On June 18, City Council members voted to approve the City of Houston's $5.2 billon dollar operating budget for Fiscal Year 2015. One of the most significant amendments offered was the "Council District Service Budget" amendment.

This amendment allocates $1,000,000.00 to each of the 11 council district offices and the purpose of these funds is to introduce a faster and more efficient method to address neighborhood issues and concerns. The overall structure of the program will incorporate necessary legal protections and Mayor Annise Parker must approve or deny each request within 10 days of submittal. The approval process requires project justification, in order to establish the feasibility and necessity of a funding request to the administration.

 In order to establish an effective District D Needs-Based Plan, the District D team staff and community liaisons convened for a retreat on July 10^th, where we analyzed our constituent issue logs and all service requests made to our district office and four satellite offices. We also had Department Directors and representatives from the Department of Neighborhoods, Housing and Community Development, Parks and Recreation, Police, and Fire attend to provide their input on areas of concern pertinent to the District D community.

From the retreat, our team will create a comprehensive document to support the Council District Service Funds that are specifically allocated for our district, which will include special community project ideas and initiatives.

True collaboration and consensus on neighborhood needs will aid in forming a real partnership between the community and city government. Rather than talking at our community, we will show that we are listening to them, thus building up their trust and confidence in the process. And together, we will all work towards building a better Houston for future generations.