Tag Archives: Mayor

Hall for all the haters again

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Enjoy the attention while it lasts, dude. Already a staunch opponent of the nondiscrimination law, Hall has become more vocal in the wake of last week’s Texas Supreme Court ruling that City Council must repeal the ordinance, known as HERO, … Continue reading →

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If HERO then no other ballot items

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Makes sense. With her signature nondiscrimination law likely to appear on the November ballot, Mayor Annise Parker left in doubt Wednesday whether she will ask City Council to also place before voters long-discussed changes to term limits and the city’s … Continue reading →

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TOP/SEIU Mayoral forum report

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

From David Ortez: After the dust settled, the forum commenced with the hosts explaining the four pillars of their platform. It boiled down to: 1) Good Jobs; 2) Neighborhoods of Opportunity; 3) Infrastructure; and 4) Immigrant Rights. At the end … Continue reading →

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Hall for all the haters

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

He is who we thought he was. Houston mayoral candidate Ben Hall said Thursday he signed a petition seeking to define gender identity and prevent men “who perceive or express themselves as women” from entering women’s restrooms because he wants … Continue reading →

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Supreme Court rules HERO must be repealed or voted on

Posted on July 25, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Ugh. The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that Houston City Council must repeal the city’s equal rights ordinance or place it on the November ballot. The ruling comes three months after a state district judge ruled that opponents of Houston’s … Continue reading →

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Mayoral finance reports: Out of town cash and max donors

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

You may have noticed that there’s a lot of money in the Mayoral race this year, even after subtracting what the candidates have given or loaned to themselves. You may be wondering where all that money came from. This post … Continue reading →

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Seeking GLBT support in the Mayor’s race

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

In a crowded field where a small number of votes could be the difference between making the runoff and not, endorsements will be of greater importance. One endorsement that several Mayoral candidates would really like to have if the endorsement … Continue reading →

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Mayoral finance reports: PACs and consultants

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s take a deeper dive into Mayoral candidate fundraising by examining one of the main categories of raised funds, and one of the main categories of spent funds. I speak of PAC money for the former, and consultant fees/staff salaries … Continue reading →

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It’s hard out here on a recycler, part 3

Posted on July 19, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

A story in the WaPo about the ongoing struggles of the recycling business. Once a profitable business for cities and private employers alike, recycling in recent years has become a money-sucking enterprise. The District, Baltimore and many counties in between … Continue reading →

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Mayoral ad spending

Posted on July 18, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron takes a look at one of the more visible aspects of all the money that Mayoral candidates have raised or loaned themselves so far. Despite taking in a total of more than $7 million, Houston’s mayoral candidates spent … Continue reading →

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Finance reports come trickling in

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

As always, the Mayoral reports lead the story. Former Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia closed out the first half of the year with more than $1.3 million in the bank, eclipsing City Councilman Stephen Costello by a mere $7,423. According … Continue reading →

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Parker wants a vote on lifting the revenue cap

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

So do I. Mayor Annise Parker plans to press City Council this month to reconsider loosening a decade-old revenue cap for public safety spending as talk of a looming budget deficit and possible service cuts grows more ominous around the … Continue reading →

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Initial Mayoral fundraising totals

Posted on July 9, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Lotta money being raised out there, though not quite as much as the topline totals say. Former Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia was first out of the gate with his figures, announcing Tuesday that he raised $1.5 million since announcing … Continue reading →

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Pushing for Vision Zero

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Jay Crossley opines in the Chron for a lower speed limit in Houston. Texas law requires a 30 mph speed limit in the city of Houston on local residential streets unless a different speed limit is posted. If you are … Continue reading →

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TOP calls for changes in construction incentives

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

From Prime Property: Members of the Texas Organizing Project stood with signs across from a 40-story building under construction at Preston and Milam just off the park on downtown’s north side. The group was hoping to draw attention to the … Continue reading →

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Circling back to city finances

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. This time, [City Finance Director Kelly] Dowe insists, the $126 million deficit he projects for the budget year that starts next summer is not going to disappear, as past projected shortfalls have. … Continue reading →

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Sales tax revenues take a dip

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Don’t freak out just yet, but do be a little worried. Houston’s 53-month consecutive span of year-over-year sales tax revenue gains has come to an end, five months into an energy slump analysts said could dent the city’s economic numbers … Continue reading →

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Turner and Garcia lead early Mayoral poll

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

We have our first polling numbers for the 2015 Mayoral election. Sylvester Turner and Adrian Garcia have emerged as the clear front-runners in the first independent poll before the election that will determine Houston’s next mayor. The KHOU – Houston … Continue reading →

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Bell wants Meyerland flooding investigated

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a story about flooding and the Mayor’s race, but not the story about flooding and the Mayor’s race you might have been expecting. Mayoral candidate Chris Bell on Sunday called for an independent investigation into why so many Meyerland … Continue reading →

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ReBuild Houston and the Mayor’s race

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

It’s all about the conservative voters, because no one cares what anyone else thinks. When the most conservative candidate in the Houston mayor’s race dropped out two months ago, the battle to win over right-leaning voters became a two-man show: … Continue reading →

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ReVote Houston?

Posted on June 20, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Mayoral candidate Bill King calls for a do-over on Renew/ReBuild Houston. Houston mayoral candidate Bill King wants to put ReBuild Houston, the city’s controversial streetand drainage program, back up for a vote. […] King, the most vocal opponent of ReBuild … Continue reading →

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New litigation against ReBuild Houston

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

To be expected at this point. A class action lawsuit has been filed against the city, seeking to reimburse residents who pay the drainage fee that helps fund ReBuild Houston, the multibillion-dollar streets and drainage improvement program that voters narrowly … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

There are too many questions that need to be answered before we can talk about expanding HPD

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Chief McClelland is going to have to start answering them if he wants support for increasing HPD’s budget. Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland last year asked City Council for $105 million over five years to hire hundreds of new officers, … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Supreme Court deals a blow to ReBuild Houston

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Ugh. Houston’s divisive, multibillion-dollar effort to fund two decades of street and drainage improvements faces an uncertain future after the Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that the ballot measure voters narrowly approved in 2010 obscured the nature and cost of … Continue reading →

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Taylor wins SA Mayor runoff

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

And it’s over. Interim San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor claimed victory Saturday night, defeating Leticia Van de Putte for a full term in the mayor’s job and dealing the former state senator a tough loss in a city central to … Continue reading →

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Runoff day in SA

Posted on June 13, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say I’m glad the San Antonio Mayoral runoff is almost over. We hope, anyway. After weeks of bruising attacks — and at least one hand left unshaken — the … Continue reading →

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No more LGBT liaison at the Sheriff’s office

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

So according to the Houston Press, it would seem our new Sheriff is not exactly comfortable with gay people. First, he told to his surprise at a Republican club meeting that the HCSO website has a small rainbow flag tucked … Continue reading →

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Flooding as election issue

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

I suppose this was inevitable. As thousands of Houstonians recover from the recent storms, the flooding is emerging as a political issue. Mayoral candidates are criticizing the city’s drainage infrastructure, attacking an unfinished project along Brays Bayou – around which … Continue reading →

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The Trib on the big Mayor’s races

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Those being the Houston and San Antonio Mayors races, with a look at how candidates of color are faring. If former state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte wins the runoff for San Antonio mayor next weekend, she’ll become the Alamo … Continue reading →

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On regulating city lobbyists

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Still a work in progress, it would seem. Four years after Mayor Annise Parker’s administration tightened Houston’s lobbying rules and pledged to enforce them, not a single person or firm has been cited despite records showing that many lobbyists have … Continue reading →

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The other stuff that got discussed at the third forum

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The third Mayoral candidate forum on Saturday was supposedly about “labor and workers’ rights”, but of course the story is all about the great and powerful pension question, because there’s been so little coverage of it and where the candidates … Continue reading →

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On the environmental challenges to the Houston region

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

I turn the mic over to Jim Blackburn, in a reprint of an article he wrote for Offcite in 2014. The future of the City of Houston might be more affected by extreme weather events than by any other factor. … Continue reading →

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More on the proposed I-45 changes

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Offcite reads the documents and provides some bullet points. 1. I-45 Would Rival I-10 in Width The plan would dramatically widen I-45 to more than 30 lanes in certain sections. North of 610, I-45 would rival the Katy Freeway in … Continue reading →

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Reviewing the Mayoral websites

Posted on June 7, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron reviews the candidates’ online presence so far. Five months before voters head to the polls, the candidates’ digital platforms are up and running, but most are heavy on biography, light on ideas. “They’re checking the box. They have … Continue reading →

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