Tag Archives: Ed Gonzalez

City exploring new pension for new firefighters?

Posted on June 28, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Maybe. Long concerned about the cost of Houston’s pensions and stymied in her attempts at reform, Mayor Annise Parker is considering a dramatic step to place new firefighters into a separate, less generous pension plan, sources with knowledge of the … Continue reading →

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Hackathon II: Son Of Hackathon

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Houston Mayor Annise Parker today announced the City of Houston will host its second annual “Open Innovation Hackathon” on May 31-June 1 at the Houston Technology Center. This year’s Hackathon is also part of the National Civic … Continue reading →

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Counting votes on the non-discrimination ordinance

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From the Houston GLBT Political Caucus Facebook page: Members have asked for the responses on our questionnaires to the questions below. The President of the Caucus, Maverick Welsh, has asked me to post the information. As the chair of the … Continue reading →

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Fearing the fire reform

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

This ought to be interesting. Rumblings of coming reforms in Houston Fire Department’s operations have union leaders and the department’s command staff wary, despite Mayor Annise Parker’s insistence that these concerns are unwarranted. HFD’s staffing shortage has driven up overtime … Continue reading →

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January campaign finance reports for Houston officeholders

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

One more set of finance reports to document, from city of Houston officeholders and candidates. I’m not going to link to the individual reports this time, since the city’s system automatically downloads the PDFs and I don’t feel like uploading … Continue reading →

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It’s still Gene Green’s world

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this story about Rep. Gene Green. The affable, low-key former printer’s apprentice is a legend across his gritty, blue-collar domain along the 54-mile Houston Ship Channel, where he represents the most heavily Hispanic … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Council hears the Mayor’s payday lending ordinance

Posted on December 6, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Reaction was mixed, though it appears likely there is enough support to pass. The proposed ordinance would limit payday loans to 20 percent of a borrower’s gross monthly income and auto title loans to 3 percent of the borrower’s gross … Continue reading →

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Chron overview of District I

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron covers the District I race. The contrasts in this eastside, heavily-Latino council district are dramatic: from the gleaming George R. Brown Convention Center in the heart of downtown, to older neighborhoods lacking modern street drainage where vacant lots … Continue reading →

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Complete Streets coming

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This is good to see. Houston, long ruled by the automobile, will give more consideration to the needs of pedestrians and cyclists in designing its streets and neighborhoods. Mayor Annise Parker on Thursday said she is drafting, with public works … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

City reaches settlement with developer over Woodland Park damage

Posted on August 24, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Good news. Mayor Annise Parker, the City of Houston Legal Department and the Houston Parks and Recreation Department (HPARD) announced the City has recovered $300,000 to restore recent damage to Woodland Park by a private developer. Woodland Park, located at … Continue reading →

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Interview with CM Ed Gonzalez

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Council Member Ed Gonzalez is serving his second term in District H. He’s actually already four full years into his service, as he was the winner of the 2009 special election to succeed former CM and now Sheriff Adrian Garcia. … Continue reading →

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Council to consider wage theft ordinance

Posted on July 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Good. The Houston City Council may step up its efforts to combat wage theft, sanctioning companies that deny workers pay to which they are entitled and monitoring firms accused of doing so, regardless of whether they do business with the … Continue reading →

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July 2013 finance reports for district Council candidates

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

We move now to the remaining Council races, which are the district races. Here are the July finance reports for candidates in District Council races. Please note that all reports now appear on my newly-published Election 2013 page. Refer to … Continue reading →

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Council approves Costco tax rebate

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I still don’t think this is a good idea. The Houston City Council on Wednesday approved a $1 million economic development deal to help Costco build a store outside the city limits. In a rambling discussion ending in a 12-3 … Continue reading →

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First Hackathon project released

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Cool. Budget Bootcamp, a new city website application that provides easy access to city budget information, is the first Houston Hackathon project to become reality.  Budget Bootcamp is hosted on the Finance Department’s website and provides citizens an educational walkthrough of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Websurfing | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

They name the development after whatever they bulldozed in order to build it

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The title of this post is an old joke, but what happened recently at Woodland Park is not. Nonsequiteuse explains. I was alerted to an egregious clear-cutting along Woodland Park, a City of Houston public park at the edge of … Continue reading →

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The Houston Hackathon

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From the Mayor’s office: Houston Mayor Annise Parker today announced the City of Houston will host a 24-hour “Open Innovation Hackathon” on May 17-18 at the Houston Technology Center and at Start Houston. A hackathon is a day-long event in … Continue reading →

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Houston considers a “Safe Passing” ordinance

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Glad to hear it. Though it boasts a growing biking culture, Houston is the only major city in Texas without a safe-passing law requiring motorists to share the road with cyclists and others. City leaders now want to change that. … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Planned Parenthood gets an early start

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox on Friday: Today the Board of Directors of the Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast ACTION FUND Inc, (PPGCAF) voted to endorse the following candidates for the November City Election. Each of the endorsed candidates has demonstrated a strong … Continue reading →

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Sobering center opens up

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Mayor Annise Parker joined council members on Thursday to unveil the innovative Houston Recovery Center, a place where people who are intoxicated can sober up instead of being arrested. Officials say there’s only one other similar facility in Texas. … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The off-street parking debate

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I believe the new offstreet parking requirements that have been proposed and are being debated are at least as big a deal as the Chapter 42 revisions. We really need to get this right. Under the new rules, some eateries … Continue reading →

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Ready or not, here comes Chapter 42

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Changes are coming to Chapter 42, the section of Houston’s ordinances that deal with density and development, and to Chapter 26, the section on off-street parking for bars and restaurants and what have you. The revisions would allow neighborhoods to … Continue reading →

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January finance reports for Houston offices

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

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Council approves Washington Avenue parking benefit district

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Pothole app

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

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Spending a little to save a lot

Posted on July 29, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Remember HPD’s Chronic Consumer Stabilization Program, in which the police department attempted to deal with some of the people who interact with them the most often in a better, more humane, and more cost-effective way? Well, it’s been working. Since … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Parklets

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Not really sure what to make of this. Six years ago, a posse of guerrilla designers fed a parking meter on a busy San Francisco street, unrolled sod in the parking space and plopped down a potted tree. The result … Continue reading →

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Council defers on strip club fee

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

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 … Continue reading →

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All the budget amendments

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a Google doc upload of all of the budget amendments from Council members to Mayor Parker. All members except CMs Bradford and Hoang submitted at least one amendment, with some (Brown, Sullivan, Green) submitting more than others. I’ve given … Continue reading →

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Budget amendment time

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Now that Mayor Parker has formally submitted her proposed budget for fiscal year 2013, it’s time for Council members to submit their amendments for consideration. I’m going to start at the bottom of the story with the two proposals that … Continue reading →

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No one likes the new noise ordinance

Posted on June 3, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Look for more changes to come. The latest participants in the never-ending noise battle are local nightclub owners who feel they have been unfairly targeted after the Houston City Council updated the noise ordinance in October. They have been issued … Continue reading →

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Sober up

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This seems like a sensible idea. City officials plan to open a “sobering center” at the Star of Hope Mission downtown later this year. It would be an 84-bed facility that would allow people whose only offense is being drunk … Continue reading →

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Brown v Rodriguez

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve been wondering how new Council Member Helena Brown’s style will play at Council meetings. I didn’t have to wait long to find out. Councilwoman Helena Brown and Councilman James Rodriguez squared off publicly Wednesday in the kind of bare-knuckled … Continue reading →

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“Houston History” Fall 2011 Launch Reception

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Join Council Members Ed Gonzalez, Melissa Noriega, and James Rodriguez, and State Representatives Carol Alvarado and Jessica Farrar for the launch of Houston History Magazine  Fall 2011 Issue Tuesday, December 6  5:30-7:00PM Sombreros (formerly Velia’s) 2910 Navigation … Continue reading →

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