Fair For Houston Campaign

The Houston-Galveston Area Council is a regional council of local governments. It is made up of thirteen (13) counties in and around Greater Houston, and it grants billions of dollars to our area. The H-GAC provides funding for workforce development, childcare, flood prevention, and transportation infrastructure. Unfortunately, despite having 62% of the population, we only make up 17.9% of the vote share. Our city is not fairly represented in the council when you take its size into account.

This means funding and decisions are being made in part because of our city, without any significant input from our city. Currently, Waller and Liberty counties have a bigger say in the H-GAC than Houston itself. We should push for better representation in the council to make our voices heard and take power from people who we did not elect.

We can fight for what's right and sign a petition to put this issue on the November ballot thanks to organizing by Fair for Houston. The H-GAC cannot exist without us. With enough signatures, we can push the ballot motion that alters our city’s charter and forces H-GAC to adopt a more fair, proportional voting system. The City of Houston has the power to make this happen, and we Houstonians have the power to put it on the ballot.

Proportional voting would mean a bigger, more proportional say in what happens to Houston and our region. Our city deserves to be heard when it comes to federal, state, and regional funding allocations. Houston’s leaders would have a legitimate voice on the council, where a lot of these funding decisions are made.

Join me and other Fair for Houston activists at the campaign launch event as we celebrate the work that has already been done and the possibilities this push could create for the future of Houston on Thursday, March 16th, from 6:00–8:00 at Axelrad (1517 Alabama).

No Bull is the only media outlet that aims for Houstonians in every part of town to live in cozy, secure, and charming communities. As such, No Bull is supported solely by readers like you and corporate sponsorships. If you would like to contribute to urbanism advocacy and coverage in Houston, you can donate here. I’ll be back on Friday with more about our great city.

Elsewhere on the internet

• 🗳️ A new effort would shake things up at H-GAC. Are we ready? [Editorial] (houstonchronicle.com)

• 🏫 Texas teacher shortage: Why classroom data only tells part of story (houstonchronicle.com)

• 🎒 Texas Education Agency will take control of Houston ISD | The Texas Tribune

• 🛣️ TxDOT readying $94M extension of Spur 5 near UH for construction (houstonchronicle.com) | Yay more car infrastructure. 🙄