The Chronicle‘s Dan Feldstein reports that the city recently settled a case that challenged the city’s affirmative-action contracting programs:
Ten years ago, sod and seed subcontractor Robert Kossman made front-page news by saying the city of Houston discriminated against him because he was white.
This week, his lawsuit was settled when the city promised to open up some of its affirmative action subcontracts to people of any race or ethnicity and to further study what percentage of work should be guaranteed for minorities.
Under the city’s old program, any construction contractor seeking a city contract had to give 17 percent of its work to subcontractors who were minority-owned. Later, women and people with disabilities were added.
Under the new program, 15 percent must go to minorities, women and the disabled, and 5 percent more must go to small businesses owned by anyone, including white males.
Kossman’s attorney, Tom Fitzhugh, said the city settled “because they were going to lose the entire program on the trial level, and they weren’t sure (if they’d lose it) on appeal.”
City Attorney Arturo Michel said it was a good settlement for the city, saved money from going to trial and got rid of a piece of very old business.
In other municipal legal news, Alexis Grant reports that the city continues to prepare to sue online travel companies:
The city of Houston may soon join a host of other cities in the state and across the country that have sued travel Web sites over taxes they say are owed but have not been remitted — as much as $2 million annually in Houston.
After a setback in late April — the firm chosen by the city to move ahead with the lawsuit backed out — City Attorney Arturo Michel said he hopes to ask the City Council to approve a contract with a different law firm sometime this month.
“We still plan on proceeding with it,” Michel said. “We’ll keep an open mind, but we’ve had a lot of good lawyers looking at it, and I’d be surprised if something happened that would change our minds.”
Surprised? It would be shocking if Mayor White abandoned this new potential revenue stream, regardless of what anyone says at this point. He’s persistent that way.
