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As she seeks re-election to a third and final term, Houston Mayor Annise Parker says drivers will soon see improvements to street conditions from Rebuild Houston, the city’s dedicated street and drainage fund.
“Since we’re doing pay as you go, the first two years have been rough because I couldn’t launch any projects. Now we are — and I’m glad to hear the caller say that he sees work being done across the city — it’s going to go up exponentially. The floodgates are beginning to open. Bad choice of word. The floodgates are closing and we’re going to do a lot of street construction work across Houston.”
Parker told Houston Matters Host Craig Cohen that for years the city used debt to pay for road repairs, but now for the first time the city is not burdening future generations with debt.
“We’re the only big city in America where the debt per capita has gone down.”
Cohen: “But we don’t do that with everything, so then the question is …”
“We can’t do that with everything because then the city — we could over time, but the city would just stop. It is the way we have done business for generations and it is a hard transition.”
Parker also spoke about the need for more light rail in Houston and says she supports high-speed rail between Houston and Dallas, but adds there’s a lack of federal funding for those projects.
Ben Hall, who is running against Parker in the mayoral race, will be on Houston Matters next Monday.
Listen to the full interview with Mayor Annise Parker:
For more, visit KUHF’s Election Coverage and Information 2013.
