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Photo by pfrench99There had been a bit of a dust-up this week because the Metro board didn't release the details of the most expensive infrastructure contract in the city's history before the Board of Directors voted on it this afternoon. Perhaps to reconcile, Chairman David Wolff broke standard pro ... More >>
The city's bus company shows little inclination to pay up or change its ways, even after it smacks into people like its own employee Clarence Santee Jr.
A home for a buck, with one catch
Metro's new president already has a Houston attitude
Photo by pfrench99More news -- good or bad depending on your side of the fence -- about Metro's planned light-rail lines came today when board chairman David Wolff announced that Metro has all but got its first funding agreement from the Federal Transit Administration.For 2010, the feds listed the N ... More >>
The Citizens Transportation Coalition is currently giddy with dreams of 90 MPH commuter trains speeding from Galveston and down 290 into the city...possibly by 2012, which sounds like the far future but is only three years away. There hasn't been much public movement on commuter rail since the HG ... More >>
We may finally have some answers to the questions that emerged after it was reported that Metro lied about the cost of two proposed light rail corridors. During a Metro meeting in April, Houstonian Paul Magaziner told the board that the projects would cost $1.8 billion. Frank Wilson, Metro's pres ... More >>
Metro board members yesterday heard from a business owner who said that light rail construction near his used car dealership is causing him to lose money because Metro isn't keeping all its promises.Mark Rodriguez, the business owner, has a used car lot on Harrisburg Boulevard near the intersecti ... More >>
If the paper-shredding scandal were not enough ... it seems the Metropolitan Transit Authority aka Metro has more problems than it can handle.Remember the rail lines approved by voters in 2003 ... yeah that 2003 when Michael Jordan was still playing basketball and YouTube did not exist? Well, se ... More >>
To hear Mayor Annise Parker tell it, it's only a matter of time before Metro's president, Frank Wilson, is gone. At a press conference yesterday where the mayor announced her nominees for new Metro board members, Wilson was the hot topic. Parker had just returned from Washington, D.C., where she ... More >>
The lawyer representing two Metro employees in a pending lawsuit believes that the agency has cheated hundreds of its workers in the last couple of years, not paying them for the work they do. Now he wants those employees to come forward. "I could win this lawsuit nine ways to Sunday," attorney R ... More >>
The newish Metro board got a wild introduction to the Metro-loving public at its first meeting this afternoon, where one Houstonian got so worked up that he nearly collapsed and later was taken to the hospital. DeWayne Lark, the man that almost collapsed, was talking about the light rail construc ... More >>
Fans of the ongoing Metro drama may want to check out the beleaguered agency's response to an April 15 KHOU story on allegations that Metro submitted outdated financial projections to the Federal Transit Administration. According to the text preceding the video, the story was "dist ... More >>
The Metro board called a special meeting yesterday afternoon to hold a private executive session to discuss attorney Lloyd Kelley's lawsuit against Metro, which deals with all that alleged document shredding. But the board also used the opportunity to release the findings from UHY Advisors, a ... More >>
In the last several months, things could not have gone worse for Metro president Frank Wilson. When Annise Parker was elected mayor, it seemed only a matter of time before Wilson was ousted from the agency. Parker was critical of Metro during her campaign, and her criticism continued after the el ... More >>
Bedbugs threaten our slumber.
How long will the embattled Metro president last? Hair Balls presents today's installment of the Frank Wilson Survival Watch. 1. The Federal Transit Administration sends Frank Wilson a damning letter. Dorval Carter, the FTA's chief counsel, alerted Wilson at the end of last week that the feds are ... More >>
How long will the embattled Metro president last? Hair Balls presents today's installment of the Frank Wilson Survival Watch. 1. Ed Emmett won't muddy the Frank Wilson waters. Yet. Along with appointing two members to Metro's Board of Directors, there's no question that the county has a stake in ... More >>
The needle begins to move ever-leftward for Frank WilsonThe Houston Chronicle and other media outlets are reporting the death knells for Metro CEO Frank Wilson seem to be getting louder.The consensus seems to be that a Friday board meeting will end with his resignation, and former city controller ... More >>
Plus: Rites of Bellaire - It's not hazing, it's fun
Today's installment of the Frank Wilson Survival Watch is our last -- the Metro president announced his resignation at a meeting this afternoon -- but that doesn't mean Wilson is completely dead to Metro. He's still got quite a bit of cash coming to him, thanks to generous contract stipulations t ... More >>
George Greanias presided over his first Metro board meeting yesterday afternoon as the agency's new president, and board members seemed giddy to finally proceed without the dark cloud of Frank Wilson hanging over the place. There wasn't any of that boring talk about lawsuits or document shredding ... More >>
How Metro and its president Frank Wilson got so far off track.
We're on the road to nowhereEven with the departure of Frank Wilson, Metro still has a few hurdles before it can regain the public's trust, which is the agency's main goal right now, according to Gilbert Garcia, the Metro board chairman, and George Greanias, Metro's newly appointed president. Wil ... More >>
The Frank Wilson era gets further into the rearview mirror, Metro hopesThe Metro board has voted to settle the Lloyd Kelley lawsuit that spawned a wild series of tales of the agency shredding paperwork.No details of the settlement were released, but the agency took pains to note how quickly a new ... More >>
Metro ain't happy with usLast week's cover story didn't go over too well at Metro; maybe that's not too surprising since it was entitled "Train Wreck: How Metro and it's president Frank Wilson got so far off track."George Smalley, the agency's head of communications and marketing, responded ... More >>
METRO responds to our cover story, at length.
The Sweetheart Contract bus may have made its last runThe buzzword around Metro is "new."A recent press release from the agency, for example, promoted "New Metro's" standards, and at this morning's board meeting, the agency's president, George Greanias, talked about the same New Metro.And it did ... More >>
Other companies wanted to give Metro a better deal before it signed a deal with CAF, but Metro decided to say, more or less, nothing. Frank Wilson, Metro's former president, might be considered old news, but the decisions he made, and more importantly the contracts he signed, continue to linger. ... More >>
Metro promises to maintain service levels despite cutting its budget by 31 percent. At a Metro board meeting this morning, Metro's president and CEO, George Greanias, gave his first formal presentation about what's in store for the agency's 2011 budget, which should be drafted and complete by the ... More >>
Metro's Senior Management Team is being forced to experience the wild world of public transportation. George Greanias, Metro's president, dropped a bombshell at a budget meeting earlier this week, announcing that the agency's Senior Management Team is turning in its company cars and being require ... More >>
METRO execs won't be commuting after all.
Metro chief Frank Wilson is our biggest gobbler.
Yao's foot: Pardoned, in a moment of forgivenessEver since JFK got benevolent just days before his assassination, presidents have been pardoning the turkeys presented to them at the White House. It's a noble tradition, and one we take up here at the Houston Press. In putting together our ann ... More >>
Metro closes one more chapter from the Frank Wilson era. While the crowd over at the "new" Metro has worked to settle in and push its new image, one of the big things hanging over its head was possible litigation from Spanish rail car company CAF. If you haven't followed the story: When stuff rea ... More >>
Don't do what we did, Metro tells suppliersPerhaps just a wee bit late, Metro has sent out a letter to its suplliers making clear that they need to follow "Buy American" guidelines. "All steel, iron and other manufactured products bought for Metro's light rail expansion project must be produ ... More >>
Tom DeLay: A conviction to go with the mugshotThere are still a couple days left for earthshaking stories to take place in 2010. But since most news is bad news, let's hope the worst is over. What were the top 10 news stories in Houston in 2010? We're so glad you asked, since we've worked up ... More >>
Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn ArchitectsNo longer neededIn yet another ritual cleansing of the Frank Wilson Era, Metro CEO George Greanias tells the Houston Chronicle that the agency is writing off $168 million in useless expenses racked up by the previous administration. Some of that comes fro ... More >>
Pauline Higgins is finally at peace with Metro.Two years ago to the day, attorney Pauline Higgins was fired from Metro's legal department. Metro, under Frank Wilson, publicly gave reasons for her dismissal: Higgins was a bad boss, hired her friends and used company resources to plan a golf ... More >>
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