In its never-ending quest to nickel and dime Houstonians out of every last dollar, the City of Houston recently announced that it will begin charging for some of the parking spaces at Memorial Park. The City has said that the revenue will help maintain the park. This is absurd on so many different levels that I hardly know where to start.
First, the numbers. The plan is to meter 572 spaces, about a quarter of the total spaces in the park. The charge will be one dollar for three hours. So, let’s assume all of the spaces were used 12 hours a day, 365 days per year. That would bring in about $800,000. Of course, it will not be anywhere close to that. From my experience going to Memorial Park, I would guess that a third of that time would be a generous guess. If so, that would bring in $200,000-$300,000 per year.
But, of course. all of that is not “profit.” According to the City’s latest budget, it spends about 63 cents for every dollar of parking fees it collects. So, in other words, the City will be lucky if it clears $100,000 per year from this venture.
That is about 2 thousandths of one percent of the City’s annual budget. Eliminating just one of the thousands of bureaucrats at City Hall would save us more than the revenue this incredible inconvenience will net.
Of course, the need for more money to maintain Memorial Park begs the question of where is all the money that the Uptown TIRZ was supposed to kick in as part of the 2013 deal to add ten years to its life (and to the misery of the Galleria residents). The current City-approved budget for the Uptown TIRZ has a measly $280,000 (less than 1% of its budget) for “Park Project Program Management.” God save us any more City project managers. How about hiring some guys to pick up the trash or maintain the roads and the trails?
Also, charging for parking is incredibly discriminatory against those who do not live close enough to walk or bike to Memorial Park. The City already spends a disproportionate amount of its parks budget on the “Golden Bowl” (a term dubbed by community activists for Buffalo Bayou, Hermann and Memorial parks – more on that in the near future). Charging outlying residents for access to Memorial Park exacerbates the discriminatory effect of City concentrating its park investments in the Golden Bowl.
Lastly, let me just assure you that this is the proverbial nose under the camel’s tent. What do you think the odds are that the City will be back in no time increasing both the number of spaces that will be metered and the hourly rate? And, of course, be prepared to pay a few parking tickets along the way.
The City does not seem to understand that most people have a choice of where they live and open businesses. For the last twenty years, the City’s growth has been declining, outpaced by its suburbs and other major cities in Texas. Last year it virtually ground to a halt, with the City only adding only 7,000 net new residents. And that was before Hurricane Harvey took its toll.
According to the Greater Houston Partnership, Harris County suffered a net domestic out-migration of over 45,000 residents last year.[i]
Obviously, the decision to charge for parking in Houston’s most iconic park is a trivial matter in and of itself. But it is symbolic and symptomatic of a larger issue. When you have high property taxes, widespread drainage problems despite residents paying $100 million per year in drainage fees, a police force that does not patrol most neighborhoods and only solves 6% of the burglary cases, streets that look like they should be in the Third World, ambulances breaking down on the way to the hospital . . . I could go on . . . at some point residents reach a breaking point and decide to vote with their feet. Clearly, for many residents, Houston has already reached that point.
[i] “Net Domestic Migration” is the number of individuals who move to Houston from other areas of the United States. It does not include individuals who moved here from a foreign country. The GHP reports that the net international migration for the County was a positive 34,000, resulting in a negative net migration for the County of just over 10,000. The Census Bureau does not break this down municipalities, so we cannot determine how much of out-migration for the County was attributable to the City only. [click here to full report].
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Last night a flood victim received a political Pro Pension Obligation Bond live land line phone call. Somehow the pro pension bond people have a list of flood victims. The flood victim was told they needed to keep our promise to the first responders, the flood victim then hung up.
There is a concern that a FEMA flood list or a City of Houston list is being used for political purposes. The question is how the pro pension obligation bond campaign being run by Sylvester Turner got the list and who authorized it’s use. There are others collecting information on flood victims, including the City of Houston. Any number of organizations could have given the list to the pro pension obligation folks.
Using this list is obscene and I sure hope the tactic back fires on the pro pension bond campaign. Victimizing people twice or really three times when you include the amount of taxes squandered by the City of Houston is despicable.
*PLEASE SHARE!* TONIGHT this year's 3rd Quarterly Executive Committee meeting of the Harris County Republican Party is broadcast *LIVE* right here on Facebook. Watch gavel to gavel coverage of this momentous gathering as new precinct chairs are sworn in, issues affecting all of Harris County and Texas are discussed, and resolutions are debated and adopted. Send us your comments and questions!
Lt. Dan and Senator Huffman speak in the beginning of the video and a series of votes on the resolution language begins at the 2:18.55 mark (or -21:29, depending on how your viewer works).
Dan Patrick and his political consultant Allen Blakemore were working the room when I arrived. I visited with a couple of folks trying to see if I missed anything.
Patrick definitely misread the room. I watched Lt. Dan speak with folks, making his point and moving on to the next person. Folks would nod in agreement and Patrick would move over to someone else. I knew Patrick and Huffman would not bother to stay until the resolution was heard, they didn’t. Of course, the Exec Committee would do what Dan said he did not need to stay. “I am Dan Patrick, and you know Hurricane Harvey was really bad and I am off to get an update from the Governor.” And then there was poor Senator Huffman who Lt. Dan left helplessly trying to explain all the good work of the elitist Republican establishment types. You know, the big government, pro-illegal immigration, C-Club contractor crowd – self-interest types. The folks who have completely messed everything up to date, those guys. Senator Huffman kept pointing over to her left at some of these folks. I am still convinced that Joan has noclue what her pension bill does or how it works. Her nails and hair looked good though.
The new number in cuts is now $2.54 billion in cuts from the unions, according to Senator Huffman. I am going to find the guy who can explain them to me. I am pretty sure I can’t go to Senator Huffman. Sly Turner says the number is $1.4 billion, he’s real liberal you know. Ole Sly used to tell folks it was $1.9 billion. I am pretty sure you would hear no number if their audiences contained both Republicans and Democrats.
The grassroots of the Republican Party had lost their way in the wilderness, but they found their way home last night. This was a big defeat for Dan Patrick who has lost his way too. I am tired of being upset with Dan and Joan. I just want them to find their way home or not. The grassroots of our local party is smart, and they figured out that they may not be able to afford to be friends with the police anymore. Dan and Joan don’t see this because the police pay them to hang out. It’s kind of like a neighbor who has joined a new country club and they only invite certain of their old neighbors to come hang out. Some friends are invited for their company while others are invited because they are expected to pay up and join. Of course, there are those that just can’t afford it.
Hurricane Harvey had suddenly re-prioritized the importance of good fiscal government. Government thinks they are the answer to everything, they are not. We are the can-do spirit that made Houston and Texas great. The politics of hurricanes is always interesting. The grassroots activists who are the Harris County Republican Party are fighters. A lot of folks in the room had been flooded out and had lost their homes and businesses. The last thing anyone wanted to hear about was pension bonds. Where are Kevin Shuvalov and Chris Beavers when you need them?
I would like to thank the Harris County Republican Party Executive Committee who voted against the pension obligation bonds. In case you don’t know there are 600 plus members. This was a big message and I appreciate it! Thank you! Special shout out to Rolando Garcia who spoke eloquently to defeat the proposal. Again, congratulations to the men and women of the Harris County Republican Party.
Mayor Sylvester Turner is moonwalking back the proposed “disaster tax”. The Mayor announced at this mornings Houston City Council meeting the rate will be cut in half. The debris removal costs are the supposed impetus of the proposed “disaster tax”. The total costs are estimated to be 259 million dollars of which 26 million is not reimbursed by the Feds for debris removal. According to the Mayor, general contractors are being paid $11.69 a ton for debris removal, the original contract was for $7.69. Many sub contractors are involved in the process. Turner sought to blindly hand a 60 million dollar emergency item contract to an obscure contractor that has been paid 98 million dollars under an evergreen contractor with the City. The contractor is DRC out of New Orleans who owns no trucks?
Councilmember Mike Knox is the hero again pointing out that the City has a catastrophic insurance policy to cover the damages associated with Hurricane Harvey. Councilmember Knox has repeatedly asked for the policy from City of Houston finance director Kelly Dowe. Councilmember Knox has been all over this and his work has not gone unnoticed. Councilmember Knox, Please let us know what the policy covers so we can determine the amount of lying going on about the cost of Harvey.
Councilmember Dave Martin is very worried about the billion dollar pension bond and the City’s credit rating. US Attorney look here too! Council Member Martin has been a big proponent of big spending and now his major concern is preserving a fund balance so the credit rating agencies do not raise the rate for the pension obligation bonds. His time would be much better spent telling Kingwood residents that the billion dollar pension bonds will cause a tax increase and makes millionaires out of police officers and in many cases multi-millionaires. The bond does nothing for Harvey recovery, it is a direct transfer of your wealth to employees of the City. Martin is a very large recipient of campaign contributions from public employee unions.
The question of DRC as the general contractor for debris removal came up on a contract for 60 million dollars as an emergency item. The fact they own no trucks was brought up by Councilmember Kubosh. Mayor Turner was brow beating Councilmembers to vote for the contract. The councilmembers questioned the details of the contract. Turner threatened the members that they are being evaluated. Fiscal responsibility is not a strong suit of the City. Again US Attorney’s office pay attention because apparently this company is re-trading the previous negotiated deal at $7.69 per ton. DRC is a company out of New Orleans Louisiana. The item for was tagged by Councilmember Larry Green, the tag was upheld.
There was a lot of unseen politics occurring and the obvious question is where did DRC come from, who are they, and whose pockets are being lined. Again, think federal inmate Ray Nagin, now federal inmate number 32751-034, at the federal prison in Texarkana.
Mayor Turner wants to raise your property taxes by 15.3{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} to pay for storm related debris removal. The Federal government has agreed to reimburse the City of Houston for debris removal.
There are three public hearings necessary to enact the tax. Here are the dates and times on the hearings;
September 26th, at 6:00pm October 3rd, at 6:00pm and October 11th at 9:00am.
All will be held at City Hall
I will be writing more on this shortly. Please mark your calendars and if your home flooded please come tell the Mayor and the Council how you feel about money grabs. You may want to ask the Mayor what happened to the 900 million dollars collected for the “Rain Tax”.
Houston Community College Board Trustee Christopher W. Oliver was indicted in the Southern District of Texas on March 9, 2017. In May, Oliver pleaded guilty to count 2 of the indictment. This is arguably the most important public corruption case in the Houston area since Commissioner Jerry Eversole admitted to lying to FBI agents in 2011. One interesting connection – both cases involve the ESPA Corporation.
Count 1 of the Oliver indictment contains a weird reference to K.S. – a “victim” who paid Oliver over $77,000. People paying bribes are typically not referred to as victims; so, this is rather curious. Another interesting tidbit is the ESPA Corporation, formerly owned by Harris County Commissioner El Franco Lee, was sold to a man by the name of Karun Sreerama a.k.a. K.S. Former Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole was also a paid employee of ESPA Corporation.
Sreerama serves on the boards of the Houston Downtown Management District, Houston Community College Foundation, the American Council of Engineering Companies of Houston, and the Indo American Political Action Committee of Greater Houston. All of these affiliations denote lots of money being handed out to politicians, probably for very little work. Think pay to play. In 2011, Mr. Sreerama’s company, ESPA, did a two million dollar facility study for HCC. Basically, he was paid two million dollars to determine whether another HCC campus should be built. The answer is clearly no because HCC cannot fill up the classrooms they have now.
Getting back to Mr. Oliver, realize that he pleaded guilty on May 15 in Judge Vanessa Gilmore’s court. This means that Mr. Oliver has been walking the free earth after pleading guilty to a federal felony bribery charge. Mr. Oliver has been attending HCC board meetings and voting on board items after pleading guilty to bribery. HCC had a board meeting on May 25 and June 15. There was also a board retreat he presumably attended. You can bet your bottom dollar that he was wearing a wire. Looking at the board minutes, Vice Chairman Christopher Oliver voted on a number of issues.
Reading the minutes Oliver noted that he attended the HCC graduation and various community activities in his district. He left out a few important activities such as his arrest and his appearance before federal Judge Vanessa Gilmore where he pleaded guilty to federal felony bribery charges involving HCC. This will no doubt win him the adoration of his fellow board members. Were they aware of his arrest? Were they aware of his plea? Did Oliver tell Jarvis Hollingsworth, the board’s lawyer, about his arrest and plea? What board votes were taken following Oliver’s guilty plea?
that Mr. Oliver has been walking the free earth after pleading guilty to a federal felony bribery charge. Mr. Oliver has been attending HCC board meetings and voting on board items after pleading guilty to bribery. HCC had a board meeting on May 25 and June 15. There was also a board retreat he presumably attended. You can bet your bottom dollar that he was wearing a wire. Looking at the board minutes, Vice Chairman Christopher Oliver voted on a number of issues.
Reading the minutes Oliver noted that he attended the HCC graduation and various community activities in his district.