Commentary was watching the City Council meeting yesterday and auto repair business owner after auto repair business owner let Council know that they didn’t think it was a good idea to approve a new ordinance that straps some more fees and regulations on them. The auto repair business owners made a pretty good case that the ordinance needed more review and input and shouldn’t be voted on today. They talked about businesses shutting down and jobs being lost. Check out the Chron story here.
The defenders of the ordinance are calling this a consumer protection measure. So how come they had an insurance industry lawyer from GEICO come and testify on behalf of the ordinance? I feel better already that the insurance industry is looking after consumers – yikes!
Here is from the Chron:
One of the ordinances, supplementing automotive business regulations, sparked four hours of public comments Tuesday, mainly from business owners who said the rules would be costly and complicate operations. The proposal would require repair and body shops to obtain permission before doing work that would add more than $100 to customers’ initial estimates.
Business owners complained that the delays and added record-keeping requirements would hurt high-volume operations that rely on speed. They said they have heard no complaints from customers about unexpected costs.
I tell you what, if this ordinance had been brought up before the election last month, some city incumbents might have had tighter races and some might have been thrown into a runoff.
Here is more from the Chron:
(Mayor Annise) Parker and some other council members have argued that each proposal has been crafted over more than a year and has been before the council for about a month as community members have offered additional feedback on them.
And:
Parker has said that she wanted to pass the new regulations before the end of the year. A delay would open the door for newly elected council members to potentially delay the legislation further.
So what! There is absolutely nothing wrong in letting the new Council members take a look at the measure. The folks that showed up at City Hall yesterday have serious concerns that need to be taken into consideration. Running roughshod over them is a very bad move.
I’m thinking the city ought to slow down a little on this and take it back to the drawing board. They’re fixing to p__s off a whole lot of folks.
It gets messier as CM Jolanda Jones calls out the police sergeant that is one of the brains behind the ordinance. Check out the Chron story.
Like I said, is this really necessary?
Name the three MLB Hall of Fame greats that were born on Christmas Day? Hint: One once wore a ‘Stros uniform, one had 81 career lead-off dingers, and one won 361 games as a pitcher.
It looks like the courthouse drama will continue and will probably be an issue in the GOP DA’s race as the Harris County Assistant DA wasn’t compelled to testify yesterday.
Here is from the Chron:
"For the life of me, I can’t even see why this is being investigated," said First Assistant District Attorney Jim Leitner. "I can see no criminal action that can even be looked at as far as what I know about the BAT vans."
Then why don’t you let your colleague testify? The DA’s Office is looking pretty bad on this.
MLB Hall of Fame great and career lead-off dinger leader Rickey Henderson (1958), Nellie Fox (1927) who made his bones with the White Sox but played in H-Town in 1965 and 1965, and Pud Galvin (1856) of course were all born on Christmas Day. Ok, Pud Galvin pitched in the 19th century with teams like the St. Louis Brown Stockings, the Buffalo Bisons, the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, the Pittsburgh Burghers, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the St. Louis Browns and was also MLB’s first 300 game winner and ended up with 361 games won – got it!
I guess I’ll swing by The Yard today or tomorrow to do a little gift shopping!
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