Issues

We Can Do Better

Austin is a city full of potential, but we’re currently facing some significant challenges related to affordability, housing, transit, public safety, and parkland. Efforts to address these issues have been mixed, and concerns have emerged:

The H.O.M.E. amendments to the Land Development Code were passed despite serious public concerns about displacement, increased property taxes, adequate infrastructure, emergency vehicle access, and loss of trees and green space.
The $7 billion transit plan initially promised extensive coverage, but is now a single 10-mile line expected be complete in 2033. This will not fully address the transportation needs of our rapidly growing city and has impacted our property taxes.
The city has been working hard to address homelessness, but our policies are expensive and short on accountability and direction.
Public safety policies that have resulted in dangerous understaffing; APD is short 350+ officers and shifts are only 80% staffed. Emergency response times have increased as well as reports of hate crimes.

A Balanced Vision For Austin

To plan for growth, protect our environment, and create a community where families and commerce can thrive, I will:

1. Advocacy for Public Votes on Major Projects: I believe in the power of democratic decision-making. Major projects that shape our city should be subject to public votes, ensuring open, meaningful debates on issues impacting us all.
2. Championing Financial Accountability and Audits: I am the only candidate that has run a business, served as the Treasurer on boards, and has an MBA. Your tax dollars are a trust. I pledge to uphold this trust by advocating for routine financial audits. This will ensure that every dollar contributes to public welfare and the betterment of our community.
3. Amplifying Your Voice: Austin's strength lies in its people. I am committed to ongoing collaboration with residents and neighborhoods, making sure your perspectives shape our policies.
4. Candid Communication & Planning: Transparency is key in policy-making. I promise to engage in honest, open conversations about our city's future, fostering an authentic public process.

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Serving on the Stillhouse Canyon HOA for a decade has meant that I have already been addressing climate change challenges including more extreme weather events, flood mitigation and fire safety issues, and protecting our trees and tree canopy. Together we can:

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Environment

Enhance water conservation efforts and ensure future water supplies by implementing the Water Forward Task Force Recommendations like extending "purple pipes" and Aquifer Storage & Recovery.
Support periodic targeted bonds for parkland and green space acquisition to make up for lost parkland dedication fees and expand our tree canopy. Protect our neighborhood parks like Reed Park and MUNY.
Protect air quality by opposing a gas plant in East Austin and supporting the NEPA lawsuit to hold TxDOT accountable for air quality on major roads.
Ensure that we are properly quantifying the social and environmental costs for infrastructure and development as we plan for growth.

Public Safety

Most residents want professional, well-managed police, fire, and emergency responders. They want the right responders at the right time. Together we can:

Give our first responders the funding and staff levels they need to be effective and timely - from dispatch to services. That includes ensuring their pensions are solvent and bringing EMS retirement plans more in line with fellow public safety officers.
Enable medical professionals like paramedics to authorize a mental health emergency detention when someone is a threat to themselves or others.
Create a civilian response unit, instead of police, for minor vehicle collisions, using the TxDOT Highway Emergency Response Operators (HERO) as a model.
Improve gun safety efforts, combat domestic violence, and increase staffing at APD to fully investigate property crimes and facilitate a contract that balances accountability with predictability for APD.

Mobility & Transit

As Austin has experienced hypergrowth for over a decade, the time it takes to travel across the city has dramatically increased. Together we can:

Re-evaluate Project Connect, Bus Rapid Transit, and other transit options and ensure CapMetro and the Austin Transit Partnership are responsive and transparently managed.
Advocate for more economical, flexible, and faster-to-deploy transit options like BRT and On-Demand Mass Transit.
Ensure West Austin has appropriate transit options, including our special needs and disabled communities.
Responsibly execute the remaining $600+ Million from unexpended prior mobility bonds, including improvements like the Spicewood Springs Mobility Project.

Homelessness

Austin has made some bold but sometimes questionable decisions regarding homelessness policy over the last decade, and we continue to face challenges to effectively and economically address this issue and its underlying causes. Together we can:

Restore public trust by embracing other models that have worked in other big cities (such as New Hope Housing in Houston) and tie spending to specific outcomes.
Provide a healthy mix of shelter beds, permanent supportive housing, rapid rehousing, and case management; homelessness is not a one-size-fits-all problem, and neither is the solution.
Ensure the chronically homeless with comorbidities (mental illness, substance abuse, etc.) can access Permanent Supportive Housing and case management.
Improve reporting and transparency to the public via dashboards and reports - both successes and areas that need attention.

Spending

Austin’s FY2025 $5.9 Billion budget includes $1.4B in General Fund expenses and $4.5 Billion in non-General Fund spending. In the four years between 2016-2020 non general-fund spending increased 20%; between 2021-2025 it will increase 45%. Together we can:

Uphold public trust by advocating for regular financial audits and reporting.
Work to ensure that every tax dollar contributes to public welfare and the betterment of our community.
Advocate for a "sunset" commission that operates at the city level to help review and sunset programs no longer needed or useful.
Help ensure that the $1.4 Billion in unexpended approved bonds are spent timely, responsibly, and with maximum impact and transparency.

Land Use

Austin’s rapid growth has created housing and housing affordability challenges. I have worked to balance neighborhood preservation against growth and infrastructure needs. Together we can:

Facilitate neighbors and developers negotiating together on land use issues to find common ground and build for our community.
Work to improve the permitting and fee process, which will save time, money and bring down housing costs. Implement a streamlined process that has clear expectations and no subjectivity.
Ensure density is responsibly zoned: near similar density and transit corridors and not in the middle of neighborhoods, and that it has appropriate infrastructure (transit, parking, water/flood, emergency vehicle access, fire safety, etc.)
Make sure all stakeholders - including residents and neighborhoods - are heard during the land use process.

Wildfire Prevention

Wildfire threats are most pronounced in District 10, although the rest of the city is also at risk. The AFD Wildfire Division, FireWise Alliance, and other groups help prepare for and prevent wildfires. Together we can:

Ensure that the AFD Wildfire Division has the resources, technology, personnel, and stations to help mitigate wildfire risks.
Incentivize Wildfire Home Ignition Zone assessments for residents, communities, and neighborhoods, and ensure communities have emergency plans.
Work with Austin Resource Recovery to facilitate brush pickups, especially after extreme weather events.
Continue to improve upon the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) code so that new homes and buildings are ignition resistant and hardened.

Road Safety

Road quality and safety is an ongoing concern for many residents. Well-designed and maintained roads, coupled with enforcement tools, can help keep us safe, reduce vehicle emissions, and encourage other outdoor activity like walking and cycling. Together we can :

Implement a more responsive and transparent reporting system for fixing and repairing potholes, like houstonpotholes.org
Use a mix of road calming, street design, and safety tools like speed readers to better manage road safety in neighborhoods.
Help manage congestion on larger roads through mass transit options, like Bus Rapid Transit, On-Demand Mass Transit, or even Congestion Pricing or Managed Lanes.