Mayor White
wants you to live there!
Mayor puts muscle behind 346-unit apartment complex
Letter pushing project draws criticism from watchdogs
By BRADLEY OLSON and NANCY SARNOFF
Copyright 2009 HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Jan. 26, 2009, 11:41PM
The mailing reads like a finely produced marketing brochure, touting the opening of a new downtown apartment tower and urging Houstonians to consider moving there:
“One Park Place will be the residence of choice downtown because its 346 residences offer 14 floor plans with finishes typical of high-end condominiums, spectacular views, a nearly one-acre resort-style pool area, a grand terrace overlooking the park and retail spaces.”
Except it is not a marketing brochure. It is a Jan. 16 letter, penned by Mayor Bill White on city letterhead and sent by the developer of One Park Place to hundreds of people and human resources representatives at businesses and organizations across Houston.
Land-use experts and officials in other Texas cities said the letter is highly unusual. Most officeholders involved in development and revitalization projects tout improvements in generalities, but rarely, if ever, participate in a marketing effort for a specific business interest.
White said he views One Park Place as a linchpin of the development in the works around Discovery Green, a key element of the plan to revitalize downtown. He also said he would do the same for any major residential development downtown.
Seen as unusual
City officials in Austin, Dallas and San Antonio were reluctant to weigh in on White’s letter, except to say that they were not aware of their mayors ever taking such a step. Mayors there have spoken publicly about some developments and attended ribbon-cuttings, but none of their staffs were aware of an endorsement on city stationery.
Government watchdogs said such a written endorsement is an inappropriate use of the mayor’s office, most notably because the owner of the development company, Marvy Finger, is a campaign contributor. Finger’s daughter, Jill Jewett, is a former senior staffer of the mayor and left City Hall to work for the Finger Companies.
“It is appropriate for mayors to help promote downtown living, but where you cross the line is where you’re promoting one project and endorsing it and asking people to consider a particular residential tower,” said Tom “Smitty” Smith, director of the Texas office of Public Citizen. “Using city stationery and other trappings of your office to promote a particular building goes beyond the line.”
According to city records, Finger gave $1,000 to White’s campaigns in 2005 and 2007, well below the $5,000 limit for individual contributors per campaign cycle.
White explains letter
White said the letter was part of a longstanding agreement he made with Finger to promote the 37-story tower, which is scheduled to open in March.
“We are in competition with other cities for this kind of development and there’s a relatively limited number of people who have developed these type of high-rise projects in cities outside of New York City and Chicago,” the mayor said. “Houston has needed that to provide an opportunity for workers to live downtown and to create a critical mass that would result in grocery stores and other retail that we need downtown.”
White said he has made similar offers of help to other developers eyeing downtown for residential possibilities. He said he also has urged Realtors and lenders to participate in and help builders involved with Houston Hope, a public-private program to rehabilitate abandoned properties to provide low-cost, energy-efficient homes.
Several years ago, White said, Finger asked if the city would be able to provide tax abatement as an incentive for a residential high-rise. White declined, but offered to help in whatever way he could.
That help became the letter, which White said he wrote and turned over to Finger’s company.
The nine-paragraph letter showers praise on the development and offers a brief anecdote about when the mayor and his wife used to walk downtown to work from where they lived nearby. It also provides a name and phone number for leasing information.
Finger said the letter was unsolicited, but he was grateful for the help.
Houston long has needed more residential options downtown and the mayor has been a strong backer of his development from the moment they first met on the matter years ago, he said.
“There were no hidden agendas here,” Finger said. “I think his only motive is to promote the city for both residential, entertainment and dining, and he’s gotten off to a great start.”
Finger said Jewett, his daughter, worked only briefly for his company after she left City Hall.
Jewett said she knew nothing of the letter and heard about it only after it was written.
Reaction mixed
Elizabeth Mueller, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at the University of Texas-Austin, said she was not aware of any situation in which a public official directly appealed to citizens to lease an apartment for the good of a city.
“Usually, it’s more things like helping provide infrastructure to a project, creating a plan for downtown that would specify what the appropriate goals are for a particular part of the city,” she said. “Public officials encourage more people to live downtown in order to make it a more vibrant place or work toward more sustainability. But in this case, he could have used the bully pulpit in another way. This seems odd.”
Houston developers were mixed on whether the letter was a good idea.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate for a public figure like a mayor to market for Marvy Finger,” said Mir Azizi, who owns about 90 rental units downtown and in Midtown. “It puts the rest of us at a competitive disadvantage.”
Randall Davis, who redeveloped the Rice Hotel, applauded White for supporting Finger’s project, saying downtown needs the help. Davis also said then-Mayor Bob Lanier helped a great deal with his project.
“Without his support, the Rice Hotel would never have been saved,” he said. “It’s a big city, but downtown is crucial.”
Chronicle reporter Carolyn Feibel contributed to this story.
bradley.olson@chron.com,
nancy.sarnoff@chron.com
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I like the roof of One Park Place, but I kind of wish the balconies had been the built in kind. Still, I like it overall. And yeah, it would look great in The Ashton's place in Austin. Sort of a "southern face" skyscraper, it would look impressive with those spires on the roof. The Ashton in Austin is shorter though, only 412 feet with 36 floors. Both are apartments though.
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