Month: June 2026

By Francis Page Jr.

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    June 15, 2026 (Houston Style Magazine) — In Houston, everything comes big—our highways, our skyline, our dreams, and, apparently, our budgets. Last week, Houston City Council approved Mayor John Whitmire’s historic $7.58 billion city budget by a 15–1 vote. The plan passed, but the conversation is far from over.

Standing alone in opposition was District J Council Member Edward Pollard, whose “no” vote was not a political whisper. It was a public declaration that City Hall, in his view, must show more discipline with taxpayer dollars.

“A budget is discipline,” Pollard said, arguing that Houston continues to spend more while residents still wait for better streets, reliable trash pickup, fewer water main breaks, and city services that match the taxes they pay. For Pollard, the issue is not whether Houston should invest in itself. The issue is whether Houstonians are seeing a fair return on that investment.

The new budget arrives as Houston faces serious financial pressure and a major deficit challenge. The spending plan includes a new $5 monthly trash and recycling fee expected to appear on residents’ utility bills, along with changes in how solid waste services are funded. Supporters say the fee is necessary to stabilize basic services without raising property taxes. Critics say it asks families to pay more while too many neighborhood problems remain unsolved.

Pollard placed himself firmly in the accountability camp.

“Our city is facing its largest budget deficits ever,” Pollard said, warning that Houston cannot rely on what he called “patchwork” solutions. He expressed concern that moving funds around may help balance numbers on paper, but still leave residents wondering when their streets, drainage, water systems, and trash services will improve.

For many Houstonians, this is not a spreadsheet debate. It is personal. It is the pothole on the morning commute. It is the missed trash pickup on a hot week. It is the water leak that reminds homeowners that infrastructure problems do not fix themselves.

Pollard, a Houston native, attorney, businessman, and product of Houston ISD schools, often speaks about government through the lens of household discipline and business judgment. Educated at Thurgood Marshall School of Law and Harvard Business School, he says public money should be handled with the same care families use when managing their own budgets.

“As a family man and businessman, my conscience can’t allow me to spend the people’s purse with any less discipline than I would my own,” Pollard said.

That message resonated with residents who applauded his stand. It also signaled why Pollard’s name continues to surface in conversations about Houston’s political future.

His vote also comes at a time when voters are increasingly focused on taxes, spending, crime, and public safety. Pollard points to District J as proof that targeted action can deliver measurable results. According to Pollard, crime is down more than 30 percent in his district, compared with a reported citywide decline of about 19 percent. He credits stronger coordination, increased patrols, and focused action in southwest Houston near Beltway 8 and U.S. 59, an area long troubled by prostitution, narcotics activity, and violence.

Pollard said barricades, locked alleyway access, and stepped-up police presence have helped disrupt criminal activity and protect families, businesses, seniors, veterans, and immigrant communities who call southwest Houston home.

This is where democracy earns its stripes. A healthy city does not require every elected official to vote the same way. It requires leaders willing to ask hard questions before the bill comes due. A lone “no” vote can sharpen public debate, demand accountability, and remind taxpayers that representation is not a rubber stamp.

Pollard’s vote did not stop the budget. But it did make Houstonians pause and ask a necessary question: What should residents expect in return for a $7.58 billion investment?

In Houston, where taxpayers know the difference between a promise and a pothole, that question is worth every penny.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Kierra Lee
KIELEESTYLE@GMAIL.COM
4096658446

By Francis Page Jr.

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    June 15, 2026 (Houston Style Magazine) — A friend said something to me once that I have never forgotten.

His name is Alec Baldwin. He told me, “I’m an old school American. That means I believe you’re an American the day you decide to come here and join us.”

I love that line. It is simple. It is generous. It is true.

That is the country I was raised to believe in. A country with room. A country that makes space at the table.

We seem to have forgotten that lately. We talk about walls. We talk about who to keep out. We talk about whole groups of people as if they were a problem to be solved.

But fear is a poor teacher. It tells us to lock the door. It tells us the stranger wants what is ours. It tells us there is not enough to go around.

Fear is almost always wrong.

A great American answered that same fear long ago. His name was Frederick Douglass. He was born into slavery. He freed himself. And in 1869, he stood up in Boston to speak for people who looked nothing like him.

The target back then was Chinese immigrants. Many Americans wanted them shut out. Douglass said no. He called for a “composite nation” — one people, made from many.

The immigrants would keep coming, he said, the way waves keep coming to the shore. And we would be stronger if we met them as friends. Stronger. Not weaker. That was his word.

Douglass was right. He is still right.

Now think about our most famous symbol of welcome. The Statue of Liberty. She stands in New York Harbor with her torch held high.

Most of us were never taught where she came from: the end of slavery. The men who dreamed her up had fought to end it. In an early design, she held broken chains in her hand. Look closely today, and you will still find a broken chain and shackle at her feet. Most visitors never see them.

She is, at her heart, a statue about people set free. And a statue about welcome. The two ideas were always one.

Which brings me to a film I cannot stop thinking about.

It is called “The Welcome Table.” The filmmaker Josh Fox made it, and it premieres June 23 on HBO. For years he followed families driven from their homes by floods and fires and drought. People the world keeps trying to wall out.

Fox had one simple idea. “A wall, on its side, can be a table,” he says. The thing we build to keep people out can become the thing that invites them in. Same wood. Same length. We only have to lay it down flat.

So he built one. A table a thousand feet long. He gathered families from around the world to sit at it together on a levee in New Orleans. They ate. They sang. They told their stories. They began to heal.

Fox reminds us we have done this before. New Yorkers once feared Italian immigrants. Newspapers drew them as criminals. Today you cannot imagine New York without pizza. Every wave we feared, we later thanked.

Now Fox is taking the table on the road. He is building a movement of house parties across the country. Neighbors gather in living rooms, watch the film, and talk — about who their own families once were, and who they might welcome next.

“Welcoming is a virtue,” Fox says. We have let it slip. He wants us to pick it back up.

That is the choice in front of us. We can keep building walls. Or we can lay them down and set the table.

I know which America I want to live in.

I want the America Alec Baldwin described. The one you join the day you decide to come.

I want the America Frederick Douglass fought for. The composite nation, stronger for its mix.

I want the America the Statue of Liberty was built to be. A free people, making room for the next.

An old saying goes: when you have more than you need, build a longer table, not a higher wall.

So, let’s build the longer table.

Ben Jealous is a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania and former president and CEO of the NAACP.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Kierra Lee
KIELEESTYLE@GMAIL.COM
4096658446

By Nick Sloan

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    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KMBC) — Former NFL and Raytown High School star Aldon Smith has died at the age of 36.

The San Francisco 49ers confirmed the news early Saturday evening.

The team said it was “devastated by the sudden and tragic passing” of Smith, who emerged as one of the NFL’s most dominant young pass rushers after being selected seventh overall in the 2011 NFL Draft.

No cause of death was released.

Before reaching the NFL, Smith starred at Raytown High School in the Kansas City area and went on to play for the University of Missouri.

He earned first-team All-Big 12 honors and was named Missouri’s Defensive Lineman of the Year in 2010.

“We are devastated by the sudden and tragic passing of Aldon Smith,” the 49ers said in a statement. “Aldon’s undeniable talent and sheer dominance on the field were on display from the moment he joined our organization, having recorded one of the best rookie seasons the National Football League has seen. Beyond his excellence as a player, Aldon will be remembered for his infectious smile that lit up every room he walked into. Our entire organization sends its deepest condolences to the Smith family and all who knew and loved Aldon.”

Smith played for the 49ers, the Oakland Raiders and Dallas Cowboys during his 75-game career.

“The Raiders Family is deeply saddened to learn of the loss of Aldon Smith, who passed away at the age of 36,” the Raiders said in a statement. “Aldon played nine games for the Raiders in 2015 as part of a career in which he posted a remarkable 52.5 sacks in six active seasons. Aldon proudly wore the Silver and Black, was respected by his teammates and will be missed dearly. The thoughts and prayers of the entire Raider Nation are with Aldon’s family at this time.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.