February 2005 - blogHOUSTON

MAP in Montgomery County

February 28, 2005 Anne Linehan

South Montgomery County has its own Motorist Assistance Program: The function of the taxpayer-funded program, which costs about $130,000 per year in salaries and fuel, is to reduce auto accidents caused by rubbernecking drivers distracted

Spur 527 and Houston signage

February 28, 2005 Anne Linehan

Outbound Spur 527 will be closed this weekend, and when it reopens, drivers will notice some changes: This weekend, the Texas Department of Transportation enters the last step of the final phase of rebuilding the

Heavy trash zero-tolerance

February 28, 2005 Anne Linehan

Mayor White’s heavy trash policy, where people who put it out too early get cited, has some residents complaining: “I’ve lived here 39 years and in that time, I’ve set my heavy trash out twice,

Metro needs help figuring out why ridership is down

February 28, 2005 Anne Linehan

In today’s Chronicle is a short bit with highlights from the latest Metro Board meeting. In addition to authorizing extra money for MAP and agreeing to sell surplus trolley cars to Austin, the board discussed

City closes First Ward streets to reduce train noise

February 28, 2005 Anne Linehan

This is interesting: Houston has closed some residential street railroad crossings in the First Ward to reduce train noise: Neighbors got the city to close three streets that have railroad crossings. “As long as it

Gilley's property to become a middle school

February 28, 2005 Anne Linehan

Pasadena ISD is buying the old Gilley’s property for a future school: The Pasadena Independent School District bought the nearly 15-acre site where the club — which with its mechanical bull ride became an international

What happened to the downtown trolleys?

February 27, 2005 Anne Linehan

Just under a year ago, Kevin Whited posted, on his personal blog, this news story about Metro’s plan for its transit services to better serve the light rail: Laid out in the presentation are pages

Chron editorialists want new privileges for "journalists"

February 27, 2005 Kevin Whited

Today’s Chron editorial advocating new privileges for journalists based on a mischaracterization of the Plame affair seems once again to take the editorialists far from the ideal state the opinion page’s interim editor has previously

City should focus on loan-default "revenue stream"

February 27, 2005 Kevin Whited

On February 23, Anne Linehan called attention to a KHOU-11 report by Mark Greenblatt on the city’s seeming indifference to multimillion-dollar defaults on city loans made to various downtown developers. Readers of the Chronicle found

Political consultant's accountant accused of embezzling

February 27, 2005 Kevin Whited

On February 18, KTRK-13’s Miya Shay reported that an employee of Allen Blakemore’s political consulting firm had been accused of embezzling at least $100,000. Chris Elam noted the news on his blog. The “olds” appeared