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Wasted Tax Dollars . . .


midtown 4.2

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Man! what a waste of my tax dollars! I went to take out the trash last Saturday, only to find my City of Houston supplied trash bin missing. I didn't take it, and I KNOW it did not simply walk away . . . therefore it leads me to conclude that it was stolen! Not a problem . . . I pay way too much in taxes, I'm probably entitled to another "free" trash container. I went to call the solid waste department, told them my problem, and the lady said:

"hold on, I'll have to transfer you to the non-emergency HPD number. You need to get an incident number from them. Then call us back."

Me: "OK"

HPD, said that they need to send a patrol officer out to my house to take a statement.

Me: "How soon will the officer be here?" . . . I had stuff to do.

HPD: "I don't know, I'll just send out a dispatch, and the next available officer will come."

1 1/2 hours later, an officer pulls up, we joke around a bit, (after all, I feel stupid about being a "victim" of a stolen trash can). He then pulls out a pre-filled out piece of paper with the incident number on it. Now, all I have to do is call back to the Solid Waste Dept.

I don't know about you guys, but don't you think involving HPD into this whole "sordid" affair is kind of ridiculous, AND a big waste of manpower and tax dollars? You'd think I can just call Solid Waste directly, and skip the whole song and dance routine. What is so magical about this "incident" number anyway? Needless to say, that was really weird. Just had to get that off my chest. Thanks for listening.

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Good point. Other than a paper trail, it seems to be a waste of your's and the city's time. Also, it is probably cheaper just to give you another trash can. I made sure to take a picture of my trash can, showing the number imprinted on it. That way i'll have that information. Also, it keeps me and my other two neighbor from confusing out cans.

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  • 1 year later...
Man! what a waste of my tax dollars! I went to take out the trash last Saturday, only to find my City of Houston supplied trash bin missing. I didn't take it, and I KNOW it did not simply walk away . . . therefore it leads me to conclude that it was stolen! Not a problem . . . I pay way too much in taxes, I'm probably entitled to another "free" trash container. I went to call the solid waste department, told them my problem, and the lady said:

"hold on, I'll have to transfer you to the non-emergency HPD number. You need to get an incident number from them. Then call us back."

Me: "OK"

HPD, said that they need to send a patrol officer out to my house to take a statement.

Me: "How soon will the officer be here?" . . . I had stuff to do.

HPD: "I don't know, I'll just send out a dispatch, and the next available officer will come."

1 1/2 hours later, an officer pulls up, we joke around a bit, (after all, I feel stupid about being a "victim" of a stolen trash can). He then pulls out a pre-filled out piece of paper with the incident number on it. Now, all I have to do is call back to the Solid Waste Dept.

I don't know about you guys, but don't you think involving HPD into this whole "sordid" affair is kind of ridiculous, AND a big waste of manpower and tax dollars? You'd think I can just call Solid Waste directly, and skip the whole song and dance routine. What is so magical about this "incident" number anyway? Needless to say, that was really weird. Just had to get that off my chest. Thanks for listening.

I can already tell this thread could go for miles. If you really want to experience wasted $, take a day to go to the Municipal Courts at 1400 Lubbock. This will definetely put your nerves to the test. Be sure to take a bottle of Maalox, Tylenol and a pillow. This building is no longer adequate for the huge masses in Houston, and worse of all, it has some of the most burned out staff ever to work in a govt office atmosphere. You can actually age as you sit there waiting for issues to get resolved. The place has gone completely unprofessional. While you wait for your name to be called the bailiffs and admins gab about when the pizzas coming, American Idol, soap operas and just complete trash. The assistants are so dressed down I'm surprised they don't wear pajamas and house shoes. And you gotta love all the people your in good company with. That's a whole nother jar of pickles. When you walk out you get so tempted to just throw yourself into an oncoming car. Will dull the pain. Trust me not exxagerating.

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I can already tell this thread could go for miles. If you really want to experience wasted $, take a day to go to the Municipal Courts at 1400 Lubbock. This will definetely put your nerves to the test. Be sure to take a bottle of Maalox, Tylenol and a pillow. This building is no longer adequate for the huge masses in Houston, and worse of all, it has some of the most burned out staff ever to work in a govt office atmosphere. You can actually age as you sit there waiting for issues to get resolved. The place has gone completely unprofessional. While you wait for your name to be called the bailiffs and admins gab about when the pizzas coming, American Idol, soap operas and just complete trash. The assistants are so dressed down I'm surprised they don't wear pajamas and house shoes. And you gotta love all the people your in good company with. That's a whole nother jar of pickles. When you walk out you get so tempted to just throw yourself into an oncoming car. Will dull the pain. Trust me not exxagerating.

We need a new court house, I'd like to see something nicer pop up too.

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What courthouse are you referring to? The county has spent millions. We have two new ones and another that is being totally renovated.

Probibly the Municipal Courthouse, unless your saying that one is being renovated... or maybe your talking about the old white building that is being converted to office.

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Probibly the Municipal Courthouse, unless your saying that one is being renovated... or maybe your talking about the old white building that is being converted to office.

Not sure what the municipal courthouse is. The old criminal one is being renovated into the juvenile justice center. The new criminal one aka criminal justice center opened early 2000's and the new civil one is either open or near opening. That's why i was questioning the need to build yet another new one.

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Not sure what the municipal courthouse is. The old criminal one is being renovated into the juvenile justice center. The new criminal one aka criminal justice center opened early 2000's and the new civil one is either open or near opening. That's why i was questioning the need to build yet another new one.

The Municipal Court is city government, the county courts are county government... separate institutions. The Municipal court is at 1400 Lubbock, just west of I45 and north of Memorial off Houston Ave. It's not a very big building... not nearly as big as it needs to be.

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The Municipal Court is city government, the county courts are county government... separate institutions. The Municipal court is at 1400 Lubbock, just west of I45 and north of Memorial off Houston Ave. It's not a very big building... not nearly as big as it needs to be.

Pumpayam said courthouse and made the assumption it was county related and was hence confused as to why we needed yet another one.

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Good point. Other than a paper trail, it seems to be a waste of your's and the city's time. Also, it is probably cheaper just to give you another trash can. I made sure to take a picture of my trash can, showing the number imprinted on it. That way i'll have that information. Also, it keeps me and my other two neighbor from confusing our cans.

The paper trail is actually very confusing and time consuming. I very good friend of mine works fo rthe city and his time sheet has become so detailed that it takes him almost an hour to fill it out each day. Just to request vacation takes 3 sheets of paper and a compliant takes an uncounted amout of paper work. Why? All because some citizen or citizens decied to do a public records request or look in to where thier tax dollars were going so someone decided that more forms were needed to be filled out so that every minute of every day and every cent that was spent could be traced! The police have to fill out a monutain of paperwork for every ciatiation they have to write. The city employees are just as tired of the amount of paper work there is as the citizens, but it is the citizens and media that demand and push it all!

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