Austin is fast becoming a major metropolitan city and we are constantly faced with opportunities and challenges that require new and innovative ideas. To help you understand where I stand on the issues, I’ve organized this page into several, large subject headings. You can click on any link below, and it will take you to a brief explanation of where I stand on the issues. As always, if you have any questions, click the Contact page where you find my contact information. If you would like to provide feedback, visit the City Council Feedback page or give us your suggestions about the City Budget.
Austin’s Economy
Protecting Austin’s Environment
Growth and change have always been issues for Austin; we need to make certain that we are prepared to shape that growth in a way that helps preserve the things we all love about living here. A good portion of Austin’s future lies in our ability to keep our economy vibrant and at the forefront of innovation. The best way to grow Austin’s economy is to focus in equal measure on attracting (and retaining) good employers in diverse industries, while working to ensure success with our small local businesses that drive our economy.
In my first term, I’ve worked to create more accountability in our budgeting processes requiring more frequent budget reports for vacant full-time equivalent positions, budget stabilization reserve expenditures, and administrative expenditures exceeding $5,000.
I was proud to be a cosponsor on a resolution that mandated compliance review for future economic development agreements, and removing from the City’s economic development programs the use of project-based incentives for large scale mixed use projects that include a retail component to prevent agreements like the City’s agreement with the Domain from happening again. I also worked with my colleagues to ensure that there is a procedure for public notice and input for development agreements of this sort so the public has an opportunity to weigh in on these types of agreements before Council action.
I’ve also worked to make government more humane and open for our citizens. I worked with my Council colleagues to implement Open Government Online, a citywide redesign project to the city’s Website with a goal of significantly increasing the number of online services available to the public and Expand public access to disciplinary appeal hearings. Humane labor practices are a community value here in Austin, and I worked with community leaders to create a policy that will keep City-purchased good and services sweatshop free.
I also believe that we ought to be holding elected officials accountable in their reporting requirements and campaign finance disclosure. That is why I cosponsored the first comprehensive rewrite of our elections reporting and contributions limits in recent years to ensure that Austinites are electing their elected officials and are protected from outside influences.
I’ve helped establish advisory boards for City Council that assist Council by providing public input on important matters like creating the Public Safety Task Force and the Sustainable Food Policy Board. Creating these much needed advisory bodies, we now have a public voice for the largest part of our general fund, public safety, and advice to help Austin create new sustainable economies.
Part of what makes Austin special is our vibrant arts and entertainment communities, and I’ve worked to create visibility and voice for these sectors of our community by raising both arts and culture, as well as music, to departmental status within city government.
As Austin finds itself in tough economic circumstances, I will continue ensure that we are accountable for our budgeting decisions as well as push the envelope on the creation of new economies that are sustainable and provide increased tax base.
I support a City of Austin property tax exemption for all citizens. The tools that we have in place and will use to stem the tide of gentrification are the Community Land Trust and our affordable housing initiatives. Gentrification is the complete expulsion of a community being replaced by a completely separate community. I support complete diversity and integration. We should not pretend to think that we can prevent people from moving from one neighborhood to another, but we should do all that we can to allow those who have spent their entire lives in a neighborhood paying taxes, and to remain in their homes without being taxed out of the only home they have known. The Land Trust and Homestead Preservation District will greatly assist us in maintaining a truly diverse Austin while also supporting our growth and broadening of the tax rolls.
I intend to keep fighting to open government up to the public by ensuring that our Open Government Online project is fully funded and implemented in my next term and finding to open up our city processes so that more public input, than less, is created, as well as seeing that our arts and music departments are realized.
Affordability is one of the top issues of concern to me and to our citizens. Spending the last three years on Council, I have come to the conclusion that we will not solve our affordibility challenges using the same methods that have yielded results previously.
It is the City’s responsibility to manage growth and development in a way that protects the unique character of the entire community as well as that of specific neighborhoods. Reasonable limits on structure height and impervious cover in relation to lot size are tools that I can support to maintain neighborhood character.
I believe neighborhood planning efforts and neighborhood services such as code enforcement should be a higher priority for the City of Austin, especially in terms of staffing commitments. It is very important to ensure that we strike the appropriate funding balance between pursuing the priorities of individual inner-city neighborhoods and delivering on the priorities of the community as a whole. We must also recommit ourselves to reinventing the planning process for neighborhoods to ensure better representation and vision for our neighborhoods.
In my first term, I fought for ways to improve single family affordable housing. Council passed a resolution to identify property for potential single family affordable housing developments, and provide notification to both non-profit and profit developers about funding available from the General Obligation Affordable Housing Bond for the development of single family affordable housing. Making the process easier for developers should encourage expansion of property available for low-income families. I also fought for a citywide Land Bank Program, in an effort to utilize currently unused and unimproved property for affordable housing. This not only provides more affordable housing opportunities for families, but allows us as a City to make use of property that could potentially go to waste.
We also should be utilizing new, innovative tools available to us that can solve many of our affordability challenges that preserve existing neighborhoods. That is why I worked to create a Homestead Preservation District, which would give families tax relief and allow families to stay in their homes preserving historic neighborhoods adjacent to the urban core.
While I will continue to be a champion for every viable affordable housing strategy on the table, including expansion of the City’s S.M.A.R.T housing program, we must also work to implement good new ideas like the creation of a Community Land Trust and Homestead Preservation District. We should also be looking to establish an Urban Land Bank. All of these new tools will provide us with more options to ensure Austinites stay in their homes without being displaced.
We have to do more to help protect seniors and low-income families from losing their homes, I would like to explore the feasibility of offering a City homestead exemption to help guard against future dramatic increases in appraisals and property taxes. Our affordable housing goals should not be limited to East Austin. Affordable housing should be appropriate for every part of our City, and while we do want to get the most out of our limited affordable housing dollars, we have to make sure housing available in all parts of the city.
Protecting Austin’s Environment
Austin has made great strides in terms of being a national clean energy leader. Our commitment to renewable energy and cleaner air and fuel sources must remain strong and our outreach and education to the community must be improved if we are to truly be successful in achieving our goals. If we are going to promote the residential purchasing of clean energy, there is no reason that our government buildings shouldn’t do the same. We should be looking into the feasibility of more solar panels on our public buildings and utilizing green roofs to help reduce urban core temperatures.
It is possible to reduce our per capita water usage in Austin by prioritizing conservation policies, such as use of “gray water” for golf courses, public parks and other public facilities, and promotion of xeriscaping. I have supported, and will continue to support, City Council efforts to incorporate more stringent water conservation requirements as part of the zoning approval process, and I believe that it is going to take a true community-wide effort to maintain our conservation goals.
The SOS ordinance is a vital instrument of water quality protection in Austin and that it should be strictly enforced. I would also like to see the City take additional steps to codify its commitment to protecting water quality, particularly over the Edwards Aquifer.
Ultimately, any decision on the use of public dollars for purchasing open space will come through the approval of the voters. But I do believe preventing sprawl through purchase of green space and economic development go hand in hand. Dripping Springs, Buda, Kyle and other neighbors are not out of our jurisdiction in my view. Their growth and direction impacts Austin in a very real way and we must continue to look towards regional government with all stake holders working together. If we act on our own without collaboration, we will not achieve our highest potential as a community.
In my first term in office, I’ve worked to create a more sustainable Austin, by requiring our city departments to be more responsible. I passed a resolution that set the Parks and Recreation Department on a path that will make the Trail of Lights Festival carbon neutral, mandate that the events authorized by the City develop, implement Sustainability Practices for Organized Events, and create an Energy Depletion Risks Task Force to assess Austin’s exposure to diminishing supplies of oil and natural gas and make recommendations to address vulnerabilities.
I’ve also worked to hold the private sector accountable by helping pass resolutions adopting a plan for reducing by fifty percent the number of plastic bags entering the city solid waste stream, limiting the use of non-compostable plastic bags, establishing a task force to make recommendations for development of an ordinance relating to energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits for existing homes and buildings, and opposing expansion of existing landfills.
I strongly support all of our renewable energy goals, and will work to make sure that we are meeting and exceeding them. While I am a strong supporter of our renewable efforts, we need a continual, complete analysis of our renewable energy production goals, an assessment of our progress toward meeting them, and progress on finding new avenues for renewable energy.
I’ll work hard to protect the quality of air and water. I absolutely support protecting our natural resources and the Edwards Aquifer in west Austin and western Travis County. But I also will be an equally strong advocate for environmental protection and reclamation throughout the city. I was proud to be part of the effort to restore Oak Springs in East Austin because our conservation efforts should not be limited to west of IH-35.
There are lots of things to brag about when you live in Austin, but traffic isn’t one of them. The ugly truth is that Austin has some of the worst traffic of any city of our size in America. Why? Because we failed miserably in the past to acknowledge the certainty of our own future growth, and build a transportation system that would accommodate it. We now have some very tough decisions to make about our future. We can’t allow ourselves to get even farther behind, because bad traffic isn’t just about bad traffic – it’s also about economic development, environmental protection, public safety, and even affordable housing.
More and better roads are a fundamental feature of any good transportation system, and we fail to make adequate road investments at our own peril. I support building new roads where we know we need them to address traffic congestion, but I do not support tolling existing roads or roads already funded with state gas tax. Tolling should be considered a last option when there is no other funding alternative for construction of new lane miles.
Street maintenance is a priority to all of us. While we may have reduced our dedicated budget amount, I do know that we have dramatically improved the way we do business in improving our streets. We have been able to become more efficient and timely in completing our projects, even though it may not feel like we have. We need to continue that trend as well as increasing our funding for ongoing road maintenance as much as possible. All of our goals of residency, mass transit, and economic development cannot be met if we don’t take care of what we already have in place in our road system.
Improving transportation in Austin has to include improving conditions for alternate forms of transportation. That’s what I worked to pass a resolution to find innovative ways to encourage motor scooters, motorcycles and bikes.
I have been a member of the Capital Metro Board of Advisors since 2007. During my time on the CapMetro Board, I’ve consistently advocated for implementing the new MetroRail sooner than later, but also pushed the envelope to try and ensure that we are making a wise use of taxpayer dollars. I believe that anything that happens with respect to transportation in Austin will have to be with a successful transit agency in place. I believe we are working toward that reality, and it will always be a work in progress, but we have to do more and do better to give Austinites real transportation solutions and options.
So, in order to reach our full potential as a community, we must be relentless in the pursuit of a robust, multi-modal transportation system that gets more people quickly from where they are to where they are going that includes good sidewalks, hike and bike trails, comprehensive bike lanes as well as rail and road expansion and improvements.
Enhancing our mass transit system – not just by adding commuter rail but also by expanding and improving bus service – is mandatory if we are going to address traffic congestion in the region. As a member of the Capital Metro Board of Directors, I have worked hard to gain measurable progress in improving bus service in Austin as well as advocating for completion of our red line.
