Joe Panzarella

Infrastructure / Transportation Joe will make walkability a core priority from day one by launching a district-wide sidewalk audit to quickly identify broken, missing, or unsafe sections and get them into the repair pipeline. Immigration Houston is the most diverse city in the nation. Joe will work to ensure that all residents, regardless of immigration status, feel safe accessing city services and participating in their communities. While the City cannot change federal immigration law, it can challenge it. Joe will support legal advocacy that stands up to Trump’s deportation machine. He will make the promise of sanctuary cities real by bringing forward an ordinance to protect residents from unnecessary ICE enforcement in local facilities, ensure city departments do not act as immigration enforcement agents when Houstonians are seeking help, and support policies that safeguard access to housing, healthcare, and education for immigrant families. By partnering with community organizations, legal aid groups, and neighborhood leaders, Joe will strengthen Houston’s reputation as a welcoming city where diversity is a source of strength and every resident can thrive without fear. Infrastructure / Transportation Joe will work closely with Public Works and community partners to ensure every sidewalk project meets modern ADA standards, closes key gaps, and contributes to a fully connected, accessible, and walkable District C. Legislation AI is a transformational technology that will only continue to impact our city, from autonomous vehicles to public safety surveillance, and we need a Council Member ready to meet the moment. Joe supports the development of city-wide policy on the ethics of AI and its use in our day to day lives. Housing Joe will also champion developer incentives for including affordable units in new projects, ensuring that growth benefits the whole community. To protect current residents, he will streamline permitting for renovations and infill projects that create affordable housing without displacing families. Cities like Austin and Minneapolis have successfully used a combination of zoning reforms, incentives, and streamlined approvals to increase housing supply and affordability, proving that smart local policies can make homes more attainable for everyone. Joe will also champion a city-wide antidisplacement index to understand where families are being pushed out of the District and the city - and how the city can help them stay. Criminal Justice / Public Safety Joe is committed to strong interagency collaboration that improves information sharing, speeds response times, and strengthens community safety. Building on this approach, the last administration launched a firearm injuries dashboard that brings together data from emergency rooms, first responders, and mortality records. This coordinated effort helps local stakeholders better understand risks and prevent unintentional firearm injuries. Joe will ensure this dashboard, and similar data-driven tools, are fully funded, actively used, and applied across District C’s neighborhoods. Taxes / Budget Working with the Controller, Finance Department, and independent experts, Joe will create a five year recovery plan to set clear targets for reserve levels, debt management, and departmental efficiency. This plan will be made public and updated annually. Next, he will modernize procurement and contracting to reduce long-term costs without touching frontline workers or public-facing services. Lastly, we must grow revenue for the city. We will secure a long-term fix to the outdated revenue cap, and aggressively pursue federal and state grants so we can fund core infrastructure and public safety that Houstonians expect. Houston deserves a revenue system that matches the growing needs of our city, not one written for a different era. Infrastructure / Transportation Joe will also lead the development of a Transportation Capital Dashboard that tracks spending on intersection upgrades, safety projects, and sidewalk, bikeway, and transit-access improvements, giving residents a transparent view of how mobility dollars are invested and ensuring resources reach the corridors with the highest safety needs first. We won’t rest until the High Injury Network is a relic of the past. Infrastructure / Transportation As Council Member, Joe will bring a data-driven, fundamentally fair approach to flood protection by directing city departments to prioritize drainage and street upgrades where the risks are highest—based on real flood records, infrastructure condition scores, and neighborhood vulnerability. He will create a District C Flood Vulnerability Index to identify the blocks most impacted by chronic flooding and work with Houston Public Works to address those areas first.