Houston City Council votes to remove Pappas from Hobby Airport
HOUSTON - A well-known restaurant in the Houston area is on the way out after being at Houston Hobby Airport for decades.
In a 10-6 vote, the Houston City Council voted to remove Pappas out of Houston Hobby Airport for Areas.
The vote comes after Pappas Restaurant started a petition claiming Houston City officials were evicting them from Hobby.
FOX 26's Greg Groogan tweeted the news on Wednesday morning,
Following the vote, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said, "This is a competitive bid process. It is not a popularity contest. I would be vilified if I brought you the second-place choice. Pappas chose not to go up." "What Pappas is offering the city for the next 10 to 20 years is less than what they are giving the city right now."
"It's a sloppy-flawed system. I believe the Mayor had his thumb on the scale the whole time. It was almost an anti-Pappas sentiment so if you work for the Mayor you are going to have that sentiment when you score," said Michael Kubosh, who serves as the At-Large Position No. 3 Council Member.
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"When they come back to re-rate Hobby airport they are going to be going into national brand restaurants that they can have at almost any city in this country, so we lost that uniqueness," said Robert Gallegos, Houston City Councilman for District I.
"Look at all the participants involved, they are all the Mayor's friends and people he's been associated with for years. The optics are really bad," Kubosh added.
Tune in to FOX 26 News at 5 p.m. for the latest reaction in a full report.