Both Sibin and Justin are said to be back at 611 Walker this week. Either they were not actually let go, or they managed to get their positions back.
Update on the Update
Leave a reply
Category Archives: Random Rants
Who’s Minding The Store?
Updated for formatting and clarity on 6/25
In my December 15 post, I wrote the paragraph:
And now, things are worse than ever. It’s no longer a matter of bad management. Or I should say, just a matter of bad management. Now we’ve got the OIG investigating monkey business in PWE, a utility billing modernization plan that’s over budget and on course to miss its fourth deadline for deployment, yet another fee about to be charged to utility customers, and $25 million in utility overcharges to the same.
I didn’t explain the OIG comment at the time, because I detest the media’s use of “unnamed sources” to make shit up, and I wanted something more to base it on. So here’s an email I got a while back from a fellow worker at the City of Houston. I had to spend some time vetting it… only it’s worse than it looks here, because I had to delete portions that would positively identify the author. I’ve also added a few comments to clear up points that might not be obvious to an outsider, and then I follow with information from multiple unnamed sources. Yay me. I are media now.
Several years ago, I got assigned to work with (FOR) a contractor, which isn’t supposed to happen, but did anyway. I wasn’t the only one. In theory, I answered to a city manager, but in reality, he (Evil IT Contractor) determined all my work assignments and even where I was officed. It took me a year to twig to it, but this guy was a scammer who didn’t really know jack about IT, but could fake it well and was really skilled at playing people around him. Especially Weak Boss (this is a reference to Tommy McClung, former Assistant Director of Utility Customer Service –ubu), who he had totally snowed. Lesser managers (including mine) were intimidated by his influence, especially after he brought a major project to a “successful” conclusion (Read: Drainage. it didn’t quite blow up in the mayor’s face, but it’s still not working the way it should. –ubu )
So [Evil IT Manager] got put in charge of a billing modernization project, overseeing a different vendor (which he effectively chose). I lasted six months of his stress-inducing crap before [redacted]. After that I decided to challenge him openly, in order to be removed from the project. It nearly got me fired (he tried!), but I got moved. Meanwhile he continued mismanaging the project, running off all the competent people, finding new software to spend money on, and three years later, we are trying to determine our NINTH date for “go-live.” (The first was 7/1/2014 –ubu)
Evil IT Contractor got in tight with the City’s overall IT manager, (Charles Thompson — ubu) was promoted to Acting CTO for all of Public Works IT, while still a contractor. Also, he and Evil Manger divorced their original spouses and shacked up together, while he was still a contractor and she was responsible for oversight of his contract. Talking to a coworker, they’ve got him dead to rights double, triple, even quadruple billing for his hours under different contracts.* And yes, the City’s Inspector General is “investigating”… and doing nothing.
“Evil IT Contractor” is Brian Anderson, of various consulting companies. Evil Manager is Cymel Ashby, COH employee. Brian’s been paid over $1 million by the city since arriving — see the Adi Dajani, a left-wing, virulently anti-Israel Muslim who supports Ben Hall for Mayor. Scroll down to the first March 17 post, and note it says “edited.” It disappeared for over a month shortly after posting, without any mention whatsoever. I’m assuming a lawsuit got threatened, or a DMCA abuse occurred — the new version says nothing of the criminal investigation. Maybe I’ll find out when mine gets hit by a takedown…
One person in UCS procurement has been let go, though it’s not clear if its due to this, and he was only a contractor himself. And Tommy McClung resigned in April. Susan Bandy is resigning at the end of the year, but whether it has anything to do with this or she just decided to call it a day isn’t clear. She and Dale Rudik (Director, PWE) were said to be highly upset over the failure of the project so far (which is about 50% over budget — so far), but nothing has happened; it appears that the Mayor is willing to run out the clock and not provide ammunition for any of her potential successors, such as Bill King or Ben Hall.
By the way, since two of the people questioned are the Evil Manager and Evil IT Manager (according to my multiple unnamed sources!), I’m not revealing anything to the subjects of the investigation that they don’t know.
Edit: Look at Brian Anderson’s LinkedIn page. He’s rarely in a management position for more than two years.
* Ubu: I personally viewed an entry in SAP in which Mr. Anderson submitted FOUR requests for a week’s payment, all dated the same day. Only ONE had the required timesheet attached. Countersigned by Cymel Ashby and Tommy McClung. There are no dates on the three other requests to indicate what the specific days worked were. So just who is minding the store?
I’m Back?
Man, I would hate to be a politician. Sometimes your own history, your own words, come back to bite you on the ass. The following is a draft article I wrote back in November of 2010 under the title “Frustrated, Floundering, and Flailing — Intro”, but never finished, and never posted. The irony, it is de-lish…
Continue reading
Deja vu All Over Again
Everything old is new again…
An unpopular foriegn war going on, which the left sees as un-winnable.
The DOJ is being heavily politicized, ignoring friends of the president and punishing his foes.
High unemployment, low growth, and inflation is on the way up — stagflation.
The occupant of the White House is unpopular, spiteful, and operates (at best) on the borders of legality.
That president is dealing with a hostile congress that is trying to cripple his programs.
The vice-president is seen as a bumbling fool.
Foreign powers hostile to us don’t consider us credible, and our allies are wavering.
Sigh, how are we ever going to get Nixon out of the White House?
Oh wait, Dan Rather is in the president’s corner this time… well, that’s one change, not for the better.
Drainage, CIP. Make yourself heard.
Per the City of Houston, the drainage projects will be discussed at CIP meetings during February and March. Sorry for the formatting. Here’s the schedule. Note that it’s in order by council district,not date. Also note that none of the at-large council members are holding such meetings. Don’t see any reason to, or afraid to step on their district bretheren’s toes? Still it’s a shame they can’t do a better job of meeting their constituents.
These meetings are starting this MONDAY NIGHT 2/14.
2011 CIP Public Meetings Schedule
The City of Houston will conduct combined public meetings on the City’s FY2011 Annual Operating Budget Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and 2011 Annual Consolidated Plan. Since 1984, the City has held public meetings to obtain citizen input before preparation of the operating budget and capital improvement plan. These meetings provide citizens the opportunity to participate in the budget process by contributing comments and suggestions about needed services and improvements.
DISTRICT / COUNCIL MEMBER 2011 DATE(S) LOCATION(S) / MAP(S) LINK (go here for the links and a better formatted verison)
A – Brenda Stardig Mon., Feb. 28 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Spring Woods High School 2045 Gessner Drive
B – Jarvis Johnson Thu., Feb. 24 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Kashmere Multi-Service Center 4802 Lockwood
C – Anne Clutterbuck Tue., Mar. 1 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. St. Vincent De Paul Catholic School 6802 Buffalo Speedway
D – Wanda Adams Tue., Feb. 15 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Judson Robinson Jr. Community Center 2020 Hermann Drive
E – Mike Sullivan (2) Mon., Feb. 14 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. CLEAR LAKE J. Frank Dobie High School 10220 Blackhawk
Mon., Feb. 21 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.KINGWOOD Woodridge Baptist Church 5707 Kingwood Drive
F – Al Hoang Wed., Mar. 9 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Sharpstown Community Center 6600 Harbor Town
G – Oliver Pennington Wed., Feb. 23 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Tracy Gee Community Center 3599 Westcenter Drive
H – Ed Gonzalez Tue., Feb. 22 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Jefferson Davis High School (Atrium) 1101 Quitman
I – James G. Rodriguez Wed., Feb. 16 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. E.B. Cape Center 4501 Leeland
I have a better idea
than furloughs.
How about we FIX. THE. PENSION. MESS.
Oh, and stop building toy trains, collect the money owed to the city by Metro (over $100m now), stop raising counterproductive taxes for things we don’t need (expensive drainage projects), building stadiums (stadii?) for rich team owners, end bilingual pay, diversity programs, the entire MWBE program & administration therof, sanctuary status, coddling of homeless people… I could go on for a while….
Too Damn Funny
I don’t normally post much on highly technical items, even national security subjects, but this one just couldn’t be allowed to pass. Aboutthe STUXNET worm that is attacking Iran, the poster NobodySpecial at Schneier.com said:
Can anyone think of another area of software development where you would say “my god this a work of breathtaking ingenuity and fiendish cunning – it could only have been written by a civil servant” !!
Heh. No, I can’t.
Oh, but if you want something more fun to think about, here’s something from the UK on those “smart meters” with pre-paid cards:
Criminals across the UK have hacked the new keycard system used to top up pre-payment energy meters and are going door-to-door, dressed as power company workers, selling illegal credit at knock-down prices.
The bad news? Eventually the system figures out it’s being had, and the customer has to pay for the electricity again — this time at the real rate.
Mayor Parker’s Message
Just in case anyone had the idea that a new mayor meant a change in “the Houston Way”, the following message was sent out via Citizen’s Net, an email list you can sign up for on the City’s website. (old messages are also archived at the link).
Dear Citizens of Houston,
Let me assure you that the State of the City is fundamentally strong. Even with the financial challenges facing Houston, I feel comfortable that we have a plan to move our city forward into an “Era of Innovation.”
Without raising property taxes, we will identify ways to streamline, modernize and reform the core functions of municipal government. We will audit city services to identify savings opportunities and I am implementing a Hire Houston First policy to encourage the use of local companies and hiring of local workers for city projects.
We are working with the business community and regional allies to attract and retain jobs as well as stimulate new international business development. Not only do we want to remain the oil and gas capital of the country, we also want to be the sustainable and renewal energy capital. And, work continues to save NASA’s manned space flight Constellation program.
I call upon all citizens to do their part and join Volunteer Houston, an initiative which will utilize citizen support in a variety of city functions. http://www.houstontx.gov/volunteer/index.html
It is a tough economic time, but just as my family persevered when the economy cost my parents their home and their business in the 1980s, I pledge that the City of Houston will balance our budget as we strive to maintain the full faith and credit of all of our citizens.
I respectfully ask for your help.
Annise Parker
Mayor
Read the entire text of the prepared 2010 State of the City address
Edit: Mayor Makes Minor Goof (via KHOU)
Comedy of Idiots
You just can’t write this stuff as fiction. Nobody would believe it.
[Metro VP] Skabowski said there was nothing glaring in the driver’s record to indicate she was a bad driver. Out of five accidents she’s had, Metro said she had only been at fault for one, though her record shows she has been disciplined for speeding, as well as turning right on red where it wasn’t allowed.
“Really she’s got a very good record. Metro makes it look worse than it is. But then they charge their drivers for every little thing whether it’s their fault or not,” said David Gollinger, president of the Transport Workers Union of America Local 260.
Golinger argues Metro may, in fact, be too strict with its drivers.
Clearly, my distaste for the modern-day equivalent of a monopolistic medieval trade guild, a.k.a. public sector unions, is too narrowly focused. Equally, I need to start advocating the banning of management.
I’m Sure it Was Unintentional (Not)
As we’ve all been told time and again, red light cameras are ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL about the safety, right? Well, KHOU reports that citizen Byron Schrimbeck found an odd safety violation near one camera, located at FM 518 and I-45 South, and decided to document it:
Texas law requires a light be yellow a certain length of time to safely give drivers time to react and stop.
Schirmbeck then called League City Police Chief Michael Jez and Jez asked The Texas Department of Transportation to investigate. TxDot found Schirmbeck was right about the yellow lights being short.
The eight-tenths of a second made a difference in more than 1,700 citations issued between October of last year and March.
Let’s read that again: The eight-tenths of a second made a difference in more than 1,700 citations. Now, this light was apparently supposed to be under the control of TxDOT. I guess that, since the article doesn’t tell us so. Nor does it tell us what the required minimum time is. But the important question is, who made out like bandits from this money-machine, for six months? Note that the article says refunds are being issued — but doesn’t say by whom. Follow the money, KHOU, follow the money. Doesn’t the state get a cut of it, these days? I’m sure League City gets the lion’s share.
One wonders if some bureaucratic tangle will “delay” the checks. Not that I have anything but total faith in the sincerity of our elected and unelected masters when they say “the check is in the mail.”
Land Follies
KHOU and blogHOUSTON have been talking about the city and county’s decrepit land holdings. Maybe they should look more closely at the tool the city uses to acquire and disburse these properties: LARA.
From the minutes of the August 2009 meeting:
Didn’t we already kill that idea a few months before that?
Read the full minutes on the City’s website — the appearance of Jolanda Jones at the meeting, and the board’s discussion of participating in politics by submitting chosen questions to the mayoral candidates through the League of Women Voters are both illuminating…
Try as I might, I can’t find any mention in the minutes of just how much most of these properties are being sold to developers for, except one lot sold at full value ($10,000) and constant references to the “$1 Lot Program.”
It would be nice…
To be able to stop referring to Google as the Chinese Oppressor’s Search Portal.
Freaking libtards took this long to figure out that the Chinese government was going to roll them for info? Eeeeeeeediots.
A proposal that’s all wet?
Since March, there have been rumblings inside the City of Houston’s PW&E department that a large shortfall was pending in the Combined Utility System’s funding. The public first learned about the city’s overall budget problems in Bill King’s oped, which we discussed here. The CUS, which is supposed to be independent of the city’s general fund is a separate issue altogether, though certain funding tricks used during the White era make their appearance once again. Specifically: back-loaded borrowing in which the city pays only a little up front, but then faces a balloon note down the road. According to Lee McGuire’s article for KHOU:
…nearly $1 billion in credit must be renegotiated early next year, and debt payments have spiked $50 million above earlier projections. All told, the system currently faces a $100 million cash shortfall – a significant problem for a department that took in $332 million in water bills last year.
“Re-negotiate” is CPA-speak for “re-finance” or “obtain debt relief, rather than default.” Simply put, the city’s rate-payers are about to face the music for years of living off borrowed money. How bad is it? The city has been making ordinary expenditures, such as yearly water meter purchases, from the capital funds instead of operating expenses. In household terms, they’ve borrowed money to pay for the groceries. And while this specific example represents only a tiny portion of the total, it’s one of the ways that total has been accumulated.
Today’s article was based on item #13 on today’s agenda, a proposal to hire consultants McKinsey & Co. to look for inefficiencies in the Public Works Department. This item was tagged and will return on next week’s agenda. Once again, the mayor is proposing to spend a large amount of funds for a questionable purpose. Unfortunately, KHOU’s article contains a few key errors, and some misleading statements. This may simply be the result of deadline pressure, or it may be that not all of the information provided to the press was…. shall we say, totally accurate.
Ah, Anonymity..
Some people wonder why a city employee would blog anonymously (on the rare occasions when I still do).
This is why, and the snark didn’t even work for the county….