Houston city council notes, prepared by Emily Hynds.
Agenda
- Monthly Financial Report
- Mayor’s Report
- Consent Agenda (items that require a vote, like purchases, resolutions, ordinances, etc)
- Council Member Pop-Off
Mayor’s Report
I will skip the monthly financial report (it was very brief) and start with the Mayor’s Report (which was also brief).
- Mayor Turner said we are in the midst of flu season and encouraged everyone to get their flu shot, especially with all of the holiday gatherings going on.
- Today is National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
- The next major parade is the 45th Annual MLK Jr. Parade on 1/16/23 in partnership with Black Heritage Society.
Agenda Items, Selected Works
- Item 4 adopted the Greater Harris County 9-1-1 Emergency Network 2023 budget ($56.9M). This budget must be approved by several entities, including Harris County and the City of Houston. The city will be reimbursed $18.4M out of this budget for call-taking positions.
- CM Kamin mentioned long wait times for non-emergency calls and proposed leaning on “partners” to provide more support (aka money).
- Item 5 approved the Houston First Corporation 2023 budget ($200M). A long, love-note discussion of Houston First ensued, taking up about 45 minutes. I won’t go over each CMs praise, cuz it was redundant and I am generally confused by the adoration for Houston First, although I guess I shouldn’t be because $$. Here are some other highlights:
- CM Castex-Tatum looks forward to the “supplier diversity initiative,” which sounds similar to the MWSBE (minority, women, and small business enterprise) requirements for city contracts.
- CM Kamin shared that Houston First is now paying janitorial staff $15 per hour.
- CM Martin wants to bug the state during the upcoming legislative session for funding. CM Castex-Tatum agreed and specifically mentioned film incentives.
- Also, in case you don’t know what Houston First is, here’s a blip from their website: “In 2011, the City of Houston established Houston First, a local government corporation created to operate the city’s convention and performing arts facilities, as well as promote Houston as a world-class destination for tourism and conventions.”
- Item 7 approved $48M (over seven years) for mobile radios for HPD, paid for with ARPA money.
- Item 15 approved a contract extension and additional $1.2M for The Montrose Center’s housing program for people with AIDS.
- Item 19 approved $2.3M for a Harris County program that aims to control the spread of COVID-19 in prisons and jails.
- Item 22 approved a contract increase (from $1.6M to $2.6M) for research and design work on the North Canal Diversion Channel project in downtown Houston, and appropriated $970K from the Dedicated Drainage and Street Renewal (DDSR) fund to pay for it.
- CM Knox thinks DDSR funding should not be used to pay for “non-physical effort” like design and planning, and argues the intent of the fund was to pay for actual construction of drainage projects. He said “we have lied to the public” about how these funds will be used, causing government mistrust.
- Pretty much everyone disagreed and said that you can’t build something without designing it first, so it is not a misuse of funds.
- Knox voted no, the item still passed.
- Item 40 approved spending $10.5M to purchase a 73 acre parcel of land that was formerly a landfill from West University. This land will eventually become the Ruffino Stormwater Detention Project, a retention basin. Mayor Turner said this project has been in the works for at least seven years.
- Item 42 updated the code of ordinances to require permits for music events held on private property with more than 500 people in attendance. CM Knox suggested an amendment to the ordinance that would strike the word “music” from the language, making this ordinance apply to all events on private property with more than 500 people in attendance. Pretty much everyone disagreed with him, he ultimately withdrew his proposed amendment, and the item passed.
- CM Kamin stressed that this ordinance has been in the works for months, with plenty of time for discussion and tweaks prior to the big vote in council chamber. She, and Mayor Turner, emphasized how the ordinance, as written, was well vetted and reviewed by public safety officials. The ordinance with Knox’s proposed amendment … not so much.
Item 43: Affordable Homes in District B
- Item 43 approved a loan agreement to finance a single-family development in Acres Homes (District B). Some of the homes will be “market-rate” and some of the homes will target low-income households.
- The agreement originally said that the target for the affordable homes in the development was for households making 90%-120% of the average median income (AMI), but CM Thomas introduced an amendment to move the lower side of that threshold to 80%.
- Thomas said this item works to halt gentrification. She said that building new affordable homes would allow people who have been priced out of these neighborhoods to move back into them. Thomas said not everyone wants to or has the ability to rehab older homes, and items like this create more opportunity.
- CM Castex-Tatum asked for an explanation on AMI, and in response Mayor Turner rattled off income requirements, which wasn’t very helpful IMO. I was hoping for more of, like, how is this calculated? Why is it calculated this way? Etceteraaa. But it seems this wasn’t the meeting for that.
- CM Kamin advocated for building responsibly as we get more dense, because the city’s infrastructure is already strained.
- This item passed after lots of talk about gentrification, fighting narratives, the real estate market, and more. I recommend taking a look if these topics interest you!
Council Member Pop-Off
- CM Jackson related some successful hiring due to the Be Succesful Initiative. She plugged the District B holiday dinner this Sunday 12/11 at 6pm at New Faith Baptist Church – the District B Choir will perform!!
- CM Evans-Shabazz plugged a Black Male Summit this Saturday 12/10 and a Town Hall on Thursday 12/8 – the topic is these bike lanes on Blodgett that she has been opposed to at the last couple of meetings.
- CM Thomas plugged the ribbon cutting on 1/14 for the new Alief Center. She asked for help combatting crime at poker clubs in District F. She asked for help fixing busted sidewalks because Houston Public Works quoted her $2M to fix one street.
- CM Alcorn joined the sidewalk bandwagon and advocated for sidewalks to become city responsibility rather than private property owners. She suggested a bond election to pay for them.
Who took these notes? And what resources did they use?
My name is Emily Hynds and I am a small business owner, producer of the monthly storytelling series Grown-up Storytime, and lifelong Houstonian. I am not a journalist or government official. I am a local government enthusiast who believes meaningful change starts at home. These notes are presented from my point of view and with my framing, and are not comprehensive. Your notes will certainly be different, and I would love to read them if you attend.
I watched this City Council meeting via HTV: https://www.houstontx.gov/htv/
While compiling these notes I used the following sources:
https://houston.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/
https://blackheritagesociety.net/
https://www.houstonfirst.com/information/about-us/
https://houston.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/
You can find your City Council Member and their contact info at: http://www.houstontx.gov/council/whoismycm.html
My Patreon is patreon.com/emilytakesnotes.
