InsideOut at City Hall
by Annise D. Parker

"When's the city going to sweep my street?"* someone recently asked me in an e-mail. Two terms and 9,000 e-mails/letters later, that's a new question. My office averages about 250 e-mails a week (250 a day if constituents are mad at me). Everywhere I go, people ask me questions. Some questions pop up over and over again, indicating a certain amount of public confusion.

Here are a few of the most frequent questions:

1. If the city budget's so tight, why is the city building so many stadiums? Wouldn't it be better to use that money for police and fire?
The quick answer is: The city has not built one single stadium, and no funds from city property taxes have been used.

Minute Maid Park, Reliant Stadium, and the new downtown multipurpose arena were all approved by voters and built with bonds issued by the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority. The bonds are being repaid through hotel/motel, car rental, and event ticket taxes. State law is fairly specific on the use of such funds.

The city contributed $25 million in land and infrastructure (parking garage) to the basketball arena. The money came from the Convention and Entertainment Facilities Department, which is an enterprise fund. Funds from that department can only be used for projects related to conventions or tourism.

The Sports Authority owns both Minute Maid Park and the downtown multi-purpose arena. (The city owns the land under the arena and is leasing it to the Sports Authority for 30 years.) Reliant Stadium is owned by Harris County.

2. Doesn't the city really run Metro?

My office receives several e-mails a month complaining about Metro service. We're happy to forward the complaints to Metro, which is a separate governmental entity set up by the state with its own sales-tax revenue stream. The Metro board governs Metro, which has its own executive director who is responsible for daily operations.

The lines blur because the city of Houston, Harris County, and the small cities appoint the Metro board. In addition, former mayor Bob Lanier took advantage of a provision in the law to transfer $50 million a year from Metro for city of Houston street projects. The mayor and current council have phased out this transfer. Metro still does street repair, but does it on its own rather than "pay" the city to do it.

3. They fired me because I'm gay. What can I do?
My staff regularly gets this heartbreaking call. Unfortunately, the options are limited in Houston. While the city has a nondiscrimination ordinance to protect its GLBT employees, there is no citywide nondiscrimination ordinance. State labor laws provide no protection. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Council may be able to help if the termination is also related to some protected category, such as age, race, religion, and so forth. As a last resort, we suggest going to the GLBT press.

4. What do I do if an HPD officer treats me rudely or calls me a fag? What if an officer investigating my case won't call me back and won't interview my witnesses? What if I want to thank an officer for good work?

If an officer conducts him or herself unprofessionally, there is recourse. The Internal Affairs Division (IAD) investigates citizens' complaints against police officers. It may take six months to get a report, but your complaint could be upheld. Even if it is not substantiated, your complaint goes in the officer's file along with any other complaints, commendations, or disciplinary reports. They all add up.

There are several ways to file a complaint against an officer:

Write down what happened, including when, where, and, most importantly, the name or other identifying information about the officer. Have the statement notarized and submit it at IAD at HPD headquarters, 1200 Travis (713/308-0040). I have been trying for years to move IAD back out of the headquarters building, but have been unsuccessful.

Or you can send your notarized statement to me, and I will ask HPD to file it for you. IAD does not take anonymous complaints.

If you are unhappy with the progress of an investigation or the way an officer is handling your investigation, I suggest you contact my office. A staff member can contact the officer or their supervisor to try to resolve your complaint.

Officers who are doing a good job should be commended. Send letters of commendation to HPD chief Bradford.

5. My street was scheduled to be reconstructed next year in the CIP (Capital Improvement Plan). Now they tell me it'll be two more years!
If I could make sense of the CIP process, I would be mayor.

As an at-large council member, I don't have much influence over the process, but I try. I must admit that the "process" has often been illogical and impossible to defend as a rational set of priorities. Much-needed projects are scheduled and promised. Expectations rise. Suddenly, they're delayed and replaced with projects that seem less important often because a new district council member has been elected.

Before the Super Neighborhood program, CIP was based on priorities expressed at CIP hearings with considerable input from district council members. Mayor Brown recently announced that neighborhood projects requested in Super Neighborhood Action Plans (SNAPs) would receive top priority. Unfortunately, the CIP schedule is not online yet. SNAP plans can be viewed at www.ci.houston.tx.us/departme/planning/snap/snap_index.pdf.
If you have any other burning questions or you would like to receive my bi-monthly e-mail newsletter, please e-mail my office at annise.parker@cityofhouston.net

The city website is www.cityofhouston.gov. My city council website is www.ci.houston.tx.us/citygovt/council/1.

The city does not sweep streets. We clean ditches and sewers and repair streets. (We even have a new one-person pothole machine.)

A Houston City Council member who happens to be lesbian, Annise Parker is serving her third term in At-large Position 1.