Mayor's Senior Executive Offers Bounty......

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.

WE NEED YOUR HELP ... this page costs money to keep on-line PLEASE help us keep it going WE NEED SOME DONATIONS!!!!!!!! ....

ANY DONATION WILL HELP.... PLEASE ......We took in a total of $65.00 last month...with 250,000 readers you all must think every one else is donating...honestly, $65.00 won't even pay 1 bill for what this site costs to get up on the net.

"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."-Plato

We received e-mails from 5 of the staff members in that meeting ....That means only about 2-3 in that meeting weren't happy about what they saw/previously read in HouSnitch ....

We'll go with the majority perception that thinks it's time for a change and these kind of actions shouldn't be sanctioned by ANYONE who works for the city.

Any of YOU guys wanna tell Mr. Hollingsworth what YOU think about him/his actions? Maybe try to collect on that Bounty?

WE HERE AT HOUSNITCH WOULDN'T TELL WHO OUR SNITCHES ARE FOR ALL OF THAT $126,000 + A YEAR THAT Mr. Hollingsworth gets paid ... our sources and the 1st amendment aren't for sale. That right and privilege was bought & paid for with many lives, NO ONE can buy it away!

We would offer you a reward for any information you send us that is prosecutable against Mr. Don Hollingsworth , except all we can offer as a reward is BETTER GOVERNMENT ..... (WE'LL SEEK PROSECUTION ANYWAY, IT'S ONE OF THE THINGS WE DO)

The people, in delegating authority, Do not give their public servants the Right to decide what is good for the people to know, and what is not good for the people to know.

C.E.O. LEE PEE BROWN (Chief Excrement Officer) for the City of Houston ... (cause all we ever really get from him is a bucket of sh*t)

"As mayor, I'm kind of like the CEO of a large corporation with about 17 different companies, and therefore I rely on my directors to carry out the day-to-day work in their area of responsibility," Brown said. (Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle)

Here Mayor, we'll help you with that some ..... we know what his Senior Asst. Don Hollingsworth is doing ... let's look at a couple of other departments and their Department heads ....

The Planning and Programming Division, led by Deputy Director Herbert Lum, P.E., is responsible for supporting the implementation of the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and improving the quality of the City's infrastructure through inter-agency coordination.

Let us tell you about just ONE of Herb's projects we believe he has given the "go ahead" on. We believe he and former Council member Helen Huey are GREAT friends, and always have been since her election to office way back when ... Ms. Huey is now a lobbyist and we think she has no trouble getting things done for her clients as long as Herb is around. We believe, inside the rules, or not, Herb makes sure Huey has what she wants. We believe right now she is wanting a wider road/turning corner for her longtime friend (and NOW Mayor Brown supporter) Jim Thompson. Seems Jim Boy wants a wider turn on that little street there on Clarkson

where his business is, and maybe a turn around at the end of this dead end street. Well, he did the preliminary design (which our guys in PW&E believe is flawed) but he didn't follow through with the survey part of the design. When survey started making some calls, Herb Lum sent for the designs & told survey department not to worry about it.

We believe ,now that Herb has approved the designs and is having "STREET & MAINTENANCE" build it all. But ya see, boys & girls ... this project doesn't benefit anyone BUT THOMPSON, and Herb has failed to send this to legal, because they will be encroaching on the private properties of other people. (but hey! Anything for someone on the Mayor's re-election committee, and a good friend of Huey!)

A design like this is SUPPOSED to be paid for by the company wanting the improvements/changes, and they should have purchased a "corner clip" from the other property owners, but Good ole Herb & Helen are gonna let US the citizens pay for it outta "STREET & MAINTENENCE" fund, and it will never come before the Council for approval or for anyone to ask questions about.

Now Council member Tatro is all over this and will be asking LOTS of questions. We don't believe this is the first time former Councilmember Huey has messed around in his District to get favors done for her clients/friends. This type of bureaucratic BS MUST be stopped. It's time for Lum to go. And all people like him. We know Showri Nandigiri approves EVERYTHING Lum signs off on, and we believe for private citizens to get private work done using PUBLIC crews/equipment/monies, has got to stop. We know of OTHER Council Districts where we believe Herb and Helen have left their mark....we wonder what current District Council members think about her/any consultant having so much power? Let's start right here Mayor, we'll give you some more examples so you will know more about what's going on in your 17 different "companies".

(one of them hasn't had a staff for more than 6 years, all he does is draw a paycheck)

....and they are getting more attention & more money and a greater budget so it can absorb this over staffing. The planning department does not need to have a huge non-technical staff just to screw up the City's development. The main function of this department is to process & co-ordinate the subdivision plats by passing them on to PW&E for review of the sanitary, water, storm, sewer, traffic & engineering stand points. the planning Department depends on the PW&E technical guidance, but now that Al Haines is back, planning is considered as a leading department. (he used it so back when Whitmire was Mayor, and he's using it that way again)

In reality Mayor, the Planning Department has done more damage to the City's streets and right -of-ways than you even want to know about. Typical example is the Houston C.BD. In the name of development almost all of the downtown streets right-of-ways width has been reduced significantly. That caused the number of traffic lanes to be drastically reduced.

All the new high rise buildings & apartment developments are encroaching at the pavement line, thus leaving no room or very little room for vehicular traffic. What type of planning is this? The Director of Planning & Development has a high school level education, and no other credentials. He is the main instrument in destroying the open area concept. Houston has lots of space, why not go for spacious & roomy and not narrow & cramped? (because Litke gets his support from the developers who get their plans approved by him. right or wrong, ole Robert will pass em for the good ole boys!)

Most of the plans get approved through Planning & Development without any engineering review. This is typical during the street development process. Most streets are being killed (dead ends) by not extending the street due to developer pressure & under the table activities. There is no thought put into traffic patterns or circulation.

The City Council should SERIOUSLY look into getting rid this top heavy, sloppy, money wasting department.

Here we go again, under the Direction of Sandy Stone. Division Manager of the Street Lighting Section in the Right-of-Way Maintenance Group, and her clone. Robert McGuffey, we have discovered that the Traffic Management & Maintenance Branch has been paying overtime to field workers to go out & survey areas OUTSIDE the city limits, and other areas that have already been surveyed. These areas have already been deemed having sufficient lighting, but Sandy was told all of this BEFORE she okayed the overtime.

Not only are we paying city workers overtime to RE-survey these areas, but Sandy & Robert are allowing Reliant Energy/HL&P to survey areas as well, and to make recommendations to install lighting where they feel it is needed.

Now correct us if we are wrong, but, would you send a fox to count the chickens and buy more at his recommendation?

We pay them a pretty penny for those lights, and we have come to find out we've been paying for at least ONE light for almost 2 years that wasn't even installed! (HL&P says it was installed in October of 1999,) When a worker recently went to check on lighting for an upcoming project, the worker found that indeed there was no light at San Felipe & Briar Grove, light # 510613 didn't exist.

Given the history of this administration , we hold a strong belief that we are probably paying for a LOT of lights we don't have.

WAKE UP TOM ROLEN, DO YOUR JOB, YOU CAN'T KEEP YOUR HEAD IN THE SAND FOREVER! WHEN A NEW MAYOR COMES IN, THE BLAME WILL END WITH YOU ... YOU'LL BE GONE! TAKE CONTROL OVER THERE, THROW OUT THESE DEADBEATS!

QUEST COMMENTARY THIS WEEK

(Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of our editors or sponsors.)

The following engineering companies are doing business with the City of Houston. There are rumors that their practices are unethical and/or illegal. I have noted those rumors for your information. The list will keep evolving and I will provide you with updated information as I receive it.

1. SES HORIZON OWNED BY EPIFANIO SALAZAR

Willowick Storm Sewer (East of Loop 610 on Richmond)

Got paid extra for meetings with Entex, HL&P, etc. which is part of basic services.

Has subcontract agreement with *&^%$# for $90,000. He only gave them $5,000

2. GEOTECH ENGINEERING AND TESTING OWNED BY DAVID EASTWOOD

Falsified documents to get DBE status

Overcharges for services. Look at Memorial Park Pump Station.

3. SUNLAND OWNED BY ORLANDO TERAN

Charged City of Houston 10% for sub consultant survey services and then took 10% away from sub consultant. in effect he charged City of Houston 20%

Had a TxDOT contract where $15,000 was left over. He doctored timesheets to collect $15,000. *&^%$#)(*&^% TxDOT employee at time was witness.

4. JNS ENGINEERS OWNED BY JOHN STRANGE

Had license taken away because he copied other engineer’s design

Typically hires hydraulic subconsultant to tell client that detention is needed when it isn't.

Get any of his City of Houston contracts and the invoicing abuses should be apparent

5. BOVAY ENGINEERS SUPPOSEDLY OWNED BY ALEJANDRO GIONATTI

Principal of firm is Italian from Argentina but is certified as a Hispanic owned business. Bovay sold interests in the company for a very low figure in order to obtain minority certification. Rosser which is a large non-minority company out of Atlanta owns 49%.

6. ATSER OWNED BY D. FRED MARTINEZ

Falsified contractors invoices

Falsified ATSER invoices submitted to City of Houston

Used City of Houston materials and equipment to do work at a church on Synott Road.

Incompetent

All you have to do is get a probable cause to bring him in for investigation and his employees will tell you everything that was done illegally if you subpoena them

7. UNITED ENGINEERS OWNED BY SHERIF MOHAMMED

Providing kickbacks to Jew Don Boney in return for work

8. MONTGOMERY WATSON

Providing kickbacks to Jew Don Boney in return for work. Paying for him to attend Symposium of Black Leaders every year in Fort Worth and also giving $20,000 honorarium.

9. RATNALA BAHL, INC. OWNED BY VISHWA BAHL

Vishwa helped set up Montgomery Watson for Greater Houston Wastewater Program when he was an employee at the City of Houston. They repaid him by giving him all sorts of contracts for which he was not qualified

Lot of allegations there buddy, got anything to back them up ?

(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.)


Subj:	Re: A vote based on image is a vote wasted
Date:	7/11/01 10:17:47 AM Central Daylight Time
From: To: Housnitch1@aol.com

At this stage in the game, and it's admittedly early, Mr. Robinson seems unlikely to play spoiler to Mayor Brown.
The three biggest candidates, Brown, Bell and Sanchez are where the money is at and Brown has the distinct advantage. The group supporting him tends to vote as a bloc, have learned to vote, and comprise about 1/3 of the city's population.
Bell, a centrist, isn't likely to pick up enough conservative votes and Sanchez, a conservative, isn't likely to pick up enough moderate votes to make a difference. Keep in mind that a lot of people vote for who they think will win-and incumbents almost always win.

The people touting Robinson as a spoiler seem to forget that while he seems like a good future candidate, he's still green and comes off that way all to often. I wonder how much he's being offered to run for mayor (or what kind of political payoff is being made to him) since that's what it seems like to me.

Subj:Re: A vote based on image is a vote wasted

Date:7/11/01 11:49:06 AM Central Daylight Time

From:
To: Housnitch1@aol.com

Well, if there IS bloc [popularity motivated by race and/or culture] voting going on then one would have to assume that Robinson will indeed throw a wrench into Brown's re-election plans, green or not. Now whether or not it is big enough to actually make a difference remains to be seen.

It seems to me that there are a lot more people and groups interested in local politics now than in years past, which is evidenced in Leepy's ever-increasing unpopularity and many Houstonians’ dissatisfaction with their "quality of life." Again, whether or not it is far reaching enough to dethrone an incumbent remains to be seen. In the interim, I’m going to do my darndest to get the word [facts] out so voters can make informed decisions at the polls this fall.

Almost ANYBODY BUT BROWN!


Subj:	Rail/Hotel/Stadiums are just band-aids
Date:	7/11/01 11:27:38 AM Central Daylight Time
From: To: Housnitch1@aol.com

CITY EYES INFRASTRUCTURE

I appreciate the Chronicle's extended coverage on the deterioration of our city's infrastructure, bringing to light the deterioration, misplaced priorities and years of mismanagement. Keep up the good work.

Perhaps now we can elect a mayor and council who will care more about the city we live in, instead of the politics of the system.

It is obvious when driving around in most parts of our city that the streets have been poorly constructed or maintained for years. Our water-delivery and sewage and flood-control systems have similar problems.

Houston's image is one of decay.

Subj:	Misconduct in Office
Date:	7/9/01 12:58:03 PM Central Daylight Time
From: CC: housnitch1@aol.com

Misconduct in Office

The Chronicle recently reported Metro's spokesperson as saying something to the effect that "modifying the Main Street light rail system to allow it to operate during the frequent floods at the Medical Center was too expensive and that there were barely enough funds to build it as currently designed." That attitude reminds me of the question: "Why is there not time or money enough to do a job right, but always enough to do the job over?"

When contemplating an answer consider:

€ Mayor Brown appointed the majority of Metro's Board Members.

€ Mayor Brown selected Shirley DeLibero as President and C.E.O of Metro specifically to build light rail in Houston.

€ Mayor Brown stood up for Ms. DeLibero when she should have been terminated for obvious infractions of policy.

€ During a public meeting Mr. Robert Miller, Chairman of Metro's Board, stated that Monorail would cost three times as much as light rail. This statement was reported in the Chronicle. The costs for various transit systems have been on the internet for years. Either Mr. Miller has has his head buried in the sand for a good long while or else he deliberately lied.

€ Mr. Robert Miller, and Mr. John Sedlak, a Metro Vice President, refused to allow the President of a Monorail developer an opportunity to present a proposal for Monorail to demonstrate to Mr. Miller that his public statement was erroneous. These gentlemen said that a City ordinance prohibited elevated transit on the corridor. That effectively turned a low bidder away. There is no such ordinance. This same story was told by a Metro staff member to a private citizen who obtained a letter from Metro's legal Department, through the Texas Public Information Act, that there was no such ordinance.

€ Monorail was the preferred transit method of a previous Metro Board. The present board did not evaluate elevated transit for the Main Street project or even inquire of the many Monorail suppliers . . . even though the State Transportation Code requires competitive bidding.

€ The installed cost for the light rain system now under construction is $120 million. The remainder of the estimated $300 million cost is for street and utility work that would not be required with a Monorail system.

€ It is well advertised that Monorail would cost less to install, less to operate, be faster, safer, would not eliminate traffic lanes nor require the disruption and destruction of 7.5 miles of major streets. No one would lose their home and business to make room for Monorail. These details were made known to Houston's Mayor and Council members, to the Metro Board and to Metro officials who refused to consider Monorail, refused to allow a public vote and who proceeded to construct an antique, dangerous and over-priced street car system on Houston's streets. This boondoggle will not alleviate traffic problems, will not improve the city's air quality, runs through the flood prone Med Center even though it will not operate in more than 3" of water. The city has now kicked in $1/2 million more for a study to correct some of these problems. The study is almost guaranteed to recommend spending more money to unscrew Metro¹s design. If the project is completed more taxpayer money will be continually required to subsidize the operation of this gigantic insult.

The necessity that the public¹s business, in governmental offices of all kinds, be conducted with minimum standards of honesty has led to recognition by the courts of three different kinds of offenses:
(a) doing an act which is wrongful in itself, called malfeasance,
(b) doing an otherwise lawful act in an unlawful manner, called malfeasance, or
(c) omitting to do an act required by the duties of the office, called nonfeasance.

By failing to review all the reasonable alternatives to light rail as required by the Texas Transportation Code and by making false statements in public and in written statements about the safety, costs and other benefits of light rail over alternate transportation modes (Monorail, the mode preferred by a previous Metro Board,) our Mayor, Council members, Metro's Board members and officials, who are not celebrated for their honesty, have obviously not conducted the public¹s business properly. That¹s called Misconduct in Office.

I suggest the reason there is not enough money to do things right is that the people mentioned above are corrupt, inept or both. They are turning Houston into a Third World Class city.

Remember what these folks have done, and haven't done, when you vote next November.

Log on to <thegrip.org> to get rid of some of the culprits sooner.

From:

To: snitch@housnitch.com

Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2001 9:23 AM

Subject: Hullabaloo, Caneck, Caneck

I see that the Agro-Americans are at it again. That lazy, shiftless Jon Strange finally got caught.

How many Aggies does it take to design a running track and tennis courts. Two! One to steal the drawings and the other to turn on the scanner.

GIG EM AGGIES!

Agro-Americans, never heard that before. Good one!

From:

To: SNITCH@HOUSNITCH.COM

Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2001 9:00 AM

Subject: Reverse Discrimination In City Hiring. Who knows Who?

July 5, 2001

TO: ALL FIRE DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEES

RE: CIVILIAN EMPLOYMENT

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT 2

Pin 82973 Fire Department

Office of the Fire Marshall

Fire & Arson Investigation

To Whom It May Concern:

I am a single white female who recently applied for this job posting. My resume was forwarded from Human Resources to Fire & Arson in early June. To my excitement I was asked to come in for a first interview. Chief Kent and Debra Pena sat in on the interview. After Chief Kent left the room, Debra asked me a question that offended me, it was, " Do you have a problem working with minorities"? My answer was no but when I asked why, the reply was because I am Hispanic and the other lady is Hispanic and there are other women here that are black. I left it at that. Today, July 5, 2001 I spoke with Chief Paul regarding the job vacancy. He informed me that he hired someone for the position. I was never invited back for a second interview. I asked if the person he hired was a minority and he said he could not say. I feel I was qualified for this job, but, it is always possible for someone else to have better qualifications. I guess I wasn’t the right race again for a position with the city. SHAME ON YOU CHIEF PAUL FOR REVERSE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ME.

PS. I can remember when I was about 7 years old, a drunk Fire Chief crashed his vehicle into my daddy’s grocery store in a city vehicle, located on the West Dallas curve at lamb Street. We never sued the city because we were not the kind of people to cause problems. Now that I am 38 and have an outstanding academic education with a Degree in Criminal Justice and a Master’s in Sociology/Criminology I can only conclude that the City needs to really change this hiring discrimination.

From:

To: snitch@housnitch.com

Sent: Monday, June 04, 2001 11:51 PM

Subject: Boozea

I know we would like to think that all our police officers are not drunk when they go to work but there is one officer that goes to work with a beer in his hand every time we see him. He is going to work about 7:20 am on I-10 to downtown. In his own car before he gets to work.

My wife and I have seen him at least three times a week for two years.

Get his license plates number next time you see him...let US know what it is.

From:

To: <brenda@housnitch.com>

Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2001 7:02 AM

Subject: Fwd: Re: Pay

Having seen what HPOU posted on their website that is touted as the contract, I wonder if most of the HPD officers understood what they were voting for when they voted. Much of it was written in language
only a lawyer would love, and certainly didn't make clear to me exactly what the changes were. And if I got that answer from our union reps regarding a contract (to just vote no if I was asking too many questions) they wanted me to vote for - I think I would have to just say NO!!!! I think our union leadership has shown foresight and leadership by avoiding the traps that HPOU may be entering because while I would like some of the things that HPD got in the contract (educational pay, specifically), I certainly don't want to give up the civil service protections that we currently enjoy. No contract is always better than a bad contract, no matter what we seem to be giving up by walking away.

From:

To: SNITCH@housnitch.com

Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2001 8:18 PM

Subject: Missing money @ the Houston Fire Department

Do you have any archived info on an accountant for the Houston Fire Department that lost or misplaced about a million dollars or so in the last year.

Nope, but if you'll point us in the right direction, we'll hunt it down!

From:

To: SNITCH@HOUSNITCH.COM

Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2001 9:39 PM

Subject: Meet and Confer? Maybe Beg and Grovel is more appropriate??

Brenda, This is the first time I've emailed you, but one of your better HFD contributors is a good friend. I just couldn't let this ill-informed attack on the HFD position go without comment (my comments in bold):

the Police stayed at the bargaining table while the Firemen continued to walk away. As a bargaining strategy, walking away from the table has it's place in labor negotiations. It shouldn't be the FIRST strategy employed by your negotiating team. Especially since public safety employee's have no legal right to strike.

By definition, negotiations occur when both sides in a dispute discuss remedies to the situation. When one side comes to the table and says "There is nothing on the table for monetary issues, but this is what we want you to give up" the situation ceases to be a negotiation and there is no point to continuing discussions. Trust me, this point has been cussed and discussed within our ranks and we definitely don't need

To obtain these "extra" benefits, the police officers gave up an awful lot to the city. If the firemen would be willing to give up paid overtime for their grade 5 employee's (over half their force), I'm sure the city could put 4 men per truck as the firemen ask. If the firemen would be willing to let the city appoint a list of arbitrators, train on their own time, and all the other things the police will now be doing-they could get a raise in benefits too.

Oh, yes, let the city appoint the arbitrators. You have got to be kidding. Let me keep our current grievance procedures, no matter how flawed. What is a grade 5 employee? Are you speaking of supervisory level positions, such as Captain and above??? There are less than 1/3 of the force that is in that pay grade range. They need to remember that our Engineers are now the same pay grade as their "senior patrolmen'. Plus, the amount of OT that those employees currently get is nowhere near what HPD officers get (I get a lot more than most because of my assignment, and it adds up to a whopping $1000 a year). Also, we do a lot of our training in service - that means we respond to calls that occur during our training time. And much of the EMS training is done via computer for basic EMT's - again inservice and at their discretion.

I just wonder how the firemen, with parity in place, will be eligible for getting paid OT when the HPD Sgt's won't. I suspect this will come up in the near future.

We won't mention that the Sgt just got bumped up a pay grade from Captain to Sr. Captain equivalent ($5000 increase vs less than $1000 in OT that most firefighters get each year.).

Parity has always been a tricky business for HPD/HFD. HFD had Meet & Confer first and always used it to get better benefits knowing full well that HPD wouldn't get them. I'm sorry if parity has come back to haunt them but that's a concept known as "what goes around, comes around".

Our first meet and confer contract came after the Metro transfers and the incredible amount of OT that HPD got until they hired enough people. The benefits we got from that contract were nothing compared to that, and I am sorry if there pension has not been managed as well as ours has. I also can't deny that the police are the public safety service of choice for the citizens now, but see my question at the end of this letter for something to think about.

HPD is a lot worse paid than all the major city's in Texas in part due to parity. This contract will address much of that. Keep in mind that officers don't get much of the pay until 2004. By then, other city's may pay their police even more (HPD is still not the highest paid in Texas under this contract).

I'm not positive, but most other large cities in the country (and last I checked, Texas was in the United States, so this includes Dallas, SA,Austin, etc.) have base pay parity between firefighters and police. So their pay is poor because the city hasn't paid either HPD or HFD in line with other big cities, not because of parity.

There will be enough money for good benefit increases for HFD only if their members are willing to sacrifice like HPD did. I expect to see a lot of posturing over this topic by HFD Union officials but the bottom line is that they are paid, on an hour by hour basis, a lot better than HPD compared to other dept's in the area.

I can guarantee that HFD will not sacrifice like HPD is doing. We are not that foolish. We just want what is right for the citizens of the city of Houston. They deserve fire trucks staffed with 4 people, trained in current fire fighting techniques with inservice training and an academy second to none, and a city administration willing to put their money where their mouth is when they claim that public safety priority #1.

And just a simple question in terms of public safety - Brenda, if God forbid you were shot, who would you want there first; a HPD officer to ask you questions while you are dying so they could catch you killer or a HFD EMT or Paramedic, able to save your life because they were close to the location and had enough backup from their pumper crew to do their job right. Just something to think about.

I hope you get to feeling better and continue the good work.

From:

To: <brenda@housnitch.com>

Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2001 3:03 PM

Subject: Fwd: Re: What the cops gave up

who is the unnamed author, obviously from hpd, does anyone know--or is he/she not willing to announce themselves. I am glad to see again that a police officer knows so much about OUR job and what we should give up---how about giving up the more dangerous on a daily basis job than an average hpd officer!! and why should either of us give up anything because our illustrious mayor and city council believe we should---I am sorry but this officer did not win any points with me and now I am going to bite my tongue

From:

To: <SNITCH@housnitch.com>

Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2001 4:49 PM

Subject: Building Services

Deputy Assistant Director, Tammy Blankenship, left the Building Services Department with her tail between her legs attempting to outrun a slew of OIG complaints that had been filed against her. However, her clone, Electrical Superintendent James Hernandez assures everyone that she still pulls the strings in the Property Management Division. After her abrupt resignation, James Hernandez brazenly delivered a threat from her at a staff meeting. He went on and on about how he had met with her on Sunday and that Tammy would be writing some letters on people. He blatantly disrespected his Division Manager. I'm sure that he could care less because we're told that as Tammy is pulling strings from afar, she has promised him that he will soon be the Division Manager of BSD's newly acquired Houston Fire Department facilities section. Won't Richard Berry, Superintendent of Cy Fair ISD be shocked to learn that his new employee, Tammy, is continuing to work for COH while she's being paid to work for CFISD.

From:

To: <brenda@housnitch.com>

Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2001 5:00 PM

Subject: Fwd: Re: Time to remove the Gloves

The problem is that the Mayor is an idiot. 400 people short is still 400 people short no matter if we're 3 or 4 shifts.

From:

To: <brenda@housnitch.com>

Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2001 5:03 PM

Subject: Fwd: RE: [local341] Re: Time to remove the GlovesWOW!!!!

Just where does one start? 3 shifts...Robert Clayton must be doing a tap dance again. and laughing his behind off...
Now, lets get this all in the right prospective. Just who are the Chiefs downtown that are helping to implement this plan of the mayor's? Aren't they part of Local 341? If so, then aren't they deliberately and willingly screwing a brother firefighter and union member? Is there no recourse in the bylaws that address a brother that is knowingly doing wrong to another brother? I think so....... I know we need members in our union, but do we need this kind of member..

I haven't noticed the Fire Chief resigning or telling anyone he can't do this, but I did read that would take more manpower no matter where it came from...that spells trouble!!!

No doubt we have a manpower problem and no one would deny that this came about through a few administrations not taking the issue of Firefighter manpower as a serious matter...now the preacher is at the door and no one wants to answer. Did they not know he was coming, might take awhile,
but he is here and he wants to get paid...

Just what would it take to make a Firefighter happy? I think a bit more money so that we could all live as our brother firefighters in other cities around us do, and a little show of sympathy from our city fathers. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the more you screw with firefighters the less you get....

I predict that in the coming months there will be a greater shortage of firefighters than ever before due to the kind of crap being put out by this administration. Firefighters that I talk to are already in the mood to
retire and all this is just making that happen sooner. When I see numbers regarding the amount of firefighter intending to retire climbing at an alarming rate, I have to wonder if the lights are on
downtown, is this the ostrich section of the zoo. Brother firefighters, I have only one thing to add to this bit of correspondence, I thank Steve Williams for leading us during this most difficult time. I fully support him and this Board for I do believe with all my heart that they are doing the right thing. One more thing, I am getting tired of hearing about us walking away from the table, I know for a fact that we have been back there several times, but this administration won't be satisfied until you are working without
civil service protection again so they can do with you what they please. Guys,
please wake up! I work with a firefighter that says he doesn't care about losing this benefit as long as he gets more money...Show him the money!

I say, keep my pay increase, keep my educational pay increase, but don't screw with OUR civil Service protection...think about that.....143P is OURS and lets keep it....

From:

To: <brenda@housnitch.com>

Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2001 5:10 PM

Subject: Fwd: More on removing the Gloves

I realize a couple of my comments are controversial, but the point was to make was there are alternatives to reduce debit sick time usage which I deduct is a primary focus of some of our elder chief officers in backing the 3 shift plan. However, I think time passage has caused them to forget the actual reasons sick time usage was smaller during the 3 shift era. A PRIMARY reason for reduced overall sick time usage during the 3 shifts was the fact a majority of the department accrued time under the old sick plan. 10 years later, we have 500+ new employees who dont enjoy the same benefit and the obvious conclusion is using it now is better. There in lies the real reason sick time use runs 5-7% of the daily staffing (not a bad percentage by most industry standards). However, having POSITIVE
reasons to not utilize a benefit day (KEY WORD HERE- BENEFIT) is the proper management style to resolve this issue.

Yes , Debit days only came into being with the advent of 4 shifts to maintain the same weekly average. A positive advent was actually 1 rank position filled for every actual position, instead of the next lower rank riding up 1/3 of the year (this due to 1/6 of the shift already off and then add benefit day usage).

Since I cannot post an excel worksheet here, I will try and place a comparison chart in a manner I hope will post legibly.

Estimate of Minimum Daily Manning to place 4 / Heavy Apparatus: 743

Without automatically expecting overtime, more than this would have to be available per day before you subtract benefit day usage on any shift. Therefore, each shift would have to have overstaffing to
handle greater than 10% usage of vacations, holidays, training, sick, etc. This is a low figure, For the sake of calculations and ease of comparison, we wont consider this issue here.

With 4 shifts, having 1 FTE (employee) per spot at 100% staffing (right), you would have 743 personnel per shift. To maintain 46.7 Hours/ week, 1/9 of the opposite shift is coming back giving you 826
personnel available before benefit day usage.Keeping Benefit days at just 10% (no more than 3 or 4 in most districts off at the same time for vacation, holiday, sick, training, etc, not likely or a lot of lost time), you have actually 743 personnel on duty. Go over the 10% and scheduled overtime is needed, with current usage, around 83 per day needed.

Lets go to 3 shifts: Eliminate "D" (no hard feelings guys, just picked you randomly). Take the 743 personnel, divide them into the A,B and C shifts. You add 248 to each giving a TOTAL SHIFT COMPLIMENT of 991 personnel, remember, this is not available personnel per day, this is before the P-Day (1/6) of the manpower is scheduled off to maintain 46.7 hours per week. Take the 991 shift compliment, divide it into 6 platoons (165 each), and with each platoon off, you actually have available 826 members (look familiar).

What you have also done is by creating 3-4 times the higher class usage, since 1/6 of your officers are already off, add another 1/5 or so on benefit days, and you have around a quarter or the positions
filled by higher class, in other words, only 3/4 of your officers would be there on any given day. With 4 shifts and FULL STAFFING (Crank up the academy, offer attractive pay scales and BENEFITS), the
debit officers would fill most of those positions, virtually eliminating higher class. The actual percentages should be around 4- 5%, mostly at the E/O level.

Basically, do I feel Mayor Brown will push this through? Is he using this as a scare tactic for those who do not really understand budgets and F&A? I would not count this out, as his punitive approach towards
our office is obvious.

My "remove the gloves approach" When the Mayors staff issues a plan and tries to propaganda the media with adding manpower by eliminating a shift and dividing those personnel over the other 3 (a true play on words), we must fight hard and fast. There are many citizens and business leaders who would understand the true comparison. I propose having a head of the mathematics or finance departments at 3 major universities (UH, TSU, TAM) review and reveal the flaws in his staffs numbers. This would add credibility to just a bunch of fireman's numbers as the Mayor obviously feels thats all we are. The media, you would think they would eat up such a propaganda act and reveal just how flawed the Mayors calculations are.

A message to our administration:

Find POSITIVE WAYS to reinforce morale, working conditions and above all SAFETY in this department. Do not allow Mayor Brown or his staff to dangle the brass ring and let you forget how it really is for those in the field. It is easy for office managers to separate, and forget the daily struggles the average worker in any industry. I know this first hand and half to get out and reacquaint myself with the struggles of my employees from time to time.

Remember as well, it didn't break in a day, it cant be fixed in a day, but it can be fixed through determination and perseverance. Above all, it can be fixed with acknowledging just what it will take, more money. This city spends less than 10% of its budget on fire and EMS, a poor comparison to other progressive cities. Should we catch up in one year to 15%, probably not, should the city look for alternative financing option to get to that point within 3 years, most definitely.

One last calculation, going to 3 shifts, with the P-day being scheduled OT, and 25% off on training and benefit days, would net 743 personnel per day (staffing needs). This would equate to 165
personnel per day on OT. This would only be true if we had 100% staffing so the realistic number based on our current manpower compliment would be around 140. Right around what we would need per
day to ride 4/4 always. The same numbers can be accomplished by scheduling 1 mandatory OT debit day per cycle filling half the positions with the rest filled voluntary. Either way, the annual OT
need would be around 50 million dollars. Having 15% of the city budget going to Fire/EMS would add 120 million to the annual budget, so a compromise is definitely available. Lets increase the
departments share by 1.5% per year until we get there.

From:

To: <brenda@housnitch.com>

Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2001 8:57 PM

Subject: Fwd: 3 SHIFTS

Meeting today at station 46 with Fire Chief, 3 shifts is coming in 6- 8 months, special bulletin to follow in 3 or 4 weeks.....Mayor has told the Chief to come up with a plan for the change...Also the 24hr
shift may be at jeopardy as well...There will probably be a master seniority list to decide who goes were...Thanks mayor

From:

To: <brenda@housnitch.com>

Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2001 4:35 PM

Subject: Fwd: 211 fire Wilmer @ Drennan

We were first in on the 211 at Wilmer @ Drennan, our second and third in engines were E25 and E19. T18 was still at a working fire and E18 was broke down in the station. What seemed like a 1 3/4 hose
fire, as we got up close it definitely needed a 2 1/2. But being short on manpower we had to stay with what we had. I also realized we needed a plug immediately. Not sure of E25 or E19s locations, Squad 9 and 3 members of Maxwell Houses fire brigade skull dragged 400 feet of 4 inch to a plug. ( Maxwell House is 1 block over) After extra manpower arrived we were able to get control of the fire.
What was funny, during the fire another box was pulled at York and Saltus the dispatcher asked D19 if he could release any companies, the answer was a sternful "NO".
I don't know how we're doing it with this manpower shortage, but its getting done. My hat is off to all the members who do their job no matter what.

From:

To: <brenda@housnitch.com>

Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2001 4:38 PM

Subject: Fwd: Apples to Apples??

Well, the Mayor made an comment regarding comparisons as HPD stated they kept their comps within the state and we should too. I just reviewed Austins info a little bit more and here are some close estimates of the comparisons. NO WONDER ITS HARD TO ATTRACT APPLICANTS.

Austin has a lttle less than 1/2 the stations we do (40 now 4 more coming). EMS First Responding only as EMS is a separate 3rd service (no I am not for that here)

Austins 3 yr FF makes as much as our E/O's (sorry guys, I am too old to transfer and ok, I make $400.00 a yr more, and ok they work 6.3 hrs a week more, still doesnt equal out)

Austins Educational and Cert Pay is comparable to ours as well as Bilingual. You Tech groups will like this,they get $75.00 per month for HMRT, Tech Rescue, Water Rescue, and ARFF.

Austin has roughly 1/3 the citizens to protect (sounds like a much better ratio of emergency services, ie, equip and fire stations)

They have a little less than 1/3 the uniformed staff than we do, but keep in mind, no EMS, we have roughly 800 assigned to EMS duties, therefore we have a little over twice the suppression compliment for 3 times the citizens, 3 times the geography, and somewhere around 3
times the responses (not including EMS, suppression apparatus only)

Equal protection for the city of Houston and benefits for HFD compared to Austin??
approx 600 more uniformed personnel

35 more Fire Stations

Our 3 yr FF to make $10,000 more than they do now. All other grades adjusted as well (E/O's need 50 grand more.....)and a hard look at Public Safety Being Number 1. I know if I was on the US Olympic Committee, I would be looking at somewher like Austin over Houston as the Host City for 2012 to protect my members and guests....

Food For Thought,
Be Safe,

THIS EDITOR IS EXPERIENCING SOME HEALTH PROBLEMS .... THEY TEND TO SLOW ME DOWN SOME WHAT. I AM GETTING THEM TAKEN CARE OF, BUT THEY WERE A LONG TIME IN THE MAKING, AND NOT SO EASILY REMEDIED. WE WILL CONTINUE TO POST NEW PAGES, AND ARTICLES. PLEASE BEAR WITH US .... THERE ARE NO SO CALLED "BENEFITS" WITH THIS JOB. IN FACT WE ARE CONSTANTLY PAYING BILLS JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME USUALLY WHEN THE RED SHUT OFF NOTICE COMES DUE, SO A HEALTH PROBLEM IS AN ADDED STRESS/EXPENSE.

WE ARE STILL COMMITTED TO BRINGING ABOUT A CHANGE IN HOW OUR CITY IS RUN, AND FOR INTEGRITY & ACCOUNTABILITY IN THOSE WE HAVE ELECTED / APPOINTED TO OFFICE AND WHO SPEND OUR MONEY.

THOSE OF YOU WHO SUPPORT US, PLEASE REMEMBER US IN YOUR PRAYERS ... THOSE WHO DON'T SUPPORT US ... WELL I'M TOO ORNERY TO GO WITHOUT A HELL OF A FIGHT.

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