Turner touts parks plan, renews pitch for transit
Mayor casts state of the city as ‘strong’ — a depiction rejected by his opponents
Mayor Sylvester Turner used his fourth annual State of the City address Monday to announce a plan aimed at drawing private investment to city parks in underserved areas, while casting the state of the city as “strong, resilient and sustainable,” a depiction his mayoral opponents swiftly rejected.
Turner, who is up for re-election in November, also renewed his call for a multimodal transit system with rail and bus rapid transit, urging residents to give Metro borrowing authority for its long-term plan in November. The agency is expected to put a multi-billiondollar bond request on the ballot.
“This is not the city of the 1990s,” Turner said. “This city has changed. The region is changing. People are demanding multimodal options, and we have to give it to them.”
During his speech and subsequent “fireside chat” with H-E-B president Scott McClelland, Turner largely rehashed points and ideas he already has floated, including ones used at early stops on the campaign trail.
Speaking to a packed crowd of elected officials, city staff and the business community, the mayor pitched Houston as a prime location for technology startups, touting steps the city has taken to expand its tech presence. He acknowledged that “Silicon Bayou” has played catch-up to other cities that were faster to attract talent.
“It makes no sense why the (tech) ecosystem in Houston should not be No. 1 in the world,” Turner said, pointing to the city’s large medical center, multiple universities and reputation as the world’s energy capital.
Several minutes into his address, delivered at the Marriott Marquis hotel downtown, Turner announced a “50-for-50” plan aimed at revitalizing city parks “primarily in communities that have been underserved.” Under the plan, Turner said, 50 companies would each “partner” with a city park, volunteering to “take ownership” of the park and maintain it for about five years.
McClelland, who chairs the Greater Houston Partnership, committed onstage to participate in the program.
Alan Bernstein, a spokesperson for Turner, said the mayor does not intend to require companies to spend a specific amount of money on the parks. Participating firms would have input on which park they improve, Bernstein said.
After Turner’s address, two of his mayoral opponents, Tony Buzbee and Bill King, held their own speeches in response. Two floors down at the Marriott Marquis, Buzbee said that while crime has dipped — as shown in data compiled by city police — Houston remains “one of the most dangerous cities in the United States.”
“We don’t have enough police, and the way we police is out of date. We’re reactionary, we’re not anticipatory,” Buzbee said at his event, which he dubbed “The Real State of the City.” He said property and violent crime rates
here remain higher than the national average.
The Houston Police Department recorded doubledigit decreases in homicides, robberies and aggravated assaults in 2018, Police Chief Art Acevedo said in January. Burglaries, thefts and auto thefts declined by a combined 2.8 percent, he said.
Turner, who has called for an expanded police department, noted during his speech that the budget he proposed for the 2020 fiscal year includes funding for five police cadet classes.
Buzbee, who has promised to self-fund his campaign, also said the business community had been “running this city” through Turner’s administration, a notion the mayor has denied. The Greater Houston Partnership hosted the event Monday.
“I’m putting them on notice,” Buzbee said. “The residents of this city are going to run this city again, not the Greater Houston Partnership. Not Houston First.”
In his response, King said Turner “avoided all of the tough subjects that show the real failure of this administration in so many ways.” He also said the city does not have enough police, while casting doubt on the data Turner used to say that violent crime is down in Houston.
King also said Turner should have been more specific about his next steps to negotiate raises with firefighters. He criticized Turner for the city’s operating budget deficit, which the mayor has proposed to close in part by dipping into the city’s reserves.
“The solution is not more revenue, the solution is to get control of how we spend the money,” King said, pledging to use zero-based budgeting to root out possible inefficient spending.
When rolling out his budget proposal, Turner said his administration “scrubbed every department” in search of places to trim costs.
Turner’s Monday address came less than a week after a state district judge ruled Proposition B unconstitutional and void. The voter-approved charter amendment required the city to grant firefighters the same pay as police of corresponding rank and seniority, which Turner said would have cost the city $79 million next fiscal year.
During his speech, Turner said he is “prepared to come to the table and work with firefighters” to negotiate a pay raise. He repeatedly has said the city could not afford the cost of Prop B.
“They are deserving of a pay raise,” Turner said. “There’s only one qualifier, and that is, regardless of what the employee group is, they are deserving of a pay raise that the city can afford.”
The Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association announced Monday that it plans to hold a news conference Tuesday to respond to Turner. Fire union President Marty Lancton has said the union always has been open to negotiating with the mayor.
On Monday, Turner otherwise fueled anew the prospect of an “Astroworld-like theme park,” citing the “re-emergence” of the idea thanks to Houston rapper Travis Scott. He did not reveal details about how the park would be funded or when and where in the city it would be built.
Turner also called for a “paradigm shift” in how the federal government responds to natural disasters, lamenting the slow flow of aid after Hurricane Harvey.
“It does not make sense, and people do not understand, why 19 months after a disaster, we’re still waiting on infrastructure dollars,” Turner said. “They don’t understand it, it’s hard to explain it, and quite frankly, I don’t understand it.”