Parks
Parks and green space are often the most cited element when people are considering a move to another city. Everyone agrees that we need more parks, especially neighborhood parks. When Nick served in City Council Members’ offices, he worked on building new parks and enhancing existing ones.
- Nick will work to add more and better equipped neighborhood parks in District C. He will explore partnerships with TIRZ, management districts and the County to help fund this effort. The new partnerships with county commissioners has saved the City of Houston millions of dollars. Nick will work to expand this collaboration.
- The City’s Parks and Open Space Ordinance requires developers of multifamily housing units to either provide land for parks or pay $700 per unit into a special revenue fund. That money will pay capital costs only and must be spent within three years within the same Park District where the units are built. However, this does not allow the City to spend the funds in underserved areas in other parts of the city or to accrue money for larger projects that take more than three years. Nick will advocate for changes in the ordinance to give the City more discretion in making expenditures from this fund and make the spending more transparent to the public.
Historic Preservation
Historic preservation is very important to Nick. That’s why he serves on the Board of Directors of the Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park and Astrodome Conservancy. Houston is well-known for not doing a good job preserving its history, the most recent example being the former Garden Oaks Theater. Two other theaters in District C—River Oaks and Alabama—were fortunately saved but many historic buildings are in danger of demolition.
We need to be pro-active, not reactive. That’s why Nick will work with his constituents to create a database of historic buildings and structures in District C.
- This will preserve the character of the neighborhood.
- It will be driven by people who live there.
- If residents want something preserved, Nick will be their champion.
Affordable Housing
As a real estate broker, Nick sees every day how difficult it is for many Houstonians to buy a home. Not only do people want a nice home for their family; buying a house is the quickest way to create wealth.
One way to lower the cost of a home or apartment is to lower the cost of building them. The City’s Permitting Office is plagued with bureaucracy and unnecessary paperwork. Nick will advocate for sufficient staffing to ensure timely consideration of applications and streamlining paperwork. He supports the proposed City pilot program using AI to speed up the process and make it more efficient. The Permitting Center needs to embrace the attitude of “Yes, we’ll work that out” instead of always just saying “No.” If these costs can decrease, then developers can charge less for home prices and rents.
Another is changing the regulations in the City’s building code, Chapter 42, to allow certain types of affordable housing to be built within a certain distance from a school, minimum lot size requirements, and building of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU’s). This will allow more housing to be built and lower the cost for all.
