This episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour gives you a more in-depth look at the arguments and for and against Prop Q, featuring interviews with Council Member Duchen (who voted against the city's budget) and Council Member Vela (who voted for it).
On August 13th, Austin City Council will vote on a new budget for next year, one that will likely include a TRE or a tax rate election. In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury sits down with three Council Members (Ellis, Vela, and Duchen) to help explain what a TRE is and share their thoughts on the city's budget.
State Senator Sarah Eckhardt provides a comprehensive recap of the Texas legislative session, focusing on key bills affecting Austin. She explains the implications of school voucher proposals and the restrictive nature of public education funding. The episode also covers the controversial THC ban and immigration enforcement bill, along with property tax relief measures and significant bills that were successfully defeated. Senator Eckhardt shares insights into legislative strategies and the importance of civic engagement.
Should the City of Austin build caps over I-35? That's the question Austin City Council has to decide on May 22nd. To dive deeper into the details and learn more about the debate over this issue, host Amy Stansbury sat down with Julio Gonzalez Altamirano, Council Member Ryan Alter, and Tom Wald.
On February 27th, Austin City Council will vote on a new set of rules regulating short-term rentals (Airbnbs and Vrbos) in Austin. To learn more about what's been proposed, host Amy Stansbury spoke with Daniel Word (from the City of Austin Development Services Department) and Austin City Council Member Marc Duchen.
Thought the elections were over? Not quite. If you live in Austin City Council District 7, you still have a runoff election to vote in. In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury sits down with both of the candidates -Mike Siegel and Gary Bledsoe. PS - And for info on the AISD school board runoff, be sure to check out the League of Women Voters Guide. https://lwvaustin.org/
On December 12th, Austin City Council will vote on an update to Austin Energy's Resource, Generation, and Climate Protection Plan. The name might sound boring, but the plan contains lots of important information that will influence everything from Austin's carbon emissions to what we all pay for electricity bills... for years to come. To learn more, host Amy Stansbury sat down with Lisa Martin (Austin Energy) and Kaiba White (Public Citizen and the city's Electric Utility Commission). For refere...
Election season is back! This fall, half of Austin's City Council seats are up for election... and that's a lot of candidates! But don't worry, as always, we're here to break it all down for you. In this episode we cover the District 2 (southeast Austin) City Council race. Host Amy Stansbury sits down with candidate (and current Council member) Vanessa Fuentes. The other candidate in this race, Robert Reynolds, did not respond to our interview request and does not appear to have a campaign websi...
Election season is back! This fall, half of Austin's City Council seats are up for election... and that's a lot of candidates! But don't worry, as always, we're here to break it all down for you. In this episode we cover the District 4 (north/east Austin) City Council race. Host Amy Stansbury sits down with four of the candidates: José "Chito" Vela (interview starts at 9:20) Monica Guzmán (interview starts at 29:13) Louis Herrin (interview starts at 48:40) Jim Rabuck (interview starts at 01:09:1...
Election season is back! This fall, half of Austin's City Council seats are up for election... and that's a lot of candidates! But don't worry, as always, we're here to break it all down for you. In this episode we cover the District 6 (northwest Austin) City Council race. Host Amy Stansbury sits down with both of the candidates - Mackenzie Kelly and Krista Laine. Not sure which Council district you live in? You can look it up here - www.austintexas.gov/government
Election season is back! This fall, half of Austin's City Council seats are up for election... and that's a lot of candidates! But don't worry, as always, we're here to break it all down for you. In this episode we cover the District 10 (west Austin) City Council race. Host Amy Stansbury sits down with five of the candidates: Pierre Huy Nguyễn (interview starts at 9:18) Todd Shaw (interview starts at 31:50) Edwin Bautista (interview starts at 51:15) Mike Siegel (interview starts at 1:16:01) Adam...
Election season is back! This fall, half of Austin's City Council seats are up for election... and the mayor's race is on the ballot... that's a lot of candidates! But don't worry, as always, we're here to break it all down for you. In this episode we cover Austin's mayoral election. Host Amy Stansbury sits down with four of the five candidates running: Kirk Watson (interview starts at 6:36) Kathie Tovo (interview starts at 36:15) Carmen Llanes Pulido (interview starts at 1:10:20) Jeffery Bowen ...
Election season is back! This fall, half of Austin's City Council seats are up for election... and that's a lot of candidates! But don't worry, as always, we're here to break it all down for you. In this episode we cover the District 10 (west Austin) City Council race. Host Amy Stansbury sits down with both candidates - Marc Duchen and Ashika Ganguly. Not sure which Council district you live in? You can look it up here - https://www.austintexas.gov/government
After a bit of a break, our podcast mini series on homelessness is back with a look into one of the solutions to homelessness - Rapid Rehousing. Host Amy Stansbury speaks with Eli Cortez and Alfredo Reyes Jr. (VOCAL-TX) about what the program is, who it does (and doesn't) work well for, and their advocacy efforts to try and improve the program at the local level. Later in the episode, we also hear a brief update from Austin City Council Member Ryan Alter.
On May 4th, voters in Travis County will get to vote for 3 seats on the Travis Central Appraisal District Board of Directors. It's a super confusing election, but as always, we're here to explain it all for ya! This episode features interviews with nearly all of the candidates, including Don Zimmerman, Jett Hanna, Shenghao "Daniel" Wang, Jonathan Patschke, Matt Mackowiak, & Dick Lavine.
Our podcast mini-series on homelessness continues with a focus on emergency shelter, which is meant to provide people with a safe place to sleep (temporarily), while they work to get connected to more permanent housing. But in Austin, we don't have enough emergency shelter beds, which can mean long wait lists, just to find a place to sleep that isn't outside. How do our shelters deal with this? And how does emergency shelter in Austin work anyway? To help answer these questions, host Amy Stansbu...
This episode of the The Austin Common Radio Hour kicks off a mini-series on homelessness in Austin. In this first episode, we focus on some of the first steps a person experiencing homelessness might take on their path toward receiving services and eventually gaining access to housing.... visiting the Sunrise Hub (a homelessness services day center in south Austin) and taking a Coordinated Assessment (which is both a wait list and a prioritization tool for determining who gets access to subsidiz...
On December 7th, Austin City Council will vote on the HOME Initiative, a proposal to allow up to three housing units to be built on single-family lots. The idea is to increase the city's supply of "missing middle" housing, but like so many debates related to housing and land use, the issue is complicated. In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury interviews several people with an array of perspectives on the issue - Austin City Council Member Leslie Pool, Carmen Llanes ...
The are 14 proposed state constitutional amendments on the ballot this year. In this episode we take a deep into several of them, including Prop 4 (property taxes), Prop 6 (water), Prop 8 (broadband internet). Our guests include state Rep. Vikki Goodwin, Jennifer Walker (National Wildlife Federation), and Kelty Garbee (Texas Rural Funders).
The are 14 proposed state constitutional amendments on the ballot this year. One of them, Prop 14, would create a $1 billion centennial parks conservation fund to grow our state parks system. To tell us all about it, host Amy Stansbury sat down with Luke Metzger (Executive Director of Environment Texas).
If you live in Travis County, you have two very important propositions on your ballot this year - Prop A (which is all about roads, bike lanes, and sidewalks) and Prop (which is about parks). To help you understand exactly what you'll be voting on, host Amy Stansbury interviewed Jennifer Bristol, who served on the Travis County Citizens Bond Advisory Committee.
In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury interviews Austin City Council Member Alison Alter about HB 1526, a new law passed by the Texas Legislature that will dramatically change the way Austin funds and acquires new parkland.
Earlier this summer, a route was chosen for Austin's first-ever light rail system. It will start at 38th Street, run down Guadalupe Street, cross Lady Bird Lake at Trinity Street and then split, running south along South Congress (ending at Oltorf) and running east along Riverside Drive (ending at Yellow Jacket Lane). But why was this route chosen? To answer that question, Austin Common Radio Hour host Amy Stansbury sits down with Lindsay Wood (Austin Transit Partnership) and Awais Azhar (chair ...
Austin City Council has taken a lot of votes lately, aimed at changing our city's land development code. The idea? To allow more housing to be built in Austin... and at a quicker pace. To explain exactly what City Council is working on, host Amy Stansbury sat down with two Austin City Council members - Ryan Alter & José “Chito” Vela.
The regular Texas legislative session officially ended on May 29th... but that's not the end of the story. One "special session" has already been called (and more are expected to come) as a debate stretches on over property taxes and public schools. To fill us in on the latest, host Amy Stansbury sat down with Rep. James Talarico, who represents parts of the Austin area in the Texas House.
How many people in Austin are experiencing homelessness? In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, we dive a bit deeper into the numbers. To guide us through it, host Amy Stansbury interviews Akram Al-Turk, Research & Evaluation Director of ECHO, who shares data from the latest Point In Time Count.
Concerned about climate change? Hear from people who are taking action... right here at the local level. In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury sits down with several of the city's Community Climate Ambassadors -Dylan Kazanova, Kecia Prince, Sahabel Porto, & Andres Pedraza. Show Notes: You can RSVP for the city's coop housing event here - bit.ly/3Lbpmri You can learn more about the Community Climate Ambassador showcase here - bit.ly/3HkpxQ9
On, March 21st, the Travis County Commissioners Court voted to take the first steps toward creating a mental health diversion center right here in Travis County. And what is a mental health diversion center? We discuss it all with Travis County Judge Andy Brown.
There's been a lot of news lately over Austin's police contract. In this episode, we break it all down for you & explain what police contracts even are, the ways they impact accountability and staffing, and how an upcoming election could impact the future of public safety in Austin. Our guests include Chris Harris (Equity Action) & Austin City Council Member Alison Alter.
By now, you've probably heard that there are plans to expand I-35 through downtown Austin... but what does that mean exactly? And what will the impact be for our community? And the climate? We cover it all in this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour. Guests include Brad Wheelis (spokesperson for TxDOT), Adam Greenfield (executive director of Rethink 35), & Austin City Council Member José “Chito” Vela.
