City Council Record
In 1983, at age 29, Ellis was elected to the Houston City Council, where he served three terms representing District D. While on Council, Ellis worked on efforts to tear down abandoned buildings that had attracted criminals and the drug trade. He worked to secure more funds to raze these dangerous buildings, and drove a front-loader to help clean up drug-ridden Houston neighborhoods. To combat rising drug crime, Ellis pushed to increase funding for anti-drug efforts in the city, but also called for greater community oversight of the Houston Police Department through a citizen's review board.
Ellis worked to increase funding to expand low-income housing projects across Houston, preserve Allen Park Village, and strengthen policies for the city's use of federal funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to ensure a greater percentage is devoted to low and moderate-income Texans. Ellis also worked to seize abandoned properties and sell on the market to raise funds for housing and other vital needs.
Ellis served as chair of the Economic Redevelopment Committee, where he advocated policies to spur economic development in Houston. He called for the creation of a new think tank and city Department of Commerce to coordinate and streamline city economic development policies, worked to save city and taxpayer investments in projects such as the Palm Center and Mercado del Sol shopping center, and pushed to expand low-interest loans to small businesses.
Ellis pushed to rename Houston Intercontinental Airport after Mickey Leland, following his death on an anti-hunger mission to Ethiopia. Controversy ensued after comments were made about the effort by a fellow council member. In the end, the newest terminal at the airport was named in honor of Leland.
In the battle against Apartheid in South Africa, Ellis helped convince the University of Houston to become the first university in the south to divest from companies doing business in South Africa. He also helped defeat efforts to merge the University of Houston-Downtown with Texas Southern University, protecting the historically black college's history and mission as a stand-alone institution.
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