Houston can no longer forcibly annex The Woodlands. That’s right—that used to be a thing. After much debate on September 2, City Council agreed to accept a $50 million payout over the next three years in exchange for a promise never to annex The Woodlands, and some city officials think that was a bad idea.

In previous efforts to stave off annexation, which would incorporate the northern suburb into Houston, The Woodlands made a deal with Houston in 2007: They would contribute one-sixteenth of sales tax revenue to a shared infrastructure fund in exchange for a promise not to annex them until 2057. But the Texas legislature passed a bill in 2019 requiring annexed municipalities to vote to agree, which significantly weakened Houston’s leverage     .

Controller Hollins called this new arrangement “a short-term fix that does not solve Houston’s spending problem.” He said that by giving up on the previous arrangement, the city will lose about $130 million over the next 30 years. “This is not a deal that any CFO would make. This is not a deal that any of you would make with your own money, and we shouldn’t do it with taxpayer dollars either,” he said before criticizing the fiscal conservatives on council. “Why did you give away a recurring income stream to solve a one-time problem? That is what all of you campaigned against doing.”

Only District C Councilmember Joe Panzarella voted against the agreement, expressing concern that the revenue will now go into the general fund instead of a dedicated infrastructure fund. Councilmembers Tarsha Jackson (District B), Edward Pollard (District J), and Evans-Shabazz were absent.

Whitmire said critics are basing their claims on “wild speculation” and emphasized that the city needed to accept this deal because, as he put it, “The Woodlands still have a lot of influence in the legislature.”

“Leadership in Austin is largely elected using The Woodlands block of votes,” he added.

Grimes Park, the 9-acre Sunnyside recreational park owned by HISD and leased by the city for the past 30 years, is now closed. HISD terminated the lease early so that the district can build a new career and technical education center there, forcing the Southeast Lions, the Little League football team that has played there since 1993, to find a new home. The closure is part of a broader pattern in the historically neglected neighborhood and follows HISD’s contentious closure of 12 school campuses in the past year and 60 over the past two decades.

The city invested $1.5 million to update Grimes Park in 2023, which was also the last time the lease agreement was renewed, which, Mayor John Whitmire was quick to point out was before his tenure. “Time will tell whether it’s to the advantage of the community, but it’s a major investment, and they wouldn’t yield,” Whitmire said at the September 16 meeting.

After facing criticism from several councilmembers and City Controller Chris Hollins, Mayor Whitmire invited Parks Department director Kenneth Allen to explain the takeover. Allen walked through the Grimes Park-HISD timeline: HISD mailed notice of its intent to close the park to a city P.O. box in January, but it didn’t reach the parks department until March, resulting in a short-notice relocation of the Southeast Lions. When District D Councilmember Carolyn Evans-Shabazz asked why the Little League team received such short notice, Allen said the parks department notified both her and the team’s director about the lease termination in June; after that, it was the Little League director’s responsibility. Allen added that the city did its due diligence by consulting the city’s legal department and meeting with HISD. By August, HISD had already moved the timeline back twice, setting a final deadline to vacate the park by September 1, 2026.

Not all is lost. The parks department salvaged some of Grimes Park’s amenities, including lighting, playground equipment, benches, and picnic tables for reuse at other parks. And the Lions already have a new home at Garden Villas Park, but finding it was challenging. Several nearby parks were inadequate because they lacked sufficient lighting needed for night practices. The city determined it will take $781 million to properly update the lights at every park in the city, but the entire parks budget for the current year is $107.4 million.

The Houston Fire Department promoted Marion Spann to executive assistant chief this month, making her the first Black woman ever to hold the position. Spann has been with the department for 32 years and has broken barriers throughout her career.

In her new role, she is part of the command staff and reports directly to HFD chief Thomas Muñoz. “I’m especially grateful for the confidence and the trust that comes with this responsibility,” Spann said at her appointment on September 9. “I understand that leadership is not about a title. It’s about service, accountability, and making sure we do everything we can to support the men and women who answer the call every day.”

In the September 2 monthly financial report, Controller Hollins reported that the mayor’s office still has not turned over the documents requested for his investigation into Chris Brown, former city controller and current senior financial adviser to Mayor Whitmire. Hollins initially called for the probe in June after a Houston Chronicle report revealed that Brown swiped his badge just 13 times and has sent fewer than one email per week since starting his taxpayer-funded job in January 2026.

Instead of cooperating, Hollins said the city attorney sent him a letter saying they would release the information only if he signed a document “promising not to reveal any of the information to the public under penalty of criminal prosecution.”

“I’m not the criminal here,” Hollins retorted. “I’m not signing any document as a precondition to accessing records that I’m already legally entitled to review.” At-Large 4 Councilmember Alejandra Salinas grilled City Attorney Arturo Michel on what legal statute he was using to demand that Controller Hollins sign an agreement not to disclose information. Michel did not answer her questions.