Houston City Council Notes, prepared by Emily J Hynds

Notes on the Houston City Council Meeting on June 17, 2025

Agenda

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

*I am not covering public comments today.

The Mayor’s Report

• Mayor Whitmire remarked on Juneteenth . He will be at the Juneteenth parade in Acres Homes on Saturday.
• Whitmire thanked HPD, HFD, and everyone who attended the protest on Saturday. “I really do believe it was a statement of the city that we live in that we can have differing views and do it peacefully, disagree without being disagreeable.” Around 15K people attended. The mayor repeatedly emphasized the patience and control of law enforcement and how important it is to peacefully protest. “The police were part of our community. We talk about community policing. It was on exhibit Saturday.”
• The mayor remarked on the city’s use of HUD funding and the public engagement the city has been doing to decide how it should be spent.
• Last October, the city received $315M from HUD.
• Whitmire said previously that HUD “had a negative opinion of how Houston had used its funding,” and forced Houston to go through Texas’s General Land Office (GLO) as a result. Whitmire said the first thing he did as mayor was overhaul the Houston Housing Authority and the Housing Department to reestablish trust. He also credited his administration with repairing the relationship with the GLO by resolving a $90M debt “for monies that had not been used properly.”
• Now, he said, HUD wants to focus on energy (like generators and power backup), homelessness, and community engagement. Whitmire implied that when his administration asked for funding for housing, HUD said no because of previous misspending and corruption. He said his administration has convinced HUD they will be transparent, but ultimately HUD has the final say.
• The city is doing public engagement and will modify proposals based on feedback. As an example, he said that some HUD funding had been earmarked for emergency vehicles, but they were able to move that funding around because the state is actually giving Houston 200 police cars. Whitmire said, “I can’t wait for you all to hear Josh’s report once the governor signs the budget. $250 million in our infrastructure, $10 million in 200 police cars.” Meanwhile, I was just like, who is Josh?
• Whitmire praised the city’s team working on this project. “There’s not a better experienced and more compassionate group of progressive people. And the idea that John Whitmire or anyone on this team would not make home repairs a priority would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious.”
• After a question from CM Castex-Tatum regarding when we shall see this report from the mysterious Josh, Whitmire did not answer her question but did go on about calling in favors from Senator Joan Huffman to get those police cars.

Agenda Items, Selected Works

• Item 2 regarded the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) budget but was tagged by CM Castex-Tatum. It will be discussed next week. The CIP is a five-year plan updated annually, addressing the city’s infrastructure needs. Big money goes through the CIP.
• Item 5 approved $5M for 15 ambulances for the fire department.
• Items 4 and 6 both increased spending authority for auto parts and repair; Item 4 from $1.1M →$1.4M and Item 6 from $9.8M →$12.3M. CM Kamin remarked that this increase is due to inflation. “I just want council to be aware of that.”
• Item 13 approved $109K for three handheld hazardous material detectors for the police department.
• Item 14 approved $7.3M over four years to lease golf carts for the parks department.
• Item 15 approved $1.3M for one X-ray vehicle for the police department, a new addition to the HPD fleet.
• Item 21 approved $104K for a mobility van for the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities. “This vehicle will be used to transport personnel to training, functions, and locations during business hours. This vehicle will be upfitted with modifications to accommodate individuals with disabilities and designed to be wheelchair accessible.” This vehicle will also be a new addition to the fleet.
• Item 23 authorized a $4M forgivable loan to the Tejano Center for Community Concerns for a new affordable apartment complex in District I called Andover Village Apartments.
• Item 25 agreed to reimburse an organization planning a Latino Museum and Archive up to $130K for site research and planning; program development and public engagement; data collection and strategic insight.
• Item 26 increased spending authority for Evolve Houston from $1.3M →$2.8M. Evolve provides “electric, eco-friendly, and on-demand shared ride services to the community. These extended services are funded via an interlocal agreement with Houston METRO. Per the agreement, the City pays the expenditures to Evolve, and then Metro reimburses the City for all expenses.”
• Item 29 approved $6M over three years for weed mowing, debris removal, and other services.
• Item 30 approved $14.6M over three years for a professional staffing service that works with the Houston Emergency Center at the fire department’s Base Station. “The personnel coordinate ambulance patient traffic flow to ensure patients are taken to hospitals that have the capability and capacity to care for that patient’s emergency condition … The HFD Base Station serves as a traffic coordination center managing the daily traffic of approximately 500 ambulance transports to a network of approximately 45 hospitals.”
• Items 32, 34, 35, and 36 all approved spending for the demolition of an abandoned apartment complex in District B. CM Jackson remarked that the community has been advocating for this demolition since the building was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
• Item 38 approved an $883K, three-year contract for helicopter maintenance for the police department.
• Item 47 agreed to reimburse $472K to Union Pacific for preliminary engineering services for the redesign of railroad crossings on Commerce Street and Navigation Boulevard in District I. This money will come from the Dedicated Drainage and Street Renewal Fund (DDSRF). Item 48 did the same for crossings at York, Sampson, McKinney, and Milby.

Council Member Pop-Off

• CM Ramirez encouraged people to keep participating in the HUD disaster recovery funding conversation. He said, “Let me assure you, you are being listened to. As the mayor pointed out in his report earlier, they have decided to make a change and allocate $50 million to housing as part of that.” He has proposed three amendments to the CIP that all seek to keep CMs more informed and involved with infrastructure projects.
• CM Thomas remarked on three recent safety issues on the west side: a traffic accident, a gun incident, and a domestic violence incident. She advocated for practical solutions. She joined her name with the public speakers commenting on the use of HUD disaster recovery funds (CDBG-DR24). (it is my understanding that many people showed up to council to comment on this). She remarked on Juneteenth and said, “We’ll continue to celebrate not just with symbolism, but with power and with intention.” She acknowledged the delays in trash and recycling pickup, gave some reasons, and asked for patience.
• CM Castex-Tatum plugged a property law and deed restriction workshop on 6/21 at 9am at the Natida Street police station.
• CM Peck complained that some recycling in District A has not been picked up in over a month.
• CM Martinez plugged a GRB expansion meeting on July 1.
• CM Pollard plugged socialmotionskills.org, a resource to help kids with autism and other special needs develop social skills.
• CM Flickinger complimented the mayor on a peaceful protest last Saturday. He complained about loose bond practices and gun crime. He plugged a Coffee with a Cop event on 6/23 at 9am at the Starbucks on Bay Area Blvd in Clear Lake.
• CM Kamin remarked on Juneteenth. She encouraged people to prepare now for storms. She advocated for sidewalk repair at Heights Tower on 19th St. She thanked the community and law enforcement for a peaceful protest on Saturday and said, “There is absolutely no room for political violence.”
• CM Jackson invited people to the District B Master Plan Release on 6/26 at 6pm at the HCC North Forest Campus. She complained about theft of traffic signals. She said it costs the city a lot of money to replace them and is a public safety issue. She plugged the Juneteenth parade in Acres Homes on Saturday starting at 10am. RIP Jeanette Smith, “the mother of our district.”

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

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.