Discussion of city campaigns
When we established Term Limits for the Houston City Council, we had Council Members who had been serving in office for decades. It seemed like the only way we could move them would be to limit their terms. There was much enthusiasm about the idea. When a person has been serving on Council for 30 […]
Continue reading →As promised, we’ll continue to assess term limits this week. The last post focused on the conjunction of term limits and city budgets. Today, let’s discuss rapid administration changes. Prior to term limits, Mayors would definitely replace officials from the previous administration – both staff and appointed – with their own choices. They would frequently […]
Continue reading →In 1991, Houston voters adopted Term Limits. It took another election cycle to truly remove the long-term Council Members due to a loophole that grandfathered them. However, by the 1993 cycle we began to see new blood on City Council. The first group of term-limited Council Members was very outspoken, engaged and active. Some of […]
Continue reading →The City and County have been steadily handing out “pink slips” for the last few months. Each have been laying off employees, eliminating positions through attrition, and overall trimming their staffs to balance budgets. Government jobs are not as easy to eliminate as in the private sector. Due to the lower pay of most of […]
Continue reading →City Elections are finally kicking into gear as summer approaches. This is actually a late start to the campaign season. The City’s redistricting process has held up the usual frantic fundraising process as candidates study the lines and watch to see districts materialize. Mayor Parker drew an opponent last week. Deputy Fire Chief Fernando Herrera […]
Continue reading →Houston area Latinos pulled their disparate organizations together and presented a revised redistricting plan to the Houston City Council yesterday. Most of you probably think this makes good sense and see nothing unusual about it. However, I must tell you that it is significant. There are many forces that work for varying aspects of improvement […]
Continue reading →On Friday, April 15, the Mayor delivered her State of the City address to the Greater Houston Partnership. This annual event is one of the largest of the year and I have been attending it through several Mayors. Approximately 1500 leading Houstonians from the business sector and elected leadership gathered to listen to the Mayor’s […]
Continue reading →As you may recall from previous posts, the City of Houston is adding two additional Council seats due to population increases. Yesterday, the first draft of a map was presented at City Council along with animated discussion of the proposed plan. I am, admittedly, a bit of a demographic junkie and enjoy studying numbers. The […]
Continue reading →The Houston City Council has initiated their Redistricting process. And, already, it has become contentious. The City is ahead of the Legislature as it holds elections this November and has a tight deadline to meet for Justice Department approval. Last week, Council took up the discussion and immediately a disagreement emerged over the addition of […]
Continue reading →For more years than I can remember, I have been attending the Greater Houston Partnership’s annual State of the City luncheon. The current Mayor addresses an audience of 1200 – 1500 people and updates the crowd, filled with business and civic leaders, on the state of the city. In all these years, the luncheon has […]
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