Mayor White's success in Austin

Kristen Mack has a wrap-up story of how Harris County and the city of Houston did during the just-ended legislature session:

The city of Houston got off to a rocky start, with Whitmire threatening to kill Mayor Bill White's marquee traffic initiative, the Safe Clear mandatory freeway towing program. But the two brokered a deal to save Safe Clear.

The city fended off several attempts at gutting its plan for using cameras to catch red light violators. Houstonians can expect to see cameras at 50 intersections with the highest accident rates by this fall.

White also wanted to close late-night clubs after 2 a.m. He didn't succeed, but a Moreno bill tightening regulations against after-hours liquor sales was passed in his honor.

"The city started out the session thinking they could roll over us and get whatever they wanted," said Rep. Kevin Bailey, D-Houston. "They realized that wasn't going to work. They became a lot more cooperative as the session went on."

We saw that in action: Mayor White made peace with Sen. Whitmire and voila! We have the new and "improved" SAFEclear and soon we'll have red light cameras. Houstonians can rejoice at how much safer their lives will be. (It's not about revenue, it's not about revenue, it's not about revenue...)

A perennial measure that would remove the Houston mayor's effective control over the Metropolitan Transit Authority by changing the makeup of its board died quietly near the end of the session.

Probably many of you already knew that. I didn't and it took me aback. Does that mean we should hold Mayor White accountable, also, for all the "improvements" made to bus routes? If he chose to speak up, could he convince Metro to quit cutting the only transportation lifeline some area residents have?

Then Mack highlights one Houston victory that we didn't hear about until now:

The city had some quiet but huge victories, according to White.

"We could not advertise what our strategy was on all of our priorities," he said, because lawmakers whose bills the city opposed were trying to find city of Houston legislation they could kill. Among the below-the-radar successes, he said, was legislation to increase the city's authority over tax increment reinvestment zones to make sure they pay their fair share for all services.

Here's the city's explanation page on Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones.

And remember how the mayor was criticized for his lobbying team? He feels vindicated:

White praised the city's lobby team, led by his director of Government Affairs, Ann Travis, even though before the session he said the city's best lobbyists were the mayor and city council members.

"We adopted a set of principles and we accomplished most of it. It wasn't always easy or pretty."

I think it's safe to say the best lobbying done was by the mayor, especially that infamous late-night meeting he had with Sen. Whitmire at the Austin airport which saved SAFEclear. Did the subject of red light cameras come up in that meeting? We shouldn't be surprised if it did, since Whitmire effectively took care of the legislation that would have banned the revenue-generating devices.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/31/05 07:03 AM | Houston Politics | Technorati | Sphere | Comments (0)

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