George Greanias

5 Things You Missed at the East End Street Festival

This past Saturday, East End residents celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a block party on Harrisburg -- steps away from where the new East End light rail line will soon be operating. The street festival, sponsored by the Greater East End District, featured performers such as Los Pistoleros de Tejas and ... More >>

Return from Porn Exile

Metro CEO Greanias speaks

Metro's George Greanias on Escorts and the Reaction of the Board, Employees and the Mayor

MetroGeorge Greanias back on the job.​Metro CEO George Greanias returned to work Monday after a one-week suspension for viewing adult Web sites on his laptop in the office, which uses the agency's wi-fi system. We were allowed a brief interview, so here's ten questions with Greanias: Hair Ba ... More >>

George Greanias Signed No-Porn Policy Right Before Porn Binge

Floppy-disc porn in this picture​Here's one thing we didn't notice in all the hubbub: The biggest binge of porn-viewing by Metro CEO George Greanias came just days after a new policy emphasizing against such behavior -- signed by him -- went into effect. The new policy went into effect June 1 ... More >>

Star Chef Faces Child-Sex Charge

Will plead insanity

Comment of the Day: Greanias' Porn, Recreation And Hypocrisy

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

Thank You, Lord: There Are No Embarrassing George Greanias E-Mails, Metro Says

MetroCEO George Greanias' e-mails are clean, Metro says​One thing we didn't want to read was any e-mails Metro CEO George Greanias might have written while perusing the porn sites he visited. Dude's been embarrassed enough. So good news: Metro announced today that they have investigated, and f ... More >>

Metro's George Greanias Suspended For Porn Viewing (UPDATED With Sites He Visited)

Here's a tweet you don't expect to see, from KPRC's Mary Benton: ​ It's a one-week suspension, she adds. More details, including specifics on which sites, are below. Greanias is not the first person who would come to mind when you think of the CEO of a huge government agency doing something l ... More >>

Annise Parker Calls For (Expensive) Underpass On East End Light-Rail Line

More costs for the East End line​The city of Houston has formally requested metro's board to use an underpass rather than an overpass at the intersection of Harrisburg and Hughes streets, an option that could add up to $23 million to the project. The so-called "All-Under" option will, Mayor A ... More >>

Metro Says Final Four Set Ridership Records

Whole lotta ridin' goin' on​Metro says it set or came close to records for riders using the light-rail corridor during the Final Four, with about 148,000 boardings during the event. The night of the championship game saw 51,851 boardings, making it the heaviest Monday in seven years of operat ... More >>

Final Four: Metro Thinks It's Ready to Handle the Load

Bring it on, says Metro.​Metro sounds confident that it can handle the rush hour/Final Four crowds this evening, with extra buses, more maps and CEO George Greanias personally directing lost hoops fans. As for the poor misbegotten folks who thought it would be easy to get a taxi in Houston an ... More >>

Metro Bids Adieu to the Intermodal "Kiss & Ride" Terminal

Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn ArchitectsNo longer needed​In 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 >>

George Greanias, CEO of Metro: Metro Out to Prove It's Not "Evil and Stupid"

Metro CEO George Greanias wants to make a transfer right into your heart.​When Metro trains are broken, they chug into the rail operating center on West Bellfort to be fixed. But today inside the vast concrete warehouse, repairs of a different sort were first on Metro's mind. Metro president ... More >>

Metro's Epic Plan to Hand Out Valentine's Day Cards

C'mon, baby, I ain't nothing like that nasty ol' Metro you used to go with...​You know what THE NEW METRO!!!!! does that the old Metro didn't? Love its customers. To prove it, TNM!!!! will be...handing out Valentine's Day cards to riders Monday. From 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., Metro CEO George Grean ... More >>

The 10 Biggest Houston Stories Of The Year

Tom DeLay: A conviction to go with the mugshot​There 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 >>

2010 Turkeys of the Year

Metro chief Frank Wilson is our biggest gobbler.

Big Stop Sign On Metro's Light Rail Projects

Photo by Bryan WilliamsMetro's light rail expansion plans are slowing down. Big time. ​More bad news, at least for people hoping for more light rail in Houston, came from Metro headquarters this morning when the agency's president, George Greanias, announced that the light rail expansion budget fo ... More >>

Off the Bus

METRO execs won't be commuting after all.

Metro Execs Riding Buses Or Rail: Not Quite What It Seems

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 May Take Bold, Courageous Step Of Accepting Ads On Buses

Well, maybe not so modern​Back in July, when then-interim Metro head George Greanias was making an introductory set of meetings with groups and media outlets like us, we asked him something that had been bugging us -- with its money woes, why didn't Metro accept ads on buses?Found money, right?The ... More >>

Metro's Greanias Forcing His Top Execs To Take The Bus Or Rail

Metro is taking away company cars and requiring its "senior management" to ride the bus or rail. ​At a public hearing this afternoon, Metro released additional details about how it plans to cut this year's budget by $431 million. George Greanias, Metro's president, talked again about the plan to s ... More >>

Liveblogging the Walmart Vote

The City Council is set to vote this morning on a proposed 380 agreement with developer Michael Ainbinder, who plans to build a Walmart near the Heights. The vote could technically be delayed another week, but Mayor Parker said yesterday if a council member tries to do that, she'd overrule the ... More >>

Metro Tackles Huge Budget Gap...By Getting Rid Of Some Office Printers?

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 >>

Walmart Tagged, Metro Gets Spotlight At City Council

At least one city council member asked Metro if it's time to re-evaluate certain plans. ​At a Houston City Council meeting that was supposed to clear up a few things about a planned Walmart development near the Heights, Metro, and its financial mess, ended up being the issue of the morning. Counci ... More >>

George Greanias Lays The Groundwork For Metro's Tough Upcoming Budget Decisions

Starting September 8, the Metro board will have 20 days to review and approve the agency's 2011 budget. ​September is a big month for Metro. It's when the board will start to publicly discuss and plan its budget for the upcoming fiscal year. There are only 20 days between the first budget presenta ... More >>

Metro Ponders Galleria Real Estate, And Why The Uptown District Can't Deliver On its $70 Million Promise

The Uptown light rail line might be stalled, but Metro real estate buys are not. ​At a committee meeting earlier today, a couple Metro board members balked at the idea of rushing into a real estate deal currently in negotiation. The property in question is along Post Oak Boulevard, just north of H ... More >>

Metro Light Rail Expands Hours For Bike Riders

The Iron Horse welcomes velocipedes​Metro and BikeHouston have reached an agreement that expands the hours bike riders will be allowed on light-rail trains.Bikes are still barred during peak travel hours in the morning and afternoon, but the definition of "peak hours" has changed.Bikes can now be ... More >>

Why Can't They Be Friends?

Bill and Annise confront a City Hall curse

Runoff Worries

Brown duplicates 1997 showing, but Sanchez has the momentum

Gunning for a Runoff

Can Bell avoid being the odd man out?

District ZZZZs Triumph

Hordes of city candidates block-walk, while voters sleepwalk

The Insider

Letters

Why Don't They Want This Man to Be Mayor?

George Greanias is smart. He's honest. He's independent. But Bob Lanier and his friends are pulling out the stops to see that Greanias doesn't return to City Hall.

It's a bird, it's a plane ...

Dad, I Wrote Me a Book!

Trawling in Deep Water

Peary Perry's lawsuit against the city may indeed have implications for the November mayoral election -- but perhaps not the ones Perry and his lawyer have in mind

Between Friends

A federal audit suggests the Lanier administration gave a sweetheart deal to one of the mayor's buddies -- then failed to ensure that taxpayers' money was properly spent.

Covert Aid for Lee Brown?

Roots of the Sting

The Insider

Selective Ethics

Lloyd Kelley skates on a conflict-of-interest complaint, leaving plenty of unanswered questions in his wake

After him, the deluge

Thank the Lord, Jesus Christ above, this is Bob Lanier's last term as mayor of Houston. Now that he's bankrupt every city service, he's leaving the whole mess to somebody else. But who?

The Insider

Letters

Term limits and a domineering mayor have combined to make the City Council little more than a rubber stamp. And Houston may pay dearly for that down the line.

My Lunch with George

Can Lee Brown give a controller indigestion?

Letters

Gunning for Greanias

The mayor and his city attorney try to make the controller the issue -- again

The Year of Living Anxiously

Are We Having Fun Yet? Or is it just the jangly buzz of advanced urban stress syndrome?