Tag Archives: Houston

Council adopts strip club fee

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Here it comes. Seeking a solution to the bedeviling problem of untested rape evidence that is in some cases decades old, council imposed a $5-per-customer fee on strip clubs Wednesday so it can buy speedier lab work. That simple solution, … Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Bond concerns

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Early reactions to the HISD bond proposal that was unveiled last week. “I think in the long run any anti-tax opposition will make it a close race,” said state Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, predicting that Hispanics could swing the vote. … Continue reading →

Posted in School days | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Another homeless feeding update

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Depending on how you look at it, time is either running out for the petition signature gatherers who hope to overturn the homeless feeding ordinance, or it isn’t. Free to Give Houston, a recently formed political action committee, needs about … Continue reading →

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For spending Metro’s sales tax revenue on transit

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

A list of contributors almost as long as the University Line will hopefully someday be wrote a Sunday op-ed in favor of giving Metro more money for transit. Unfortunately, not all of the money that we voted for back in … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Take the train to your dining destination

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Katharine Shilcutt writes about how she gets to some of her favorite restaurants. When owner Staci Davis decided on a location for her restaurant, Radical Eats, one thing was extremely important to her above all: Davis wanted her vegan paradise to … Continue reading →

Posted in Food, glorious food | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Houston gets grant for bike paths

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Nice. It’s not a trail to nowhere, but the Heights Bike Path ends abruptly at McKee Street east of downtown, and from there cyclists have to share the road with four-wheeled vehicles. A peloton of politicians gathered near that terminus … Continue reading →

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Recycle that polystyrene

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

From the Inbox: Polystyrene Foam Recycling Available Beginning Monday, June 25, 2012 Beginning Monday, June 25, 2012, the City of Houston will accept clean block style or packaging polystyrene foam at the Westpark Recycling Center, 5900 Westpark, Houston 77057 and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

HISD will not raise the tax rate

Posted on June 23, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Instead, they will dip into their reserves to balance their $1.5 billion budget for this year. The amount is about the same as last year, when the district reduced spending by approximately 5 percent to offset unprecedented state cuts. Instead … Continue reading →

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Defacing Picasso

Posted on June 23, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Some people, I swear. Officials at the Menil Collection don’t know why a man spray-painted Pablo Picasso’s “Woman in a Red Armchair” at the museum, but the act wasn’t caught just on surveillance cameras. It also was captured by a … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Culberson up to his old tricks

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

You almost have to admire the single minded focus on doing something only he and a few other people really want to do. For the first time in his long-running dispute with Houston Metro, Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, has managed … Continue reading →

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There will still be international flights at IAH

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

In fact, soon there will be a new airline and a new destination at IAH. Turkish Airlines plans to start non-stop flights between Bush Intercontinental Airport and Istanbul next year, the Houston Airport System announced in a press release. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Council defers on strip club fee

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Tagged for a week. Consideration of a $5-per-head fee on customers of strip clubs to pay for reducing the city’s backlog of untested rape kits has been delayed for a week. Council members Melissa Noriega and Al Hoang both tagged … Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

HISD planning bond election

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The fall ballot gets a little longer. The Houston Independent School District is preparing to ask voters to fund up to $1.8 billion in bonds to replace and upgrade aging campuses. Superintendent Terry Grier has said the bond referendum – … Continue reading →

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More on the 288 to Medical Center connector

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The more I hear about this idea, the worse it sounds. A proposal to build a highway connector between Texas 288 and the Texas Medical Center via North MacGregor Way has drawn criticism. Among those opposed to the flyover is … Continue reading →

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Your vote on the Metro referendum may not matter

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Unless of course you vote the way the developers want you to vote, in which case it’s all good. In an interview prior to Monday’s meeting, Joshua Sanders, the acting executive director of Houstonians for Responsible Growth, said the group … Continue reading →

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Fixing pipes needs to be part of the state water plan

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The idea of conservation is to use less than you are currently using. When a large part of your water usage is due to leaks and losses, any sensible plan for conservation should start with addressing the underlying issues causing … Continue reading →

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Here comes the pension fight

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Not looking forward to it. A day of reckoning has arrived in Houston, the city’s financial stewards say, to choose between pensions and pothole repairs. Days after voters in two California cities curbed public employee retirement benefits and voters in … Continue reading →

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No smoking at UH

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Put that cigarette down and slowly back away. The University of Houston is on its way to becoming a tobacco-free campus. Under a new proposal by school officials, UH would outlaw the “use, sale, advertising, and sampling of all tobacco … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

All the budget amendments

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a Google doc upload of all of the budget amendments from Council members to Mayor Parker. All members except CMs Bradford and Hoang submitted at least one amendment, with some (Brown, Sullivan, Green) submitting more than others. I’ve given … Continue reading →

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Mailing letters about the homeless ordinance

Posted on June 17, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Not really sure what to make of this. Activists against Houston’s new restrictions on feeding the homeless plan to mail around 30,000 letters Friday to urge voters to sign a petition to trigger a charter amendment election in November. Paul … Continue reading →

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Downtown shuttle back in operation

Posted on June 17, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

For those of you who missed the old downtown trolley, here’s its successor. [T]he Greenlink bus service was launched Monday as a free offering for tourists and locals alike. The 18-stop route makes the rounds of eight hotels, the George … Continue reading →

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UH versus Metro over Southeast Line route

Posted on June 16, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Not sure what’s up with this. Half a year after receiving a long-delayed $450 million federal funding grant for its Southeast line, Metro appears to have run into almost as big an obstacle to progress on that light-rail alignment much … Continue reading →

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Budget amendment time

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Now that Mayor Parker has formally submitted her proposed budget for fiscal year 2013, it’s time for Council members to submit their amendments for consideration. I’m going to start at the bottom of the story with the two proposals that … Continue reading →

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Here comes Trader Joe’s

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

They’re opening the first Houston-area store in the Woodlands, which doesn’t count as far as I’m concerned. But it’s all right, the one I am interested in will follow behind shortly. The 13,500-square-foot store at 10868 Kuykendahl has a fraction … Continue reading →

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New frontiers in cost cutting

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Apparently, you can cut costs by defaulting on your bills. Why didn’t I think of that? Councilwoman Helena Brown has submitted a budget amendment aimed at solving the city’s decade-old pension problem: Stop paying. Her amendment calls for defaulting on … Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , | 18 Comments

Wage theft

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Any employer that would do this is scum. [Wage theft] reflects a changing economy in which low-wage work has increased, more companies try to cut labor costs to stay afloat in a sour business climate, and fewer workers belong to … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Solar’s bright future

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a long story in the Observer about the state of solar energy in Texas. The piece covers a lot of ground, including this bit about what’s going on in San Antonio. San Antonio has emerged as a city willing … Continue reading →

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Recycling campaign signs

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Great idea. [Mike Martinez] has been running Food is Free since founding it in late January, and now he’s asking for old campaign signs to line the edges of garden boxes. They can be dropped off in front of his … Continue reading →

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Calculate your storm risk

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

That hurricane risk calculator is now ready for your input. Using the Storm Risk Calculator produced by the city of Houston and Rice University, users can enter an address and learn the risks for rainfall, power outage, storm surge and … Continue reading →

Posted in Hurricane Katrina | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Not a great start for the STAAR tests

Posted on June 9, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Whatever we think about standardized tests, we’ll need to do better than this. Thousands of Houston-area high school students failed the state’s new standardized exams and must retake them – or risk not graduating. Preliminary test results released by several … Continue reading →

Posted in School days | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Why the small cities like the GMP as is

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The GMP is Metro’s General Mobility Program, which distributes funds for road projects to Houston, Harris County, and the smaller Metro member cities. The smaller cities like it as it is, don’t want any changes made to it, and claim … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

Council approves Mayor’s crime lab plan

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a done deal. City Council has appointed a nine-member board to oversee the city’s crime lab, the first step in yanking it from police department control and setting up a publicly funded non-profit corporation to do evidence testing. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Things to do this weekend

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Democratic Party State Convention is in town starting tomorrow. Here are some of the things I plan to do: Thursday The HDCC was instrumental in getting the House Democratic caucus to 74 members after the 2008 election. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Today is budget day

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron has some questions about the Mayor’s proposed budget. I think the last question is the key one. What happens if the $34 million in additional property tax and $32 million in new sales taxes forecast by the city … Continue reading →

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