Off the Kuff | Knowledge Is Good

Mayor Parker to get married?

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

According to CultureMap, the answer is Yes.

Mayor Annise Parker

Although Mayor Annise Parker has vowed that she and her longtime partner, Kathy Hubbard, will not wed until gay marriage is legal in Texas, in recent interviews the mayor has softened her stance.

“The world is changing so fast, maybe I won’t wait that long,” Parker said last week in a year-end interview with CultureMap when asked when she would marry. “I’m no longer worried that (gay marriage in Texas) is not going to happen in my lifetime. After the Supreme Court ruling and the number of states that now have equal marriage, it’s coming.”

Since then CultureMap has learned that Parker and Hubbard are making wedding plans. Several sources close to the couple said they hope to marry in mid-January in a low-key ceremony and are strongly considering Palm Springs, Calif., for the nuptials.

California is one of 18 states that currently recognize gay marriage. Couples who wed in a state that allows gay marriage are treated as a married couple for federal tax purposes, including income and gift and estate taxes, no matter where they reside, and also receive the same rights for immigration purposes. The policy on Social Security and other federal benefits has not been determined.

The couple would also be eligible for city of Houston health and life insurance benefits. In November, Parker announced that same-sex couples who have legally wed in a state that recognizes such marriages and work for the city of Houston can receive the same health care and life insurance benefits as straight couples. Harris County Republicans are challenging the ruling in court.

As we know, there’s now another lawsuit in this matter. One hopes the injunction will get lifted after the hearing on the sixth. The Chron adds a couple of details.

Parker, recently elected to her third and final term as Houston mayor, long has pledged that she and Hubbard would not marry until Texas legalized same-sex marriage.

In recent public statements, though, the mayor has suggested she might reconsider her position. She said developments such as the Supreme Court’s striking down of the federal Defense of Marriage Act have prompted her to consider the message her inaction might be sending to the couple’s two adopted children.

[…]

Mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Michan said in a statement via email: “The mayor very much appreciates the interest in the 23-year relationship she has shared with her life partner, First Lady Kathy Hubbard. However, marriage is a private matter and she has no announcements she wishes to make at this time. If that changes, we will let you know.”

With the recent ruling in Utah and the injunction hearing coming up in Texas, it’s not out of the question that the Mayor could have her wish to get married in Texas as soon as February. I understand the desire for a bit more certainty, and Lord knows there’s nothing wrong with a destination wedding. I don’t know who CultureMap’s source is, but if this information is accurate I wish Mayor Parker and Kathy Hubbard all the best. Mazel tov, y’all.

Posted in Society and cultcha | Tagged Annise Parker, California, gay marriage, Houston, lawsuit, Texas | Comments Off

The new justice complex

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a big deal.

Houston leaders are in the early stages of planning a new police headquarters and courthouse complex that Mayor Annise Parker said could be the most important project on which she will work during her six-year tenure.

There is little question the city’s criminal justice facilities are fading. Houston’s central jail at 61 Riesner, the largest of five buildings that make up the justice complex northwest of downtown, is 62 years old.

The 18-acre plot is home to 1,000 Houston Police Department staff, a courthouse with 10 courtrooms, the jail and other operations.

A city study concluded the buildings need $55 million in repairs; Parker noted there is a sinkhole under the courthouse caused by a burst sewer pipe. Officials say police headquarters at 1200 Travis also needs work, is too small and is more office building than police command center. That building would be sold and consolidated into the new justice complex.

“It’s hugely important,” Parker said. “It may not be the largest, but I think it may be the most important, not because of the size of the dollars but because of what it’s taken to get to this point.”

The new complex will not house a jail, thanks to voters’ approval last month of a joint city-county inmate processing center. That decision was preceded by the city opening a sobering center to divert inebriates from city lockups and by police and court staff deciding to retain their downtown headquarters.

A key question is whether to build the complex the traditional way, whereby the city issues bonds, hires designers and contractors, then owns and maintains the finished buildings, or whether to pursue a public-private partnership, or so-called “P3,” by which the city, essentially, would pay rent to a private firm hired to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the facilities.

Ownership would revert to the city after a negotiated period, typically 30 to 50 years.

Is it wrong that I want this thing to be named the Hall of Justice? Because if it is, I don’t want to be right. We won’t begin to receive proposals till March, where it will be located and how we will pay for it are unclear, and we may not break ground until 2016. I expect we’ll hear a lot more about this over the next two years.

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged Annise Parker, downtown, Houston, Houston City Council, HPD, jails | Comments Off

Ching and the Dash

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Good move.

A few weeks after he was sent into retirement with the first MLS testimonial match, the face of the Dynamo will attempt to build Houston’s new National Women’s Soccer League franchise.

Brian Ching will be the managing director of the NWSL’s Houston Dash. The role will be similar to a general manager’s position, but Ching’s duties will also entail being “the face of the team,” said Dynamo and Dash president Chris Canetti

“I’m excited about it,” said Ching, 35, who has an accounting degree from Gonzaga. “When I stopped playing, I didn’t think that I would be this excited about being in the front office. I think it’s a great opportunity for us to grow the Dynamo brand and make the Dash just as successful as the Dynamo both on and off the field.”

The Dash, who will play their inaugural season in 2014, begin preseason in March and play their season opener in April.

“He’ll work closely with me building this team from the ground up,” Canetti said of Ching. “I think it’s an unbelievable opportunity for him. He wants to be an MLS president one day. I think it’s awesome for the Dash as well.”

When the Comets debuted with the WNBA, they were owned by the Rockets – more specifically, by Les Alexander – but other than playing in the same building and occasionally having Rockets players attend games, there was no obvious tie in between the two franchises. The Comets wound up having enough star power on their own to establish themselves, but a little help from the better known brand never hurts. Having the most famous name from the Dynamo there in the beginning for the Dash makes all kinds of sense. I look forward to seeing who they hire to be their coach and who they get on their initial roster.

Posted in Other sports | Tagged Brian Ching, Dynamo, Houston, Houston Comets, Houston Dash, NWSL, Rockets, soccer, WNBA | Comments Off

Lambda Legal sues Houston over same sex spouse benefits

Posted on December 28, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I didn’t see this coming.

Lambda Legal [Thursday] filed a federal lawsuit against Houston Mayor Annise Parker and the City of Houston seeking to preserve spousal benefits, including health insurance, covering the same-sex spouses of city employees. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on behalf three City of Houston employees legally married to same-sex spouses and follows notification these employees received recently that the City, one month after extending the employee coverage for their spouses, was being forced to withdraw these benefits and cancel the coverage.

“City employees who are married to same-sex spouses are doing the same work as coworkers who are married to different-sex spouses—at the end of the day this case is about equal pay for equal work. These employees, some who have worked for the City for many years, acted in good faith when notified the City was extending health coverage benefits to their legal spouses,” said Kenneth Upton, Senior Counsel in Lambda Legal’s South Central Regional Office in Dallas.

They enrolled for spousal benefits, including health insurance, paid the premiums, scheduled doctor visits and underwent treatments that will require ongoing care. Now, suddenly, the rug is pulled out from under them.”

Houston Mayor Annise Parker on November 20, 2013 announced that all lawfully-married city employees, including those who married same-sex partners in jurisdictions where such marriages are legal, would be eligible to enroll for spousal benefits, including health insurance coverage, under the City’s employee benefits health plan. The three plaintiffs named in Lambda Legal’s lawsuit enrolled their spouses as soon as they received notification of the policy change. Shortly thereafter, however, two Houston taxpayers sued the Mayor and the City in Family Law Court claiming the benefits were illegal and, without giving the Mayor or the City notice, secured a temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking extension of the benefits. The City is defending against the challenge to the Mayor’s decision to ensure equal employee benefits for all workers.

See here and here for more on the lawsuit and injunction that forced the city to suspend health insurance enrollments for same sex spouses, and here for more on the original order to provide those benefits. It’s clear from reading this that Lambda Legal is taking this action not to oppose the city but to support it in its defense against the injunction. I’m not a lawyer, but I presume the reason why Lambda Legal filed this separate action was for the purpose of having the two lawsuits joined so they could directly contribute to the defense against the injunction. I trust one of the lawyers in my audience will correct me if I’m wrong about that. The hearing will be Monday, January 6, so I hope we get a quick and favorable resolution to this. I also hope the Chronicle takes note of this new development sometime before then. The brief filed by Lambda Legal is here, and you can keep track of developments in the case here. Link via BOR.

Meanwhile, in Utah, it’s off to the Supreme Court for one last shot at stopping the tide from coming in.

Utah officials will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a lower-court ruling allowing same-sex marriage in the state, the state attorney general’s office said Thursday.

Newly appointed Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes will seek a stay of the federal judge’s ruling after state officials consult first with outside attorneys over the next few days.

“It is the intent of the Attorney General’s Office to file with the Supreme Court as soon as possible,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement.

The emergency appeal, when filed, would go to Justice Sonia Sotomayor because she has jurisdiction over appeals from Utah and nearby states. She could rule on the state’s application herself or ask the entire nine-member court to weigh in.

Sotomayor is likely to refer the Utah request to the entire court, as is tradition with high-profile traditional cases, said Carl Tobias, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Richmond.

The forces against progress probably shouldn’t get their hopes up.

To secure a stay of the ruling, the state has to prove two things, says Clifford Rosky, a University of Utah professor of law and expert on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender legal issues. First, the state would have to prove that they are likely to win, Rosky, a gay-rights advocate, said this week. Second, they would have to prove that allowing the marriages to proceed would do “irreparable harm.” With hundreds of gay couples having already received licenses, that second argument is hard to make, he argues.

“If same-sex couples have already begun to marry, in the hundreds now, what would be the ‘irreparable harm’ of additional same-sex couples marrying?” he said early this week. “The cat’s out of the bag.”

Whatever happens, expect things to move quickly, Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law and a constitutional law expert, told the Salt-Lake Tribune. ”The state has always thought time was of the essence, and the justices are likely to agree and move very quickly once the papers are in,” he said.

As of the end of the day Dec. 26, at least 905 same-sex couples had received marriage licenses in Utah since last Friday’s ruling, according to the paper. And that’s despite the holidays and some county clerks’ initial reluctance to issue the licenses. Salt Lake County alone issued 353 such licenses Monday, dwarfing a previous record of 85.

You almost have to feel a little sympathy for SCOTUS having this issue dropped in their laps so quickly after their previous ruling.

“If the court thought it was going to get a few years,” said Michael C. Dorf, a law professor at Cornell, “I think they were naïve.”

The Supreme Court’s two decisions in June were finely balanced, with legal experts saying they had achieved the twin goals of advancing the cause of gay rights and avoiding a backlash in parts of the country not ready to embrace same-sex marriage.

One decision struck down the part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that denied federal benefits to same-sex couples in states that allowed such unions. The other declined to say whether the Constitution required states to allow such marriages in the first place.

Since then, the pace of change has been very rapid. When the justices heard arguments in the cases in March, same-sex marriage was permitted in nine states and the District of Columbia. If the Utah decision stands, the number of states allowing such marriages will have doubled, to 18.

[…]

Michael J. Klarman, a historian at Harvard Law School and the author of “From the Closet to the Altar: Courts, Backlash and the Struggle for Same-Sex Marriage,” said he had expected rapid change — but not this rapid.

“The Utah decision is unique,” he added, “because it’s in a state with so much opposition to same-sex marriage. In Utah, you’re going to have a real experiment in backlash.”

Just wait and see what happens if the state of Texas gets injuncted. The hot air that will get generated will be enough to make Mars a temperate zone.

Professor Dorf said there are probably not five votes on the Supreme Court to block Judge Shelby’s ruling. “On the strictly legal argument,” he said, “it’s hard to justify granting a stay.”

But he added that the lower courts should have done so, partly because of the potential cruelty of voiding the new marriages and partly because the Supreme Court is hard to predict.

“It’s pretty clear that even the five justices who are sympathetic to same-sex marriage would rather take a few years before getting there,” Professor Dorf wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. “If their hand is forced, as it now will be, it’s impossible to say with certainty what they’ll do.”

Of course, if SCOTUS had taken the bull by the horns in June and come to the correct conclusion that injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere, we wouldn’t be here now. To sum up, I agree with Josh Marshall.

Now there are some conceivable federalism grounds where you could maybe eke out a reason why the Constitution bars the federal government from doing something but allows it to states. But it’s a big stretch and probably an impossible one in a country where opposition to same sex marriage is declining rapidly every year. There’s also the real world reality that the 10th Circuit denial of a stay seems certain to guarantee a pretty substantial population of same sex couples in the state by the time the appellate Court actually comes to a decision.

In this sense – and not to be overly dramatic – it’s almost reminiscent of the Fall of the Berlin Wall – when actions on the ground, literally on the ground, swept a lot of details and technicalities before it and presented authorities with faits accompli they were likely to accept eventually much more rapidly than they would have preferred.

So yes, this will percolate a bit, as they say. Decisions will come up through the individual Circuits. In pretty short order, the Supreme Court will be forced to revisit the issue. And their our logic in the Windsor case will join forces with the march of public opinion to make it almost impossible for them not to issue a broad ruling which invalidates every gay marriage ban in country.

I think everybody, on each side of the issue, has realized for the past two or three years that it’s only a matter of time till this happens. But the decade of different policies from state to state now seems like it won’t happen. I don’t want to end without noting that a lot of lawyering remains to be done and nothing is ever certain and even when it’s all but certain it’s not easy. But I see little way to look at the last week and not conclude that gay marriage will be the law of the land in every state in the country in the near future. Probably during the Obama presidency and maybe sooner still.

It’s just a matter of time now. And given that it’s just a matter of time, sooner is better than later. Why make this harder than it needs to be?

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged Annise Parker, DOMA, gay marriage, gay rights, health insurance, Houston, Lambda Legal, lawsuit, SCOTUS, Texas, Utah | 7 Comments

We need to take better care of our water

Posted on December 28, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

We lose way too much of it because our infrastructure is old and in need of replacement.

At a time when the Lone Star State is facing a grave water shortage and its population is expected to double by 2060, billions of gallons are hemorrhaging from Texas’ leaky old pipes.

The exact loss is unknown as only 10 percent of the state’s 3,500 utilities were required to report their 2012 losses. But in Houston, enough water seeped from broken pipes to supply 383,000 residents for one year.

According to city records, Houston pipelines gushed 22.4 billion gallons of water in 11,343 leaks last fiscal year. That equates to about 15.2 percent of the city’s total water supply.

No state standard exists on an acceptable loss rate, but some utilities manage to hold their losses to single digits.

Proposition 6, which Texas voters approved last month, could help fund some Houston pipeline improvements since 20 percent of the $2 billion was set aside for statewide conservation efforts. The fund is designed to secure the state water supply for the next 50 years.

“We are still working on establishing the rules for using this money. It should be available by 2015,” said John Sutton, Texas Water Development spokesman.

Mayor Annise Parker’s spokeswoman, Jessica Michan, said the city plans to go after the conservation funds.

Michan said the city already has a separate request in with the TWD for $71 million to rebuild 130 miles of pipe. That request is still pending.

Alvin Wright, Houston’s public works spokesman, said it would take an “astronomical sum”- several billion dollars – to upgrade Houston’s entire system.

Well, water conservation is on Mayor Parker’s third term agenda. I don’t know how much they’ll be able to fund via this mechanism, but perhaps there are some high-value projects that can be done first. This sort of work really needs to be done, and should be prioritized because the fewer the leaks, the less new capacity that will need to be built. There’s plenty of this kind of work to be done across the state, and around the country. Ideally, there would be a federal program to provide grant money for all this work, but Republican nihilism plus an obsessive myopia about the deficit means that will never happen. Prop 6 was far from perfect, but it was the best we were going to get. Let’s make the most of it.

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged Annise Parker, conservation, Election 2013, Houston, rainy day fund, SWIFT, Texas, Texas Water Development Board, water | Comments Off

More security cameras coming

Posted on December 28, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

You’re being recorded, like it or not.

Houston is adding 180 downtown surveillance cameras despite shrinking national security grants and research showing that video feeds only sometimes improve public safety.

By early next year, the Houston Police Department will have nearly 1,000 camera feeds available. Most record public areas around downtown, stadiums and event spaces like the George R. Brown Convention Center and the Theater District.

“With all the homeland security requirements that we have – we have more critical infrastructure to protect than New York City – we can’t do it without video,” said HPD Chief Charles McClelland.

Federal Homeland Security grants first issued in 2003 sparked a rush in many American cities to expand video surveillance networks in an attempt to deter or help apprehend terrorists. With cameras in place and police agencies collaborating at unprecedented levels, local departments also have used the video networks to combat local crime amid shrinking patrol budgets in many cities.

“We see the federal government handing out lots of money for anti-terrorism programs, but it actually ends up being used against parole violators and to issue traffic tickets,” said David Maass, spokesman for the civil rights advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation.

City Councilman C.O. Bradford, a former Houston police chief, said the technology is necessary for modern police work.

“It is almost professional malpractice not to have technology deployed in public areas where you know large groups of people are going to gather on a regular basis,” Bradford said earlier this month after the City Council approved grant funding for 180 new cameras downtown.

Nancy La Vigne, a justice policy researcher with the nonprofit Urban Institute, said cameras can help but never replace officers patrolling a beat.

“You need that human interaction,” La Vigne said.

She pointed to her 2011 study, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, analyzing local use of surveillance networks. Her findings showed the effects on crime and cost benefits varied widely.

The city of Houston has had downtown cameras since 2007, and cameras in other parts of the city more recently. (We also have a lot of traffic monitoring cameras, but they don’t appear to be part of this discussion.) It would be nice if we could get some objective data about their effectiveness in Houston, if only so we could know where they might be best deployed going forward. Unfortunately, all we’ve got is anecdotal information. How can we know if we’re using these things to their best advantage, or if we’re even using them effectively at all, without some kind of metrics in place? I’d feel better about this expenditure if someone could show me some numbers.

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged cameras, Charles McClelland, Clarence Bradford, downtown, Houston, HPD | 1 Comment

Friday random ten – Olivia’s year in music

Posted on December 27, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Olivia’s now been an iPod owner for more than a year, and last year she got a bunch of iTunes money that she still hasn’t fully spent. Here’s a sample of the songs she has added to her collection in 2013.

1. Applause – Lady GaGa
2. Come & Get It – Selena Gomez
3. Eat It – Weird Al Yankovic
4. Don’t Stop The Music – The Treblemakers
5. Cups – Anna Kendrick
6. Roar – Katy Perry
7. She’s So Mean – Matchbox Twenty
8. Gold – Britt Nicole
9. Good Girl – Carrie Underwood
10. Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen

Perry and GaGa are two of Olivia’s favorite artists. “Eat It” was added after a friend showed her the video, which she thought was hilarious. “Don’t Stop The Music” and “Cups” are both from the movie “Pitch Perfect”, which again she saw via a friend; I think she may have seen that movie at a sleepover birthday party. Anyway, there’s a scene in the movie that involves a singer barfing, which she also thought was hilarious. Nine-year-olds, what are you gonna do? “She’s So Mean” was playing on the radio as I was driving her somewhere. She asked me what the name of the song was, and since I didn’t know I handed her my cellphone, gave her the call-in number for KACC, and told her to ask the DJ. That’s another great thing about that station – you can almost always get through to the DJ to ask those questions. And now you know what The Kids These Days are listening to. In February, Audrey will be getting my mom’s old iPod as a hand-me-down, so we’ll see what kind of music she asks me to get for her. So far her tastes overlap Olivia’s pretty closely, but this will be her chance to break out. I’m sure I’ll have a report on this at a later date.

Posted in Music | Tagged Friday random ten, Olivia, theme lists | 1 Comment

How to make the warehouse transition something to look forward to

Posted on December 27, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I have four things to say about this.

Houston developers plan to build a mixed-use project, including upscale apartments and retail, on a 15-acre tract close to downtown, replacing a large produce warehouse that’s occupied the space for decades.

Capcor Partners and Kaplan Management bought the land this week from Grocers Supply, which has been at the corner of Studemont and Interstate 10 for 42 years.

[…]

Josh Aruh of Capcor, which specializes in retail developments, said it’s rare to find such a large piece of land in the Inner Loop and added that the project will make a “big footprint.”

“There is tremendous, continuous demand in this sub-market,” Aruh said. “We believe the scarcity of such a large, contiguous tract so close to downtown Houston, the Heights and entertainment districts is primed for a strong multifamily component. And with frontage near I-10, this property is ideally suited for retail. The size of the tract invites many possible other uses and users that we are currently exploring.”

Aruh said he has already discussed possibilities for the property with grocers, cinemas, restaurants and several big box retailers.

The developers are also working with the city to expand a street to split the property and reduce traffic, he said.

Michael Kaplan of Kaplan Management, which specializes in multifamily developments, said he hopes to build up to 400 high-end apartments, to go with the retail and commercial uses, to meet the demand for housing in the area.

“It’s just in the heart of this terrific growth corridor,” Kaplan said. “It is such a strong area.”

1. I admire their desire to have as small an impact on traffic as possible, because traffic on the stretch of Studemont between Washington and I-10 sucks thanks to the Kroger, the long light cycle at I-10, and the huge number of cars turning left to get onto I-10 and to get into the Kroger. Let me suggest that the first order of business would be to rebuild that piece of road, because it’s axle-breaking awful right now. Yeah, that’ll make traffic even worse for the duration, but the gain will be worth the pain. As for expanding a street – not sure which one they have in mind – let me suggest that what they really ought to consider is adding a street. I presume the entrance to this new development would be opposite the entrance to the Kroger where the traffic light is and where there’s already a left turn lane on northbound Studemont, which currently turns into a wall. Having that entrance street connect to Wichman on the west so that vehicles can access Hicks Street, which passes over Studemont and which connects to Heights via Harvard, will help.

2. If you really want to lessen the impact on traffic in the area, then it’s vital to ensure non-vehicular mobility into and out of this development and to the surrounding areas, by which I specifically mean Washington and White Oak. First and foremost, put in a sidewalk on the west side of Studemont, along the front of the development. There’s already a decent sidewalk on the east side of Studemont, but it terminates immediately north of I-10, where a well-worn path in the dirt connects you up with the bridge over the bayou and the continuation of the sidewalk at Stude Street. That new sidewalk could split at the underpass to give pedestrians the option of continuing on Studemont to Washington or ascending to Hicks and the overpass for better access to Arne’s and Kroger, and on to Sawyer Street if one is adventurous. I took the #50 bus home from work on Friday when this story was run, and I got off at Studemont to walk home from there. It took me 15 minutes to get from Washington to White Oak – I timed it – so having good pedestrian paths between these two streets will make the new development a lot more accessible. Given the traffic and the parking situation on either end, you’d be better off walking from whatever residence they build to Fitzgerald’s or BB’s or wherever you want to go.

3. At least as important as facilitating pedestrians is connecting this development to the existing bike paths and bike lanes nearby. You could take Hicks to Heights and from there get on the Heights Bike Trail, but that’s a mighty big detour if you’re heading towards downtown. And Lord knows, no one in their right mind would want to bike on Studemont to get anywhere. Look at a map of the area. Isn’t the solution to all this obvious?

This just screams for a new trail along the bayou to get past I-10 and eventually hook up with the existing trails. This picture shows how that would be possible:

Pass under Studemont, and pave that truck path to get to the Heights trail. You’d need to build a bridge over the bayou to connect to the new trail adjacent to Stude Park, which you can’t see in this old Google satellite image, but that shouldn’t be a big deal. I have no idea how much this all might cost, but for something like this that enhances mobility there may be federal grant money available. Or, you know, maybe the developers can kick in on this, since it would greatly enhance the value of their property. This might in fact be an excellent candidate for 380 agreement, one that would offer a clear benefit to all involved. I’m sure there’s a way to make this work.

Ed Wulfe, chairman and CEO of retail development and brokerage firm Wulfe & Co., said as Houston becomes more dense and urban, more warehouses will be converted into residential and commercial properties.

“We are changing land-use patterns,” Wulfe said. “Now the need is greater and the market is stronger. Warehouses can only command so much economic benefit.”

4. Density with transit >>> density without transit. The good people of Super Neighborhood 22 have that comprehensive transportation plan for their area that includes various rail and streetcar options for the Washington Avenue corridor. Moving forward on that would be a huge boon to mobility in the area, and to projects like this one and the ones that will inevitably follow. Look, I know people get skeptical whenever non-car modes of transportation are discussed. Most people don’t want to give up their cars, even a little bit. I get that, but in a city this size that still leaves a whole lot of folks who do want alternatives, and these are the people who will be seeking out dense development. We can do it right and make the whole experience a hell of a lot better, which includes the drivers since they’ll have fewer competitors for road space, or we can do it wrong and make a huge mess of it all. You tell me what the right answer is. Swamplot has more.

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged 380 agreement, bike trails, density, Heights, Houston, I-10, Kroger, light rail, mixed use development, pedestrians, sidewalks, Studemont, traffic congestion, Washington Avenue | 3 Comments

A lot more court action on same sex marriage is coming

Posted on December 27, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

One way or another, 2014 is going to be a milestone year for marriage equality.

Advocates on both sides of the gay marriage debate predicted that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that overturned part of a federal ban on gay marriage would create a pathway for states to act.

They were right.

In the six months since the decision, the number of states allowing gay marriage has jumped from 12 to 18, a trend that started before the high court ruling that’s been reinforced since. Judges in New Mexico, Ohio and, most surprisingly, conservative, Mormon-heavy Utah all ruled in favor of same-sex marriage in just the past week. Both Utah’s case and another in Nevada will next be heard by federal appeals courts, putting them on the path toward the high court. Ohio’s case, which recognized same-sex death certificates, also will likely be appealed.

The series of court decisions has many asking: When will the Supreme Court step in and settle the issue for good?

[…]

More state rulings in favor of gay marriage could be in the works in 2014. The thinking goes, if it can happen in ultra-conservative Utah, it can happen anywhere. Utah is home to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which still teaches its members homosexuality is a sin despite a softening of their rhetoric in recent years.

“The ruling has had a symbolic impact already,” Jon Davidson, director of Lambda Legal, which pursues litigation on LGBT issues nationwide. “It is recognition that the nation’s attitudes, from public to legislative to judicial, are changing very rapidly in all parts of the country.”

“And the opponents, many of them, are moving on,” said William Eskridge, a professor at Yale Law School. “We are not seeing the same kind of Armageddon rhetoric we saw in the 1990s.”

A federal judge in Michigan will hear testimony from experts in February before deciding whether to throw out the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Two federal lawsuits in Virginia, including one being led by the same legal team that challenged California’s ban, are moving forward.

Eskridge disagrees with those who say the Supreme Court won’t act, predicting justices will get involved in the gay marriage dispute in the next year or two.

Different branches of the government are acting, he said — lawmakers, state courts, and federal courts — which could convince the justices to step in.

By “state rulings” they really mean “federal district court rulings”. You can add Texas to the list, though it’s just at the injunction stage, as was Utah. You want to see Armageddon rhetoric, just wait and see what happens if Judge Orlando Garcia puts the kibosh, however temporarily, on Texas’ Double Secret Illegal Anti-Gay Marriage constitutional amendment. I don’t think we’re going to be able to escape that being a campaign issue next year.

Speaking of campaign issues, Indiana may be going old school.

Dominated by Republicans and steeped in traditional values, Indiana seemed among the least likely places to become a battleground in the nation’s debate over same-sex marriage when the legislature overwhelmingly chose in 2011 to push forward a state constitutional amendment barring gay couples from marrying.

But in the two years since, the landscape has shifted as voters, lawmakers and courts began recognizing same-sex marriage in places like Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey and New Mexico and as the United States Supreme Court declared parts of the federal Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. In just the past few days, a federal judge struck down a ban on same-sex marriage in Utah, home of the Mormon Church, and a federal appeals court rejected a request to halt the marriages on Tuesday. A federal judge in Ohio found that same-sex marriages should be recognized on death certificates.

So suddenly Indiana, where lawmakers in the coming weeks are expected to call for the second vote needed to put a ban before voters in the fall elections, is now in a far more tense, unpredictable and closely watched spot than anyone here had imagined — a test case in whether a state will impose new limits on same-sex marriage in this fast-moving political and legal environment.

“What happens in Indiana is critical,” said Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes same-sex marriage. He and other opponents hope the outcome here will reveal that shifts in public sentiment over the last few years are not as widespread as some may think.

Supporters of same-sex marriage, however, are pouring money and effort into defeating the measure in Indiana, a possibility that seemed unthinkable not long ago but one that advocates now insist is conceivable. They say victory in a conservative place like Indiana would be a turning point in a fight that has largely been waged in more predictable, left-leaning states or in the courts. “That would send a clear message to opponents of marriage equality that it’s time to be done fighting this battle,” said Sarah Warbelow, state legislative director of the Human Rights Campaign.

As lawmakers prepare to return for a new legislative session in January, it is an especially awkward spot for Republicans, who dominate both chambers of the General Assembly. With an election year ahead and the risk of primaries in May, the issue is pitting socially conservative groups, who are urging a constitutional ban, against sometime allies in the state’s business community, who say a ban could cause Indiana economic harm.

Few Republicans now seem eager to talk about the issue, and some legislative aides said it was not entirely certain who would formally file the legislation in January.

Sure does suck when the wedge issue turns you into the fulcrum, doesn’t it? With all that’s happening you might think that Indiana Republicans would be wise to wait and see where the courts are going before pursuing legislation that may be pre-declared unconstitutional, but that would require their GOP primary voters to behave rationally. Good luck with that.

Posted in National news | Tagged DOMA, Election 2014, gay marriage, gay rights, Indiana, lawsuit, SCOTUS, Texas, Utah, Virginia | 1 Comment

The dry Heights

Posted on December 27, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

What’s a guy got to do to get a drink around here?

Heights dry map

Eighty years after the repeal of Prohibition – the anniversary of which came and went with hardly a toast last week – there is a sliver of Houston where the booze is still banned.

And for more than 100 years, that’s been just fine with the residents of the Houston Heights.

Back when it was a city on its own and not a historic Houston neighborhood in the shadows of the skyscrapers, Heights Mayor David Barker led a campaign to rid it of the saloons that were springing up on 19th Street.

One of those saloons had become famous due to Jennie Yon Yon, a monkey who would ascend into the sky every Sunday afternoon in a hot air balloon to entertain the festive crowds.

It was never, it seems, a moral issue pitting pros against antis. The good people of the City of Houston Heights simply wanted to protect their property values, says Sister Mary Agatha, an Incarnate Word teacher who grew up there, in the book she wrote on the neighborhood.

The boundaries of this island in alcoholic seas are not neat. But they basically follow an elongated area between the North Loop and I-10, bounded on the east by Studewood and on the west by North Durham.

There are irregularities to this rectangle, though, which have spread confusion over the years.

“The question of boundaries affected by the law comes more frequently to the Heights library for solution than any other purely local inquiry,” Sister Mary Agatha tells us. The Heights was annexed by Houston in 1918 and one would have thought that 15 years later, when the repeal of Prohibition opened the beer taps across the country, that would have applied to the dry Heights.

It didn’t. The legal underpinnings of that reality, however, were not resolved until 1937, when the Texas Supreme Court said the Heights was dry and would remain so until the people within the original boundaries of the neighborhood voted to make it other.

This is a subject that has been discussed in some depth – see, for example, Houstorian from 2007 and this Houston Heights newsletter from 2009; the Leader News had a story in November as well – but it’s one of the quirkier things about Houston’s history, so it’s always interesting. One of the irregularities as I understand it is that at least in some places, the eastern border is Oxford, not Studewood. This is why so many bars and restaurants with full bars have popped up on White Oak just west of Studewood, but very little has happened past where Onion Creek is. I’m not sure if this is the case at 11th Street or not; Berryhill has a full bar, but I’ve heard that they’re on a site that used to be an icehouse and they inherited a grandfathered exception to the dry regulations as a result. Like the story says, it’s confusing. I seriously doubt anything will change about the status quo. Residents of the neighborhood don’t want any more places that sell alcohol near them. Several of the existing bars and restaurants on White Oak encountered resistance from nearby residents that were concerned about noise and drunks, and some contention remains to this day. There are ways around the restrictions. Some places do BYOB, some operate as “private clubs” for which you have to buy a token membership before you can imbibe. One way or another it all works out.

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged alcohol, Heights, Houston, TABC | 2 Comments

Another court says No to Utah

Posted on December 26, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

And Yes to the hundreds of couples getting married.

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that gay marriages can continue in Utah, denying a request from the state to halt same-sex weddings that have been occurring at a rapid rate since last week.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ rejection of Utah’s request for an emergency stay marks yet another legal setback for the state. The same federal judge who ruled that Utah’s same-sex marriage ban violates gay and lesbian couples’ rights previously denied the state’s request to halt the marriages.

The appeals court said in its short ruling that a decision to put gay marriage on hold was not warranted, but said it put the case on the fast track for a full appeal of the ruling.

Utah’s last chance to temporarily stop the marriages would be the U.S. Supreme Court. That’s what the UtahAttorney General’s Office is prepared to do, said spokesman Ryan Bruckman. “We’re disappointed in the ruling, but we just have to take it to the next level,” Bruckman said.

Gov. Gary Herbert’s office declined comment on the decision.

Carl Tobias, a constitutional law professor at Virginia’s University of Richmond who has tracked legal battles for gay marriage, thinks Utah faces long odds to get their stay granted, considering two courts have already rejected it and marriages have been going on for days now.

“The longer this goes on, the less likely it becomes that any court is going to entertain a stay,” Tobias said.

It’s certainly possible that Utah could prevail in court later, when the 10th Circuit rules on the merits of the case. Seems increasingly unlikely that will happen, given the rulings so far and the certainty that by the time the appeal is heard it will be clear that no harm has come to anyone as a result of these nuptials, but you never know. I don’t know what the 10th Circuit’s calendar looks like, but it’s possible that by the time they have their hearing that Texas’ case could have been heard, and that there may be an injunction in place in Texas as well. I know I was dismissive of the chance that an injunction could be put in place against Texas’ anti-gay marriage law, but that was before the developments in New Mexico, Utah, and Ohio. It’s impossible to miss the pattern that’s being set, and it’s impossible to overlook the potential implications. I’m somewhat amazed that there hasn’t been more of a reaction to all this from Texas Republicans, many of whom are falling all over themselves to stand with that Duck Dynasty guy. Maybe their attention span is too small, maybe they’re in denial, or maybe they can see it coming and just don’t want to talk about it, I don’t know. I imagine we’ll hear plenty if Texas gets the same treatment from the courts that Utah has gotten.

Posted in National news | Tagged gay marriage, gay rights, lawsuit, SCOTUS, Texas, Utah | Comments Off

Lone Star Santas

Posted on December 26, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I love this story by Lisa Gray.

Yes, Santa drives a pickup

When Jim Fletcher asked his fiancee whether she’d mind if he grew a beard, Madge Boyer didn’t realize what she was getting into.

That was in early 2007, not long after he’d played Santa for his civic club Christmas party. In the red suit, he wasn’t just a retired product quality engineer. He was the party’s focus, the object of children’s adoration and adult smiles. Madge, who’d played Mrs. Claus, had a good time, too. But she thought that was that.

As his beard grew in, though, Jim began to wear red every day: Red suspenders, red sneakers, red shorts, polo shirts with candy-cane stripes, even a red business suit. He traded in the costume-shop Santa suit for tailor-made editions. His belt buckles said “SANTA.” He hand-carved an elaborate walking cane and, for formal occasions, a tall staff emblazoned with reindeer.

When working in the yard, he’d add a red cap to his regular work clothes. If he had to drop by the hardware store, he’d shower first and change into an outfit worthy of his station.

He studied “Behind the Red Suit,” a book about the business side of Santa-hood. At a Dallas seminar hosted by the International University of Santa Claus, he learned Santa history and lore, as well as the fine points of beard maintenance. He swore the Santa Claus oath, promising to use his powers to “create happiness, spread love and make fantasies come to life.” He printed business cards with a number for his “sleigh phone.” During the off-season, he kept his 100-year-old mahogany Santa throne by the living-room fireplace.

When Jim and Madge went to restaurants, children’s heads swiveled. He’d leave her at the table and go talk to every kid in the place. On the freeway, admirers snapped photos of him behind the wheel of his red pickup, with its CLAUS license plates. “It was like being with a movie star,” Madge says. “I didn’t like it at first.”

But Jim was no longer just Jim; he’d become Santa Jim. Santa was part of the Jim Fletcher package.

[…]

After the holidays, the Fletchers spend a surprising amount of time in the company of other Claus couples. In Jim’s first year as a Santa, he helped launch Lone Star Santas, a fraternal organization open to Clauses, Mrs. Clauses, elves and reindeer herders. The first meeting, in Brenham, attracted about five Santas. Now, with roughly 120, it’s one of the biggest regional Santa groups in the country.

It’s an inclusive group, Jim says proudly. Some Santa organizations limit membership to real-beard Santas, but Lone Star Santas has at least two “skin chins” in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. (Their day jobs don’t permit facial hair.) Membership includes Hispanic Santas, at least one black Santa and a couple of gay ones. “We even had one gal – a rotund, jolly gal – who talked to us about joining as a Santa, not a Mrs. Claus,” Jim says. “She didn’t end up joining. But as long as someone passes the background check, pays their dues and has the spirit of Christmas, that’s all we care about.”

This. That’s what it’s all about. It’s what Santa Claus stands for, not what he – or she – looks like. I could quote the whole thing, but I’ll hold back. Just go read it and feel good about the spirit of giving that makes Santa Claus what he is.

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged Christmas, Jim Fletcher, Lone Star Santas, Santa Claus, Texas | Comments Off

Texas Left Me Out

Posted on December 26, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This.

It’s constitutional – deal with it

Obamacare advocates are actively recruiting those left out of the Medicaid expansion in Republican-controlled states to lobby state officials to change their minds and participate in that key provision of the health care reform law.

So far, the effort is most organized in Texas, which is also the state with the most people in that Medicaid expansion gap: 1 million. But it’s likely to pick up elsewhere as the Obama administration and outside advocates apply pressure to the 25 states that have resisted expansion for the first year.

Texas Left Me Out, the combined effort of several community groups, is a website designed to collect those people’s stories and organize them into a cohesive political action constituency. It asks those in the Medicaid gap to sign a petition to stay informed about advocacy events and share their story on the site.

Are they going to turn Texas blue on the backs of people who have traditionally been ignored by Republicans? Are they going to convince an anti-Obamacare stalwart like Rick Perry to buy into the law? That’s a tough sell. But they’re going to try.

“When you personalize a policy, when you make it real, it’s always much more powerful. It’s always going to resonate,” Tiffany Hogue, state health care campaign coordinator at the Texas Organizing Project, one of the groups involved with the campaign, told TPM. “People have really have awakened to the fact that people really are getting left behind.”

Texas Left Me Out had a soft launch in October in preparation for a January rollout. The Texas Organizing Project says it has already contacted 100,000 people who are in the gap and convinced 20,000 to commit to be part of the campaign. They hope that those numbers will grow substantially before the Texas legislature reconvenes in 2015, its next opportunity to expand Medicaid under Obamacare. They’ve set recruitment targets for specific legislative districts to focus their efforts.

The broader coalition is also eyeing the 2014 elections. The presumed Democratic frontrunner for governor, state Sen. Wendy Davis, has enthusiastically endorsed expansion, and a more Democratic legislature would also be more likely to sign onto a major piece of the health care reform law.

The strategy is simple: sheer political force. They’ll ask people to turn up at legislative committee hearings and stage protests at the state capitol. Conference calls and press conferences will be the norm. They aren’t waiting for 2015 either. A group is going to a state insurance department meeting Dec. 20 to rally for expansion.

The website is here. I’m not at all surprised to see that Progress Texas is one of the forces behind it. The goals are ambitious, but we’re not going to get anywhere by thinking small.

And despite the ferocious efforts by Texas Republicans to deny health care coverage to its residents, demand for health insurance is strong.

Texas has the second-highest number of people who have purchased health plans through the embattled online insurance marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act, according to enrollment figures for October and November released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

But as a percentage of the uninsured in the second-largest state — which has the nation’s worst rate of health coverage — the number is tiny: 14,000 Texans had purchased coverage through healthcare.gov by the end of November.

The number of people who purchased coverage in the federal marketplace, which has been riddled with technical problems, was four times higher in November than in October: 137,204 people, including 14,000 Texans, had purchased coverage there as of the end of November, whereas only 27,000 people, including 3,000 Texans, had purchased coverage there at the end of October.

“Evidence of the technical improvements to HealthCare.gov can be seen in the enrollment numbers,” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, said in a press statement.

Florida had the highest enrollment numbers, with 17,900 people purchasing coverage in the federal marketplace, followed by Texas, and Pennsylvania, with 11,800 people purchasing coverage. 2.2 million people, including 245,000 Texans, have now completed applications through the federal marketplace.

Texas has the nation’s highest rate of people without health insurance at 24.6 percent, according to U.S. Census data. About 48 million Americans — including more than 6 million Texans — were uninsured in 2011 and 2012.

Those numbers are two weeks old now, but there’s no indication that the pace has slowed since then. Remember when you hear a Texas Republican whine about Obamacare that they have been in complete control of Texas’ government for over a decade now. If they cared at all about those six million uninsured people, they’ve had ample opportunity to do something about it. But they don’t, so they haven’t. Nothing will change until our state government changes. That’s why efforts like Texas Left Me Out matter.

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged Election 2014, health care, health insurance, insurance exchanges, Medicaid, Progress Texas, Texas, Texas Left Me Out, The Lege, US Department of Health and Human Services, Wendy Davis | 2 Comments

Your Mel Torme Christmas moment

Posted on December 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Every year on Christmas Day, I link to my favorite Christmas story, which stars Mel Torme. Apparently, this story is so popular now that it gets ripped off a lot, which sure seems to be contrary to the Christmas spirit if you ask me. But let’s not worry about such things this morning. Merry Christmas to you and yours. May your days be merry and bright, and may the new year bring you all the joy you can handle.

Posted in See, I do have a life! | Tagged Christmas, Mel Torme | 2 Comments

Tuesday video break: With how much care are your stockings hung?

Posted on December 24, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Christmas Eve, y’all. You know what that means.

I’ll post the Mel Torme story tomorrow. Until then, Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Posted in Websurfing | Tagged Christmas, videos | Comments Off

Keep getting married, Utah

Posted on December 24, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

You have at least a few more days till the next court ruling.

A federal judge on Monday allowed gay marriage to continue in Utah, rejecting a request to put same-sex weddings on hold as the state appeals a decision that has sent couples flocking to county clerk offices for marriage licenses.

Judge Robert J. Shelby overturned Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage Friday, ruling the voter-approved measure is a violation of gay couples’ constitutional rights. The state then asked him to put a stop to the weddings, but he rejected the request.

Shelby’s ruling is far from the end of the legal wrangling on the topic. The state quickly filed a request with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to put gay marriage on hold, and that court could rule as soon as Monday evening or Tuesday. The same court, in Denver, likely will hear the full appeal of the case several months from now.

In the meantime, the rush on marriage licenses continues for gay couples around Utah.

More than 300 gay couples have obtained marriage licenses since Friday in Utah’s most populous county. On Monday, an estimated 100 licenses were issued in other counties, while some clerks shut their doors as they awaited Shelby’s decision.

[…]

Even if the 10th Circuit grants a stay, the marriages licenses that already have been issued probably will remain valid, said Carl Tobias, a constitutional law professor at Virginia’s University of Richmond who has tracked legal battles for gay marriage. It’s not entirely certain, however, because Utah’s situation has unfolded differently than other states, and there’s no direct precedent, he said.

The appeals court already has rejected two previous requests from the state due to procedural issues, but it has not yet considered the case based on merits.

Who knows what will happen with the appeals court, but for now the biggest obstacle is recalcitrant county clerks.

Judge Shelby explicitly said his ruling allows all people the “fundamental right” of marriage. He said counties who don’t comply are breaking the law.

In Utah County, the clerk’s office was not issuing same-sex marriage licenses even after Shelby ruled, and they turned away at least three couples. Utah County Clerk Bryan E. Thompson told The Salt Lake Tribune he would wait to see how the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled on Shelby’s decision before deciding how to proceed.

I hope they come around on their own, because the state sure isn’t going to enforce that requirement. Be that as it may, this is a joyful week for a lot of people in Utah, and I daresay a hopeful one for folks in Texas and other states like it. If it can happen in Utah, it can truly happen anywhere. Take a look at some happy couples here and let your heart grow a size or two.

By the way, Utah wasn’t the only place where the cause of marriage equality was being expanded this week. Via Freedom to Marry, a judge in Ohio has gotten in on the act, too.

A federal judge Monday ordered Ohio authorities to recognize gay marriages on death certificates, saying the state’s ban on such unions is unconstitutional and that states cannot discriminate against same-sex couples simply because some voters don’t like homosexuality.

Although Judge Timothy Black’s ruling applies only to death certificates, his statements about Ohio’s gay-marriage ban are sweeping, unequivocal, and are expected to incite further litigation challenging the law. Ohio’s attorney general said the state will appeal.

Black cited the Supreme Court’s June decision striking down part of a federal anti-gay marriage law, saying that the lower courts are now tasked with applying that ruling.

“And the question presented is whether a state can do what the federal government cannot — i.e., discriminate against same-sex couples … simply because the majority of the voters don’t like homosexuality (or at least didn’t in 2004),” Black said in reference to the year Ohio’s gay marriage ban passed. “Under the Constitution of the United States, the answer is no.”

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia allow same-sex weddings, up from six before the Supreme Court decision.

Black wrote that “once you get married lawfully in one state, another state cannot summarily take your marriage away,” saying the right to remain married is recognized as a fundamental liberty in the U.S. Constitution.

“When a state effectively terminates the marriage of a same-sex couple married in another jurisdiction, it intrudes into the realm of private marital, family, and intimate relations specifically protected by the Supreme Court,” he wrote.

Black referenced Ohio’s historical practice of recognizing other out-of-state marriages even though they can’t legally be performed in Ohio, such as those involving cousins or minors.

Go read that Freedom to Marry for analysis of what that means. What I take from it is that it rips a pretty big hole in the state of Texas’ arguments about gay divorce. It sure feels to me like the walls are closing in on the Double Secret Illegal Anti-Gay Marriage Constitutional Amendment. I can only wonder what the reaction will be like from the state GOP when the inevitable happens.

Posted in National news | Tagged divorce, gay marriage, gay rights, lawsuit, Texas, Utah | 2 Comments

Merry Christmas from Pancho Claus

Posted on December 24, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

If it’s Christmas time, it must be time for a Pancho Claus story.

Santa and Pancho

He usually has black hair and a black beard, sometimes just a mustache. Like Santa, he wears a hat — though often it’s a sombrero. He dons a serape or a poncho and, in one case, a red and black zoot suit. And he makes his grand entrance on lowriders or Harleys or led by a pack of burros instead of eight reindeer.

Meet Pancho Claus, the Tex-Mex Santa.

Amid all the talk about Santa Claus’ race, spawned by a Fox News commentator’s remarks that both Santa and Jesus were white, there is, in the Lone Star State, a Hispanic version of Santa in cities from the border to the plains — handing out gifts for low-income and at-risk children.

Born from the Chicano civil rights movement, Pancho Claus is a mostly Texas thing, historians say, though there may be one somewhere in California. Lorenzo Cano, a Mexican-American studies scholar at the University of Houston, says Pancho was apparently conceived north of the border as Mexican-Americans looked to “build a place and a space for themselves” in the 1970s. His rise coincided with a growing interest in Mexican art, Cinco de Mayo, Mexican Independence Day and other cultural events.

Now, Pancho is an adored Christmas fixture in many Texas cities.

“We have kids that we ask, ‘Did Santa Claus come to see you?’ and they say, ‘No he didn’t. But Pancho Claus did,'” says Robert Narvaiz, vice commander for Lubbock’s American GI Forum and coordinator of that city’s Pancho project.

Each city’s Pancho has a unique local flavor, but all share roots that set Pancho apart from Santa. Here’s a look at just a few. Oh, and Feliz Navidad, amigos.

For God’s sake, don’t tell Megyn Kelly about this! I’ve blogged about Pancho Claus before – Houston’s version is played by Richard Reyes, whom you see in the photo above, but he’s far from the only one, and his look as Pancho Claus is unique to him. I love reading about Pancho Claus, not just because of the good works the various Panchos do, but also because of the beautiful way he represents the utility and versatility of the Santa Claus story. There are as many variations on Pancho Claus as there are on Santa Claus/Father Christmas, and it always amazes me how adaptable that legend is. It’s true that there are some people whose small minds can’t handle anything that doesn’t resemble themselves or the stories they grew up with, but those people will always be with us in one form or another. No reason to let them detract from the wonder of Pancho Claus. Feliz Navidad, y’all.

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged Christmas, Houston, Pancho Claus, Santa Claus, Texas | Comments Off

Texas blog roundup for the week of December 23

Posted on December 24, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance wishes everyone a joyful and joyous holiday at it brings you this week’s roundup.

Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged blog roundup, TPA | Comments Off

What can we do to get the Universities Line going?

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This story is about the opening of the North Line, but it’s also about where Metro goes from here.

The opening of the lines won’t spell the end of the construction. To complete the final mile of the East Line, Metro must build an underpass at Harrisburg and 66th Street at the Houston Belt & Terminal railroad tracks. The agency struggled to accommodate neighborhood concerns and figure out what it could afford, leading to delays. The final mile will open in December 2015 at the earliest.

The fate of the planned University Line, between the University of Houston and the Westpark Tollway, is even less certain. Metro officials haven’t detailed how they plan to pay for its construction.

Earlier this year at Metro’s behest, city officials designated Richmond as a transit corridor, limiting new development that encroaches on the ability to add a rail line without committing officials to any decision or affecting current buildings.

On Thursday, Metro board members extended the contract for design of the University Line for another year, to Dec. 21, 2014. The extension did not increase the fee to engineering firm AECOM, though the contract has been amended and the fee increased 10 times.

Since 2006, the design contract for the University Line has grown from $17.2 million to $50.8 million, of which $3.7 million remains unpaid.

The added time gives Metro a chance to adjust the designs if necessary, interim CEO Tom Lambert said.

Some Metro board members suggested the agency might be throwing good money after bad.

“We know that line can’t be built, or by the time we have it built, all that work will be obsolete,” board member Jim Robinson said.

Board member Dwight Jefferson said Metro should build what officials said they would when they spent money to study the route.

“If we can save it, that’s what we need to be looking to do,” Jefferson said.

Light rail continues to face vocal opposition from property owners along Richmond, especially west of Shepherd Drive. Rep. John Culberson, a Houston Republican who represents the western area segment of the route, has consistently opposed federal money for the project.

[…]

Washington has its own set of challenges funding transit projects. Still, [Federal Transit Administrator Peter] Rogoff said federal officials will consider helping Houston when it’s ready for its next light rail line. Technically, the University Line application is already filed with federal transit officials.

“We are sort of awaiting clear direction (from Metro),” Rogoff said. “They have seemingly taken a bit of a timeout.”

The North Line extension had a successful opening on Saturday despite the lousy weather. The political situation, by which I mean Rep. Culberson and his fanatical opposition to rail on Richmond, is unlikely to change anytime soon. The need for the Universities Line hasn’t changed, either – if anything, it’s more urgent now. We can’t wait for Culberson to retire or lose or get redistricted out of this part of town. What can we do in the meantime to move the ball forward?

One possibility is to start building the portion of the line that isn’t in Culberson’s district. That would run from the Eastwood Transit Center to Shepherd. That would provide connectivity to the Main Street and Southeast lines as well we better access to UH and the Third Ward. The Richmond portion of that truncated line falls within Rep. Ted Poe’s district, and as we know, Rep. Poe supports construction of the Universities Line because his constituents support it. With Rep. Poe behind this, one would hope that getting federal funds would be possible. On the other hand, chopping the line in half like this may well invalidate all of the previous filings and approvals Metro now has for this project, and might require Metro to start from scratch and do them all again. Given that ridership would surely be a lot lower for this partial route, there would be no guarantee that it would even qualify for FTA funds. It’s worth exploring, but only worth pursuing if it doesn’t represent a step backward.

Another possibility is to commit to building the whole thing, but only seek federal funding for the eastern half of the line, unless something changes to make funding the western half of the line feasible. That would of course require a large amount of local funding. To my mind, that local funding should come from Metro, the city of Houston, and Harris County. How likely that is I couldn’t say; when I bring it up to other people, the reaction I usually get is to be asked if I also believe in the tooth fairy. It might not be fiscally possible even if you accept the premise that Harris County could be persuaded to play ball. The FTA might not think this is such a hot idea, either, and even if they did Culberson could fight against it even though he’s made a point of saying that he has never opposed funding for rail construction that wasn’t in his district. I’m just throwing out ideas here, I don’t claim to have all the details worked out.

Look, I recognize that these ideas may be completely unrealistic. There may not be anything that can be done under current conditions. But the need is there, whether a plausible path forward exists or not. We need to be talking about this, with the understanding that this really matters and we need to figure it out one way or another. The Universities Line, when it is finally built, will do a lot to enhance mobility in a part of town that desperately needs the help. It will facilitate travel in neighborhoods that are already dense and heavily congested and getting more so every day as one new highrise after another gets developed. It will provide a critical link between east and west, and when the Uptown Line is completed it will make traveling to the Galleria and its environs a lot less nightmarish. Maybe once we start this conversation we’ll also remember that there are other routes on the drawing board that ought to be back in the conversation, like the Inner Katy line and the US90 commuter line. Again, the need is there, and it won’t go away if we don’t do anything about it. So what are we going to do about it?

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged Congress, Federal Transit Administration, Harris County, Houston, John Culberson, light rail, Main Street line, Metro, North line, Richmond, Southeast line, Ted Poe, University line, Uptown line | 2 Comments

They’ll be getting married in Utah today

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

For at least an hour today, county clerks in Utah will be issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples.

Utah Gov. Gary R. Herbert filed seeking an Emergency Motion for Temporary Stay following a federal judge’s ruling that struck down Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage, and on Sunday the United States Court of Appeals Tenth District denied the motion.

According to court documents, “The Defendants-Appellants ask this court to stay the district court’s order pending the district court’s ruling on a motion for stay pending appeal that is currently pending in that court.”

According to the documents, the filing for an Emergency Motion for Temporary Stay did not address nor satisfy the factors that must be established to be entitled to a stay pending an appeal. The denial is without prejudice if the defendants-appellants file a motion for stay pending appeal that complies with regulations.

Click here for the full document: Emergency Motion to Stay denied

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Shelby has scheduled a hearing Monday at 9 a.m. on the state’s request to halt same-sex marriages, and pro same-sex marriage groups in Utah encouraged people to take advantage of the limited window in which marriage licenses were guaranteed to be granted in several counties.

In a post on their Facebook page, Equality Utah said, “Worst case scenario we will only have 1 hour in which marriages can be performed by the respective county clerks.”

Here’s that Facebook post. If it were me and my intended, I’d seriously consider camping out the night before to make sure we were first in line. This is a big deal for two reasons. One, even if an injunction on further marriage licenses is given, the fact is that some number of couples will tie the knot while the issue is being decided. These lucky folks will get to live as legally married couples in Utah at least until the appeal is settled, if not longer than that. It will be a lot harder to take that away from them down the line, because – and this is reason #2 – the world will not have ended in the interim. Utah will continue to be Utah, life will go on, and no one will be harmed in any way by the marriages that take place today. And then in February, when the federal lawsuit in Texas has its first hearing, the plaintiffs can point to Utah and say “See? We’re just like them and we deserve the same treatment.” Even the Fifth Circuit might have a hard time coming up with a justification to maintain the harmful and discriminatory status quo. Via TPM.

Posted in National news | Tagged Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, gay marriage, gay rights, lawsuit, Texas, Utah | Comments Off

Weekend link dump for December 22

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

A link dump for kids from one to ninety-two…

A long but provocative read on smarm and snark.

From the Is Our Children Learning? department.

RIP, Peter O’Toole, and RIP, Joan Fontaine. Hollywood is a little less royal today.

Sergio Aragones draws 60 years of MAD Magazine history in a single pullout poster. A full size version of said poster sure would be nice.

Piling on Katie Couric for her vaccination irresponsibility again.

There are three ways to respond to Ross Douthat, the Kilgore way, the TBogg way, and the Marcotte way.

Those of you that are fans of Prince, this is relevant to your interests.

An oral history of the nerd villain trio from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

“The thing about politicians is that they take positions and perform official actions that give great insight into whether and how much they care about regular people. That’s the place to look if you want to know who they really are.”

When Andrew Sullivan is right, he’s right.

RIP, Harold Camping, most famous for those failed Rapture predictions he made in 2011.

I swing both ways on the “y’all” or “you guys” question, as befits my New York upbringing and my longtime Texas residency.

I would like to state categorically and for the record that I am not a candidate for the head coaching job at UT.

Take a hostage, any hostage, doesn’t really matter which.

“In fact we went back a few weeks ago to see if this was a phenomenon that was confined only to the women, and we actually found a few virgin fathers as well — which is a little harder to get your head around.”

The sports blackout rule may soon be lifted.

“The situation’s improved since then, but there remain many, many more votes lost because of flawed ballots or attrition from long lines than votes canceled out out by the confirmed ballot of a non-citizen.”

“Perhaps inevitably, at every political stress point liberals knock themselves out urging Obama to say precisely the things he’s been saying nonstop since he first appeared on our horizon.”

RIP, Al Goldstein, 70’s era porn pioneer.

“He reminds me of a character from the novel The Color Purple who was under the false presumption that the black maid who took care of her family actually felt any sympathy or love for her or her parents.”

“Of course A&E wasn’t going to put racist, homophobic rants on the air—it never would have survived the backlash. But if the network were true to the genre, it would have showed America the unedited Phil Robertson, not because his views reflect those of the network, but because it is, you know, reality.”

As always, when in doubt read what Ta-Nehisi has to say, and you’ll arrive at the right place.

“I’m trying to think of something snarky and/or witty to say about this . . . but it’s a sausage and bacon nativity scene. A SAUSAGE AND BACON NATIVITY SCENE. There are no words.”

Why the Obama = Bush meme fails.

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged linkdump | Comments Off

What can we do to improve reading skills in HISD?

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I wish I knew.

HISD students continue to struggle with reading while matching or exceeding their peers’ math performance in other big cities, according to national test data released Wednesday.

Reading scores for the district’s fourth- and eighth-graders have stagnated for six years. In math, however, the middle-school results have improved over time, and HISD ranks well against others nationwide.

The scores come from a battery of exams, typically called the Nation’s Report Card, that allow big urban districts that choose to participate to compare themselves.

“We are pleased that we continue to perform at high levels in mathematics and are concerned about the flat-line trending of our literacy rates,” said Dan Gohl, chief academic officer for the Houston Independent School District.

Gohl said he plans to present a revised plan for boosting reading skills to the school board in January. Campuses across the district use numerous programs to teach reading, he said, and the quality appears to vary. The differences also may trouble students who transfer schools mid-year.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress tests a sample of fourth- and eighth-graders every two years. The latest results are from exams taken in early 2013. The other Texas districts that participate are those in Dallas and Austin.

The Houston Press had a cover story the other week about HISD’s reading scores, which look better than they are on the state accountability measures. A lot of big urban school districts have problems with reading scores, though there’s been a good deal of improvement in recent years. Poverty is a big factor – there’s a lot of research out there showing that poor children start out behind their peers even before they get to school – but it’s not the only factor. As our experience with Apollo has shown so far, we seem to have a handle on getting improvements to math scores, but reading is a much tougher nut to crack. We need to figure it out, and the sooner the better. Hair Balls and Washington Monthly have more.

Posted in School days | Tagged HISD, Houston, NAEP, reading, standardized testing | Comments Off

Judge Pratt gets no-billed

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox:

Judge Denise Pratt

Harris County Grand Jury “No Bills” Judge Denise Pratt

“We are pleased that the grand jury agrees with us that there’s absolutely no evidence that Judge Pratt tampered with court documents or did anything illegal,” says her attorney, Terry W. Yates.

“The office of the District Clerk was created by the Texas Constitution as a backstop for the judges. One of their primary jobs is to keep the court papers in proper order. Unfortunately, this did not happen in the 311th District Court,”says Yates.

“The problems with the court documents emanated from the number of deputy clerks that were assigned to this court; more than 20 in the last three years. Some of these clerks were not properly trained and were otherwise unqualified for the position of deputy clerk,” says Yates.

Yates added, “Judge Pratt is very relieved that this matter is behind her and she is working hard to serve the citizens of Harris County.”

See here for previous blogging. It’s been a rough few weeks for Judge Pratt, and I’m sure she’s happy to get a bit of good news going into the holidays. She’s not out of the woods yet, however. Here’s the Chron story with more details.

Several family court lawyers who have sought to recuse Pratt from their cases in recent weeks have presented documents from her 311th family district court that appear to be backdated. A pair of visiting judges approved nine of those requests earlier this week.

[…]

District Clerk Chris Daniel, who launched his own investigation after receiving a copy of Enos’ complaint, released a statement saying that “our office’s own investigation of these alleged backdating incidents found only one instance of backdating by a court clerk.”

His spokesman, Bill Murphy, said the office found another document that appears to be backdated, but no one initialed it, so it is “unclear who processed” it.

[Greg] Enos said in an e-mail that the backdating of court orders “was always just the tip of the iceberg of problems with her, but that was what happened to arguably be a crime.”

The 53-year-old family lawyer filed a similar complaint last year against a Galveston County judge that preceded an investigation by the state attorney general and multiple indictments that led to the judge’s suspension and eventual resignation.

Enos’ complaint detailed other problems with Pratt. Lawyer Fred Krasny said Pratt regularly shows up to morning and after-lunch hearings an hour late, costing lawyers time and clients money. Others have said she sometimes has not shown up to hearings at all.

[…]

Lawyers who have spoken out against Pratt since Enos filed his complaint expressed frustration on Friday with the grand jury’s decision.

Matthew Waldrop, a lawyer who had eight cases removed from Pratt’s court this week by a visiting judge, said he is considering filing another criminal complaint.

Lawyer Robert Clark, who still has more than a dozen cases in Pratt’s court, said he is readying motions asking her to be removed from some or all of them. Clark argued a case in Pratt’s court in January for which she issued a ruling in May. The official court record now says the ruling was issued on Jan. 30, the day before the two-day trial actually ended.

“I don’t want my clients to suffer any adverse actions as a result of my being a vocal opponent of the judge,” Clark said.

See here and here for stories about those recusals. Even if Judge Pratt survives further complaints, she still has that primary and a November election to get through. I’m thinking she’s got a very tough road ahead of her.

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged Chris Daniel, Denise Pratt, District Clerk, Election 2014, grand jury, Greg Enos, Harris County, judicial races | Comments Off

Drinking al fresco

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From the Things You Might Not Have Realized department.

“It is a commonly-held belief that it’s illegal to walk down the street drinking a beer in Texas. However, that is not always the case.”

Those words, which we recently happened upon at the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission website, sparked wary excitement. We’d always chafed under the assumed strictness of Houston drinking laws, even fearing that we might receive a ticket for drinking in Houstonia’s unfenced Heights yard. Until, that is, we researched the Texas legal code, which states that public drinking is prohibited only in certain areas of state parks and wherever a city has specifically deemed it illegal. In 1994, the City of Houston successfully petitioned to ban drinking in public within the entire Central Business District (the area roughly bounded by Dowling Street and I-45, McGowen Street and Buffalo Bayou). On the one hand, you can’t drink on downtown’s streets, or Midtown’s or EaDo’s. On the other, it’s open season for open containers everywhere else.

Public intoxication, which the TABC defines as inebriation that “may endanger the person or another,” is illegal everywhere, of course. But there’s no law against strolling Allen Parkway with a Lone Star while taking in the skyline, or sipping margaritas to-go in Eleanor Tinsley Park. Just keep things classy and under control, not like you would in NOLA.

I’m a pretty moderate drinker these days, so this knowledge is of limited practical use to me. It’s still good to know, and hey, maybe it will be of more use to you. Link via Swamplot.

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged alcohol, downtown, Houston, pedestrians, TABC | 1 Comment

Saturday video break: “Baby clothes. This place has got everything!”

Posted on December 21, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

A shot-by-shot LEGO remake of the mall chase scene from The Blues Brothers:

How awesome, not to mention OCD, is that? Here’s the side-by-side comparison:

And the “making of” video:

All done by the folks at Bricktease. I am in awe. Via Consumerist.

Posted in TV and movies | Tagged Legos, movies, The Blues Brothers, videos | Comments Off

Wilson sued over residency for HCC

Posted on December 21, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Dave Wilson and lawsuits go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Dave Wilson

The Harris County attorney sued Houston Community College trustee-elect Dave Wilson on Thursday, alleging the small business owner and anti-gay activist was not a resident of District II when he was elected to the post last month.

“We think there is a reasonable doubt as to whether he lives within the district, and it needs to be clarified,” said First Assistant County Attorney Robert Soard.

The three-page civil suit petition, filed in the 151st District Court, does not say where Wilson lives, but Soard said the grounds for the lawsuit are “similar” to ones raised by the defense in a still-pending lawsuit that Wilson, a perennial candidate, brought against the Harris County Democratic Party chairman in 2010, when he was kept off the ballot after filing to run for Precinct 4 Harris County commissioner.

That year, then-Chairman Gerry Birnberg argued that Wilson was ineligible to run because he had listed an address on his application that was not his residential address, as required by election code. Wilson’s wife, Connie, still lists a property at 7370 Lake Lane, which is in the Lone Star Community College System district, as her residential homestead, according to the Harris County Appraisal District website.

Wilson, who ousted HCC Chairman Bruce Austin in the Nov. 5 election by 26 votes, contends that he lives in “a 1,140-square-foot apartment upstairs” at his office, located at 5600 W. 34th St. in the college system’s District II.

The building there is an 11,340-square-foot commercial metal warehouse, according to county records.

Asked Thursday if he was living separately from his wife, Wilson said, “That’s a personal matter, and it’s none of yours or the Chronicle’s business.”

“I think that county records still show that we’re married. That’s all I’ll say,” Wilson said.

So to review, Wilson was removed from the ballot in 2010 by then-HCDP Chair Gerry Birnberg on the grounds that he did not live in County Commissioner Precinct 4. Wilson then filed a lawsuit against the HCDP to be reinstated on the ballot, but he lost. He subsequently also filed a federal lawsuit against a larger list of plaintiffs alleging that his civil rights were violated by being denied a spot on the ballot. The suit was dismissed by a federal district court, but the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted his petition for a rehearing in 2012. I don’t know where that now stands.

In any event, in looking at these old posts, three things stand out to me. One is that the address Wilson was using to get on the ballot in 2010 was 1512 W. 34th Street, not 5600 W. 34th Street as he apparently used for his HCC filing. He was still using the 1512 address in his 2011 filing for Mayor. Does he have more than one warehouse that he claims to be his residency when he needs it, or did he move between then and now? A little fooling around on Google Maps tells me the two addresses are 2.8 miles apart. Not very far, but it’s not impossible that one might cross a political boundary or two in the journey. That would be another reason why it would ne nice to know when he started using the 5600 address. Second, while Wilson is playing coy with his marital status now, in 2010 he stated he that he was in fact separated from his wife. Finally, the one constant in all this is the 7370 Lake Lane address where Connie Wilson lives. Make of this what you will.

So what this means is that we ought to get a fuller airing of the facts this time. In 2010 he was booted at Gerry Birnberg’s discretion, and the courts declined to give Wilson relief. Here it’s Harris County that’s taking action after the fact, and I very much look forward to seeing the case play out. The HCC Board itself says it wasn’t their job to vet the candidate filing. That’s a question Rep. Harold Dutton brought up to them, and I have a sneaking suspicion Rep. Dutton will attempt to deal with that in the next legislative session. Wilson ran again for County Commissioner in Precinct 4 in 2012. That time, his application was accepted, and he wound up losing in the primary to Sean Hemmerle. I don’t know which address he used for that application, but clearly someone should find that out. If he was still using 1512 W. 34th Street, then he needs to be pinned down on when he moved.

Anyway. The saga continues, as they often do. No indication in the story when there will be a hearing on this, but one presumes it will be after the holidays. One also presumes the question of whether or not the County Attorney has standing to file such a suit will arise. Like I said, I very much look forward to seeing how this plays out.

Posted in Election 2013 | Tagged Commissioners Court, Dave Wilson, Election 2010, Election 2011, Election 2013, Gerry Birnberg, Harold Dutton, Harris County, Harris County Attorney, HCC, HCDP, Houston, lawsuit, Mayor | 5 Comments

If it can happen in Utah…

Posted on December 21, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Wow. Just, wow.

A federal judge struck down Utah’s same-sex marriage ban Friday in a decision that marks a drastic shift toward gay marriage in a conservative state where the Mormon church has long been against it.

The decision set off an immediate frenzy as the clerk in the state’s most populous county began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples while state officials took steps to appeal the ruling and halt the process.

Cheers erupted as the mayor of Salt Lake City led the state’s first gay wedding ceremony in an office building about three miles from the headquarters of the Mormon church. Dozens of other couples were lined up to get marriage licenses.

Deputy Salt Lake County Clerk Dahnelle Burton-Lee said the district attorney authorized her office to begin issuing the licenses but she couldn’t immediately say how many had been issued.

Just hours earlier, U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby issued a 53-page ruling saying the constitutional amendment Utah voters approved in 2004 violates gay and lesbian couples’ rights to due process and equal protection under the 14th Amendment. Shelby said the state failed to show that allowing same-sex marriages would affect opposite-sex marriages in any way.

“In the absence of such evidence, the State’s unsupported fears and speculations are insufficient to justify the State’s refusal to dignify the family relationships of its gay and lesbian citizens,” Shelby wrote.

[…]

The Utah ruling comes the same week New Mexico’s highest court legalized gay marriage after declaring it unconstitutional to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples. A new law passed in Hawaii last month now allows gay couples to marry there.

If the ruling stands, Utah would become the 18th state to allow gay marriages, said Jon Davidson, director of Lambda Legal, which pursues litigation on LGBT issues nationwide. That’s up from six before the U.S. Supreme Court last summer struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act that defined marriage as between a man and a woman. The District of Columbia also allows same-sex marriage.

“The momentum we are seeing is unprecedented in any human rights struggle,” Davidson said. “To have this fast a change in the law and in public opinion, is quite remarkable.”

Between this ruling and the one in New Mexico (more on that in a minute), I’d say equality opponents in Texas now truly have something to worry about. I still don’t think the Fifth Circuit will cooperate, but I’m less certain of that than I was two days ago. One reason for that is the way the judges in these cases made their rulings. For example, the Utah judge cited Justice Scalia’s dissent in the DOMA case in support of his ruling, and though the New Mexico case was decided in state court, the judge that wrote the opinion there clearly had one eye on SCOTUS.

The “responsible procreation” argument is utter bunk.

These days, conservatives shy away from arguing that gay people make bad parents, because they definitely, unquestionably, absolutely do not. Instead, the argument has subtly shifted to a new sophism: Marriage laws are meant to encourage “responsible procreation” by opposite-sex couples so that if the woman gets pregnant, the state won’t have an orphan on its hands. The implication, of course, is that gays play no part in this schema, and so it would be absurd to allow them into the marriage club.

Wrong, says Justice Edward L. Chávez, speaking for the court—in fact, New Mexico’s own marriage law makes no mention whatsoever of procreation, exposing the argument’s gesture toward tradition as the claptrap that it is. Instead, “the purpose of New Mexico marriage laws is to bring stability and order to the legal relationship of committed couples … [and] their children.” Plus, “fertility has never been a condition of marriage,” so heterosexual gay marriage opponents clearly aren’t even playing by their own rules. Finally, Chávez drives in the knife:

[W]e fail to see how forbidding same-gender marriages will result in the marriages of more opposite-gender couples for the purpose of procreating, or how authorizing same-gender marriages will result in the marriages of fewer opposite-gender couples for the purpose of procreating.

These points may seem obvious, but the “responsible procreation” argument has gained some ground since it made an appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court last March. Now a court has been fully briefed on the matter, and the verdict couldn’t be clearer: This argument is dead in the water.

The state of Utah made that “responsible procreation” argument as well, as I’m sure Texas will in February. But now there’s a lot more precedent for swatting down these hurtful, discriminatory laws down. That makes this upcoming hearing that much more important. To all the couples in Utah now getting married, congratulations and mazel tov! To everyone in Utah and elsewhere now freaking out that the end of civilization is nigh, relax. It totally isn’t, as you will soon see for yourself. It’s just more love and happiness and equality and justice, and last I checked those were all good things.

Posted in National news | Tagged DOMA, gay marriage, gay rights, lawsuit, New Mexico, SCOTUS, Texas, Utah | Comments Off

North Line opening today

Posted on December 21, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox:

ALL ABOARD FOR SATURDAY RAIL ROLL-OUT

METRO is inviting the public to get on board for the Saturday, Dec. 21 grand opening of the new 5.3-mile North/Red Line!

Riding the train will be free all day as part of the grand opening celebration taking place at Moody Park.

Festivities at the park include acts like A.B.Quintanilla III y Los Kumbia King All Starz, Mango Punch, Fama and special guest Tamar Davis. The free event will also feature booths with food from north-side vendors and activities for children (like 80,000 pounds of snow) – from 11:30 AM to 5 PM. Click here for the lineup.

Moody Park (3725 Fulton Street) is located right off the Red Line and has its own stop, Moody Park station. Party patrons can hop on board any of METRO’s 24 stations and make tracks for the celebration.

Prior to the Moody Park celebration, there will be a 10 AM photo opportunity when Congressman Gene Green, METRO Chairman Gilbert Garcia and others, board the first southbound train from Northline Transit Center/HCC (8001 Fulton).

The UHD campus will host an additional commemorative event beginning at 1:30 PM Saturday for a gathering of select guests including community leaders and dignitaries. UHD President Bill Flores and METRO Board Chairman Gilbert Garcia will welcome guests who will board a specially decorated “Polar Express” train traveling to Moody Park for the celebration.

Assuming the weather holds up, I’ll take the girls and check it out. Bounce houses and food trucks are a fine combination for folks like me with kids to entertain on a weekend.

Here’s the Chron story about the opening.

The opening of the first new rail line in 10 years is going to bring “positive changes for the community,” interim Metro president Tom Lambert said.

As the first to serve residential neighborhoods, the line will allow Metro “to see how we can use a bus system to feed into rail. And it will give people more transportation options.”

Transportation options are just the beginning. It also opens up new residential possibilities for residents who live nearby. Some are looking at the rail extension as a way to grow their businesses. For others it will provide easier access to shopping and dining on Houston’s near northside.

“We anticipate an increasing number of shoppers using the rail to get to our stores, especially those shoppers who depend on the public transportation,” said Jeff Procell, general manager for Northline Commons Mall.

The open-air mall is at the Red Line’s northernmost terminus, the Northline Transit Center.

The transit center was part of a nearly 20-year-old negotiation between Metro and the mall’s owners.

“We did that deal in the mid-’90s. Lucky us for having the foresight to make certain the rail would stop here.”

Procell points out that while there are many small strip shops along the Red Line, Northline Commons will be the only major retail center on any of the rail lines (current or coming).

Depends on if you consider the Universities Line to be still on the drawing board for someday or not. If you do count it, then the Costco at Richmond and Weslayan would count as well. There’s also the Uptown BRT line that may someday be a rail line, but now we’re wandering pretty far afield. Moving on:

Realtor Tim Surratt, with Greenwood King Properties, said interest in Northside homes started picking up last year.

“It’s one of the last affordable close-in neighborhoods,” Surratt noted, adding that it has a lot of appeal for young, first-time home buyers.

The draw is the affordability of the housing, but “they’re really excited about the rail,” Surratt said. “These young people just aren’t as interested in driving. They want to use public transportation.”

So far this year, sales of 80 homes in Northside neighborhoods such as Lindale, Irvington and Ryan have been closed. If the 18 homes currently under contract close, it will mean an increase of 38 percent in home sales over last year.

Surratt also is impressed by the escalation in home prices. In 2012, the most expensive sale was $181,000. This year, one Northside home went for $371,000.

The Fifth Ward to their east is also affordable and close in, but they don’t have the infrastructure or the transit to be as attractive just yet. Someday, I hope they will. I also hope housing prices there stay reasonably affordable for at least a couple of years. The good news is that with transit, real density becomes a lot more feasible and desirable. I hope we see a lot of new multi-unit projects in the area. I am really looking forward to the rest of the lines opening up. It’s a new era for Houston.

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged construction, density, Houston, light rail, Metro, Near Northside, North line, Tom Lambert | 1 Comment

Friday random ten: What makes the world go ’round

Posted on December 20, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Not love, but that other thing.

1. Easy Money – Billy Joel
2. Gimme Some Money – Brian Grosz
3. I Need Some Money – John Lee Hooker
4. Money – Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
5. Money (That’s What I Want) – The Beatles
6. Money Can’t Buy It – Annie Lennoz
7. Money For Nothing – Big Daddy
8. Money, Money, Money – from “Mamma Mia”
9. Pay Me My Money Down – Bruce Springsteen
10. With Plenty Of Money And You – Count Basie

I was inspired, as it were, by the recent budget deal. You take your inspiration where you can. Happy Friday, and for those of you about to take some time off for the holidays, enjoy.

Posted in Music | Tagged Friday random ten, theme lists | Comments Off

More on the local GOP’s lawsuit against same sex spouse insurance benefits

Posted on December 20, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Family Court? What’s up with that?

City Attorney Dave Feldman said Wednesday that the city of Houston and Mayor Annise Parker were not given notice before a family district court judge halted a recent policy change extending health and life insurance benefits to city employees in same-sex marriages.

“I’m not even sure how this ended up in family court. This is not a divorce, adoption or custody case,” Feldman said.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Judge Lisa Millard’s court by Jared Woodfill, Harris County’s GOP chairman, claims the policy change violates Houston’s city charter, the state’s Defense of Marriage Act and the Texas Constitution. Millard signed a temporary restraining order late Tuesday, halting the policy change until a Jan. 6 hearing.

“If this had been filed in a regular civil district court, be assured the city would have received notice and been given the opportunity to be there before any restraining order was entered,” Feldman said. Feldman said he plans to appeal Millard’s ruling on Thursday.

I don’t quite get filing this suit in Family Court. I’d have assumed a Civil District Court would be the normal route. I don’t know that it makes any difference, I’m just curious. Any lawyers want to weigh in on that?

Because the Defense of Marriage Act is a statute in the Texas Family Code, a family court is the appropriate venue, Woodfill said. He also said he sent Feldman two emails before the Tuesday hearing in Millard’s court.

“He didn’t respond to direct email,” Woodfill said. “We notified him twice and he didn’t respond.”

Woodfill said he hopes the case will pique the interest of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who could intervene in the case.

“Because we are talking about an elected official who has recognized same-sex marriage, in violation of Texas law, I would think that would be an issue the Attorney General’s Office would want to weigh in on,” Woodfill said. As of Wednesday evening, Abbott had not made a statement about the case.

Yes, I’d love to hear what Abbott has to say, too. As noted before, he seems to be picking his spots. He might prefer to avoid getting tangled up in this sort of brouhaha, which is exactly why I hope he gets pressed on it. Abbott is at least aware enough to realize that he’s on the losing side and that the more he fights the faster he’s likely to bring about his side’s demise. Woodfill doesn’t appear to suffer from that level of clarity. Don’t look now, Jared, but same sex marriage is right on your doorstep. Are you ready for the change that’s coming?

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged Annise Parker, David Feldman, gay marriage, gay rights, Greg Abbott, Harris County, health insurance, Houston, Jared Woodfill, lawsuit, New Mexico, Republican Party, Texas | 1 Comment

The 12-candidate pileup in CD36

Posted on December 20, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Steve Stockman’s last-minute switch to the Senate race left a void in CD36 on the Republican side that is being filled by a dozen Stockman wannabes.

The Republican primary ballot for the race to succeed U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman was set Monday evening — a week later than expected — with five additional candidates signing up on the final day of filing for the Houston-area congressional seat.

Stockman, R-Friendswood, abruptly withdrew his re-election bid Dec. 9 to launch a primary challenge against U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. The timing of Stockman’s switch — which occurred minutes before the filing deadline — prompted the Republican Party of Texas to extend the deadline for the Congressional District 36 race, though under conditions that left some interested candidates unable to enter the race.

Ben Streusand and John Manlove, both of Houston, Robin Riley and Jim Engstrand, both of Seabrook, and Pat Kasprzak of Crosby filed for the seat on Monday. Riley is a former Seabrook mayor. One other Republican, Brian Babin, a dentist and former mayor of Woodville, also took advantage of the deadline extension, filing on Friday. They joined six Republicans who had filed for the seat before the original deadline: Nassau Bay City Councilman John Amdur; Doug Centilli, a longtime chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands; former Liberty County Judge Phil Fitzgerald; Lumberton lawyer Charles “Chuck” Meyer; former Seabrook City Councilman Kim Morrell; and insurance agent Dave Norman.

Democrat Michael “MKC” Cole and Libertarians Robb Rourke and Rodney Veach are also running for the seat.

There are a couple of semi-familiar names in that list, with rich guy Streusand leading the pack. I’ll refer you to PDiddie for the gumshoe work. Expect several metric tons of Teh Crazy in this race, to be followed by a concentrated dose of it for the runoff. And that’s even without taking into consideration the race that actually features Steve Stockman, which in less than two weeks already features attack websites and disgusting photos – seriously, you need to click that last link, just not while you’re eating. I’m trying to picture what an analogous Democratic campaign to the CD36 clown car would look like, but my imagination is failing. We have our version of crazy and obnoxious, but it’s minor league next to these guys. Burka and BOR have more.

Posted in Election 2014 | Tagged Ben Streusand, CD36, Congress, Election 2014, John Cornyn, John Manlove, Senate, Steve Stockman, Texas | Comments Off

More reactions to the city’s settlement with the strip clubs

Posted on December 20, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Not everyone likes it.

Bob Sanborn, CEO of the nonprofit organization Children at Risk, and other advocates against human trafficking said on Wednesday that they should have been consulted before a deal was struck.

Mayor Annise Parker, who brokered the agreement, said it ended a lengthy lawsuit and gives the city more funds to fight trafficking.

“We settled a 16-year-old lawsuit and it’s unfortunate that they don’t agree with my decision,” Parker said. “I don’t think we should get sidetracked by those folks who simply don’t like the adult entertainment industry.”

Sanborn said his group wants to make sure the city is committed to going after traffickers, even if they are connected to those topless clubs making yearly payments to the city. Children at Risk also wants the city to license or close almost 300 other unlicensed sexually oriented businesses, like some massage parlors and cantinas.

“Houston is a hub for human trafficking; some would say we are ‘the hub’ for trafficking,” Sanborn said during a news conference. “This is the wrong deal and it’s certainly the wrong city.”

See here and here for the background. I don’t think the city was required to consult with anyone on the settlement terms of this 16-years-long litigation, and if their goal was to bring that case to a reasonably satisfactory close then the last thing they would want to do is involve more parties in the negotiations. That said, the city clearly did at least run the terms of the deal past the other groups that were present at their own press conference. I don’t know if the city included Children at Risk on the list of those it notified about the settlement or not – perhaps they did and C@R chose not to attend that press conference, and perhaps they had a smaller list of invitees in mind. I think the terms are acceptable, and I think it makes sense for the city to try to get the bigger clubs to voluntarily cooperate so they can concentrate on the more marginal players. Licensing and enforcement is a matter of resources, and the city hopes that this settlement will allow it to deploy its resources more efficiently. Check back in a year or two and we’ll see how that’s going. As for the complaints raised by some Council members about the settlement, well, that’s just how it is. As there was no payout to be made by the city in the deal, there was nothing for Council to approve, so there was no role for them to play. There’s not much more to it than that.

One more thing:

Sanborn noted that Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia and District Attorney Devon Anderson support Children at Risk’s anti-trafficking efforts and read statements from each.

“Prostitution is not a victimless crime,” according to Garcia’s statement. “It’s a greedy industry that thrives on forced labor, drug addiction and sometimes even illegal imprisonment.”

The story, especially the headlines, gives the impression that Sheriff Garcia and DA Anderson were standing with Sanborn, C@R, and the other groups in criticizing the settlement. We don’t know what Anderson said, but that clip from Garcia’s statement isn’t specific to the deal. Out of curiosity, I contacted the Sheriff’s office to ask about this, and was informed that Sheriff Garcia was not making a comment on the city’s deal with the strip clubs, and has not made any comment on that deal. Like I said, that wasn’t clear – to me, at least – from the story, so now you know.

Posted in Local politics | Tagged Adrian Garcia, Annise Parker, Children at Risk, David Feldman, Devon Anderson, Houston, Houston City Council, human trafficking, lawsuit, Robert Sanborn, sexually oriented businesses, strip clubs | Comments Off

County to tighten regulations on game rooms

Posted on December 20, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

It’s sort of a crackdown, but within limits. And something that’s regulated is something that’s legal, so there’s that.

The regulations, made possible by a state law passed earlier this year by the Legislature, requires an establishment housing six or more video poker machines known as “eight-liners” to obtain a permit and pay a $1,000 annual fee – nearly twice what the city currently charges. The county regulations also would mandate that game rooms operate only between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10 p.m., have untinted windows and a sign on the outside of the building that says “Game Room” in large lettering.

Game rooms that open after the regulations take effect in March must be located at least 1,500 feet away from schools, churches and residential neighborhoods. There are an estimated 300 game rooms in unincorporated Harris County, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

First Assistant County Attorney Robert Soard said the most substantive change made to the regulations since they first were drafted was exempting “charitable” bingo halls from the distance, window and sign requirements. Those halls that operate “under a license issued by the Texas Lottery Commission” still will have to get permits from the county.

See here, here, and here for the background. The bill in question was HB1127. I don’t think these regulations are too stringent, though a mouthpiece for the gameroom operator claims that enforcing these rules will force a lot of operators underground. You can use that logic to argue against most kinds of regulation, of course. At least a regulated gameroom is one where you don’t have to worry about the cops busting in on you, and it’s one where if something bad happens to you, you can report it to the cops without them asking you embarrassing questions. It’s not like there aren’t differences in quality and openness with the current state of anarchy anyway.

Speaking of the cops, the county has now leapfrogged past the city of Houston in its ability to regulate these things. But they’re willing to share.

While the law allowing the crack down on game rooms applies to all law enforcement agencies within the county, Soard has said the county is allowing the city and other incorporated municipalities with their own law enforcement agencies to opt in to the new regulations through interlocal agreements.

On Monday, he said the Harris County Sheriff’s Office is in discussions with the city about a potential agreement that would allow the Houston Police Department to operate under the county’s regulations.

Notable differences between the county and city regulations include the definition of a game room and maximum penalties for violations.

City ordinance applies to establishments that have more than four eight-liners and imposes a standard Class C misdemeanor maximum fine of $500 for violations; the county’s proposed regulations would impose a penalty of up to $10,000 for every day a violation exists.

The city also has not been able to regulate the location of game rooms because of its virtually nonexistent zoning authority.

I’m not sure what a lack of zoning has to do with anything. Houston has been able to regulate bars, liquor stores, sexually oriented businesses, and plenty of other things. Be that as it may, it makes sense for the county and the cities to sync up on this. It would be better if the state took a unified approach as well, but one step at a time. Texpatriate has more.

Posted in Local politics | Tagged Commissioners Court, eight liners, gambling, Harris County, Harris County Attorney, Harris County Sheriff, Houston, The Lege | Comments Off

Harris County GOP sues over same sex spouse benefits for city employees

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

When Mayor Parker announced that legally married same sex spouses would be eligible to be added to city employees’ health insurance plans, I was certain that there would be legal action taken against that decision. The Harris County GOP has now supplied the legal action.

The city of Houston’s recent policy change extending health and life insurance benefits to same-sex married couples is on hold after two Harris County Republicans, led by the county’s GOP chairman, sued the city and Mayor Annise Parker on Tuesday.

The lawsuit, filed in state district court by Houstonians Jack Pidgeon and Larry Hicks, claims the policy violates Houston’s city charter, the state’s Defense of Marriage Act and the Texas Constitution.

“This is one of the most egregious acts by an elected official I’ve ever seen,” said Jared Woodfill, chairman of the Harris County Republican Party. Woodfill is the lead lawyer on the lawsuit. “They just decided to, unilaterally, as a lame duck, thumb their nose at the will of the people and just spit on the U.S. Constitution.”

Woodfill said state District Judge Lisa Millard signed a temporary restraining order late Tuesday, halting the new policy until the matter goes before a judge on Jan. 6.

City Attorney David Feldman defended the new policy when it was announced in November and said Tuesday nothing has changed.

“We’re comfortable with our legal position,” he said. Feldman cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year overturning the federal Defense of Marriage Act, federal agencies’ subsequent decisions to recognize legal same-sex marriages and other relevant case law to support the legality of the policy.

Feldman said he expects the lawsuit to be thrown out because Pidgeon and Hicks do not appear to have legal standing since they are not directly affected by the policy.

Josh Blackman, a professor of constitutional law at the South Texas College of Law, said the men’s standing would have to be decided by a judge.

“You can only sue if you’re affected by a law, and generally paying taxes to the city does not give you standing,” he said. “But under Texas law, there are some cases where you can. This may be one of those cases.”

Woodfill said the Harris County Republican Party passed a resolution supporting the lawsuit before it was filed on Tuesday. He said he expects Pidgeon and Hicks will be able to challenge the policy.

“There’s an exception carved out for an illegal act, which is what the mayor has done here,” Woodfill said.

Texpatriate was first to blog this and to note that the judge had issued a temporary restraining order. Via his link to the Quorum Report you can see copies of the lawsuit and TRO. I do disagree with his connection of the judge’s granting the TRO with her lack of a Democratic opponent in November. I’m not naive enough to believe that judges are untainted by politics, but neither am I cynical enough to believe that taking politics into account is the expected default.

Beyond that, I see this as being basically the same as the state’s struthian legal strategy in the gay divorce case, which is to claim that legally married same-sex couples must check their rights at the state line. I suppose that could work at the state level, but given the SCOTUS ruling on DOMA and perhaps the federal lawsuit over Texas’ constitutional ban on same sex marriage, it’s hard to see that being viable for long. Politically, I do agree with Texpatriate that this is mostly about firing up the rubes but that it will be a net loser for the local GOP, in the short term future if not immediately. It is perhaps telling that AG and gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott has so far stayed out of this, just as he backed off his threat to sue the city of San Antonio over its recently passed non-discrimination ordinance. Jared Woodfill can stamp his feet and hold his breath all he wants, but change is coming whether he likes it or not and sooner than he thinks. The Houston GLBT Political Caucus has a statement condemning the lawsuit, HCC Trustee Carroll Robinson and TSU poli sci prof Michael Adams predict a Houston victory in the litigation, and PDiddie, BOR, Hair Balls, John Coby, Texas Leftist, and the Observer have more.

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged Annise Parker, Constitution, David Feldman, DOMA, gay marriage, gay rights, health insurance, Houston, Jared Woodfill, lawsuit, Republican Party, SCOTUS | 2 Comments

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