This is wierd. I've been hearing from a lot of people that the Texans have not been making a lot of friends around the city by demanding this and ordering that saying that people and businesses should do things out of "civic pride," etc. I've heard this complaint more than once about a lot of different things, so this doesn't surprise me a bit. <i>Wanted: 215 police for traffic control Texans, officers in pay squabble By JOHN WILLIAMS and RAD SALLEE Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle The Houston Texans have proof to the old saying: You can't find a cop when you need one. Even by offering $23 an hour. Fearing fans will face another traffic nightmare getting to the team's second game tonight in the new Reliant Stadium, the Texans have been trying to hire at least 215 overtime officers to control traffic around the facility. As of Thursday night, the football team had attracted only 140 officers, with most coming from the Harris County sheriff's and constables' offices. <b>Houston police officers are balking at the $23-per-hour rate the team paid last week, said Texans vice president Steve Patterson and Houston Police Chief C.O. Bradford. That's roughly time-and-a-half their regular pay. Houston police officers want $30 an hour to work on their off hours, a price the Texans refuse to pay, Patterson and Bradford said Thursday. "It's extortion," Patterson said. </b> Officials believe traffic for tonight's game will be worse than last week because fans will be heading to the game as thousands in the nearby Texas Medical Center are leaving work. Last week's game was played on Saturday night, but traffic still ground to a halt because the 70 overtime officers on duty were unable to keep intersections clear and cars moving smoothly. It didn't get much smoother after the game, when another 30 officers were brought in to direct traffic. <b>As today's 7 p.m. kickoff neared, Patterson complained that Bradford had rejected a team request to order officers to staff the event, with the football team picking up the tab at $23 an hour. Patterson said the offer is much more generous than the arrangement the city has with the Houston Astros. Under the city's agreement with the baseball team, the city pays for traffic officers who help clear downtown streets near the stadium. The Astros pay for overtime officers to patrol the immediate vicinity surrounding Minute Maid Park, Bradford said. The city also pays for officers to patrol other events, such as the annual July 4th fireworks displays. "At the baseball park downtown, the city absorbs the costs while we're offering to pay overtime," Patterson said. "What we have is folks trying to take advantage of us rather than protecting the city." Bradford disputed Patterson's allegation. He said the team, through an intermediary, only asked Bradford to encourage his officers to work off-duty. The chief said when he asked "two or three officers," they told him they would need $30 an hour. "They (officers) make their own deals," Bradford said. "The chief or the police department have nothing to do with it." Bradford said his department will pay for 15 on-duty officers, two motorcycle patrolmen and a helicopter to help control traffic. But, he said, he has no authority to send a large number of officers to direct traffic at Reliant. He said such arrangement would have to be OK'd by City Council. The police department's arrangement with the Astros was done before he became chief in 1996. "This is an issue of who's going to pay for the cost of this activity," Bradford said. "I don't have authority of having officers on duty for the benefit of a private entity." </b> In an open letter on its Web site, www.houstontexans.com, the Texans admit that despite all the good things to be excited about at last week's home opener -- the first game ever in Reliant Stadium -- "traffic issues took center stage." The message also has some advice for fans. "Please be patient. While we have made some significant changes to our traffic plan, this Friday is a workday. We will be facing rush-hour traffic levels and the beginning of a holiday weekend." Patience will definitely be needed, with fans likely girding themselves with maps, travel snacks and cellular phones, and allowing an extra hour or two to get to the stadium. But contractor Wayne Hubley, for one, is not quite ready for a replay of last Saturday's game and says he'll sit this one out. Hubley described a hair-raising experience last week. "To make it to the game, I had to do the unthinkable, which is driving in the opposite lane," he says. "It was either that or get in by halftime." That move occurred on Murworth, and while certainly dubious from a safety standpoint, it "broke the ice," Hubley says. "About 40 others thought it was a damn good idea" and followed suit, he said. But for tonight's contest, Hubley plans to watch the action on KTRK-TV (Channel 13) with his family on the sofa at their beach house. "The traffic is definitely 70 percent of the reason" for staying away, Hubley says.</i>
This article doesn't say that the Texans are demanding the city pay for it, only that they provide the officers they want at the price the Texans are willing to pay ($23 per hour) rather than the price officers are apparently requesting ($30 per hour). Not that that's much better, but still....
And why does the city provide this for the Astros but is unwilling to do it for the Texans..what's the rub there?? or did i read (or skim) this article wrong?
I get the implication from the article that the Astros struck a deal that was approved by City Council to have their games serviced. The Texans could also strike a deal with the City Council, but the Police Chief cannot unilaterally make such a decision. I think taht's the only snag. Without the official OK, they need to strike agreements with the inidividual cops who can set their own rates. I think $30 is reasonable considering this is overtime, extra work. If the Texans don't want to pay it, they can talk to the City Council about doing it on cops' regular time.
Juan said it best. The only additional caveat here is that many of the officers who work NEAR Minute Maid (not directly adjacent) are assigned to work the streets throughout downtown even when games are not being played. This is more of a simple re-assignment based on need. The Texans are saying, "You tell your officers they have to work for us for $23 per hour." Yeah, sure.
Anyone got a HPD Cop uniform? I wanna go make 23$ an hour! (a little bit less than my norm, but $$$ is $$$.
Dude, it's the first couple of weeks that they've been in Houston. Not everything, in fact not the majority of things run smoothly when they first start operating.
True, I don't want to sound like I'm whining, but they had 2 years plus to look at issues not concerning the actual football team.
it is next to impossible to plan for all of the logistics of a new facility before it's actually built and you get people in there for an event. we were pleasantly surprised with Minute Maid Park.
Let me get this straight: The Texans, Houston's new football team....a team situated in a city that has some well documented traffic woes.....wants to pay TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN Houston Police officers time and a half wages to assist with traffic control because our city has crappy traffic. seems kind of generous to me.
Of course, we all know the real solution to the traffic problem around Reliant Stadium - mass arrests and towing. (On a similar line of joking: perhaps the police officers are not interested in working for $23 per hour because they already make way more than that through their corrupt activities). Remember, these are simply jokes and not meant to imply any sort of reality. These jokes do not necessarily reflect the views of yours truly, management or the owners of this board.
yeah...they need to round up all those hooligans to sit out in the parking lot with open fires!!! you could put an eye out with those things!!! arrest them...arrest them all!!!
$23 bucks an hour? Hell, even the cops at Whole Foods get $20 bucks an hour to just sit around in the A/C and watch all the fine women all day. Right or wrong I dunno, but I'm not suprised they wouldn't do it for $23 in the hot ass sun and all.
If 23 dollars an hour is so pissy for the "cops", they need to give out a uniform to the homeless on the street and let them direct traffic for 23 dollars an hour...this crap is asinine! 23 dollars is 23 dollars...If it is peanuts, give it to me...This is what annoys me about damn prideful people here in America... In life, we all want to get over...you do, I do...but the cops are being an arse since they know they are the only ones "qualified" , as if it takes a brain to do this ......Hell put me out there! Competion is good, Monopoly is bad...If cops use the priviledge as a monetary leverage...then Hell with them. Other people need to buy their kids Nikes also and want to eat at Pappas once in a while... They need to have a training sector to the public at a decent rate perform such services...Why the Hell not?...This would create more jobs for people and less coppers who don't have the friggin time or wish to accept this generous wage...
just wondering.. this isn't mandatory for police officers, is it?? i assume they sign up to do this kinda work off hours, right???
If 23 dollars an hour is so pissy for the "cops", they need to give out a uniform to the homeless on the street and let them direct traffic for 23 dollars an hour...this crap is asinine! 23 dollars is 23 dollars...If it is peanuts, give it to me...This is what annoys me about damn prideful people here in America... I find it amazing that we're criticizing people for making the choice of whether to do extra, private work on their own time. If you think $23 is plenty and the job is offered to you, fine. Who are we to tell someone else that they should work for $x / hr? That's up to them, and if they don't want to do it, that's their own decision.
What a completely misleading title... ...oh well, since I'm in anyway, I might as well join the discussion. Pole and ROXRAN make good points; my question is: Are non-police officers (ie 'trained' civilians) allowed to direct traffic, or is this a duty that the city will only allow a uniformed officer to perform? If it is allowed, the Texans should hire and train individuals to do it. I'm sure they could do it for less than 23 bucks/hour, too. There are plenty of folks that would be willing to do it; it wouldn't take long to hire folks. If police hold the exclusive right to direct traffic (which I believe is the case), then every effort to accomodate the request should be made. Holding out for more money when a fair deal is presented in this case is exactly what Patterson said it is: extortion. The traffic woes might be attributed to the huge influx of traffic before games, but the poor transportation is the real problem. Folks not even going to the game are affected, as well.
