My last two days in the office were great ones. Wednesday morning kicked off with a Council Session, which included some reports from the Mayor’s office on ongoing projects. Council sessions are usually quite long (~2 hours), so it went on for a while. After Session, District C staff had a last-minute meeting to prepare for the incoming freeze and prepare emergency disaster responses, which included communicating with neighborhood groups, preparing infographics/resources for the possible emergencies that could arise during a freeze, etc. After lunch, I worked on my assignments from that meeting, which was compiling resources and content to send out to constituents. This included links to warming centers, food distribution centers, contacts at CenterPoint, etc. The remainder of my afternoon was spent dealing with constituent voice mails and assisting with scheduling committee meetings for the year. I really enjoy managing the voicemail inbox because it gives me an opportunity to positively impact people’s daily lives who might be experiencing power outages, water leaks, etc. Thursday was my last day in the office, so it was more relaxed than usual. In the morning I spent some time addressing the voicemail inbox--we had received some emergency phone calls that needed to be addressed urgently. It was also a staff member’s birthday, so the team celebrated him. My morning ended by giving the team my recap presentation and meeting with the Chief of Staff about potential plans moving forward. During the afternoon I went through some new voicemails and some other outstanding office tasks the team had asked from me. My day ended with my one-on-one meeting with a staff member whom I hadn’t met yet. A major part of his work is overseeing construction and infrastructure projects. Overall my time at the office was very successful and I learned so many things about local government, career paths, and pressing matters that are facing Houston. I am so grateful for the experience and I am looking forward to future endeavors with District C.
Thursday and Friday were more office days where I focused on my project on bus shelters. First, on Thursday morning I drafted the funding proposal with identified bus stops where bus shelters are needed. It was a more relaxed morning, but I learned a lot about Houston’s historic problem with METRO and recent investments made to increase ridership. In the afternoon, I had my last staff meeting, where I met with the Community Outreach Officer. She walked me through her role, which included scheduling for Council Member Kamin and managing constituent services. The remainder of my afternoon was spent finishing my bus shelter project which I would present Friday morning. Friday morning I presented my bus shelter proposal to the office’s Chief of Staff. She gave me some feedback and contacts at METRO to reach out to for additional information about shelter construction costs. I also attended a press conference Council Member Kamin would be at about the City’s Veteran Servi...
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