Fair For Houston, is a grassroots campaign to secure more equitable representation for the citizens of Houston on the Houston Galveston Area Council (HGAC), the regional planning authority. A petition drive earlier this year was successful in gathering sufficient signatures, and the measure is now on the City of Houston ballot for this November's election as Proposition B. A majority of Houston mayoral candidates have declared support for the measure, as well as a growing number of Houston City Council candidates. A number of Houston area environmental groups have already endorsed a "Yes" vote on the proposition, and Houston Sierra Club will be considering an endorsement.
These excerpts from a July Houston Public Media article (linked below) summarize the issue:
"Houston has by far the largest population in the Southeast Texas region, but it holds only a small number of votes on the 37-member board of directors for the Houston-Galveston Area Council – two to be exact.
Come November, residents of the city likely will have an opportunity to give Houston more sway on the council that bears its name, which is a collection of government officials from the region that determines how to allocate federal, state and local funding sources to best serve the needs of a 13-county area that includes more than 7 million people – in areas such as flood mitigation, transportation infrastructure, childcare and workforce development."
"The two city council members who serve on the H-GAC board, Sallie Alcorn and Amy Peck, said they support the idea of giving Houston a presence that more closely correlates with its population. Both said the H-GAC distributes funding proportionately in many cases, but there have been high-profile instances in recent years in which that was not the case."
"In 2022, the setup contributed to Houston receiving about 2 percent of the $488 million the H-GAC distributed in federal flood mitigation dollars, even though Houston was most severely impacted by Hurricane Harvey five years beforehand. Also that year, the H-GAC approved funding for the Texas Department of Transportation's Interstate 45 expansion project in Houston, even though officials from the city and Harris County expressed opposition to the plan."
Visit the Fair For Houston website for details on Proposition B, including its purpose, the problems it addresses, and the specific Proposition language.
YES on Proposition B - Fair for Houston
An overview and background of the Proposition are covered in these articles by Houston Public Media:
For questions or feedback about this article, contact Frank Blake at frankblake@juno.com