Results tagged “addiewiseman”

...for demolitionToday, Houston City Council voted to designate the River Oaks Shopping Center, River Oaks Theater, Alabama Shopping Center, and Alabama Theater as historic landmarks, though it will not afford the structures any protection from Weingarten Realty's current and future decisions to demolish them. According to Historic Houston, there were three dissenting votes from council members Michael Berry (big surprise), Addie Wiseman (who tagged this measure last week), and Pam Holm. Save Our Landmarks invites...

Tuesday, August 7 at 2pm is the last chance for the public to speak about the pending historic landmark status of the River Oaks Shopping Center, River Oaks Theater, Alabama Shopping Center, and Alabama Theater in front of City Council. Members of the public must sign up to speak by 12pm Tuesday by calling the City Secretary Anna Russell (713-247-1840), and people who have already spoken to City Council on this issue may not do...

This morning, Houston City Council designated Old Sixth Ward as the first and only Protected Historic District in the city. This new status will enable the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission to prohibit the demolition of historic structures within Old Sixth Ward's 33.8 acres. There was only one dissenting vote for this measure, which came from council member/real estate broker Michael Berry. As far as actual limitations on properties within the district, the Greater Houston...

We're sure glad that City Council isn't our mom - they're strict. Yesterday, the council decided in an 11-3 vote that children 16 and under must be off the streets by 11 pm on weeknights. The previous curfew was midnight, which still applies to Fridays and Saturdays. There are a number of exceptions, including children who are accompanied by a parent or participating in school or church-sponsored events. Those delinquents who violate the rule will...

More on the story of the city trying to take The Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation's land: The Chronicle reports that advocates of The Center seem to have found supporters on City Council. To recap, the issue here centers on an agreement The Center worked out with former Mayor Lewis Cutrer in 1963 to lease the land at West Dallas and Shepherd for 99 years. Under the agreement, The Center would pay the city...

This is the second in a series of posts about upcoming City Council races. Check out this week's earlier post about District I, and keep reading Houstonist for more campaign coverage. District E, currently represented by Addie Wiseman, connects the heavily Republican suburbs of Kingwood and Clear Lake by a narrow strip of land, and this year's City Council race reflects this odd districting. Candidate Annette Dwyer hails from Clear Lake and has served on...

City Council members on Wednesday approved a contract with EarthLink to build Houston's wireless Internet network, putting the city a step closer to having the nation's largest municipal Wi-Fi setup — or, as KHOU has apparently taken to calling it, a "wireless Internet bubble." (Not one, we hope, like this.)

More on Houston's newly expanded smoking ban: Everyone knows the ordinance prohibits smoking in all workplaces, including restaurants and bars, but what's still sort of unclear is where people will be able to smoke under the new law. That's because of potential vagueness in the exceptions to the ordinance, which include outdoor patios, private rooms in nursing homes, tobacco shops, cigar bars and designated rooms in meeting facilities during private functions.

Smokers, you'd better light up while you still can: Thanks to a 13-2 City Council vote today, smoking will be banned in most bars come September. After much discussion over alternate proposals, councilmembers decided to stick with the ban Mayor Bill White and Councilwoman Carol Alvarado supported, which prohibits smoking in all workplaces (with exceptions for a handful of situations, including cigar bars, tobacco shops, hotel meeting rooms and outdoor patios).

As expected, City Council delayed a vote on expanding the city's smoking ban at its meeting yesterday — and with councilmembers divided between a variety of proposals, it's anyone's guess how the vote will go when it's actually taken. Mayor Bill White, who supports a smoking ban at all enclosed workplaces with exceptions for cigar shops, certain meeting rooms, private functions and a handful of other situations, said things are close:

City Councilwoman and former Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado used at least four city employees to set up meetings with a personal client who has paid her nearly $75,000 in consulting fees since 2002, despite her earlier assertion that she never asked staffers to do non-city work, the Chronicle reports today. Messages from Alvarado's city e-mail account show Alvarado asked city workers to set up meetings on several occasions with San Antonio buinessman Rudy Rodriguez,...

So if you fly out of Hobby Airport often, you might want to take note of the $3 fee on each ticket you might have to start paying later this year. It's a charge City Council approved yesterday to put the burden of extreme budget overruns off on the traveling public. Yep, that's right: You, too, will have the privilege of helping finance the Hobby renovation and expansion project.

City Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem Carol Alvarado changed her tactic in the city spending scandal today, sending a letter to her District I constituents accepting responsibility for pro tem employees who took illegal bonuses and unauthorized payraises.