The 5 likely winners under Houston Mayor John Whitmire’s leadership

As the city’s top office is set to change hands for the first time in eight years, here are the five groups likely to emerge as winners under the new Whitmire administration. 

The Houston firefighters union has been embroiled in a bitter contract dispute with the city for most of outgoing Mayor Sylvester Turner’s tenure. A judge last week ordered the city and the union to enter collective bargaining within the next month, a task that will fall to Whitmire when he assumes office in January.

“We will meet with them and give them a contract that is fair to Houstonian taxpayers and the firefighters,” Whitmire said at his victory party earlier this month. “Can you imagine a city suing their first responders? We couldn’t make it without them.”

Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 341, has expressed optimism about the prospects of Whitmire’s administration.

Whitmire “is not running from the problem but has instead promised to face it head-on,” Lancton recently told the Chronicle. “We welcome this collaborative approach that does not involve the courts and look forward to resolution of what Mayor Sylvester Turner has kicked down the road.”

The Houston Police Department has fewer officers now than it did a decade ago despite growing budgets and active recruitment by the Turner administration.

While nearly all of this year’s mayoral candidates vowed to support Houston police, Whitmire, who has decades-long experience making criminal justice policy, was one of the most vocal and consistent in his “tough on crime” rhetoric.

He made a name for himself crafting Texas’s criminal justice laws in the 1990s and has since chaired the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee under four governors. 

Whitmire said he would more aggressively hire cadets to boost the Houston Police Department’s ranks and re-energize the concept of community policing to improve response times, which have sunk to their slowest point in decades.

The mayor-elect also promised to bring in 200 troopers from the Department of Public Safety to assist local policing efforts, a more controversial proposal that garnered criticisms from his opponents.

“We will make this a safer city,” Whitmire said during his victory speech. “We’ll do it by recruiting more officers, supporting the officers we have (and) coalition-building with other agencies.”

Earlier this year, City Council approved a contentious $470 million concession contract that ousted Pappas Restaurants from Hobby Airport, where it had previously operated for two decades. The popular restaurant chain soon filed a lawsuit against the city, which is still ongoing.

An internal newsletter from Whitmire’s law firm in 1998 shows the Pappas family was once a client of the mayor-elect. Four Families of Houston, which included the Pappas family, retained Whitmire in connection with its bid for a food and beverage concession contract at Bush Intercontinental Airport, according to the newsletter.

Whitmire’s spokesperson clarified that he only offered legal advice to Pappas in the 1990s and did not lobby for the company at City Hall.

Several members of the Pappas family also donated to Whitmire’s mayoral campaign, according to his campaign finance reports. Christina Pappas, a spokesperson for Pappas Restaurants, told the Chronicle these donations reflect the family members’ personal choice.

Even though the mayor-elect never indicated he would bring the restaurant chain back to Hobby Airport, he recently aligned himself with Pappas in its dispute against the city. Citing the Pappas case as an example, Whitmire accused Turner of favoring friends of the administration and vowed to overhaul Houston’s procurement process. Turner has repeatedly refuted any claims of favoritism.

“The Pappas brothers had a very viable family business at Hobby Airport. The Turner administration and city government went out three times for another bid so they could get their friends in Hobby Airport,” Whitmire said at a mayoral debate. “Not only is it wrong to the Pappas family, it’s wrong to Houstonians.”

Whitmire criticized the demographic makeup of department heads under Turner’s leadership, noting the relatively small numbers of Latino and Asian department heads.

Among the 41 past and current department heads appointed by Turner, 18 are Black (44%), 16 are white (39%), five are Hispanic (12%) and two are Asian (5%), data provided by the mayor’s office shows. Yet Houston’s overall population is 22% Black, 24% white, 45% Hispanic and 7% Asian, the latest U.S. Census data shows.

However, research indicates that the underrepresentation of Hispanic and Asian senior city officials is not unique to Houston. Turner also has touted many Asian and Hispanic appointed officials who are not department heads, but have served under his tenure – including Metro Chair Sanjay Ramabhadran and Houston Airport System Director Mario Diaz.

Still, Whitmire said he would increase the presence of Asian and Hispanic leaders in top city positions.

“We are the most diverse city in the nation, something to be proud of,” he said. “Let’s practice what we’re so proud of.”

In Houston’s “strong mayor” system, council members often have to rely on the mayor’s goodwill to influence city policies.

Until recently, the Houston mayor held almost complete control over the City Council’s weekly agenda. A newly passed proposition now allows any three council members to band together and add a proposal to the agenda. This change does not significantly undermine the mayor’s power, as he still retains complete administrative authority, according to City Attorney Arturo Michel.

The new proposition aside, during a recent forum about improving neighborhood infrastructure, Whitmire promised he would delegate more responsibilities to council members, granting them the freedom to spearhead plans to tackle issues like homelessness and illegal dumping.

“Study it, come back with a plan on how we’re going to pay for it,” Whitmire said. “I want to give (council members) the responsibility and the authority to make a difference. You’d be surprised what we can do.”