901 Bagby: Inside The Mayor's Office

Angel Ponce was sitting in a hospital wheelchair — a few stories up at Memorial Hermann — watching pedestrians jump curbs and board buses below, and feeling like he no longer belonged in that world. In this episode, he tells Owen Conflenti how that moment eventually led him to run the City of Houston's Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities — and what he's building so no one in...

Joshua Sanders is the City of Houston's Chief of Intergovernmental Affairs — the person responsible for protecting and advancing Houston's interests at the Texas Legislature, in Washington D.C., and across all 16 members of City Council. In this episode, Owen Conflenti sits down with Sanders to explain what that office actually does, and why the 18 months between legislative sessions may...

Every dollar the City of Houston puts into arts funding through the hotel occupancy tax returns approximately $28 in economic impact. Michele Leal, Director of the Mayor's Office of the Arts, opens with that number — and the rest of the conversation is about proving it. Leal walks Owen through the two engines behind Houston's public art collection: the HOT grant program and the civic art...

Herbert Sims was a 22-year-old Urban Fellow stepping out of the Manhattan Municipal Building on the morning of September 11, 2001. He stayed through the end of that year, then came home to Houston — and the City called before he had a plan. Twenty-four years later, he runs the Department of Neighborhoods: the city office that most Houstonians have never heard of and that may do more to connect res...

Marta Crinejo has been the gatekeeper for every vote on Houston City Council for 14 years — and the first thing she did when she met Mayor Whitmire was refuse a direct order. He told her she should just agree with him. She said no. She immediately assumed she'd fired herself. She hadn't. He was testing her.  And having fun. Marta is the City of Houston's Agenda Director, a role she&...

Houston's Housing & Community Development Director opens this episode with a correction most people have never heard: when the federal government approved $314 million in disaster relief, no check arrived. The city earns that money by spending it correctly first — reimbursement is conditional, not guaranteed. That single clarification reframes everything Michael C. Nichols, Director of th...

When Mayor Whitmire's FY2027 budget passed City Council 15 to 1, the headlines went to solid waste fees and right-of-way restructuring. Melissa Dubowski, Houston's Director of Finance, says the more important story got almost no coverage: the Mayor quietly froze city employee healthcare costs flat — in a year when healthcare expenses were rising everywhere else. In this conversation with...

Houston's Office of Business Opportunity used to take roughly a year to certify a small business. Cylenthia Hoyrd — the director who cut that time down to 15 days — couldn't get certified herself when she applied, because the process was too broken. That candor got her hired. On this episode, Owen sits down with Hoyrd to trace how Mayor Whitmire gave OBO permission to pause all new intak...

Houston’s Presiding Municipal Court Judge emphasizes that the Municipal Court is truly the people’s court. She is committed to ensuring the public receives an excellent customer service experience while resolving their court matters. Her staff is dedicated to being welcoming and helpful to everyone navigating the court system.   Director & Presiding Judge Nelly Treviño Santos runs the court mo...

Dr. Theresa Tran got the call about leading Houston's Health Department while she was pregnant. Baby Teddy was born July 24th. Her predecessor's last day was August 30th. There was no maternity leave — just one month to learn a 1,000-person department from scratch. In this conversation with host Owen Conflenti, Dr. Tran lays out what the Houston Health Department actually does — and the...

Most Houstonians have driven on streets, walked through parks, or lived in neighborhoods built with a financing tool they've never heard of. Owen sits down with Gwendolyn Tillotson-Bell, Houston's Chief Economic Development Officer, to explain how Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones — TIRZs — work, why they don't raiseyour property taxes, and how one burned-out apartment complex in the...

City Council passed Houston's FY2027 budget 15–1 — and Mayor Whitmire tells Owen exactly how a coalition stretching from the AFL-CIO to the Acres Home Chamber of Commerce got it done. More than 90 community briefings, over 30 supporting letters, and structural fixes that previous administrations left on the table: solid waste consolidated into Public Works, a right-of-way fee charged to priva...

Sandy Gaw learned English as a kindergartner at the Houston Public Library. Forty years later, Mayor Whitmire appointed her to run it — a system with more than 330,000 active cardholders, 2 million visits last year, and 8 million physical and digital checkouts. Sandy is the fourth of ten children in a first-generation American family. Chinese was the first language at home; her father took all ten...

When Hurricane Beryl was bearing down on Houston, the wife of the city's top emergency manager decided — for the first time in years — to stay home. Beryl passed directly over their house. Brian Mason, Director of the City of Houston Office of Emergency Management, tells that story on camera, and uses it to explain why he gets his own family out of Houston 72 hours before any storm — a full d...

Houston's city budget has run a structural deficit for nearly 40 years — the last structurally balanced budget was under Mayor Lee Brown. In Episode 9 of 901 Bagby, Chief Operating Officer Steven David walks through exactly how the Whitmire administration plans to end that streak, and the math is straightforward. Two policy moves, one budget cycle, and the projected FY27 gap shrinks. David is...

In his second month in office, Mayor John Whitmire got a call: HPD had 260,000 suspended cases that had never been investigated. "Let me say it again," he tells the room. "260,000." A year later, Houston's murder rate is down 36% year-over-year — the strongest improvement among major U.S. cities tracked by the Major Cities Chiefs Association — and HPD is at 5,400 officers,...

When Randy Macchi took over as Houston's Public Works Director, the city had 1,900 active water main leaks running at the same time. He's brought that number down to roughly 100 — and other mayors have started calling to ask how. Macchi isn't an engineer. He's a  University of Houston law school graduate who ran a nationwide property and casualty insurer before Mayor Whitmire p...

Houston Mayor John Whitmire doesn't hold back on tough decisions—including firing a top-performing police officer for using racial slurs, despite her stellar academy record. In this episode from City Hall, Mayor Whitmire opens up about how his personal faith guides his leadership of America's fourth-largest city, shares scripture that shapes his staff meetings, and addresses criticism he...

You've never heard a fire chief get this emotional about his job.  Houston Fire Department Chief Thomas Muñoz tears up talking about potentially pinning his own son as a Houston firefighter, and reveals how Hurricane Katrina taught him the "not on our watch" philosophy that drives everything he does. Chief  Muñoz shares his remarkable journey from the legal field to leading one of A...

Ever wonder what it's really like when a mayor goes head-to-head with the governor? Houston's John Whitmire doesn't mince words about his battles with Greg Abbott over immigration policy, while also haring the important numbers behind the city's infrastructure comeback. In this candid conversation, Mayor Whitmire discusses Houston's transformation over his first year in of...

Other mayors are quietly calling Mayor John Whitmire asking, "How are you doing it?" In this episode, Mayor Whitmire addresses overtime criticism head-on, explaining how Houston added 800 police officers and reached an all-time high of 5,400 total officers while balancing the budget without property tax increases. He breaks down how major events, international visitors, and storm respons...

Houston just secured $314 million in federal funding and the Mayor reveals why the city is positioning itself to become America's model for ending homelessness. In this episode, we break down the comprehensive $41 million Emancipation facility opening in June, inspired by San Antonio's Haven for Hope model. Plus the historic Charlotte Baldwin Allen statue unveiling, World Cup preparation...

Recorded March 2, 2026 at HTV. Welcome to the first episode of 901 Bagby: Inside the Mayor’s Office . Houston Mayor John Whitmire sits down for a candid conversation about the biggest issues facing the city.  From public safety and the future of HPD , to city services , infrastructure, and Houston’s growing role as a destination for major events like FIFA , the World Baseball Classic , and more, t...