Houston Politics

TIRZ mum on purchase of city building on Main

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:07:51 -0600

Mayor Annise Parker, at her weekly press conference on Wednesday, said the city was negotiating the sale of its code enforcement building, at 3300 Main. But Parker seemed to be the only one excited enough about the transaction to talk...

Has your neighborhood dropped in value?

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:00:55 -0600

Yesterday, the Harris County Appraisal District released its latest estimate of what countywide property values will be this year. Here's our story. The data are important for local governments, which are funded mainly by property taxes, but also for homeowners...

Blog makeover on the way

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:24:01 -0600

This weekend, chron.com's system of 360-some blogs will transition to a new format (WordPress, now the most popular blog platform). Most things won't change, but a few things will. I'll let our tech guru Dwight Silverman spell it out: For...

Houston City Council: like herding cats?

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:52:00 -0600

Having dispensed with 39 of the 40 items on Wednesday's agenda in 6 minutes and 14 seconds, city council proceeded to spend the next hour discussing whether and how to accept nominations for the Rebuild Houston Oversight Committee. Rebuild Houston,...

Emmett corrects redistricting letter

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:27:00 -0600

Yesterday we shared a letter Houston Mayor Annise Parker and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett wrote to leaders in Austin asking that Harris County be allowed to keep 25 House districts, rather than shrink to 24, as under the proposal...

Parker and Emmett ask House not to take a Harris County district

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:22:01 -0600

As the Texas House of Representatives prepares to vote on a redistricting map, Houston Mayor Annise Parker and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett have written to House Speaker Joe Straus asking that the county be allowed to keep 25 seats....

Metro ridership lags despite pricy gas

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:08:31 -0600

With gas prices climbing to levels not seen since the painful summer of 2008, you may think Houstonians would be turning to Metro services to save at the pump. But the agency has not yet seen an increase in ridership,...

Those alternative City Council maps

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:03:06 -0600

Latino leaders presented an alternative redistricting map for Houston City Council on Wednesday. Mayor Annise Parker labeled it viable, as did several council members. No map showed up in the printed paper, so we wanted to present it (and two...

Yes to Columbia memorial, no to Schumer

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:36:55 -0600

As my colleague Eric Berger shared in his report on Houston's shuttle snub April 12, Space Center Houston officials hope they may be able to claim remnants of the Columbia orbiter, which disintegrated above Texas in 2003 during its return...

Eversole looks for levity in court meetings

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 11:50:09 -0600

Though Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole still awaits a second trial date in his federal corruption case, the commissioner has made a deliberate effort to lighten the mood at the two court meetings since the first round of legal proceedings...

Hispanics not alone in wariness of redistricting plan

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 13:58:09 -0600

Last week, my colleague Allan Turner and I teamed up on a story about Mayor Annise Parker's initial proposal to draw new districts for Houston City Council. The council will expand from its current nine single-member districts to 11 this...

Deputy chief probably won't run for mayor

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 18:00:00 -0600

Houston Fire Department Deputy Chief Fernando Herrera has filed papers appointing a treasurer for a mayoral campaign fund-raising committee. He was the Republican candidate for District 148 state representative in 2010. He lost to incumbent Jessica Farrar. However, Herrera said...

Councilman not high on shuttle announcement

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:31:59 -0600

Councilman Mike Sullivan says he's a bit pessimistic about tomorrow's scheduled announcement of which cities will receive retired space shuttles. Houston is angling for one of the four. Why pessimistic? Because no one from NASA or the Johnson Space Center...

Patrick bill to add drainage fee exemptions passes Senate

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 12:58:20 -0600

Austin Bureau reporter Peggy Fikac just posted this on the Texas Politics blog. This, of course, comes the day after City Council approved a drainage fee with exemptions for existing churches, schools and most county government facilities. The Texas Senate...

Parker administration lays out redistricting plan

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 10:25:45 -0600

Mayor Annise Parker's administration is presenting its redistricting plan as we speak. To watch, click here Here is a map of the existing council districts: Houston Council districts(function() { var scribd = document.createElement("script"); scribd.type = "text/javascript"; scribd.async = true; scribd.src...