda Jones in runoffs, the possibility exists that we could have as many as four freshman members in January. This [...]
The HCRP view of the candidates
Here, in PDF format, you will find a copy of the mailer that Harris County GOP Chair Jared Woodfill sent out to his flock before the election. In it you will find three things of interest. One is all the ads several candidates reported spending $5000 on. Another is the official endorsement that Roy Morales [...]
Precinct analysis: City Council At Large races
Moving on to the At Large City Council races. I’m going to look at each of them here. First up, At Large #1: Dist Cook Litt Alls Cost Derr Rodr Perk Batt ============================================================ A 1,521 1,629 397 4,806 4,144 2,087 919 439 B 1,091 679 252 1,063 1,622 1,466 3,133 1,138 C 1,340 6,626 339 [...]
Eight days out: Spending on voter outreach by At Large candidates
As with the Controller’s race, I took a look at spending on voter outreach for At Large candidates in the 30 day out report. Given that some large number of people have no clue about who is running for these offices, I figured I’d better look at the 8 day out reports as well. Here [...]
Brown ad #5
You’ll probably see this without my help, but here’s Peter Brown’s fifth, and presumably final (modulo the runoff) TV ad: I don’t know about you, but I’m seeing the Brown ads all over the place. I haven’t seen a Parker ad in at least a week, and saw my first Locke ad in at least [...]
And here’s Locke’s first ad
We were told that the Gene Locke campaign would begin running an ad on TV next week. It’s on YouTube now, so have a peek: It’s a good effort. The spot is biographical, and Locke has a substantive resume to discuss, so it touches on a number of accomplishments that has has. Locke comes across [...]
Monday election tidbits
Just some news and notes that I thought were worth passing along… – KPRC had a longish story on the hoax email that was sent in the name of Christians for Better Government. Whoever pulled this particular dirty trick sure got his or her money’s worth for it. – Council Member Mike Sullivan tells CM [...]
Interview with Stephen Costello
Continuing with the At Large candidates, today we hear from Stephen Costello, who is running for At Large #1. Stephen is a civil engineer, whose firm has been rated one of the best places to work in Houston, and is the Chair of the Memorial Park Conservancy board. He is a resident of Montrose. Download [...]
City campaign finance reports followup
A few things to add to last night’s post. – Ronald Green’s numbers for City Controller are now in – my spreadsheet has been updated to reflect that. He took in $48,515 and has $32,700 on hand. Which is to say, about 10% of what each of his opponents has. You can do the math [...]
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 [...]
Rick Rodriguez to announce for At Large #1
I’d heard rumors to this effect, and now it’s official: Former District H candidate Rick Rodriguez is joining the race for At Large #1 in November. From the email announcement: Rick Rodriguez to launch campaign for Houston City Council At-Large, Position 1. Richard “Rick” Rodriguez is a native Houstonian and a 23-year veteran of the [...]
Another contender for At Large #1
The following press release hit my Inbox today: Lonnie Allsbrooks announced his intent to become candidate for At-Large Position 1 for the City of Houston. Lonnie Allsbrooks, a successful small business owner from the Heights, has decided to run for the City of Houston At large Position 1. As a resident of Houston for the [...]
Litt announces for At Large #1
Former HCC Trustee Herman Litt has been a potential candidate for City Council this year for some time. Last night, in an email to Carl Whitmarsh’s list, he made his official announcement: I am announcing my decision to run for City Council At-Large Position 1 and hope that you will help let everyone know of [...]
Derr to run for At Large #1
As we know, City Council hopeful Karen Derr missed the official filing deadline for the District H special election, and thus will not be on the ballot on May 9. Anyone who has driven through the Heights lately has observed that she had quite a few visible supporters, and from what I know many of [...]
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, [...]