HOUSTON – Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner delivered his annual State of the City address Monday.
Turner, who has delivered his synopisis about how Houston is doing four times, discussed resiliency, infrastructure and innovation among other topics.
The address was hosted, as in previous years, by the Greater Houston Partnership and held at the Marriott Marquis, overlooking Discovery Green.
Here are some of the highlights:
Economic prosperity
Turner said that Houston's unemployment rate is the lowest it has been since 1981. He did not provide an unemployment rate figure. He said that 86,200 more jobs had been created in "our region."
Proposition B
The ruling of Prop B as unconstitutional last week means there will be no layoffs or demotions for any city employee, including firefighters. Sixty-six cadets were sworn in last week. The financial outlook for the city "is much better," the mayor said. Turner said firefighters are deserving of a pay raise.
"My door is open," the mayor said, regarding negotiating a pay raise. "I am prepared to sit down and talk. We don't have to litigate things all the time."
Hurricane Harvey recovery
The city has still not received any federal dollars for Harvey-related infrastructure projects, according to Turner. He said that the region needs a third reservoir and city-wide improvements to the bayou system. These projects require local and/or state matching funds. Turner called for the use of the state's Rainy Day Fund which has approximately $12 billion.
"To date, we have not received $1 for much-needed infrastructure projects 19 months after Harvey," the mayor said.
Recycling
Curbside recycling is back and Turner said that a new recycling center opened in Houston is considered one of the best facilities in the country. He did not provide a metric for what makes such a facility "the best."
Quality of Life
Turner announced a "50 for 50" parks plan, that would partner 50 separate companies with the Parks Board to modernize 50 local parks, particularly smaller city parks that serve specific communities.
"The goal is for this city as the park/green space capital of the world," the mayor said.
H-E-B president Scott McClelland, who interviewed Turner during a sit-down segment Monday, volunteered to take on the first park.
Houston Traffic
Turner said the daytime population of Houston increases 27 percent during the day, and more lanes will not ultimately solve the problem. He said that multimodal transportation options are the key to successfully mitigating traffic in the future. He pointed to bikes, buses, carpooling, and a not-yet-unveiled plan to add more light rail lines in Houston.