in Houston, Texas
Mayor Annise Parker follows through on promise of free public seating; ticket prices steep to hear 'state of' speeches
Wednesday, Apr 14, 2010, 05:37PM CST
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By Lynn Walsh

Bruce Springsteen

Ticket-paying attendees to Mayor Annise Parker's first State of the City speech shelled out $100 to hear her in person, or more than a cost to see Bruce Springsteen in concert. 
 
Parker's speech setup followed a practice of top government officials offering "State of" keynote addresses at fundraisers for the Greater Houston Partnership. That's also the setup followed by Metro's Chairman David Wolff and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett.
But Parker followed through on a promise to make a limited number of free seats available at her April 8 event, as does Emmett at his State of the County talks.
 
Neither Metro nor Houston ISD had free public seating at their most recent "State of" events. The cost was $65 to attend the Metro event, $80 for HISD Superintendent Terry Grier's talk.
 
A spokesman for Emmett said his office has historically provided free seating, even though it doesn't all fill up.
 
The number of free attendees makes no difference as to whether the option to attend should be available, Emmett spokesman Joe Stinebaker said.
 
"It is a public meeting. If someone from the public wants to come a seat should be there for them, no matter what," Stinebaker said.
 
The events with the mayor, county judge and Metro chairman benefit the Greater Houston Partnership. The proceeds go into the organization's general fund, spokeswoman Rachel Graham said. But she declined to say how much the economic development group makes off the events.

The State of the Schools Luncheon benefits the HISD Foundation, a nonprofit that donates money to events and programs ranging from art initiatives to the ASPIRE teacher bonus program. This year the luncheon brought in $110,000.

Parker's speech has been running on the public access channel HTV; the speech text is here. The other officials' speeches can be viewed here, here and here.


Contact Lynn Walsh at lynn@texaswatchdog.org or 713-228-2850. Photo of Bruce Springsteen by flickr user Alex Hempton-Smith, used via a Creative Commons license.

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