Anti-Democratic Ideals, Lying, and Lack of Transparency

“They’re largely undocumented immigrants. They just want basic services. They don’t want to be part of the Galleria. You think they’re going to be welcome in the Galleria?” 

Mayor John Whitmire

A Pattern of Anti-Democratic Actions and Values

When pro-Palestine supporters protested near his house, he tried to push a bill to ban protestors near his and other politicians’ properties. This is a violation of our first amendment rights. Whitmire baselessly proliferated the lie of pro-Palestinian protesters being paid by Iran. On top of this, he referred to them as “your enemies” at a conference in the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center. Those protesters are his constituents, his fellow Houstonians, yet he refers to them as enemies of a foreign head of state he has no obligation to have an allegiance to. This rhetoric is not characteristic of a mayor who wants to unite and build a future for our city, but rather of a divider. This directly contradicts a campaign promise of his.

He ignored both voter approved MetroNext and Prop B. Houston had an official election where the voters were meant to decide and direct city policy. Whitmire ignored the results of the election and speak about them as if it were some opinion survey instead of an OFFICAL election. These citizen driven initiatives are critical to a functioning democracy. Whitmire thinks he can ignore democracy and get away with it. Remind you of anyone?

I-45 Expansion

On October 28, 2024, Whitmire and Elizabeth Brock, the Whitmire-appointed Board Chair of Metro, attended the groundbreaking of the controversial I-45 expansion project. During the ceremony, members of Stop TxDOT I-45 showed up to protest the expansion. Whitmire belittled the protestors, referring to them as “his fans.” This jab disregarded the legitimate concerns these protestors have for their community and opposition towards this project has existed long before he came into office.

Whitmire ignores the communities/his colleagues

In several cases, Whitmire ignores overwhelming local support for a project and instead, chooses to listen to a select few that don’t represent the interests of the community. This was clearly seen with the Montrose Blvd project. The project was shovel-ready and for no clear reason, Whitmire paused the project and refused to listen to locals who supported the improvements. He then proceeded to install members that agreed with him and not local residents to the Montrose TIRZ board. This new TIRZ board pushed a redesign that prioritized speed over safety and despite the overwhelming local opposition, the redesign went through.

He’s gotten into arguments with other council members such a Abbie Kamin and Mario Castillo, even going as far as to undermine their work and claim that he knows more about their districts than them. He has also gotten into many arguments with Lina Hidalgo and Chris Hollins, even accusing them of conflicts of interest.

Homelessness

It is no secret that Whitmire has a noticeable disdain towards the homeless population. While Houston’s homelessness was on a decline thanks to the housing first policies, Whitmire instead sought to reverse course on the strategy, resorting to encampments and criminalization instead. Whitmire used a ruling from the supreme court as justification to make it illegal to sleep on the sidewalk. The problem is that pushing the homeless does not solve the crisis, instead it seeks to criminalize them. While Whitmire does have a plan to address the homelessness situation, it is still vague in wording, and seeks to instead push the homeless out and criminalize them if necessary.

HPD and ICE

Despite Whitmire claiming that HPD has no involvement with ICE, a recent article by Houston Chronicle showed that the city has granted ICE requests for Driver’s License data between January 1, 2023 and February 28, 2025. Whitmire and his spokesperson Mary Benton have claimed that although the city is not focused on immigration enforcement, they will still work with the law regardless of anyone’s immigration status. This is a dangerous decision, as anyone, regardless of their legal status or citizenship, could be caught in the crossfire and be deported to another country or even foreign prisons. Whitmire’s compliance could lead to the wrongful detainment and deportations of tens of thousands of residents.

Whitmire refuses to meet with organizations

Recently, many local organizations have expressed frustration with Whitmire’s refusal to meet or collaborate with them. Whitmire responded by stating that he has no time to meet with them. This is also something Whitmire said at the time when Hidalgo stated that she hasn’t met with him since he came into office.

Whitmire refuses to listen to anyone who disagrees with him, and has sparred with anyone from his constituents to his colleagues. He mocks his detractors and refuses to work with anyone that doesn’t follow him blindly. This working environment is incredibly dangerous for Houston, as it makes working with local government impossible and divides our city rather than uniting it.

d. Directing HPD to cooperate with ICE, an agency currently acting outside the
law and regularly violating the rights of citizens and non-citizens.
e. As referenced above, the city refused to release information on incurred costs
from pausing, redesigning, or conducting more studies on pre-approved
street safety projects.
f. Mayor Whitmire’s spokesperson has repeatedly lied or misrepresented facts
on behalf of the mayor
g. Whitmire lied about HPD and ICE cooperation, at first stating there was no
cooperation, then admitting that it was because of a policy in place when the
policy does not require ICE to be called for traffic stops or domestic violence
situations.
h. Claimed to the public and media that the balanced budget would not require
an increase in taxes. It does.
i. Lied about motives behind certain street safety projects. He claimed, publicly,
that the priority was decreasing traffic and safety. Text messages obtained
between him and others showed that the motivation was personal.
j. Proliferated the lie that pro-palestinian protesters were paid by Iran. He also
referred to those protesters–who are Houstonians and his constituents–as
enemies of the Israeli consulate at a dinner.
k. Lied to approximately 15 community groups about “scheduling conflicts”
when they attempted to set up a meeting with him and made no attempt to
reschedule.
Petition for the Recall of John Whitmire, City of Houston Mayor
l. A public session recording was wiped from the internet when residents were
kicked out.
m. Whitmire lied about the reason to remove the Austin Street bike lane, citing
the Fire Department having difficulty driving down the street or parking
along it. The Fire Department denied that those were issues.
n. Making street redesign decisions on the Telephone Road project without
public input while claiming there was public input.
o. Redline Delays. The city removed signal priority for the Red Line without
notifying the community or offering an explanation. This basically makes
using the Red Line pointless through that stretch of downtown and it the
opposite of best practices regarding mass transport.
p. This might belong in its own category, but the Mayor has been seen several
times on his phone texting during public comment sessions and leaving
council meetings early. Houston’s mayor should be able to attend in full and
pay attention during meetings.

Since his inauguration, Whitmire has been openly hostile towards alternative transportation. One of his first actions in office was to remove the recently installed Houston Ave median, costing Houston taxpayers $750,000 – more than double the price of the original median installation (and doesn’t factor into the ruptured gas and water pipeline). Shortly following that, Whitmire ordered a pause on similar projects, such as Shepherd-Durham and Montrose Blvd. In the case of Shepherd-Durham and Montrose, the redesign that’s come out of the administration prioritizes drivers at the expense of pedestrians and cyclists.

Despite the overwhelming support for these projects, Whitmire refuses to listen to the community and the data, instead relying on cherry-picked anecdotes. Whitmire has even gotten into arguments with other members of the city council regarding this issue, even going as far as to belittle them and claim that he knows more about the city than the councilmembers do.

In February 2025, Houston residents found out about the closure of Polk Street for the George R Brown Convention Center expansion through a notice sign. This is despite the fact that in July 2024, the city of Houston gave the green light to Houston First, a local government corporation, to acquire two plots of land near the rustic for the expansion. Understandably, residents were upset that they were left out of the loop and were not aware of the Polk street closure until the city erected a sign announcing the abandonment of the corridor. Even during the meeting Houston First failed to discuss critical details regarding the closure and the process behind it.

Even recently, Whitmire has quietly paused, modified, or even undo safe street infrastructure. He’s removed the armadillos on Heights Blvd, removed a raised crosswalk on Westheimer, repaved Washington despite there being an extensive study to reimagine the corridor, and forced a redesign on Antoine street that nixes the popular idea of shared use paths in favor of widening the width of lanes.

Residents of Midtown found out about the removal of the bike lanes on Austin St. not through a notice or public input, but by seeing construction cones blocking off the bike lanes. Whitmire and crew is using the rehabilitation of Austin St. as an excuse to rip out the bike lanes, despite the bike lanes implemented being completed 5 years ago. Whitmire used lack of on-street parking and even used the Fire Department as an excuse, claiming that they were not able to access the street thanks to the bike lanes. Both of these claims have been debunked. Not only is there an abundance of parking in Midtown, especially on the corridor itself, but the HFD has said they’ve had no problems using it. After extensive backlash, Whitmire caved in and said the new redesign will include an one-way unprotected bike lane. While it is a start, it is a far cry from the two way protected bike lanes. This is not a compromise. This is Whitmire throwing scraps and expecting thanks for it.

In a time where Houston’s financial budget is already seeing a strain due to the city expanding more than the budget can keep up with, Whitmire using the already insolvent budget to undo these street projects and risk jeopardizing millions of dollars in state and federal funding shows that he has no clear goal for Houston. In the end, we, the taxpayer, pay for Whitmire’s incompetence.

“I am sensitive to bike riders, I am. … (But) we are not going to sacrifice our general mobility for recreation.”

John Whitmire

Mayor of Houston