Mayor Annise Parker declares Friday, Jan. 11 as 'Go Houston Texans Day'

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Mayor Annise Parker has declared Friday, January 11, 2013 as "Go Houston Texans Day."

Houstonians are encouraged to wear their Texans gear or something red to work that day in support for the team as it takes on the New England Patriots in Sunday's AFC Divisional playoff game.

"This season -- the best in the franchise's 11 year history -- has been mesmerizing," said Mayor Parker. "We have watched Gary Kubiak and Matt Schaub lead our team to victory more times than ever before, and our defensive powerhouse J.J. Watt has become a household name. Texans fans are steadfast and I know they will show their team spirit as our Bulls on Parade head toward a victory on Sunday!"

She also announced that City Hall will be lit Battle Red through the weekend as an additional show of the city's support for the team.

Don't forget to catch our 'Houston Texans: Road to the Ring' special Friday at 7pm on ABC13, as the Texans try to take another major step to their first Super Bowl.
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BARC photo shoot leads to Houston Mayor Annise Parker adopting dog

Mayor Parker with Jax, the newest member of her family. (Mauricio Zepeda)

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Last week's BARC Pets of the Week photo shoot with Houston Mayor Annise Parker began as it always does, but ended quite differently.

Little Jax, a Border Terrier/Cocker Spaniel mix puppy, won Mayor Parker's heart as soon as he walked into City Hall. It comes as no surprise that the Mayor knew immediately that Jax was the perfect dog for her family, specifically her son Jovon.

"We are so excited for the Mayor and the newest member of the Parker family," said Alfred Moran, Director of the Administration & Regulatory Affairs Department, which oversees BARC. "Jax, like all of the dogs and cats at BARC, is wonderful and is sure to make the perfect pet. One of the best things about BARC is that we have many different kinds of dogs and cats, so every Houstonian can find the best match for their family."

Jax is now making himself at home with Jovon, and Mayor Parker looks forward to babysitting as much as possible.

For more information, you can visit BARC online at HoustonBARC.com.

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Mayor Parker reacts to Obama's support to same sex marriage

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- President Obama stepped into the middle of the culture war yesterday by declaring his support for gay marriage. The historic endorsement has a major impact in Houston, the largest city in the country to be run by an openly gay mayor.

The mayor tweeted yesterday afternoon, 'Wow got a call from the White House. The president has stepped up and stated his support for recognizing relationships like mine!'

President Barack Obama stated what he called his 'evolving stance' on gay marriage in an exclusive interview with ABC News.

The president says his family helped him change his mind, talking with his young daughters. He said it didn't occur to them that some of their friends' parents would be treated differently. We talked to those politically active in the Houston area about what this might mean for the 2012 election.

"This is just another distraction so folks wont focus on 8.1 percent unemployment, gas prices that are close to $4 a gallon, growth that is at two percent and an economy that is just dead on arrival," said Jared Woodfill with the Harris County Republicans.

"It doesn't become an issue. Now he can move on, to going back to the economy, to foreign policy, to national defense, all these more pressing issues that are affecting our nation," said Noel Freeman with the Houston Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Caucus.

The president also stated that although he now supports gay marriage, that decision should be left to individual states. Thirty-one states have said no to same sex marriage.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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Mayor Parker to be inaugurated for 2nd term today

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- It's inauguration day in Houston. Mayor Annise Parker, the city controller and 16 city council members will be sworn in today.

This is the first time so many city officials will be sworn in at once. Among them are four new council members who will fill seats that were created because of how much Houston's population grew in the 2010 census.

Mayor Parker will be sworn in again after easily winning her re-election bid. But the city council she will oversee will look vastly different after two incumbents lost re-election bids, two others were replaced because of term limits and there are some new positions on city council as well.

Jack Christie beat out incumbent Jolanda Jones and Helena Brown defeated incumbent Brenda Stardig. District B gets a new councilman, Jerry Davis, and at-large Position 2 will see Andrew Burks sworn in. Those two have never held an elected office before.

Davis will take his oath of office this morning after replacing a term-limited Jarvis Johnson. In all, there are seven new faces on city council.

The ceremony is usually held on January 2, but because it was a city holiday and in an effort to save money, the inauguration was moved to today.

The inauguration ceremony is being held at the Hobby Center at 9:30am.

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Mayor Parker unveils change to drainage fee

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Houston Mayor Annise Parker says she wants to make sure people pay the drainage fee they voted for, even if that means the city can't raise all the money that was expected.

Ask an average Houstonian how much their drainage fee may be and you often get something like this.

"I have no clue. How much is it normally? Ten dollars, 3 or 4 dollars?" wondered Houstonian Shynae Godfrey.

Initially, Mayor Parker told voters that the median drainage fee would be about $5 per month, but in reality, the first round of numbers puts it closer to $8. So Mayor Parker on Thursday announced a new plan.

"The Rebuild Houston initiative itself may bring in fewer dollars, but in the grand scheme of things, it's a great program," she said. "I'm very supportive of it, but this is about maintaining a level of fairness."

In the revamped drainage fee structure, there will be an 1,000 square feet impervious cover credit for every piece of property in town, bringing the median monthly home fee to $5.

Critics remain unsatisfied.

"This whole system has been a fix as you go instead of a pay as you go and we don't think that's the way to do business in public policy," said opponent David Welch.

But Mayor Parker says drainage fee opponents will never be satisfied.

"This is not about addressing critics. This is not about addressing the people who don't want this program, worked against this program, will never never agree this is an important program," said Mayor Parker.

The revamped structure is expected to raise $15 million less a year than the original plan of $125 million a year for drainage. Voters we talked to say they just hope all that money actually makes an impact.

"I'm never in favor of paying more money for anything, but if it supports the city and it's what the city needs, then absolutely I'm in favor," said Houstonian Bev Taylor.

If you get a drainage bill and it's much larger than what you expected, you're asked to contact the city to contest it. The city admits there could be mistakes.

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HPD, Mayor Parker detail plan to save jobs

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The Houston police union and Mayor Annise Parker will provide details today about their agreement to save police officer and jailer jobs.

The city had already made an agreement back in January that would avert police officers' job loss. But the city didn't have enough cash to save the jobs of jailers, which was an issue. "We still needed to make sure that we preserved the jobs of the jailers and that would be 273 jailers because those jailers would have to replaced by police officers," Parker said. But at a press conference today, Mayor Parker announced the city and the Houston Police Officers Pension Board reached an agreement that would prevent that situation from happening. "We have reached an agreement with the Houston Police Officers Pension Board to allow a deferral of payments -- $17 million in this fiscal year and $8.5 million in the next fiscal year -- to bridge the downturn in this economy," Parker said. They city will have until 2015 to repay the pension fund the money it owes, plus interest. The also has to use Houston Police Department's building in downtown as collateral. However, Parker said the agreement won't be costing the city anything and will actually help police officers. "The interest that will be accrued will go right back to the Houston Police Officers Pension ... and we will continue to fund that in the future," Parker said. The Houston Police Officers Pension provides officers and their families benefits upon retirements. "It's a win, win," Parker said. "Other than those potential employees that were planning to be laid off, I'm probably the happiest employee at HPD. It certainly made my job a lot easier to have more resources to keep this city safe," Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland added. The Houston Police Officers Pension already has signed off on the deal, but Houston council members will have to agree to this arrangement, which will be discussed during the City Council meeting Thursday. The announcement comes one day after the city of Houston and the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association negotiated a tentative deal that would also spare the jobs of 238 firefighters who had been given notices of potential layoff. The deal includes a no-layoff guarantee in the first year and wage freezes for the first two years, following by a 1 percent raise in the third year that's dependent on the city's financial status. The city is facing a major budget shortfall that could be as much as $75 million. Departments citywide already have laid off more than 700 civilian employees and cuts to some city services already have been approved. There are more budget cuts coming down the road. Mayor Parker is slated to announce the city's new budget on Thursday, and we expect not-so-comfortable situations for the city, including possible reduction of library hours and public pool closures. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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Mayor Parker to unveil city's budget plan today

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- After months of layoffs and budget cuts, Houston Mayor Annise Parker is ready to unveil her spending plan for the next fiscal year. The mayor will outline the budget at city hall this afternoon.

We won't know for sure what's being cut until we hear from the mayor this afternoon, but city department heads and leaders have been preparing us all along for the services we might not see for much longer or may see less of.

In recent weeks, we've reported that the city's parks department has been hard hit. At least 100-200 layoffs last week, which it's possible, could make for fewer city workers to take care of park facilities, affecting park hours for facilities like swimming pools and golf courses.

We talked to the health department last week, about the 84 pink slips which went out to workers there.

"It is very sad and every person here is important and they do an important job so it will be a struggle for us to overcome this," said Kathy Barton with the Houston Health Department.

When it comes to police and firefighters the mayor's office has announced tentative deals with both the police officers and firefighters unions in order to save those jobs. The deals need to be approved by the city council.

But still, with the reduction in civilian workforce, now totaling 747 -- it's difficult to imagine services won't be affected at all.

The mayor is expected to release her budget today at 12:30pm.

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