Houston City Council Notes, prepared by Emily J Hynds

Agenda

1. Mayor’s Report
2. Consent Agenda (items that require a vote, like purchases, resolutions, ordinances, etc.)
3. Council Member Pop-Off

Mayor’s Report

• Mayor Whitmire shared memorial service information for HPD Civilian Officer Russell Richardson and Harris County Deputy Fernando Esqueda.
• Whitmire thanked City employees and first responders who worked around the clock during the worst parts of the storm. He said he “spent a lot of time in the field” with both HFD and HPD, “riding during the night to make calls.”
  • Whitmire praised the statewide deployment of officers from various other departments in TX to support Houston during the recovery effort as a “model for collaboration,” and said it’s a “good pilot program.” This allowed 10-15 officers to be able to respond to each call rather than the standard 2-4. Whitmire said that 10-15 should be the standard but the department is so understaffed that’s usually not possible.
• Whitmire lamented further loss of life in the past week due to tree falls, heat, and fires. He said the focus this week is on “FEMA locations, Small Business Administration, and other needed information services.”
• CM Kamin is concerned about the continued loss of life, especially at elder care homes and facilities. She said, “It didn’t have to happen like this,” and, “We need power back on and we needed it yesterday.” She pressed the Mayor on FEMA distribution locations. She wants Centerpoint to survey power lines and proactively repair them before the next storm. She suggested the City could use 311 to collect data on energy infrastructure in need of repair.
• CM Pollard thanked City workers and linemen but was heavily critical of the City’s and Centerpoint’s preparedness. He said HPD wasn’t mobilized soon enough and Centerpoint’s communications were bad. He complained that businesses can’t survive power outages like we saw this week and that major corporations won’t want to come to Houston if this is the new normal. He asked for A) an itemized disaster plan that can be shared with the public and B) improvements to City and Centerpoint infrastructure.
  • When Pollard advocated for Centerpoint to come to Council again, Mayor Whitmire snarked that Pollard has been in office for four years, surely he must have a phone number of someone at Centerpoint he could call. Pollard responded that no, he didn’t want a private conversation, he wanted a public conversation so the people can be involved and things can go on record.
• CM Peck thanked the HFD Wildland crew for helping to clear trees. She advocated for thousands of people still without power in District A. In response, Mayor Whitmire said, “I don’t think District A is really important, but the 36K that are left across the city. So obviously every community is a priority.” I was hesitant to quote this because I hope he didn’t mean to be as rude as he sounded, I hope he just wanted to say that the crews are working City-wide and everyone should get equal treatment.
• CM Castex-Tatum shared resources to help people repair the weather heads on their homes, spearheaded by Habitat for Humanity. Email construction@houstonhabititat.org if you know this is what’s keeping your power off and they can help you. Castex-Tatum shared that Centerpoint has agreed to be present at community meetings like HOA’s, Super Neighborhoods, etc, to answer questions about tree trimming and more.
  • Whitmire said he does want to hold Centerpoint accountable but first wants them to focus on getting people’s power back on.
• CM Carter criticized past administrations by saying, “If we look backwards, what was the resiliency plan? … If there was a solid plan in place over the past 4, 8, 10, 12 years, we wouldn’t be in this situation … We need a plan that actually works.”
  • Whitmire agreed and defended the City’s disaster response to Beryl again. He reiterated that Centerpoint should focus on restoring power, then we can hold them accountable.
• CM Flickinger implored people to treat linemen well because we will need them to come back in the future.
  • Whitmire agreed and said that one company was preparing to send 6K workers out of Houston on Monday apparently because of the way they have been treated, but his admin convinced them to stay.
  • CM Kamin said these were isolated incidents that likely occured outside of Houston City limits. She has received feedback from many lineworkers about the respect and appreciation they have received.
  • CM Carter shared an anecdote about lineworkers receiving “bad water,” (I did not fact check this) and said, “What an embarrassment for the City. To think that there are people who are actually pulling guns and distributing anything less than help.”
• Mayor Whitmire responded to allegations that the City wasn’t prepared. He said the City departments performed well with what limited resources and staffing they had due to mismanagement from the previous administration. He praised the strength of Houston’s recovery efforts, getting a bit worked up talking about the Houston Emergency Center operations and defending HPD’s timeline. “Who in the hell ever can imagine a fire station not having backup? We lost ten fire stations in the middle of the storm because they didn’t have power and no backup generators. That’s what many of us inherited.”

Agenda Items, Selected Works

• IItem 1 approved the appointment of Vonn Tran as the Director of the Planning and Development Department.
  • CM Thomas questioned Tran because she is not certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), saying that most major US City Planning Directors have that certification. CM Thomas pointed out that Director Tran will be leading people who already have this certification, highlighted the importance of urban planning and development, particularly as modern departments attempt to rewrite former bad practices like redlining and other poor planning policies. She said, “I hope that you’re able to earn the respect of those individuals that have the certification that were not considered for this position … Because neighborhoods in this city were very sensitive in terms of historic preservation, gentrification, revitalization, conservation.” Thomas advocated strongly for these priorities to continue to take precedence.
  • Tran gave standard “I am committed to professional development” remarks in her defense, pledging to work with the department in vague and general terms.
• Item 5 extended the contract with Brentwood Community Foundation for $892K. BCF operates housing for men living with HIV/AIDS, offers rental assistance programs for people at risk of homelessness, and provides other supportive services.
• Item 6 extended the contract with A Caring Safe Place for $941K. A Caring Safe Place operates housing and supportive services for people living with HIV/AIDS.
• Item 16 approved a contract with the Houston Arts Alliance for civic art.
  • CM Flickinger proposed an amendment to reduce the contract amount from $25M to $15M, with the option to increase with Council approval. He said, “I think this is a pretty good compromise, considering I don’t think anybody is completely happy with it.” CMs Jackson and Thomas voted against the amendment, which passed.
  • CM Pollard appreciates the compromise and money saving efforts but thinks a reduction of $10M is not significant when it comes to most infrastructure costs.
  • CM Castex-Tatum cautioned against underestimating the economic power of public art. Mayor Whitmire responded, saucily IMO, that not having generators at fire stations impacts the economy more. CM Thomas could be heard in the background pointing out that generators could have been included in the firefighters agreement, but the Mayor didn’t comment on that.
• Item 17 approved an official mutual aid agreement with Harris County. Mayor Whitmire particularly highlighted the work with the same three County Commissioners he always does: Briones, Garcia, and Ramsay.

Council Member Pop-Off

Every CM shared Beryl-related appreciation to City employees, first responders, City departments, lineworkers, faith organizations, local on the ground organizations, the HFD Wildland team, etc.

• CM Evans-Shabazz wants to require senior care homes to have generators.
• CM Castillo said, “We can’t let this become our new normal. ‘Houston strong’ cannot mean that we expect our citizens to just be able to endure weeks plus without power in the summer and bounce back and expect everything to be okay.”
• CM Flickinger thanked all of the usuals and added, “A number of my brother knights came out and helped out one day.”
• CM Kamin spoke to the many trials Houston has faced and said the power goes out too much. She pressured the Mayor to use his influence to work for legislation that would allow cities to regulate industry.
• CM Jackson wants TxDOT to delay a meeting on Thursday until more people are back up on their feet.
• CM Thomas outlined the strong West-side Beryl recovery, including the three-pronged response plan (disaster plan, volunteer corps, translation team) she developed after Winter Storm Uri. Thomas said, “When you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready.” She recalled District F’s former moniker of “the forgotten district” and said that disasters always dreg up similar feelings, complaining that OEM had no response in District F. Thomas spoke to the toll repeated disasters are taking on Houstonians.
• CM Castex-Tatum plugged a distribution at Plentiful Harvest on Friday.
• CM Martinez plugged a resource fair this Saturday at the Northeast HCC campus.
• CM Pollard said Houston is strong, but also, “Houston’s tired, Houston’s hot, Houston’s frustrated.” He criticized, again, the City’s response to Beryl.
• CM Carter shared an anecdote about a slow HFD response time and said the City needs to beef up HFD and HPD recruitment.

Who took these notes? And what resources did they use?

My name is Emily Hynds and I am a writer, 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.

While compiling these notes I used the following sources:
https://houston.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/
https://houwatch.com

You can find your City Council Member and their contact info at: http://www.houstontx.gov/council/whoismycm.html

Thank you to the volunteers who proofread these notes.
My Patreon is patreon.com/emilytakesnotes.