Houston City Council Notes, prepared by Emily J Hynds

Agenda

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

*I am not covering the mayor’s report or pop-off today due to a long public comment session.

Public Comment

Public comments normally take place on Tuesday but because Monday was a holiday, the two meetings were combined to allow enough time to sign up. Public comment started at 9:15am even though it is supposed to start at 9:30am. The secretary circled back to people called on before 9:30am if they were not present, and some were indeed present. I hope this early start was not an intentional tactic on behalf of the city.

There were 44 public speakers. Here is a selection:

• 26 people criticized the mayor’s proposed budget.
  • Recurring themes:
    • the proposed budget = “austerity plan”
    • incentivized retirement plans are harmful
    • the drainage lawsuit settlement is a “back door deal” and has not been court approved; the city is breaking the law by not complying with the voter-approved and previously court-mandated requirements
    • advocacy for Houston’s working class
    • criticism of tax breaks to big companies like Shell and Exxon
    • criticism of more money for police, concern that police don’t keep us safe; “The police can’t arrest high winds. They can’t shoot floods. They can’t lock up summer heat;” “Nobody that I know loves the police as much as you (the mayor and city council) do. We are afraid of them. We are uncomfortable with them. We don’t feel safe with them.”
    • general disappointment, dismay, and betrayal of trust
    • objection to reduced funding for libraries, parks, public works, the health department
    • framing the proposed budget as a moral failure
    • lack of respect from the administration. One speaker said, “We’re tired of being respectful because we’re not feeling respected.” And another: “You all should be happy that people are coming to your city council and telling you where they want the money to be spent. But there’s this resistance that I don’t understand … And you still want us to assume good faith? You still want us to come here and practice decorum and be respectful?”

• One speaker drew parallels between the mayor’s proposed budget and the Texas State takeover of HISD, highlighting the firing and incentivized retirement of employees and reduction of funding for libraries and parks. They criticized POC council members for not standing up to intimidation, especially CMs Jackson, Pollard, and Plummer.
• One speaker said “The special interests that are running this city have made Houston look foolish, have made Houston look regressive. And most of all, wasteful … It is wasteful to build a freeway through Houston that won’t fix traffic … It is wasteful to rip out completed, usable, safe bike lanes, to pay contractors and to big dog residents and their neighbors into proving how powerful you are. It’s really wasteful to cut healthcare, to cut libraries, parks, to cut public services, the things that keep us happy, healthy and safe. To pay the cops to show up after a crime has already happened, help nobody, and then kill pedestrians in extremely dangerous car chases.”
• Several people mentioned that Controller Hollins might not certify the budget. Mayor Whitmire asked City Attorney Arturo Michel to clear up “misinformation.”
  • Attorney Michel said the controller does not certify the budget because it is a proposed and theoretical document. The Controller only certifies that the city has money to pay for things. Michel also feels confident that the court will approve the drainage lawsuit settlement, which should be “soon.”
  • CM Plummer advocated for a public-facing document about drainage projects. She said the city needs to work better with the county to make sure efforts aren’t duplicated.
• Organizations represented: Air Alliance Houston, Bayou City Water Keepers, Clean Water Action, CEER, Houston Progressive Caucus, Northeast Action Collective (NAC), Texas Campaign for the Environment, West Street Recovery (WSR), Woori Juntos

• 7 people advocated for Item 43, which removed an HPD quota requiring one traffic stop per shift. Police can pull a car over for non-safety traffic stops like for a broken taillight, a cracked windshield, tinted windows, expired tags, and even, as one speaker said, “just an officer’s hunch.”
  • Recurring themes: traffic stops as tools of harassment and retaliation; racial profiling; more Black and brown people stopped than white; HPD collaboration with ICE
  • One speaker called the mayor out for being on his phone while people were speaking, attending fundraisers for “other people” (assuming they meant Dan Crenshaw), and eroding trust in local government. He said, “These are not talking points; these are people’s lives.”
  • CM Thomas thanked advocates who worked on this ordinance change. She said, “I thank you for being studied and prepared,” and for being willing to sit down with HPOU, conversations she called tense but necessary.
  • One speaker shared a story about her Black son getting pulled over and harassed. CM Huffman said that Houston has a “minority majority” police department, which means the majority of people who work for HPD are not white. She encouraged people to advocate similarly at the county, sort of implying that these problems do not exist in HPD.
    • When the speaker asked to respond, she was told no, and there were very loud “boo’s” in the chamber. It was a noisy group today. Mayor Whitmire blamed the previous administration for this rule, then allowed the speaker to respond, who said the officer that pulled over her son was Hispanic [and still used intimidation tactics].
    • This speaker invoked the name of Sandra Bland, who died in police custody after being pulled over for failure to signal a lane change. Mayor Whitmire lauded himself for passing the Sandra Bland Act in the Texas Legislature.
  • CMs Pollard and Thomas pushed back on Whitmire’s claim that this was a policy voted in by previous administrations. CM Thomas explained the origins of this policy during the pandemic. She said the community (“faith leaders, churches, you name it”) asked for routine, non-safety traffic stops as a way to investigate crime perpetrated by people driving cars with paper license plates. She said now we get to revisit and adjust the policy to suit our current needs.
  • Organizations represented: Positive Women’s Network, Pure Justice, RISE Coalition, Texas Civil Rights Project
• 1 person advocated for apartment inspection reform.
• One retired police officer advocated for an HPD youth outreach program that is apparently on the chopping block? CM Evans-Shabazz suggested every CM put up Council District Service Funds to save it.
• 3 people advocated for the community around the GRB and 59 expansion. They said the city needs to intentionally invest in the community that will be displaced for these huge construction projects.
  • One speaker said the lack of cohesive thinking, plan integration and the terrible communication to the public is “appalling,” and, “As a city, we are bolder than just getting our basic needs met.”
  • Another speaker asked that revenue generated from the sale of property to Houston First for the GRB expansion be earmarked for the East End, “the very community bearing the brunt of this transformation. These are real families, small business owners and longtime residents who deserve compensation in the form of meaningful reinvestment … If our city is going to prosper, that prosperity must be shared, especially with those who are having to make way for it.

Agenda Items, Selected Works

• Item 2 accepted final work and approved the final payment of $1M for ditch maintenance.
• Item 5 approved $500K over the next five years for zTrip to provide rides during emergencies “for those needing shelter, cooling centers, warming centers, etc. In cases of a declared disaster, the City will seek reimbursement for all eligible costs.”
• Item 6 approved $1.7M over two years for de-icing products for airport runways.
• Item 8 approved $82K for professional and technical, executive-level education and training services for the HPD.
• Item 9 approved a financing step to support a 160-unit affordable housing complex in District D.
• Item 11 would have approved appropriations necessary to begin financing the next fiscal year, but it was not received before the meeting (likely because it was not certified by the controller). Items 12 and 13 would have approved next year’s budget but they were tagged by CMs Pollard and Alcorn. There was some discussion on amendments but much of it was off mic and there was a general air of confusion. Regardless, the budget vote is next week.
• Item 19 approved documents needed for the Hurricane Harvey-related homebuyer assistance program. CM Plummer asked if the program will include financial literacy resources for participants. The Mayor said he would look into it and get back to her.
• Item 21 approved $20M for construction at Ellington Airport.
• Item 22 approved $16M over three years for financial services for a veteran support program run by Houston’s health department.
• Item 28 approved an additional $529K (on top of $10.2M spent since 2019) for the renovation of Fire Station 17 in District H.
• Item 43 approved adjusting the ordinance that required police officers to make one non-safety traffic stop per shift.
  • CM Pollard explained that he, CM Jackson, and CM Thomas brought this forward using Prop A. In 2023, Houston voters approved Prop A to allow a coalition of three or more CMs to put something on the agenda without the mayor’s approval. He thanked HPOU, advocacy organizations, and the police chief for their support. Pollard said that removing the quota will keep officers and the public safe.
  • CM Jackson shared a story about getting arrested by an aggressive officer after being pulled over for not completely stopping at a stop sign thirty years ago. She said she still gets anxious when cop cars are behind her: “That’s not paranoia; that is lived experience,” and, “Law enforcement should protect and serve, not perform and produce.”
  • Mayor Whitmire blamed the past administration for this quota and said the new police chief, whom Whitmire appointed, has not enforced this policy.
  • This item was approved unanimously.

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

My name is Emily Hynds. I am a writer, 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://houwatch.com
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/tag/temporary-license-plates/

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

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