Tag Archives: Houston

Eight days out: What the Controller candidates are spending their money on

Posted on October 28, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

You may recall I looked at how the Controller candidates were spending their money after the 30 day reports came out, and I figured I’d do it again with the 8 day reports. Along the way, I found a little … Continue reading →

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The hole the Sports Authority is in

Posted on October 28, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Sure is a great time for stuff like this to happen, isn’t it? Harris County taxpayers may have to inject up to $7 million a year into the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority for the next two years due to a … Continue reading →

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Tuesday mail call

Posted on October 27, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

After several politics-free days, my mailbox was overflowing with campaign literature today. Two pieces from the Houston Turnout Project, one that generically advocated early voting and one that advocated for Annise Parker, using language that I daresay we’ll all find … Continue reading →

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Eight day out finances

Posted on October 27, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the Chron story about the eight days out finance reports, which is all about the Mayor’s race. City Councilman Peter Brown, who polls show leading the pack, poured an additional $801,000 of his family fortune into the race, pushing … Continue reading →

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Brown leads in KHOU poll

Posted on October 27, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Another good poll result for Peter Brown. According to [an 11 News / KUHF Houston Public Radio] poll, 24 percent of likely voters in the Houston mayoral race plan to vote for Brown. This is up sharply from the five … Continue reading →

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Roy on the air

Posted on October 27, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Behold the power of Roy: Just as a reminder, Barack Obama got 61% of the vote in Houston last year. I don’t know how effective a boogeyman he’ll make, though I suppose that depends on where the ad airs. Roy’s … Continue reading →

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Early voting: Rainy days and Mondays

Posted on October 26, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Today was the first day of the last week of early voting. On this day in 2003, with EV hours of only 8 AM to 4:30 PM, there were over 5500 in person votes cast. Today, in twelve hours of … Continue reading →

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Parker polls and claims a lead

Posted on October 26, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Annise Parker campaign has released an internal poll (PDF) that shows her in the lead of the Mayoral race. A recent Lake Research Partners’ survey of likely voters in Houston’s upcoming mayoral contest shows that City Controller Annise Parker … Continue reading →

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League of Women Voters guide to this election

Posted on October 26, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

If you haven’t voted yet and are looking for a nice one-stop guide to the election that you can print out and carry with you, let me point you to the League of Women Voters guide (PDF) to the Houston … Continue reading →

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Recycling pays

Posted on October 26, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Whatever works. City leaders announced [last] Tuesday a partnership with RecycleBank, a New York-based company that rewards residents with points for the amount of recycling they put out for the city to collect. The points, akin to frequent flier miles, … Continue reading →

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Weekend early voting update

Posted on October 25, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We head into the last week of Early Voting with a total of 30,463 ballots being cast so far; of those, 26,662 were done in person. That compares to 27,590 in person from 2003, and 31,440 total counting mail ballots. … Continue reading →

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City to release documents related to red light camera study

Posted on October 25, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

They’re being ordered to do so by a judge, but it doesn’t look like they’re particularly bothered by it. Paul Kubosh and Randall Kallinen filed a lawsuit challenging the city’s refusal to release 208 documents they requested under the Texas … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Republicans (very quietly) for Roy

Posted on October 24, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Saturday edition of the Chron the past couple of weeks has had a feature in the City & State section called Campaign Watch, which is a blog-like collection of short items relating to the 2009 elections. For some odd … Continue reading →

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Early voting, five days in

Posted on October 24, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We’ve completed the first business week of early voting, and the spreadsheet has been updated to show the totals so far. Thursday was the slowest day so far, with 2889 in-person ballots, which I attribute to the torrential rain in … Continue reading →

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Ashby developers lose appeal

Posted on October 24, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Given how long it took for the Ashby highrise developers to get their permit in the first place, I figured their appeal of the requirement that they cut back on some aspects of the project in order to get that … Continue reading →

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Locke v. Brown

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

So here’s the new Gene Locke ad: Everybody noticed the pause, right? Hey, if the electorate isn’t paying close attention to the details, you may as well make the most of it where you can. And here’s the Chron story … Continue reading →

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HISD Trustee IX overview

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

One more Chron overview of an HISD Trustee race, this one in District IX where three candidates are challenging incumbent and Board President Larry Marshall. During the last several months, Marshall has had a tumultuous stint as board president. The … Continue reading →

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Green’s tax liens

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I know some people think that the Mayor’s race is boring, so perhaps they should take a look at the City Controller’s race instead. The Internal Revenue Service has filed two tax liens on City Councilman Ronald Green for more … Continue reading →

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Who’s ready for the Census?

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The good news is that Houston is in pretty decent shape, at least as far as big cities go, in being ready for the 2010 Census. The bad news is that a lot of other big cities aren’t ready at … Continue reading →

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Be like Bill

Posted on October 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

On the matter of where the Mayoral candidates stand on environmental issues, I don’t mind that they’re basically indistinguishable. As long as they follow the good example that has been set for them, it’s fine by me. To improve air … Continue reading →

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Endorsement eatch: For HCC annexations

Posted on October 22, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Missed this from Wednesday. In this fall’s elections, voters in the Spring Branch and North Forest Independent School Districts are being asked to approve annexation of their respective districts into the Houston Community College System. We believe the larger region … Continue reading →

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Another way to look at early voting so far

Posted on October 22, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, Early Voting this year is running well ahead of recent years. In the first two days, 8295 in person ballots have been cast, compared to 6685 over the first two days in 2003. I’ve suggested that this … Continue reading →

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Brown ad #5

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

You’ll probably see this without my help, but here’s Peter Brown’s fifth, and presumably final (modulo the runoff) TV ad: I don’t know about you, but I’m seeing the Brown ads all over the place. I haven’t seen a Parker … Continue reading →

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Those up-for-grabs conservative voters

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron gets one more story from the crosstabs of their poll. A Houston Chronicle poll conducted last week shows that [Peter] Brown, who has saturated the city with TV, radio and mail advertising, has a commanding lead among self-identified … Continue reading →

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Interview with Sarah Winkler

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

For what truly will be my last interview of the 2009 cycle, I bring you a conversation with Alief ISD Trustee Sarah Winkler, who serves District 6 and is also the President of the AISD board. She has been in … Continue reading →

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Ashby rises again

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

It lives! The developers of the Ashby high-rise announced today they will appear before Houston’s General Appeals Board at 5 p.m. Thursday to ask that the original uses designed into 23-story high-rise be allowed. “Removing these amenities completely contradicts city … Continue reading →

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County doesn’t want to help city collect red light camera fines

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Last year, City Council passed an ordinance that would put a hold on vehicle registrations for which there are outstanding red light camera fines. The city’s ability to do this is contingent on cooperation from the county, as it is … Continue reading →

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Chron reports Controller numbers from its poll

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, the Chron poll from the weekend also included a question about the Controller’s race. Here now is the Chron story on that part of the poll. Most of the details you know, most of the rest of … Continue reading →

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HISD Trustee District V profile

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron has another HISD Trustee race profile, this one for the open District V seat. A retired school administrator and an energy company executive are vying to fill the school board seat held by Dianne Johnson, who is stepping … Continue reading →

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Early voting, Day One

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As I seem to have a love of spreadsheets, here’s a Google spreadsheet that will keep track of the daily Early Voting returns by location. Counting mail ballots and absentee in-person voting, 6162 people voted yesterday. For comparison purposes, here’s … Continue reading →

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Interview with Otis Jordan

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Next up, we have an interview with Otis Jordan, who is running in District D. Jordan just retired as a captain in HFD after 30 years of service. Jordan is a graduate of Ross Sterling High School and TCU, and … Continue reading →

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We’re for more land use regulations, whatever that means

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As long as Zogby was polling the Mayor’s race, they may as well ask about some other stuff, too. Like whether or not you like the Ashby highrise. Out of 601 people surveyed between Oct. 12 and 15, 71 percent … Continue reading →

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Bikes in the Mayor’s race

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Local bicycle activist Peter Wang contacted the four Mayoral campaigns to ask what their position is on getting METRO to install bike hangers in the light rail vehicles and allow bicycles in the vehicles during rush hours. Here’s how they … Continue reading →

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More details on the Chron poll

Posted on October 19, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Here we have crosstabs and more details about that Chron poll from the weekend. The first thing that leaps out at me is that they also polled the Controller’s race: “If the election for city controller was held today and … Continue reading →

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