Essay: Lina Hidalgo puts principle over politics at her own peril
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Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer
It was about a week before Christmas and 29-year-old Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo was on the phone talking turkey.
There were holiday giveaways going on all over town, a community leader on the line said. He wanted to know: would the county organize one in his neighborhood?
Hidalgo was sorry, she told him, but she couldn’t justify using her staff’s time, pulling them from their work on next year’s budget, to do a giveaway. Instead, she detailed what the county was doing to distribute congressional stimulus dollars to curtail food insecurity.
January 29, 2021 By Waterways Journal
Houston businessman Ric Campo was appointed chairman of the Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority January 11 by the City of Houston and Harris County Commissioners Court. Campo, chairman and CEO of Camden Property Trust, said he was honored and humbled to be appointed to the position.
“The best is yet to come for our region, and our port will help drive us into a bright future,” Campo said.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo presided over the meeting, which was held at Port Houston’s executive offices. By state statute, the chairman of the port commission is appointed by the governing bodies of the city of Houston and Harris County Commissioners Court in a joint session.
Newly elected Chairman for the Harris County Republican Party, Cindy Siegel, is calling on District Attorney Kim Ogg and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo to address the issue of crime in Houston after she was the victim of a purse snatching in Midtown.
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Harris County leaders on Tuesday will begin to hash out a spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year, as the largest county in Texas deals with a roughly flat budget compared to the last cycle.
The proposed Harris County budget will total roughly $5 billion, with a little less than $2 billion in the general fund, about the same as last year.
At Tuesday’s Harris County Commissioners Court meeting, Budget Director David Barry will make a formal presentation, opening debate among the commissioners and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. The legislative body will vote on the budget the following court session, on Feb. 9.