It's time to get started here.

Good morning, and thank you for being here.

I'm Twila Carter, the chair for the Resilience Committee, and uh our uh vice chair is not here today.

That would be Abby Kamen.

Um, but we do have a representative from her office.

Today's presentation is going to be by Taylor Landon with the uh Greater Houston Partnership.

I'd like to uh welcome those in attendance.

We've got council member Martinez, staff from Castillo, Alcorn, Pollard, my office, uh Peck, uh Ramirez.

No, you're Thomas, Thomas, and of course, Cayman.

Um thank you all for being here today.

We've got a couple of uh representatives online staff from Cassex, Martha Castax Tatum, Mayor Pro Tem's office as well.

Um Taylor, come on down.

We're really looking forward to your presentation.

Uh, when we met a month or so ago, I I thought it was most uh appropriate to bring the work that you are all are doing over at the GHP uh to the city because I think we are parallel on many things.

You sure you don't want to chair?

Say it again.

You sure you don't want to chair?

I'm good, I'm good.

Okay.

We'll do this.

All right.

So that'll work.

Wow, that's tall.

All right.

Um well, I really appreciate the invitation to present to the committee today.

We we are um engaged in this resilience work, and we're we're actually proud of progress that we've we've made.

Um so what I'm gonna do, I just have a few slides today, and my hope is that we can have a discussion, um, solicit some feedback from you all to continue to enhance this work.

Um where I'm gonna start is just a little bit of context of how we uh decided, made the decision to focus on this work stream, and then I'll walk through um kind of how we're defining the work and and um and then go through a couple of um of early indications of success.

So um let me give again a little bit of context.

Um when Steve Kane became president CEO of the partnership a couple of years ago, we started having uh discussions with members of our board about the the what are the topics in inside of the the business community and the leading institutions in Houston uh that are most prevalent in the boardroom of their organizations.

And what we heard consistently was was two themes.

One was around talent and workforce development, and the partnership's been engaged in that work through our upscale Houston initiative for for going on a decade now.

And then the other thing that we heard very, very consistently was this issue of resilience.

Now, I will say that this was coming after Hurricane Barrel that was a real shock to the region.

And um, and so I'm I'm certain that that influenced a lot of those discussions, but it's no less relevant um today than it was right after Hurricane Barrel.

And so this this issue of resilience and and the impact that it has on Houston's economy, quality of life, all of the things that make Houston a really attractive place to live work and play, are um uh uh encompassed in having a resilient city and region.

And so we took that and we um we attached a very uh high aspirational bar to um to this work.

And if you click to the to the next slide, um you'll see here that we have set out to make Houston the most resilient coastal city in the world.

It's quite an ambitious statement, but um we think that that that is important to put an aspiration out and um and work toward it.

So um the other thing that I think is really, really important as you look at this slide.

We are are defining so resilience means a lot of things to a lot of people.

Everybody has their own definition of what that means.

And so we we really thought long and hard about what how are we as the partnership going to define resilience?

And we landed on this issue, this notion of critical systems.

So why did what what does that mean?

That means that we are are uh directly focused on strengthening the critical systems that make life normal and result in in a high quality of life and an attractive place to live and work.

And um so what we mean by those systems, as you can see here on the page is uh flood mitigation, health care, transportation, the the the power systems, uh telecommunications and and water.

So why do we land on those?

The the reason why we we uh focused in on the critical systems was that all of those system owners are individuals that are that are on our board that that have prominent leadership roles inside of our organization.

So we felt like that we could um leverage their engagement at the partnership to not only identify where the gaps existed between these critical systems and and work toward uh addressing those gaps, but then also uh uh strengthen the interdependencies between these systems.

Because what we found is that on their own, a lot of these systems are very strong, very resilient.

And um, but but we have also uncovered uh a number of places where we can strengthen some of those interdependencies because if one system goes down, it has anevitable impact on another.

So um that is it's an important frame for us all to understand um that that we're looking at this from a systems lens.

Um we also the uh last point there is that the critical system lens is is again intentional on our part, in part because we wanted to be sure not to duplicate some of the exceptional work that's happening in other parts of the community that are addressing what I'll refer to as individual resilience.

So think about the work that United Way is doing um to address the Alice population, their integrated client journey, all of that work is is directed at the individual level.

And we want that to continue.

You you think about the work at Baker Ripley and the dozens and dozens and dozens of nonprofits that are doing excellent work in their local um very, very local community.

Um and and the last thing we wanted to do at the partnership was duplicate any of that uh exceptional work that's happening.

So we felt that our um our our the most appropriate role for us was to focus on these critical systems.

Um so how are we going about doing this work?

If we if we flip to the next slide, um we are thinking about this in really three main buckets convening, advocating, and communicating.

So the the partnership has a has a real unique ability to bring together stakeholders across um all different industries, sectors, um, you know, partisanship, all of the the things that allow us um to to bring together those uh leading stakeholders, we we really want to lean into.

So convening for impact and and um I'll talk a little bit about some of the results of these convenings already.

Um and then advocating obviously we we spend a lot of time at the partnership thinking about how we can find uh policy solutions that address um the issues facing our our region and community, and um, and so that no different in in the resilience space.

And then finally, um we think that we have a really, really strong story to tell about Houston as a resilient region.

Um when we talk to individuals that are looking to either make um substantial capital investments in the region um or or expand their operations in the region, we hear consistently, you know, we get the question what about um the the major weather events that that occur in this region?

And what what we can say is we actually have an answer to those questions now.

And if you think about where we've been as a community, even going all the way back to you know, Hurricane Allison and what happened at the med center, every event that we've had, we have taken very significant steps to make our make our community more resilient, and as a result of that, I I could argue that we are in fact one of the more resilient communities already.

And that to say nothing of the the 10 plus billion dollars that has been invested since Hurricane Harvey in flood mitigation and other um other areas of the community.

So I think we have a really good story to tell, and it's our job uh at the partnership to be sure that we're communicating that story um at every at every opportunity.

So this is my last slide.

If if we flip to the next one, um just a just a quick snapshot of some of the work that um has already resulted from this.

We've worked um very closely with with uh many of you and in the mayor's office on um securing backup generation from uh Department of Housing and Urban Development.

That is a result of of being you know really really deeply engaged in this work.

We we are doing some things that may not immediately show up like you know grants for for uh backup generation but just by bringing together leaders of these critical systems and leading institutions in the region we're seeing that um those relationships are resulting in when there is a in uh uh uh an acute situation that um that the leaders of those systems are able to immediately connect because they've met in our um during our convenings and so that that has been um uh a really pleasant uh development we've done things like there was a there was a major uh logistics company that was having challenges with um getting their trucks through um law enforcement um you know had if they block a street they need to get their their um trucks through to to supply um you know food and supplies to to really important areas in our community and they weren't able to do that so we were very quickly able to put them together with law enforcement and they solve the problem right and that that's an example of just bringing people together surfacing some of these um challenges and very quickly coming to to a solution so we can talk more about any of these in in as much detail as you all want but um chairwoman car I appreciate the opportunity to to brief you guys on on this important work we're deeply committed to it as an organization and our hope is that as we continue through this work that we can partner with all of you to make sure that we are staying focused on the things that are that are most critical to to our community and to our region and and hopefully we'll make progress toward the aspiration of making uh Houston the most resilient coastal city in the world.

So happy to answer any questions.

Well thank you Taylor um you know the partnership is such a critical critical voice in so much and I I think certainly the work that you do on your early wins slide here that those are just a few of the the wins but certainly some of the larger ones but thank you for the work that you all do because it it is critical to our city and you know you are you all are very much the voice of our city in such a way and the and the ability to bring people together and work together is is certainly um inspiring and and very much appreciated.

We do have a question from council member martinez.

Thank you chairwoman it's more of a of a comment really want to say thank you as well for the work y'all are doing Taylor and of course for all your entire team you know just recently I was able to go with you all to DC fly in the it's not a in as an early win but I know we're doing a lot of work on homelessness as well.

Yes.

And so I think it's just important for community in general to understand the work that y'all are doing as a partnership and how aligned you all are with the work that we're doing here on this horseshoe.

So we continue doing the good work we're here my my team in my office is here to support you all as we start looking at what is resiliency in Houston but then also looking into the future as far as other topics whether it is homelessness mobility and whatnot.

So just want to thank you for the work that y'all are doing.

Yep thank you for those comments certainly a a good comment uh council member martinez and you know I am often we talk about resiliency and what is resiliency right what is a resilient city look like but to your point um you know often we think of resiliency when it comes to a storm or something but really the true definition I think of resiliency is being able to weather what comes and homelessness is very much a storm just without the water.

And so uh those uh what some people see as uh social issues that we face every day um certainly to have a a voice such as uh GHP on our side and to advocate for the needs um across the region is very important and and uh you know be because we really here at home should be able to take care of our own um at the end of the day so thank you.

Well the work that y'all have done around the horseshoe has been um on on the issue of homelessness has been uh incredible and and I think it's it's um it's our commitment to keep standing by you all as you move forward on on the the good work um in that area and and continue to come up with creative solutions and support the leaders that are really leaning in so um yeah thank you I I certainly believe the best is yet to come on on the homelessness and and we were just talking about it before the meeting started um you know uh this past week with the pit count with the coalition certainly uh anyone who participates gets a a bird's eye view as to what it looks like and I think it's you know it's certainly a critical topic the mayor is very focused on it and certainly uh I know my office is as well as many others are but it's uh it's a it's we we don't want to be compared to other cities and and I refuse to be so our work is uh we've got a lot of work to do but um I think we're going in a good direction so thank you no other questions around the horseshoe um did you have any other comments that you want to provide I think we've got a couple of public speakers

And I think it's you know, it's certainly a critical topic.

The mayor is very focused on it, and certainly uh I know my office is as well as many others are, but it's uh it's a it's we we don't want to be compared to other cities, and and I refuse to be, so our work is uh we've got a lot of work to do, but um I think we're going in a good direction, so thank you.

No other questions around the horseshoe.

Um did you have any other comments that you want to provide?

I think we've got a couple of public speakers, also to staff from council member Jackson has joined us online, so thank you for being here.

Um thank you for your presentation.

Thank you for the work you do, and certainly um everybody here is committed to working with you, and certainly know that you all are as well.

So appreciate it.

And we've got a couple we've got a public speaker signed up, Mr.

Mazop.

Thank you for the officer.

Thank you.

Dominique Mazok, you're here.

Lower that Metro, I took the 96 over to North Street Park and Ride and took D108 then, so I think to take public transit.

Which also, and I think speaking of Metro.

Metro is part of this.

And I really think I'm gonna talk to Text Tom Jason here in a minute.

I really think there should be a representative of Metro, either by Zoom or in person here, because if we have to evacuate the city, Metro is gonna be the primary transit provider at from GRB.

Number two, we're putting a lot of money into GRB, and considering that is going to be the evacuation area, uh, and not thinking of putting in a command center somewhere in uh the rebuild of GRB, I think is a crime.

Um, unless there is plans for the city, the county, and metro to bring in command uh trucks.

That might be another way of hand handling that situation.

Um also, too, the first set of July is the what they usually call the hurricane conference as GRB.

I think they call it something else.

And I think the sit I think the City Houston is sponsoring it this year.

And I think within that context, and considering what occurred in the Hill Country over the Fourth of July weekend, uh we're gonna have to get people into the notion of having something in on their person, something in their house that when the weather service sends out a warning, we hear it and can do something about it.

That could be your cell phone, it can be a scanner, it can be a ham radio, uh, it can be a self-propelled.

They got units now that are gonna be you know, you charge up with a C uh USB C port, you can charge these up with a hand crank, and maybe within that context, uh during the conference, you know, if sponsors give out prizes and that sort of thing, uh uh door prize and that sort of thing.

Maybe one of these companies would give the city a bunch of these, you know, real reasonably cost radios as door prizes, encourage people.

Hey, you've got to have access to 162.400, which is the weather service emergency channel out of Dickinson, um, available either directly on a radio or directly on your cell phone.

Um because another thing is with resiliency.

This is one thing they'll teach you in a search class.

You are on your own for up to 72 hours.

Uh you know, it takes time, say after a hurricane, you take time for the water to drain and uh all of this type of stuff.

So we got to instruct the people to be you got to have a 72-hour pack of food, uh medicine, clothes, etc.

And lastly, for trucks to come into the city.

We the guy was talking about trucks well ago.

I think one thing we need to consider specifically on the I-10 quarter and the I-45 Hardy Tower quarter, is that the Hardy Tow Road and the managed lanes and the HOV lanes on I can during right after a disaster is close to anything but public service, trucks coming in with supplies, and like buses coming in and out, so that these vehicles can get to where it needs to go.

Oh, I'll do something else.

And I think Edward Pollard is onto something with J City.

I think with all things, but specifically with resilience, come back to resiliency.

I think we need to start thinking about having council members having little offices in their districts.

You don't have to come downtown to get your get your problem solved.

You talk to in gay, you talk to uh Edward.

With me, I talk to Mario and H.

I think we need to start moving operations out of downtown into the leather district.

And I think part of it is resiliency where people can get help.

With that, I'm gonna be quiet and give it back to you, ma'am.

And thank you, uh Dominic for uh coming down.

But I wanted to ask you, you mentioned uh uh July date at the GRB.

What what was it?

Could you repeat that?

I'm just looking it up and I didn't haven't seen anything.

Let me go look in.

I'll get you in the middle.

I see a disasters expo in October.

Yeah, that's uh that's October 14th and 15th of 2026, but I don't see any further information, so I'll check back.

So thank you for the history.

No, but I think that we need to start pushing the idea that uh also uh with everything going around.

We have to be ready for 72 hours.

It could be a storm, it could be a wreck on the freeway, it could be a terrorist attack.

We have to be ready for a hurricane 24-7.

Well, I certainly couldn't agree more, but I also too think that we need to uh lean into our media who sometimes creates uh can be guilty of creating such a system of hype well before an event that people tend to ignore things and I agree with you, man.

I think it needs to be a balance.

Yeah, there has to be a balance, and you know, and and I see that I mean I I just see that all around me.

You know, everyone's like, oh, don't worry, it's not happening, it's two weeks out or whatever.

And so I think certainly uh with the telecommunications uh abilities that we have now, there should be that alert that can warn everyone.

But I think by the time something happens, ultimately everybody's just kind of over overdone with it.

So yeah, thank you for your comments and thank you for your input.

There were no other public speakers signed up, but is there anyone who has any questions or comments uh who did not get the opportunity to sign up?

Nope.

Well, thank you.

Uh thank you, uh, Greater Houston Partnership Taylor for presenting.

We appreciate your uh again, all that you guys do uh over at the partnership and continued uh look forward to continuing to work with you.

Looks like we are ready to adjourn in record time.

Our next uh resilience meeting is April 12th at 10 a.m.

We'll see you there.

Thank you all for attending.