The following statement can be attributed to Gabe Cazares, Executive Director, LINK Houston.
January 26th, 2024
Today, the Transportation Policy Council (TPC) voted to kill a good faith effort to address its democratic deficit. By once again throwing out a consensus-based bylaws change to incorporate a weighted voting structure – just as they had in 2021 – TPC members chose to bury their heads in the sand. Not only are they ignoring one of their most fundamental issues, they ignored the will of Houston voters who passed Proposition B with 65 percent of the vote.
But ignoring a problem does not make it go away.
Today’s action by the TPC to refuse further discussion is in direct opposition to the spirit of compromise that members expect. This governing body has failed itself and the region by its refusal to compromise and inability to follow the law. We want to thank representatives from City of Houston and elsewhere who put in a real effort at creating good faith attempts at reaching consensus, but today the TPC showed us that consensus building was never the objective.
Proportional representation in regional government is now the law of the land: both in the City of Houston charter, and in federal law which compels Metropolitan Planning Organizations to consider proportionality as they undergo redesignation, as the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) will later this year. LINK Houston is exploring all available advocacy tools to implement Proposition B. We remain steadfastly committed to ensuring H-GAC equitably considers all voices across our region.
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LINK Houston is a non-profit organization that advocates for a robust and equitable transportation network so that all people can reach opportunity. For more information, please visit www.linkhouston.org.
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