An open letter to Mayor Turner and the liberals on Houston City Council regarding the homeless ordinance

Time to ramp up the pressure a bit.

Feel free to use and send the text of my email below in time for today's city council session or write your own.  It was addressed to Mayor Turner and CMs Robinson, Edwards, Boykins, Cohen, Davis, Cisneros, Gallegos, Laster, and Green.  I do not believe any of the Republicans are redeemable on this issue, and won't waste my time contacting them.  The ten people above, the so-called liberals on Houston's council, could take the action I demand without any support from the conservative faction anyway.  It's in their hands.

Ladies and gentlemen:

I am aware that the city ordinance which criminalizes homeless encampment goes into effect this Friday, May 12.  At the time Council unanimously passed this ordinance a few weeks ago, I found myself stunned at the callous, inhumane action of the liberals, led by Mayor Turner, joining the worst of the conservatives in this vote.

I STRONGLY OPPOSE this ordinance. Government cuts to HUD and a lack of existing affordable housing in a Houston market once more on the speculative rise due to a strengthening oil economy leaves those most vulnerable at greatest risk of finding themselves on the street.  Additionally, the glaring, unreformed Harris County bail bond program that has created debtor's prisons of our jails must be resolved before this ordinance adds to a incarcerated population with little hope of being released for their victimless "crimes".

This ordinance is likely unconstitutional, and a court challenge is inevitable.  It is abjectly foolish, as Republicans in Austin and in Washington DC have repeatedly demonstrated, to be on the wrong side of the history of social justice.  Why you would wish to stand with them is frankly beyond my comprehension.

The ordinance criminalizes our city's homeless for merely trying to survive.  Houston will not be able to implement quick or long-term solutions, especially after the homeless coalition had announced that the plan to house 500 homeless by September will not be met.  This is the farthest thing from a holistic definition of "meaningful change", an Orwellian hashtag if ever there was one.

As a voter and taxpayer, I strongly urge YOU to postpone the enforcement date of May 12th until you and other stakeholders can move forward with a better plan.  You should respectfully reconsider your action and pause the implementation of this cruel ordinance until such time as you have have arranged a truly workable solution, and not just given lip service and hashtags to one.

Regards,

Perry Dorrell

P.S.  I found it extremely inappropriate for the Mayor to have visited the environmental rally at the end of last month and say to a volunteer there that "y'all are pimping the cause" of homelessness in Houston.  That warrants a retraction and an apology, and those of you who are Council members to whom this letter is addressed should be the first ones to demand it of the Mayor.

This meme speaks for me as well:

Update: In response, the mayor had his stooges in the media roll out "aggressive panhandling", "Meaningful Change Not Spare Change", and "drug users" (thanks, Constable Alan Rosen).  All of which is just more of the same shitty stigmatizing of the poor.

What would Jesus do, indeed.  Not only wouldn't He do that, he wouldn't find a middle man to handle charitable donations for the homeless who was also a registered sex offender.

Word from today's council hearing is that still nobody on council is listening or responding.  My email inbox can confirm the same.  The heat is just going to have to get hotter, I suppose.

The Weekly Wrangle

With this week's lefty blog post roundup, the Texas Progressive Alliance thinks lacking human decency should be considered a pre-existing condition.

Off the Kuff took a look at the already-crowded field vying to knock off Rep. John Culberson.

Easter Lemming recapped the disappointing Pasadena election, and the the Lewisville Texan Journal also has posted results for elections held there over the weekend.

SocraticGadfly snuck into FBI Director James Comey's Senate testimony hearing and found out the 10 real takeaways.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme noted that Texas Republicans are just as greedy and mean spirited as ever. Insurance industry over consumers and papers please for profiled people.

Dos Centavos saw Greg Abbott's signing of the anti-sanctuary legislation as an outlawing of brown skin.  And on Cinco de Mayo, John Coby at Bay Area Houston issued a call to arms (to the polls).

Texas Leftist decried the passage of Trumpcare by the US House, and Ted at jobsanger sees racism as the cause for the GOP abandoning their own plan.

Texas Vox advanced the state's solar energy conference to be held in Austin in June, as energy entrepreneurs throughout the state will convene and network.

On Star Wars Day (May the Fourth) the Empire struck back, observed PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

Neil at All People Have Value attended May Day protests in Houston that called for fair wages for all. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

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The Rivard Report takes a look at the San Antonio mayor's election, where a runoff between incumbent Ivy Taylor and city council member Ron Nirenberg will determine the winner.

From KERA, allegations of voter fraud have delayed the election results of a city council seat in west Dallas, with a runoff likely.  And All Ablog Austin has the final poll numbers from the Central Texas counties of Travis, Williamson, Hays, and Bastrop.

Equality Texas has the call to action on some of the more hateful legislation on tap this week from the Lege, including HB 3859, a bill that would allow child welfare organizations, agencies, employees, and foster parents that contract with the state to discriminate against LGBTQ families and others when making foster care and adoption decisions.

Texas Watch marks the passage of the House version of the Blue Tarp Bill, with the Senate still to vote on its own, and Grits for Breakfast rounds up a few of the police accountability bills that are bottled up in the Lege.

Via the Texas Tribune and the Austin American Statesman, the Texas House passed two other noteworthy bills: eliminating the governor's right to appoint his donors to state posts, and doing away with the straight-party ticket voting button.

RG Ratcliffe at Burkablog documents the trend toward partisan local elections (which used to be much more non-partisan).

Texas has experienced an alarming spike in pedestrian deaths throughout the state, with drunk or distracted walking blamed as the cause, reports CultureMap Houston.

Somervell County Salon ruminates for the easily amused about the demise of net neutrality, and Pages of Victory excerpts from a recent article wondering why, in the face of such repeated and terrible Republican action, the Democrats keep losing to them.