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This publication is dedicated to & maintained by those of us who really care about this city. We are many --- (and growing stronger with more people joining our ranks everyday). We are the nameless , faceless city, county, state, federal, and corporate taxpaying citizens & workers who are sick of the "good ole boy system" here in Houston, Texas --We were born on 7-30-1999. We are --- married & single-male & female, maintenance worker to Deputy Directors. We are the faceless civil servants who year after year do our job. We are the one's who see the hard earned tax $$s of the citizens in this area used & abused and given away to enrich a few greedy people with each new administration. Our hobbies include: Watching our backs---as we try to bring you the truth of what is happening in Houston, and getting the REAL information out to the public.

THANK YOU DEAREST READERS!!!!!! 

Dec. 21, 2000, 11:43PM

Petitioners want vote on light rail

Metro says dispute doesn't alter plans

By RACHEL GRAVES
Copyright 2000 Houston Chronicle Opponents of the Metropolitan Transit
Authority's plans to build a light rail line in Houston on Thursday filed a
petition with about 1,100 signatures demanding a referendum on the issue.

Thanks to all of you we had more than double the amount needed to force this issue to a vote. If the City resists, we have the where with all to take it to the courts.

We really have to say this was a true grass roots effort, from River Oaks to Memorial to Riverside. From Mansions to machines shops, we gathered signatures, and actually some times the petitions were being jerked out of our hands faster than the notaries could notarize them.

From flower shop owners to small Mom & Pop grocery stores we had offers of help. If we had not had to get each individual signature notarized, we could have turned in many , many more. In fact as the Press was interviewing David Hutzelman from BusCAR about the effort, signatures were being dropped off in front of Anna Russell's office. Thank you one and all. We will keep you all informed.

New business: (monkey business?)

Rob Todd comes from a military family whose Texas roots date back to the mid 1800's. Rob holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas, a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from South Texas College of Law, and is a graduate of the A.A. White Dispute Resolution Center. He is a member of the Texas and Houston Bar Associations ...... He is also a member of the: Transportation, Infrastructure and Technology Committee; Fiscal Affairs Committee; International Trade Committee; Ethics Committee Regional Planning and Charter Ordinance Committee; and the Council Governance Committee. In addition to his City Council duties, he is an active shareholder in the law firm Waldron, Schneider & Todd, specializing in business law, located in the Clear Lake part of Houston.

Not the kind of man that could say he didn't know the law, or didn't understand the law would ya'll say? He was the first Council member to call in the OIG this time last year when ole Lutfi Hassan sent illegal gifts to Council members & Mayor & his staff.

He has been a friend to Housnitch on more than one occasion. BUT .... there are NO SACRED COWS.  Friend or not, our job is to expose, push for disciplinary action, and STOP the unsavory aspects of government. "BUSINESS AS USUAL" only exists because we allow it!  We would be remiss in our goal, to NOT seek an investigation into the goings on of this or ANY Council member, who we believe has used taxpayer dollars illegally.

We did wait to see if anyone else in this city was as sickened as we were with Todd's shenanigans .... unfortunately, no one seems outraged enough to file a formal complaint, so HOUSNITCH did.

Based on the following stories about Rob Todd in the Houston Press,

WE do still have some things STILL up in the air Darlins ...

The OIG is stiil investigating complaints concerning:

  Gary N. Oradat, P.E., Deputy Director Public Utilities Division of Public Works & Engineering

HERBERT LUM, P.E., Deputy Director CONSTRUCTION DIVISION. Public Works & Engineering

and of course we have MORE than ONE complaint still being investigated against

SHOWRI NANDAGIRI, P.E., Acting Deputy Director, CAPITAL PROJECTS DIVISION, Public Works & Engineering.

Hopefully the new year will clear out these miscreants and Tom Rolen can put some  QUALIFIED HONEST people in these positions.

We have waited for a year now on the Texas Board of Professional Engineers, to Rule on our complaint against FORMER Deputy Director of P W & E Hilda Garza Scott. click the icon below to see the latest letter from them concerning this matter:

We guess the fact that this has languished for so long should come as no surprise. In doing a little research of this Board, we found the following:

TEXAS BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS

REGULAR QUARTERLY BOARD MEETING MINUTES

SEPTEMBER 8, 2000

The Texas Board of Professional Engineers’ Regular Quarterly Board Meeting was called to order by Board Chair E.D. Dorchester, P.E., at 8:30 a.m., on September 8, 2000, in the Board office, 1917 IH-35 South, Austin, Texas.  Board members present were James R. Nichols, P.E.; Board Vice-Chair; Brenda A. Bradley, P.E., Board Secretary; Edmundo R. Gonzalez, Jr., P.E.; Govind Nadkarni, P.E.; Danny R. Perkins; Vicki T. Ravenburg, CPA; and Robert M. Sweazy, Ph.D., P.E. Staff members present were Victoria J.L. Hsu, P.E., Executive Director; Randi Warrington, Executive Assistant; C. Walter May, Jr., P.E., Director of Licensing; Paul D. Cook, Director of Enforcement; and Janie S. Beltran, Executive Secretary.  Mr. Frank J. Knapp, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, was also present.

  A quorum was present...............

 Mr. Dorchester presented an award of recognition to Mr. Perkins for his dedicated service as the Board Chair from September 1, 1999 through August 31, 2000.

That's MR. DANNY R. PERKINS whose name is seen on the document we received from the Board. Yep....Mr. Danny was a G. W. Bush appointee to this Board of Professional Engineers. He served as the president, for a year of this most austere Board.

But ya know what BOYS & GIRLS ....  this Bush appointee, (which was to show diversity of the board because he is an African American), isn't even a PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER! AND wanna know what else?????

TEXAS BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS
December 8, 2000 Board Meeting

  ESC Polytech Consultants, Inc., and Mr. Danny R. Perkins, Houston, Texas – File B-14364 – It was alleged that the web page for this firm owned by Mr. Perkins, represented the ability to offer and/or perform a variety of engineering services.  It was also alleged that Mr. Perkins submitted documentation to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) claiming that his firm had a Texas licensed professional as a full-time employee in an attempt to have his firm certified to be considered for future TxDOT engineering projects.  Board records did not show that Mr. Perkins was licensed in Texas as a professional engineer nor that his firm had a Texas licensed professional engineer as a regular full-time employee.  As a result of a Formal Hearing before the State Office of Administrative Hearings, the Board accepted the Proposal for Decision from the Administrative Law Judge and issued this firm and Mr. Perkins a Cease and Desist Order to immediately discontinue offering to practice engineering and/or the actual practice of engineering for the public of Texas until such time as he becomes duly licensed in Texas as a professional engineer or until his firm hires a Texas licensed professional engineer as a regular full-time employee.  The firm and Mr. Perkins were also ordered to pay a $3,500.00 administrative penalty.

 SEEMS LIKE MR. PERKINS, (who we KNOW to be a good FRIEND of Hilda Garza Scott's) DIDN'T EVEN HAVE AN ENGINEERING LICENSE . (which isn't  unusual, according to my local companies who do engineering business , what happens is, the company RENTS a resume... Yep, they ask a "friend" or someone they know in the engineering community, who DOES have a professional engineering license to allow them to carry their name & resume as an employee of the company for any bids they may wish to submit. The P.E. is paid XXX amount of dollars per month for the rental of his license, and when the company is awarded the contract, he may get another month or two...but then he is paid a lump sum corresponding to the size of the contract, and we understand Engineers aren't the only profession to do this, so do they all) Any way...back to Danny R. Perkins, HE SENT OUT A BID SAYING HIS COMPANY HAD A P. E. ...WHEN IN FACT IT DIDN'T. (ISN'T THAT FRAUD?) ANYWAY IN DECEMBER THEY HAD TO FIND AGAINST THEIR OWN IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT. 

CAN ANY OF YOU TELL US WHY HE IS STILL A BOARD MEMBER ?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DOESN'T HIS CONTINUED PRESENCE ON THIS BOARD RAISE SOME ETHICS QUESTIONS AS TO THE BELIEVABILITY/DUE DILIGENCE OF THIS WHOLE BOARD? IT CERTAINLY DOES TO US.

 (wonder if his company had any contracts which included federal funds ? THAT WOULD BE A GREAT QUI TAM SUIT!!!!!)

Kinda Sorta like the fox watching the hen house. Maybe the new Governor can find an HONEST, QUALIFIED African American to sit on this Board. There are PLENTY of them out there. 

(do any of you know who we would file a complaint to...against this board???)  

We feel like ALICE when she fell through the looking glass, "curiouser, and curiouser"

And the beat goes on.....

This is the last time this year we're gonna make a plea for donations. We promise you , the OIG investigation we just filed on....(and haven't told you about) and the actions & reports we have for you in the new year are well worth whatever you can send to us. PLEASE, send us a donation to P.O. Box 55423, Houston, Tx 77255. We really need them Darlins

A friend shared this link with us...we're sharing it with you....have the happiest & safest of Holidays...Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuka, Happy Kwanza, Feliz Navidad.......stay warm,  & be well Darlins...

(All letters and e-mail correspondence become the property of HOUSNITCH and housnitch.com. Unless otherwise expressly requested, we are entitled to publish all such correspondence. We reserve the right to edit letters for length and clarity, and for content that might get us sued, or to withhold their publication. Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of our editors or sponsors.)

THE POLICIES OF ZERO TOLERANCE IS TERMINATION FOR THE BUS OPERATORS BUT FOR MANAGEMENT IT IS A SLAP ON THE HAND.  FALSIFYING AN APPLICATION IS TERMINATION, IF YOU ARE A BUS OPERATOR, MANAGEMENT 30 DAYS SUSPENSION.
WHY ARE THERE DOUBLE STANDARDS FOR EMPLOYEES THAT WORK WITH THE SAME COMPANY?
 WHAT TYPE OF MESSAGE DOES THIS SENDS, DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO?  THE BOARD AND MANAGEMENT ARE AWARE OF THESE PROBLEMS.  HELP BRING BACK CONFIDENCE AND
PRIDE TO METRO.  THE DRIVERS ARE OVER STRESSED AND UNDER PAID.  THIS WAS ONCE A TOP BUS COMPANY, THE CUSTOMERS DESERVE THE BEST.  

Well, that certainly bodes for doom doesn't it?

Housnitch was glad to play only the very smallest of parts in this effort. David Hutzelman of Bus CAR & Barry Klein of Houston Property Rights Association and all those who volunteered, are the real workers who made this happen.

And he did notarize petitions, and went to meetings & notarized many of them at a time. We could not have been successful  without people like this volunteering their time & effort!

Thanks for your help in getting votes for the referendum.  It is so nice to see someone working on behalf of the voter!!  Won't you please run for office??

Yeah....right..."MAKE A SWITCH ...VOTE FOR THE BBBBB....SNITCH!" Naw, I think we do a better service here than we could in any political office, but hey! You could send us the donation you'd send a candidate if we did run for office. All this work costs & we are dependent on the kindness of people & their donations in order to keep on keeping on.

I've been trying to think of a way to halt the progress on that light rail thing, and I heard about you on KTRK last night.    I've got the petition and will have it signed and notarized.  Thanks for doing that.

Also, I do website design, so I'm always (naturally) looking at webpages.  I have a few suggestions for you, if you don't mind....which are really nothing more than tidying things up a bit.

1. Check your use of apostrophes vs possessives.  (I know this is nitpicky, but I've sent your website address to a LOT of folks, and I think that if a word is misspelled or punctuated incorrectly, it affects the credibility.)

2.  On my 17" monitor, at 800x600 resolution, the words took the ENTIRE screen.

3.  The graphics at the top are too small, and are fuzzy.  They need to be made whatever size you want them to be, THEN put into the page.  It looks like they were adjusted using HTML, which really messes with graphics.  :)

3. The use of ALL CAPS AND ALL BOLD lettering, believe it or not, make text difficult to read.    (I learned this the hard way, after 22 years in advertising.) Also, the type was a lot larger than it needed to be.

Finally, please understand that I am in no way criticizing your tremendous effort.  I merely wanted to make some suggestions that would perhaps be easier for your visitors to use.  You might also think about making a new page for the emails.  I think that is a GREAT idea....(I mean the emails that tell us what is really going on down there!)

I have been looking for such a venue for quite a while, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate what you are doing.  I am very involved in my civic association's efforts to, for example, save trees from developers, stop out-of-code building of townhomes, etc., and I am usually VERY frustrated in my efforts.  It's time we took the government back in our own hands, and get these people to understand that they work FOR us, not against us or for THEMSELVES.

Can't wait to hear from you...and please accept my thank you for your efforts.  If I can help, just let me know.

Hi!
Thanks for the quick response.

Snitch Wanna be If I Can Help

We hope this week's Snitch is better on your eyes Darlins.

I truly appreciate your website!  It provides a huge
amount of good information and insite.  Keep up the  good work!

 Thank you Darlin for all you do!

would the same ordinance apply to the 2 feet of the street that is being used for bike lanes.

Unfortunately I don't think so...we'd need another venue to fight that screw-up...any of you attorneys out there got any ideas?

Go get  'em!  I sent this to about 100 persons...
 

Ain't Democracy TRULY grand?????

We love getting mail from you...haven't in a while tho...glad to see you are still with us!!!!  (still waiting on some of that "bard" stuff, surely someone...some where has an old copy stashed away)

I THINK THE WHOLE CREW OVER THERE AT THE BS
DEPARTMENT NEEDS TO BE REPLACED!  IT SICKENS ME TO
SEE THE CRAP THEY GET AWAY WITH AT OUR EXPENSE.  I
GUESS THE ONLY REASON THE OIG HAS NEVER LOOKED INTO
ANYTHING OVER THERE IS MAYBE SOME UNDER THE TABLE
KICKBACKS?  OH WELL AS A CITY EMPLOYEE NOTHING REALLY
SEEMS TO AMAZE ME ANYMORE.  THE ONLY WAY THE CITY WILL IMPROVE IS WHEN WE GET ANYONE BUT LEE PEE IN THE HOT SEAT!!!!   MAYBE A NEW MAYOR WILL COME IN AND SEE ALL THE BS THAT IS GOING ON AND HAVE THE BACKBONE TO DO
SOMETHING ABOUT IT.  WE CAN ONLY DREAM!!
 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!

Actually baby, Housnitch was visiting with some of her favorite people in the OIG's office & Monique & Trinh Phan are both under investigation. (Don't you just love it????) We do pass along the the information we receive to them...and in fact they read us religiously. I think the New Year will see a lot of changes....

Dear Brenda ~ ~
I signed on the referendum opposing Council's sanctioning Metro's use of the Main/Fannin corridor for whatever Metro wants, namely streetcars (aka light rail).
I ought to make my position clear. I am not opposed to public
transportation, it is necessary, the more the better and if it is really good, even better yet. I am not opposed to public transportation by rail, wherever it is appropriate. I am not even opposed to light rail, wherever appropriate, but it is pretty hard to find places in Houston where it is really economically feasible and practical.
We don't need streetcars on Main/Fannin for improvements in traffic congestion or air pollution. We don't need streetcars at all, but could sure use more express busses and busses that are propelled by clean-burning fuels. (Metro is stubbornly busily buying more diesel busses). What we do need is commuter rail lines that take a load off the arteries between the suburbs and city center, also rail lines that provide a network of public transit within the city center.
Streetcars (aka light rail) won't do this. I fear that when Metro gets through tearing up and rebuilding streets for streetcars and crowds off and obstructs all other traffic that the public will be so disgusted at the boondoggle and threats to traffic and pedestrian safety that it will vote against any of the more necessary commuter rail projects.  So I think Metro's approach is cockeyed and inappropriate for the future of Houston.
I am not merely being negative, there is a technological and fiscal solution that Metro is purposely overlooking. THAT IS ONE OF THE FORMS OF ELEVATED RAIL, OFTEN CALLED MONORAIL ! Monorail is safe, non-polluting, rapid, non-traffic obstructing, comfortable, quiet, readily installed without tearing up streets (indeed not even dependent on use of streets). Monorail can be installed as commuter rail over or next to or somewhere else to replace auto traffic on the freeways, also more readily installed to criss-cross inner city.
If you are interested, and don't already know, let me know and we can provide you with more info about the various types and advantages of monorail.

Keep up the good work !

I think it was Al Haines who went out to Disneyland back under Whitmire's administration & suggested Monorail, then Lanier beat her in the next election pointing out the faults of the plan.....YET...here we are stuck with Al Haines AGAIN.....FOR or AGAINST isn't the question....it's that we want a voice, a vote. Many people who signed the petition say they are supporters of some sort of rail system...just not this 7.5 mile boondoggle down Main Street, and most assuredly not without a vote.

What about the Muslin Prayer Center at the first floor of the Bob Lanier Public Works Building, 611 Walker. I don't know much, but I do know that taxpayer money is used to build a prayer retreat so these city employees can go down there and pray.  Is this on city payroll time, or their breaks? 
What about the separation of Church & State?  Did the Mayor and Monique approve this? Maybe some others can supply more facts, but I do know that there's a prayer center at 611 Walker built with taxpayer money.  City Council should investigate before it gets too lavish.  Keep if the good work too - you know everyone on Council and all their aides read this "religiously" (pardon the pun here)!!!

We knew about this a couple of months ago, but at the time weren't too concerned, because it was JUST an empty room. But now that plans for using taxpayer dollars are involved, we have asked Council members to look into it.. We know the plans are on Trinh's desk....We also have reason to believe there is a letter out there from the Mayor's office signed by him & Jew Don Boney concerning this prayer center.  (they have to pay back all those cab Muslim cab drivers ya know...and they need them next year for subsequent elections )

 I did speak with some people on the State & Federal Levels about separation of Church & State, and we hear the Jehovah's Witness want their own room if the Muslims get one...SHEESH....WILL THE BS FROM THIS ADMINISTRATION never STOP???? (Before ya'll get all p.o.ed & start sending us letters...we are NOT anti-religious. The Federal & State governments allow for Muslims to unroll their prayer mats & exercise their religion right in their offices, cubicles etc. why should we be any different? And we don't care who it is...OUR MONEY & FACILITIES SHOULDN'T BE USED TO HELP ANY ONE PARTICULAR RELIGION OVER ANOTHER...THAT'S WHAT SEPARATION MEANS!!!!!)

hey housnitch,
I reside in the city of houston, but I work for the
city of Baytown Fire Dept.  We have alot of the same
problems.  Would you be interested in any dirt?  Maybe
start a "baysnitch"?
Later.

Be glad to help any way we can Darlin

Let's give OIG some more fun to have with our favorite
policy abuser, Trinh Pham, crown princess of the sinking ship. Let's start with credentials, oops there are none. Ask her how many buildings she has actually designed, built or even watched get built: answer: zero.
She did a couple of interiors and folded some cardboard for some goofy graphics competition. Really not very qualified to lead the City into the next century. Ask around to the architects who have to sit through meetings with her, speeches about trees and roots and branches and the soul of the building and pseudo-intellectual crap like that but no clue about what it takes to put a building together. Ask PGAL
about our favorite white elephant, the Houston Emergency Center; Trinh held the project hostage until they agreed to hire her friend, Sophia Fonseca of KYO Consulting as a programmer. PGAL didn't want her, Keystone didn't want her, BSD didn't want her, but little Trinh pitched her fit and got her way.
And has anybody looked into her wedding yet? If OIG wants to check on how much time was spent on the city clock (and any city resources??), don't ask Trinh. Ask Melissa Aguirre, Jacquelyn Nisby, Ollie Schiller, or Nadezdeh Gerdes about how much time they spent hand delivering or making arrangements for the boss. And let's check on the ethics of what gifts were received from inappropriate guests who are under contract with the City. Keystone's Andy Schatte was of course in
attendance as was C.C. Li from STOA Architects. What is the policy on the ethics of contractors and personal gifts? And if other BSD employees are forbidden from attending events such as County Judge Eckel's annual breakfast and fund raiser, why was Trinh there and who paid for her $100 ticket? ask her for her receipt.
BSD is being run by management that does not comply with city policy, is not qualified for the position and is abusing the department for personal pleasure by ridiculous trips and acceptance of inappropriate meals and gifts. How much longer will the administration turn a blind eye and let this circus continue? 

This letter was forwarded to the OIG...and they are looking into it all!

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"He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice." 
-Albert Einstein

tell em what you think darlins, we get tired of telling  them by ourselves.......

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HOUSNITCH