Category Archives: Local politics

District H redistricting town hall meeting

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: City of Houston Redistricting 2011 Town Hall Meeting (District H) Mayor Annise D. Parker District H Council Member Edward Gonzalez City of Houston Attorney Dave Feldman Monday, March 28, 2011 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. Jefferson Davis High … Continue reading →

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City caves on drainage fee for churches

Posted on March 25, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Mayor Parker Announces New Rebuild Houston Funding Plan with Exemptions and Assistance for Low Income Mayor Annise Parker today announced that she will ask City Council next week to approve a new Rebuild Houston funding plan that … Continue reading →

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Harris County gets ready for the shaft

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

One of the ways in which the state will attempt to address its budget shortfall is by shortchanging counties – cutting reimbursements, raiding funds, and the like. Having already decimated its own budget, Harris County is preparing for further indignities. … Continue reading →

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There is a solution for this

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Yet it manages to go completely unmentioned in this story. The Harris County Hospital District has begun turning away uninsured patients from other counties who show up in its facilities and do not need urgent care, unless they pay cash … Continue reading →

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You using that building?

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

There’s this building that Harris County owns that is supposed to revert to the city if the county isn’t using it. Which it isn’t, so the city would like to know what the county’s intentions are, as they have plans … Continue reading →

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Harris County passes its budget

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

It’s about what you’d expect. Facing an 11.3 percent drop in revenue, Harris County Commissioners Court passed a budget today that could mean dozens of law enforcement jobs cut or left vacant, hundreds fewer patients receiving mental health counseling and … Continue reading →

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It’s official – Council will expand

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Very good news. Council voted today to declare that the city’s population is 2.1 million. The number was a trigger point that mandates the city add a 15th and 16th council seat by the city charter. […] After much debate … Continue reading →

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More Council redistricting drama

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Greg liveblogs today’s special City Council meeting on the Census population report and Council redistricting. Read it for a blow-by-blow account of where individual Council members are standing, or which way they’re leaning, on the question. This could be a … Continue reading →

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“Brutal” budget cuts proposed

Posted on March 5, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

This looks really bad. Mayor Annise Parker began to outline budget cuts on Thursday that could result in layoffs of more than 2,300 city employees, telling department heads that erasing an estimated $130 million gap will require “extremely tough, if … Continue reading →

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Council redistricting will be messier than it needs to be

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Houston City Council is set to start their discussion about redistricting, but some people want them to stop. Councilman Mike Sullivan views expansion as a function of mayor-council politics, and he opposes it. Houston’s residents, Sullivan said in an impromptu … Continue reading →

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Fantasy Map 2.0

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s Greg’s most recent attempt at drawing new City Council lines. We’ll get an idea of what the Planning Department has in mind shortly – speaking of which, here are the demographics of the current districts, taken from their data … Continue reading →

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Council’s code of conduct

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I’m not sure what to make of this. City Council is considering imposing a code of conduct on itself that would give it the power to reprimand or censure members. It already has the ultimate enforcement tool – impeachment – … Continue reading →

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City to ask Census for a do-over

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Very interesting. The city of Houston will ask the U.S. Census Bureau to change its official count, raising questions about whether some apartment complexes or even entire neighborhoods were missed. Houston’s population is 2,099,451, according to Census data released last … Continue reading →

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Harris County pleads its case to the state

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Grits ran into some Harris County officials in Austin the other day and got some information from them about their lobbying efforts with the Lege. Not too surprisingly, it’s mostly focused on mental health services. Harris Couty is primarily worried … Continue reading →

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Here comes Harris County’s budget

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

It’s as bad as you’d expect. A budget on its way to Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday would cut $138 million from current spending on roads, inoculating against disease, promoting economic development, constables’ patrols and performing other services. The … Continue reading →

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City to get tough on debt collections

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

This is a no-brainer. The city is getting tough on users of its services who have racked up nearly $1 billion in unpaid fines and fees, unveiling an aggressive collection program that is expected to make frequent use of litigation. … Continue reading →

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About those land sales…

Posted on February 13, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The current fiscal year’s budget for the City of Houston includes revenue from the sale of some city-owned property to make it balance. This article talks about this and what might happen if they don’t sell before the end of … Continue reading →

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More drainage fee details

Posted on February 4, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Things are moving right along on the implementation of Renew Rebuild Houston. Senior Parker administration officials Wednesday revealed the remaining elements of the plan, which would charge an owner of an average-sized Houston home between $5 and $5.31 monthly, depending … Continue reading →

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On garbage fees and single stream recycling

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

You might have seen this blurb a few days ago about Solid Waste director Harry Hayes making a pitch to Mayor Parker to expand single stream recycling to every home in Houston: To reach 100 percent, Hayes told City Council … Continue reading →

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Interview with David Feldman

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The main focus in Houston over the next few months will be Council expansion and redistricting. One of the people who will do the heavy lifting on this is City Attorney David Feldman. If you haven’t watched this video from … Continue reading →

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Dallas County’s elections administrator resigns

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I spotted this story in the DMN the other day. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins has called a meeting of an obscure commission charged with appointing a county elections chief, raising the suspicion that it’s an attempt to oust longtime … Continue reading →

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Effect of exempting schools and churches on drainage fee would be small

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, the drainage fee that will be collected to fund street and sewage repairs through the project formerly known as Renew Houston is intended to apply to all property that isn’t specifically exempted by state law, such as … Continue reading →

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The firings will continue until services improve

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Harris County has only just begun to fire people. The protective net county government weaves under 4 million people — jailing crooks, inoculating residents against disease, investigating child abuse and treating the mentally ill – would fray noticeably under spending … Continue reading →

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Harris County starts firing people

Posted on January 23, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

So it begins. County government layoffs have begun as Harris County seeks to trim its $1.3 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins on March 1. Last week, the Architecture and Engineering Department notified 14 employees that they would … Continue reading →

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County asks about exemption from drainage fee

Posted on January 23, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting. County Treasurer Orlando Sanchez has asked County Attorney Vince Ryan for an opinion on whether the county has to pay the city of Houston’s new drainage fee. Sanchez already has his own opinion. “You’re getting a government, the city of Houston, … Continue reading →

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The first fantasy map

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Behold, what Houston City Council districts could possibly look like in a few months. There are, as Greg discusses, plusses and minuses to the approach he took, as well as real-world roadblocks and political considerations that may trump theoretical optimization. … Continue reading →

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HFD news

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Couple of big stories relating to the Houston Fire Department in the news this week. First, the EEOC makes a ruling: The Houston Fire Department’s failure to properly address discrimination complaints by a female firefighter and subsequent retaliation subjected her … Continue reading →

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Unfinished business

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

One thing that stood out to me from the Chron’s Q&A with Noel Freeman, the newly-elected president of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus: Q. What has changed about Houston’s GLBT community in past three decades? A. We have branched out. … Continue reading →

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More on the new city ethics code

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Not everyone likes the city’s new ethics regulations. “Instead of enforcing ethics standards, all of these things seem to license unethical behavior,” said Craig Holman, a lobbyist for government watchdog Public Citizen in Washington, D.C. The exceptions to the city’s … Continue reading →

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Pollution prosecution

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Not really sure what to make of County Commissioner Steve Radack’s proposal to create a new pollution control department that will more aggressively pursue violators. “We have people out there violating the law and they’re polluting,” Radack said. “They’ve been … Continue reading →

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We’re not getting rid of Jerry Eversole that easily

Posted on January 15, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Federal indictments? Pshaw. Ain’t nuthin’ stopping Jerry Eversole. Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Jerry Eversole on Tuesday declared that he will be acquitted of federal bribery charges in his upcoming trial and left open the possibility he will run for … Continue reading →

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Let the redistricting begin

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

We’re a few weeks away from getting final Census data that will be used to redraw the boundaries for Houston City Council districts (and everything else), but here’s an early look at what to expect from the process. City Attorney … Continue reading →

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Revising the city ethics code

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know enough about the specifics of this to draw any firm conclusions, but it sounds reasonable enough from the description. The city is poised to significantly tighten its ethics rules, closing loopholes that allow lobbyists to avoid registration … Continue reading →

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Petition for new HCDP Chair

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know how I feel about this, but it’s out there so I feel I should say something. The time has come for new leadership in the Harris County Democratic Party. After November’s defeat, we should look to new … Continue reading →

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