Voting Against Abbott More Than Any Living Human

Ever wonder what it's really like when a mayor goes head-to-head with the governor?

Houston's John Whitmire doesn't mince words about his battles with Greg Abbott over immigration policy, while also haring the important numbers behind the city's infrastructure comeback.

In this candid conversation, Mayor Whitmire discusses Houston's transformation over his first year in office, from reducing broken water mains from 1,900 to 150, to securing major corporate relocations like Chevron's headquarters. The mayor also outlines preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and shares unexpectedly moving reflections on military service during Texas's first-ever Fleet Week.

Key Topics: • Immigration policy and the $114 million funding battle with the state • Houston's ranking as America's 2nd fastest growing city • FIFA World Cup preparations and infrastructure improvements • How addressing homelessness secured major corporate relocations • Fleet Week experience and philosophy on leadership

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I've probably voted against Greg Abbott more than any living human as a 40-year state senator, and certainly a senator, his entire career. So we have a relationship there. He knows that I will tell him when he's wrong.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

From the city hall in downtown Houston. I know one thing inside the mayor's office.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Welcome back inside the HTT Studios. I'm Owen Plenty with Mayor John Whitmeyer. Mr. Mayor, thanks for being here. Thank you, everyone. Glad to be here. You've had a really busy couple weeks uh with this immigration issue. This is not new for you, though. This issue's been on your plate for a long time.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Well, this is where relationships and uh experience matter. Uh going back to the early 70s, as a young state representative, I worked with the farm workers. Many of the families were undocumented. So I carried legislation to protect them working in the fields so that you couldn't spray the fields. They would not be allowed to work for 24 hours after the fields were sprayed by the uh growers. Also, bilingual education was a very hot button issue in the 70s. The DREAM Act, which I support or still support, to give undocumented tuition at in-state rates. So there is a strong relationship with the Hispanic community, the undocumented community. And so those relationships are carried forward into this discussion. I ran for mayor to fix things and to unite this community. And it's working. We will get through this challenge. I think it's unfortunate that we even have to deal with it. It was brought back about by the decisions in Washington. I understand the concerned anxiety of Houstonians on this issue. I have a personal relationship with undocumented. But I'm also concerned about the safety of Houston. That's my highest priority, and the finances of cities. So I have to build a consensus consensus that will be productive, handle the safety and finances of Houston, and then go forward. We have so many other issues that have really not been discussed in the last several weeks due to this Prop A issue. You know, this is a revised Prop A, which I thought I did support because I thought it would be more fair and follow Senate Bill 4, which by the way, getting back to a record, I voted against Senate Bill 4. But being a nonpartisan mayor, listening to the entirety of our community, I have to build a consensus that will unite this community, protect all of our residents, and at the same time protect our finances. We can't afford to lose$114 million of state assistance for public safety. And this would only be the first step. Then the state would look at their grants for health care and transportation. So that's why I ran for office to fix Houston, to represent Houston. And speaking of representing Houston, I've probably voted against Greg Abbott more than any living human as a 40-year state senator, and certainly a senator his entire career. So we have a relationship there. He knows that I will tell him when he's wrong. I disagree with him, but my commitment is to all of us Houstonians.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

And at the time of this recording, we're still two days away from an upcoming city council vote, so I'm sure we'll have more to talk about in the future regarding this issue. I'd like to move on to the economy, Mr. Mayor. Uh Greater Houston Partnership came out with a new report recently, which uh has Houston as the sixth largest economy in the country, second fastest growing, I think just behind Seattle. Uh what does that say about our city and some of the strides that we've made?

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Is that we're going in the right direction. This is a very vibrant city, very diverse city, but our economic picture has never been stronger. We're number two in growth after Seattle, but Seattle's recovering still from COVID because they completely shut down. We also had a national publication said we're number one in manufacturing jobs. So all you have to do is look around. This morning we have 2.3 million Houstonians, but that 700,000 individuals travel to Houston to work and attend events. So we've been discovered. We're daily preparing for the World Cup. FIFA still says that we're better prepared than any other major city. So there's a lot to be proud of and a lot of work going into being successful. We announced last week that we're going to spend$185 million. We, meaning the state of Texas gave us$95 million to transform Toyota Stadium. The arena will you won't recognize it with new technology and different arrangements for seating and families to enjoy uh open space as you wait to go in Toyota. It's going to be encased by glass and air conditioning and activities. It's a total of 185 million. The Fertita family contributed about uh 80 million. And then the state of Texas, there again, we depend on the state of Texas for grant money and for items and projects like repairing and transforming Toyota. And it'll be right next door to the doubling of the George Brown. We've had the best spring in on record for guests and hotel occupancy. Uh March was an all-time best. We had 70,000 cheerleaders that came to Houston for the United States Cheerleader Championship. We had the world baseball classic that was so exciting. And so just one event after another that brings revenue and jobs to Houston, the fan fest getting ready for FIFA will include Houstonians that can't afford, or when it's a sellout at NRG for the World Cup, we're preparing to let everyone, excuse me, enjoy in the event. And then there's going to be a legacy. We partnered with Commissioner Garcia to leave soccer fields in place at Moody Park. So it's an exciting time to be a Houstonian. It's an exciting time to be the mayor. Uh, and we're just really getting started. I've been mayor a little over two years. Public safety, my highest priority, is uh headed in the right direction. All-time high morale of HBD, all-time high cadet classes, the best response time for code one, our most dangerous cause, all are moving in the right direction. So then we can go to my next priority, which would be the infrastructure. When I got elected, people were getting$10,000 and$20,000 water bills. Uh nowhere to turn. All that's stopped in its tracks. We've replaced over a hundred uh sensors on the water meters that were causing these outrageous water bills. We had 1,900 broken water mains. I'll say that again, 1,900. We're wasting more water than the city of Fort Worth uses in an entire year. That's down to 150. Very soon we will have zero, taking in consideration the new broken water mains. But I can't say enough about public works. Our solid waste is working close with them. Our recycling and our garbage pickup is on schedule. It's the illegal dumping now that we are focusing on. We're working with Clean Houston. I can't give a louder shout out for Joe B. Allen, a retired business person that has worked for the city for many on many projects, is heading this up. Tons of illegal garbage is being picked up. We're working with HPD to make it a crime, which it is, but it hasn't been enforced. So we're using video, we're using drones to capture people illegally dumping and holding them accountable. So paving a thousand miles across Houston this year, a thousand miles. Citizens are realizing the streets are getting better. So I could go all day long about how proud I am of Houstonians. The airport had a session, a conference on protecting human traffick victims during a World Cup, and really on a daily basis. And what I continue to emphasize, all the services that are being improved and upgraded for FIFA downtown, we're carrying to the neighborhoods, whether it's new soccer fields, improved streets, improved public safety, the homeless emancipation and our first shelter residence for the homeless will be opening very soon. There will be others to follow. So, you know, we're just taking an all-hands-on-deck approach. Not to mention, speaking of all hands-on-deck, we're having a successful fleet week this week. We're thanking our armed services, particularly our Marines and Coast Guard and the Navy, for their services and exposing them to Houston's diverse culture. So it's just a darn exciting time to be the mayor of the city of Houston.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

Why are those quality of life issues so important to you? Those seem to be a little more difficult. Police numbers we can try to work on recruiting and getting them up. We talk about quality of life. There's so many things.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Well, there's been a lot of neglect for years or I, you know, people still we still have work to do. And I tell people, if it was working, I would have never run for mayor. I would be a a state senator where I enjoyed my service. We were getting things done for Houston, such as the funding of the George Brown expansion, working on our water treatment plant, got$100 million from the state to improve our water system. You know, quality of life and starts with public safety. If you're not safe, nothing else matters. But the quality of life issues is what attracts people to Houston. It's what keeps Houston here. That 700,000 that travel here each day, we have to provide for them. They're public safety, their EMS. So we're all in this together. Quality of life issues, such as feeling safe to go to a park as we continue to increase our park space. So, you know, the grove on the west side of Memorial Park is in process. Neighborhood parks, play grounds in our neighborhoods are so important. And then how we're going to fund this. And we're working on a very transformative budget that we'll present in May, which is going to provide more services. We'll address our shortfall, not only for this year, but for years to come. So, you know, uh collaboration with the county, the state, and the federal government. The federal government is going to provide us additional HUD funding for our homeless. We want the homeless off the streets of Houston because it's bad for them, it's unhealthy, it's dangerous, but also our neighborhoods and our business community. Downtown Houston, the homeless was a major concern. Chevron knows that we're working with the homeless issue, is the reason they were willing to relocate their international, national headquarters here. And all due respect to my Dallas colleagues, Dallas just lost ATT downtown to the suburbs. And they said crime and homeless were their two major concerns. It just so happens that's what we're addressing in Houston: public safety and dealing with the homeless challenge. So uh we're gonna do that in partnership with the federal government. We're getting significant HUD money, but we're gonna work on the quality of life issues and address and be ready for Houston's growth. Metro, we want Metro to do better. We want it to be safer. Metro's fixing to open a substation for their police on Harrisburg, near where the gray bus line relocated. Major concern to that community. Well, I'm probably getting ahead of their announcement, but I'm excited that we listen and we respond. That is the job of elected officials and public servants. We're going to be announcing Metro is going to spend money on public safety. They have helped us with the homeless issue. So now they need to be on time and clean. And then I'll give them passing grades. But we have a lot of work to do with Metro. They are partnering with us in collaboration to pave our neighborhood streets and thoroughfares. So thank you, Metro. We've got a lot of work left to do.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

Is it announcements like those that uh give FIFA the feeling to call us best prepared or the grown-up city because they can see some of the work and some of the accomplishments being done to set them up for a great event?

SPEAKER_00 14:14

That is to the point. And what we do regularly is have all the directors meet, all the stakeholders, uh, metro, fire police, public works. We all homeland security, because we're going to have a lot of international travelers during FIFA. So I regularly have meetings of all the stakeholders, all the directors, the FIFA officials, and we go through a checklist, all hands on deck, be ready for FIFA. Now, you know, some things are out of our control, such as our weather. But we actually are planning to try to keep our guests as cool as possible. The fan fest will be air conditioned. It'll be multiple tents, multiple recreation and uh retail and beverages. And so it's going to be a fun time. It's like nothing ever held in Houston before. Seven, seven games, ten days.

SPEAKER_02 15:09

Very exciting time. For sure. It's an international event. Couldn't be more excited for it. Even if you're not a soccer fan, I got to imagine it's probably pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Absolutely. And I want everyone to feel welcome if you can't get in the stadium. People come in large delegations. Uh, the Netherlands estimate maybe 40,000 people from the Netherlands will be here to cheer on their uh soccer team.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

You almost said football. I know. It's okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Well, it is worldwide, it's referred to as football. But uh, you know, I'm kind of jealous of our guests that are bringing their soccer teams and their culture. I met with a Congo delegation the other day. They emphasized public safety, which they thanked me for. But also told me when I was coming through HISD, we didn't have soccer as an official sport. So I missed out a lot because of Texas football. Uh, but I'm living it through my grandsons. You know, 10 and 12-year-old grandsons can tell you whatever you want to know about soccer. So I've become a huge soccer fan to keep up with our city, our international community, and our HISD students.

unknown 16:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:27

Um, Fleet Week is wrapping up uh at the time of this recording or in the last couple of days. Um, how I don't want to say how awesome it's been. I mean, but that's an easy one. Tell me a little bit about your experience with Fleet Week.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Well, last week what did you get to do? Who'd you meet? Well, last night, which would be Sunday night, I was at the Neon Booth. It's a uh club on Hempstead Highway. We had a dancing contest. So Marines and sailors were dancing with local Houstonians, and they asked me to be a judge, which I don't like to be a judge because you make one team happy and disappoint many others. But I couldn't say no because of the event. So last night, starting at 6 to about 10 last night, we were having dancing contests, and it was quite a sight to see sailors and marines who only met their dancing partners yesterday afternoon really get some quick moves on the dance floor. So that was fun. We've met with the admirals, we've been to the Maritime Museum, which operated by the Houston Port. So it's just one more example of Houston be on world stage, uh making history, first fleet week in Texas ever. So it was successful with the Angels fly over City Hall. Uh we're going to have a huge reception tonight to declare what a victory and success this has been. Not only sharing Houston's culture, and last night I made the announcement when I was welcoming the dancers. I wanted y'all in the communities, our diverse communities, our diverse cultures. And so it happened, and it also gave us an opportunity to thank our armed services that place their lives in danger across this world. And uh we wanted them to feel welcome and safe. And I met several Houstonians that are now in the armed services. So it's it's it's exciting times.

SPEAKER_02 18:36

And it is extra meaningful in the sense that uh the country is in a war at this time.

SPEAKER_00 18:41

Country's in a real struggle. Uh, we pray for our armed services. Uh I was struck by how young they are, and I was reminded that I learned many years ago that old people create the wars with their disagreements and politics and policies, and then the young people have to fight and die. So I think we need to keep uh the nation's struggles in our prayers and uh pray for our armed service, men and women.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

That's an important point, and we'll leave it there for this week, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for joining us. Really appreciate it. Thank you, partner.