Results tagged “citycouncilman”

Good morning, Houston. Suppose you're trying to keep up with piles and piles of government reports. How can you tell when there are too many? Simple: You ask for a report, of course. That's what the Texas State Library and Archives Commission did — and in a 668-page report, the commission has declared that the state is over-reported. The commission looked at more than 170 state agencies and universities and found more than 1,600...

Good morning, Houston. Sure, we've had a lot of rain, but there haven't been any hurricane scares yet — so it's pretty easy to overlook the fact that we're headed into the peak of the 2007 hurricane season. Not that easy, though: The Chronicle's Eric Berger reminds us that there's still some storm activity in the Atlantic, including a system 650 miles east about 650 miles east of the southern Windward Islands that could...

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a...

Good morning, Houston. Are you feeling particularly crunk today? Maybe you should be: Crunk is among the words added to Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary this year. Also among the 100 new words are DVR, IED, gray literature and smackdown. But we think we'll get the most use out of crunk, which M-W defines as a style of Southern rap music but which has a variety of definitions in the Urban Dictionary. Which brings us to...

Seems like everyone has a video on YouTube these days — even gang members in the Fifth Ward. KHOU found the video made by self-professed gang members, who talk about crime, life on the streets and grills (which cost $1,500 cash, apparently). As you might expect, city leaders aren't too happy about the video: "They can't be the voice of the Fifth Ward," City Councilman Jarvis Johnson, whose district includes the neighborhood, said. "I'm...

Despite initially vowing to keep writing tickets for drivers with obscured license plates until a revised state law takes effect in September, HPD Chief Harold Hurtt announced Tuesday that his department would stop writing such tickets after all — apparently feeling the heat from Mayor Bill White, who called obscured plate tickets a "gotcha system" earlier this week. As you'll recall, the state gave police the authority to write tickets for obscured license plates with...

The final report from HPD crime lab independent investigator Michael Bromwich recommends new, taxpayer-funded DNA tests for prisoners in more than 400 cases in which incomplete or below-standard work was originally performed by the lab. That recommendation is based on a review of 135 of the cases which found "major problems" with 43 of them, including those of four death row inmates. But that doesn't mean there aren't other cases that have resulted in wrongful...

We've been wondering why the Mecom Fountain hasn't been lighted at night lately, and this weekend, the Chronicle had the answer: It's because someone stole the fountain's lighting system, though no one's quite sure when or how they did it. Or, for that matter, when the lights might come on again. The theft was actually pretty amazing: Someone cut through the cables to the lighting system and carted off the fountain's 264 light bulbs and...

Good morning, Houston. As faithful Houstonist readers, you know we have trouble resisting a good crime report, so we were nearly beside ourselves when we read about the family that might have set a grocery store potato chip display on fire in February. Seriously. It happened at a Sellers Brothers on Telephone Road on Feb. 10, and surveillance video — which you can see if you follow the link — shows a young man...

More on the story of the 21 guns that turned up missing from HPD's property room: The Chronicle reports today that independent police department investigator Michael Bromwich had warned city officials two years ago that conditions in the property room could lead to lost evidence. "The property room currently uses a number of forms to track chain of custody," Bromwich wrote in a June 2005 report. "The forms are cumbersome and archaic and increase the...

The Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission voted yesterday to begin the landmark designation process for the River Oaks Shopping Center, River Oaks Theater and Alabama Theater/Bookstop, the three significant Art Deco structures that have been in the news since news broke last summer that Weingarten Realty Investors could be planning to demolish them to make way for new development. The move toward designating the buildings city landmarks comes without Weingarten's approval — the first...

Another development in the story of The Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation's attempts to stay on its West Dallas Avenue land: The Chronicle reports that high-powered law firm Baker Botts has agreed to represent The Center pro bono in its dealings with the city of Houston. As we said yesterday, The Center isn't going quietly. With regard to the city's claim that a 99-year lease The Center negotiated with former Mayor Lewis Cutrer in...

Looks like the city's crusade against the Carter's Grove apartments could be just the beginning of widespread action against run-down and dangerous apartment complexes throughout Houston. According to KHOU, a team of 30 police, fire and code officials hit the Flamingo Terrace Apartments, a northeast Houston complex with problems of its own.

going to want to get in on this kind of Metro-backed development.

The Chronicle's Matt Stiles and KTRK's Miya Shay reported earlier this week on the "courtesy" program that allows certain local elected officials to park free at Houston's airports, noting that more than 100 city officials, state legislators and members of Congress have racked up around $100,000 in free parking under the perk. Officials have been offered the free parking since the 1980s; it's intended for use during official business, but some of the instances were...

Good morning, Houston. Do you feel more metropolitan? Or bigger, maybe? According to estimates released by the Census Bureau yesterday, the influx of hurricane evacuees has made the Houston metro area the country's sixth largest. The Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area now has an estimated 5,483,857 residents, which puts it ahead of Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach but still behind the New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth and Philadelphia metro areas. Another population fact: Harris County...

Looks like the end of the road for Friendswood's attempt to make English the city's official language: Last night, the City Council voted 5-2 not to include the measure on the May 12 municipal ballot. The idea, you'll remember, came about in November when a Friendswood resident tried (unsuccessfully) to communicate with a Spanish-speaking crew trimming trees near his house — that prompted the City Council to consider a measure requiring all city employees to speak English, but councilmembers later swapped that out for a proposed city charter amendment that would make English the city's official language. City Councilman Chris Peden, who insists that the measure was never an issue of "English only," asked that the amendment be placed on the ballot and said he wasn't upset that it didn't make it: "[The other councilmembers] voted their conscience," he told the Chronicle. "They did what they felt was right. I don't have a problem with that, honestly."

Remember late last year, when Friendswood officials started discussing an ordinance that would make English the city's official language? Well, the discussion's still going on: A group of Friendswood residents showed up at a city council hearing yesterday to voice their opinions on the idea — both for and against it.

Houston's 2006 crime statistics were announced yesterday, and there's some good news: The city's overall crime rate fell 5 percent last year, meaning you're less likely to be robbed, raped, assaulted or have your car stolen. But while we're patting ourselves on the back, we might want to be a little careful we don't get murdered: Houston's homicide rate increased by 5 percent last year. Around every silver lining, there's a dark cloud. According to...

Soon, you won’t have to go all the way to Clear Lake or Lake Conroe to see a boathouse. Buffalo Bayou is about to get its first boathouse ever – but don’t start packing up your apartment to move there – this boathouse is for dragon boats. The Houston Endowment has donated $75,000 to assist the Texas Dragon Boat Association to build a boathouse at 501 N. York Street. The facility will house the...

A 4-year-old boy was killed Wednesday afternoon when a gate at his apartment complex fell on top of him, a freak accident for which officials are still searching for a cause today. It happened at about 5 p.m. yesterday at the Las Palmas Apartments at ; according to reports, 4-year-old Ronkeith Leroy Andrews and his 5-year-old sister were walking past the gate when the gate suddenly fell, crushing Ronkeith.

In the patchwork of land we call Houston, there is one tiny area that defies something that makes Houston...Houston: zoning. In 1990, St. George Place became the first of now twenty-two Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones, which was instated by petition to promote new economic growth into the area which needed a little boost. Soon after, City Council decided to enact zoning in the small area as well. St. George Place is located within "walking distance"...

Today, KHOU takes a cursory look at the number of people arrested for drunk driving in Houston and finds that it has dropped significantly over the last couple of years — from 6,120 in 2004 to 4,737 last year to 3,709 so far in 2006. A drop of nearly 40 percent is good, right? Well, maybe not. Houston City Councilman Adrian Garcia says one of the reasons for the decline is there are fewer officers...

More on the possibility of the city having to hold a costly special election to fill Shelley Sekula-Gibbs' vacant City Council seat for a few months: According to the Chronicle, Mayor Bill White plans to ask the state Legislature for some leeway in the election law that would require a special election. The issue: A special election couldn't be held before May, meaning that whoever won it would have to run again in a general election in November — and a special election plus runoff, if one were needed, would cost the city $3 million. That's a lot of money to put someone on council for six months, White said:

More on the City Council seat that will be left vacant when Shelley Sekula-Gibbs heads off for her congressional jaunt: There will be a special election to fill the seat; it will probably be held in May; and it could cost $2 million. "It's sort of a shame that we have to pay a lot of money to hold a special election, but that's the state law as it exists," Mayor Bill White said.

A man was arrested today after a six-hour standoff at a southwest Houston convenience store The average price of a gallon of gas in Houston dropped to $2.02 this week, marking the 11th straight week of price drops Ronald Williams, a 19-year-old cadet at A&M, claims he's been the victim of racial harassment from fellow cadets Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California called on the Justice Department to appeal the decision to overturn ex-Enron Chairman Ken...

The city has run into quite a few problems implementing a paperless system at the municipal courthouse, including big delays when the system went online in early April. And now we have news of another problem that could be costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars: Thanks to the scanning process required to make things paperless, police have had to release nearly 700 suspects because their arrest warrant paperwork couldn't be found. Ah, progress.

Late last week, it looked like there wouldn't be a Veterans Day parade in Houston this year because the holiday falls on a weekend — Saturday, Nov. 11 — and organizers were worried no one would show up. But as you might expect, that didn't sit well with veterans, so it turns out there will be a parade after all.

The Chronicle checks in today on a slew of city ordinances that seem to be going largely — or totally — unenforced, including a ban put into effect last year on "pocket bikes," quick little motorcycles that councilmembers said were a nuisance and a hazard. Though riding the cycles on public streets was already illegal, City Council spent three meetings and hours of debate before passing an ordinance banning them in May 2005, a move...

HPD Chief Harold Hurtt avoided a crash yesterday, and a group of his supporters are trying to help him avoid another one — the one that could be headed his way when the results of a police union survey come down. The survey, you'll remember, found that 75 percent of respondents said they had little or no confidence in Hurtt's ability to lead HPD. About 2,300 officers responded to the Houston Police Officers' Union survey,...