I had previously written an article regarding Councilwoman Kamin seeking to be appointed County Attorney.
Houston City Council Member Abbie Kamin is garnering support to potentially be chosen by Harris County leadership as the new interim county attorney as they contend with a potential opening.
Kamin has gathered a list of nearly 60 elected officials, labor organizations, faith leaders and community leaders who are supporting her “appointment … as Interim County Attorney,” according to a document obtained by the Houston Chronicle.
It seems there is a problem in her council district that has been ongoing, and she is only now getting involved. That does not indicate that she is taking care of her constituents. She has staff who should be aware of the problems, and it would surprise me if some members of that community had not reached out to Kamin’s office.
The Problem
HOUSTON — Residents in Houston’s Rice Military neighborhood said they are fed up after months of commercial box trucks lining their street, which they said blocks parking, impedes trash pickup and creates a serious safety hazard.
“It’s frustrating. It’s very, very frustrating, because it is like a circus out here,” resident Juan Huezo said.
… Other neighbors said they are fed up, too, especially when it comes to the trucks blocking their garbage bins for trash collection and much-needed parking space.
“I park out there almost every day because we have a small garage, my wife parks in the garage, so I’m parking out there. Sometimes, I don’t have a spot to park in,” resident Drew Roberts said. “It just seems like they’re treating it as their own little staging ground for their company, so yeah, pretty frustrating.”
According to ParkHouston, large commercial vehicles may not park on any residential street except during active loading or unloading. Neighbors estimate they have made roughly 30 complaints to 311, but the trucks continue to return.
“We’ve called 311 multiple times, done filings. We’ve seen them issue tickets quite a bit, but it just continues,” Roberts said.
That is why residents are now turning to KHOU 11 for help in searching for a solution.
“We decided to reach out to KHOU to see if they can help us out with this situation, maybe put some pressure on the city to take action,” Huezo said.
Houston City Councilmember Abbie Kamin, who represents the area, responded to the concerns. She gave KHOU 11 the following statement:
“I am very concerned that residents in multiple parts of our district are having problems directly tied to parking from commercial and construction vehicles… My office is working with residents to escalate these matters to departments and the administration, but citations alone will not solve the issue.”
The Solution
Use overtime money to pay police not just to issue citations but to have vehicles towed. A police officer must be present to have a car towed. There are exceptions, like the owner of the vehicle can get it towed, there are a few others, but they are exceptions. But I have heard that Mayor Whitmire does not consider quality-of-life issues, like large vehicles parking on the street, to merit the attention of his police department.
Why isn’t Councilwoman Kamin working with the mayor and HPD to take care of those problems?
I’ll be honest: someone who wants things handed to her and can’t solve simple problems probably has no business being Harris County Attorney, let alone a councilwoman.
