CM Sallie Alcorn
There are three open At Large Council seats this year, which means there are two incumbents running for re-election. Council Member Sallie Alcorn is the incumbent in At Large #5, serving as the chair of the Regulatory and Neighborhood Affairs Committee. She was twice a Chief of Staff before getting elected herself, most recently to CM Stephen Costello, and also worked in the city’s flood recovery office. I could give you more things that she’s done but it’s probably better for you to just read her City Council bio because she’s done a lot and there’s only so much space here. She’s been a board member of the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) and is set to serve as its Chair, so you can be sure we talked about the Fair for Houston issue. Here’s the interview I did with her in 2019, and here’s the interview I did with her now:
PREVIOUSLY:
Kathy Blueford-Daniels
Dani Hernandez
Judith Cruz
Plácido Gómez
Mario Castillo
Cynthia Reyes-Revilla
Joaquin Martinez
Tarsha Jackson
Leah Wolfthal
Melanie Miles
Abbie Kamin
This week is (mostly) At Large Council candidates, starting with At Large #1 but not limited to that. At Large #2 will be next week. The Erik Manning spreadsheet is here. My previous posts about the 2023 HISD election are here and here. My posts about the July campaign finance reports for City Council candidates are here and here.
The fire department is always pointed to as one of the major parts of the Houston budget, but Mayor Turner is ignoring that responsibility by sidestepping collective bargaining with fire fighters. How can the mayor’s office use the judicial system and delay tactics to keep from paying fire fighters a comparative wage? Houston Fire fighters have lived it. A question I have for candidates who voted for another $500,000 to fight fire fighters is “is this using the judicial system to keep public safety costs lower by challenging the comparative pay of Houston Fire Fighters”. Somehow, the mayor found a pay comparison three years ago, but that was 5 years late. It is an absolute disgrace Houston Fire fighters are kicked to the curb time and again, but in the end, it will be Houston Fire Fighters who will ultimately vote on any proposed contract, so it better be worth while, but we all know the Mayor doesn’t give a s—.
David~
The average firefighter salary in Houston is $76,438/yr , which is somewhere below the ten Highest Paying Cities in Texas for firefighters (even Odessa pays more than HTX). HTX firefighters make what, $51K/yr to start ? Pretty good chump change to sit around the station most of the day.
Thank you for the same copy and paste comment, but what did it take to get to that point? It really doesn’t matter how much money per year you make, especially when someone else will pay the same, hence the term Houston is the training facility for other fire departments. But how much is enough to be disrespected, stolen from, lied to, and then told you have it so good? It’s an abusive relationship with the city of Houston and you’re right, there’s plenty of other places to work that don’t kick you in the face and tell you how good you’ve got it. That’s supply and demand and that’s Houston’s emergency response plan. Your Houston, not mine.
If the mayor should use Odessa as a fair wage comparison, let him know, because he’s having a hard time “finding” one.