From KPRC 2. This
is Houston newsmakers with khambrel Marshall.
Good
morning as I welcome to Houston newsmakers precinct for Harris. County
Commissioner Leslie, Briones good morning,
good morning, thank you so much for the invitation. It is so
good for you to be able to be here in. Squeeze us into your very busy
schedule. You have not wasted any time
as your
commissioner status begins,
describe precinct for but subscribers constituents in that
Precinct.
Absolutely well. Thank you again for the opportunity and I’ve been so
grateful for every day
of being commissioner for precinct for. So,
Harris County Precinct for
encompasses 1.2 million people. So,
in terms of population, it’s bigger than nine states.
In
terms of land mass,
it is
bigger than Rhode Island.
Precinct 4 is
incredibly diverse. It is the most diverse and most International
of the four precincts in Harris County,
not only in terms of race ethnicity and nationality
but also in terms of the geography that it encompasses,
we have
have a
wonderful mix
of
urban suburban and Rural. So we have for
example,
River Oaks
we have
Gulf tune, which I
love dearly. The Ellis Island of Harris County and of Texas.
We go out to Katie.
We go up to Waller and Tomball we have more of Waller than Waller
County has
of wall.
So
it’s been wonderful to kick off our tenure as commissioner
with listening tours across the precincts because the needs
and
opportunities,
very so substantial. You know, I’ve known a lot about
the
diversity and the size, but when you put it in the perspective you just did
it really is big and it really is diverse.
You’ve got this really interesting background where education is
clearly been a high point for you. You’ve been to Harvard went
to Yale, you’ve been an educator. Even a teacher in between all of that
you
could have done
a lot of different things. Why are you
devoting your life now to Public Service
when so many times other people who have your credentials would be, you know,
making tons and tons of money not that you’re,
you know, having done that or anything like that. But why public service for you?
Well,
it really goes back to my parents. My parents are both Educators.
They recently
are both retired. My dad, just retired after 50 years and education.
So
service was
everything to them and in our home
and so they instilled that in US.
Yes.
And so I’ve loved each chapter of my career as
a teacher lawyer
non-profit, executive judge, and now is commissioner
getting
to roll up. My sleeves be in the community and get to work
on
a variety of issues that affect people’s day-to-day lives. It’s just
deeply energized. So, one of those things that’s talked about some of
that
when we
talk about Bear Creek Park. And a lot of times when we talk about them,
when
we talk about and we talk about it, in
terms of flooding,
there’s always
The like flooding going on there
recently.
This is something that’s happened. Has made a really positive impact talk about what’s been going
on there where you started to break ground on some
projects that
the money has been available. But somehow it hasn’t gotten to that community
in a while we have a lot of work to do as we know with regard to flooding
and especially in precinct for where we have
a substantial portion of West Harris County. We have addicts
and Barker two of the most dangerous dams in the nation.
So
the project that you refer to Bear, Creek
is an exciting project.
Eject, it’s approximately 20 million dollars. It’s being invested
in flood mitigation efforts, subdivision drainage
this subdivision, approximately sixty percent
of the homes
were affected
with flooding
with Harvey. And
this project has been a long time coming. So I’m so thankful to the community
for their patience and persistence and partnership.
But we broke ground recently, and that will have a
substantial effect in helping to mitigate
the effects of future storms.
Cause we all know it’s going to happen and we just need to be as
prepared as possible. It’s not if it’s, when
it’s right about that.
Let’s talk about some politics that’s going on for a moment. Your election. You be
Jack Cagle to give Democrats a 3D one advantage in that
category there plus
judge Hidalgo
how much different is this court? Do you think
compared to what a more conservative Court might be doing if you feel
comfortable with
the direction and the speed with which you’re doing things now with this court? Yes.
Well, there’s always a lot of work
to be done and I’m the type of person that
You need to be getting better at what you’re doing. So we are committed to continuously
improving and I really have to hand it to commissioner. Cagle,
he was my commissioner for many years. He was incredibly gracious
throughout the transition
and that filled me because this to me is
far more
than any one of us. It’s not about us, it’s about the people were serving
and it shouldn’t be about politics. It should be about results, right?
So you’re right, we do have a 4-1 supermajority now,
as Democrats on the court,
but the way I see it is this is an
Tunity to lead to continue to improve, and to
continue to deliver for the people. And so I talked a lot about
the black robe. I used to wear as a judge,
not a blue robe, not a red robe, not any other color, I go to my court,
listen to all sides of a case, look at the evidence and then make that hard
decision,
that is what I’ve been trying to bring to Commissioner’s Court because
we do have to listen to all sides
and we do need to make decisions based on data and evidence and move
forward and so
I believe we need to come together and focus.
Kisan what unites us
rather than what divides us. So you do that on the
Harris County level, in the meantime in the state legislature, there are making
laws that seemed to take direct aim
at Harris County.
What do you make of that? And how do you fight back from against those kinds of
things?
Which clearly are laws that are being put into place that are
opposite of what? It seems the will of Harris County Commissioners court
is
yes, the bills are Brazen and very
much aimed at Harris County
and my Approach in the last seven months that I’ve been in office
is
Going to Austin asking for meetings with members
across
the aisles
because I want to hit
reset and restart to the greatest degree possible on
this
very difficult relationship that we see with
taxes and Harris County. And
personally as a native Texan as a proud Texan
and as someone who’s all about trying to get the work done, we have to work
together in a more productive way. So I was there working
and the reception. I mean yeah. I was I mean I was very
thankful.
Oil. But
every meeting that I asked for was granted, they sat down, we talked
we talked about I’m a lawyer right? So I can
I loved I could argue all day everyday and I
I feel comfortable in disagreement but it’s really okay. What are
your concerns?
What can we do? Better to alleviate such concerns, what’s the path
forward? What can we agree on? How can we make progress?
Because this Zero Sum game
is unproductive and we can do better in terms
of Harris County and it’s Texas, you’re doing better.
There’s a lot of things going on there, perhaps
because of your
Heightened expertise as a judge.
You seem to have a priority of Public Safety and Justice in mind as well.
We’re
going to talk about. That includes a program called teller Deputy, which is
rather unique, really,
we’re going to talk about the program and how it fits into your agenda