if you watched any TV at all the last few days, you know about the angr that's erupted over sevral racially charged incidents at the Houston Fire Department. Mayor Bill White reponded today, and you can catch up to my colleague Andy Cerota's work here.
However, I've been interested in the wide variety of responses from City Council members. Read this letter from Council Member Jolanda Jones, the most vocal of the bunch.
Commissioners Court in downtown Houston was a busy place today. The ongoing drought conditions caused commissioners to unanimously pass a burn ban for the county. It will be in place for 90 days. Less certain, but more contentious, is what will happen with your Fourth of July fireworks.
County Judge Ed Emmett is considering a wide ranging ban on the use and sale of fireworks. The concern, obviously, is that amateur fireworks can be a big fire hazard given the dry spell. However, the people who run these fireworks stands testified emotionally at Commissioners Court that they don't wan the ban to happen.
The fireworks stand operators also brought along a bunch of kids from area high school bands. Many of these kids volunteer to sell fireworks during the summer. In return, the fireworks operators give a percentage of those profits to the band booster clubs. It's a major fundraiser for the bands, who use the money to pay for school trips, etc. Judge Emmett says he'll be making the decision soon, but it will be based on safety, not what is good for business.
On a different note, the Court did pass an ethics reform plan. There's been much controversy over the lack of ethics standards in Harris County ever since the scandals over former District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal as well as questionable emails from the staff of former Sheriff Tommy Thomas. Since then, ethics reform has been a stickler in the County, but with very little movement. The formation of an ethics review committee and the promise to put more data online for the public are important changes. Whether any of that will become reality... let's hope so.
Let's get a few things straight, the media doesn't decide what city facilities close. Council members do. They are elected to make the tough decisions, and face the good and the bad reactions from their constituents.
Last week, several media outlets, including this one, reported that the City Council is looking into the possibility of closing Brock Golf Course on the North side. Our information comes from an amendment offered by Council Member Anne Clutterbuck, which requested a study of all golf courses owned by the city. Although the amendment doesn't name Brock, several council members told us the original target of the amendment is Brock Golf Course. The Mayor didn't deny it during his news conference, and it was further confirmed by people inside the Parks Department, and many others as well.
Fast forward a week later, and a lot of concerned community members went to City Hall to voice their concerns about the potential course closure. That's when Council Member Jarvis Johnson, whose district Brock resides in, blamed the media for spreading false reports that Brock could close. He continued that line of attack today, claiming the media erroneously reported that Brock is on the chopping block, and that other Council Members left him out of the loop.
Well, late this afternoon, I got a hold of a copy of the original amendment before it was changed. It specifically talks about closing Brock. Every council member got a copy of this original amendment. See the photo below. Click to enlarge. The media did not make it up.
While no member of the media is perfect, no one has questioned any of our reporting, nor the reporting of other media outlets on this issue. That's because it was true. In fact, this afternoon, the entire City Council spent a ton of time on the Brock golf course and other golf courses. Council Member Toni Lawrence talked about how much money Brock is losing every year. Council Member Sue Lovell talked about turning Brock into a park, and on and on.
I can understand why it's difficult for one council member to explain to his community why a golf course should or should not close. However, don't blame the media. We didn't come up with the idea of closing a golf course, and we certainly don't get a vote on the issue. We just reported the facts. Facts that Council Member Jarvis Johnson knew full well. In the end, the public outcry led the amendment to be tabled. The golf course stays. Your elected officials spent two hours talking about it.
I had the great pleasure of moderating a mayoral forum last night, focusing on the subject of the Arts. The event was held at the Museum of Fine Arts, and featured all four announced candidates for Houston Mayor. My thanks to Nancy Sims for inviting me, and to Ed Schipul for the photos.
It may seem surprising that you can spend more than an hour talking about Arts related issues, but that's exactly what we did. The discussions ranged from the Hotel Occupancy Tax to METRO. In general, the candidates all said they supported the arts (wouldn't you?) All said the current partial use of the HOT taxes for tourism related art spending is appropriate. However, no one was willing to make any promises about spending extra city dollars for arts related activities.
T he candidates were limited to one minute responses, and for the most part, they complied. Council Member Peter Brown tended to run a bit long, but better than his well known rambling tendencies at City Hall. Brown, of course, is heavily involved in the Opera, the Menil, and has quite an art collection. Controller Annise Parker spent time between questions taking lots of notes. She gave very thought out responses, and talked a lot about her involvement in civic arts. Roy Morales caused some rumblings when he said he didn't support light rail. As for Gene Locke, he pointed out that his kids are actors and artists.
Sometimes the simplest questions can be the most telling. A member of the audience asked what the last art related event each candidate went to. Parker said she had tickets to the Dominic Walsh Dance Theater last weekend, but couldn't make it. Brown pointed out he was endorsed recently by none other than super-artist George Clinton. Locke took the opportunity to tell the audience that his daughter is publishing a book, and he'll be going to her book signing. Morales, though, couldn't come up with a significant answer. He fumbled around a bit before stating that he went to an Ambassador's Club gala recently, and there was a dance performance during the gala.
Overall, I thought all the candidates performed fairly well. Granted, this wasn't a grilling, but careful listeners would have heard obvious differences among the candidates. Some audience members told me that they thought Locke should have smiled more. Others said they were surprised that Brown stayed fairly on topic. Still, no major gaffes among the four candidates.
“We’re fed up in Texas, fed up in America!”
That’s how Governor Rick Perry began his day on Wednesday, during all the Austin area Tea Parties. Gov. Perry certainly rallied the Republican base on Wednesday, so much so that when someone in the crowd yelled “Secede!” The governor didn’t seem to mind.
Just minutes later on Wednesday, when questioned by a reporter, Perry replied: “We got a great Union, there’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But, if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, who knows what may come out of that.”
Those words reverberated around Austin, and in less than 24 hours, it sent shockwaves across the Country. Locally, Democratic legislators pounced.
“That kind of language at this time, brings up images of an era that isn’t where we want to go,” remarked State Sen. Rodney Ellis. “The Governor of a Southern state, it just brings up an era we’d like to leave behind us.”
Houston area Representative Carol Alvarado called the idea of succession “crazy,” and says the governor was simply playing politics.
“We always like to say that Texas is God’s country,” she said. “But, we’re happy to be part of the United States, and this is strictly political pandering.”
Republicans, as you might expect, had a different reaction. Freshman Representative Allen Fletcher says what Perry meant to say is that he just wanted the rest of the country to be more like Texas.”
“If the people of the United States were more like us, they might be doing a little better,” remarked Fletcher, a fan of Perry. “We’re setting an example for the rest of the country.”
That brings us back to Perry. On Thursday, after signing his first bill, Perry was pummeled with secession questions. Fortunately for Texans, he reaffirmed his love for the country as a whole.
“Texas is part of a great Union and I see no reason for that to change.”
You’ll notice the Governor didn’t exactly back down from his initial statements, however, it’s nice to know we won’t have to get new Texas passports soon just to visit relatives in other states.
Update, this aftenoon, several Asian American advocacy organizations issued a joint press release. It reads in part:
OCA, Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) and the Asian American Legal Defense Fund (AALDEF) express disappointment over Texas Representative Betty Brown’s suggestion at a hearing on April 7 that Asian Americans adopt “names that are easier for Americans to deal with.” ...
“Representative Brown’s comments made clear that she lacks an understanding of Asian American cultures and that she in fact undervalues other cultures,” said OCA Executive Director George Wu.
"It is unacceptable that Representative Brown believes that the burden should be placed upon individual voters to make it easier on poll workers to ensure that the voters get to exercise their right to vote, rather than expecting that the burden lay with the government to do its job correctly," said Terry Ao, director of Census & Voting Programs at the Asian American Justice Center. "Participation in the democratic process should unite all Americans; we should be seeking ways to encourage more voters, not inventing excuses to deny citizens their constitutional right to vote."
--
I wonder if State Rep. Betty Brown has ever hung out with State Rep. Hubert Vo, one of the few Asian Americans in the Texas Legislature. But anyway, Rep. Brown is raising eyebrows after suggesting that Asian American should change their names to make it easier for Americans to deal with. The Associated Press reports the following:
The Texas Democratic Party is demanding an apology from Republican state Rep. Betty Brown , of Terrell, for suggesting Asian-descent voters should adopt names that are "easier for Americans to deal with."
Brown made the comments Tuesday night as the House Elections Committee discussed voter identification legislation. Brown spokesman Jordan Berry said Brown was not making a racially motivated comment but was trying to resolve an identification problem.
The comments came after a representative of the Organization of Chinese Americans , told the committee that people of Asian descent often have problems voting and with forms of identification because of differences in their legal transliterated name and a common English name used on their driver's license.
It will be interesting to see how this filters out. Depending on how aggressively OCA's national chapter goes after this issue, it could make national headlines. Locally, the Voter ID bill has been voted out of Committee. However, whether this will eventually make it out of Calendars, remains to be seen. Democrats in the State House has been actively trying to block this. The comments for Rep. Brown, nomatter what the intentions, will complicate things.
In reality, this really hits a nerve among Asian Americans, who take pride in their family names, just like everyone else. Imagine telling a Polish American that his name needs a few extra vowels, just to make it easier to pronounce.
I snapped some photos using my brand new camera in the last 24 hours or so in Austin. I've made a little slideshow... see if you see yourself, or someone you know. So far, the convention has been a fast paced, go there, dash here, sort of thing for the media. I've been interested in seeing all the Hillary and Obama supporters still so passionate about both candidates. Chelsea Clinton is making an appearance tonight, so that should be very interesting! How will the rest of the convention go? I can't wait to find out who from our area will be heading to Denver.
Want the high quality picture of your smiling face? Leave me a comment with email info. Enjoy!
I snapped some photos using my brand new camera in the last 24 hours or so in Austin. I've made a little slideshow... see if you see yourself, or someone you know. So far, the convention has been a fast paced, go there, dash here, sort of thing for the media. I've been interested in seeing all the Hillary and Obama supporters still so passionate about both candidates. Chelsea Clinton is making an appearance tonight, so that should be very interesting! How will the rest of the convention go? I can't wait to find out who from our area will be heading to Denver.
Want the high quality picture of your smiling face? Leave me a comment with email info. Enjoy!
Update: 5:00 pm Responding to commenters as to why I didn't cover the Hubert Vo controversy, and now covering this one.. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know I was in China all last week, kind of hard to cover an elected official when I'm on the other side of the world (and my blog's being blocked by the Chinese censors.) And yes, Borris Miles is a Democrat.. I thought everyone knew that. Now, back to the issue at hand. No, Miles has not turned himself in yet. And despite the fact that he's been shopping for a big name criminal defense attorney in the past few months (serious, serious shopping), he hasn't hired one yet, as far as we know.
Update: 4:00 pm We hear arrest warrent has been issued for Miles.
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- State Representative Borris Miles has been indicted on two counts of deadly conduct. The indictments stem from two different incidents on the same day back in December. The first incident happened during a Rockets/Mavericks game at Toyota Center. At a facility lounge, Miles allegedly pulled a gun on TSU regent Willard Jackson's wife. The second incident took place at a party thrown by businessman David Harris later that same night. At the party, Miles allegedly pulled a gun on Harris.
Apparently, Miles alledgedly pulled the gun inside the swanky Lexus Lounge at the Toyota Center. They then moved on to the St. Regis hotel, where the alledged incidents there have been well documented. Stay Tuned!
Update: 5:00 pm Responding to commenters as to why I didn't cover the Hubert Vo controversy, and now covering this one.. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know I was in China all last week, kind of hard to cover an elected official when I'm on the other side of the world (and my blog's being blocked by the Chinese censors.) And yes, Borris Miles is a Democrat.. I thought everyone knew that. Now, back to the issue at hand. No, Miles has not turned himself in yet. And despite the fact that he's been shopping for a big name criminal defense attorney in the past few months (serious, serious shopping), he hasn't hired one yet, as far as we know.
Update: 4:00 pm We hear arrest warrent has been issued for Miles.
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- State Representative Borris Miles has been indicted on two counts of deadly conduct. The indictments stem from two different incidents on the same day back in December. The first incident happened during a Rockets/Mavericks game at Toyota Center. At a facility lounge, Miles allegedly pulled a gun on TSU regent Willard Jackson's wife. The second incident took place at a party thrown by businessman David Harris later that same night. At the party, Miles allegedly pulled a gun on Harris.
Apparently, Miles alledgedly pulled the gun inside the swanky Lexus Lounge at the Toyota Center. They then moved on to the St. Regis hotel, where the alledged incidents there have been well documented. Stay Tuned!
Recent Comments