Tag Archives: Annise Parker

The next wave of curbside recycling

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From last week, some good news for those of who that still don’t have the 96-gallon wheeled recycling bins. Houston will roll out its biweekly, automated curbside recycling service to 70,000 additional residences throughout the city just in time for … Continue reading →

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Bayou Greenways project moving along

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Work is underway, land is being acquired, and money is being raised. Now, the Houston Parks Board and its public partners hope to revive some of the city’s natural treasures through Bayou Greenways 2020, a 150-mile trail system that, once … Continue reading →

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Annise Parker is in your Internets

Posted on October 26, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

She’s in mine, anyway. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but an awful lot of the websites I surf to now feature a familiar face looking back at me: Here’s another: Clearly, she’s seeking to dominate the liberal nerd humor … Continue reading →

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Chron profile of Ben Hall

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

As promised from last week. When Ben Hall left the city attorney’s office in December 1994 after three years as a confidante to and attack dog for Mayor Bob Lanier, observers assumed the ambitious 38-year-old’s path would lead back to … Continue reading →

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Where things stand going into early voting

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

A few impressions of the state of the races as we head into early voting. Mayor – The thing that I will be looking for as initial results get posted at 7 PM on November 5 is how the gaggle … Continue reading →

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Chron profiles the Mayor

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Sunday Chron has an expansive profile of Mayor Parker. In a system where term limits cap elected officials at six years, City Hall veterans joke that new council members spend their first year finding the bathrooms and their sixth … Continue reading →

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Interview with Mayor Annise Parker

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Early voting for the 2013 elections begins next week, and so my interviews for this election season are coming to an end. I will have two interviews with HCC Trustee candidates next week, plus a little bit more, and that … Continue reading →

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Complete Streets coming

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This is good to see. Houston, long ruled by the automobile, will give more consideration to the needs of pedestrians and cyclists in designing its streets and neighborhoods. Mayor Annise Parker on Thursday said she is drafting, with public works … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: For the Mayor

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron endorses Mayor Parker for a third term. During Annise Parker’s first term, Houston was stuck in a drought. The global economy was in an economic downturn. And City Hall had to prune a budget suffering from wilting revenues. … Continue reading →

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30 Day fundraising reports are coming in

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

For the Mayor’s race at least, they’re a lot like the July reports. Even as top mayoral challenger Ben Hall ramped up his campaign in recent months, launching several television ads, Mayor Annise Parker continued to outpace him in fundraising, … Continue reading →

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Next wave of recycling bins approved

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From last week: City Council on Wednesday OK’d funding to complete efforts to double the number of 96-gallon green recycling bins parked at city curbs, but it is unclear which 70,000 homes will be next to receive the service. […] … Continue reading →

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Hall’s tax troubles, again

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This isn’t new news, but it’s getting a lot more play now. Top mayoral challenger Ben Hall agreed to pay the IRS more than $680,000 in back taxes and penalties earlier this year, court documents show. On Jan. 16, less … Continue reading →

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Keep runoffs on Saturday

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Put me on record as opposing this. A Houston City Council committee [Tuesday] recommended keeping the city’s run-off election day on a Saturday. But committee members remained open for the possibility of changing it to a Tuesday in the future. … Continue reading →

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KHOU polls the Mayor’s race

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The first poll of the season is always exciting news. Annise Parker seems headed for a runoff in her campaign to keep her job, but she commands more than twice as many supporters as her leading challenger in a newly … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: SEIU and HAR

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This came in on Thursday: SEIU (Service Employees International Union) Texas, including janitors who clean office buildings, housekeeping workers at GRB and food service workers, have endorsed Mayor Annise Parker for re-election. Houston members have also launched an effort to … Continue reading →

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A deeper look at the city’s pension funds

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I appreciate this just-the-facts analysis of the city’s pension funds. It’s delightfully free of fearmongering and doomsaying, which tend to cloud most stories on the funds. I don’t have anything specific to say about the article, but I do want … Continue reading →

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Going after the dumpers

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Glad to see this. City Council District B will be the site of a pilot program in which five surveillance video cameras have been placed in undisclosed locations, [Mayor Annise] Parker announced. The cameras will be monitored in real time … Continue reading →

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We must destroy the pensions in order to save them

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

There’s so much wrong with this I almost don’t know where to begin. Houston is the Titanic – it certainly looks impressive, but icebergs lie ahead. That’s the image that mayoral candidate Ben Hall drew when he talked to the … Continue reading →

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No notary needed

Posted on September 15, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Seems reasonable. Many Houston business owners are celebrating a new ordinance that drops the need for a notary when applying for hundreds of permits and allows the city to offer more applications online. The Houston City Council lauded the change … Continue reading →

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Time for a real NDO in Houston

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Bring it on. Last week, San Antonio passed an ordinance protecting gay and transgendered residents and veterans from discrimination. Houston Mayor Annise Parker says that vote “upped the ante” and that Houston should follow suit. “It is absolutely something we … Continue reading →

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The Mayor’s race in three numbers

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

1. Turnout In the 2009 runoff, there were 155,670 votes cast for Mayor. Annise Parker got 82,175 and Gene Locke got 73,495. In the 2011 general election, there were 118,414 votes cast for Mayor. Annise Parker got 60,135 and the … Continue reading →

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Hall’s five point crimefighting plan

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Houstonians do not feel safe in their homes and their communities. Houston’s crime numbers remain dangerously high and criminals are victimizing us daily. The only thing we hear from the Mayor’s office on this issue is silence. … Continue reading →

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City and county make a deal on airport toll road revenues

Posted on September 8, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Good. After two years of negotiations, the Houston City Council approved an agreement Wednesday that provides toll revenue from the airport connector to the city for the first time – 24.5 percent, to be precise. Officials at Harris County, which … Continue reading →

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Just so we’re clear, cities don’t run the schools

Posted on August 30, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Lisa Falkenberg does some fact checking. Houston Mayoral Candidate Ben Hall seems to have done his homework before he began claiming that, if elected, he’d have statutory authority over local schools. But he apparently didn’t check his interpretation of the … Continue reading →

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Heights-area bike trails to be linked

Posted on August 29, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Excellent news. Houston’s expanding trail system will soon gain a new leg in the greater Heights area. The addition will be part of Bayou Greenways 2020, a $215 million project aimed at creating a continuous network of hike-and-bike trails and … Continue reading →

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The 2013 lineup

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

So many candidates. More than 60 candidates have filed to run for city of Houston elective office this fall, many of them rushing in before the 5 p.m. Monday deadline. […] Atop the ballot, [Mayor Annise] Parker is challenged by … Continue reading →

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Rape kit backlog eliminated

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

More good news. For the first time in its history, the Houston Police Department doesn’t have a backlog of rape kits that haven’t been tested. The backlog, which at one point totalled 6,600 untested rape kits, was eliminated by sending … Continue reading →

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Hall and the firefighters

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Ben Hall has the support of the firefighters’ union. He has also criticized Mayor Parker for not doing enough to deal with the financial stability of the pension funds. How does he reconcile these two seemingly contradictory positions? Not surprisingly, … Continue reading →

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Food trucks going un-mobile

Posted on August 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a trend. Matti Merrell and Rodney Perry first parked their Green Seed food truck on a Third Ward street in 2011. Within a year Food & Wine named it the No. 9 vegan and vegetarian restaurant in the U.S. … Continue reading →

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What would Ben Hall do for schools?

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Ben Hall made his official filing for Mayor on Wednesday, and had a campaign rally after ward. This story is about that and about a new video his campaign released, and it contains three ways in which Hall says he … Continue reading →

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Meet the new Crime Lab boss

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

He sounds impressive. The fuzzy process of shifting the city of Houston’s crime lab from the Houston Police Department to an independent board got a little clearer Wednesday with the hiring of a president and CEO for the new operation. … Continue reading →

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Chron wants multiple multi-candidate debates

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Don’t know if they’ll get what they want, but it can’t hurt to ask. For the main show, mayoral candidate Ben Hall has called for six one-on-one debates with Mayor Annise Parker, albeit with three debates after early voting begins. … Continue reading →

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Debating about debates

Posted on August 3, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

There will be some number of debates between Mayor Parker and Ben Hall between now and Election Day. How many debates, and how many participants there will be in those debates, is itself a matter of debate. In a letter … Continue reading →

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A closer look at Mayoral campaign finances

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I said I’d get to a closer look at the Mayoral campaign finance reports later, after I had a chance to read all the way through them. That time is now, so let’s have our look. Mayor Parker’s finance report. … Continue reading →

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