Extra Credit - Observing a City Council Meeting

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Apr 3, 2024

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GOVT 2305: American and Texas Government Angel Rocha Observing a City Council Meeting – Extra Credit Opportunity Due Friday, 12/2 by Midnight The prompt: The City of Houston conducts city council meetings in public, and posts videos of these meetings online. Your assignment is to watch portions of the city council meeting from October 18 th and October 19 th and answer the questions below. A link to the meeting can be found here . The three portions you need to watch are from the Public Comment Period , the Mayor’s Report , and the Matters Held discussion. The video times for each segment are listed below. Answer all questions fully (a few sentences each is fine) for 2 points of extra credit on your final grade. Portion 1: Public Comment Period (33:50 to 43:45) Question: What are the issues that the two speakers during this segment bring up to the City Council? What does City Councilwoman Thomas says is being done in response to the concern of the second speaker? The first speaker of this segment (Ilia Lachinov) brought up the issue of the increase in traffic fatalities. Ilia goes on to state that there has been an increment of mortality because of crashes more specifically vehicle on a vehicle, in which he suggests that speed limits should be regulated in the entire city of Houston. Ilia also brings up his opinion that this regulation not only will have a positive impact on individuals “walking and biking but also on people driving across the city”. The second speaker (Alejandro Perez) speaks about the issue of tragedies that are being caused by poor infrastructure that does not benefit bikers in any way. Perez then goes on to state there is a poor lack of sidewalks for most of the city, and that because of this many bikers that commute have experienced a tragedy, and even worse many have died because of the issue. In response to the concern of Alejandro Perez, City Councilwomen Thomas states that there is a “tremendous amount of effort” that is being invested towards the issue. City Council Thomas then goes into detail stating that from her knowledge, in the West side (District F) there have been many letters of support regarding this issue many of them stating that there should be an increment of federal funding to “expand bike pathways on the west side of Houston in other to protect those pedestrians”. Thomas then states that the city is putting its best effort to resolve the issue with grants, programming, working with the planning department, and getting people to learn/get engaged with the issue.

GOVT 2305: American and Texas Government Portion 2: Mayor’s Report (1:53:15 to 2:02:45) Question: What are the two most important issues (in your opinion) that Mayor Turner mentions during this portion of the city council meeting? What groups, if any, is the mayor’s office working with to accomplish these things? In my opinion, the two most important issues that Mayor Turner mentions are recycling and early voting. In terms of recycling, Mayor turner states that a recycling facility announced. The mayor states that he and the city have been working with the Chief Development Officer, FCC Environmental, and the Houston Recycling Collaboration. In terms of the early voting issue, the mayor was working with the University of Houston, the University of Houston Downtown, and Texas Southern University to encourage college students to vote. Portion 3: Matters Held (2:22:20 to 2:42:04) Question: What is the issue discussed during this segment? Why do Councilman Gallegos and Mayor Turner disagree? What’s the compromise that is finally reached? The issue during this segment is introduced by Councilman Gallegos whom he states that the theater district has reached out to many city council members “in regard to Arpa funds” for 15 million dollars. Gallegos goes on to explain that this fund is needed for the cause of revenue lost during the pandemic, during which the theater was closed. The reason that Councilman Gallegos and Mayor Turner disagree is that Gallegos supports the fund, and he believes that the fund is necessary. On the other hand, Mayor Turner’s priority which he believes funds should go to is public safety, not only that but he also believes that the fund ask is just way too high. There was sort of a compromise they finally reached which was that there is funding that is going to go to the theater department, but that number is just not yet decided. General Question: Do you think city council meetings like this one are an effective form of democracy, where the concerns of citizens are heard or addressed? Why or why not? I think that city council meetings like this one are an effective form of democracy, in which the concerns of the citizens are heard, and many addressed. I believe this because city council meetings like this are to discuss issues, set priorities, establish policy, and make decisions based on information from many groups and citizens, which in my opinion is a form of democracy. For example, the two speakers brought up the issue of the tragedies that occur because of poor infrastructure or not enough regulation. Their voices were heard by the members and many of them responded with what is taking action in order to resolve the issues.

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