Mayor John Whitmire is doing a tremendous job leading our thriving city. Since the day he was elected into office on January 1, 2024, Whitmire has been living his status quo, “Let’s get to work,” a phrase he repeatedly declares when it is time to make a change. Teamwork truly does make a dream work, with Whitmire at the head, the successful results in Houston in safety and structured assessment of weather conditions in an area where snow is close to foreign, shows a different light in our city that has not been here before. The amount of times Whitmire’s face is shown around the city is making the idea of cloning people not so far fetched. Mr. Whitmire appears to be putting the patriotic spirit back into our city, consciously or unconsciously, Houston is changing for the better at a rapid rate.
The beautiful snow we received Tuesday morning, requires an amount of respect that holds no prisoners, and the fact that there have been no fatalities from traffic collisions or carbon monoxide is truly a miracle and a blessing. The city as a whole, along with the city’s administration have handled a rare occasion in Houston tremendously. John Whitmire was given a test, an extremely challenging one with the amount of snow we received, because there was at least 3 inches of snow, an amount that has not fallen to our city since 1993.
Mayor Whitmire has a deep passion in being a public servant, a deep passion that has inspired the writer of this article. His empathy clearly radiates when he is seen helping others in the streets who are in need of assistance, such as our homeless citizens who are the most vulnerable in this freeze we have.
“We’ve had 1300 individuals visit and stay with us in a warming center. 10 locations across the city. No one was turned around,” Whitmire says this morning at his winter weather response. “It finally hit its maximum numbers yesterday, and I was contacted, and I said, ‘There’s no such thing in weather like this as reaching capacity’ No one was turned around.” A true Houston hero who will be acknowledged after he is out of office, but hopefully sooner.
Transportation was furnished for our citizens who needed a place to stay warm in, in areas such as Acres ’44’ Homes where some citizens were heavy in appetite, so Whitmore came in aid, worked with the Houston Food Bank and filled up their bellies. Collaborations in our city have truly sparked a light, bringing faith based communities in to help one another.
“Houston is working, and I could spend the rest of the day telling you why we’ve been successful.. It’s the teamwork. It’s the preparation. It’s putting the right people in the right positions with experience and their passion and commitment for public service.” Mayor Whitmire places the citizens of Houston first.
The largest marathon took place this past Sunday, with more than 33,000 5K runners. With the teamwork of all of our city departments, Solid Waste, Public Works, Fire Department, Houston Police, and the Health Department putting the safety of our citizens at the forefront. Over hundred of thousands cheerleading their friends and family who were marathon participants were also kept safe. We even had 2 Martin Luther King Jr. parades in our city simultaneously, a great homage shown from collaboration and passion.
Houston is the model for major cities with the great success we had from the amount of collaboration and passion that accomplished this feat in this storm. CIty employees are the real hidden heroes that receive little to no recognition, as all heroes seem to go through. They slept on the floor and in their cars, just to do their part in keeping Houston safe. There were a few accidents on I-10, but these were out of towners, not local Houstonians, however they are still safe.
There was one individual who did die on the Houston streets, who refused to go to a warming center, which highlights the mental health problem that is thriving well in our city. A final problem that Mayor Whitmire tackled in his winter weather response, mental health conditions are worth going beyond budget barriers and protocol stipulations.
“I don’t care what it takes, we’ve got to scrub our budget and find better resources for mental health.” Houston is the greatest city when it comes to health care across the world, so this mental health issue will be faced with no remorse.
City operations return to normal Thursday morning. We are truly thankful for the right amount of snow we received. We are thankful for the safety that came along with it, and we are also thankful our children got to experience a once in a lifetime experience in Houston. Thank you Houston, and thank you Mayor John Whitmire for placing Houston at the forefront of your vision, a fellow Ram is proud.
In his final statements of the day, Mayor Whitmire ended on a note of gratitude, “Thank you for allowing me to lead this city. It’s my passion.”