While we were out....

Houston's "Downtown Pavilions" went into receivership....

(Downtown’s Houston Pavilions taken over by receiver, Nancy Sarnoff, Chron.com)

Despite this the City has declared the property (whose anchor tenants are the House of Blues and Lucky Strike Bowling Lanes) a "success". Obviously using some definition of success with which are are not yet familiar....

Houston gets "bike sharing" (at Light Rail stations to boot!)

(Houston to get bike sharing and Nissan Leafs*, Zain Shauk, Chron.com)

This little "newswatch" blog piece wasn't bad, but the 'news' story from Chronblog on this issue should have never made it passed even the most junior editor....

(Bicycle-sharing program will start in downtown Houston, Allan Turner, Chron.com)

Imagine a Houston where you could step from a light rail station, rent a bicycle for a nominal sum and pedal to your destination. The only greenhouse gas you'd emit would be your own carbon dioxide as you huffed and puffed along. Rather than fretting about burning noxious gasoline, you could gloat about burning calories.

Cringe-worthy, and not a word of opposition in what was clearly designed to be an advocacy piece and nothing resembling journalism.

During time when finances for the City are historically tight, it's telling that this bumbling administration and City Council closed the curtain on 2011 with some fiscally questionable decisions. It's almost comical that ChronBlog asked the question whether gridlock has been good for Texas or no.

Given the actions of our local politicians (many of whom share fiscal ideology with many in the National Democratic Party) the more gridlock the better.



















*I won't even discuss the "leasing" of Nissan Leafs. I'm sure someone would say this has as much potential to the taxpayer as did Bill White's failure of a Prius purchase plan.