Commentary Archives - Page 14 of 673

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

METRO Rail update: January 2014

January 7, 2014 Neal Meyer

Fernando Herrera you have been against the train since you ran for Mayor of Houston. First off I am sure more than 1600 people are riding the train a month. 2) you have to look

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

The war for Houston’s future is over. Fiscal Responsibility has lost

December 31, 2013 Cory Crow

It has been said that Texas, and more specifically Houston, is the picture of America’s future. What with our increasingly diverse population and strong, service-related economy, there is a lot of truth to this statement,

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.

Those boondoggles-that-aren’t take a financial bite as well

December 27, 2013 Cory Crow

In late 2010 the University of Houston-Downtown admitted defeat in an ill-fated attempt at a name change that captured neither the public’s attention, nor the support of much of the student body. The Houston Chronicle had some

Houston: An unevenly regulated mess whose elected leaders have forgotten basic services

December 23, 2013 Cory Crow

On a recent business trip to Denver the rental car company messed up and assigned me a minivan with no GPS system to guide me around town. As a result of this mix-up, with an

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

ExxonMobil’s 2014 annual long term energy outlook and what it means for Houston

December 16, 2013 Neal Meyer

This past week, a friend of mine who happens to be a stockbroker dropped me an email with a link. The link led to a press release from ExxonMobil that contained the energy giant’s annual