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The 88th Texas Legislative session officially began on January 10th... So what does that mean for all of us here in Austin? In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury sits down with two Austin area representatives to find out! Guests include state Senator Sarah Eckhardt & state Representative Vikki Goodwin. Not sure who represents you in the Texas Legislature? You can find out here - https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home
In 2022, Austin City Council approved several changes that will increase what we all pay for electricity... in 2023 and beyond. But what exactly were all those changes again? And why did Council vote the way they did? In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury breaks it all down for ya! Guests include Austin City Council Member Leslie Pool & Kaiba White (Energy and Policy Outreach Specialist with Public Citizen Texas).
In November, the City of Austin Parks & Recreation Department released a draft of the Zilker Metropolitan Park Vision Plan. The plan has received mixed reviews, with community orgs coming out both for and against the plan. But what's actually in the plan? In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury breaks it all down for ya! Guests include Robin Rather (Zilker Neighborhood Association), Karen Blizzard (Zilker Collective Impact Working Group), Jonathan Ogren (Siglo Gro...
Several local races are headed to a runoff! To make it easier for you to do your ballot research, we're re-publishing some of our election episodes to feature only the candidates who made it to the runoff. In this episode, you'll hear interviews with District 5 City Council runoff candidates Ryan Alter & Stephanie Bazan, as well as District 9 City Council runoff candidates Zohaib “Zo” Qadri & Linda Guerrero.
Several local races are headed to a runoff! To make it easier for you to do your ballot research, we're re-publishing some of our election episodes to feature only the candidates who made it to the runoff. In this episode, you'll hear interviews with mayoral runoff candidates Celia Israel and Kirk Watson, as well as District 3 City Council runoff candidates José Velásquez and Daniela Silva.
In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury sits down with the candidates running for City Council in District 1 (east Austin). You'll hear interviews with Misael D. Ramos, Clinton Rarey, Melonie House-Dixon, and Natasha Harper-Madison.
In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury sits down with the candidates running for City Council in District 8 (southwest Austin). You'll hear interviews with Paige Ellis, Antonio D. Ross, and Kimberly P. Hawkins. (Richard Smith did not respond to our interview request.)
In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury sits down with the candidates running for City Council in District 9 (downtown/central Austin). You'll hear interviews with Zena Mitchell, Zohaib "Zo" Qadri, Greg Smith, Joah Spearman, Ben Leffler, Linda Guerrero, Tom Wald. (Kym Olson did not respond to our interview request.)
In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury sits down with the candidates running to be the next mayor of Austin. You'll hear interviews with Celia Israel, Kirk Watson, Jennifer Virden, and Phil Campero Brual.
Host Amy Stansbury delves into the District 3 Austin City Council election, an open race with no incumbent. The episode provides an overview of the election, tips for evaluating candidates, and in-depth interviews with Jose Velasquez, Daniela Silva, Gavino Fernandez Jr, Jose Noe Elias, and Esala Wueschner. Candidates share their personal motivations and detailed policy proposals on critical issues such as housing affordability, public safety, climate change, environmental justice, and healthcare access, offering diverse perspectives for voters in East and South Austin.
In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury sits down with the candidates running for City Council in District 5 (south Austin). You'll hear interviews with Ryan Alter, Bill Welch, Ken Craig, Stephanie Bazan, Aaron Velazquez Webman, and Brian Anderson II.
Our multi-part series on local climate action continues with an episode dedicated to energy & energy democracy. Guests include Luke Metzger (Environment Texas), Hanna Mitchell and Yesenia Rivera (Solar United Neighbors). Links mentioned in this episode include: **Shining Cities 2022 -https://environmentamericacenter.org/sites/environment/files/Shining_Cities-2022.pdf **Cleaner Cheaper Power For Texas Communities -https://environmenttexas.org/reports/txe/cleaner-cheaper-power-texas-communitie...
Our multi-part series on local climate action continues with an episode dedicated to climate equity & food justice. Guests include Larry Franklin (The Austin Common's first-ever Food Justice Fellow), Tane Ward (equity consultant who worked on Austin's Climate Equity Plan), and Celine Rendon (former community engagement specialist for the City of Austin Office of Sustainability).
Our multi-part series on local climate action continues with an episode dedicated to one of our country's major sources of greenhouse gas emissions - electricity. In particular, we discuss the decades of work by local activists to get Austin's publicly-owned electric utility on a path to zero emissions. There's just one problem... the Fayette Power Project, Austin's last remaining coal plant. Guests include Kaiba White (Public Citizen Texas), Amber Mills (MOVE Texas), Annie Fierro (Sunrise Movem...
In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, we kick off our multi-part series on local climate action. Guests include Laura Jay (C40 Cities), Shane Johnson (Sierra Club), and Luis Miranda (Ground Game Texas and Sunrise El Paso). Want to learn more about what we discussed in this episode? Check out our list of links below: * Austin Climate Equity Plan - https://www.austintexas.gov/page/austin-climate-equity-plan * C40 Cities Climate Action Planning Guide - https://bit.ly/3PhBvfo * C40 Cities...
We're back with another election episode! In this week's episode, Austin Common Radio Hour host Amy Stansbury talks with Julie Oliver (of Ground Game Texas) about Prop A, which if passed, would effectively decriminalize marijuana in Austin and ban no-knock warrants by police. Don't forget to vote! Election Day is May 7th and early voting lasts from April 25th to May 3rd.
Our series on the March 2022 Texas primaries continues with an episode focused on several Texas Legislature races impacting the Central Texas community. In particular, this episode features candidates running in Texas House District 51 Democratic primary, including Claire Campos-O’Neal, Cody Arn, Maria Luisa “Lulu” Flores, Matt Worthington, and Cynthia Valadez-Mata.
Early voting for the Texas primaries starts on February 14th & Election Day is March 1st. The ballot is pretty long, but if you care about climate change, health care, and criminal justice reform, there are two really important local races on your ballot - the Travis County Commissioners Democratic primary(Precincts 2 & 4). To explain it all, Austin Common Radio Hour host Amy Stansbury sat down with all the candidates running (Brigid Shea, Bob Libal, Margaret Gómez, Susanna Ledesma-Woody...
On January 25th, Austinites living in District 4 (north/east Austin)will have the chance to elect a new City Council member. (Greg Casar, the current District 4 Council member, is leaving his seat early to run for Congress.)Austin Common Radio Hour host Amy Stansbury sat down with 5 of the candidates running to replace Greg - Isa Boonto, Monica Guzmán, Jade Lovera, Melinda Schiera, and José "Chito" Vela. Give it a listen and get all your election questions answered!
Earlier this month, global leaders met in Scotland for the COP26 summit to discuss the biggest problem facing our planet - climate change. The two-week long event just wrapped up, but before it ended, Austin Common Radio Hour host Amy Stansbury sat down with two Austinites who made the trip to participate in this historic event. Topics of discussion include the role of cities in fighting climate change, overcoming climate dread, and polices at the local level that are helping to reduce emissions...
On November 2nd, Austinites will have to vote on two very important ballot initiatives - Prop A & B. Prop A is about the size of Austin's police force & Prop B is about a potential park swap. Both of them could have a profound impact on the future of our city (and are also kind of confusing). Host Amy Stansbury breaks it all down in our latest episode. Guests include Cleo Petricek, Chas Moore, Bill Spelman, and Mark Littlefield. PS - There's a lot that can be said about Props A & B. ...
Austin is in a bit of a housing affordability crisis. But, it's a crisis that's impacting parts of the city in very different ways. In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury continues with our multi-part series on housing affordability by taking a look back in time at Austin's long history of housing discrimination. Guests include Dr. Kevin Foster (acting chair of the Black Studies Department at the University of Texas at Austin) and Eliot Tretter (author of “Austin Res...
In the first six months of 2021, the median home sale price in Austin rose by $100,000. So what's behind the crazy increase? And what is being done to try and make housing in Austin more affordable? In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury kicks off a multi-part series on housing affordability in Austin by focusing on the numbers. What does affordable housing even mean? How much affordable housing stock does Austin have? We answer it all with this episode. Guests inclu...
Austin has 10 City Council members who are elected to represent you. But who are these people? What do they do all day? In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury gets to know one of them, City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes from District 2. Topics of discussion include health inequities in southeast Austin, the city's budget, and a behind-the-scenes looks at how City Council meetings work.
Did you know? Up until last year, Austin was the largest jurisdiction in the country without a Public Defender's Office. In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury gets to know Travis County's first-ever Chief Public Defender, Adeola Ogunkeyede. Topics of discussion include criminal justice reform & what it's like to provide high-quality legal defense services in the middle of a pandemic.
In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury dives deep into Austin's homelessness policies. Topics of discussion include life after the passage of Prop B, designated campsites, & the city's new Summit Plan. Guests include Bill Brice of the Downtown Austin Alliance and João Paulo Connolly of the Austin Justice Coalition.
In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury dives deep into the upcoming City of Austin elections, sharing everything you need to know about Propositions F, G, and H. Topics include the possibility of switching to a strong mayor system of government, adding an additional Council district, and starting a Democracy Dollars program. Guests include Jesús Garza of Austin For All People, Joah Spearman of Austinites For Progressive Reform, and Jessica Palvino of Democracy Dollar...
In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury dives deep into the upcoming City of Austin elections, sharing everything you need to know about Propositions C, D, and E. Topics include police oversight, Austin's mayoral elections, and ranked choice voting. Guests include Nathan Ryan & Liz Coufal of Good Politics, Council Member Greg Casar, and Amanda López Askin of Doña Ana County.
In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury dives deep into the upcoming City of Austin elections, sharing everything you need to know about Propositions A & B. Topics include the Austin Firefighters Association & the city's homelessness ordinances. Guests include Matthew Mollica of ECHO, Cleo Petricek of Save Austin Now, and Marina Roberts and Seneca Savoie of Homes Not Handcuffs.
In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury looks into the ways that the Austin Police Department responds to mental health emergencies and speaks with local activists and experts who are working to develop a non-police response for Austinites experiencing mental health crises. Guests include Marisa Aguilar of Integral Care and Karen Ranus of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Central Texas.
