That’s what the Jewish Herald-Voice reports. Cohen said it doesn’t make her a pioneer, but she brings her Judaism with her to the job in subtle ways. Cohen said she has shared a joke with office neighbor Jerry Davis, an African-American councilman representing District B: He told her he loves bagels and lox, and she responded by disclosing her fondness for waffles and fried chicken. Both are menu items at the Davis family restaurant The Breakfast Klub.

Cohen also said she typically will not accept invitations on Friday nights because that’s when she has Sabbath dinner with her family.

Cohen has a photo of what she jokingly calls “the Jewish caucus” from her days in the Texas House, where she served from 2007 through 2010. Cohen is posing in the photo with Speaker Joe Straus and Reps. Scott Hochberg and Elliott Naishtat.

As far as the issues, first up for Cohen is figuring out how to fund more police cadet classes.

“I know we’re not near the number of cadet classes we should have” to keep pace with attrition and the city’s population growth. Public safety is her top priority, she said, and not just because of Houstonians already here. Safe neighborhoods are an economic development tool.

“That’s a good selling point for the businesses moving here,” Cohen said.

How to pay for more police cadet classes remains an open question. In the three-day boot camp the mayor’s office put on for the seven new council members last month, the budget briefings did not include a forecast of what the city faces in constructing a budget for fiscal year 2013.

TxDOT spokeswoman Karen Othon’s comments came a day after highway officials met with hike and bike advocates who were angry with plans to close a mile-long segment of the White Oak Bayou Hike and Bike Trail for two years.

TxDOT officials had closed the trail between Ella Boulevard and 34th Street as part of a project to replace four bridges at Loop 610 and East T.C. Jester. A designated detour on Ella, 34th and East T.C. Jester, which parallels the bayou and trail, would have added almost three-fourths of a mile to the journey.

Othon said the designated detour will remain in place but that city crews will clear Ella Boulevard’s dedicated bike lane of mud and debris and patch deteriorated pavement.

Pedestrians and “experienced” bicyclists will be given the option of reaching East T.C. Jester by a shorter route. That street, Othon said, is equipped with sidewalks beneath Loop 610, but does not have a dedicated bike lane. “Share the Road” signs will be posted to alert motorists to the presence of bicyclists.

“I’m happy with that. I’m thrilled,” said Tom Gall, a White Oak Bayou Association vice president, and one of three bike advocates who met with TxDOT officials. “I’m especially pleased that they’ve offered us the possibility of attending their future meetings.”

Added David Dick, chairman of the Houston Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee, “I’m not at a ’10,’ but what they’re doing is way more than they were willing to do a few days ago.”

Othon said access points for crossing Loop 610 may change as construction progresses. The bridge replacement is part of a $152 million reconstruction project involving portions of the North Loop and U.S. 290.

HPD for years has insisted that the backlog of untested rape kits was around 4,000. The details from the chief’s memo confirm a Houston Chronicle report that the backlog likely was far greater.

The backlog also is likely to continue to grow. According to McClelland’s memo, HPD receives some 930 new rape kits each year. HPD officials previously have said the department is able to test only 30 to 40 a month.

A backlog that could include as many as 7,000 untested rape kids should be a cause for major concern, saidJohnny Mata, an activist for the Greater Houston Coalition for Justice.

“There’s people in jail that may be innocent,” Mata said. “There’s women that may be fearing for their lives. It’s unacceptable.”

McClelland’s five-page memo was produced in response to a series of questions from Councilwoman Jolanda Jones, who lectured department and city officials during a City Council meeting Wednesday for being unresponsive. Jones said HPD and city officials had been vague in response to her lengthy inquiry about progress in researching and examining a backlog of sexual assault kits.

Funding awarded

The discussion was prompted by a council vote to accept a National Institute of Justice grant totaling $821,814 to study and test Houston’s backlog of untested kits. The funding is part of a two-phase, $1.14 million award from the NIJ. The bulk of the money will go toward determining the reasons rape kits go untested and how to reduce the backlog more quickly.

Jones was the only council member to vote against accepting the second-phase money, saying she could not gauge whether previous grant dollars were being used effectively, based on the information from HPD.

Mayor Annise Parker said that the city could not provide an exact figure for the amount of untested rape kits but offered a range of 6,000 to 7,000.

“We do not have an exact number of rape kits in each category because part of these dollars were to do an audit of exactly that and we have endeavored to explain that process to you,” Parker said to Jones.

McClelland’s memo explained that the department was working to finalize an audit relative to the number, “however, the initial inventory counting is complete.”

Responding to Jones’ questions about the number of kits tested, McClelland’s memo stated that the two-phase NIJ grant “allows for approximately 320 cases to be outsourced for testing. That outsourcing process is ongoing.” The grant has also supported the screening of 1,000 kits, so far. The screening is used to determine whether there is enough biological evidence for a sexual assault kit to be used for DNA testing.

Past problems

The department conducted an audit that determined that between 16,000 and 17,000 rape kits dating back to the 1980s are stored in HPD’s property division, the memo said. Of those, roughly a third, or between 6,000 and 7,000, have not been examined.

DNA testing at HPD’s crime lab was temporarily suspended in 2002, after an independent audit revealed shoddy forensic work, including unqualified personnel, lax protocols and facilities that included a roof that leaked rainwater onto evidence.

Since the lab resumed operations five years ago, the roof and other interior problems have been fixed. The lab also has reduced or eliminated backlogs in areas such as narcotics and ballistics.

Cutting down the rape kit backlog has been a challenge because of a lack of resources and personnel, HPD officials have said.

HPD spokesman John Cannon said the first phase of the grant, totaling $178,000, was to “help us determine the reasons for the backlog and to prevent that from happening again in the future.”

Councilman Oliver Pennington called for regular reports on progress to work through the backlog.

Former chief’s support

Councilman C.O. Bradford, the former police chief, agreed with the nature of Jones’ inquiry, which he called “quite voluminous,” but said HPD had provided enough information to warrant support for the grant.

“I’m convinced that Chief McClelland is doing everything that he possibly can and that he takes it very, very seriously and understands the impact that the analysis of these kits that are being stored can have on our criminal justice process today,” Bradford said. “But it comes down to resource and this is an example of resources being garnered to help move forward in the process.”

In the past, wreckers could take a vehicle to a distant shop, which would then charge high fees. There was little the city could do since they were located outside the city limits.

That’s all changing soon. Houston City Council tweaked the towing ordinance. It requires all towed vehicles to stay within the city limits.

Read the full story at: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8450736

Houston’s planning department wants to make several modifications to the ordinance to allow high- density development outside of the 610 loop. One of the changes would allow property owners to subdivide lots and build townhomes in areas where that’s currently not allowed.

Toy Wood is with the Greater Houston Builders Association. She was one of many developers who spoke in favor of the changes.

“We’re already outside Loop 610, we know that. We’re already — the urban area is moving outside. And so we really need to move with that. The property inside Loop 610 has become so expensive that housing costs inside Loop 610 are just pretty much out of sight and that forces people to move outside the city limits, which we don’t want.”

But the main theme from neighborhoods was give us more time. They want time to learn about the changes, time for the city to hear their input and time for the planning department to take that input into consideration.

Catherine Barchfeld is President of the Spring Branch Central Super Neighborhood and says the area’s aging deed restrictions would not protect the neighborhood from these new proposals.

“We feel the integrity of our neighborhoods will be compromised. Our neighborhoods are over 50 years old and are quite charming and we want to keep them as they are. To alter or change deed restrictions would take at least two years. It’s our understanding that the director of planning wants the city council to pass this proposal by the end of this year. This is not enough time for us to prepare ourselves for our neighborhoods.”

Many of the speakers came from Councilmember Brenda Stardig’s District A, which includes Spring Branch. She says the only community meeting on this subject came at her request.

“I think there’s an opportunity here that we just need to take the opportunity to bring it out to the neighborhoods. We can roll this out, get it out to the neighborhoods, especially those between 610 Loop and Beltway 8, where a lot of the changes will occur. I think information is power and the fear of the unknown is much greater than the reality at this point. So I think if we can just communicate with our neighborhoods, get their buy-in, make sure that they’re comfortable with it.”

The changes are scheduled to come up for a vote next week. But after a number of residents echoed similar concerns,
Houston Mayor Annise Parker suggested she would be willing to conduct community meetings before asking council to vote on the amendment.

Mayor Annise Parker and Houston Police Department officials touted the changes as consumer protections to prevent Houstonians from getting stuck with hefty bills for repair work they never sought or approved.

Council members voted to delay consideration of the proposal for at least two weeks after a two-hour discussion in which some council members questioned whether there is a significant enough problem with automotive-related businesses to require changes to city ordinance. Others expressed what they said were concerns from business owners who said the changes would require them to make costly upgrades and could force them to close down.

The proposal would require an automotive repair shop to obtain a signature of approval before performing work if the estimated cost of completing the job changes by more than $100. Customers could waive that requirement and instead offer verbal consent to any price changes.

Parker, who attempted to push forward with a vote after several requests to delay a decision, said after the meeting that many of the concerns about the proposals were based on misinformation.

Councilman James Rodriguez said a delay in the vote would allow him to better solicit feedback from constituents.

Councilwoman Jolanda Jones said several repair shop owners told her they would face the burden of making major facility upgrades as a result of proposals that they said were too broad and could force them out of business.

“I think we’re using a cannonball to swat a fly when we could use a flyswatter,” Jones said. “I believe it to be an overregulation on business.”

The proposal does not include any fee increases or requirements for facility upgrades, said Houston Police Department Sgt. Michael Provost, who helped develop the revisions.

Requirements for specific equipment and features, such as solid walls and fencing, have been in the city’s code for more than 20 years and have not been changed, Provost said. Fee increases for automotive business licenses were approved by council a year ago and were not included in the current proposal, he added.

“There is nothing tacked onto it that would make anyone spend more money,” Provost said.

Concern over fees

Councilman C.O. Bradford said the proposal was flawed because it would limit the amount that businesses could charge for administrative and teardown fees.

“I’m concerned what’s going to be next when it comes to this type of overreaching,” he said.

Provost said that discussions with businesses had produced no reasonable answer for administrative fees above the city’s proposed $50 cap. Some businesses had charged as much as $500 to file paperwork.

Another provision would require businesses to comply with published industry standards for teardown fees, which are incurred when parts of a vehicle are removed to observe damage.

To thank you we are hosting an open house at Cohen Campaign Headquarters (2045 Southwest Freeway) this week. Stop by any time Tuesday – Friday from 10-5 for coffee and pastries. And bring your yard signs! Let’s recycle and keep Houston beautiful! (If you were gracious enough to display the larger 4 x 4 yard sign, staffers will pick them up this week.)

I look forward to thanking you in person.

Sincerely,

Ellen

We couldn’t have done it without you. We faced a crowded slate, a new district, and a year full of frustrated voters. We worked hard and are now ready to focus our energies on preparing to serve you.

We ran a positive race, a respectful race, a race of which I can be proud.

Thank you again for your friendship and support. And while this may be a bit early, permit me to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving–we all have so much for which to be thankful.

Sincerely,

Ellen

Cohen made her pitch as fiscally responsible based on managing a multimillion dollar budget during her 18 years as CEO of the Houston Area Women’s Center and a multi-billion budget as a member of the Appropriations Committee in the state legislature.

“I’m a problem solver” she said she told voters.

She raised the most money, and got attacked by all four opponents.

“If you’re considered a front-runner, then that’s what people go after,” Cohen said from her election night party at Cafe Adobe. “Whatever happens, we ran a good race, a respectful race, a race I can be proud of.”

When asked if she planned for a runoff, she didn’t answer directly but said, “I always think of the various things that can happen, and I like to plan ahead.”

Following are some of the women we will be watching for their results on Election night:

Janice Kovach –running for mayor of Clinton New Jersey

Annise Parker – running for re-election as mayor of Houston Texas

Alison Lundergan Grimes – in her first race running for Kentucky Secretary of State

Roxanne Qualls – former mayor and current vice mayor running for re-election to Cincinnati City Council

Miriam Martinez – running for sheriff in Mercer County New Jersey

Melina Kennedy – running to become the first female mayor of Indianapolis

Yvette Simpson – running in her first race for Cincinnati City Council

Ayanna Pressley – running for re-election to Boston’s City Council

Susan Sandberg – running for re-election to Bloomington Indiana’s city council

Connie Moran – running for state treasurer of Mississippi

Eileen Brady- running for mayor of Portland Oregon

Edna Jackson – after serving as city alderman, she is running to become the first female mayor of Savannah Georgia

Ellen Cohen – former state representative running for Houston City Council

Paula Harris – Houston Independent School Board President running for District IV Trustee

Amy Brendmoen – in her first race for St. Paul Minnesota City Council

**To view WomenWinning’s entire slate of Minnesota candidates, click here.

Check in election night and on Wednesday for all women candidate election results at http://www.electwomen.com.