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This publication is dedicated & 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 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. This publication is our collective voice.
THE ONLY THING NECESSARY FOR EVIL TO TRIUMPH IS FOR GOOD MEN & WOMEN TO DO NOTHING....ONE BRAVE MAN OR WOMAN MAKES A MAJORITY
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Despite repeated references to Houston's future, Mayor Lee Brown's inaugural speech Monday remained largely rooted in the past, citing the accomplishments of his first term, but offering few specifics about plans for his second........Among the new council members -- Mark Ellis, Carol Mims Galloway, Mark Goldberg, Bert Keller, Gordon Quan and Gabriel Vasquez -- several are expected to stand independently of Brown.
To that end...we here at HOUSNITCH sent an e-mail to the new council members:
Subj: Goodafternoon
Date: 1/3/00 1:06:53 PM Central Standard Time
From: HOUSNITCH
To: HOUSNITCH
CC: gquan@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
CC: cgallowa@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
CC: mgoldber@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
CC: mellis@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
CC: bkeller@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
CC: gvasquez@cnl.ci.houston.tx.us
Dear New Council Members:
If you are not aware of www. Housnitch.com...become familiar with us. We will be watching all you new council members very closely.
We already know that Carol Galloway is the Mayor's new yes woman (but you were the lesser of the known evils running for that seat) ....you have a lot to prove to us.
Gabriel Vasquez, don't forget that the Heights is not the MAIN section of your district. There are too many amenities lacking in other areas of your district. LEARN to communicate with those constituents as well.
Mr. Keller, the developers & real estate people aren't your only constituents ...( Mike Howard as Chief of staff?...that sets off alarms for us...not every constituent is a homeowner). Pay attention how the money is spent in your district....even the wealthy watch their $$$$$'s. And there will be NO DE-ANNEXATION of the Royal Oaks development. A recall petition won't be hard to get signed if that should ever happen.
Listen to your mentors.....pay attention to the $$$$'s spent and HOW they are spent, and who they are given to.
While you are obligated to dance with them that brung you....please don't forget the band. There is no dance without the band.
Enjoy your honeymoon...it doesn't last long.
Sincerely,
HOUSNITCH
"The ultimate test of a man is not where he stands on positions of comfort and convenience but where he stands on positions of challenge and controversy. So on some questions cowardice asks, 'Is a position safe?' Expediency asks, 'Is the position politic?' Vanity asks, 'Is the position popular?' But conscience asks, 'Is the position RIGHT?'" -- Dr. Martin Luther King
You'll find your new council members here:
HOUSNITCH will be speaking Thursday,
January 20th, 2000 at the luncheon for the Downtown Houston Pachyderm Club
. The Downtown Houston Pachyderm Club is a chapter of the Grand Order of Pachyderm Clubs. Members and guests of the club meet every Thursday at noon for lunch and a presentation on a wide range of civic and political issues from elected officials, candidates for public office, government agency heads and political activists. Meetings are in the banquet room on the Congress Street side of Kim Son Restaurant (Louisiana @ Congress), with validated parking at the Market Square Garage. Lunch is $8 and is served family style. The club also sponsors political education seminars and promotes citizen involvement in the political process....All
right guys.....close to work...enough notice for you to save $8...so WE want to
see plenty of smiling friendly faces there!
We're No. 1!
HOUSTON SEEMS DESTINED TO REMAIN THE COUNTRY'S BIGGEST STINK HOLE
By Bob Burtman
(click here for full story HOUSTON
PRESS)
Image-conscious Houston has finally achieved world-class status as the millennium draws to a close.
Do hold your breath: The state's plan to clean up Houston's air smells like a loser.
Housnitch wants you all to help with this one. It's way time we held big business accountable. There seems to be a new method for measuring "tank emissions", but the EPA isn't going to use it unless we raise enough STINK ourselves...so let's do it. We auto drivers have a new test for our auto emissions....let's hold big business to this new one. Housnitch will be present at the public meetings concerning this...and we urge all other interested parties to join us.....These big companies can't just continue to donate large sums of monies to campaigns & put all the burden for our air quality on us...the little guys. When is the last time any of you drove past the refineries? Do ya'll see those cows out there grazing? That's a tax dodge. Right next to those big storage tanks. And the company gets to claim the land as FARM LAND....agricultural.....big tax write off. Let's make them responsible for change.
In deference to our new council members....we're gonna go easy on em some what:
Let's look to see what one of our Stooges is up to. For you new readers...We here in the City of Houston, have The Three Stooges heading up Public Works & Engineering.....HILDA GARZA SCOTT, GARY ORADAT, AND SHOWRI NANDAGIRI. (there are other incompetents at P. W. & E....but these three have reached STOOGE status). Today's STOOGE in the spotlight is GARY ORADAT newly appointed Deputy Director of Public Utilities Division.
You see...new council members....DESPITE what you might
learn about City policy in granting contracts by reading the City
Code of Ordinances....it's REALLY done by political pay backs & good ole
friends. We hope none of you have ideas for paying back you're FRIENDS with
contracts....because the Mayor has too many political payments of his own to
make & our STOOGES have plenty of friends....so..
IF you promised a supporter...or a friend help in these
areas....you'll have to stand in line. (and being new comers....you're at the
BACK of the line!) ANY WAY...This letter comes from Mr. Gary Oradat:
You see, new readers...this company "UNDERESTIMATED" the job. Now, whose fault is this? Is it the taxpyer's? WE don't think so. In the REAL world you'd just have to eat it...not here with our STOOGES at P. W. & E....Gary just hands them some more money. According to the City Charter...only Council can give anybody MORE money after passing on their contract...That is one of your functions. But at P. W. & E....these guys no who deserves more and they see that they get it. i guess we can be glad Gary only gave them $903,000.00. From the following letter you can see Teresa Battenfield wanted to give them more....
HILDA GARZA SCOTT...our
very own FEMALE STOOGE....for you new council members....she's the one
being investigated by the District Attorney's office....she gave her husband a
lot of money with city contracts But he did make her Deputy director before he
quit the City's employ.(we hope you don't have a spouse or family member who
needs some of them....none of our other council members have done this....this privilege
seems to be relegated to the Mayor & Deputy Directors) Ya'll wanna know what
Hilda and her staff were really up to the past couple of
weeks of December in the Capital Works Division? The
following is a collaborative effort from those of us WHO DO KNOW!!! (and
we threw in a couple of comments...so sue us this is our page!)
Just and example of how "professional" this Division is being managed.
#1 on the list is Poor Planning of Administrative staff, not only of both the Northern & Southern Branches but most importantly , HILDA 's office. There was only 1 employee answering calls for Ms. Scott's office during the two weeks for which the 14th & 15th floors had to start taking them with no advance notice. 3 AAIV's (that means administrative assistants), Division Administrative Manager & Ms. Scott were all on a 2 week vacation. Surely one AAIV in the office would have demonstrated some control of her administrative personnel's responsibilities as expected from all AAIV's throughout City departments. Many people will say that it's acceptable because of the holidays, but our taxpayers will not agree. They pay for these peoples nice salaries & "vacations". This would not happen in most of our properly managed City departments Directors' offices. Not only is it unprofessional, but also discourteous the the Northern & Southern personnel who did show up for work during this time. The sad thing was that no one knew who was in charge in that office. Is it fair and just to confuse your employees? I it any wonder that when you enter an office you see people who appear to be "nervous", "oblivious" "defensive" "blunt, etc.? Wouldn't it be better to do the right thing FIRST, so that other employees or the public won't spread "vicious" rumors about the competency of Ms. Scott's office & personnel? We (both Northern & Southern branches) know by experience that we have to scramble many times to borrow, such as equipment, supplies, vehicles, etc, from other divisions & departments. If this division had been adequately managed with some sensitivity in mind for it's employees (other than Deputy directors' personnel), with a goal to make this division "effective" & "successful", Ms. Scott could have earned a small degree of respect from employees & the public. Communication from the Deputy Directors' office to the two branches has always been an issue , yet no one is willing to accept responsibility. Yet, Ms, Scott has promoted all of her own personnel in the time she has managed this division...but promoted them to what? They still do the same job they were doing two years ago. Let's be frank.. you can't buy respect. The people you do trust Hilda will eventually betray you. Sooner or later you will reap what you have sown. in the mean time, why should your corruptible ways affect the rest of us?
Why is it that ALL our administrative & engineering Tech employees in the Northern branch of capital projects (one even being in your own office) are applying for positions in other City departments? IT'S TIME FOR HILDA TO LEAVE. Do it Mayor, morale is so bad here. We are just honest hardworking people who want to do our job with a modicum of efficiency & aren't driven by greed. We just want to make an honest living, in the least oppressive atmosphere possible.
Oh yes...in closing...we wanted our STOOGE Oradat to know that we have seen him
in & out of Dominic's office this week. (Dominic Gbenoba for those of you
less enlightened). He and Gary were very good friends before Gary went upstairs.
He's assigned to "special projects" (of which there are very
little)...he mostly just runs errands for Oradat. Seems Gary is looking to
promote a couple of Senior engineers to Chief Engineer position & have them
work with him. We want you to know that IF
Dominic gets one of these positions there will be an investigation called, BY A
LOT OF US. He has only been a senior engineer for 5 months...You have Senior
Engineers who have been Senior Engineers for many years pick one of them...don't
do all that interviewing & going through the motions like you usually do,
make a really good sound decision for the CITY. Wasn't Dominic investigated
by the "loss prevention" team (pre cursor to OIG) for running his real
Estate business from City offices, wasn't he found guilty? (we heard you saved his
job on that one too). But can you tell us why he carries a cell phone &
brings a lap top to work everyday? Is he & his partner Godwin Oriakhi (who
is also a City employee) running HomeTech Realtors from 611 Walker?
Several City employees have listed with them from work. What are these
"special" projects he's working on? WE KNOW he isn't qualified for the
Chief Engineer's job. and now...so do our readers.
HOUSNITCH needs $500 for incorporation papers......we also need another $2000.00 for a legal fund.....WE have no intention of just telling you what's going on.....we intend to use legal recourse if we can raise the funds.....unfortunately donations right now are not deductible....but after incorporation they will be.....YOUR money will be spent WISELY....and you will see the results...not only here but in more traditional news outlets also.....Please help us become even more effective..... Housnitch @ P.O. Box 55423, Houston, TX 77255
We know our readers aren't wealthy....but every little bit helps......Thanks guys.....
Be well DARLINS...Tell 'em what you think........ya'll know we do.........