3 Vote No On Regressive Whitmire Budget-Public Kicked Out, Thomas Asks They Not Be Arrested

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​Thanks to Tiffany Thomas, Edward Pollard and Abbie Kamin for being the three no votes on Mayor John Whitmire's regressive budget. Here is a story from KUHF explaining the votes of the three Councilmembers. 

The budget cut essential services on behalf of over-generous public safety union contracts, did not plan for the inevitable costs of our next disaster & left the city vulnerable to substantial future budget shortfalls. Here are two accounts of the budget.

Thanks to everyone who spoke & organized against the budget. There was no need for HPD to clear the entire Council chamber after some people began chanting and unfurled a banner. The final vote in favor of the budget was taken with the public expelled from the Council chamber. 

The banner was unveiled at the 7 hour 20 minute mark of the HTV video of the Tuesday public comment session/Wednesday agenda meeting. You can see what happened and what you think. You don't see the stretch where the room was being cleared. Once the meeting resumed, only Councilmember Thomas expressed concern for what happened. Ms. Thomas asked that nobody be arrested. Nobody was  arrested. 

Above is a picture of the demonstration in Council chambers from a Channel 26 report. Everybody got tossed even if not actively taking part in the demonstration. (The press was allowed to remain.) Below is a picture of the chamber as final discussions on the budget were happening. This picture is from the HTV feed. 

The Houston Democracy Project continues to ask the following questions:

* With HPD cooperating with ICE, what process is in place to make certain Houstonians will receive due process & not be sent/disappeared to places like the El Salvador torture prison?

* If/When the Trump Administration moves forward with threats to civil liberties such as the suspension of habeas corpus, will HPD resources be used to assist Trump?

* When will the six Council Republicans (Ramirez, Davis, Carter, Peck, Flickinger & Huffman.) be held to account for Republican cuts to National Weather Service, FEMA, research at the Texas Medical Center, NASA and all the cuts impacting Houston? When will they speak up and advocate for Houston?

I feel this post is a bit disjointed. There is the budget, the disruption in Council & the ever-present reality of authoritarian trouble on the way. Many things going on at once. People are making decisions about how to proceed and how to react. Let's all stay the course as best we can. Let's do what is right as often as we can. 

Public comment time at Houston City Council is each Tuesday at 2 PM. Here is how you can speak at Council and here is how to contact your councilmember.  The earlier before the session you sign up, the higher up on the speaker's list you'll be. The agenda session to conduct Council business is each Wednesday at 9 AM. The agenda is posted in advance. Council can be watched live on HTV Houston Television and the most recent session is available at any time on the HTV feed on Facebook. Here is the link to past sessions of Council. Here are Council district maps so you can see who represents you. 

Here is the Houston Democracy Project list of things each of us can do to fight back. Here is a fundraising pitch for the Houston Democracy Project. I'm doing the work and showing up in many different ways.  Please help the effort. ​​

I'm on the Egberto Willies Politics Done Right Show every Thursday from 6 AM to 7 AM for the Houston Democracy Project segment. You can hear the show on the radio, stream it on KPFT or watch later Egberto's YouTube channel.

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