Houston Blogs: Houston Political Blog

Chopper Pilots: We need new helicopters!

Update: The City Council voted in favor of giving these guys helicopters.  Council Member Pam Holm was the only person voting against the new choppers.  Holm says she's all for the choppers, but didn't like the financial structure under which they would be purchased.

The majority of HPD's helicopter corps showed up at City Hall today.  Dressed in their sharp blue uniforms, the guys patiently listened to un-related city hall stuff for hours. (They looked cheerful!) They are, of course, waiting for the crucial City Council ordinance that would give these officers six new helicopters.  Although the itme was tagged last week, it should pass today.  Maybe then HPD can retire some fo the choppers that are more than 25 years old.

Chopper Pilots: We need new helicopters!

Update: The City Council voted in favor of giving these guys helicopters.  Council Member Pam Holm was the only person voting against the new choppers.  Holm says she's all for the choppers, but didn't like the financial structure under which they would be purchased.

The majority of HPD's helicopter corps showed up at City Hall today.  Dressed in their sharp blue uniforms, the guys patiently listened to un-related city hall stuff for hours. (They looked cheerful!) They are, of course, waiting for the crucial City Council ordinance that would give these officers six new helicopters.  Although the itme was tagged last week, it should pass today.  Maybe then HPD can retire some fo the choppers that are more than 25 years old.

Chopper Pilots: We need new helicopters!

Update: The City Council voted in favor of giving these guys helicopters.  Council Member Pam Holm was the only person voting against the new choppers.  Holm says she's all for the choppers, but didn't like the financial structure under which they would be purchased.

The majority of HPD's helicopter corps showed up at City Hall today.  Dressed in their sharp blue uniforms, the guys patiently listened to un-related city hall stuff for hours. (They looked cheerful!) They are, of course, waiting for the crucial City Council ordinance that would give these officers six new helicopters.  Although the itme was tagged last week, it should pass today.  Maybe then HPD can retire some fo the choppers that are more than 25 years old.

Chopper Pilots: We need new helicopters!

Update: The City Council voted in favor of giving these guys helicopters.  Council Member Pam Holm was the only person voting against the new choppers.  Holm says she's all for the choppers, but didn't like the financial structure under which they would be purchased.

The majority of HPD's helicopter corps showed up at City Hall today.  Dressed in their sharp blue uniforms, the guys patiently listened to un-related city hall stuff for hours. (They looked cheerful!) They are, of course, waiting for the crucial City Council ordinance that would give these officers six new helicopters.  Although the itme was tagged last week, it should pass today.  Maybe then HPD can retire some fo the choppers that are more than 25 years old.

I met that guy...

I was covering City Hall and the METRO announcement yesterday when I heard about the police chase and shooting.  Having covered my share of these news events, my ears perked up when I heard about Helfman River Oaks being involved in the story.  According to reporters who covered the story, the suspect in the chase was a close friend of Alan Helfman, and would often hang out at the dealership.

That's when I realized, "I've met that guy just last week!"  Seeing a photo of the man only reinforced the realization.  We were doing a story about the Kirby construction woes last Wednesday, and went inside Helfman dealership looking for Alan.  He wasn't there, but his dad was.  Sitting inside his dad's office was this guy, in a suit, in his 50's, chatting away.  We all talked about the problems with Kirby construction for about 10 minutes, and he was very knowledgeable.  I wanted to interview him, but everyone at the dealership said to wait until Alan came back from a business trip.  So, we left.. and headed to Goode Company BBQ to look for Levi Goode.

The exact details of what happened yesterday are still being sorted out.  In the next few weeks, facts from all sides will no doubt clarify the situation.  Just like the rest of you, I'll be interested in finding out.. especially after that chance encounter.

I met that guy...

I was covering City Hall and the METRO announcement yesterday when I heard about the police chase and shooting.  Having covered my share of these news events, my ears perked up when I heard about Helfman River Oaks being involved in the story.  According to reporters who covered the story, the suspect in the chase was a close friend of Alan Helfman, and would often hang out at the dealership.

That's when I realized, "I've met that guy just last week!"  Seeing a photo of the man only reinforced the realization.  We were doing a story about the Kirby construction woes last Wednesday, and went inside Helfman dealership looking for Alan.  He wasn't there, but his dad was.  Sitting inside his dad's office was this guy, in a suit, in his 50's, chatting away.  We all talked about the problems with Kirby construction for about 10 minutes, and he was very knowledgeable.  I wanted to interview him, but everyone at the dealership said to wait until Alan came back from a business trip.  So, we left.. and headed to Goode Company BBQ to look for Levi Goode.

The exact details of what happened yesterday are still being sorted out.  In the next few weeks, facts from all sides will no doubt clarify the situation.  Just like the rest of you, I'll be interested in finding out.. especially after that chance encounter.

I met that guy...

I was covering City Hall and the METRO announcement yesterday when I heard about the police chase and shooting.  Having covered my share of these news events, my ears perked up when I heard about Helfman River Oaks being involved in the story.  According to reporters who covered the story, the suspect in the chase was a close friend of Alan Helfman, and would often hang out at the dealership.

That's when I realized, "I've met that guy just last week!"  Seeing a photo of the man only reinforced the realization.  We were doing a story about the Kirby construction woes last Wednesday, and went inside Helfman dealership looking for Alan.  He wasn't there, but his dad was.  Sitting inside his dad's office was this guy, in a suit, in his 50's, chatting away.  We all talked about the problems with Kirby construction for about 10 minutes, and he was very knowledgeable.  I wanted to interview him, but everyone at the dealership said to wait until Alan came back from a business trip.  So, we left.. and headed to Goode Company BBQ to look for Levi Goode.

The exact details of what happened yesterday are still being sorted out.  In the next few weeks, facts from all sides will no doubt clarify the situation.  Just like the rest of you, I'll be interested in finding out.. especially after that chance encounter.

I met that guy...

I was covering City Hall and the METRO announcement yesterday when I heard about the police chase and shooting.  Having covered my share of these news events, my ears perked up when I heard about Helfman River Oaks being involved in the story.  According to reporters who covered the story, the suspect in the chase was a close friend of Alan Helfman, and would often hang out at the dealership.

That's when I realized, "I've met that guy just last week!"  Seeing a photo of the man only reinforced the realization.  We were doing a story about the Kirby construction woes last Wednesday, and went inside Helfman dealership looking for Alan.  He wasn't there, but his dad was.  Sitting inside his dad's office was this guy, in a suit, in his 50's, chatting away.  We all talked about the problems with Kirby construction for about 10 minutes, and he was very knowledgeable.  I wanted to interview him, but everyone at the dealership said to wait until Alan came back from a business trip.  So, we left.. and headed to Goode Company BBQ to look for Levi Goode.

The exact details of what happened yesterday are still being sorted out.  In the next few weeks, facts from all sides will no doubt clarify the situation.  Just like the rest of you, I'll be interested in finding out.. especially after that chance encounter.

METRO dumps one contractor for another

I've been hearing rumblings about this for a while, and today, it happened. In a hastily called press conference this afternoon METRO dropped a major announcement:  It's parting ways with its current contractor, and going with another company.

METRO CEO Frank Wilson held the press conference.  He announced that after spending $77 million dollars with the Washington Group (WGI), METRO is switching to Parsons.  Wilson insists that everything is on schedule, and the transition will be a smooth one.  He also tried to convince a skeptical press corps that since METRO owns all of the work done by WGI up to this point, none of the money spent up until now has been lost.  So, why did METRO decide to dump WGI? Here are the three main reasons.

1.  Too expensive.  Apparently, the price WGI wanted for contract work is "hundreds of millions" higher that what was quoted in the original METRO Solutions plan.

2. Not willing to assume enough risk.  This is another disagreement on money, mainly, how much risk WGI was willing to shoulder should something go wrong during construction.

3. Not sensitive to local minority sub-contractor process.  Wilson says WGI didn't really understand and wasn't willing to be sensitive to local sub-contractors.

METRO insists the change will be better for tax payers, because nobody wants sub par work. It also insists that everything is on schedule.  However, I did find it peculiar that it was unwilling to tell us what the news conference was about until we got there.  METRO didn't even tell some of its own Vice Presidents what the topic was about.  Nobody at City Hall, including the Mayor's office, was told about the news conference either. 

METRO dumps one contractor for another

I've been hearing rumblings about this for a while, and today, it happened. In a hastily called press conference this afternoon METRO dropped a major announcement:  It's parting ways with its current contractor, and going with another company.

METRO CEO Frank Wilson held the press conference.  He announced that after spending $77 million dollars with the Washington Group (WGI), METRO is switching to Parsons.  Wilson insists that everything is on schedule, and the transition will be a smooth one.  He also tried to convince a skeptical press corps that since METRO owns all of the work done by WGI up to this point, none of the money spent up until now has been lost.  So, why did METRO decide to dump WGI? Here are the three main reasons.

1.  Too expensive.  Apparently, the price WGI wanted for contract work is "hundreds of millions" higher that what was quoted in the original METRO Solutions plan.

2. Not willing to assume enough risk.  This is another disagreement on money, mainly, how much risk WGI was willing to shoulder should something go wrong during construction.

3. Not sensitive to local minority sub-contractor process.  Wilson says WGI didn't really understand and wasn't willing to be sensitive to local sub-contractors.

METRO insists the change will be better for tax payers, because nobody wants sub par work. It also insists that everything is on schedule.  However, I did find it peculiar that it was unwilling to tell us what the news conference was about until we got there.  METRO didn't even tell some of its own Vice Presidents what the topic was about.  Nobody at City Hall, including the Mayor's office, was told about the news conference either.