Parker discusses leadership, economy

By Ellen Liu     9/23/10 7:00pm

Houston Mayor Annise Parker (Jones '78) visited the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business last week to give the first presentation of its Thought Leadership series. This program was hosted and attended by the Jones Partners, a group of business professionals who work to encourage collaboration between the Jones School and Houston's business community, and geared toward bringing leaders of multiple sectors to speak at the Jones School. Parker came to Rice on Sept. 20 to discuss Houston's future and the importance of a partnership between the city and the Jones School.

"Let me tell you about why I think they elected me and why I think we are the city of the future and why I think we will lead the United States into a brighter future," Parker said.

Parker said that Houston is already leading the country economically and that she has been able to balance the budget without laying anyone off -mostly because of the strength of the local economy. According to Parker, the mortgage crisis did not hit Houston that hard partly due to rising oil prices at the time. Parker said that Houston was the one place in America where higher oil prices were a positive.

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"When I graduated from college in 1978, the oil industry was 80 percent of our economy," Parker said. "It's now more the oil and energy economy, but it is still 50 percent of what we do here."

In addition, Parker recognized Houston's other key economic elements, including the Port of Houston - America's largest foreign port - the Texas Medical Center and the technological presence of NASA and aerospace. She said that all four of those sectors have a strong international component. However, Parker also said that there are challenges, especially economic ones, looming on the horizon - challenges that began manifesting themselves when the world financial markets seized up during the recession.

"As the only mayor who's ever come into the office with time as a council member and time as a controller, I am probably the most prepared mayor we've ever had - prepared in terms of on-the-job training," Parker said. "But as prepared as I was and with the knowledge of where the problem areas were in the city, there were always surprises."

Parker listed a few of the issues she has had to handle since taking office this January. She said that the easiest one to address was the merger of Continental and United Airlines, which raised much concern in the city over lost jobs because Continental was Houston's hometown airline.

"We're [still] going to have a significant Continental presence [here] - about 17,000 jobs," she said, "A lot of those jobs are not moving because it's so much more cost-effective to operate here in Houston than it is in Chicago. By some estimates, a minimum of $20,000 per head [is saved] for employees to be here than up there."

Parker also talked about handling the BP oil spill. She said 16 of the 18 companies that operate deep-water rigs either have headquarters or a significant presence in Houston and stated that though the city, being 50 miles inland, was not directly impacted, there could still be a long-term effect on Houston's economic viability because of the spill's influence on oil prices and related economic elements.

In addition, Parker discussed her efforts to convince President Obama to reconsider his stance on NASA and space travel. This February, Obama announced that he would be cancelling NASA's Constellation Program - an initiative aimed toward sending Americans to the International Space Station and then to the moon and beyond. This cancellation marked a move toward privatizing space travel and prompted Parker to travel to Washington, D.C. several times and to work closely with the local congressional delegation and business community to urge the president to modify his policy.

"Fortunately, there is [now] a bill both in the House and the Senate, either of which would restore much of what we had originally had here in Houston in terms of our NASA program although it does accommodate many of the things that the president wants to do as well," Parker said.

Regarding more recent challenges, Parker said the Federal Transit Administration announced that the $900 million Houston was going to receive to build the next three METRORail lines was on hold until the city fixed the damage left behind by the previous METRO president, Frank Wilson. Wilson illegally shredded public documents and was accused of having improper relations with a female employee, leading Parker to call for his dismissal.

In closing, Parker discussed the impending construction of a Wal-Mart in the Washington Heights Development, a former industrial site with metal parts contamination that would be cleared beforehand. She said the residents in the area had used the Internet to effectively organize and campaign against the Wal-Mart and that such advances in technology were changing the methods of governance. Parker said that the residents flooded her inbox with angry e-mails and urged her to stop the Wal-Mart's construction. She responded to these efforts by going door-to-door in the neighborhood around the site with a district council member, and she said she was able to engage in civil, logical conversation with the disgruntled residents through these visits.

According to Parker, her residential visits also reminded her why she wanted to become mayor in the first place.

"I have the ability to affect people's lives very greatly on a daily basis, and there is no more wonderful power to have," she said.

After her speech, Parker fielded questions about topics from post-Hurricane Ike preparation to a strengthened relationship with China. Regarding the latter, Parker said that "Houston" is on the lips of every Chinese person because of Yao Ming and that she wanted to capitalize on this connection by building more international business ties with China.

Parker also listed the top three initiatives that she is currently undertaking: composing a Historic Preservation Ordinance, rebuilding Houston from the underground up and encouraging collaboration and the ability to work across judicial lines.

Before departing, Parker said that undergraduates should get as much experience as possible both at Rice and beyond the hedges.

In the reception after the presentation, attendees discussed Parker's speech and reacted to her ideas.

Art McElroy, who works as a senior account manager at GE Healthcare, said that Parker's speech was the first Jones School event he had attended and that he was interested to see how the mayor would integrate her policy with the growth of the Texas Medical Center.

Jones Partners President Rebecca Cooke said she appreciated everything Parker talked about, including her comments about balancing finance and policy concerns with daily life issues.

"As a Houstonian, it's good to hear how things are getting done. Parker's words really hit home with me as a resident," Cooke said. "I'm glad that quality of life is on the mayor's radar."

Cooke said she also enjoyed Parker's openness and common sense regarding serious issues.

"It is refreshing to hear a political person speak so openly," Cooke said. "It is the goal of the Jones Partners to bring together leadership from throughout Houston to talk openly, and Mayor Parker delivered beautifully.

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