Hitting 'em where it hurts.....
More form Houston Community Newspapers on Metro's finances. Since ChronBlog doesn't seem to have any interest in objectively covering the agency it's nice to see that Michael Reed has stepped up to the plate. (On that note: Is anyone REALLY surprised that an agency whose marching orders from the President include increasing trains is going to support an organization whose main goal is to build trains?) The article goes on to say that Metro's financial projections are based on some rather unlikely assumptions, all of which will significantly increase taxes in the Houston Region just to make up for lost funds. If that doesn't give you pause.....
As if on cue...ChronBlog steps up to the plate and plows new ground on the "MetroShred" issue. Conflicts of interest and pillow talk, or vindication for those who have been called 'know-nothings' for waving the trouble-at-Metro flag for years now. Also, The documents referred to in the story. Nice job by the reporter on this one. (Now if we could just get whoever runs the online site to provide a link to the document posting etc.....)
Also, Texas Watchdog weighs in with a look at the background of dismissed attorney Higgins. (Nice to see all of this local media attention in Houston. The light is forcing the roaches to run for cover.) Now if we could just do something about the fiefdoms at the County and the Port of Houston we'd have something.
Win some, lose some. After a good piece on MetroShred ChronBlog again finds itself behind the curve with respects to the Republicans' race issues. Ah well, one out of two ain't bad.
Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you Please give me money, 'cause you don't want Texas falling down a hole made by liberal(conservative) spending(budget cuts) that threaten our culture(the children), our values(government services) or our sovereignty(our ability to get federal government money). (take your pick)
Because, Chet Edwards wants to be re-elected you see, and he's shown for some time that he's smarter than most Democrats in Congress. (Smart enough to co-sign a Ryan plan? Maybe.)
Proof elections matter. Elect an unqualified judge to the bench, get results that fly in the face of common sense and stare decisis. Fine is not up for re-election this time, I wonder if this will have blown over when he comes back up in 2012?)
These are the people we want running our health care?
These are the people we want designing our transit system?
God help us all.
And finally....
BlogHouston on Sit n' Spin, Metro now telling us the way to save money is to spend lots of money building out a robust transit system....Which costs money to build, then to ride, then to maintain which means large tax increases in the future to fund a poorly designed system that won't move 5% of the population. But yeah, that's going to 'save you money'. (Good public transit isn't about saving money or several other pie-in-the-sky promises that Houston's so-called 'transportation experts' keep telling us. It's about moving people safely and efficiently to different points inside a grid. There's a cost to this, but it's overridden by the benefits to the general population. Metro's biggest issue is that their transit plan fails this cost/benefit analysis for all but a select few people who decide to alter their lifestyle to fit what Metro's developer/planners have decided is ideal.)
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