Granted, most of the editorial is the typical left-of-center wish list. Is Houston's economy DOOMED(!!) because of falling oil prices and does this mean that all of those silly oil people will move away? We hope that Texas new elected Republicans will act like Democrats and take out a loan on our catapult to throw large amounts of money at problems etc.....
Fine, I get all that and, to be honest, could care less. As a matter of fact, were it not for the last paragraph I wouldn't be writing about this editorial at all. It was THAT forgettable. But then The New Mrs. White wrote this:
New Year, The NEW Mrs. White, Chron.com
With no heir apparent to Mayor Annise Parker, election season should be a debate about pensions, pot holes and public safety, not a contest to see who can raise the most money.
Wait what?
If issues like pensions, pot holes and public safety are so important then why hasn't tNMW been calling out Mayor Parker for avoiding these issues? Instead of a "focus on the basics" plea to Mayor Parker tNMW has been knocking herself out heaping praise on Heronner for focusing on potty rights, junkets and trinkets.
Of course it's normal for tNMW, and the rest of ChronBlog to yearn for campaigns filled with 'issues' but then gush like pre-teens at a Bieber concert when the latest trinket is unveiled. In a way, this type of pie-in-the-sky editorializing shouldn't surprise us but it inevitably does.
So, as we start 2015 full of hope and promise (and, in some cases, hangovers) and with the desperate yearning of tNMW ringing in our ears (until the next trinket that is). I think it's high-time to renew my wish for the Chronicle and all who work there:
Shutter the Editorial board, get rid of the increasingly noxious political cartoonist and slash the budget for opinion writing. Once this is done clean house on the web-design side and cut the budget for so-called 'lifestyle' reporting. (No more side-boob!!!)
Then redeploy all of these assets to hard news reporting, where the Chron still has some talented reporters working and could do with a whole lot more.
Happy New Year.
