 The Fair For Houston group that led the push for the successful City of Houston Proposition B ballot initiative in 2023, has threatened to sue the city if it does not implement the plan. This is important. Mayor Whitmire does whatever he wants in a way that only strengthens attacks on democracy. The rule of law must begin at home. (Above--Mayor Whitmire.) From The Houston Chronicle: "A Houston advocacy group warned Mayor John Whitmire and council members Thursday that the city is risking a lawsuit if it continues to ignore the will of voters by participating on a regional planning board without having a greater say in its decisions...Council members in October voted to renew the city’s membership in the Houston-Galveston Area Council, which is in charge of distributing federal funds for infrastructure, climate mitigation and workforce development projects such as the contentious Interstate 45 expansion and flood relief...Under Proposition B, which was championed by the grassroots organization Fair for Houston, the city and Harris County were supposed to receive “population proportional” representation on the council or they would have to leave it...Negotiations with H-GAC ultimately failed to provide more representation for Houston on the board...In Fair for Houston’s Thursday letter, legal representatives gave the city three possible pathways to avoid legal consequences. Either the city could pass a resolution backing out of the council within 30 days of receiving the letter, or the city could re-open negotiations for a proportional voting structure and come to an agreement within 60 days. If that negotiation is not reached, lawyers are requesting Houston pull out of H-GAC." Proposition B passed with 65% of the vote. This was better than Mayor Whitmire did on the 2023 Houston ballot. Mayor Whitmire has a Trump/Musk like difficulty in respecting election results, spending money as appropriated and dictated by a correct lawful process & properly acknowledging the duly-established powers of Houston City Council. Here are some specifics: *In addition to his failure to respect the people's vote on Proposition B, Mayor Whitmire's administrative and board appointments at Metro have refused to follow the voter-approved Metro Next plan. * Mayor Whitmire gutted the fee portion of the sidewalk ordinance with just a memo even though it had been passed by Council. This was back in September. He has offered no plan since to revise the ordinance or any plan to build more sidewalks. * At the beginning of his term in early 2024, Mayor Whitmire undid the use of District H funds and found money out of the blue to remove recently-installed Houston Ave. safety improvements. The removal cost nearly $1 million. (This was part of Mayor Whitmire's overall strategy to make Houston streets less safe for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists.) * In March of 2024, Mayor Whitmire's team referred a request for information about the Houston Ave. changes to Attorney General Ken Paxton's office saying that information about busy streets and intersections could be used by terrorists. It's all a big joke to Whitmire and his team. And they are willing to work with far-right Kan Paxton to avoid transparency. * In December of 2024, Mayor Whitmire wrongfully diverted money from lights on highway overpass bridges in Montrose to other projects. It does not matter what the other projects were. The money had been allocated by Council for the lights. * Mayor Whitmire allocated $300,000 of city money on his own with no process to install a fancy crosswalk near his home that the city had before said was not a right fit for that location. He spent the money off of a notion and for his own benefit as a nearby resident. The only way any of this will be addressed is if you address it. I spoke at Council in December about King Whitmire's Imperious Ways. (Mayor Whitmire was not present when I spoke. He misses large portions of public comment time at Council. It takes a lot of time to go downtown and wait to be called. Mayor Whitmire doesn't care.) No elected official will take an energetic stand for the rule of law at Houston City Hall, even as democracy is under attack across the nation, unless you compel them to do so. Press Councilmembers to stand strong against Mayor Whitmire's consistent contempt for his lawful responsibilities, and in strong favor of Houston's important role in the fight for democracy & respect for the law and the outcomes of elections. No more rule by decree at Houston City Hall. Here is information on contacting and following Houston City Council-- 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 is the Houston Democracy Project list of things each of us can do to fight Trump/Musk. 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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May 2025
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