William H. White
60th Mayor of Houston
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 2, 2004
Preceded by	Lee P. Brown
Born	June 16, 1954 (1954-06-16) (age 55) San Antonio, Texas
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Andrea White
Residence	Houston, Texas
Alma mater	Harvard University University of Texas at Austin
Occupation	Attorney, Businessman
Religion	Methodist
Signature

William Howard "Bill" White (born June 16, 1954) is a United States politician, member of the national and state Democratic Party and current mayor of the city of Houston, Texas (January 2, 2004–present). He was elected mayor in 2003 and reelected in 2005 and 2007. Due to term limits he will have to step down as mayor in January 2010.^[1]

Prior to serving as mayor, White was a prominent businessman and later served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1995. He is an important political figure in Texas and has been rated Governing Magazine's Public Official of the Year for 2007.^[2]

[edit] Family and personal life

White and his wife Andrea are the parents of three children, Will, Elena, and Stephen.

White was born and grew up in San Antonio. He is the son of two schoolteachers. He and his wife have helped lead numerous charitable and civic organizations. White is an avid cyclist and every year he leads Houston's annual "Bike to Work Day."^[3] He also created the annual biking event "Tour de Houston" through historic Houston neighborhoods.^[4]

Bill White's wife Andrea is the daughter of Arthur John Ferguson (1917-2008), a Louisiana State University graduate in mechanical engineering originally from New Orleans, and the former Patsi Wells, a native of Baton Rouge.^[5] Andrea White has written several novels, one of which received the Texas Bluebonnet Award as well as the Golden Spur Award.^[6]

White's son Stephen made the T-Mac All Star's fifteen year old AAU basketball team in Houston, which honors only the top 12 fifteen-year-old players in the city.^{[citation needed]} White's daughter, Elena, is currently enrolled at Rice University.

The Whites are members of The St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Houston.^[7]

[edit] Education and career

White graduated from Churchill High School before attending Harvard University on American Legion scholarships and graduating magna cum laude with a degree in economics. He then attended The University of Texas School of Law, where he was elected editor-in-chief of its law review and graduated with highest honors.

White also served as an administrator on the Board of Directors for the Baylor College of Medicine.^[8]

White began his career as a plaintiff lawyer at Susman Godfrey, LLP, a leading Houston law firm, from 1979 to 1993, where he practiced business litigation and anti-trust law, and eventually became partner.

He served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1995. He organized Frontera Resources,^[9] a developer of oil and gas in the Caspian Sea region, and was also the chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, from 1995 to 1998. He was the president and CEO of WEDGE Group, an energy, construction and real estate company, from 1997 to 2004.^[10][11]

[edit] Community and business activities

White has served on the board of directors for the North American Electrical Reliability Council. He was chairman for both the World Trade Division and the Environmental Advisory Committee, and served on the executive committee, for the Greater Houston Partnership. He has also served on the board of directors for the Houston Quality of Life Coalition.

He is an official sponsor and avid supporter of the Amazing Faiths Project of Houston.^[12]

[edit] Mayor of Houston

In 2003, White, a Democrat, ran in Houston's officially nonpartisan mayoral election to succeed term-limited Mayor Lee Brown, who was the first African-American mayor of the city. Running as a moderate with business experience, he appealed to Democrats as well as many Republicans despite having almost no name recognition. In fact, White's television ads mainly consisted of a plain white background with himself in the middle of the screen and a black bar displaying info such as his campaign website in the lower third of the screen.

White faced off against Republican former Houston City Councilman Orlando Sanchez, a Cuban-American who unsuccessfully challenged Brown in a heated 2001 bid to become Houston's first Hispanic mayor, and black Democratic Texas State Representative Sylvester Turner, who also ran for mayor in 1991 (against then-incumbent Kathy Whitmire and real estate developer Bob Lanier) but was embroiled in an insurance scandal exposed in an investigation by Houston's ABC affiliate, KTRK-TV that eventually led to a 1996 lawsuit; Lanier went on to defeat Whitmire.

In the November election, White, along with Sanchez, defeated Turner. In the runoff, White defeated Sanchez with 63 percent of the vote.

Mayor White was a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition,^[13] a bi-partisan group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The Coalition is co-chaired by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. White resigned from the group in July 2009. White's staff said that the group's focus had grown from its original effort to prevent the sale of stolen guns. Regarding a recent proposal to allow those with concealed gun permits to carry them into other states, White's staff added that he resigned the day that the group took out a newspaper advertisement denouncing that proposal. ^[14]

[edit] First term

Bill White's first term as mayor of Houston began on January 2, 2004. He gained great popularity during this term, which led to overwhelming support for his reelection.

During this term, Houston hosted Super Bowl XXXVIII, the 2004 MLB All-Star Game, the 2006 NBA All-Star Game and the 2005 World Series. These events have been great boosts to Houston's economy.^[15][16] He also led the building of Houston's Metro light rail system.

In 2004, White, his wife Andrea, and then Houston ISD Superintendent Kaye Stripling assembled an education summit with about 400 local community and civic leaders to discuss Houston's then high drop-out rate. That year, White and his wife established Expectation Graduation, a program designed to reduce high school drop-out rates.^[17][18]

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, thousands of residents of New Orleans were displaced. Bill White offered refuge for the victims in Houston's Astrodome and George R. Brown Convention Center. He also set up programs to help them find long-term housing, job placement, and education within Houston. He was later awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his service in the light of this catastrophe.^[19]

Just weeks after Hurricane Katrina, it looked as though Houston would become the target of Hurricane Rita. Bill White mobilized the citizens of Houston to evacuate. During a series of press conferences, Mayor White and County Judge Robert Eckels instructed Houstonians on when to evacuate.^[20] Officials employed a strategy that called for the evacuation of flood prone areas first. This evacuation, however, led to many problems as it caused multi-hour backups on all freeways in Houston. This prompted White to later lead an evacuation plan reform for Houston.^[21]

In 2005 White initiated the SafeClear Program, designed to quickly clear roads and freeways of stalled vehicles.^[22] This led to great controversy when it was first started, however, for several reasons. Tow truck drivers claimed that the program hurt their business and nine wrecker companies filed lawsuits against the city. White testified in court in the case.^[23] In addition the SafeClear Program has been blamed for causing the deaths of people, who seemed to be trying to get their cars off the freeway without having to pay fees to the tow truck drivers. The cause of death of these people, however, is uncertain.^[24][25] White responded to the controversy and criticism by changing the rules the program and the towing laws, including free towing for limited distances funded by the city.^[26][27] He also rode with a wrecker^[28] and conducted several studies of the program. Despite the controversy, independent studies have found that the program has helped.^[29][30]

White also slightly lowered Houstonians' property tax in 2006 and again during the next four years gaining him support from local Republicans.^[31] White also led neighborhood water sewage improvements, a reform of the city's pension fund, lowered Houston's high crime rate and began a local recycling campaign known as "Stop Trashing Houston" to discourage littering.

[edit] Second term

Bill White speaking at a dinner in 2007

In 2005, White was challenged for re-election by minor and perennial candidates and won re-election with 91 percent of the vote — the highest percentage received by a mayoral candidate in Houston in 60 years.^[32]

During his second term, White focused his work on improving graduation rates in the city's high schools, enforcing air pollution standards, reducing the possibility of flooding in newer areas, adopted a more flexible system of working hours, and capitalized even further on his business experience to create public-private initiatives with private business and community organizations to stimulate growth in the city's most neglected subdivisions.

In 2005, White formed the Mayor’s Wellness Council and launched the Get Moving Houston fitness campaign. Houston had previously been rated “Fattest City in America" by Men’s Fitness magazine. White started this campaign to improve the heath and welfare of the citizens of Houston. The campaign has had success, lowering Houston's rating from first to tenth in three years.^[33]

In 2006, White proposed a series of eight city propositions aimed at improving infrastructure without a tax increase. All eight city propositions passed in a November 2006 election.

White worked to create the Discovery Green park in Houston, which held its groundbreaking in October 2006. Mayor White's 2008 inauguration was held at the park. The park officially opened to the public in April 2008 with a ribbon cutting led by White.^[34]

In 2007, the FBI released a report showing an increase in Houston's murder rate. While some speculated about the impact of Hurricane Katrina victims who settled on the Southwest side of town, Mayor White released a statement concerning the FBI's findings:

"With the regard to the 2006 figures now being reported, the FBI calculated a murder rate per 100,000 people for Houston based on census estimates of a 2,073,729 population as of July 1, 2005. That was before Houston’s population swelled by well over 100,000 people. On the basis of U.S. Post Office change of address information we estimated the 2006 population at 2,198,755. While it is normally fair to make year-to-year comparisons based on population estimates that lag crimes by a year or more, the unusual increase in Houston’s population for 2006 makes our City’s figures for the murder rate per 100,000 not quite comparable to the rate in other communities in 2005."

Energy conservation topped the Mayor's list of concerns in 2007.^[35] Via the City's Power to People Web site, Mayor White encourages energy conservation through tips and tools, education about tax incentives, and raffles.

In 2007, White was honored the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his service during Hurricane Katrina.^[36] He was also awarded the FBI's Director's Community Leadership Award for lowering Houston's crime rate stating that "Mayor White made public safety one of his highest priorities, as evidenced by Houston's decreasing crime rate."^[37][38]

During White's second term he focused on reducing the number of car accidents in Houston. To do this, he started a campaign to stop drunk driving. He led a summit, hosted by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.^[39] He also presented a plan to increase enforcement, education, and public awareness. This included installing signs around the Houston area warning of drunk driving and urging people to dial *DWI if they suspect someone of drunk driving.^[40] Also, at the recommendation of Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt, White had 50 red-light cameras installed around Houston's metropolitan area.^[41] Four intersections were originally used to test the traffic cameras in September 2006. The trial cameras met the requirements and were approved for using throughout the city. The red-light cameras caused a great deal of controversy, even leading to some lawsuits. Many people accused the city, claiming this was just for the city to make money and claiming that they actually increase accidents.^[42] However, an independent study by Texas A&M University found that they actually decreased accidents by 30%.^[43][44] The installation of the red-light cameras has been one of White's most controversial acts as mayor.^[45] In 2007, he also launched the "Mobility Response Team", a task force staffed by traffic officers that patrol within the loop fixing traffic problems. They also report traffic light outages, issue parking citations, help clear and direct traffic around minor accidents.^[46][47]

[edit] Third term

Mayor White's third term began in January 2008 with his inauguration at the Discovery Green Park.

White made fighting pollution in and around the Houston area a top concern during his third term.^[48] He put pressure on local factories to limit pollution. He particularly emphasized reducing carcinogenic benzene emissions.^[49] He launched the Benzene Action Plan in 2007 which monitors benzene emissions and aims to reduce concentrations in the air.^[50] He forced Houston's largest refinery Lyondell Chemical Company, located along the Houston Ship Channel, to publicly defend its carcinogenic emissions.^[51] This received criticism from some businesses claiming White overstepped his powers as mayor, however he has received great praise from the citizens of Houston. In thanks to his fighting of pollution in Houston, White was awarded the HERO Award (Houston-Galveston Environmental Research & Outreach Award) on September 15, 2008.^[52] In August 2008, White traveled to Stavanger, Norway, one of Houston's sister cities, for an energy conference.^[53] On June 9, 2008, White revealed plans to increase solar energy capacity for the city of Houston. Solar panels were installed on the Code Enforcement building and the roof of the City Hall Annex building. Houston was chosen as one of the U.S. cities in the Solar America Cities program designed increase the use of solar technology. The U.S. Department of Energy is providing assistance to the city in expanding its solar energy capacity.^[54]

White's efforts to reduce Houston's pollution throughout his terms as mayor have proved to be very successful. Texas Governor Rick Perry and state officials had originally convinced the Environmental Protection Agency to give Houston until 2019 to meet ozone standards, but Houston met the standards in 2009. The air went from a peak of 120 ozone molecules per billion molecules of air down to 84 molecules per billion.^[55][56]

Following several issues with Houston's Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care (BARC), including the so-called “Corridor of Cruelty”, abuse and neglect, staff problems, funding, White addressed several issues with the bureau and moved it out of Houston's health department to be run as a separate agency. ^[57][58]

White's third term will end on January 2, 2010. Due to term limits he will be unable to run again.

[edit] Electoral history

[edit] 2003

[edit] 2005

[edit] 2007

[edit] US Senate election

There had been speculation that White might run for higher office. On December 12, 2008, it was announced that White had decided to run for the United States Senate seat currently held by Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison, should she resign from her seat to challenge Governor Rick Perry, as expected. ^[60] White has since created a campaign website.

On November 23, 2009, Democrat Tom Schieffer dropped out of the 2010 Texas Governor's Race, endorsing Bill White for the race despite White being a candidate for U.S. Senate. Later that same day, Mayor White announced that he is seeking input from Texans about how he can best serve Texans, amidst reports that he is "considering" running for Governor^[61].

[edit] Internet Networking

White interacts with the Houston people through the Social Networking site, Facebook. Both Bill White and his Wife, Andrea White, have personal Profile Pages in which they keep their "friends" up-to-date on their public life. I.E., Mayor Bill White posts when and what his meetings are, and about certain events and issues happening in Houston and concern the Houston area people. (e.g. The 2009 H1N1 Swine Flu Outbreak, and Hurricane IKE).

[edit] Controversies

[edit] SafeClear Program

The SafeClear Program, established during White's first term has been very controversial. The program requires stalled vehicles to be towed off of freeways in Houston as soon as possible. It was created to keep traffic down, as Houston has severe backups during the morning and evening rush hours. It was also meant to make the freeways safer by keeping them cleared of stalled vehicles. White encountered much opposition to the program when it was first implemented as it originally required motorists to pay for the towing of their stalled vehicle, but at reduced prices set by the city. This created opposition from both tow truck drivers and from motorists. However, this rule was later changed to allow free tows, for a limited distance, paid for by the city and with no regulation on the price that tow truck drivers can charge after the initial towing. The SafeClear program initially met with stiff opposition from towing companies that feared it would substantially affect their business.^[24][62] State Senator John Whitmire recruited 30 out of 31 Texas State Senators' votes to make the SafeClear program illegal.^[63] White negotiated with him to address the objections of the senators, keeping the program alive but in a different format. The program was adapted to included strict licensing of SafeClear wreckers including criminal background checks, allowing the towed motorist to be towed for one mile for free, preventing the City leasing stretches of state-owned highway to private wrecker companies, and requiring revenue generated from the program to enter a mobility fund.^[64] Studies show that the program has been successful in decreasing accidents. A study, conducted by Rice University and Texas A&M University found that the number of freeway crashes decreased by 10.4%, or nearly 2,000 crashes.^[29] According to these results, drivers in Houston saved approximately $35 million by the implementation of the program. However Suzanne Poole, president of the Houston Professional Towing Association, says those numbers are misleading and actual crashes are actually higher.^[29] In reference to the program's objective to decrease traffic congestion, a study by KHOU-TV found that average drive times increased at 86% of freeways into Houston six months after the program was implemented compared to before the program.^[65] However, some claim that more cars were on the roads during these six months and that construction on the freeways, particularly on United States Highway 59, caused drive times to increase.

[edit] Red-light cameras

At the recommendation of Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt, White had 50 red-light cameras installed around Houston's metropolitan area.^[66] The red-light cameras caused a great deal of controversy, even leading to some lawsuits. Many people accused the city, claiming this was just for the city to make money and claiming that they actually increase accidents.^[67] However, White has stood behind his decision to keep the red light cameras. An independent study by Texas A&M University found that they actually cut accidents by 30%.^[43][68] The study found that while rear-end collisions increased by 5%, right-angle collisions decreased by 43% and all other collisions went down by 30%.^[43] A study in Houston suburb Sugar Land found that the cameras reduced violations by 96 percent.^[69] Despite these studies, others say that they have actually increased accidents.^[70]

[edit] Center for the Retarded

In 2007, the City under Mayor White announced that it was planning to terminate the lease for The Center for the Retarded, which also housed the Lighthouse for the Blind. These facilities had served these special needs communities for over 43 years. The facility was built on land that decades ago was considered worthless and had been leased for 99 years for $1, but had recently become very valuable. Several developers, who were large contributors to his campaigns, were interested in the project. White's rationale was that the property was worth $26 million to the public and in good faith the lease must be terminated. Though the Center had a 99-year lease, the City claimed under its Charter that it was unable to enter into such a long-term lease, thus it was not originally valid.^[71] After a great public hue and outcry, White realized that sacrificing handicapped people's housing and jobs to make a few people richer would not be tolerated by the populace of Houston. This led to great public backlash in Houston^[72] and the public raised $6 million to pay the City, and discussions about closing the facility ended.^[73]

[edit] Other controversies

This article contains weasel words, vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. Such statements should be clarified or removed. (November 2009)

When Bill White first ran for mayor in 2003, a scandal embroiled his campaign. A woman claimed that another candidate had paid her to find another person named "Bill White" to run in the campaign to confuse the voters. The convoluted story ended with Bill White inexplicably writing her a $5,000 check "because she was scared" of what would happen. The whole debacle could be seen as an attempt to pay a person to concoct a seemingly-false story incriminating another candidate. There was never a good answer to the question of what exactly occurred.^[74]

On October 1, 2006, Houston City Council, at the urging of Mayor White, amended Chpt. 19-43 of the code regarding floodway and floodplain properties. The change removed a previous exception for building in floodways that allowed owners to build provided they could prove with an engineering study that the building would not increase flooding. As a result of this change, those with vacant land saw their property become worthless as it was unusable. Those with existing structures also saw a dramatic loss in property value because there was a provision disqualifying rebuilding if the property was sufficiently damaged. There are several law suits pending regarding this ordinance.^{[citation needed]} The main argument is that this law was an unconstitutional regulatory taking of property that would normally have required the use of eminent domain. A group called the Floodway Coalition of Houston has organized to lobby for repeal of the change. Mayor White has consistently backed the change in the ordinance.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

Houston portal

• Politics of Houston
• List of Houston mayors

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bill White (mayor)

• City of Houston: Mayor Bill White
• CityMayors.com profile
• Bill White's campaign site for Senate
• Green Houston: Bill White's Environmental Record

v • d • e Mayors of cities with populations of 100,000 in Texas     Bill White (Houston) Julian Castro (San Antonio) Tom Leppert (Dallas) Lee Leffingwell (Austin) Mike Moncrief (Fort Worth) John Cook (El Paso) Robert Cluck (Arlington) Joe Adame (Corpus Christi) Phil Dyer (Plano) Raul Gonzalez Salinas (Laredo) Tom Martin (Lubbock) Ronald E. Jones (Garland) Herbert A. Gears (Irving) Debra McCartt (Amarillo) Pat Ahumada (Brownsville) Charles England (Grand Prairie) Johnny Isbell (Pasadena) John Monaco (Mesquite) Richard F. Cortez (McAllen) Ron Branson (Carrollton) Virginia DuPuy (Waco) Bill Whitfield (McKinney) Mark Burroughs (Denton) Timothy L. Hancock (Killeen) Norm Archibald (Abilene) Becky Ames (Beaumont) Wes Perry (Midland) Alan McGraw (Round Rock) Dean Ueckert (Lewisville) Bill Keffler (Richardson) Lanham Lyne (Wichita Falls)