Tag Archives: Annise Parker

‘Engaging’ Houston City Council in the Equality Debate

In the wake of both sweeping national changes and historic movement in another Texas city, many eyes are now turning to Houston, and wondering when we will follow suit with a comprehensive non-discrimination ordinance. But this debate has been very active in the Bayou City for a while. In fact, Texas Leftist asked Houston Mayor Annise Parker directly about her reluctance to move such a measure back in April. Here’s a reminder of that exchange…

Texas Leftist: During your administration, you’ve tackled some of our city’s toughest issues… Chapter 42, city pensions, etc. and as a result have made tremendous progress. But why has so little been done regarding the LGBT community? With the exception of city government and some other select businesses you can still be fired for being LGBT because we do not have a non-discrimination ordinance for general employment. This lags behind other Texas cities such as Dallas, Austin, and Ft. Worth. When will you work to pass city-wide non-discrimination laws for our city? And even if it weren’t to pass council, isn’t the conversation worth having for the sake of all Houstonians?

Mayor Annise Parker: The conversation is worth having and as an openly lesbian politician, it is clearly not an issue I’m afraid to tackle, but see the answer above. I am unwilling to bring an issue forward when I know there aren’t sufficient votes to pass it. A non-discrimination ordinance would be important, but I am more interested in seeing discrimination removed from our city charter.

The city is prohibited by charter from offering domestic partner benefits or from recognizing the domestic relationships of our gay and lesbian employees. It would require a vote of the citizens to undo. I hope Council will join me in placing it on the ballot at the appropriate time.

Of course, that was then, and thanks to San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro and some very brave city council members, this is now. When asked yesterday if a comprehensive non-discrimination ordinance is something Houston should do, this was the Mayor’s response, directly from Mike Morris of the Houston Chronicle…

“It is absolutely something we should do, and the majority of council members have publicly stated they are in support of a nondiscrimination ordinance,” said Parker, the first openly gay mayor of a major American city. “But this is an issue that requires all of council to be engaged and agree it is time to move it forward. When it happens, we will do that.”

So the Mayor confirms what many in the city have suspected… the majority of Houston City Council is probably in support of a comprehensive non-discrimination ordinance. But no one knows for sure because the council members themselves have not been put on record for their stance on equality.

Thankfully though, the day has come. If you haven’t checked out Off the Kuff’s 2013 election page and listened to his interview series, I highly recommend it as an essential voter resource. So far this year, he has asked every candidate for City Council whether or not they support domestic partner benefits for same-sex couples, and as it turns out, the responses are mostly in favor from the data he’s collected at this point. The question is out there, and unlike past years, Houston City Council will have to answer.

Of course he’s asking only about domestic partner benefits, and not about a comprehensive non-discrimination ordinance. Which is why I included it in the very first Texas Leftist Candidate Questionnaire (TLCQ), currently being distributed (via email) to all Houston municipal candidates. If Mayor Parker thinks that “all of council” should be engaged in the subject for political action to occur, then it’s time to help make that happen.

And if you’re wondering where the Mayor’s top challenger Ben Hall stands on LGBT equality, you’re going to have to keep doing so, as he has refused entirely to give an opinion on the issue. Hopefully Mr. Hall knows that whoever stands to be the next Mayor of the City of Houston will not have the luxury of ignoring monumental shifts in the fight for LGBT rights. And if he wants any credible chance of winning this year’s election, he won’t be able to ignore for much longer.

Texpatriate and Brains and Eggs have more.

City Council debates the True Cost of 380 deals

Last week, I had the honor of doing something that I’ve yet to do while living in Houston… I attended Houston City Council at City Hall. Sure I have watched the meetings all the time, but attending gives additional layers of perspective that just don’t, can’t come across through the HTV cameras.

Anyway, it’s more than sufficient to say that I picked a very interesting day to attend.

On the whole, the meeting was as expected, with everyone focused, collegial and moving rapidly through the city’s business. But when Council reached the last item on the agenda a 380 agreement to incentivize CostCo to build in Houston’s far-west ETJ, things became contentious.

“We just came out of a brutal budget battle, and I believe that corporations should get involved in our summer jobs programs, our after school programs, and actually help our citizens do better. The time is now to ask those corporations for help… I was told in the briefing that no matter what we say at the this council table that… the contract is final, it’s done. That part I understood. That part I resent…” Burks said.

The Mayor reminded Burks that none of those programs were part of the deal. Council Members Noriega, Pennington and Gonzalez immediately chimed in supporting the 380, citing that it’s empty land, and that Costco is “ready to develop somewhere”. If they didn’t choose the Houston ETJ, they were just as ready to take their development, and any tax revenue it could generate, to Katy.

But to Council Members Burks, and now Bradford, that answer just wasn’t good enough.

“Just a few weeks ago, we had a discussions about summer jobs, and senior citizens’ [tax] relief, but now we can afford to give [tax breaks] to CostCo. I haven’t heard anybody articulate the real need for the incentive… I’ll read from [today’s Chronicle editorial] for just a second…’While the city looks to budgets spread thin to fix our roads, we’re giving tax cuts to corporations to build towers and open stores in Houston, without any evidence that these incentives are actually necessary. This questionable use of taxpayer dollars deserves serious contemplation from our elected officials.’ Have we really delved into this to conclude that this incentive is necessary? That’s what I’m hung up on” Bradford said.

And of course Burks came back in to close his thoughts…

“I’m getting tired, mayor and council, of hearing, ‘We don’t have any money.’… We give all these incentives for rich folk do all sorts of rich things, but poor folk are still being hurt. And they vote too. We’ve [left them out] too often and for too long.”

The Mayor immediately shot back to Burks…

“Council Member I’m afraid you’re going to be sorely disappointed. I think most of the things you have mentioned are outside of the purview of an economic development contract.”

After all the back-and-forth, the 380 deal passed 12 to 3.

But what you may not have seen away from the HTV cameras? For Burks and Bradford, this was a clearly intentioned stance… perhaps political, perhaps not… to appeal to their community. Given that protesters (in the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin verdict) ground Tuesday’s Public Session to a halt, they used this deal to voice some community-wide frustrations, and to highlight what they see as a lack of fairness and inequality. And let’s just face facts… it certainly cannot hurt Bradford or Burks to be fighting for fairness in an election season. They are well aware of where this message will resonate with the most clarity.

Perhaps there were better reasons to vote against the 380 deal than to heap social injustice onto it, but nonetheless, I think that Council Members Burks and Bradford made important points. As great and glitzy as Houston appears in magazines, there are still some gross inequalities throughout this city. Our roads and bridges are in sub-standard condition, the mass transit system is grossly under-funded, and our water and sewage infrastructure can barely keep up to meet the increasing demands of new development. Just as Burks and Bradford pointed out, the city struggled to find money for summer jobs programs and Veteran’s services in under-served neighborhoods. It makes sense that those who represent those neighborhoods should give pause to tax breaks for Billion- Dollar corporations while our poorest communities continue to do without. Given this as the reality in Houston, we should apply a high level of scrutiny to which entities receive substantial city tax breaks, and always be mindful of who have to do without.

Off the Kuff has thoughts on this as well.

Movin: Houston Named Number 1 Exporter in US

Some more welcomed economic news for a city that is already on the move… literally and figuratively. From the Houston Chronicle, Houston has surpassed New York City to become the number 1 metro for exports in the United States…

The Houston metropolitan area has become the nation’s top exporter for the first time, pushed by growing shipments of petroleum products, the Department of Commerce reports.

About $110.3 billion in merchandise shipped from the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown area in 2012, rising nearly 6 percent from the year before. The region surpassed New York City’s $102 billion in exports to grab the title of top U.S. exporter.

Petroleum and coal products were the largest group of exports from the Houston area, totaling $36.6 billion in value. Another $31.2 billion worth of chemicals left the region, according to the department’s report this week.

Other major exports from the Houston area included non-electrical machinery at $15.2 billion, and computer and electronic products at $6.7 billion.

Our North American neighbors were the top importers of Houston-area shipments, with $17.2 billion going to Mexico and $11.4 billion to Canada. The next-biggest destinations were Brazil, which received $6.6 billion in Houston-area exports, and China, which received $5.2 billion.

Given that the Bayou City was able to garner the top spot even before the much- anticipated Panama Canal Expansion, Houston has some room to grow yet. Though China’s economy may be headed for a slow- down, Brazil and other South American countries appear to be increasing demand for American exports. It seems as though Mayor Annise Parker’s trade missions to Brazil are reaping some serious benefits in the Houston economy. Funny how that happens when government and the private sector cooperate.

The only sour note here… it’s great for our massive energy companies in Houston to be doing so well, but would it kill them to put some more of that money back into the local economy. How about joining forces with the city to help us fix our roads and sidewalks? After all, if you’re company is based here, it’s your employees that are using (and abusing) our infrastructure along with everyone else.

(Photo credit: Craig Washburn)

Related–

Obamanomics: Helping or Hurting Houston?

Houston’s Strong Economy: Why It’s More Than Just Hype

Houston, We Have A Budget…

And we didn’t have to fudge it.  

As exciting as Texas state politics have been this week, it’s important to also take a look back at events in local politics. For the City of Houston, a lot has been accomplished in the last couple of weeks. Far-removed from K-street underbelly controlling DC, or even the overt grand-standing that you find in Austin, Houston politics is on the whole a series of honest events. But that doesn’t mean municipal government lacks for excitement, or doesn’t have its fair share of fights. Houston City Council is about as diverse a government body as one may find. With a contingencies of Liberals, Conservatives and even Tea Party members holding office, Houston’s City Government feels quite reflective of the nation itself.  
But there is one critical delineation… In local government, failure is not an option. If Houston is to be a successful city, we must have a successful council. If they mess things up, Houstonians immediately know it. It also means that a city’s annual budget has to be real. Council can’t pass Continuing Resolutions, or waste constituent time and money promoting religious holidays through meaningless legislation. For a city, every dollar counts.  
That was the massive task that lay before Houston City Council on last week. They showed up to City Hall, political philosophies in tow, and worked together  past sundown. It wasn’t easy, but it was done.  
From Houston Chronicle reporter Mike Morris, here’s a summation of how the day went down…  
The roller-coaster 10-hour meeting – all but 45 minutes of which focused on Mayor Annise Parker’s budget and council members’ 60 proposed amendments to it – will require Parker to shuffle about $3.9 million in the $2.2 billion general fund budget. The rest of the city’s spending occurs in enterprise funds fed by fees and not taxes.

Parker said this year’s budget cycle has been far different from the past three, which saw the city slash spending during the recession.  


This budget we had new revenue coming in, and so there was an opportunity to set priorities for new spending,” she said. “So it was a little more difficult here at the table because we all had different ideas on how we spend that new money.”  

Among the successful amendments: A $2 million push to redeploy four ambulances shelved during the cutbacks; a $1.5 million summer jobs program for youth; $250,000 for cameras to monitor illegal dumping; and money to increase the Houston Center for Literacy’s budget from $400,000 to $500,000. Other big-ticket items, including a $3 million summer-jobs program and $1.5 million for after-school programs, were voted down. 
Houston’s Senior Citizens will be getting some tax relief as well. The city’s current tax exemption for homeowners 65 and older will rise from $70,862 to $80,000. This exemption, along with the other amendments will impact the overall budget, requiring the Mayor’s office to look for flexibility in other areas.

“I’m not going to make the cut right away… Since we all believe that the revenue will come in above our expectations, we believe we can still hit our targets even with this cut. It just means there’s less going to next year’s fund balance” Mayor Parker said. Council Member Brown went on to reiterate that this year’s budget came in with a $6 million- dollar surplus as well, confirming that the money was available to absorb the cut.

And 10 hours later, the Houston City Council adopted a $4.9 Billion- dollar budget. The first one in three years with no significant job cuts. I applaud the Mayor and Council members for their hard work. 

A city budget may lack the glamour of a raucous floor vote at the Capitol, but keeping an area as massive as Houston running is noble and necessary work indeed. Mayor Parker and City Council deserve to be lauded for it. Off the Kuff has a more timely post on the subject.

Houston City Council Approves Safe Passing Ordinance

For several decades now, Houston, Texas has been seen as a city whose streets are ruled exclusively by the automobile. One visit to the city lets you know that most cars drive the streets as fast as possible with little regard to anyone else that may be using the street. Because of this, Houston streets are very dangerous for cyclists, pedestrians, disabled citizens or anyone else who need to use them.

But today, the Houston City Council took a critical step to change our auto-only mentality. By a unanimous vote, Council approved Houston’s Safe Passing Ordinance. Effective immediately, non-commercial drivers in Houston must maintain at least 3 feet of space between them and all “vulnerable users”… cyclists, pedestrians, disabled citizens, equestrians, and anyone else using the road outside of an automobile. For larger trucks and commercial vehicles, they have to maintain 6 feet of separation.

From the City’s Official Press Release

“As a city, we need to protect everyone and anyone who uses our roads,” said Mayor Annise Parker. “This ordinance will make our city even more attractive to those who want to enjoy traveling in forms other than by car.”

In addition to requiring safe passing and trailing distances from vulnerable road users, this ordinance prohibits any motor vehicle occupant from throwing or projecting any object or substance at or against them.

“BikeHouston is pleased to see this ordinance pass and proud of the Mayor’s continued efforts on helping Houston become a more bicycle-friendly city,” says Kathryn Baumeister, Chair of BikeHouston. “Houston is a city of cars, but also has a big population of people who rely on cycling for transportation and recreation. We feel it is important for cyclists and drivers of automobiles to respect one another on the road. This ordinance will help provide a measure of safety for the vulnerable road users.”

Jenifer Rene Pool, a candidate for Houston City Council and major advocate for the improvement Houston’s infrastructure, also had this comment via Twitter…

“I’m pleased to see that City Council has taken initiative to protect cyclists and joggers on the streets of Houston. Good work.”

Good work indeed, and some would say it was long overdue. Houston was the “last hold-out”, but now all of the major cities in Texas have Safe Passage laws in effect. As more motorists are educated about the new law, it will definitely stand to make our streets safer, but there is still much work to be done on the streets themselves. With so many of the city’s roads in poor condition, it’s still difficult to make them truly safe for all. Hopefully the next steps will be to repair the roads and work on Complete Streets initiatives, but in itself, Safe Passage is welcomed news for Houston.

Off the Kuff has some background on this issue.

Share the road Houston… It’s the law now.

Houston’s Chapter 42: City Response

As city government leaders continue the debate for Houston’s future growth and development, many residents have lots of questions for how these changes will affect their area. The first major move to address those issues is likely to come to a City Council vote on April 24th… an expansion and re-vamp of Houston’s Chapter 42 ordinance. After addressing some of my concerns in this previous post regarding Chapter 42, here’s a response from Brian Crimmins, Chief-of-Staff for the City of Houston Planning Department.

The City and the Houston Super Neighborhood Alliance (SNA) are almost to a final agreement on the SNA Top Ten Concerns related to development. Most of these items are outside Chapter 42, so the City has been working outside of the Chapter 42 amendment process to address them. The main outstanding item is related to drainage – specifically, grandfathering of drainage and drainage requirements for parcels less than 15,000 SF. CM Costello’s office has been taking the lead on the issue of drainage.

Chapter 42 and the Construction Code were both amended in late 2011 to establish buffering requirements when a development is proposed that is over 75 feet in height, is located along a local or collector street, and abuts single-family residential. This was in response to the “Ashby High-rise” project. You can find out more about the Residential Buffering Ordinance here.

The amendments to Chapter 42 would actually encourage more single-family residential in areas outside Loop 610. The current “urban rules” deal primarily with the density of single-family residential and have no impact on the location of high-rise or multi-family residential. Multi-family can currently build anywhere in the city – both inside and outside of Loop 610 – under the same rules and standards. When people talk about “high-density” related to Chapter 42, most do not realize that it is helping to make single-family a more attractive option than multi-family.

Yes, housing prices in some “popular” areas have increased, however many areas in the city (including areas within the loop) remain affordable to a wide range of residents. The Chapter 42 amendments will create more flexible options for housing products moving forward, and therefore create more flexible home prices across the board. At the end of the day, however, home prices will continue to be market driven – hot spots will continue to see increases or remain higher than other areas of the city.

We have worked with the Department of Public Works & Engineering, as well as the Houston Fire Department to establish the new rules. They are a great improvement to safety and design standards over existing standards.

Beyond general comments, Mr. Crimmins also answered a couple of specific questions I had regarding the proposed ordinance and amendments…

How will the following issues be addressed in Mayor Parker’s plans for the new (and I assume, updated) ordinance?

Q: Building materials. I am particularly concerned that there seems to be lots of “cheap” construction being built inside the loop… wood-frame housing, construction that cuts corners and doesn’t plan for the future of the area. I haven’t done any formal comparisons, but I have encountered much construction that seems to be “sub-par”. Does the newer version of Chapter 42 address this?

A: Chapter 42 does not regulate the construction material for buildings, rather it focuses on how land can be subdivided and assembled for future development. These requirements are found in documents established by national or international organizations that have been adopted by the City of Houston. The most recognizable of these is the 2006 International Building Code and 2006 International Residential Code published by the International Code Council. Other codes we use include the 2006 International Fire Code, 2006 Uniform Mechanical Code, 2006 Uniform Plumbing Code, 2011 National Electrical Code, and the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code. The City has adopted amendments to these documents that can be found here. Each of these standards is reviewed by the Department of Public Works & Engineering and will not be changed as part of the Chapter 42 process. If you notice a development being constructed with what appears to be “sub-par” construction methods, please report the project to 311 and the City will send an inspector out as needed.

Q: Sidewalks and street maintenance. Of course, this is a continuing issue within Houston, simply because our streets are just not uniform. I do see that Chapter 42 addresses streets to plan for pedestrian needs, but even it doesn’t go so far as to mandate how these sidewalks are structured with regard to existing utility poles, meters, and any other existing impediments. I’ve seen many shortcuts around this as well (thinking more about an area like EaDo which is building many townhomes brand new from formerly vacant lots). How is the ordinance improved to consider this?

A: Chapter 42 does not regulate the construction and/or maintenance of sidewalks or streets. The ordinance does make reference to sidewalks for certain “performance standards” to get automatic reductions to the typical requirements; however it is the Public Works & Engineering Infrastructure Design Manual (IDM) that formally sets the criteria for public infrastructure in the city.

With the Chapter 42 amendments we will be requiring that new single-family residential development be required to provide an existing conditions survey at the subdivision plat stage. This survey will detail conditions in the right of way and help the City identify potential concerns earlier in the process. With respect to the utility poles, meters, and other impediments that might be added later, we are working on a couple different avenues. First, the City is drafting an agreement with CenterPoint on collaboration in a number of areas including a 50 year plan to bury overhead power lines. We are in the process of developing an Inter-local Agreement that will be brought to a Council Committee in the 2nd quarter. Also, a Planning Commission committee is reviewing the location and design criteria for group mail boxes and group meter boards. They will develop an appropriate strategy, i.e. amend rules or education by June 2013.

First of all, I want to take the opportunity to thank Justin Concepcion, Social Media Coordinator for the Mayor’s Office, and Mr. Crimmins for the detailed response. It is always helpful to hear the city’s perspective and get clarity on the situation with the ordinance. The response also helps to provide a better understanding of exactly what is in the scope of Chapter 42. It is certainly not a “zoning” ordinance in the traditional sense of the word, but given the long history of how Houston has managed to avoid so many of these issues, it seems like a step in the right direction. It’s also helpful to see Chapter 42 in the context of more comprehensive plans to tackle a legacy of “anything goes” development culture.

I suppose you have to start somewhere.

Houston Faces Growing Pains with Chapter 42

Everyone of us can identify with the notion of growing pains… going from the small frame of a child, to one’s body awkwardly adjusting into adulthood. You probably remember the weird fit of your clothes, interesting voice changes, and of course a flood unexplained (and often unreasoned) emotions.

The city of Houston is about to experience some serious growing pains as well. Mayor Annise Parker has set up the latest coucil battle over Chapter 42 the city’s main proposal for density of new development… to take place on April 10th. And a battle it is sure to be.

Currently, Houston is the largest city in the United States of America without any formal zoning code. When a developer comes to the city, they can basically build whatever they want, regardless of what it’s next to, or where it is located. The only way that a particular area can “zone” itself for a certain type of development is to have very clear deed restrictions. If the neighborhood doesn’t have iron clad deed restrictions, then they are left susceptible to situations like Ashby High Rise… where the developers are going to build a 21-story skyscraper in the middle of an area of very old, very WEALTHY old Houston mansions. No zoning means there’s no stopping the developers… no matter how much money or influence the surrounding residents have. Chapter 42 plans to set some guidelines that will regulate future land use.

But what has many residents mad is that Chapter 42 actually encourages more high-density development like Ashby High Rise, and makes it much more expensive to build a single family home. The ordinance amendment is already in effect inside the loop, and most can tell that there are very few single family homes being built in Central Houston… but a TON of new, high-density apartments and townhomes. Under the next phase of the ordinance, the high-density regulation area will be extended to all of Houston between the loop and the Beltway. And that’s what has got current residents up in arms. Many (whom live in detached, single family homes already) don’t want more dense development coming to their area. They want to keep their neighborhood just as it is.

The truth of the matter though? Nothing in Houston is going to stay “as is”… this is one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. People will continue to move to Houston for the forseeable future, and when they get here, they will need affordable housing options. In Mayor Parker’s view, the purpose of Chapter 42 is to protect affordable housing within the Central city. But Chapter 42 isn’t doing that as it is… the Houston housing market is on fire right now, and property values have shot through the roof.

Another major problem with this ordinance? It definitely encourages more development, but it’s not encouraging smarter development. With so many of the new townhomes that have sprouted inside the loop, developers get to be too lax with how they meet the city’s “standards” that the current ones are practically useless. Many of the safety codes that Chapter 42 legislates are simply not being enforced. Everyday I pass by unsafe clusters of new townhomes… all built from wood… that couldn’t possibly have enough room for a fire truck if they were to catch fire. The cheap construction materials aren’t being measured against Hurricane force winds, or any sort of predictable fire prevention. The city was very lucky during Hurricane Ike, but what if we were to get some of the damage that happened on our coastal areas? And beyond that, Chapter 42 isn’t aesthetically pleasing either. Homes are littered with unsightly utility meeters, disjunct sidewalks, random utility poles and all of the other quirky issues that occur in Houston’s “Wild West” development culture.

Before Chapter 42 is expanded, it first needs to WORK properly. If the city of Houston cannot establish real zoning ordinances, we better be sure of what we’re getting before we expand half-zoning that doesn’t do as intended. The growing pains of this city are real, but if we really want to solve the issues, we have to take the right pain medicine. And my greatest concern is that Chapter 42 is more placebo than pain killer.