January 16, 2003

Mayor Lee P, Brown's State of the City Address

Thank you Deborah Cannon for that kind introduction.  Steve Miller, I know I speak for all Houston business people and all Houstonians when I congratulate you on your fine leadership of the Greater Houston Partnership last year.  I have enjoyed working with you on those things so important to Houston’s future.

Debra, congratulations on taking the helm.  It does not go unnoticed that you are the first woman to chair the Partnership.  I look forward to working with you throughout this year.

To members of the Houston City Council, thank you for your service.  And to Harris County Precinct Two Commissioner – formerly City Controller – Sylvia Garcia, many thanks for your service.  Controller Judy Johnson, I look forward to working with you this year.  We all know that the City of Houston benefits greatly from the friends we have in Austin and Washington D.C.  On behalf of a grateful city, I thank them for their support.

Fellow Houstonians:

It does not seem all that long ago that I stood here and gave my first State of the City address.  But, in truth, so very much has happened in our city and our country.  Now I begin my final year as Houston’s mayor.  It has been a real honor to serve, and I want to thank the Greater Houston Partnership for being such a stalwart friend and collaborator on so many issues and projects.

Every successful company or government has principles it adheres to, to help guide and provide direction.  As you saw in the video, I began my administration with Five Guiding Principles, and they have continued to serve our city well.  We have seen many successes in our programs for children.

More than half of Houston neighborhoods are participating in the Super Neighborhood Councils, and they are now having a real say in their own future.  These are, largely, neighborhoods that truly needed to work more closely with city government.  With that being said, I would like my department heads to stand and be recognized.  They are dedicated public servants -- and I thank each of you for that dedication.

The City of Houston is an efficient enterprise.  Nearly all of the time, things work the way they are supposed to.  That does not make headlines.  Trash gets picked up.  Clean water comes from the faucets.  Streets get repaired.  Children are immunized.  And now, with 311, citizens can get their questions and concerns handled in a timely manner, not having to find the right number of more than 600 city extensions.

As with any large city, emergencies occur.  Pipes break.  Street lamps go out.  In the end, problems are taken care of in a fairly rapid fashion.  That is because our City employees want to do the best they can for the citizens.  They intend to make things work for the citizens.

Houston’s diversified economy has helped us weather the current stagnant national economy.  Our job growth is not what it was in the late 1990s – but we all know that will change.  Cost of living in Houston – home prices and rent, groceries, entertainment and retail – just cannot be beat.  Houston’s economy is global.  Houston reaches around the world in economic trade – benefiting one in three of our workers.  We are a vital part of the global market place.  Houston is recognized far and wide for what we have:  our quality of life, our airports and port, our cost of living, educational opportunities, entertainment… It is all in place – or rapidly getting there.

We have always been a city where people feel that what they wanted to do with their lives was entirely possible.  They could do anything!  Houston is not just a can-do city, it is a WILL-do city.  Houston – and Houstonians – have a sense of the possible.  And it is that attitude that created our great city – a city second to none to live, work and play.

The ancient Greek statesman, Pericles, was our first urban scholar and critic.  Pericles spoke about those things that made up a city – buildings, roadways, homes, places to meet and worship, the marketplace.  And he spoke of something harder to put your hands around, but something he felt just as important as good roads and schools:  civic pride.  That was the glue that held the ancient city/state together.  And Houston’s immense civic pride is the glue today that not only has kept our city strong but also gives our city and its people optimism about the future.

But you don’t build the future IN the future.  You do it NOW.  Over the past five years, my administration has worked hard to do just that…Build Houston’s Future NOW.

Because of that, the next mayor will not have to preside over the re-vitalization of our downtown area, including the construction of four new high-rise office buildings, Phase II of Bayou Place, a new $40 million family aquarium attraction, and a number of hotels – following non-existent hotel development since the late 1970s.

The next mayor will not have to marshal all resources to re-build much of our street system and utility infrastructure.

The next mayor will not have to pay back $50 million to METRO.

The next mayor will not have to expand the George R. Brown Convention Center and build a great downtown convention hotel – which had been on the drawing board for 20 years -- the Hilton Americas.

The next mayor will not have to work with area stakeholders and put together the plan to meet clean air requirements.

The next mayor will not have to create a plan for ensuring an adequate supply of water for our city and surrounding area, and build a surface water plant.

The next mayor will not have to fight for a light rail down Main Street that will soon be moving thousands of people each day.

The next mayor will not have to develop master plans for the libraries and parks, for Buffalo Bayou, the Main Street Corridor, or a general plan for Houston.

The next mayor will not have to pass the largest infrastructure bond package ever put to the voters, or pass a bond referendum to build a new terminal for our Port.

The next mayor will not have to bridge the digital divide.   

The next mayor will not have to fight for after school programs that have kept many of our children from getting into trouble.

The next mayor will not have to begin a massive $2.8 billion expansion of our airports system.

The next mayor will not have to create an energy savings plan that will save millions of dollars.

The next mayor will not have to work with Bob McNair to bring the National Football League back to our city.  The next mayor will not have to build a new baseball stadium, football stadium or basketball and hockey arena.

Houston is positioned to become one of the prime sites for sports and entertainment events.  Just think about it:  Three new sports facilities.  A vibrant downtown.  A light rail to the Reliant Stadium.  Events like the 2004 Super Bowl and the 2004 Major League All Star Game will have tremendous economic impact on our city – at least $200 million each.  And 2004 is just the beginning!

We are building Houston’s future NOW!

I would like to take the time allotted to me today to talk to you about several areas of our city, where we are in our progress and what we envision these areas of interest to be in the future.  In doing so, we must understand that there is no finish line in the life of a great city. The mayor’s office is a continuum.  Mayors build on the work of their predecessors and lay the groundwork for successors to guide our city and marshal all available resources to provide the best services for our children.

When I ran for mayor, I promised that I would serve as mayor for all Houstonians.  I have done that.  And the next person who takes this office must do likewise.

Public Safety

Public safety is my top priority, and has been since my days as a young patrolman on the beat in San Jose, California.  It was my priority when I came to Houston in 1982 to serve as police chief.  Unlike now, the downtown area then had no night life.  Granted, it was not the most prosperous time for Houston, but many people told me they were frightened to come downtown because of the crime.  I knew that was, in reality, a false fear.  Downtown then was relatively safe.  Yet, people were fearful, so I established the mounted patrol with a few officers and horses.  I knew that an officer on a horse would make the streets feel safe.  You could see them. They stood out.  Then, as is the case today, our downtown area is one of the safest major city downtowns in the nation.

Of course, now our downtown is bustling.  And the mounted patrol, with 62 great horses – all donated by generous citizens and companies – can be seen throughout the city.  By the way, the stable is off the West Loop, and we encourage citizens to stop by for a look.  Bring a few carrots with you!

Early on in my first term, we began putting together a concept of merging all our emergency dispatch units – 9-1-1, police, fire and emergency medical.  In a few months, the new Houston Emergency Center will open.  The building is completed, and just the finishing touches on its advanced high-speed communication technology remain.  Because we have pulled together the classified dispatch and will now have a central, civilian dispatch, the center is eligible for considerable funds from the Greater Houston 911 System.

Coordinated communication among the different services is critical in an emergency.  In half of emergency cases, at least two services respond.

Last year we opened two new fire stations.  We will soon begin work on the downtown Super Station.  As you may have heard, the Insurance Service Offices and the Texas Department of Insurance has once again raised the Houston Fire Department property protection rating from 2 to 1, following last year’s hike from 3 to 2.  This says a great deal about our fire fighters:  they are the best.

I am pleased to report that we have 184 more firefighters than when I came into office – thanks to our Academy training program.

Houston police are the finest.  And they were also busy – with an emergency call every 12 seconds, night and day.   About 2.5 million calls in 2002.

Two new HPD divisions we began last year have had some very fine results.  HPD’s Truck Enforcement Unit and Aggressive Driver Program had very successful years, with 730 unsafe truck drivers taken off the streets and 3,400 unsafe trucks removed from service.  In the Aggressive Driver Program, 35,000 citations were given to overly aggressive and dangerous drivers.

Let me say a few words about Houston’s crime rate.  I’ve studied crime rates my entire career, and I know they rise and fall nationally.  The cities make up these numbers.  Houston’s different rates are marginally up and down.  Compared to last year, robbery, burglary and theft are up, from 6-13 percent; and you always see this when the economy is in recession.  Murder and rape are down from last year, 3 and 5.5 percent respectively.  Certainly, every category is significantly lower than a decade ago, and that is what is important – not to look at rates from year to year but in trends.  The real question of course is how safe we feel we are.

I also want to salute the fine officers who staff our 31 Police Storefronts.  These have been of enormous benefit to the neighborhoods they serve.

A frequently overlooked aspect of our public safety is the fine laboratory of our City Health and Human Services Department.  The health department is truly “on the front lines” of public health.  The water you drink, the milk your kids drink, the food at your favorite restaurants… indeed the air you breathe and the mosquitoes that you slap.  All of these are monitored carefully, and I think a measure of the department’s success is how little you hear of public health crises in our city.

Now the health department has inherited a new responsibility:  readiness for the possibility of bioterrorism.  The department received a $700,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help establish a bioterrorism section.  This will be part of the CDC response network.  Hospitals can submit specimens for definitive identification.  Our staff is currently training personnel from the labs of 17 other Texas counties.

I have not lifted the heightened state of security we put in place in September 2001.  Our key facilities – as do yours – have in place a security apparatus that protects as well as humanly possible.  We are not in a state of siege.  We are simply in a new era of preparedness.  My goal is to develop a system of homeland security that is part of everyday city operations.  To that end, I would like to introduce someone.

I am very pleased that John Bales has joined the administration as senior executive assistant for Public Safety and Drug Policy.  John has 25 years of experience in law enforcement with the City of Houston and 15 years in the corporate sector where he directed global security for Tenneco, Inc. and, later, for Duke Energy.  Welcome aboard, John.

Economy

To truly appreciate Houston’s economy, let us put together all the nations of the world and all the cities in this country in one list, and measure them by the Gross Domestic and Metropolitan Products.  Houston’s Gross Metropolitan Product, at $190 BILLION, is larger than that of Saudi Arabia, or Hong Kong, or Indonesia, or Greece, or Venezuela, or Israel, or Egypt, or Malaysia, or the Philippines.  On that list of 506 countries and U.S. cities, Houston comes in at 27.

A municipal economy this large is highly resilient – especially if it is a diversified economy and especially if it is a truly global economy.  And Houston is both!

We are blessed with industries – energy, space and medicine, petrochemicals, our airports and port – that are rock solid.  And, two of three new jobs in Houston are in the service sector.

Importantly, the Houston economy – as measured by the GDP – grew more rapidly than any other of our large U.S. cities since 1998, a comparison done by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.  Coincidentally, that was my first year in office.

As a city of industry, as a city of technology, as a city of advanced health care and research, as a city of trade, as Space City, and as the Energy Capital of the World, Houston is a good place to be in the labor force.  And a good place to be an entrepreneur.  I think I am correct when I say that it is small businesses that create the most new jobs.

I have gone on several overseas trade missions.  Several in this audience have gone with me.  In this, my last year as mayor, I will continue do what I can to help our corporations in their international business endeavors.

We have seen our city become a true global city, known around the world for its business savvy and cooperative spirit.  I know because I hear it constantly when I am on a trade mission.

And in a world with too many “trouble spots,” international trade and international partnerships are a good way to help keep peace.  In just the most recent example, Chinese President Jiang Zemen chose Houston to be his last visit to the U.S.  We met several times, and the city hosted a dinner for him.

The Houston Airport System has begun a massive $2.8 billion expansion.  It will quadruple cargo capacity at Bush Intercontinental, add 15 new international gates, a new central concourse at Hobby, a new centralized car rental facility, a new Federal Inspection facility for customs, immigration and agriculture… and on and on.  We are truly building for the future!

This past year, Houston was honored to host several very important meetings.  The Offshore Technology Conference; the World Space Congress, held only once a decade; and the first meeting of the World Energy Cities Partnership, a group of 10 energy cities from around the world, looking to Houston for leadership.  In fact, the World Energy Cities asked Houston to serve as its Secretariat.

The City of Houston encourages participation by everyone in city contracts.  In FY 2002, the city awarded more than 400 minority- and women-owned firms $ 286 million in contracts and professional services.  Disadvantaged Business Enterprises at the airports grossed $38.5 million.

And City Hall itself is diverse and reflects the population.  I am especially gratified that nine of our 19 department directors are women.

Let me again challenge the private sector to be just as aggressive in ensuring diversity in your work force.  We all benefit when you do.

A vibrant workforce comes about through education, and we are most fortunate in Houston.  The Houston Independent School District and the other 12 districts in our city, our Houston Community College System and the fine public and private colleges and universities and medical schools provide our region with every conceivable program of study for our workforce.

Youth

Houston’s children never fail to surprise me!  They are so “up” on things – and of course most of them could teach most of us a thing or two about computers.

I said “most” of them, but not all.  And that was the impetus this administration had for the SimHouston project, which has bridged the digital divide in our city.  Children and young people, as well as job seekers, no matter what their economic situation, have lined up at Houston public library branches to use this free Internet-based software to create, store and send over a quarter million documents.  I said when we began that project, and I will say it again now:  computer and internet accessibility must be a right – not a privilege – in the Information Age.

I am pleased to report that as of this week, we have over 65,000 individuals “logged on” to SimHouston.  It is very popular!  At most library sites, users must wait in line in order to access the computer for their allotted 30 minutes.

We have had great success with our after school reading and enrichment programs that began in my first term.  The After School Achievement Program served 12,500 children at 102 schools.  The ASPIRE program served at-risk 5^th through 9^th graders at 18 public libraries, and has made a real difference for these kids’ school performance.  The program was named one of the nation’s five top programs for teens by the American Library Association.

Our Summer Reading Program at the libraries attracted 40,436 youngsters, who read 632,000 books, a 4 percent increase over last summer.  A number of children read over 50 books!  When I speak with children – which I truly love doing – I tell them that I was called a “bookworm” when I was a kid!  And I tell them, “Your education will be your most valuable possession!”

You all know how I feel about Houston’s children.  They deserve the very best in every aspect of their lives.  What we are working on now – plentiful water, clean air, efficient mobility, safe neighborhoods – is for them.

Here is what I think is the most important element of Houston’s success story.  It goes hand in hand with Pericles’ civic pride.  It is that we all know this city really is about what is possible.  What is possible for our businesses, and what is possible for neighborhoods.  Most importantly it is about what’s possible for our families and our children.  That sense of what is possible is perfectly captured in the image of a shuttle lift off, of a researcher in front of her computer, or a youngster in one of our Parks department’s golf instruction classes.

Speaking of young people, I want to make an appeal to this audience.  In all City departments, we utilize student interns, all in all perhaps 100 students per year, typically high school seniors.  Most of them learn an enormous amount; for some, the experience focuses them on a career direction.  I am asking you, the private sector, to re-emphasize your corporation’s involvement with students.

Neighborhoods

We all know people who came to Houston in order to realize their dreams.  They live in homes that would cost significantly more in other cities.

Homes.  Homes make up neighborhoods.  A great city is made up of great neighborhoods – including every Houstonian’s neighborhood, Downtown.

Certainly one of the very exciting things about our city has been the recent development of living space downtown and in midtown.  People want to live “where the action is.”  The two – a place to live and a place to play – have created one of the most exciting and livable inner cities anywhere.  While still a bargain in comparison to any other major city, our housing costs are growing – but not soaring.  It is both a seller’s and buyer’s market, and we are near or at record levels for both.

In a city with housing costs 44 percent below the average of the 25 largest U.S. cities, there must be affordable housing for all our citizens.

A keen interest of mine has been to increase home ownership in Houston.  My vision is to see Houston go over that 50 percent mark by the end of this decade.  Our City Housing and Community Development Department has done some great work in stabilizing and revitalizing neighborhoods.  The Homebuyer’s Assistance Program provided $6.2 million to qualified homebuyers for the purchase of new or re-sold single family homes in the past fiscal year.  Also, with our relatively new Developer Reimbursement Program, 14 developments with a total of 900 affordably priced homes will be built.  I salute the Greater Houston Builders Association for their partnership in this effort.  We need to keep at it.  A great city makes homeownership possible for people who want to own a home of their own.

Let me return to downtown.  The street and utility reconstruction downtown has severely tested us.  I am not going to go into the law suits that held it all up, or the fact that we have to spend these federal funds by 2005 or we will lose them and hurt our chances for more.  As you know, much of the underground utility infrastructure was well beyond its expected lifetime.

This audience appreciates the fact that we are doing what has to be done.

What I will say is that we are much closer to the end than we are to the beginning.  I have walked the streets and talked with patrons and owners and managers.  It has been a difficult time in several areas of the downtown.  At every point of this process, the City, the Downtown Management District, Metro and the contractors worked to make the inconvenience as brief as possible.

It is also a period of building construction not seen downtown in a long time.  Half of the 31 major buildings under construction will be finished by this time next year.

Challenges

In 2020, the issue for large cities in America and around the world will not be how much water will cost, but whether there is any.  Wars have been fought over it.  Here at home, it can be a divisive issue.  In the end, you can get by with almost any inconvenience, but the lack of water will economically cripple some cities.  Not ours.

We are on schedule (and on budget) for completion of the Northeast Water Purification Plant, by December 2003.  At $125 million, it is the largest municipal water project in 20 years.  But, with water, failure is not an option.  We were faced with the very real possibility of paying out $105 million a year to the Subsidence District if we were not in compliance with the mandates.  The design-build-operate plan for the Northeast Water Plant brought a lot of questions, but we are on track to save $85 million.  The Plant is a “big deal” to many people around the world who are visiting us in order to use this plant as a model.

A year and a half ago, Houston suffered the third most costly weather event in the nation’s history.  We have seen two 100-year floods in the past five years, so our luck has not been the best.  If our storm drainage is not improved, Houston will not grow.  Staying with the status quo is not an option; the current drainage system we have is woefully undersized.

The Nov. 2001 bond package that the voters overwhelmingly approved included a $550 million package of streets and drainage improvements.  The city’s Capital Improvement Plan for 2003-2007 doubles the amount of funding for drainage compared to the 2002-2006 Plan, but it falls short of what we will need.  We typically spend about one-tenth the resources on storm water as we do on wastewater, and $10 million a year on storm drainage is no longer adequate.  Sooner or later, we will need a dedicated fund of about $2.5 billion for drainage.

The solution is simple.  You can make it a new fee or you can increase the current water and sewer rates.  Note that I said “fee,” not “free.”  Of course, you can raise taxes.  Other cities have dedicated funds for storm drainage; it is not unusual.  We cannot be politicians on this issue.  We must be guardians– and our mission is the safety of our neighborhoods and our businesses.  This will be an undertaking for us this year, for my successor, and for my successor’s successor.  But it must be done.

Let me say a few words about the City of Houston’s budgets for FY 2003 and 2004.

For a while there, it looked like there was no end to the party.  But economies do not boom all the time, do they?

It is natural and expected to have an economy-based revenue projection.  After three years of 8 percent growth, last year saw 4 percent growth.  The city is an enormous not-for-profit agency, dedicated to providing services to all our citizens, supported by two kinds of taxes – property and sales -- that are at the mercy of the prevailing economy.  We have some control over fees, but the vast amount of our general revenue is from those two taxes. 

Our latest projection is a $28 million to $39 million shortfall for the current FY 2003.  In a $1.4 billion general fund budget, that may not seem substantial – but I assure you it is.  As you read in this morning’s paper, we are looking at the very real possibility of furloughs or even lay-offs.  In other words, it could not be more serious.  Every city department will be affected.

I report to you today that this budget shortfall will indeed be painful.

However, we are determined to keep our present level of public safety services – fire, police and emergency medical, as well as critical health department and solid waste department services.  If there are to be reductions, we will focus on administrative functions.  Those “front line” services will be maintained.

We are not alone.  All other large U.S. cities are experiencing fairly severe shortfalls – most much worse than ours.   Dallas has had both a tax increase and substantial layoffs.  We want to avoid both these options, of course.  But don’t take too much solace in that

We face an enormous challenge this year, and an even larger one in the 2004 budget.  As required by law, we will have a balanced budget.  The city is guided by well established financial policies.  Our capital management plan is sound, and there is ample public input.  Our information technology is far superior to where it was a few years ago.

Since Day One of my administration, I have directed our departments to do more with less.  Today, we have 1,141 fewer civilian employees in the City of Houston than we did when I first came into office – actual employees, not full-time equivalent positions.  In a civilian workforce of 14,000, that is a substantial reduction – an 8 percent reduction.  Any further personnel reduction will affect services.  Again I want to salute the city department heads and the employees for their hard work.

There are 184 more firefighters than when I came into office, through our aggressive training program, the last four years graduating 55, 105, 209, and 296 cadets in those years; that’s a 6 percent increase.  Our police numbers are relatively stationary – there are 36 more police officers than when I came into office -- attributable I think to the success of neighborhood oriented policing where you truly get the bang for your buck.

There are several good things on the horizon, however,  that will bring revenue to our city.  Certainly, as our convention business increases and people become aware of the wonderful hotel accommodations in Houston, we are going to see a real increase in tourism.  I had the great opportunity of giving welcoming remarks at about 50 conventions and meetings this past year, and I cannot count the out-of-towners I spoke with who were simply awe-struck at our city and how much there was to do here.  They will take that message back to their cities.

As our population continues to increase – we expect 1.6 million new Houstonians by 2020 – the demands upon our infrastructure will be enormous.  We will lay hundreds of miles of pipe to supply the western and northern parts of the county with water.  We must lay rail to all the key destinations in our area.  We will build elevated roadways above existing streets.  We must create a drainage system for one of the largest geographic cities in the world, which is just a few feet above sea level!

And, still, there are areas of our city which are blighted, with poor roads, open ditches and no sidewalks.  These neighborhoods deserve to be our priority.

I believe that this city must make a major commitment to its neighborhoods by investing in their infrastructure.

Today, as in the past, we are limited in what we can do because of financial constraints.

Yet, during my final year, I will develop a comprehensive plan to address those limitations.

To that end, I have directed the Department of Public Works and Engineering to issue a request for a proposal to solicit a team of engineers, municipal finance and law professionals to formulate strategies for the city to implement sustainable programs of neighborhood infrastructure development.

The goal of this solicitation is to challenge the private sector to come up with programs and funding strategies that are currently not being used or not available to the city.  The teams will be asked to identify possible new funding sources and methods that will increase efficiency and allow more projects to be implemented -- especially those projects designed to bring about substantial improvements in the neighborhoods throughout the city.  All interested firms will be encouraged to respond to the request for proposal.

Remember, we are not just developing our city for the present; rather, we are building for the future.

Clean air for Houstonians to breathe must remain one of the city’s top priorities.  During my tenure, we have worked in partnership with state and federal environmental officials, as well as business and community leaders in the region, to reduce the levels of air pollution that exist.  We have made significant progress, as evidenced by the EPA’s approval of the region’s clean air plan in the Fall of 2001.  We must continue to build on the progress already made.

The major policy  initiatives that we must pursue at the state level are obvious.  We must work with the Texas Commission on Environment Quality – formerly the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission – to eliminate the nitrogen oxide reduction shortfall that is embodied in the region’s clean air plan during the coming mid-course review.  As part of that effort, we must eliminate the unworkable landscape shift from the plan.  We must work with state leaders and our legislative delegation to ensure that the Texas Emission Reduction Plan as authorized by Senate Bill 5 is fully funded.

In addition to these policy initiatives with the State of Texas, the City of Houston will take the following actions to achieve our clean air goals:

1.)  I will issue an Executive Order within the next few weeks requiring city contractors to reduce emissions to the necessary levels by December 31, 2005 – IF the legislature fully funds the Texas Emission Reduction Plan by September 2003.

2.)  The city is entering into a partnership with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Houston-Galveston Area Council to reduce emissions in City operations by 75 percent by the end of 2005.  We will use the Senate Bill 5 and Congestion Mitigation Air Quality funds to finance these reductions.

3.)  The city will initiate an effort in 2003 to facilitate early attainment of the new ozone and fine particulate standards.

I have spoken at some length about clean air because I believe it will be the key element in the growth and well-being of our great city.  All of us must do our part.  Again:  All of us must do our part!

I know that together we can do with our air what we’ve done in the Brownfields Redevelopment Program of the Mayor’s Office for Environmental Policy.  More than 1,000 acres have been entered into the program, with 455 acres currently having construction projects on them.  The Hobby Center, Minute Maid Field, the Landry’s Aquarium, Wildcat Golf Course and several other sites totaling 700 residential units and 30,000 square feet of commercial space sit on former brownfields.  That is a successful program that has re-claimed the past and turned it into the future!

I have one final objective for my last year, and that is to change the current term limits for the city.  They simply do not make sense.  Your elected leaders spend half their terms running for office.  They become politicians!  First, I will ask the state legislature to change our current three two-year terms to two four-year terms.  If, for some reason, the legislature does not accomplish this, I will ask City Council to put this before the voters in this November’s election.  Please support my initiative.

During my administration, I have seen hundreds of successes brought about through public-private partnerships.  There isn’t an area of our city that has not benefited from the public and private sectors working together, whether it’s a TIRZ in the Third Ward, a new performance hall downtown, a golf course on a former brownfield, or a renovated historic hotel.  Together, we have had many successes, and there are more ahead of us.

In very few cities is there such a partnership as we have, where the business of government and the business of business work so well in tandem.

We are entering what should be an interesting political year around here!  If I have any advice for the candidates it would be to stay focused on those issues that will make Houston a better city.  I have great confidence that this audience will remain focused on our goals.  City Hall and Houston’s businesses have accomplished some wonderful things – and we have so much more to do.

The many parts of our city:  streets, parks, schools, neighborhoods, downtown, shopping centers, and the wonderful, diverse people – all of this held together by our civic pride.  We are tremendously proud of this city!  As we have every right to be!

I am proud to have been given the honor of serving as your mayor.

Our future is exciting.  The possibilities are endless.  The state of our city is strong, and we are indeed blessed to live and work here.