The right pick
Sharp brings a no-nonsense attitude to the task of rebuilding Southeast Texas.
There’s few things more powerful in the state of Texas than the can-do, Gig ’Em spirit of an Aggie. That’s what Gov. Greg Abbott tapped in naming John Sharp, the chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, to lead the new Governor’s Commission to Rebuild Texas.
Sharp is just the man for the job. He grew up outside of Victoria, one of the cities hardest hit by Harvey, and has a deep understanding of Southeast Texas. He has a long, distinguished career in public service, having spent almost a decade representing his district in the Texas Legislature, then eight years as Comptroller of Public Accounts, the state’s top accountant and tax collector, where he made a national reputation for cutting government waste.
As A&M chancellor, Sharp has overseen the most ambitious expansion in the system’s history, expanding the overall student body by 26,000, purchasing a law school and undertaking $5.4 billion in construction, including a half-billion-dollar rebuild of Kyle Field.
That’s just the kind of big thinking we need in the wake of Harvey. Simply put, the status quo is unacceptable. No longer can we allow real estate developers to write the rules for how Houston grows. The paving of the Katy Prairie with strip malls and subdivisions destroyed much of the city’s capacity to absorb floodwater. Developers were allowed to build homes inside the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs over the objections of the Army Corps of Engineers. Is it any surprise that those houses flooded during Harvey?
As the state’s new recovery czar, Sharp should ignore the Pollyannas who insist that Houston continue on its current path. Instead, he should listen to the many Cassandras who warned Houston again and again about its aging flood-control infrastructure and the growing threat posed by climate change. The Cassandras were right; the Pollyannas were wrong. Sharp has pledged to listen to and work closely with local officials, which is laudable. But he shouldn’t hesitate to lean hard on leaders too timid to make the major changes necessary to prepare Houston for the next Harvey. At A&M, many of Sharp’s boldest initiatives created significant blowback, but he persisted in forcing them through.
“After I left politics, I made enough money so that I don’t have to do this job,” he recently told Texas Monthly. “So I can truly do what Sam Houston said, which is do right and hell with the consequences.”
Sharp needs to bring that same nononsense attitude to the monumental task of rebuilding Southeast Texas. This is not the time for political bickering, ideological posturing or petty regional rivalries. City, county, regional and state officials need to work together to design and implement a new approach to storm protection and management. As someone with a proven ability to work across party lines, Sharp is ideally suited to lead such an effort.
Sharp has pledged to listen to and work closely with local officials, which is laudable. But he shouldn’t hesitate to lean hard on leaders too timid to make the major changes necessary to prepare Houston for the next Harvey.