As noted over on Blog Houston, yet another unelected panel is being set up to govern an aspect of our life in the big city. I did a little Googling on the names of the board members, and thought I’d share what I found about the cocktail party circuit. As of posting, this search is not complete; a few members are still absent. I will work on it some more this evening (by which time, they’ll all be officially appointed.)

(Ok, I’m done updating for tonight. 10:30)
(Oops, I lied. Added a bit more analysis & more links.)

Edit: Most interesting website I found while doing this search: Would you call these people skyscraper groupies?

Please excuse the lack of formatting, especially the links, but I don’t have time to clean it up right now–work calls. I certainly don’t warrent this information to be complete or correct; it’s just what I found online, with a few observations.

Charles D. Reedstrom, CAPP
Parking industry mover and shaker. Yes, there is such a thing as a parking industry.
Strategic Revenue Systems Manager, Carter & Burgess, Inc.
Board of Advisors, International Parking Institute

Gerald Torres
Former State Representative (D), part of the Anglo-Hispanic power core that has dominated Houston politics for the last decade.
“Friend of Bill White�
Board Member, Lawndale Art Center
Supports Ana Hernandez for SR 143
Employed by Reliant Energy
Manager Legislative Affairs, Greater Houston Partnership

Mary Jo McFadden
Donated trees to a Precinct 3 park.
No other mention found

Marcus L. Davis
Two different white pages listings come up without the middle initial, both on Briar Forest. One is near Kirkwood, one is near Hwy 6. Might be the Marcus Davis mentioned in this newsletter from Prairie View A&M. I’d bet that it is, and he’s also the recipiant of this Leadership Endowment award. He’s probably not on this team despite the name.

M. Marvin Katz
Big time lawyer
Longtime and well-connected attorney (partner) with Mayer, Brown, Rowe, and Maw. Specialties: Real Estate; Estate Planning; Probate; Corporate. Handled this large commercial purchase:
Sponsorship Vice Chair, Urban Land Institute (Houston District Executive Council)
Former chair of the Houston Planning Commission, now member ex officio

Michelle Colvard
Women’s wheelchair athlete and Chair, City of Houston Commission on Disabilities

Joe R. Martin
Lives on Riptide in zip 77072.
Edit: commenter Royko from BlogHouston provides this link to Martin’s internet service business.
Also owns M Bar & El Centro Restaurant. Chair of DEDA (see Robert Eury, below.)

Andrew F. Icken
Texas Medical Center, possibly hotel industry executive?
Board member, Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau
Listed as Executive Vice President, Texas Medical Center, and board member of the Rice Design Alliance.
Board of Directors, Houston Minority Business Council (page only available in Google cache now—membership listing removed from HMBC website)
Houston Architecture Info Forum, 2004 panelist

Evalyn Laing Krudy
Chair, Boulavard Oaks Civic Association
University Place Superneighborhood board member, and authored this report on neighborhood tree pruning in the BOCA newsletter. Their newsletter looks so much more professional than the photocopies we get in the mail. Oh that’s right, I don’t live in an exclusive superneighborhood. Silly me.
Placed 26th in the female 40-49 category for the Lake 5K Run on 4/30/05.
Member Old Braeswood Kirby Taskforce, 2003, formed to successfully lobbied for retention of the esplanades on Kirby near Braeswood. It’s a very peaceful neighborhood. And she keeps an eye on the construction (see page 5). I’m trying to think of the last time a government explained a construction project in my neighborhood. In such detail. . . . still trying. . . .
Involved in this 2001 candidate forum (contact person).

(still adding to this list!)
Robert Eury
Lives in the exclusive neighborhood between Kirby and Shephard, just north of Westheimer Any further north and you’re in River Oaks itself.
Executive committe member (sometimes listed as President and CEO) of Central Houston, Inc. Nice picture of him with Carol Alvarado at that link.
Steering Committee member of the Downtown Entertainment District Alliance (DEDA). Oh, and look who is the Honorary Chair: Carol Alvarado! And the actual chair is our good friend Joe R. Martin! Such small circles we move in. . .
Member, Houston Downtown Management District
Member, Board of Directors of the Houston Downtown Alliance. Oh, along with, who else? The Honorable Carol Alvarado, City of Houston council member. Oh, and there’s Joe Martin again. They need to watch this menage’a trois stuff, or folks are going to gossip.
He used to like Tom DeLay and Bob Carr.
There’s the “board member, Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau” listing. (He’s managed to solo this one, without Joe and Carol.)
Chairman of Blueprint Houston. Don’t forget, this April 6th, all hail the chair! Ask him when the cameras will be installed while you’re there.
Unsurprisingly, he was involved in the Main Street Square project.
Member, Board of Directors of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership. They’re the ones pushing the idea of turning Houston’s version of a flood plain into a park. (This page is a bit dated, it still shows John Vanden Bosch as the PW&E director.)
Was on this public policy panel. Unsurprisingly, pro rail.
Member, advisory group of Framework Houston, a project of the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County. “An initiative of the Public Art and Urban Design Program of the Cultural Arts Council of Houston/Harris County (CACHH), the Houston Framework offers the tools, identifies the demonstration projects, and outlines the administrative structure needed to provide Houston and Harris County with civic art and design that will enhance the local environment.” In other words, they’re reponsible for the crap that passes as art in modern parks. Is there any wonder people like to go to older parks where they put, you know, ART, instead of this stuff that makes you go “WTF? Artist on acid trip, mabye?”

Edit/Update: There are 15 members, but five were previously appointed, and I don’t have their names at the moment. Only nine can actually vote; the others are three”civic representatives” and one each representing the City, Metro, and Harris County. My (not at all expert) read on this list is that Katz, Martin, Eury, Icken, and Reedstrom are the heavyweights and almost certain to be voting members, while the remainders are “designated roleplayers:”

Torres — Possibly token Hispanic, possibly voting member.
McFadden — Housewife, a throwaway appointment to appease the peasants? Or possibly the Metro/County rep?
Davis — Token black entrepreneur.
Colvard — Token disabled person.
Krudy — Neighborhood busybody who can be counted on to work with the big boys.

Katz is chairman and Eury may be the city’s non-voting representative. The panel is heavily weighted with pro-rail technocrats, so we can generally count on whatever the Authority does to be unfriendly to personal vehicles. Anyone surprised?

Thought not.