Thumbs Up, Pasadena

Last season, the Red Sox led MLB with a .282 team batting average. The ‘Stros currently leads MLB in team batting average. What is our current team batting average and what was our average at the end of last season?

Commentary said this last Thursday:

Commentary doesn’t know the new mayor of Pasadena. It certainly doesn’t sound like it is going to be business as usual in Pasadena. Not when you hire someone with James’ (former H-Town city council member Rodriguez) ability and skills. A smart move if you ask me and guess what? Nobody asked Commentary.

Argue with me if you want, but it looks like it is starting out to be a new day in Pasadena, Texas. Nice start. Just check this from the Chron this past weekend:

In a historic shift, the Pasadena City Council is expected to approve the city’s first Hispanic police chief next week.

Lt. Al Espinoza, a 37-year veteran of the Pasadena Police Department, stands poised to become chief of police after mayor-elect Jeff-Wagner recently named the former commander of the Criminal Investigations Department as his choice to replace retiring Chief Michael Thaler.

“The incoming chief of police is very well qualified and ready to hit the ground running. I am also proud to have selected from within the Pasadena Police Department and very honored that Al Espinoza has accepted to serve the citizens of Pasadena in this important role,” Wagner said in a statement.

And this:

“I’m glad to see Lt. Espinoza get the promotion. I think he’s deserving of this honor. He has the educational credentials and the experience needed to do the job,” Council Member Cody Ray Wheeler said. “Also, something that’s really important to me is that he lives in the city. A lot of times we get department heads that aren’t invested in what’s going on here. I’m really happy about the appointment actually.”

Over the last seven years, Pasadena’s population has grown by more than 5 percent to 153,784, making it the second largest city in Harris County, according to the U.S. Census. During that time, the number of police officers has fallen from 282 to 258. Increasing the department’s ranks will be a challenge for the new chief as Wagner has said he hopes to build the force up to 326 officers as soon as possible.

But, Espinoza says the biggest challenge facing the department is improving its image within the Hispanic community, which makes up roughly 70 percent of the city’s population.

“With the recent passage of Senate Bill 4 (SB4), I know there is a lot of concern in the Hispanic community that the police department is going to be aggressively prosecuting and chasing down illegal immigrants. That’s not the case. We’re going to enforce the law but we’re not going to be going out of our way to prosecute illegal immigration,” Espinoza said. “But, I know the community fears that and one of my first challenges is to unite the Hispanic community and calm their fears and show them we’re a department that serves all our citizens. We are going to serve everyone regardless of their race or their socioeconomic status.”

Espinoza is the son of migrant workers, who started out working in the fields near Eagle Pass.

Here is the entire Chron article: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Veteran-Pasadena-Police-officer-poised-to-become-11260284.php.

A Latino police chief in Pasadena is a very big deal.  Congrats to Mayor Wagner.

Area Latino leaders should be encouraged with what is happening in Pasadena during the first week of the new administration.

Latino immigrant activists showed up at the swearing-in of the new Mayor and City Council. That’s good. A healthy dialogue is needed for sure.

There is new attitude in Pasadena and it should be embraced. Work with the new Mayor, his new Police Chief, and his new Chief-of-Staff.

It is a heck of a lot better than it has been and that is for sure. Don’t you agree?

Commentary is now waiting for others to chime in with their takes. Pick up your jaw off of the floor and comment, please. It is needed.

Commentary is not going to say anything about Donald Trump’s tweets other than to wonder how long GOP elected officials will continue to condone the tweets because right now they do despite their silence.

Commentary said this on Friday:

How come Commentary is the only one who mentions the Firefighters’ early support for the H-Mayor didn’t turn out so good? Oh, well.

Steve Houston replied with this:

Marc, Becky and Mike over at the Chronicle have mentioned HFD’s previous support for Mayor Turner in several of their articles though I don’t recall their supposedly crack investigative chick Lise ever mentioning it. Nobody seems to mention Turner’s long standing relationship with HFD’s representatives while he served in the legislature, the man even carrying that lame agreement in 2015 that no one liked.

Regardless, their lawsuit on the pension matter was tossed out of court on Friday, June 30, and experts are predicting the lawsuit on forcing arbitration for better pay will meet a similar fate. Given the city just adopted a new pay/benefit package for HFD this week as their last contract’s evergreen clause expired, they are taking yet another hit that must be devastating to employee morale, perhaps they need to get new leadership of their pension and union since this is the longest string of defeats for them in recent history. I wish them well because it might get worse if the city’s various bonds are defeated at election time, noting that they have been loudly opposing such measures all year long.

And here is from Kuffer today:

One may wonder how it is that the relationship between the firefighters, who endorsed Turner for Mayor, and the Mayor has gotten so combative. I suspect it is more likely that the firefighters believed that despite Turner’s promises about pension reform he didn’t really mean to affect their pensions than it is that Turner was dishonest with them about what he intended to do. The firefighters, with some justification, have felt invulnerable for a long time. Having that come crashing down around them has got to be a tough thing to take. One also wonders how much previous Mayors, nearly all of whom have had tumultuous relationships with the firefighters, are getting a bit of grim satisfaction out of this. I mean, if the firefighters had ratified the contract agreement that their leadership agreed to with Mayor Parker in 2014, and if they had worked with Mayor Parker to pass a pension reform plan back in 2013, we wouldn’t be having any of this conversation now. Maybe they wouldn’t be any better off than they are now, but it’s hard to see how it would be any worse for them. I know, hindsight is 20-20, but surely some of this was foreseeable.

I didn’t know this from this tweet:

Jake Kaplan‏Verified account@jakemkaplan 2h2 hours ago

George Springer is just the second Astros outfielder voted in by the fans to an All-Star Game. Cesar Cedeno in 1973 was the other.

And this:

Jake Kaplan‏Verified account@jakemkaplan 3h3 hours ago

This is the first time the Astros have had eight players with double-digit homers before the ASB, according to the Elias Sports Bureau

And this:

ABC13 Houston Retweeted

 

Joe Gleason‏@joeagleason 2h2 hours ago　

.@astros P Dallas Keuchel says some of the guys have been “snubbed” from All Stars. Points out Marwin González is deserving. @abc13houston

Nah! When you get five players out of 32 selected, those that don’t make it are not snubbed. Just not enough room. That’s all. Thanks for standing up for your teammates, though.

The ‘Stros are currently batting .283 of course and at the end of last season we were at .247.

Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Dallas Keuchel, Lance McCullers, Jr., and #SpringerDinger are AL All Stars and we have a 14 ½ game lead. Catch your breath as we still have 79 games to go.