Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Yeah, we've got ourselves a budget freeze in the City
of Houston. Seven twenty two, Sir, time here on Houston's
Boring News. We are joined by the Honorable John W. Meyer,
Mayor of the City of Houston. Mister Mayor, welcome back
to our show, sir, good to have you your class act.
By the way, if I haven't said that before, allow
me to say that now you are a class act.
I listened to what you said about Sylvester Turner on
(00:25):
his passing, and I thought, you know, it would have
been really easy to complain about the previous administration because
you're facing this three hundred million dollar budget deficit that
the previous administration really didn't do anything about, but you
didn't mention it at all. You kept everything on the
high road. But now that you have to have a
hiring freeze, it kind of makes me wonder. You know
(00:46):
what you're thinking here as far as going forward to
hiring freeze, I guess is a good start, But does
the City of Houston need to get a doze like
what we're seeing at the state and the federal level.
Could do you think that maybe you could find three
hundred million dollars worth of waste in the city Ofton
or duplication in the City of Houston, that could maybe
make up that budget deficit.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Well that's a lot of how much time you got.
Of course, I think we can and not all that
we must. And we started last May. In fact, we
started today. I got there. I grew up in Houston,
been in state government for fifty years, so I've worked
for the City of Houston. I know of their waste
and duplication and quite frankly, corruption and conflicts of interest.
(01:30):
So we started last January when I was sworn in,
aware of too much government in the City of Houston.
You can drive by and see construction projects and they're
just not getting done because they're not efficient. So we
talked to department heads. I put a new team in place,
(01:51):
and then in May we realized we needed outside professional
review of city government, so we hired Ernst and Young.
They turned into report for work three weeks ago. The
city has more employees per captare than any other major city,
so we're in the process of looking at a retirement recommendation,
(02:12):
strong recommendation for some. But in the meantime we've ordered
a freeze on employment excluding fire and police sixty percent
of our budget. By the way, it's fire and police,
so we have to be smart. We have to have
a method and quite frankly, doge is a whole another operation.
(02:33):
Ours is methodical thought out. The morale is good in
fire and police, the rale quite frankly, among city employees good.
I'll go to step further. I think the morale of
Houstonians is good. We are going in the right direction.
But I was left with some major major challenges, and
the course bringing them up at the news of the
(02:55):
loss of Sevester Turner was not the appropriate time, but
I did inherit mess and I'm not shy about explaining
that most of the inefficiencies are across Houston. It's in
our procurement. Forty percent of our supervisor supervised three or
fewer people in the previous years. Everybody was just made
(03:17):
a supervisor. Well, that costs a lot of money. So
we have a shortfall. We're going to get there through efficiencies.
I'm going to do everything I can, and when I'm
completely confident that I've cut out the waste and duplication
and the conflicts of interest, I will let Houstonians know
I've cleaned the place up now. I need your help.
(03:40):
In what form that help will be, I'm not sure
at this point, but I've been very transparent. I inherited
a city that has problems and budget had been kicked
down the road for years. That's the only reason I
left the State Senate. I was asked to come fix Houston,
and I'm working many, many long hours to do that,
(04:02):
and it's very transparent.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
All right, I want to quickly ask you here before
we run out of time. I see that you have
unveiled phase one plans for a two billion dollar George R.
Brown expansion. What can you tell us about that?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
That's based on user fees, no cost to city residents
or taxpayers. It's the state's hotel occupancy tax three miles
in every direction from George Brown. We were becoming less
competitive in the convention and visitors experience. We were falling
behind other major cities, Dallas, Santa On, Austin. Also, so
(04:39):
Theston First, which is our convention. Barrell said, We've got
to do a major transformation rebuilt of George R. Brown
to bring retail and entertainment venues. So we announced our
plans yesterday. There will be a promenade right to the
middle of George Brown. It will establish retail. There'll be
(05:00):
ultimately another convention hotel, So we will have a convention
destination that people around the state and the nation want
to come to. But even more importantly, I think it'll
be a venue that Houstonians want to go down and visit.
It'll be quiet and entertainment. People leave the ballparks. They
don't want to go home after winning a World Series game,
(05:21):
so they'll walk down to the Georgia R. Brown Entertainment District.
And it will really really improve central Houston. All great
cities have to have a viable downtown. It'll open up
the east side. Forty five and fifty nine by the
state are being placed underground. There'll be a thirty acre
footprint there a green space. So you open up the
(05:43):
east side, it'll open up to the Dynamo area, and
so it'll be a win win for the city. It
will generate revenue. We'll plow that back into city services.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
N Sir, mister Mayerck got a run, but I want
to thank you for your time as always, sir, appreciate it.
That is Houston Mayor John Whitmeyer eight
Yeah, we've got ourselves a budget freeze in the City
of Houston. Seven twenty two, Sir, time here on Houston's
Boring News. We are joined by the Honorable John W. Meyer,
Mayor of the City of Houston. Mister Mayor, welcome back
to our show, sir, good to have you your class act.
By the way, if I haven't said that before, allow
me to say that now you are a class act.
I listened to what you said about Sylvester Turner on
(00:25):
his passing, and I thought, you know, it would have
been really easy to complain about the previous administration because
you're facing this three hundred million dollar budget deficit that
the previous administration really didn't do anything about, but you
didn't mention it at all. You kept everything on the
high road. But now that you have to have a
hiring freeze, it kind of makes me wonder. You know
(00:46):
what you're thinking here as far as going forward to
hiring freeze, I guess is a good start, But does
the City of Houston need to get a doze like
what we're seeing at the state and the federal level.
Could do you think that maybe you could find three
hundred million dollars worth of waste in the city Ofton
or duplication in the City of Houston, that could maybe
make up that budget deficit.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Well that's a lot of how much time you got.
Of course, I think we can and not all that
we must. And we started last May. In fact, we
started today. I got there. I grew up in Houston,
been in state government for fifty years, so I've worked
for the City of Houston. I know of their waste
and duplication and quite frankly, corruption and conflicts of interest.
(01:30):
So we started last January when I was sworn in,
aware of too much government in the City of Houston.
You can drive by and see construction projects and they're
just not getting done because they're not efficient. So we
talked to department heads. I put a new team in place,
(01:51):
and then in May we realized we needed outside professional
review of city government, so we hired Ernst and Young.
They turned into report for work three weeks ago. The
city has more employees per captare than any other major city,
so we're in the process of looking at a retirement recommendation,
(02:12):
strong recommendation for some. But in the meantime we've ordered
a freeze on employment excluding fire and police sixty percent
of our budget. By the way, it's fire and police,
so we have to be smart. We have to have
a method and quite frankly, doge is a whole another operation.
(02:33):
Ours is methodical thought out. The morale is good in
fire and police, the rale quite frankly, among city employees good.
I'll go to step further. I think the morale of
Houstonians is good. We are going in the right direction.
But I was left with some major major challenges, and
the course bringing them up at the news of the
(02:55):
loss of Sevester Turner was not the appropriate time, but
I did inherit mess and I'm not shy about explaining
that most of the inefficiencies are across Houston. It's in
our procurement. Forty percent of our supervisor supervised three or
fewer people in the previous years. Everybody was just made
(03:17):
a supervisor. Well, that costs a lot of money. So
we have a shortfall. We're going to get there through efficiencies.
I'm going to do everything I can, and when I'm
completely confident that I've cut out the waste and duplication
and the conflicts of interest, I will let Houstonians know
I've cleaned the place up now. I need your help.
(03:40):
In what form that help will be, I'm not sure
at this point, but I've been very transparent. I inherited
a city that has problems and budget had been kicked
down the road for years. That's the only reason I
left the State Senate. I was asked to come fix Houston,
and I'm working many, many long hours to do that,
(04:02):
and it's very transparent.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
All right, I want to quickly ask you here before
we run out of time. I see that you have
unveiled phase one plans for a two billion dollar George R.
Brown expansion. What can you tell us about that?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
That's based on user fees, no cost to city residents
or taxpayers. It's the state's hotel occupancy tax three miles
in every direction from George Brown. We were becoming less
competitive in the convention and visitors experience. We were falling
behind other major cities, Dallas, Santa On, Austin. Also, so
(04:39):
Theston First, which is our convention. Barrell said, We've got
to do a major transformation rebuilt of George R. Brown
to bring retail and entertainment venues. So we announced our
plans yesterday. There will be a promenade right to the
middle of George Brown. It will establish retail. There'll be
(05:00):
ultimately another convention hotel, So we will have a convention
destination that people around the state and the nation want
to come to. But even more importantly, I think it'll
be a venue that Houstonians want to go down and visit.
It'll be quiet and entertainment. People leave the ballparks. They
don't want to go home after winning a World Series game,
(05:21):
so they'll walk down to the Georgia R. Brown Entertainment District.
And it will really really improve central Houston. All great
cities have to have a viable downtown. It'll open up
the east side. Forty five and fifty nine by the
state are being placed underground. There'll be a thirty acre
footprint there a green space. So you open up the
(05:43):
east side, it'll open up to the Dynamo area, and
so it'll be a win win for the city. It
will generate revenue. We'll plow that back into city services.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
N Sir, mister Mayerck got a run, but I want
to thank you for your time as always, sir, appreciate it.
That is Houston Mayor John Whitmeyer eight
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