City aims to clean up campaign-smudged image By JULIE MASON and DAPHNE RETTER WASHINGTON Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- When Kristen Ecord was being recruited by Dow Chemical to live and work in Houston, the 24-year-old saw some advertising that reinforced stereotypes she already had about the city. "I knew it was dirty -- I didn't know it was that dirty," said Ecord. Presidential campaign-season ads by Democrats attacking then-Gov. George W. Bush for abetting Houston's air quality woes helped clarify Ecord's decision to live elsewhere. "I mean, you can't even run outside if you want to," Ecord said. "Ugh, it's terrible." It's just those kinds of impressions the Greater Houston Partnership and city officials hope to address with a counter-offensive aimed at restoring Houston's image with the rest of the country. "It's impacting our recruiting, and that's not good for us," said Jim Kollaer, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Houston Partnership. "It established a mindset about Houston that makes it more difficult for employers to recruit around the country, even on college campuses." By promoting Houston's efforts to improve its air, along with amenities such as the city's redeveloped downtown, new sports facilities and relatively low cost of living, civic and elected leaders are hoping to reverse some of the damage they say was done by the presidential campaign. During last year's bitterly contested race, Texas-bashing emerged as a key strategy for Democratic groups taking aim at Bush's record in the state. One of the most prevalent aspects of that effort highlighted air-quality woes in the Houston area -- most often through grainy images of dirty smokestacks, steaming petrochemical plants and alarming statistics about the city's poor rank in air quality. In Ecord's case, her decision to live about 40 miles away in Lake Jackson instead of Houston is a matter of perception over reality: Lake Jackson is within a regional area along with Houston that is under a federal mandate to improve air quality. But her perception that Houston is ground-zero for air pollution is a perfect symptom of the problem city business leaders claim they are facing, according to Kollaer. Next week, Kollaer and Mayor Lee Brown will be in Washington trying to spread the message to national news media and others that Houston is not as bad as portrayed in the campaign. It's the start of a counter-offensive that eventually could lead to advertising and other efforts to prop the city's image so it can compete with other areas in attracting talented workers. Bob Stein, Rice University political scientist and pollster, said business and city leaders are getting off to a rather late start. And although the city has many key selling points, they do have their work cut out for them, Stein said. "Houston has always been perceived as unruly," Stein said. "It's not where people retire to when they get old; it's where people make their money and then leave." Certain factors work in favor of selling Houston to prospective new recruits, Stein said. The city's efforts to improve air quality, redevelopment downtown and elsewhere, and planned construction of a rail line are all good selling points for boosters, he said. Selling Houston, it seems, is also a problem that Stein has experienced in drawing talent to Rice University. "Particularly job candidates with families, with children," Stein said. "They don't ask what it's like -- they ask how bad it will be." Although Houston has long struggled to establish its place among U.S. cities -- through various advertising and image campaigns -- it was particularly hard hit during the campaign, Kollaer said. In addition to air quality, issues such as traffic congestion and childhood immunization rates also became fodder for political advertising against Bush. Many Texans missed that aspect of the campaign, since the advertising was heaviest in battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois. Other areas in Texas also came under scrutiny as well. At one point in the campaign, then- Democratic National Committee Chairman Joe Andrew distributed a map to journalists pinpointing "Texas Trouble Spots," including Houston, Jasper and the Mexican border. At the time, Andrew said that while some Texans may take offense, focus groups and testing in other states found "there is a hunger for that information." Late in the campaign, Democrat Al Gore's running mate, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., took a "failed leadership tour" through Texas to critique Bush's record, visiting Houston and poverty-stricken areas on the border. Democrats also attacked Bush's refusal to back hate crimes legislation after the 1998 racist dragging murder of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper. In Iowa, ads bought by Democrats compared Texas' SAT ranking (47th in the country) with Iowa's (No. 2) as the announcer said Bush would bring Texas policies to the rest of the country and asked: "But why would Iowa want them?" Stein said there may be some hope now in the reselling of Houston in the fact that Bush won the White House and there is still a certain amount of interest about Texas. At the same time, Kollaer conceded that overcoming historical perceptions about Houston and Texas reinforced during the campaign will be difficult. He estimated it could take a decade. ------------------ fArt don't pay the rent.
Ironic about turning her nose up at pollution and working for a chemical company. Mango ------------------ Get it right or just don't do it! Special Assignment: ZRB Patrol
You beat me to it, Mango. lol! Anyway, while I lived in Houston for about 24 years, I never thought of it as a dirty city or a severly polluted city as much as a congested city with no elbow room. I moved to the burbs of Dallas, I was shocked to hear people slamming Houston's pollution and "dirtiness". I used to say the move to Dallas was one I'd make permanent simply because there was no humidity, traffic was less, and you could actually find a true suburb to escape to every-now-and-then. I've worked with people from Colorado, Utah, and elsewhere on contracts and they all slammed Houston for the heat and pollution. I was shocked when I heard Houston was one of, if not the most, polluted city in the US. I guess I just never noticed while I was there especially living in the southwest area of Houston most of my life there. ------------------ "I was arrested for sexual assault involving an elderly man and I was out in 35 minutes." -- Achebe - programmer by day, geriatric ass grabber by night. As(s?) a side note, he did state he was cleared of charges.
Most polluted area of Houston is prolly the SE side. Pasedena, Baytown, etc... I used to live in Baytown bout 8-9 years back and I remember it used to stink all the time but not as much as when we used to drive through Pasedena to get to downtown. We eventually moved because of the smell and the air pollution which was causing breathing problems. ------------------ Charles Barkley on TBS on the "fat track" poll: "What? 47% said I'd gain more.....why those.....they better be glad this is a family show."
While i love the character and energy of this city, I simply cannot stand the pollution. It never would have bothered me if i hadn't started traveling a lot these past few years. Other than the skyline and the people, there is nothing beautiful about Houston. There is no scenery. If there was you probably couldn't see it anyway! This city will never be considered a great place to live until they do something about the air. Even when we try (light rail, anyone?!) our votes and plans get squashed be the very people and businesses that ruined the air to begin with. ------------------
Here's a question, Jeff: Why are Houston voters so opposed to mass transit? Perhaps I just haven't followed the issue well enough... but I know of a couple of people who turned down job offers in Houston because they didn't feel like fighting Houston traffic every day. Mass transport would reduce all that awful pollution, and provide a cheap way to get to work when you just don't want to drive. Yet on a chron.com poll, the initiative was getting slaughtered. Granted, online voters tend to be a bit more conservative... but still. ? ------------------ Boston College - Big East -East Division Regular Season Champs Worst to First in 2001!
More Explorers! More Expeditions! Cheaper Gasoline! Don't regulate fuel consumption, engine displacement, or pollution output for cars, just lower the speed limit! Build wider highways! Build a super-huge-wide loop around the existing super-huge-wide loop! I love Houston. If there's one thing we know how to do, it's manage air pollution.
Last time I saw the numbers, they indicated that Houston's largest contributor to air pollution was factories, not cars. Especially those factories that have been grandfathered in to avoid having to comply with current pollution standards. Good to know that Houston's is spending money trying to advertise its way around the negative publicity generated by its poor air. It's still #1 in the nation, right? Best way to avoid the negative impact of that statistic is to clean the air, not trumpet the low cost of living and new sports facilities. ------------------
Last time I saw the numbers, they indicated that Houston's largest contributor to air pollution was factories, not cars. Absolutely correct, SamC. That's why Houston is absolutely correct in pursuing no measures to curb auto pollution. There's no point in driving a clean car if factory's are polluting.
Easy now, jammy. I never said that eliminating auto pollution was a bad thing. But it seems like the bigger issue is factory pollution, and noone is talking about it. Plus it would be easier to identify and curtail a few dozen factories than to get millions of SUV-driving Houstonians to change their ways. ------------------
Didn't mean to jump on ya SamC, sorry. CA has had tougher auto emission standards than TX for YEARS. What do we do? Lower the speed limit. Such foresight!
Im tired of that crackdown on cars bull****. That was just another way to rob us of 15 more dollars. If they would design their freeways better and plan for the future (instead of widening them for the present), then they could cut down on the pollution with everyone sitting in traffic. But when it comes down to it, its the damn plants that are giving out all the pollution. Screw fining the refineries, just shut them down if they are pumping out too much. They will cut down on their pollution quick! ------------------ Nice guys finish last ... and im surely not going to finish last!
Missouri City area... kinda close to Sugar Land. ------------------ "I was arrested for sexual assault involving an elderly man and I was out in 35 minutes." -- Achebe - programmer by day, geriatric ass grabber by night. As(s?) a side note, he did state he was cleared of charges.
Stinkadena is horrible. After a good cold front, you can see Downtown Houston from Pasadena. Give it two days and all you see is a dark haze. If you are on the outskirts of Houston and look up in the morning, you can see all kinds of different colors. Pretty Disgusting!! ------------------ Nice guys finish last ... and im surely not going to finish last!
