Peter Hoyt Brown

Education and professional career

Brown grew up in Riverside Terrace in Houston, just north of Brays Bayou, in the North McGregor part of town, and attended St. John's School. He graduated with a Bachelors from the University of Houston, and went on to earn a master's degree in Languages from University of California, Berkeley.

Upon graduation, Brown enlisted in the U.S. Army. After a year of active service, Brown entered the active reserves while attending the University of Pennsylvania. There, he earned master's degrees in architecture and urban planning. Today, he is the only City Council Member in Houston to have served in the U.S. military.

Brown began his career as an architect and urban planner in 1966, working on major projects in the northeast United States. In 1982 he moved back to Houston, and became a partner in an architecture and planning firm. A year later, he would found his own firm, which he grew into a successful national business. In 2003, Brown was elevated to Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, the profession’s highest distinction. As an architect, he has designed many municipal facilities, including affordable housing and traditional neighborhoods, fire and police stations, parks and recreation centers, jails and courthouses, libraries and health clinics, transit stations, and theaters.

Brown also serves as an adjunct professor in the Department of Urban Planning & Environmental Policy graduate program at Texas Southern University.

Currently Peter Brown directs the Better Houston membership organization focused on improvements to local neighborhoods, transit, and urbanism.

Political career

Brown first ran for an at-large seat on Houston City Council in 2003 against incumbent Council Woman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs. Brown narrowly lost to Sekula-Gibbs, receiving 48.5% of the vote, and raising more money than any previous City Council candidate. In 2005, Brown ran again and won his current seat, at-large position 1. In 2007, he was re-elected to his second term.

Since taking office in 2006, Brown has been a neighborhood advocate, working for better street standards, making the city pedestrian-friendly, and instrumental in the creation of the Houston General Plan and the Houston Mobility Plan, and has been involved in the creation of the Old Sixth Ward historic district.

Brown publicly supports a decentralized form of municipal government, and recently unveiled plans to decentralize the city government, and bring city services closer to neighborhoods. "We're a big, spread-out city and trying to run everything from a central, one central source, say downtown is not very cost-effective. To decentralize neighborhood services is something I think we need to take a close look at." Brown also supports a decentralized, restructured police department, saying that with centralized systems, “there is no accountability.” Brown has called this situation a “leadership opportunity for the next mayor to plow new ground.”

He has also promoted and worked for more "green" initiatives including recycling, urban gardens and farming, and air quality standards. In January 2008, Mayor Bill White appointed Brown to Chair the newly created Council Committee on Sustainable Growth. The committee considers strategies to promote environmental health, energy efficiency, and conservation of natural resources in the city of Houston. In October 2008, the Sustainable Growth Committee successfully initiated a program to recycle heavy organic yard waste which is expected to salvage 90,000 short tons (82,000 metric tons) annually, enough to fill the Chase Tower, the city's tallest structure. This, plus a new program to recycle scrap tires, will save Houston taxpayers over $1 million annually.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, Brown advocated for the importance of retrofitting the city’s electrical infrastructure. The hurricane cut electric power to millions of customers in the Houston area for weeks. Brown called for the largest energy provider in Houston, CenterPoint Energy, to bury their overhead power lines and harden the city’s electrical grid to prevent similar mass power outages from occurring in the future.

Houston mayoral race

In January 2008, Brown announced the creation of his Mayoral Exploratory Committee. Since that announcement, Brown has received the public support and endorsement of several organizations and community leaders. On February 26, 2009, Brown officially announced his candidacy for Mayor of Houston, and succeed current term limited Mayor White, before supporters at Hermann Park in Houston. Other candidates include former City Attorney Gene Locke, Roy Morales, and City Controller Annise Parker.

Brown has focused much of his campaign around his experience as a businessman, architect and urban planner, and his "Blueprint for An Even Better Houston," which his campaign says "offers real solutions and real ideas for combatting traffic, crime, flooding and other challenges." The blueprint details policy agendas pertaining to the economy, public safety, transportation, flooding, energy, government efficiency and reform, and the environment.

Although his opponents are generally acknowledged to be more polished public speakers than he is, and some of them been politicians for much longer - building high name identification - observers have acknowledged that Brown seems to have outworked his opponents. The Chronicle's Rick Casey praised Brown's "energy" and wrote "Brown has campaigned harder and longer than any other candidate."

Brown's mayoral campaign reported raising over $477,000 in the first half of 2009, bringing his cash on hand amount at the time to $1.7 million, more than three times what his opponents reported. An independent poll conducted by the Houston Chronicle in late September showed Brown ahead of all of his opponents. A secondary independent poll conducted by 11 News/ KUHF Houston Public Radio poll in late October 2009, still showed Brown with a nine-point lead over his nearest opponent.

Although many independent polls showed Brown holding the lead in the Mayor's race, he was eliminated in the November 3, 2009 election. The next week Brown publicly endorsed his former opponent, Annise Parker, in the Mayor's race, an endorsement that was heavily sought after by both remaining candidates. Parker went on to win the Mayor's race and was sworn in as Mayor on January 4, 2010.