Parking Gets Easier At Rice Village Houston February 28, 2010

Public/Private Partnership to Help Ease Parking Congestion in Rice Village Houston –

 To help alleviate parking issues in Rice Village, the City of Houston Parking Management Division of the General Services Department, in coordination with Lamesa Village, will open a paid parking lot at 2400 Bolsover on March 1, 2010. The parking lot is bounded by Morningside, Kelvin and Bolsover and will be open to the visitors and employees of Rice Village. “This partnership is a win-win situation for the community and the City,” said Council Member Anne Clutterbuck, “I am pleased with the combined efforts put forth by both Lamesa Village and the Parking Management division.”

Parking rates at the new lot will be $1 per hour before 6 pm and $2 per hour after 6 pm. The lot is equipped with solar-powered wireless pay stations that accept credit cards, cash or coins. Customers will need to remember to enter the number of their parking spaces and their desired amount of time. Once payment is received, the pay station will print out a receipt that will provide their expiration time. These receipts are only valid for parking in Lamesa Village’s Bolsover Lot and cannot be used to park at metered parking spaces in other locations. Monthly parking permits are available for employees in the area for $50 per month. “Difficulty in parking has driven some customers away.” said Aubrey Mendonca of Perimeter Gallery. “Knowing it will be less of a hassle to find parking will encourage customers to return to Rice Village.”

To ensure that long-term parkers are storing their vehicles off-street and to increase the availability of on-street parking, the City will conduct a soft enforcement period where vehicles in violation of the on-street two-hour parking limits are issued warnings. Citation issuance will begin on March 1. Additionally, vehicles with three or more outstanding parking citations or only one outstanding handicap parking violation will be subject to booting. Parking Management will have Ambassadors stationed at the parking lot to help visitors during the transition to the new technology.

The parking lot will operate 24 hours per day, seven days per week. A ribbon-cutting ceremony to inaugurate the lot will take place on Monday, March 1 at 1 pm. The parking lot is located at 2400 Bolsover and bound by Morningside and Kelvin. The ceremony will be presided over by Council Member Anne Clutterbuck, District C. For more information about the City of Houston Parking Management, please visit http://www.houstonparking.org or contact City’s helpline at 3-1-1 or 713-837-0311 if outside the City of Houston. ###

President Obama Endorses Congresswoman Jackson Lee February 27, 2010

 Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee is running for her 9th term to represent the 18th Congressional District  in the United States Congress.

She is facing Houston City Councilman Jarvis Johnson and Houston attorney Sean Roberts.

Johnson has said  that one of the reasons he is challenging Jackson Lee  is because she campaigned for  Hillary Clinton in the presidential primary, even though her district overwhelming supported Barack Obama.

That hasn’t seemed to hurt Congresswoman Jackson Lee’s relationship with the President.  Today her campaign released the statement below. 

President Barack Obama has endorsed Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee of the 18^th Congressional District for her re-election.

“Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee is a tireless champion for Houston’s working families,” said President Obama.  “That’s why we need her back in Congress to help my efforts to bring real jobs back to Houston and the nation.  I need you to cast your vote for Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.”

“I am grateful and humbled to receive this endorsement from President Obama,” said Jackson Lee.  “When he asked me to campaign for him, I found it so rewarding to see the outpouring of support for the change he represented and now he is the change agent that America and Houston needs today.  I am proud to be working with President Barack Obama as we work to change lives for the better.

“Now that he is in office, it is exciting to work with President Obama on the many important issues facing our country,” the Congresswoman continued.  “Now more than ever, I am grateful for the President’s trust and confidence in me.”

President Obama joins a long list of individuals and organizations endorsing Congresswoman Jackson Lee for re-election.  A complete list is attached.

Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo BBQ Contest February 26, 2010

It’s time to dust off your boots and pull your cowboy hat out of the closet. 

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo kicked off  Thursday night with the annual World Championship BBQ  Cookoff. According to the HLS&R it’s officially three days of cooking, competition, eating and dancing.

All events are held at Reliant Park.

You can find out more by visiting: http://www99.rodeohouston.com/events/bbq/index.aspx

This year more than 300 teams are competing for the honor of  best ribs, sausage, chicken (or any other kind of meat you can cook on the grill)

2 On the Beat  enjoyed a few hours at the BBQ and Carnival Thursday night.  Thanks to the Clear Channel Outlaws  and the 2 Steppers BBQ teams for inviting me inside.

EARLY VOTING FACTS AND PROJECTIONS February 26, 2010

 Thanks to Hector de Leon in the Harris County Clerk’s Office for the Following Information: 

 With one day left in the early voting by personal appearance period for the 2010 March primary Elections totals indicate that by the end of the day voting may be up over 100% compared to early voting in the 2006 March Primary Elections.

Early Voting by Personal Appearance in 2010 March Primary Election

	Democratic	Republican	Total
2010	23,914	36,321	60,232
2006	8,760	24,602	33,362

 Early voting and absentee voting for the 2010 March Primary Elections combined may total between 90,000 to 100,000 voters. That is significant because only a total of 118,436 persons voted in the whole of the 2006 March Primary Elections.

·        The Early Voting by Personal Appearance Daily Report indicates that by the end of today early voting in the Democratic Primary may be up over 200 percent compared to the same period in the 2006 March Primary Election.

·        The Early Voting by Personal Appearance Daily Report indicates that by the end of today early voting in the Republican Primary may be up over 70 percent compared to the same period in the 2006 March Primary Election.

·        Thus far, the 2010 March Primary Early Voting Daily Reports shows that 60 percent of the early voters have voted in the Republican Primary and 40 percent in the Democratic Primary. The early vote in the 2006 March Primary was 74 percent Republican to 26 Democrat.

Fiscally Conservative Club Announces its 2010 Republican Party Endorsements February 26, 2010

(Houston, TX – February 24, 2010)  The R Club has announced its endorsements for the 2010 Republican Primary in Texas.

“We are proud as the R Club to make these endorsements,” stated Jonathan Newton, President of the R Club. “It is very important that in 2010 we select Republican Party candidates that are fiscally conservative.  And, for those judicial candidates we select, that they show judicial restraint and not political activism.  We believe the candidates we endorse fit our mold and will do well in November against Democrat challengers.”
 
The list of endorsements are as follows:

Attorney General, Greg Abbott
US Representative 10, Michael McCaul
US Representative 22, Pete Olson
State Representative Dist. 127, Dan Huberty
State Representative Dist. 133, Jim Murphy
State Representative Dist. 137, Sylvia Spivey
Justice Supreme Court Place 5, Jeff Brown
Justice Supreme Court Place 9, Eva Guzman
Justice 1st Court of Appeals, Place 8 (unexpired term), Michael Massengale
Justice 14th Court of Appeals, Place 9, Tracy Elizabeth Christopher
Justice 14th Court of Appeals, Place 2, Leslie Brock Yates
Justice 14th Court of Appeals, Place 5 (unexpired term), Martha Hill Jamison
District Judge, 157th District, Randy Wilson
District Judge, 180th District, Danny Dexter
District Judge, 228th District, Marc Carter
District Judge, 234th District, Reece Rondon
District Judge, 245th District, Roy L. Moore
District Judge, 281st District, Sylvia Matthews
District Judge, 295th District, Caroline Baker
District Judge, 308th District, Alice O’Neill
District Judge, 313th District, Fred Wilson
County Judge, Ed Emmett
** County Tax Assessor-Collector, Leo Vasquez
Justice of the Peace Pct. 5, Place 2, George Huntoon
County Civil Court at Law No. 1, Jack Cagle
County Civil Court at Law No. 2, Jacqueline Lucci Smith
County Criminal Court No. 1, Paula Goodhart
County Criminal Court No. 8, Jay Karahan
County Criminal Court No. 13, Rachel Ann Palmer
City Council, Sugarland, Jacqueline Baly Chaumette
 
About the R Club

The R Club was founded in 1995 to provide a forum for the next generation of Houston conservatives to actively engage in local and state politics.  Our collective goal is as simple as the straightforward philosophy we share: to help find positive solutions to the issues we face as a community by promoting the conservative principles of personal and fiscal responsibility in public service.
 
In order to pursue this goal, R Club members are active in a wide variety of civic, charitable, professional, and political organizations.  R Club members have also become elected officials and judicial officers on the state and local level.  All R Club members are committed to being informed on the issues and taking individual and collective responsibility for promoting a conservative agenda in Houston and the State of Texas.
 
Each member of the R Club is committed to using his or her talents, time, money, as well as other available resources, to promote the conservative principles of personal and fiscal responsibility in public service.
 
We work to achieve this by our joint efforts to:
 

• Facilitate the awareness of issues
• Encourage public service among our peers
• Affect the outcomes of political campaigns and appointments
  

In short, we want to do our part to help build a better Houston and Texas.

 

Farouk Shami Is Creating More Jobs February 25, 2010

If  he is elected Governor of  Texas, Hair Care Executive Farouk Shami promises he will create 100, 000 new jobs or give the state $10 Million.

Election day isn’t until March 2, but Shami  says he is already doing his part to encourage economic growth in the underdeveloped Fifth Ward area of Houston.

Today as he voted early in the Democratic Party Primary,  Farouk Systems Inc. announced that it is hosting a grand opening in celebration of their third facility launching in Houston.  Activities will include a fish fry, music along with a ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by Founder and Chairman Farouk Shami.

The event is this Saturday, February 27, at 11:00 a.m. The Farouk Facility is located at 4731 Darien.

Job applications will also be accepted at that location.

The news release didn’t mention anything about needing your voter registration card to participate.

Gov. Perry Announces Facebook to Create 200 Jobs in Austin February 25, 2010

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry today announced on the Governor’s Office Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/TexasGovernor) that the state will invest $1.4 million through the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) for Facebook to create a sales and operations office in Austin. This investment will create 200 jobs and more than $3.1 million in capital investment. The TEF funding is conditioned upon the finalization of a local incentive agreement with the City of Austin.

“The TEF continues to be a critical, deal closing tool for Texas, helping to attract jobs and businesses and grow our state’s diverse economy,” Gov. Perry said. “Facebook’s expansion in Austin will enhance the area’s robust technology industry, create 200 jobs for Texans, and strengthen the economy in Central Texas.”

Facebook is a social networking service that enables 400 million people around the world to communicate more efficiently with friends, family and coworkers in a trusted environment. This office represents the first major U.S. expansion outside of Palo Alto, Calif., where the company is headquartered.

“We’ve been exploring various options around the U.S. to establish an additional online sales and operations office and we’re grateful to the assistance we’ve received from the Governor’s office and the state’s leadership in discussing the possibilities in Austin,” Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said. “Facebook continues to grow and Austin, with its deep talent pool, would allow us to hire the high-caliber employees we need to properly serve the people, advertisers and developers that rely on our service.”

At Gov. Perry’s request, the legislature created the TEF in 2003 and re-appropriated funding in 2005, 2007 and 2009 to help ensure the growth of Texas businesses and create more jobs throughout the state. TEF projects must be approved by the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the House. The fund has since become one of the state’s most competitive tools to recruit and bolster business. To date, the TEF has invested more than $388.6 million and closed the deal on projects generating nearly 52,000 new jobs and more than $14.3 billion in capital investment in the state.

For more information about the TEF, please visit http://www.texaswideopenforbusiness.com/financial-resources/texas-enterprise-fund.html or www.governor.state.tx.us.

Howard Jefferson Elected To National NAACP Board February 24, 2010

WE DID IT 

TO: My Supportive Friends 

FROM: Howard Jefferson 

SUBJECT: Election to the National Board of the NAACP 

THANKS! Thanks for supporting me for the position of National Board Member of the NAACP. 

On Saturday, February 20, 2010, in the City of New York, I was sworn in as a National Board Member at Large for the NAACP. I was the only non-encumbered member elected as a Board Member at Large. 

This was a National election in which all 1801 local branches participated. The committee assignments have not been made, but I listed Education, Economic Development, and Political Action/Legislative on my preference list. 

With this election, I have made the full circle of leadership in the NAACP: 

President Emeritus – Houston 

Chair, Political Action Committee – Texas 

Board Member – National 

If I can be of any help to you please contact me at: 

  

Email: hjefferson@protectorsinsurance.com 

Respectfully, 

Howard

Senator Rodney Ellis Honored February 24, 2010

 

Sen. Rodney Ellis to Be Honored

By National Assn. of Criminal Defense Lawyers

Washington, DC­ (Feb. 23, 2010) – Sen. Rodney Ellis (Houston) will be honored with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ prestigious Champion of Justice Legislative Award, the association’s national office announced today.  The award will be presented to Sen. Ellis in Austin, TX, at the Texas Indigent Defense Summit at the Capitol on Wednesday.

Champion of Justice Awards are bestowed upon those individuals who – through legislative, journalistic or humanitarian pursuits – have staunchly preserved or defended the constitutional rights of American citizens and have endeavored to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime.  Sen. Ellis is being recognized for two decades of tireless work to improve the criminal justice system and provide adequate legal representation to poor persons charged with crimes in Texas state courts.

The day-long summit will gather over 200 attorneys and state and national policy experts to discuss the progress and challenges Texas faces in adhering to the Sixth Amendment’s right to counsel. Sen. Ellis organized the conference with support and participation from NACDL, the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and the Constitution Project. A two-day national indigent defense summit was held last week in Washington, DC.

Sen. Ellis is the author of the Texas Fair Defense Act, which requires that appointment of counsel be made promptly, from a list of qualified attorneys, not just “warm bodies.” Alternatively, the Fair Defense Act also allows a county or groups of counties to create a public defender office if they so choose. If a county does not choose a plan on its own, the default attorney selection method (a “rotation system”) comes into play – to avoid the charges made in the past of favoritism by judges in some courts, the judge must appoint an attorney from among the first five names appearing on a rotating public appointment list of attorneys qualified for the level of offense charged. The law adopted statewide attorney qualification standards for handling death penalty cases, including minimum capital trial experience requirements.

            The Fair Defense Act clarifies and strengthens attorneys’ ability to obtain reimbursement for reasonable and necessary expenses for investigation and experts. It also established a statewide agency, the Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense, to develop further minimum quality standards for indigent defense across the state, assist and monitor counties in meeting the law’s objectives, bring accountability to indigent defense practices in Texas, and administer state grants to counties.

Rodney Ellis was elected to the Texas Senate in 1990. During his tenure, Senator Ellis has earned praise as a leader on economic development, education, civil rights, responsible environmental policy, tax cuts for the middle class, criminal justice, and workforce development issues.

Before his election to the Texas Senate, Senator Ellis served three terms as a member of the Houston City Council and as chief of staff to the late U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Texas Southern University, a master’s degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, and a law degree from the University of Texas School of Law. Ellis also studied at Xavier University of New Orleans and the London School of Economics.

# # #

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is the preeminent organization advancing the mission of the criminal defense bar to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or wrongdoing.  A professional bar association founded in 1958, NACDL’s 11,000-plus direct members in 28 countries – and 90 state, provincial and local affiliate organizations totaling more than 40,000 attorneys – include private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness and promoting a rational and humane criminal justice system. 

 

Meet The Candidates For Governor of Texas February 24, 2010

Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, you have plenty of opportunity to meet the candidates for Governor of  Texas over the next few days.

Today through the weekend all of the candidates will make a stop in Houston to campaign during early voting and before the March 2nd primary election day.

Democrat Bill White will have lunch and greet voters at the Breakfast Klub on Travis Street about Noon Today/ Wednesday.  You can meet him and hear his ideas about reforming education and boosting the state’s economy.  You can also find out if  White eat wings and waffles at the Breakfast Klub. 

Later this evening you can meet all three candidates running for the Republican Party nomination for Governor.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Governor Rick Perry and former Wharton County GOP Chair Debra Medina will attend the 2010 Lincoln- Reagan Day Dinner.  It’s officially sold out, but maybe you can catch them going in?  The Harris County Republican Party is sponsoring the dinner at the J.W. Marriott Hotel across from the Galleria. It starts about 6:30.  There won’t be any wings and waffles on the menu. 

Finally, on Saturday, Houston Businessman Farouk Shami is holding a “Get Out The Vote” Super Rally.  The event will be held at 5445 Almeda, from 4-7 p.m.  That event is promising food, drinks, a Baptist church choir and a Greek Step Show.  I think it’s worth just showing up to see if Shami knows how to dance.