Here is what I would do
1. I would enforce strict zoning laws (something Houston clearly does not have.)
2. I would enforce building codes requiring all buildings to have solar panels, wind turbines, caulking, thermal windows, passive ventilation, geothermal heating pumps, methane digester toilets, and passive ventilation.
3. I would pass a law requiring mandatory recycling and composting. I would fine anybody who doesn’t abide by this law.
4. I would place an aggressive emissions law on all the oil and petrochemical companies.
5. I would require all automobiles to have smog filters.
6. I would start a Robin Hood plan like the one in Austin requiring all public schools to receive equal revenue.
7. I would ensure there would be less urban sprawl and continue more development in the inner city. Smart growth is better than cheap growth. That’s how they acquired their names.
8. I would break-up lower income housing projects. Dense poverty causes a deluged of socioeconomic problems. We may not practice de jure segregation anymore, but we do practice de facto segregation still.
9. I would charge all the local churches property taxes. If Joel Osteen wants to make millions feeding off people’s insecurities, he can give something back to the community.
10. I would legalize gambling, prostitution, and pot and tax the living daylights out of them. The Astrodome would become a casino under my watch.
I’ll have to think of other things in the meantime. What would you do if you were the mayor of Houston?
11. I would instill an aggressive plan requiring the monorail to travel to all the outskirts so people would communicate to work. This would mitigate the traffic on all the freeways.
12. I would give business tax incentives for installing green rooftops with gardens, farms, or greenhouses.
13. I would replace all the traffic intersections with rotaries and stop signs. Busy streets like Bellaire and Westheimer would have roundabouts. The side streets would be one way streets with stop signs. This would ameliorate loads of traffic.
Crime and traffic are two key components that will make or break a city. These and the environment would be the largest principles on my campaign platform if I were mayor of Houston.
I’m asking you what you would do as Mayor of Houston. I already told you what I would do. Now what would you do?
To William, and then you wonder why Houston is a rathole of a city and why people elsewhere call it the armpit of Texas. There’s a reason why a bad day in Austin beats a good day in Houston and why Austin constantly outranks Houston by a landslide in most livable cities in America. I do have a college education, but I’ve also lived other places in the country. I have a military background, too.
