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...
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Results tagged “tonilawrence”
A month ago, we were excited that the city agreed to pitch in $9.2 million to help save 11th Street Park in Timbergrove Manor from destruction. The deal is far from over, though: if the 3.5 million-dollar loan from Amegy Bank to the Houston Parks Board isn’t paid off in the next 12 months, a fourth of the park will be available to developers.
So here's something kinda interesting about the news earlier this week that most of the West 11th Street Park will be saved from development: The Chronicle reports that Bob Perry, who has spent the last few years trying to cover the inner Loop with townhomes, gave $100,000 Wednesday to try to preserve the rest of the property. On Monday, the city agreed to buy the site from HISD, which has owned the wooded land...
City Council will consider a proposal today to make apartment owners more responsible for dealing with crime on their properties, part of a continuing effort to reduce crime at some of Houston's more dangerous apartment complexes. Under the proposal, owners of apartment buildings with high crime rates would be required to spend $400 for a security consultant and to follow recommendations to make their properties safer.
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:
A couple of City Councilmembers have come up with 11th-hour alternatives to the city's proposed smoking ban, which council is supposed to take up tomorrow. The proposal would ban smoking at all workplaces in Houston, including restaurants and bars; exceptions would be patio areas and businesses designated as tobacconists or cigar bars.
During yesterday's City Council meeting, many councilmembers took the chance to offer their condolences to the family of Rodney Johnson, the HPD officer who police say was killed by an illegal immigrant during a traffic stop last week — but gilt-haired Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs went one step farther, saying Mayor Bill White should use Johnson's death as a platform to change the police department's policy on immigrants. And that didn't sit well with other councilmembers,...
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...
KHOU checks in today on a problem we've never heard of: a city ordinance that forbids kennels to operate within 100 feet of houses, churches, schools and hospitals. It's a law that doesn't matter to most people, but kennel owners sure feel its effects — if someone comes along and builds a house, church, school or hospital next door to an existing kennel, the kennel is forced to shut down under the current rules.
A proposal to tighten the city's midnight curfew for juveniles is a step closer to becoming law: Yesterday, the City Council's Public Safety Committee approved the proposed ordinance, meaning it will likely be up for a full council vote next month — with Mayor Bill White's support. The proposal would institute a 10 p.m. weekday and 11 p.m. weekend curfew for kids younger than 17; those 17 and older wouldn't be subject to the law....
prostitution would take place. After all, these days it's getting harder to tell the hookers from the non-hookers. That's apparently the concern of some councilmembers:
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