Mr. Polland ignores the fact that for a year Parker could not find any money in a $4 billion budget to test 14 year old rape kits that were lost and then recently found in the police department, nor fix ongoing problems in the police lab so that county prosecutors can take current cases to trial. Meanwhile she is stuffing money into the pockets of the billionaire owner of the soccer team by committing the city to help fund a soccer stadium (a project opposed by his party), and Parker has committed to helping Metro pay for the rail extensions with city property taxes, construction of which the HCRP wants stopped until the higher cost and other changes are approved in a referendum.
Regarding Metro, The agency is hiding the cost of its rail plans, estimated by some as a $6 billion dollar plan, and the disgraced agency turns a blind eye to its own data showing it has been losing ridership since 2007, though it had seen ridership rise over several years as a bus-only system until it began rail construction in 2001.
Mr. Polland admits he endorsed the dedicated "infrastructure fee", which actually is a fund with four revenue streams and includes the notorious drainage fee, and that he wants to keep the red light cameras. The Houston electorate voted on both matters in November 2010, voting YES on the former and NO on the latter. Since that time the public has been informed of many hidden aspects of the infrastructure fee, and passage today would be quite unlikely.
Conservative readers of Mr. Polland's newsletter should wonder about the rating criteria he uses to reach his conclusions.
— Barry Klein