2023 Houston Mayoral Race

[Macklemore 2,898]

1 hour ago, fattyflattie said:

Where else could Detroit go but up?  Traffic aside, Atlanta is nice, and I don’t understand why it’d be mentioned in same regards as anything Detroit. 

All of the growth in the Atlanta metro is outside the city limits. Atlanta was so poorly run and crime ridden that Buckhead, its richest and best neighborhood, had a secession movement that was only stopped because of the state legislature. I rather Houston not follow Atlanta’s lead.

[fattyflattie 4,636]

13 minutes ago, Macklemore said:

All of the growth in the Atlanta metro is outside the city limits. Atlanta was so poorly run and crime ridden that Buckhead, its richest and best neighborhood, had a secession movement that was only stopped because of the state legislature. I rather Houston not follow Atlanta’s lead.

You believe the money would leave RO (and not be immediately replaced) with SJL leadership?   I understand the “more conservative” opponent won, but what are we really talking here?  The money and wealth are going to continue to move into the city, and just bitch about the politics.  Same as it’s always been 

[Macklemore 2,898]

20 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

You believe the money would leave RO (and not be immediately replaced) with SJL leadership?   I understand the “more conservative” opponent won, but what are we really talking here?  The money and wealth are going to continue to move into the city, and just bitch about the politics.  Same as it’s always been 

River Oaks could survive Shejack but the middle class neighborhoods would suffer. Currently, Houston has a good mix of middle class neighborhoods. An average middle class professional moving to the Detroit, Memphis, Atlanta or St Louis metros would never consider living in city limits because of the decay and shitty schools. Thankfully, that’s not the case with Houston. Don’t want to see a hollowed out city with one rich island surrounded by a sea of shit. People would start giving up on Houston as a city with Shejack leading it and we’d be on the path that destroyed the cities listed above.

Edited December 12, 2023 by Macklemore

[fattyflattie 4,636]

Just now, Macklemore said:

River Oaks could survive Shejack but the middle class neighborhoods would suffer. Currently, Houston has a good mix of middle class neighborhoods. An average middle class professional moving to the Detroit, Memphis, Atlanta or St Louis metros would never consider living in city limits because of the decay and shitty schools. Thankfully, that’s not the case with Houston. Don’t want to see a hollowed out city with one rich island surrounded by a sea of shit. People would start giving up on Houston as a city with Shejack leading it and we’d be on path that destroyed the cities listed above.

Let me know when they give up on Rice village, I’ll help stem the outflow.   Seriously, maybe if they outlawed private schools. I cannot fathom it otherwise. Too many people want to save that 30 min commute.  

[tx 3 putt 76,159]

 

[Dnaguy 11,740]

7 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

Paywall

[tx 3 putt 76,159]

Fort Bend Co needs to retire this clwon

 

[tx 3 putt 76,159]

 

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,780]

So by repair they mean bend over and take it up the ass

[tx 3 putt 76,159]

This trend needs to continue …

 

[nbmishoid 930]

Yes, the trend needs to continue.   Yet, it won’t be recognized by the overlords.

[Js1 85,056]

1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

This trend needs to continue …

 

Fox News: DEADLIEST 2023 

[Dnaguy 11,740]

2 hours ago, Js1 said:

Fox News: DEADLIEST 2023 

2023 was the deadliest 2023 ever.

[tokamak 6,350]

Here's a long post by Kuffner that lays out what's probably my biggest concern about Whitmire - namely, that a big part of his campaign was "the state will be nice to us because I'm friendly with them". That comes across as wildly naive to me. So naive as to be almost unbelievable. I suspect that the promise of "cooperation" with the state is a big reason why all the local GOP money lined up behind Whitmire.

Quote

This is a long story that recaps what incoming Mayor John Whitmire promised to do as Mayor, with a bit of analysis about how and when he might try to do them. It’s a good review for anyone who slept through this past year, and while there are things one might quibble about, I’m not here to do that. The election is over, Mayor-elect Whitmire won, and he has earned the right to do the things he said he was going to do. I wish him well and hope he is successful at them, as that would be good for Houston. There will be plenty of time to argue over the details of the various implementations as they come up.

All that said, there is one thing I cannot let go:

Houston’s relationship with the state government in Austin is icy, to say the least.

Turner routinely criticizes Gov. Greg Abbott and the Republican controlled state Legislature over policies that many say target the state’s largest city and its largest source of Democratic votes.

City and Texas leaders have clashed on the recent state takeover of Houston Independent School District, the passage of the “Death Star” law and the passage of a law abolishing Harris County’s Elections Administrator position.

On the campaign trail, Whitmire routinely promised to improve relations between the city and the state, arguing the current vitriol is bad for Houston residents.

Whitmire frequently points to his experience as the longest-serving member in the Legislature as evidence of his bipartisan bonafides. He said he would “use my experience and contacts for all of Houston.”

Since his election, Whitmire has exchanged texts with Abbott and had a conversation with Abbott’s chief of staff, he said.

“They’re ready to sit down and see how they can assist Houston,” Whitmire said. “From Day One, there is going to be much better cooperation between the state and the city, and Houston will benefit.”

I do not believe this. Not for one minute.

Oh, I believe that Whitmire has texted Abbott and his chief of staff, and I believe that they told him that they were ready to work with him. I believe that Whitmire believes them. I don’t understand why he believes that.

I’ve covered this before, and I stand by what I said. There is no incentive for Greg Abbott to change what he says or does about cities in general and Houston in particular. Republican primary voters, who are the only people Abbott cares about, hate cities and think we’re crime-infested vermin holes that should be taken over by the state. Greg Abbott has no incentive to change how he talks about or acts toward the city of Houston, regardless of his existing relationship with John Whitmire.

In a universe of infinite possibilities anything can happen. Maybe Abbott has some undisclosed reservoir of good will towards Whitmire that he’d be willing to extend to his administration. Maybe Abbott recognizes that hatred for a huge part of the state and its economy is a long-term loser for himself and the state of Texas. Maybe Whitmire engineered a pod person takeover of Abbott, the truth of which will be slowly revealed to us all in the coming year.

I dunno. What I do know is that it’s one thing for John Whitmire to ask me, and all of us, to trust him. It’s another thing entirely to ask us to trust Greg Abbott. I cannot, I will not, and I’m not happy that I was asked.

One can certainly argue that the battle between cities and the state government has been bad for the cities. I would agree with that premise. I would also point out that the cities didn’t start this fight, and that under the beliefs that the Republican Party that Greg Abbott came up in, local governments were revered for being closest to the voters and thus given wide latitude for responding to their will. We could also argue about how much of a virtue that was, but the point is that as soon as those local voters started doing things that Greg Abbott and his buddies didn’t like, those old rules went right out the window. What we have now is the result. That’s worked pretty well for Abbott so far. And so I ask again: Why should we believe him when he says he’ll act differently now that John Whitmire is the Mayor of Houston? Why does John Whitmire believe him?

Like I said, I could be wrong. Maybe Abbott et al will let up on introducing even more new laws to make responsive local government a thing that can’t be done in Texas. Maybe that will stop things from getting even worse, but if it puts any kind of damper on the efforts to fight to make things better, it’s not worth it. Ask me again after the 2025 Legislature finally goes home and we’ll see where we are on this.

http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=112788

[Brisketexan 104,465]

4 minutes ago, tokamak said:

Here's a long post by Kuffner that lays out what's probably my biggest concern about Whitmire - namely, that a big part of his campaign was "the state will be nice to us because I'm friendly with them". That comes across as wildly naive to me. So naive as to be almost unbelievable. I suspect that the promise of "cooperation" with the state is a big reason why all the local GOP money lined up behind Whitmire.

TLDR version: stupid Democrats still think that the old rules of politics apply.  Nope, not in MAGA-land.  The only thing that matters to Repub officials is how they look to the base, and the only thing that matters to the base is "how extremist MAGA can you be?"  Success is measured solely in how fucking angry, mean, and destructive of "the other" that you can be.  That's it.  It's the sole measure of value to them.  Working WITH Dems is a huge negative by that measure, so fuck off, Whitmire.  I wish you were right.  But you're wrong.

[tx 3 putt 76,159]

21 minutes ago, tokamak said:

Here's a long post by Kuffner that lays out what's probably my biggest concern about Whitmire - namely, that a big part of his campaign was "the state will be nice to us because I'm friendly with them". That comes across as wildly naive to me. So naive as to be almost unbelievable. I suspect that the promise of "cooperation" with the state is a big reason why all the local GOP money lined up behind Whitmire.

http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=112788

Texas maga gqp needs to be in full control of harris county elections. That’s their only goal 

they need whitmire to play along with the narrative that the county is running elections full of fraud. That gives the state ‘justification’ to take it over 

they want to cut back on dem precincts, purge those precincts of voters and make mail in ballots nearly impossible 

 

Edited January 2 by tx 3 putt

[Js1 85,056]

20 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

make mail in ballots nearly impossible 

They’ve already done that

[tx 3 putt 76,159]

12 minutes ago, Js1 said:

They’ve already done that

for dem precincts. not sure the current numbers, but when i was involved with campaigns R’s far out numbered D’s with mail in ballots   

[Js1 85,056]

So um, Whitmire’s genius plan for pedestrian safety seems to be “favor cars and more cops”

Houston Ave was just the beginning. 11th St is probably next

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,134]

Might be topical to also discuss Sylvester Turner's aide that was sentenced to prison this week for accepting bribes.  More interestingly that he apparently was also cooperating with the FBI and wearing a wire for them for over a year.

[SydneyCarton 47,809]

10 minutes ago, Js1 said:

So um, Whitmire’s genius plan for pedestrian safety seems to be “favor cars and more cops”

Houston Ave was just the beginning. 11th St is probably next

11th street was fine and they turned it into a fucking abortion. 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,391]

9 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

11th street was fine and they turned it into a fucking abortion. 

Yep. I’m in favor of making areas more pedestrian friendly but the solution can’t be taking all 2 lanes roads to 1 lane, especially key traffic arteries.

is it too late to stop the shepherd/Durham project in dropping them to 3 lanes each?

[SydneyCarton 47,809]

4 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Yep. I’m in favor of making areas more pedestrian friendly but the solution can’t be taking all 2 lanes roads to 1 lane, especially key traffic arteries.

is it too late to stop the shepherd/Durham project in dropping them to 3 lanes each?

Nope. 

I'm also for pedestrian friendly, but the amount of resources and space for a city that doesn't have a ton of cyclists becuase it's 100+ degrees out 60% of the year...is dumb. 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,391]

5 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Nope. 

I'm also for pedestrian friendly, but the amount of resources and space for a city that doesn't have a ton of cyclists becuase it's 100+ degrees out 60% of the year...is dumb. 

Past mayor and city councils have followed a Field of Dreams mentality to bicycle use in Houston. If you build it, they will come.

i regularly drive down Waugh, and I’ve never seen anyone on the bike lanes between Allen parkway and west Dallas. I’m sure someone has used them but it must be a rare occurrence.

once again, I’m not opposed to bike lanes but they shouldn’t be on the major streets, or they should be limited. Why in the world do we need a bike lane on Shepherd AND Durham when they are parallel streets and are 2 blocks apart from each other.

 

[Da Fino 2,719]

28 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

11th street was fine and they turned it into a fucking abortion. 

Holy shit. I haven't been to the heights in a few years other than over by TC J. This is absurd. 

 

[Js1 85,056]

My main issue with 11th is that they didn’t connect the bike lanes to the white oak trail. They crazy if they think I’m riding my bike on 11th unprotected from TC Jester to just past Shepherd. Easier and safer to go all the way down to the hike and bike trail and backtrack up to 11th 

[mycox 582]

46 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Yep. I’m in favor of making areas more pedestrian friendly but the solution can’t be taking all 2 lanes roads to 1 lane, especially key traffic arteries.

is it too late to stop the shepherd/Durham project in dropping them to 3 lanes each?

3 lanes each will work. You don't need to go 50mph down Shepherd. Traffic will flow just fine.

11th was a bit much - one bike lane would work, but something needed to be done to slow down that traffic.

Edited February 8 by mycox

[SydneyCarton 47,809]

1 hour ago, Js1 said:

My main issue with 11th is that they didn’t connect the bike lanes to the white oak trail. They crazy if they think I’m riding my bike on 11th unprotected from TC Jester to just past Shepherd. Easier and safer to go all the way down to the hike and bike trail and backtrack up to 11th 

My main issue with 11th is that it sucks shit through a straw. Going from 4 lanes to 2 lanes, so we can have two barely used bike lanes, and those bike lanes have huge concrete dividers on them. It's dangerous. I've seen more motherfuckers rub those boundaries or run over them completely at semi high speeds than should make anyone comfortable. 

[Js1 85,056]

Sounds like a driver problem, which isn't a surprise in Houston. 

[SydneyCarton 47,809]

15 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Sounds like a driver problem, which isn't a surprise in Houston. 

This is absurd. Other areas of the city have bikelanes without huge concrete barriers. Honestly, those seem like an outlier to me. When the conditions chance and there are new incidents, where there were none before, ignoring the one thing that changed to blame drivers is certainly a choice.

11th fucking sucks. It shouldn't be 1 lane in each direction. If you were fucking worried about the speed, then sit two cops there non stop and give out tickets, people will slow the fuck down eventually. 

[Dnaguy 11,740]

8 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

This is absurd. Other areas of the city have bikelanes without huge concrete barriers. Honestly, those seem like an outlier to me. When the conditions chance and there are new incidents, where there were none before, ignoring the one thing that changed to blame drivers is certainly a choice.

11th fucking sucks. It shouldn't be 1 lane in each direction. If you were fucking worried about the speed, then sit two cops there non stop and give out tickets, people will slow the fuck down eventually. 

 

A concrete barrier isn't going to shoot you if you don't comply. It'll just fuck up your car.

 

[Js1 85,056]

5 minutes ago, Dnaguy said:

 

A concrete barrier isn't going to shoot you if you don't comply. It'll just fuck up your car.

 

What if we attach guns to the barriers that automatically go off if you speed past them? 

[SydneyCarton 47,809]

4 minutes ago, Dnaguy said:

 

A concrete barrier isn't going to shoot you if you don't comply. It'll just fuck up your car.

 

It'll fuck up your car, or your car loses control and you careen into a pedestrian, another car, or even a fucking house that's right there. 

A perpetual speed trap in a very highly trafficked and visible area, with plenty of homes and businesses with cameras around, isn't likely to result in a lot of cops shooting people, imo. 

[tx 3 putt 76,159]

2 hours ago, Js1 said:

So um, Whitmire’s genius plan for pedestrian safety seems to be “favor cars and more cops”

Houston Ave was just the beginning. 11th St is probably next

austin dps model

[Rip76 4,909]

2 hours ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Might be topical to also discuss Sylvester Turner's aide that was sentenced to prison this week for accepting bribes.  More interestingly that he apparently was also cooperating with the FBI and wearing a wire for them for over a year.

EatingPopcorn.gif

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,391]

The other odd traffic issue that I've seen with 11th and a couple of other streets in the Heights is the addition of constant signage that tells you to stop for pedestrians. It implies that a pedestrian can walk into any intersection, at any point, and they have the right of way.

You're driving 30mph and someone walks into the street, you are required to stop even though there is not a traffic light or stop sign. A major thoroughfare should not have pedestrian-first expectations unless you want some dead pedestrians. 11th isn't a quiet cul-de-sac road.

[tx 3 putt 76,159]

This probably enough for maga gqp to takr over harris county elections and purge the voter rolls ….

I have zero doubts that ted cruz will be chiming in 

[wildcat09 29,187]

Shit, Ted Cruz probably paid someone to register them.

[tx 3 putt 76,159]

23 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

Shit, Ted Cruz probably paid someone to register them.

[Js1 85,056]

Quote

Sec. 276.013. ELECTION FRAUD. (a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly or intentionally makes any effort to:

(1) influence the independent exercise of the vote of another in the presence of the ballot or during the voting process, including by altering the ballot of another or by otherwise causing a ballot to not reflect the intent of the voter;

(2) cause a voter to become registered, a ballot to be obtained, or a vote to be cast under false pretenses;

 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,391]

Like Whitmire or not, he's getting the trash service to operate on their stated schedule. Today's recycling was picked up correctly on the schedule for the first time in a couple years.

 

[tx 3 putt 76,159]

Out and about this am, I tuned into 740 / micheal barry for a laugh and he delivered. He compared Sean Teare beating Kim Ogg, and then Rodney Ellis having supreme power over harris county to the rise of hitler in 1930’s germany 

 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,391]

1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

Out and about this am, I tuned into 740 / micheal barry for a laugh and he delivered. He compared Sean Teare beating Kim Ogg, and then Rodney Ellis having supreme power over harris county to the rise of hitler in 1930’s germany 

 

Michael Berry makes a living due to Houston being a democrat-run city/county. If Houston was The Woodlands, he wouldn't be on the radio.

[tx 3 putt 76,159]

3 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Like Whitmire or not, he's getting the trash service to operate on their stated schedule. Today's recycling was picked up correctly on the schedule for the first time in a couple years.

 

 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13,391]

37 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

 

I guarantee people were running their trash can out to the curb when they heard the truck. I usually put the trashcan out by 4pm. They drove up at 9am today.

[tx 3 putt 76,159]

I have private trash, they never miss 

[Js1 85,056]

I have COH trash. Always picks up before 10/11. Recycling always picks up the next day though 

[fattyflattie 4,636]

3 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Michael Berry makes a living due to Houston being a democrat-run city/county. If Houston was The Woodlands, he wouldn't be on the radio.

I believe he’s broadcast in a dozen or so southern markets, iirc.  

Eta: or he has used his lawyer tongue to give that impression anyhow.  I’ve heard him speak about stations in LA and GA for sure. 

Edited February 14 by fattyflattie

[tx 3 putt 76,159]

10 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

I believe he’s broadcast in a dozen or so southern markets, iirc.  

Eta: or he has used his lawyer tongue to give that impression anyhow.  I’ve heard him speak about stations in LA and GA for sure. 

his afternoon show is picked up in several markets. the man is a grifter and has a ton penned up fake hate/anger, like he’s hiding something 

[fattyflattie 4,636]

Just now, tx 3 putt said:

his afternoon show is picked up in several markets. the man is a grifter and has a ton penned up fake hate/anger, like he’s hiding something 

I don’t think his hate is fake, his good ol boy shit certainly is.  He’s got an Indian wife/beard, and black kids so rather confusing on his race issues he suffocates in.