Houblog

Everything old is new again…

An unpopular foriegn war going on, which the left sees as un-winnable.
The DOJ is being heavily politicized, ignoring friends of the president and punishing his foes.
High unemployment, low growth, and inflation is on the way up — stagflation.
The occupant of the White House is unpopular, spiteful, and operates (at best) on the borders of legality.
That president is dealing with a hostile congress that is trying to cripple his programs.
The vice-president is seen as a bumbling fool.
Foreign powers hostile to us don’t consider us credible, and our allies are wavering.

Sigh, how are we ever going to get Nixon out of the White House?

Oh wait, Dan Rather is in the president’s corner this time… well, that’s one change, not for the better.

Per the City of Houston, the drainage projects will be discussed at CIP meetings during February and March. Sorry for the formatting. Here’s the schedule. Note that it’s in order by council district,not date. Also note that none of the at-large council members are holding such meetings. Don’t see any reason to, or afraid to step on their district bretheren’s toes? Still it’s a shame they can’t do a better job of meeting their constituents.

These meetings are starting this MONDAY NIGHT 2/14.

2011 CIP Public Meetings Schedule

The City of Houston will conduct combined public meetings on the City’s FY2011 Annual Operating Budget Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and 2011 Annual Consolidated Plan. Since 1984, the City has held public meetings to obtain citizen input before preparation of the operating budget and capital improvement plan. These meetings provide citizens the opportunity to participate in the budget process by contributing comments and suggestions about needed services and improvements.

DISTRICT / COUNCIL MEMBER 2011 DATE(S) LOCATION(S) / MAP(S) LINK (go here for the links and a better formatted verison)
A - Brenda Stardig Mon., Feb. 28 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Spring Woods High School 2045 Gessner Drive

B - Jarvis Johnson Thu., Feb. 24 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Kashmere Multi-Service Center 4802 Lockwood

C - Anne Clutterbuck Tue., Mar. 1 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. St. Vincent De Paul Catholic School 6802 Buffalo Speedway

D - Wanda Adams Tue., Feb. 15 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Judson Robinson Jr. Community Center 2020 Hermann Drive

E - Mike Sullivan (2) Mon., Feb. 14 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. CLEAR LAKE J. Frank Dobie High School 10220 Blackhawk

Mon., Feb. 21 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.KINGWOOD Woodridge Baptist Church 5707 Kingwood Drive

F - Al Hoang Wed., Mar. 9 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Sharpstown Community Center 6600 Harbor Town

G - Oliver Pennington Wed., Feb. 23 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Tracy Gee Community Center 3599 Westcenter Drive

H - Ed Gonzalez Tue., Feb. 22 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Jefferson Davis High School (Atrium) 1101 Quitman

I - James G. Rodriguez Wed., Feb. 16 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. E.B. Cape Center 4501 Leeland

than furloughs.

How about we FIX. THE. PENSION. MESS.

Oh, and stop building toy trains, collect the money owed to the city by Metro (over $100m now), stop raising counterproductive taxes for things we don’t need (expensive drainage projects), building stadiums (stadii?) for rich team owners, end bilingual pay, diversity programs, the entire MWBE program & administration therof, sanctuary status, coddling of homeless people… I could go on for a while….

I don’t normally post much on highly technical items, even national security subjects, but this one just couldn’t be allowed to pass. Aboutthe STUXNET worm that is attacking Iran, the poster NobodySpecial at Schneier.com said:

Can anyone think of another area of software development where you would say “my god this a work of breathtaking ingenuity and fiendish cunning - it could only have been written by a civil servant” !!

Heh. No, I can’t.

Oh, but if you want something more fun to think about, here’s something from the UK on those “smart meters” with pre-paid cards:

Criminals across the UK have hacked the new keycard system used to top up pre-payment energy meters and are going door-to-door, dressed as power company workers, selling illegal credit at knock-down prices.

The bad news? Eventually the system figures out it’s being had, and the customer has to pay for the electricity again — this time at the real rate.

Just in case anyone had the idea that a new mayor meant a change in “the Houston Way”, the following message was sent out via Citizen’s Net, an email list you can sign up for on the City’s website. (old messages are also archived at the link).

Dear Citizens of Houston,

Let me assure you that the State of the City is fundamentally strong. Even with the financial challenges facing Houston, I feel comfortable that we have a plan to move our city forward into an “Era of Innovation.”

Without raising property taxes, we will identify ways to streamline, modernize and reform the core functions of municipal government. We will audit city services to identify savings opportunities and I am implementing a Hire Houston First policy to encourage the use of local companies and hiring of local workers for city projects.

We are working with the business community and regional allies to attract and retain jobs as well as stimulate new international business development. Not only do we want to remain the oil and gas capital of the country, we also want to be the sustainable and renewal energy capital. And, work continues to save NASA’s manned space flight Constellation program.

I call upon all citizens to do their part and join Volunteer Houston, an initiative which will utilize citizen support in a variety of city functions. http://www.houstontx.gov/volunteer/index.html

It is a tough economic time, but just as my family persevered when the economy cost my parents their home and their business in the 1980s, I pledge that the City of Houston will balance our budget as we strive to maintain the full faith and credit of all of our citizens.

I respectfully ask for your help.

Annise Parker

Mayor

Read the entire text of the prepared 2010 State of the City address

Edit: Mayor Makes Minor Goof (via KHOU)

You just can’t write this stuff as fiction. Nobody would believe it.

[Metro VP] Skabowski said there was nothing glaring in the driver’s record to indicate she was a bad driver. Out of five accidents she’s had, Metro said she had only been at fault for one, though her record shows she has been disciplined for speeding, as well as turning right on red where it wasn’t allowed.

“Really she’s got a very good record. Metro makes it look worse than it is. But then they charge their drivers for every little thing whether it’s their fault or not,” said David Gollinger, president of the Transport Workers Union of America Local 260.

Golinger argues Metro may, in fact, be too strict with its drivers.

Clearly, my distaste for the modern-day equivalent of a monopolistic medieval trade guild, a.k.a. public sector unions, is too narrowly focused. Equally, I need to start advocating the banning of management.

As we’ve all been told time and again, red light cameras are ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL about the safety, right? Well, KHOU reports that citizen Byron Schrimbeck found an odd safety violation near one camera, located at FM 518 and I-45 South, and decided to document it:

Texas law requires a light be yellow a certain length of time to safely give drivers time to react and stop.

Schirmbeck then called League City Police Chief Michael Jez and Jez asked The Texas Department of Transportation to investigate. TxDot found Schirmbeck was right about the yellow lights being short.

The eight-tenths of a second made a difference in more than 1,700 citations issued between October of last year and March.

Let’s read that again: The eight-tenths of a second made a difference in more than 1,700 citations. Now, this light was apparently supposed to be under the control of TxDOT. I guess that, since the article doesn’t tell us so. Nor does it tell us what the required minimum time is. But the important question is, who made out like bandits from this money-machine, for six months? Note that the article says refunds are being issued — but doesn’t say by whom. Follow the money, KHOU, follow the money. Doesn’t the state get a cut of it, these days? I’m sure League City gets the lion’s share.

One wonders if some bureaucratic tangle will “delay” the checks. Not that I have anything but total faith in the sincerity of our elected and unelected masters when they say “the check is in the mail.”

KHOU and blogHOUSTON have been talking about the city and county’s decrepit land holdings. Maybe they should look more closely at the tool the city uses to acquire and disburse these properties: LARA.

From the minutes of the August 2009 meeting:

Didn’t we already kill that idea a few months before that?

Read the full minutes on the City’s website — the appearance of Jolanda Jones at the meeting, and the board’s discussion of participating in politics by submitting chosen questions to the mayoral candidates through the League of Women Voters are both illuminating…

Try as I might, I can’t find any mention in the minutes of just how much most of these properties are being sold to developers for, except one lot sold at full value ($10,000) and constant references to the “$1 Lot Program.”

To be able to stop referring to Google as the Chinese Oppressor’s Search Portal.

Freaking libtards took this long to figure out that the Chinese government was going to roll them for info? Eeeeeeeediots.

Since March, there have been rumblings inside the City of Houston’s PW&E department that a large shortfall was pending in the Combined Utility System’s funding. The public first learned about the city’s overall budget problems in Bill King’s oped, which we discussed here. The CUS, which is supposed to be independent of the city’s general fund is a separate issue altogether, though certain funding tricks used during the White era make their appearance once again. Specifically: back-loaded borrowing in which the city pays only a little up front, but then faces a balloon note down the road. According to Lee McGuire’s article for KHOU:

…nearly $1 billion in credit must be renegotiated early next year, and debt payments have spiked $50 million above earlier projections. All told, the system currently faces a $100 million cash shortfall – a significant problem for a department that took in $332 million in water bills last year.

“Re-negotiate” is CPA-speak for “re-finance” or “obtain debt relief, rather than default.” Simply put, the city’s rate-payers are about to face the music for years of living off borrowed money. How bad is it? The city has been making ordinary expenditures, such as yearly water meter purchases, from the capital funds instead of operating expenses. In household terms, they’ve borrowed money to pay for the groceries. And while this specific example represents only a tiny portion of the total, it’s one of the ways that total has been accumulated.

Today’s article was based on item #13 on today’s agenda, a proposal to hire consultants McKinsey & Co. to look for inefficiencies in the Public Works Department. This item was tagged and will return on next week’s agenda. Once again, the mayor is proposing to spend a large amount of funds for a questionable purpose. Unfortunately, KHOU’s article contains a few key errors, and some misleading statements. This may simply be the result of deadline pressure, or it may be that not all of the information provided to the press was…. shall we say, totally accurate.

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Some people wonder why a city employee would blog anonymously (on the rare occasions when I still do).

This is why, and the snark didn’t even work for the county….

We already seceded.

Just on the odd chance that anyone has managed to run across my blog without seeing any of the majors today, you need to get your butt over to Michelle Malkin’s place.

Reading this blog has problably resulted in your being designated as an extremeist.

Posting at Houblog:

HB 1388 passed the Senate today. That’s the GIVE act, aka “The Obama Youth Act of 2009.” It will:

“combine the best practices of civilian service with the best aspects of military service,” while establishing “campuses” that serve as “operational headquarters,” complete with “superintendents” and “uniforms” for all participants. It allows for the elimination of all age restrictions in order to involve Americans at all stages of life. And it calls for creation of “a permanent cadre” in a “National Community Civilian Corps.”
But that’s not all. The bill also calls for “youth engagement zones” in which “service learning” is “a mandatory part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the local educational agency.” This updated form of voluntary community service is also to be “integrated into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics curricula” at all levels of schooling.

(DC Examiner Editorial, emphasis added)

So in other words, it doesn’t matter whether your kid enrolls in it or not, they’re still going to get the indoctrination force-fed to them.

Republican senators voting AYE: 22. NAY: 19. That’s right, more than half the Senate’s GOP voted FOR this bill.

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Controller Anise Parker attempts to quell fears over the city’s shaky finances, by talking about how it’s borrowing money from itself!

City investments and debt on solid ground
As anyone with any investments knows, this is not your ordinary financial market. The city has an investment portfolio but also uses debt financing to pay for public works projects and other infrastructure improvements. The ongoing turmoil on Wall Street and within the banking industry requires innovation and quick action on both sides of the ledger.

“I want to assure Houstonians that we are exploring every possible option and taking utmost care with your tax dollars during these difficult times,” Houston City Controller Annise Parker said.

When financing public projects, the city commonly borrows using short-term instruments then watches the market for the best opportunity to convert to long-term fixed-rate financing. Last fall, when the credit markets all but dried up and several banks either failed or were struggling, Mayor White and the city controller announced they would pursue various financing alternatives to keep interest rates on city debt as low as possible.

The controller noted that financing through other governmental entities is one alternative that has been employed successfully. For example, she said the city has purchased the debt of (loaned money to) city governmental partners at Metro and Harris County. Likewise, Harris County and Metro have purchased city debt.

City invests in own debt

Parker said the city’s own investment portfolio holds about $229 million in city debt, made possible because the city maintains segregated funds. Interest rates in the municipal bond market have varied widely. By investing in its own debt, the controller said the city earns 1.5-2%. An earlier purchase of $30 million of Metro debt yielded about 4%, and investment in Harris County Flood Control debt returned 6.25-8%. In comparison, more traditional financing options are yielding less than 1%.

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