At the Zoo
I must wonder how $8.5 million gets misused before someone figures this out. This story broke this past Friday afternoon. See this from the Chron:
A former Midtown Redevelopment Authority official and two vendors are facing felony corruption charges, accused of misusing some $8.5 million in public funds meant to build affordable housing in Third Ward.
Todd Edwards, the agency’s former real estate manager, is facing four first-degree felony charges: theft, abuse of official capacity, money laundering and misapplication of fiduciary property.
Midtown vendors Veronica Ugorji of Cortez Landscaping and Kenneth Jones of KCK Demolition and Landscaping are charged with money laundering and abuse of official capacity, also first-degree felonies carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison.
And this:
It took neighborhood residents years of digging to discover that Midtown paid a firm Edwards himself formed – P.O.W.E.R., LLC – $2.1 million from 2011 to 2020, records show. Investigators found that Edwards created the firm’s invoices on his work laptop, then approved them for payment himself.
Ugorji’s Cortez Landscaping was paid $6.2 million from 2015 to 2021, and investigators found that Edwards not only appeared to help Ugorji form Cortez in the first place, but helped her submit the invoices that he paid. They also found that P.O.W.E.R., LLC served as a subcontractor for Cortez beginning in 2019.
Here is the entire read: Former Houston official and vendors face charges for misusing $8.5M (houstonchronicle.com).
Come on. Neighborhood folks had to figure out the wrongdoing. As far as I am concerned, most of the Midtown leadership, like the Board and top staff, should be goners and be replaced.
_____
Someone told me it’s all happening at the zoo
I do believe it
I do believe it’s true
This is from the front page of today’s Chron hard copy:
Mayor John Whitmire is upset about what he thinks are exorbitant costs to visit the city’s historic zoo and is vowing to do all he can to drive down costs for consumers.
He’s challenging zoo officials to cut costs at the attraction, while renewing questions about salaries for top administrators at the zoo.
“I don’t need spin or excuses from the zoo,” Whitmire said of the attraction, where tickets for a family of four can easily exceed $100. “It has become too expensive.”
Zoo officials, for their part, said the attraction is affordable and that few visitors pay the full admission price. A spokesperson also noted that the mayor received 500 free tickets to give residents this past January and that none of them have been redeemed. The zoo gives 17,000 single-day tickets to the mayor and City Council members to hand out as they wish.
“We’re a cherished destination for Houston’s diverse communities who visit our zoo to see our incredible animals and award-winning ecosystem habitat,” said Jackie Wallace, spokesperson for the Houston Zoo.
As the mayor ramped up his criticism, Wallace announced that the zoo would be doubling its free day ticket allotment from 10,000 to 20,000 tickets for its July 2, Aug. 6 and Sept. 10 free days. Tickets will be available 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Here is the entire zoo read: Houston Mayor Whitmire challenges zoo over high admission costs (houstonchronicle.com).
The mayor has a point. July 2, August 6, and September 10, all fall on a Tuesday. Hardly convenient for working class families. Commentary is with the mayor on this one. The zoo needs to come up with a better plan to get working families to experience the zoo.
_____
It didn’t look good when we lost the first game of the series against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field last week. Then we won the next two. Next came the weekend series against the Orioles who came to The Yard tied with the best record in MLB. We swept them. We are now two games under .500. Might as well post the featured photo. Five of our starting pitchers are dinged up. Kyle Tucker has been injured for three weeks now. We have now won five in a row.
We have today off and then the Rockies visit The Yard for a couple of games.
