Word: houston
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...blocs gain power in Houston, Miami, San Francisco...
...local elections across the nation demonstrated last week. In general, the cities' voters remained loyal to incumbents, and still more so to the Democratic Party. But there were strong crosscurrents of change in some big cities. Most notable: the sudden rise to prominence of new voting blocs in Houston, Miami and San Francisco, and the equally sudden demise of the tough-guy mayoral style in Cleveland, Philadelphia and Minneapolis...
Perhaps the most drastically changed city government is the one in Houston. Under prodding from the U.S. Department of Justice, which has been hearing loud complaints about discrimination from the oil capital's black and Hispanic minorities, Houston shifted from a city council of eight members, all elected at large, to one of 14 members, with nine chosen from separate districts and the remainder chosen at large. Blacks thereby increased their representation from one to three, and State Representative Ben Reyes became Houston's first Mexican-American councilman. In addition, three women stand a chance of winning runoff...
Incumbent Democratic Mayor Jim McConn, a suecessful builder, is expected to win the runoff, but the new council will change the basic style of Houston's government. It will almost certainly debate municipal issues publicly, rather than holding all discussions behind closed doors, as the old council did. It will be less attentive to downtown business interests, may be less anxious to annex white suburban areas until services in the center city improve, and will surely be more solicitous of poor areas. Vows Ernest McGowen, a black mailman who will represent Houston's northeast section: "People in office...
...Boston, whose residents often throw angry epithets-and sometimes more harmful things than that-at each other. In most cases, voters seemed less enthusiastic for the existing order than wearily convinced that a change of command at city hall would not make much difference. But as the results in Houston, Miami, San Francisco, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Minneapolis demonstrated, no one can take the city voter for granted: the bloc appeals and political styles that swept to triumph in the last election may guarantee defeat in the next...