Fare Thee Well Marty Stein

Since Houston instituted term limits, turnover at City Hall has become the norm. Even Mayors, popular ones for that matter, are limited to only 6 years in office. With as much as 1/3 of City Council mandated to change every year, the base level of institutional knowledge has been sinking rapidly. One person provided consistency […]

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Patchwork Ponderings

This has been a whirlwind week for Ponderings. Politics and governing are in their prime season. The State of the Union address was Tuesday. The pundits are all going crazy dissecting the comments and the Republican responses. I was just so excited to see that Republicans and Democrats could sit next to each other, nothing […]

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Kudos to Muni Courts!

I confess. In July, I received a speeding ticket. It was shortly after relocating my Dad to the Assisted Living facility near our home and incorporating his more demanding care into our daily lives. He had desperately needed me to run an errand for him before work. Like most stressed and crazed people, I had […]

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I am “Green” With Envy

Yesterday I had the privilege of attending the weekly Houston City Council meeting in person. We have a new Public Affairs intern at work and I wanted him to watch the Council in action. He had already watched the streaming version for the last two weeks. I also thought it would be a good opportunity […]

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Political Nirvana

State and local politics are dominating the week. The Legislature convenes, the Houston City Council debates ethics, the new Commissioners Court convened and Tom Delay was sentenced to 3 years in prison. What more could a political junkie want? It’s just so overwhelming, I can’t decide which topic to focus on or write about. Thus, […]

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City Elections

2011 is a City of Houston election year and the pundits are all abuzz. Will Mayor Parker have an opponent? Where will the new Council Districts be and who will seek those seats? What about the term-limited seats? People are lining up for those too. Fundraising for the 2011 elections officially begins on February 1. […]

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City Furloughs

As we think about returning to work tomorrow, I’m thinking about city workers. Mostly, people who work for the government get a bad rap. Many people presume that “gummit work” is all they could get. Most city workers are very hard-working and dedicated. The City of Houston is one of the largest employers in our […]

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