Houston City Council At-Large,

Place 4

City council is Houston’s legislative body. Members enact and enforce all ordinances and resolutions; adopt the annual budget; confirm the mayor’s appointments; and are responsible for the appropriation and issuance of bonds, awarding of contracts and approval of expenditures over $50,000. Limited to two 4-year terms.

Candidates

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BACKGROUND: What motivated you to run for City Council, and what

unique skills or experience make you the best candidate for the role?

ISSUES: What are the two most pressing issues you plan to address as

a City Council Member, and what specific strategies will you use to

solve them?

Ethan Hale

I have always been political but I was never very involved on the local level until Mayor Whitmire started ripping up my neighborhood to take out projects that made us safer. Since then I have been working to oust him via a recall election. What started as a fight for safe streets became a fight against authoritarianism in our city. My experience as a organizer has given me the skills to bring people together to fight back, public pressure is exactly what won us $50m for housing not pragmatism.

City of Houston,City Council At- Large Place 4
Bridging the gap in service cuts we are seeing at the federal level is very important to me as someone who relies on SSI and Medicaid. We have plenty of money for convention centers and cops but not things people need most, it's possible to reallocate some of that money. The City is wildly unprepared for disasters, we struggle to keep the lights on and our neighborhoods from flooding in your average thunderstorm as is. FEMA has not released an updated flood map in years, time to make our own.

FUTURE: What is your vision for the city in 10 years, and what steps

will you take to achieve it?

We need to further invest in mass transit like other major cities and not ignore voters like METRO did with METRONext. We should be protecting our immigrant communities, that means ICE out of Houston forever not just until Trump is gone. Houston could do with much more green space we could be taking unused land for this purpose. I want to see polluters taxed and have that money go towards services and air quality monitoring/enforcement. The City/County should fund public health insurance.

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: How will you engage residents in the city’s

decision-making process?

People should have a say in every decision made within this city, Houston First, Public Works, etc. should have open and transparent meetings at times that accomodate working people. I would be more than happy to work with any department out there hosting town halls for the community to attend. I would like to create a set of standards for community input on new projects, a set number of meetings, option to give comment in person and online, and a clear but detailed outline of the plan.

COMMUNITY: What are your favorite things about your city?

Houston is a city with something for everyone, great food from different cultures across the globe, art from the greats to starving artists creating works in their garage, to all the people that come from all over to visit. I like to escape to Hermann park whenever I get the chance to, given it's not too hot. I recently moved close to the red line which has been a massive quality of life improvement for me given my chronic pain can make driving dangerous at times.