Then There's This: We Can Do Better

For better or worse, the City Council we had before the May 12 municipal election is the same council that will be sworn into office anew on June 25.

The good news? The vote margins in the four contested races just might have been meaningful enough to force the mayor and council members to rethink their agenda going forward. Specifically, Austin could see a slight shift in policy decisions that have in recent years tilted toward developers and for-profit enterprises over say, basic quality of life services like swimming pools, libraries, and parks and rec centers.

At least that's the thinking of two veteran political consultants – David Butts, an advisor to Mayor Lee Leffingwell, who narrowly escaped a runoff in this month's election, and Dean Rindy, who worked on mayoral challenger Brigid Shea's campaign. Butts and Rindy (along with his business partner and spouse Cynthia Miller) worked together on Council Member Bill Spelman's re-election campaign; moreover, Butts has served as a consultant to all seven council members, while Rindy has provided consulting and media services to five of them. They continue to advise the council regardless of whether their feedback is welcomed.

Both Rindy and Butts, who noted he and the mayor don't see eye to eye on everything, agree that the council would be wise to temper its developer-leaning tendencies and allow growth to start paying for itself.

Not For Millionaires Only

On that score, the council faces its first test today (Thursday, May 24), with a vote scheduled on the proposed sale of a lakefront tract, formerly the site of the Green Water Treatment Plant, to Trammell Crow. Four years ago, the firm presented the city with a redevelopment proposal that carried the promise of affordable housing and some units designed for senior living. But when they appeared before the council last month, senior housing was no longer part of the package and the affordable housing component had been significantly watered down, which caused an immediate outcry. There are other concerns as well. The Workers Defense Project fears the development deal won't include fair wages for construction workers, and tree preservation advocates question why the city would give itself an exemption on the Heritage Tree Ordinance to remove seven trees so soon after the Planning Commission's vote denying a developer's request to take down a single tree from nearby property. Others see the private development as a threat to citizens' ability to access and enjoy the beauty and serenity of Lady Bird Lake.

Rindy says the idea of selling the Green tract is "terribly misguided," and points to recent polling data that suggests most people oppose handing over control of city-owned lakefront property to a private developer.

Butts says the most critical question facing the Council on the Green decision rests on affordable housing. "I don't mean affordable for millionaires as opposed to supermillionaires. I think the issue is, can regular people actually have a shot at living on the lake as opposed to only affluent people?" The proposed removal of seven oak trees is also cause for concern, he added. "I think the council needs to listen and determine whether [its decision] is going to create more angst out there."

While a majority of voters weren't altogether willing to oust the incumbents, the election results could prompt council members to consider the impact their decisions have on residents, not only on development-related matters but also on the issue of racial tensions between minority communities and the police department. Responses to polling questions put to 400 likely voters during the first week of April back up the fact that people aren't happy with Austin's untamed growth. The poll, conducted for the Shea campaign by Jeff Smith of Opinion Analysts, showed that 59% believe that Austin's "unique character" and quality of life are threatened and that the city is becoming less affordable. On the question of whether the council and mayor deserve the credit for Austin's high ranking on a number of lists, 77% said the credit goes to the unique characteristics of Austin and its citizens.

Connecting the Dots

"We weren't very worried about all the money [Leffingwell] was spending telling people that he had brought jobs to Austin, because nobody believes it," said Rindy. On the question of Formula One, 64.3% said that using state, county, and city resources to assist the construction of the F1 racetrack was the wrong priority for scarce public resources. "Which is exactly what it polled in the Tovo-Shade campaign," Rindy said of last year's election that saw challenger Kathie Tovo oust incumbent Randi Shade in a runoff.

In the mayor's race, Rindy said, "Shea's task was to connect Lee to policies that [voters didn't like] ... the whole struggle in a campaign is to get people to think about your narrative rather than the other [opponent's] narrative." Shea's late arrival in the race and a lack of serious money proved to be her biggest enemy. Voters "don't like the way things are going, but they don't necessarily want to blame Lee for all of that," Rindy said. "People don't sit around and connect the dots."

But they will eventually. The mayor and council have done a lot of good things, Rindy says, "but there comes a time in every political life when the narrative starts to turn against you, and voters begin to focus more on your mistakes."