KHOU-11’s Doug Miller reports that Mayor White has been hard at work trying to offset rising energy costs in the city’s budget:
Houston’s mayor says his biggest concern with the city budget is the rising price of energy.
But a new contract for electrical power should cushion the city government from the devastating impact of volatile swings in the price of natural gas.
Just look around the streets and you’ll see your city government using energy. p>With ideas like driving hybrid cars, Houston’s trying to save money on its energy bills.
A lot of things you’d never suspect, from traffic lights to Don’t Walk signs, are powered by electricity created with natural gas. stand-up: And of course, natural gas prices have skyrocketed. Well, Houston’s mayor has spent the past few months negotiating a new deal for the city government’s supply of electricity. And as a part of that deal, the city of Houston should become less dependent on natural gas.
“We’re looking at the use of wind energy, co-generation with some of our waste heat, so that we spend less money and we emit less stuff in the air,” said Mayor Bill White.
blogHOUSTON fully endorses the notion of conserving waste heat and curbing noxious emissions from our local politicians. Alas, we don’t think that’s quite what Mayor White meant.
KTRK-13’s Cynthia Cisneros reports more good news coming from the White Administration:
Houston has a bright outlook — more jobs, higher pay, and even a growing sector of minority owned businesses. The mayor is calling it unprecedented.
But it’s where the growth is happening that’s unexpected. New statistics released Thursday afternoon show there are over 40,000 new jobs in Houston. Positions that are not concentrated in one industry.
Over the past holidays people were eager to spend their money. That’s a direct result, says banking experts, of a fast employment growth rate in Houston. At 1.8%, job growth is at the fastest rate since 2001 — translating to over 40,000 new jobs.
Great! The booming economy should ease the Mayor’s desire to create so many new revenue streams this term.
UPDATE (01-06-2006): The Chronicle devotes significant space (12 paragraphs) to the Mayor’s press conference lauding how great Houston is doing on his watch. I thought Mayor White just criticized pols who engage in celebratory spin with press conferences every new year?
