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Busybody bills
Much of the legislation filed before Friday’s deadline deserved File 13 treatment.
The late Robert Sherrill, a longtime political writer who died in 2007, never met state Rep. Drew Springer, a freshman Republican. Someone like the young man from Muenster, however, could have been on Sherrill’s mind some years ago when he gazed at the majestic state Capitol and observed, “Built for giants, inhabited by pygmies.” In Springer’s case, busybody pygmies. During his brief legislative stint, Springer has filed a bill that would prevent Texas cities from approving ordinances designed to wean businesses from giving customers single-use plastic or paper bags. He’s irked at Austin, although Brownsville, South Padre Island and Fort Stockton have similar rules. He’s filed another bill that would prevent the Pflugerville School District, near Austin, from allowing insurance benefits for same-sex partners of employees. Keep in mind that Springer represents a Wichita Falls-area district more than 250 miles from the Austin area. We doubt that his District 68 residents are all that concerned about how Austin and Pflugerville conduct their business. Springer’s busybody bills are among the flood of legislation lawmakers filed before Friday’s deadline, the 60th day of the 83rd Legislature. As of Friday afternoon, more than 4,200 bills had been filed in the House and more than 2,000 in the Senate. Many of those bills deserve the File 13 treatment. A number of others, however, represent a serious effort, beyond ideology, to conduct the important business of this large, complex and ever-changing state. We are particularly impressed with bills that represent prudent and far-sighted investments in this state and its people. Their sponsors are trying to fill gaps in mental health treatment,
education, health care and other areas where the state is woefully inadequate. Others are trying to look down the road to meet the state’s transportation needs, deal with our water shortages — trying to assure, in other words, that our children inherit a Lone Star State that’s strong and healthy, a beacon of opportunity. Here’s state Sen. Joan Huffman, for example, working to keep the nonviolent mentally ill among us in treatment and out of Texas jails. It’s the “fiscally and socially responsible thing to do,” the Houston Republican said. Here’s state Rep. Mike Villarreal, who has filed a bill that would expand Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act to uninsured low-income adults. Noting that about 6 million Texans are currently uninsured, the San Antonio Democrat contends that the number of insured would fall by onehalf under the Affordable Care Act if Texas expands Medicaid. Here’s state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, urging his fellow lawmakers to begin repairing “the damage inflicted in 2011 to classrooms, teachers and other basic educational necessities.” He points out that the Legislature two years ago slashed $5.4 billion from Texas schools. And here’s state Sen. Kevin Eltife, a Tyler Republican, who dares suggest that the state raise the sales tax to get the Texas Department of Transportation out of debt. Agree or disagree, it’s a responsible effort by a serious lawmaker to meet the state’s obligations. Now begins the effort on the part of our elected representatives to separate the wheat from the chaff, the serious from the frivolous, the worthwhile from the waste of time — not to mention the giants from the pygmies. We wish them well as they do the people’s business.
Embraceable ‘Hou’ As postwar architecture is recognized as historic, Houston is coming into its own. Houston has a long history of hard-fought battles over whether and how to preserve the city’s landmark buildings, neighborhoods, churches and other structures. By inclination, Houstonians are not so much interested in looking back at the past as we are peeking around the next corner to see what the future holds. So when a group of preservationists organized in 2008 to seek historic district status for the Glenbrook Valley neighborhood in southeast Houston, some eyebrows were raised. Glenbrook Valley, a neighborhood built from 1953 to 1964, as a historic district? Why, that was barely a half century ago, well within the lifetimes of hundreds of thousands of Houstonians. Where’s the history in that? After much debate, the ranchstyle neighborhood was approved for historic district designation, the first postwar neighborhood in Texas to be so recognized. But the skeptics and doubters remained. We, too, had some second thoughts about the wisdom of elevating such recent construction to historic district status. We were wrong. The decision to make this postwar subdivision in far-from-fashionable southeast Houston was the right thing to do. The proof in that pudding is the work done to restore the residence at 7919 Glenbrook Drive by owners Cheryl and David Bowman. Their efforts were honored last week with a Good Brick Award by the group Preservation Houston. The Glenbrook Drive residence is stunning enough to change the minds of even those with a builtin bias against ’50s ranch-style
construction as tract housing that is nothing out of the ordinary. Tens of thousands of ranch homes were built in this area, especially in the 1950s and ’60s. A lot of them were ordinary. But some were brilliantly conceived and have stood the test of time architecturally. We’re not the experts. We’ll leave the sorting to those architects and preservationists who are. But what we are coming to realize and appreciate is that historic preservation is a living organism. It must move forward with the turning of the pages of the calendar. With the passage of 60 years, the midcentury architecture in some subdivisions is worthy of recognition and preservation, especially in Houston, which came of age in the postwar era. Judging by the applause meter, the preservation work done in the Glenbrook Valley residence may well have taken best in show at the Good Brick awards event. We can’t say for sure. What we do know is that with postwar residential architecture taking its rightful place as historically noteworthy, all of Houston is becoming that much more interesting historically speaking. The 1950s and 1960s were the era when new design ideas for residential and commercial construction alike were popping up and being tried on with great zest and enthusiasm around here. Houston was a veritable petrie dish of design and architectural ideas. We look forward to seeing more examples of Houston’s architectural best from that fertile age receive the attention they deserve.
LETTERS
Fallout from sequestration Miffed
Regarding “White House tours scrubbed” (Page A3, Wednesday), reinstating tours to visit the White House despite the canard of sequestration should be simple. By cutting back only one hour of each day the president spends his agenda campaigning on Air Force One, the taxpayers would save $180,000 according to a recent Congressional Research Service report (this does not even begin to include the massive operational support costs for these flights). Since President Obama reportedly has traveled an average of 184 days per year during his term in office (more than any other president), the American people could expect to save $33,120,000 a year with only that one hour per trip cutback. Imagine what could be preserved by whittling down those
presidential hops to trips of national urgency only and doing a little more video conferencing, flesh pressing and vacationing at home. I should think that would cover the cost for quite a few schoolchildren to get a peek at “The People’s House.”
Carole Paul Vesely, West University Place
Terrible 2s If your fear-mongering hasn’t produced results, one can always count on pettiness to get your point across. Let’s make this short and sweet, White House tours are carried out by White House staffers. However, they are done on a volunteer basis and on their own time, which is primarily weekends. It just goes to show you we have a 2-year-old in the White House who would rather inflict pain, any pain, on
Big smiles all around Regarding “ ‘Harlem Shake’ videos provoke Tunisian rifts” (Page A2, Wednesday), Mahatma Gandhi developed and successfully initiated the tactic of militant nonviolence against the British empire. Martin Luther King espoused and implemented the same approach to violence here in the United States. The “Harlem Shake” is an innovation to militant nonviolence that I am sure would bring a big smile to Gandhi’s and MLK’s faces.
Norm Bunch, Houston
Just tax cannabis sativa Regarding “Law and disorder” (Page A27, Sunday), I suggest that the disorder comes not from the lack of judges but from the bad law that makes possession of marijuana a crime. Marijuana is a great plant with many wonderful uses. Certainly as medicine it has many proven applications. Please research how the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was passed. That was a shameful page in our country’s history. Marijuana had not been a problem until that tax act was passed, creating a huge bureauracy to enforce it. The harm to our citizens came not from the marijuana but from the laws. It took us only 13 years to realize that Prohibition was not the answer.
Ann Lee, Houston
the American people than be a leader. If it wasn’t so pathetic, one might think it amusing.
Gregory Zissa, Houston
Go figure Regarding “Morsi rewarded with $250 million in aid from U.S.” (Page A4, Monday), the White House closes, jobs are cut back, yet Secretary of State John Kerry sends $250 million overseas. Enough said.
Charlie Davis, Huntsville
Home first Well, it certainly appears that the administration is maximizing the pain of sequestration on the American people at airports. How much overtime could have been paid for with the $250 million given to our enemies in Egypt last week?
C. Paul Gallagher, Spring
economy. Third, Maduro has shown by his words that he is no friend of the U.S. On that basis, we have no reason to support him. The U.S. should stop trying to appease or provide support to any of those who actively dislike us.
George R. Mayforth, Houston
Texting and driving Regarding “Texting ban pulls forward to House for review” (Page B3, Wednesday), Gov. Perry said he will again veto a bill that would make it illegal to text and drive. The state already requires drivers to have a state-issued license, registration, inspection and emissions testing, use seat belts, insure their vehicle and obey traffic laws. Why not require drivers be nondistracted and concentrate on operating a motor vehicle?
Mike Barron, Spring
Polka legend Regarding “Polka legend aimed to save music’s past” (Page B3, Thursday), I appreciated the article on Jimmy Brosch and his music. I knew Jimmy in his later years and joined him in jam sessions now and then. He would play his saxophone and his harmonicas. He was a wonderful man and always had a smile on his face.
Keith Judge, Katy
Venezuela is no friend The essay “Death of Chavez offers chance for U.S. to foster change” by Tony Payan (Page B9, Thursday), suggests the United States offer support to Venezuelan Vice President Maduro. His idea is wrong on many levels. First, Venezuela is a sovereign nation; any U.S. involvement in its political system would be inappropriate. Second, Maduro is a committed socialist who has strong ties to the Castros of Cuba. As Cuba has demonstrated for five decades, and Venezuela for the years under Hugo Chavez, socialism destroys economies and impoverishes far more people than it helps. There is therefore no reason for the U.S., which has prospered under the capitalist system, to help prolong the socialist regime that has so badly damaged Venezuela’s
LETTERS POLICY VIEWPOINTS C/O Houston Chronicle P.O. Box 4260, Houston, Texas 77210 viewpoints@chron.com Fax: 713-362-3575 We welcome and encourage letters and e-mails from readers. Letters must include name, address and telephone numbers for verification purposes only. All letters are subject to editing.
BIBLE VERSE Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.
Deuteronomy 11:1