CITY& COUNTY
News from Houston & Harris County
COMPILED BY SOFIA GONZALEZ & DANICA LLOYD
Houston City Council will meet at 9 a.m. March 9 at 901 Bagby St., Houston. Meetings are streamed at www.houstontx.gov/htv. Harris County Commissioners Court will meet at 10 a.m. March 8 at 1001 Preston St., Ste. 934, Houston. MEETINGSWE COVER HARRIS COUNTY In a 3-2 vote, commissioners approved a $1.3 billion budget Feb. 8 for the next seven months and a preliminary $2.15 billion budget for the following 12 months. The county is changing its fiscal year to run from Oct. 1-Sept. 30. The fiscal year 2022-23 budget and tax rates are expected to be finalized in September. MEETING HIGHLIGHTS HOUSTON Mayor Sylvester Turner announced Feb. 24 the suspension of a policy requiring all employees and visitors to wear a mask in city buildings. Employees will also no longer be required to conduct a temperature screening when entering city buildings. However, the suspension does not apply to those who work as clinical personnel, such as paramedics, nurses and doctors.
HOUSTON At a Feb. 7 ribbon-cutting ceremony, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner unveiled a new digital interactive kiosk city officials hope to install at 75 intersections across the city. The kiosks are from a partnership between the city and IKE Smart City. Kiosks will feature dual touchscreens that will allow residents and visitors in the city to search for local businesses, cultural institutions, homeless shelters, addiction recovery programs and food support. The kiosk also offers free Wi-Fi, real-time public transit data and First of 75 new interactive kiosks unveiled inHouston
games.
Kiosk locations
The city antici- pates all kiosks will be deployed by the end of 2023. Prior to construction, city officials and IKE—which stands for Interactive Kiosk Experience—are working with council members, neighbor-
Five kiosks have been approved for construction so far. • Walker Street at Avenida de las Americas • Post Oak Boulevard at Westheimer Road • Gray Street at Bagby Street • Main Street at Rusk Street • Texas Avenue at Hamilton Street
SOURCE: CITY OF HOUSTON/ COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
hood groups and property owners to identify locations and obtain permitting approvals, said Mary Benton, a spokesperson with Turner’s office.
Houston, Harris County launch new task force
However, Turner said he wants to look to the future instead of looking back on an individual incident. “I know that things can go side- ways pretty easily, but it’s important that we do and have everything from all procedures in place to make sure things are rectified as quick as possible,” Garcia said. The task force will look at event disciplines, staffing standards, safety standards and logistics.
HOUSTON&HARRIS COUNTY Mayor Sylvester Turner joined Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia at a Feb. 9 press conference to announce the creation of a Houston-Harris Special Events Task Force. The goal of the task force is to ensure consistent operations that are
up to standard for all future events. The Special Events Task Force will be reviewing and improving com- munication, protocols and permit requirements within the city and county, Turner said. The task force comes after what Garcia described as a tragedy at the Astroworld music festival Nov. 5.
Meetings are streamed at www.harriscountytx.gov.
512-232-5000 EdServices@austin.utexas.edu
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