[PAA-Discuss] Annise's Inaugural Address - text/ one edit ....

Tue Jan 5 23:39:44 EST 2010

This is a wonderful inaugural Address , Pokey !

Thank you for posting ...... I would only add one line

to her incredible vision for our city .....

"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."

HOUSTON :  CITY OF PEACE 

--- On Tue, 1/5/10, Pokeyink at aol.com <Pokeyink at aol.com> wrote:

From: Pokeyink at aol.com <Pokeyink at aol.com>
Subject: [codepinkhouston] Annise's Inaugural Address - text
To: codepinkhouston at lists.riseup.net
Date: Tuesday, January 5, 2010, 4:29 PM

2010 INAUGURAL ADDRESS

http://www.houstontx.gov/mayor/inauguration2010.html

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 and 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 
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, and 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 where the 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.