Flood Czar

The Mayor named former council member Steve Costello to the position of H-Town flood czar. Here is from Rebecca Elliott’s article on the Mayor’s State of the City speech yesterday where the Costello announcement was made:

Costello, a civil engineer and unsuccessful 2015 mayoral candidate, said he expects to assume the full-time role in the next two weeks. At that point, he intends to sit down with Turner to determine existing regional funding for flood and drainage control, as well as identify potential short- and long-term mitigation strategies.

“Obviously there needs to be more of a regional and sub-regional approach to detention. That’s where ReBuild can play an important role in terms of funding,” Costello said, referring to the city’s pay-as-you-go street and drainage repair program. “There’s always been this division of labor between the governmental entities where the city was responsible for drainage, and then the county was responsible for flood control. I think the two of them can blend together to where, with multiple funding sources, we can achieve both goals at the same time.”

I saw a few tweets yesterday lauding the Costello selection. Steve is a smart and sharp fella and he certainly knows the issue.

What I want hear is something along the lines of we have to do things differently. There needs to be a shifting in thinking on how we do things around here and where we do things around here because there is not enough funding out there to deal with the flooding problem. Rebuild and “multiple funding sources” alone aren’t going to cut it.

Bold initiative and new strategies are required. Initiatives and strategies that some stakeholders will be reluctant to accept. If we truly want a “regional and sub-regional approach”, we are going to need a buy-in from our regional partners. We will need to take the first step. The City of H-Town has to be the first to move with a bold initiative that says we are willing to do shift our way of thinking as well as lead.

This kind of has a Cinco de Mayo flavor. Name the former MLB pitcher who won the NL Cy Young Award and NL Rookie of the Year Award in 1981? This is easy.

41 and 43 are staying out of this year’s presidential election. I wonder what Jeb and the Texas Land Commissioner will do?

I don’t always agree with Erica Grieder of Texas Monthly on her takes but this one is OK.  He is her latest:

Stopping Trump from winning the presidency is now up to us

By “us” I mean all Americans, regardless of ideology or party affiliations. In the wake of Trump’s victory in Indiana, Republican leaders will be forced to confront the question that many were clearly hoping to avoid, over whether to support his candidacy should he become the party’s nominee. I was disappointed to see that our governor, Greg Abbott, is among those who have decided to do so, and I disagree with his suggestion that Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, is worse than Trump. She’s not.

Here is her entire take: http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/the-morning-after-in-america/.

Here is from a Texas GOP consultant today: “What makes me sad is that I always trust the voters, and the voters let me down.”

Secretary Hillary Clinton told Anderson Cooper yesterday that Donald Trump didn’t know s__t – sorta.  Then CNN’s Dana Bash said Donald didn’t need to know s__t – sorta.

This is from a fella that I thought always wanted to be part of the inside the Beltway political class:

Fox News ‏@FoxNews 13h13 hours ago

.@PatrickBuchanan: “The Trump success is a repudiation of the political class in the Beltway & especially in the GOP Party…b/c it’s failed.”

I thought Newt was part of the elite. Here is this:

Fox News ‏@FoxNews 16h16 hours ago

.@newtgingrich: “There’s something happening out here with the American people that none of the elites get.”

“Today” made an announcement today that has me bummed. They are moving one of my favs Natalie Morales to LA to anchor the West Coast “Today” that we don’t get to watch – BUMMER. The move will occur in July.

Fernando Valenzuela of course who was born in Mexico won the 1981 NL Cy Young Award and NL Rookie of the Year Award with the Dodgers.

I had two dollar dogs to go with the 16 runs and 3 oppo dingers last night – NICE. The only starter who didn’t get a hit was Marwin Gonzalez. I sure hope they turned the page.