Houston, we have a problem!
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Houston is acting a lot like Chicago.
Under Mayor Parker, “shadow governments” in some Houston neighborhoods are flush with taxpayers’ cash and doing deals that are walking conflicts of interest.
Take the $200 million Uptown Bus Project. That is the plan to tear up and widen Post Oak under the theory thousands of people will suddenly stream to 14 more buses even though the ONE that runs down the street now is rarely half full.
Early this year, some Uptown officials started admitting what critics already knew. Some of the people pushing the bus project will make millions on the deal. They own property that will have to be purchased for the street widening project. Millions of dollars. Uptown Chairman Kendall Miller will likely make millions. Other Uptown Officials have refused to admit if they will get a real estate payoff.
“Taxpayers are starting to wake up and smell the bull,” says Wayne Dolcefino, President of Dolcefino Consulting. “These politically appointed officials are controlling tens of millions of taxpayer dollars and have inherent conflicts of interest. Do we really want neighborhood bosses using our money to make themselves money? We don’t get the profits. They aren’t even elected by the neighborhood!”
Uptown spent more than $165,000 in recent months on a PR campaign to try and sell the bus deal, and to calm the growing public belief this bus project is a huge waste of money. Uptown told us they even hired a special lawyer to make sure this deal was all on the up and up.
Now we know all that transparency talk was just that. An e-mail obtained by Dolcefino Consulting shows Uptown wants to hide not only the appraisals on the properties but what they agree to pay for the property they buy with your money. The e-mail was sent in June from Uptown lawyer Stephen Wood to Board member Jonathan Zadok.
“I did a little research and I believe that we can keep the prices we pay for land confidential until the project is complete. We might be challenged on that, but we will probably take this position, if asked.”
So the next time Uptown President John Breeding talks about transparency…remind yourself what they say in private.
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