Water Bill
The Meyerland Area Democrats voted to censure State Rep. Shawn Thierry for supporting SB 14 and HB 900. Good.
_____
The H-Town Mayor has decided to call out TEA. I don’t have a problem with that. Folks know how Commentary feels on this right now. Name the new superintendent and Board of Managers so we can start the process to take back our schools. Here is this from the front page of today’s Chron:
Pressure is mounting on the Texas Education Agency to name the superintendent who will soon oversee the Houston Independent School District as the nearing takeover prompts growing speculation and calls for transparency.
Mayor Sylvester Turner took to social media over the weekend to call on the TEA to confirm or deny a widespread rumor circulating since March that the agency plans to appoint former Dallas ISD superintendent Mike Miles to replace Millard House II at the helm of HISD.
“I am hearing from people in Houston and Dallas that Mike Miles is the person,” he said in a statement. “The TEA Commissioner should confirm or deny. People within the district are making decisions based on what they are hearing. This process has been plagued by rumors from the beginning.”
And this:
Meanwhile, Turner said he has had no conversations with the TEA since March when it first announced state intervention in the district, a move that followed years of litigation and came in response to schools beset by chronic low academic achievement.
The mayor said the process has been “flawed and anti-democratic,” criticizing the state for providing little transparency to parents, school personnel and the press.
And finally, this:
Steve Steficek, an HISD substitute teacher and founder of an advocacy group called Houston Teachers United, said the gravity of the situation is starting to sink in with a little more than two weeks until the state plans to take over the district. He, too, expressed concerns about holding the state-appointed leaders accountable.
“It’s un-American to not have a checks and balance,” he said. “This is something that shouldn’t be done haphazardly and at the last second, in the 11th hour, when you’re talking about people’s children and people’s money.”
Here is the entire read: Turner asks TEA to confirm if Mike Miles is new HISD superintendent (houstonchronicle.com).
_____
Commentary has mentioned consumer reporter Amy Davis from KPRC-TV Channel 2 news doing an outstanding job covering billing issues over at the City of H-Town’s water division. I may have to call her.
I didn’t get a water bill last month. A couple of weeks ago I started calling the water division and would give my account number over the phone through their automated system, they would respond by providing me with my address and letting me know I had a zero balance.
Yesterday, the automated system wasn’t fully working, and I ended up talking with a real person. The person told me that my water meter was replaced with a new one in late March. The day they replaced the meter was the day I was flying back from Las Vegas. I got home after 6 pm and there wasn’t a note on my door to notify me of a water meter replacement. The person at the city told me they should have left a note.
It would have been nice if they had left a note with an explanation of why my meter was replaced. Like how long my meter had not been working properly.
Here is from the latest Amy Davis report:
Something else that we’ve noticed over the last year investigating these water bill issues many customers who have been paying $30-something a month don’t even realize they aren’t being billed for any water usage. That’s just a base bill with service charges. As these reading devices are attached to meters that haven’t been actually read in years. So you may be shocked when you receive a bill for five or ten thousand gallons of water because you are not used to paying for actual water usage.
KPRC 2 Investigates asked Houston Public Works if they plan to back bill customers for water they were not previously billed for or if they planned to just bill for current usage moving forward but the city has not answered that question.
Here is the entire Amy Davis report: Why you might soon get a surprise water bill (click2houston.com).
How can you get charged for back bills if they don’t know how much water you used. Why should customers have to pay for a water division screwup?
I don’t have a good feeling about this.
_____
It has been a while since I last saw The Little Mermaid. A very good flick. Good tunes. “Under the Sea” won the Best Song Oscar. It also won the Best Original Score Oscar and “Kiss the Girl” got nominated for Best Song. Other tunes are still popular like “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and “Part of Your World.”
I am rooting for the new version to be a hit and make a lot of dough. Go Disney!
_____
We started the homie last night with a win over the Cubbies.
