GENERAL

When it comes to the City of Houston, Locke plans to appoint a blue-ribbon commission to deal with pension liabilities, avoid cuts to important services, and use tax incentives to attract businesses.

Parker’s goals include creating a fund with the revenues from Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones so that spending will be linked to a long-term infrastructure plan. She also wants to develop more parks and green space to absorb water.

CRIME

Parker believes the city spends enough money on police. She wants to improve coordination among the law enforcement agencies and have recruiters target service members leaving the military and consider outsourcing training to local colleges.

Locke would like to work with Harris County toward cooperation on a regional crime lab and a joint booking facility.

IMMIGRATION

Locke supports the screening of inmates for their immigration status in city and county jails, but he has not said which federal program he will use to achieve this.

Parker supports the participation in federal programs to train police to identify jailed illegal immigrants, but believes people should not be questioned about their immigration status outside of jails.

CITY GROWTH

Locke wishes to encourage “edge development” in underdeveloped areas and to make the city’s neighborhood competitive with suburban ones.

Parker wants to create a citywide deed restriction database and create an “ultra-urban” development code category for neighborhoods such as Midtown.

MOBILITY

Parker wants to encourage Metro to improve their relations with neighborhood groups, make Metro bike-friendly, rescind the rush-hour ban on bicycles on the light rail and reconsider the fare hike to $1.25.

Locke wants to revamp the bus system and implement lower fares. He wants to encourage the construction of commuter rails and more light rails and also wants to coordinate traffic lights. Another goal for Locke is to put up a “Mobile Houston” Web site that will incorporate traffic with infrastructure project information.

CITY CONTROLLER

In the runoff for city controller are M.J. Khan and Ronald Green. Both bring several years of city council experience to the table: Khan served as Council Member for District F since 2003, and Green was twice elected to serve as City Council At-Large Position Four.

Khan’s goals include running the city like a business, pushing for fiscal reform and providing tight fiscal management of the City’s affairs.

Green’s goals include auditing the financial activities of City departments, certifying that vendors with City contracts are not delinquent on City taxes, and providing timely reporting on the City’s financial condition.

CITY COUNCIL

Various Houston City Council positions were not decided in the November election because candidate’s did not receive more than 50 percent of the popular vote. The runoff elections are between the two leading candidates per position.

These positions include: District A – Lane Lewis and Brenda Stardig; District F – Al Hoang and Mike Laster; At-Large 1 – Stephen Costello and Karen Derr; At-Large 2 – Sue Lovell and Andrew Burks, Jr.; and At-Large 5 – Jack Christie and Jolanda “Jo” Jones.

For polling locations and times, visit www.harrisvotes.com. For more information, visit www.cclerk.hctx.net.