Unclear on the concept...

If there's a public agency less clear on the "open government" concept then Metro I've yet to find them....

[Jennifer Peebles, Texas Watchdog]

Want to know what the state of Houston’s Metro system is? It’ll only cost you $65 to find out!

Yep, kids, that’s right — Metro Chairman David Wolff, who may not have a job for much longer, is going to give a “State of Metro” speech next Thursday, Nov. 5, and it’ll cost you $65 to get in to hear it.

Silliness. That'd be like President Obama giving the State of the Union Address in a $100/plate Democratic fundraiser. Like Rick Perry giving the State of the State speech in front of a paying audience w/restricted entry. Anytime a public agency gives an important "State of" speech, that speech should be conducted in the most open manner possible.

As is usual, Metro misses the point:

Actually, our chairman and president/ceo give multiple speechs to all kinds of groups that often don’t charge any admission. They also address current issues at our board meetings which are not only free to attend, but televised on the municipal channel. The heads of many other organizations speak to the GHP including the mayor, the judge of Harris County and the Port of Houston. I assume you will send similar safe advice to these govt. entities as well.

Of course they do, every politician does. But since Roberts and Metro don't seem to get it: This is the STATE OF METRO SPEECH that we're talking about, not some back-slapping luncheon attended by movers and shakers. This is Metro's big "How're we doin'?" speech to ensure Houstonians that all of their tax money isn't being thrown down some big hole and left to rot while David Wolfe eats canapes.


And, you can hear it if you care to shell out $65 for an audience with the King.

What Metro doesn't understand is that there's no problem with them speaking to the Greater Houston Partnership. There's no problem with the GHP charging admission to their luncheon. Where there is a problem is having a psuedo-government entity with unelected leadership and direct control of large amounts of tax dollars offer up a "State of Metro" speech in a venue that's not free to the public.


How is that hard?

The Noise Machine (10/29/09)

On the eve of the annual birthday blogging slowdown.....

I find nothing shocking in the fact that the State of Texas has prioritized expectant mothers over inmates in the H1N1 vaccine pecking order. Nor am I especially troubled by that knowledge.

I wonder if some of Houston's premiums are driven up by an unwillingness by the populace to manage their own costs? I've got a high-deductible/low cost plan with a health savings account that I fund every year. Anything that's done I pay for. As such I'm very cognizent as to where my money is going. Since changing over to this plan I've noticed my health care expenses (in premiums alone) have fallen drastically. (The fact is, I was paying more in premiums than I was using every year. How many people do that in the name of "good coverage"?)

Charles Kuffner provides an overview of the Mayorals campaign spending as illustrated in their "8 days out" campaign finance report. I'm sure you were as shocked as me when he found Roy Morales' spending lacking.

The never-ending saga surrounding Harris County's 287(g) situation keeps providing onlookers with entertainment. As do the writings of opponents thank goodness. I realize that this is an important issue that really needs to be resolved, but I'll be really sad to see it go. Frothing politicians and partisans are always good for a laugh.

I just have one question regarding this KTRK story about police posing as homeless... Would Mayor White be OK if we passed them a dozen glazed? Just askin'.

Journalism School...40K, Blogging Job, $70K per annum...Creating posts with no public value-add...Priceless.

Nasty....Nasty boys. Don't mean a thing. Oooh yoou Nasty boys, don't mean a thing to me! Huh!!

Three sides to every story....

One.

The Texas Democratic Party won a major fight last Friday by forcing Leo Vazquez and the Harris County Voter Registration office to admit to using voter suppression tactics.

Two.

“It’s all about good government, and this agreement should finally put the baseless allegations behind us,” said current Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar, Leo Vasquez. “This was the worst example of a nuisance lawsuit and ill-informed lawyers run amok. As I have always held, this lawsuit proved to be completely without merit.”

Three.

The parties hereto agree to resolve all claims and controversies between them, asserted or which could be asserted in this case. including dismissal of the instant lawsuit.

Three sides: The Democrats, The Repubicans & The Truth.

The Noise Machine (10/28/09)

Taking pride in our civic duty since well....a few years ago. (We don't remember)

Just over two years ago, on LaE, I predicted that the next big public policy debate in Houston would be over flood control.* guess what issue is raising it's ugly head? That's right, flood control. Go read Mike Snyder's ChronBlog story for the nitty-gritty.

In the past I've been hard on the GOP for not focusing their debate on what they would do instead of griping about what Obama is doing. Maybe they're finally getting the message? Not that I have high hopes, but America runs best when there are two strong parties negotiating policy rather than just one side of the ideological spectrum over-reaching. Compromise quiets the screams from the fringes as well.

There's been a lot of talk recently about the financial troubles of the Harris County Sports Authority. Today, Charles Kuffner offers his two-cents on the issue. This is of note because Mr. Kuffner is on record as having cast votes in support of stadium construction where most other commenters have been long-time opponents. Somehow, however, I don't think the HCSA deals Kuffner supported going South is what Evan Smith and company were referring to when they named Kuffner one of 35 people who will shape your future.

Speaking of Charles Kuffner, He's pointing out a 'hole' in Pam Holm's 8 day out Campaign finance reports. Now, there may or may not be anything here, that's the thing about amateur bloggers and their adventures in watchdog reporting. Regardless, one thing this scrutiny does is make the candidates take a less cavalier attitude toward filling out their forms....that's always a good thing.


OK, let me get this straight: CenterPoint Energy is receiving $200 Million dollars in Federal Grant monies to roll out their "smart" meter program, and is still planning on charging every consumer a surcharge to "pay for the program" for the next 11 years....I wonder how good of an office the industrious little executive who thought up this plan has now? It had better be in a corner, with one hell of a view.

Some bad news this morning: The FDA is fiddling with our oysters. First they came for the bivalves....





*Yes, I'm aware of the irony of my calling for a flood control 'plan' two years ago and now crushing on Peter "Plan" Brown for his over reliance on the same. Apparently my hypocrisy knows no bounds. (Just add it to my anger, my misogyny and my general asshole-ness.

The Noise Machine (10/27/09)

On the whole I'd rather kiss the iguana.

For a while there Musings was offering some decent analysis of the Mayoral. Then, she went into the tank for Parker and it's been all downhill since then. My favorite is the poll: "Is the Locke campaign trying to suppress votes or are they simply clueless?" Heh. Serious, in-depth criticism of the type you can only find in the blogosphere.

Sometimes you have to wonder what goes through the minds of those appointed to run psuedo-government agencies with huge budgets. Case in point: The following quip from Harris County Sports Authority board Chairman J. Kent Friedman in today's article on the difficulties faced by the Authority by ChronBlog's Bradley Olson:

“But no matter what happens here, there's absolutely no way the taxpayers of Harris County or the city of Houston could be negatively impacted.”

He goes on to say that only the bond investors would be impacted. That's just wrong. As Bradley detailed: $117 Million of the bonds have been converted to a loan, payable in 5 years. Since the HCSA is an arm of the County Government then taxpayers would be on the hook to pay off those debts. If they go bankrupt, more than just the bondholders would suffer, the County's debt rating would suffer as well...impacting taxpayers. What are these people thinking?

So far, Peter Brown is leading in every poll not conducted by one of the candidates. Since Brown wasn't considered, by experts, to be one of the favorites in the race, said experts are working overtime trying to explain this away. Weak support, bad poll filters....we'll see. *Maybe there is something to the idea of asking voters for their vote huh?*

For a bit of good news, we turn to Shannon Buggs report for ChronBlog that Continental is joining Star Alliance. This is good news for those of you who actually use your travel miles and don't forget about them....

Look out Houston, Quarterly numbers for energy companies are starting to come in and they're not good. Keep in mind that this is before cap n' trade retrenchment measures are taken. Those are still to come.

Will the last subscriber please turn out the lights?

More bad news for the ChronBlog, and by extension all newspapers. (Except those whose names start with "Wall Street" and ending with "Journal" that is)

As you can imagine, reaction has been quick in coming from Houston's media observers:

Unca Darrell echoes my lament here:

This is sad news. If it continues -- and there is little evidence that it won't -- more local journalists will soon find themselves on the street and more news beats will go dark.

Of course, the best journalists might find work with the emerging non-profit outlets that are starting to spring up, but most of those are tightly focused organizations that lack the mission statement to provide the in-depth, meaningful, local coverage that made newspapers what they are.

It should be noted that who they are is still better off than some who meet the ire of their opinion-makers. Not as great as they were during the salad days for sure, but still doing better than some. Unfortunately (for them) "better than some" doesn't work in today's market place, so government subsidies are being seriously considered. In a sane world, this idea would be laughed out of the room.

Sanity has been the first casualty in the current war over the future of the media. The Right-wing is hell-bent to continue their "liberal bias" crusade, while the Left-wing savors the thought of a new-media beholden to Government, much like they envision the new-economy. For the rest of us, main-stream Republicans, Democrats and Moderates all, the very idea of Government-subsidized media runs counter to the traditional American stereotype of media as independent, tough-minded watchdog.

What Houston has is, probably, an overly romanticized vision of the past. Conventional history is that the ChronBlog has always been more about snuggling up to the "in" crowd than they have been focused on reporting on the warts (and pet programs) of said movers and shakers. All of this has resulted in big stories, such as the issue of City finances, being discussed on the margins instead of in the public eye where serious issues belong. Agree or disagree with the analysis of Lemer, Farb & Roberts, their concerns should have received a public airing in the most recent Mayoral campaign. Instead, Houston has been stuck with SAM Awards proffered up by political observers with an affinity for "I" in Mayoral reports & arguments about buying minority votes provided by multi-beat reporter Bradley Olson.

Hmmm...staffing cuts in the newsroom and sub-par vetting of Mayoral candidates.....

Think the two may be related?

If only some writers were given wider coverage....maybe then this race would have a pulse?*

Until that happens Houston is a lot poorer without a large public forum reporting a variety of perspectives and it seems that more and more people are deciding this is true by voting with their pocketbooks. That's too bad.**






*Slampo being just one example of entertaining Mayoral coverage being presented by amateur bloggers. There are a lot more, as well as some excellent Mayoral coverage by Texas Watchdog. The Chronblog has some as well, but Olsen and Snyder are just two reporters trying to cover the entire ballot. That's impossible

**Because, really, despite it all, my goal is to see a healthy, thriving ChronBlog offering up the public service they aspire to in the words of those on the masthead.