Here is Mayor White's State of the City address for 2008, which was delivered yesterday to the Greater Houston Partnership, and here is a brief summary of it in the Chron. The Mayor covered a lot of ground, and I recommend you read his address; I'm going to highlight one small bit of it:
My Administration believes that consumers should have a wide variety of choices provided by those providing housing and commercial facilities. We also understand that there are reasonable rules and regulations that any community needs to preserve its quality of life, and that those investing in a house within a platted residential subdivision ought to have some predictability about the future of our neighborhood.Houston will benefit from a healthy and open debate concerning these policies, by individuals who pay attention to the detail and make practical suggestions about how the City can improve without compromising the affordability or choices offered to consumers within our community.
To those neighborhood activists, I urge you to consider that those who build houses, stores, and office buildings within our City are not your enemy. Few of us live in houses built by amateurs with donated land and materials. Those who build houses and buildings do not survive unless they serve the needs of Houston consumers with a variety of choices.
To those in the real estate development community, please remember that those who live and work in homes and other buildings in our City have a lot at stake in our neighborhoods. Some neighborhoods have had to live for too long with hourly so-called motels and rental properties which are falling apart right smack in a residential neighborhood. Now no neighborhood group should have the right to "pull up the ladder behind them," but the passion of civic club leaders who work hard to improve and maintain their own property values is a tremendous asset for our community. Show me a neighborhood which doesn't care about its future and I'll show you a neighborhood in decline.
...and that those investing in a house within a platted residential subdivision ought to have some predictability about the future of our neighborhood.
Mayor White is selling out to certain developers. He is telling his friends that anything's fair game in or next to residential subdivisions that are not platted. This type of residential subdivision is typically occupied by the poor and minority population and typically does not receive the full compliment of city and county services including law enforcement and flood control.
Residential subdivisions that are not platted by the developer are illegal and the city is responsible for enforcing the rules and see that they are platted. But sometimes the city just cannot seem to find the time to enforce the rules or cannot find the time to complete their necessary record filing. No problem because the DA is supposed to step in and hold the developer accountable. But sometimes the DA just cannot seem to get its job done either. In these cases, the city does not own up to its responsibility for planning and is not penalized for it.
Furthermore, the city can "unplat" any residential subdivision at any point in the future without public notification and without penalty. This action frees up adjacent critical property for development, again, without accountability.
Basically, Mayor white is telling his friends that they can develop anywhere they want, even if he has to "unplat" a residential subdivision to get the job done (just remember that his future campaign treasury may need a little work).
Posted by: Charles Hixon on January 26, 2008 4:50 PM