Houston voters head back to the polls

As the fourth largest city in the country and a global leader in energy and business, Houston has enormous potential to set a positive example for other cities in environmental policy. Recycling has been one issue at the heart of Houston’s environmental programs and our focus at TCE since recycling is not just good for the environment – it is powerful for economic development – We asked candidates where they stand on Zero Waste and their plans for a resilient city. Here are their responses.

Candidate 1. a. Would you support requiring owners and managers of multi-family housing to provide ample and convenient recycling services by 2021? 1. b. Would you commit to voting for an ordinance to enforce recycling for all neighborhoods that contract for their disposal services by 2021? 2.a. If elected, would you support convenient and ample recycling where people live, play, and work? 2.b. Would you support an ordinance for source-separated food waste collection from large commercial food waste generators? 3.a. If elected, would you advocate for diversion contracts that are in place before storms hit? To maximize diversion from landfills to the extent possible? 3.b. Can you commit today that you will support including public input on the location of temporary debris locations in advance of storms? 4.a. Will you support measurable goals that reduce up to 90% of waste from landfills, through reducing waste, reuse of resources, recycling and composting in apartments as well as businesses and restaurants?
Amy Peck – District A No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response
George Harry Zoes – District A No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response
Shelley Kennedy – District C Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Abbie Kamin- District C No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response
Isabel Longoria- District H Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Karla Cisneros- District H No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response
Mike Knox – At-Large Position 1 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Raj Salhotra – At-Large Position 1 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Willie Davis- Position 2 No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response
David Robinson – Position 2 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Janaeya Carmouche – Position 3 No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response
Michael Kubosh – Position 3 No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response
Anthony Dolcefino – Position 4 No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response
Leititia Plummer – At-Large Postion 4 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Eric Dick – At-Large Position 5 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Sally Alcorn – Position 5 No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response No Response

 

Joint Runoff Election Day is Saturday, Dec. 14, 2019. Voting will be held from: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

 

Information for Harris County Voting can be found here.

Information for Fort Bend Voting can be found here.
If you want some guidance before casting your ballot, follow the links to view candidate’s response to our Zero Waste Questionnaire, CEER Mayoral Forum candidate responses, or the Houston League of Women Voters for non-partisan information.

Houston Mayoral Candidate Questionnaire

Houston’s CEER and HOME coalitions issued a joint questionnaire to all Mayoral candidates and published all responses. (See original response documents here.) CEER also held a Mayoral forum on environmental justice and published several videos of the event herehere and here.

 

Environmental Equity and Resiliency:

Environmental Equity addresses the built and natural environment. It is not limited to parkland, or the preservation of natural resources like bayous or prairies, but whether a community has access to the same safe drinking water, the same walkability to schools, the same clean air, and the same open or natural park spaces as other communities. As a city, Houston has a long history of segregation by race and class, along with numerous superfund sites, on-going pollution issues with its own infrastructure, and a lack of resources to adequately protect resources like air, water, and land.

1. What is your top environmental concern for the City and as mayor, what can your office do to address it? (Air pollution, water pollution, trash, flooding, etc.)

Candidate Buzbee: Did Not Respond

Mayor Turner:
There are many. Harvey recovery and flood mitigation are pressing. We are working hard given the lack of funding, though after two years, federal funds are finally coming online. In the long term, the related issue of climate change is paramount. I am excited about our upcoming Climate Action Plan.

2. What tools would you utilize as a mayor to ensure environmental cleanup of degraded land sites as well as reverse the documented pattern of siting landfills, recycling centers, and industrial facilities in low-income and minority neighborhoods?

Candidate Buzbee: Did Not Respond

Mayor Turner:
Enforcement of local health and safety laws is key, as well as documenting and publicizing the dangers to help local communities organize. At the city our powers are severely and unfairly constrained by hostile federal and state governments and now local and statewide revenue caps.

3. As mayor, what are the first three steps you will take to implement the proposed Houston Climate Action Plan?

Candidate Buzbee: Did Not Respond

Mayor Turner:
Adopting the plan is a huge first step for Houston, which remains the world’s oil and gas capital.  Transitioning to electric vehicles – We lost much of our municipal electric fleet to Harvey. Reducing vehicle miles traveled – pass the METRO Proposition this November. Get started quickly on  optimization strategies.

4. Do you think it appropriate to increase the City’s budget line item for environmental enforcement? Do you think that enforcement should be housed in the legal department or in public health?

Candidate Buzbee: Did Not Respond

Mayor Turner:
We absolutely need more funding for environmental enforcement. But I won’t make promises I cannot keep, given that our city is operating under its onerous voter-imposed revenue cap and now faces an additional state revenue cap. I am open to a discussion about the best department to manage this.

5. Within CEER’s 8-point plan, which priority is most meaningful to you and why?

Candidate Buzbee: Did Not Respond

Mayor Turner:
Many of the plan’s priorities are meaningful to me. As mayor, I would have to say embracing resiliency is the most foundational, because many of the other priorities cannot be realized in its absence.

Flooding and Transportation Infrastructure:

We know that Houston will never stop flooding. We also know that federal funding for flood mitigation is often required to be spent in the areas that have the highest property values, creating a reverse incentive to spend additional capital dollars in areas that have already received investment in the past. The two watersheds which, according to the SSPEED center, had the most residential flooding were Greens watershed and Brays watershed and there are no United States Army Corps of Engineers projects slated for those watersheds. Continuing development will likely create additional flooding problems in those watersheds.

1. How do you propose to protect and expand the riparian corridors and the existing natural flood control ability of the land within City limits?

Candidate Buzbee: Did Not Respond

Mayor Turner:
We are implementing new standards for development in floodplains and expanding the regulated area from the 100-year floodplain to the 50-year floodplain. Our out-of-date floodplain maps are in the process of being updated. In many cases, bridges that have impeded the natural flow of water are being upgraded.

2. What are some of the tools you believe the mayor of Houston could use to address flooding in the Greens and Brays watershed outside of simply coordinating with Harris County Flood Control District? In other words, what will you do with the City budget to address these on-going watershed issues within city limits?

Candidate Buzbee: Did Not Respond

Mayor Turner:
To the extent possible, we are removing barriers to progress. For example, the city has taken
out a $43 million loan from the Texas Water Development Board, which it will advance to the
Harris County Flood Control District for widening Brays Bayou and replacing bridges.

3. How will you ensure that the City’s Resiliency and Climate Actions plans are fully incorporated into transportation planning for projects like the I45 expansion, the Vision Zero Initiative, and METRONext?

Candidate Buzbee: Did Not Respond

Mayor Turner:
With very limited tools to control land use, it takes leadership: working with Democrats and
Republicans at all levels of government and engaging stakeholders to create public pressure.
We are moving as funds are available. One example: Our Safe Streets initiative that is
identifying and repairing Houston’s most dangerous intersections.

Affordable Housing:

There are many options to expand affordable housing: developer incentives that require that a proportion of units are affordable, better leveraging of federal housing funds to get more units per dollar in partnership with others, use of state and local bond and development incentives (e.g., 380 agreements), Limited Equity Corporations, or land banking to name a few.

1. In your own words, describe the role the City plays in affordable housing specifically for families earning below average median income, and how you as mayor of the third largest city in the nation would engage in that role?

Candidate Buzbee: Did Not Respond

Mayor Turner:
We are prioritizing the use of Harvey Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds to support the expanded availability of affordable housing in Houston for low- and moderate-income Houstonians. Apart from Harvey, our Complete Communities program includes affordable housing construction coupled with actions to discourage gentrification.

2. Understanding Hurricane Harvey funds have already been allocated, and many Houstonians are still not properly housed, what is your plan for leveraging other funding sources and economic incentives (i.e. 380 agreements, tax abatements, TIRZ, etc.) to increase quality affordable housing stock throughout the City?


Candidate Buzbee: Did Not Respond

Mayor Turner:
As I mentioned above, our Complete Communities initiative is moving forward with affordable housing expansion, particularly along transit corridors. We are moving to hold TIRZs more accountable to meet affordable housing funding mandates, and locking in long-term affordable housing stock through an innovative land trust program.

3. Today, a household earning the median (and below) income in Houston cannot afford the median housing costs in Houston. What is your plan to reduce displacement in gentrifying areas while also expanding affordable housing choices in well-resourced areas?

Candidate Buzbee: Did Not Respond

Mayor Turner:
We need to do both. Early in my first term, I engaged in a spirited debate with HUD over
moving low-income families into “opportunity neighborhoods.” I support these efforts but they must be coupled with investment in long under-served neighborhoods. That was the impetus for creating our Complete Communities initiative.

4. What policies or initiatives will you implement to ensure more development of affordable housing along or in close proximity to frequent public transportation lines?

Candidate Buzbee: Did Not Respond

Mayor Turner:
Increasing affordable housing near transit is one of the priorities in our Complete Communities initiative. For example, Avenue CDC has constructed several affordable housing communities near transit in the Near Northside.

5. Should the City have an emergency management plan in place, and available beds identified for longer term rental, for future storms?

Candidate Buzbee: Did Not Respond

and recovery plan that will be available to the public on the City’s website.

Mayor Turner:
The city has an emergency management plan in place and we’ve been making improvements based on the lessons we learned from Harvey. The Mayor’s Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security is working in coordination with the Police Department, Fire Department, Office of Emergency Management, Information Technology, and Health Department.

Transparency:

1. If you are elected, please describe three actions you will take to ensure transparency in the City’s budget process and its priorities in spending beyond the annual CIP meetings held throughout the districts?

Candidate Buzbee: Did Not Respond

Mayor Turner:
After Harvey walloped our city budget, we are moving to address the structural budget imbalance with a zero-based budgeting model – requiring every expense to be justified. We have also revamped our Build Houston Forward infrastructure program website with more information for the public and more changes are on the way.

Job Creation and Workforce Development:

The Houston Chronicle recently reported that “net migration” to Harris County (and the City of Houston) has been negative for the last three years, meaning more people are leaving than coming. This creates a labor shortage and slows economic development, but also provides an opportunity to reinvest and “in-fill” the city to provide a more attractive quality of life. To do this, however, skilled labor will be required and continued opportunity to encourage advancement and training within city limits may be necessary.

1. Please describe in your own words key elements that are needed to construct a city-wide workforce development program and key partnerships you think would be necessary to ensure young Houstonians can find jobs locally within 10 years.

Candidate Buzbee: Did Not Respond

Mayor Turner:
We are working in partnership with tech giants like Microsoft and our educational institutions to increase STEM education, digital coursework and job skills for young Houstonians. I am also extremely proud that our Hire Houston Youth program has grown from 450 summer jobs to more than 11,000 this year.

2. Do you see local hire as a priority for workforce development? Why or why not?

Candidate Buzbee: Did Not Respond

Mayor Turner:
Local hire is an important part of workforce development. It must be combined with job training and, for those who have been chronically unemployed or underemployed, support services that help workers keep and succeed in their jobs once they have been hired.

Worker Protections:

The HOME Coalition fully supports the Better Builder Program created by one of our member organizations. The Better Builder Program creates good jobs in the construction industry by establishing minimum standards on construction sites. These standards include a living wage for all construction workers, OSHA 10-hour safety training for all workers, workers compensation coverage, local hiring goals to place workers in approved skills training programs, and independent on-site monitoring to ensure these standards are met.

1. Would you support incorporating these standards as minimum requirements in the City? Please explain why or why not.

Candidate Buzbee: Did Not Respond

Mayor Turner:
I was instrumental in the adoption of these standards and know them well. Part of the reason
we could achieve these standards is that they came with a funding source. I support continuing and expanding this program in principle, but we must be realistic about our current budget constraints.

2. Many government entities have passed fair contracting (often referred to as responsible bidder ordinances) or best value contracting to level the playing field between construction entities. Explain how you would work towards better transparency in all city bids.

Mayor Turner:
We are in discussions with the Labor community about adopting an ordinance of this type.

Candidate Buzbee: Did Not Respond