John Whitmire Houston Mayor

[BEES?!]

I like to reply to political spammers and really get them going. Sometimes there’s a real person so you can get some entertainment out of it. 

I’m pretty sure I pissed someone’s election campaign off, though, because I get near-constant spam calls now rofl.

[__nevii]

The fear with John Whitmire is that he might be a MAGA in sheeps clothing, and screw up the city's politics from the inside-out (hence, completing the "plan" that Abbott and Co have regarding Harris County).

I really hope he's just a more of the "reasonable centrist Democrat", as that wouldn't be too terrible an outcome regarding urbanism: a lot of reform. After all "StrongTowns" (i.e. featured on "NotJustBikes", coined the term "stroads") is a strong advocate for encouraging walkability over sprawl, and it does so via a relatively fiscal-based platform (which appeals readily to centrist, conservative/libertarian types).

The recent proposition that passed in Nov gave more power additionally for city-council members to push items on agenda. That will give us a chance, at least, to see where they stand on issues pertaining to urbanism.

Most important of all is to BAN PARKING MINIMUMS. If there's a way to organize, reach out, inspire action from leadership, gladly will do it.

Edited December 10, 2023 by __nevii

[august948]

4 hours ago, BEES?! said:

I like to reply to political spammers and really get them going. Sometimes there’s a real person so you can get some entertainment out of it. 

I’m pretty sure I pissed someone’s election campaign off, though, because I get near-constant spam calls now rofl.

I do the same thing.  😜

Somehow my number got on Beto's call list back when he ran for Senate.  I've had a ball ever since trolling whoever spams me.  It's a guilty pleasure.

[Highrise Tower]

Just hearing the news.

As I've been reading for 12 months, nobody really likes either of the candidates.  It's the usual "lesser of the two evils" scenario. 

Having said that, I'm glad Whitmire got it.  SJL seemed off to me.

[Blue Dogs]

Results from last night:

(Mayor: Open)

Whitmire (D): 128,908 (65%)

SJL (D): 68,633 (35%)

(City Controller: Open)

Hollins (D): 106,929 (59%)

Sanchez (R): 75,447 (41%)

(Houston City Council At-Large 1: Open)

Ramirez (R): 88,413 (51%)

Miles (D): 85,848 (49%)

(Houston City Council At-Large 2: Open)

Davis (R): 92,545 (55%)

Hellyar (D): 77,202 (45%)

(Houston City Council At-Large 3: Open)

Carter (R): 86,386 (51%)

Cantu (D): 83,715 (49%)

(Houston City Council At-Large 4)

Plummer (D-incumbent): 90,106 (52%)

Morales (R): 82,628 (48%)

(Houston City Council District D)

Evans-Shabazz (D-incumbent): 11,801 (65%)

McGee (D): 6,256 (35%)

(Houston City Council District G)

Huffman (R-incumbent): 18,372 (57%)

Buzbee (R): 14,120 (43%)

(Houston City Council District H: Open)

Castillo: 8,398 (64%)

Reyes-Revilla: 4,752 (36%)

[hbg.50]

4 hours ago, Blue Dogs said:

Results from last night:

(Mayor: Open)

Whitmire (D): 128,908 (65%)

SJL (D): 68,633 (35%)

(City Controller: Open)

Hollins (D): 106,929 (59%)

Sanchez (R): 75,447 (41%)

(Houston City Council At-Large 1: Open)

Ramirez (R): 88,413 (51%)

Miles (D): 85,848 (49%)

(Houston City Council At-Large 2: Open)

Davis (R): 92,545 (55%)

Hellyar (D): 77,202 (45%)

(Houston City Council At-Large 3: Open)

Carter (R): 86,386 (51%)

Cantu (D): 83,715 (49%)

(Houston City Council At-Large 4)

Plummer (D-incumbent): 90,106 (52%)

Morales (R): 82,628 (48%)

(Houston City Council District D)

Evans-Shabazz (D-incumbent): 11,801 (65%)

McGee (D): 6,256 (35%)

(Houston City Council District G)

Huffman (R-incumbent): 18,372 (57%)

Buzbee (R): 14,120 (43%)

(Houston City Council District H: Open)

Castillo: 8,398 (64%)

Reyes-Revilla: 4,752 (36%)

Quite a few “drubbings”/mandates in those results…

[kennyc05]

Glad Buzzbee lost.

[mkultra25]

9 hours ago, Blue Dogs said:

(Houston City Council District H: Open)

Castillo: 8,398 (64%)

Reyes-Revilla: 4,752 (36%)

This runoff was Castillo's to lose, but Reyes-Revilla, likely desperate to gain some ground on him, sent out an ill-advised mailer containing an anti-gay dogwhistle (contrasting a picture of her and her family with one of Castillo and his husband/partner). After several high-profile endorsers called on her to apologize, she instead doubled down with a robocall that started with "Did you know that Mario Castillo is gay?" Predictably, this led to endorsements being unceremoniously pulled and a drubbing nearly as bad as the one Whitmire inflicted on SJL.

[Blue Dogs]

14 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

This runoff was Castillo's to lose, but Reyes-Revilla, likely desperate to gain some ground on him, sent out an ill-advised mailer containing an anti-gay dogwhistle (contrasting a picture of her and her family with one of Castillo and his husband/partner). After several high-profile endorsers called on her to apologize, she instead doubled down with a robocall that started with "Did you know that Mario Castillo is gay?" Predictably, this led to endorsements being unceremoniously pulled and a drubbing nearly as bad as the one Whitmire inflicted on SJL.

My cousin mentioned the mailing controversy that doomed Reyes-Revilla's campaign.

19 hours ago, kennyc05 said:

Glad Buzzbee lost.

Maybe he'll get the message: Nobody wants him in political office ever. However, I think Buzbee will plot something in 2027 or 2031.

[hbg.50]

6 hours ago, Blue Dogs said:

My cousin mentioned the mailing controversy that doomed Reyes-Revilla's campaign.

I actually wasn’t aware of Castillo’s sexual preference until I read about it here on HAIF but the flyer didn’t doom Reyes-Revilla’s campaign.  She was the underdog in this race by a long shot.  She was never going to win.

[Blue Dogs]

1 hour ago, steve1363 said:

I actually wasn’t aware of Castillo’s sexual preference until I read about it here on HAIF but the flyer didn’t doom Reyes-Revilla’s campaign.  She was the underdog in this race by a long shot.  She was never going to win.

Fox 26 KRIV-TV Houston had a news segment about the controversy. 

[mkultra25]

4 hours ago, steve1363 said:

I actually wasn’t aware of Castillo’s sexual preference until I read about it here on HAIF but the flyer didn’t doom Reyes-Revilla’s campaign.  She was the underdog in this race by a long shot.  She was never going to win.

I didn't get the flyer in the mail, but I did get the robocall. Anecdotally, I saw a lot more Reyes-Revilla signs around the neighborhood than Castillo signs, but it was pretty clear that she was fighting a rearguard action without much hope of victory even before she shot herself in the foot. I'm kind of amazed that she'd play the gay card in 2023 - for a minute I thought we must be back in 1985 again, with a different Mayor Whitmire, "Don't Shoot Louie", and the "Straight Slate".

[burt]

I'm curious to see how the mayor-elect reshapes the Houston Housing Authority. With all of the controversy surrounding the HHA and Mayor Turner, will Whitmire clean house or do we get more of the same from this group? Given the budget shortfalls that have been identified, and the billions in property value taken off tax rolls via the HHA and Turner, I will be eager to see if there is material change in how the HHA operates. 

[Blue Dogs]

On 12/12/2023 at 10:10 AM, burt said:

I'm curious to see how the mayor-elect reshapes the Houston Housing Authority. With all of the controversy surrounding the HHA and Mayor Turner, will Whitmire clean house or do we get more of the same from this group? Given the budget shortfalls that have been identified, and the billions in property value taken off tax rolls via the HHA and Turner, I will be eager to see if there is material change in how the HHA operates. 

We'll find out soon enough. Has Sticky Fingers Turner congratulated Whitmire yet ?

[Blue Dogs]

Live-Stream from CBS 11 KHOU-TV Houston of the Inauguration festivities of Houston Mayor John Harris Whitmire (D) as the 63rd Mayor of Houston from the Wortham Center. 

 

 

[Blue Dogs]

Here's a growing headache for the Whitmire administration:

https://houstonlanding.org/houston-minority-contracting-program-may-be-at-crossroads-with-new-mayor-lawsuit/

 

[mattyt36]

On 1/30/2024 at 1:49 PM, Blue Dogs said:

Here's a growing headache for the Whitmire administration:

https://houstonlanding.org/houston-minority-contracting-program-may-be-at-crossroads-with-new-mayor-lawsuit/

 

Ah, Bluey's concerned with minority contracting.  Didn't see that one coming.

[X.R.]

John's giving me major mid-90s/early 00's Houston mayor vibes. 

If you view Houston from the typical older Memorial resident's lense, I feel like alot of his decisions make sense. I met him through the years at the burger place in the memorial's golf club. He's probably going to look to "build partnerships" with the corporations to sponsor stuff, which will be fine, but their upper management is going to be like "hey we really hate xyz about X part of Houston" and it will leave alot of Houstonians miffed as to why things are changing that weren't explicitly part of his platform.

[Blue Dogs]

On 2/6/2024 at 2:16 PM, X.R. said:

John's giving me major mid-90s/early 00's Houston mayor vibes. 

If you view Houston from the typical older Memorial resident's lense, I feel like alot of his decisions make sense. I met him through the years at the burger place in the memorial's golf club. He's probably going to look to "build partnerships" with the corporations to sponsor stuff, which will be fine, but their upper management is going to be like "hey we really hate xyz about X part of Houston" and it will leave alot of Houstonians miffed as to why things are changing that weren't explicitly part of his platform.

Noticed Whitmire is keeping Finner as HPD Police Chief & Pena as HFD Fire Chief. But for how long will they keep their jobs at HPD & HFD respectively ? 🤔

[hbg.50]

47 minutes ago, Blue Dogs said:

Noticed Whitmire is keeping Finner as HPD Police Chief & Pena as HFD Fire Chief. But for how long will they keep their jobs at HPD & HFD respectively ? 🤔

Yeah,  it’s not unusual for a new administration to bring in his own people.  I’m curious if Whitmire believes there was this much incompetence/complacency with Turner’s administration or if he is just rewarding his supporters.  As long as he’s been in politics he must owe a lot of favors to supporters.

Let’s see how he does.  He hates pedestrians apparently!  😂   Does he hate potholes, broken pipes, and criminals?

[Blue Dogs]

On 2/8/2024 at 9:56 PM, steve1363 said:

Yeah,  it’s not unusual for a new administration to bring in his own people.  I’m curious if Whitmire believes there was this much incompetence/complacency with Turner’s administration or if he is just rewarding his supporters.  As long as he’s been in politics he must owe a lot of favors to supporters.

Let’s see how he does.  He hates pedestrians apparently!  😂   Does he hate potholes, broken pipes, and criminals?

Eventually Whitmire will get rid of all of the Turner holdovers. 

[trymahjong]

30 minutes ago, Blue Dogs said:

Eventually Whitmire will get rid of all of the Turner holdovers. 

Heard anything concerning ""old " city  council members? Will any of those segue into other jobs with Whitmire administration?

[Blue Dogs]

On 3/2/2024 at 11:42 AM, trymahjong said:

Heard anything concerning ""old " city  council members? Will any of those segue into other jobs with Whitmire administration?

Not really, but there has been news of the HPD Scandals, which blew up recently.

[mattyt36]

Every time I see Whitmire’s name in the news, all I can think is we’re in for 4 years of real hurt and for no reason at all.

As @noahmf said

 

[hbg.50]

12 hours ago, mattyt36 said:

Every time I see Whitmire’s name in the news, all I can think is we’re in for 4 years of real hurt and for no reason at all.

And to think he won with a huge mandate!  His tenure is not off to a good start.   He's already dealing with two big issues (Firefighters pay and Police case scandal), he comes off as combative, and frankly he's not very likeable.

But it's still too early to say we are in for "4 years of hurt."  Everybody knew the city had financial problems and the firefighters lawsuit had to be dealt with.  The police case scandal came out of the woodwork so he can't be blamed for that. 

He still has plenty of time to recover.

[BeerNut]

 

[mattyt36]

3 hours ago, steve1363 said:

And to think he won with a huge mandate!  His tenure is not off to a good start.   He's already dealing with two big issues (Firefighters pay and Police case scandal), he comes off as combative, and frankly he's not very likeable.

But it's still too early to say we are in for "4 years of hurt."  Everybody knew the city had financial problems and the firefighters lawsuit had to be dealt with.  The police case scandal came out of the woodwork so he can't be blamed for that. 

He still has plenty of time to recover.

He does, but I'm not particularly hopeful--that'd require him changing his tack, and as you say, he comes across as unnecessarily "combative" and "not very likable."  Hard to change course with that attitude.  It actually seems like he doesn't particularly like the City, which is, I suppose, one way to run it. 

[mattyt36]

2 hours ago, BeerNut said:

 

Seems to me the strategy is a typical Republican one--deliberately "starve the beast" in order to make cuts elsewhere inevitable while completely avoiding any policy debates.

[hbg.50]

Whitmire continues to clean house…replacing the Houston Public Library director of 20 years!
 

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/houston/article/mayor-john-whitmire-appoints-new-houston-public-19373976.php

[Blue Dogs]

On 3/21/2024 at 10:50 AM, BeerNut said:

 

Turner flat out LIED about the so-called "budget surplus".