Mayoral candidates: Houston not a sanctuary city

By RUSTY GRAHAM
Updated: 07.09.09

Houston’s mayoral candidates agree that Houston is not a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants and that limited local police resources should not be used to enforce federal immigration laws.

Houston also needs a coordinated regional approach to flooding and drainage issues, and needs to find a balance between development and quality of life.

That’s what a sparse but interested crowd heard Tuesday at Spring Woods High School, where the four candidates for Houston mayor address selected issues.

Peter Brown, Gene Locke, Roy Morales and Annise Parker each had three minutes to offer their views on:

flooding and drainage

crime and police

economic development

illegal immigration

affordable multifamily housing

Sponsored by the Binglewood Civic Club and moderated by Chris Hajovski, the forum was designed to set up an issue with some background, then pose specific questions about that issue.

Of eight possible topics, five were addressed at the forum. While the selected issues are Houston issues, each has particular relevance to the Spring Branch area.

There was some difference in the details, but the candidates generally agreed that Houston should pursue a more regional approach to flooding and drainage, better intelligence for fighting crime, more responsible development, using police resources to fight crime rather than enforce immigration, and that subsidized housing complexes should be audited and regulations enforced.

The sanctuary question was prefaced with graphs and an overlay map that showed an average 7 percent increase in ESL programs in Spring Branch ISD schools north of I-10.

Brown acknowledged that the issue of sanctuary city is a complex one, but that Houston needs to enforce its own laws. He also said that children, even of illegal immigrants, should “be in school, not on the streets.â€