Civics day 2: Learning about city governments and visiting the Houston city council

Today we did a few things, but to start out, we finalized the Social contract that we made on Day 1 (yesterday). After supervising our social contract and going over some rules again for the members that weren't here on day 1, we took a break and then we got onto our main topic for the morning, learning about different types of city governments

While learning about City governments, we learned about General-Law Vs. Home rule, Mayor-Council Vs. Council-Manager, City officials, and our own representatives from the Police Chief to the District council members. After this we had lunch, and then we moved onto our next activity, going to the city council to watch the Houston city council members and to meet council member Abby Kamin, the district C representative.

After arriving at the Houston City Annex Hall, we met Council Member Abbie Kamin, who started by talking about what she and the council members do, and then we asked her questions regarding Houston. After this, we went to the council meeting and got recognized by the council members, the first time this has happened. We left around 2:30, ending the day.

I personally felt like today was informative and eye opening in many ways, as it not only showed me how the county is taking care of major issues like infrastructure, public transportation, and health and finances, but it also showed me how they care about the people of Houston like the homeless and low-income workers, who came to the meeting and discussed their problems. I also realized how oblivious I was about our city government officials, like Abbie Kamen, and even how our system works, with the city-council controlling funds, and the Mayor presenting a possible budget, kind of like the federal system. Overall, the day was great and interesting, especially after being recognized by the Houston city Council was a highlight.

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