Tag Archives: Bill King

Mayoral ad spending

Posted on July 18, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron takes a look at one of the more visible aspects of all the money that Mayoral candidates have raised or loaned themselves so far. Despite taking in a total of more than $7 million, Houston’s mayoral candidates spent … Continue reading →

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Finance reports come trickling in

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

As always, the Mayoral reports lead the story. Former Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia closed out the first half of the year with more than $1.3 million in the bank, eclipsing City Councilman Stephen Costello by a mere $7,423. According … Continue reading →

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Initial Mayoral fundraising totals

Posted on July 9, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Lotta money being raised out there, though not quite as much as the topline totals say. Former Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia was first out of the gate with his figures, announcing Tuesday that he raised $1.5 million since announcing … Continue reading →

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Turner and Garcia lead early Mayoral poll

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

We have our first polling numbers for the 2015 Mayoral election. Sylvester Turner and Adrian Garcia have emerged as the clear front-runners in the first independent poll before the election that will determine Houston’s next mayor. The KHOU – Houston … Continue reading →

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ReBuild Houston and the Mayor’s race

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

It’s all about the conservative voters, because no one cares what anyone else thinks. When the most conservative candidate in the Houston mayor’s race dropped out two months ago, the battle to win over right-leaning voters became a two-man show: … Continue reading →

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ReVote Houston?

Posted on June 20, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Mayoral candidate Bill King calls for a do-over on Renew/ReBuild Houston. Houston mayoral candidate Bill King wants to put ReBuild Houston, the city’s controversial streetand drainage program, back up for a vote. […] King, the most vocal opponent of ReBuild … Continue reading →

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Supreme Court deals a blow to ReBuild Houston

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Ugh. Houston’s divisive, multibillion-dollar effort to fund two decades of street and drainage improvements faces an uncertain future after the Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that the ballot measure voters narrowly approved in 2010 obscured the nature and cost of … Continue reading →

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The other stuff that got discussed at the third forum

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The third Mayoral candidate forum on Saturday was supposedly about “labor and workers’ rights”, but of course the story is all about the great and powerful pension question, because there’s been so little coverage of it and where the candidates … Continue reading →

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Reviewing the Mayoral websites

Posted on June 7, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron reviews the candidates’ online presence so far. Five months before voters head to the polls, the candidates’ digital platforms are up and running, but most are heavy on biography, light on ideas. “They’re checking the box. They have … Continue reading →

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Mayoral candidate forum season is underway

Posted on June 6, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

They talk about the arts. Houston’s mayoral candidates were full of praise for the city’s arts scene Wednesday, when they appeared at a forum together for the first time, though most said they would not support raising taxes or allocating … Continue reading →

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The pension deal

Posted on March 7, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Not sure yet how I feel about this. Mayor Annise Parker and Houston’s firefighter pension trustees have reached a deal that would lower the city’s payments for three years, a move that would mark an abrupt reversal for the mayor. … Continue reading →

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King makes his official entry

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Add Bill King to the “made his official announcement” list. In the middle of a noisy, torn-up west Houston street that he said epitomized Houston’s crumbling roads, Bill King launched his campaign for mayor Monday morning, pledging to return the … Continue reading →

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January campaign finance reports – Mayoral wannabes

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

I wrote yesterday about the start of the 2015 campaign season in Houston, and how it’s started a bit early thanks to the ruling in the lawsuit filed by Trebor Gordon that invalidated the blackout period. This week also marked … Continue reading →

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And they’re off

Posted on January 17, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Gentlemen, start your fundraising engines. The Twitter handles have been rechristened, the first attacks have been fired and the “DONATE!” buttons have gone live. The yearlong slugfest for mayor of Houston has begun. In what is expected to be Houston’s … Continue reading →

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Three thoughts on the state of the Mayor’s race

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Inspired by this story, which doesn’t name any potential additions to the ever-large field of Mayoral wannabes for 2015 but which does put some things in context. Most observers consider Rep. Sylvester Turner, with his support base from the African-American … Continue reading →

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Bill King to run for Mayor

Posted on November 29, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Because there aren’t enough candidates for Mayor already. Bill King is inching toward a run for mayor of Houston as the field in next year’s open-seat election continues to grow. King, an attorney and the former mayor of Kemah, designated … Continue reading →

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And we’re still talking about the 2015 Mayor’s race

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go again. The mayor’s race may be more than a year away, but nearly all candidates have launched shadow campaigns – and not all shadow campaigns are created equal. [State Rep. Sylvester] Turner and Harris County Sheriff Adrian … Continue reading →

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Bill King gets on the reimagining bus

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve made plenty of sport about Chron columnist Bill King’s failure to acknowledge Metro’s proposed new bus routes despite his longstanding argument that Metro should be prioritizing bus service over light rail, so it’s only fair that I acknowledge that … Continue reading →

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Parker to sue pension boards for more information

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

It’s pensions all the time around here. Mayor Annise Parker said Thursday that her administration is gearing up to sue the city’s pension systems to open their books and preparing a “road show” of pension reforms she will present throughout … Continue reading →

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Two views of pensions

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron’s Sunday op-ed pages were filled with pension-related discussion. Here are the citizen members of the Long-Range Financial Management Task Force, fresh off of their report release, taking to the pages to lay out what the city wants from … Continue reading →

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Signing date for Full Funding Grant Agreement announced

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

From the Metro blog: On Monday, Nov. 28, METRO will be joined by federal officials, along with members of Houston’s congressional delegation, to sign the long-awaited Full Funding Grant Agreements (FFGA) for the North and Southwest light-rail lines. President & … Continue reading →

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On targeting public pension plans

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. Texas could be gearing up for its own Wisconsin-style grudge match over public employee benefits. A group of high-powered Houston business leaders is starting a statewide campaign to overhaul retirement for future … Continue reading →

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The Bill King alternative to light rail

Posted on November 19, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

In case you missed it, Bill King wrote a column lat week that was based on an email exchange he had with me awhile back in which he laid out his alternate vision for what Metro ought to be doing. … Continue reading →

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Metro working on its critics

Posted on June 18, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Now that it has much of its litigation-related unpleasantness behind it, Metro is working on improving its image, both with the public as a whole and with its more persistent critics. The need to re-brand Metro as an institution worthy … Continue reading →

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Followup on Renew Houston

Posted on June 8, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

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The tasks before the new Metro board

Posted on March 24, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The new Metro board has its work cut out for it. Gilbert Garcia, the financial analyst nominated by Mayor Annise Parker Thursday as Metro’s new board chairman, said the controversies won’t prevent him and his colleagues from proceeding diligently with … Continue reading →

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Interview with David Wolff

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

David Wolff has been the Chair of the Metro Board since 2004. He will be stepping down as soon as Mayor Parker names a replacement for him. With all that’s been going on regarding Metro in the news lately, I … Continue reading →

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The Mayor on Metro

Posted on February 9, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, one of Mayor Annise Parker’s transition teams is looking at Metro. We won’t get their report till the end of the month, but here’s a peek at some of the things they’re thinking about. Parker has signaled … Continue reading →

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Restorative justice

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Let me commend this Bill King op-ed, about the plight of ex-cons in Texas and the efforts of the Restorative Justice Ministry Network to try and help them re-integrate into society, to you. It’s well worth reading. The issue, and … Continue reading →

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Metro passes civil rights review

Posted on October 3, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Good. The Federal Transit Administration told the Metropolitan Transit Authority in a letter last week that the civil rights review, which began in February, is complete. In July, the FTA informed Metro that it was deficient on two out of … Continue reading →

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Wolff speaks about Metro

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s Metro board chair David Wolff giving a state of the system address in the op-ed pages. I suppose it’s a counter, if not a response to Bill King’s piece from two weeks ago; it offers a defense of the … Continue reading →

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Pick a fare

Posted on September 13, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I was going to say something about Bill King’s latest treatise on Metro’s fare structure, but Greg sums it up pretty succinctly, so I’ll just refer you to him. I look forward to the next entry in this series, “Let’s … Continue reading →

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A solution in search of a problem

Posted on August 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We were out of town over the weekend, so I managed to miss this Bill King op-ed about the “need” to elevate the Main Street line on Fannin in the Medical Center area. Having now read it, I have three … Continue reading →

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Critics criticize: Film at 11

Posted on June 17, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’m going to outsource most of the commentary on this week’s Move It! column about Metro critics criticizing Metro for doing something they disagree with to Greg, who says most of what I’d say. The main thing I’d add is … Continue reading →

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