April 21, 2025 • 32 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's that time time time lucking load to Michael Very show.
It's on the air.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Guys looking into mic week gotta feed ay bead. I
don't plan to shave, and it's good the thing, but
I just gotta.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
See I'm doing all right?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Will I'm make me support. It's beating verdict.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
That's the true. It's either drink and drug and just snool.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I'm just doing alright.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
It's a great tad be I know, suns still shining
in a close night eyes. It's hard times in the neighborhood.
But whyk in every day?
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Well?
Speaker 5 (01:14):
I said, for folks in Houston, we had a turd
gully washer last night. I don't know how far it went,
but a buddy of mine was between Chapel Hill and
Brenham and they didn't get a drop, not a drop.
So he's on the southeast side of Brenham, on the
obviously the Chapel Hill side, and it didn't make it
(01:35):
that far.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
I said.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
They could see the storm clouds, but not one drop.
Ja'll get a lot of rain. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
So George, who is ferocious?
Speaker 5 (01:48):
If somebody's coming in the house, if there is a storm,
she's reduced to a puddle. So if you want to
rob our house, do it on the night of a storm,
because she's not going to bother you. And and so
my wife led her into the bedroom because otherwise she'll
pee on a storm night.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
And she decided at two o'clock the dog, the dog,
my wife's not going to pee. She might be, I
don't know.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
She decided, did George, that she was coming into the
bed and that she needed to be right beside me.
So she jumps up on the bed, laying on top
of me, her head on my head, and my wife said,
I knew you were mad, and I wanted to take
a picture so bad, but I didn't have a way
to do it. She said it was the cutest thing.
Ever it was not cute, so I'm grumpy. I didn't
(02:39):
sleep well. Now you've been warned. That is ostensibly the reason.
Former HISD Chief Operating Officer Brian Busby, this is the
number two at the largest school district in the state
of Texas, along with a landscaping contractor.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Because this is how they do it. They do it
at the city, they do it at the county.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
You hire people to perform services for the governmental entity.
They inflate the bill and kick it, kick some.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Of it back to you.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
Along with landscaping contractor Anthony Hutchison, found guilty by a
federal jury for defrauding the district through a bribery and
over building scheme stole millions for nearly eight years. Was
only stopped because the FBI raided his home and HISD offices.
(03:32):
Now we had a protest over the weekend city Hall.
They don't like Trump. Trump is bad Trump, no good Trump, nobody, No,
we don't like Trump.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
We fed up. So they say they fed up. They
look fed up. They're fat as hogs. Yeah, you really
fed up. But they're really fed up with Trump.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
But there will be no marches, no protests, not a
word from the anti Mike Miles crowd. Remember the state
had to take over the school district. Where are all
those people who are so fed up with Donald Trump?
Donald Trump didn't steal in your money. Donald Trump's not
running your school into the ground. Not one protest, not
(04:12):
one of them. Where are those people? The story from
ABC thirteen.
Speaker 6 (04:18):
I disappointed Brian Busby leaving federal court this afternoon. One
a hisd's success story, working his way from janitor up
to chief operating officer. After about six hours deliberation, the
jury has decided he's guilty on all thirty three counts
relating to a bribery scheme. District landscaping contractor Anthony Hutchison
(04:39):
was found guilty on all charges.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Too well. I'm very disappointed and frankly, I'm shocked. The
verdict was too quick. Thirty three counts, two defendants. It's
too quick.
Speaker 6 (04:52):
Federal prosecutors accused Busby of steering landscaping contracts to Hutchison,
who prosecutors say was then over billing the disc for
landscaping services, then in turn giving Busby kickbacks. Five other
people have already accepted play agreements in this case, admitting
to accepting bribes, including former HISD board president Rondas Skillern
(05:13):
Jones and members of the district's maintenance and facilities.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Stat Hold on, Hold on, hold on. They didn't bother
to tell you.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
The district president, so the elected official who's head of
the board, who also pled guilty. One of the five
who pled guilty in this scheme. She worked for Rodney
Ellis during the day at his county office.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
She was arrested.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
She had just left being the board president of HISD
and had gone to the Houston Community College. So her
day job is working for Rodney Ellis at the county
in the County Commissioner's office.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
He runs the county. I mean, he's really the county judge.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
Then he gets her, she gets elected to be president
of the school board, and then she moves over to
the Houston Community College. It's almost like they're looking for
these big pots of public money where they can pay
people and get kickbacks.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
It's almost as if there's a culture of this.
Speaker 5 (06:14):
They don't bother to tell you that one of the
five people who pled guilty here was the president of
the school board. The person the story is about is
the chief operating officer, so paid staff, an executive officer
within HISD. The president of the school board was taking
kickbacks as part of this whole scheme.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Gosh it, well, they think they're at Harris County.
Speaker 6 (06:37):
I disappointed Brian Busby leaving federal court this afternoon, and
members of the district's maintenance and facility staff.
Speaker 7 (06:46):
There's really not you think we could say we feel
very strongly to our client Watson guilty and still feel
that way. But I also always never criticized a jury.
I know they did what they thought was right. We
live and die with a jury system, and we have
to have to deal with that with he dec go
our way.
Speaker 6 (07:02):
FBI Houston's Special Agent in Charge, Doug Williams released his statement, saying,
in part, at the end of the day, we want
to make sure corrupt individuals like Busby and Hutchison are
brought to justice. Today's guilty verdict is a step towards
that justice. Adjudgentatively set their sentencing date for July twenty eighth.
Speaker 5 (07:23):
That's the culture. That's why HISD was broken. That's why
Harris County is broken. That's why the city of Houston
is broken. That's why the Houston Community College is broken.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
This this is the reason. It's not accidental.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
It's not any reason other than self dealing corruptocrats and what.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Are we doing.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
We'd probably name a building for Brian Busby, and that
how this works. We've got Terminal E named for Sheila
Jackson Lee, now Harris County Administration building named for Sheila
Jackson Lee. And there's a new story on the fire
Hydrants don't work. They showed up fire department showed up
at a fire.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Hydros don't work. They probably named them for Sevester Fartman.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Hello everybody, this is Mickey Gilly and you're listening to
this Casar radio.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Michael Berry.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
I got an email over the weekend that said, hey,
wasn't it during Holy Week that Shirley Cue.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Lickor came home?
Speaker 5 (08:29):
So we dug into the archives early this morning and
dusted it off. And in fact, it was thirteen years
ago this week Shirley Q Lickor came home to Orange.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Shirley Cue.
Speaker 5 (08:40):
I got a call from a police officer buddy of
mine in Orange tells me, there are you just moved
back to Orange on Wednesday and there are already problems
at the church.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
What is going?
Speaker 8 (08:48):
You never know?
Speaker 9 (08:49):
Fine, just so I come over there and not somebody
out Michael Beery, Oh my god, are you still a
turn at Lowell?
Speaker 10 (08:56):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Sort of yes, Well you need some.
Speaker 9 (08:59):
You don't or something?
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Man?
Speaker 9 (09:00):
See do it? Then search ones out here in Orange
texts for anybody's last name Littor l i q u
old Arthur. They got the house around. I don't know
whether come out there or not. Everything had went wrong.
Michael Bert, how you doing?
Speaker 1 (09:14):
What's happened, Shirley Quine.
Speaker 9 (09:16):
I have just got back down here in Orange Textas,
and just in time for Holy Week. I'm trying to
do the right thing. Everything had went wrong on me,
and my nerves is in a shambler turret. Last night
I went down at Holy Thursday, down here my holy
all the second Baths sign church that had been in
five years. I expected a nice welcome from these women,
(09:37):
and they turned their nose up because they all had
on these extremely priced hats. They got down here at
Pleroro and I made the party Easter do not mean
about hats, And all I got was dirty look from
all these women. And then the pastor called in sick.
He had got too much liquor up in him and
we had to import a past to bless his heart
from nose Orange Baptist churches. The old white man and
(10:00):
he come down there and he was trying to do
the washing of the features, and they had this big
old candleof head. Lady come down there. She must have
weighed five hundred pounds, and she popped her damn shoes off,
and that poor man passed out. She could have at
least at least sprayed her feet posts she came down there.
That was ignorant. And then so we got all that
(10:20):
behind us where we got it over. I come out
this morning and he cheering out here. You know, I
got nineteen of them right down here, trying to reenact
good Friday. I said, y'all getting turn him to loose
my ignorant son, Shathim. They had him being the lord.
They had may Hawk Jent all over him, and blue
Bonnis all the crown of ignorance on his head trying
to stay for him up to this telephone post. I
(10:41):
told him, y'all a blasphemy up in here. And they
had a rooster running around crowing up in here, and
Shamika was supposed to be ponscious pilot. It was just
a tragedy. I'm so glad that he didn't send nobody
from YouTube down here, because I see so embarrassed. If
they show that on the internet, that's just ignorance, just
one hundred percent ignorance, my co bear.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
So tell me.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
How Orange has changed since since you've been away. And
I know I've been getting calls from people in Orange saying,
is it true that Shirley cu Lickor has come home?
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And how has it changed.
Speaker 9 (11:10):
Well, I say, it took me for ever to get
down here, honey. We first I called the Continental Trailways
and uh, they don't even exist no more. So they
called a moving van and they told us to get
up in the moving van. We laid it down by
to Memphis, and I had to rent a mule and
drag that thing halfway to bat Ruge and the Sinally
we pulled up the Baton Rudge down there and spent
(11:32):
the night at the collar Green motor end. Now Baton
ruigeh is run. Have you been down there?
Speaker 4 (11:36):
Line?
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Well, you know I'm on in bound Rouge now on WJBO.
Speaker 9 (11:40):
Oh, that's right, we had you on. Now we was
in a turk clos cadillact riding around downtown.
Speaker 11 (11:44):
Oh.
Speaker 9 (11:44):
By the way, this said the show is sponsored by
Uncle Henry's Fox to Lady Lounge.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
Wait a minute, you can't just be throwing in endorsements
in the middle of my show.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
You're getting paid for I had to.
Speaker 9 (11:54):
He gave me free drinks. I told him I mentioned
him on the right below the bridge on the Mississippi River.
Say it, no matter how you look at what shade
of brown, come on down. You could always get down
at Huncle Henry's Postulady Lounge.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Did you down?
Speaker 9 (12:09):
I got down so bad I got tore up from
the flow up. Michael Bear of Baton Rudige's rent. You
think all the KA training people tow up Houston, you
should see Baton Rouge. That is like, like, what's my
gear up in there? I was scared and I was
driving in my Sunday David Julia Edition Cadillac with one
headlight working on there and thinking I was all seditting
and people was just looking at me and fightening me.
(12:30):
I said, oh lord, let's get on the errane so
we'll finally pulled up in here just in time the
wholy weekend. I'm so scared I'm gonna get arrested behind
something I had forgot I had did. That's why I
want you to check on that for me.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
Okay, so you think there are warrants out for your
rest from when you left before?
Speaker 9 (12:47):
I don't know, Michael Ben. My memory is so bad.
It seemed like something happened at Walmart last time I
had did a slip down in there. They had put
security cameras. They saw me ease on down the floe
in all that mess in the earth, and they lady
said she's gonna call it just as to the piece,
and I blowed the whistler had got in the car
took off. I ain't never been that sis, but I've
been working. Might have put me on the first forty
(13:08):
eads or something down there. So I need all this
checked out. I want my constitutional materiity rights memized. When
the white people come down here and came out.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
The last time I talked to you, Shirley Q, you
were having trouble. You had been pulled over or something
with eminent you were what was going on with that
you got I can't remember what happened, but you had
just been pulled over.
Speaker 9 (13:30):
Yes, I got the POTPO had pulled me down. I
had wrote a perm about it. I think I had
submitted to you.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Oh, not guilty, not giled.
Speaker 9 (13:39):
I don't remember how it went, but it was true
though you still had that somewhere.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Oh I do. Oh, I'm gonna play that. That was good.
Speaker 9 (13:45):
Well, that's my way of getting back into the system
of that. And I'm gonna register the boat. Can I
register the boat? Michael Berry?
Speaker 5 (13:51):
I don't think you qualified, Shirley. Let's not discuss why I.
Speaker 9 (13:54):
Don't have a birth certificate. That's for one thing, and
so I may or may not be caughtied. I want
to run for office down here. I want to be
Secretary of Homeland Medication for Texas and get pain pills
out to all these women who feet look like egg
clans because they got women walking around here at Walmart
and their feet just be so swoll up and they
(14:14):
looked stove up. And I feel like these ladies need
free medications, and so I'm it's about that too. I
want to help filling out them damn farms, because Lord knows,
that's all written in them notary public words. I can't understand.
Speaker 5 (14:26):
So did the people of Orange recognize you when you
pull it back into town?
Speaker 9 (14:30):
No, in the middle of the night, Honey, I had
to sneak these chilren in. Lord, we sit over here
at my aunt tricks the house right now. She didn't
know what had happened. We had to stick hunder her
room and lock it up. But we bring it or
something to drink of an hour, bring some kool aid
and stuff. But uh, I'm just looking around for me
a house. I need to buy my house and urge
Michael Bell. Where do I get my loan star card?
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Uh, I would not. I assumed you would have had
a hook up.
Speaker 9 (14:55):
That's my priority. Now I'm back in Texas. I need
to get that and uh, I need to to save
the boat, and I need to run for office, and
I need to find a guy of cashes. It's been
four years since I've had a pop quiz and I
don't know what's going on down there. I had in
thirty years. And I'm scared of than people. Anyway, the
last time they had to put me up in vetting
(15:16):
their stirrups, and that was ignorant. That was embarrassing. I
felt like I was not treated respectfully. So I'm gonna
need help everybody, and earned y'all I'm back in town.
Come over and see me. Y'all know why he is
just if I was the smell of pickle juice because
I got my feet soaked up here in a bucket
of ice and pickled juice food. It see is so
good my con beer.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Sureley q Licker.
Speaker 5 (15:38):
We are delighted to have you back in the great
state of Texas.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
And home where you belong in Orange.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
I know you got washed out with was it Katrina
or Ike that ran you out.
Speaker 9 (15:47):
Katrina told me out of Mississippi, and then Rita told
me out of Texas. And I've been sitting up there
stove up in Kentucky for five years, waiting on my
free fried chicken which had never came food. So I
am home. I am home.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
They don't have aims anymore, do they?
Speaker 9 (16:04):
They don't they be closer. They don't have a Cancis
in here. Oh no, I have really went down here.
I'm gonna have to run for city council or something.
If I surely Lee Jackson could do it, I could
do it.
Speaker 10 (16:15):
See Michael Berry's show, Francis has hassed.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Get to that in just a moment. But Shirley c.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
Lickor referred to the poem she wrote, uh to protest
the charges against her, And we went into the archive
and found that one too. It happens to be one
of our favorites. It's called not guilty.
Speaker 8 (16:45):
Michael Berry, how you doing? You know you've got a
lot of people that listening to your program up at
the prison, the State Penitential in Beaumne and Huntsville and
Gates for us even right here has County. They listened
at your high jinks and your shenanigans and things, and
I feel like you don't take enough of time to
listen to the defendant side of the stirred. And I
(17:06):
would like to read a poem for you which I
have wrote it. It's called not Guilty. I helped my
head high as I drove in my Pontiac till the
pop pole pulled up and about give me a heart attack.
Come about, lay on the ground, don't move, And all
that claim I had swerved a buick and off had
flew my wig hat, I said. If this car had
been drove by Episcopagion or some crack of white trash
(17:29):
boy with eminem play, y'all would have smiled.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
And waved and drove right on past.
Speaker 8 (17:34):
No, y'all got nothing better to do than to harass
my black making me walk a straight line with my
hands out the sides like a taxi in aircraft, while
y'all leer at my thighs.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Who know they alphabet backwards?
Speaker 11 (17:47):
I show his hair.
Speaker 8 (17:48):
Don't y'all feel somebody test was designed by a punk?
How you gonna claim I was intoxicated if you was
in the car, y'all don't know nothing of who I am.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
You was not at the bar. Make me breathing the things?
Oh please, who would defend me?
Speaker 8 (18:03):
She La Jackson Lee a Congress ladd At sent them McKinley, Yo, honor,
I begged this court from mercy. I've been sitting in
jail since midnight on Thursday. Y'all flow is nasty. Y'all's
wallace is fifty. Please, your honor, I am some not guilty, yes, Floyd.
And now back to the Michael Beair program of ignorance.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
Well, just keep naming things for Sevester Turner. I guess
you can name the fire hydrants for him. He did
such a great job to fire hydrants fail. As Houston
Fire Department fought a three alarm fire in Northwest Houston.
KPRC investigation, three hundred and twenty fire hydrants in the city.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Are out of order.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
John Whitmer says this is the result of the past
administration neglecting things like this. Tell you what he did
neglect Marvion Igo Mago clip number two go.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Dangerous situation sparked in Northwest Houston.
Speaker 11 (18:56):
I was down there standing some furniture to blaze. Cut
my eyes.
Speaker 12 (19:01):
What started as an eye catching blaze at this drywall
warehouse quickly turned into a large and roaring three alarm fire.
Speaker 11 (19:08):
That was worried about it blowing up.
Speaker 12 (19:10):
Fire officials say as crews arrived and started battling the fire,
they quickly learned that two nearby fire hydrants weren't working.
Speaker 11 (19:17):
Very concerning because that is our lifeline. That water is
what establishes, you know, obviously than the what we.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Need to put out the fire.
Speaker 11 (19:24):
More importantly, we need that to protect our firefighters.
Speaker 12 (19:27):
Fire officials say they quickly moved to plan B, calling
in over one hundred firefighters and using more than four
thousand feet of fire hose to access.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Water the length of about eight dozen football fields.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Well, it's going to take a lot of manpower and apparatus.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
We're basically moving that water from the fire hydrant so
right here, and that takes a lot of hose.
Speaker 9 (19:47):
A lot of power.
Speaker 12 (19:48):
Thankfully, Planned be Worked and Cruise were able to contain
the fire to the original warehouse, and there were no
reports of any injuries, but Mayor Whitmeyer says there is
still work to be done.
Speaker 13 (19:58):
Honestly, I will leave here, go back to City Hall
and whole public Works and other city employees.
Speaker 12 (20:06):
Accountable now speaking about what will public Works do next.
I actually reached out to them and ask them several
questions about the non working fire hydrants.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
They tell me that right now the city's water department
is investigating.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Kprctvs.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
Mario Diaz filed an investigative report talking about three hundred
and twenty fire hydrants out of order in the city.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
You know, I gave six years of my life. It
ain't serving in war.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
I'm not saying it is, But I spent years before
that studying the city of Houston. Its functions, it's personnel,
it's finances, it's operations, it's history, and I love the
city of Houston. That might seem corny, but when I
came to the City of Houston in nineteen eighty nine,
(21:03):
it was very good to me, and city leaders past
and present at that time were very welcoming to me.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
There were titans of.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Industry, luminary sports stars who all I had to do
I was nobody, nobody knew me. Would go to breakfast, lunch,
or dinner, would have me over to their home, would
answer questions, would support me in politics because they thought, well,
this guy could do a good job, and he's trying hard,
(21:34):
and you know that you never forget things like that,
and when you're passionate about a city and you've studied
the decline of others.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Detroit, for instance, Detroit was a great city, a truly
great city, and it fell apart.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
Chicago, Chicago was one of the great cities in history
fell apart, happening here and for many of the same reasons,
racial voting, corruption, inside dealing.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Anyway, Amy Davis at.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
KPRCTV has done a wonderful series of investigative reports and
Mario Dz. This is not a shot at anybody else,
That's not my intention, because.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
There are good There are good reporters.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
In the city of Houston, and Fox twenty six has
done an amazing job, I mean amazing job on the
crime beat.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
But I have to give credit to KPRCTV.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
They have done I think they're doing the best, the
best non crime related because I think Fox twenty six
has won that the best non crime related investigative reports
over the last few years between Amy Davis and Mario Dz.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
But just listen to this.
Speaker 13 (22:47):
If we don't make the city safe from that workable
fire hydrants, nothing else matters.
Speaker 14 (22:52):
The use in Fire department tells two investigates three hundred
and twenty fire hydrants are currently out of service.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
That means hydrants in.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Front of holmes and business.
Speaker 14 (23:00):
This is inoperable in the event of an emergency, exactly
what Houston firefighters endured in Northwest Houston Thursday as firefighters
discovered two hydrants.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
We're not working.
Speaker 13 (23:10):
Fire hydrants should be and is our has.
Speaker 14 (23:14):
Priority, But Houston Mayor John Whitmyer says previous administrations haven't
made fire hydrants a priority for years. HFD says there
are more than fifty nine thousand of them around the city.
For years, Houston has had a well documented infrastructure problem,
combined now with the fact that the city is in
the midst of a budget crisis. This said, Whitmier says,
(23:36):
there is no excuse for what happened at the scene
of Thursday's warehouse fire.
Speaker 13 (23:41):
Honestly, I will leave here, go back to city Hall
and hope public Works and other city employees accountable.
Speaker 14 (23:50):
The mayor told two investigates during a call today that
public Works in HFD now have plans for complete review
of city hydrants, without going into specifics, so we.
Speaker 13 (24:00):
Can't continue to jeopardize our safety because we don't have
the right resources.
Speaker 14 (24:05):
Another thing to consider, jeopardizing the safety of Houston fire
personnel and the public may open the city up for
potential litigation.
Speaker 15 (24:13):
I'm sure the city Attorney's office is nervous about hearing
that number. That three hundred and twenty fire hydrants throughout
the city are are not functioning properly.
Speaker 14 (24:23):
Bottom line for Houston based attorney Joe Venus.
Speaker 15 (24:26):
Whoever they need to light a fire under, they need
to do it city legal right, and the Mayor's office
and the fire department, everybody needs to This needs to
be a conservative.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
City of Houston has been sued and settled over not
funding drainage. The plaintiff, a legendary engineer in this town,
will be our guests.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I'm going to sell Michael Berry show.
Speaker 5 (24:50):
Lat Merrians don't know everything, they just know where to
find everything. When I decided I was going to run
for city counts well, I went and spoke to every
living city councilman who had previously served. Gracie Sins, Jim Westmoreland,
you name it, every controller I could find, George Grinnius,
(25:12):
you name it. I had multiple meetings very productive, very
fruitful with Bob Lanier, and he loved the fact that
I would look at the spreadsheets with him, and that
I had studied other cities. And he had hired Bob Moses,
who was famous for the parkways through Dallas. Sorry he
had hired Robert Carrow, who wrote the biography of Bob Moses,
(25:34):
and flew him down and he stayed at his home
for quite some time to explain to him what Moses
had done. Bob Lanir was serious about the job of
being mayor and improving the city. So when I decided
I was going to run, I met with every one
of them. I met with the finance people, but I
needed to understand the engineering of a city, which is
(25:55):
a big deal. And so there were several names given
out to me, and the one that popped up the
most was an absolute legend named Bob Jones, and we
developed in the course of his tutelage of me. We
developed a friendship that lasts to this day and he
has just there is an update in a lawsuit. Bob
(26:15):
Jones is one of these guys that cares about things
that you and I don't, thank God for it. He
cares passionately about whether when it rains, the water drains
off or rises. And the truth is, it's not just
how much rainfalls that determines such things and can damage
your home and ruin your investments. It's the city's infrastructure.
(26:37):
And there is a development in a case that he
has been pursuing. Bob Jones as our guest, welcome, sir, Well,
thank you, Michael.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
That's pretty nice tribute. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Do you doubt for a moment my sincerity?
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Bob? I've never doubted your sincerity?
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Well have I not said the same thing to you
off air?
Speaker 5 (26:54):
There is an update in the Houston Chronicle, maryor John
whitmyern plaintiffs in Houston's drainage lawsuit have reached a deal
on how the city will fund future street and drainage projects.
Tell me why you brought that suit, explained to folks
who are not I don't know how many years you've
been an engineer forty years, who are not engineers, why
this matters and what the city was doing wrong.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Let's start with that. I've been in Houston, practiced engineering
for fifty four years. The suit comes out of an
activity that got a change to the city charter started
in about twenty ten. Case was thrown out. There was
a new election in twenty eighteen. The previous administration was
(27:37):
diverting money that was supposed to go into a dedicated
drains and street renewal fund to other purposes. As soon
as we discovered that, Alan Watson I filed suit against
the city. We won in district court. We lost in
the Court of Appeals. We won in spring court, went
back to the district court. We lost. The district court
went back to the Court of Appeals. Court of Appeals
(27:59):
agreed with the original ruling from the Supreme Court. We
won the case. City tried to petition for rehearing. The
Supreme Court denied, so we won the case. The case
was an ultra virus claim, meaning that the city mayor
and council violated the charter. They did not follow the law,
(28:21):
and the court said, you have to follow the law,
you have to put the proper amount of money into
the account.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
And I won't ask you to speculate on where the
money went. But that meant that they were using the
money for other things that clearly were not their core responsibility.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
Right, that's correct, or the core obligation.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
So give us a two minute.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
You've done this for me, but give us a two
to three minute explanation on how drainage actually works, the
watershed and all of that.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
That's a trick question. Well, the watercourse drains from somebody's
house out of the street, whether it's an open ditch
or whether it's a closed conduit storm shore, which makes
its way ultimately to some lateral channel and then into
the Buffalo boos and the white oak bios sims boughs
(29:20):
in the city of Houston. So drainage is affected by
how much water accumulates in the boos and backs up,
or how much water is trying to get forced through
the storm shore of the drainage system. That it's like
if you turn your hose on in your yard, a
certain amount of water comes out. You can put a
(29:42):
lot of pressure on it, but you can't get much
more water out of the hose. And if you put
four more links the hose on it, less water comes
out because of the friction losses inside the pipe. So
the draining system is an accumulation of facts that start
with the local drains and they build up as we
(30:02):
get to the outfall in Houston. You cannot put a
big enough storm store line in to drain all the water.
So when it rains in Houston, some water ponds in
the street, and when the water ponds in the street,
it's given the system time to work. The reality is
rainfall in Houston is like snowfall in other parts of
(30:24):
the country. The only difference is when it rains in Houston,
you can park your car and you can wait a
couple hours, the water runs off and you can drive again.
You don't have to wait for a snowplow, you don't
have to wait for some other change to the infrastructure.
So it's a unique system. We're very, very flat, so
water accumulates and builds up. But in most places, most instances,
(30:51):
water drains off fairly rapidly through the system and we're protected.
And we have places all through the city where there's
flaw in the storm sewer, in the altohol channels and
in the biosystem that cause more flooding events than what
I would say, or street flooding events.
Speaker 5 (31:12):
And so what are the I've got a minute before
we go to breakon, hopefully you can stay with us
a little longer. What are they failing to update. What
are those drainage projects that need to.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
Be done well. The city has suffered simply from lack
of repairs and lack of upgrading the almost entire street
and drainage system. Now we have a lot of places
in the city where the storm serves are fine and
we just need to fix the streets. And we have
(31:46):
some places where the streets are fine, but we don't
have good draine and drainage outfall because we have underfunded that.
In this renew Houston program we started in twenty ten
was to put the city on an even keel, to
have funds available to thick streets and drange.
Speaker 5 (32:09):
On fund has been shortened a hold just a moment,
and there was an ad during that time they said
politicians cannot divert one cent. That's what a nice porker
and Stephen Costello told us, Well, they sure as hell did.
Bob Jones, legendary engineer drainage and why the water rises
coming up
It's that time time time lucking load to Michael Very show.
It's on the air.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Guys looking into mic week gotta feed ay bead. I
don't plan to shave, and it's good the thing, but
I just gotta.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
See I'm doing all right?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Will I'm make me support. It's beating verdict.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
That's the true. It's either drink and drug and just snool.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
I'm just doing alright.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
It's a great tad be I know, suns still shining
in a close night eyes. It's hard times in the neighborhood.
But whyk in every day?
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Well?
Speaker 5 (01:14):
I said, for folks in Houston, we had a turd
gully washer last night. I don't know how far it went,
but a buddy of mine was between Chapel Hill and
Brenham and they didn't get a drop, not a drop.
So he's on the southeast side of Brenham, on the
obviously the Chapel Hill side, and it didn't make it
(01:35):
that far.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
I said.
Speaker 5 (01:36):
They could see the storm clouds, but not one drop.
Ja'll get a lot of rain. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
So George, who is ferocious?
Speaker 5 (01:48):
If somebody's coming in the house, if there is a storm,
she's reduced to a puddle. So if you want to
rob our house, do it on the night of a storm,
because she's not going to bother you. And and so
my wife led her into the bedroom because otherwise she'll
pee on a storm night.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
And she decided at two o'clock the dog, the dog,
my wife's not going to pee. She might be, I
don't know.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
She decided, did George, that she was coming into the
bed and that she needed to be right beside me.
So she jumps up on the bed, laying on top
of me, her head on my head, and my wife said,
I knew you were mad, and I wanted to take
a picture so bad, but I didn't have a way
to do it. She said it was the cutest thing.
Ever it was not cute, so I'm grumpy. I didn't
(02:39):
sleep well. Now you've been warned. That is ostensibly the reason.
Former HISD Chief Operating Officer Brian Busby, this is the
number two at the largest school district in the state
of Texas, along with a landscaping contractor.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Because this is how they do it. They do it
at the city, they do it at the county.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
You hire people to perform services for the governmental entity.
They inflate the bill and kick it, kick some.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Of it back to you.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
Along with landscaping contractor Anthony Hutchison, found guilty by a
federal jury for defrauding the district through a bribery and
over building scheme stole millions for nearly eight years. Was
only stopped because the FBI raided his home and HISD offices.
(03:32):
Now we had a protest over the weekend city Hall.
They don't like Trump. Trump is bad Trump, no good Trump, nobody, No,
we don't like Trump.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
We fed up. So they say they fed up. They
look fed up. They're fat as hogs. Yeah, you really
fed up. But they're really fed up with Trump.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
But there will be no marches, no protests, not a
word from the anti Mike Miles crowd. Remember the state
had to take over the school district. Where are all
those people who are so fed up with Donald Trump?
Donald Trump didn't steal in your money. Donald Trump's not
running your school into the ground. Not one protest, not
(04:12):
one of them. Where are those people? The story from
ABC thirteen.
Speaker 6 (04:18):
I disappointed Brian Busby leaving federal court this afternoon. One
a hisd's success story, working his way from janitor up
to chief operating officer. After about six hours deliberation, the
jury has decided he's guilty on all thirty three counts
relating to a bribery scheme. District landscaping contractor Anthony Hutchison
(04:39):
was found guilty on all charges.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Too well. I'm very disappointed and frankly, I'm shocked. The
verdict was too quick. Thirty three counts, two defendants. It's
too quick.
Speaker 6 (04:52):
Federal prosecutors accused Busby of steering landscaping contracts to Hutchison,
who prosecutors say was then over billing the disc for
landscaping services, then in turn giving Busby kickbacks. Five other
people have already accepted play agreements in this case, admitting
to accepting bribes, including former HISD board president Rondas Skillern
(05:13):
Jones and members of the district's maintenance and facilities.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Stat Hold on, Hold on, hold on. They didn't bother
to tell you.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
The district president, so the elected official who's head of
the board, who also pled guilty. One of the five
who pled guilty in this scheme. She worked for Rodney
Ellis during the day at his county office.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
She was arrested.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
She had just left being the board president of HISD
and had gone to the Houston Community College. So her
day job is working for Rodney Ellis at the county
in the County Commissioner's office.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
He runs the county. I mean, he's really the county judge.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
Then he gets her, she gets elected to be president
of the school board, and then she moves over to
the Houston Community College. It's almost like they're looking for
these big pots of public money where they can pay
people and get kickbacks.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
It's almost as if there's a culture of this.
Speaker 5 (06:14):
They don't bother to tell you that one of the
five people who pled guilty here was the president of
the school board. The person the story is about is
the chief operating officer, so paid staff, an executive officer
within HISD. The president of the school board was taking
kickbacks as part of this whole scheme.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Gosh it, well, they think they're at Harris County.
Speaker 6 (06:37):
I disappointed Brian Busby leaving federal court this afternoon, and
members of the district's maintenance and facility staff.
Speaker 7 (06:46):
There's really not you think we could say we feel
very strongly to our client Watson guilty and still feel
that way. But I also always never criticized a jury.
I know they did what they thought was right. We
live and die with a jury system, and we have
to have to deal with that with he dec go
our way.
Speaker 6 (07:02):
FBI Houston's Special Agent in Charge, Doug Williams released his statement, saying,
in part, at the end of the day, we want
to make sure corrupt individuals like Busby and Hutchison are
brought to justice. Today's guilty verdict is a step towards
that justice. Adjudgentatively set their sentencing date for July twenty eighth.
Speaker 5 (07:23):
That's the culture. That's why HISD was broken. That's why
Harris County is broken. That's why the city of Houston
is broken. That's why the Houston Community College is broken.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
This this is the reason. It's not accidental.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
It's not any reason other than self dealing corruptocrats and what.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Are we doing.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
We'd probably name a building for Brian Busby, and that
how this works. We've got Terminal E named for Sheila
Jackson Lee, now Harris County Administration building named for Sheila
Jackson Lee. And there's a new story on the fire
Hydrants don't work. They showed up fire department showed up
at a fire.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Hydros don't work. They probably named them for Sevester Fartman.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Hello everybody, this is Mickey Gilly and you're listening to
this Casar radio.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Michael Berry.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
I got an email over the weekend that said, hey,
wasn't it during Holy Week that Shirley Cue.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Lickor came home?
Speaker 5 (08:29):
So we dug into the archives early this morning and
dusted it off. And in fact, it was thirteen years
ago this week Shirley Q Lickor came home to Orange.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Shirley Cue.
Speaker 5 (08:40):
I got a call from a police officer buddy of
mine in Orange tells me, there are you just moved
back to Orange on Wednesday and there are already problems
at the church.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
What is going?
Speaker 8 (08:48):
You never know?
Speaker 9 (08:49):
Fine, just so I come over there and not somebody
out Michael Beery, Oh my god, are you still a
turn at Lowell?
Speaker 10 (08:56):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Sort of yes, Well you need some.
Speaker 9 (08:59):
You don't or something?
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Man?
Speaker 9 (09:00):
See do it? Then search ones out here in Orange
texts for anybody's last name Littor l i q u
old Arthur. They got the house around. I don't know
whether come out there or not. Everything had went wrong.
Michael Bert, how you doing?
Speaker 1 (09:14):
What's happened, Shirley Quine.
Speaker 9 (09:16):
I have just got back down here in Orange Textas,
and just in time for Holy Week. I'm trying to
do the right thing. Everything had went wrong on me,
and my nerves is in a shambler turret. Last night
I went down at Holy Thursday, down here my holy
all the second Baths sign church that had been in
five years. I expected a nice welcome from these women,
(09:37):
and they turned their nose up because they all had
on these extremely priced hats. They got down here at
Pleroro and I made the party Easter do not mean
about hats, And all I got was dirty look from
all these women. And then the pastor called in sick.
He had got too much liquor up in him and
we had to import a past to bless his heart
from nose Orange Baptist churches. The old white man and
(10:00):
he come down there and he was trying to do
the washing of the features, and they had this big
old candleof head. Lady come down there. She must have
weighed five hundred pounds, and she popped her damn shoes off,
and that poor man passed out. She could have at
least at least sprayed her feet posts she came down there.
That was ignorant. And then so we got all that
(10:20):
behind us where we got it over. I come out
this morning and he cheering out here. You know, I
got nineteen of them right down here, trying to reenact
good Friday. I said, y'all getting turn him to loose
my ignorant son, Shathim. They had him being the lord.
They had may Hawk Jent all over him, and blue
Bonnis all the crown of ignorance on his head trying
to stay for him up to this telephone post. I
(10:41):
told him, y'all a blasphemy up in here. And they
had a rooster running around crowing up in here, and
Shamika was supposed to be ponscious pilot. It was just
a tragedy. I'm so glad that he didn't send nobody
from YouTube down here, because I see so embarrassed. If
they show that on the internet, that's just ignorance, just
one hundred percent ignorance, my co bear.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
So tell me.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
How Orange has changed since since you've been away. And
I know I've been getting calls from people in Orange saying,
is it true that Shirley cu Lickor has come home?
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And how has it changed.
Speaker 9 (11:10):
Well, I say, it took me for ever to get
down here, honey. We first I called the Continental Trailways
and uh, they don't even exist no more. So they
called a moving van and they told us to get
up in the moving van. We laid it down by
to Memphis, and I had to rent a mule and
drag that thing halfway to bat Ruge and the Sinally
we pulled up the Baton Rudge down there and spent
(11:32):
the night at the collar Green motor end. Now Baton
ruigeh is run. Have you been down there?
Speaker 4 (11:36):
Line?
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Well, you know I'm on in bound Rouge now on WJBO.
Speaker 9 (11:40):
Oh, that's right, we had you on. Now we was
in a turk clos cadillact riding around downtown.
Speaker 11 (11:44):
Oh.
Speaker 9 (11:44):
By the way, this said the show is sponsored by
Uncle Henry's Fox to Lady Lounge.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
Wait a minute, you can't just be throwing in endorsements
in the middle of my show.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
You're getting paid for I had to.
Speaker 9 (11:54):
He gave me free drinks. I told him I mentioned
him on the right below the bridge on the Mississippi River.
Say it, no matter how you look at what shade
of brown, come on down. You could always get down
at Huncle Henry's Postulady Lounge.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Did you down?
Speaker 9 (12:09):
I got down so bad I got tore up from
the flow up. Michael Bear of Baton Rudige's rent. You
think all the KA training people tow up Houston, you
should see Baton Rouge. That is like, like, what's my
gear up in there? I was scared and I was
driving in my Sunday David Julia Edition Cadillac with one
headlight working on there and thinking I was all seditting
and people was just looking at me and fightening me.
(12:30):
I said, oh lord, let's get on the errane so
we'll finally pulled up in here just in time the
wholy weekend. I'm so scared I'm gonna get arrested behind
something I had forgot I had did. That's why I
want you to check on that for me.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
Okay, so you think there are warrants out for your
rest from when you left before?
Speaker 9 (12:47):
I don't know, Michael Ben. My memory is so bad.
It seemed like something happened at Walmart last time I
had did a slip down in there. They had put
security cameras. They saw me ease on down the floe
in all that mess in the earth, and they lady
said she's gonna call it just as to the piece,
and I blowed the whistler had got in the car
took off. I ain't never been that sis, but I've
been working. Might have put me on the first forty
(13:08):
eads or something down there. So I need all this
checked out. I want my constitutional materiity rights memized. When
the white people come down here and came out.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
The last time I talked to you, Shirley Q, you
were having trouble. You had been pulled over or something
with eminent you were what was going on with that
you got I can't remember what happened, but you had
just been pulled over.
Speaker 9 (13:30):
Yes, I got the POTPO had pulled me down. I
had wrote a perm about it. I think I had
submitted to you.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Oh, not guilty, not giled.
Speaker 9 (13:39):
I don't remember how it went, but it was true
though you still had that somewhere.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Oh I do. Oh, I'm gonna play that. That was good.
Speaker 9 (13:45):
Well, that's my way of getting back into the system
of that. And I'm gonna register the boat. Can I
register the boat? Michael Berry?
Speaker 5 (13:51):
I don't think you qualified, Shirley. Let's not discuss why I.
Speaker 9 (13:54):
Don't have a birth certificate. That's for one thing, and
so I may or may not be caughtied. I want
to run for office down here. I want to be
Secretary of Homeland Medication for Texas and get pain pills
out to all these women who feet look like egg
clans because they got women walking around here at Walmart
and their feet just be so swoll up and they
(14:14):
looked stove up. And I feel like these ladies need
free medications, and so I'm it's about that too. I
want to help filling out them damn farms, because Lord knows,
that's all written in them notary public words. I can't understand.
Speaker 5 (14:26):
So did the people of Orange recognize you when you
pull it back into town?
Speaker 9 (14:30):
No, in the middle of the night, Honey, I had
to sneak these chilren in. Lord, we sit over here
at my aunt tricks the house right now. She didn't
know what had happened. We had to stick hunder her
room and lock it up. But we bring it or
something to drink of an hour, bring some kool aid
and stuff. But uh, I'm just looking around for me
a house. I need to buy my house and urge
Michael Bell. Where do I get my loan star card?
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Uh, I would not. I assumed you would have had
a hook up.
Speaker 9 (14:55):
That's my priority. Now I'm back in Texas. I need
to get that and uh, I need to to save
the boat, and I need to run for office, and
I need to find a guy of cashes. It's been
four years since I've had a pop quiz and I
don't know what's going on down there. I had in
thirty years. And I'm scared of than people. Anyway, the
last time they had to put me up in vetting
(15:16):
their stirrups, and that was ignorant. That was embarrassing. I
felt like I was not treated respectfully. So I'm gonna
need help everybody, and earned y'all I'm back in town.
Come over and see me. Y'all know why he is
just if I was the smell of pickle juice because
I got my feet soaked up here in a bucket
of ice and pickled juice food. It see is so
good my con beer.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Sureley q Licker.
Speaker 5 (15:38):
We are delighted to have you back in the great
state of Texas.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
And home where you belong in Orange.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
I know you got washed out with was it Katrina
or Ike that ran you out.
Speaker 9 (15:47):
Katrina told me out of Mississippi, and then Rita told
me out of Texas. And I've been sitting up there
stove up in Kentucky for five years, waiting on my
free fried chicken which had never came food. So I
am home. I am home.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
They don't have aims anymore, do they?
Speaker 9 (16:04):
They don't they be closer. They don't have a Cancis
in here. Oh no, I have really went down here.
I'm gonna have to run for city council or something.
If I surely Lee Jackson could do it, I could
do it.
Speaker 10 (16:15):
See Michael Berry's show, Francis has hassed.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Get to that in just a moment. But Shirley c.
Speaker 5 (16:31):
Lickor referred to the poem she wrote, uh to protest
the charges against her, And we went into the archive
and found that one too. It happens to be one
of our favorites. It's called not guilty.
Speaker 8 (16:45):
Michael Berry, how you doing? You know you've got a
lot of people that listening to your program up at
the prison, the State Penitential in Beaumne and Huntsville and
Gates for us even right here has County. They listened
at your high jinks and your shenanigans and things, and
I feel like you don't take enough of time to
listen to the defendant side of the stirred. And I
(17:06):
would like to read a poem for you which I
have wrote it. It's called not Guilty. I helped my
head high as I drove in my Pontiac till the
pop pole pulled up and about give me a heart attack.
Come about, lay on the ground, don't move, And all
that claim I had swerved a buick and off had
flew my wig hat, I said. If this car had
been drove by Episcopagion or some crack of white trash
(17:29):
boy with eminem play, y'all would have smiled.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
And waved and drove right on past.
Speaker 8 (17:34):
No, y'all got nothing better to do than to harass
my black making me walk a straight line with my
hands out the sides like a taxi in aircraft, while
y'all leer at my thighs.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Who know they alphabet backwards?
Speaker 11 (17:47):
I show his hair.
Speaker 8 (17:48):
Don't y'all feel somebody test was designed by a punk?
How you gonna claim I was intoxicated if you was
in the car, y'all don't know nothing of who I am.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
You was not at the bar. Make me breathing the things?
Oh please, who would defend me?
Speaker 8 (18:03):
She La Jackson Lee a Congress ladd At sent them McKinley, Yo, honor,
I begged this court from mercy. I've been sitting in
jail since midnight on Thursday. Y'all flow is nasty. Y'all's
wallace is fifty. Please, your honor, I am some not guilty, yes, Floyd.
And now back to the Michael Beair program of ignorance.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
Well, just keep naming things for Sevester Turner. I guess
you can name the fire hydrants for him. He did
such a great job to fire hydrants fail. As Houston
Fire Department fought a three alarm fire in Northwest Houston.
KPRC investigation, three hundred and twenty fire hydrants in the city.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Are out of order.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
John Whitmer says this is the result of the past
administration neglecting things like this. Tell you what he did
neglect Marvion Igo Mago clip number two go.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Dangerous situation sparked in Northwest Houston.
Speaker 11 (18:56):
I was down there standing some furniture to blaze. Cut
my eyes.
Speaker 12 (19:01):
What started as an eye catching blaze at this drywall
warehouse quickly turned into a large and roaring three alarm fire.
Speaker 11 (19:08):
That was worried about it blowing up.
Speaker 12 (19:10):
Fire officials say as crews arrived and started battling the fire,
they quickly learned that two nearby fire hydrants weren't working.
Speaker 11 (19:17):
Very concerning because that is our lifeline. That water is
what establishes, you know, obviously than the what we.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Need to put out the fire.
Speaker 11 (19:24):
More importantly, we need that to protect our firefighters.
Speaker 12 (19:27):
Fire officials say they quickly moved to plan B, calling
in over one hundred firefighters and using more than four
thousand feet of fire hose to access.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Water the length of about eight dozen football fields.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Well, it's going to take a lot of manpower and apparatus.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
We're basically moving that water from the fire hydrant so
right here, and that takes a lot of hose.
Speaker 9 (19:47):
A lot of power.
Speaker 12 (19:48):
Thankfully, Planned be Worked and Cruise were able to contain
the fire to the original warehouse, and there were no
reports of any injuries, but Mayor Whitmeyer says there is
still work to be done.
Speaker 13 (19:58):
Honestly, I will leave here, go back to City Hall
and whole public Works and other city employees.
Speaker 12 (20:06):
Accountable now speaking about what will public Works do next.
I actually reached out to them and ask them several
questions about the non working fire hydrants.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
They tell me that right now the city's water department
is investigating.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Kprctvs.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
Mario Diaz filed an investigative report talking about three hundred
and twenty fire hydrants out of order in the city.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
You know, I gave six years of my life. It
ain't serving in war.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
I'm not saying it is, But I spent years before
that studying the city of Houston. Its functions, it's personnel,
it's finances, it's operations, it's history, and I love the
city of Houston. That might seem corny, but when I
came to the City of Houston in nineteen eighty nine,
(21:03):
it was very good to me, and city leaders past
and present at that time were very welcoming to me.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
There were titans of.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
Industry, luminary sports stars who all I had to do
I was nobody, nobody knew me. Would go to breakfast, lunch,
or dinner, would have me over to their home, would
answer questions, would support me in politics because they thought, well,
this guy could do a good job, and he's trying hard,
(21:34):
and you know that you never forget things like that,
and when you're passionate about a city and you've studied
the decline of others.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Detroit, for instance, Detroit was a great city, a truly
great city, and it fell apart.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
Chicago, Chicago was one of the great cities in history
fell apart, happening here and for many of the same reasons,
racial voting, corruption, inside dealing.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Anyway, Amy Davis at.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
KPRCTV has done a wonderful series of investigative reports and
Mario Dz. This is not a shot at anybody else,
That's not my intention, because.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
There are good There are good reporters.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
In the city of Houston, and Fox twenty six has
done an amazing job, I mean amazing job on the
crime beat.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
But I have to give credit to KPRCTV.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
They have done I think they're doing the best, the
best non crime related because I think Fox twenty six
has won that the best non crime related investigative reports
over the last few years between Amy Davis and Mario Dz.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
But just listen to this.
Speaker 13 (22:47):
If we don't make the city safe from that workable
fire hydrants, nothing else matters.
Speaker 14 (22:52):
The use in Fire department tells two investigates three hundred
and twenty fire hydrants are currently out of service.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
That means hydrants in.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Front of holmes and business.
Speaker 14 (23:00):
This is inoperable in the event of an emergency, exactly
what Houston firefighters endured in Northwest Houston Thursday as firefighters
discovered two hydrants.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
We're not working.
Speaker 13 (23:10):
Fire hydrants should be and is our has.
Speaker 14 (23:14):
Priority, But Houston Mayor John Whitmyer says previous administrations haven't
made fire hydrants a priority for years. HFD says there
are more than fifty nine thousand of them around the city.
For years, Houston has had a well documented infrastructure problem,
combined now with the fact that the city is in
the midst of a budget crisis. This said, Whitmier says,
(23:36):
there is no excuse for what happened at the scene
of Thursday's warehouse fire.
Speaker 13 (23:41):
Honestly, I will leave here, go back to city Hall
and hope public Works and other city employees accountable.
Speaker 14 (23:50):
The mayor told two investigates during a call today that
public Works in HFD now have plans for complete review
of city hydrants, without going into specifics, so we.
Speaker 13 (24:00):
Can't continue to jeopardize our safety because we don't have
the right resources.
Speaker 14 (24:05):
Another thing to consider, jeopardizing the safety of Houston fire
personnel and the public may open the city up for
potential litigation.
Speaker 15 (24:13):
I'm sure the city Attorney's office is nervous about hearing
that number. That three hundred and twenty fire hydrants throughout
the city are are not functioning properly.
Speaker 14 (24:23):
Bottom line for Houston based attorney Joe Venus.
Speaker 15 (24:26):
Whoever they need to light a fire under, they need
to do it city legal right, and the Mayor's office
and the fire department, everybody needs to This needs to
be a conservative.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
City of Houston has been sued and settled over not
funding drainage. The plaintiff, a legendary engineer in this town,
will be our guests.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I'm going to sell Michael Berry show.
Speaker 5 (24:50):
Lat Merrians don't know everything, they just know where to
find everything. When I decided I was going to run
for city counts well, I went and spoke to every
living city councilman who had previously served. Gracie Sins, Jim Westmoreland,
you name it, every controller I could find, George Grinnius,
(25:12):
you name it. I had multiple meetings very productive, very
fruitful with Bob Lanier, and he loved the fact that
I would look at the spreadsheets with him, and that
I had studied other cities. And he had hired Bob Moses,
who was famous for the parkways through Dallas. Sorry he
had hired Robert Carrow, who wrote the biography of Bob Moses,
(25:34):
and flew him down and he stayed at his home
for quite some time to explain to him what Moses
had done. Bob Lanir was serious about the job of
being mayor and improving the city. So when I decided
I was going to run, I met with every one
of them. I met with the finance people, but I
needed to understand the engineering of a city, which is
(25:55):
a big deal. And so there were several names given
out to me, and the one that popped up the
most was an absolute legend named Bob Jones, and we
developed in the course of his tutelage of me. We
developed a friendship that lasts to this day and he
has just there is an update in a lawsuit. Bob
(26:15):
Jones is one of these guys that cares about things
that you and I don't, thank God for it. He
cares passionately about whether when it rains, the water drains
off or rises. And the truth is, it's not just
how much rainfalls that determines such things and can damage
your home and ruin your investments. It's the city's infrastructure.
(26:37):
And there is a development in a case that he
has been pursuing. Bob Jones as our guest, welcome, sir, Well,
thank you, Michael.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
That's pretty nice tribute. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
Do you doubt for a moment my sincerity?
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Bob? I've never doubted your sincerity?
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Well have I not said the same thing to you
off air?
Speaker 5 (26:54):
There is an update in the Houston Chronicle, maryor John
whitmyern plaintiffs in Houston's drainage lawsuit have reached a deal
on how the city will fund future street and drainage projects.
Tell me why you brought that suit, explained to folks
who are not I don't know how many years you've
been an engineer forty years, who are not engineers, why
this matters and what the city was doing wrong.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Let's start with that. I've been in Houston, practiced engineering
for fifty four years. The suit comes out of an
activity that got a change to the city charter started
in about twenty ten. Case was thrown out. There was
a new election in twenty eighteen. The previous administration was
(27:37):
diverting money that was supposed to go into a dedicated
drains and street renewal fund to other purposes. As soon
as we discovered that, Alan Watson I filed suit against
the city. We won in district court. We lost in
the Court of Appeals. We won in spring court, went
back to the district court. We lost. The district court
went back to the Court of Appeals. Court of Appeals
(27:59):
agreed with the original ruling from the Supreme Court. We
won the case. City tried to petition for rehearing. The
Supreme Court denied, so we won the case. The case
was an ultra virus claim, meaning that the city mayor
and council violated the charter. They did not follow the law,
(28:21):
and the court said, you have to follow the law,
you have to put the proper amount of money into
the account.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
And I won't ask you to speculate on where the
money went. But that meant that they were using the
money for other things that clearly were not their core responsibility.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
Right, that's correct, or the core obligation.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
So give us a two minute.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
You've done this for me, but give us a two
to three minute explanation on how drainage actually works, the
watershed and all of that.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
That's a trick question. Well, the watercourse drains from somebody's
house out of the street, whether it's an open ditch
or whether it's a closed conduit storm shore, which makes
its way ultimately to some lateral channel and then into
the Buffalo boos and the white oak bios sims boughs
(29:20):
in the city of Houston. So drainage is affected by
how much water accumulates in the boos and backs up,
or how much water is trying to get forced through
the storm shore of the drainage system. That it's like
if you turn your hose on in your yard, a
certain amount of water comes out. You can put a
(29:42):
lot of pressure on it, but you can't get much
more water out of the hose. And if you put
four more links the hose on it, less water comes
out because of the friction losses inside the pipe. So
the draining system is an accumulation of facts that start
with the local drains and they build up as we
(30:02):
get to the outfall in Houston. You cannot put a
big enough storm store line in to drain all the water.
So when it rains in Houston, some water ponds in
the street, and when the water ponds in the street,
it's given the system time to work. The reality is
rainfall in Houston is like snowfall in other parts of
(30:24):
the country. The only difference is when it rains in Houston,
you can park your car and you can wait a
couple hours, the water runs off and you can drive again.
You don't have to wait for a snowplow, you don't
have to wait for some other change to the infrastructure.
So it's a unique system. We're very, very flat, so
water accumulates and builds up. But in most places, most instances,
(30:51):
water drains off fairly rapidly through the system and we're protected.
And we have places all through the city where there's
flaw in the storm sewer, in the altohol channels and
in the biosystem that cause more flooding events than what
I would say, or street flooding events.
Speaker 5 (31:12):
And so what are the I've got a minute before
we go to breakon, hopefully you can stay with us
a little longer. What are they failing to update. What
are those drainage projects that need to.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
Be done well. The city has suffered simply from lack
of repairs and lack of upgrading the almost entire street
and drainage system. Now we have a lot of places
in the city where the storm serves are fine and
we just need to fix the streets. And we have
(31:46):
some places where the streets are fine, but we don't
have good draine and drainage outfall because we have underfunded that.
In this renew Houston program we started in twenty ten
was to put the city on an even keel, to
have funds available to thick streets and drange.
Speaker 5 (32:09):
On fund has been shortened a hold just a moment,
and there was an ad during that time they said
politicians cannot divert one cent. That's what a nice porker
and Stephen Costello told us, Well, they sure as hell did.
Bob Jones, legendary engineer drainage and why the water rises
coming up
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