The Chron’s editorial board has some suggestions, a wish list if you will, for Mayor-elect Annise Parker. Here are a couple of tidbits worth noting:
The Houston Police Department’s layered command structure will allow the agency to function smoothly while she conducts that search.
The bolded part explains why HPD was relatively unaffected by Chief Hurtt’s trips home to Phoenix. Except that the press conferences were less interesting when the chief wasn’t there.
Of immediate concern is a continuing budget shortfall Parker pegs at about $3 million that will require an adroit juggling of ongoing spending reductions and cost-saving measures in all city departments to avoid service cuts. Making those continuous adjustments has consumed much of Mayor Bill White’s time during his closing months in office.
Actually, much of Mayor White’s time during his closing months in office has been consumed with running for senate, and then, with a quick swipe of the white board, for governor.
The Chron editors continue on, expressing concern about the municipal pension problem that we’ve all been told Senate Gubernatorial-candidate White had “reformed,” when they haven’t completely ignored the issue. And the editors want Mayor-elect Parker to keep her hands off METRO lest she jeopardize any of the federal funding Frank “Procurement Disaster” is hoping to get. Big surprise.
