Tag Archives: Annise Parker

First Sunday Streets seemed like a success

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The weather was kinda lousy but there were plenty of people out on White Oak Street on Sunday. The city of Houston closed a 2.5 mile stretch of Quitman and White Oak to motor vehicles for four hours on Sunday, … Continue reading →

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The farm team

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Roll Call takes a look at the Texas Democrats of the future. Democrats rarely fielded competitive Senate candidates over the past two decades — the party’s three best performers in that time span received 44 percent, 43 percent and 43 … Continue reading →

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Enforcing non-discrimination

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

In her annual State of the City address, Mayor Parker put a long-awaited item on the table. Mayor Annise Parker on Thursday said she would create a human rights commission to review violations of anti-discrimination laws, saying just talking about … Continue reading →

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The rideshare battles continue

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From Houston: The issue came up at yesterday’s council meeting and Mayor Annise Parker said that undercover Houston police sting operations have resulted in 26 citations for Uber and Lyft drivers. They were likely, misdemeanor violations for operating an illegal … Continue reading →

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The Mayors opine for high speed rail

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

They pen an editorial in its favor. We are proud to be mayors of three of the largest and fastest-growing cities in America. Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston have weathered the recent economic downturn and are now the engines powering … Continue reading →

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Fearing the fire reform

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

This ought to be interesting. Rumblings of coming reforms in Houston Fire Department’s operations have union leaders and the department’s command staff wary, despite Mayor Annise Parker’s insistence that these concerns are unwarranted. HFD’s staffing shortage has driven up overtime … Continue reading →

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The Mayors love high speed rail

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

As well they should. The mayors of Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth announced Thursday their unified support for the construction of a privately funded bullet train between the two metropolitan regions. “If successful, Houstonians will have a reliable, private alternative … Continue reading →

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Zipcar expands in Houston

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Very cool. A car-sharing service on Wednesday expanded from spots on the Rice University campus to other locations in Houston, providing city residents with another option for transportation. Zipcar is making available 25 vehicles in 10 different locations in Houston … Continue reading →

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Goal Zero Fatalities plan for bikes adopted

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From the Mayor’s office: Mayor Annise Parker today announced the City and BikeHouston are joining forces to launch a major bike safety campaign to enforce and educate motorists and cyclists about the existing Safe Passing Ordinance, as well as create … Continue reading →

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We have our first HFD rolling brownout

Posted on March 23, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

And nothing bad happened. Three Houston firetrucks were pulled from service Friday morning, the first “brownout” in the city’s fire fleet since the Houston Fire Department’s budget struggles came to light in early February. In keeping with a plan Fire … Continue reading →

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HPD crime lab update

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The man who wrote the report detailing all of the HPD crime lab’s problems was back to give a progress report on how things look now. Houston police managers at the once-shuttered crime lab have failed to re-examine tests on … Continue reading →

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Lyft has some stumbles

Posted on March 14, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Oops. Lyft, known for its pink mustaches, has again been caught red-handed in Houston breaking a basic driving law. A driver for the company, which pairs riders with drivers via smartphone app, picked up a Houston investigator Monday and was … Continue reading →

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Street closings ahead

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

This ought to be interesting. Three busy Houston streets will shut down to vehicular traffic on selected Sunday afternoons in an effort to see if car-bound residents will walk, bike and explore each block rather than simply drive through. The … Continue reading →

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Firefighters union ratifies no-brownout agreement

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Members of the Houston firefighters’ union have signed off on a deal with Mayor Annise Parker that would prevent pulling firetrucks from service to help balance the Fire Department’s budget. “We’re very pleased that the union membership ratified the … Continue reading →

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HFD union reaches a deal with the city to avoid “rolling brownouts”

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From the Inbox: Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association (HPFFA) President Bryan Sky-Eagle joined Mayor Annise Parker this morning to announce a tentative agreement on an interim contract that will avoid the brown-outs of fire apparatus proposed earlier to solve an … Continue reading →

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City to Uber: Enough with the emails already

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

So this happened. The battle over Houston’s taxi rules moved Thursday from the streets to cyberspace, reflecting ongoing tension between an aggressive newcomer and a city government determined to proceed cautiously. Thousands of email messages urging elected leaders to allow … Continue reading →

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State of the county 2014: Let’s keep working together

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Time for Judge Emmett to tell us how things are going in Harris County. (Spoiler alert: They’re going fine, thanks for asking.) On the eve of what could be his final term as Harris County’s top elected official, County Judge … Continue reading →

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Next steps in the Texas same sex marriage lawsuit

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

In case you were wondering, Attorney General and candidate for Governor Greg Abbott will appeal Wednesday’s historic ruling striking down Texas’ constitutional amendment barring same sex marriage. The state of Texas has officially given notice that it is appealing a … Continue reading →

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Firefighters union sues city to block cutbacks

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Not sure about this. Houston firefighters went to court Tuesday in an effort to block the city from removing personnel, trucks and ambulances from service. But a judge rejected their argument that the “rolling brownouts” plan violates the union’s collective … Continue reading →

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HFD’s budget problems

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I’m sure you’ve heard of this by now. The safety of Houston’s citizens and its firefighters will be compromised over the next four months as the fire department limits the number of personnel on duty and removes trucks from service … Continue reading →

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Turner for Mayor 3.0

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

This is what you call a poorly kept secret. Just three months after Annise Parker captured a final term as mayor, a major contender has declared his desire to succeed her in the City of Houston’s top job. “You know … Continue reading →

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More on the audit letters

Posted on February 8, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron asks some outside experts to go over those recently released audit letters. Houston leaders appeared to have ignored the significance of recurring accounting and management problems or did not have the resources to fix them, according to accounting … Continue reading →

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January campaign finance reports for Houston officeholders

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

One more set of finance reports to document, from city of Houston officeholders and candidates. I’m not going to link to the individual reports this time, since the city’s system automatically downloads the PDFs and I don’t feel like uploading … Continue reading →

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Bexar County to offer “plus one” benefits

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Good for them. Without referencing same-sex couples, Bexar County on Tuesday agreed to extend health insurance benefits to the unmarried companions of county employees. The “Plus One Qualifying Adult” policy adopted by Commissioners Court attempts to circumvent legal roadblocks that … Continue reading →

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Audit letters

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

There’s a thing called audit letters that I hadn’t known existed. We’ve got them for Houston, but we had not been making them public even though other cities do as a matter of course. Houston officials have blocked the release … Continue reading →

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The preservation ordinance is a work in progress

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

That’s the tl;dr version of this. In October 2010, an emotional Sue Lovell, then a city council­woman, lauded the passage of a strengthened historic preservation ordinance for Houston after a long, complex and divisive battle she and Mayor Annise Parker … Continue reading →

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Clearing the rape kit backlog is producing results

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Very promising results. Private forensic laboratories hired to clear the Houston Police Department’s untested DNA evidence – including a decades-old rape kit backlog – have identified potential offenders in a third of the cases where sufficient DNA samples were found, … Continue reading →

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City sues HFRRF again

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: In the face of growing concern about its ability to meet long-term retiree pension obligations, the City of Houston filed a lawsuit today against the Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund (HFRRF), one of three pension systems … Continue reading →

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Abbott inserts himself in Houston same sex benefits lawsuit

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Not a surprise. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has filed briefs arguing that a state court should be given an opportunity to declare Houston’s new policy of granting benefits to some same-sex partners of employees unlawful under Texas’ marriage laws. … Continue reading →

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Annise Parker’s journey

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron reviews how Mayor Parker went from activist for the LGBT community to Mayor on the occasion of her wedding. The country’s first openly gay mayor became the country’s first openly gay married mayor this week. A wedding wouldn’t … Continue reading →

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Big Brew

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I like the sound of this. For three days in October, the [George R. Brown] convention center will host Big Brew, a major new festival that aims to tap into the region’s burgeoning craft-beer scene by putting 1,000 beers out … Continue reading →

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Mayor Parker gets married

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Awesome. Houston Mayor Annise Parker and longtime partner Kathy Hubbard are now married – at least in the eyes of 18 states, including California, where the couple formally exchanged vows Thursday in a sunset ceremony in Palm Springs. “This is … Continue reading →

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Runoff precinct analysis: At Large races

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I finally got a draft canvass report from the Harris County Clerk for the December runoff elections. Let’s take a look at the two At Large runoffs and see what we can learn about them. Here’s At Large #2: Dist … Continue reading →

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Council OKs ordinance to help bring grocery stores to food deserts

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Supermarkets now can sell beer and wine next to schools and churches, an exemption to city regulations Houston City Council granted unanimously Wednesday, hoping to encourage grocers to locate in neighborhoods that lack access to fresh, healthy food. These … Continue reading →

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