Recent editorials from Texas newspapers

Here are excerpts from recent editorials in Texas newspapers:

Amarillo Globe-News. May 25, 2017.

That three members of Amarillo City Council recently attended a public meeting and may have violated a state law does not rise to the well-known political level of high crimes and misdemeanors.

But it should serve as a warning for council members to educate themselves on their responsibilities.

Three members of the Amarillo City Council - Freda Powell, Eddy Sauer and Howard Smith - recently attended a public forum put on by Amarillo Economic Development Corp. (AEDC answers to the council.)

Since three of five council members were at this meeting (a quorum), there is the possibility this was a violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act since no advance notice was provided. It should be noted that the council has not yet completed training on the Open Meetings Act.

The meeting was informational in nature, and related to consultants the city is using to devise a strategy for Amarillo’s economy.

Obviously, if council members were trying some sort of subterfuge, their efforts to conceal their attendance were woefully inadequate.

More than likely, this was a case of council members not possessing an understanding of their roles or a miscommunication among members as far as who was attending - in other words, an innocent mistake.

Keep in mind - this is an entirely new council. All five council members are rookies, and the election was not that long ago - May 6.

Council members may need some time to get up to speed on how the Open Meetings Act works, and how it applies. And we will give the relatively new city manager, Jared Miller, the benefit of the doubt that he was not aware that three City Council members would be present at the aforementioned meeting.

Miller has stated he will post an advance notice of any future meeting where there is even a possibility a quorum of council members may be present.

This is all well and good. And let’s hope this was the first and last time for this misunderstanding of state law or miscommunication among City Council members (whatever it was).

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Fort Worth Star-Telegram. May 26, 2017.

Fort Worth Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald has finally concluded the leak investigation involving a Fort Worth police officer’s body-cam video and personnel file.

He recently demoted Assistant Chief Abdul Pridgen and Deputy Chief Vance Keyes in connection with the leaks of Officer William Martin’s personnel information.

Martin’s inappropriate behavior involving the arrests of Jacqueline Craig and her two daughters last December was overshadowed by the police department’s internal probe.

It should have been the other way around.

While the December arrest garnered local and national outrage for its racial angle - Martin is white and the Craigs are black - the leak investigation quickly became the focus of local activists who accused Fitzgerald of targeting the senior African-American officers.

Such attacks are unfair.

In a press conference, the police chief - who is also black - explained that after a “thorough and exhaustive” investigation, it was determined the confidential files were downloaded to an external hard drive from Pridgen’s computer and video evidence showed that he and Keyes were in his office when the files were downloaded - facts both later confirmed.

Fitzgerald, who appeared candid and pained, said his decision to demote the officers was “not without . heartache” but that both men, whom he trusted, had a “unique duty” to protect the information they were accused of making public.

Keyes and Pridgen both deny any involvement in the leak, and it is unclear if they or Fitzgerald will take further action.

What is clear is that the attacks on Fitzgerald for demoting Keyes and Pridgen is unacceptable.

Fitzgerald’s punishment of Martin was inadequate, but given the evidence presented in the leak case, his treatment of the officers seems justified.

The chief needs a team of police leaders he can trust and rely upon to act professionally, even in circumstances where they disagree with his decisions.

And the FWPD has been forthcoming with the results of its thorough, albeit protracted, investigation.

If more information is uncovered, it should be released.

But unless and until that happens, his decision should be accepted and attacks on his character should stop.

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The Dallas Morning News. May 27, 2017.

We’re all guilty of rushing to assign black hats - and white ones - to complicated local stories, especially those that kick emotions into overdrive.

But absolute certainty seldom yields constructive commentary. The latest example? The months-long fight in West Dallas over evicting low-income renters from their single-family homes.

The prevailing “evil narratives” - Mayor Mike Rawlings is kicking folks into the streets or HMK landlord Khraish Khraish is treating tenants like trash - miss a more complex truth.

This sour tale of gentrification is rooted in the reality of market forces and an array of City Hall and nonprofit players whose intentions were good but whose actions fell far short. Most particularly, it illustrates everything that’s been wrong in the city Housing Department for a long, long time.

Khraish announced in September that he would evict residents from about 300 of his low-rent properties because the city’s new toughened housing code required upgrades so expensive that it would be easier to tear down the aging homes.

Since then, about half of the HMK tenants moved, but others could do little more than flail for options.

After months of renters’ anguish, Khraish, who previously had talked only about redeveloping his properties, announced a change of heart and will allow many of them to buy their homes under what seem to be reasonable terms.

It’s too soon to know how this will work for tenants - and how many still must relocate - but with so many of us watching, Khraish has good reason to live up to his promises.

While HMK evictions may yet be averted, these residents are hardly the only ones in danger of losing their homes in a city sadly lacking in affordable housing. Expect replays in other growing-hot neighborhoods if City Hall doesn’t come up with a legitimate overall strategy.

With still-new City Manager T.C. Broadnax assembling his leadership team and beginning a new budget and bond planning cycle, the time is now.

Broadnax has already done the first right thing: Gone are senior leaders of a housing operation that has consistently fallen short when faced with questions and concerns.

Most immediately, the city, nonprofits and fair-housing advocates must look harder at how to reconfigure their budgets to help HMK renters-turned-buyers with property taxes and home repair challenges.

Next, Broadnax must oversee scraping all housing-related funds and figuring out how best they should be spent, especially in regard to how the city keeps people both safe and in their homes.

Whether it’s getting to the bottom of land-bank shenanigans, following through on the affordable housing piece of TIFs (tax increment financing districts) or determining exactly where all the city’s federal housing dollars are landing, a massive challenge sits untended.

The improved property standards, enthusiastically approved by the City Council, were a must. But how to deal with any displaced residents seems to have not gotten much attention from anyone who touched this work.

Then when market-force consequences emerged - real-life faces of frightened low-income renters - we all got tangled in a blame game.

Vulnerable low-income residents deserve better.

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Houston Chronicle. May 28, 2017.

The headlines don’t look good for Pasadena’s political status quo.

The city’s economic development agency has been hounded by criticism of unspent dollars, unfulfilled promises and secret - perhaps illegal - meetings. There are even allegations of lucrative contracts handed out to politically connected companies. At City Hall, longtime Mayor Johnny Isbell was found by a federal judge to have intentionally discriminated against Hispanic voters in a slapdash redistricting scheme. Now the city faces election oversight from the Department of Justice until 2023.

The second-largest city in Harris County could use a good shake-up.

That’s why voters should elect John “J.R.” Moon Jr. for mayor in the city’s runoff election.

Moon, 58, would bring the outsider perspective that Pasadena needs. He has spent the past decade as a trustee for the top-rated San Jacinto College. In addition to his public service, Moon also has the business credentials to make for a fine mayor of a growing city - he is a certified CPA and former chief financial officer at Moody Bank. Moon currently works as a commercial real estate agent.

While scandal has dominated the headlines, Moon kept his focus on the core issues of education, economic growth and quality of life when he met with the editorial board. He specifically recommended updating the city’s infrastructure plans into a modern capital improvement system that’s the hallmark of transparent governance.

“It does not appear that we have had an effective plan over the last five years and you need to renew that plan on an annual basis,” Moon said.

His challenger, Councilman Jeff Wagner, has deep roots in the community and his own record of public service. However, the longtime police officer has also been a dedicated political ally for Isbell. That kind of continuity can be good in city government, but right now Pasadena needs change at the top. Wagner just represents more of the same.

We were also distressed by Wagner’s denial of the divide that exists between largely Hispanic north Pasadena and the Anglo neighborhoods of the south.

“I don’t like north vs. south, but you brought it up,” Wagner said after he was asked about the issue at an editorial board meeting.

Problems ranging from the economic development board to the voter discrimination lawsuit all stem from this continuing political conflict. Pasadena needs a mayor who can enter this office with eyes wide open if the city hopes to avoid further scandal.

Moon is Pasadena’s best choice to make these issues a thing of the past.

Election Day is Saturday, June 10.

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Beaumont Enterprise. May 30, 2017.

The Texas Legislature was embarrassed by the onslaught of teacher-student sex cases recently - as it should be - so it cracked down of the offenders - as it should have. But it still left out an important sanction.

The new law recently signed by Gov. Greg Abbott should do more to reduce this disturbing type of crime that has increased in each of the last seven years in public schools in Texas.

Senate Bill 7 ensures that teachers who engage in inappropriate relationships with students will lose their teaching certification and pension. It punishes any administrators who know about such misconduct but ignore it. The bill also requires school districts to adopt a written policy aimed at preventing improper electronic communications between employees and students.

Again, all of that is good and overdue. But the law does not require mandatory minimum sentences for educators convicted of this crime. A recent case illustrates the need for this.

Former Houston Independent School District police Officer Jacob Delgadillo pleaded guilty to have an improper contact with a 14-year-old student. He admitted fondling the girl but was also accused of having the girl perform oral sex on him in the bathroom of a middle school and showing nude photos of himself to the girl.

Investigators found several cellphone photos of him in various states of undress, including one in which he is exposing himself in his campus office while dressed in his campus uniform. A teacher saw him looking at the girl through a classroom window and blowing kisses to her.

Pretty bad, right? Deserving serious punishment, right?

Well, Delgadillo reached a plea deal for five years of probation but no time behind bars. Worse, it’s deferred adjudication, a form of probation that means he will not have a conviction on his record if he completes the probation. Worse yet, he will not have to register as a sex offender.

If educators get a slap on the wrist like that for this type of crime, more will be tempted to exploit students. SB 7 will help, but it won’t help enough.