Yep. The masses are asses.

BQ_90 said:

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Did I see the news right, did less than 200k vote in COH election?

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Houston deserves everything it has coming to it if less than 10% of registered voters make an effort.

I have to eat crow, I honestly thought SheJack would walk away with this due to the general lack of intelligence of most large urban voters.

Maybe this new guy will not be nearly as corrupt as the last few have been. One can hope.

A lot of people discounted the enormity of her negatives. She didn't understand it either because she has made a career out of snowing the unwashed masses in her district.

Now let's see if she can be beat for her congressional seat. She's now a political loser and that stench doesn't wash off easily - so she might be vulnerable.

Cromagnum said:

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BQ_90 said:

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Did I see the news right, did less than 200k vote in COH election?

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Houston deserves everything it has coming to it if less than 10% of registered voters make an effort.

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Agreed, but that is hardly a Houston-only problem. The state of Texas consistently has one of the lowest voter turn outs in the nation.

Ryan the Temp said:

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MAROON said:

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A lot of people discounted the enormity of her negatives. She didn't understand I either because she has made a career out of snowing the unwashed masses in her district.

Now let's see if she can be beat for her congressional seat. She's now a political loser and that stench doesn't wash off easily - so she might be vulnerable.

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Someone didn't get the memo.

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It's VUNNALBLE

Damn. The Library Director???

MoFo is NOT messing around when he's going after late fees.

People better start getting their sheet together as there's gonna be new law in this town.

Chewy said:

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Damn. The Library Director???

MoFo is NOT messing around when he's going after late fees.

People better start getting their sheet together as there's gonna be new law in this town.

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The Library has been a ****show for years. SUPER toxic environment for employees and it comes right from the top.

https://houstonlanding.org/mayor-turner-library-leaders-skirt-questions-on-toxic-workplace-its-time-for-action/

Ryan the Temp said:

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If anyone is interested, the word on the street is that Whitmire is going to oust the Public Works, HR, and Library directors this week. He's going to make all the other department directors re-apply for their current jobs.

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Public works, especially permitting has been a sh*t show for years.

I want to apologize for my ignorance but I'm going to ask a dumb question. What do we know about Whitmire? What should we expect? Are we excited it's him or more relieved that it isn't Sheila Jackson Lee?

Local politics aren't strong suit. Thanks in advance.

Ryan the Temp said:

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If anyone is interested, the word on the street is that Whitmire is going to oust the Public Works, HR, and Library directors this week. He's going to make all the other department directors re-apply for their current jobs.

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Rumor is that TXDOT Houston District Engineer will be hired to be Director of Houston Public Works.

Jack Klompus said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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If anyone is interested, the word on the street is that Whitmire is going to oust the Public Works, HR, and Library directors this week. He's going to make all the other department directors re-apply for their current jobs.

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Rumor is that TXDOT Houston District Engineer will be hired to be Director of Houston Public Works.

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Why would she make that move?

texasaggie2015 said:

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I want to apologize for my ignorance but I'm going to ask a dumb question. What do we know about Whitmire? What should we expect? Are we excited it's him or more relieved that it isn't Sheila Jackson Lee?

Local politics aren't strong suit. Thanks in advance.

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First off I live in Spring, so not a CoH voter.

He was a long term State a Senator and by all indications a well respected one. Keep in mind the city is officially a political subdivision of the state. What that means is all of the cities legal powers and governing authority are derived from the state. Somewhere in history there is an acct of the legislature, signed by a governor that created the City of Houston.

So the city is very closely tied to the state. His experience in that capacity will serve him well. SJL by comparison, for all her shortcomings, knows the federal system. Where Whitmire can work well with our state partners, I believe she would have saddled the city and by extension the region with federal intervention.

I think there's a decent chance the man knows what he's doing.

An appointed position with COH pays more than TXDOT District Engineer.

Thanks for the info.

I assumed that would likely be the case, but would the extra $$ be worth the headaches that would be encountered with that type of position, especially in that department's current condition?

Jack Klompus said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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If anyone is interested, the word on the street is that Whitmire is going to oust the Public Works, HR, and Library directors this week. He's going to make all the other department directors re-apply for their current jobs.

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Rumor is that TXDOT Houston District Engineer will be hired to be Director of Houston Public Works.

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Yikes.

Saw the new mayor on a news clip the other night.

Does he have some kind of physical condition causing odd twitches? He just seemed to exhibit some weird physical movements while speaking to the room in the clip I saw.

RC_57 said:

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Saw the new mayor on a news clip the other night.

Does he have some kind of physical condition causing odd twitches? He just seemed to exhibit some weird physical movements while speaking to the room in the clip I saw.

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It's because his shirts are too tight on his neck. He does that to adjust his collar.

Don't know. HPW is a mess. We've stopped pursuing COH work since we never make money on it except for one specific discipline. The consent decree projects with EPA is one example--the contract that the City wanted consultants to sign put all the risk on the consultant for potential schedule delays including paying liquidated and consequential damages associated with fines assessed by the EPA.

TXDOT Houston District has some huge projects coming up, so I'd think that would make the District Engineer role pretty high profile statewide and potentially nationwide.

What? The DE didn't want to deal with the I45 re-route?

Ryan the Temp said:

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If anyone is interested, the word on the street is that Whitmire is going to oust the Public Works, HR, and Library directors this week. He's going to make all the other department directors re-apply for their current jobs.

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Well, did it happen?

Project Gemini said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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If anyone is interested, the word on the street is that Whitmire is going to oust the Public Works, HR, and Library directors this week. He's going to make all the other department directors re-apply for their current jobs.

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Well, did it happen?

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Not that I've heard. My guess would be he makes the announcement at the next City Council meeting.

Well, that's interesting...I guess.

I'll have to look for that next opportunity.

Thanks Ryan.

Jack Klompus said:

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Don't know. HPW is a mess. We've stopped pursuing COH work since we never make money on it except for one specific discipline. The consent decree projects with EPA is one example--the contract that the City wanted consultants to sign put all the risk on the consultant for potential schedule delays including paying liquidated and consequential damages associated with fines assessed by the EPA.

TXDOT Houston District has some huge projects coming up, so I'd think that would make the District Engineer role pretty high profile statewide and potentially nationwide.

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Interim is lined up. Just waiting on the trigger to get pulled.

Airport director got canned.

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/houston-airport-system-whitmire-18644926.php

Quote:

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Former Director of the Houston Airport System Mario Diaz is resigning with the intent to retire, according to a memo released by Houston Mayor John Whitmire. Effective Friday, Houston Airport System Chief Operating Officer Jim Szczesniak will serve as the airport operator's new interim director.

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Neighborhoods and Planning also gone.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/houston/article/mayor-whitmire-replaces-planning-neighborhood-18630356.php
(paywalled)

I'd have fired everyone of them on day one.

Another shoe drops ... Library director is out.

https://houstonlanding.org/rhea-lawson-longtime-houston-public-library-director-leaves-job-amid-morale-woes/

Quote:

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Mayor John Whitmire on Thursday replaced the Houston Public Library's executive director of 19 years, Rhea Lawson, following months of behind-the-scenes conversations about low morale throughout the organization.

In a statement, the mayor's office said it immediately was installing longtime school system administrator Cynthia Wilson as interim director of the library on Thursday, shortly after Lawson told employees she was retiring.

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So did Turner actually do anything productive during his time?