First and Foremost: Give Thanks.

Before we get to Thanksgiving, with Turkey and stuffing and green-bean casserole and rolls and corn on the cob, and cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie and football and eating too much and falling asleep during the inevitable dog game before raiding the leftovers to make stuffing sandwiches.......

OK, you get the point.

I thought it wise to take a minute and think about the things that we're thankful for. Maybe, for some, it's little things, maybe, for others, it's big things.  The point is that we're all thankful for something, unless of course you're currently reading this blog with your foot trapped in a bear trap while being stung by bees and a family of hungry grackles is sizing up your right eye for dinner.  OK, then you might not be all that thankful.

But, for the rest of us, even those of us in the Houston area, we have cause to be thankful for something.  If you're having trouble thinking of anything we here at YDOP are here to help.  So, without Further Ado........


Harris County Democrats:  Well, this one is obvious, you're thankful that the last round of straight-ticket voting, coupled with some truly awful candidates (#firestanstanart Orlando Sanchez, etc.) and entrenched entitlement (Hi!! Ed Emmett!!!) have pretty much left you with a hammer-lock on county governance that's only slightly got you sweating because a) another flood event is surely coming and Sylvester Turner won't be able to rely on Emmett to bail him out this time and b) Oh shit, you actually have to govern!

The important bit to realize however is that you ARE in power so that should make your Tofurky and organically sourced, vegan side-dishes tasted almost a little-less like processed sawdust this year.

Harris County GOP:  OK, I have to admit this was a tough one.  But after much thought coupled with a weekend away in Lake Charles ruminating over vodka sodas (I'm lying, I didn't think about it at all) I've come up with a winner:

Be thankful that, because his law-offices were raided and stacks of documents removed, you're not going to have to live through an insufferable Jared Woodfill challenge of Paul Simpson's chairmanship.  Congratulations for that.  Of course, you're basically completely out of power now so winning the chair will feel a little like being named the Ringmaster of Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey's Circus AFTER it got shuttered but hey....avoiding that mess is something right?


Mayor Sylvester Turner:  You should be thankful that no-one who really matters has figured out yet that not only are you in WAY over your head here but also that you've not yet run out of political patrons who have supported your long career and will be wanting to reap the rewards of your victory before your next go-round.

Senator Whitmore hasn't come calling with his cronies yet and, believe me, after a lifetime in Texas politics he has a LOT of them who will be wishing to wet their beaks in the milk and honey of your victory.   And hey, you get to keep collecting the rain tax for your slush fund er...drainage projects so there's that.


Houston Fire Department: Be thankful that the few of you  who remain on the job after Mayor Turner enacts his revenge should be getting a rather large pay-raise.  You might want to spend this holiday season buttering up the current fire chief because he's going to be coming along with an axe soon to breaks some windows.

Another thing for which you should be thankful is that you appear to be fairly organized, and fairly harmonious in your opinions within the union.  It might help to channel that to form an early coalition around who you want to support in the next Mayoral race.

Houston Police Department: This one is simple. Be thankful that it surely won't be much longer before your anti-police Police Chief decides he's made enough progressive policy Tweets and decides to leave for a run for higher office.

Police Chief Acevedo: Be Thankful that you've made enough progressive policy Tweets that soon you'll be a viable candidate for higher office and can leave Houston to return to San Antonio.  I know we'll be thankful for that.

HISD School Board: Be thankful that it's the Holidays and people will stop paying attention to your corruption and dysfunction long enough for you to find an interim Superintendent who will be willing to rubber stamp your pet projects, your nepotism in hiring, and your generally awful stewardship of Houston's youth education.

Houston Chronicle: Be thankful you're still in business. That is all. I'd say something else but everything seems so excessive beyond that.

Houston Texans: Be Thankful that, even though he's not the greatest coach, Bill O'Brien appears to have hired a voodoo high priestess to put a spell on opposing coaches causing them to make exactly the wrong decisions in key moments, almost gifting you wins.

Houston Rockets: Be Thankful Carmelo Anthony is gone. and be thankful that Daryl Morey finally realized what an idiotic decision bringing him on was in the first place.

Houston Astros: Be Thankful that you're still the current best professional sports franchise in Houston, that you're still ran by competent management and that you still have a chance over the next couple of years to snag a World Series title or two.

Houston City Council: Be Thankful that Houston has a strong-Mayor form of government that hides your deficiencies behind those of Mayor Turner. Yes, we all know you're not very good, we just don't care much because you don't have any power to speak of.


And finally......

Houston-Area Political Bloggers: Be Thankful that Your Drink Order Please has returned to active blogging.  Because now the title of "Worst Local Blogger" is sewn up for at least as long as I want to keep this going.


Happy Thanksgiving y'all.  Spare a  soy plant, eat a real turkey.

BadBlogging: Things I LIKE about Houston

I will admit that, from time to time, this blog can get a teensy bit negative. That's probably more human nature than anything else, we tend to focus on things we feel need to be fixed after all rather than those things that are humming along smoothly.

To remedy that, I think I'll list out the things about Houston that I like. I haven't done that in a while so this seems like a good time to do so....


1. The way people helped one another during the Harvey Floods - It was cool, when I was cooped up in my house for a week, watching normal, everyday citizens and first responders busting their humps to rescue and evacuate their fellow residents.

2. The food and restaurant scene, even in the suburbs. - While I have to fess up to not venturing 'Inside the Loop' very often except for work (and number four which follows) even out here in the hinterlands there is a large selection of good places to grab a good meal that are not chains. And food trucks. Food trucks are good, very good.

3. The energy industry and job market. - The fact is, the energy industry pays pretty well, they have good benefits and it's a good industry in which to work. You hear a lot of bad about us in the media, but I've seen a lot of good inside.

4. The Houston Zoo. - The wife and I love the zoo here. It's great. The Houston Zoo is one of the underappreciated great places to go in Houston.  People gush about the Museums and Theaters, but the truth is a lot of cities have facilities comparable to those.

5. The Houston Astros. - I don't like the Texans, I pull for the Rockets, the Dynamo (and the entire MLS for that matter) are minor league soccer but the Astros?  I'm a fan. The first baseball game I ever saw was in the Astrodome and back then I thought it was the biggest building in the world (I was 5).

And that's it.  Everything else about Houston is just 'meh' or substantially worse than other cities I've visited/lived in.  But those five things are pretty great and I will miss them should I ever leave here.

Surviving Harvey

Preface:  My family was insanely lucky.  We suffered no flood damage, we only lost power for a couple of hours and everyone is safe.  What we went through is nothing like what tens (hundreds) of thousands are going through right now.  So this is not a gripe, it's just a simple recounting.  I'm very thankful that the water stopped where it did.

"It's one block away".

That's what my wife told me on Thursday after it had been raining pretty much all week.  We're among the group of people who live North of the Addicks Reservoir. Some might say stupidly so. But we did research when buying and felt that the elevation (114-115 feet according to maps) would mean that an awful lot of rain would have to fall before we faced a flood.

Harvey dumped an awful lot of rain on the Northwest side of Houston.  According to my neighbors unofficial rain gauge readings, we received around 35 inches during the storm.  Just north of us, in Copperfield, one rain gauge reading said 61 inches.  And the water kept rising.

After my wife told me that I decided to take a walk down the block and see for myself.  She was right (of course, I didn't doubt her but I wanted to see) the water was slowly creeping up the street as was firmly in the middle of the road just one block away.  That street was at 108, it would flood the road ultimately but not any of the houses.  In fact, most of the houses on the "back half" of the subdivision would be high and dry.  They did a good job building our neighborhood, elevating most of the houses 3-5 feet above street level.

The front half was not so lucky.  We could see that those houses had taken on a lot of water. We also knew that this meant our waste water treatment facility (WWTF) was in deep crap. (literally).  On Wednesday night came the warning to curtail use. Only flush periodically, don't take showers etc.  On Thursday afternoon the notice came that our sewer system was 100% out of order. No water down the drains at all lest you wanted to have sewage back up in your house.

That was it for me.  We had a choice.  Now that the roads had opened up we could make a run to my parents house in Willis (they were out of town on an Alaskan cruise) or continue to sit in a house where we needed to defecate outdoors and go without a shower.  At first we cleaned off using the water hose in the back yard.  Once we couldn't flush at all we made the decision to run to Willis.

By now the water was dropping, but it could be days before the levels would lower sufficiently to allow repairs to the system.  So we threw the dogs in our cars and headed North.

To be honest, it was like staying in a vacation rental.  We visited the Kroger in Willis and bought a week's worth of food. I used my father's propane grill and we cooked outdoors every night.  We saw fireflies and one very scared opossum.  We put the dogs on leads and took them outside several times to relieve themselves.  We watched college football and counted ourselves lucky.

My parents came home on Monday and we grilled fish and watched the excellent Tennessee/Georgia Tech game.  I then got violently ill and had to call in sick to work.

That was a blessing however because, as the day progressed and I started feeling better, a notice from the MUD came that 'conservative' sewer use had been restored. In short, we could take quick showers and flush our toilets, we could not run the dishwasher or do laundry but that didn't matter.  My dad helped me load my car and the dogs and we headed home.

Unfortunately my wife DID go into work on Tuesday, and it took her 5 hours to get there.  Coming back to our place it still took her 2 and a half.  I don't know how I'm going to get to or from work tomorrow but by the time this publishes I will undoubtedly be there.

To those of you looking on all I can say is to donate.  Over on my sports blog I've put many links to charitable groups.  That post is here.

At work, I've got some on my staff who lost everything, others who just have roof damage and garage flooding and some who, like me, found themselves very fortunate. I'm sure almost everyone else in Houston is the same way.

No matter what emerges from this I do predict that Houston is going to be changed both drastically and subtly in the coming months.  What we see emerge from this will be a different city, hopefully we can avoid our lesser instincts and make it be better.  I'm not going to get into that too much now except to say that we're already seeing evidence that our politicians and "thought leaders" are choosing to go down the wrong path.  I sincerely hope they turn around but I'm afraid the impulses against that happening will be too great.

Harvey as a horrific tragedy with some very bright lights interspread throughout.  From the Cajun Navy to people with boats pulling out strangers to a local government who did a pretty good job coordinating it all.  There have been wonderful signs of giving, service and spirit.  I'm proud of this Houston.


I always have been.

Houston Area Leadership Vacuum: Leaving a City Behind.

****WARNING - Blog navel-gazing ahead - WARNING****

In the 11 plus years that I've been blogging on various platforms, from way, way back in the live-journal days through Isolated Desolation, Lose an Eye, It's a Sport, Harris County Almanac, Your Drink Order Please and other, forgotten, blogs, I've almost always kept my focus trained on Houston and the surrounding region.

I've never been one to do National, until recently, and the vision for this blog was never for it to be a "national blog" that discussed national, or international, events. Part of the reason for this is because I only paid passing attention to those issues, and part was because I felt there were people out there doing a better job of it than I.

Granted, there were people doing the Houston Region better than I so I'm not sure why I used that as an excuse, but a large part of me enjoyed writing about my home because I really thought this was where change could, and should, be enacted. All politics is local and all of that.

So off I went on a merry crusade against New Urbanism, the Houston Way, bad politicians and possibly the worst local news environment in any big city in America.  From the middling, regional daily to television news that often devolved into comedy, Houston always lacked the ability to report on itself in a critical manner.

The results?

As I said several months ago, I lost. I lost so bad the ground of my ideas were salted and refuse dumped on it. The idea that Houston should grow forward instead of backward was rejected by the only two factions that mattered. The New Urbanists, who have convinced anyone that matters in Houston that the solution forward are the failed 19th century urban policies of the past, and City Hall, which is a devolving mess of petty politicians appointing Houston Way proponents who view taxpayer dollars as their own personal slush-funds to bestow on their friends in return for trinkets which, they hope, will secure their "legacy".

Then, the unthinkable happened. The Houston Chronicle placed one of their editors as the judging panel chairman for 'commentary' and finally was in a position to gift itself its first Pulitzer Prize. In some small way, this column (through it's extensive use of "I" and "me") is an homage to the writing style of the gifted one. Predictably, this award didn't help things.

Post-Pulitzer the news  is much worse, if that's possible, and the media shut-out any and all criticism in place of advocacy reporting while all but abandoning their role as watchdog.  Because of this, news of the City of Houston debt problem being away bigger than anyone first imagined was suppressed until after the election of a life-long politician who, early results are indicating, is entirely unprepared for the job.

Then today, something that's been bugging me for a long time snapped. News that Houston area drivers were moving barrels and cones to access the as-yet unopened Grand Parkway (ignoring the safety of workers and others) reaffirmed my anecdotal evidence that suggested Houston was a selfish, ugly town that's getting exactly the governance it deserves.

So after all of these years I'm changing scope. I'm going to focus my gaze upward and take one what I think is a much bigger issue than Sylvester Turner trying to get people to love their way to potholes being fixed. I'm leaving Houston to the nitwits of the unproductive class as they try and craft a Houtopia that's only going to suppress economic activity, and drive people to the suburbs faster. I'm leaving the Houston Chronicle to itself as it continues to go after Houston's biggest, and most important industry, in the hope that it can aid in recreating Houston as the Boston of the South a city where the wealthy and connected thrive to the detriment of everyone else, where the pretty people are happy and gay, while the great unwashed are asked to please hide during big-ticket events. Houston will end up bankrupt and crumbling on its own, content to read the inane ramblings of sixth-generation Texans and the great block quote machine without having to be distracted by me.

One of the reasons for this is that I'm tired of Houston, but the other reason is that I feel the bigger problem of the future of the State and National conservative movement is of greater import. Should Houston collapse there are other cities (and States) in which to live, if America goes down the options will become pretty slim.

And that's a problem.

So in parting I want to say goodbye to a city that I've written about for over a decade. Despite yourself I've watched businesses thrive inside your borders and, recently, begin to flow out of them for the safety of the suburbs. I've watched Metro spend Billions trying to copy other cities, I've laughed at your parklets and your small-town attitude. For the foreseeable future I'll still call Houston my home, but I will no longer care what you decide to do with yourself.

It's not me Houston, It really is you.

Houston Area Leadership Vaccum: For HER Ordinance: Commence Shenanigans.

Political truism:  Any time a politician is personally invested in a law, if they consider it either a "personal crusade" or a "legacy builder" for instance, you can be sure that they will do whatever they can to keep the law on the books.

We've already seen this with Mayor Parker and HER Ordinance.  From attempting to stamp out opposition through confiscatory subpoenas to illegally overriding the City's procedures for voter referendum certification (to a point that the Texas Supreme Court issued not only a stay, but also a directive to either repeal or put the issue to vote) we've seen the mean, petty side of Parker on display over this act.

In what is sure to not be the last act of a desperate woman, we now see the all to familiar attempt to make yes equal no and no equal yes.....

Ballot language Questioned in Equal Rights Ordinance. Doug Miller, KHOU.com

Here's the ballot language as it appears on the city council agenda:

"Shall the City of Houston repeal the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, Ord. No. 2014-530, which prohibits discrimination in city employment and city services, city contracts, public accommodations, private employment, and housing based on an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, familial status, marital status, military status, religion, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity, or pregnancy?"

There is a legal question as to whether or not this election is a repeal election, or whether Parker here is complying with the ruling of the court which states:

The Relators assert that under the Houston Charter, after the City Secretary certifies the

petition’s sufficiency, the City Council has a ministerial duty to immediately reconsider the ordinance and, if it does not repeal it, put it on the November 2015 ballot.

(...)

We agree with the Relators that the City Secretary certified their petition and thereby invoked the City Council’s ministerial duty to reconsider and repeal the ordinance or submit it to popular vote.

The language within the City Charter is fairly clear, at least it seems clear enough when common sense is applied. However, Houston government is currently not operating under the established rules of common sense, but under the  drive of a Mayor who's more interested in her personal political priorities (and future political candidacies) than she is in fulfilling her duties as Mayor for all Houstonians.

Think about this:  There are Federal laws which cover every minority group within HER Ordinance except one, and it's the one with which Parker happens to identify. In contrast, there are NO Federal laws covering Houston's financial mess, the growing infrastructure decline or the lack of financial oversight on almost all areas of Houston's governance. That Parker is throwing all of her support behind the former, while all but ignoring the latter, speaks volumes about whether she's governing, or trying to create a personal legacy as a launch pad for future, personal, political gain.

If anything, Houston's elected leaders should submit a straight-forward Her Ordinance proposal to the voters, asking them to either approve the ordinance or reject it, and turn their focus to more pressing problems than who uses what potty and whether or not city buildings have gardens on the roofs or are LEED certified.

Parker has stated that pension reform and the City budget are going to be items for "the next Mayor to deal with".  I would argue the counter. What Parker should do is focus on the larger items at hand, push to repeal the poorly-crafted HER Ordinance and let a Mayor who has less skin in the game give it another go.  This would not preclude Parker from being an advocate for the New ERO as a private citizen.  As a matter of fact, I would hope she would still choose to do so.

Maybe with a little bit more measured thought and a little less "this is very personal to me" anger we can end up with something better than the Grand Urinal Bargain of 2014.

I realize, of course, that this is a pipe dream.

Houston Area Leadership Vacuum: The Politics of Political Convenience.

This is fortuitous....

Testy CIP meeting sparks debate about equity. Katherine Driessen, HoustonChronicle.com ($$$)

(Pay wall protected, of course)

District C accounts for the largest share of planned projects at more than 20 percent of the planned expenditures. Councilwoman Ellen Cohen, who represents District C which includes Montrose and the Heights, said concerns around the dais were valid. But she noted that her district includes some of the oldest neighborhoods in the city.

I'm sure the fact that Mayor Parker resides in District C, that her strongest base of political support is within its boundaries, and that Councilwoman Cohen is among her biggest sycophants had NOTHING at all to do with this allocation.

Nope, nothing at all.

I would also point out this: In the ongoing debate over food deserts private grocery stores are all but being accused of discrimination for making business decisions that allocate recourses to relatively wealthy, upscale, trendy areas where profits can be made. Perhaps they should also use the "oldest neighborhoods argument to justify their investments in the same?

It's good to be in the Ruling Class is it not?

Houston Area Leadership Vacuum: Let's spend some more (of other people's) MONEY!!!

What passes for leadership in the Houston area is rolling out Mrs. White's catapult again.

Amid mounting budget concerns, Parker plans to push for revenue cap change. Katherine Driessen, HoustonChronicle.com($$$)

(Paywall protected, please read the entire thing if you can)

"I'm going to make them vote up or down," Parker said of the revenue cap. "If they want to give a pay raise to firefighters without having to cut huge numbers of programs across the city they're going to have to figure out that, you know, that's one way to bring some relief in."

In Houston, this is what passes for leadership.  Parker's tough talk backed up by.....? More rhetoric.  In fact, the only time that Parker has been anything close to tough has been when she was advocating for HER Ordinance which was, unsurprisingly, very important to her personally and probably the one thing that could be considered to truly be on her political agenda.

What the raising of the cap allows politicians to do, long-term, is avoid making tough choices and exercising fiscal discipline. When you consider that the top-tier Mayoral candidates (with the exception of Bill King) are all talking about "investments" in communities and "public-private partnerships" in lieu of fiscal responsibility you know that Houston is looking down the barrel of fiscal calamity.

Even worse is the candidate pool for City Council.  I've been following a lot of them on Twitter so you don't have to and let me assure you that Houston is paddling around in the kiddie section of the leadership gene pool.  Everyone has a plan to spend money, everyone has an idea how to increase what's being called "city revenues" (taxes and fees) and some are even worse than that suggesting that ideas from Brazil (seriously) would be good for Houston to adopt.

Another thing that I find funny, mentioned in the article, is how mercurial and quick to cower to the mayor Ellen Cohen is. Texas Monthly likes to think they rank politicians as "Best, Worst and furniture". And while they tend to do a fairly mediocre job getting the rankings correct (the lists are usually just placing politicians into the respective buckets based solely on whether or not the TM staff likes them or not) they are leaving out one pretty vital category.

The political sock-puppet, a politician who serves no purpose but to parrot the positions of someone who is either their political patron or more experienced then they. Ellen Cohen is Mayor Annise Parker's sock-puppet of that there can be no doubt.

While I make light of this situation it's important to realize that the City's finances are central to Houston's well-being.  I get that there are some who are considered serious political thinkers who think that One-bin recycling and parklets are "meat and vegetables" issues but none of that stuff happens if the plate itself is cracked.

And that's the problem in a city where there's no leadership. Trinkets, and things that wet the pants of gleeful political bloggers, get piled on plates that don't have the strength to support it. It's very much like putting too much potato salad on a single paper plate. There's no way you're making it to the picnic table before all of those "meat and vegetables" become food for ants.

So, beware pundits trying to distract from the fact that Houston's got a big budget problem, and shake your head at the media who are only just starting to figure this out. The games out leaders have been playing and the trinkets they have been buying all come with bills that are about to come due.

It might be a good idea to start asking city candidates how they plan to pay those bills instead of just letting them spout platitudes.

Tales of a sub-par media outlet: The problem is not them (according to them) it's you.

"I do not like Houston. I've never been as miserable in any other place in the world as I am here."

This is the first line in David Dorantes odd mix of a rant against Houston and a love letter to an Ex who left him and married another man.

The article, if you can read it behind the Chron's increasingly expensive pay-wall, ran earlier today on the "Gray Matters" blog-ish type piece of whimsy that serves as a de-facto editorial outlet for Chron staffers, and people that they find compelling.

It's articles like these, and prose such as this (Example: "I once had a girlfriend. I loved her very much [I still love her, she is married to another man]") that has lead me to question why I ever started paying the Chron for access to this dreck in the first place.

The problem with the Chron's in-house editorial writing is that it is both simplistic in it's logic and dismissive of other points of view at the same time. Yes, Falkenberg won a Pulitzer, but she only won it after Chron Editor Jim Newkirk was appointed chair of the selection committee for that subject. As I've previously mentioned, this doesn't mean that her columns were unworthy, but it does mean that her award is tarnished and we will never know if she did win based on equitable judging.

Of course, it's not fair to single out Ms. Falkenberg for this because it's something the media has done for years now.  The Pulitzer has long since stopped being a marker of excellence in journalism and now treated as a participation medal for the cool set.  For reference see: the Nobel Peace Prize.  Same difference.

This doesn't mean that ALL of the writers at the Houston Chronicle are bad, quite the contrary. In many cases the writing is pretty decent. I do question the ability of the editors to understand their jobs but I know of many reporters over there who hustle their asses off and genuinely try to do a good job.

For a large portion of the leadership, and some of the reporting staff, the problems behind their subscriber hemorrhage isn't their product, it's you.

From time to time they pull back that curtain and allow a peek behind what's going on in their minds, and why they hate you for not seeing the world through their lens. Not that it's fair to ask them to see things your way but, at the bare minimum, there should be an understanding that the vast majority of Houston's do not share the same Houtopian, new-urbanist dream held by the editors and their running circles.

The projection is astounding. I, and other non New-Urbanist types get accused all the time of being "angry". We're either angry that the light rail was built or angry that Critical Mass is gumming up traffic or angry that Mayor Parker is doing her level best to put a Band-Aid on the cancer that is becoming Houston's financial situation.  This could not be further from the truth. The folks that I meet with (who are, some of the biggest names in the so-called "angry opposition") are for the most part quite happy with their lots in life.

And I'm happy too.  I enjoy living in Houston, traffic, potholes, gender neutral restrooms, bad politicians, horrible media and all. I'm glad that there are organizations like Metro that are easily made fun-of, that our local politics are entertaining, that there are groups such as Houston Tomorrow and Tea Party groups that provide almost constant humor and I'm happy that the party bloggers in this town are so consistent. It makes living here entertaining and blogging about the city easy.  I have a good job that provides for my family, we spend time taking advantage of the many amenities that are available including the Houston Zoo, Miller Outdoor Theatre, golf year around, the Museum District, good places to eat, drink and generally live a fairly happy life. My only concern is that all of this gets whitewashed away by some wave of gentrification that strips Houston of all that makes her vibrant.  In short, I fear world-classiness most of all, not the people behind the movement. For the most part, among the ones I've met, them I actually like.

Yes, the weather is not the best, and yes the traffic sucks, and yes, there are many people in this City who would just as soon spit on you as give you a drink of water. Quite often however I've found those types to be the New Urbanists rather than the luddites who are continually "against progress" or "wanting to hurt the poor" (both not true in most cases*). Were money and access no object are their other places I'd rather live? 

Of course. Pamplona, Spain for one, Northern Italy for another, in America probably Las Vegas and that's about it. Although, if pressed, I'd probably move anywhere in France. (Watch the TV coverage of the Tour de France, you'll understand)

Maybe because I live in the suburbs I don't see the level of hate and threats of physical confrontation that Chron writers seem to experience. I've walked, ridden my bike, driven and rode trains and buses around Houston and I've never had anyone approach me with a tire-iron in hand threatening to beat my brains in because I was walking. And I doubt many people in Houston have either. For the most part we all get along and make our way through life in this City potholes and all. Sure, there might be the quick bleating of a horn or an odd anonymous online comment but, for the most part, the folks in Houston that I've met are pretty amicable, even when we disagree from time to time. Usually on those occasions I've found it best to just agree to disagree, and order another round.

So either the Chron is hiring a special kind of asshole or mountains are being made of molehills in their writer's minds.

Of, possibly, they're just going for page-clicks.  If that's the case then they suckered me in.  It's just these days, I exclusively take the free route in through their Twitter account.









































*Hurting the poor, or evil intentions supported by bad moral arguments are not just the provenance of progressives, new urbanists and the left. If you don't think that Tea Partiers, Republican establishment writers and (admittedly) you and I fall into the trap of false demonization from time to time then you're not being fair. A reminder that this is OK when you're using a person's own words to characterize their position (as can safely be done using the prose of the linked article above, where the author clearly spells out the fact that he is, in fact, a raging asshole with interpersonal communication issues) but is usually bad when you have to project what it is that they're thinking. A few years ago I was constantly making this error when categorizing New Urbanists. I've tried to get better at that just focusing on what they are actually saying instead of what I imagine them to say. Still not perfect, but hopefully getting better.

Houston Area Leadership Vacuum: Realizing a Truism.

You Reap What You Sow.

You Reap After You Sow.

You Reap MORE than you Sow.


For years now, what passes for leadership in Houston has been pretty busy sowing debt and unsustainability.

Houston's Debt Outlook Downgrade a Warning Analyst Says. Katherine Driessen

The comments to this story are already a case study in why communities continue to elect societies lowest common denominator into positions of leadership.  From denial, to smug "I told you so" comments to "why suddenly is this being reported about now?" there's the real chance that 70-80% of Houstonians have no idea this is going on and the rest (many of them city employees working with municipal unions) don't care.  As long as they get theirs in the form of unsustainable pension payments and there's someone who's going to be willing to raise taxes.....

What?  You don't think tax increases are likely?

Not initially of course, first there will be an "emergency" ballot initiative on freeing Houston from the shackles of the current pillow-soft revenue cap.  Then, with a heavy heart and after deep consideration, taxes will be raised.  Sure, it will be sold as impacting people with the most the worst, property taxes being falsely sold by some as only impacting those 'wealthy' enough to own homes, and they'll make more noise about the sham that is commercial property appraisal in Texas, but despite all of this the tax increase will be universal.

Sure, people will scream for a while but this will dissipate soon. After all, those in charge can always buy themselves a distraction or three by installing more trinkets. A pocket park here, a bike trail there, even parklets were a tool that the Parker administration used to draw attention away from the fact that, as a fiscal manager, she was somewhat clueless.

If all else fails?  Just pass another controversial HER Ordinance or update the existing one to include the right of all people to have a wedding cake of their choosing.  THAT should keep the proletariat busy for a while.  Maybe keep Quannell X on speed-dial?

Or better yet, just make a bunch of noise about one bin recycling and let the useful idiots run around thinking you're addressing the "key issues" of Houston's future.

Hell, it's worked in the past.

Houston Area Leadership Vacuum: The problem is not revenues.

Negative Shmegative........


Moody's hands City of Houston a Negative Debt Outlook, cites Pension costs. Chron.com

One of the top three credit rating agencies dinged Houston for its rising pension costs and property tax revenue cap, revising the city's general obligation debt outlook to "negative" late last week.

Moody's Investors Service affirmed the city's Aa2 rating, a high mark, but warned that the "revision to negative reflects the challenges the city faces from growing pensions costs and liabilities, which are compounded by significantly limited revenue raising flexibility, and projected structural imbalance."

In short, the City is spending too much and they don't have the potential money in the budget to address it.  The reason for this limitation is the much-maligned, taxpayer-approved revenue cap.

If you listen to political officials that is.

In reality, there are two main issues driving this:

1. For years, the City of Houston has allocated its budget spending in much the same way someone who is spending other's money with no potential consequences might.

 In most cases, these expenditures are designed to either curry favor with potential voters, or to reward selected constituencies.  These birds are now returning to roost.  The City of Houston receives an ever increasing amount of money each year. Were they a private company, with a limited budget and resources, they would be forced to belt-tighten and focus on "core" functions before going off to spend Billions on non-core services.

However, Cities and other Government agencies don't act like rational businesses and therefore there is no budget discipline. While I'm generally supportive of term limits, I'm not blind to the fact that, in Houston at least, they have lead to a dearth of long-range planning from elected officials in an effort to fill their terms via re-election and the steady erosion of public works and the pension system.

At some point, this can is going to have to stop being kicked down the road. Based on early returns on the Mayoral race I'd say the chances of this happening are slim to none.  Instead, what I do expect is that the next Mayor will push for the revenue cap to be removed, and there will be enough favors promised to key constituencies that it will narrowly pass.

2. There are political interests in Austin and elsewhere who have a vested interest in maintaining the status-quo for pension rules and laws.

This is one of those things where everyone who pays attention knows what's happening, but no one wants to commit the political suicide that it would take to call out the bad actors.  The fact is, there is a LOT of personal wealth a person could create for themselves provided they understand where the spigots are located. 

In Texas as a whole, there are politicians who have positioned themselves in the honey hole with no real challengers to knock them off of the perch, in large part due to gerrymandering.  There is also no real impetus on the TLSPM to expose this because in doing so they would lose access to the types of events where they get to hob-knob with the ruling class. For the modern day media, losing the 'in' to events of this type is often viewed as a thing worse than plagiarizing. The latter can be forgotten over time, the former is almost impossible to regain.

Before you begin to puff out your chest and reflexively slam the 'other' party for being guilty here, I should remind you that the ability to create great personal wealth off of politics knows no party affiliation and seems to be fairly dispersed among both donkeys and elephants.

Normally, I would suggest that the City be required to take a straight-razor to the budget and then make the case that, minus the Quality of Life committee, commissions for the arts and other non-core fees the revenue cap is still problematic. However, I understand that asking for an elected official to grasp the concept of fiscal restraint is akin to asking an accountant to understand abstract art. It's not in their skill set for the most part.

Instead I'll just end this by suggesting City of Houston residents grab the safety rail and hold on tight.

The ride you're about to be taken on is a bumpy one.

Houston Area Leadership Vacuum: First, they came for the idlers.

Apparently having resolved the tough issues, underfunded pension liabilities, an infrastructure that makes Havana look modern by comparison, a budget that's grown so bloated it needs it's own zip code, Houston City Council has decided to zone in on what REALLY matters.....


City could take aim at idling vehicles. Katherine Driessen, Chron.com

Houston City Council could get a look this month at an ordinance that would restrict the amount of time drivers of large vehicles could spend idling ‑ allowing the engine to run while parked.
The city's  Quality of Life committee discussed the proposal Thursday, largely offering support for the plan.

I'm not sure what the "Quality of Life Committee" is actually charged to do but, if it's a paying position, I would like to nominate it's members for whatever genius award is available.  Talk about your cushy jobs.  Of course, if it's a volunteer position then what we're witnessing is what happens when you get a group of low-functioning idiots in a room.

I mean, I could understand a proposal like this coming from a group of paid committee members.  There you've been, blowing off meetings while taking that money and improving YOUR quality of life at the golf course and spa when all of the sudden.  "Oh shit! We have to come up with something for Council to consider banning!"

There you are driving into the QoL meeting with City Council trying to figure out what you're going to say, drawing a blank, stopping off for a burger and a quick cocktail when you see it. Some poor trucker stopping a food truck to grab a sandwich and he leaves his engine idling because.....well, you don't just shut off a big diesel like that. It actually allows the engine to run MORE efficiently if it's allowed to idle.

But, you don't know that. You're driving around in your Audi A8 (with the V8 of course) cursing Houston's traffic, wondering why more people don't just ride the bus, or why the City won't spend Billions so they can ride the train, thus freeing up your commute downtown to provide your expert opinion on what's ruining (your) quality of life in Houston.  You see that truck idling there and you think "Environment!  Smog! Noise Pollution!" and you realize that you've so hit the quality of life trifecta you might be able to skip the next five committee meetings all together.

So you walk into the QoL meeting and you lay out your grand plan. The other QoL committee members seethe with jealousy and rage because they weren't smart enough to think of that and, unless they can think of something flashy to add, they will be attending those meetings that you're skipping.

Then all eyes turn to City Council, that august body of elected officials who got their jobs because A) They've been around long enough that everyone knows their name or B) because they discovered which trough to hang head in, and they say "Hey, that might be a good idea."

You.Are.Made.

Of course, you own stock in a trucking company so you want to make sure that your name is kept out of the media.  But since these QoL committee meetings never draw the curiosity of local reporters that shouldn't be too hard. Now that you've done the dirty work you can get David Crossley or some other self-styled activist to bring it up and take the glory.  After all, you've got golf to play.

Good job.


The second scenario is that there are people in Houston who have nothing better to do with their time than sit around and think up ways to impose their will on other people's lives by offering suggestions to Houston's Lowest Common Denominator.

That's just too sad to even consider.

Houston Area Leadership Vacuum: It's so annoying when the unwashed make noise.

There is a dream that is Houston. To paraphrase Richard Harris, acting as Marcus Aurelius in the movie Gladiator, a dream that is only a whisper, if you dare say it, it will fade away.

It's a dream envisioned by developers, who stand to make ship-loads of money building luxury high-rise apartment buildings and David Crossley of Houston Tomorrow. It's shared by most of what passes for leadership in Houston as well as most of the city's power players.

This dream is a urban city, modeled on Paris, consisting of dense, urban development inside the Loop where pretty, predominantly Caucasian, young professionals traipse from a open air vegetable market to a patio coffee shop to sip java and surf the web on iApple products while streetcars and trains trundle lazily by.  It's a Houston that is downtown centric, where the city's power players rub elbows with the city's exciting class. A place where wide sidewalks co-exist seamlessly with multi-modal "complete" streets that have green-painted cycling lanes full to bursting with healthy, pretty people and mass transit zipping by those insipid enough to choose to try and drive along one-lane roads requiring stoppages (to let cyclists, trains and pedestrians by) frequently enough that only hybrids and electric cars are an option.

Sadly, it was a dream held by the Houston Chronicle who appear to now be on the outside looking in. This is painful to them because they've done so much heavy writing to support, to advocate for this dream. It was envisioned that the reporters would be ambling around in 60's clothing taking an almost beatnik approach to the news. They would speak to politicians, Metro board members and advocacy groups in street-side wine bars, discussing the important matters of the day as the hustle and bustle of downtown commerce erupted in a cacophony around them.

Unfortunately, a slight hiccup is occurring on the road to Houtopia, and it's quite a serious problem.

For one, those that are most dependent on bus service are objecting to Christof Spieler's attempts to reimagine Metro's bus service away from them and toward supporting the Houston Dream. This is a big problem because the presence of the old and infirm do not create an idyllic setting for either a bus wedding or tourists riding from hotels to transit centers to catch trains and streetcars that will ultimately drop them off at a stadium or convention center.

Second, those who can't afford to shop at a boutique shoppe peddling bowls hand-made from wood reclaimed from suburban dwellings are discovering that all of the money being spent to prop up the wealthy in the middle are threatening to leave the outside shell of Houtopia a rotting, underdeveloped husk.  It is, of course, to the great chagrin of the unproductive class that the poor and, mostly, minority communities who are not targets for gentrification cannot get on board with Houtopia, either through stubbornness or (more likely) ignorance of the benefits of world classiness to the courtier class.

So, once again, it seems that it falls to Your Drink Order Please to offer up a sensible solution.  Fortunately, I spent a couple of minutes mulling this over and believe that I have the perfect solution in mind.

Ship all of the nay-sayers to Kingwood.

Think about it. Kingwood has pretty homes with lush lawns and only slightly deteriorating roads that can be navigated by either pedestrians, or by automobile. It is not, yet, a food desert, and there is plenty of space to build temporary residences in the back-yards of those greedy suburbanites who still persist on believing that the automobile is a viable mode of transportation.

It's also, due to annexation, firmly inside the city limits so these newly transplanted residents can vote, and the influx of traditionally Democratic voters means that at least one traditionally conservative City Council seat is sure to flip and be filled by a Houtopian with wisdom and vision.

Sure, you're going to have to throw people a bone or two.  Metro can spare a bus route and Houston's next Mayor can promise a community center once "funds are found".  Given the state of City finances we all realize this is an empty promise but the proletariat won't. As a matter of fact, if played right, and if we can limit these people's access to news, this campaign promise can become evergreen, being recycled every election cycle before being locked up in the basement alongside Metro's failed promise to increase bus service by 50%.

I really do think that this is the only option that will make everyone happy. Well, except for those who find themselves relocated, and the people of Kingwood who might be a little peeved that residents of traditionally underserved neighborhoods are camping in their yards. If only they would look at it from a Houtopian perspective, perhaps they could understand that they've been moved into a huge greenspace (vital for happiness) and that they are now able to live a hearty life free of the worries of urban decay.

I'm sure someone at Houston Tomorrow can get on this. It's not as if they have anything pressing to do.

Houston Mayoral Election: We have a poll.

There is finally some polling data on the upcoming 2015 Houston Mayoral Election, conducted by KHOU and Houston Public Media.

Exclusive Poll: Turner, Garcia lead pack in race for Mayor. Doug Miller, KHOU

2015 Mayoral Race. Houston Public Media


The poll was conducted under the direction of Bob Stein who was, unsurprisingly, "not surprised" by the results.  If you've followed local politics for any length of time you know that Mr. Stein is rarely surprised by the results of any poll that he releases.

Without viewing the cross-tabs or the entire poll itself, which has not (as far as I can tell) been released to the public, it's difficult to do too much of a deep-dive into what, if anything, this poll tells us.

Absent any context it's pretty much just a quick identifier of name ID early in the election cycle.

Here's how the candidates stack up:  (I'm just using the 'likely voters' results although I caveat that by pointing out that I'm unsure of what screen they used)

Sylvester Turner:  16%

Adrian Garcia: 12%

Chris Bell: 8%

Ben Hall: 3%

Bill King: 3%

Stephen Costello: 2%

Marty McVey: 0%

Undecided: 50%

There are plenty of unanswered questions which could skew these results greatly when taken into consideration.

1. What is the geographical dispersion of the persons polled? If, for instance, the responses were clustered in certain geographical areas you could have responses that were weighted toward candidates to whom the respondents were familiar. I'm not saying this IS the case, I'm just saying we don't know.

2. Why is the Republican percentage so low? Only 15% of all respondents identified as "Republican". Given what we know about Houston demographics, that is skewed very low.  Either there was an error in the sampling (the calls made during business hours when people were at work) or there's a problem in the statistical model that's being used. Given voting trends we know that over 30% of the population of Houston tends to vote Republican.  This survey doesn't reflect that.

3. In what order were the candidates listed as options?  Was it random, per call, or was there a fixed order with Turner and Garcia first, and then the rest?  Ordering matters as many people will default toward answering the top choices offered.  Unfortunately, again, we just don't know.

I could go on and on but I won't.  You can see where over-analysis of an incomplete poll can create issues of identification.  I do find it odd that NO likely voters chose Marty McVey.  While I don't think he has a chance of winning the fact that zero respondents in that bucket selected him raises huge red flags to me.

What we do know is that a lot of people are not yet ready to reveal their choice. While many are saying they are surprised that the undecided vote is so "low" I would suggest that, given we're supposedly dealing with active municipal voters, I'm slightly surprised that it's so high.

It probably understates reality however. I would imagine that, in most cases, people are not even paying attention to this race much yet and that the undecided votes are really those who just haven't taken the time to look at it yet.

The poll also doesn't tell us where the conservative vote is going to coalesce, and I think that's a big weakness because I think that many of them have decided on who their candidate will be.  Part of this may be because we don't know how much of this poll was conducted after news of the ReBuild Houston Supreme Court decision broke.  Part of it is probably that Mr. Stein doesn't take that reality all that seriously in his analysis and modeling.

One last caveat: It is unclear whether or not the release of this poll is raw answers, or statistically sampled results.  That is a pretty big item.  If the report is just producing the raw answers then we really don't have a scientific poll of where things stand, we just have the opinions of 500 people. While we do know some basic demographic information there's no direction in the report given as to how this correlates to expected voting patterns.  For example, I would surmise that, given recent voter turn-out, the number of Hispanic "likely voters" may be skewed.

As far as the other questions asked I think we're left with a confusing mixed bag.

A plurality of poll respondents claim to want increases in public transportation (41%) yet a majority do not support tax increases to fund them (60%). While a majority rate Mayor Parker's performance as either "excellent" or "good" (55%) majorities disagree with many of her policy selections (Term limit changes ran 53% against for example)

One thing that is clear, a large majority of the 500 people surveyed  (68%) do not want the public to finance projects renovating the Astrodome.

Unfortunately, we're getting what we typically get in local elections, a partial release of a possibly flawed survey whose methodology is unclear, and whose interpretations are swallowed whole by a local media who are happy with the results because it melds with what the so-called smart set presupposes is happening.

This leads me to predict that the only thing we know right now is that Sylvester Turner has the best name recognition, that there are some people who are not shaken by Adrian Garcia's negative press, and there remains a disconnect between Houston's ruling class and the voters who vote them in.  The conservative vote in Houston will coalesce around a single candidate, this has always happened and it always will.  Right now I think that candidate will be Bill King.  Although I have no data to back that up, intuitively it makes the most sense.

Perhaps, in the coming weeks, we'll get some more data that fleshes this out further.  Right now we're not much better off than we were before this poll dropped.  We're still grasping at straws.

Houston Mayoral Election: Chris Bell's plan to indict the Almighty.

Sometimes a story runs in an election cycle that's so unbelievable you would swear that it started as something from The Onion that inadvertently made it into the pages of a news outlet.

Case in point:

Mayoral Candidate Calls for Investigation of Meyerland Flooding. Tina Nazerian, HoustonChronicle.com ($$$)

(Chron Pay-wall, blah, blah, blah)

Mayoral candidate Chris Bell on Sunday called for an independent investigation into why so many Meyerland homes flooded during the heavy Memorial Day weekend rains.
Surrounded by about two dozen residents at a press conference by Brays Bayou, Bell said it was important to figure out why infrastructure projects in the area didn't prevent major flooding and why others were not completed on schedule. Bell challenged the assertion, backed by experts, that flooding was inevitable considering some areas were hit with more than 10 inches overnight.

As part of his expanded agenda there's been no denial from the Bell camp that rumors of his plan to indict the Lord himself will be a key plank in his Mayoral Platform.  Additionally, "firing the experts" who claim flooding was always going to happen has not been ruled out as well.

Sound corny?

Yup, but it's no less corny than a Mayoral candidate honestly suggesting that an act of God be investigated.

Perhaps it's past time to consider the Chris Bell campaign as being firmly implanted on the fringe and stop giving him false credibility just because he happened to win an election way back when and because he served in elected office for a brief period of time.

To be honest, the entire Mayoral news coverage would be better for this.

Houston Mayoral Election: Does Twitter REALLY Matter?

Last weekend I joined a few political-types in Houston for some beers and discussions regarding things that we political blogger-types find interesting.  The conversation ran from TIRZ, to the Danger Train to the proposed Post Oak BRT and across a whole host of issues.  One of the issues that stuck with me was what, if any role, Twitter could play in the upcoming Houston Municipal Elections.

To start off I thought I'd take a look at the popularity/(success?) of the accounts for all of the Mayoral hopefuls.  Then I thought I'd compare them to the account of the sitting Mayor.  Finally, I've got just a few thoughts to add on at the end.

Without further ado, below are the Twitter accounts for the seven hopefuls for Houston Mayor (listed in order of followers): [as of 06/17/2015 8 PM in the evening]

Adrian Garcia

Followers: 11.5K
Following: 6219

Sylvester Turner

Followers: 5040
Following: 590

Steve Costello

Followers: 1940
Following: 853

Bill King

Followers: 1876
Following: 969

Marty McVey

Followers: 1688
Following: 1998

Ben Hall (includes BenHallForAll followers)

Followers: 1346
Following: 395

Chris Bell

Followers: 692
Following: 687



Mayor Annise Parker

Followers: 47.5K
Following: 2124

Thoughts:  Based on these numbers I think only a few broad generalizations can be made from Twitter activity.  I'm going to lay those out as follows.

1. Followers on Twitter do not necessarily mean votes.  Although having few followers probably entails trouble getting votes.

Usually, on Twitter and other social media sites, people tend to follow those with whom they agree politically or, more specifically, who they support.  That Ben Hall and Chris Bell have such low follower counts typically means that there aren't people interested enough in their campaigns to invest space on their timeline. 

2. There's little chance this is how the election will play out.

When you review the content on the Twitter accounts themselves you are clearly dealing with two different dynamics.  Ironically, the account with the most followers belongs to one of the candidates with the weaker set of qualifications.  It also has the least relevant content.  Adrian Garcia's account is more of a "hey look at me" set of selfies and other items that people like to view on Twitter. To his credit, he's been very consistent and good in developing a following. He also got a bump from being the Harris County Sheriff that the other candidates did not.

That said, I'm not sure there's anyone who is viewing this election seriously who believes that Garcia has a strong shot to be much of a contender for the run-off.

3. Some candidates are working at this, others aren't.

If you wonder why, despite over a decade in the public eye, Chris Bell has few followers, you only need to take a quick peek under the hood at his timeline.  If someone is working the twitters for him, they need to be replaced.  His is a timeline full of soundbytes and platitudes that are, honestly, difficult to read.

Of all of the candidates I think Sylvester Turner and Bill King are doing some of the best work on Twitter. Both are filled with links, images, video and a host of information relating to the campaign and issues affecting the City of Houston.  Whoever is working on their social media should take a bow.

4. Finally, and most importantly, the Twitter campaigns give a window into the campaigns themselves, which I think does, moreso than raw followers, tell us a little bit about who is where in the pack.

I think two favorites are emerging in this race. Turner and King, and the professionalism of their account content and campaigns as a whole reflect this.

Garcia is leading in follower count, but has a problem of a horrible record as Harris County Sheriff. His focus on glib content seems to recognize that his campaign team understands this, but they don't have much of a plan to overcome it other than "demographics is destiny".

Costello is much the same way. His early plan seemed to be to run on his familiarity with Houston and experience. Unfortunately, for him, the recent Supreme Court decision on ReBuild Houston and the Memorial Day flooding knocks all of that into a cocked hat.  Much like Garcia he seems to be treading water right now hoping everything blows over within a couple of news cycles.

McVey is well....he's Marty McVey. He's clearly hoping to catch the Bill White Genie in a bottle minus the federal appointment and political experience. I've felt from the beginning that he's a nice enough guy that is somewhat overreaching in his first real shot at a political position. His name ID is nonexistent and some of his positions feel more developed in the "me too" school of political thought than original solutions for Texas.

Ben Hall is running against the ghost of Ben Hall.  His campaign for Mayor in 2013 was horrible to the point that I can't see a path to victory this time around.  I hear rumors that he has a big announcement in the offing but, if it's what I hear it is I think it will do him more harm than help with some (although not all) of the voters he's courting.

Chris Bell's problem is simple.  There are a lot of people on the left who genuinely like Chris Bell the person. The problem is they don't like Chris Bell the politician all that much. And certainly not more than they like other people.  When you add to this that Bell is a horrible campaigner who has a very, very soft public persona and he's the definition of a perennial candidate.  He reminds me of someone who just runs a lot hoping that eventually something will stick.  Like a progressive version of Roy Morales. (Although things seemed to work out OK for him)

In summary (I'd say 'in short' but it's too late for that) I think the two top-tier candidates in this race don't necessarily have the most Twitter followers, but they DO have the most interesting campaigns so far.

In separate post I'm going to discuss the nuts and bolts of each campaign, with a heavy focus on both Sylvester Turner and Bill King.  The reason for this is because I think the two of them are doing the best job so far.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, my Twitter account sucks.  So I'm by no means an expert.

Wednesday Humor: While doing some research.

While doing some research on a local matter I ran across the following, rather humorous, Google search result:

Houston Democratic Blogs

The top two results are from the Houston Chronicle, and the next two are blogs that (on the surface) advertise themselves as either "Republican" or "Right of Center".  Only at numbers 4 & 5 do you find openly Democratic Party blogs. (Although I would argue two of those on the list do the work of the Democratic party, just not openly)

Of course, the next blog on the list was BlogHouston (To which I am an occasional contributor) so I'm guessing the problem lies in the search algorithms as much as anything.


Still funny however.

Houston Area Leadership Vacuum: Parks, parking lots, and potties over pot-holes and policing.

As Mayor Parker continues to obsess about who should be able to go into what public restroom, when, how and creative names to call her political opponents the City of Houston is dealing with some pretty serious issues.  Not that you'd know it (other than the recent Tropical Storm Bill tweets) looking through her Twitter Account which is a mish-mash of catty issue advocacy that searches at every angle to belittle her political opponents and to take pictures of Herroner with various groups of friendly supporters.

The Mayor is also big on rhetorical questions which make it clear how little thought she's given to what the answers might be.

As signs continue to emerge that Parker is no longer being taken all that seriously by the people who are not term-limited whether or not you consider her remaining tenure being marked by lame-duck status is either a blessing or a curse depending on which side of the political aisle you reside.

One thing is for sure, pressing items such as HPD staffing, legal issues surrounding, and the future of, ReBuild Houston, and the city's plan for flooding going forward are going to be up to the next Mayoral administration to tackle.  For Parker, these things are outside of her "political agenda" which she now considers "complete".  One assumes this means that she's passed the Grand Urinal Bargain of 2014, grabbed a shovel and broke ground on a project under litigation and well.....

Some would call this a downside of term-limits.  While this may be true it's also true that, even when she wasn't a lame-duck, Mayor Parker did not show much of an interest in dealing with these issues so, from that perspective, having a new Mayor coming on board could be a good thing.

Just as Mayor Parker suggested that it's a good idea to ask the Mayoral candidates about ReBuild Houston, it might also be a good idea to ask them about the major issues that will be affecting their tenure if elected.

I'm not sure about you but I would consider HPD staffing, Rebuild Houston and basic infrastructure needs to be much higher up the food chain of core issues than one-bin recycling or special parking designations. Not that the latter shouldn't be on the city's agenda, only that there are far more pressing issues to deal with that will affect the lives of all Houstonians and those in the Houston Area.

Politics aside: Be careful out there Houston

As waves of rain come into the region, along with (presumably) localized flooding, high water, closed roads and high winds, I hope that everyone who reads this makes it through without loss of property or (most importantly) loved ones.

As much as we poke fun of the slogans, and the politicians who champion them, the fact is "Hunker Down" and "Turn Around, Don't Drown" are pretty useful reminders as far as what to do in a weather event.

Watch the news, limit unnecessary trips and have a plan.



And....most importantly, stay safe.

Houston Area Leadership Vacuum: A growing mess on Post Oak.

I wouldn't be surprised to see this become the next big transit mess in Houston:

As officials celebrate Uptown transit project, opponents persist. Dug Begley, HoustonChronicle.com ($$$)

The most interesting part of the linked article (to me) is that Begley went seemingly out of his way to find an "expert" whose support for the project was unwavering. While Mr. Garvin might be the best thing to happen to urban planning in....forever, that doesn't mean that he understands the local issues involved to a degree in which his commentary means all that much.

Add to that the obvious fact that he has no skin in the game and, well, let's just say it's very easy to helicopter in and advocate spending the money of other people, affecting their lives with no personal consequence. I'm sure it's just a happy coincidence that Mr. Garvin's opinions of "going big" just happen to coincide with the New Mrs. White's opinion that "thinking bigger" is the solution to all of Uptown's (supposed) problems?

Forgive me for thinking that the Chron is crying a few crocodile tears here, hoping to leverage supposed reservations for "this" plan with the hopes of diverting more tax dollars to a rail system that's financially breaking Metro.

A second question is this:  On the dual matters of light rail on Richmond and now the Post Oak BRT it appears that the wishes of the local community are being overran so that a select few can benefit, either politically or financially.

The question that the Chron has never asked or attempted to answer is.........


Who are those few?





Just a thought.

Houston Area Leadership Vacuum: A leader for all (unless you disagree with her)

h/t to Kevin from BlogHouston

Houston's publically elected Mayor y'all:

First:  I don't have children and I'm not entirely concerned about a sexual predator attacking me in a gender neutral restroom.  And, while I think the entire concept of public restrooms having no gender designation is a little ridiculous I would understand if you had Men's rooms, Women's rooms, and a gender neutral option.  After all, we're supposed to be about "choice" right?

That out of the way what concerns me most about this is Parker's characterization of those with political, religious or moral beliefs that differ from her as "trolls".  I expect this from an anonymous commenter on Chron.com or on Twitter. I would hope people would not expect this from the Mayor of the 4th largest city in America.

Sadly, because the leadership in the Houston area has been so bad, for so long, statements such as this don't even garner a reaction.  Add to this the fact that there are people who go "Rah! Rah!" to boorish behavior on the sole basis that it happens to agree with their worldview and you begin to see where substandard leadership leads to substandard logic becoming the norm in political debate.

Society, in this case Houston society, gets the government that it deserves and asks for.  In this case we deserve a logically challenged hothead who has conflict resolution issues.  Yay us. I'd like to say that this has to be the bottom but looking at the slate of 2016 Mayoral candidates I would guess that Houston has a better than 50% chance of digging the hole even deeper.

Finally: This is not the main point of this post but it should be said. No matter what designation you give to public restrooms they are NOT "just like bathrooms at home".  Unless, that is, Mayor Parker and her ideological fellow travelers make it a habit to let total strangers in to use the bathroom at their houses. I doubt, should you go knock on her door, either the Mayor or her family would let you come inside to drop off a quick No. 2 in their master bath. 

Call that a hunch.