Tag Archives: 2015 Houston election

Houston, Texas Politics

Minimum Wage Increases Won BIG in 2014. But not in Texas

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Even as we continue to disseminate all that was Election 2014, it’s important to note that one issue typically associated with Progressive policies not only survived the Red Tide, but proved to be one of the night’s biggest winners.  Voters in four states and the city of San Francisco all approved increases in the minimum wage.  In literally every area where any form of a minimum wage increase was on the ballot, that measure was approved by a decisive majority.  Here are the details from Erik Sherman of Forbes Magazine…

If there was upsets and contention in much of midterm voting, there was one topic on which the electorate was largely united: raising the minimum wage. Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota all had ballot measures on raising state minimum wages above both their current levels and the federal $7.25 an hour figure.

All four states passed the measures, most by significant margins. More than two-thirds of voters in Alaska agreed to raise minimum wage to $9.75 by 2016. Sixty-five percent of Arkansas voters set the state on course to adopt an $8.50 figure by 2017. In Nebraska, 59 percent said the number should be $9 an hour by 2016. Only South Dakota stood out with a slimmer margin; 53 percent voted to raise minimum wage to $8.50 an hour next year. In Alaska and South Dakota, minimum wage is now pegged to inflation, meaning that it will rise as the cost of living does.

Those weren’t the only votes on the topic. San Francisco, one of the most expensive American cities to live in, increased its local minimum wage to $15 an hour. In Illinois, 62 percent voted for a non-binding referendum to increase minimum wage to $10 an hour by next year. On a related topic, Massachusetts voters passed mandatory paid sick leave. California and Connecticut were the first two states to require the benefit.

The Arkansas vote was especially interesting to see.  As Democratic forces have slowly been eradicated, many were wondering what the results of the this statewide vote would be.  You have to hand it to the Natural State’s newest Senator-Elect Tom Cotton, as he was able to accurately predict that if the Minimum Wage made it to the ballot, it would pass.  Did this decision have a direct effect on pushing Cotton into the Senate? It’s tough to tell, but supporting the people in at least one issue sure didn’t hurt.

2014 proves that increasing the minimum wage is just as popular in red states as it is in blue states.  And right now, no red state needs to raise it’s wages more than Texas.  As job growth has skyrocketed, so have home values, property taxes and rent.  In just 5 short years, major cities have seen rent increases as high as 30 percent.  This creates a growing disparity between the wealthy and the poor.

A report issued by the National Low Income Housing Coalition looks at just how much low-income Americans are struggling to make rent every month.  From this excerpt of the data, one thing is clear… if you live in a Texas major city, $7.25 an hour is no longer enough to survive.

Living Wage Texas

*Living Wage is calculated based on rent being 30% of an individual income, and requiring a 2 bedroom apartment without government assistance.  

Of course there are variances here, like people who may not have need for a 2 bedroom apartment.  But the determination of a an actual Living Wage assumes that a person makes enough money to fully support themselves.  For example, a person living in a 1 bedroom apartment, their living wage could be $3 to $4 per hour less than what is listed above.  The point however still remains that even they are struggling greatly at the current minimum wage level.

On the campaign trail, Texas politicians spoke constantly about the desire for small government solutions to address the issues facing everyday Texans.  Well for many people, raising the minimum wage is the best small government solution in existence.  If politicians truly believe in such principles, it is time for them to prove it.  The cities of Dallas, Houston, Austin San Antonio and El Paso should lead the way by increasing their minimum wage.  Each of these municipalities is already a national leader in job creation and economic prosperity.  And each of them are seeing the working poor struggle more and more to be able to make ends meet.

Many people  are probably skeptical about the possibilities of increasing the minimum wage in any part of Texas.  But with municipal elections fast approaching next year for many major cities, this is the right time to discuss and organize around the issue.  If a relatively poor state like Arkansas can care enough about its citizens to raise the minimum wage, surely the economic powerhouses of Texas can do the same.

minimum wage texas

 

Houston, Houston Politics

Montrose Residents Mobilize For Better Sidewalks

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More than a century old, Montrose is one of the most well-known neighborhoods in Houston.  In that time, it’s been home to American Presidents, world-famous celebrities and various counter-cultural movements. It’s also quite possible that many Montrose residents and visitors are walking on 100-year old, original sidewalks.  One can only imagine the poor condition when many sidewalks haven’t been repaired since the Wilson administration.  As KPRC Local 2 reports, many in the neighborhood are fed up.

Families in Montrose are circulating a petition demanding the city to fix a dangerous problem in their neighborhood. We’re talking about sidewalks, or the lack of them, in some areas of Montrose.

The group has sent out a letter to residents asking them to sign a petition to ask the city for help in getting some repairs to the sidewalks. The sidewalks are chipped, broken or missing altogether, but the city says the repairs are not necessarily its responsibility.

Montrose is one of the trendiest neighborhoods inside the Loop, filed with little shops, restaurants and quaint homes. But now, more than ever, residents say the neighborhood’s aging sidewalks and streets are in desperate need of repair.

“They are always uneven, they are always littered, they’re impassable, so I end up walking in the street,” said resident Anna La Perna. “You can’t use the sidewalk.” The Montrose Sidewalks Coalition, a group made up of residents, sent a letter to neighbors asking them to sign a petition to encourage Mayor Annise Parker and the city to help with the issue.

“I think she is doing nothing and not enough. She is worried about a select few and not all of us,” said La Perna. The group also says people are tripping and getting hurt because of the mess.

Full disclosure… I am both a resident of Montrose and a frequent pedestrian and user of public transportation.  Just like the above, I end up walking on the street rather than risk tripping on large, broken pieces of sidewalk.  That said, I fully share the frustration of my neighbors and want these sidewalks fixed.  But under current municipal law, the City of Houston is not responsible for fixing sidewalks, and instead passes that burden on to property owners.

As the Montrose Sidewalks Coalition points out in their petition, the current ordinance may also present some bigger problems…

Our community’s children do not have safe routes to school and are forced into the street with oncoming traffic due to missing and broken sidewalks. We have many schools within easy walking distance, however the state of our school routes is appalling.

Many visually and mobility impaired citizens live in or visit Montrose for specialized services available in Montrose. The infrastructure is not ADA compliant and a significant barrier to access. Accessible design for the visually impaired is almost non existent. As older residents age in place, this will increasingly become a safety issue of large proportions.

Several sections of Montrose, suffering from a triumvirate of poor sidewalks, jagged curbs and pothole-ridden streets do not meet basic compliance standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  Could the lack of maintenance on Houston’s sidewalks leave the city liable in an injury or death case?  Would it leave property owners liable if someone hurts themselves on a poor sidewalk?

Poor sidewalks are a problem in every corner of Houston… not just Montrose.  A constant complaint shared by Houstonians, it is starting to capture major attention in the city’s  political debate.   Jenifer Rene Pool, a long-time public advocate and candidate for Houston City Council, made sidewalks a central issue of her 2013 campaign, and even recorded a YouTube video to state why these repairs are so important. As Pool points out below, sidewalks should be a cornerstone of the city’s general mobility plan.  For seniors or someone with a disability, it’s just not safe to get around by foot or in a wheelchair.  If other neighborhoods follow the lead of the Montrose petitioners, you can be sure sidewalks will be a hot topic in the 2015 elections.

This is not to say that nothing has been done.  Mayor Parker has made some good faith efforts to address the problem, most notably a complete streets executive order that ensures any future construction done by the city will take into account all forms of mobility, including safe, usable sidewalks.  Even if city government can’t immediately correct mistakes of the past, at least someone has a better plan for the future.  But until this executive order becomes an ordinance, there’s no guarantee that a future Mayoral administration would follow these practices.

Houston is changing rapidly, and perhaps no area has experienced those changes faster than Montrose. But every resident of the Bayou City deserves top quality infrastructure.  After so many decades of neglect and a massive amount of ground to cover, it’s going to be a massive challenge to accomplish and pay for such repairs.  But waiting any longer is also not an option.  If Houston is to be a true national leader in the 21st century, we can’t do it on infrastructure from the early 20th century.  True leadership has to start from the ground up.