Yesterday, Craig Malisow posted the news to the Hair Balls blog that BARC bureau chief Ray Sim had been fired, and that BARC’s spokeswoman declined to elaborate on the reasons behind the firing.
Bradley Olson had a much longer story on the firing that appeared in print and e-editions of today’s Chronicle (strangely, only a shorter version without Michel’s comment appears at the moment on Chron.com, where Houston may live but journalism does not always). BARC had little more to say to the newspaper about why Sim had been fired after only two months on the job, but Mayor White’s press man did promise the following:
The mayor’s spokesman, Frank Michel, said White takes the situation at BARC “very seriously.”
“There is a plan put in place to turn this all around,” he said. He offered no details but said it involves a timetable and a “change agent” who will be named “within at least the next 30 days.”
Translation: All these passionate, caring animal activists are really starting to get under the skin of the mayor (who, by the way, happens to be running for statewide office).
The Chronicle‘s metro/state diarist came up with this amusing suggestion on her online journal:
Sometimes, I think if Mayor Bill, who prides himself on the efficiency and competence of his administration, would just get outraged about the situation over there, something would get done.
If he’d just tap into that post-Ike rage and open up a can of whoop-ass in the halls of BARC like he did at Reliant when the supply trucks weren’t moving after the hurricane, things would change.
Cory Crow dismissed those juvenile ramblings with his usual good humor earlier, but we will treat them seriously just long enough to point out two things: 1) Mayor White’s use of profanities towards the volunteers from Georgia assisting in the hurricane recovery efforts really weren’t that productive and 2) Judge Emmett’s leadership and experience in logistics went much further towards straightening out the bottlenecks during the recovery effort than Mayor White’s temper tantrum. Now, if Frank Michel is suggesting Judge Emmett as the agent of change who can fix BARC, we’d be all for that. But we think the county judge is probably too busy.
Michel also described the mayor’s confidence in Stephen Williams, whose department ultimately oversees BARC. BARC activist Kelly Cripe has a decidedly different view of Williams:
The only thing remarkable about Stephen Williams is that Bill White has allowed him to perpetuate BARC’s culture of cruelty for five entire years. Stephen Williams has failed to address the problems at BARC and it is time for him to go.
Certainly, the guy hasn’t done much to inspire confidence that he’s suddenly going to solve the ongoing problems at BARC. And along with Cripe, we don’t quite understand why the mayor would have any such confidence in Williams. Mayor White has sent much more powerful agency heads packing (think Jordy Tollett and Richard Vacar). Clearly, when it’s a priority, our powerful mayor isn’t afraid to make administrative changes. So again, we are left to wonder why BARC’s suffering puppies (and other animals) aren’t more of a priority for Mayor White after all these years.
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