Houston Leadership Vacuum: Stalling Dome Progress in an effort to burnish one man's perceived legacy.

There has been a whole lot in the debate over the future of the Astrodome that has been silly.  From ideas ranging from movie studios to butterfly houses, to arguments that a building less than a decade old is as historically important as the pyramid's of Giza the only thing sure about this discussion is that it's very clear that what's lacking is not only vision, but leadership.  As an example:

Emmett calls Dome demo plan "silly". Kiah Collier, Chron.com

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett on Thursday called a proposal by the Houston Texans and the Rodeo to demolish the Astrodome and replace it with a park-like green space "a silly plan" and pleaded with members of the Hotel & Lodging Association of Greater Houston to give a repurposing of the iconic structure a second chance.

Emmett told the group that he did a "poor job" last fall of selling a $217 million plan by the Harris County Sports & Convention Corp. to turn the Dome into an events center. Voters rejected the plan last November.

Also....

Emmett calls Dome proposal a silly idea. Kiah Collier, HoustonChronicle.com ($)
(Again, since the Chronicle doesn't want you to see their journalism I'll just quote a quote and encourage you to go read the rest, if you can. If not, this story is just an expanded version of the story on the pay-site anyway so you're not missing much.)

"The Astrodome is the only building in the world that's 350,000 square feet of column-free space," he told a luncheon crowd at the Four Seasons Hotel downtown. "There are a lot of creative people in the world who would love to figure out ways to use the space if we just keep it and make it an option for them."

Ms. Collier goes on to say that Judge Emmett is "not advocating for any specific plan" which means that he's advocating doing nothing until someone, anyone I'm guessing, with vision and leadership actually emerges with a working plan. In the interim, Houston is just supposed to wait it out as the cat-piss filled hulking mess continues to deteriorate.

Both articles continue to insinuate that the County's options for the Astrodome are subject to the whims of one man who's not primarily concerned with finding the correct outcome, but with ensuring that his legacy doesn't read that he was in charge when the Dome came down.  In terms of leadership, that's certainly not up there with the risks taken by great leaders of the past is it?

All of this continues to highlight the current leadership vacuum that is pervasive throughout the entire Houston region.  Houston has a Mayor and City Council who won't (or can't) lead, a city Controller who's been mysteriously silent since the run-up to the election, and just lost another public works director as a result of the horribly designed and implemented Rain Tax.  Harris County has a County Commissioner and Court who seem hell-bent on just sitting back and making pretty speeches about "getting things done" while the population booms and they sit by idly.  Ooooh...look, they had a ribbon cutting at a dog park, or a parklet.

With Emmett however the problem is worse.  Mayor Parker, for all of her faults, didn't really stress her leadership abilities when running.  She rode the local economy (for which she can really take no credit) and stressed her "competence" which is nothing more than suggesting that we be grateful she hasn't messed everything up at Mayor Brown levels. (Of course, after entering her lame duck term she then has proceeded to mess everything up at the level of Mayor Brown so....)  Judge Emmett ran specifically on his perceived leadership ability.  He positioned himself as a "conservative" man who gets things done, a man who can look down the barrel of a crisis, laugh in the face of danger and come out as cool as the Most Interesting Man in Harris County.  Reality has shown this to not be true.

In fact, Emmett has emerged as something of a hollow shell. He calls for the end of redundancies in local government under the flag of conservatism while chastising those who would like to place "artificial limits" on the size and scope of government. He opposes the plan for the Astrodome that's been forwarded by the two entities with first refusal rights despite presenting no viable option himself. In short, he's becoming exactly what conservative activists said he was when he was appointed to the position initially, a member of the local establishment who's primary constituency is not the citizens of Harris County but the businesses that petition to the Commissioner's Court.

Term limits will ensure that Mayor Parker is shown the door, it's time to ask ourselves if the ballot box shouldn't ensure that Emmett is as well the next time around.  At some point the leadership vacuum in the Houston region needs to be filled.