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Tag: Rodney Ellis

  • CAIR Will Continue Civil Rights Work Despite Abbott’s Terrorism Declaration [UPDATE] – Houston Press

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    Editor’s Note: The Muslim Legal Fund of America and the CAIR Legal Defense Fund announced Thursday that they have filed a federal lawsuit against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton to block enforcement of Abbott’s “unconstitutional and defamatory” November 18 proclamation, which they say falsely declared the Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations a “foreign terrorist organization” and threatened various civil penalties against the civil rights organization if it continues to serve the people of Texas.

    Original story:

    Being Muslim doesn’t make one a terrorist, but that didn’t stop Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott from condemning two prominent civil rights groups this week, prompting an immediate response from one that the allegations are defamatory and have no basis in law or fact. 

    Abbott issued a proclamation on Tuesday designating the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations. This designation authorizes heightened enforcement against both groups and their affiliates and prohibits them from purchasing or acquiring land in Texas, according to a press release. 

    The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have “long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world,’” Abbott said in a statement. 

    “The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable,” he said. “These radical extremists are not welcome in our state and are now prohibited from acquiring any real property interest in Texas.”

    It’s an unusual move on Abbott’s part, since, under the Immigration and Nationality Act, only the U.S. secretary of state can officially designate foreign terrorist organizations following consultation with the attorney general and treasury secretary.

    The impact of the action by Abbott is limited to Texas law enforcement and authorizes the state attorney general to sue organizations deemed affiliated with CAIR or the Muslim Brotherhood, the Guardian reported this week.

    In his proclamation, Abbott referenced comments by Muslim Brotherhood founders that supported “fighting of the non-believers.” The governor also cited that Hamas, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, orchestrated a 2023 terrorist attack in Israel in which nearly 400 people were killed. 

    Abbott said he targeted CAIR because the organization was named in 2007 as having ties to the Holy Land Foundation, a group that was shut down for sending millions of dollars to Hamas. CAIR has denied the allegations and was not indicted. 

    Habiba Noor, a lecturer at Trinity University, told the Texas Tribune this week that Abbott is using an “Islamophobic toolbox” to rehash conspiracy theories in an effort to criminalize Muslims. One such conspiracy theory, the lecturer said, is that CAIR is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. 

    CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, responded by saying in a letter that Abbott didn’t have the authority to unilaterally declare Americans or American institutions terrorist groups. 

    CAIR Texas said its civil rights work would continue undeterred. A spokesperson for CAIR Houston did not immediately respond to voicemails and emails seeking comment on Wednesday. 

    “Greg Abbott is an Israel First politician who has spent months stoking anti-Muslim hysteria to smear American Muslims critical of the Israeli government,” CAIR National said in a statement. “Mr. Abbott has once again shown that his top priority is advancing anti-Muslim bigotry, not serving the people of Texas. His latest publicity stunt has no basis in fact or law, nor can it stop our civil rights work.”

    At press time, the Muslim Brotherhood had not issued a response to Abbott’s proclamation. In 2015, the group was banned in Egypt, where it was founded, and declared a terrorist organization. The Muslim Brotherhood supports charitable causes and has said that its aim is the establishment of a state ruled by Sharia law. 

    Sharia is an Islamic legal and moral code that serves as a path for Muslims to live according to God’s will, as derived from the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. 

    And that’s a problem for Abbott, who, one day after designating the Muslim groups as terrorists, called for an investigation into “possible criminal violations by Sharia tribunals masquerading as legal courts and … purporting to enforce Sharia law” in Collin and Dallas counties. 

    Texas Republicans, including Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, have attempted for months to thwart the construction of a 400-acre Muslim community called EPIC City near Plano, calling it a “Sharia compound.” 

    Abbott signed a bill into law in September prohibiting “residential property developments like EPIC City from creating Sharia compounds and defrauding and discriminating against Texans.” No evidence has been produced that the organizers of EPIC City, which would include 1,000 residential units, a school and a mosque, intended to operate under Sharia law. 

    The project appears to be on hold because of numerous legal challenges and state investigations.

    Harris County commissioners Rodney Ellis, Adrian Garcia and Lesley Briones jumped into the fray late Tuesday evening, issuing a statement that Abbott’s proclamation against the Muslim organizations “is a reckless action that fuels fear and runs contrary to Harris County’s success as the country’s most diverse metro area. It also has no basis in the law.”

    “Harris County has thrived as a welcoming place for all. People come here from around the world,” the three Democratic commissioners said in a joint statement. “Not only do we contribute to their success, but they contribute to ours. We all work together to build a safe, prosperous community. The governor’s rhetoric fractures community trust and undermines the safety and cohesion that government is meant to protect.”

    Numerous elected officials from Houston and Harris County attended a Muslim celebration to break fast at the end of Ramadan this year. Credit: Daniel J. Cohen

    Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, who is competing in a January runoff election to fill the unexpired term of the late Sylvester Turner in U.S. Congressional District 18, said Abbott’s announcement was discriminatory and unconstitutional. 

    “He’s putting entire communities at risk by spreading fear instead of facts,” Menefee said in a statement. “Governor Abbott is again breaking down the trust we need to keep our neighborhoods stable. I denounce his decision and call on him to reverse it.” 

    In its response to Abbott, CAIR National said that the governor’s office has spent months stoking anti-Muslim hysteria to smear American Muslims critical of the Israeli government. The organization said it plans to continue opposing all forms of bigotry, speaking out against injustice and defending the Constitution’s guarantees of free speech. 

    CAIR has previously taken legal action against the state, most recently last year in defense of anti-genocide protesters at the University of Houston and University of Texas at Dallas. 

    “We have successfully sued you three different times for shredding the First Amendment for the benefit of the Israeli government, and we are ready to do so again if you attempt to turn this publicity stunt into actual policy,” the statement reads, in a direct message to Abbott. 

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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    April Towery

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  • SNAP Program Lingers in Uncertainty – Houston Press

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    Editor’s Note: Federal Judge John McConnell ruled Thursday afternoon that the Trump administration must fully fund November SNAP benefits immediately to prevent further harm to 42 million Americans.

    A federal judge ruled recently that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has to provide, at the very least, partial benefits to food stamp recipients in November, but single moms like Hillary Randall who are dependent on government assistance say the only notification they’ve received is that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission is monitoring the situation.

    Randall told the Houston Press last month that she spent her October deposit from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on packaged meats that she stocked in her freezer. Randall, a widow who is employed and taking classes at San Jacinto College, cares for four children and her ill father. 

    She and about 3.5 million Texans will be relying heavily on food banks and churches so they don’t go hungry during the government shutdown, which is now the longest in history. 

    Following the judge’s ruling, the Trump administration said on November 3 that it will provide only half of the normal food stamp benefits for the month by tapping into the program’s contingency fund. The payments are likely to be delayed. 

    Randall is due to have her EBT card loaded on November 12 but when she checks her balance, she gets a message that says, “Check back later for more information.” A USDA official said in court last week that some SNAP recipients may not see their partial benefits for weeks or months, depending on how long the shutdown lasts and how quickly individual states can reconfigure their electronic payment systems. 

    Government Shutdown

    Trump’s Republican Party is blaming Democrats for the shutdown, which not only halted SNAP distribution but also created a catastrophic situation for air travelers across the country. Delays averaging three hours were reported at Houston airports on Monday, and while the situation appears to have improved, flights are being canceled and frustration is mounting. 

    Texas-based Southwest and American Airlines called for a “clean” short-term spending bill to end the shutdown and restore pay for federal workers like air traffic controllers and TSA agents. 

    With Thanksgiving looming, could a compromise be in sight? 

    Republicans say that Democrats could end the shutdown immediately by voting on a resolution to fund federal agencies. The Dems appear to be holding out in an effort to extend healthcare premium exemptions under the Affordable Care Act that were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

    Several agencies and lawmakers sent letters to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins asking her to release about $5 billion in contingency funds. After the ruling in federal court, the USDA said it would obligate $4.65 billion in reserves to cover half of the current allotments for eligible households in November.

    The remaining $600 million in the fund will be used for state administrative expenses and nutrition assistance for Puerto Rico and American Samoa, CNN reported. 

    United Food and Commercial Workers International president Milton Jones pointed out in a letter that cutting SNAP benefits doesn’t just harm low-income families; it hurts the workers and the economy. 

    “Rising costs at the grocery store already threaten household budgets, especially for low-income families,” Jones said. “An interruption in food assistance will only make matters worse, and workers in meatpacking, food processing, and grocery could see a reduction in hours and wages if SNAP dollars aren’t available to be spent in their stores or on their products.”

    One Fair Wage, a national organization of service workers and restaurant employees, launched an emergency fund on Tuesday to provide direct cash assistance for groceries and basic needs to workers affected by the SNAP cuts.   

    Houston Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher joined fellow Democrats in asking that contingency funds be released and that the USDA “use its statutory transfer authority or any other legal authority at its disposal to supplement these dollars and fully fund November benefits.”

    Texas ranks second in the country for the highest number of SNAP recipients, with 3.5 million Texans, including 1.7 million children, receiving benefits. In Houston, more than half of the recipients are children under the age of 18 and another 11 percent are seniors over the age of 65, according to Fletcher’s office. 

    “If the Trump administration fails to act, 35,219 households in Texas’ Seventh Congressional District risk not being able to put food on the table [in November],” Fletcher said. 

    Texas House Democrats delivered a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott asking him to declare a state of emergency and authorize temporary SNAP benefits. 

    “It’s un-Texan and un-American to turn a blind eye to our neighbors’ suffering,” said Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston. “Governor Abbott has the clear authority to use state funds to bridge the gap in federal funding and keep Texans fed — he should do it without delay. Texas House Democrats are taking action to protect our neighbors from this unprecedented and manufactured crisis.” 

    Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, followed suit, pleading with the governor to find a temporary solution ahead of the holiday season. 

    Houston and Harris County officials have also weighed in on the shutdown. Democrat Commissioner Rodney Ellis said this week that no family should have to wonder where their next meal is coming from, “especially in a place as prosperous as Harris County.”

    “But the White House is holding food assistance hostage, treating SNAP benefits like a political bargaining chip,” Ellis said in a statement. “Nearly 70,000 of our neighbors — children, seniors, caregivers, and students — now face the possibility of going without the groceries they depend on to survive.”

    Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, also a Democrat, pointed out that research indicates that food insecurity is linked to erosion in public safety, referencing a Clemson University study that shows a 1 percent increase in food insecurity corresponded with a 12 percent increase in violent crime. 

    “Anyone who truly cares about public safety should be alarmed by this self-imposed funding crisis manufactured in Washington,” Teare said at a November 3 press conference. “My hope is that fellow Houstonians will rise to the occasion to make sure we’re looking out for the most vulnerable among us, especially as we begin the transition into the holiday season.”  

    Resources for the Hungry

    The Houston school district announced this week that it expanded opportunities for free breakfast and after-school supper service. Every student will be offered breakfast upon arrival at school and the supper program was expanded from 132 campuses to 231. 

    “Breakfast is one of the most important parts of a child’s day,” said HISD Deputy Chief of Nutrition Services Betti Wiggins in a press release. “By creating more flexibility around breakfast service, we’re making sure students can start their mornings with a healthy meal and a positive mindset.”

    Families may also visit any of the district’s eight Sunrise Centers across Houston, which provide weekly food distributions, along with clothing and other items. 

    The Houston Food Bank continues to offer “supersite” distribution events for federal employees and SNAP recipients but participants must register before showing up. The goal of the events is to distribute groceries first to those who have gone the longest without benefits, said Houston Food Bank president and CEO Brian Greene at an October 28 media event. 

    The following food distribution events are planned: 

    • November 8 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Northwest Assistance Ministries, 15555 Kuykendahl Road
    • November 11 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Bethel’s Heavenly Hands, 12525 Fondren Road
    • November 13 from 3 to 7 p.m. at Community of Faith Church, 1024 Pinemont Drive
    • November 15 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Northwest Assistance Ministries, 15555 Kuykendahl Road
    • November 18 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Bethel’s Heavenly Hands, 12525 Fondren Road
    • November 20 from 3 to 7 p.m. at Community of Faith Church, 1024 Pinemont Drive
    • November 22 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Northwest Assistance Ministries, 15555 Kuykendahl Road

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    April Towery

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  • Mass Layoffs at Harris Center Could Amplify Mental Health Crisis – Houston Press

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    Alma Castillo has worked as a therapist for the Harris Center for 12 years, and while her job is safe for now, more than 180 of her colleagues have been laid off since September, creating what she says are catastrophic conditions for a region already in the throes of a mental health crisis. 

    “The services we provide are essential to the community,” Castillo told the Houston Press. “With everything that is going on in the world right now — people losing their SNAP benefits, issues with people being targeted by ICE — everyone is anxious and on edge. If there are not enough services, it’s going to cost the county more because it will lead to more hospitalizations, homelessness and people going to jail, things that could have been mediated with the proper mental health services.” 

    The Harris Center for Mental Health and Intellectual and Developmental Disability is one of hundreds of agencies statewide affected by the expiration of American Rescue Plan Act funds and a grant from Texans Recovering Together. Positions funded by those two sources make up the vast majority of the layoffs, Castillo said. 

    A county official who asked not to be identified said Thursday the situation isn’t as dire as it’s been advertised. About 83 of the employees whose salaries were funded by the ARPA grant were shifted into other vacant positions at the Harris Center almost immediately, the official clarified.

    Castillo said that’s true, but employees are still questioning their long-term job security, and service cuts have also been made, including the closure of a children’s wellness clinic in northeast Harris County. Clients served by that facility now have to drive to the opposite end of the county or stop receiving assistance, Castillo said.

    Harris Center CEO Wayne Young said the layoffs were a result of federal cuts and would not impact core operations.

    “Several programs were affected by these changes — some because they were designed as short-term initiatives, others through the reduction of specific positions and programs that have been fully discontinued,” Young said in an email to the Press. “In each case, we focused on how we could continue meeting the needs of those we serve through other ongoing programs.”

    Drastic Medicaid cuts are also anticipated as a result of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in July. The Texas Hospital Association predicted that the federal cuts would have catastrophic effects on mental healthcare but the full impact remains to be seen. The Harris Center is funded in part by Medicaid and accepts it as a form of payment for services. 

    Harris County, which funds a portion of the Center’s expenses, recently adopted a $2.7 billion budget that included pay raises for law enforcement but slashed services and vacant positions countywide. The county asked its departments, including the Harris Center, to cut their budgets by 10 percent. 

    Some Harris Center employees got their layoff notices the day the county budget was adopted, Castillo said. Several of the workers ended their employment on October 8; others will get to stay on for six months. Positions affected by the layoffs included therapists, crisis line workers, case managers, program managers, psychiatry techs and nursing staff. 

    Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who joined County Judge Lina Hidalgo in voting against the county budget, said last month that the document is morally and fiscally irresponsible. 

    “While families already spend more than they can afford on rent and groceries, we froze or eliminated hundreds of positions in public health, housing, and community services, forcing residents to do more with less,” Ellis said in a September 25 statement. “As the Trump Administration and the state of Texas escalate mass incarceration and strip away civil liberties, our budget doubles down, discontinuing community-based support that could keep youth out of the system.”

    That sentiment was echoed this week by Castillo, vice president of United Workers of Harris Center, a local union that organized about two years ago and “became official” in January. About 30 union members showed up at a Harris Center board meeting earlier this week, asking that services and jobs be reinstated and the agency’s $374 million budget be re-evaluated. 

    Belinda Aguilar, president of Communications Workers of America Local 6222, said at the board meeting that every Harris Center program, from crisis response to early childhood services, depends on the people who show up every day to serve. 

    “When you cut staff, you’re not just cutting positions. You’re cutting access to care for people who need it the most,” she said. “The truth is, layoffs don’t save money. They create turnover, slow down services and cost the county more in the long run.” 

    “These workers deserve to be treated with dignity and respect,” Aguilar added. “This means honest communication, fair notice and real severance.” 

    Union members showed up in force at a Harris Center board meeting this week to protest mass layoffs. Credit: Alma Castillo

    In a petition that now has about 200 signatures, the union lays out specific demands, including 12 weeks’ notice of layoffs, job search assistance and six months of healthcare coverage for those who have lost their jobs. 

    Board members did not respond to the offer of collaboration during this week’s meeting. An agency official told Castillo that they couldn’t discuss the matter because it wasn’t on the agenda. 

    United Workers of Harris Center supported Hilton Americas–Houston workers who went on a 40-day strike and successfully negotiated higher wages and better working conditions. But because Harris Center workers don’t have a contract and are public sector employees, they can’t even use the word “negotiate,” Castillo said. 

    “We don’t have those rights to strike or negotiate,” she said. “We have to collaborate and communicate. I know we’re early on, but so far, that’s been a challenge. We have to get open records and reach out to different people to get answers. I feel like we have people on the board who are supportive. I just don’t know how they can resolve this and what all is being said or done.” 

    According to Young, the Harris Center board has ultimate authority over the organization’s budget but is only involved in hiring decisions related to the CEO.

    The union has been meeting individually with county commissioners, and Castillo said she’s slated to make a presentation before the Harris Center board’s governance committee on November 11. 

    “We’re letting them know what our concerns are and wanting to figure out how we can create stopgaps to save jobs, but, you know, we’re workers. We’re volunteers. We don’t have all the info,” she said. 

    Castillo works as a children’s therapist, helping kids who suffer from depression and anxiety at schools across the Greater Houston area, with a clinic in Pasadena. Her job isn’t in jeopardy because the funding stream through which she’s paid is intact. The layoffs, however, affect everybody, she said. 

    “We’re the largest provider of mental health and IDD services in the state,” Castillo said. “So many things are so important to keeping our community healthy. Just like law enforcement or traditional health care services, I think we’re at that same level.”

    Over the past 10 years, the workforce at Harris Center has increased by 307 employees, but the number of clients has spiked by more than 22,000, Castillo said. 

    Protecting the jobs of healthcare workers equates to protecting lives, union members said at the Harris Center board meeting. 

    “When you attack the workforce, you attack the community,” said CWA District 6 vice president Derrick Osobase. “The people at the Harris Center are the ones holding this safety net together, and we’re not going to stand by while critical care for Harris County families is cut.” 

    According to its website, the Harris Center employs about 2,500 workers and serves more than 80,000 people per year. The Center operates a psychiatric emergency center, jail diversion center, crisis call line, law enforcement co-responder teams, offender/re-entry clinics, juvenile detention services, detox for homeless people and a dual diagnosis residential treatment center

    “The essential programs our neighbors rely on are only possible because of skilled and dedicated workers,” Castillo said. “The [layoffs] disrupt critical care, increase wait times, and push more people into crisis.” 

    Young said that while “recent changes to our funding have required careful adjustments, our commitment to serving Harris County and those who depend on us remains unchanged.”

    “The Harris Center continues to focus on delivering essential, high-quality care to the individuals and families who need us most,” he said.

    Castillo said she’s received no indication that any of the laid-off workers will be reinstated. 

    “I have hope,” she said. “The populations we serve, a lot of them are already vulnerable.  If we’re not there, how are people going to get help? We’re not trying to make people afraid or more anxious than they already are, but this is the reality we’re in, and if we don’t take action, I’m afraid it’s going to get worse.” 

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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    April Towery

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  • Harris County Flood Control District Unveils Bond Project Dashboard

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    The Harris County Commissioners Court held a public hearing on its controversial budget and tax rate on Thursday, but another agenda item was top of mind for Billy Guevara, Doris Brown, and members of the disaster response advocacy group West Street Recovery: the unveiling of a dashboard to track $2.5 billion worth of flood bond projects that were approved seven years ago.

    Guevara lost six family members who tried to outrun Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and drowned in the floodwaters of Halls Bayou. Brown’s northeast Houston home flooded, the roof caved in, and FEMA rejected her application for assistance. West Street Recovery was formed shortly after Harvey to help Houstonians like Guevara and Brown.

    Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston and southeast Texas, flooding more than 100,000 structures and causing $125 billion in damage. At least 100 people died.

    Harris County responded by putting a multibillion-dollar bond issue before voters in 2018. The measure passed with 86 percent casting ballots in favor, and local leaders got to work submitting projects.

    But until this week, there was no way for a member of the public, or even an elected county commissioner, to get a simple snapshot on the Harris County Flood Control District website of what’s been accomplished and what’s in the pipeline.

    Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, the only current official who was seated at the time of the bond program, has demanded that the county follow an equity framework that prioritizes flood mitigation projects in historically underserved areas that need it most.

    Commissioner Tom Ramsey has argued that Ellis’ definition of equity puts the projects in Precinct 1 at the top of the priority list, neglecting much-needed flood mitigation in other areas of the county.

    During a Commissioners Court meeting in June, Harris County Flood Control District Director Tina Petersen heard from an irate crowd, including Guevara and Brown, who said they were promised that flood mitigation projects would be initiated in their neighborhoods to prevent “another Harvey.” They voted for the bonds and supported the framework that was supposed to address “the worst first.”

    They didn’t know if the projects in their neighborhoods were funded and slated for construction or if they’d been discarded because they were found not to be feasible. Residents and commissioners accused the flood control district of not being transparent.

    “We could land a guy on the moon easier than what we’re trying to do here, in terms of how complicated we’ve made it,” Ramsey said at the June meeting. “It shouldn’t be this hard to figure out whether a project is going to be done in your neighborhood or not. I have to send a registered professional engineer with 20 years of experience to go meet for two hours to try to figure out what projects are being done, just in my precinct.”

    Many suggested a streamlined “one-stop shop” where residents and commissioners could track projects and hold officials accountable to do what they said they’d do when the bond passed.

    Petersen and her team heard the mandate, and the Harris County Flood Control District rolled out a dashboard this week that displays more than 100 projects with detailed information about the scope, benefits, completion status, and funding sources for each. Residents can type in their address for a micro view of projects near their neighborhoods.

    click to enlarge

    A dashboard unveiled this week allows residents to track projects approved in a 2018 bond.

    Screenshot

    Flood Control District Chief External Affairs Officer Emily Woodell met with the media prior to Thursday’s court meeting to review the dashboard. In addition to providing the public display of all things related to the 2018 flood bond package, Woodell said her team has been meeting every Friday morning since July with staffers from each of the four county commission precinct offices.

    “There’s been a massive amount of effort to really, literally, all come to the table with a shared understanding of the program and a shared understanding of benefits to make sure we’re moving this forward in a responsible way,” she said.

    A dashboard doesn’t fix Harris County’s infrastructure but it does provide much-needed transparency, Woodell added. Rumors abounded earlier this year that the bond program faced a massive deficit due to inflation. It’s important for the voters to see not just which projects are getting done, but how they’re being funded, she said.

    Voters approved a $2.5 billion bond but the needs assessment at that time amounted to more than $5 billion. Flood control district officials have leveraged the bond funds into an additional $2.7 billion in partnership funding, representing a 109 percent return on investment, Woodell explained. If a project doesn’t have funding or the necessary cooperation of a government entity, it’s being paused.

    Currently about 26 projects are paused, and “solid engineering estimates” show the amount needed to fund them is $400 million, Woodell said.

    “We think it’s really important and frankly this is something we’ve been wanting to spend time on for a long time,” she said of the dashboard. “What we’re focused on doing is providing the data in a lot of different ways. When you talk about $5.2 billion, you lose the sense of scale and you lose the sense of what’s going on. We’re focused on making sure that when we talk funding, we’re talking spent funds, committed funds, and then total funds so that people know where their tax dollars are going.”

    “We’re also getting into where the projects are in the overall delivery process,” she added. “How is my watershed’s funding stacking up to other people’s funding?”

    Based on any potential directives given at Thursday’s Commissioners Court meeting, which was still underway at press time, the dashboard will be updated early next week to reflect new priorities and funding allocations, Woodell said.

    A lot of work has been done since the program was initiated, but some of it — such as design work and right-of-way acquisition — isn’t immediately visible while driving through Houston neighborhoods.

    The new dashboard shows 181 approved “bond IDs,” categories such as Greens Bayou Watershed, Buffalo Bayou Watershed, and Galveston Bay Watershed. Within those bond IDs are about 400 projects. About half of those projects are finished, Woodell said.

    “One of the things that we’ve gotten away from, just to be totally honest with you, is that this really was in response to Harvey,” she said. “It was seven years ago but it feels like it was yesterday. The damage was countywide. I think one of the things that’s been lost in this is just how much work has been done already and the benefits that are on the ground right now. We know that tens of thousands of people are safer.”

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    Each of the 2018 bond projects has its own page on the dashboard that details the construction timeline and associated costs.

    Screenshot

    One of the big wins for the bond program, according to Woodell, was the construction of more than 16,000 acre-feet of stormwater detention.

    “That’s like if you took Minute Maid Park and stacked it 1,000 feet with stormwater,” she said. “It’s an amazing amount of capacity we’ve been able to add across the county. We’ve also constructed miles and miles of channel conveyance improvements. What that looks like is making sure our channels can actually move water and they have more capacity.”

    As new commissioners were elected and Petersen was appointed executive director in 2022, the bond program remained “highly conceptual,” Woodell said.

    “There were not a lot of hard projects included in the bond program,” she said. “There was a ton of engineering and analysis that was needed to be able to refine those concepts and actually build projects. The back-of-the-napkin things had to be turned into things that could be built, and there’s a lot of work that goes into that.”

    A prioritization framework was adopted by Commissioners Court in 2019 and later updated by the Harris County Community Flood Resilience Task Force in 2022.

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    Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis surveys damage after Hurricane Harvey.

    Photo by Brandon Dudley

    The flood control district, which reports to Commissioners Court, has followed the framework throughout the process, according to Petersen and Woodell, but Commissioner Ellis said this week he intends to hold them accountable to ensure vulnerable neighborhoods are being prioritized.

    Ellis said he was pleased with the action taken in June to secure $262.5 million for urgent needs, including $118 million for Greens Bayou.

    “I will continue to push for full implementation of the flood equity framework; no cuts to feasible projects in underserved areas; transparent reporting on project status, funding, and timelines; and deployment of all remaining flood bond funds according to equity principles,” Ellis said in an email. “We cannot back off. Equity isn’t a slogan. It’s a promise.”

    Some projects have been paused or eliminated from the to-do list because they were found to be “unfeasible,” Woodell said, meaning there is no engineering solution to move a project forward or a partner hasn’t come to the table. The dollars earmarked to those projects will be shifted to other efforts, Woodell said.

    Partnerships with private funders have proved lucrative, however, although the partners get to pick the projects they want to fund and their priorities may not line up with residents who voted for the bond.

    “The thing that will slow an infrastructure project down the fastest is uncertainty, whether it’s uncertainty about funding or scope,” Woodell said. “As we’ve refined the program over time, we’ve gotten more and more clarity.”

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    Doris Brown asks for transparency and accountability at a September 18 meeting of Harris County Commissioners Court.

    Screenshot

    Public comment was held prior to the dashboard unveiling at Thursday’s Commissioners Court meeting, and while it was clear that several residents had already viewed the one-stop shop, many weren’t satisfied that it addressed their concerns about prioritizing projects in Harris County’s historically underserved neighborhoods.

    Community activist Shirley Ronquillo said she volunteered on the Flood Resilience Task Force from 2022 to 2024, but project prioritization based on equity wasn’t discussed.

    “I am here on behalf of communities that have been historically neglected and left to flood time and time again,” she said. “I applied for the task force under the illusion that the community could work alongside Harris County Flood Control and serve as an adviser to equitable flood mitigation solutions. However, my free time, after work, time away from my aging parents, was spent listening to county departments rather than serving as an adviser on projects.”

    Doris Brown, the northeast Houston resident whose home flooded during Harvey, also addressed equity.

    “Equity means that we must assist people in communities so that everyone ends up with an equal opportunity to thrive,” she said. “It means that communities that have been neglected, if not outright discriminated against, should get investment. All communities deserve to be protected from flooding.”

    “For too long, flood control decisions were made on basic cost-benefit analysis that valued a million-dollar home as more important than six $150,000 homes,” she added. “The prioritization matrix that flood control was instructed to use in 2019 and 2022 was supposed to address this, but time and time again, we have seen that flood control does not. It is a betrayal of trust that flood control decided that some projects didn’t need to be passed through the matrix.”

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    April Towery

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  • In Lina Hidalgo’s World, Early Childhood Programs Are Still the No. 1 Priority

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    Harris County is days away from adopting its $2.7 billion budget, sinking in debt, and grappling over how to prioritize flood control projects, but County Judge Lina Hidalgo can’t stop talking about an early childhood program she tried — and failed — to fund through a tax increase earlier this year.

    The Democratic judge has been at odds for months with Commissioners Lesley Briones and Adrian Garcia, members of her own political party, as well as Republican Commissioner Tom Ramsey. At the heart of most of the arguments is money.

    Briones and Garcia, who are both up for re-election in 2026, were noticeably absent from Hidalgo’s State of the County address last Friday. The event, sponsored by Greater Houston Partnership, was billed as an opportunity to hear from the judge on infrastructure, storm resilience, and economic mobility. Hidalgo, however, spent more than half of her allotted 40 minutes directing guests at the Marriott Marquis to a PowerPoint presentation on early childhood education.

    The judge is clearly still salty about a thwarted attempt on August 7 to let voters decide on a one-penny tax for the kids’ education program funded by American Rescue Plan Act dollars that expire next year.

    Commissioners Ramsey, Briones and Garcia — referred to by Hidalgo as the “GOP three” — not only rejected the judge’s plea to continue funding the program but denounced her effort to involve children to sway votes, saying her behavior was inappropriate. Ramsey proposed a censure of the judge, which was supported by Briones and Garcia.

    “We need to get better leadership,” Ramsey said at the time. “We don’t have time for this.”

    click to enlarge

    When Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, center, delivered her State of the County address last week, Rodney Ellis was the only commissioner who attended.

    Photo by April Towery

    Commissioners Court is scheduled to adopt its budget and tax rate on September 18.

    Since the August discussion on the childhood education program, the Harris County Commissioners Court has moved on to other budget debates, primarily centered on how to combat a $200 million deficit and how to compete with law enforcement pay at the Houston Police Department.

    Well, most of the Commissioners Court has moved on.

    “To get politicians to agree on something like putting [money] into early childhood education is harder than getting toddlers to agree on bedtime,” Hidalgo said at last week’s State of the County.

    The judge touched briefly on public safety, noting that she and Commissioner Ellis proposed $100 million in raises for county law enforcement, a measure that passed and is included in the proposed budget.

    But Hidalgo and Ellis voted against doubling the salaries of Harris County’s eight constables, who have asked for pay hikes to $290,000 per year, which amounts to more than the annual salary for Sheriff Ed Gonzalez and just slightly less than that of Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz. That measure passed 3-2 and is also included in the proposed budget slated for adoption next week.

    Briones and Garcia have indicated they support “pay parity” and are concerned about losing law enforcement officers to the Houston Police Department. A recently approved $1 billion Houston police contract includes a 36.5 percent raise for officers spread across five years.

    It was clear at last week’s event that Hidalgo wanted to avoid the rift among county officials and instead talk about the childhood education program, as she asked the audience to support her in ensuring that the matter is on the ballot in 2026.

    “You all understand that our workforce depends on what we do right now for those kids who are going to grow up and be in the future workforce,” she said. “You are the movers and shakers who are going to be able to spread the word about what we’re trying to do. Also, a lot of you have been able to get to where you are while raising children, so you know how hard it is.”

    The penny tax Hidalgo proposed would have cost the average Harris County homeowner roughly $24 more a year in taxes, and it would have provided educational opportunities for about 25,000 families, she said.

    “I may not be a mom, and I’m certainly not a teacher, but I do understand the importance of early childhood education, and I don’t think you have to be a parent or a teacher or somebody who works with kids in order to do so,” she said.

    The judge outlined data showing that the program is successful and voters would have supported it, according to a poll.

    “Early childhood education is popular because everyone understands how important it is,” she said. “What this shows you, in my mind, is a bipartisan reticence at the politician level to support early childhood education, when, at the community level, there is huge support for it. This disconnect between politics and the needs of the community does not stick with one party or the other.”

    “These kids are going to lose access to the programs,” she added. “It’s really important that we put this on the ballot in November of 2026. There is no excuse not to do it.”

    Following Hidalgo’s presentation, the judge dodged a question from Greater Houston Partnership president and CEO Steve Kean about whether she’ll seek re-election to a third term.

    “I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to break news on that here today, but it’s coming very, very, very, very soon,” she said.

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    April Towery

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