Houston City Council today voted 13-1, with Michael Sullivan opposed, to approve the Downtown Living Initiative, an economic development program to provide incentives for development of multi-family residential projects in the eastern area of the Central Business District generally bounded by Runnells Street on the north, Chartres Street on the east, Pierce Street on the south and Fannin Street on the west. Listen

“This is going to change the face of downtown,” said Council Member James Rodriguez.  “It’s going to change the face of our city.”

Sullivan said he had calculated that the incentives to developers could cost the city $37.5 million in tax revenue.

“I am opposed to giving that much money back to the property owners,” Sullivan said.

The city council voted 13-2, with Sullivan and Helena Brown opposed, to approve an $855,000 three-year contract with Brainfuse, Inc. for live homework assistance for the Houston Public Library Department.

The city council voted 13-1, with Helena Brown opposed, to increase spending authority in a contract with Buckeye Cleaning Center-Houston from $472,704.33 to $590,880.41 for janitorial supplies for various departments.

“A 25 percent increase in janitorial supplies is quite a steep hike,” Brown said.  “So I’ll be voting no on this.”

The city council voted 13-1, with Brown opposed, to approve an agreement with Science Applications International Corporation for professional services for the drafting of regional catastrophic preparedness planning for the Mayor’s Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security.

The city council voted 13-1, with Helena Brown opposed, to authorize an amendment to the city’s agreement with Habitat for Humanity, Inc. for an additional 11 distressed properties for demolition and/or rehabilitation or redevelopment - to provide home ownership opportunities to qualified individuals and families.

The city council voted 13-1, with Helena Brown opposed, to approve a contract with Civic Design Associates, previously Perspectiva Civic Design, for Houston’s Heritage Corridor and Bayou Trails, west from San Jacinto Street to Stude Park.

Brown used the city council tag rule to delay for one week city council consideration of changes to the Code of Conduct that are applicable to city council members.  Because she will not be at next week’s meeting, Brown first moved to delay consideration for two weeks – which Mayor Parker said  would be a three-week delay because of a city council holiday in two weeks- but her motion failed on a 7-7 tie.  Council members voting against the two week delay were Mike Laster, Jack Christie, Stephen Costello, Al Hoang, Larry Green, Ellen Cohen and Rodriguez.

Council Member Jerry Davis tagged a proposed contract with Texas Sterling Construction Co. for Hirsch Road paving and drainage from Kelly to East Crosstimbers.

The city council voted 13-0, with Gonzalez out of the room and not voting, to approve a contract with The Lone Star College System to provide paramedic training services to the Houston Fire Department.

The city council voted 13-0, with Costello out of the room and not voting, to approve a petition of LM Development LP to expand the city’s extra territorial jurisdiction to  include approximately 107.53 acres near Fort Bend County Municipal Utility District No. 146 and to add 131.6733 acres of land to the district.

A proposed $100,000 agreement with Genesys Works Houston for participation of high school student interns in various city departments did not arrive in time for consideration by the city council; it will be included on a future agenda.

All other agenda items were approved unanimously, with Wanda Adams, Oliver Pennington and Melissa Noriega absent.  Council Member Andrew Burks arrived late and did not vote on all the items. Agenda

At her news conference following the city council meeting, Mayor Parker and Kenneth Hoagland, director of the Fleet Management Department, discussed  a new partnership with Zipcar, Inc., a car sharing network, to launch Houston Fleet Share - a municipal electric vehicle green fleet sharing program. News Release   Listen

“Houston is setting the pace for sustainability efforts, and we are very proud to be working with Zipcar to launch the nation’s first-ever municipal EV green fleet sharing program,” Parker said. “Although we’ve always been known as the oil capital of the world, we’re gaining momentum on being the energy capital through programs like Houston Fleet Share and the Houston Drives Electric initiative.”