Houston Strategies has an excellent post post summarizing Houston’s Third and Fourth Wards making the cover of Governing magazine. Or more specifically, the controversy surrounding the secretive actions of one TIRZ, and its implications for development. Its a far more in-depth treatment than I was able to give the subject two years ago.

Essentially, an anti-development activist (edit: State Rep. Garnet Coleman) has taken control of the Midtown TIRZ, and is using it –ostensibly to prevent development. However, because it refuses to list what it owns, no one outside the board is really sure exactly what is being done, or how well it is doing it.

From his fifth-floor office, Garnet Coleman can almost see the gleaming new urban lofts lapping at the edge of Houston’s Third Ward. Artists began moving into the poor, largely African-American neighborhood about a decade ago, converting historic but run-down shotgun shacks into cutting-edge art spaces. Now, in the next step of an increasingly familiar cycle, blocks of new townhouses are rising over the freeway, front yards turned toward the downtown skyline just a few miles away. Yuppies, empty nesters, childless couples — mainly white and Hispanic people with enough money to drop $250,000 — are starting to move in. And Coleman, an intense, chain-smoking power broker who represents the neighborhood in the Texas legislature, isn’t happy about it. “You can tell a neighborhood’s turning,� he says with dismay, “when you see them out at night walking their dogs.�

Coleman is determined to stop gentrification in Houston’s Third Ward before it gets out of hand. “I understand how this happens,� he says. “I understand how to stop it.� He’s also uniquely situated to do something about it. Coleman is an influential player in Houston’s local politics, owing partly to his House seat and partly to his family lineage. Coleman’s father, whose name adorns the office building he works in, was a prominent black physician, businessman, philanthropist and Houston civic leader.

Coleman is taking an unconventional and controversial approach to keeping the Third Ward affordable for longtime residents. Quietly, the board of a tax increment financing district that he partially controls has been buying up land in the Third Ward. Not only does Coleman want to keep the land away from developers. He also wants to saddle the property with restrictive deeds and covenants that would ensure that it could be used only for rental housing in perpetuity. “Quite frankly, this is personal,� Coleman says with grim determination. “We can give tax abatements out the wazoo for lofts and condominiums. The question is what are our values and whether or not we are willing to spend the same money on people who need a nice, affordable, clean place to live.�
(emphasis added)

I have to admit, I find it darkly humorous that affordable means it’s unsafe to walk your dog at night. But essentially, Coleman’s at least partially right. The developers will leave us saddled with hordes of cookie-cutter townhomes and loft units. (You don’t want to know how much trouble we have with their corner cutting in our department. Trust me.) Forget affording anything; those new warehouse lofts you can see from the elevated Hwy. 59 behind the convention center? They start around $300k.

It feels to me that the article is somewhat anti-Coleman.

The board of the Midtown TIRZ is divided between Coleman loyalists and appointees of Mayor White. The board has chosen to use almost all of its revenues — $10 million in the past five years — to purchase and then “bank� land in the Third Ward. “If you look at Midtown, that was all publicly induced — ain’t none of it affordable,� says Coleman. “Why can’t we do the same thing for people who need an affordable place to live?�

It’s a decidedly unorthodox arrangement, one whose very existence seems to be something of a secret. Coleman declines to say how much land the Midtown TIRZ has banked in the Third Ward.

Well, it’s a “secret” because our local rag is rarely worth the paper it’s printed on. I’ve noticed Matt Stiles asks questions, but the editors don’t seem to be interested in turning over any rocks. I have to agree that this is clearly not the intent of the TIRZ. But when you get down to it, what is a TIRZ but a state sponsored method to give selected individuals control over other people’s private property, without them being accountable in any way?

Think I’m kidding? Go back and read this early Houblog post. Add the Kelo decision to the claimed powers. Now turn Mr. Coleman loose with the power to take property to protect his vision.

Scary?

Now take the other 20 Houston TIRZ’s and turn their boards loose with this power to make profits for the local land owners, er, developers appointed to the boards. Oh excuse me. 21 TIRZ’s. Think you’re safe because you’re not in one? Too bad. They can expand themselves, at will, without any permission or oversight authority to deny them.

Remember that your property rights are something you have to fight for. And voting in the primaries is TODAY.

Get a move on.

Well, the long-awaited report is (sort of) out from the OIG, and there are few surprises. To summarize today’s news,

• Alvarado is “stepping aside temporarily“
• The DA’s office has only received a partial report.
• KPRC-950 reports Michael Berry will take over as pro tem.
• “There was some effort at a coverup”
• The four employees either have been or will be “suspended indefinately.”
• The formal hearing to take that action will be presided over by Anthony Hall, former city attorney, and political ally of the White/Lanier/Brown machine.

I’m going to skip discussing most of the items there; nothing I can say would really add to them materially. Jumping to the last three, though, I find their combination very. . . noteworthy. (I can only say interesting in so many different ways, ok?)

I have maintained all along that there had to be some assistance in F&A/payroll, and maybe even the Controller’s office to pull this off. If they’re still trying to nail down the last few people involved in this and don’t want to tip their hands, it would make sense to release only a “partial” report. What worries me though, is the suspensions.

Why suspensions? Why not terminations? And what is a suspension? Well, that much, I can answer.

Indefinate suspensions are the “fired, but not quite fired” level. An employee on this status has no duties and receives no paycheck. There is no hope of being moved off such a status (technically rules exist to do so, but as a practical matter, it’s not going to happen. )

It’s really a crappy status, given that the person is still considered an employee in several key ways, including the right to work elsewhere (FYI: city employees must obtain permission to take a second job. The paperwork takes so long to process that most jobs beyond retail or minimum wage will be filled before all the signatures are obtained.) In short, if the employee wants to work for a living elsewhere and get a paycheck while stuck in limbo, permission is needed from a high pay grade manager, about Assistant Director level.

Needless to say, employees on indefinate suspension aren’t going to get that.

Of course, the employee in question could always voluntarily resign in order to take another job. Which is the point: to save the city the trouble of/challenge from a firing. You can’t sue for wrongful termination if you resign . . .

Then there’s the second half of it. For a former City Attorney to be presiding over a civil service hearing is unusual enough. For it to be the former City Attorney of Houston itself begs the question of a fair and impartial civil service. Clearly, no surprises are wanted or will be tolerated, and I suspect that any attempt to dredge up bodies at the hearing will be instantly buried. (EDIT: see update below.)

I’ve got little sympathy for the Gang of Four, but getting stuck in this twilight zone and obviously railroaded is total BS. From what they did, they need to be fired. No argument. The How of this being done is ringing alarm bells in my head, though. Someone really wants them to go away quietly, and with no ability to initiate a civil action; an action that would allow them to subpoena things that the Powers That Be do not want to see the light of day.

And frankly, I’m not holding my breath on that “investigation is continuing” theory, either.

Update: From the Mayor’s statement, this part is now much clearer:

Hearings have been scheduled for tomorrow to consider the employment status of the four City employees who received improper payments. The City’s Chief Administrative Officer, Anthony Hall, will be conducting the hearings and is expected to make a quick decision. Those hearings are necessary under civil service law to terminate the employment of a civil service employee.

The KHOU web clip I was trying to listen to kept dropping out and rebuffering during that segment, so I couldn’t get the gist of it straight. From this, it’s clear that he is conducting the kangaroo court hearing in his capacity as Chief Administrative Officer. And this isn’t an appeal hearing anyway. But it should be noted that the City Council enacted an ordinance specifically restricting what actions that can be appealed through the civil service. There are only six enumerated and very specific allowable appeals now. I have no idea if this qualifies or not. :/

Update 2: Veddy interestink. This figure shows up further into the release:

But please remember that no organization with over 20,000 employees can eliminate all risk of violations of existing laws against self-dealing. Swift and severe actions such as those described by me today constitute the most significant deterrent to future misconduct.

Over 20,000? How does this fit with 12,588? Do we have 8,000 police and fire department employees?

Well, the word is that the public release of the OIG’s report will come on monday morning. The only advantage I can think of to that is that the Mayor and Mayor pro tem have had all weekend to work on what their responses will be. And it’s not much of an advantage.

Personally, I think they’re just screwing with my head, because I predicted it would be released on Friday. 🙂 I still stand by my whitewash prediction, although at this point that’s more like “predicting” the winners of the third race during the beginning of the fourth.

As I predicted, late Friday the word broke that the OIG has completed its investigation and presented its findings to Chuck Rosenthal. (Edit: but not released the report publicly.) The news broke at 9:34 P.M. on KHOU. Well after the news cycle, and at a time when everyone with a life (that excludes me) is paying no attention at all to the news.

Sources close to the investigation said the report involving the mayor pro-tem’s office put together by the office of Inspector General is now complete and is in the hands of the Harris County District Attorney’s office. It’s been recommended that the report be taken to a grand jury.

Oh yes, lets make a show of justice being done.

11 News has been told that all four employees’ names were in the report, along with Councilmember Alvarado.

However, sources said that no wrong-doing was found to have occurred by Alvarado.

Yet another total non-surprise.

Her name was included because she is the mayor pro-tem and the report suggests here should have been more checks and balances to keep the unauthorized bonuses from going through.

Ok boys and girls, repeat after me:

Total.
Ass.
Covering.
White.
Wash.

Thank you, that concludes todays civics lesson.

Alvarado released this statement to 11 News Friday night: “For the Mayor and City Council it is important to determine how we can recover the money that has been stolen from taxpayers and that we implement the reforms necessary to ensure that this never happens again. I have already discussed some reforms ideas with the Mayor and intend to continue those discussions in the days to come.”

You know, it’s bad when you can predict things like this without even trying. We have come to expect our government officials to be incompetent, inept, and in cahoots, but the sheer chutzpah of so predictably releasing this report after hours on Friday afternoon and insuring that it gives Alvarado all possible cover is beyond the pale. It’s cynical, it’s manipulative, it’s a blatant case of “no shame in their game.” And the citizens of this fine city will, in all liklihood, roll over and accept it again. As long as a few city employees are sacrificed on the altar of justice, who cares if everything else gets swept under the rug?

What happened to the inquiry from the controller’s office into these bonuses; the one that someone in F&A fielded? What is the deal with the fifth employee in that office, the one transferred in from F&A to address the “budget irregularities,” yet seemed to have no clue that they were plain theft? Why has the city failed to answer any TPIA requests that might make Mayor pro tem Alvarado look bad, but instantly answered anything that made her look innocent?

In short, this entire mess is being swept under the rug, and Mayor White is trying to salvage his own reputation, and possibly Ms. Alvarado’s political career. One wonders why he would make this effort; as late as yetserday, rumors were swirling that he was polling the other council members about replacing her. Is that still on the table?

Mayor Bill White spoke with some City Council members Friday to feel them out about who should be mayor pro tem if Councilwoman Carol Alvarado relinquishes the post amid a payroll-padding scandal.

(snip)

White has offered cautious support for Alvarado, whom he appointed mayor pro tem when he took office in 2004.

On Friday, he said they are close colleagues and worked on several issues over the years.

White’s position on the other people involved in the scandal was clear.

“I’d like to get anybody associated with an improper payment terminated,” he said. “They should not be on the city payroll.”

A whitewash report, four city employees sacrificed, and CM Alvarado “accepting” responsibility and resigning as Mayor pro tem, while maintaining that she was just a poor dupe (and hoping everyone forgets about this by 2007) sounds about right for the gameplan.

And on that note, I’ll make one final prediction: As long as Houston citizens continue to put up with this sort of government, it will never get better.

Comedy this good almost writes itself. From KHOU:

. . . in a letter she’s sending to her council district voters, saying in part, “… the responsibility is mine. More importantly, it is my responsibility to make sure nothing like this happens again.”

That letter is part of a new public relations strategy launched after Alvarado hired a new political consultant and an expensive lawyer. She says she may pay them out of her campaign fund.

We looked up her last report from January and discovered she had nearly $350,000 in campaign funds. We couldn’t help noticing the report was notarized by Rosita Hernandez — one of the employees whose bonuses are now under investigation.

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The developments are (not) coming fast and furious for the moment. Christopher Mays, one of the four employees accused in Bonusgate has spoken out in an interview with KTRK. Except he didn’t have much to say.

It’s been a difficult week and a half for Mays and the other employees who’ve been on suspension. There are lots of unknowns and rumors swirling around. Mays is reluctant to say much. . . . Mays isn’t saying publicly what he knows.

“I’m not sure (if Alvarado knew),” he said. “And I’d rather not comment.”

Mays said once the OIG’s investigation is complete he will be willing to talk further about exactly what went on inside the mayor pro tem’s office. As for the status of that investigation, city officials say they expect that to be completed later this week.

Dude, take a lesson from your boss. Hire a good lawyer and a PR firm!

Oh wait, city employees can’t afford those perks, can they? One rule for the goose, one rule for the gander. . . .

Prediction: The report will be released late on Friday, a time when no one is paying attention because the weekend is here.

Yet another council member has problems with the details of financial stuff.

One of Houston’s newest council members is facing tough questions about his management of the charity organization he helmed for more than a decade. But District B Council member Jarvis Johnson believes the questions are nothing more than a political vendetta.

Oh, here we go again, the “shadowy conspiricy card.”

Johnson believes he’s the target of a political vendetta because, he said, Phoenix Outreach was running just fine until he decided to run for the city council.

“This program was closed down because somebody felt like I made somebody mad downtown,” Johnson said.

“But you still don’t know who that is?” Arnold said.

“Still don’t know who it is,” Johnson said.

Johnson resigned as executive director of Phoenix Outreach when he was elected to city council. Nonetheless, the charity is struggling to stay afloat.

Unpaid payroll taxes, lack of permits, lack of proper documentation… is this any way to run a charity?

The charity ran into even more trouble when it had a grant with the city for after-school programs. An audit by the city controller shows Phoenix Outreach wasn’t serving the number of children it promised, it wasn’t providing the programs it agreed to provide and it didn’t have proper documentation to account for all of its expenses.

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