Sidewalk Ordinance Matter Of Democracy & Police Union Dodges Scrutiny Of Officers-Houston Democracy Project Notes, 10/17

Here are Houston Democracy Project Blog Notes & Observations for October 17th. Election Day is in 19 days on November 5th & Early Voting begins in 4 days on October 21st.

* The Houston Planning & Development Department is working on a revision of the Houston sidewalk ordinance. This is a matter for the Houston Democracy Project because Mayor Whitmire recently  gutted the ordinance with a memo rather than by a vote of Council.  

Three Councilmembers--Tiffany Thomas, Carolyn Evans-Shabazz & Ed Pollard--sought to change a provision in the law that requires developers to either build a sidewalk, or pay a fee when constructing a new house. They didn't have the votes. Mayor Whitmire worked it out for them by simply writing a memo allowing exemptions from the requirement to either build the sidewalk or pay up. Not very democratic at all.

The sidewalk ordinance is also a matter of democracy because sidewalks are an important place where people meet up and connect. Sidewalks are such an important place for protest, that Mayor Whitmire unsuccessfully tried in August to restrict the rights of Houstonians to protest on the sidewalk.          

The Planning Department has scheduled eight public hearings between October 22 and November 2 on this issue. Four are in person and four virtual. The timing is awful in the last days before such a high stakes election. The Planning Department says the final Council vote will be on December 11.   

Here are more details.      

I'm going to try to attend one of the in person hearings and at least one of the virtual meetings. I'll keep up on it & use the Houston Democracy Project to keep the public informed. We should understand what is going on with such a basic public and social good as sidewalks.    

* The Houston Police Officers Union has filed a grievance with the city over how the city is making use of data from police officer body cameras.

From the Houston Chronicle:

"The policy allows body camera footage to be extracted, using a "record after the fact" technology, even if an officer doesn't turn it on. But since their implementation, at least two employees, including one assistant chief, have violated the policy and used the technology to retrieve private conversations, argued Ray Hunt, executive director for the union. Neither has yet faced discipline for the violations....Officials with the union initially supported the initiative because the understanding is it would be used in a few specific instances, Hunt said. Policy dictated supervisors could pull video related to criminal activity, an officer-involved shooting or a significant event....Troy Finner, who was police chief at the time it was implemented, said the policy is only meant to review police actions, and is not meant to record idle talk by officers or other private moments. State law prohibits body-worn cameras from recording on a 24/7 basis, he said."

I'm highlighting this because Houstonians should know that HPD does not have a body camera on when they interact with people & that the police union does not want you see what is going on.

This is a democracy issue because we are facing an authoritarian threat now just weeks away, HPD  may well be directed by federal and state forces to take part in mass deportations and police unions are fine with endorsing anti-democractic candidates and officials.         

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