January 2015 - blogHOUSTON

Noteware: Houston has a spending problem, not a revenue problem

January 12, 2015 Kevin Whited

As a city budget crisis looms, some current city leaders (and a few aspiring ones) have suggested that a shortage of revenue is to blame. In reality, as local businessman Jim Noteware points out, the

Dysfunctional METRO celebrates late delivery of handful of rail cars (rah!)

January 11, 2015 Kevin Whited

With the sort of touch that the dysfunctional area transit organization has mastered, METRO held a celebration(!) this past week of the fact that their unproven rail car manufacturer (chosen as a result of what

Cory Crow looks into 2015

January 11, 2015 Kevin Whited

Cory Crow took an entertaining look into Houston’s future to start the year, and we’ve been slow to call attention to it. Here’s an excerpt: The Astrodome: 2014 was an odd year for the Dome

Shutter the Chron’s irrelevant editorial board (part whatever)

January 4, 2015 Kevin Whited

Cory Crow finds it odd that the Houston Chronicle editorial board, which is frequently distracted by trinket governance and side issues, has suddenly decided that citizens deserve a debate over serious issues in the city

Unca Darrell damns Bill King with faint praise

January 3, 2015 Kevin Whited

Area blogger Unca Darrell notes that “unapologetically moderate” mayoral candidate and former Chronicle columnist Bill King, who has been spectacularly wrong on some of his assessments, nonetheless gets a few things right: What is important

Why isn’t the City of Houston balancing its budget?

January 2, 2015 Kevin Whited

We all “know” that the City of Houston must balance its budget every year under state law. Correct? Technically, that’s true, and under the cash method of accounting, the City of Houston has been fulfilling

Houston is #1 (rah RAH!) — or is it?

January 2, 2015 Kevin Whited

In 2014, the Houston area began to receive any number of overdue accolades for our quality of life, amenities, diversity, food culture, etc. Over any given week, it seems that some publication or organization was

City may face lower sales tax collections on top of massive budget deficits

January 1, 2015 Kevin Whited

Likely mayoral candidate and former Chronicle columnist Bill King released a short note on City of Houston sales tax collections, the City’s budget assumptions, and the City’s looming budget deficits as the area economy is

Happy 2015! (and more than a few challenges that await…)

January 1, 2015 Kevin Whited

Thanks, as always, for checking in on the blog over the past year. Life intruded somewhat at the end of the year, so posting slowed down a bit (okay, more than a bit), but we