Monthly Archives: October 2009

Ashby rises again

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

It lives! The developers of the Ashby high-rise announced today they will appear before Houston’s General Appeals Board at 5 p.m. Thursday to ask that the original uses designed into 23-story high-rise be allowed. “Removing these amenities completely contradicts city … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

County doesn’t want to help city collect red light camera fines

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Last year, City Council passed an ordinance that would put a hold on vehicle registrations for which there are outstanding red light camera fines. The city’s ability to do this is contingent on cooperation from the county, as it is … Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Chron reports Controller numbers from its poll

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, the Chron poll from the weekend also included a question about the Controller’s race. Here now is the Chron story on that part of the poll. Most of the details you know, most of the rest of … Continue reading →

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HISD Trustee District V profile

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron has another HISD Trustee race profile, this one for the open District V seat. A retired school administrator and an energy company executive are vying to fill the school board seat held by Dianne Johnson, who is stepping … Continue reading →

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Doing the liveblogging thing

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’m at the KUHT studios with Mike Reed and Ree-C Murphey for another round of “Houston Have Your Say”. You can follow our thoughts here. If you want to participate more actively, you can do it by voting in their … Continue reading →

Posted in National news | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Early voting, Day One

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As I seem to have a love of spreadsheets, here’s a Google spreadsheet that will keep track of the daily Early Voting returns by location. Counting mail ballots and absentee in-person voting, 6162 people voted yesterday. For comparison purposes, here’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2009 | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Interview with Otis Jordan

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Next up, we have an interview with Otis Jordan, who is running in District D. Jordan just retired as a captain in HFD after 30 years of service. Jordan is a graduate of Ross Sterling High School and TCU, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2009 | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

We’re for more land use regulations, whatever that means

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As long as Zogby was polling the Mayor’s race, they may as well ask about some other stuff, too. Like whether or not you like the Ashby highrise. Out of 601 people surveyed between Oct. 12 and 15, 71 percent … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2009 | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mercy is a rare quality

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve never doubted that Rick Perry isn’t particularly interested in looking for opportunities to grant clemency to death row inmates. But there’s a big question that needs to be answered by this story and isn’t. Texas has executed 200 convicts … Continue reading →

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KBH sells her house

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

This may be the most concrete step she’s ever taken towards actually running for Governor. U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison may be waffling about when to give up her powerful job, but a sign came this month that she’s serious … Continue reading →

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Bikes in the Mayor’s race

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Local bicycle activist Peter Wang contacted the four Mayoral campaigns to ask what their position is on getting METRO to install bike hangers in the light rail vehicles and allow bicycles in the vehicles during rush hours. Here’s how they … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2009 | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

More details on the Chron poll

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Here we have crosstabs and more details about that Chron poll from the weekend. The first thing that leaps out at me is that they also polled the Controller’s race: “If the election for city controller was held today and … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: HISD Trustee

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron finishes up their work for this election by making its endorsements in the HISD Trustee races. For HISD Trustee in District I, an open seat, we recommend Anna Eastman. As the president of the Travis Elementary PTA, Eastman … Continue reading →

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Interview with Adrian Collins

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I know, I said I was finished with interviews. Turns out that wasn’t quite the case, and so today we have a conversation with Adrian Collins, who is running for HISD Trustee in District IX against incumbent Larry Marshall. Collins … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2009 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Early voting starts today

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I feel confident saying that if you’re reading this blog, you’re probably aware that there’s an election coming up, and that Early Voting starts today. Here’s the early voting schedule and locations. It’s the usual places you’re familiar with, and … Continue reading →

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Casey on the Chron poll

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Rick Casey has some good observations about that Chron poll that was released Saturday. The main point I want to focus on is here: [Peter Brown] leads with 24 percent of the vote, but given that he had the airwaves … Continue reading →

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Parker profile

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

And here’s the Chron profile of Annise Parker, which I didn’t get to link to last week and which rounds out their four-part series. I’ve linked all of them on the 2009 Elections page in case you want to go … Continue reading →

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More vote centers coming to Texas

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I personally really like the concept of “vote centers”, which is basically Early Voting locations done on Election Day as well. I like them because it means you never have to worry about which polling place you need to go … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Houston, Have Your Say on health care

Posted on October 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Tuesday night, KUHF channel 8 will broadcast another edition of “Houston, Have Your Say”, with the topic being health care reform. Here’s what to expect: At 7 p.m. Tuesday, October 20th, HoustonPBS, in partnership with The Center for Houston’s Future, … Continue reading →

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Emmett on commuter rail

Posted on October 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

County Judge Ed Emmett’s op ed piece is one part an argument for commuter rail, and one part an argument for who should be in charge of it. I suppose the fact that he’s making that case is a good … Continue reading →

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Weekend link dump for October 18

Posted on October 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

You have to wonder what Tom Lehrer would have made of tweeting in Church. Are you the unknown liberal? if big media companies really want Google to stop “stealing” their content, they can make that happen today, all by themselves. … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: It’s a twofer

Posted on October 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Well, this is unusual. Houstonians are fortunate to face a difficult choice for mayor this year between two exceptional candidates, public law attorney Gene Locke and City Controller Annise Parker. It’s likely one or both will be in a runoff … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2009 | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

We’ve got mail

Posted on October 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Campos observed the other day that he’d hardly received any campaign mailers so far this year. That’s largely been true for me as well – before this week, I’d gotten the Peter Brown pieces, an Anna Eastman mailer, and maybe … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2009 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Grand Parkway ain’t dead yet

Posted on October 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

It may not receive stimulus funds, but don’t go presiding over Last Rites for the Grand Parkway. Commissioners Court on Tuesday delayed a planned request to reallocate $181 million in federal stimulus funds for part of the 180-mile Grand Parkway … Continue reading →

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Harris County voter registration issues get national coverage

Posted on October 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Lou Dubose, onetime editor of the Texas Observer and Tom DeLay biographer has written a story for the Washington Spectator about the shenanigans in the Harris County Tax Assessor’s office with voter registration. You can read it here (PDF), thanks … Continue reading →

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Saturday video break: Happy anniversary

Posted on October 17, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Today is my 11th wedding anniversary. If only we had a piano: And no, I did not get a tie, pre-spotted or otherwise. Which is just fine. The anniversary itself, and what it means, is more than present enough.

Posted in See, I do have a life! | Tagged | 3 Comments

Chron poll: Brown leads

Posted on October 17, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Campos teased the news earlier today, and now the story is up: Peter Brown leads in a new Zogby poll of the Mayor’s race. According to the poll, Brown leads the field with 23.8 percent of the vote, followed by … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: At Large

Posted on October 17, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Having dispatched with the District Council races yesterday, the Chron continues with the schedule I’d hoped they’d follow by making their endorsements in the At Large races. As I thought, they went with incumbents Sue Lovell in #2 and Jolanda … Continue reading →

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Senate fundraising numbers are in

Posted on October 17, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We know that Bill White raised $1.5 million this quarter for his Senate campaign. Now the other candidates’ totals have come in. White’s take of $1.5 million over the 90-day period ending Oct. 1 — including his personal donation of … Continue reading →

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Willingham’s supposed confession

Posted on October 17, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot about this in the coming weeks. A newly released affidavit has a relative of the then-wife of Cameron Todd Willingham saying the condemned inmate confessed to her that he set the fire that … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Correction!

Posted on October 17, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Now that everyone has had a chance to look over everyone else’s campaign finance reports, a number of candidates have made some corrections to their reports. Former City Attorney Gene Locke and City Controller Annise Parker received money from donors … Continue reading →

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Friday random ten: Here, here

Posted on October 16, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go: 1. Here Comes Santa Claus – Asleep At The Wheel 2. Here Comes The Flood – Peter Gabriel 3. Here Comes The Night – Van Morrison 4. Here Comes The Snake – Cherry Poppin’ Daddies 5. Here … Continue reading →

Posted in Music | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Shapleigh not running for re-election

Posted on October 16, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

This is a big loss for the Senate, but there’s a potential upside that’s even bigger. State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, El Paso’s tireless adovcate for the poor and underpriveleged, announced today that he will not be running for re-election in … Continue reading →

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Where to find the candidates on YouTube

Posted on October 16, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve mentioned candidate videos on here a few times, and it occurs to me that I ought to just do a search through YouTube to see what’s out there for the people running in this election. So here you have … Continue reading →

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