Mayor Bill White unveiled a record $4 billion budget proposal
Tuesday, calling for a sharp increase in spending on public safety
while cutting the property tax rate by a half-cent.

The mayor’s fiscal 2009 budget also would, if approved, create a
dedicated set-aside of tax revenues to pay for drainage improvements,
fund the addition of 150 police officers and add 50,000 homes to the
curbside recycling program.

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While some recent surveys point to Houston being among the fattest
and the dumbest cities in the nation, Mayor Bill White on Friday
accepted with pride his city’s designation as the most accessible to
handicapped people.

The National Organization on Disability presented a $25,000 check
to White at the Vale-Asche Foundation Playground in Memorial Park.

Houston earned the seventh annual Accessible America Contest
because of its “focus on disability issues and successful design of
programs, services and facilities that are accessible for citizens and
visitors who have disabilities,” according to NOD.

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Houston has landed near the bottom of a new ranking of the 100 smartest cities in the U.S., according to a recent study by Bizjournals.

Houston ranked 83rd on the list — which identified metros with the highest levels of collective brain power based on education levels — with an index of 41 on a 100-point scale. The study found that only 9.2 percent of Houstonians have a graduate or professional degree; 20 percent did not complete high school; and 25 percent stopped their education at a high school diploma.

Local economic and education experts don’t dispute Houston’s ranking, saying that the study brings to light some alarming statistics.

Steven Klineberg, a sociology professor at Rice University, says Houston’s numbers represent an “incipient crisis” among the city’s demographics.

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Heavy rains are expected to continue across southeast Texas late
this morning and into the afternoon, but evening rush-hour travelers
could get a break, forecasters said.

“We think the rain will diminish beginning late this afternoon,
probably between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.,” National Weather Service
forecaster Charles Roeseler said today.

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Ticket sales cast in iron
– Houston Chronicle²

Iron Man was pure gold at the box office.

The Marvel Comics adaptation, starring Robert Downey Jr. as the guy in the metal suit, hauled in $100.7 million during its opening weekend and $104.2 million since debuting Thursday night, the second-best premiere ever for a nonsequel, according to studio estimates.

The film’s debut was the 10th-biggest opening of all time and the fourth-biggest for a superhero movie.

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More than 200 supporters of immigrant rights rallied in downtown Houston on Thursday, calling for an overhaul of immigration laws and an end to a recent spate of workplace raids.

The afternoon march and rally at downtown’s Antioch Park coincided with national protests in major cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami. The Houston protest also drew a few dozen counter-protestors, who gathered across the street from the rally, yelling through bull horns and carrying signs that read “Stop the Invasion.”

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Starting Aug. 1, new commercial buildings will have to meet
energy-efficiency benchmarks through the use of “green” design, under a
new energy code approved Wednesday by the City Council.

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Houston companies still lag behind their national peers in appointing females to their board of directors, according to a report.

Only 40 percent of Houston’s top 100 companies have female director representation, compared to 91 percent of the boards at the S&P 500 companies, according to the report compiled by the Houston office of executive search firm Spencer Stuart.

Although there was one more woman on the boards of companies surveyed now versus 2006 — bringing the total to 51 — the percentage declined from 43 percent in 2006 due to a different mix of companies used for the survey.

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One other thing worth noting, also found through the survey:

Over the past 12 months, three more Houston-area companies instituted
mandatory retirement ages for directors, ranging in age from 62 to 75.
Fifteen of the 26 companies have director retirement ages of 70 or 72.

Oh, joy!

Resources:

• Space City goes western, by KHOU Channel 11
• 2008 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™
  

Small-business resources
– Houston Chronicle²

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Tuesday
Do You Have What It Takes to Start a Business? 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., UH SBDC, 2302 Fannin, Suite 200. Cost: no fee. Registration: www.sbdc.uh.edu.

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“There is a whole lot more stability than there was in the 1980s,” said Hankamer, whose commercial real estate brokerage specializes in hotel properties. “There is lot more discipline by lenders and builders and equity investors. People are real careful not to build something that is not fully needed.”

The hotel industry learned a lesson, he said, as did the city’s entire business culture. To rely on oil was to play Russian roulette with three loaded chambers. Houston not only had to change its way of doing business, it had to change what business it did.

And so was born the Houston Economic Development Council, established to broaden the economic base.

How well it succeeded, as well as the Greater Houston Partnership which absorbed it along with the Chamber of Commerce, is a matter for historians to debate.

There is no doubt that some active efforts, such as the expansion of the port facilities and the Texas Medical Center, had an effect. But so did the ongoing waves of immigration, much of it unanticipated.

A consistently affordable cost of living also has helped Houston keep growing despite oil’s ups and downs.

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The Houston Area League of Women Voters is distributing about 100,000 copies of its Voters Guide for the March 4 primaries, and perhaps the only relevant thing missing from the free publication is a sense of renewal for the nonpartisan group.

The Houston chapter says it is holding steady at about 500 members, making it the second-largest in the nation, behind Seattle. But the local organization is joining chapters across the nation in publicly expressing concern that baby boomers and younger generations will not uphold the league’s missions with the same sense of obligation and public service.

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1. Ford Trucks - 151
2. Chevrolet Trucks - 140
3. Honda Cars - 119 (Civic - 69.96%) / (Accord - 29.79%)
4. Dodge Trucks - 91
5. Ford Cars - 65 (Taurus - 49.94%) / (Mustang - 14.28%)
6. Dodge Cars - 57 (Intrepid - 48.04%) / (Stratus - 19.18%)
7. Chevrolet Cars - 53 (Impala - 22.03%) / (Malibu - 20.33%)
8. GMC - 40
9. Toyota Cars - 40 (Corolla - 43.33%) / (Camry - 43.13%)
10. Buick Cars - 24 (LeSabre - 50.00%) / (Park Ave - 19.46%)

Their source: the Houston Police Department.

Three Houston-area children have died in what health officials are calling a “moderately severe epidemic” of flu.

From October through January, emergency room workers had treated
32,965 people, according to the city Department of Health and Human
Services. That represents an increase of 31 percent, or nearly 8,000
patients, over the 2006-2007 flu season.

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H-E-B and the Children’s Defense Fund on Feb. 23 will begin an enrollment drive for parents to enroll their children in low-cost health care coverage.

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Parents can also call 1-877-KIDS-NOW or download an application at www.chipmedicaid.org.

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By 2015, 1 million additional people are expected to settle in the
eight-county region. Three million more are expected by 2035. To cope,
the region needs rail links to airports, more housing downtown, and a
plan for its aging, ad-hoc sewage systems, the panelists said. Some
better marketing would help, too.

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Houston’s competitors globally are New York; Los Angeles; Chicago;
London; Paris; Sydney, Australia; and United Arab Emirates’ Abu Dhabi
and Dubai, according to panelist Robert Grow, a land-use attorney
lawyer for Salt Lake City.

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Gregory Price has been named chairman of the Houston Technology Center’s advisory board for 2008.

Price, director of consulting solutions and information technology at Pannell Kerr Forster of Texas PC, will take up his post on Feb. 14.

The Rice Alliance has gone and outdone themselves again by nearly doubling the amount of funds that will be awarded at this year’s Business Plan Competition. They will be awarding over $600,000 dollars in funds for approximately 36 different graduate teams from around the world, which enables them to lay claim to hosting “the largest and richest intercollegiate MBA/graduate-level business plan competition in the world, with more prize money, more teams competing, and more judges than any other competition.”  (Somebody please tell me they are videotaping this thing, because I think this would make a great reality show).  Also, according to their web site, every team will receive some type of cash award so noone goes home empty handed.

Got prescriptions? Houston patients now have more than 100 new places to get generic medications for less money.

Kroger rolled out a program on Wednesday across the Southwest, including its 102 area stores with pharmacies, offering 30-day supplies of 300 generic medicines for $4. Generic versions of oral contraceptives Ortho Cyclen and Ortho Tri Cyclen, as well as one fertility drug, will cost $9.

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• Housing buzz fuels move to East End
  Area attracts those priced out of other locations inside the Loop, by the Houston Chronicle
• Mary Kay conference means big bucks for Houston, by the Houston Business Journal