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We've had these wins at Houston City Council in 2026:
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* We elected Salinas over police union-endorsed Boykins.
* We elected Panzarella over police union-endorsed Hellyar.
* Our elected employees on council passed the apartment inspection ordinance. (It needs more force. But it is more than there was before.)
* Our elected employees passed the ICE Ordinance. (Which they then quickly rescinded and it became a defeat.)
* Our elected employees on council passed the air conditioning ordinance.
* We demanded and got HPD involvement in the investigation of the ICE murder of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. This despite the initial objection to that course from Whitmire & Martinez.
* We demanded that Houston not apply for the Model Cities grant from Trump's so-called Dept. of Justice. Despite efforts by sneaky Whitmire to submit it, the application was withdrawn.

I watch every session of Houston City Council. Always feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] if you have any question about any issue at council.

I'm part of efforts to find a more progressive and responsive Houston City Council in 2027. Please contact me with any thoughts on that matter or if you are thinking about running.

There have been wins. There is a lot of work ahead. (Picture above is council on 9/22.)

From writing post cards to voters to advocating at council to attending a tense protest with many police, everything we do involves organizing ourselves. We will be ready for anything in the weeks ahead. 

Houston No Kings will be Saturday, 10/17, 4 PM-6PM at Houston City Hall. There will be a rally and a march. The two themes of the protest are getting out the early vote and being ready from a grassroots perspective for efforts to sabotage election results.

(Above-No Kings in Houston.) 

The emphasis is on each of us being ready of anything and not waiting on anyone to tell us how to protect our rights. The work ahead is ours. 

The Houston Democracy Project and the John Cornyn Houston Office Protest are two of the coalition partners for Houston No Kings. I will be a speaker. 

There are many No Kings events in the Houston-region. League City, Clear Lake, Katy, Cypress, Angleton, LaPorte, Conroe, Fort Bend County, The Woodlands as well as Bryan, Cold Spring, Brenham and Beaumont all have No Kings planned. Here is the list of events in the Houston-region, Texas and across the country. 

Indivisible has been running a useful series of videos discussing No Kings nationally. 

I believe No Kings overall has connected people and helped formed grassroots networks in big cities, small cities, suburbs and rural communities across the country.

​These are the people engaged in the many thousand of small protests that sustain a consistent opposition to Trump and his authoritarian, white supremacist movement. These are people protesting, doing electoral work and who will show up no matter what should election results be ignored/overturned. 

Attend a No Kings event or don't. Whatever works for you is great. Please do your best to get out the vote and to be ready for anything in the important days ahead. 

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1. NPR station KUHF obtained records from the City of Houston about HPD interactions with ICE. The story was reported yesterday, 10/9. (This though Mayor Whitmire keeps lying that HPD does not interact with ICE as seen in picture below. KUHF story in comments.)

2. These are details that should have come out at the legally-mandated HPD quarterly report to council about HPD/ICE interactions. This is the one portion of the ICE ordinance not gutted by repeal of most of the ordinance. This was the hearing in late August that Chief Diaz refused to attend after he said he would attend.

3. The records KUHF reports on show ICE being contacted by HPD after calls about a mental health concern, a family dispute, a suicide attempt & also after someone was pulled over for a non-working break light.

4 Councilmembers Tiffany Thomas and Alejandra Salinas each appear to have had private meetings with Chief Diaz and his team where these interactions and details were not discussed. Ms. Thomas and Ms. Salinas were two of the four votes against repeal of the ICE ordinance. The other two were Councilmember Pollard & former Councilmember Kamin.
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5. You can’t trust a thing Mayor Whitmire & HPD tell you about how the City of Houston interacts with ICE.

​Above and below is 6821 Canal St. this morning, 10/7, where ICE killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo three months ago today.

Public pressure prevailed over Mayor Whitmire & District I Councilmember Martinez who both initially said the investigation was solely a federal matter.

Public pressure again prevailed with Houston withdrawing its Model Cities grant application to the so-called Justice Department. This $ would have invited more ICE to Houston & formally aligned HPD with Trump policing policies.

Let’s stay the course to where we can make consistent progress at Houston City Hall, rather than so often trying to deflect bad things.

Let’s keep opposing ICE everyday.

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Above you see a post from last week in support of Flock Cameras by far right-wing Republican At-Large Houston Councilmember Twila Carter.

Councilmember Carter is up for reelection 2027. She won in 2023 with just 51% of the vote. 

In her post, Ms. Carter mentions a Facebook group called DeFlock Houston. When she posted, the group had 85 people joined. Thanks to Carter's plug, it now has 277. Here is the link to the group. 

Ms. Carter says in her post "Don't allow a loud minority to speak for the majority." 

All right. 

Kamala Harris won 61% of the vote in the City of Houston in 2024. So there is no need for a Republican At-Large Councilmember in Houston. Republicans are a loud, pro-authoritarian, anti-democracy, Bo French-loving minority in Houston. 

Republican Governor Greg Abbott doesn't seem to think opposition to Flock is a minority view. He has for the moment, at least while he is campaigning, prohibited state agencies from spending money on Flock. 

Contact Ms. Carter at 832-393-3005 or [email protected] & tell her what you think.

Here is the link to her city council page. 

Last week, Republican Councilmembers Carter, Davis & Fred Flickinger made a statement in support of Flock Cameras. Then just after that, Ms. Carter is essentially campaigning for 2027 on support of Flock Cameras. 

We very much don't need Republicans running for Houston City Council on a platform of more Flock Cameras. 

Below is a picture I took this past April outside Houston City Hall. It was at the press conference where Councilmember Alejandra Salinas announced the ICE Ordinance. I was taking pictures of Ms. Carter like I often do of public figures in public places. She was talking with police union boss Doug Griffith. She sent Doug over to stare at me. That is Councilmember Carter in the background. 

We don't have to be governed by these screwballs. I watch every session of Houston City Council & am active in efforts to find a more responsive and progressive council in 2027. Please feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] if you have questions about council and about being involved in 2027. 

​ Houston City Council updates:

1. The Model Cities grant application is not on the agenda for Wednesday, October 7. This grant would tie HPD policies to federal policies on immigration, prioritizing "American" victims of crime and even "loitering." (Here is next week's agenda. Check it out to get a sense of what council considers each week. The more each of us know, the stronger we all are.)

Thank you to everyone who has advocated on this issue. Our advocacy has had impact. I don't know if it is coming back to the agenda-It has been listed and pulled twice-, Whitmire is doing something sneaky or if it is dead. We will keep vigilant on this important concern. 

Update! Just as I was about to post this, I checked NPR KUHF news and there is a report suggesting the city does not intend to pursue the grant. Big if true. 

Activism matters. We don't want our policing here in Houston defined by Donald Trump and Todd Blanche.

2. Chris Brown remains employed by the city despite working 15 hour weeks for a $127,000 salary and his belligerent pompous performance before council yesterday 9/30. Above you see Mr. Brown telling council yesterday that he merits a big salary for having been around for so long. 

It's all part of Mayor Whitmire's culture of entitlement for his bros like Marty Lancton and Doug Griffith at the so-called public safety unions. Belligerence gets a pass if you are the Mayor's buddy, while at the same time the mayor is openly rude to so many community members who make the effort to speak before council.

Disappointing conduct yesterday, 9/30, from Councilmember Sallie Alcorn who used a point of order against Controller Chris Hollins, while never saying a word about Mayor Whitmire's abrasive conduct toward Houstonians, or about Chris Brown's non-responsiveness yesterday to questions from Councilmember Alejandra Salinas.

Councilmember Alcorn has endorsed Mayor Whitmire for re-election in 2027. She is term-limited for 2027.
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Thanks to my colleague Hai Son Bui for the graphic below. The public has the right to know all the details of Mr. Brown's sketchy employment.

Here is the link to contact information for Houston City Council. Give them a call or send an e-mail about Model Cities, Chris Brown or whatever you like.

​3. Houston City Council will meet in consolidated session next week. Public Comment Session will be Wednesday, 10/7, at 9:30 AM. The reason for the schedule change is National Night Out on Tuesday, 10/6.