Mayor Annise D. Parker
Inaugural Address
January 4, 2010
I love this city!
Thank you for that warm welcome. Again, I want to thank Houstonians for honoring me with your trust, your hopes. To serve you has been my highest aspiration. To work with you on the pressing issues and challenges we face is my mission. I will respect the office and revere the oath I have taken.
I want to congratulate our new City Controller and our City Council Members. I know personally the duties they have assumed today, and I salute their service. This is a good Council representing every part—every demographic -- of our city. There will be times when we disagree on how to achieve success, but each of us is here because we care deeply about this city’s future.
Now,I ask of you three things:
I ask for your prayers. We have enormous challenges ahead. All that we must do will be done. All that we should do can be done. We will strive mightily for it. I know we can achieve anything with hard work---and with your prayers.
I ask for your patience. Some things we cannot rush. A city is a continuum. Projects begin under one administration and finish under another. It may seem as if little progress is made. And the compromise -- the give-and-take of government -- can be a slow and difficult process. But we have a range of voices and opinions in the Council Chamber because no one of us has all the answers. And because all voices must be heard.
And I ask for your perseverance. We are in this together, for the duration. You must commit your time and energy to Houston. We rise and fall together. We succeed or fail together.
I will ask for one more thing: As much as we try, and as hard as we work, and for all the right reasons that we do things, we will make mistakes. We will have failures. I ask for your forgiveness in advance.
I’ve already introduced my Mom, and I know how proud she is of me. Though my Dad died many years ago, I know he too would be proud. But I want to say how proud I am of them and of the values they taught me!
When I was a little girl, we didn’t have much money. Both my parents worked. My Dad worked two and three jobs and my Mom always worked outside the home. (In fact, my grandmothers worked as well, so I come from a long line of working women.) My family taught me to work hard. To accept responsibility. To get the job done. And to contribute to my community.
Those are the same values on which Houston was founded. Those are the values I teach my own kids. Those are the values that will shape our future as a city.
These past few months as I traveled across our city, I kept meeting folks who reminded me of my own mother and father. Fathers worried about finding work, or struggling while working two jobs. Mothers worried about crime, about their children finishing school. Families worried about taxes. Homeowners who just want to protect the neighborhood they love.
Know this: the City of Houston is on your side!
I also know that the city’s workforce is one of the best anywhere. I see them every day; I know many of them—and I know the commitment they have to doing a good job. We hear on the news about the small disasters, the things that go wrong. In truth, we rarely notice the smooth workings of this city—how much of it goes right.
So we miss the smaller, invisible events: the two Water Department crews who worked through a cold February night to repair a sewage leak. The nurse at one of our clinics who worked a double shift because they were short staffed—and did that three days in a row! The Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care (BARC) employee who rescued a dog from a drainage culvert in the middle of a thunderstorm—getting thoroughly soaked and ant-bitten in the doing!
Thousands of small acts most people never hear of. To all the unsung heroes on the city workforce, know this: the citizens of Houston are on your side!
Every speech by every mayor in this country these days will discuss the economic downturn. In many cities, services have been cut back, city employees have been furloughed or laid off. In truth, the quality of life in many cities is not what it was four years ago.
I believe Houston finds itself in an enviable position. True, we have a budget shortfall here in the city. I will not let that affect the current level of city services. I bring good financial credentials to this office, and we will take a conservative approach to the city’s budget. Like all big cities, we have departments that need to take a good look at themselves and honestly ask if they are doing the very best job they can do for the citizens. I believe opportunities for efficiency can be found.
An aging infrastructure, pension shortfalls, redistricting—there are challenges we are anxious to address. I will speak in some detail about the priorities we will establish when I deliver the State of the City speech in April.
But, I firmly believe that our city’s future will be shaped by our citizens-- not our politicians. I welcome your suggestions. I seek your ideas for the future of our city. A city’s success can be measured by the involvement and satisfaction of its citizens, how they view the quality of life in their city. And what they want the city to be for their children.
A city must be a place, said anthropologist Margaret Mead, where groups of women and men are seeking and developing the highest things they know. And that’s what we are set to do.
I know that Houston is a city of open arms and warm hearts. We are a city of opportunity and optimism, with a sense of partnering, with real respect for each other.
Houston is a city built on dreams, but dreams powered by hard work, guided by common sense and inspired by creativity.
I spoke on election night of this being an historic election, and it certainly made news all around the world. In truth, Houstonians weren’t very surprised that they had elected the first gay Mayor of a major American city. We have a tradition of electing mayors not for who they are, but for what they believe we can do as a city.
But I want to speak now to those from my community, to those who are gay, lesbian bisexual or transgendered.
I understand how much this day means. I feel your excitement and your joy, your apprehension and your longing for acceptance. I will gladly carry you forward. But today is simply one step toward a tomorrow of greater justice. And when the time comes I will just as gladly pass the torch to the next in waiting, and I will cheer for them as you do me. Your bravery in the face of threat, your grace in the face of insult sustains me. Do not fear to dream big dreams. Bring your whole selves to everything you do. Face the world with honesty and integrity. The pain is worth the reward.
I know this city well, and love it even more. I would not live anywhere
else. This is a great city.
I have been asked many times to name a city to which I would compare Houston. There is, in fact, one such city…the Houston in my imagination. The Houston that could be, should be, and (if we believe) can be and will be!
Imagine, with me, some possibilities. Some very real possibilities…
Imagine neighborhoods where the police are known and recognized, and they in turn know the neighborhood, and we are all safer. Imagine, too, a more unified approach to public safety, an approach without duplication. Houston police working, for example, with Harris County sheriffs and constables on a crime initiative. That just makes sense.
Imagine an extensive mobility system embraced by the public. Houston is an immense city. We need all possible transit options. Folks in other cities where mass transit really works, really moves people, appreciate their systems. That can happen here, and it will.
Imagine a city with clean and safe air. As we prosper, we must take pains to improve our air. Industry knows that. What’s good for people and their neighborhoods is good for business.
Imagine, too, a city safe from the ravages of flood water. As we know, weather here can be volatile, and we should expect that and work towards alleviating flooding—especially in neighborhoods where it has happened over and over again.
Imagine enduring partnerships. Our cooperative efforts with other municipalities and Harris County, the Greater Houston Partnership, the private sector and the nonprofit agencies almost always are successful. We will build on those existing partnerships and create new ones if there is potential benefit.
Imagine a city wherethe high school drop out rate is insignificant. Think what that would mean for our quality of life and our ability to attract jobs. Think what that would mean in the lives of our children.
We don’t have to imagine Houston as an international city—we already are! The whole world lives in Houston. This city’s cosmopolitan, international, diverse and tolerant nature is no secret to us.
I have used my election to tell the world about Houston. I hereby delegate you as ambassadors to do the same.
A great city is a kind of ideal. A symbol for other cities.
A great city embraces diversity. A great city refutes discrimination.
A great city reaches into every corner of itself to assist those in need. A great city abhors elitism and selfishness.
A great city rolls up its sleeves and revels in the work it performs. A great city has little patience for idleness.
A great city is one in which all citizens feel the warmth of community, the presence of safety and the pleasure of dignity.
A great city imagines its own bright future—and sets about to make that happen.
Please join me as I continue to imagine all the possibilities of our great city.
Thank you.