Council, please come to order.

I'm gonna ask the mayor pro tem to preside.

The chair recognizes Councilmember Ramirez for a proclamation to Vicino Health Centers to celebrate 25 years of bringing accessible health care to Houston's medically underserved.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem.

I'd ask the folks from Vicino Health Care Centers to come up.

Are you seeing Mayor?

Today it's it's my distinct pleasure to recognize and celebrate Vicino Health Care Centers of Houston on their 25th anniversary of serving the most needy residents here in Houston.

Vicino Health Centers is one of our community health centers that we have throughout the community that serve those folks who don't always have insurance, who aren't able to pay the costs, full cost of medical care, which is so expensive these days.

They feel a huge need in our city, and Vacino Health Centers has been right in the middle of that with locations in Denver Harbor and on Halo and also uh on airline.

Mayor, I want to let you know they serve 12,000 Houstonians annually at their two health centers here in Houston, and they provide essential care for individuals and families, including children and infants at their pediatric center.

And they do great work on behalf of Houston.

Today we recognize their uh national uh recognition for excellence in community health and developing promising practices in maternal health.

Mayor, and I'd ask uh for sure and Councilman Castillo is joined us, but we welcome uh these leaders uh with so much anxiety and turmoil in the world.

So enough nice to know that Vacino Health Center is always gonna be there.

And so you're not only providing health care, but you're getting them some assurance that you're not going anywhere.

I applaud you for that.

Councilmember, thank you for providing us this opportunity.

Therefore, I John Whitmore, mayor of the city of Houston, hereby proclaim October 7th, 2025 as Vacino Health Center's silver anniversary celebration day in Houston, Texas.

Congratulations.

Thank you again.

I'm Dr.

Anjali Benitez, Vicino Health Center's Chief Medical Officer, and I'm joined today by Phil Solis, Vicino's Health Human Resources Administrator, Clara Rosen's White, Vecino's Director of Behavioral Health and Counseling, and Lentisia Yipara, our board member who's representing Vicino's board of directors.

We're honored to be recognized for the work that we've done as a community-based health care system and a federally qualified health center serving Northeast Houston each year.

Vicino provides integrated medical, dental, and behavioral health support services to more than 12,000 low-income patients, those that are uninsured and those that are underinsured.

And we've received five HERSA Gold Health Center quality leader badges.

It's national recognition for being the top 10% of the national health centers in the last six years.

This wouldn't be possible without the support of our public and private partners.

So this proclamation is not only for Vicino, but also for our donors and supporters.

We take great pride in the recognition of the CENO's continued contributions to health and well-being of our city.

We believe at Vicino that health is not just a cure.

It's about equity, prevention, and trust.

And the Cino Health Center shows what's possible when health uh health care is accessible, community-centered, and delivered with dignity.

So thank you, Council Members.

Ramidas in Castile for accepting our invitation to participate in the anniversary commemoration this coming Thursday.

And we look forward to the to celebrating our past 25 years, but also look forward to continued work for the community.

Thank you again.

Thank you.

Next, the chair recognizes Councilmember Alcorn, who is recognizing Substance Abuse Prevention Month.

Good afternoon, colleagues.

We're here for a very important presentation.

This October is Substance Abuse Prevention Month.

So we have a whole bunch of our partners talking about our Houston Frontlines program.

All begin.

Substance Abuse Prevention Month is observed every October to raise awareness about the importance of preventing substance use, particularly opioids, and the dangers associated with misuse.

From 2020 to 2022, overdoses from synthetic opioids, primarily illicitly manufactured fentanyl, were the leading cause of deaths for Americans aged 18 to 45.

During that same period in Harris County, substance related deaths claimed 1,162 lives.

Community organizations, health care providers, educators, first responders, faith leaders, and families across Houston play a vital role in offering resources, support, and hope to those struggling with substance abuse disorders, substance use disorders.

Programs such as Frontlines provide critical assistance to individuals at risk, funded by substance abuse and mental health services administration and led by the Houston Health Department.

Frontlines unites local organizations to train first responders, distribute naloxone, and connect individuals to proven services that help combat the opioid crisis in our community.

In partnership with the Houston Fire Department, Front L Frontlines has ensured that 100% of all HFD and EMS units are fully stocked with Narcan.

I have it in my car, I have it in my house.

I have stories of people who've been at the gas station, and thank God they had something in their car.

It's important everybody has this around.

Yeah, Mayor, you need I mean you just never know when you're gonna run into somebody that needs help.

And our fire fire uh fire engines and all our EMS ambulances have NARCAN with them.

Um this effort has contributed to a remarkable 94% opioid overdose reversal rate and suspected overdose incidents, demonstrating how access to evidence-based tools directly saves lives in Houston neighborhoods.

These outcomes reflect the collective commitment of the city of Houston, its program partners, and the broader network of behavioral health and substance abuse providers working on the front lines of this crisis.

Every Houstonian has a role to play, whether by sharing accurate information, reducing stigma, supporting recovery, or advocating for prevention treatment and recovery services.

The City of Houston remains committed to fostering a safe, healthy, and resilient community and urges all residents to learn more about the dangers of substance abuse and to observe substance abuse prevention month.

Thanks, Councilmember Alcorn and uh your spot owned, your your targeting right.

Something that causes so many ills in families, uh, the public, the the victims.

Uh it drives the criminal justice system.

We know that uh has a huge cause effect on the homeless.

So if we could accomplish a reduction in prevention, obviously the world and our community would be a better place.

So it's appropriate that you bring this to our attention.

Thank you to the stakeholders, care providers, HP.

I know you're not surprised, but for public consumption, it's amazing how many calls Houston fire makes dealing with substance abuse on the streets of Houston.

So it's a great recognition that we got to be diligent, keep going forward, and therefore I, John Whitmer, Mayor of the City of Houston hereby proclaim October 2025 is Substance Abuse Prevention Month in the City of Houston.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

And I'd like to bring up one of our partners as University of Houston, and I'd like to bring up James Bray to make a few remarks.

Mayor and City Council, thank you for acknowledging the great work that the Front Lines Project does.

We're appreciative of all your help and your support, particularly the EMS officers in the fire department who provide the services that save many lives.

The front lines data indicates that 97% of the people's lives who have overdosed on opioids are saved because of the administration of naloxone.

That's an amazing figure.

And the good news is that the rate of opioid overdoses is going down in the city, largely in many ways because of things like this and the programs that we provide.

So we want to thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to working with you in the future.

Next, the chair recognizes Councilmember Davis for a proclamation to Southwest Management District to celebrate their 25th anniversary.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tim, and uh to our colleagues and the mayor.

We we are indeed honored.

This was actually the first management group that I had a chance to meet when uh I got on council, and it was such a tremendous uh opportunity to meet such great people, and and so I'm indeed honored to make this presentation today to the Southwest Management District of Houston.

Since this establishment in 2000, the Southwest Management District has been a vital force for economic development, public safety, infrastructure improvement, and cultural unity, helping transform Southwest Houston into a thriving hub of international commerce and multicultural collaboration, spanning approximately 15 square miles.

And it features hundreds of international restaurants, retail shops, and professional services that contribute to the area's economic vitality and cultural vibrance.

Over the past 25 years, the Southwest Management District has enhanced quality of life through crime prevention, graffiti abatement, beautification, mobility improvement, and infrastructure investment, creating safer neighborhoods, cleaner streets, and a more welcoming environment for families and entrepreneurs, and strong advocate for small businesses.

The district regularly hosts workshops, network events, and resource fairs that empower entrepreneurs, foster economic resilience, and build a stronger, more inclusive local economy.

The Southwest Management District stands as a model of how thoughtful planning, community engagement, and also cultural celebration can drive lasting success.

The City of Houston proudly congratulates Southwest Management District on its 25th anniversary, and thanks to the organization for its dedicated service, growth, and community impact at one of Houston's most diverse and dynamic regions, as well as for its role in shaping a brighter future for the Southwest Houston.

Very good.

Thank you, Councilor Davis, and thank you to the leadership that is present today.

You mentioned infrastructure, you mentioned so many services.

But it starts really with information.

Think about this diverse community that there's language challenges, skills that they know that they can reach out to you, and you have an outreach program that's superb.

So thank you.

I always encourage my friends.

If you want to see the cultural assets and privileges of this community go to the Southwest area.

Southwest Houston.

So therefore, I John Whitmar, Mayor of the City of Houston, hereby proclaim October 7th, 2025 at Southwest District Day in the City of Houston.

Thank you, Kenneth.

Thank you.

Thank you, Premier Mayor.

You're welcome.

Sure, thank you.

Well, honorable our dearest mayor Joe Remaier and all the council members.

On behalf of the Southwest District, I do want to appreciate what Southwest can do in the past.

It really depends on a close relationship with the city council, with the mayor, and I can say I can say uh South Right District probably is the most diversified district in the entire Texas over so many countries, immigrants here.

But uh at the most, we're to work closely with our CD, with the mayor, and I want to thank Mayor for fully promise and appoint a many, many uh uh diversified community into uh honorable position to serve the community.

I think we are on this on this occasion.

We really appreciate this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor Whitmayer.

Thank you, Councilmember uh Will David Will, uh Willie, David, I'm told more nervous here because normally when I speak, I hold the microphone in my hand and you know just speak to more people, but thank you so much, all the honorable uh council members.

I think uh the proclamation really says it all about Southwest Management District for 25 years today.

This is a very historic day for all of us, all the board members here, all volunteers, all very dedicated in different fields.

And uh the last 25 years we made Southwest District, the property value grow five folds, and also uh we uh work with the city on the safety issues, and not only here we promote Southwest to the local people.

We attract a lot of out-of-states, out-of-cities, weekenders, they come to Southwest to Chinatown to enjoy a lot of our wonderful food.

So uh I like to also take this opportunity.

I know many uh of the council members are deep into our hood at Southwest, and that we are organizing another tour in the near future.

I'd like to extend the uh the invitation to all the uh council members uh to please come explore yourself.

It's really a beautiful hidden jewel.

And thank you again for this recognition.

This will encourage us to really work harder, and uh thanks again.

Thank you.

Sure.

Councilmember Ramirez would like to make a comment.

Council Member Ramirez.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem.

I just want to commend uh the Southwest Management District and its leadership for setting such a high standard of organization, hard work, and and promotion of your members.

Um, you really show how it's done through everything that you all do.

And I really appreciate through your efforts what is going on in the Southwest District.

You have made that a better place to live and a better place to do business.

So please keep up the great work and congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you.

As they make their way here, um I think we all um understand the importance of small business and what they do to our larger economy.

Um and today we get to honor Jesus and Bella who's no longer with us, Velha Villarreal, but also Vical Manufacturing for 40 years of service to community.

Um twenty of those years was a vision that uh Jesus Villarrial uh started in the East End.

Um and then it grown into a legacy um for not just his family but also um for the community that they've been serving.

And so um while I have them up here, I just want to make sure that uh we honor first and foremost uh Señor Villarrial uh who's with us um again uh for his vision as an immigrant coming to the United States and then creating um just a legacy for his his family to continue as strong business and so today we're honoring Vical Manufacturing along with the family members, friends, staff, employees, and customers who are continuing to celebrate the legacy of its beloved founder Jesus Varial and his late wife Elia, an appreciation and honor of their outstanding dedication and lasting contributions to the community and beyond.

You know, I want to make sure that uh we give the mayor an opportunity to definitely close it off, but before I do that, I just want to say thank you to you all for being here for continuing to serve our community in the Houston area and much more success.

Thank you.

Thank you for uh bringing this success story to uh all of you stone in.

You're right.

There are small business, family businesses across our city that provide jobs, revenue for the city, and quality of life issues.

So thank you.

Uh special to have you here, and therefore I uh I John Whitmar, mayor of the city of Houston hereby proclaimed September twenty-fifth, twenty twenty five as V Coke Manufacturing Jesus Vilio in the city of Houston.

Thank you.

So you can have your baby up there.

And to all the employees that this proclamation belongs to y'all as well.

Our vendors, our friends, our family, anybody that's creating the sacrifice that this belongs to y'all as well.

Uh again, thank you for the opportunity, and uh thank you, Michael.

Okay.

In Espanol staying.

There it is.

We do have uh Council Member and Q.

Council Member Martinez, uh, we we're ready to hear from Calvin.

Uh, take your photo.

Council Member Martinez, thank you.

Congratulations.

Um, you know, job creation is so important in the city.

And I just really want to acknowledge, you know, um the vision about manufacturing.

There's so much happening in our economy today that y'all's industry is needed in your skill set more than ever.

Uh, regardless of how the economy uh uh if we're up or down, y'all are still in business because y'all keep, you know, from ruth to electrician to plumbing, uh, regardless of of what's happening.

And so I just really appreciate your contribution to the city, the job creation which we've been able to hire, and then also continue your family legacy.

So thanks for amplifying this in the city.

We often get credit for the good work y'all do uh in community with creating jobs, and so thank you for presenting them, and thank you, mayor, for uh proclaiming the day.

Chair recognizes Councilman Romares for the invocation.

Thank you, Mayor.

Today to lead us in prayer, we welcome a man who in his day job runs the equivalent of a three billion dollar plus company, oversees three thousand two hundred employees, and takes calls at all hours of every day and every night, including during emergencies and natural disasters.

Somehow he finds time to lead a local congregation for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

As Bishop of the Seabrook Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he's been ordained and set apart as a as the presiding authority of his ward and is responsible for the spiritual and temporal welfare of his congregation of several hundred members.

They know him as Bishop MacEye.

You know him as director of Houston Public Works.

Mr.

Secretary, please call the row.

Mayor Whitmeyer.

Present.

Councilmember Peck.

Councilmember Jackson.

Councilmember McCayman.

Present.

Councilmember Evan Shabazz.

Councilmember Flickinger.

Councilmember Thomas.

Present.

Councilmember Huffman.

Present.

Councilmember Castillo.

Here.

Councilmember Martinez?

Here.

Councilmember Pollard.

Here.

Councilmember Castex Tatum.

Here.

Councilmember Ramirez?

Here.

Councilmember Davis?

Here.

Councilmember Carter.

Councilmember Plummer.

And Councilmember Alcorn.

Here.

Need a motion to adopt the minutes of June 3rd and 4th and September 24th.

Yes, that's say to move.

Thanks, second.

Motion is made and second.

All in favor say yes.

Those opposed, nay.

Motion passes.

Members.

Sorry, go ahead.

And guests, we have a very long list of speakers signed up today because we have more than 150 minutes worth of speakers.

The rules require us to only give each of our guests one minute, even if you've signed up for more.

At this time I recognize Councilmember Martinez for a motion.

Thank you, Mayor.

Mayor move to suspend the rules.

Daniel Aregon to the top of the three minute for one minute on the non-agenda list.

Motion is made and second.

All in favor say yes.

Those opposed nay.

Motion passes.

Councilmember Castillo.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to suspend the rules to add Marina Geta to follow Ruben Marcado and move Amber White to follow Catalina Alvarez.

Second.

Motion made in second.

All in favor say yes.

Those opposed nay.

Motion passes.

Councilmember Thomas.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to amend the rules to move eight individuals to the top of the agenda in celebration of Filipino American history, starting with Dr.

Pat Buscano, concluding with Riga Mauricio.

Second.

Motion made in the second.

All in favor say yes.

Those opposed nay.

Motion passes.

Councilmember Plummer.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'd like to suspend the rules to add Peter Eccles, followed by Kevin Strickland, Doris Brown, and Felix Kapoor.

Second motion made and seconded.

All in favor, say yes.

Those opposed, nay.

Motion passes.

Anything else?

She's a mover.

If not, uh Mr.

Secretary, please call our first speaker.

Councilmember Davis, do you have a motion?

Thank you, Mayor.

Yes, I move to move Raymond Guzman to the top of the two-minute speaking non-agenda list.

Motion made and seconded.

All in favor, say yes.

So the yeah.

Sorry, what?

Councilmember after the gentleman folks to the case.

Councilmember Thomas.

Sure.

Yes.

Have we voted on your motion?

Yes.

That's what I'm saying.

No, you mean the lineup.

Yes.

Councilman Davis motion been made and seconded.

All in favor say yes.

Those opposed, nay.

Motion passes.

Anyone else?

Okay.

If not, Mr.

Secretary, please call our first uh witness.

Dr.

Pat Buscino.

To be followed by Sybil Palodna Sines.

Good afternoon.

I am Dr.

Pat Louis Catalya, also known as Dr.

Pinkie Catalya Ms.

I serve as community around the Honoring the first Filipinos' arrival on October 18th, 1587.

Filipino roots run deep in American history.

Our theme from quotas to communities.

Filipino American Migration and Movement marks the 90th anniversary of the 1935 Philippine Repatriation Act, which reflected on exclusion and deportation.

And the 60th anniversary of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, which ended quotas and opened a wave of Filipino immigrants.

I now want to recognize our Filipino community in the room.

We have the Philippine Consulate General of Houston, the Consul General Gunther Amil M.

Salas, Vice Council General Tanya Guarano, Cultural Officer Carmela Amaro, and Protocol Officer Ariel De Queza.

And I now invite all Filipinos here in this room to please stand and be recognized.

Your time has expired Thank you very much, Mayor and Council members.

Sybil Sybil Palagna signs to be followed by Pamela Wendell.

Magandang Hapoon, Honored Mayor, esteemed Council members, good afternoon.

I am here as a 40-year Houston resident and board president of the Filipino American National Historical Society, Fonds HTX, to discuss our history and core mission.

Chartered in 2015 by founder Christy Panes Pozzo and other Filipino American leaders like Dr.

Pat Lindsay Catalobuscano and Anthony Guevaro represent a vital national movement dedicated to preserving the rich, often unseen history of Filipino Americans right here in our city.

Our mission is direct.

Education, preservation, dissemination, and exploration.

Fonds HCX began with an oral history project collaboration with Rice University's Houston Asian American Archive and the Chow Center for Asian Studies.

Thank you.

Pamela Wendell, to be followed by Noemi Friouse.

Good evening, everybody.

I'm Dr.

Pamela Wendell, the executive director of the Philippine Nurses Association of Metro Houston, with over 300 members.

Philipino nurses has been in existence since 1960s.

Our professional organization is a 501C organization, starting in 1980 with a united force supporting its members who are committed to providing opportunities for educational and leadership development, research activities, thus making a difference in this society.

We represent members from several hospitals in Metro Houston.

We also provided monthly educational meetings as well as two annual conferences in the spring and fall.

Our theme is one PAMH, one family.

We are so grateful for the impact of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Heart Seller Act, since it opened the doors for the health care workers, especially for the nurses.

We are the biggest among the Texas Medical Center.

Our executive board members are so busy providing services to the community.

Your time has expired.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Next.

No.

Noemi Frias.

To be followed by Anthony Guevara Guevaro.

Good afternoon, Mayor and distinguished members of the City Council.

I'm Dr.

Noemi Frias.

I'm the President of the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston and the National Secretary of the Federation of Philippine American Chambers of Commerce in the United States.

In celebration of the Filipino American History Month this October, we honor the enduring legacy of our people.

We reflect on our history and the contributions we made in advancing globalization.

Spain colonized Spa the Philippines in 1521, and their presence in our country lasted for more than 300 years.

During that time, they displaced local inhabitants, whom they called Indios and marginalized our indigenous people.

Locals who were driven to forced labor in the service of the Crown of Spain, but not all ended in vain.

Because aside from bringing us Christianity and their system of government, they also established the Manila Acapulco Gallian Trade, which ran from 1565 to 1815 and is one of history's earliest examples of globalization, for it connected the East and the West, Philippines and Mexico, then the governing viceroy of Spain.

Your time has expired.

Thank you very much.

Councillor Pollard.

Mayor.

Mayor.

Good afternoon to everyone.

I especially want to say greetings to the Filipino American community who is here today.

Frias, and all others who are seated amongst us.

With Dr.

Frias and Leloy, which I see you in the back with the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce last year.

And it was such a rewarding trip.

And uh the Filipino American community here in Houston has a rich history.

And uh we have benefited much from your culture.

And so I just want to say thank you very much for your contributions, everything that you all have lended to our city.

Uh we look forward to celebrating uh this month with you all and months ahead.

God bless you.

Thank you very much, and we look forward to more collaborations.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Anthony Guevara.

I'm a native Estonian, born and raised in Houston.

I'm also a member of um uh Councilmember Martha Cada uh K6 Tatum's uh district as well.

Uh I'm a member of uh Sunnial and also serve as a region president for the National Federation of Filipino American Association, uh member of the chamber, a founding member of Fonz, and one of the proud Filipinos here in the city of Houston with over 80,000 parents moved here because of the immigration act in the late 60s as well, and it which brought a lot of nurses, pioneers and engineers to our city.

We've done a lot for Filipino Americans uh here and sp, I mean, especially here in the city of Houston, our contributions.

Uh, we seek representation acknowledgement of October as Filipino American History Month from all of you guys in the city of the Houston, and also we we Filipino Americans help put diversity in the most diverse city here in the United States, and we thank everybody for your service and like to actually invite all of you guys to a celebration that we're doing this Sunday, October 12th at the Post, right?

So thank you again and happy Filipino American history month um sir.

Mayor Pro Kim Castric.

Thank you for um saying that you are a member of District K.

We are very excited to have the Philippine Community Center in the district.

We've done some uh community work there with the Houston Arts Alliance.

We've held some community events there, and we want to continue to do that in the community.

So we look forward to working alongside the Filipino community um and continuing our relationship together.

So congratulations to each of you, and I wish you the very best on your celebration uh this weekend.

Thank you.

Looking forward to it.

Thank you.

Councillor Pollard.

Thank you, Mayor.

And and I I too want to acknowledge whoever provided this book to us.

Okay.

Uh American National.

Thank you very much.

We've been thumbing through it, and I look forward to reading it.

We all look forward to reading it, so we want to say thank you for the book.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jairon Salazar.

To be followed by to be followed by Aileen Dizon.

Good afternoon.

I'm Jared Salatar Agderap, and I'm nurse practitioner and a member of the Philippine Nurses Association in Northeaston.

Uh, my husband and I are both registered nurses when we came here in America, and together we own and operate a hospice and home health company, a caregiving company and a personal care home, which our mission is to provide quality care and improving health care access to especially to our elderly who are homebound and remote and who remain amongst the most vulnerable population in our community.

The immigration act of 1965 opened doors for skilled professionals and Filipino nurses answered that call, transforming challenges into opportunities and communities into families.

The Philippine Nurses Association of North Houston is a nonprofit founded in 2011 with hundreds of members.

We host scholarship awards fundraisers for professional development.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Next Aileen Dizon.

To be followed by Riga Mauricio.

Good afternoon, Councilmembers.

My name is Aileen League Dizan.

I am the managing partner at Lico Distancy Law Firm based here in Houston.

I proudly represent the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Texas, or PACC Texas for short, as the current state president.

Well, PAC Texas is the largest Filipino American chamber in the state with nearly 1,000 members.

This year we are celebrating our 17th anniversary, having been founded in 2008 when PACT North Texas and PACC Texas Houston united into a single state chamber with two regional uh chapters.

PAC Texas Greater Houston has existed and served the community since the 1980s.

Many of our funders remain actively involved and leaders today.

Our chamber is uh spanning to five regional chambers.

We have one in Dallas Fort Word, um, Greater Houston, the Grand Valley, Greater San Antonio, and Greater Austin, and we continue to grow.

PAC Texas is a member of the nationwide coalition of the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Houston Partnership.

Thank you so much.

Good afternoon, Mayor Admire and the City Council.

I'm Dr.

Philippine Nurses Association Vice President of the South Central Region.

I want to give the high note to the role of Filipino nurses in this Filipino American History Month, particularly the role that they have done in changing the fabric of health care in the nation since 1911 and providing improved outcomes of our patients.

As a Filipino leader, we know that internationally equated nurses are tricking into the nation, so we provide critical gaps in what they need, particularly ethical migration, acculturation, preparedness when they come here to the United States, so they're ready to serve our American citizens and members, as well as nurturing emotional wellness that is needed by our nurses in the nation so that we can sustain the workforce for centuries to come.

Thank you for having us this afternoon in your meeting.

Ma'am, ma'am, Councilmember Thomas.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Good to see you again, Madam President, and welcome to everyone who have joined to um celebrate Filipino uh American Heritage Month.

We were just in chambers in May, celebrating the contribution of our Filipino nurses, uh, not just in the Texas Medical Center, but all throughout the city and the region, and so honored to represent the Council General.

But we know that Filipinos in Houston have presence all throughout the city from District K to District J on the West Side, the best side.

Um, and we're really proud about that, and we thank you for your contributions.

I will ask as we conclude comments if you can join me in the um hall for our group photo.

Uh but we look forward to promoting not just your contributions to workforce but all to the city because you you're what make us um you you make Houston Houston, and this is your city too.

So thank you for sharing your history with us today.

Thank you, Councilman Thomas, for your support to our Filipino community as well.

Next Ramon Guzman.

To be followed by Savant Moore.

Oh, good afternoon, Mayor Whitmeyer and City Council members.

Thank you for allowing me to speak.

I am Ramon Ventura Gusman, Chair of the Hotel and Lodging Association of Greater Houston.

I'm here to express our strong support for the proposed expansion of the George R.

Brown Convention Center and the broader convention district transformation project.

This is a generational investment that will strengthen Houston's position as premier global destination for meetings, conventions, and major events.

A more active convention center means more guests filling our Houston hotels, more local spending at restaurants and attractions, more hotel occupancy and sales tax revenue to support arts, sports, and essential city services.

The center's new self building alone is projected to generate more than 20 billion in additional spending and six billion in new payroll over the next thirty years.

The investment is expected to catalyze other investments, of course, in and around the east side of downtown, including new hotels, retail, and other development.

We urge you to support the transformative investment.

Thank you for your attention and thank you for the time.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Ramon, for coming and certainly adding your support.

Uh of course, the Hotel Lodge and Association of Greater Houston has been a great attribute to our city, and it adds a great important voice to what we're trying to do to advance our city uh in the future.

And uh I want to thank you for your time coming down and expressed it in support of that.

Thank you so much.

And the time we share together.

Thank you so much.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, Savant Moore.

To be followed by Stephen Caesato.

Good afternoon.

In politics, the question is never just can you win.

The real question is once you win, will you listen to the people who believed you enough to put you there?

I live that question every day.

In District D, I filed 311 case number 25038-2049.

Two children were hit.

But there's been silence for 30 days.

I'm told you don't have any white paint.

I didn't know Home Depot was closed.

In District B, I want to thank the councilwoman for focusing on the traffic and the illegal dumping.

Will you keep Polk Street open for the 5,000 plus Metro riders, the cyclists who safely enter downtown, and the families and business that use it as a lifeline?

I'm a businessman, but I believe in compassionate capitalism.

You can have economic growth and still protect the people who built this city.

You can do both.

Let's not be pressured by downtown board rooms, but the voices of the people who ride, walk, pray, and raise families on these streets.

God bless you and God bless Houston and congratulations to Councilman Pollard for his nomination for Estonia of the Year.

Councilmember Jackson.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Mr.

Moore, for coming in.

I'd like to follow up with you to make sure that your concerns is getting addressed.

Um I heard you talking about paint is the striping in the street.

Correct.

Yeah, we're partnering with um Fifth War Turse, and I'm just community.

Um trying to get the streets straight.

So just let me follow up with you and we'll make sure that that can be taken care of.

Okay.

Thank you.

God bless you.

Stephen Caesata to be followed by Chris Larson.

Good afternoon.

My name is Stephen Cassadin.

I'm a resident of Eastwood down in the historic East End.

I've been an East End resident my entire life.

And I'm coming before you all today to discuss the potential Polk Street closure.

Honestly, I'm very conflicted about the project.

Um I also think about the road diet that Polk Street was put on, if you will, I don't know the proper term, but to make bike lanes.

Polk Street was still just as heavily congested as it was when we made room for for those bike lanes.

The thought was that traffic would go into other areas, folks would ride their bikes into their jobs in downtown.

I use Polk Street every day to get from my house in Eastwood to my office in downtown where I practice labor and employment law.

It is just as congested, if not more congested, as it's ever been.

Your time has expired.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Stephen, for coming.

Because you know, uh, I don't know, did you grow up on the East End?

I did, yes.

Good.

I still live there, yeah.

And so that I, in terms of the community, and of course, we've seen progress in our city over the many, many years.

And so I want to thank you for coming and expressing your comments, and we want to hear people from both sides, and we have, and it's good to know that there are those who you know accept the fact of this and how it's going to be done in order to address everybody's needs, and at the same time, advance our city further.

So I do I totally accept the fact, and I guess my my point is that there's gonna be other impassioned folks behind here, and that those voices be heard and incorporated with what happens with the surrounding streets to still get those people into downtown.

Sure.

And it'll be because I I watch my community, the neighborhood that I was born and raised in change due to the expansions of the city over the years, and it, you know, and it's going to provide mechanism for the city in and what's going on.

So uh, but I appreciate you coming and giving your voice and support.

Absolutely.

And it was also already slated for closure.

So thank you.

Next.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council.

Uh, Chris Larson, President and CEO of Downtown Houston Plus.

For over 40 years, we've collaborated and led major efforts to improve downtown.

I'm here to speak in support of the convention center expansion, both for its economic benefits and its critical role in further diversifying why people come to downtown.

We have a long history of getting great things done in this community, but we're also here today to volunteer to serve as a partner to the city and Houston First to protect connectivity and safe passage into our community.

We happen to know a lot about infrastructure.

Only recently we designed and built the Dallas Streetscape in 2017 and the award-winning Bagby Street in 2021.

Later this year, we will be resurfacing 86 blocks of downtown roadways.

And currently we are building the Main Street Promenade and ran a two-year design process that engaged over 600 citizens and incorporated 1,346 points of feedback into our design.

Most impressively, 99% of our workshop attendees felt that the final promenade design reflected their hopes for Main Street.

In conclusion, the convention campus is critical to the city's future, and so is getting people into downtown.

We can do both.

Thank you all.

Council Cayman.

Thank you, Mayor.

Good afternoon, Chris.

No one denies that.

In working with my office, I know that you have a very strong record when it comes to mobility around downtown.

That is what y'all do.

So I again I want to thank y'all for stepping up.

I believe you are a trusted partner.

I think Houston First, Mayor, I think it's a great idea to have them focusing on the Convention Center and having y'all come in as an additional partner to engage the community and focus on the mobility and connectivity all of this.

In addition to, I think you said the points were, you know, 600 engagements on one project, but can you talk about the model that you do use in engaging the community?

Yeah, I mean we we we are deep believers and understand it as our role uh to be able to facilitate community engagement and believe that our projects are bettered through that process.

Um so we have a strong, it's in the DNA of the organization.

Um each and every day we engage hundreds of stakeholders into all of our decision-making processes.

Um so we would address that opportunity in the same type of way, understanding that we are dealing with a problem that needs to be solved and being committed to find that solution.

Again, appreciate all the work that you and the entire team do for downtown.

Thank you very much, Councilman.

Thank you, Mayor.

Chris, thank you for being here and uh for offering to step up and help.

Um the connectivity east-west after this expansion and after the 45 expansion project is going to be critical.

And you all are very well suited to offer assistance in that, given your track record around engagement, uh, around mobility, around the projects that y'all have already done, like you mentioned Bagby, uh, the one that's underway right now, uh, Main Street.

And so I I think we would be wise to take you up on your offer because we do need to be really intentional about the connectivity that will remain east to west and what we can do to enhance it and to improve it for our neighborhoods on the on the east end.

Indeed.

And I think the city has long relied on TURSA's management districts, right?

We we have both uh to be able to facilitate this type of work, and and that's what we are doing here is just volunteering to help with this issue.

Councilman Martinez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, Chris, and just want to say uh publicly thank you for your partnership.

We've been on several conversations, whether it is Main Street, uh, whether it is a George O'Brien expansion, and just your willingness to step up.

Uh we've had this conversation uh a few weeks back.

Um I think as some of my colleagues mentioned, this is this is an important role to play.

Uh understanding that East West Connection continues to be a priority.

It has been a priority for me since day one.

Um, and and just want to say uh that I look forward to working with you, uh with your team uh to ensure that um downtown is open and accessible to everyone.

Yeah.

I mean it's it is absolutely critical, and I'm not doing my job if I'm not trying to get people into downtown, right?

So uh that infrastructure is critical to that work.

Very good.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

William Franks.

To be followed by Ashia Barry.

Good afternoon.

My name is William Franks.

I'm a real estate developer in uh downtown Houston, and I am very pleased to come before you today.

I would like to speak in support of the Houston First um expansion of the convention center as designed and planned currently.

I have been here long enough in downtown, since 1994.

I've developed 16 different buildings, many of them hotels.

The J.W.

Marriott, the Aloft, the AC Hotel, the Sam Houston, on and on.

What I have found is that this convention center has been a major driver of the economics of downtown Houston.

And with that, I think we need to think forward.

I am for the common good.

I understand that communities around there want connectivity.

I completely believe that that should happen.

I think it just needs to be planned.

But I think the project, the way it's designed right now, is really too important, and we will benefit in the future as citizens.

Your time has expired.

Thank you.

I might sir.

Yes.

You were here, I'm certain.

You remember in 98, that whole area was nothing but parking lots.

We own two blocks across the state.

And we had a vision to not rebuild the baseball field out on Kirby in 610, but to bring it downtown.

And the continuity there, someone said, I think Councilman Maris was asking, well, how does this differ from others?

There's no other site that conventioners can go to.

Two major entertainment venues at each end.

And I'm certain you've witnessed the benefits to the East End, starting with jobs.

Many East End residents traveled to these venues in the George Brown and the hotels for jobs.

And then it gets to revenue, revenue, and even more revenue from sales tax, which will be part of the general revenue that funds East End quality of life services like solid waste, public safety, health.

I go on and on.

It is such an example of the can-do attitude of Houston.

Yes, sir.

And I'm certain they had the same discussions when they dredged the port.

I know for a fact.

There was farms and other activities that were interrupted.

But uh thank you for being here.

I witnessed it.

Uh Houston has a very bright future, certainly in competition with other Houston uh Texas cities and really across the nation.

And we have our friends here with Unite here discussing their jobs.

It will assist them and their benefits.

It will assist Houstonians across this great city.

Thank you for being here.

There's a story to be told.

I completely agree.

It's for the greater good.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mayor Whitmire and Houston City Council.

Ashia Berry, Vice President of Magpies and Peacocks, the nation's only nonprofit design host.

I am not only a residential resident, but a business resident of District I, Council Martinez, and the East End Eagle.

I must say small businesses and organizations like ours really depend on the expansion of the Convention Center district, conferences, events, everything that's driving.

Houston First is one of our biggest supporters in what they bring to the city.

As a resident of Eastwood, I do understand that change, it's it's different.

And you know, we have to find a way to make it work.

Um I go down Polk every day, but I know we'll come up with a solution where we still get downtown.

We have to continue to do change.

There's no progress without change, and to stay as a world-class city.

I think that this is definitely needed.

It trickles down to the neighborhood, the jobs, the grocery stores.

Again, I've lived in Eastwood for over 20 years.

I understand that expansion actually, in the end, it helps us all.

So thank you.

Paul O'Sullivan.

To be followed by Ruben Garza.

Houston First has put forth a plan that leaves no room for error with the abandonment of Polk's.

Houston First has put forth a plan that leaves no room for error with the abandonment of Polk Street.

Leland seems to be the only proposed option for East End and Fifth Ward residents.

Leland developed a sinkhole at Jackson in September.

Leland has been closed at Milby since early September, and there appears to be no date for the reopening.

A business fire at Milby near Leland occurred in September, impacting traffic along their court along this corridor.

Closure of Polk and Singular Reliance of Leland would greatly retard economic growth on the East End.

While Houston first wants to impress Comic Con cosplay attendees from Alamogordo and dental hygienists from Dubuque.

It seems unconcerned about the GRB expansion that would negatively impact East End mobility.

Other large metropolitan areas have figured out how to expand their convention capacity without negatively impacting local residents.

Houston First would do well to learn these lessons.

Thank you.

Next Kevin Strickland.

First, I want to say on behalf of Strong Towns, we are one of the things that I this is the correct order.

Okay, just make it sure.

We're pushing for a parking reform, getting rid of minimum parking mandates and opening up street parking.

Speaking with a number of the city council members here about that.

Would love to keep talking about that and making that a primary policy of Houston.

Mayor Whitmeyer, the March 6th unveiling for the GRB expansion plan, you said it, and I think everyone here agrees that the East End has been left behind for as long as you know.

I don't think anyone in this room disagrees with that.

So with respect to the Polk Street closure, I respectfully ask the City Council to not take another measure that will harm the East End.

Polk Street is a vital two-way street that connects the East End and downtown.

It is important that this street be uh kept open and that the city um that the city give access to the East End residents to the GRB.

This is going to be a fantastic project that's going to help the city out, but the people in the East End need access to it.

Thank you.

Next Kevin Strickland.

To be followed by Patricia Cabrera.

Good afternoon.

I'm co-founder of Rock and Roll Houston 501c3, where we're trying to create a city where Houstonians can walk and roll safely and easily as we need.

We understand that connections are what create communities, as my friend Lisa Hunt points out.

Destroying connections destroys communities.

We see this often in Houston where freeways have divided our neighborhoods.

As many people have already pointed out, there are very few connections between downtown and the East End.

Closing Polk is one of the few remaining ones.

Houston First, whose board is appointed by the mayor, has never explained why Polk must be closed.

When asked, their response is essentially because we can.

George R.

Brown could easily be built over Polk.

I'm going to give you four examples, all within walking distance.

The Wortham built over Prairie Street.

Bayou Place built over Texas Avenue.

Houston Center built over San Jacento.

Green Street built over Fannon and San Jacento.

Now imagine if these five streets had been closed.

What would downtown look like?

Next speaker.

So we encourage you to vote no on closing Polk.

Thank you.

Next, Patricia Cabrero.

To be followed by Marina Gana.

Good afternoon.

Mayor and members of council.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

My name is Rubén Mercado.

I am the chair of the local National Association of Minority Contractors, but more importantly, I'm a resident of the East End in Odlewood for the past 25 years.

I'm here to voice my support for the George R.

Brown Convention Center expansion project.

I want to acknowledge that my many residents, especially in the East End have expressed concern about the planned closure of Polk Street.

That concern is valid.

Polk has long served as a vital connection between downtown and East Downtown.

However, it's important to understand this closure is uh in the longer context of the NHIP.

Polk Street between St.

Emmanuel and Hamilton was already identified for closure under that plan.

Yes, sir.

Absolutely.

It was part of the city's agreement with TechSot five years ago.

That's correct.

Irrefutable.

Yes, sir.

It was through the North Houston House of the United States.

We won't do the underground of 59 and 45 unless the cap above is free and open.

Yes, sir.

Irrefutable.

Yes, sir.

Sorry to interrupt you, but misinformation is not good.

I agree with that, Mayor.

I certainly do agree with that.

This project reflects a forward-thinking vision for how downtown and the East End can better interact with the expansion of the George R.

Brown Convention Center will become front-facing to the community.

This isn't just about expanding convention center.

It's about redefining how we experience the heart of our city.

The design prioritizes walkability, open plazas, and public gathering areas that encourage connection between residents, visitors, and local businesses.

It creates a space that feels like Houston, diverse, dynamic, and welcoming.

This is a moment for partnership between the city, Houston First, and our neighborhoods.

If done right, the GRB expansion can serve as a model for equitable urban development, one that promotes economic opportunity while preserving accessibility and community character.

Thank you for your time, your leadership, and your commitment to building a better Houston.

Thank you.

Councilman Davis.

Babe Ruben.

Yes, sir.

Thank you for coming.

Let me ask you did you grow up on East End.

I did.

I went to a dignity, graduated in Millby.

In fact, we're going to celebrate 40 years this weekend.

I knew you were going to say I knew you were going to say Millby Buffalo.

I knew it, but I won't hold it against you.

I'm a must think.

So it's all good.

I won't hold it against you in the government.

It's all in the family.

But thank you for your thank you for your opportunity to come down and express your support of it.

And uh just won't let you know that we do understand it.

It is something that's dear to many people, and I get it, but I think in the end, both parts can come together and resolve it, and then that we can move on and have a greater city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Sure.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Marina Guerra, to be followed by Linda Matha.

Good afternoon, Mayor and members of council.

My name is Marina Guerra, and I'm here on behalf of State Representative Christina Morales, who represents House District 145, including many of the Eastern neighborhoods impacted by the proposed closure of Polk Street.

Our office has heard from many constituents who are deeply concerned about this proposal, particularly the lack of transparency, limited public input, and the impact on mobility, safety, and small businesses.

Representative Morales is respectfully asking counsel to delay the vote until a comprehensive traffic plan with safe alternatives for for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit riders is shared publicly.

A clear detour and timeline for Eastern neighborhoods is provided, and the city considers a community benefits agreement to ensure the East End is not left behind.

As she wrote, projects of this magnitude will define Houston's future.

We must ensure the process is transparent, equitable, and accountable to our residents.

Thank you for your time and leadership.

Next Linda Matha.

To be followed by Caesar Espinosa.

Good afternoon.

My name is Lydia Mata.

I am a housekeeper and I have been working for Hilton Americas for almost three years.

The main reason for me joining the strike is because I deserve to get paid a good living wage where I can afford rent, food, and not have to choose what I can go without.

We deserve respect and a good paycheck for the work we do.

We work hard to leave the rooms extra clean and give them a special touch.

My co-workers and I do this for Hilton because we care about our job and our guests.

Hilton should show us the same care that we give this hotel.

23 an hour will benefit not only me but my family as well, so that we can live a better life where we can afford groceries without having to go without the things we need.

We have been on strike for 37 days now, and I really hope we are not still on strike when the colt comes.

However, I will continue to fight alongside my co-workers for better wages for our families.

Thank you.

And she was taken to county jail, where instead of getting the help she needed like her family was asking, she was subsequently put in an ice hold and then deported.

Ms.

Reina is deported now.

And with this new motion of this Dodge style uh budget that the city wants to start pushing and start consolidating departments, we are very concerned that more immigrant people who live here in Houston will end up deported just like Ms.

Reina did.

It's not fair, it's not right, and in and there should be, instead of cutting departments, there should be an emphasis in putting more emphasis on mental health services and in not paying officers more, but training them better so that they can identify when a person is in crisis, not it would not put charges on them when it's not meant to be.

The staff at Ben Top told this family to call HPD.

And I cannot in good faith continue to tell the community to support it.

If they're going to end up deported.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for being here.

Do you know if a crisis intervention team or MCOT was called at that time?

The family called HPD or they called the report because she was having an episode.

The husband, I believe, did she assaulted him.

And uh it was the sheriff's office.

Okay, hold on.

Let me I know the story better.

Can I finish?

No, I understand.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Because you want to control the narrative, but that's not it.

That's not it.

No, I'm just saying.

Her husband called the HPD from Ben Top at the garage, and HPD never showed up.

And then she they were instructed by personnel at Ben Top to go home or to go somewhere else where they could be safe, and then subsequently called HPD.

When they did, when her husband did call HPD, instead of questioning her family, listen, see, to her begging family to not take her away because she is suffering from severe schizophrenia.

The officer did not question them, but rather question other people around and then arrested her.

That's what happened.

Those are the facts.

And she injured her husband.

Her husband has no idea.

The DA took charges.

She got to the sheriff's office, unfortunately.

The whole circumstance is sad.

But it's only correct that we clear the air and let the truth stand.

The Sheriff's Office following the law, called ICE.

HBB played a very minor role, other than state law requires if you make a scene where there is a domestic abuse to prevent the future contestant.

I understand the mental health dominates and is involved in so much.

But if we're going to have credibility in the community, we have to make certain that the facts stand.

HBD had no choice but to separate them because it was at the scene she her husband got severely injured.

So they showed up.

Sir, I talked to her husband.

I talked to her husband this morning.

And there's no report of her severely injured.

Your officers made a decision to put charges on her to call the DNA.

Instead of taking her, giving her a ride to the mental health institution where she should have been taken.

Well, I respectfully disagree.

I would respectfully request the cameras.

You too.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman.

Councilman McCain.

Councilman Kim.

Thank you, Mayor.

And um my understanding of the facts is the mayor has said is ICE was contacted from the jail.

And I don't think anyone is contesting that.

I think in Cesar, what I hear you saying, and one of my concerns remains in an environment that is so heightened and volatile and dangerous for our immigrant community.

Um the ability to contact law enforcement is imperative, so that victims are not being pushed into the shadows.

Uh what I hear you saying, but correct me if I am wrong, is there scenarios where we need more funding, more instances of mental health professionals intervening in crisis response, not just the standard law enforcement response.

Is that yes?

And I want to make it very clear that we are not blaming HPD wholeheartedly.

I've served on police reform task force before, and I've done right-alongs with HPD.

So I unlike some other activists in the city, I try to look at both sides.

But when we see uh officers show up to a scene and and completely ignore the fact that this person is going through a mental health crisis and just charge her, I want to see, I want to see this administration look at this woman who is now in Mexico without any sort of family after living here in Houston for 35 years.

I want to see what we could have done better to prevent other people from going down the same path.

And I appreciate that coming from a place of how do we make sure that we're doing everything we can in these circumstances to be sensitive to the facts, to be sensitive to the fact that there is a ramp up of ice.

We do not necessarily want to see someone who is not a criminal deported or put in jail.

However, I think again, I I hear what you're saying, and I want to publicly convey my concerns that in such a heightened time, we have to as a city be even more sensitive and careful while following the letter of the law.

That's imperative.

Um but we do need more crisis intervention.

We need, especially in our immigrant and vulnerable communities, people to be comfortable coming forward to get the help that they need.

Absolutely.

And we've we've you can look at our track record.

We told people if you want to better, if you want to make this city safer, we have to work with p with law enforcement.

And we've done that throughout the last 18 years that we've been here.

But absolutely, and there's a budget coming up, and we are really concerned that more services are going to be cut and we're gonna have more of reinas in our streets.

Councilmember Martinez.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh thank you for coming.

Um and I agree with my colleagues.

I think what's important right now is that we de-escalate from this heightened tension, right?

Um and to your point about the need to make sure that there's trust.

Um plenty of times that I'm out in the community.

That is a question, right?

Should I call the HPD?

And I trust that HPD is out doing what is supposed to be done and taking care of actual crime and not looking at you know folks that are undocumented and and making that a priority.

Um I also want to know what went wrong and where we could be helpful.

And if it is a budget, you know, uh policy answer, then uh want to make sure that we're listening.

So uh at any point, you know you have my number, let's sit down and talk and and find out what we need to do moving forward.

Yeah, I mean, and the reduction uh or the disenfranchisement of the community affairs uh division really hurts our community.

Um and there's there's several other things, but at the end of the day, this is I once again want to state publicly that we have yet to meet with Chief Diaz, even though we have been trying to meet with him, and we de talk to people every single day that are facing these issues as well as other community concerns.

So this is an invite.

We are ready to meet with him when he is ready to meet with us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um I move to suspend the rules to add Simon Hernandez to the top of the speaker's list.

I think he's here in the chambers now to be next to go next.

To go next.

Go next.

Motion made and second.

All in favor say yes.

Those opposed no.

Motion passed.

Simon Hernandez.

To be followed by Jumana Malbari.

Hello there.

I heard somebody protest Melby Buffs.

I hope not.

Just kidding with you.

I I too am a resident of Houston, East End, been here a long time.

Melby Buffs, Edison Junior High, what have you.

I'm for the progress.

I like the progress.

I like seeing the new building.

I like being bringing in revenue.

We're talking about funds and what have you.

Let's bring in the funds.

That helps.

Uh if we're looking from a safety standpoint, which I can kind of talk to, um, we're well adept in reaching these residents, these neighborhoods.

Closures are not new.

Uh we have bike trails that we have to overcome.

So start thinking about that.

Uh we're we're well informed.

That's perfectly fine with us.

Okay.

It does present challenges.

But we start bringing in the revenue and we start bringing in people who are going to create the jobs who are going to bring uh the capital in for us, we'll be able to raise more.

Okay.

Your time has expired.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Next, Jumana Malbari.

Sebastian LeCourt.

To be followed by Corey Dastor.

Hi, thank you for allowing me to speak today.

I'd like to speak about the red line.

Recently, the city removed signal priority for the red line as it runs through downtown, which means that the trains now stop at every red light.

And so what used to be about a 12-minute trip between McGowan and UHD is about a 20-minute trip.

Two points I'd like to make.

First, I know that this administration is skeptical towards mass transit projects, but the red line really seems like an unqualified success.

34,000 people a day write it, and you can see why it connects the Med Center, downtown, two universities, HCC and major bus stations, and of course the parks and the museums and the stadiums.

I come up from District K.

You really see a whole slice of the city using it.

Why slow down something that really works, our most effective transit line.

And then second, it seems strange to me to do this when we're trying to bring people downtown.

Personally, um I never used to.

Your time has expired.

Okay, thank you.

Oh, sir, sir.

Sorry.

Sir.

Sir.

Councilmember Pollard.

You get my time.

Keep going.

Okay.

Um, so personally, I never came downtown before I lived with access to the Red Line.

My first few years in Houston, I lived about a mile west of here in Fourth Ward.

Um I just never came downtown voluntarily.

The driving was a pain, it's not a good walk.

Now I actually live outside the loop on the southwest side near Belfort and Stella Link.

And I come to downtown all the time because the red line makes it easy, it makes it pleasant.

Um I'm not worried about parking, I'm not worried about fighting with traffic.

I just get on the train, come right up, I get to enjoy looking at my city.

Uh it's really, for me, it's the time I feel most at home in Houston.

Um just speaking from my own perspective, I feel like if we wanted to make coming downtown more attractive, uh, frankly, we would have more ways to do it on the rail.

You know, we would have that line west into Montrose we never built we would have all time as well for Washington out of the case.

Thank you.

Uh what are you what would you suggest that we do?

What would you like for us to do differently?

And and I'm asking because we've received several emails to our inbox and a couple of people have called us with the same concern that you're citing.

So I'm interested in knowing what would you like to see different.

Yeah.

Um the basic ask would be to restore signal priority downtown, which means that the train basically gets first dibs rolling through the intersections.

That's the way it's been my understanding the entire existence of the line, and that's what makes it like a rapid trip through downtown, not just crawling corner to corner.

That would be the ask, I think.

Thank you for you.

Okay, thank you.

You do know you do know that was Metro's decision, and it was a mechanical problem that brought everyone's attention.

It's they haven't changed their operations.

Okay.

Any mischaracterization of my position is just that.

So we appreciate you being here.

I've heard different things about it.

I understand it's your take on things.

Okay, thank you.

Thanks for being here.

Next.

Corey Dastor to be followed, followed by Daniel Aragon.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council members.

I'm Corey Dostor, the general director and CEO of Houston Grand Opera.

Uh the GRB expansion project plans enhance our shared objective for a vibrant world-class downtown with international draw.

The Houston Grand Opera is proud to employ over 13 artists and creatives and serve hundreds of thousands of Houstonians each year.

Those of us who operate downtown understand the immense value of public investment in projects which catalyze growth and enhance cultural and economic vitality in our city center.

A more active convention center also means increased hotel occupancy tax with 400 million dollars estimated in additional hot revenues for the city over the next 30 years, which translates to roughly 80 million dollars in additional designated funding for the arts.

HGO and our colleague nonprofit organizations across the city are not immune from the immense pressures being faced by arts and culture.

We depend on hot funds to sustain our operations and retain our workforce.

Maintaining our arts community is vital.

Thank you.

Councilman Kamen.

Thank you.

Corey, I just wanted to thank you.

The opera is such a gift to the city.

And speaking on behalf of I know other um performance centers throughout downtown.

Um you all have been through the ringer from the pandemic onwards.

Uh to see it thriving again uh warms my heart, but I just want to thank you and others for the difference that you make because we have um one of the most preeminent uh art arts and theater districts in the nation.

Uh so just really I want to thank you.

Thank you for acknowledging that.

We are proud members of the Theater District Downtown, and of course GRB are very um close to our hearts.

It was our impromptu opera house during Harvey.

So we're excited to see it have its day.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Nick.

Daniel Aragon.

To be followed by Peter Eccles.

Good afternoon.

I'm I'm here to talk about the sad and pathetic state of Metro.

Under this administration uh and Council, the people you have appointed to Metro have let us down.

In 2019, we approved Metro Next, a ambitious project that was going to change our city.

More rail, more buses, more BRT.

Unfortunately, they have backtracked.

Now what they do, they canceled all of it, and Metro is now a piggy bank for the city, focusing on road uh rehabs and microtransit.

And look at the red line.

The mayor, you just said that it was not your fault.

It's Metro, Metro says your fault.

What's going on?

Um under the previous administration, as you like to say a lot, Mayor, there was vision, there was ambition.

Now it's pathetic.

We need better public transit.

There's a need for public transit.

Go online.

Anytime there's mention of Metro, people want better transit.

Let's your time has expired.

Do better.

And it's just sad.

Thank you.

Peter Eccles.

To be followed by Doris Brown.

Good afternoon.

My name is Peter Eccles.

Uh I work for Link Houston and I'm here to talk about the Metro Red Line.

We're now in the third week of unnecessary delays on the red line since the city and Metro turned off traffic signal preemption for trains on Main Street.

Trips are now taking about 10 minutes longer each way, causing Houstonians who make over 34,000 trips on the red line each weekday to be late for work class and waste a collective 5600 hours per day.

It's not entirely clear why this is being done.

Questions to 311 and Metro customer service result in one agency blaming the other.

But the loan official statement from Metro states that they want to, quote, ensure a balanced approach that strengthens mobility for all.

Unfortunately, these changes have destabilized overall mobility and will continue to do so until reversed.

Let's dig in.

About 90,000 vehicles crossed the red line in downtown.

Let's be generous and say that half of them will avoid a red light and save 40 seconds.

That makes for a total of 500 hours saved at the expense of over 5,000 hours wasted by red line riders.

You may hear from Metro or City Department has been.

To be followed by Felix Kapoornoon.

Can you hear me?

Dr.

Plum, I want to speak directly to you because we have been trying to get answers for months.

We have been calling your office every single week and asking one question.

When is the apartment inspection orders coming to council?

And every week your staff told us next week.

Well, it's been four months of next week, four months of waiting while tenants are still living with Mo Leaks and unsafe conditions.

We are tired of being told to wait.

We are tired of excuses.

Council members.

What is the order that's coming to council?

Because every week that passes without action, more families are getting sick.

More kids are breathing in mo.

More residents are living in danger.

We cannot wait any longer.

We're here today to demand accountability and to demand that this orders move forward now.

Your time has expired.

Ma'am, Councilman Plummer.

Thank you, Mayor.

And Ms.

Doris, I I completely understand your frustration.

I mean, I have done everything that I'm supposed to do on my end.

We prop we passed up in the Prop A committee almost four months ago.

The apartment standards and executive committee have met four times.

I've been incredibly patient.

I know I have heard from not only you and your organizations, but also tenants.

I honestly don't have an answer.

And colleagues, I'm asking you all to please, you know, just do what you can do to support this ordinance.

We have got to get this done.

Residents are calling our offices over and over and over again.

Every step has been followed.

Legal has already written the document.

It's all ready to go.

And um, and I am just as frustrated as our community is.

So thank you, Ms.

Doris.

And I um as soon as I get some information, I will.

But I will, I'm supposed to be having a conversation with the administration um tomorrow.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Felix Kapoor.

To be followed by Linda Flores.

Four years, two administrations, and still hundreds of thousands of tenants are still suffering from a lack of oversight and accountability from this council.

Dr.

Palmer, housing advocates are waiting for when the ordinance will come to vote.

I'm here to tell y'all we cannot wait any longer.

I kind of want to do the rest of my speech, but I really want to know what does it mean that stuff is in legal for four months, and why did all of the community vote for Prop A, and then it has to go to a committee and then vote and then go to legal.

Like I'm I'm wondering what's going on with this process when like so many of these tenants are in neighborhoods like the ones that I serve and that the ones that you serve.

So I want to sacrifice the rest of my time to get some of those questions answered.

Thank you.

Council Member Palmer is in the queue.

Thank you.

And Felix, I mean, once again, this should have been on the agenda a long time ago.

I mean, once once something comes out of committee through Prop A, it is supposed you have all your signatures.

It is supposed to go on the agenda.

I understand this is a complicated conversation.

Obviously, we have to work with many departments to make sure it's done properly.

We don't want to um we don't want to create any any unhoused people because of what's going on, and there's so many apartment complexes that are just not habitable.

So I have been incredibly patient, but my the time is up in my mind.

I mean, we've got to get it done.

Legal has, of course, a document that I cannot share, obviously outside, but legal has drafted a document.

All of the members of the apartment standards executive committee have met over four times and gone through everything.

I don't believe it has to be perfect to roll it out.

Um I think we've all been very, very patient.

So I assure you I will get some answers by tomorrow and be able to come back to you.

But y'all have been incredibly patient, not only you as advocates, but just people in general.

It is so unfair for the amount of residents living in the city of Houston in complete squalor, and we have full oversight to be able to handle it.

So believe me, I am just as frustrated as you are.

And I appreciate you for coming today.

Does anyone else on council have responses to that?

Thank you, Mayor, and um thank you, Felix, for coming in.

And Councilmember Palmer, thank you for putting forward the ordinance.

And so once it comes out of legal, um, I support apartment reform.

I mean, we have a lot of apartments in District B that where the owners are not doing what they are supposed to do, and um folks are living in unsanitary conditions, and so once it's come up, come once the ordinance comes up, I will support it.

Um, but I'm not part of the conversations that um Councilmember Palmer is having with legal, but um, once it comes up, just know that I will support the ordinance.

Thank you.

And Councilman Just thank you.

And you and this is the other thing I want to just to, in terms of my colleagues here on the horseshoe, they voted for it.

I mean, it came out of committee.

So I don't know what the problem is, but it came out of committee.

So I know council supported.

We just have to get it on the agenda.

And that's and that's what and that's what's not happening.

I guess my last question is, Mayor, do you know anything about with it being a good thing?

The legal is working out to make it compliant with state law.

We could have a long discussion about the horrors of the living conditions.

We're all in agreement.

But we can red tag it, we can move toward condemnation.

It has got to follow state law, property rights.

You can't just go out.

In fact, you have a plan for what you would exercise against these projects.

I didn't hear the last question.

Your question.

If you had total control, what would you do?

Which we don't, because we're governed by state laws and property rights.

So we are restricted, and that's I mean, we're all absolutely every one of us.

I saw a project the other day where they're renting out their courtyard.

A piece of concrete out the back door that someone has a mattress on.

They're renting that.

We know how horrible things are in living conditions.

We've been to mole-infested sites in Fifth Ward, my staff, Harvey Clements location.

I can go on and on.

But we're governed by statutes.

So it's not as simple as saying let's do something.

You have to have the law on your side, and you have to have an action plan.

And that's the struggle.

I I appreciate that.

And I will say if it was simple enough to give the police $832 million of money we don't have over five years, it should be simple enough to help push this through legal uh to get some relief to some of these people who need it the most important.

Councilman Poly.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for coming forward.

Um the prop the Prop A process should be pretty um streamlined.

I've I've passed about ten of these and I never go to a committee, but once a draft is proposed and the requisite signatures are um on it and is delivered over to the legal department.

I believe they have seven days to come back with approval or denial on that.

Um I do know that the council member did propose that a while back.

An administration ago.

So with this with this current process of Prop A, you know, the question I have is it did legal say it was permissible or not?

If legal says it's permissible, it should be on the agenda the following week.

It doesn't matter what the as long as it's not in in conflict with state law, then it should be on the agenda, regardless of stakeholders or trying to make it perfect, whatever the draft is should come forward and we can yea or nay it.

So uh it would be good to hear from legal or at least from the council members' office on was it permissible or not, and if it is permissible, I don't I'm not sure why it's not being brought because it is not permissible.

Okay, so if it's not it's an easy answer.

All right, conflict with state law.

So if it's not permissible, then the question with legal and with the council members' office is what changes need to be made to make it permissible.

That shouldn't take four months.

I mean, that should take four days.

Um hopefully we can get an answer to you soon.

Well, the answer is the reason it's taken long, it may require legislation.

I don't know if you thought about that.

It's in conflict with the case.

Well, if that's the answer, give the answer.

The answer is available.

I'll give you our turo's number.

I don't need a number.

Why do I need his number?

I'll take his number because I can I can report back to people.

Hold on, hold on.

The the issue is if you have an answer or the legal has an answer, then just give it to us.

I mean, it's it it shouldn't be this difficult to put forth something that is either legal or not.

If it's not legal, just come back and say that it's not legal and for what reason.

Okay.

But I can't make you understand.

Put your mic on first.

Put your mic on the state.

It's in conflict with state law.

They're trying to legislate measures that would make it in compliance.

Okay.

Thank you.

Councilmember Plummer can get the same information that I'm given.

If it was legal and smooth, it would already be on the agenda.

It's real plain.

Okay.

Um, thank you all for the discussion.

And uh oh, yes, Dr.

Plummer.

Mayor, maybe you're getting different information than I am.

We'll get our Turo to come talk to all.

They want to talk to stakeholders.

That is what they told us.

And I have that, and I have that in writing.

Well, it's a good idea.

And the document says draft on it because I can't share it.

But it is it it has gone through we have gone, we have literally watered down this ordinance to a point to where it doesn't even look like it was before.

I have made negotiation after negotiation, I've looked at the state code, I've done all that.

So I'm telling you that there's something else going on, and I would really love to have your help to fix it.

Yeah.

Well, thank you for your work.

Next.

Yeah, I I guess can we get a commitment to try to get that fixed?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is that a commitment, Mayor?

Okay.

The cost of living has risen risen incredibly and continues to rise, except for my salary.

My monthly salary is 2100, of which 2,000 is for my house.

And I have to work a second job to support my 15 year old son's needs.

If I earned a fair wage, I could give my son more quality time and be able to save for his future or go on vacation.

Hilton's slogan is Hilton is number one best workplace in the world, and I wish it were reality.

Mr.

Mayor, I remember you visited us at the Hilton Hotel when you were running for mayor.

I asked you, what would you do, what would you do for the workers?

You shook my set my hand and said better wages.

Neither I nor my co-workers can afford to go back to making 1650.

We are in desperate need of better lip better livable wages now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Adriana Rodriguez.

I have worked with Levi at the GRB as a banquet server for ten years.

I'm proud to work at the convention center and welcome people to our city every day.

But we need better workloads, higher wages, and more respect.

I've had to rely on credit cards to pay my house household bills and use that money to buy food for my family because the salary isn't sufficient.

A fair wage of at least 23 dollars would ease my financial situation and that and that of my co-workers.

Since some of us have two jobs, me siento confiado in nuestra proximidad el miércoles.

Boto si porque la pueblo de mis companhia de trabajo podemos lograr un contrato justo.

No retrocedemos hasta que los trabajadores del hospitalidad como yo respetados in Houston.

I feel confident about our upcoming strike folk on Wednesday.

I'm voting yes because I know that with all the support of my co-workers, we can achieve a fair contract.

We won't back down until hospitality workers like me are respected in Houston.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Carolina Alvarez to be followed by Amber White.

To be followed by Amber White.

In prime agrees for the opportunity.

On October 11th, I will be working at the Hilton Americas for three years in the housekeeping housekeeping department.

First, I am grateful for the opportunity I was given when Hilton accepted me to work at this hotel, which I treat as if it is a five-star hotel.

Unfortunately, we live in a time where our salaries are not enough to pay our bills.

Months ago, I was diagnosed with anemia and I had to get iron infusions, and I am still undergoing checkups, which cost additional expenses.

Today marks 37 days on strike.

37 days of fighting for what is right and for what we deserve.

37 days of not backing down.

It's time for the Hilton management to do right by their workers.

Treat us fairly and understand that we are human just like they are.

It's time to do the right thing and make a real offer.

Thank you for your time is expired.

While we continue to fight for our contract, our brothers and sisters at the GRB are set to take a strike vote tomorrow because they too are fighting for a fair contract with livable wages.

Until we have a fair contract for both Hilton and GRB, our fight will continue.

Thank you so much for your time.

Patrick Hornta Willie.

Councillor McCayman.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move to suspend the rules to move up.

To speak next, I believe she has a little little one with her.

Second.

Thank you.

Motion main second.

All in favor say yes.

Motion passes.

Kimberly Morris.

To be followed by Willie Drew.

Good afternoon.

My name is Kimberly Tycho Moyers.

Okay.

My name is Kimberly Tikam Moyers.

I'm a United States Navy veteran.

There's a problem with your flagpole ordinance.

I can see that y'all are completely terrified from your flag poles today.

Um, that's what I was happening.

HPD gave me a ticket for holding an American flag.

I have been in the Veterans Day parades for years with that same flagpole.

I have done the 9-11 memorials with that same flagpole.

I have gone to the Veterans Cemetery with that same flagpole, but they said that it's a weapon.

You know, that's absolutely insulting.

I believe when we sit there and say the Star Spangled Banner, that flag is on a flagpole.

But the police literally told me that if I strap it to an AR-15 and walk in the city of Houston, that's okay.

How extreme is that?

You shouldn't have to sit here and tell veterans.

Especially since I'm a disabled one.

Pretty sure you can hear me struggling today.

It's a bad day.

That I don't get the right to hold my American flag.

Sorry, I demand at this point remove that ordinance.

Your time has expired.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Willie Drew.

T TJ Baker.

To be followed by Carmen Roman.

Afternoon.

Give ear, O Mayor John Whitmire.

For as much as thou has lifted thyself by thy own bootstraps, admits the storms of adversity.

Verily I say unto the governor of Texas, thou may soon be or pre-adventure of president of the United States.

But since I am grateful gratefully allow at least three one minute of your valuable time, let me get to the right point.

Your time has expired.

And we're asking for the widening road and the sidewalk.

Ms.

Baker met with my staff and we sent your information over to public works, and they gave us the sidewalk requirements.

So they are getting us a quote for that.

Um so and that was the first time we talked to you, so I don't really understand all the years of uh that you have um put out there, but that's neither here nor there.

You met with them, they took it to public works.

We're getting the price quote on what it would cost to do the sidewalk that y'all have requested.

And as soon as we get that, we'll circle back with you.

And Pastor August, which I'm surprised because I just met with him at the park.

Yes, February.

Yes, ma'am.

Yeah, yes.

And he and we didn't we didn't talk about this.

We talked about a couple of other things that we're working on.

But we're we're happy to work alongside you and the church to uh try to get that sidewalk done.

Okay, but it's been almost five, six years, and nothing has happened.

Right, we're working on it with you.

Okay, and that's what we've been receiving only we're working on it.

Public works bounce it back.

They bounce it back.

And then they said that's nothing that they can sell back.

Who is public with public works?

They bounced it back.

And really, they just called me yesterday.

They called me yesterday.

They sent it to our office, and we're getting a quote, like I said.

So we'll work with you and Pastor August to get the price of the sidewalk, and then we'll determine how we move forward once we get the price of the cost of the sidewalk for that street.

And the timeline, please.

Uh, we're waiting on them to give us the price of the sidewalk.

I don't I don't know, but we'll get it to you soon.

We'll keep pushing for it.

And hopefully, maybe at the end of the month we would know.

Hopefully, by the end of the month, we'll know.

And then maybe the wide and the road and the sidewalk will be completed.

No, I mean, we'll do our very best.

I mean, we have to get the price, and then once we get the price, we'll determine how we will get it paid for, and then we can move forward and we can be rocking and rolling.

Hopefully, it can be a great partnership between the city and the church.

Okay, also there's two utility lights that's out on Sandpiper and Fund Metal.

Okay.

And then there's been two attempts of of robbery and and um near to death of killing.

So we need to have those lights pleased to be fixed in the neighborhood as well.

Okay.

Do you would you happen to have the um the light poll numbers or did you call it in the 311 and get a service request number?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay, can you share those service request numbers with us and we can get those lights repaired?

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you very much.

All right, thank you so much.

Yes.

A procedural motion.

All right, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Yes, move to suspend the rules and uh add Catherine Fowler to the top of the list at this point.

Speak next.

Motion made and second.

All in favor say yes, say no.

Motion passed.

Catherine Fowler.

To be followed by Carmen Roman.

I'm nervous, so thank you.

Um good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Catherine Fowler.

I'm a resident of Eastwood in District I, and I'm here with others to urge you to vote against abandoning Polk Street.

This is one of the most consequential transportation decisions facing Houston.

Every other major convention center, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Orlando, built over their streets.

Houston First Corporation is asking you to permanently sever a community instead.

This is the first of two votes.

If you're leaning towards voting no, say so now.

Let it happen.

Let Houstonians experience the disruption, then revisit the permanent vote with a real world feedback.

At least four state legislators have expressed concern.

We're working with them to meet with Textot about a Polk Bridge concept.

Why vote before the state weighs in?

You have the power to open a better door.

Please be our champions and keep Polk open.

Thank you.

Carmen Roman.

Ivy Spivy.

Charles Taylor.

To be followed by Teresa Covington.

All right, good evening, Mayor, City Council.

I'm here about crooked contractors.

I've been trying to fight them.

I run out of money.

So I'm trying to fight my own case right now.

I'm asking you all for help because one thing about it, if they didn't do wrong, they want to sell with me for 25,000.

The loan company want to sell with me for paying half of a hundred thousand dollars.

They didn't come in and inspect my property before they gave the contractor the money, not to me.

So I'm asking you all for help because they're not gonna take my property.

I went to war and fought in Vietnam.

I'm not gonna let nobody take my property.

So I won't while I'm here asking for help.

Because I'm trying to fight my case myself.

And if you don't fight it, I'm gonna fight.

And one thing about it, I know the loan company, if I don't pay them, they're gonna try to take my property, and that's not gonna happen.

I worked too hard for it.

I'd have been here, fought in the Vietnam War, I'd had a good record, clean record.

I got a no kind of blemish on my record, and I'm not gonna let nobody come and take my property.

And that's what's gonna happen.

That's why I'm asking you.

The time has expired.

Next one.

Teresa Covington.

Kendrick Johnson.

To be followed by Stephen Vargas.

How y'all doing today?

My name is Kentris Johnson.

I've been in Houston for 53 years.

I worked half of my life at one job for 17, 18 years.

I lived on the streets downtown.

Jesus had always blessed me.

I never had to rob or steal or kill nobody.

I have the new I haven't never tried to harm anybody.

But as I'm living over here at New Mount Cavalry Church in that neighborhood.

Now them people thought I was a danger.

They thought I was insane.

They should have made me move.

I almost died in that room over there in that house.

So I've been getting poisoned.

I've been getting humiliated.

They've been videotaping me while I've been in the shower.

That is disrespectful.

No matter what nobody see on the phone that I did, whatever I did, that's between me and Jesus.

That's not nobody else's business.

I did that.

My mother passed away.

I was hurt.

But I'm not no child molester.

I'm not no sick.

I have no criminal background.

Your time has expired.

What them people did at that church to me, they wrong, and I got their names right here.

Thank you.

They wrong.

Next.

Stephen Vargas.

To be followed by Andrew Sneed.

Good afternoon, City Council Mayor Whitmire.

Uh, thank y'all for having me again this time.

Uh, this is probably the third time and the second time for this particular administration, which I'm bringing up this idea of having an HIV line item in our city budget.

Most of the other areas that uh that received CDC funding for prevention of HIV, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and other cities established a city fund that gave them flexibility to respond more quickly to epidemics or rising or trends that are happening in their cities without having to wait for either state uh mandates or federal mandates.

Given the changes that are occurring uh federally when it comes to priorities, when it comes to funding, we did we need that even more desperately now to ensure that people living with HIV uh can live a long and healthy life like I am.

Uh my parents did not get this opportunity.

I had this opportunity because there was investment in research, and so now I've benefited from that.

That same research has yielded ways to prevent people from getting HIV, and it's access to that means of preventing HIV that our city needs to enhance with an HIV funding line item.

We've been asking for this.

Thank you.

The time has expired.

Thank you.

Next Andrew Sneed.

Kevin Nickel.

To be followed by Isaiah Lopez.

Good afternoon.

My name is Kevin Nickel.

I live car-free here in the city of Houston, and I'm here to talk about the Houston Metro Red Line.

So in 2023, during my internship, I took the red line from downtown to the medical center, and it took 15 minutes.

By comparison, after the recent removal of the signal priority, it takes that same amount of time to go two stops over from downtown transit center to Preston at Maine.

For a city of this size to not only block transit expansion projects like the University Corridor, but to worsen existing metro services is unacceptable.

To be clear, I am not asking for perfect, I'm asking for better.

The people of Houston deserve a robust transit system that can reliably get them around the city, especially given how expensive car ownership and ride share costs can be.

Thank you.

Next.

Isaiah Lopez.

To be followed by Neil Colbert.

Solidarity with United workers, but I'm here to express my concerns about the city's retrograde and increasingly bizarre approach to transportation.

Since last year we have seen voter approved Metro next plans get shelved, including the mayor passing on a billion in federal funding for the university line, the demolition of bike and pedestrian safety projects and Polk Street facing closure.

Now we're sitting uh we're seeing the city undermine the Metro Red Line.

How does this help those who rely on it in their day-to-day lives, including many of the workers that were here or promote transit equity?

This is also about democracy.

Voters overwhelmingly approved transit expansion in 2003 and 2019.

In fact, a hundred thousand more people voted for Metro Next than they did for the mayor in a low turnout election.

Stop getting our transit, restore red line signal priority, build Metro next and keep Polk Street open.

Also stop collaborating with ICE.

And uh just we need to build public services.

Your time has expired.

Not cut them to pay for police raises.

Neil Colbert.

My name is Joe Street.

I'm keeping pushed over.

My name is my man who pushed over here.

Baby Willis.

Mark Alston.

Deedress Woods.

Manisha Gade.

Mark Newsom.

To be followed by Han Wynn.

This is the Hotland.

Okay.

My name is Mark Newsom, and I'm here to talk about a predator predatory developer that has come on my street.

I'm at 3800 Southmore Boulevard in third ward.

Um proud resident.

Um here's the issue.

Um the developer has built this uh humongous structure in the backyard, um, which goes against our D restrictions, which we paid for when I first moved to that neighborhood.

Um it's on a floodplain, and we don't think the the place is um safe for the rest of us.

The first storm is going to come, it's gonna flood into the whole rest of the um area.

So I have an ask.

This is a condensed version.

Um I think there needs to be a task force against this sort of thing, it's project for uh development that happens in the area.

This is also pervasive throughout third wards with the same developers, TPC endeavors have spread throughout their world these same type of structures.

They buy houses.

Thank you for your time.

Yes.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Mr.

Newsom.

You have really been on top of this, and you have sent pictures, but we are working on it.

Legal, this has come to the attention of the legal department, and we plan to do whatever is needed to not only stop it but to abate the problem.

Because I believe indeed restrictions, it's no point in having them if they're not going to be enforced.

And so we are working on it.

Yeah, and I think this is a citywide issue.

I think this is something that needs to be um um put in place to prevent this sort of behavior because it's happening throughout the city.

And so we are they have been red tagged, and we are in the disregard of the red tax, and that's the problem, and I align with you on that, and I'm glad I'm thankful for all your help.

Okay, yeah.

So all the red tagging, I don't know if that was um implied, but is the there'll be red tags put uh citations put in them, these guys will continue to build.

So this has happened repeatedly.

It can all go away.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for your help.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Han Wynn.

Robert Vallian to be followed by Leslie Rucker.

Good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Robert Valiant and uh I represent the Living Rock Community Church in the Sunnyside area.

And we have a problem there.

And the problem is we have people that's living on the street.

Yes, they are doing drugs, ladies selling their bodies, and we have trash being collected all over the place.

And as I drive through the neighborhood of where our church is located, neighborhood in some parts of the neighborhood look more decent than where our church is located.

And the 100 block of where our church is located is 4600 block on Maggie Street.

And we tried to reach out, but yet they don't want to uh do anything.

They just want to continue to do what they're doing, living how they're living, and ignoring that we're trying to help them.

Now we know some people that knows how to get resources, and we too we help them and reach out to them.

But when it's time for us to uh get the help that we're needed, you know, we're being ignored.

So what we needed some help to uh help clean the area up, not just the trash itself, but also the people, because we let them know there's uh a place where they can go and live uh right off of Reed Road and uh 288, one of those homes where they can uh reside in or uh those are shelters, but they ignore.

So we need help to help clean that area up and the street up.

Councilman.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Mr.

Valiant.

I'd like for you to see the lady in the red shirt over there.

Uh, we're gonna make sure.

Do you did you call 311 and all of that?

Call 311.

Do you have your service request numbers or you can get them?

Yes, I have it at home.

Okay.

Well, certainly I want you to talk to her, and we will try to help to clean that area up.

Okay, and that somebody had broken out our church been broken in several times, and on the 24th of last month, they broke in again.

You know, and we just kind of tired of we're not a large congregation.

Yet we're trying to reach out and help those who want it.

Okay.

All right, we'll see the lady over there.

We'll try to see if we can get it cleaned up and help you out.

Help us all out.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Leslie Rucker.

To be followed by Clemente Mathis Good afternoon, uh, members of the Houston City Council.

My name is Leslie Rucker, and my address is 3316 Rosedale Street.

First and foremost, I'd like to thank you for allowing me this opportunity to speak to you on a topic that is not only important to me personally, but a matter that may fall my fellow citizens may equally passionate or equally passionate about.

This issue is a proliferation of 2,000 plus square feet additions built under several houses within without construction permits from the city of Houston.

In fact, all the properties that I'm referring to have been issued red tags in order to discontinue work for all trades, including structural, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC.

Specifically, the addresses include 3311 Arbor Street, 2724 Southborn Street, 3217 Benz, 3838 Southmore, and 3760 Real Vista Street.

All these houses are in District D.

The City Inspection Department graciously met with concern citizens on August 12th to discuss this matter.

We sincerely appreciate and applaud Mr.

Christopher Shanahan, Mr.

Percy Gaston for taking their time to meet before.

Your time has expired.

Sir, Councilman Raven Shabbice.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Pro Timman.

How are you doing, Leslie?

Fine, Dr.

Jabas, how are you?

Oh, yeah.

No, I'm Dr.

Sherrill.

You know who I am and you don't play.

Anyway, uh certainly this has come to our attention.

I don't think I know I passed by the one on Arbor.

I don't think anybody is there.

But it is.

It's an Airbnb, nine bedrooms, nine baths.

But is it it's nobody in there though?

They're not using it.

Only on weekends.

They're having them on weekends, one on sophomore and one on the somebody's in there on weekends.

Or again, this has come to the attention of legal.

It takes time, but we are working on it because again, I live, you know, the next block from you.

And um, it's no point in having deed restrictions if they're not in force.

I'm gonna repeat that.

What I wanted to encourage council to do was deny their uh registration when they come up for short-term registration because there's our Airbnb houses and their party houses only on weekends, drinking, pot smoking, trash in the streets.

We've made numerous 911 and 311 calls about these places, the one on Arbor and the one on Southmore.

So if the council could consider not approving approving our short-term rental uh applications are due in January.

Okay, have you spoken with the lady over there?

No, ma'am, I have not.

Okay, if you could, we'll we'll try to address it.

Thank you very much.

And thank you for all those addresses.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much.

Good evening, thank you, bye.

Thank you.

Next speaker, Clemente Mathis.

Arthur Panford.

To be followed by Isis Buriate.

Good afternoon.

I'm Dr.

James Bamford Arthur, a retired health department employee.

We thank City Council for taking a holistic approach to solving the homelessness problem and challenge.

So far, the process of selecting support service providers has been very slow.

The request for expression of interest has two review periods.

September and December of 2025.

With the WordCamp Web Cup coming shortly, there is an urgent need to expedite to expedite the contract agreements for selected service providers.

Navigation and other services.

Your time has expired.

Thank you, sir.

Is there a specific contract that you were looking at that you wanted expedited?

Yes.

Some of us have submitted that contrast to responded to the REI.

And they saying that uh probably to be in the disease according to the speculations in there.

And what we asking is they should expedite so that uh they can uh how do you cause it?

Most importantly, to get people into the housing, they will need people to provide us to help them navigate the system of getting uh whatever document that they need.

So we can just uh begin that process of selecting those uh providers who will help and guide individuals to complete the form so they can be transitioned into whether it's permanent or uh temporary housing.

So we are just asking for uh expedition of the uh contract uh process.

Thank you, sir.

Um, I think we all want that as well to make sure that um we're doing those contracts as quickly as possible.

If you want to talk to the mayor's office here in the front row and get some more information.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

Isis Berriete to be followed by R.L.

White afternoon.

I'm a cons constituent of District B.

I am concerned about the safety and well-being of Houston, Texas.

Houston's out of hand and crime is at an all-time high.

I'm an alarming number of bodies, mainly women of color, have been found in Buffalo Bay and surrounding waters.

We need better patrolling.

Instead, on September 30th, around midnight, I was wrong, fully arrested and falsely accused by Officer Kong batch number 10223 and his partner over a false traffic stop that does not exist.

Excessive force was used and exercised by these two white male peace officers.

What is the piece in it?

They claim that I passed a stop sign when there is no stop sign, and we both had the right of way.

I stopped, I let them go, but they followed me instead.

They harassed me, they pinned me to the ground, they put me to the police car, and I was not able to take my kids to school the next day.

What are we doing to keep us safe?

I this was a violation of my freedom, my rights, my body, and my dignity.

Instead of harassing people, we should focus on the real issue, like the no or no sexual activity happening throughout the day and night in the mor and in and the motorcycle car racing meets in the night at Memorial Park.

When is it okay to tolerate police brutality over a traffic stop?

Never.

No one should experience stalking harassment or excessive force of a peace officer.

These energy, these two white men are like Israeli troops, and I stand with Palestine.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

To be followed by Paulino Keatilon.

Good afternoon.

Uh Mayor and City Council, I'm Oral White, Vice President of Asset Management at Radio Development Corporation, strongly supporting the as design George R.

Brown expansion plans to keep Houston competitive.

Our portfolio includes the prize merit marquee Houston and other large properties across the US, underscoring our understanding of thriving conventional markets.

The meeting industry is projected to reach 1.9 trillion by 2032 and demands modern rep venues.

The GRB expansion will boost events, adding 340,000 hotel room nights annually and drive over 20 billion in new revenue over the next 30 years.

The expansion will generate billions in revenue, as I said, and thousands of jobs, strengthening hospitality and the broader community.

The GRB lags behind other venues, adding 225,000 square feet will attract larger events and be boost Houston status.

The seamless exhibit space and Texas's largest ballroom in the master plan are critical.

98% of meeting planners require contiguous floors.

A sky bridge fragments the space deters planners, reduces our competitiveness, and impacts our future growth.

Thank you so much.

Next speaker.

Paulino Keon.

Joseph Smith.

Hello.

Christopher Cato.

Amos Sims.

Tar She Wright.

Karen Miller.

To be followed by Michelle Eigenbore.

Hello, how are everybody doing?

I wish the mayor was here to hear this.

My name is Karen Miller, and I live in one of the lowest poverty um neighborhoods on Jensen Drive.

And I also have a daughter that was involved in a hit and run on Jensen Drive in 2019.

The homicide division uh did not investigate the case like I thought they would.

Uh Sergeant Matthew Brady ignored my calls when I was concerned about going out to the scene getting video footage.

He lied to me to this day.

I don't have video footage of what happened to my daughter.

All I know is she was found in the homeless camp at Willow Station.

And when um I spoke to another sergeant about my daughter's debit card being stolen while she was deceased, uh, Sergeant Clemens, and he said that um he could that it could be tampering with the corpse because her debit card was on her person with the debit card had been used at the fiesta.

And when I spoke to when my daughter went to Fiesta, your time has expired.

The fiesta was closed.

Ma'am, your time has expired.

She's doing a bad job.

Mrs.

Merlin and Ma'am, I don't think that we're gonna be able to get your information.

The mayor should have been here to hear that.

Well, he's listening in the back.

Um wait, ma'am.

If you want to come back, what is the council member Jackson is in the queue?

If I can't see them, please ma'am.

If you want to come back, Councilmember Jackson would like to speak with you.

Ma'am, ma'am, ma'am.

Um first let me just my apologies and what's going on with your daughter on what happened to your daughter, and so I will follow up with Renee and work with you and try to help you find a solution to your your problem.

Yeah, okay.

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you, next speaker.

Michelle Iganbore.

To be followed by Steve Williams.

I'm just here to say that intelligence agencies cannot create and enforce their own private categories.

And this radar category that the FBI has been enforcing against civilians without federal authority, needs to be investigated by Congress.

And that's it.

But oftentimes you've heard people refer to this subset as a blacklist.

It's because broader reports state how the FBI has been illegally entering the individuals in this unauthorized category on the NCIC.

And we're asking for an investigation.

And that's it.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Steve Steve Williams.

To buy to be followed by Ian Lavach.

Good afternoon.

I'm former Councilmember Robert Gallegos representing representative district I.

I'm a lifelong resident of the East End as well as president of Houston Country Club Place Civic Club.

I'm here today to read a letter from New Lack District 18.

Dear Mayor Widmeyer and Council members, I am writing on behalf of Lulak District 18 to oppose the abandonment of Polk Street for the expansion of the George R.

Brown Convention Center.

The current plan perpetuates the marginalization of the Latino community by segregating the neighborhoods of the East End from the rest of downtown and beyond.

Perpetuating historic economic separation.

This closure violates Houston's commitment to equity, abandons our balance of economic development with quality of life.

Low wage workers and people of color will be disproportionately affected, while wealthy convention go to goers enjoy expanded facilities.

Workers who serve them face longer commutes and reduce access.

This is environmental justice in reverse.

Concentrating benefits for the privilege while imposing costs on the marginalized true economic development.

Concentrating benefits for the privilege while imposing costs on the marginalized true economic development expanses life for all residents, not just convention center visitors.

We can expand the GRB without destroying the East End connectivity.

This project prioritizes corporate interests over community well-being, abandoning Houston's core values.

LULAC District 18 urges you to keep Polk Street open sincerely, Badamero Garza, District 18 Director.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Councilmember Evan Shabazz is in the queue.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Po Tim.

Always good to see you, Councilmember.

You know, we are taking into consideration what people are saying, and uh, you know, it's just a very difficult decision because there are plans and then there are people.

And so um just wanted to thank you for coming down to express yourself and weigh in uh because you are highly respected.

And thank you, Councilmember.

I appreciate that.

And I I heard earlier one of the speakers claiming that uh Techdot five years ago stated that they were planning to close Polk Street.

And Councilmember Martinez knows perfectly well because he staffed me with the meetings with Text Dot when they came into my office to keep me updated on this project.

And not once did they ever say they were going to close Polk Street.

And the maps show that Polk Street remains open.

So that's misinformation that they're placing out there, and I really don't appreciate it because as Councilmember Text Dodd never stated that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Ian Lavachek.

To be followed by Roy Hirsch.

Thank you all for sticking around.

We'll speak y'all up for a national night out.

Um Texas law requires that licensed professional engineers protect public health, safety, and the well-being of communities.

I am one of those engineers with over 18 years of experience.

I was the primary engineer coordinating TechSot with Houston.

And I don't know where anybody is getting the idea that Text Ottawa was going to close Polk.

It was a core part of their federal approval that Polk remains open and they serve it with a U-turn, which was a compromise.

The community was always going to come back, talk with TextOt about the potential for a bridge in the future.

That is documented.

They keep referring to that in their documentation.

That engineering code of ethics is why I'm emphasizing that c closing Polk is one of the worst transportation decisions I have ever seen in Houston.

It defies logic.

It will have serious, wide-ranging negative impacts.

This will personally impact me and my loved ones.

But it will also degrade the life safety of every Houstonian who visits downtown.

When you cut off one of the sole evacuation routes, one of the sole emergency vehicle routes, that will put people in danger.

So please, thank you, next speaker.

Roy Hirsch.

To be followed by Emily Olin.

Council members.

Mayor Pro Tim.

City Attorney O'Turo Michael and Council members.

On page two of our handout, we've submitted a letter outlining serious legal concerns.

Please read it carefully.

Text dots GRB area design includes Polk Street remaining open.

Foundational to their multimodal connectivity plan.

Textile Representative Danny Perez reiterated this at Senator Carol Alvarado's State of the District luncheon and in KPRC Channel 2 reporting.

Here's the critical part.

Senator Carol of Varado, State Representatives Christina Morales, Yolanda Jones, and Molly Cook have all expressed concern about this closure.

We are working with them to schedule a meeting with Text Dot to discuss the impacts of a state to state projects and the feasibility of a Polk Street bridge over 59.

City Council should not vote permanently before you're state leadership if I may finish.

Your state leadership weighs in.

Are you really going to create a direct conflict with state transportation policy?

This is a political and legal quagmire.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Emily Olin.

To be followed by Kyle Rogers.

Just this morning, my ten-year-old daughter who spoke here a few weeks ago asked me, Mom, why are you going to speak again?

It won't make a difference.

To which I responded, if everyone has that attitude and no one stands up for what's right, then things will never get better.

But I can understand why she feels that way.

Our political system is fundamentally broken.

Our democracy has become a travesty, and the idea of power to the people doesn't seem to exist anymore.

Instead, it resides with a single person at a national level, a state level, and even a local level.

Our voices don't seem to matter.

But this is an opportunity for you to restore a little bit of faith in the system.

We are not against the GRB expansion.

We support that.

We are overwhelmingly against the abandonment of Polk Street and losing our connection to downtown.

So we, the people of the East End, are asking you to speak up on our behalf.

Don't let corporate pressure or the fear of retaliation prevent you from doing what's right.

Let this be an issue that unites the city instead of physically dividing it.

Let our voices matter.

Thank you, next speaker.

Kyle Rogers.

To be followed by Amy Erickson.

Hello.

Hello.

Hi.

My name's Kyle Rogers.

I'm here with the uh people for Polk.

Um as people for Polk, we want Polk open.

There are many ways to accomplish this, including with GRB expansion.

Every day, more Houstonians are learning about this closure and they're shocked.

They're angry and they feel blindsided by Houston First, who has admitted to doing zero community outreach.

Don't believe us.

We invite you tonight to attend our national night out and to ask our attendees.

Let's talk numbers for over two over 220 formal comments to the joint referral committee.

Every single comment was opposed to this closure.

Over 500 petition signatures, 1,000 Instagram followers, and at least seven Reddit posts with over 25,000 viewers.

Are against this closure.

And just to last thing, uh Text dot plan, which I have here on my phone, has Polk open.

So please do not spread misinformation.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Good afternoon, Vice Mayor Pro Tem Council.

Houston First is operated with minimal oversight by design.

Their priorities ignore broader impacts.

You guys are not just another checkbox.

Your elected representatives who see the bigger picture and answer to voters, not convention organizers.

Polk Street isn't just an East End issue, it's a citywide connector.

Constituents from every district, A through K use it for Rockets game, Discovery Green, concerts, Dike and Park, etc.

When a corporation requests 2.9 billion dollars in city back debt, it transcends district boundaries.

Again, districts A through K will feel disclosure.

They'll complain and they'll ask whether council member approved it.

Houston First has put you in an impossible position, but you have the power to push back, demand alternatives, and refuse a rubber stamp to rubber stamp a flawed plan, be the check on their power.

With regards to the mayor's comments that there's um irrefutable evidence that that TechStot and the city agree to this, have you guys seen that?

We um did a TPIA for this information.

There was things produced.

Um nowhere does it say that.

There was things held back after referring to the attorney general.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Lisa Hunt.

To be followed by Richard Gilmore.

Voting no on Polk abandonment is not a vote against the GRB transformation.

It's a vote for a better version of it, one that preserves connectivity that unites us as a city.

Right now, this project feels rushed and divisive because Houston First and Councilmanic Privilege have made it that way.

But you can change that.

Council culture assumes that colleagues will defer to district members when a given project impacts their district directly.

For most decisions, that deference is wise.

But when the city is dealing with projects that cost billions of dollars and touch the very fabric of the entire city and its residents, district preferential treatment is misplaced.

A district lens is too narrow a focus, it misses the whole picture and gives too much power to one person.

We're ready to work with you to find a better path than the current proposal.

Thank you, next speaker.

Richard Gilmore.

To be followed by Scott Singleton.

Hello, Council.

I'm Richard Gilmore.

We understand that Houston First already has permits to temporarily close Polk in November.

Fine.

Let them do it.

Let Houstonians experience the disruption.

Let real world feedback come in.

Let folks trying to get to the Rockets game feel the detour.

Let folks trying to head to Discovery Green or Torto Center hit the traffic snarl.

Let George R.

Brown visitors and Georgia and Dyke and Park commuters experience the chaos.

Then revisit the permanent vote with actual data instead of Houston First Rosie's projections.

Why rush a forever decision when we could test it first?

That's not a position, that's prudence.

We're not asking you to kill this project.

We're not asking uh to be against the George R.

Brown expansion.

We are here to keep Polk open.

We're asking you to be thoughtful stewards of a permanent decision.

Let real world experience inform your final vote.

Show that you lead with wisdom, not haste, that you govern based on evidence, not Houston First convenience.

Delay the vote, demand better information.

This is bigger than one district, and we'll pack all of Houston.

I'd say Mayor Whitmire, but he's not here.

City Council, please keep Polk open.

Thank you, next speaker.

Scott Singleton.

To be followed by Lindsay Williams.

Hello, Council.

Thank you for allowing me to speak.

We finally reached this point.

The fork in the road, rather, or the fork in Polk Street.

Council can do the right thing, pause the madness, redesign the expansion of the GRB with an elevated crossing, like the four other ones that are already there, and preserve the connectivity to the most vibrant community in Houston right now.

The right thing is your vote against the abandonment of Polk Street.

The wrong thing is to reward Houston first for giving no transparency to plans or budgets and its inherent mismanagement.

Their unwillingness to discuss alternatives is arrogant and hides their lack of creativity and community awareness.

You have the opportunity, do the right thing and oppose abandoning Polk.

Thank you.

Thank you, next speaker.

Lindsay Williams.

To be followed by Willie Gonzalez.

Hi, everybody.

My name is Lindsay Williams, an Eastern resident with serious concerns about the rush to vote to abandon Polk Street.

First, Houston First references an ROI with no budget.

How can we evaluate returns without financial data?

Second, Leland is proposed as a traffic solution, but there's no study proving it can handle a two-way handle two-way traffic.

Text doc confirmed they're not relocating their off ramp from Bell Street to Leland.

Leland is currently closed in two locations with no reopening timeline.

We're moving forward on assumptions and not data.

Third, standard procedures are being skipped.

Why no replot?

Why hasn't planning and development reviewed this?

These protections are in place to safeguard residents and the city.

The benefits of the East End remain unclear.

All play all plans are shown for downtown only.

We receive an underfunded park with no community input while downtown area gains.

With more questions and answers.

Please do the right thing.

Thank you, next speaker.

Willie Gonzalez.

I don't see Sylvester Jones.

John Nix.

To be followed by Joseph Omari.

Hi guys.

Well, I was at the uh Houston's World Authority meeting uh earlier today for the board of directors meeting, and I had them autograph that uh virtual soccer ball for for me till when I donated to a nonprofit uh agency, they can really raise some good money by some uh buddy buying that ball.

And and then I had the football ones using the virtual and hell um pro football uh autograph by Robert Woods, and he's on the board of directors for uh the Houston Sports Authority, and he uh used to be in order, he used to be achieved his achievement, and some other team I forget what, but um well uh uh I also have uh this magazine uh in which has the beautiful monks out of toilet card in the so I'm gonna ask her to autograph it for me.

Your time has expired.

Thank you for sharing that with us, Jacob.

Don't forget to take your your balls with you.

Joseph Amari.

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

Before we're up out of work and military martial art rather than Houston tested happily married, black American artist, living with wife, and family at three, all my way up to become a uppercoming playwright screen, screenwriter, songwriter, fashion dialogue who could visit his family with in his hometown without any problem.

I didn't know I was I was socializing with an elite group of black American Communist Party members and leaders who got PhD.

Play degree, who attended our community meeting with corrupt social workers and connection along with psychiatric department that believe in torturing their patients, hostages, electrock treatment, lobotabies, and water toy water water boarding that family members, friends, and business associated.

Without any lawsuit retaliation.

Why is military martial laws needed in Houston tests?

Military martial law is bad as business.

There's no unsible unrest.

I heard the people don't believe in God Jesus Christ, but they don't have time to draw people a Houston taxes, check us the second amendment, but the gun, but the penis check protection.

Thank you, sir.

Your time has expired.

With people prospecting the crime big people to come to Black American land property ownership, own land of property before we have to be able to do that.

Sir Comments, please.

Go up ahead, thank you so much.

Thank you, next speaker.

This completes the list of speakers.

We stand in recess until nine o'clock tomorrow morning.

Item six approved spending authority for electrical repair and rehabilitation of custom design art sculptures and landscape pathway lighting.

Rewarded to Fisk Electronic Electric Company.

Item seven.

Item 11, approved spending authority for purchase of computer-aided dispatch and records management systems, implementation consulting services awarded to Mission Critical Partners LLC.

Item 12, approved spending authority for professional helicopter pilot and maintenance training services from MD Helicopters LLC.

Item 13, America's motor and controls LLC doing business as all pump and equipment.

Item 16 Smith Pump Company Inc.

for purchase of various types of pumps.

Item 17 ordinance amending Article 10, Chapter 2, and Article 8, Chapter 33 of the Code of Ordinances.

Houston, Texas relating to the definition and application of covered persons expanding such definition to include super neighborhood council members and super neighborhood alliance members.

Item 18 ordinance amending chapter 7, Article 6 of the Code of Ordinances, Houston, Texas relating to secondhand resellers.

Item 19.

Amended and restated ordinance authorizing approving, confirming and ratifying certain matters relating to the issuance of City of Houston, Texas.

General Obligation Commercial Paper Notes Series G2 in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $125 million for the purpose of financing certain authorized purposes.

Item 20, ordinance approving and authorizing subrecipient agreement between the City of Houston and search homeless services.

Item 21 ordinance approving and authorizing Second Amendment to sub-recipient agreement between the City of Houston and Educational Programs Inspiring Communities Inc.

doing business as the HART program.

Item 22, ordinance approving and authorizing subrecipient agreement between the City of Houston and Houston Help Inc.

Item 23 ordinance approving and authorizing subrecipient agreement between the City of Houston and Houston SRO Housing Corporation.

Item 24 ordinance approving and authorizing subrecipient agreement between the City of Houston and Search Homeless Services.

Item 25 ordinance approving and authorizing subrecipient agreement between the city of Houston and El Centro D.

Cortesone.

Item 26 ordinance approving and authorizing submission of application for grant assistance to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission for the renewal of the Harris County Area Agency on Aging Grant Program.

Item 27 ordinance appropriating $840,000 for project management cost associated with FY 2026 Capital Improvement Plan Projects.

Item 28 ordinance appropriating $28,81,0146.

As an additional appropriation to design bill contract between the city of Houston and Texas Sterling, Banneke JV LLC.

Item 29, ordinance approving lease agreement between the City of Houston, Texas, and Venus Aerospace Corporation.

Item 30, ordinance approving professional services agreement between Hush Blackwell LLP.

Item 31, ordinance approving and authorizing six federally funded and six non-federally funded tax order projects for professional landscape architectural services with Asakura Robinson Company LLC, Clark Condon Associates Inc., Kimley Horn and Associates Inc., M2L Associates Inc., SWA Group, and the Broussard Group Inc.

doing business as TBG Partners.

Item 32, Ordinance approving and authorizing three federally funded and three non-federally funded task order contracts with building envelope consultants LLC Price Consultant LLC and Walter P.

Moore and Associates.

Item 33, ordinance approving and authorizing the contract to the Pruitt Company, Inc.

Item 34, ordinance approving and authorizing sole source contract for one-year period with four one-year renewal options between the city of Houston and Ocean Epic Patient Portal Inc.

Item 35 ordinance approving and authorizing derivative agreement with Siemens Industry Inc.

Item 36 ordinance approving and authorizing grant agreement with United Way of Greater Houston.

Item 37 ordinance calling for public hearings at which interested persons will be given the opportunity to be heard on proposed amendments to existing strategic partnership agreement between the City of Houston and Spring Creek Utility District and Proposed Amendment to existing strategic partnership agreement between the City of Houston and Harris County Municipal Utility District number 278.

Hearing dates Wednesday, November 5th and November 12th, 2025, both at 9 a.m.

Item 38, ordinance consenting to the addition of 19.075 acres of land to Harris County Municipal Utility District number 221.

Item 39, ordinance approving and authorizing purchase and sale agreement between the City of Houston and AMA Capital Systems LLC.

Item 40, ordinance approving and authorizing six untreated water supply contracts between the City of Houston and Enterprise Products Operating LLC.

Item 41, ordinance authorizing ground lease and purchase option agreement between the City of Houston and Houston Police Officers Pension System.

Item 42 ordinance appropriating 1,595,565 seventy-two cent.

Approving and authorizing construction management and inspection services contract between the City of Houston and CDM Smith Inc.

Item 43 ordinance appropriating 3 million 354,553 65 cent.

Approving and authorizing professional engineering services contract between the City of Houston and Western Solutions Inc.

Item 44 Ordinance appropriating 2,466,585.

Approving and authorizing professional engineering services contract between the City of Houston and Arcadis U.S.

Inc.

Item 45 ordinance appropriating 193,200.

As an additional appropriation to professional engineering services contract between the City of Houston and Bowman Engineering and Consulting LLC.

Item 46, ordinance appropriating 712,569 dollars forty nine cent.

As an additional appropriation to advance funding agreement between the City of Houston and Texas Department of Transportation.

Item 47, ordinance appropriating $5,567,954.

Awarding contract to C Z Construction LLC.

Item 48, ordinance appropriating $1,104,984.

And awarding construction contract to High Country Roofing and Restoration LLC.

Item 49.

Ordinance granting to Arrowhead Asset Services LLC, the right privilege and franchise to collect haul and transport solid waste and industrial waste from commercial properties located within the city of Houston.

Item 50, ordinance granting to clear water recycling LLC, the right, privilege, and franchise to collect, haul, and transport solid waste and industrial waste from commercial properties located within the city of Houston.

Item 51, ordinance granting to FCC Environmental Services LL Environmental Services Texas LLC, the right privilege and franchise to collect, haul, and transport solid waste and industrial waste from commercial properties located within the city of Houston.

Item 52 Ordinance granting to Hallmark, mitigation and construction LLC, the right privilege and franchise to collect, haul and transport solid waste and industrial waste from commercial properties located within the city of Houston.

Item 53, ordinance granting to hydroclear services LLC, the right privilege and franchise to collect hall and transport solid waste and industrial waste from commercial properties located within the city of Houston.

Item 54, ordinance granted to Texas Prize Septic Inc., the right privilege and franchise to collect hall and transport solid waste and industrial waste from commercial properties located within the city of Houston.

Item 55, ordinance granting to Thermal Fluids Inc., the right privilege and franchise to collect hall and transport solid waste and industrial waste and commercial properties located within the city of Houston.

Item 59, recommendation from the mayor and director of finance to place the proposed tax rate of 0.519190 on each $100 of taxable value, which is the same as last year's tax rate on the October 15, 2025 agenda, and to set a date for the public hearing.

The hearing date 9 a.m.

Wednesday, October 15, 2025.

Item 57 set a public hearing date to provide a resolution of no objection for one applicant seeking 4% housing tax credits.

Hearing date 9 a.m.

Wednesday, October 15, 2025.

And item 58 set a public hearing date on recommendation from the Director of Houston Public Works for the Designation of a Banner District in the Houston Design District.

A suggested hearing date, 9 a.m.

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2025.

This completes the reading of the captions for the City Council session of October 8th, 2025.

Stay tuned for the next session of Houston City Council schedule to begin at 9 a.m.

With that, I wish everyone a happy hump day.

Members, I'd like to uh share with you some thoughts.

First of all, I uh watched the finance meeting yesterday.

I want to applaud each of you that participated, and I hope those were not present watched it as I did.

Um I can't say enough about our chair there's a reason why she's chairing finance.

She has a long record of fiscal responsibility advocacy, and that's the reason she's chairing that committee.

Same reason.

Our mayor pro team is chairing economic development.

Because of her knowledge, experience, and commitment to Houston.

Tiffany Thomas, chairing housing.

Because of her expert to you.

So I'm very proud of the people that are chairing these committees.

As well as my directors.

They're making a difference.

And I want to thank them for their public service.

But I guess I really want to repeat my appreciation for uh council member Alcorn.

You serve a real useful purpose to require us to discuss relevant issues as it relates to city finances.

But I'm I hasten to say no one has a greater responsibility and ownership in the city finances than me, along with my colleagues on council.

It's the reason I ran one of the reasons I ran for mayor.

Actually, during the campaign, you'd be asked about the city finances condition, and my comment there was two years ago.

We really won't know till we get there, and that was very accurate because the lack of transparency.

We didn't have a surplus when I got here.

We've been using ARPA funding for at least four years, certainly through COVID.

So now we have a more accurate picture.

We're kind of in the same place we were last fall when there was such a concern about you won't be able to balance the budget.

How are you going to balance the budget?

Of course, it's complex.

Didn't get this way overnight.

In fact, it's the longest I can remember, and most people can remember, certainly Kathy Whitmire, even in the 80s, had challenges, but she was a CPA, pulled people together.

Houston was suffering from a reduction in oil prices, real challenge.

Then you fast forward Bob Lanier used 500 million dollars of metro funding to deal with police services over time, and I could go through the list of mayors right up to current time.

We all know the challenge, but I don't think anyone's been as transparent and honest as I have because I'm not worried about the politics of it.

I'm down here to fix Houston, and of course, financing is critical.

I'm familiar with the revenue cap that the state placed on us.

I'm familiar with Houston voters revenue cap.

So I applaud everyone yesterday for being anxious.

I'm anxious.

I don't know what you were doing at four o'clock this morning.

I was worried about city finances.

But members, just because the state will allow you without a vote of the public to raise property tax and the tax rate, that's not a good reason for doing it.

The tax rate in the budget is not just about dollars and cents, it's about trust and credibility, and we're restoring that credibility and trust in my 21 months of being mayor serving with you.

We're not going back to not running a new reorganized city government.

We're funding in 26 at 2% less government and funding than we had the first budget after I got here was essentially written, the 25 budget.

After the Ernst and Young report, solid waste, who I and I've got many appointments I could brag about, but Mr.

Hassan tells me he doesn't need a garbage fee.

If we allow him to reorganize that department, he gets 19 trucks this week, 19 next week, new heavy trash pickup apparatus.

He's caught up on recycling and garbage pickup, heavy trash.

We're going out to contract to do two sweeps of the city.

Then I could talk about public works.

Randy inherited 1,900 broken water mains.

It's down to 400.

He replaced a hundred thousand water meter sensors.

So we're making progress, and of course, we're challenged, but how did we meet some of the challenges for this year's budget?

There was an effort to raise property taxes because the state allowed it during barrel.

I made a commitment when I ran, and it is still a commitment carried out that we wouldn't raise taxes or fees until we cut out waste duplication and corruption.

We still have some work to do.

Had a hearing yesterday talking about a merger or collaboration with Harris Health, our health department.

That's in process.

So we're making strides.

Public safety, my highest priority.

Code one response is less than six minutes, first time in recent years.

Six 5.7 minutes to respond.

Dallas is at 12.

Our cadet classes are full.

200 in the police cadet class this morning.

Morale is at an all-time high.

In fact, we're leading the wave not only for the region, but the state on how you recruit police officers and show them the appreciation and benefits that they deserve.

So I can document the improvements.

Are we through?

No, we're just getting started.

And I would suggest to you that we're going to have a balanced budget because we're required to.

We're going to collaborate with the county.

Speaking of the county, I would refer anyone that wants to raise taxes in this economic environment to talk to Brionis, Garcia, or Ramsey.

They had people urging them to raise taxes, property taxes.

And they chose not.

Affordability is on everyone's mind across this nation.

People are actually getting elected if you want to talk politics on affordability alone.

People's utilities are higher.

I could go on and on why people say, please do not raise taxes or fees.

Take other measures.

At the problem, but the state municipalities are suffering the same problem we are.

Local governments, local jurisdictions, emergency districts.

We've got to work together and collaborate with leaders across this state to sound the alarm.

We all hate property taxes.

But if the state is going to remove property taxes as an option long term, what do you want us to replace it with?

We've got to talk to the state leadership and work not just with Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio, but with College Station and Waco and Lubbock, Wichita Falls, Corpus.

We're facing a challenge of local control, affordability, making government efficient.

No one's done an urn young report.

I could point to different jurisdictions.

I'd love to see an urn young report.

I'd love to see one in Harris County.

We benefited from it.

And so the real question is today when you start talking about the interest in raising fees or taxes.

What model of government are we talking about funding?

The old model that was here when some of us got here, or the new model of efficiency.

We're getting resources from the county, partnering with our commissioners, they're helping us maintain parks, more efficiency, cutting out duplication.

We got our barrel funding from Austin, got 314 million for HUD for recovery.

So raising taxes and fees should not be our first option.

People expect better.

Not only the feedback that I get and you get, I could show you polls, but I don't govern by polls.

I have a job to do.

And so, yes, we could raise our property taxes.

We could raise fees.

Someone wanted fees last year.

But I would strongly suggest that that's not what the public expects.

Now, do we have challenges?

Yes.

I listened to the citizens on Tuesday.

I get calls, letters.

I live in Houston.

We have challenges.

We want to improve services.

But we can't hurt our credibility when we really, really want to go for a permanent solution.

Our credibility is at stake.

People still know we can make improvements.

You want me to suggest one?

Well, I'm working on city finance and watching the finance committee.

I get a email notification that the airport's fixing to buy a $10 million piece of art.

Oculus.

It's a digital piece of art.

Would I sign on the press release?

Now I understand that's a separate funding enterprise.

But folks, I don't know if one of y'all want to try to explain going out for fees and taxes when they're putting out a press release that they're going to buy a $10 million digital piece of art.

I'm not going to try to explain it.

Conflicts.

Got permits to operate, got employees and staffing, and then we got an inspector shows up, says, first you wrote them an $800 fine for not having backflow apparatus at all the sinks.

Supposed to be in court Friday.

First of all, I think that's very unfair to handle it that way.

But here's the conflict.

Guess who they got a letter from two days later?

An attorney that says he'll represent them for a $50 retainer.

That's not that's not what Houstonians expect.

Somebody is collaborating, the legal system with our inspectors.

So we've got some cleaning up to do.

But let me close by saying we're moving in the right direction.

Our municipal employees are pleased.

We're looking at the TURS.

We've got midtown TURS redevelopment authority nominees today.

Another broken system that they're going to fix.

Total value $50 million.

Conflict of interest everywhere you look.

Who's maintaining the properties?

Who's their consultants?

We got a lot of work to do before we go to Houstonians and ask them for additional fees and taxes.

But the bottom line is thank you to the Midtown TURS nominees today.

We expect the highest standards of transparency, integrity.

But I'll close by saying I think we have a lot of work to do before we go ask for additional fees or tax revenues.

We need to collaborate with other cities, our county, work closely with the TURS, and I wish I could go ahead and name all the projects that are underway.

Get people a shelter that deserve it.

With that said, uh Councilmember Pollard.

Thank you, Mayor, and good morning to everyone.

Um with our city finances.

And I agree, I don't think raising taxes should ever be the first thing that we look to do.

But in your your budget that you proposed and that this council body passed, the projections of where that tax rate would be at a level that took into consideration being up to where the revenue cap would allow us to go.

So you're putting out one figure during the budget process, and you're not reaching that figure as we vote on the tax rate.

So it puts us in a deficit of $53 million that the city now has to figure out where to get that money from.

Now I'm sure you have a plan.

Because you said you have options.

One of my questions would be what are you what are the options?

When are we going to know as a body what those options are so that we can consider them and then be able to discuss those with our constituents?

And two, why why even put that figure in the budget in the first place when we're not going to go forward with it?

Now I voted against your budget because I did not agree with many of the projections that were there.

But the city relied on that budget, and this this body is relying on that budget.

And you yourself said that the city is broke.

So if the city is broke, and you have the ability to put more dollars into our city budget after having to cut all these different um allocations from many of the different city departments after we did this voluntary retirement package.

Since you since you mentioned them, I think that is what will help us as a body have some specifics to go over that can give us some reassurance that we're not going backwards, but indeed going forward.

Thank you.

Well, first of all, thank you for your question.

If one of our freshman members were asking that, I would take it more seriously, but you've been here four years longer than a lot of us, so you know all the options, except you don't have the experience that I bring to the table in terms of collaborating with HUD for affordable housing.

It's in the pipeline with Austin for DPS and law enforcement.

We're gaining ground because we're looking at a new model.

And when you suggest that we're losing $53 million, because we're not taking advantage of being able to go up higher, I look at that a little different.

I look at it's a public gains $53 million.

With the cost of living and affordability being on everyone's mind, the public just does not want to pay more fees or taxes in terms of what we projected in June, that was June.

We've got recent from the appraisal district, the different values.

So instead of previous years where we were appreciating the cost of property, now values are going down.

So we adjust.

Other cities are watching us.

Other cities, New Orleans.

We hear from them.

Why can't we elect folks that will conduct their business like Houston is?

So we're moving in the right direction.

Uh I think the worst thing we can do is to politicize it.

I would reach out to each and every one of you to work together, and together we'll have a responsible plan.

And uh But the question was why put in your budget initially because of the conditions at that time, Councilmember.

In fact, if you want to, uh were you in the committee yesterday?

No.

Okay.

Well, perhaps municipal uh Melissa can explain it to you.

We did what we thought was prudent and responsible in June.

This is October.

So thank you for your question.

But you put forward a budget to the city.

Based on the forecast of available revenue.

And so you are saying we have more revenue now today that we don't have to lean on that.

And I want to make one thing clear.

I'm not for raising taxes, and I voted against that original budget.

But the question becomes what differences or what options are you presenting now that you are changing from your June projection to now a few months later in October to reflect current property values.

All right.

Councilman Alcorn.

Thank you, Mayor.

And I appreciate your comments very much.

And let me be clear.

I don't believe going to raise taxes is the first thing that we need your want to do.

I mean, I do have a record of all kinds of efficiencies and cuts in government.

But at some point, Mayor, I think it's just math.

You know, it's just math.

And when we get when we get five-year forecasts, baseline forecasts, and the baseline having that $53 million extra in it.

And our baseline forecast says we're going to have a $227 million deficit in 27.

I have to pay attention to that.

And I also really want to trust that you know what you are doing, and that your you and your and the good people who work with you and your good relationships at the State are going to be fruitful and help us keep our tax rate low.

The county has the highest tax rate because they have continuously raised it.

Now they did not this year.

And I and I understand the climate is definitely not great.

But what you'll get from a term limited never to run again for anything person is the absolute truth.

And the truth, and I'm not saying you're not telling the truth.

I'm just saying the truth as I see it.

The truth as I see it is unsustainable with our new public safety contracts, which I supported, which we needed.

We needed better morale.

I talked to cops last night.

The morale is off the charts.

They are so happy with you.

They are so happy with this city, they are happy with the new chief.

We needed that.

The fire thing, we needed it.

Parks funding, library funding, all these things we need, trash funding, all these things we meet, we need.

I'm sure that there are options and we can band together and hopefully get some favor with the State to remove things so we can.

I I don't know what exactly the options are or the plan is, but I do trust you.

You have done a good job so far with all the EY stuff.

I've been here for a long time.

A lot of us have, and we've seen deficits every year.

Big deficits.

And we're like, ah, always always works out in the end.

It always works out in the end.

But we followed the formula on the RevCap.

And we've also had quite a few vacancies in departments.

I mean, that's how we did it.

We just didn't hire people.

We just cut expenses.

We get to the end of the year and we just wouldn't, they wouldn't be there.

According to your own finance director, we have pretty much done that through the voluntary retirements, through uh through cuts and efficiencies and restructuring.

We have done that.

So my anxiousness about it is where will we go to make up $227 million?

Now, in your budget, you had $16 million from the EY contract spent.

$16, $17 million.

Okay, so that's some of it.

We always are conservative on sales tax revenue.

I think we'll make up some money on sales tax revenue.

According to Melissa Dubowski's presentation yesterday, we will have $131 million over our 7.5 percent required.

So there's $131 million we can we can go into.

I have no doubt you are going to balance the budget.

I mean, I really don't.

You're gonna balance the budget.

I have seen mayors do it, we do it every time.

My concern is just having a sustainable way to fund our operations.

There's all kinds of I mean, that's just our operations of general fund supported departments.

That's my concern.

And I appreciate it and share your concern.

We have got a lot of work to do.

It's complex.

I'll give you one quick scenario.

Who is going to be the county judge?

That will impact our revenue stream.

And I could mention other dynamics that are in motion that will make a lot of difference.

So I don't want to say trust me, I want you to look at the record.

We were having a similar conversation last year.

We did it, and we will do it again.

You're correct.

And that's where I was talking about it's a statewide problem for a long-term solution.

And that is what we are going to be working on.

But we'll do a responsible budget.

We got the best leadership team, in my judgment, certainly in recent memory.

But we had a challenging financial picture.

When you arrived in City Hall, how many years ago?

And when I was sworn in, we had a $160 million deficit.

The difference is I was January, February, March, the first one to sit up here and say we're broke.

And also when we did the budget, Council added $13 million to our expenditures.

So we're all in this together.

We're going to get assistance from every level of government because people want us to be successful.

And we don't have the animosity between the city and Austin that existed when I got here.

They understand in Austin our dilemma.

And we're collaborating.

We're going to get resources.

We're going to look at local jurisdictions.

So, yes.

You know how complex it is.

And you can look at the numbers.

Numbers don't lie.

But it's also a commitment to do the right thing, build the credibility and the trust, which is being restored.

Surely you understand people were cynical in recent years.

They're positive now.

When we go to them with options, they're going to help us.

And our priorities are lined up for public safety, infrastructure.

So I'm pretty pretty not pretty.

I am very positive, but we have tremendous challenges.

And like I just said, the worst thing we can do is to politicize it.

I mean, I know how to play politics.

That's not what's at the table today.

Bob Bullock would say leave the politics out there in the hall.

We're all in this together.

There's not a home team or a visiting team.

And the public understands that.

And like I said, it's not just about dollars and cents.

It's credibility and trust.

So when you go with a major effort, you're going to have the support.

And we're building it.

So thank you.

And I'll be looking forward to working closely with you.

Councilman Cayman.

Thank you, Mayor.

And uh, Councilmember Alcorn, I too want to thank you for a very productive and informative committee meeting.

And what I hear and what my concern continues to be is we have balanced the budget every year.

We have found a way and we have found solutions, but to your point, it's through stopgap measures, it is through band-aids, it is through annually efforts that can interrupt other services.

It is not a smooth flow of services that Houstonians can rely on when we're consistently having to pause hirings or cut here and cut there.

So I do think we need an overall solution so that we can be delivering the services that Houstonians expect and that they deserve.

The one thing I wanted to say, Mayor, if I may, is we're talking about the October projections that have come in, right?

We have now those property assessments that have recalibrated what the budget looks like.

And I want to continue to emphasize the importance of considering us moving our budget season to when we actually get those appraisals in so that we know the dollars that we're actually working with.

That is where the county does.

That is where a lot of government and jurisdictions set their calendar, and I think it is important that we are in line with as close as possible when those projections come in so we know the dollars that we're actually working with.

I think that will go a long way so that we can have really meaningful conversations focusing on those actual dollars.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

If not, let's go to work.

Thank you.

Next.

Financial report.

Controller and Director of Finance.

Good morning, Mayor, Honorable Members of Council.

I appreciate that y'all are concerned with the financial issues facing the city.

I'll come back to that.

Let me dive into the numbers for the August 31st, the period ended August 31st, 2025.

In the General Fund, the controller's office is projecting an ending fund balance of $356.7 million, or 14% of expenditures, less debt service, and pay as you go for fiscal year 2026.

This is $17.5 million lower than the projection of the Finance Department.

The difference is due to a lower revenue projection than finance.

Based on our current projections, the fund balance will be approximately 166.2 million dollars above the City's target of holding 7.5 percent of total expenditures, excluding debt service and pay as you go in reserve.

Note that these numbers predate Y'all's tax rate decision.

The FY 2026 beginning fund balance is $36.7 million higher than the FY 2025 ending fund balance reported in the June 20, uh the June 30th MOFRA.

The increase is due to year and adjustments to revenues and expenditures that will not be final until the FY 2025 ACFER is published.

Our revenue and expenditure projections remain unchanged from the July 2025 report, and we're projecting no changes from the adopted budget and the enterprise funds.

For commercial paper and bonds, the City's practice has been to maintain no more than 20 percent of the total outstanding debt for each type of debt in a variable rate structure, which is in line with rating agency guidance of 25 percent.

From time to time, the City's enterprise credits have exceeded that threshold on an interim basis as they have undertaken large capital improvement projects or major expansions.

That is true today of convention entertainment, which currently has bearable rate debt of 43.69 percent, and that's due to short-term financing related to construction of the convention center.

The city's other available rate thresholds remain well below that 20 percent threshold.

This month we're in the midst of Hispanic Heritage Month, a time to honor the leadership, culture, and contributions of Hispanic and Latino Houstonians.

On September 25th, our office hosted a celebration recognizing trailbladers, Blazers, including Dr.

Ellen Ochoa, the first Latina in space and also the first Latina to lead the NASA Johnson Space Center, Mr.

Fabian Romo, a Paralympic basketball player who brought home the gold for Team USA in 2024, Dr.

Ruth Lopez Turley, who leads groundbreaking equity-focused research through Rice University's Kinder Institute, and Angelica Razo, a powerful voice for civic engagement and equity through her leadership of me Familia Votha.

These leaders reflect the resilience, brilliance, and spirit that define Houston.

But this month isn't just about looking back.

It's about standing up.

In a moment when diversity itself is under fire, we recommit to the work ahead for equality, for opportunity, and for respect.

Last night, Houston came together in a similar fashion.

Across our city, from Cashmere Gardens in the near North Side to Midtown, Third Ward, and Sunnyside, neighbors filled the streets for national night out.

I had the chance to visit each of those communities, and I even bumped into Council Members Castillo and Evan Shabazz along the way.

Everywhere I went, I saw the same thing.

Connection, laughter, people looking out for one another.

We honored the men and women in uniform who keep our neighborhood safe.

But we were also reminded of something bigger.

That the strength of our city isn't measured by Justice Police Force or even just this balance sheet.

It's measured by how connected we feel to the places that we live and to the people that we live among.

When neighbors build trust block by block, they build the foundation for public safety and civic strength.

And if we want that strength to last, not just in spirit, but also in structure, then the financial decisions that we make today must reflect the future we want our families and our city to have.

Right now we're also in the midst of a federal government shutdown, and they're showing us what not to do.

Some call it politics as usual in Washington, but for Houston families, it's very personal.

When federal workers miss a paycheck, when small businesses lose contracts, when community programs shut down, and when families can't access the help that they count on, it doesn't stay in DC.

That impact reaches all the way home.

It shows up at the dinner table, it shows up in our neighborhood stores.

Already the Houston Food Bank is preparing for a surge in need because when paychecks stop, hunger grows.

When a family is forced to choose between groceries, rent, and gas, it's more than an inconvenience.

It's a crisis.

Plain and simple, this is not how government is supposed to work.

Families shouldn't pay the price for political gridlock.

When leaders delay, deflect, or deny truths, instead of planning responsibly, the costs do not go away.

They get passed down to the people who they're supposed to serve.

That's becoming a familiar story here in Houston.

Mayor Whitmire has proposed holding the property tax rate flat this year.

And at first glance, that sounds like no big deal.

But in real terms, it means collecting substantially less revenue than the city needs to meet the budget that you all passed in June.

And this isn't just a few bucks.

We're talking about a self-inflicted shortfall of $53 million.

And that's on top of the $70 plus million dollars in deficit spending that you already approved explicitly with your budget votes.

To cover that gap, we'll have to draw down our reserves even further, the same reserves that we depend on during hurricanes, freezes, and economic shocks.

Last month, the controller's office advised you that we need to be doing more to pad our general fund reserves in case of emergency.

This decision, the decision about the tax rate, doesn't follow that advice.

In fact, it does the exact opposite, adding to the second largest deficit in Houston's history.

And by the way, the largest deficit in Houston's history was last year on that budget that you voted on, and again also refused to input the tax rate that you all voted for in the budget.

Mayor and council, I do not want any of you to act like this news is catching you off guard today.

It's not.

And just as a reminder, and some of you, all of you are homeowners, I believe, many of you are small business owners.

Between the preliminary rates at HCAD and the final rate that you get later on, the property values do not go up.

They go down because people appeal those values, right?

So the preliminaries that we had were essentially the highest they were ever going to be.

And we had those numbers at the time that you all voted on the budget.

Now, during our budget season, my office laid out this exact scenario in our 10 hard truths document.

And I'm quoting truth number two.

This budget counts on a tax increase.

Revenue projections exceed what the current tax rate would generate.

To meet this projection, the city will have to raise our taxes this fall.

That is what was in that document.

And we didn't leave it there.

We didn't just keep it on paper.

I stood right here at this podium, and I told you if you vote for this budget as it's written, you are voting for a tax increase.

Either that, or when you get to that moment of truth, you will have to vote to increase the deficit spending.

That moment has arrived.

That moment is right now.

The choice is sitting before you.

Several council members have voiced concern about the city's revenue streams because you know the cost of this imbalance don't just disappear.

The mayor knows it's a problem.

You know it's a problem, the controller's office knows it's a problem.

The ratings agencies are telling us repeatedly that it's a problem.

So, no, this is not coming out of nowhere.

The math has not changed from budget season to today.

We have to change.

We have to change the financial approach that we're taking.

We have to change our management style and stop sabotaging ourselves financially at every meaningful opportunity.

Folks have come to expect that from politicians in D.C., but Houston expects better.

We can no longer afford to delay these hard decisions or paper over problems with temporary fixes.

If we continue using reserves to close budget gaps, it's clear that we are going to run out of money.

We are going to paint ourselves into a corner, putting Houston's long-term stability as well as critical city services at risk.

But if we protect what we built and plan with discipline, then we can keep Houston strong.

Now, let's be very clear here.

You alone have the power and the responsibility to do that, and that decision is before you today.

My office puts those numbers in plain English.

My office flags the risks and the trade-offs and shares them directly with you all.

And my office brings transparency to these crucial decisions that affect every Houstonian.

We do that so that the council as well as the administration and the public all have the same full picture.

And we're going to continue to uphold that responsibility.

And as I've said before, we remain ready to collaborate with each and every one of you to develop a sustainable path forward.

Thank you.

And that concludes my report.

Good morning.

This is the two plus ten financial report for the period ending August 31st, 2025.

Fiscal year 26 projections are based on two months of actual results and 10 months of projections.

For the general fund, both our revenue and expenditure expenditure projections remain unchanged from the adopted budget and the prior month.

Related to sales tax, I know we give an update every month on sales tax, sales tax receipts for the month of July, we're 76.4 million or about 1.2 percent higher than the same period last year, and about 2.3 million higher than budgeted.

Although we're not making any change on sales tax this month, we'll continue to monitor as we believe we have conservatively budgeted for sales tax based on how FY25 actuals came in.

So with that, uh we're currently projecting the ending fund balance to be $374 million, which is $28.6 million higher than the adopted budget, and $14.7 percent of expenditures not including debt service and pay as you go.

That fund balance represents 183.7 million above the target of holding 7.5 percent.

And as we discussed in the committee meeting yesterday, this uh these figures don't represent the change that will be necessitated by keeping the the property tax rate the same.

So you'll see that reflected in uh in a future report.

Um based on that and what I talked about at the committee yesterday, the fund balance will go from 14.7 percent of expenditures not including debt service to about 12.7 percent of expenditures uh not including debt service and pay as you go, and you'll see that reflected in a future report.

Um we've talked about it a little bit at the horseshoe today, but one thing we also discussed at the committee yesterday uh related to the assessed valuations that we get from the appraisal districts.

And at the time of the budget, um we get something called a preliminary estimate from the appraisal districts on what they think the valuation will be.

At that time, um they said that the valuation would probably be a growth of about two percent year over year.

Uh what came in with the certified role, which is what we used to calculate the tax rate was about a 5% increase, 4.8 percent increase over the prior year.

Um with that, you know, if we had going in at the time of the adopted budget, if we had gone with the assumption that the appraised value would have only grown by two percent, that would have actually resulted in a bigger hit to the fund balance than what we're talking about contemplating today.

Um so now that we have the full information from the appraisal districts, you know that's what we use to to calculate the tax rate and calculate not just the tax rate, but what we think the impact to the budget will be with that full set of information.

Um of course, um, as the controller mentioned, and like we've talked about Mayor Pro Tem, that assessed valuation is going to continue to change throughout the year as people go through the protests in the hearing process.

So that's something that will continue to monitor and update our um our projections in the future throughout the fiscal year.

That concludes my report.

Thank you.

Very good.

Councilman Pollard.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you both for your report.

Director.

Um we projected to be at uh deficit at the end of going into the next fiscal year.

What is that number?

So if you include it, if you include the decrease of the $53 million in property tax estimate, and that's an estimate, like I mentioned, we'll continue to monitor throughout the year.

Um it really depends on the collection rate, how much value is lost through hearings, delinquent collections we get.

Um, but at the end of the fiscal year, what we're projecting now is a fund balance of about 12.7 percent, which is 321 million.

321 million dollar deficit.

Okay.

And what is the rationale from a finance department standpoint of putting or using uh the maximum tax rate allowable in the budget, and then a couple months later um not going forward with that.

Like walk me through that, because it seems as if what we're doing as a city is we're drawing off the fund balance each year to try to balance the budget.

And we're going lower and lower and lower to the point where there may not be any balance left in the fund.

And so if we we start at 400 million a couple years ago fund balance, maybe a little more than 400 million.

Now we're just getting lower and lower and lower.

If we keep drawing off the fund balance, meaning that we're spending more than we're bringing in, how are we not going backwards when your own five-year forecast shows that on at a baseline, we're going to be at an estimated nearly $500 million deficit in five years, right?

And some of us are going to be around when that's taking place and have to deal with those numbers.

So if we're taking away $53 million or proposed $53 million, like where do we get the money from to still be able to have sustainable services for for the constituents?

So let me let me first address your question about the rationale of budgeting at the Prop One cap.

That's historically how we have set the budget going back since before I came to the city.

Um the difference of what you see happening now is that historically we had assessed valuation grow by so much citywide that we actually had to lower our tax rate nine out of 11 years, right, to hit that Prop 1 amount.

What we have seen the last two years is that assessed valuations have only grown by a smaller percentage, which means that instead of lowering the tax rate, we would actually have to increase the tax rate to collect the full Prop one amount.

Um I think as we as we see at the legislature at the Capitol, they're very focused on assessed valuation, how much is that growing by, not just for city taxation, but county, school districts also.

That's a main focus.

Um I think what we really need to do going forward is you know, keep that in mind, especially at the time of the budget, um, that assessed valuations may not grow by as much as needed to collect the full Prop one amount of revenue and you know have that as part of the conversation at the time of the adopted budget.

I know the controller, we talked about it at the time of the budget.

Why put it in the budget then?

Why put that number in there for us to consider as the vote for our projections for this fiscal year?

Why put that in the first place?

So, and I know we talked about at the time.

At the time of the budget, we get something called a preliminary estimate from the appraisal district.

Uh this year they told us it was an estimated two percent increase.

Historically, we have seen that the actual increase in assessed valuation could be up to five percent, five percentage points more than that.

And so it is we have information at the time, but they do give a conservative estimate.

And so it is a little bit difficult to know: okay, is it really going to go up by 2 percent, or is it going to be 8 percent, right?

It came in at 5 percent this year.

Um, and so what I can say is that we use the best information we have at the time based on what we you know we think we can collect based on the valuation information we have.

Controller, can you give some more color to it based on uh your outlook on how you view using that tax rate in the budget and then for the second year not going forward with that as we plan for the fiscal year?

Sure.

Before I do that, um I just want to give you the numbers on fund balance, because you mentioned like a 400 million dollar figure.

Uh at the end of fiscal year 2024, and this is basically what you all inherited going into your first budget season.

Uh fund balance at that time was $567 million.

That's the highest end-of-year fund balance in the city's history after last year.

So coming into the Can you repeat that one more time?

$567 million at the end of fiscal year 2024.

So this is June 30, 2024, and again, highest fund balance in the City's history.

Now, a year goes by.

So now we're talking about June 30th, 2025.

We spent down $127 million of that fund balance, the largest decrease in fund balance year over year in the city's history.

All right.

The budget that you all passed in June of 2025.

You budgeted.

This is baked into the budget, so this wasn't hidden anywhere, is right there.

Y'all budgeted to spin down an additional $76 million in fund balance in this fiscal year.

That assumes that you taxed at the revenue cap.

If we forego that and pass the rate that you all are looking at today, considering today, there will be an additional $53 million spent down.

So those numbers added together, $129 million.

Which would outpace last year, frankly.

So that's the math on that.

Now you asked the question around budget this number, change this number.

We talk about transparency, we talk about using the best information that we have at the time.

At the time that we were going through this conversation, we looked at the tax rolls, which is the best information that we had at the time, and what we put out in our report was that in order to achieve the revenue figure that you all put into this budget, you would have to raise property taxes between two and five percent.

What it came out to, I believe, was 3.1 percent if you were the difference between today's tax rate and if you were to hit the revenue cap.

So right in the middle of the range that we provided to you all.

That was the best information available at the time.

Um again, I sat here, stood right here.

I said, if you are voting on this budget, there's a tax rate increase in here, right?

And so if we're being honest and straightforward with Houstonians, if we're not intending to raise the tax rate, we shouldn't use that revenue number in the budget.

But plain and simple.

Again, y'all vote on the tax rate, y'all also vote on the budget.

But they should be consistent with one another.

And for the second year in a row, if you make this decision today, y'all haven't voted yet.

If you make the decision today, this will be the second year in a row where we budgeted for a property tax revenue amount that would have necessitated a tax increase.

And then when the moment of truth came, we just kicked the can further down the road, as we have said around this horseshoe several times.

So that's that's where we are.

So if I could follow up to touch on the fund balance, because I'm sorry, I only addressed the first part of your question.

Um you looked historically, and we we give uh uh historical ten-year look at it when we look at the five-year forecast at the city.

If I could hijack the screen, I would show my little graph I carry around in my pocket.

Um you are right, we did have very high fund balance at the end of FY23.

Um we were very fortunate to get Federal revenue and be able to recognize quite a lot of that as revenue replacement to help bolster the fund balance to help us with the future fiscal years.

Um you look prior to those years when we had the ARPA funding, the fund balance at the city was anywhere, you know, in the range of 11 percent, 13 percent, um, you know, in the $300 million dollar range.

So we did definitely see a big, you know, spike because of the ARPA funding, which I am very grateful that we had, right?

Um that really that really helped us get through.

Um, but when you look historically, our fund balance now is really kind of more in line with those pre-ARPA days.

Does your five-year forecast change from a baseline standpoint if um the vote today goes forward and we have a $53 million, $53 million less than what was anticipated, does your five-year forecast then shift to add more to the deficit?

It will mean we have less available fund balance to help us going into the next year.

And the other thing that we talked about at committee yesterday pertains to kind of the going forward effects of collecting less revenue in any current year.

The way the state cap works and the way part of our local cap works in the calculation is that your cap for the future year is based on your previous year actuals.

Uh and so if you collect less property tax in this year, it is going to result in a lower cap in the following year.

So that is something that we're going to have to look at uh revising those projections.

Thank you.

Councilmember Howard Corner?

Director, I think you just you just addressed it.

And um about the fact that the lower it affects our cap, you know, kind of in perpetuity at you know, the amount of revenues we collect.

And on the five-year forecast, basically what you are saying is is because we'll be dipping, and and I think you said yesterday, and what maybe that 12 and a half percent is about $131 million over the 7.5 percent?

Yes.

Okay.

So like I said, we we that that's some cushion to di to dip into.

And my statement earlier about, and this came up with you in a previous discussion about kind of how we how we kind of always settled at the end of the year because we had these vacancies.

And is it uh do you is there still work to do?

I mean, do we still have vacancies?

Do we still have cuts that can be made in the general fund departments to make up some of that money uh this besides the 17 million or whatever was in the budget for the for the uh EY contract spend?

We do think we will still have additional vacancy savings.

Um as you know, part of the EY study recommended departments going through their reorganization, looking after span of control, reducing the layers.

Um part of that, you know, the mayor put into place a hiring freeze for departments until they have their reorg plans approved by the administration.

So there definitely was a um you know slowing and hiring as departments have gone through those reorganizations, and so we do believe that there will be some additional vacancy savings.

Okay, and I mean a million dollars, but not $53 million.

I and I do um I know during the quarterly reports you'll be giving kind of an update on what the EY, the contract spend uh engagement that they have, what is happening there, and also kind of really where where we still see that there can be some efficiencies and cuts in the in the in the departments, and we'll get that in the quarterly.

Yes, uh anyone else.

Thank you.

Need a motion.

Move to accept the monthly financial report dated August 31st, 2025.

Motion made and second.

All in favor say yes.

Those opposed, nay.

Motion passes.

Thank you.

We're just voting on the hearing date.

I'm sorry.

Mr.

Secretary, would you bring up item two and three items two and three need a motion?

Cast X take a move.

Motion made and second.

All in favor say yes.

Those opposed, nay.

Councilmember maybe.

Uh Councilmember Maris.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh are any of the folks who are going to be on the board here present?

Three.

I was just fixing to introduce uh Tiffany Robinson, Alan Douglas, and Christopher Johnston.

Um they are present.

You want to go ahead and no, I've just I guess beating you to the punch.

No, no.

Uh I am proud of the appointments.

We have uh discussed with them how important this is, and they have uh expertise and a track record of making a difference everywhere they have been.

So it's it's a huge, as you know, and you have spent considerable time through viewing TURS and redevelopment authorities.

Uh this one in particular.

Yes, and it require a lot of due diligence.

I want to thank you all for for your willingness to serve um the problems that the midtown tours have have been widely reported, and um I I think that that operation is in uh great need of change.

Um the mayor has previously changed out the board at the Houston Housing Authority, and they make great strides in in turning around that agency.

I hope that you all will do the same thing with the Midtown Tours.

I know the Tours has hundreds of lots that could be used for affordable housing.

Um I just wish you the best and and we support you, but we will also be watching uh for progress.

Thank you very much.

You all want to rise and let us uh certainly recognize you.

Thank you all.

Council McCain?

Councilman McCayman.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, and I too wanted to thank everyone for serving.

We do have a few folks not here that will be returning that have served on the board um diligently and been terrific stewards, but I do want to thank all of you.

Um and Tiffany, I know we just met, so uh we are excited to have you, but I do want to give a special thank you to Alan because one not only serving as chair, but the experience that you bring um through your work at downtown Houston Plus.

And the fact that, Mayor, we are able to do this uh extensive collaboration bringing uh all of this together, I think is really going to move the ball forward.

So congratulations to all of you and Chris as well.

Thank you.

Councilmember Evan Shabazz, thank you.

Thank you for your assistance and finding these capable people.

Thank you, Mayor.

And certainly I want to thank uh you all for dedicating your service.

You all are a great, great support to District D, and we look forward to working together to get things done for the constituents.

Have a wonderful day and a wonderful term.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you all.

You can go to work.

Next.

Consent agenda is next.

Mr.

Sector, the consent agenda.

Under the miscellaneous category, item four has been removed for separate consideration.

Need a motion for item three.

I'm sorry.

Miscellaneous, we've already done it.

Okay.

Under the property category, item five has been removed for separate consideration.

Under the purchase and tabulation of bids category.

Since your list has been distributed, uh there will be a few changes.

Items six, eight, ten, and eleven have been removed for separate consideration.

Need a motion for items seven, nine, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen.

Castex take a move.

Motion made and second.

All in favor say yes.

Those opposed, nay.

Motion passes.

Under the ordinances category.

Again, since your list has been distributed, there have been a few changes.

Item 30 and 33 have been received.

Items 30, I'm sorry, items 26, 27, 34, and 41 have not been received, but we will be considered if they are received before the end of the meeting.

Items 17, 18, 20, 29, 30, 33, 36, 37, 42, 44, 45, and 48 have been removed for separate consideration.

Again, those numbers are 17, 18, 20, 29, 30, 33, 36, 37, 42, 44, 45, and 48.

Need a vote on the balance.

All in favor say yes.

Those opposed, nay.

Motion passes.

373277.

All right.

Items removed for separate consideration.

Item 4 needs a motion.

Item 4 is tagged by Councilmember Jackson.

Yes, sir.