Posts tagged IKE

TSN's ADR and Mayor White Celebrate the end of the Curfew.

Updated. Hands_Up_Houston poster (and local celebrity DJ if there ever was one) Shu Latif put up a call to write the Mayor’s office about having the curfew lifted.  So we did.  We decided we would CC all of you.

To: The Honorable Bill White, Mayor of Houston
Mr. Mayor, let me begin by commending you for the way you and the institutions of civic government under your control have addressed the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. I am proud, once again, to have voted for you. I am a commenter on the city’s vibrant and varied rock music scene, and from this perspective I would like to raise with you the issue of the ongoing curfew . As someone who still pines for the moment when the power to his home will be restored, and for the street and traffic lights in my neighborhood to return, I understand and support the public safety intent to this curfew. However, as the stars in the night sky begin to be once again dulled by the haze of our city lights, it may be time to consider moving from a blanket to a cordoned approach. Consider three factors:

Personal Income: Countless bartenders, managers, musicians, servers and so forth are being denied hours of income potential each day. This will be especially true this coming weekend, where the 10: 00pm t to 2:00am hours are the most lucrative of the entire week. Consider that many of these individuals, who depend almost entirely on a stream of cash income, lost up to a full week’s worth of pay while they waited for their places of business to re-open.

Small Business: Almost universally bars, nightclubs and music venues are locally owned and operated affairs. Generally, these small businesses survive on volume, not margin, and they must literally have people in the door in order to make revenue budgets which are not offsetable by the overhead savings from reduced operating hours. The curfew hurts them. Again, their most important income timeframe is Friday and Saturday 10:00pm-2:00am, which has been cut in half.

Culture: Frankly Mr. Mayor, it’s time to rock and roll again. Houston may be known more for its rap music, but join me any night in front of many of the stages scatted throughout Montrose, Washington Avenue, Downtown, Midtown and the Heights and I will show you some of the best undiscovered music in America. It’s time to get these folks back in front of us. After the last few weeks, we could all use a good tune.

Therefore, I hope you will consider lifting the curfew for zip codes or sections of the city where substantial power has been restored, including the neighborhoods I mentioned above. Please contact me if you’d like more concrete examples of what I have outlined, or if you’d just like to grab a beer and check out a band – you’ve earned it.

Keep up the good work,

adr
Editor, The Skyline Network
www.theskyline.net
ryan@theskyline.net

Agree with us? email the Mayor White at mayor@cityofhouston.net. BE POLITE.

UPDATE: Looks like our letter was completely persuasive, and how could it not be,  with prose so beautiful, it could be described as the opposite of this site’s design (if there has been any upside to having no power, it is that we have not been forced to look at this layout.  Can we get a designer up in this piece?).  Yessir and Mam, the Chron’s Tropical Weather blog is now reporting that the curfew was officially rescinded a few hours ago.  Lets get this party started RIGHT ON.