By D.E. Daniels
Oftentimes, we tend to forget the good that a person does. Usually the negatives are remembered long after the positives. In recent months, this has been the case for the Honorable Sylvester Turner, the proud Mayor of Houston. Lest not forget when the Harvard graduate and native Houstonian took over as Mayor, he inherited an unbalanced city budget. Lest not also forget that within months Turner was able to balance the City of Houston’s budget.
Let us not also forget that in the first months as Mayor of the third largest city, mother nature sent Hurricane Harvey to Houston. Mayor Turner quickly put on his boots and rain gear to join first responders, police, firefighters and volunteers to help those in need. Bro. Turner spoke out first to get help to various apartment complexes on the Northside. He also hurriedly made contact with the powers to be and got Houston the necessary federal funding and items needed to cope with Hurricane Harvey such as food, shelters, and temporary housing.
Lest not forget it was Mayor Turner who also provided the Homeless community with protective individual shelters. May I ask this question to Mr. King, Buzbee and Boykins. Where were you? Especially, Mr. Boykins, who also served as City Councilmen under former Mayor Annise Parker and was quiet as a mouse and basically supported all of her endeavors. To candidates King and Buzbee, you don’t know how you would have handled Houston’s budget or Hurricane Harvey because you were not running the City, but Mayor Turner was then and is still now leading the City. He even asked City Council to consider awarding contracts to minority businesses.
Let us remember the firefighter issues existed long before Mayor Turner was elected. So, that means they had pay raise issues with several other Mayors before Turner, but just because of who he is and what he is, they “the firefighters” are wanting to blame Turner and only Turner for their problems. Lest not forget that it was this Acres Home native son who went on the limb to sponsor a community concert with all proceeds going to help Harvey victims. It was Turner who brought the City and community together with his campaign theme: “If you can dream it, you can achieve it.” After all, Mr. Turner also served as Texas State Representative for years. As history is repeated Jesus Christ did all the good He did, and was talked about, so did Dr. King, President Obama, and Nelson Mandela did a lot of good but were talked about. So, then when Mayor Sylvester Turner continues to do “good” for all Houstonians, he too will be talked about and criticized. To date, Mayor Turner has done many good things for Houston during his first term, such as tackling the infrastructure throughout the City and establishing a train from Houston to Dallas, former Mayors have spoken about exploring these ideas, but this second African- American Mayor has turned these dreams into realities.
Lest not forget also that Turner has joined forces with a local rapper to bring back “Astro World.” So instead of criticizing the Mayor, join him and support his second-term dreams. Babies, age 3-6, when picked on, will tell you to “leave me alone.” Lest not forget Mayor Turner’s “good” and leave him alone! Pray for him…
