City of Austin Council Message Board

Colleagues, in advance of our joint meeting Monday with Cap Metro and the attendant tax rate discussions I’d like to add my support to: - approve a FY21 tax rate no higher than 3.5% - set TRE financing for Project Connect at ~8.5 cents, and - commit to adding significant funds in the TRE to mitigate...

Agree with all comments here - CM Alter’s proposal to establish an office of Chief Medical Officer; its transformative and critical importance, as CM Kitchen points out; and the desire to learn more about intersections with existing systems, as CM Flannigan urges. Thanks, CM Alter, for offering this...

MPT Garza and CM Casar, I've read the resolutions below that you will bring on the June 11 agenda, and support the directions you’re heading. The specifics in these items essentially align with statements each of us separately has made recently and with policy positions we've championed together at ...

Colleagues: I am placing an item on our June 4 agenda addendum that I hope will bring relief to our small businesses – namely restaurants, bars, and retail – by allowing them use of their parking lots, portions of the sidewalk, and more of the public right-of-way. This is intended to increase their ...

hi Greg, thanks for bringing this resolution. Would you be open to including direction to the city manager to consider hazardous duty pay for front-line and essential City workers? I have talked with the city manager about this and asked HRD to pull an estimate together for us to review. I believe h...

Colleagues, The success of our community resilience work necessitates earnest collaboration – in that spirt, I want to thank everyone who contributed amendments here – I truly value and appreciate your input. MPT Garza, thank you for your thoughtful amendments, and I do view them as friendly. We kno...

Colleagues, the FFCRA provides some expanded support for employees under FMLA, but that expanded support still falls short of ensuring 100% of an employee’s salary be paid if/when the employee has to stay home due to Covid-related reasons. AFSCME is advocating for full pay for those who need to take...

Colleagues, as an early heads up, I request that we follow Council’s standard practice of allocating speaker time for public input in March and April at the Third Reading of the land development code rewrite. The standard that we’ve set out in our rules is three minutes plus donated time of two minu...

colleagues, I agree with Alison's point and request that we end our evening tonight around 9 p.m.
This is not just about our day or our staffers', but also about the MANY city staff whose schedules must accommodate the Council's.

Colleagues, here's the revised amendment language for CM Casar's updated resolution that I'll offer later this afternoon. Thanks to Emily Gerrick for collaborating with my staff to craft the new text for the Be It Resolved section. The two items are ... 1. Add "misdemeanor" after "low...

Colleagues, here's the revised amendment language for item 59 that I'll offer later this afternoon. Thanks to Emily Gerrick for collaborating with my staff to craft the new text for the Be It Resolved section. The two items are ... 1. Add "misdemeanor" after "low level" throughou...

Colleagues, here's the revised amendment language for item 59 that I'll offer later this afternoon. Thanks to Emily Gerrick for collaborating with my staff to craft the new text for the Be It Resolved section. The two items are ... 1. Add "misdemeanor" after "low level" throughou...

Colleagues: I am wholly supportive of our move to de-prioritize misdemeanor marijuana offenses, and I agree with the sponsors that this is the right move in light HB 1325 that came without the necessary funding for testing to support local law enforcement and prosecutors. I would like to make some c...

colleagues, at our last work session, the mayor asked us to list LDC topics we’d like to discuss. Thanks to the mayor for posting the starter list of discussion topics. We have a few more to add, some of which were mentioned at work session: tax impact (discussion with Travis CAD), parking, protest ...

And I just got word that CM Ellis has joined as a co-sponsor on item 57, the Red Line Parkway resolution - thanks, Paige!

Leslie

Thanks, Jimmy! The rail stations will make a big difference in years to come. Thanks for adding your name as a co-sponsor.

Leslie

colleagues, I am bringing two transit-related resolutions for consideration at the Nov 14 meeting. I welcome your sponsorships and support. Both resolutions advance the Council’s ASMP goal to reduce vehicle travel 50% by 2039 by adding infrastructure that supports alternative modes of travel in our ...

My thanks to CMs Kitchen and Tovo for bringing this resolution for our consideration in an upcoming Council meeting. I recognize the differences in approach that you've identified and support the tack you're taking with your resolution. I would be glad to offer support as a co-sponsor to bring your ...

Colleagues, I’d like to provide an update to my earlier post on the upcoming city budget, and to the priorities I laid out for investment in our community’s needs. After reviewing the City Manager’s well-crafted budget, I am very supportive of the focus on the needs of those experiencing homelessnes...

Mayor, thanks for the prompt about the new Water Oversight Committee and also much appreciation for CM Alter's work to constitute this new oversight entity. I would like to reaffirm my interest in serving on the new committee. I'm vice chair of Audit & Finance and AE Oversight and, as I do not c...

Colleagues: This will be the last fiscal year before the effect of the 3.5% revenue cap imposed upon our city by the state legislature is fully realized. That means striking an appropriate balance this budget season between setting aside revenue for the stormy days ahead and shoring up important inv...


Colleagues, in light of recent events in Texas and around the country, I am working on an Equity & Women’s Rights agenda to bring forward sometime in the fall for action. I wanted to give you an idea early on in this process to invite you to join me in crafting the agenda. For example, under th...

postscript ... I hope you will join me, my co-sponsors, and key advocates - NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, Lilith Fund, and Planned Parenthood Greater Texas - in supporting this resolution. Please let me know if you have any additional feedback - thanks!

Best,

Leslie

Colleagues: I wanted to make sure anyone looking for the resolution in the previous thread is able to find it easily here, below. Thank you again for participating in the important dialogue around the resolution I have drafted in response to Alabama’s newly signed anti-abortion law. I believe that t...

Colleagues, since posting my original message about boycotting Alabama, I have received a tremendous amount of support. I have also worked hard to draft a resolution that takes into account the feedback and concerns that have been raised. For example, the resolution clearly states that we oppose the...