City of Austin Council Message Board

Thank you, CM Vela, for your insightful questions and comments regarding the NOAH IFC and for jumpstarting what I though was a productive conversation at yesterday’s work session. I hope that Dr. Johnson’s testimony helped clarify the intention and potential of this council action as well has helped...

Thank you, MPT Fuentes, for sharing this. I am interested in serving on the Information Technology & Communications Committee.

-Marc

Colleagues: Last week I put forth a modest two-cent TRE proposal in an effort to reflect the constituent priorities my team and I gathered from a recent survey of District 10 residents. The vast majority of those residents strongly support funding for public safety, wildfire mitigation, and park mai...

Colleagues, Like the Mayor, I have tremendous concerns about affordability related to the budget and Tax Rate Election (TRE), especially with yesterday’s news that the County may pursue their own 8% rate increase amounting to an additional $200 tax. I have urged caution in this process for many reas...

CM Qadri, thank you for bringing this to the council and raising awareness about important work we need to combat hate in Austin. I will be bringing an amendment to pause the We All Belong campaign for 1 year, specifically to "Pause the We All Belong Campaign for one year to revise budget prior...

Colleagues, At our May 22nd meeting I shared a presentation from the Dallas Housing Opportunity Fund, a housing fund authorized in Dallas in 2021 that helps preserve older, low rent market-rate housing, or “naturally occurring affordable housing” (NOAH). This kind of fund has been successful across ...

Colleagues, I appreciate the earnestness of all of my fellow council members as we determine the best path forward. I know there are strong beliefs in the value of these projects and a great deal of thought has gone into offering creative approaches to fund this work in light of our current financia...

Colleagues, I want to thank CM Velásquez for his work - and lending his personal expertise - on Item 55 that will generate much-needed reporting for our citywide communication and marketing efforts. I'm requesting to be a cosponsor on this item if there is not already a 5th council member cosponsori...

Colleagues, I respectfully ask my colleagues on Council to join me in postponing the proposed rezoning of District 10’s Acacia Cliffs apartment complex, on our May 22 agenda. This rezoning would use DB90 which grants greater density and height in exchange for modest affordability, and hundreds of th...

Colleagues, I will be proposing an amendment to the AI ethics resolution, Item 55, on Thursday’s agenda. The resolution is excellent and I commend MPT Fuentes for submitting it. After consulting with industry liaisons and AI ethics professionals, I believe that some small changes can help convey the...

Thank you, Mayor, for your work and support of updating the WUI Code and map. An annual report quantifying the additional costs and resources needed to comply could provide valuable data for us going forward. I especially appreciate your leadership in asking the City Manager to explore options to he...

Colleagues, I wanted to make available the presentation that I was attempting to share at last Thursday's Council Meeting (3/27) regarding how the city approaches Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH) while exploring the Acacia Cliff rezoning. That investigation is still incomplete and my gu...

Colleagues, I am asking your consideration to postpone item 32 (erosion hazard zone near the Colorado River) on tomorrow's agenda. Staff has advised me they are OK with the postponement and there are a number of commercial property owners who are still assessing the impacts on their property. I unde...

Colleagues, I had originally pulled Item 92 to discuss on Tuesday, which is regarding the public hearing for an appeal of a ZAP case in D10. However, I have been since advised by folks in the Land Use and Real Estate Division that we're better off discussing the item Thursday instead due to legal is...

Good evening everyone and thank you all for the warm welcome. In general, I’m looking to serve on committees where I can leverage my background to contribute and to address issues that people brought to my attention and I campaigned on. Here are my committee preferences: -Audit & Finance I’m als...