Today I am happy to welcome Linda Watson as the new CEO of Capital Metro. I look forward to working with Ms. Watson and the rest of the Board to help Capital Metro provide the vital service that this community deserves. Linda will be a vital part in helping transform our agency into a world-class transit provider. I am confident Linda is the right person to get this done and help Cap Metro turn the corner as we address our agency’s challenges. She has a wealth of experience, knowledge and a track record that shows she can run a transit agency that is efficient and effective.

The Austin City Council will consider a settlement of the Nathaniel Sanders shooting case on July 29th, 2010. The decision — whether or not to settle this case and pay the Sanders family $750,000, is not one I take lightly. In fact, it is a decision we should all contemplate for some time. As I have thought about this incident and how it impacts our city, I have decided to share my thoughts for further debate and discuss prior to our potential vote that I believe is critical.

What comes to mind follows:

Is the decision to settle the case simply to put the Sanders shooting behind us? By settling this suit, are we saying our grand jury, office of the police monitor and the citizens review panel have failed the community? If so, do we need to revisit our review process? Has this community altering incident been vetted enough — both in the courts and in the community at large? If we chose to reject the settlement and go to court, is it proper for the city attorney to represent the City in this case?

As a council member, the task of making tough decisions and facing criticism for those decisions is a daily occurrence. No matter what we decide next week, the decision is certain to have its supporters and its objectors, but that does not preclude us from taking the time necessary to make decisions we feel are best for the citizens we represent.

On a regular basis, this council hires consultants to help reach decisions on various projects, issues and subjects. Hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of dollars a year is what, you, the taxpayer, fund to help our staff and this council make decisions. Many of these expenditures are met with criticism and outright disagreement. We often hear feedback, such as, “why do you need a consultant to tell you what seems like common sense?” The fact of the matter is that many of our decisions are not common sense by any stretch of the imagination. We have a tremendously diverse and engaged population that demands representation, but in the end, council must make a decision…and stand by that decision.

In my opinion, there is no need for more consultation in this case. We have already spent taxpayer dollars on staff time, legal hours and an outside review surrounding this incident. The information and evidence, thus far, has been presented through the process available to us.

Mistakes and poor decisions were made on every side of this issue — all of which are debatable and have been discussed and debated for over a year now.

This incident happened in my neighborhood, right around the corner from our home.

While I will not pretend to believe I know what it was like to have been Nate Sanders or to be an Austin Police Department officer patrolling my neighborhood, I can say with certainty that I know the community and neighborhood that I live in, is a far cry from what so many in this town believe it is.

Yes, in East Austin we have families, go to church, walk our dogs, play with our kids in the streets, etc., but there is something more in East Austin (and all over Austin) that is rarely if ever mentioned, discussed or debated. And that is the lost and the voiceless in our community.

East Austin has changed for the better over time, and so many people have worked in our community, tirelessly, to make that change happen. But incidents like this, in many ways, takes us right back to square one, making us feel there is little hope for change.

We ask ourselves…Why attend neighborhood meetings? Why get involved in the schools? Why give extra effort by volunteering in my community? Why try to build a relationship with my neighborhood police officer? And maybe most of all….Why vote?

And the answer I hear the most is…It doesn’t change anything!

Each and every day our police officers do all they can to protect and defend our community. It is not a job I would want, but it is a job I truly respect. It is not easy to be a police officer in Austin, Texas. There is so much more to this case that is even beyond a council decision. We also have a community decision upon us.

It is time we recommit to truly teaching our community how to avoid such a tragic outcome. We must educate our citizens on the consequences of dangerous behavior. We must focus our policing on prevention and compliance as much as we do on enforcement.

This council has made it clear we want everyone (immigrant, homeless, rich, poor, black, white and anyone else) to feel they are a part of our community and safe. We must demonstrate how we achieve this through example, commitment, and action.

While many parents already do this…as I do; it’s much bigger than our individual families. It’s about our community. If we don’t act as a community, we will fail as a community.

Settling a law suit for $750,000 will not take one small step in that direction. Nor will it address the serious issues we face, such as, drop out rates, gang and drug violence, the East vs. West divide, etc.

After much thought, it is my belief we should reject the settlement offer recommended by staff.

In our country one of the more public and honored means of settling these matters is a public trial. This would be a civil trial in a federal court. The civil trial uses legal standards of “preponderance of evidence” or “clear and convincing evidence” rather than the criminal trial’s, “beyond a reasonable doubt”. These rules of a civil trial permit a broader set of information being available for the court and the public. Such a trial would fully vet all of the information that bears on those events that culminated on May 11, 2009 as well as actions that followed.

The City should hire an outside lawyer not connected by previous actions of APD, its internal affairs department, the city administration, the Police Review Board, the Key Point review or the Travis County District Attorney’s offices. Perhaps more money would be spent than the proposed settlement. That is not the question. The proposed settlement leaves too many questions unanswered. It serves to close off examination rather than promoting understanding.

The question is to get all of the facts in a proper forum and that is what a federal civil trial will do. I think that direction would move the community toward hearing all of the facts and advance the goal of understanding how to prevent future occurrences. I, for one, plan to take that information and engage our community so we can have the truly meaningful conversations that will lead to a place of healing. Settling this case does not get us any closer to that place, and I do not think it is prudent to debate the issue without addressing the larger issues at hand that are much more vital to this community.

I strongly support Mayor Leffingwell’s position on delaying consideration of the City’s urban rail proposal until more planning has been done and more details have been finalized. As the newly-elected Chair of the Board of Capital Metro, I’m particularly sensitive to the need to ensure that promises made are promises kept. Like the mayor, I’m convinced that urban rail will ultimately be vital to the success of our overall transportation system in Austin and Central Texas, especially as commuter rail now begins to become a central component of that system. I believe this delay will also allow Capital Metro to demonstrate the utility of rail transit in Austin vis-à-vis the Red Line, which I am confident will be a success after it begins operations on March 22.

I also strongly support the mayor’s proposal to proceed with a $100 million transportation bond referendum this November focused on roads, sidewalks, bike lanes, and trails. We know that solving our traffic problems will require a generations-long, multi-modal approach, and I see no reason to wait to pursue investments we know we need to make.

I am proud to say there is change happening at Capital Metro. It is indeed a new day for us. Just this morning, Capital Metro was approved to begin MetroRail operations on March 22, 2010– a development that has been some time in the making, but a great transformative step for our transit agency. I can assure you this is the first step in a series of changes for our organization, and without a doubt, there is more to come.

Central Texas’ transit agency is at a critical turning point, and we know it will not happen without good leadership, good service, good employees and community support, all of which exist and is growing stronger each and every day. The final approval of our MetroRail operations is testament to that.

The new board at Capital Metro has hit the ground running, and we are committed to working tirelessly on behalf of our communities to realize the mission of our organization. Our mission statement drives us to “provide high-quality, customer focused, effective and efficient transportation services and systems for our communities.” To get our agency to the place we all want it to be, we must also gain the necessary community confidence that has not always proven to be there for us. If we strive to fulfill our mission statement exactly as it is stated, I believe that community confidence will follow.

We are all very aware our transit agency has a history with particular issues, and they tend to be the mainstays of people’s perception that linger over our heads — a lot of which is not good. We cannot and will not shy away from our past. We must accept and embrace who and where we are today, learn from our past struggles, challenges and success, and move forward in our desire to make Capitol Metro the premier transit agency in the country.

Beyond rail, we have already begun making decisions to improve in strategic areas by creating a more active, involved board with new sub-committees to ensure a more direct interaction by board members on an ongoing basis and to create a more transparent decision making process. We have created a rail operations subcommittee to ensure MetroRail’s success, a labor relations subcommittee to help relieve the strain from past negotiations, and an executive search subcommittee to spearhead the nationwide search for our next General Manager. We have also maintained the two existing board subcommittees — audit and finance, as well as operations and planning.

In keeping with this new culture of change, I am thrilled to announce the agency brought on two individuals with extensive and impressive financial experience to ensure our financial stability over the short and long term. I am honored and pleased to have former Mayor Pro Tem Betty Dunkerley and former deputy comptroller for the state of Texas, Billy Hamilton joining the CapMetro team. Betty and Billy will serve in a consulting capacity for the agency as we face, and work through, one of the most difficult economic downturns the country has ever seen.

Without a doubt, our community demands and deserves a transit agency that is reflective of a world class city. I believe MetroRail will help us achieve that vision for our transit agency. Rest assured, there is no one on this board, nor within the agency, that believes otherwise. As we move forward, we will work on both short and long terms goals simultaneously, as one should not forsake the other. We no longer have the option of pitting one issue against another at CapMetro. It serves no purpose and does nothing to move this agency forward. I am confident with a new, engaged board and new executive leadership, CapMetro is on the road to success so that we can become an agency that not only earns the public trust, but also commands national respect.

As our rail gets up and running, I encourage each and every one of you to come out and see what MetroRail has to offer as part of our next steps to success. And when you do, tell us what you think, how we can be better, and where we have risen to your expectations. It is only through community partnership and conversation that we will stay on the road to better times at CapMetro. I hope you will all join me in the endeavor.

Friends,

Welcome to my website! Since I began my career as a public servant, I’ve worked to increase the transparency and accountability of government. I hope my new website will make my office more accessible and serve as a resource for everyone interested in issues that impact our city.

Here, you can learn about my stance on City issues, visit my personal blog, provide feedback on City Council items, sign up to receive email updates, and connect with me through facebook, twitter, and other social networking sites. I’ve also included a calendar for local events and a media page so you can keep up with what’s going on in my office and at City Hall. One of the features I’m the most excited about is iPhone application, which will help you keep in touch on the go.

Community feedback plays a crucial role in the policy-making process, and I hope you will use this website to communicate with me often and make suggestions about how the City or my office can improve. Thanks for visiting my site, and I hope to hear from you soon!

Best,

Mike Martinez
Mayor Pro Tem
City of Austin