2024 Evil MoPac Austin Mayoral Forum: Part II

The second installment of three in my Democracy-reinforcing series

Thanks at all y’all who checked out Part I of this series, which I posted Friday afternoon at 2 PM just as ACL was getting started. A bold, gutsy move that disregarded every bit of teaching on when not to launch something that you want people to actually see.

But it’s doing fine, and now we move forward to Part II (of III) in a much friendlier Monday afternoon news climate.

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Question 5: Who are you supporting for President?

Bowen: I am not supporting any of the candidates.

Watson: Kamala Harris.

Greco: V.P. Harris, for President of the US.  My niece, for President of her college student government.

Llanes Pulido: Kamala Harris for the People. I love Dr. Cornell West too, but I will be voting for Kamala.

Tovo: Vice President Kamala Harris, absolutely.

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Question 6: What is the best thing about Austin in 2024 and why?

Llanes Pulido: The culture that has attracted people for decades and centuries is still here. I meet young people who just moved here and they fit right in, reminding me of younger versions of the down-to-earth creatives, scientists, entrepreneurs, and educators that have made this city great. Austin has the tools and people to reinvent itself for the better without losing everything we love.

Tovo: Community energy—for environmental advocacy, for an Austin where all of our neighbors can thrive, and for new leadership that is open and accountable to the people of this city.

Watson: Austin is Austin in large part because we have always had a fountain of youth that’s been fed by Huston-Tillotson, Concordia, St. Ed’s, ACC, and that little public university up the street that’s ranked #1 and called the University of Texas at Austin. Every year, thousands of new people come into town to attend these schools. They’re young and they’re vibrant, they’re vital, they’re looking to the future, they’ve got new thoughts, new ideas, new music, new culture and add to our diversity. And the best thing about Austin is that young people have always been able to discover who they want to be and they can embrace who they are.

I want to keep Austin open to these new people and their new ideas, new thinking, new creations. It’s the key to our economic resilience. That’s a part of why we need to keep putting affordability first, so we can attract and retain creative, unique people who turn that new idea into the next big thing.

Bowen: The opportunity to vote in a NEW Mayor and Council members.

Greco: Every hour in Austin, there's something going on, whether its music festivals, volunteering with neighbors, registering voters, late night DJ sets, drag shows, trivia, etc. 

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Question 7: What would you do to make Austin more affordable, including but not limited to housing?

Greco: Invest in workforce development, education, living wage jobs, affordable housing, more housing at all income levels, smart updates to the land use code, and curb the role of institutional investors in the single family housing market.  End “sweetheart rates” for large industrial utility users. 

Llanes Pulido: Preserve our existing affordable units and neighborhoods with effective community planning, community land trusts, and repair programs! Protect the rights of tenants and homeowners to negotiate new development to be affordable! Produce deeply affordable and mixed income units by subsidizing new development with local and federal grant money plus philanthropic partnerships! I have a track record in all of these. I would also reprioritize our economic development initiative so focus on local businesses and companies that hire locally.

Bowen: Affordable for WHO? It is probably too late to make Austin affordable. Austin will never be affordable until the city budget is gotten under control.

The recently passed budget was over 1600 pages. How many council members actually read the document? No one knows.

Isn’t it time for an external audit of the City of Austin? An audit should be accomplished over a five year period. One major department and several smaller ones each year.

Face it, taxes will not go down, but an audit will find areas needing to be addressed, holding taxes to a minimum.

Austin’s budget is greater than Dallas’ ($5 billion) and San Antonio’s ($3.7 billion).

Houston’s budget included five new fire department cadet classes and six new police cadet classes with NO increase in fees or taxes. Houston’s budget is $6.7 billion for 2024/ 2025. https://www.houstontx.gov/moc/2024/fy2025-budget-passed.html

Austin, depending on the source, will have 21,500 to 26,000 new apartments to be finished by year’s end. All are middle to high end apartments, according to the report. Very few for low income.

Even those that fit the mandatory “Affordable” housing city plan are subsidized by increased rents on the other residents.

Hate to be “Donnie Downer” but this is the reality of the situation.

Tovo: Ensure that city jobs provide living wages and good benefits; stand with labor unions and local workers as they advocate for the same.

• Expand workforce training and support musicians and artists.

• Work to lower utility costs and city fees.

• Increase access to quality affordable childcare.

• Require developers to build affordable housing on-site instead of paying into a fund.

• Implement the loan program I initiated so that lower-income families can build accessory dwelling units on their property.

• Deploy stronger enforcement against investor-owned short-term rentals to bring housing back on the market for renters and homeowners.

• Encourage and assist area universities and colleges in building more student housing.

• Build housing on underutilized city land and partner with other entities to do the same.

Watson: My central focus as mayor has been putting affordability first. We’ve made reforms that have rolled back segregation-era zoning restrictions to allow us to build more housing and   drive down costs. We’ve also made efforts so we could build more types of housing, housing around transit lines, and mixed-use development.

 “Affordability First” also means expanding childcare. After housing, the biggest monthly expense for many families is childcare.  That’s why we were the first city in Texas to take advantage of a property tax abatement to allow for more home childcare facilities and eased zoning restrictions to allow for more childcare centers.

Transportation is also a critical component of affordability. I worked hard to save Project Connect at the state legislature and am working to make sure that state reconstruction of I-35 and expansion of the airport are managed with maximum speed, efficiency and transparency, and minimal disruption.

Finally, we worked alongside unions to create the Austin Infrastructure Academy. This will create more opportunities for high paying careers. We must have an Austin where you can build a life, even if you don’t have a four-year degree.

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Question 8: Fill in the blank: "I'm _________________ about Austin's future"

Tovo: Excited!

Watson: Excited.

Greco: Positive.

Bowen: Dubious.

Llanes Pulido: Determined and cautiously optimistic.

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NOTE: Part III will be posted on Thursday, October 10th. Please subscribe to make sure that you don’t miss it!