06 January 2009

KGOW-1560 scores ratings victory

KGOW-1560 (The Game), which only recently began encoding its signal to register with Arbitron, scored a nice victory in the latest ratings book. The Chronicle's David Barron posts the details:

John Granato and Lance Zierlein, the onetime leaders in Houston morning drive radio sports talk, begin the new year on top once again.

KGOW (1560 AM), which reunited Granato and Zierlien in November 2007 after both left longtime sports talk market leader KILT (610 AM), topped the December Arbitron ratings among men 25-54 with a 1.7 audience share in morning drive.

KFNC (97.5 FM) was second at 1.5, KILT was third at 1.0 and KBME (790 AM) brought up the rear with a 0.5 share.

[snip]

KILT, bolstered by its Texans and Rockets game broadcasts, remains the market leader in the weeklong numbers among men 25-54, the key demographic for sports radio advertising. KILT has a 1.8 share to 0.9 for each of the other three stations in the 6 a.m. to midnight weekly numbers for December.

KILT also retains a substantial lead in cumulative listeners. The station had 152,200 weekly listeners in December to 94,800 for KBME, 59,200 for KFNC and 31,200 for KGOW, according to Arbitron. KILT also had the highest weekly cume in morning drive with 42,400 weekly listeners in men 25-54 to 40,600 for KFNC, 23,600 for KGOW and 17,400 for KBME.

KGOW, however, had the highest average quarter-hour share because even though it has fewer total listeners than KILT, its listeners spend more time tuned in than do KILT’s.

“You want both, more listeners and more time spent listening,” Topper said. “But if I had my druthers, I’d rather have a small group of people who are passionate about the station.”

KGOW seems to be having some early success building an independent radio station with a popular, personality-driven show and an intensely loyal listenership. That model is the one followed in the beginning by The Ticket, which is a Dallas sports talk monster and now has all sorts of great shows and personalities in addition to the venerable Hard Line and Dunham & Miller programs. So here's hoping KGOW follows that buildout model and is able to improve its weaker shows over time.

One thing that is striking about the Houston radio numbers is just how weak they are overall. Either there aren't that many radio listeners interested in sports talk in Houston, or many people find some of the hosts and programs unlistenable. I'm inclined towards the latter. What do you think?

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/06/09 08:00 AM | Houston Media | Technorati | Comments (5)

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05 January 2009

Murders decline in 2008

KHOU-11's Jeff McShan reports that murders as reported by HPD declined in 2008:

In 2006, there were 376 homicides within the city limits. In 2007, the number dropped to 347, and in 2008, it dropped again to 292.

300+ murders was an outrage, so it's good that the city is now (barely) below that number.

That is, if we can trust the numbers reported by HPD. Recall that McShan's colleague Mark Greenblatt has exposed past misreporting of murders by HPD.

It will be interesting to see the overall crime numbers for 2008.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/05/09 10:35 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (0)

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04 January 2009

Rebuild UTMB

Way back in November, we noted the problems caused by Ike to UTMB, and pointed out that it would be nice if various pols could get behind rebuilding the important resource.

While people were busy shopping and decking the halls and such in December, the issue did get some attention from opinion leaders.

Mayor Bill White, County Judge Ed Emmett, and Dr. Red Duke pointed out the gap in medical services caused by UTMB's service reduction in an op-ed in the Chronicle.

Local industry has sounded the alarm regarding the loss of UTMB's excellent trauma services.

And Texas Monthly's Mimi Swartz effectively blasted UT's board of regents for its response to UTMB's plight (and its likely illegal November meeting that resulted in massive layoffs at the institution).

A lawsuit is pending regarding the regents' likely illegal meeting, but that lawsuit will have about as much impact on the UTMB decisionmaking as a Facebook page or online petition (not much). If area pols (and people) don't get behind restoring this important medical resource, it seems likely that its decline will be permanent (and it will hardly surprise if a shiny new med school opens in, say, Austin, eventually). As a growing region in a growing state, we can hardly afford any permanent reduction in area medical capabilities, so here's hoping our area pols get their act together on this.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/04/09 10:44 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (1)

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Taking apart Mayor White's spinning of red-light-camera study

There have been several follow-ups to Bradley Olson's story on the findings of Houston's long overdue red-light-camera study.

TheNewspaper.com came up with a couple of interesting points after looking the data:

The Rice-TTI study compared 24 months of pre-installation data to between 13 and 21 months of post-installation data for each of the five groups. According to TheNewspaper's analysis of overall accident data found in the appendices, the average number of monthly collisions went from an average of 15.4 collisions per month in the two years prior to camera enforcement to 58.3 accidents per month in the post-installation period. Although this figure is not reported in the study itself, the general fact is briefly acknowledged.

"The absolute number of collisions at camera-monitored intersection approaches is not decreasing," the study admitted.

To achieve the appearance of success, the study divided red light camera intersections into "non-monitored" approaches -- the directions of travel at the intersection where the red light camera is not looking -- and the "monitored" approaches where ticketing took place. There was a 132 percent increase in collisions at the non-monitored approaches of the intersection where red light cameras were installed and a non-significant 9 percent increase at the monitored approaches. The study treated these increases in both rear end and T-bone collisions as unrelated to the red light camera as long as the accident happened outside of the camera's view.

The study concluded that because the accidents went up at the non-monitored approaches of red light camera intersections, but effectively stayed the same at the monitored approaches, that the red light cameras were responsible for the "benefit" (a smaller increase) at one part of the red light camera intersection, but not the increase in acccidents at the other. This line of thought would suggest that the increased accidents at the non-monitored approaches of red light camera intersections reflected an increase in accidents at the other city intersections that had no red light cameras at all. The study admits this implication is untrue.

The second point: The data from the Houston study is at odds with the data from the statewide red-light-camera study that purported to show red-light cameras reduced accidents:

Increases in Houston collisions documented by Rice-TTI mysteriously became decreases in collisions in the TxDOT-TTI report, as follows:

Monroe at Gulf Freeway East Service Road: a 913% increase became a 41.7% decrease
Hollister at Northwest Freeway: a 747% increase became a 60.5% decrease
FM1960 West at Tomball Parkway: a 307% increase became a 44% decrease
Richmond at Dunvale: a 103% increase became no change
South Sam Houston Freeway at Telephone Road: a 164% increase became a 19.3% decrease
East Freeway North Service Road at Normandy: a 52% increase became a 25% decrease
North Freeway West Service Road at West Rankin Road: a 18% increase became a 32.7% decrease

Then Bradley Olson posted a follow-up story on Chron.com suggesting the Houston study was flawed, which prompted Scott Henson, who blogs at Grits for Breakfast, to express his skepticism:

While not long ago, the Chronicle touted the results of a much less rigorous study uncritically, in this case, where the results do not support red light cameras, the whole story was centered around claiming the research methodology was flawed. Writes Bradley Olson:

Because red-light cameras are known to have a spillover effect — meaning that they have been shown to impact the number of accidents at intersections where there are no cameras — robust examinations of camera programs always compare crash data with that in other cities.

It's what statisticians call a control group. Unless the study authors compare crashes at the 50 intersections where red-light cameras have been installed with other intersections in which they have not been — preferably in other cities — no conclusions can be drawn from it.

This is utter gobbledy gook, not a legitimate statistical analysis! Red light cameras create their OWN control group when researchers monitor accidents at the intersection BEFORE and AFTER enforcement begins.

That was the flaw I identified in the Texas Department of Transportation study published in December - in the vast majority of intersections they studied, data was not gathered before cameras were installed to compare them. In the Houston study, they had that data going back several years, so IMO the results are actually much more robust and probative than TXDOT's.

[snip]

The reporter also claims, bizarrely, that, "At a ratio of 10 to 1, study after study on the effect of red-light cameras ... have found that they drastically reduce crashes." That's simply false on its face, which further leads me to think Olson's sources were feeding him a line of bull. As I wrote in reaction to the TXDOT study:

in Lubbock red light cameras were discontinued after accidents overall increased 52% at intersections with cameras. Similarly, the state of Virginia eliminated their use after studies in every city using the devices found the number of accidents increased. In other jurisdictions, studies have found reductions in right-angle accidents but nearly equal increases in rear-end collisions, including in injury accidents.

The Houston figures jibe closely with those results, so I don't see why Olson or Mayor White are so surprised that accidents increased in Houston, too. That's what happens when officials prioritize revenue generation over public safety.

And finally, a letter in today's Chronicle, points out that most red-light-camera violations occur in the first two seconds after the light has turned red:

These are not very likely to be the ones that cause serious accidents, but they certainly are the source of a huge amount of revenue being raised by the city. Heavily penalizing these early violations does almost nothing to reduce the accident rate because most red-light-running accidents are caused by drivers who are oblivious to the red light. They run the light much later than two seconds into the red, and they are usually impaired or oblivious to the danger they face.

And a California study showed that three-fourths of all red-light-camera violations occurred in the first second after a light turned red.

The point?

Lengthening yellow light times will do more to reduce red light running and accidents than cameras ever will.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/04/09 03:32 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (1)

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31 December 2008

Happy New Year's

Happy New Year's, everyone.

Be safe out there tonight. And please don't get behind the wheel if you've been drinking.

See ya'll in 2009!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/31/08 04:01 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (11)

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30 December 2008

Houston tops a list it doesn't want to be on

I found an interesting article in the Houston Chronicle. It's titled:

"Study: Houston leads in homicides by black youths"

Allan Turner writes a good article citing a study done by James Fox and Marc Swatt. Their study puts Houston at the top of the list of homicides by young black youths. Mostly the victims are also black youths.

Focusing on the period between 2000-01 and 2006-07, the study found Houston at the top of a list of 28 U.S. cities, with a 139 percent increase in the number of young African-Americans suspected in killings.

In 2006-07, 129 young black men were murdered in the city, up from 42 in 2000-01.

This is a touchy subject due to the politically correct status quo we live in. So, to avoid controversy, what do these academics suggest is the reason?

Fox and his associate, criminologist Marc Swatt, argued in the report that the increases occurred as the federal government cut support for community policing and intervention programs put in place to combat a rise in gang violence in the 1990s.

Okay, we've got the federal government to blame.

"Kids can't wait, and crime doesn't wait," Fox said. "There is a significant need here — a large group of kids with inadequate, inferior education and a ready access to guns. A teenager with a gun in his hand is a dangerous individual."

Okay, kids and guns don't mix. Never mind that millions of kids (like me and my brother) were raised around guns but were taught about responsibility and consequences at an early age by our father.

Of course Quanell has to weigh in since he is the Chronicle's duly appointed community activist.

Houston community activist Quanell X called the study a "blanket indictment of the city and government officials in the city and a greater indictment of ministers and political leaders of the African-American community."

Isn't he considered a 'leader in the African-American community?' Then this is an indictment of him too.

Shape Community Center's Deloyd Parker questioned the way the study was conducted. "When they say 'offender,' does that mean someone who's charged with a crime or been convicted?" he said. "Sometimes even being convicted doesn't mean you're actually guilty."

Of course we have the 'ostrich' response!

I wish I could find the young black woman I met two years ago in southwest Houston. She works hard trying to raise her two young boys whose father left them. Her oldest son was on probation and her youngest son had just been arrested for auto theft. Who did she blame? She was upset at her son, not the police. Ask her. She could shed some light on this problem. We talked for over an hour about absentee fathers, lack of positive role models, the glorification of the 'gangsta' lifestyle by rap music, and the lack of personal responsibility. This extraordinary woman could answer this problem better than academia. I wonder how Houston will wear this scarlet letter!

Posted by Jason @ 12/30/08 11:17 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (3)

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29 December 2008

Chron: Wrecks more than doubled at intersections with at least one red-light camera

Finally, the study has been released (completely unrelated to that lawsuit, we're sure), and incredibly, Mayor White and Bob Stein have decided they're going to sell a different conclusion, saying red light cameras have actually improved public safety: (via the Chron's Bradley Olsen):

Red-light cameras installed at some of Houston's most dangerous intersections did not reduce the number of crashes there, according to a long-awaited study the city commissioned on the matter.

In fact, wrecks at intersections with at least one red-light camera more than doubled, the data shows. The analysis examined accident data at intersections that had at least one camera which monitored traffic in one direction, or "approach" of the intersection.

Study authors said the reason for the increase at "monitored approaches" is actually that the city has seen a major uptick in collisions during the past year, one that they believe red-light cameras helped mitigate. In other words, the study, released today, concludes that there were far fewer collisions at intersections with red-light cameras than there otherwise would have been if the cameras had not been installed.

"Collisions are going up all over the city," said Bob Stein, a Rice University political science professor and one of report's four authors. "But red-light cameras have held back that increase at approaches where they have been installed."

Regarding the bolded sentence, read the following from the study:

Although this study supports the idea that that red light cameras have a positive effect in reducing collisions at monitored approaches in comparison with non-monitored approaches, several questions have been raised by these findings. The most important of these is “Why have accidents at non-monitored approaches increased so dramatically in the past year?” As suggested above, these results could be evidence of an increase in collisions across the city. The selection in 2006 of intersections with high rates of collisions could be serving to magnify this effect.

Currently, conclusions on a general increase in collisions across the city are not supportable with available data. Population growth and congestion stand out as possible factors behind slower traffic flow and increased collisions on a citywide level. However, this hypothesis is beyond the scope of this report and will have to be tested with specific data and rigorous analysis.

Just something to consider, as you read MayorWhiteBobStein's spin:

Mayor Bill White said the findings prove that the red light cameras are making city streets safer.

"The program is proving successful in improving public safety, which has been the goal since the beginning," White said in a written statement. "We believe the findings and conclusions provide sound evidence of that."

Or something else.

UPDATE: Kevin and Cory have struggled through the study. Both now need aspirin.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/29/08 07:48 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (7)

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28 December 2008

The Houston Way paves the way in Galleria-area land taking

Lately, quite a bit of attention has been focused on "the Chicago Way," the complex web of cronyism, patronage, and machine politics that can make (think both of the Mayors Daley) or break (think recent governors) Illinois pols.

Locally, we have The Houston Way, which doesn't factor into our state politics quite as prominently, but is no less intriguing when it comes to cronyism, patronage, and the benefits that always seem to accrue to the city's powerful and well-connected.

As Houston Chronicle reporters Carolyn Feibel and Bradley Olson make clear today in an outstanding followup to a March 2008 story by Mike Snyder on the city's abuse of its eminent domain power, The Houston Way hardly went away when Lee Brown finally was term-limited out of office and Bill White took charge (even though Mayor White's press staff surely loves it when journalists give the impression that White singlehandedly restored ethics to Houston government). Rather, one might say it reverted back to the more refined practices of, say, the Lanier Administration (more refined in the sense that we doubt any White Administration staffers will wind up indicted like various Brown Administration staffers, who were bunglers in The Houston Way really).

Recall back in March that we and other blogs commented on the story by Snyder, which described a lawsuit filed by two brothers contesting the city's effort to take their small Galleria-area property and make it into a so-small-as-to-be-useless "public park" that would conveniently double as ornamentation for a huge planned real-estate development. To recap Snyder's reporting: The brothers had acquired that property in 1982, and had been approached by the Uptown Houston District in February 2004 about selling it for parkland. In April 2004, Wulfe & Co. became interested in acquiring the land, and within a year had announced plans to redevelop a surrounding plot into the multi-acre BLVD Place mixed-use development. In July 2006, Wulfe & Co made a sizable offer for the land, which the brothers declined. In October 2006, the City of Houston said it wanted to acquire the land for a park. In May 2007, the city made an offer for the land, which the brothers declined. In November 2007, the City filed to acquire the property by eminent domain for the Uptown Houston District -- for more than a million dollars less than Wulfe & Co had once offered. At the time, Joe Turner, the City's Parks and Recreation director, said the move was justified, and that there was a "shortage of parks" in the area. The reporting noted that Ed Wulfe had a seat on the Uptown Houston District's board, and "is well-known at City Hall."

At the time, some of us didn't think this passed the smell test.

In today's intricate, detailed followup to the original story, we learn quite a bit more about this deal that makes it smell even worse. In no particular order, here are more of the damning details:

• The Hanover Company (which would acquire 1.48 acres of land from Wulfe & Co for a residential tower) stipulated that the brothers' property (which was adjacent) had to be a part of any deal -- and it eventually was, courtesy of the Uptown Houston District and the city's eminent domain power. Like Wulfe, Hanover President John Nash is a member of the Uptown Houston District board.
• In depositions related to the lawsuit, Joe Turner (the Parks and Recreation director) now says he did not want to seize the land for the park, that the idea did not originate with his office (which has not used condemnation to acquire parkland in his tenure), and that Councilmember Pam Holm pushed the idea and provided him a memo to sign off on backing the deal.
• Mayor White's March 2008 memo after some critical press coverage seems to betray the fact that there was no public-purpose behind the land grab.
• There still are no plans for the land's use as a park.
• Hanover executives and Wulfe are big contributors to Mayor Bill White, Councilmember Pam Holm, and Councilmember Peter Brown, all of whom supported the eminent domain proceeding enthusiastically.
• Councilmember Peter Brown's wife just happened to be an investor in BLVD Place, but City Attorney Arturo Michel apparently told Brown that this didn't represent a conflict of interest.
• Mayor Bill White and Councilmember Peter Brown are both resisting deposition efforts.

We'll leave it to readers to draw their own conclusions about this smelly, incestuous mess, although we suspect all but the most partisan cheerleaders for Mayor White will at least agree that it's a smelly incestuous mess.

We do take exception with one small part of the otherwise fine reporting by Feibel and Olson:

[C]ritics of City Hall contend that officials too often shape policy and decisions to aid developers.

That's not untrue, but a better description of The Houston Way is that officials too often shape policy and decisions to aid the city's powerful and well-connected (at the expense of the less powerful).

Notable recent examples of The Houston Way in action would include: Mayor White, Council, and Richard Vacar putting an airport shuttle company out of business at the behest of Yellow Cab, which wanted the business to itself; Mayor White's use of an archaic driveway ordinance to continue to frustrate a planned high-rise development (that had seemingly met existing regulatory hurdles) once well-connected supporters demanded it be stopped (this would be a key example of developers NOT shaping policy); Mayor White and Council extending the IAH Terminal C concession for the well-connected Jason Yoo despite the abysmal job he has done; and of course the unsuccessful effort to boot the Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation from its prime real estate (for developers never named?).

In a town with a columnist like John Kass, we might look forward to many scathing columns in the future about The Houston Way and all of its incestuous relationships and deals. Alas, The Plagiarist is more expert in The San Antonio Way than ours, the Teen Diarist's range is *ahem* limited as well, and the Houston Press gave up trying to write about politics years ago. Too bad.

BLOGVERSATION: Red Ink: Texas, Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/28/08 10:32 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (9)

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Art in Houston: Chron offers "guidance about what is good for the people of Houston"

Remember when Chron editor Jeff Cohen said the editorial board's purpose was to "offer guidance about what is good for the people of Houston"?

Well, the Chron's Christmas day editorial was a doozy, opining that "Houstonians can thank the publicly/privately funded Houston Art Alliance for the coming artistic bounty."

That's just hilarious, considering Wayne Dolcefino's recent look at the taxpayer-funded Houston Art Alliance. So, just for fun, here's a little compare/contrast:

[Read More]

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/28/08 09:10 AM | Houston Arts/Culture | Technorati | Comments (7)

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27 December 2008

Holiday slowdown linkpost

We're still playing with new Christmas toys, but here are a few local stories that have caught our attention:

Vasquez sworn in as county tax assessor

City sends woman a $4,700 water bill as an early Christmas present Lest you think the city doesn't have a heart, "The city agreed to reduce the bill from $4,000 to $1,000, which is still a big jump from Baylous’ $10 a month bill."

City's pension plans lose $1.9 billion in value But, the experts assure that there's nothing to worry about.

Garcia, Lee offer deal for Dynamo: Commissioners propose to offer $10 million for stadium project

Suit claims city withholding red-light camera study

Mayor Bill White's office attacked the lawsuit as a publicity stunt.

Considering the study was supposed to be released in "a couple of days" back on December 10th, there might be some merit to the suit. Maybe NOW the city will release the study...after it's cleaned up:

The mayor's office later asked Stein to make some changes for clarity so the public and reporters could more easily understand the conclusions.

Ooooo, a Bob Stein-sighting!

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/27/08 08:39 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)

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23 December 2008

Holiday slowdown

Are you procrastinating? Or have you finished all your shopping?

With just one weekend left before Christmas, the average person has completed nearly 65 percent of their holiday shopping.

But about 44.5 million people, or 20 percent, haven’t even made their list or checked it twice, the survey found.

Posting will most likely be slow over the next few days as we busy ourselves with final holiday preparations, and then celebrate Christmas with our families.

Here's wishing everyone a Merry Whatever Holiday You Celebrate!

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/23/08 05:34 PM | Announcements | Technorati | Comments (6)

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People like their cars

Yesterday's Move It! column noted that METRO's ridership is down:

Ridership went down in November for all of Metro's primary modes of transportation: rail, Park and Ride and local bus service.

The slide in Metro's ridership comes at a time when commuters now rely upon public transportation at record levels, according to a recent report from the American Public Transportation Association.

METRO's ridership bookkeeping has always been mysterious, so who knows what the agency's real numbers are. But it's not hard to figure out that a contributing factor in the reduced number of riders is what happened to gas prices. Given a choice -- affordable gas prices vs. late, uncomfortable, inflexible mass transit -- the vast majority of people will choose to drive their cars. It's personal freedom.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/23/08 05:10 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (8)

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20 December 2008

Area transit agency manipulating statistics? Just call it the Houston Way

The Chronicle's Rosanna Ruiz reports that the performance of METRO's bus service is registering complaints from management and riders alike:

Metro buses continue to run late and have failed to achieve the agency's modest goal of 61 percent on-time performance, a feat that does not evoke confidence in the transit agency, board chairman David Wolff complained Thursday.

Metro buses have run on schedule 59 percent of the time for the first two months of this fiscal year. The agency reported a 55 percent on-time percentage in 2008.

"I get letters from people saying, 'I wait and wait. I'm going to quit taking the bus because I can't depend on it,' " Wolff said during the board's monthly meeting. "An important part of running a transit service is dependability. An important part of dependability is punctuality."

[snip]

During the public-comment portion of Thursday's meeting, board members waited on Bellaire resident Marta Epps to breathlessly make her way to the podium, where she wanted to complain about Metro's decision to raise the fare from $1 to $1.25.

Epps apologized, but said a late bus was to blame for her tardiness.

That's priceless.

The following comment -- not so much:

David F. Feeley, the agency's senior vice president of operations, said the 61 percent goal is nothing to boast about, but he blamed the shortfall on the way Metro measures its travel times.

"I don't think that number accurately reflects the actual performance," Feeley said about Metro's arrival and departure times in October and November.

According to Metro staff, the agency calculates its on-time performance through on-board devices that count passengers and time of arrival at each stop. The agency collects data for each stop, not simply at the start and end of each route. If one bus along a route, for instance, experiences a delay because of a parked train, subsequent stops also will be behind and recorded as late arrivals.

Buses are considered late if they are more than five minutes behind schedule. Delays of 20 minutes or more are considered "anomalous" and are excluded from the final tally.

We had to re-read that bold part a few times to make sure we were reading it correctly.

Upon reflection, however, it does not not surprise. After all, if MayorWhiteChiefHurtt's police department can miscategorize murders so that Houston won't be designated the murder capital of Texas on their watch, why shouldn't the local transit agency lie about delays to make their dismal numbers look a little less dismal? We've been learning a lot recently about the "Chicago Way" in terms of politics -- maybe we can deem this sort of deception the "Houston way!"

In any case, it's good to see the Chronicle transportation reporter offering a little more criticism of METRO than either of the last two reporters on the beat (Rad Sallee and Lucas Wall).

Cory Crow asks some pointed questions in his post on the story. We'll conclude with a "what he said."

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/20/08 11:58 PM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (7)

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Better wait a few days before trying the recipes (cont'd)

As we've noted before, it's always good to wait a few days (for corrections) before trying any recipe that appears in the Chronicle.

Here's something from recent corrections that helps make the point:

A recipe for Beef Tamales on Page F5 of Wednesday's Flavor section was mistitled. Also, the ingredients should have called for 4 ounces of dried New Mexico chilies and 4 cups of masa mix. For the corrected recipe please see chron.com/food.

Happy cooking (once you've checked the corrections)!

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/20/08 11:05 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)

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18 December 2008

METRO police babysit the Danger Train

For the past month, METRO police officers have been doing something a little different:

The transit agency has parked officers at six downtown intersections every day for the past month, aimed at preventing motorists from making illegal turns into the path of oncoming light rail trains.

There have been 57 accidents on the rail line this year — five fewer than in the first year of operation — many of them the result of illegal turns, the transit agency has said.

The officers are monitoring the intersections as part of a pilot program that began Nov. 17, said Police Chief Tom Lambert of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County. Last month, the city of Houston and Metro made adjustments to traffic signals at the same intersections to allow rail cars to proceed a few moments ahead of motorists.

"Some may say we're being very aggressive with having officers at every intersection," Lambert said. "But we have a responsibility to public safety to make sure we reduce accidents."

Lambert said he will scale back the number of officers at the intersections along Main at St. Joseph, Franklin, Texas, Prairie, Preston and Congress. He said his review revealed no accidents had occurred at those sites since the start of the pilot program.

Starting Friday, he said, officers will be assigned to patrol "as appropriate" between Pierce and Commerce.

The change could not come soon enough for Metro officers, who have questioned the wisdom of requiring police to sit at the intersections for an entire shift rather than being out on patrol, said Dean Goodrick, the president of the Houston Police Patrolman's Union.

Remember, this is the same police department that said it cannot possibly patrol its entire service area. But it can spare 6 officers to sit and watch the Danger Train all day long.

That's how Chief Lambert does safety.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/18/08 07:33 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (15)

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Elizabeth Shelton sues driver she hit, while drunk, for her mental suffering!

Remember Elizabeth Shelton? The daughter of the Harris County judge who was drunk, rear ended a box truck and ended up killing her boyfriend who was her passenger? I can't remember her ever showing remorse that her boyfriend was killed. She and her father blamed the truck driver for the accident, trying to distract the jury from the fact that she was 20 (too young to be legally drinking alcohol) and three times the legal limit. In other words, the girl was drunk!!!! She was given basically a slap on the wrist. Again she amazes us all with her poor sense of judgment! She is suing the box truck driver she hit while she was drunk!

Shelton, her family and the family of the boyfriend who was killed are suing for $20,000 for the destruction of the Lexus SUV she was driving and an undetermined amount for mental anguish, pain and suffering.

So she is arguing that while she was driving drunk, she rear ended a box truck, killed her boyfriend, and she's suffering mental anguish! She must still be in denial or trying to convince the public it wasn't her fault even though she was drunk. Or her insurance won't pay off or got canceled because she was drunk and she wants a new Lexus SUV. I didn't want to lump her in with her father's position as a judge. Even judges can have bad apples. Yet, according to the article, her family, and the family of the dead man are also suing the box truck driver. So maybe she isn't the only one with a lapse in reasoning.

Posted by Jason @ 12/18/08 11:07 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (25)

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17 December 2008

A New Year's resolution for Houston: Be more eventful in 2009!

This reminded me of when Carol Alvarado said Houston was "event-ed out" in 2006:

The Bayou City fell six spots to No. 13 on the 2008 list of “Most Eventful Cities,” a survey published by San Diego-based Eventful Inc. that ranks U.S. cities according to the number and diversity of local events for residents and visitors.

[snip]

Though he could not cite specific reasons for why the city dropped from its seventh place ranking last year, Jordan Glazier, chief executive officer of Eventful, said Hurricane Ike’s appearance in September likely was the culprit, though other cities might also have beefed up their event roster.

“It’s actually impressive that Houston was able to stay at No. 13 instead of completely falling off of the list, considering you had a hurricane,” Glazier said.

It also says something about Houston, he said, that the city was able to remain in the Top 10 for categories such as best outdoor events (No. 5) and family events (No. 6).

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/17/08 08:13 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (4)

---

Airport survey to cost almost $700k

KHOU-11 reports that city council has approved Houston Airport System's request for a passenger survey:

The people that run Houston two major airports want to know what you think about them.

They asked the city to spend $686,000 on a survey of passengers passing through Bush Intercontinental Airport and Hobby Airport.

The city council agreed. The survey will ask about everything from ground transportation to ticketing to concessions.

I'd LOVE to see what people think of Terminal C's concessions.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/17/08 06:41 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (2)

---

16 December 2008

Surprise! Mayor White wants to be Senator White

It's official: Mayor White is running for the U.S. Senate.

His campaign and his supporters will portray him as a moderate Democrat, a businessman who gets things done. What they won't mention is that he's fond of stealth taxation (revenue streams), creating new regulations, and kicking undesirable problems down the road so he doesn't have to address them.

He's been known to shake down the mentally retarded for millions of dollars, award lucrative, non-competitive contracts to political faves, and to approve selling a portion of a street to a developer using suspect appraisals, afterwards admitting that the process was less than ideal.

He has favored liberal pet projects and policies over basic municipal needs.

Plus, he can be thin-skinned, and he doesn't appreciate dissent.

Supporters will say to look at how competently he's run the city; common sense would say former Mayor Lee P. Brown set such a low bar, it was hard to go anywhere but up.

This will be fun to watch play out.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/16/08 06:58 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (19)

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15 December 2008

Houston priorities: Clinton Climate Initiative before flooding

Last week, Texas Watchdog noted that Houston was one of many cities submitting a bailout wish list to the feds:

The two biggest items the city says it needs federal tax dollars for are:

+A city-wide flood control program. That comes to $221 million and 4,420 jobs.

+Infrastructure improvements to make way for the Metro Houston Intermodal Terminal near downtown. That’s a project priced at $175 million wih 4,870 new jobs.

In all, Houston is asking for $587.7 million in projects that the city says will create 12,500 jobs.

You may recall that the city recently decided to scale back $100 million-worth of infrastructure improvements due to the credit crisis.

In other city news, the mayor announced that 11 million square feet of city buildings will be retrofitted to meet the Clinton Climate Initiative's Energy Efficiency program standards.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/15/08 06:43 PM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Comments (11)

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