Commentary Archives - Page 15 of 673

A Houston-area apartment renter and mother asks: “Where is my apartment door?”

December 9, 2013 Neal Meyer

Poor apartment renter asks: Where is the father of your kids? In the Sunday, December 8th 2013 fish wrap edition of the Houston Chronicle, the editors ran a front-page story featuring a 27 year old

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

On Sarah Davis getting a challenger, social conservatives, and brands of politicians

December 2, 2013 Neal Meyer

The frequent lament that American and British [political] parties are much alike, instead of representing different ideologies or, sometimes, classes, is thus a criticism of the voting rules rather than of our politicians. — Gordon

NEW METRO’s downtown station procurement fiasco: Who dropped the ball?

November 29, 2013 Kevin Whited

Last week, word came from the NEW METRO that a rather OLD METRO-like failure with a capital project had occurred. The Chronicle‘s Dug Begley did not put it quite that way, of course, as that’s

On the history of recent City of Houston charter amendments – and their enforcement (and this means same sex benefits too!)

November 25, 2013 Neal Meyer

Well, well, well. The November 2013 City of Houston elections have come and almost gone. As is often the case, the show isn’t entirely over, as there are some runoffs to determine the final winners

Week in review (11/24/2013 edition)

November 24, 2013 Kevin Whited

We’re trying out a “Week in Review” post this week to highlight news and such from the week with links (and commentary, perhaps). It may or may not become a regular feature. *** The mighty

Leadership failure: City of Houston cancels annual New Year’s event

November 21, 2013 Kevin Whited

For a city whose leaders are constantly touting all of the things they are doing to make Houston “world class,” we sure do seem to have a lot of trouble putting on an annual New