- Parkway Starting a Series of Renovations in Greenway Plaza [Houston BisNow]
- The Most Expensive Homes Listed by HAR in Houston’s Priciest ZIP Codes [Houston Chronicle]
- What Makes The Heights Houston’s Hottest Dining Neighborhood, According to Chefs [Eater Houston]
- Newk’s Eatery Opening Fifth Houston Location May 15 in Sugar Land [Houston Chronicle]
- The Human and Capital Costs of Making Houston Bike Safe [abc13]
- ACLU Issues Texas “Travel Advisory†after Governor Signs SB4 [Texas Tribune]
- Finding Other Cities that are Kind of Like Houston with the Federal Reserve of Chicago’s New Data-Mapping Tool [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of Brays Bayou: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Of course the Katy location has their own football field.
“You hear a lot of ‘Get on the sidewalk’ which isn’t practical for riding a bike” – It’s one thing to hear that on a culdesac…. Another to hear it on Westheimer during peak rush hour. These bike articles do a wonderful job of victimizing sensitive cyclists.
“ACLU Issues Texas “Travel Advisory†after Governor Signs SB4”
.
lol, does anyone even take the ACLU seriously anymore? Get over yourselves. The only people who should pay attention to that travel advisory are people here illegally. But that travel advisory should apply to the whole country. Anyone that’s not here legally should have a legit worry that they’ll be removed. However, that worry should have always been there.
Abbott should issue an ACLU drama queen alert.
Right, because I’m sure swamplot commenters know what its like to be racially profiled by cops. rolls eyes
That Federal Reserve tool is such a ridiculous waste of their resources that it would’ve caused Alexander Hamilton to roll in his grave. First, it compares municipalities instead of metropolitan areas, so the use case is limited to the local governments that were sampled. Second, the only factors being studied were the unemployment and labor force participation rates, the share of jobs that are manufacturing (without specific regard for the nature of manufacturing, be it the tech industry or refining), and median family income (without adjustment for cost of living).
.
As a consequence, Houston compares to Dallas — and rightly so — but each share the same group of comparison cities: Charlotte, Des Moines, Durham, Lakewood (OH), Omaha, Orlando, and St. Paul. One would think that Houston and Dallas would compare to Atlanta, but Atlanta is in the same group as Galveston.
.
Pasadena (TX) compares to five smallish cities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, then also to Peoria (IL) and Portsmouth (VA). And Laredo (TX) compares to, among other places, Asheville (NC). Nope, I don’t think so.
@ Cody: The police can ruin somebody’s day with or without charges ultimately being pressed, and pretty much at their own discretion. I think that it’s reasonable to be more cautious than we are about granting them greater authority, and especially about tying that authority to its own use by threatening their budget. Stuff like this often gives arise to perverse incentives, and yet is politically intractable. That being said, I think that the ACLU travel advisory seems like it might be a little premature and hyperbolistic.
Niche- The Sheriffs took an oath to uphold ALL U.S. laws, not turn a blind eye and let illegal aliens go off into the night. Take a look at how many are in our prisons (that we built for our own citizens) if you foolishly think “they’re all here just to work.”
Our laws will be enforced and the political Hispandering will not be allowed.
OhBrother: different law enforcement agencies focus on enforcing different laws. We have immigration enforcement agencies; they are paid for by the feds because our national borders and the protection of them affects all the states. We also have local law enforcement, which focuses on keeping the peace in our city and county. If those agencies start moonlighting as immigration enforcement agencies, that means they aren’t going to focus on their primary purpose. But we get it; undocumented immigrants are your personal boogeyman, and what scares you trumps rational policy-making.
Of course the Chronicle reporter does not know the difference between “west ” university which is west of Rice University ( west of Kirby drive to be precise) and Shadyside. At the very least the Chronicle could require its reporters to learn some basics about the city they are working in. Pitiful!
@ OhBrother: Thank you so much for pouncing on a point that I neither made or implied. Yeah, of course they’re sworn to uphold U.S. laws; however, they are not sworn to exhaustively snoop on everybody for every possible infraction.
.
I voice caution because policemen aren’t lawyers and can’t be held to that standard. By and large, they try to do their best, but what bothers me are three things: 1) they frequently make mistakes that inconvenience or harm innocent people, 2) they’re people, and sometimes mistakes are colored by personal biases or by antagonistic or ignorant civilians, and 3) law enforcement entities are bureaucratic operations, typically operated by individuals whom are politicians, who have to bridge the difference between what is practical and just and the best in service to their community with a very very finite budget, and that despite that burden of trust and responsibility — are still human and sometimes fallible, just like their street cops. The legal apparatus from top to bottom has the capability of doing serious and profound injustice. When it does, righting those wrongs can be costly if it is even possible; and when an accused person is impoverished, that may not realistically be possible. What might ruin an affluent person’s day could ruin a poor person’s entire life. And…this would probably be a prelude to a disparate impact issue.
.
It is by no means a radical principle that it is better to let criminals go free than to harm the innocent. We should stand vigilant against that possibility, the unintended consequences of new laws — and reign in laws that aren’t working very well; and none of that has anything to do with suggesting that law enforcement officers shouldn’t do their jobs.
@Carl M.: It’s illegal to ride a bike on the sidewalk on Westheimer. See https://www.municode.com/library/TX/Houston/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COOR_CH45TR_ARTXIIBI_DIV1GE_S45-302RISI.