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Houston’s Asian American Mayoral Forum

On Friday, October 2, the four leading candidates for mayor of Houston — Annise Parker, Peter Brown, Gene Locke, and Crazy Roy Morales — gathered on the top floor of the tallest building in Houston’s Asiatown to tell Houston’s Asian American community why they should have the communities’ votes.

The mayoral forum was sponsored by 20 organizations:

Before the forum began, candidates for city council and controller, and school board were invited to give a brief introduction of themselves. I apologize to any candidates who showed up that are not on this list.

Houston City Controller

Houston City Council, Position 1

Houston City Council, Position 2

  • Andrew C. Burks, Jr.

Houston City Council, Position 5

Houston City Council, District F

Houston City Council, District G

HISD Trustee, District I

Alief ISD School Board Position 5

  • Nghi Ho

Alief ISD School Board Position 7

  • Marilyn Swick

The main event began after the non-mayoral candidates — including the particularly impressive Dexter Handy — made their spiels. The crowd’s applause and cheers increased as each mayoral candidate was introduced. Parker, the first to be introduced, received the smallest ovation. It grew as Morales, Locke, and finally Brown was introduced. Brown, it should be noted, had a number of staff members in attendance to increase visibility, holding campaign signs throughout the forum.

KTRK (ABC 13)‘s Miya Shay moderated the forum. As you can see below, many great issues were brought up. I would like to have seen each candidate’s stance on some of these issues, many of which tend not to get much attention in a campaign. I may follow up with other campaigns to obtain their policy positions. If there is any particular issue you want to know about, please let me know in the comments.

The following is not an attempt at a transcript; it is simply notes of the debate, intended to provide a sense of what occurred.

Beverly Gor, Program Director of Community Relations for the Center for Research on Minority Health (CRMH) in the Department of Health Disparities Research at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and all-around advocate for remedying health disparities, began the first round of questions, which involved making city services more culturally and linguistically accessible.

Gor: How can the city improve its cultural competency such as providing services in-language?

Brown: Neighborhood services. The city can provide the services appropriately tailored to the culture and language needs of various neighborhoods through neighborhood services.

Gor: Should the city provide its own health services or partner with already existing community health organizations?

Locke: Certainly the city should partner with existing organizations already providing good service. There is no reason to waste money replicating and competing with community organizations. It’s smart for the community organization’s clients and it keeps the city from unnecessarily spending money.

Gor: How can the city help prepare for the Asian American community’s needs in the event of a natural disaster, evacuation, etc.

Morales: The city should focus on each community’s needs and have necessary supplies close by. For instance, in communities with high incidence of diabetes, insulin should be stockpiled.

Gor: Healthcare?

Parker: The city should partner with providers and start co-ops.

The next set of questions came from former city councilman and mayor pro temper and current co-chair of the nation’s second-largest immigration law firm, Houston-based Foster Quan, Gordon Quan, who asked about housing.

Quan: Housing for the elderly?

Brown: It’s important.

Quan: Should the city improve affordable housing?

Locke: Yes. And let’s make sure Fair Housing is enforced.

Quan: Should Fair Housing Act enforcement be a priority for the city?

Morales: We should rotate city housing leadership between the different ethnicities every few years to make sure each ethnic community’s needs are not being ignored.

Quan: APA language and management for Houston Housing and Community Development?

Parker: Certainly, but we should not force out good management once we have it.

Former Houston City Council candidate Zaf Tahir asked the next set of questions, which involved willingness to and history of hiring Asian Americans.

Tahir: What is your history of hiring Asian Americans?

Parker: Diverse, diverse, diverse.

Tahir: Will you hire an Asian American to a senior mayor’s office position?

Morales: No.

Tahir: Will you appoint at least one Asian American to at least one of the most powerful boards, METRO or Port of Houston?

Locke: I will not make an appointment unless the pool of applicants includes qualified Asians and Hispanics. I have a campaign office in Bellaire (Houston’s “Asiatown”) and have Asian Americans such as Grace Rodriguez in high positions in my campaign.

Tahir: Employment opportunities

Brown: I will appoint an Asian department head. I have a number of Asian Americans involved in my campaign and who worked in my city council office. My son is married to an Asian. A pregnant Asian.

Rogene Gee Calvert, President of Houston’s Asian Chamber of Commerce, OCA VP of Economic Development, Gordon Quan’s former Chief of Staff, asked the next set of questions, which dealt with improving the business environment for Asian American businesses.

Calvert: Infrastructure needs in Hawin, Hillcroft, Bellaire, and Spring Branch such as traffic lights.

Brown: I’m an architect and planner. These districts are part of the blueprint for the future. They should have the needed infrastructure in advance.

Calvert: Can we use development deals to help these neighborhoods?

Parker: There are limits to what can be done. I will support development deals where viable and look to flexibility to continue development from zone to zone. Also, drainage.

Calvert: Capital improvements in these areas?

Locke: Spend city money where the money will make money and create jobs.

Calvert: Mass transit for for Asian business areas in Hillcroft, Bissonet, Bellaire, and Spring Branch

Morales: METRO is bad. We need more buses.

Real estate broker Danny Nguyen asked the next set of questions, which were about international trade and minority-owned business.

Nguyen: The port of Houston is #1 by tonnage but not by containers. Can we handle more containers?

Brown: We need to develop a better freight rail system. Big change is coming when the Panama Canal is finished. We will have a significant amount of the cargo currently entering through the Port of Long Beach because Houston is a much better distribution point to most of the country.

Nguyen: Are Houston’s international development people effective?

Locke: I may make Houston’s international development more friendly, but will keep it. The world should know about Houston, and Houstonians should understand just how much international trade helps our economy. It’s the butter on our biscuit.

Nguyen: How will you attract international business to Houston?

Morales: Turn the new soccer stadium into EPCOT Center.

Nguyen: How can we close the minority business gap?

Parker: Minority business campaign and work with other organizations that promote minority business.

Randy Sim, Chairman of Asia Houston Network asked the next set of questions, which were about better inclusion of Asian American arts into the city’s arts programs.

Sim: How can the Houston Arts Alliance better include the APA community?

Parker: Let’s do it.

Sim: How can we make sure Asian Artists get their share of artist funding money?

Locke: Do it. Connect.

Sim: How do we evaluate the meeting of the mission of the city’s arts programs?

Morales: Tighten the belt.

Sim: Do the art organizations Houston supports represent Houston’s diversity?

Brown: No. Culture and art are related. Cultural organizations currently are not on the list of arts organizations, but they should be. Once that occurs, we’ll have a better reflection of Houston’s diversity.

Kenneth Li, Chairman of the Asian American Business Council asked the final set of questions, which were about crime.

Li: No statistics exist about Asian crime victims, offenders, and locations in HPD data. HPD also has a lack of language competency. Is this a priority? Will you hire the staff to correct this?

Brown: Yes. My campaign signs are in multiple languages and the city should be too. I’d like for smartphones to be able to report crimes at the push of a virtual button.

Li: Asian executive HPD position, Asian crime task force, more Asian management and Asian language-speaking officers?

Locke: Yes on more Asian police. I’d like to expand an existing task force into an Asian task force.

Li: Asian crime advisory board?

Morales: I listen to the radio.

Li: Multilingual 911? Language & media appropriate crime prevention? City-wide surveillance cameras?

Parker: Cameras where appropriate. Crime prevention yes! The city currently uses a national language line for multilingual 911. I will replace the current police chief.

The rest of the questions were submitted in written form by the audience during the forum and selected by the organizers and/or moderator.

Q: What will be your first act as mayor?

Locke: Get my team together to focus on public safety.

Brown: Tough & smart on crime.

Parker: Budget & Finance. 1/3 of the budget goes to HPD, which is a 40% increase in the past 5 years with nothing to show for it.

Morales: Make the city business and tax friendly by cutting the budget, reducing property tax.

Q: How will you incentivize job creation in Houston?

Brown: Office of economic and job creation.

Parker: Office of economic and job creation plus market the access to research and development available at Houston’s universities. Incentives will be tied to achieving job creation goals.

Morales: Property tax relief.

Locke: You have to do many things that work together; there’s not a single solution. I will market Houston, provide incentives to relocate, and promote local businesses.

Q: How will you handle suburban sprawl?

Parker: People should be able to live in the kind of housing they want. I want the kind of housing they want to be in to be in Houston.

Morales: Reconnect the city to the suburbs and the schools.

Locke: All neighborhoods in the city should be competitive with those outside the city.

Brown: I don’t support mindless sprawl. Growth should be positive. We should have town centers like Sugar Land and The Woodlands.

Q: Taxes.

Morales: Lower taxes.

Locke: No increase.

Brown: Take the burden off the taxpayer.

Parker: I’ll consider a tax increase if necessary.

Q: What country will you first visit as mayor?

Locke: I haven’t decided. It must have a direct link to Houston’s economy.

Brown: China.

Parker: Wherever is best for a trade mission.

Morales: Teleconference or invite the trade delegation to come here.

Q: Do you support a Vietnamese consulate in Houston?

Brown: I support democracy and liberation of political prisoners in Vietnam. The city does not make the decision — the State Department does. We are an international city. That’s a qualified yes and a qualified no.

Parker: Yes. We must continue dialogue with Vietnam. I understand how difficult this is for the Vietnamese community. My family hosted a family of Vietnamese refugees in the 70′s.

Morales: No. (Applause and cheers)

Locke: It’s a federal issue. As mayor, I won’t use the HPD to harass protestors.

Closing Statements:

Parker: I’m ready on the first day. I’m the only one with a record of fiscal responsibility. Houston can be the Green Energy Capital of the World.

Morales: The city needs leadership with military experience.

Locke: Business, labor, Republicans, Democrats, East side, West side coalition. Houston is a city of opportunity.

Brown: Uniter. Blueprint.

- Justin Gillenwater

Posted by Justin on Friday, October 9th, 2009 at 1:23 pm.

3 Responses to “Houston’s Asian American Mayoral Forum”

I wonder what this is supposed to mean: “Nguyen: How will you attract international business to Houston?

Morales: Turn the new soccer stadium into EPCOT Center.”

By Subrata on October 9th, 2009

Wouldn’t we all?

By Justin on October 9th, 2009

Yeah. Let’s hope it doesn’t become Euro Disney.

By Gee Li on October 11th, 2009

Something to say?

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