Kevin Whited, Author at blogHOUSTON

City Council tackles Houston’s infamous booze desert problem

January 10, 2014 Kevin Whited

Mayor Annise Parker and her City Council this week gave two Houston moneyed interests (big grocers and developers) a very generous Happy New Year gift. The pretext for the move was tackling the city’s poorly

ChronWhopper: Danger Train only had 166 collisions in its first decade

January 3, 2014 Kevin Whited

The Houston Chronicle‘s incurious transportation secretarial journalist posted a rather odd statistic on his chron.com blog at the start of 2014: Of the 166 collisions on the line during the first decade, 66 of those

Do the Chron headline writers even READ some stories?

December 30, 2013 Kevin Whited

Some years ago, Wendy Davis (currently a Democratic candidate for Texas governor) sued the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for libel and defamation, claiming (among other things) mental distress. The case had no merit, and was dismissed.

The Chronicle editorial board writes the funniest things

December 20, 2013 Kevin Whited

The Houston Chronicle editorial board has been churning out some (unintentionally) funny stuff this week. On Wednesday, the editorialists examined “challenges” facing the City of Houston. They note that long-range pensions remain problematic for many

What ever happened to METRO’s CEO search?

December 17, 2013 Kevin Whited

Roughly one year ago, disgraced METRO President/CEO George Greanias announced that he would be leaving the transit agency. Greanias had previously been involved in an adolescent-gay-porn-watching scandal using METRO resources, which had, no doubt, hurt

Week in review (12/15/2013 edition)

December 15, 2013 Kevin Whited

We’re continuing with a “Week in Review” post to highlight news and such from the week with links (and sometimes commentary). It may or may not become a regular feature. *** It was a slow

Week in Review (12/08/2013 edition)

December 8, 2013 Kevin Whited

We’re continuing with a “Week in Review” post to highlight news and such from the week with links (and sometimes commentary). It may or may not become a regular feature. *** This week, the Washington

Hoffman: City officials inflated Thanksgiving parade numbers

December 7, 2013 Kevin Whited

Earlier in the week, Houston Chronicle columnist Ken Hoffman took exception to the City of Houston’s contention that some 250,000 people lined the streets for the Thanksgiving parade: I asked a city official, where did

Latest Astrodome redevelopment dreams: A $100+ million fitness center!

December 5, 2013 Kevin Whited

Remember how county “leaders” all but promised that a vote against their preferred Astrodome Boondoggle Bond would finally lead to the demolition of the liability? The scare tactics failed, of course, but boondoggle dreams die

Re-Imagining: METRO’s new phrase for failing to achieve bus service improvements promised in 2003 referendum

December 4, 2013 Kevin Whited

METRO’s downtown station procurement fiasco was the big story around Thanksgiving, but the METRO board made another significant decision in November that didn’t attract as much attention. Board member Christof Spieler, who is ramrodding NEW