About this episode

The episode discusses the Houston People's Budget movement and its demands for a budget that prioritizes community needs over police funding.

As we all watch the national news, it feels helpless watching our tax dollars go to endless violence, bailing out corporations, and a random ballroom. However, every city and county has a budget season! The season for the Houston budget is here, and there is a movement demanding a budget that serves the working class. The Houston People's Budget is a community movement to demand elected officials prioritize community safety, public infrastructure, and flood prevention for Houston and Harris County. Felix from West Street Recovery, NAC , and the Houston People's Budget joins me to talk about how the current budget overfunds police while not paying city workers a living wage and cutting public services in general. The FY2026 budget cut $122M from public health, parks, libraries, housing, and the arts, reduced the total city workforce by 10%, and diverted $90M meant for drainage. We talk about the ways in which you can join the movement and help with plenty of events coming up before the vote in June.

People in this episode

Host: Sam Oser

Guest: Felix

Topics covered

• budgeting
• community activism
• public services
• police funding
• Houston politics

Keywords

• Houston budget
• people's budget
• community safety
• public infrastructure
• flood prevention
• police funding
• public health cuts

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: West Street Recovery, NAC, Houston People's Budget

Places: Houston, Harris County

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