Lina Hidalgo, eager to improve Harris County government (Houston, Dallas: subdivision, education)

[Mr. Krinkle]

Originally Posted by TheMoreYouKnow

You mean beside spending tons of cash to hire NY consultants to do the hiring and work that she was elected to do?

A good CEO (which Hidalgo basically is) doesn't do all the work. They also hire the right people to help keep the company running and profitable. So yeah, hiring a 3rd party to look at things differently could actually improve decades of old procedures and concepts.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by GreenBouy

The cost is really irrelevant, it’s only 115k, for now.

This is the quote which is disturbing to me as a Harris County resident ““I’m not going to sit here and come up with the best ideas by myself,” Hidalgo said. “And the folks that have been here 10, 20, 30 years aren’t going to either.”

She will learn the hard way that experience counts and his her best ally, having people on your side who know people for 10, 20, or 30 years is more valuable than some over priced consultants.

What that means is fresh ideas are needed, and she's not going to profess to have all the answers. I tend to have respect for that.

If this was $1.15M instead of $115K it might be another matter.

[astrohip]

Originally Posted by jfre81

What that means is fresh ideas are needed, and she's not going to profess to have all the answers. I tend to have respect for that.

If this was $1.15M instead of $115K it might be another matter.

Absolutely agree.

She's new to the job, and needs some fresh eyeballs on a huge bureaucracy. Sure the "old guard" had experience, but they also got us into many of the challenges we face, with no clear solution in hand.

And in reality, the cost is a pimple on the butt of the Harris County budget, which is over $1.5 Billion. Billion! It would be like a family that makes $75,000 a year spending $6.

[mingna]

It is not the cost per se that is the issue, rather it is the judgement in making the decision resulting in that (symbolic) cost:

1. Hiring 4 consultants from the same firm that worked on her campaign. Regardless of actual or imaginary insider influence, the perception for outsiders is not good. It shows bias. Really, there was no one in the Houston area, or Texas, or the surrounding region facing similar issues?

2. The consultants are from NY, with no/little working expertise in addressing specific regional issues here in Harris County such as flooding, as related to our geography, infrastructure, and economic and social development. They “share her vision” but their actual working experience has been to help Bill de Blasio as mayor of NYC.

Citing previous administrators budgetary excesses or poor judgement, along party lines, in order to excuse any possible similar current/future results should not be used as a valid excuse. Otherwise, it’s a race to the bottom. Let’s hold all of our elected officials accountable, regardless of party.

Lastly, CEO’s traditionally brought with them some broad work experience, which in theory should help them in executive level decision making. That experience is garnered with time and age. Yes, sometimes a fresh outsider approach may bring positive results. But it helps for the outsider to also have a good working knowledge of the specific issues. One does not bring in a sociologist to help with a biochemical problem; a physicist, biologist, or chemist would be a better choice.

There is a difference between book (theoretical) smarts and street (life experience) smarts. Ideally, it’s good to have both.

All that said, I wish her the best. For all our sakes.

(And if she succeeds, well, that changes the paradigm that one needs to climb the ranks to reach the top, doesn’t it?)

[bu2]

Originally Posted by ScrappyJoe

What is? The intelligence or the adaptability?

The lack of experience.

Dissing all of her experienced employees is her first big mistake.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by bu2

The lack of experience.

Dissing all of her experienced employees is her first big mistake.

How many of them were involved in crafting this half-baked Astrodome plan?

[westsidewolf1989]

I did not vote straight ticket D, but instead voted for Hidalgo as a conscious alternative to Ed Emmett. He and his buddy Sylvester were caught with their pants down around their ankles by Harvey (not to mention Ed's idiotic Astrodome folly that cost taxpayers money) and there needs to be a change in city government as a result of it (which is why I will not be voting for old Sly when he's up for re-election this fall).

[groovamos]

Originally Posted by Dopo

And then people wonder why we have idiots running the country

Of course you mean all those conservatives in charge of public education , the universities, the media, high culture, pop culture, low culture, the government bureaucracies, social media, high tech, entertainment, and pornography mills. Yes quite outrageous those conservative mucking it all up.

[Redlionjr]

Originally Posted by Houston parent

Empty rhetoric by an elected official with no qualifications and absolutely NO idea how to solve any of these issues. She's a deer-in-headlights who only got elected because of straight-ticket Beto voters.


BTW, the cities of Dallas and Austin are run by imbeciles that make the city of Houston look like a finely tuned Swiss watch by comparison.

Nah, Dallas and Austin does a lot of things right that the city of Houston has clearly ignored for decades. Which is one reason many don't treat the 4th largest city in America like the 4th largest city in America.

[Redlionjr]

Originally Posted by westsidewolf1989

I did not vote straight ticket D, but instead voted for Hidalgo as a conscious alternative to Ed Emmett. He and his buddy Sylvester were caught with their pants down around their ankles by Harvey (not to mention Ed's idiotic Astrodome folly that cost taxpayers money) and there needs to be a change in city government as a result of it (which is why I will not be voting for old Sly when he's up for re-election this fall).

Are you blaming Sylvester and Ed for Harvey? That's years of neglect of progressive infrastructure and allowing developers to do as they please and build subdivisions any and everywhere in the metro. Sylvester just inherited the issue.