'Houston’s frustrated': City Council says residents are tired of being 'Houston Strong' after Beryl

Residents and city officials are tired of having to be "Houston Strong,” and at recent meetings have said they would prefer better hurricane response instead of being forced to survive.

The moniker, which came to life following Harvey in 2017, has historically been used as a rallying cry for resilience when disaster strikes.

But Hurricane Beryl has reigned differently. And this time, residents are more tired than ever before, their meaning of the moniker’s meaning changing as their frustrations with the city and CenterPoint’s hurricane response mount.

WHAT RESILIENCE MEANS: We asked residents how they felt about 'Houston Strong' after Beryl. Here's what they said.

More than 16 residents spoke at Houston City Council’s Tuesday public comment session to tell council members they were without power and angry at CenterPoint for not being better prepared. 

Some had family members in senior facilities who were struggling with no plan or power. Others were upset that communities that have always been forced to be resilient and have yet to recover from past storms are back at square one.

“Houston Strong” found its way into the Houston City Council member chambers Wednesday morning as members sounded off on their district’s storm concerns.

And one after one, Houston’s elected officials said they’re tired of their constituents having to be so resilient, too.

“We are known as being Houston strong,” Council Member Edward Pollard said as Wednesday’s meeting adjourned. “But I can tell you that it feels like Houston’s tired. Houston’s hot. Houston’s frustrated. We tell them that we are well prepared, we are prepared for this, and then they go a week – some people plus – without power.”

He continued: “We have to be transparent with the public and let them know that we did not do all that we could do. From a city standpoint, we’re not fully mobilized. From a CenterPoint standpoint, we were not fully mobilized. We were scrambling after the fact and the city felt it.”

The city now needs to do something different, Pollard said, because it had not prepared for the worst. He apologized to residents for all they had to endure this week.

“We are too great of a city to have this happen over and over,” Pollard said.

WHAT CHANGED: Beryl was the weakest a hurricane could be. Why does it feel like Houston isn't the same?

Several council members cited a need for backup generators at, not only critical city facilities and cooling centers, but senior living facilities. Others warned that the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl can’t continue to be what’s normal.

“Houston strong cannot mean that we expect our citizens to just be able to endure weeks plus without power in the summer and bounce back and expect everything to be OK, and it happen again and again,” said Council Member Mario Castillo.

In the areas the city can’t control, Castillo said officials had to at least make sure the city could be resilient, because residents are tired of hearing about what the city can’t control, like CenterPoint.

Mayor John Whitmire has repeatedly hit on gaps in where the city could be better following disasters. Council members are noticing, too, and said it was time for them to come together.

“At times like this, it becomes pretty obvious what we haven’t done, as well as what we need to do,” Council Member Willie Davis said.

A few council members pointed out how many of their neighborhoods are still without power, and called for hardened infrastructure and utilities, not just in the city, but statewide.

Council Member Abbie Kamin said what happened after Beryl should have never happened in the first place. 

“This feels more like a man-made disaster than a natural disaster,” Kamin said. “We have to hold those accountable and we have to make sure that we have the regulatory oversight to properly harden our infrastructure and our utilities.”

ELECTEDS ON CENTERPOINT: We asked Houston and Texas officials about CenterPoint's power outage delays. Here's what they said.

Council Member Julian Ramirez called first responders, council member staff and neighborhood activists who are on the ground advocating for their communities as they move past the storm the real superstars in Houston’s recovery.

“The real resilience lies in our people, in the folks who live in Houston who have to deal with, time and again, events like this,” Ramirez said, making note that this was the area’s third disaster this year alone.

And resiliency, Council Member Tiffany Thomas said, was starting to take a toll on everyone, and that response needed to be hyperlocal.

“Every time it rains, it thunders, the anxiety shows up in Houstonians, and I know it shows up in me,” Thomas said.