Commentary Archives - Page 175 of 673

Emergency agenda

September 17, 2008 ubu roi

An emergency meeting of the Houston City Council has been called, and there are only four ordinances on the agenda. Summary of the items: 1. Extends the disaster declaration beyond the initial seven days authorized

Here's comes Ike, ready or not! (Discuss)

September 11, 2008 Kevin Whited

Hurricane Ike seems determined to pay us a visit. Here’s wishing everyone who must evacuate is safely on the road. Here’s wishing everyone who doesn’t need to evacuate stays OFF the major roads. We’re gonna

Mayor White pulls trigger on downtown hotel development scheme

September 10, 2008 Kevin Whited

On a day when most Houstonians are focused on that little hurricane out in the Gulf, Mayor White decided to announce that he’s moving forward with plans to sell the Hilton Americas and boost downtown

A "modest proposal" from Banjo Jones

September 10, 2008 Kevin Whited

A few days ago, Banjo Jones posted some thoughts on areas the Chronicle might consider cutting as part of its latest round of downsizing: I have an idea on one way the paper can handle

City, vendor negotiate agreement on muni courts computer system fiasco

September 9, 2008 Kevin Whited

The Chronicle‘s Matt Stiles reported today that the City of Houston will get back some of the millions it has wasted on a deeply flawed computer system for the municipal courts: The city will receive

Crumbling infrastructure

September 8, 2008 ubu roi

Once again, the City’s priorities are catching up to it, in a very disruptive manner. A water leak has buckled the East Freeway, the Chron.com reports. I’m sure the State of Texas is going to

Houston blog talk linkpost: 09/08/08

September 8, 2008 Kevin Whited

Discounted tickets for Kos event (Off the Kuff) The Voting Access Scam (The County Seat) Reason says non-zoning helps Houston weather the housing storm (Houston Strategies) Muni courts settlement: Keep your mouths shut (Chron Houston

Choosing Houston's "It" building

September 8, 2008 Anne Linehan

The Chron and the American Institute of Architects Houston want readers to vote on Houston’s most “iconic” building. The article is here, and includes a list of the buildings up for consideration.

METRO's not-yet-express bus service

September 8, 2008 Anne Linehan

Seems there’s been a bit of a delay in rolling out METRO’s much-anticipated Signature/Express/Quickline/Whatever bus service. You may recall back in January METRO’s expensive blogger announced the exciting new transit offering: METRO’s Board of Directors

KHOU reports on CompStat; critics continue to mischaracterize

September 8, 2008 Kevin Whited

Last week, KHOU-11 ran a story by Christine Haas that featured Jay Wall, a CompStat advocate and HPD critic whose arguments should be familiar to readers here: 1) HPD’s misleading murder reporting (documented well by