City Council Regular Meeting Transcript – 4/23/2026 Title: ATXN-1 (24hr) Channel: 1 - ATXN-1 Recorded On: 4/23/2026 6:00:00AM Original Air Date: 4/23/2026 Transcript Generated by SnapStream ================================== Please note that the following transcript is for reference purposes and does not constitute the official record of actions taken during the meeting. For the official record of actions of the meeting, please refer to the Approved Minutes. [10:00:09 AM] April 23rd, 2026, and I will call to order this regular meeting of the Austin city council. We are we have a quorum of the city council president, and we are meeting in the city council chambers, which are located in city hall at 301 west second street in Austin, Texas. Members of the order of the day will be that. In just a second, I'll read some changes and corrections into the record. We will then go to our consent items. There are two items that have been pulled from the consent agenda, item number six and item number 29, item number six and item number 29 have been pulled from the consent agenda. I will also, by the way, read late back read, make for for the record that you have late back up, but I'll do that in just a second. Once we finish the consent speakers. We will then go to. I'll call for a motion and a second on the consent agenda. We'll have discussion from the council. We will then either go to the a H Austin housing finance corporation board of directors meeting, where we will recess the Austin city council, and I'll call that board of [10:01:09 AM] directors meeting to order, or we will just go to the pulled items. We'll just see how the morning goes. We have a number of non consent items. Items 42, 43, 44, 45 and 46 are non consent items. Also items 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53 and 54. At noon we will pretty much stop wherever we are and we will take up a time certain which is our public communications at noon. We will also recess at around 1230 to 1235 for live music, and I anticipate that recess will go until about 110 at some point during the course of the day. And with that, without objection, I'll just try to manage when the best time for us to do that, we will go into an executive session. And at 2:00, of course, we have a time, certain we will get to that as close to 2:00 as we can, which is our zoning and neighborhood planning items. Members, for the record, let me [10:02:10 AM] state that you have late backup. You have late backup in that has been posted and you have it on the agenda. It relates to board and commissions, nominations and waivers. I want to call that out for the record. In addition, for the record, let me read some changes and corrections. Item number six. You should should not say district one. It should say district two, item number 41. It should add council member Christa Laine as one of the sponsors. Item number 61 is withdrawn. Item number 62 is withdrawn. And members, as I've already noted, items six and 29 have been pulled from the consent agenda. Unless there's questions or objection, we will now go to speakers that have signed up on the consent agenda, and I don't see any. So any questions or or objections. So I do see some speakers. And so [10:03:11 AM] we'll go to those speakers. >> Thank you mayor. We'll begin with in-person speakers on item one. Jen Robichaux. >> Good morning council. I'm Jen Robichaux, a longtime Austin resident. I'm addressing the homeless strategic plan from the council's meeting on March 26th. First, I thank the homeless strategies and operations for their planned cleanups. Taxpayers have asked for this, and it shows that the city is working to maintain public spaces. While I appreciate the city gathering data to assess our strategies effectiveness, significant gaps remain in data collection and housing options. To truly understand homelessness in Austin, we need better information about where our homeless neighbors are coming [10:04:11 AM] from, such as did they move here by choice, or were they sent by another municipality when they arrived? Did they come for a job or were they already homeless? Have they ever held a job in Austin or had their own housing here? This data matters to taxpayers who support helping local Austin neighbors, but oppose using public resources for homeless migrants. Knowing if our policies attract homelessness is essential for public trust and effective solutions. We also face gaps in housing options. Many homeless neighbors refuse shelter, yet our strategy relies almost exclusively on traditional models and fails to offer legal, nontraditional alternatives that respect the rights of both the unhoused and the housed. Our city code makes it a crime to camp in public areas that are, quote, not designated as a camping area by the parks and recreation department. This indicates that park, parks and rec has the authority to designate such areas, and [10:05:11 AM] Austin has nearly 300 acres of undeveloped parkland. Taxpayers do not want encampments in our neighborhoods, on streets, along trails, creeks or swimming holes. However, creating public camping areas outside these Zones with clear environmental and public safety guidelines could provide viable options for those who decline shelter. These gaps come from addressing the issue too narrowly and excluding taxpayers as stakeholders. Thank you for your time. >> We'll move next to item three. Bill bunch Katy cam. >> If your name has been called, please come forward if you wish to speak. Mr. Bunch is passing on item number three. Katy. Cam. I don't see Katy. Cam. >> Perfect. We will move. >> Before we go to item number five. Item number four. Members. Item number four is a legal matter with a proposal for a [10:06:12 AM] settlement. So I'm going to ask our law department to come forward and make a brief presentation with regard to item number four. >> Good morning, Mr. Mayor. >> Thank you. >> Mayor pro tem, members of the council. I am assistant city attorney Jeremy Thompson. I'm here today to recommend that you approve a settlement payment in a personal injury lawsuit that appears on your agenda. Item four. Number four, Armijo versus city of Austin. We recommend that you approve a payment of $120,000 to settle the lawsuit titled Gustavo Armijo versus city of Austin dba Austin energy. This lawsuit relates to a January 2018 car accident involving an Austin energy vehicle, where plaintiff seeks payment for injuries allegedly sustained in the accident. In exchange for the payment, plaintiff will release any and all claims against the city from the accident and will also dismiss his lawsuit filed in the district court of Travis county. The Austin city [10:07:13 AM] attorney's office recommends that you approve payment based upon these terms. I'm available to answer any questions you may have. >> Thank you. Members. Does anybody have questions of our legal staff? Thank you very much for the presentation. I'll turn back to the city clerk to go to item number five. >> On item number five, bill bunch. >> Mr. Bunch is passing on item number five. >> Item number seven. David Levesque haydn Baggett. >> On item number six, as I indicated earlier, has been pulled from the consent agenda. Mr. Bunch, thank you. >> Please state your name and begin speaking. >> Mayor and council, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is haydn Baggett, and I'm here on behalf of the coalition for clean, affordable, reliable energy, or C care to support the utility scale solar and distributed battery storage contracts, as well as the resolution to expand residential solar and battery [10:08:14 AM] access. Today. Collectively, these items help the utility fulfill its resource generation plan and maintain its renewable energy production as a percentage of load, while also offering financial benefits to customers. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Moving on to item eight. Paul Robbins. Is Bobby Levinsky here? You will have time donated. That'll be four minutes. >> Counsel. A few days ago, you received a letter from me and four other commissioners from the resource management commission asking you to delay item eight on your agenda. This is a contract for electric storage batteries located at individual buildings in the Austin area. We have an engaged commission, and I feel sure that we could have gotten at [10:09:15 AM] least eight out of our ten members to sign on to this letter, but I limited it to five members out of concern for quorum rules, I began my involvement in Austin's affairs in 1977, opposing the south Texas nuclear project. In a five year period, the nuc experienced a 460% overrun. This early experience greatly influenced my skepticism of utility proposals that do not offer enough information to understand them. In 2008, Austin energy proposed a biomass powered generator with very little time to evaluate it. Despite warnings about its cost from environmentalists, council approved the contract, and today it is the utility's most [10:10:17 AM] expensive source of electricity. The cost was so high that mayor Steve Adler ran against it in his first campaign. We, the commission, are generally enthusiastic about storage, batteries and their potential to be coordinated as virtual power plants, and I have heard good things about this specific company. The problem arises because there's no information in the backup material about the contract's cost effectiveness to Austin energy's ratepayers or participating customers. This is a $41 million contract. Where is the cost benefit analysis? After the failure of prop Q? Every single line item in your budget is under a microscope. There is no time to. This is no time to abandon [10:11:19 AM] fiscal caution. The utility has publicly stated its intent to raise rates 5% a year for the next four years. I've worked around energy policy for almost 50 years. I have personally attempted to analyze the sparse amount of data in the backup material. The little information there seems to point to a cost of about $0.19 kilowatt hour, contrasted to retail Austin energy power of about $0.11 per kilowatt hour and 2025, the contract might still be cost justified. There may be savings from reduced ercot fees or savings from lower peak demand costs, but the utility needs to be transparent and explain what these benefits are. I would not expect more than a month's delay to get more clarity on [10:12:19 AM] the numbers. Again, this is a $41 million contract, and the first of what might be a growing trend. The public needs to know the benefits. I would think you would want to boast about them. Take the time to do this right again, please get ratepayers a cost benefit number. Thank you. >> Continuing on item eight, David Levesque and haydn Bhagat. >> If your name has been called, please come forward. I don't I don't see any movement. >> We'll move on to item ten. Jennifer Robicheaux and bill bunch. [10:13:28 AM] >> Good morning council. I'm Jen Robicheaux, long time Austin resident. I'm speaking on item ten, the proposed issuance of bonds for the walnut creek wastewater treatment plant. I support necessary investments in our wastewater infrastructure. However, approving this bond without addressing known upstream contamination in the walnut creek watershed raises serious concerns about fiscal responsibility and long term risk to taxpayers. My first concern is financial stewardship. The walnut creek plant processes water from a watershed contaminated for over 50 years by leachate from the closed Travis county landfill on highway 290. Independent testing has shown elevated levels of lead, barium and arsenic well above EPA acceptable limits flowing directly toward the plant. Unaddressed, upstream pollution could dramatically increase future operating costs, maintenance and treatment challenges all passed on to Austin taxpayers. My next concern is regulatory oversight. [10:14:29 AM] When residents raised water quality issues, watershed protection staff said they would ask Travis county if they wanted the city involved in a stakeholder group. This inverts the relationship. The city of Austin is the regulator. Travis county is a defendant in a state environmental enforcement action over the landfill. Regulators should not need a polluters permission to investigate their own watershed. My last concern is accountability. The environmental commission tried to advance a resolution for water quality testing in walnut creek, but city legal intervened to block it. So the city avoids accountability by staying ignorant of the data. The plant expansion may be necessary, but proceeding while actively avoiding upstream accountability turns a needed investment into a far larger liability for Austin's future. Thank you for your time. >> Mr. Bunch. >> Thank you, mayor council members, for your service to our community. Bill bunch, executive director with save our springs alliance, speaking [10:15:31 AM] again and urging you to stop or slow down on this massive expansion to the walnut creek wastewater treatment plant from 75 million gallons per day capacity to 100 million gallons a day per day capacity. We simply don't have the water to ever need that much capacity to convert into sewage. We are in a water crisis. You're also facing severe fiscal restraints as you know it. And this project, just in the last six months, ballooned from $1 billion to $1.6 billion. Now, I appreciate the item before you is a $59 million loan. Just a small piece of this. But I urge you to slow down on this. There definitely needs to be some flood management at the site, but we really need to have this wastewater treated upstream, [10:16:31 AM] decentralized, where it can be reused on site or close to where it's needed. Simply doing things the same way we've always done them has got to stop. Times have changed. We're in a whole new reality, a whole new water reality and and technology reality. And I also urge you to listen to what miss Robicheaux said. You have have had very serious upstream pollution problems with Samsung and others discharging toxic materials into the wastewater system, doing damage to the functioning of this plant. And if any of any of that continues, you're going to have way more financial problems on your hands. So we really need to scrutinize this project. Thank you. >> Moving to item 30, Zenobia Joseph. [10:17:32 AM] >> Miss Joseph, miss Joseph, I don't believe she's here. >> Item 31, bill bunch. >> Mr. Bunch is passing on item 31. >> Item 33, bill bunch. >> Good morning. Bill bunch, executive director, save our springs alliance. This item is to approve a service extension request to a 2.85 acre tract very close to Barton creek and the Barton creek watershed. Your environmental commission recommended against this. Your staff had also been recommending. Against this you have a divided vote from your [10:18:33 AM] water and wastewater commission. It's a fairly small tract, but you are now challenged with the ability to make sure that once they get this water and sewer service, that they don't completely change their plans and overdevelop the tract. You know, about the state law changes that are in place, and so would urge you to be extra careful doing this and to follow your environmental commissioners who did the deep dive on it and recommended against it. Thank you for your consideration. >> Item 34. Carlos Leon and bill bunch. >> So, Carlos Leon, first and [10:19:34 AM] foremost, gracias a dios for letting me say why not to do business with capmetro on item 34, April 17th. Guilty blackmail. Obama bus driver 322470. Intentionally initiated and escalated abusive controlling behavior against me to disrespectfully try denying me what's legally mine to accommodate and serve him, though he must accommodate and serve me because he's a public servant like you. Per Texas penal code 1.07841 a yesterday. Guilty. Older Middle Eastern Obama male driver of bus 2806 refused to board me, falsely claiming I was banned. He refused to look at the capmetro letter I had in hand, saying I could ride and refuse to call. Radio dispatch to verify him, blatantly disregarding truth. Rules, protocol, chain of command and constitutional law triggered an irate male passenger to attack me with assault by threat and assault [10:20:34 AM] by contact, explicitly threatening to smash his metal thermos in hand on my skull and shoving me off the bus for lawfully standing my ground. These capmetro attacks appear to be continuing retaliation against me for whistleblowing, capmetro senior director of public safety and emergency management Darrell jamail's alleged crimes APD special investigations unit lieutenant briggle said, my report is still being reviewed, a prerequisite to launching an official investigation toward criminally prosecuting jamail. Reread my report that I emailed all of you February 25th via the city clerk because capmetro CEO, president and Dottie Watkins has neither stopped this nor fired jamail. She's no better. Kick corrupt capmetro to the curb. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. [10:21:37 AM] >> Mr. Punch, he's passing on that item. >> Moving to item 35, Carlos Leon, bill bunch zo. >> Carlos. Leon. First and foremost, gracias a dios for letting me speak to item 35 issues. Your library commission allegedly has not updated you since August 2023. A pls use rules two b3, 15, d1 and 15 d2 still have not complied with your superseding rules for public use of city properties or paramount constitutional law. August 2025. I filed allegations of wrongdoing against Hannah Terrell with the city auditor to hold her accountable for her alleged criminal behavior and force her to follow city code 1-2 to revise a Pio rules to comply with your rules in federal law. September 2025. Her boss, assistant city manager Stephanie hayden-howard, said she was working on those rules and would update the city [10:22:38 AM] auditor once done. Yet as of today, nothing's changed. Worse, hayden-howard allegedly ignored Terrell's transgressions to help her boss. City manager Broadnax wrongly reward Terrell's insubordination by promoting Terrell to director over true top candidate Cathy Donelan. Thus, expect me to soon file allegations of wrongdoing against hayden-howard and Broadnax with the city auditor to help you take action against them. And Terrell, following your February 26th ordinance to safeguard public confidence in city services by identifying and implementing performance enhancements via assessment requiring external Independence, accountability and transparency. If you don't do that, you are just as guilty as them, because to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not. To him it is [10:23:38 AM] sin. James 417. King James. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Praise god, our true lord. >> Heck yeah. >> Moving to item 37. We will now begin with remote speakers. >> Before we do item 37. Item 35 is the one that I pointed out. We have additional backup on item number 35, not just that item that he was talking about, but the other boards and commissions as well. So I just point that out to you. I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> 37 beginning with Nisha Abraham. >> Hello, city council, my name is Nisha Abraham. I am a long time member, Austin constituent, and from district seven, I wanted to call and speak about the safe to call resolution. And I would just really like to encourage the city council to consider passing this resolution. It really affects the fact that we can't call our [10:24:40 AM] police officers our most vulnerable populations, like victims of domestic violence, immigrants, you know, government. Governor Abbott is making it impossible for for us that I include myself in this to get help and safety that we need. I really encourage us not to give in to governor Abbott's pressures to cut funding. That's a really low blow to take, especially with our most vulnerable populations. And I also want to mention that this measure has brought a lot of stakeholders and groups together that have a lot of deep knowledge of criminal justice. So we know that this is a vetted measure and that it really makes sense. And we need public safety for people who need help but might be scared to ask. I myself have had to call on police officers multiple times in the 20 years that I've lived here in Austin, and I become more and more afraid of calling them. And I think that's a really, you know, problematic time that we live in. So really encouraging city council to go ahead and pass the safe to call resolution. And I see the rest of my time. Thank you. >> Continuing with remote [10:25:40 AM] speakers on item 37, J. Popham. >> Thank you, mayor and council, for the opportunity to speak on this important issue. My name is Jay Popham. I'm a resident of district two and a member of Austin democratic socialists of America. Stepping away from work for a moment to speak in my personal capacity, the fourth amendment protects the right of every person in the United States to be safe from unreasonable search and seizure. It requires that the federal government wants to take you from your home. They need probable cause and the approval of a judge, the trump administration and its junior partners in our state government have discarded this bedrock requirement of the United States law as part of a spectacle of cruelty that they expect will pay political dividends for them in November and beyond. Make no mistake, what they're proposing is nothing less than a two tiered, race based system of law enforcement in the state of Texas, aimed at destroying families and trampling our constitutional rights for one group judicial oversight, the semblance of due process, and the chance of legal remedy for the other group of life in the shadows, constant threat of [10:26:41 AM] permanent separation and removal, and the painful calculation of whether to call for help from your city or suffer alone, leaving yourself and your loved ones in danger in the hope of just one more day. We are a country of laws. We aspire to one standard of justice, and we will not abandon our neighbors regardless of perceived threats. Item 37 establishes a stakeholder process to determine how to ensure universal access to city services, including public safety, while preserving our fundamental rights. I like to talk about how socialism is about positive values. Stability is public safety. We will look after one another. We will work together to solve our shared problems. We will not submit to bullies, the embattled state government and the disgraced but not yet discarded attorney general Ken paxton are bullies, desperate for any distraction they can find from the disastrous state of the national and global economy, the gruesome wars of choice we have waged and supported, and their total submission to the billionaire class and Christian nationalism, Cornell law legal information institute provides us with a timely warning today, protection under the fourth amendment can be waived if one [10:27:41 AM] voluntarily consents to or does not object to evidence collected during a warrantless search or seizure. Police are always trying to find a way in. But first. Thank you to give up first. Thank you. Not give up. Do not consent to this extortion. >> We will now move back to in-person speakers on item 37, and we will begin with Spanish speakers Leticia Mendez, Eva Grimaldo. Kayla estévez. Manuel Garcia. Suma Franco. [10:28:43 AM] >> I'm sorry, but we. Our rules don't allow. If you're. If you're here to. >> Say. >> You. Please explain. Okay. Thank you. >> Hola. Buenos dias. My name is Catalina Juarez Mendez, soy resident de Austin Y les Pio a favor de todas las families de Austin. Votan por el tema 38. >> Hello, my name is Catalina Juarez Mendez, and I'm here to ask you to vote for item 37. >> De junior de la manana. [10:29:46 AM] Salimos de nuestro Gaar. MI esposa. Yo rumble Iglesia. >> On June 15th, we left our home. My husband and I, and we were going to church. >> Cuando nos para un tropa de las luces de la troca. Vamos Sabia movido hacia Una sola de los dias minutos. Después porque todo estaba. >> So when we were passing a light, we were stopped by a trooper that told us that they needed to check our lights, and they told us that everything was okay, but we needed to go to a gas station that was ten minutes away. >> So. Trejo. Atmos Armas O drogas Y. Dejar cuando llegamos a la gasolina era estamos [10:30:47 AM] rodeados de TREs Carros, you know, six agentes de ice. >> They told us to go to the gas station because they only needed to check for weapons or drugs, and that everything was okay, and then we could leave after that. But when we got to the gas station, we were surrounded by three cars and about six ice agents. >> On Singh. I said, nos preguntas. >> We were handcuffed and they were not. Didn't even make any questions. >> No, centro de detention. Yes, yes, yes. In el centro detention, esposa TREs meses después de Porto a Mexico. >> We were taken to a detention center. I was there for ten days. My husband was there for three months, and he was then deported to Mexico. >> I mean. A trabajar a partir de esto de MI casa. Gaar Mio Y [10:31:48 AM] de mis hijos Y MI Nieto. >> They also put an electronic bracelet, and they said that I couldn't work anymore. Then I lost my house. That was my home, my my home for my children and my grandson. And I can't work anymore. >> Singh poder trabajar poder aumentar los gatos. Yo conocia la rcp porque cuando me to call me court MI abogado no me puedo acompanar ellos me acompanan ahora vivo con el miedo. MI viendo Una pesadilla. >> So I couldn't work anymore. I couldn't pay for my bills. When I went to court, my lawyer couldn't go with me. So that's when I met the advocates from grassroots. They are the only ones that have come with me and now I am living in a nightmare. >> Esto no es solo MI experiencia muchos de nosotros vivimos en medio de ser [10:32:49 AM] separados. Por eso les pido por el tema de muchas gracias. >> This is not only my experience but the experience of many. So that's why I'm asking you to vote for item 37. Thank you very much. >> Guadalupe Lopez. >> Go ahead. Okay. >> Buenos dias. >> MI nombre es Eva Grimaldo. Tengo viviendo en el area de dos Anos. Estoy aqui para pedir boston por el tema. >> Hello, my name is Eva Grimaldo, and I've been living in the area of Austin for 22 years. And I'm asking here to vote for item 37. >> Yo estoy aqui. Alessandro la voz por MI hijo. I'm here. De [10:33:56 AM] Familia. >> I'm here raising my voice for my son. Because we don't want more families that are separated. >> One moment. Tenemos problemas, tenemos la policia. >> Because if you have a problem at any moment, we shouldn't be fearful to call the police. >> Riesgo de ser separados. >> We are risking to be separated. >> MI Familia de Esta la MI hijo Ken a widow and a tenia un Ano. >> My family was victim of this law. My son, who lived in Austin since he was one year old. >> Was deported to Mexico. Mossad a la migra. No tengo la importancia de no poder hacer [10:34:57 AM] nada por MI hijo. >> My son, since he was living in Austin, since he was one year old, he was deported to Mexico. Now I'm I'm asking that they stop the the police with the immigration because we don't have we can't do anything for him. He has a problem of his in Mexico and he has a mental health problem. >> Porque problemas de salud nadie deberiamos Tener middle and pedir ayuda. >> He's not okay. And he has health problems there in Mexico. We shouldn't be feared to be asking for help. >> El poder de cambiar a Austin. >> You have the power to change Austin. >> Por favor. Dia de los ataques del gobernador. >> Please be brave and defend us from governor Abbott. >> Una vez mas por el tema de. [10:35:59 AM] >> Once again, I ask you to vote for item 37. Thank you very much. >> Kayla. Hola. Buenos dias. MI nombre es Kayla Estevez. Austin, Texas. Por hoy. Estoy aqui para pedirle important. >> Hello, my name is Kayla Estevez and I've been living in Austin for ten years, and I'm here today to ask you something very important. >> Por favor. Voting in favor of el tema. Somos Una comunidad vulnerable. Tenemos miedo. >> Please vote for item 37. We are a very vulnerable community and we are fearful. >> La collaboration entre la policia. Afectando, muchas families, families, trabajadoras families en estas Familia adelante. >> The collaboration between the police and immigration is affecting many families families that are hard workers, [10:36:59 AM] families that are honest, families that only want to progress. >> Incertidumbre Cada Dia no nos preguntamos podriamos salir a trabajar regresar a casa con nuestros hijos. >> We live with uncertainty every day and every day we ask ourselves, can we go out to work and come back home with our children? Is it fair to live with this fear? >> Singh es Una ciudad. Pero también se debe ser segura para todos. >> Austin is a beautiful city, but it should be safe for everyone. >> No pedimos privilegios solo queremos vivir en Paz Y con dignidad. >> We don't ask him for privileges. We only want to live in peace and with dignity. >> With NUESTRA Familia Y la. NUESTRA. Familia. [10:37:59 AM] >> We only want to work and take care of our families. We're asking you to listen to our voices. Because you are parents and you have families. >> Nuestro Lugar el poder de cambiar esto es menos. Gracias por Su tiempo. Por favor. Voting in favor del tema. >> Please be in our places. You have the power to change this. Please listen to our voices and vote for item 37. >> Okay. >> Buenos dias. MI nombre es Una Franco sobre el distrito de trabajo. Congressional leadership Y el consejo de Austin Kimble tenga favor del tema. >> Good morning. My name is Umlauf Franco and I live in district two. I work with grassroots leadership and I'm asking the city council to please vote for item 37. >> Un Lugar en seguridad Y [10:39:01 AM] justicia es exactamente lo Ken tenemos. >> We all live to this. We all deserve to live in a place with peace and justice. And that's exactly what we don't have. >> Saber. Qué Una ciudad bonita como Austin? No puedo quedar de sus residents Y el contrario estan viviendo con miedo. >> It's so sad to know that a city like Austin that is so beautiful cannot take care of the residents, and they are all living in fear. >> Sabemos NUESTRA comunidad recibido Una Serie de attacks racists. Casos de separacion de families. >> We all know how our immigrant community has been suffering of racist attacks. That is becoming like consequences like to being in jail and being separated from their families. >> Un laboratorio de la discrimination, a NUESTRA comunidad de color and immigrants. >> Right now, Texas has been becoming like a lab. That is [10:40:01 AM] only like judging people because they race or color and attacking them. >> Con Una Serie de lis Y politics grito NUESTRA comunidad como, por ejemplo, la nueva regla de D mb. >> With a series of rules and policies that are only attacking and destroying our communities, like the new rule at the DMV. >> Personas status legales pueden Tener Su registration para sus vehiculos. >> Now they're not allowing that people with legal status, they can renew their stickers. The registrations. >> Aumenta el Riesgo de Una por Una Parada de policia por un sticker vencido se convierte en la pesadilla O deportation. >> This is only increasing the risk that a person is being detained in any street by the police because the sticker is expired and it's increasing the nightmare for families. >> Por favor. Tenga a la comunidad contra los ataques del gobernador. Greg Abbott. [10:41:02 AM] >> Please be brave and defend our community from the attacks from governor Abbott. >> Mejor Castillo todo para pedir ayuda sin miedo. >> We deserve something better. We deserve something better than this. We need to be safe to be. To call the police without fear. >> Representing a todos los residentes de Austin incluyendo a los most vulnerable. Es Una vez mas voten por el tema typekit gracias por Su tiempo. >> It is time that you take action and you defend us. And then please vote for item 37. Thank you for your time. >> Muchas gracias. Gracias a todos. Thank you. >> Tengo otro testimonio de otra companera. >> One more. If she has time. >> She she has 51 seconds. >> Okay. Can you read that? >> MI nombre es Luz Lumbreras el distrito cuatro tengo viviendo in Austin Y estoy aqui para pedirle voting si Al tema 30 siete. >> My name is Luz Lumbreras. [10:42:02 AM] I've been a resident in district four for 21 years, and I'm asking you to vote for item 37. >> Tengo miedo de Amor a la policia in alguna emergencia por Amor, en MI contra en Lugar de ayudarme. >> I'm afraid to call the police if I have a problem, because I'm afraid that they will do something to me instead of helping me. >> Diario miedo Ya no poder a MI casa con mis hijos extrano la ciudad de Austin de la air, por favor. Escuchen no solo. Queremos un futuro para mejor para nuestros hijos. >> Every day I'm afraid of going out because I don't know if I'm going. Coming back to my house, to my children. We deserve something better. Please help us. >> Tengo Una autista la cual depend de por ciento. Por mis hijos, senora. >> Gracias. >> Continuing speakers on item 37. Rebecca Lightsey, Kathryn [10:43:03 AM] Garcia, Jenny Fleming, Michael Edelstein. If your name is called, please state your name and begin speaking. >> Good morning. I'm Rebecca Lightsey. I'm co-executive director at American gateways. For nearly 40 years, American gateways has been providing critical legal immigration services to our low income neighbors here in central Texas. We want to thank council member Siegel and the in your colleagues for this proposed resolution, which we strongly support. We would also like to thank the city manager, city manager brodnik and his team for his budget, transparency and listening to the nonprofit community, including many of us who are impacted by this, this resolution. As you have just [10:44:04 AM] heard from Kayla and her colleagues, this is an incredibly perilous time for our immigrant community. Their stories are heartbreaking and not at all unique. We hear from clients with these experiences virtually every day. As you may know, Texas leads the country in the number of ice arrests. 1 in 4 ice arrests take place here in Texas. Our clients have the same fears that you just heard. Afraid to go to their cancer treatments, to send their children to school, even to go to church. So we support this resolution to enhance the community's trust in getting the help they need. And we support all the strategies laid out in this resolution. We also commend you for recognizing the need to include community partners. I know that'll be a tricky piece of it, figuring just which community partners to include. That said, American [10:45:06 AM] gateways would be happy to be involved in this critical process. So thank you for the thoughtfulness of this resolution and for all that the council does. Thank you. >> Hello, council. My name is qadri. I live in district ten. I have grown up here in Austin, and I also volunteer as a community advocate. I'm really pleased to see this item on the agenda, and I encourage you to vote in favor of it. Thank you. Council member Siegel for bringing this forward. This issue of public safety is extremely important to our community, and I think you can see from the people who turned out today and also from the people who could not take time off work, who did not actually feel safe to come here today. This is exactly why it's important that we move forward with this process, and I urge you to approach it with urgency and to help give our community the dignity and respect that we all deserve as as austinites and also as human beings. And I [10:46:09 AM] just want to share, like myself, as a survivor of domestic violence, I know how difficult compounding elements of. Of, I don't know, I'm trying to think of the word, but like anything that can be used against you, anything that prevents you from being seen by authorities as someone who is worthy of receiving safety and receiving help in a, in the instance of being the victim of a crime that will be used by your abuser. And they absolutely know that people who have unprotected status are afraid to call and will not be respected when they call. And we've seen APD officers struggle to judge appropriately how to prioritize felony investigations over low level misdemeanors and or administrative warrants. And that's something that we really need to change to make sure that our community equitably can access safety, which will improve safety overall for all of us. Thank you. [10:47:10 AM] >> Yes, sir. >> My name is Michael Edelstein. I'm a resident of district seven. I can't really add more than what's already been said here. I support this resolution. >> Thank you. >> Continuing on item 37, Francesca Leahy, Hans maverick, Jamie Gardner, Trudy Smith. Please state your name and begin speaking. >> Please begin. >> Good morning. My name is Francesca Leahy and I'm a resident of district five, and I am proud of Austin for putting this resolution forward. Item 37 and grateful to each council member and staff member who was involved in putting [10:48:10 AM] this this testament to Austin's values together. And as the speaker from the American gateways said, to enhance the community's trust in getting the help they need. Last July, the Republican controlled congress passed a the, quote, big beautiful bill act, which means that ISIS budget has skyrocketed to becoming the highest, highest funded U.S. Law enforcement agency with $85 billion now at its disposal. Last night, senate Republicans passed a blank check of $70 billion to fund ice, with zero reforms added. Hopefully it fails in the house. A week ago, mayor Watson, who made the statement that our APD officers do not have the capacity and should not be asked to do the other to do the jobs of other entities. I agree. I do not want my taxpayer dollars to go to fund an already overbloated, [10:49:11 AM] highly corrupt and unconstitutional in immigration enforcement entity at the federal government. My taxpayer dollars taxpayer dollars are already going to that, and I am infuriated by that fact every day. And I do not want my city municipal taxpayer dollars to go to further in to support an agency that is causing such great harm to our community, as we've heard today. Thank you for putting this resolution forward, and please do everything that we can to ensure that it passes and is fully implemented. Thank you. >> Mayor Watson. Mayor pro tem vela, council members, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Hans maverick. I'm a resident of council district ten, and I am a policy and research organizer with grassroots leadership here in Austin. I'm here to express my support for item 37, the safe to call resolution. Not [10:50:12 AM] long ago, I worked for a nonprofit that helped people resolve outstanding class C tickets and get their driver's licenses reinstated. We called it fighting the criminalization of poverty. What I learned from that experience is that something as simple as a traffic ticket can create a barrier to fully participating in life accessing housing, employment, child care, health care. Et cetera. I observe that class C tickets have a disproportionate impact on low income people, unhoused people, undocumented people, and people of color. Also, the systems most cities use to help people resolve their tickets are difficult to understand and navigate. What's more, people have outstanding class C warrants may hesitate to contact law enforcement if they are the witnesses or victims of crime, particularly if they are undocumented. I worry about my unhoused and undocumented neighbors having access to emergency services. Recent state and federal actions have further eroded their trust in law enforcement. I want everyone in Austin to feel safe to call when they need help. In light of those concerns, I [10:51:13 AM] believe that item 37 is good policy. Engaging the community and effective and compassionate approaches to class C tickets will help rebuild the trust that has been lost. An easy to navigate system for addressing class C's will reduce unnecessary police contact. Please stand up for our community and stand up against right wing bullies. Take measures that reduce racial disparities. Protect the rights of immigrants during police encounters, and dismantle the pathways that lead to family destruction. True safety is like true justice. It is only meaningful if it applies to everyone. Thank you. >> Good morning. My name is Taylor Smith. I'm senior administrator of policy and advocacy at children's defense fund Texas, and I live in district ten. We are a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to advancing child well-being and building community so that young people grow up with dignity, hope, and joy. And we support the safe to call resolution as a necessary first step toward protecting young people in Austin from the [10:52:13 AM] serious and multifaceted harms that result. When APD goes above and beyond the requirements of the law. To collaborate with ice, current APD policy harms children and families in a number of ways, including discouraging immigrant residents from reporting crimes, seeking help to escape violence or abuse, or calling emergency services. As others have mentioned, it also increases the risk that children will experience or witness violence and civil rights violations in the course of an immigration arrest. But beyond that, it exposes families to dangerous detention conditions. At the daily detention center outside of San Antonio, ice detains families, including children, in horrific conditions marked by medical neglect, hunger and inadequate access to clean drinking water and nutritious food. Even in cases where children are not detained, ice arrests arising out of traffic stops, wellness checks and 911 responses frequently traumatized children separate them from their families and place children in harm's way. Within the past year, at least three Austin children were deported despite holding U.S. Citizenship. And in the most recent case, this happened because APD contacted [10:53:13 AM] ice while responding to a 911 call at local schools for children in immigrant families are arriving at school emotionally distraught over missing relatives coming to school, hungry after a family breadwinner has been detained, or they're no longer attending school at all. Shockingly, children in many cases are left without a legal guardian after ice arrests and detains their parents without making any arrangements for their care. Every child deserves to grow up in a caring family and community where they are safe and have access to the resources they need to thrive. With that goal in mind, cdph Texas asked the city council to pass this resolution and to continue working to secure the safety and well-being of every child in our city. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Continuing on item 37, Kendra Bolton, Savannah Lee Cary, Ann Smith. Brandon Pickard, please state your name and begin speaking. [10:54:25 AM] >> Good morning, mayor and council members. My name is Kendra Bolton of district five, and I'm here as a representative and board member of todos juntos learning center in strong support of item 37. People in Austin should be able to call 911 without fear and trust that reaching out for help would not put their family at greater risk. At total juntos, we work alongside immigrant families, students, and community members. We hear the fear. We see the hesitation and know that for many people, calling for help feels dangerous. It feels like one desperate moment could spiral into detention, separation, or other long lasting harm. And that is unacceptable when people are too afraid to call 911. That does not make our city safer. It makes it more dangerous when victims are too afraid to come forward. Violence continues when witnesses stay silent. [10:55:25 AM] Accountability disappears when families decide they are safer. Staying quiet and crisis than the system is failing the very people it is designed to protect. And we must build a better system. Item 37 is about community safety and trust. Trust is a foundation of public safety. Without trust, emergency systems break down. People do not report harm, and fear wins. This resolution is about real people and their families. Like the speakers that we have heard earlier this morning. Every policy choice we make impacts real people. No one should have to stop and think. Will calling for help make this situation worse? No one should have to earn the right to be protected in a crisis. I am asking you to support item 37 as a policy decision and as a statement about who we are as a city. Austin should be a place where people can ask for help without fear, where families are [10:56:25 AM] protected in a place where safety includes dignity, fairness, and trust. >> Thank you very much. >> Good morning, mayor and council. Thank you for having us today. My name is Savannah Lee. I'm here with equity action and I'm a resident of district one. I'm here in support of item 37 because no one in our in our city should be afraid to call for help. That's not a controversial statement, and I know everyone in this room shares that value. But values only matter when they are reflected in our actions and in this case, our policies. We can say Austin believes in trust, dignity, and compassion. But if survivors, immigrant families and low income residents are still afraid to call 911, then we've got work to do. As the federal government continues targeting immigrant communities and the state continues enabling that cruelty, it falls to cities like Austin to protect our people and lead with humanity. That is what this item begins to do. Survivors of domestic violence. Victims of sexual assault, witnesses to crime, immigration, immigrant families, and people living paycheck to paycheck should never have to wonder whether asking for help could lead to their own arrest over an unpaid ticket or some [10:57:25 AM] other low level issue. When people are afraid to call for help, violence goes unreported, abuse escalates, and trust in the government breaks down. That makes every neighborhood less safe. Public institutions only work when people trust them enough to use them. When those most vulnerable to police contact are ice involvement do not feel safe seeking help, we weaken the fairness, legitimacy and effectiveness of our systems. Item 37 offers a common sense path forward. It brings the community into the policy making process, prioritizes survivors, increases accountability, and helps ensure that asking for help does not become another source of harm. I would add, in light of recent news that every good thing we do in this building only stands a chance at making a difference. If we refuse to bow to the governor's power grabbing cruelty. The 11 of you are the last elected line of protection for the millions of people in this city. True bravery and leadership means doing the right thing, even when it's difficult or frightening. I would ask that you use the power you've been given to prioritize the most vulnerable folks here, and stand in the way of the state's latest attempt at forcing us [10:58:26 AM] into their authoritarian ideology. The first way to do that is by supporting this item. Thank you. >> Hello, mayor Watson and city council members. My name is Carrie Ann Smith. I'm leader. I am a leader with vocal Texas. I'm here to support item 37. I stand here today with a heavy heart to address a critical and safety justice issue. Class C tickets and warrant issues. I support the stockholder's procedure process because in Austin here alone, over 60,000 warrants have been issued, not in the state of Texas, but just here in the city of Austin. And more concerning, 25% of these tickets have been issued to black residents. I speak from a deep personal experience. I too have received multiple tickets for sleeping in my vehicle that turned into warrants. How do you expect someone to be compliant with these tickets [10:59:26 AM] when they do not have stable housing? And they don't even really know these tickets exist? Multiple tickets and you get repeated offenses for these tickets that turns into warrants. This is this cycle is a nuisance. It's no, this cycle is not just a nuisance. It's a traffic that escalated to tickets, to warrants, to felonies, and all without offering real services, support or a pathway out of homelessness. Rather than continue to spend millions of dollars on encampment sweeps, tickets and arresting poor people and unhoused people, please support this item and so we can work together. Thank you. >> Hello. Mayor Watson, city council, my name is Brandon Pickard, but most of y'all know me here as eight track. It's good to be back. I am here in [11:00:29 AM] support of item 37. For those of you that don't know, I am currently homeless out on the streets of Austin. Things get crazy out there very quickly and at the drop of a hat you could be in trouble. Your friend can be in trouble. Someone could be hurt. But you got that camping warrant. What are you going to do? You can't call the cops. They're just going to lock you up and then maybe take your friend to the hospital. Maybe this. Oh, I'm so sorry. This paves the way to actually start helping people out here. This is a very, very good first step. People should not be afraid to have to call for an emergency at all. I've met so many people where somebody got hurt and then they're like, hey bro, can you call 911? I got that camping warrant or I got that criminal trespasser, blah, blah, blah. And so I'm left there, you know, trying to take care of somebody who I don't know until ems gets [11:01:31 AM] here. And hopefully I don't have to talk to the cops, because why are the cops showing up when I'm calling for ems? They should be not needed at all. I need ems, not a pd. So that's probably another conversation for another day. But thank you all for listening. It's great to be back. I hope to have many positive conversations with you in the future, and thank you all so much. >> Thank you. >> Continuing on item 37, Kerri Graziani, Barry Jones, Tony Carter, David Weinberg, Antonio Rinaldi. Please state your name and begin speaking. >> Feel free to begin. [11:02:32 AM] >> Good morning. Good morning, mayor and council. My name is David Weinberg. I am a district five resident. I'm going to start off with a platitude. The United States is a nation that was built by immigrants. This idea is very true for the Texas that we live in today. Immigrants are a vital part of the Texas economy. Many critical pieces of it oil and gas production, agriculture, construction, hospitality, hospitality, health care. We should be embracing these populations who are doing so much for our state. I kind of miss the Republican party of Texas, which was what is good for business, is good for Texas. We should be. I think this item is a no brainer. I thank you for bringing it. I wish we were [11:03:33 AM] not in a position where the governor was vilifying and terrorizing these communities, who put food on our table, who put gas in our gas tank, who care for the elderly, who built our house hotels. And I laud you for taking this very important step today. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Members of the council. Mayor, thank you for allowing me to testify. My name is George Renaud, and I am an organizer with grassroots leadership. I urge you to pass this resolution based on my experiences. I was honorably discharged from the army in 1976 and returned to beeville. I went to a dance in sinton, rolled through a stop sign, was pulled over by a local policeman, and ended up not with a traffic ticket, nor with a warning, but thrown into the local county jail, where I found out later, the arresting officer told folks there to touch me up. What resulted was a series of events that still [11:04:33 AM] resonate with me today. 27 years in prison and on parole until I until 2051. We've heard someone say that we all make make mistakes when explaining away a prison term. I did not go to prison for a mistake, but because I made choices after that first arrest. Choices based on rage at an individual and a system that thought it was okay to have me brutalized, beaten and raped for not stopping at a stop sign and then arguing with the police officer. There is a phenomenon called churn that refers to individuals who cycle through the criminal legal system, the majority of them people of color. Most of these are substance abuse or mental health disorders. The chance of an individual being rearrested and going to prison, losing family and employment, and being consigned to a life of poverty and despair go up exponentially after the arrest for what was, yes, a mistake. Because once in the system, police and prosecutors and judges look at you as a citizen or the respect and dignity, but as a number of miscreant and a criminal, Austin has made great [11:05:33 AM] strides when it comes to offering diversion to individuals, mostly youth, who become ensnared in a system that offers little but incarceration to those that captures. We have a sobering center and a mental health diversion complex on the horizon. I ask that you vote yes on item 37 and offer relief and a life of hope to at least 60,000 people who have made a mistake, and to not let that mistake grow into a life of incarceration. Regret. Thank you. >> Thank you. Yes, sir. >> Good morning, city council and mayor Watson. My name is Barry Jones. I'm a leader of vocal Texas. Formerly I was unhoused in Austin for ten years. And I'm here to support item 37. When I first became homeless, I had an old vehicle and I was trying my hardest to get out of my situation. I didn't have income. I couldn't pay my vehicle insurance, which quickly led to a citation and then a warrant and an arrest. And so so I spent ten days [11:06:36 AM] courtesy of the city inside. When I got out, I still had to face coming up with the money to, to get my vehicle back from impoundment, which was really difficult. And I just want to say that this system of warrant enforcement too often turns into a trap for poor people. If if you're working and you are arrested, the chances are very good that you're going to lose your job. If you lose your job, you're very likely to lose your vehicle. Now, you are a person without a vehicle, without a job, without income, who is facing the same situation that you got the citation for to begin with so you can get more citations. And this just becomes a downward spiral for too many people. And I think that we really need to look at this situation. We need our leaders to step up and help us move forward to solve this [11:07:36 AM] situation together and, and put this situation behind us. Thank you very much for your time. >> Good evening, council mayor. My name is Kate Graziani, also with vocal Texas. We are here in support of item 37. As you've heard from some of our members already, the criminalization that's happening on the streets of Austin right now is putting people already vulnerable in more danger. Folks who are poor and can't pay their tickets are getting warrants issued by the city. And this is a local policy that we think needs changing. I have a a story from one of our leaders, Tony Carter, who couldn't be here today that I wanted to read quickly as an example of how broken the system is. Tony got a ticket for flying a sign in December in order to address the ticket. He engaged with that case management and he's currently [11:08:38 AM] in their deferment program. But because he, Tony, hasn't been connected to housing, the waiting lists are too long. Every night when he lays his head down, he's at risk of getting a camping ticket, which would violate the program through dac could revoke his deferral. He'd have to pay a ticket that he can't pay for $300, leading to a warrant. We have over 66,000 warrants for class C misdemeanors in this city right now, and that's why we are in support of item 37, because we need a real robust stakeholder process to discuss how we're going to stop criminalizing people who live on the streets, people with immigration status, and how we're going to begin to support our most vulnerable austinites. Many of us live here in Austin, and because we stand up to the state and we have different values here, we protect our most vulnerable community members. Right now, folks on the streets are being terrorized daily with sweeps [11:09:38 AM] led by APD. These are these individuals are also victims of crime and assault and violence, and they are not safe to call the police. And we need to change that. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Continuing on item 37, Daniela silva, Roxana Herndon, Allison Kolb, Susana Corazza, Marisa Dixon, please state your name and begin speaking. >> Good morning, mayor, city council members, my name is Daniela silva. I'm the Austin policy coordinator at workers defense action fund, an organization representing thousands of working class Latino people across the state of Texas that fights for immigrant and worker justice. I would first like to express deep gratitude to the co-sponsors of this item. Councilmember Siegel, mayor pro tem vela, councilmembers Fuentes, qadri, and Velasquez. [11:10:39 AM] Our members in Austin work across industries and live different lives, but share one thing in common they want safety for themselves, their families, and their communities. Whether someone has been a victim of a hate crime, wage theft or domestic violence workers, defense members wish for a city where they can call 911 for help without worrying if they are going to be discriminated against, harassed or harmed because of unrelated civil issues or low level offenses. One member, Celestino, asks for clarity throughout our police department that if any officers considering calling ice, they fully understand how they're supposed to act and what is required compared to what is optional. Another member, Manuel, says that our community doesn't feel safe calling the police because they may call ice. So if there is an emergency, they don't really know what to do. He believes the police are supposed to be here to protect people and wants to be able to trust them. Manuel has a question for chief Davis. Can I trust you? Can I trust that I can call you with any problems I have because many police are working with ice, so the trust isn't there [11:11:40 AM] now, by aiming to protect victims from unnecessary and unrelated arrests or detentions, the safe to call resolution is the first step in reestablishing trust amongst vulnerable populations. By bringing community members with lived experience to the table, to co-create policies that support the safety of folks experiencing crisis and tragedy. The current systems that exist leave vulnerable people at risk of being punished for the bravery it requires to ask for help, and for putting faith in institutions that haven't always listened or stood up to them. We call on the chief of police, mayor, city council and manager to emulate that same bravery. By standing firm behind this and all policies created to protect all austinites, anyone can become a victim regardless of age, race, nationality, gender or income. >> Hello, my name is Roxanna Herndon. I'm an austinite with grassroots leadership under the title advocate for justice. I have resided in Austin, Texas in district four for 40 plus years living. I'm here to ask city council to vote yes for item 37. Class C traffic [11:12:42 AM] tickets is a hindrance for citizens to be able to commute back and forth to work, school or doctor's appointments. This is hurting us by not allowing us to pay for groceries or pay for a traffic violation that will prevent us from going back to jail. I am standing up because I'm a mother that is standing in those shoes that has class C tickets. That is hurting me. I'm speaking on this because that I'm facing situations that is hurting me from going to work or being arrested. When I get in my car to drive, to take care of my children and grandchildren for safe call resolution to be effective. People living here in Austin shouldn't be afraid to drive on the roads for fear of being arrested, nor make 911 calls for help and this is being used against us. There is. There shouldn't be penalties that hold us back from trying to change for the better in our lives. This goes against the amendment for, for the amendment for and this goes against the rights for justice. [11:13:44 AM] I am here asking city council to vote yes to item 37 to help us to be able to survive and provide for our family. Thank you very much for having me. >> Thank you. Yes. >> Hi. My name is Susana Carranza. I live in district nine and I'm here in support of safe to call item 37. You heard lots of personal stories to support it. I have nothing to add to that. But what I would like to highlight is that APD keeps saying publicly that wants to build trust within the community. One great step to do that is to come in here and testify in full support of it, because if you have guidelines that you can prioritize the safety of the people you're supposed to serve and not add them to the prison pipeline, that would be the best pr you can ever get without any money. It's just like, support this [11:14:45 AM] resolution. You will make your life easier. People will start going to not be afraid of you and you help the community. Please, I urge everybody to support item 37. Thank you. >> Excuse me. >> Good morning. My name is Allison Kolb. I'm a resident of district ten, and I am also the vice president of community services at safe alliance, which is a nonprofit that serves survivors of abuse with things like shelter, housing advocacy, forensic exams, counseling, therapy, legal support, the list goes on. I am also personally an attorney who has spent my career serving survivors of domestic violence, interpersonal violence, and what I and my colleagues have observed time and time again with people that we work with, is that they do not feel safe for so, so many reasons coming forward or seeking emergency assistance, even in life [11:15:45 AM] threatening assaults. There are so, so many reasons for that. Too many to get into today. However, why I personally and safe are so excited about item 37 is that this is an opportunity to remove some of those barriers. Very real barriers to seeking life saving services in a life and death emergency. What we know is that abusers are very, very good at weaponizing the systems that are meant to protect people against them. And we have clients who are thinking twice before calling 911. They're thinking, who's going to take care of my kids tomorrow if both of their parents are arrested tonight because of that unpaid parking ticket that I have, because of that time, I got camping because my abuser kicked me out and I had nowhere to sleep that night. They're worrying, what if it's going to be my fault for calling police because my mixed status family gets torn apart tonight? This is a chance to empower APD to fight crime, because this is a lot of unreported crime going around, a lot of vulnerable people not being protected. This is a chance for APD to be [11:16:46 AM] empowered to prevent homicides, because survivors of abuse won't have to think twice when they are calling for help and life and death situations. So I want to thank you all for bringing this forward. I want to thank you for considering this, because this could be something that could make our community so much safer for everyone, and it's actually a way that we can fight crime. >> Thank you. >> Continuing on item 37, Ryan rosser, Courtney scutari, Salvador Espinosa, Jennifer Robichaux, Myra vedros. Please state your name and begin speaking. >> With the speakers. Go ahead and come on down. If that next group is present. All right. [11:17:50 AM] >> Good morning council. >> I am Jen Robichaux, a longtime Austin resident. While I support the goal of helping victims and witnesses feel safe calling 911 the policies and the safe to call resolution will actually make law enforcement less effective and Austin less safe for everyone. The resolution directs officers not to check for warrants on victims or witnesses during emergency calls, to delay arrests on unrelated warrants, and to use alternatives instead of tickets. These changes may sound compassionate, but they are broad and reach far beyond our homeless and immigrant communities. They deliberately reduce the chance that people will face real consequences for the crimes that they commit. Even more concerning stopping officers from checking someone's criminal record during a 911 call puts both officers and the public in greater danger. Officers may not show up with knowledge that the person that they're dealing with has a violent history or an active warrant. That raises the risk of sudden violence against the officers or bystanders. Research and real, [11:18:51 AM] real world examples show that when the cost of breaking the law goes down, crime goes up, especially property crime, theft, and disorder. We already have a county da whose policies have been widely criticized for dropping or reducing charges and releasing repeat offenders, adding city rules that further limit warrant checks, arrests and citations makes the problem worse. This is not victim centered, it's criminal centered, and it makes the revolving door problem even bigger. This resolution is presented as protecting victims, yet much of the language focuses on protecting people with warrants and immigration issues, creating a cascade of unintended consequences and trying to help some. It puts the safety of law abiding residents in the whole community at risk. If public safety is truly the goal, we need accountability for weak prosecution policies, not new policies that erode deterrence. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. [11:19:51 AM] >> Good morning, mayor and council members. My name is Courtney savory, and I'm here today in support of item 37, the safe to call resolution. I speak not only as an Austin resident of district four, a volunteer with hands off central Texas, but as a social worker who has worked with incarcerated individuals, survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, which I have lived experiences with, and immigrant communities. I have seen firsthand what happens when people are afraid to ask for help. Fear isolates people, traps them in dangerous situations, and deepens trauma. When someone calls 911, it is often during the worst moment of their life. They may be fleeing abuse, reporting violence, or trying to protect their children. No one in that moment should have to wonder whether reaching out for safety could instead lead to arrest or detention over an unrelated matter. I have worked with survivors who already carry [11:20:52 AM] enormous fear and shame. I have worked with immigrants who are terrified of systems because they believe any interaction with authorities could tear their families apart. I have worked with people who have been incarcerated and know how easily minor legal issues can spiral into life altering consequences. When we create barriers to calling for help, we empower those who abuse, silence survivors and make all of us less safe. Austin should not be cooperating with fear based enforcement practices or kowtowing to ice priorities. When our responsibility is to protect the safety and well-being of our local community, our city's emergency response system should be focused on helping people in crisis, not creating more trauma. This resolution is about restoring trust, protecting vulnerable people, and ensuring that emergency services remain emergency services. I urge you to vote yes on item 37. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. [11:21:54 AM] >> Also speak. Sorry. >> Go ahead. >> Continue. >> Oh thank you. Good morning council. My name is may also go by gumbo. I use they them pronouns. I'm one of the co-chairs of Austin dsa, a resident of district three. I want to start by thanking council member Siegel and council members qadri, Fuentes and Velasquez for introducing this item number 37, which I am in support of today. I had the honor to visit Minneapolis at the end of February, beginning of March for a week of action for people around the country to learn about how they resisted ice in their city. And they kept asking me what things were like in Austin, what things were like in Texas. And I would describe to them how state troopers were pulling people over and people were being deported on the spot. I've seen them come and go. Within 15 minutes. They detain, they arrest, they deport, the car is towed and they're gone. And they said, wow, we have it easy up here. They said that, you know, ice has to had to move in Minneapolis like an occupying army because they had [11:22:55 AM] no open collaboration with local and state police. And so they had to move that way because they knew they were under scrutiny. And here ice and cbp are almost like a fact of life. They're just around and they just show up. We have no way of knowing where they're coming from, where they're going, where they're taking people, and the fact that they're able to come when 911 calls come up. And the fact that APD is not always able to distinguish between an administrative and a judicial warrant only increases that lack of safety. So we need to put as many barriers as possible between our public safety locally and the forced migration and deportation of people across the country. And we also need to break the mold set by mayor Whitmire in Houston of caving to Abbott and paxton and their threats against our cities. They want to take away $2.5 million and then maybe a couple hundred million more from public safety. And that shows that this is not about safety for them. This is about force and threats of violence. So please vote yes on item 37 and ice. Thank you. [11:24:01 AM] >> Continue on item 37. Crystal silva, Mccormick, Alvin Stewart, Chris Harris, rey Vasquez and Ben suddaby, please state your name and begin speaking. >> Good morning. My name is Ben suddaby. I'm a resident of district four. I want to start by thanking the sponsors of this item. Council members Siegel mayor pro tem vela, councilmember Fuentes, qadri and Velasquez. Thank you so much. We've heard excellent testimony this morning. The overwhelming majority, I think, all but one we've heard so far, vastly in favor of this. This is what our community wants. Their lived experiences are going to speak louder than anything I can say, but there are aspects of this that jump out at me from a public budgets [11:25:01 AM] perspective. We see an intention to find efficiency in our systems, loads and loads of unresolved class C misdemeanors bogging down our legal system. Don't save us money. You know, I pay one tax bill both city and county, on that one thing. And some of the most expensive and the biggest dollar spend that's happening on there is chasing after people who have gotten caught up with, you know, low level nonviolent crimes. Maybe it's camping because they have nowhere to go. We know that our capacity is outstripping our supply of of beds to sleep. And it's just stacking and putting these people in worse places, you know, sending them to the Travis county jail where it's really expensive to house and feed and health care and all the all the other things. That doesn't help my tax bill. So I love that you're looking for strategies to make both their outcomes and their lives better, but also saving our precious [11:26:04 AM] public resources to devote them to things that really help people get safe. Safety means my neighbors needs being met. I think about the hesitancy to call 911 when when my neighbors got stolen. Right now, he can't go work on that construction site, delaying the providing of housing. If I get hit by a car, I want to make sure that their witnesses call 911. >> Thank you. >> Good afternoon. My name is Alvin Stewart, and I'm here to vote in favor of item 37. But I want to begin with a story. A mother and a daughter were deported after police were called for a domestic dispute. What began as a call for help turned into a life changing consequence for an entire family. The mother was detained over an administrative warrant, and then the daughter and her were later deported. The lowest level of offense should not create the highest level of [11:27:05 AM] consequences. Years ago, a personal story of mine, I was taken to jail for a class C misdemeanor. I did not even have. I didn't even know I had. It came from a criminal trespassing ticket ticket. After officers saw a car, I used to drive past a school that I was expelled from. Even though the car was not in my name, I was never aware of that warrant until I was arrested. That experience showed me how quickly a minor issue can become, like something serious. I also want to acknowledge the hispanic women that came up here earlier. I know some of them personally and their story is truly touched my heart. Their experience reflect real people trying to build their lives in this city, and they deserve understanding and fairness in how our systems impact them. That's why I'm asking this council to support alternatives and incarceration for class C misdemeanors to help reduce more than 66,000 outstanding class C warrants and to vote in favor of item 37. I also want to highlight the serious concern. African Americans make up about 8% of [11:28:06 AM] Austin's population, yet account for roughly 25% of warrants for these low level offenses. That disparity is significant and raises real questions about fairness. But at the same time, I and we respect, support and appreciate our police officers. They do a difficult and dangerous job every day, and that service deserves recognition. And because we respect that work, we also believe in transparency and accountability so our community can understand how our decisions are made to build a stronger trust. Thank you. >> Good morning council. My name is Rivas, community advocate representing myself. People should not be scared when they are scared that they will be incarcerated because they call for help. Our tax dollars go to a system that relies heavily on law enforcement as the mechanism to mediate violent offenses, blue collar crime and mental health episodes. Being caught on your worst day shouldn't result in you being booked and processed. The fact of the matter is that the metrics show that incarceration statistically [11:29:07 AM] skyrockets when factoring in race, disability status, or other marginalized groups. Personally, I know that when I would be scared to call 911, if I knew there was a threat that I would be turned over to a federal force, especially if it's an administrative warrant that has no approval from a judge. I pride myself in knowing that the city of Austin endeavors to rectify these overreaches of enforcement that do nothing but harm the greater good of our community. Changes to systems like this are daunting, I know, but this is a drop in the bucket compared to the great good it will do for our Austin city. This is a meaningful way to ensure the safety of our neighbors. Greg Abbott is not the arbiter of how Austin uses its public funds. Abbott has made it clear if the governor mansion was not located on 11th street, he would not live in Austin. He started with our rainbow crosswalks, and now he threatens our public funds because we dare to show compassion for our fellow neighbors. Do not let his empty threats stop you from doing something that will benefit our [11:30:07 AM] community. Having a task force to reassess the statistics our and backgrounds of arrest is a great idea. I hope that it will lead to a better and more prosperous city, and more avenues for our neighbors to feel comfortable relying on emergency services that they paid for. Vote yes on item 37. >> Thank you. >> Good morning. >> Council mayor. My name is Chris Harris. I'm with Texas civil rights project. I'm also a resident here in district nine. I'm here today in support of item 37. I want to thank the sponsor and co-sponsors, council members Velazquez, Fuentes, vela, qadri and Siegel for bringing this item. We often talk, especially in in nonprofit spaces, but also in government spaces about helping marginalized people. And of [11:31:07 AM] course, that's very important. Rarely do we talk about actually ending key vectors of their marginalization social, cultural, economic isolation, denial of political power, denial of access to resources. We have an opportunity through this item and the stakeholder process that follows, and actually helping people to become less marginalized by, by enabling people to access city resources in a way that they have currently do not feel safe to do. And this is really important because while some would argue that marginalizing people over their documentation status or committing the lowest level offense in our criminal system, that doesn't even carry jail time, if found guilty helps make us safer. But I think all the evidence, all the data and all the testimony you've heard here today points a very different story that when we marginalize people, we make us all less safe. I want to also talk about the governor first, the terms of the governor's public safety grants violated our initial freedom city policy. Signing that grant [11:32:08 AM] to begin with was a major betrayal of the immigrant community in this city. And whoever is responsible for that in this city deserves accountability. Full stop. Second, the governor cannot compel this city to violate the fourth amendment in order to receive grant funds. Okay. Like you cannot be compelled to violate the fourth amendment in order to receive the grant funds. Please fight and please vote for item 37. Thank you, thank you. >> We will now move to item 38, beginning with remote speakers. Cassie. Sodergren. >> Good afternoon. My name is Kathie Sodergren. I live in district six and I work at go Austin. Vamos Austin, also known as dawa. I'm speaking. I'm 38. I've been involved with the del valle food co-op from inception, having written the original grant proposal in 2022 for the Austin community owned [11:33:10 AM] food retail initiative. I began as a project manager and now serve on the capital campaign committee. To get to this point, Garza has facilitated hundreds of hours of extensive community engagement and organizing activities, established a multilingual, resident led steering committee who developed the co- op's business plan, and we now support the board as they oversee this truly community owned asset. For years, residents in del valle have sounded the alarm on their lack of access to fresh, affordable food and this problem exists due to a lack of investment in the community, which has left people with limited access to food and basic necessities. Now, the co-op board has obtained a three year lease for the property in question, and it requires rezoning to the community. Efforts can continue to move forward. The current property owner is in full support of the co-op, as evidenced by his collaboration and recent letter of support for the city's community project funding application via [11:34:11 AM] representative Cassar's office so the city can hopefully by his land and the co-op, can find a permanent home. I want to thank council member Fuentes for all of your support on this initiative over the years, as well as the other co-sponsors today, including my council member, council member Laine for supporting this critical step in the del valle food co-op initiative. And I urge others to vote yes and support food security in Zell valley. Thank you. >> Continuing with remote speakers on item 38, Monica Guzman. >> Good morning. I'm Monica Guzman, policy director at Garza Austin Austin, speaking on item 38. We thank the food policy board for their recommendation for council approval and waiving of related fees. We thank council member Fuentes for proposing this resolution, and thanks as well to the co-sponsoring council members to initiate the rezoning of the del valle food [11:35:13 AM] cooperative property. Historically, food access in del valle has been an issue for residents residents having to drive long distances to buy groceries. Planning a trip to a grocery store isn't easy for working families. I know the challenge personally, from my lived experiences when I lived in San Antonio off of loop 410, and for those who know San Antonio, that was way out there. The route to a grocery store was loop 410 to us 90 to military drive. That was quite a drive, and we also had to plan, since we were at a one car household and my then partner had the car most days. So thank you. You know, for all who have supported this work, the community driven and we request council to approve the draft resolution and waive the rezoning fees as recommended by the food policy board. Thank you. >> Moving to in-person speakers on item 38, Christopher Reyes [11:36:13 AM] and Brittany Burke. >> Please come forward if your name has been called. >> Please state your name and begin speaking. >> Please. >> Good morning, mayor and council members. My name is Christopher Reyes and I'm the board chair of the del valley food co-op and a resident of district two. I'm here to ask for your support in this item to initiate the rezoning of 5807 Ross road so that del valley can have a neighborhood grocery store. Right now, many del valley residents travel long distances, often over an hour, just to access fresh, affordable food. Our co-op was created by community members to change that, to bring healthy and affordable groceries closer to home. But what we're [11:37:14 AM] building is more than a store. We envision that this site is a community space, a place where people can gather, learn and connect. In addition to grocery sales, we plan to host events, offer educational programing, and create a welcoming space for residents. We're also exploring opportunities like growing produce on site and supporting local producers and craftspeople through weekend markets. This rezoning ensures the property can help support these kinds of community centered uses. Importantly, we have strong alignment with the property owner. Our multi year lease includes a formal recorded purchase option reflecting a shared commitment to making this a long term, community rooted site. I ask you to vote in favor of item 38. This is an opportunity to turn a vacant property into something the community truly owns, allows for economic opportunity and a place to gather. We hope you'll help us make that possible. Thank you. [11:38:16 AM] Councilwoman Fuentes and the other co-sponsors. >> Thank you. Yes. >> Good evening, council and mayor Watson. My name is Brittany Burke, and I am the director of the del valle libraries. We have the Elroy library on 812 and the Garfield library on 71. We're also building a new library at 7225 Ross road, next to the del valley health and wellness center, and down the street from the proposed site of rezoning. I'm in favor of this rezoning because the del valley community is in dire need of equitable food access. I've worked at the library since 2019, and time and time again we have heard from patrons about food insecurity. Food access is so central to work in del valle because we do not have a traditional grocery store. With this effort to rezone, it will ensure food access for those in del valle. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Moving to item 39, beginning with remote speakers Monica Guzman. [11:39:18 AM] >> Good morning. I'm Monica Guzman, policy director at Garza Austin Austin, speaking on item 39. Thank you, councilmember Velasquez, for leading the response to the community driven efforts to protect the affordable housing supply in Austin. This resolution is not an equity overlay, but it takes a step in the right direction. While it does not protect our naturally occurring affordable housing from displacing impact of the city's density bonus programs, it does provide direction to staff to monitor for harm and give commissioners more information to consider before they recommend upzoning existing multifamily properties. The strategic housing blueprint ten year goal is to produce 45000 units for people making less than 60% mfi, according to the scorecard. From 2018 to 2023, 10,094 units have produced only 22.4% of its goal for units at this level. Yet the past three councils have approved upzoning and subsequent demolition of at [11:40:18 AM] least 600 units. Only one of these apartments required 1 to 1 replacement of affordable units lost, which means we're operating in the negative for this goal. These are some of the last multi-bedroom apartments that rent for under 1500 per month. The tenants who live in these properties often don't receive notice of proposed development. Like home owning constituents, they rely on neighbors and allies proactively working to ensure the right to recognize and have an opportunity to advocate for themselves and their neighbors. This policy would provide an opportunity for a review by the community development commission, the only commission designated to consider the needs of the working poor. More and more of your constituents fall into that category. Even those who were previously considered middle class. While this policy doesn't outright grant protection to our naturally occurring affordable housing or to austinites who live there, it provides commissioners and council members a more informed opportunity to do so. Please vote yes on item 39 and take a small step toward protecting the supply of truly affordable housing in Austin. Thank you. [11:41:20 AM] >> Moving to in-person speakers on item 39, David Weinberg. >> Good morning, mayor and council. I am David Weinberg. I am from district five. I am supporting this item 39. I think it is a step in the right direction to sort of improving the thoughtfulness of process and communication, where we have existing affordable housing in the city, and making sure that the voices of the folks who are living there are being heard. If we are considering a rezoning of those properties, I think this council erred when it granted a rezoning of acacia cliffs. Seriously, it's not clear to me what exactly is happening with that property today. It might be good to get an update on that. Also, while the [11:42:22 AM] resolution is good, it could have more teeth. It does not require applicants to participate in this discussion with the CDC. Also, it says that the process of rezoning cannot be held up with these conversations ongoing with this, with this commission. And I think the last thing I'll say is also this this has more meaning if when rezoning applications find their way to the full council, that they are not taken as Fait accompli, I think Daryl Slusher in the independent reported that a couple weeks back, y'all voted down two zoning applications on split votes. And as the first time this council has done that in a number of years. So let's be thoughtful and intentional about how we are dealing with existing working class housing in the city, but this is a step in the right direction. Thank [11:43:22 AM] you. >> Speaking on item 41, haydn Baggett. >> You. >> I'm good. Thank you. >> Moving to item 64, speaking remotely is Monica Guzman. >> I. >> Moving to in-person speakers on item 64. Adam Greenfield, David Weinberg, Miriam Schoenfeld. >> Thank you, mayor and council members. And especially thank you to council member Ellis and the co- sponsors for bringing forward this item. Transportation infrastructure decisions in general are decisions about future development and the decision to [11:44:22 AM] expand urban highway is no more and no less than a decision to encourage the people who are utilizing the opportunities in the city to live further away from it. The mopac expansion that's being proposed is no exception to this, and the project is particularly egregious because of the impacts on zilker park, Austin high and Barton springs. What I really want to emphasize, though, about this project and this resolution, is that this is a project by a the central Texas regional mobility authority and not by txdot. And that has two important implications. First, in addition to the harms that this expansion would cause, there was huge opportunity cost. Ktma has so much flexibility in how they use their funds. Unlike txdot and the billion dollars for this project could be spent building the transportation system of your dreams. This could be spent on regional rail. This could be spent on improving transit infrastructure, on trails and [11:45:23 AM] on so much else. Second, this isn't being driven by the state. Ktma is governed by a seven person board. Three of those board members are appointed by Travis county. This is a project that, as the economic and social hub of our region, the city should and can have influence over the asks in this resolution that the expansion be no more than one Laine in each direction, and that the environmental issues be seriously considered are reasonable. Achievable asks. This is a fight that the city can win on, so please pass the resolution. Thank you for your interest and attention to this matter. And I'd also ask all of you who are interested and concerned about this project to not just support the resolution, but also continue to engage in other ways. Thank you. >> Hello again, David Weinberg, district five resident supporting this item. I want to thank you very much for [11:46:23 AM] bringing it forward today. I'll try to be brief. I'll try to be quick. I think the idea of doing a major highway expansion over a river, which we call a number of different Lakes through our main metropolitan park, where we have, I think, four different endangered species living there or in the vicinity of vicinity of this project. Proposed project that we would not be doing a full environmental impact statement does not pass the smell test. So I am I'm glad that that y'all are getting on board with with asking for that. I guess. Also, just before I wrap up here as the parent of a sophomore at Austin high school and is the parent of a. As a rising sixth grader at o'henry, I will be one of those people who will have to deal with the [11:47:25 AM] supreme. That this project appears that is going to impose on our. On Austin high school here in central Austin. So thank you very much for doing this. I know that it is. Something that a lot of folks are looking for leadership from y'all to do, and you're doing the right thing. Thank you. >> Continuing on item 64, Bobby Levinsky, Christian may, bill bunch is Paul Robbins and nimrata chillar here. Perfect. Mr. Levinsky will have six minutes. >> Thank you, mayor and council. And a special thank you to council member Ellis for sponsoring this resolution. Council member qadri. Councilman vela, council member alter and Velasquez. Thank you for sponsoring this. It's really important and I think it's going to help out quite a bit. You may also know that the Travis county commissioners court has called for the cta to prepare a full environmental impact statement as well for [11:48:25 AM] this mopac expansion project, as well as the urban transportation commission. And I understand that the Austin environmental commission is going to be addressing this matter on the may 6th agenda. Why does it matter? This is a it's being sold as a forward Laine expansion. It is actually a 6 to 8 Laine expansion between Cesar Chavez, really. Anfield road down to slaughter really slaughter creek. This is one of the most environmentally sensitive areas of the city which you're well aware of. It's the recharge zone. I'm going to address just some really high level stuff, but I would encourage you to reach out. We've got experts that are submitting comments as part of the environmental process. So we've have, you know, doctors that are specialists in the fields addressing the in inadequacy of the environmental assessment and the ridiculousness of a fonsi for such a massive highway expansion project in our community. Just to remind you, [11:49:28 AM] the I-35 expansion project was also eight miles and it will required an environmental impact statement. Air quality, as you are aware, is a major concern. This project is not consistent with the. The city's goals for reducing greenhouse gases and reducing dependency on single occupancy vehicles. It actually will result in a. That should be a 331 million increase in vmt annually, and that is an increase of a 96 million between the build and the no build scenario. Over that same period of time. They are projecting that air quality will improve despite that increase in in car emissions. That is not consistent with the recently published draft environmental. Emissions reduction plan by campo, which acknowledges that the increases in vmt in our community will [11:50:30 AM] outweigh any benefits that we're seeing with clean technology. And I think it's highly discredited that the state of Texas is relying on clean technologies when they're actively suing over emission standards federally, and suing to prevent the tracking of air quality emissions related to highways. The current ea only really addresses. The basic ones and not the ones that matter. It doesn't address ppm 2.5 doesn't address ppm ten, and it doesn't address ozone water quality. You're hearing a lot about jellyfish. I want to emphasize that this jellyfish filter technology that's being proposed is not accepted by the city of Austin as an acceptable water quality treatment method over the recharge zone. And that's because it has issues with the inspection, maintenance and operations of it. Over time. It also only addresses total suspended solids. That's only one of the [11:51:32 AM] contaminants that are associated with highways. It doesn't address things like oil and gas and fertilizers and all everything else that's associated with highways. Doctor Lauren Ross made a really great presentation that I'm probably going to forward to your office until you have it. That identifies all of. I think she identified 13 other contaminants that these. These stormwater quality treatment methods are not addressing. And it also doesn't address the construction phase. That is really where we're getting a lot of the environmental damage and the threat to Barton springs, to cold springs and the endangered species. There are four endangered species that have been identified that will be harmed by this project. That is one of the factors that under the old ceq that would identify that an environmental impact statement would be needed. That is, the Austin blind, the Barton springs salamanders, as well as two K critters that are live underneath the highway. So this premise that they're expanding inward really doesn't support the notion that they're [11:52:32 AM] actually damaging the habitat for these species on top of them. And then upstream in the recharge zone, what happens with salamanders, with the sedimentation, with the with the dirt that. So they're they take these high pressure drills where they're drilling into the cast features. They that results in a bunch of sediment that gets kicked up and it goes into the salamander habitats, it clogs there gills, it destroys their shelter, and it destroys their food supply. So there's a massive harm to the to the species that we're legally required to protect under a habitat conservation plan. Traffic. This is a really important one. There was a 2024 update where they adjusted this, this project based off the model. Initially, they were proposed saying that if we do nothing, we're going to have 52 minutes of new delays. That changed in 2024, when it updated with the new model down to only 20 minutes. So what that means is this build scenario is only giving you a [11:53:34 AM] benefit of 5 to 6 minutes during peak hour. If you travel the entire eight mile stretch of the highway, that is not something that I think this community is asking for is just that 5 to 6 minute benefit. We're asking for better solutions for mobility and to stop living our lives on highways. And it also doesn't take into account post-pandemic trends, emerging technology, or even the current camper model. Thank you. >> Please go ahead. >> Good morning council. I'm here to speak in favor of item 64. Thank you so much to all council members who have worked and put this forward, especially councilmember Ellis. The city must do everything in its power to prevent the widening of mopac. The reasons are countless, but I'd like to focus on one the air pollution that would create. And that pollution is very human cost. I don't need to convince you that highway expansions cause more pollution, CO2 and o2, so2, pm 2.55 ten. It all goes up. I'd [11:54:35 AM] instead like to describe the intersection as a way of exploring the human cost of mopac and Davis Laine, which is along the path of the proposed expansion. On the east side of this intersection. Within a block is the primrose school, a preschool and kindergarten. On the west side is Dell children's hospital, Davis Laine location. Just north is dick Nichols district park with a lovely playground. These are places where children learn, heal and play. It shouldn't be a place where we allow air pollution to increase their risk of lung and heart disease, especially childhood asthma and pollution does not just affect children. In the middle of these three properties is another business. Silverado Barton springs memory care community, a nursing home that takes care of people with diseases like dementia and Alzheimer's diseases, which are significantly more likely to affect those exposed to highway air pollution. My wife has had has had asthma since she was a child. Every time she struggles to breathe, it breaks my heart. [11:55:37 AM] My grandfather died from dementia. Watching him waste away broke my heart. We should do everything we can to save others from that pain. Thank you. >> Sir, can you please state your name? >> Oh, sorry. Christian may. Thank you. >> Good morning, mayor and council Adam Greenfield here with safe streets Austin speaking in support of agenda item 64. Thank you so much for this resolution. To the co-sponsors, council members Ellis Velasquez, Alta qadri and mayor pro tem vela. Thank you for raising your concerns about this proposed highway expansion. We absolutely concur that we should be prioritizing for this project. Bike and pedestrian trails along the full extent of the area, more crossings and everything we can do for transit we should absolutely be doing for this project. In this most anti-urban of environments, anything we can do to increase transportation choice is [11:56:38 AM] extremely valuable to the point made in the resolution. We absolutely cannot allow this project to increase vehicle miles traveled. We absolutely cannot allow this project to undo the progress, the amazing progress that Austin is making on transportation mode. Shift. Speaking of shift, we are in the middle of a generational shift in how we think about and implement transportation infrastructure. We will probably have these kinds of projects coming forward for a while around Austin, and every time council speaks on projects like this, you hasten, you speed up this badly needed and much desired generational shift. Thank you very much for your engagement and leadership on this issue. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, mayor, council members bill bunch, executive director, save our springs alliance district five. Thank you so much, council member [11:57:38 AM] Ellis and other co-sponsors for bringing this forward, especially your very first be it resolved, calling on me to prepare a full environmental impact statement that is required by federal law, our national charter, the national environmental policy act. This is Earth week. We need to adhere to that national environmental charter by doing everything we can to live in harmony. There's going to be economic growth. We have to do things smarter with the best social science, environmental science and economics at the table. There's nothing of that in the ea. This truncated study and proposed conclusion that's absurd that there will be no significant impacts from this project, adding 6 to 8 lanes of pavement, basically converting mopac into a western I-35 8.8 [11:58:39 AM] miles over the most vulnerable place in the entire state of Texas. It's easy to forget that there's no other city on the planet that has a natural, beautiful, clean, giant spring in the heart of it. And our state has told us that this is more vulnerable to pollution than any other aquifer in the whole state of Texas. There's four endangered species, and they admit this that will be harmed by this project, to aquatic salamanders at the springs and to cave critters. There's caves all up and down underneath this. We we have to protect this. One other thing. On the construction phase, they will be having to shut down the Roberta crenshaw bridge, which is our hike and bike trail for years. Just think of the harm to the recreational benefits of lady bird lake. Boaters, walk walkers, hikers, all of them. Thank you, thank you. >> We have one remote speaker on item 64, Megan meisenbach. [11:59:44 AM] >> Hi, this is Megan meisenbach. Thank you for letting me speak on item 64. I'm in support of it. I think it's a fabulous that our council members, Ellis and other supporters have put this forward. I really can't add much to what the experts have said. I think bill bunche's beautifully pointed out what there is to lose with continuing with this roadway project, which we need to keep our air quality as as clean as we can. The water quality, the species that are we are legally must protect. So thank you so much for bringing this up, and I hope you'll give it your full support, especially the environmental study. Thank you. >> Moving back to in-person speakers on item 64, jordi Tello, Roy Whaley and Zenobia Joseph. [12:00:45 PM] >> If your name's been called, go ahead and come on down. Mr. Whaley. Floor is yours. >> Howdy, y'all. My name is Roy Whaley. I'm a longtime environmental activist here in Austin and a longtime political activist also, and a long time lover of Barton springs and zilker park. My first memory is a little old western Williamson county hill country, kind of coming in to see my family in Austin was going to Barton springs, going to zilker park, zilker park, and as a realtor, I get asked this all the time about zilker park. The wonderful thing that we have this spring and pool in the middle of our city. I want to thank all of you that are sponsoring this and encouraging those of you that haven't to [12:01:47 PM] vote for this, and let's get the study done as as Mr. Bunch said, we've got four endangered species. We've got multiple environmental features, and we're rushing this through as if it's a federal issue. And I'm not going to start in on the feds. But all of you, please. We had a great event last night. We had between 200 and 50 people on a very busy night in Austin, Texas, where there are very many different meetings. Show up to listen to and discuss this. That's great that we had that turnout. We need more people coming out commenting on this. So if you would, all of you have great outreach, and I'm on most of your newsletters, and I'm glad because I learned so much from each and every one of you. Reach out to your constituents that are part of your newsletters, ask them to weigh in on this. Ask them to comment [12:02:48 PM] on this. Ask them to ask for a real environmental study. Not looks good from here. Well, I'm sorry, but you're in Ontario. Anything might look good from there. Thank you very much. It's good to see all of you again. Have a great day. >> Thank you sir. >> Thank you. Mayor. Council, I'm Zenobia Joseph. I just wanted to state my opposition to the park and ride that's actually specified on on page, its lines 178 to 188 to the city manager. I just want to remind you of a comment made by council member Ryan alter on April 15th, 2026 at your finance and audit committee meeting where he said, quote, so you know, we can decide to violate policies or change the policies to meet where we are. And I just want you to recognize, respectfully, that as it relates to transportation in the southwest area, it's 2.9 boardings an hour on convict hill and Paige Ellis has [12:03:48 PM] engaged in willful blindness, and she refuses to recognize that black people are waiting 60 minutes for the bus, ten times longer than southwest and central Austin residents. And so what I want you to recognize is that it is discriminatory. You've acknowledged it on page one of the document at the bottom, it mentions project connect, the November 3rd, 2020 ad valorem tax increase. I want you to recognize that this was late back up, mayor. And so respectfully, you have put us on a strict diet and you do not allow us to provide our slides. So I'm going to ask you if you're going to be lenient with the council, for you to be lenient with us so that we can provide the documentation that supports the comments that we make. I do want you to recognize as well, it says to cooperate with capital metro, central Texas regional mobility authority. Mayor, you've seen the slides before. You know that it's infrequent, unreliable, disconnected northeast of us. 183 and so my [12:04:51 PM] opposition is to funding anything in southwest Austin, because it was November 7th, 2016, that you can find it on page 20 in capital metro's board packet that tells you 2.6 boardings an hour. The consultant, rush Chisholm, told capital metro that they don't have the ridership there. Thank you mayor. >> That concludes all speakers on the consent agenda. >> Thank you. Members, you just heard that. That concludes all the speakers on the consent agenda for planning purposes. Let me tell you how I see us going forward. Unless there's an objection, I think we can go ahead and address the consent agenda. Get the pass the consent agenda or turn it down. Whatever we end up doing here, and then we will go then to our 12:00 time, certain on public communication. At the conclusion of that, what I will what I want to suggest we do is recess just for a brief period of time. We will come back and go into an executive session. [12:05:52 PM] At that point, I before we go into any other items. So let's let's address the consent agenda. We will then have public communication, and then we will go into executive session. And I'm going to work on something with regard to the music so that maybe what we do is we just go straight into the executive session, and we allow the music to be handled in another way than what we typically do. Yes. Councilmember Fuentes. >> Is the executive session item time sensitive, because we do have quite a number of people here for item six. >> It is. Okay. Yeah. Councilmember Ellis. >> Mayor, I wanted to pull item number 33 off. >> The consent is going to be the very next thing I did was to ask for that. And I knew you were going to do that. So for the record, the items that are not on the consent agenda are item six, 29 and 33, item six, 29 and 33. Is there any other item that anybody wishes to pull from the consent agenda? All right. Then the chair will [12:06:53 PM] entertain a motion to approve the the consent agenda as read made by council member qadri. Seconded by council member Ellis. If anyone wishes to be heard as part of the discussion on the consent agenda, please let me know. Councilmember. Councilmember qadri. Councilmember Siegel, councilmember Ellis, then councilmember alter followed by mayor pro tem. I've got you. If you punch the button, I get you. So thank you. Great. Yes. Well, you you you've not punched the button, but I, I saw you raise your hand so the order will go in as. Qadri Siegel Ellis, mayor pro tem Velazquez and alter. He still haven't punched it. Well your name, councilmember Laine. Your name is not up there, so. Well, I think it went off you. If you if you punch it and you punch it a second time, it takes your name off. So punch it once. Leave it there unless you want to be off. That that helps me keep the order. Thank you. All [12:07:55 PM] right. We'll start over, councilmember zo qadri followed by councilmember Siegel, then councilmember Ellis. >> Great. Thank you mayor. I wasn't even trying to be first, and I somehow ended up first. Before I get into my remarks, I do want to acknowledge that the train derailment that happened earlier this morning in district nine, and thankfully, there were no casualties, there was no injuries. And I really want to thank our first responders for being on scene. I understand it's the process to kind of clear it up will be the entirety of the day, but very much thankful for for first responders on scene. We just want to touch on item 37, want to thank councilmember Siegel and his team for their hard work on it. You know, I think the testimony that we heard today, especially from the speakers who kind of kicked it off, it was very heartfelt. It was very human. And I think often when you bring forward policy. I, you know, I think [12:08:56 PM] it's important to always remember when we bring forward policy, there are people behind that policy. There's people. The reason why we do what we do is to make sure that people are taken care of. And it was mentioned by a lot of the speakers on how the state has kind of shirked their responsibilities and lead with, well, don't lead with empathy, but it's important for us as a council to, to do that. So I'm very thankful that we're able to get the item across the finish line to provide assurance and safety and protections for our for our most vulnerable communities. And I really am encouraged by this, this council, the work that we've done in the past and the work that we'll continue to do to make sure that that Austin really does work for everyone and that, you know, folks that we heard from today are properly taken care of. So I want to thank councilmember Siegel and his team again, and all the folks who made the item possible, and as well as the speakers who came today. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember Siegel. Councilmember Ellis, mayor pro tem. >> Thank you mayor. We'll briefly just want to acknowledge some great environmental items on the agenda. Really, Austin energy [12:09:57 PM] is doing a great job on on some climate forward items. We have item seven, which is eight megawatts of solar power generation at our landfill. Item eight is 40mw of electric power capacity from just distribution scale, scale, battery facility portfolio, basically battery storage across the community that's going to keep rates down, improve reliability. And then we've got item 23, which is, you know, new solar power panel facilities on city land, 25mw or more. And there's another ifc from council member alter. So just, you know, even despite all the challenging things happening in the state and federal levels on energy policy, I want to continue to lift up and celebrate what Austin energy is doing. And I also want to thank council member Ellis for item 64 to discourage a massive expansion of mopac, which is also a very important item 37. I'm honored to be the sponsor of this safe to call item, and I do want to thank council member Fuentes, councilmember Velazquez, councilmember qadri, and mayor pro tem vela for your [12:10:58 PM] co-sponsorship. The resolution covers a lot of ground, but at its core stands for something simple that we need to do everything we can to make sure that everybody in Austin, including our most vulnerable community members, feel safe calling for help in an emergency. We've had dozens of meetings in the last few weeks with survivor leaders, domestic violence and sexual assault service organizations, leaders in the immigration space, legal providers, experts, civil rights organizations, and directly impacted people who feel unsafe to call the city for help due to any number of vulnerabilities, including poverty, housing insecurity, immigration status, past negative experiences with the criminal legal system, and more. We know, unfortunately, there have been instances across the country and in our own city where victims of sexual assault and domestic violence have called for help and have then been threatened with arrest on low level or even non-criminal warrants. We know there are over 60,000 warrants for unpaid class C citations, which are low level traffic offenses and [12:12:00 PM] other poverty based offenses. We know that people with warrants for unpaid tickets are not only afraid to call the city for help in emergencies, they're afraid to go to court to go vote to get their id card, apply for needed benefits and more. And we know we have to come together as a community and do something about that. So this resolution will start a stakeholder process in which community experts, city staff and relevant county officials will come together to develop safe to call policies related to at least three different but interconnected topics. The first topic is a direct response to incidents in which victims have been threatened with arrest or unrelated warrants, even during rape examinations. We know that there are already steps being taken to address this, and we are very grateful to chief Davis and the many experts and service providers we've spoken with who have expressed a commitment to a stakeholder process to further these efforts. The resolution describes multiple policies and strategies, including performing identification checks, without running the optional warrant check on victims and witnesses unless [12:13:00 PM] required for safety reasons, and also expanding alternative reporting paths and ways to access services, including through victim services and partnerships with trusted community organizations. The second topic relates to the over 60,000 warrants for unpaid class C tickets. We've had conversations with national experts who have successfully redesigned court forms and notices with behavioral science principles, which result in a decrease in warrants and failure to appear rates. This safe to call stakeholder group will also explore ways to reduce arrests on class C offenses, including through expanded use of alternative options like the sobering center or transport directly to court instead, rather than jail to resolve tickets. And then the third topic relates to administrative warrants, which is a subject that is heavy on our minds. Earlier this year, a woman called 911 to report domestic violence and ended up being removed from the country along with her child. We thank and commend chief Davis for amending the general orders to clarify that detaining somebody solely based on a non-judicial, [12:14:02 PM] non-criminal administrative warrant is not permissible under the fourth amendment of the us constitution, and we want to make sure that we do everything we can to protect our communities and make Austin a safe place for everyone. Thanks again to my co-sponsors and all the community experts who came forward to help draft and hone the language of this resolution, and who are committed to seeing the stakeholder process through. And again, thank you to chief Davis for coming to the table and committing to an open and honest conversation with the community, with the goal of coming together with real concrete solutions. I truly believe that if we bring everyone to the table directly impacted people, decision makers at the city and the county, community partners and service organizations, we can make Austin a safer city for everyone. Thank you mayor. >> Thank you. Council member, council member Ellis, followed by mayor pro tem and council member Velasquez. >> Thank you mayor. And I would also like to be added as a co-sponsor on 37. I really appreciate the work that you and the other colleagues have done on that. The mother and daughter were from district eight, and so it's something that we have definitely felt an impact for in southwest Austin to make sure that folks are not [12:15:03 PM] ending up deported simply for calling 911 to make sure that their home and their family is safe. >> Without objection, councilmember Ellis will be shown as a co-sponsor of item 37. >> Thank you. I would also like to speak briefly to item number 64, which is the one you just heard the speakers come and testify about. That is in regard to the highway expansion through southwest Austin. This mopac south expansion covers eight miles and is essentially the entire spine of district eight. It. The impacts that this highway expansion are going to have are going to affect almost every neighborhood, every school that's close to mopac endangered species and and a number of different stakeholder and interest groups along the way. We have found through our conversations, a couple of the groups that operate within the footprint of zilker park were not consulted and didn't know what to say about the public comment period and what the impacts to their businesses and their events were going to be. So I want to thank them for stepping up. Once we recognize that and offering to have those [12:16:04 PM] consultations, to make sure that as many constituents have the information that they need as humanly possible. This resolution builds on the one that we sent to cty a about a year and a half ago at this point, that the city council had also supported for us to put in as a recommendation. But it not only focuses on expansion for car lanes, but it also calls for better bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, park and ride conversations about appropriate locations for park and rides that are part of the project connect system that voters approved in 2020, and a number of other environmentally friendly initiatives like safe street crossings, to make sure that we don't end up with this further divide through southwest Austin. The city departments do have until may 3rd to contribute their comments into the public comment period. So there I know that there are those were not ready to go. At the same time, this resolution is ready to be considered by the city council, but we know that the departments are working very closely to be able to submit those comments. There are a [12:17:04 PM] number of different structures that contribute to the historic nature of zilker park that were left off the list. Clarksville has a historic neighborhood is not one that is being factored into some of this footprint. And I've noticed some language around impacts to endangered species not being considered regionally significant, which I find to be interesting because the endangered species that our speakers listed previously, they don't have another home to go to. If their cave is impacted, that species may cease to exist entirely, and they are on the federal list of endangered species. So this is really, really sensitive. This is something that we cannot get wrong. This highway is set to double in size. So I think that the finding of no significant impact needs to be looked at again. And so I'm happy that hopefully if council approves this, that we will be joining arm in arm with the county, who has already called for the full environmental impact statement. And I appreciate my co-sponsors. Mayor pro tem vela, alter, Velasquez and qadri for working on this with us. It's very, [12:18:05 PM] very impactful and it's important that we get this right. >> Thank you. Council member mayor pro tem vela, followed by council members Velasquez and alter. >> Thank you mayor. Council member Siegel highlighted those critical Austin energy items that are moving through. Again, a lot of good stuff on this agenda, but item seven, eight and 23, just want to reiterate that Austin energy moving aggressively on battery storage on solar power, you know, the item number seven with solar on the landfill, that's, I think, one of the last large scale sites that we're going to be able to put a solar farm on within the city of Austin. But item number 23, with the solar on city facilities, we're looking for any square footage we can to put solar power on there and generate additional renewable power, strengthen local generation, and make Austin energy a better, more [12:19:05 PM] reliable system. Great to see these items on the agenda, and I just want to thank our, our director, Riley, and all the staff at Austin energy for all their hard work on that. I won't say much more about item 37. Again, I just want to thank council member Siegel proud to be a co-sponsor on it. And the testimony was very compelling. It's heartbreaking out there right now. What's going on with the immigration tactics? Item number 29 was actually not on the consent agenda. I'm going to hold off on on that one. Item number 31 is a tiny little item, but an important one. It will help preserve historic properties. That makes the process for getting electricity and other renovations to historic buildings that may infringe on the city right of way. Again, these are 100 year old buildings, and the right of way has changed on them more than they've done anything wrong. We had a long, grueling [12:20:06 PM] process to do this. This will simplify it and make it better and help preserve historic buildings in Austin, a goal that I very, very much support. Number 64. The resolution on the mopac expansion. I would just say that I-35 had to have a full environmental impact statement. Project connect had to have a full environmental impact statement. I just don't see why the expansion of mopac would not have to have a full environmental impact statement. I just want to thank council member Ellis for bringing that item. And then last but not least, item 40. The city is going to be sponsoring the dragon boat festival. And first of all, I want to thank Amy Wong, Mok, Andrew Lee, Victoria Lee, nat ho, and then the board members, yusuke young, Bernard Bernard and Jeff Manley for being here to support for all [12:21:08 PM] their work in making the dragon boat festival such a great success and such a great event. The festival started in 1999. This is the 26th year, 26th annual dragon boat festival for. This has also be the first ever city sponsored Asian American event, which is a long overdue. And. It's a. A really exciting time for for those that that are not familiar with what a dragon boat race is, it's a Chinese tradition sporting event dating back 2000 years or so. There's a boat with a dragon head on it and a team of paddlers, and they line up and they race each other. It will be this Saturday at festival beach, going all day from about 9:00 or so to the end around 3:00. Please go and check it [12:22:09 PM] out. I look forward to continuing to work with the sponsors of the dragon boat festival to highlight it, and I'll just say that it would be great to move it to auditorium shores as well, where I can have even more participation and become an even more high profile event. I just wanted to sincerely thank everybody that's been involved in that. We appreciate you and we appreciate all y'all do. >> Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, mayor pro tem. Some of us are old enough to remember 1999. And and I'll see you Saturday. So thank you. Council members Velasquez alter and Laine. >> Thank you mayor. I also want to cosign with councilman mayor pro tem Velez said about making sure we bring this to auditorium shores next year. Colleagues, item number 39 asked planning staff to give the community development commission our commission that is specifically focused on the needs of our. Of Austin's low income residents, an opportunity to review zoning cases that affect existing [12:23:10 PM] multifamily communities. We as a diocese have aggressively pursued ways to increase affordable housing here in Austin, and I'm proud of that work. We also need to be just as aggressive when we're tackling displacement. This will be one in many steps that our office has taken and will continue to take, to ensure that we are working to mitigate displacement displacement. I want to thank my co-sponsors, mayor Watson, mayor pro tem and council members Fuentes and duchen. Thank you to Trish link and our law department and also the community development commission for their work on this item. And a huge thank you to Victoria hall and the office for all of her work. Thank you. >> Thank you, councilmember councilmember alter, followed by councilmembers Laine and duchen. >> Thank you very much. Just a few quick hits here on on item five, which is around our city designated cultural districts. I appreciate the work staff's done and wanted to ask if they could include the scoring and impact analysis for the south shore cultural district, which is something we've talked about, and I think they can do. So just whenever y'all are doing [12:24:11 PM] that, if you could take a look there. I also want to thank our item number nine, Kim Olivares, who this is a pit. It's it's by d5, but she has helped with some of the intricacies here and made this happen. And so I just want to thank her for her work on that to get us where we are today. Also item number 30. Just thank Greg. Congressman Cassar's office. We will always accept money into the city, and this is going to be money for us to help improve longhorn dam and the mobility infrastructure there. So that's very exciting as well. Certainly want to touch on. We had the chance to touch talk yesterday at the climate, water environment parks committee. But when when I first came here, we had a discussion about how we had all these great environmental plans, but they were just kind of sitting on the shelf, not doing the work that we wanted them to do. And through the work of this council, we were able to [12:25:15 PM] provide direction and ultimately our climate action and resilience. Staff and director bomber, under your work, put together an actionable plan of the steps that we could take to move us forward to achieve the goals that we had set as a community. And today we are ticking off a lot of Thoe. One of those was to do the landfill solar project. We're approving that today. One of those was to have a virtual power plant project through Austin energy's work with item number eight. We're doing that today. Another one put solar on city facilities. That is something that I have believed we should have been doing a long time ago, but it's going to save us money. It's going to increase our local generation, and that's on the list. We're doing that today, and I really want to thank all the work that Zack, your team has done. And Austin energy I know has helped as well. We had to we had to rush this one a little bit to, to meet a deadline. And I think we're going to do it. So really kudos to you on that. Item 41 [12:26:15 PM] something that that I'm bringing forward to increase residential solar, bring more of that to our community in new, innovative ways. I want to thank my co-sponsors, councilmember Fuentes, Velasquez, Siegel, and Laine on that. But within that is also how we can enhance demand response, which is also on our list of actionable items. And so we are really moving the ball forward today in terms of getting closer to our environmental goals as a city. And last but not least, I'd be remiss if I didn't thank councilmember Ellis for all her work on the mopac south expansion project. Not just this resolution, but you have championed all that needs to be done in order to make that project better, and hopefully not have an adverse impact on our community like it's currently scheduled to do. So I just appreciate your dedication to that. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember Laine. Councilmember duchen. >> Thank you, mayor. First, as it relates to item 37, I want to thank councilmember Siegel for his leadership, the [12:27:16 PM] co-sponsors who brought this forward for us. And absolutely, the many community members who have spoken about their the direct impacts of these issues on their lives. You should not have to come and tell us about these experiences. And I am so grateful that you did. I'd like to be added as a co-sponsor for item 37. >> Without objection. Councilmember Laine will be added as a co-sponsor of item number 37. >> Thank you. As it relates to item 27, which is about the Salvation Army women and children's shelter. I am very pleased that Austin is continuing its support of the Austin shelter for women and children. Shelter for children, together with their guardians, is a critical component of Austin's emergency shelter and homeless response programs, the need for which has grown dramatically over the last five years. Our existing shelter system was designed before families with children faced housing instability and the numbers that they now do. Thank you to director gray and the homeless strategy and operations team for your continued efforts to ensure adequate shelter for Austin's [12:28:17 PM] children, which includes sustaining this downtown shelter for women and children, but also requires first expanding access to family shelter outside of central Austin and closer to children's homes, schools and neighborhoods. And second, adding a family shelter option that is accessible to men caring for children. Members, I hope to have your support in working with director gray as we move through both budget and bond discussions, so that Austin makes progress this year. On the critical goal of shelter for children and their guardians. While Austin's financial realities are tougher than they have ever been, Austin's children and their guardians cannot continue to wait for us as a council and a city to prioritize expanded access to family shelter. With respect to item 64, the mopac expansion, I want to express my support, encouraging cty to reevaluate their draft environmental assessment of this expansion, and to find the middle ground on this project. Widening by two lanes does not align with the city's goals environmentally, yes, but also [12:29:18 PM] with respect to transit and mobility. We must find a way to develop responsibly because this is a very sensitive area surrounded by sensitive populations that it is our duty to protect. And so I would also like to be added as a co-sponsor on this item. >> Without objection. Councilmember Laine is a co-sponsor of item number 64. >> And finally, on a happier note, I am a co-sponsor of item 40, the draft, which relates to the dragon boat festival. I want to thank council member vela for his leadership in mobilizing city support for this long standing tradition, and Amy Mok for her years of dedication to Austin, ensuring that we celebrate our Asian community, both near my home in northwest Austin and in the heart of our city this weekend. I will see you there. Thank you. >> Thank you. Council member. Council member. Duchen. >> Thank you mayor. I want to just flag a couple of items. First items seven, eight and 23. I want to point out that these items are just going to help Austin grow our local energy production to make us more [12:30:18 PM] resilient, more cost effective, and more environmentally friendly, which are exactly the three priorities that Austin energy has for us. For item nine, which council member alter touched on the estancia hill country development is a positive for the city of Austin. It's going to allow for and support the development of both single family homes, as well as other housing types that we commonly encourage, and it's going to allow broader market activity that's going to, I think, encourage vast and diverse groups of people to settle down there, residents that are going to put down roots there for generations to come. Item 3531 I'm not sure we brought up yet. I'm voting yes on this item to revise our policy for license agreements. A very sexy item and the right of way relationships for historic buildings and structures. The exemption here is well taken, but we're only here. The action is only really necessary because the cost of the agreements has grown considerably over the last decades. Agreements that I think, in the first place were there to simply guarantee the [12:31:19 PM] city's legal right to access the public infrastructure have instead transformed into becoming a revenue generation tool. And so we've seen now in several instances where formerly insignificant fees have become, for some austinites, thousands of dollars that essentially become approaching a whole yearly tax bill for them. So as we're reviewing the positive impacts of the exemption for historic structures, I want to encourage us as a city to review the totality of these contracts to ensure that our calculations are justifiable and fair for all. And then finally, for item 64, I want to thank councilmember Ellis for her work on this. I also request to be added to a co-sponsor, the latest version of this item. I'm also hopeful going forward, as a council district that borders on the proposed expansion area, that I can actively work with my colleagues on solutions here. >> Without objection, councilmember duchen will be shown as a co-sponsor of item number 64. Thank you, councilmember members. Is there [12:32:20 PM] anyone wishing to abstain from a vote on the consent agenda? As the motion and second came in, anyone wishing to be shown recusing themselves from a vote on any item on the consent agenda. Anyone wishing to be shown voting no on any item on the consent agenda as it was read. Hearing none. Without objection, the consent agenda is adopted with councilmember harper-madison absent members as I indicated. Now what we will do is we will go to our public communication agenda item. The. For the. Just to give a little bit of heads up on where we will go, we will do this. Then we will go into an executive session. We will have we will still have live music, but I've arranged to have somebody from acme do the introduction of the live music so that we can continue to do the work of the council in executive session when we return from the executive session and for the public that's here on other items. I [12:33:21 PM] don't know how long the executive session is going to take, but it will. It just please pay attention so that you'll be here. What we will do, however, is the first item we will take up will be the board of directors meeting of the Austin housing finance corporation, and then we will take up immediately following that item number six. So with that, I'll turn to the city clerk to call for our general public communication. >> Thank you. Mayor. We will begin with Adrian Macias, Marian Sanchez, Valerie Menard, Pedro Hernandez, junior. Maddie Gutierrez, please state your name and begin speaking, folks. >> Hey, everybody that's in the council chambers, I would please ask that you wait to start your conversations until you get out so that we can continue with our work. Thank you very much for that. We appreciate your being here. Please, whatever order you called your names, feel free to begin. >> At a slideshow with my presentation. Thank you. Good [12:34:24 PM] afternoon, mayor and city council members. My name is Adrian Macias. I am one of the. I am one of the youth coordinators for poder summer youth program, young scholars for justice, or yha for short. I have been a youth coordinator since 2022, when I was invited to help with the scheduling and programing for the youth program by. Put us director Susana Almanza, who was also my grandmother. Sorry. Before stepping into this leadership program, I was a student myself. I joined the program in 2016 when I was just 13 years old, alongside my two older brothers. At that age, I didn't fully understand the importance of the work I was stepping into, but over time, I became a shape that shaped my perspective, my voice, and my purpose. Through the program, we learn about the history of Austin, not just the version you find in textbooks, but the lived experiences of our communities. We learned about the racism that has deeply that has been deeply rooted in Austin's past and how those systems continue to continue to impact families. [12:35:24 PM] Today, we studied gentrification and how it has displaced generations of people from their neighborhoods. We talked about juvenile justice and how young people are affected by inequities in the system. We learn about the victories that many community members and organizations like poder have fought hard to achieve. Victories like the shutdown of the tank farm, the holly power plant and the victory against pure casting. Why she didn't just teach me history, it gave me the tools to become part of that change. I developed skills in public speaking, leadership, and community organizing. I learned how to work with others and to advocate for my community. These are the skills that I carry with me every day, and they continue to shape the work that I do now as a youth coordinator, I have the opportunity and responsibility to give back to the same program that helped shape me. I want the next generation to understand not only where they come from, but also the power that they have to shape where we are going. Programs like yj are important because they invest in young people, not just as students, but but as [12:36:27 PM] future leaders, organizers and decision makers. Yj summer youth program starts this summer from June 1st to June 25th, Monday through Thursday from 8 A.M. To 12 P.M. Ages 14 through 18th may join and every week students attend receive a $160 stipend per week. You can find out more information and fill out an application on our website, poder austin.org. On that note, we would like to invite everybody to poder 35th anniversary. The anniversary will take place at colony Guerrero from 6 to 9 P.M. We will have dinner and dance and also have an award ceremony honoring those who have earned poder social justice leadership award. Thank you for your time. >> Yeah. >> Please. Yes. Just state your name for the record. >> Marianne Sanchez with poder. Thank you. Council centering on clean energy, education and advocacy. Poder solar equity campaign is founded on the energy cost burden, unreliability, and clean energy inequity that's faced by east [12:37:28 PM] Austin's low income communities of color, energy poverty studies conducted across Texas have reflected the disparate burden that these demographics faced face, compounded by the climate change and affordability crisis that austinites are enduring. In tandem with the ever increasing cost of living in Austin. Just a few years ago, city council district three experienced the highest increase 23% in Austin. Energy rates lived and shared experiences during extreme weather events highlight the lack of reliability that our energy grid desperately needs. Solar installation, solar installations, and batteries that produce reliable, clean and affordable energy at all times have the potential to remediate these issues. Unfortunately, many austinites lack access to solar energy because they are. Renters cannot afford the steep upfront costs, lack awareness, sufficient property standards, etc. A survey that poder conducted found that a combination of these factors inhibit many of our community members from inclusive participation. As such, poder host solar workshops throughout [12:38:28 PM] east Austin communities working to raise awareness about the advantages of clean, renewable energy and connecting them to local solar resources and initiatives. We leverage educational tools such as our solar loteria, which is characterized by solar energy and sustainability related terms. Poder also advocates for the advancement of solar at the city and state levels. Locally, poder has engaged with Allison elementary's pta and campus architectural team, in addition to the CDC and hakka, to ensure that solar is incorporated into the Allison elementary and Santa Rita courts redevelopments. Poder additionally participated in the electric utility commission working group for the resource generation and climate protection plan update, submitting recommendations to ensure Austin energy prioritizes clean energy, community needs and divestment from fossil fuels. Looking to the future, plan and its partners will continue to champion local and statewide coalition efforts toward a clean, affordable energy transition. We believe that we must use creative mechanisms to foster greater deployment of [12:39:29 PM] solar energy projects within our most disadvantaged communities. In Austin, low income communities of color stand to benefit from reduced energy costs, resiliency, and a healthier environment for the Austin community at large. In accordance with our city's climate equity goals, we encourage the city of Austin and Austin energy to continue to explore the avenues that could allow solar to be implemented at every opportunity. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Thank you. Whoever wants to go next. >> Good afternoon. Good morning or afternoon, mayor Watson and council members. We're here today. As you might, might, can tell, to celebrate with our 31st anniversary to share information with you about some of our programs. I have a slide. >> Could you state your name? >> I'm sorry. This is Valerie Menard with poder. For the Colorado river conservancy. Thank you. So I am the project [12:40:30 PM] director for the Colorado river conservancy, also a project of poder. The Colorado river conservancy was founded in 2020 by Daniel Lianes, Chris brown, Linda Guerrero, and Susan Almanza. And as a coalition, it was organized to protect, preserve and restore one of our most precious natural resources, the wild green stretch of the lower Colorado river that runs from east Austin longhorn dam to the Travis county line to preserve the Colorado river. We bled and crc joined the lcra crown volunteer river testing program in 2022, testing the river at two locations. The montopolis bridge, considered a pristine section of the river and near the dog's paw in Austin's colony. We also continue to work to minimize the impact of impending development along the river. To protect the river, poder and Qureshi built a strong partnership with the Austin watershed protection department. [12:41:30 PM] WPD, led by manager George morales. WPD staff have poder and crc in the loop regarding issues of concern. Through the partnership with the crc successfully successfully lobbied city council on March 27th, 2025 to pass the WPD Colorado river protections ordinance that expanded the erosion hazard zone to 200 200ft in 2020. 5:00 joined the WPD rain to river community activation group to help revise the strategic plan to be more inclusive of underserved communities to restore the Colorado river, poder crc supported efforts by the WPD to restore the bridge at Roig G. Guerrero park and stabilize areas of the park damaged by erosion. Completed in 2026, the project was cost 28.5 million, is the largest erosion control project in Austin's history. Our next concern is the pumping station that will direct all storm drainage from the expanded H 35 to the montopolis bridge, and so we're ready to [12:42:33 PM] support the WPD and the city in its efforts to find the 21.65 million. They'll need to finish and install a filtering system that will make sure the storm drainage water runoff from the expanded I-35 will be clear of particulate pollution pollution. Finally, our future stories. Everything we do will include our our young folks. We include them in the river testing part. They get to see what we do there. But the youth is always going to be in our minds, in our future projects. And very quickly we have our anniversary. Also wanted to mention we have three panels and the last one is today at Roig. Can I just mention this? >> We saw that on the previous slide. So thank you very much. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Please. >> Good evening, mayor and city council members. My name is Mario Gutierrez and I'm one of the youth coordinators at poder young scholars for justice program. I've been a part of Beaudet since 2017 as a youth scholar, and eventually became [12:43:33 PM] a youth coordinator in 2023 after acquiring two associates in general science and biology at ACC Valdez young scholars for justice has taught me many values in my community, from organizing to communicating and sculpting me. In becoming a young leader, I am proud to share that our program has continued to grow with now regular summer wish and the advanced Wyatt's J. The events program meets biweekly throughout the year outside of the summer session and focuses more on in depth and current issues related to political and social justice. Students who complete the summer program are invited to continue their involvement throughout advance yj, where they gain more exposure and engagement. Some of the topics and activities are at events yj students have participated in include youth candidate forums, voter registration, discussions on artificial intelligence and data centers, and conversations around birthright citizenship and emergency preparedness. Lastly, I would like to invite you all to poder 35th anniversary celebration Friday, may 1st from 6 to 9 P.M. At the [12:44:36 PM] Guerrero center. During this event, we will host an award ceremony honoring recipients of the social justice leadership award. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Yes. >> Good afternoon, council members. My name is Bianca Guerrero and I'm board president of far east Austin CDC and a sustainability analyst and organizer with Beaudet Austin. If I could have the slide go on at the very last 30s, that'd be great. I'm here to speak for the residents of Austin's colony and seven, eight, seven, two, five, a community just outside of the city. But right next to Tesla's gigafactory and left to deal with the water crisis that should not exist anywhere. While Tesla receives clean water, clean city of Austin water, our neighborhood is stuck with a privatized utility monopoly, delivering discolored, foul smelling, undrinkable water to a marginalized community, a community that is not sustainable. And it is not just this is an environmental justice issue. Families are [12:45:36 PM] paying high monthly bills for water they cannot trust, while also absorbing the costs of damaged plumbing, water heaters, and needing to buy bottled water just to meet the basic needs. For the last two years, we've partnered with UT bridges project to sample drinking water quality in the neighborhood, and those results are coming soon. We are not asking you to imagine the problem. We're bringing data, and we are bringing the lived reality of people who live in this, live with this every day. I want to thank Beaudet for investing time, resources and care into Austin's colony and for helping this community better understand, document and fight for the solutions we need. That support matters, but that is also hosting a free legislative workshop to help residents understand how bills move through Texas legislature. Because we need policy change, not more delay. Those workshops start this weekend, and you can find more on poder website. And finally, I hope you will join [12:46:37 PM] us on may 1st for our 35th anniversary at the Conley Guerrero senior activity center. We'll have dinner, dancing and a chance to reflect on justice work still ahead. I also want to thank councilwoman Vanessa Fuentes and state rep lulu flores for their state and local town hall that was given at the del valle opportunity center. Thank you and clean water for all. >> Thank you. Yes. >> Good afternoon, mayor council members. My name is Carlos pinion and I'm the resilience program coordinator at poder. Though I've worked here full time since February 2023, I actually started as an intern in the winter of 2018 when I was a student in environmental science at UT. My experience then was incredibly important for my personal and political development, but that was one of few places in Austin that understood just how interwoven the struggle for a cleaner, safer and healthier environment is with the struggle against racism, exploitation of working class communities, and the legacy of settler colonialism. It was me and just one other student then, making maps in arcgis and helping Susana to write reports [12:47:38 PM] on how code next would have compounded the impacts of gentrification that began here years before I was even born. Prior to poder, I spent maybe 95% of my time on campus, and there in my program was little mention of environmental justice. It was only through this internship that I learned how to be an active participant in the issues affecting the most vulnerable, to listen to and build relationships with longtime residents of a place that I didn't grow up in, and to understand the responsibility of using my skills and talents to support my community. Now, things have come full circle in a way. As a part of my work, I'm deeply involved with the bridges program, which Bianca mentioned. It's a collaborative project between poder and the environmental science institute at UT, co-created with three primary goals one to have community members in the eastern crescent lead research projects that will ultimately provide material benefits to their neighborhoods through data that supports lived experiences, policy change, and skill building. Two to establish a bidirectional learning model and build expertise among community members so that they may conduct the research themselves. And three, to go against the [12:48:38 PM] history of extractive relationships between academia and communities. Originally, we were funded by the national science foundation for five years. However, last April our grant was terminated shortly after our years long work with Austin energy to bring residential solar to working class communities and bolster the community. Solar program took an incalculable hit when the EPA solar for all grants were rescinded. Poder also submitted a federal grant application for the first time ever, when the EPA lessened barriers to entry through the grant program so that we could construct a network of resilience hubs in montopolis. But that went to. Despite our losses, we continue to fight and we celebrate. Next Friday, may 1st. We invite all to commemorate the day poder was founded 35 years ago. Our gathering offers an opportunity for us to reflect on the struggles and victories we've had for over three decades, alongside many community members and organizations. We fought fuel storage tanks, power plants, garbage truck facilities, unaffordable housing, displacement, and the destruction of our green spaces. To this day, we still pass on the lessons we've learned to [12:49:39 PM] the next generation. We work to preserve the Colorado river east of 35, to lower the costs of utility bills and fares, to take on private water companies and developers who prioritize profit over community needs. We rise up for equitable education, economic development, the preservation of working class neighborhoods built over generations, basic human rights and environmental justice. The struggle is long and continuous. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Carolyn rose Kennedy, silver white mountain, George Reyna. >> If your name has been called, please come forward. And if you're already, sir, if you'd like to go ahead, please go ahead. Just state name for the record. All right? >> Okay. Hello. Hello. My name is George Rainey. I'm here to talk to city council. People in this room, people watching and listening, wherever you are. And to the future audiences of the city council meeting. When they watch or listen to it. I was told. I said a lot of ums and ahs, so let me go ahead and [12:50:40 PM] get those out of the way before I continue. My mum, mum mum mum, mum mum mum mum mum, I and a few more are gonna slip by so please bear with me. I'm trying to get better at public speaking or speech speaking. I'm here to talk about hard red light runners and stop sign posers. Hard red light runners are drivers who, after the yellow light has turned red, that they run it. I understand when the light is yellow trying to make the light, or if you have an aggressive driver behind you, you don't want to. You have to gas it because you don't want to get hit. You don't want to get rear ended. But now they are eating into the time of pedestrians trying to cross the street when they have the right of way. And the only time I have the right of way is when the sign says walk. So I'm trying to follow that. Also, stop sign passers or people that treat a stop sign as a yield sign. And I know we can't stop them. But at the same time, maybe I'm just talking to them. Like, I [12:51:40 PM] understand you're focusing on cars, but you need to take a moment. Scan the sidewalks for walkers, people on bikes, mopeds, scooters, e-bikes, etc. To close. Speaking to the red light runners and the. The oh the stop sign posters. Please don't eat up my time. And if you can make the light, make it. But try not to eat my slice of pie. Leave mine alone because you're eating my time. I'm crossing the street when I have the right of way. >> Thank you, thank you. Miss Kennedy. Oh. >> Carolyn rose Kennedy, thank you all for having me. And thanks for serving all of y'all. [12:52:41 PM] The day I met Cesar Chavez, I was 17, fresh out of high school. I planned to volunteer all summer. I excuse me, I, I chose Cesar Chavez and his crew to boycott lettuce. I told my parents I was going to California. I'm third of nine kids. Dad said, do you need some money? Mom cried all night. God bless her. I went to California by bus. It took me a day and a half to get there. I was wearing T shirt, blue jeans, [12:53:42 PM] cutoffs, and bare feet. I. I looked at him in the eyes. Cesar Chavez and I said, hi, I'm Kennedy, I'm from Texas. He looked at me. And looked at, looked at my bare feet, and he said, where's your boots? That's all. Amen. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Silver white mountain here. Afternoon, council mayor Zenobia C Joseph tries to get y'all's cooperation through dollar figures. I will try to get her point across through a different angle and possibly a higher power, since I feel [12:54:43 PM] compelled to do this. Our lifespan could be determined by disease, accident, suicide and homicide, whereas maximum lifespan is determined by rate of aging. Aging rates vary between individuals based on lifespan, genetics, and the environment. Here in our city, certain factors greatly contribute to a shorter lifespan. There is an air quality issue here in Austin because of all the pollution from traffic. There's road rage that causes physical and mental stress. Also losing time that we are never going to get back because it takes longer to get from one place to another. The rate of aging is significantly elevated by living in Austin. So now I'd like to quote Denzel Washington from the movie the equalizer. Do the right thing, because we all have a limited lifespan and it's getting shorter by the minute. Everyone will expire, and it won't necessarily be at boot hill [12:55:44 PM] with your ancestors. Action. Play video. >> There's a trail that leads from dodge up here to boot hill. Not many people travel it by choice because it stops right here. Most of the men lying here thought they were heading somewhere else, but this is where they ended. For all their trouble, I know I'm Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal. Part of my job is to steer them away from here, to keep them from a useless, violent end. But now, then, there's one who won't listen. And more often than not, he's buried out here alone and forgotten. >> I need to pay tribute to my mother. A half breed, a warrior, a missionary who later in life earned her credentials to become a pastor. Because of her, I cannot curse. As I had my mouth washed out with soap. I [12:56:45 PM] need to come clean and confess one of my sins here in front of the public before I die. I did not want to be near people with AIDS. Vanessa Fuentes topic proclamation dedication on February 2026, 2026 was about AIDS. The first AIDS case was reported in Austin, Texas in the summer of 1983. Not much was known about AIDS back then. Over 40 years ago, I was working at the Texas department of health back in the 80s at a young age, even though I was not in direct contact with people that had AIDS, I quit my job because other people in the office I work with were in direct contact with those patients. I did not have empathy back then, and that's contrary to Christians. Thank you. >> Thank you, mayor. >> That concludes all public communication. Speakers. >> Thank you, all members, as you've just heard, that concludes all of the people that have signed up to speak in our general public communication. As I've indicated, we're now going to [12:57:45 PM] go into an executive session. When we return from the executive session, the first item we will take up will be the board of directors meeting of the Austin housing finance corporation, and then we will take up item number six. While we are in executive session, we will continue with our live music tradition and we will have live music. They will be introduced to. The music will be introduced by acme acme department. So with that being said, the city council will now go into a closed executive session to take up two items pursuant to section 55107, one of the government code. The city council will discuss legal issues related to item 66, discuss legal issues related to sb four passed during the 85th Texas legislative session. Enforcement by local government entities of state and federal immigration laws. This will be a private consultation with legal counsel pursuant to 55107, one of the government code. In addition, pursuant to section 551071 and 551072 of the [12:58:47 PM] government code, the city council will discuss legal issues and real estate matters related to item 67. That will be a discussion of legal and related and real estate matters related to the acquisition by eminent domain of a fee. Simple interest in right of way consisting of approximately 0.282 acres, 12,301ft S, located at zero zero mount Larson road, Austin, Texas 78746 for the public use of situating a communications tower to provide radio coverage in support of all city and county public safety and public service departments and agencies. This will be a private consultation with our legal counsel pursuant to 55107, one of the government code and a discussion of real property matters pursuant to section 551072 of the government code, there being no objection to us going into an executive session on the items announced, the council will now go into executive session at 12:59 P.M. [2:59:52 PM] Good afternoon everybody. It is 259 and we are out of the closed session. In the closed session, we discussed legal issues and real estate matters related to item 66 and 67 members. Members. Without objection, we will recess the meeting of the Austin city council at 3:00 pm. And with that vote, then we will adjourn the meeting of the Austin housing finance corporation and we will return to the meeting of the Austin city council clerk. Where are we on the speakers when we're done with the consent agenda item? And we're going to item six? Yes, sir. Then we'll go ahead and call up item six. And please call any speakers on item six. >> Thank you. It will be we'll start with remote speakers. The [3:05:58 PM] first one will be Ira Mitzner. >> Good afternoon, mayor and city council members. My name is Ira Mitzner and I am the CEO of ride development, the developer of the proposed Cota project. We believe this project will be transformational for the del valle and eastern crescent communities. The proposed project will create thousands of excellent construction and permanent jobs, a very significant new tax base, and literally billions of positive economic impact. When built, it will also become an anchor in town center for Austin's eastern crescent and del valle communities. These are very complex public private partnership agreements and will need the cooperation and support throughout the city, including staff, city, legal [3:06:59 PM] and of course, you council members in the mayor. Once coming to fruition, we see a tremendous future for that region as a result of significant infrastructure and follow on projects. We have developed similar projects in Florida, Texas, Colorado and California, and seeing these projects literally transform their local communities. We look forward to working towards making this vision a reality. We thank you for your support and are here to answer any questions. >> Thank you Mr. Mr. >> We will now move to in-person speakers on item six. Susan Spataro, is Sharon Blythe here? Thank you. Susan will have four minutes. Also, Willie Gonzalez, Gus Trujillo, Marquita Presley. [3:08:01 PM] >> Good afternoon council. Susan Spataro, district eight. I'm here to speak very favorably for this item. I think that I remember back when Cota first came, it was built in the economic desired development zone. And so people were very enthusiastic about getting, you know, some real structure out there. It's done a wonderful job of growing with the community and providing benefits for everyone. And an interesting number to have is that from, you know, in the period of 2012 to 2021, Angeles, Angelo did an economic analysis of of Cota and what they what they concluded is that the economic benefit was $1 billion a year. And that facility has expanded. This is the perfect compliment for that. It provides jobs, good jobs. It [3:09:02 PM] works, can work with the hospitality program at del valley high school. And, you know, I watched the work session the other day on the budget. And people are concerned about not enough economic growth. This is really good economic growth. The other thing is that they're worried about, you know, what is the future of property taxes. And I get that. But one of the things you do then is you focus more on sales taxes, and that's what this building does. But they also pay property taxes. And I think that's important because many facilities out there really don't pay property taxes. Cota pays property taxes, and these people will pay property taxes. They will also generate many, many other taxes. The hot tax is something that I kind of call a butt for tax. In other words, it if there isn't a hotel, then there is no hot tax. And so there's nothing to redistribute. So I think it is [3:10:03 PM] extremely important that the agreement on hot tax makes a whole lot of sense. And that is you build a hotel, it generates hot tax and a whole lot of other things. And if in fact the hot tax is not gathered, then they don't get it back. And there's no loss to the city of Austin whatsoever. So I think this is a really excellent project. My understanding is that it has these projects have succeeded like the previous gentleman said in other areas. So it's not as though it's totally new. It's the perfect complement for Cota. So I would encourage you to approve this. One more thing I would like to say on this item is it's in the del valle independent school district. Why is that important? Well, the enrollment is a little over 11,000 students, but 92.5% come from economically disadvantaged homes. We should be concerned [3:11:03 PM] about being able to provide assets training for that district. And when I've seen projects working with that district, they're very successful because the kids there want to learn, the parents want them to. So I think this is a really nice blend with with the school district. And one more thing is that, you know, I, I think it's consistent with what we want to do in this city. All day long I've been hearing people not having jobs, not having money. This is jobs. This is money. It's good jobs, construction jobs. Long time fits nicely into the the complex of Cota. So thank you very much. I hope you will support this. >> Janet. Marbury, Jen Robishaw, bill bunch, Michael Whalen. [3:12:07 PM] >> Good afternoon. >> Mayor and city council. My name is Willie Gonzalez. I'm the secretary treasurer for local 23. We represent hospitality workers here in Austin. So we're here in support of item six. I'd like to speak about this in terms of the workers, the people who work in the hospitality industry that are a backbone of this city. The people get up every morning, go to work every day, clean those hotel rooms, cook the food, serve the drink sometimes to an upset guest, and make them feel better, and then go home to their family. And at the end of the week, try and figure out if they have enough money to go out on Saturday night and spend some time with their family. This is about them. Too. Many of these projects talk about the building, the thing, the project, the land. I want to talk about those workers, you know, and they're important, is they're the ones that make the industry succeed. And working [3:13:08 PM] with employers that are willing to do the right thing. Rita. We have worked with them in Houston and created good jobs in that city. This there is a very good example. Two hours to the east of here of working with Rita, where they created good jobs and made an impact on people's lives and created a good standard for those workers. So we have to look at these projects, not just in terms of the economic value, as they say, assess how much it brings to city, but what it does for those workers. And there's a track record with Rita, and we're here to talk about it because we've we've been partners with them on that. So for us and a few months, a few years ago, this council said they wanted to take some steps to make sure the airport jobs were good jobs. And we did that. And you'll hear from some of those people. And that was a decision that was made. And so [3:14:08 PM] you'll hear from some of those people now. >> Thank you very much. >> Please state your name and begin speaking. >> Whoever wants to go next. >> Good afternoon, mayor and city council. My name is markeatha Presley, and I'm a cashier at Arias. Former Delaware north concession stands at the Austin airport a three years ago. We started organizing at the airport. Since then, with the help of many of you, in particular city councilor city councilwoman Vanessa Fuentes, we have really we have really changed the jobs at the airport. These are now good jobs with good wages, benefits, and most of all, respect. I have now been able to move into a bigger place and was able to pay off my car early. I no longer have to live check to check. Many of my coworkers have been impacted as well. Many bought their first car and purchased homes for the first time. For this reason, I am excited to support this project. The more we create [3:15:09 PM] jobs, good hotel jobs, the more we can raise standards for hotel workers in all hospitality workers in the city. Thank you. >> Thank you and congratulations. Thank you. That's good. >> Good afternoon, mayor and city council. My name is Gus Trujillo. I work at the Hilton Austin airport. I'm a supervisor and I have worked at this hotel for over three years now. Prior to working at the Hilton, I worked with the property management company downtown. At that job, I was overworked and I was still not making enough income. As a result, I had to be a Lyft driver on the weekends. It was difficult with. It was difficult because I was living paycheck to paycheck despite working every day without a day off. Shortly after I began working at the Hilton, we organized our union. We were able to win good raises and improve our benefits. That has allowed me to lead a better life, and I can now afford to pay my bills with one job, and I'm able to take vacations and [3:16:10 PM] have a balanced life. The other important thing we won was respect. With the union, we are able to speak up and sit down with management and work through issues. I am excited to support this hotel development because the more good hotel jobs we create, the more we will raise the standard for all hotel hotel workers across Austin. Thank you. >> Thank you. Please. >> Hello, my name is Jenny kamar brie and I'm an organizer with unite here in Houston, Texas. But before becoming an organizer, I was a housekeeper at the Marriott marquis in San Francisco. And those were good jobs. But when I moved to Texas, it was. I was shocked to see the difference. But luckily I got a job at Houston Marriott marquis. And what you know, it is owned by Rita. That hotel [3:17:12 PM] became an industry leader and worker standards from wages to benefits. Also, workload was changed. When issues came up. We were able to sit with management and work it out with local management and a respectful atmosphere. That hotel also helped raise standards and jobs in the area. As someone who's worked for Rita before, I can testify firsthand. That the commitment to treating and creating good jobs for the workers in the community. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Continuing on item six, Zenobia Joseph Katy Kam. [3:18:20 PM] >> Mr. Bunch, thank you, mayor, council members. Bill bunch, speaking as an individual resident of district five, this item is proposing to authorize your staff to negotiate and execute in the back room a business expansion program for this giant ultra luxury resort hotel out at the F one race track that's being proposed is a 30 year agreement. Your back up does not even tell you how much projected money you're going to give away. 75% of the hotel tax will be rebated to the owner operator. Who is this Gaylord Rita, global multibillion dollar resort developer. This is not an agreement for workers. This is a giant corporate welfare blank check for. We don't even know [3:19:22 PM] how much money. Would one of you please ask how much money it is projected to be? And if you really want to help these workers, I don't think there's an agreement in place. Your backup says it's going to save 25. They're going to pay a little bit over market rates, maybe even 25%. It's just a suggestion, though. You should put this on hold until you see the agreement that locks in what is given to the workers, what is promised to the workers in in writing, and then see if that's actually a substantial fraction of this corporate welfare. I also want to make a point of order and ask mayor if I might have four more minutes, because you're combining three different items here. And as you know, all of you know, now we get two minutes per item. This is authorizing your staff to cut a deal in the back room. It's then waiving and erasing two important ordinances for [3:20:25 PM] transparency and public hearings and public notice. >> Thank you, Mr. Bunch. >> Do I get my four minutes more? >> Certainly. Implicit in my thanks was that you don't. >> Okay. I just wanted that on the record. >> Well, I'm appreciate that. Yeah. Go ahead. >> Katie Kim. >> And I think I have four minutes from. >> Is Betsy Greenberg here? Yes, yes. Katie Campbell have. >> Four minutes. Thank you. Hello. I'm Katie Kamm, resident of district nine. I've spoken before about my concerns with how the hotel occupancy tax hot revenue is used for this item. The plan is to return most of the city's hot revenue that the hotel generates directly back to the hotel, in exchange for agreements made between the city and hotel. I understand the good intentions of creating an agreement that brings benefits to the community. However, economic impacts and benefits need to be questioned and viewed from a wider perspective that considers the costs, especially opportunity costs. In other words, what is the detrimental cost to the community of giving the hot revenue to the hotel first? This will result in loss of funding for other valued [3:21:26 PM] programs. Using the Texas open data portal, we can retrieve the local hot revenue reported by the city to the Texas comptroller. The Texas tax code allows for up to 15% of the hot revenue for cultural arts and 15% for historic preservation. However, according to the data, the city of Austin reported to the Texas comptroller, the city of Austin has not been spending up to 15% of the hot revenue for cultural, arts and historic preservation. The last time those categories received 15% each was in 2019. Since then, the percentage has dropped to 13% in 2020, 12% in 2021 and 11.7% since 2022, according to a pie chart online, with the source listed as Austin convention center. I'll hold it up here. If the multi-billion dollar convention center is built, then the percentage of hot revenue that will go to cultural arts and historic preservation drops to 9.5% each. Even though Texas law allows for 15% each. This is concerning and will hurt the cultural arts that contribute to a vibrant cultural and [3:22:27 PM] tourism economy. In addition, I have spoken about how we can better support musicians, artists, and other creatives in Austin through the Texas tax code section 351 provisions that allow for use of hot revenue without a percent limit. For instance, the city can use the revenue to promote the creative works and events of Austin residents. The city can hire local artists, musicians, and other creatives to serve as ambassadors to encourage more people to visit Austin. Second, subsidizing a hotel by returning hot revenue sets a precedent. This opens the door for other hotels to ask for hot revenue, further eroding away the revenue available to support the creatives and historic and cultural venues in Austin. This hotel would be built without this plan to give them hot revenue, using hot revenue to subsidize corporate events and multinational corporate entities is not the highest and best use of this revenue. With that said, if city council decides to proceed with this proposal to provide hot revenue directly back to the hotel, I ask for the following conditions. One require. As bill bunch said [3:23:27 PM] before the final agreement is made, that the agreement with the labor union is finalized and signed to protect the workers and require the hotel to honor that portion of the deal. Two require that the final labor union agreement includes support not only for livable wages, health benefits and pension, but also for financial support of educational and creative pursuits. What is the quality of those 900 full time jobs for career and personal development? Perhaps they don't want to be working in hotel. They have bigger dreams and visions. So let's have a policy to help Austin residents reach their full potential. And in this case, in the agreement, every employee in those 900 full time jobs should have access to funding to pursue an education, or even perhaps dreams of being an artist, musician, actor, or become a contributor to Austin's creative economy. Thanks. >> Michael Whalen on behalf of Rita Cota hotel, LLC. Like the others before me, I want to [3:24:27 PM] start by thanking council member Fuentes for leading on this item and for helping to craft a project and a partnership that is truly del valle strong. As you've heard me say already, this agreement will bring a transformative project to del valle, creating a long awaited economic anchor for the eastern crescent. The agreement structure that we're seeking would ensure there are no upfront dollars coming from the city. Absolutely none. Rita takes on the full $985 million financing, construction and operations risk all the risk. Any rebate would be completely performance based and would be tied directly to the actual hotel occupancy tax receipts that are remitted by the hotel to the city. If the hotel is not built, there would be no hotel occupancy tax. If the hotel generates no hotel occupancy tax revenue, there would be no rebate available to [3:25:30 PM] Rita. The economic impact of this project is immense. It's projected to generate over $10 billion in overall economic benefit to the community over the next 30 years, including over $600 million in total property taxes to the city, county, del valle independent school district, ACC and central health. As you well know by now, this agreement will ultimately deliver hundreds of permanent union jobs at the hotel and we are grateful, very grateful to unite here for their partnership and their support of this item. Also, as always, I'm available to answer any questions that you might have about the project and where we're headed. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Miss Joseph. >> Thank you, mayor council, I'm Zenobia Joseph. I'm just going to read into the record, as I did on Tuesday during the work session. My opposition, it is the language, as Mr. Bunch mentioned earlier, where you [3:26:31 PM] are approving an ordinance, waiving the staff presentation, public announcement and portal set up, and public hearing requirements. But in backup, if you look at F on page one of two, it specifies pursuant to the chapter 380 policy, the city manager conducted a review of the business expansion program, including extensive public outreach and input, and offered revisions to improve the effectiveness of the program. If you look at the past 380 agreements, specifically Samsung and apple, I want you to recognize that we've heard these lofty promises before. I want you to understand that there's a 425 acre development east village across from Samsung, and you have refused to invest in any transit. There are over 2000 units within two miles of Samsung. And I want you to recognize it's a 1 to 5 mile walk to affordable housing. The nearest bus stop, 392, is approximately three miles. So what I want you to recognize, mayor, is that this is fraud. Fraud is trying to get [3:27:31 PM] something of value through willful misrepresentation. On one hand, you say that you want public input, on the other, you say that you don't. I want you to recognize that you added part three to the to the 2024 ordinance. And specifically it's adding Austin transit partnership. As you are aware, the light rail will never go to northeast Austin in perpetuity. It stops at crestview station. And as it relates to the part three, it specifies that the city manager can promulgate rules. But I want you to recognize that you refuse to comply with your publicly promulgated rules, regulations, and procedures. If you have any questions, mayor, I'll gladly answer them at this time. But it is a lofty goal to say that transit will be a part of this project, because you have not demonstrated a willingness to commit to getting low income residents to the jobs. Thank you. >> Mayor. That concludes all speakers on item six. >> Thank you, member members. Those are all the speakers on item number six. Let me ask if [3:28:32 PM] anybody has any questions of staff before we go forward with that. In that case, then I'll entertain a motion with regard to item number six. Council member Fuentes, you're recognized. Okay. Councilmember Fuentes moves approval of item number six, seconded by council member Velasquez. I'm gonna recognize council member Fuentes. >> Thank you. Colleagues, I know we had a discussion about this item on Tuesday at the work session. I just wanted to continue with the conversation first, give my wholehearted thanks to everyone that showed up to support this item. Special thank you to unite here. Also want to thank the del valle community coalition. Their letter of support is in the backup as well as the southeast neighborhood contact team is also supporting the item as it relates to the pod, which we'll discuss later today. But I just wanted to demonstrate the strong community support that we have for this economic anchor that that is proposed for city partnership in southeast Austin. And when I think about the needs of the del valle community and what our del [3:29:32 PM] valle community deserves, it's exactly this. It's jobs that are stable, jobs that are close to home. It's parks where our kids can play. It's a kind of real investment that other parts of Austin have seen for decades, and yet hasn't. We haven't materialized that in our del valle community. And so that's why there is such strong support for this type of proposal, because it really is first of its kind and will be transformative. We're talking about 900 jobs that pay livable wages, that come with benefits and pension. We're also talking about upfront guarantees with this partnership. And that includes two full size developed public soccer fields, nearly 12 acres of parkland and space for potential recreation center. We also fought to secure $1.5 million contribution to the affordable housing trust fund, and that goes towards exactly the families that need it the most. And with this type of proposal, we are ensuring a new and steady stream of revenue for our struggling schools and del valle ISD, and for city [3:30:34 PM] services in which our families depend upon. And one thing that I didn't mention on Tuesday is that there's also a local discount program for del valle residents, so they also can enjoy and participate in activities at the resort. So there's a lot of good community benefits baked into this proposal, and I'm excited to see the momentum move forward with your consideration. And what is special about this type of project is that all of these guarantees are made up front before a single guest ever checks in, and without spending a single penny from our general fund. And so this project specifically leverages funding from hotel taxes. And we'll talk a little bit more about that further. But with that, just wanted to signal my strong support for this partnership and appreciate your consideration. >> Thank you. Further discussion, council member alter. >> Thank you very much. And I just want to I guess, third, what councilmember Fuentes has mentioned, you know, this is going to be a transformative project for an area that has been underinvested for too long [3:31:37 PM] and bring really high quality, high paying jobs to that area. That being said, and we had the opportunity on Tuesday to talk about some of the the nuances of how this is going to work mechanically. This is the first time we've done a 380 with hotel occupancy tax, and there are just some subtle questions in there as it relates to unintended consequences. We want to make sure it doesn't impact adversely some other things that we're doing as a city. And so I do have a motion that I've shared, and this is to continue to move forward with this, to authorize negotiation, but not yet execution. So we will get those terms sorted out, have then the final agreement come back to the council. But just so we can be sure that we have all those details ironed out. And I am with this, you know, very committed to seeing this deal move forward. I just want to make sure that, like I said, some of those nuances that we [3:32:37 PM] haven't because we haven't done this before, that we get it all properly. Established. So I will be making that motion at the appropriate time. But just want to highlight that. >> Why don't we do why don't we do that? If there's a I turn it off. All right. Members, unless there's objection, what I what I would do is recognize. Council member alter's motion to amend. We can have a discussion on the motion to amend. And then we will come, of course, vote on that and then come back to the main motion. If. Regard whether it passes or doesn't pass the motion to amend. And then we'll have further discussion. Is that appropriate for everybody? All right. Council member alter moves amendment of item number six. You have that in front of you. He is described that he moves to amend its alter. Councilmember alter number one, is there a second? Second by [3:33:38 PM] councilmember duchen discussion on the motion to amend. Yes. Councilmember Fuentes. >> Thank you. You know, I just colleagues, as you all know, my office has been involved with the proposal for many months now, and I just want to lay out my priorities for consideration as this amendment is considered by the dais. And my priorities for this partnership have been three things. One, to bring significant economic development to del valle in the greater southeast Austin region. Two, bringing high paying, high quality jobs to the people of Austin, especially for our del valle community. And three, to ensure that we bring in additional revenue to support cultural arts and our local arts and music community, all of which stand to benefit from the additional hotel taxes generated from this proposal. >> Thank you. Yes. By the way, a number of people signed up, I don't know, so I'll just call names because I worry that some people may have signed up thinking they were going to [3:34:38 PM] speak on the main motion. And so I'll I'll try to organize that. Councilmember Laine, this is on the motion to amend. >> I have a question for Mr. Whalen. As I understand the implications of this motion. >> Mr. Whalen. >> So I understand the desire to balance caution and execution of an agreement. It seems to me when I read the amendment, that what this does is remove the clarity that your client would otherwise have as to whether the council is in agreement with these terms. Can you speak to that a little bit, perhaps? I certainly wouldn't want to vote based on a misunderstanding. >> No. Michael Whalen on behalf of Rita Cota hotel. So just so there is clarity on that point. Mr. Michener has made it clear [3:35:39 PM] to me that he can't have the civil engineers and the architects really begin until there is an agreement in place. I mean, that's that's the bottom line for him. So the lack of clarity won't help until there is clarity, as you just noted. And that clarity will come with an agreement. And if that agreement needs to come back, that's the will of the council. We understand. I mean, we're going to abide by the will of the council, obviously. But as a private citizen, Mr. Metzger isn't going to invest the extraordinary dollars until he's got an agreement. That's clear. And more importantly, that isn't subject year to year to. Appropriations from a council. Ten years from now or 15 years from now, there's going to need to be clarity, just like you have with your bonds and any bonds that you issue. There just needs to be clarity in the agreement that there's a stream of payment that the financial the capital markets are going to expect [3:36:40 PM] when he seeks the size loan that he's seeking. >> Thank you. So it's not done till it's done and until it's signed on the dotted line. We haven't signaled our actual commitment in the way that is needed. So this would effectively serve as a postponement of that commitment. >> It does. It is definitely a postponement of that commitment. And and he'll if that's the will of the council, obviously Mr. Matson's going to abide by that will. And it just postpones opening. You know, he's hoping to have it open by 2030 October 2030 for the formula one race. Then that's actually it seems very long way, but his building permit alone will be thousands of pages long. I mean, it's a very large project, obviously, with a conference center out there. >> So I myself have clarity on where I stand in relation to this agreement. So I would I will be opposing this motion to amend. And I'll also simply [3:37:40 PM] share that, you know, part of what I, I ran on was. Actually, I'm going to stop right there. Y'all know where I stand. I'll pass it off to others. Thank you. >> Thank you, councilmember. Councilmember, if I might ask you a question. And you may have said it earlier, but I just want to make sure I have clarity, the reason to not have an execution of the item. Now describe what why we wouldn't want to do that right now. >> Yeah. So there are some open questions as it relates to hotel occupancy taxes and use of those taxes as it implicates the city's own bond issuances. You know, these bonds are used for the convention center. And because we don't have resolution on what those impacts would be, it without [3:38:42 PM] knowing the specified terms of the deal, and then how those terms impact our operations as a city, we could inadvertently be authorizing something that the council doesn't know what the impact is going to be to other very important city assets and revenue generation. So what this is doing is saying, we're going to go do that negotiation and then have the clarity of what are all the impacts of this deal, come back to the council, and then we can weigh those things. And it is my sincere hope, and I'm going to be the first one on the call with our lawyers to to get it right so that. They can deliver all this. And and make those terms work out. This is not intended to delay to kill. This is get it right. So that because what could happen is we do what we do today, we send staff to go negotiate. And [3:39:45 PM] there is an inability to meet the terms of the other side. And that's it. We have no that that's the end of the conversation for the council. And this allows for us to be able to have that input and and get a deal done to make this this ultimately happen. So this is meant to, to get us to the finish line, not to take us anywhere backwards. >> Okay. Thank you for that clarification. I'll say from my perspective on, on this and the main motion is that as, as I saw the various iterations of how we get to this, one of the things that concerned me was the impact that it would have with the, the hotel occupancy tax, the impact it might have on the convention center. And we have a whole lot going on with our convention center. And it I don't want I want this deal to go through for all the good reasons that we're talking about. But I want to make sure [3:40:46 PM] we're not in an effort to get that deal to go through. And in our in our eagerness to do that, doing damage to something we don't know about. And so I'll support the motion to amend for the reason of it, making sure that we get to we we do it in the right way. We cross T's and dot I's. I think, you know, my hat's off to councilmember Fuentes for bringing this forward and to. I think it's a. Well, it's as I say, I'm supportive. I just want to make sure we cross T's and dot I's. Any further discussion on the motion to amend. All right. The vote will be on the motion to amend all those in favor of the motion to amend raise your hand. All right. It passes unanimously with councilmember harper-madison being absent members. That will take us back to the main motion, as amended. So this is item number six, as [3:41:47 PM] amended. Mayor pro tem, you're recognized. >> Thank you, mayor. And actually, Mr. Whalen could come back down for a couple of questions. Mr. Whalen, we've talked a little bit about this off the dais, but I wanted to make sure that our local artists are going to be a priority when we talk about the, you know, prints and paintings that are going to be at the hotel, any sculptures, any artistic features and, and all of that. And I was just wondering if you could address that. >> Yes. Michael Whalen on behalf of reed and apologies. Mr. Mitzner was cut off as soon as he was speaking, but he and I have talked about this. They typically have well, they not typically they absolutely have an art budget as part of the project as it's getting built. That's number one. And they [3:42:49 PM] typically have a preference to use local artists in order to ensure that the look and feel of the hotel and the grounds blend with the local flavor. They're not interested in having flavor that looks like Orlando, or flavor that looks like Houston, where their Houston product is. When they built the Houston Marriott, they did the same thing. They used local talent, local artists, to help fill the project, the rooms and other aspects of the hotel. Same thing happened in Chula Vista. They used California artists for much of the public area. So that it's just it makes common sense and they're committed to doing that. Absolutely. Very important. >> Well, I appreciate that. And I know when we were talking about this, we kind of went back and forth on what is a local artist. I mean, I think Austin, even though ultimately this is our project, I don't even think it would be right to limit it to Travis county [3:43:50 PM] because, I mean, there's a lot of local artists that have moved out to bastrop and Lockhart and, you know, I mean, you know, farther than that even. They still kind of are Austin artists and consider Austin home. But for whatever reason, they've moved kind of out of the core urban area. So again, I don't have an amendment to that effect to say, but I just wanted, you know, you to represent and on behalf of of Mr. Michener to represent that, that there will be that emphasis on using local artists for the project. >> Yeah. I mean, I think the proof's in the pudding. I think you've heard from unite here. The proof's in the pudding with Rita and their track record. I think if you look at any of their lobbies or any of their facilities or rooms, you'll see the proof's in the pudding in terms of using local artists that can bring that flavor. >> Great. And I just wanted to also say that publicly for staff. I know we're still negotiating this agreement. And like I said, I don't want to amend it because I don't have that language. I'm not sure what I would put in there, but [3:44:51 PM] I just wanted to make sure and, and, and just offer direction to staff to make sure that we are supporting our local artists as part of the agreement. And then finally, I just wanted to say thank you to all the folks from unite 23 and appreciate y'all being here. And I'm sorry that this has gone so long. It's been a full day for council, but I just I really appreciate you getting here and still being here. And it's been a long day. But again, thank you all so much. >> Councilmember qadri. >> I'll make my comments short and sweet as I can. I just want to congratulate district two and councilmember Fuentes on her leadership around this. I think it's really important. You know, I represent a district that I think, you know, has a lot of opportunity and an abundance of resources at times. And folks, unfortunately, on the east side don't always have that. So I think this is a game changer for the region. Councilmember Fuentes already highlighted all the great stuff it's going to do. So I'm really excited to see it come to to district two. And then also [3:45:53 PM] want to thank unite here 23 for, for being here as long as y'all have. I appreciate the pizza slice that I snuck in before executive session, but but truthfully, I appreciate everyone, you know, having worked with unite here folks for years and just the work they all do, you know, jobs of dignity and so much importance. So I really do want to just say thank you all for, for everything you all do and really excited what this means for for district two, what it means for workers and what it means for our city. >> Thank you. Councilmember. Councilmember duchen. >> Thank you. Mayor. I just wanted to flag a couple of things. First, like everybody, a real huge appreciation for all the stakeholders. Councilmember Fuentes, all the work here, we included in backup today a letter from the southeast neighborhood plan contact team that highlights two opportunities that I haven't heard a lot of discussion around. So just want to highlight them. One is to address what appears to be a known water quality issue in [3:46:54 PM] the area, and two is to potentially create some pathways for community youth to access assets and vocational programs. And so I'm just hopeful that going forward, we can be thoughtful about incorporating some of these opportunities in the agreements. Thanks. >> Thank you. Councilmember. I recognize councilmember Fuentes to close on the motion to approve item number six, as amended. >> Thank you. Thank you, councilmember duchen, for highlighting the southeast neighborhoods contact teams support letter. I just wanted to flag that there is a commitment to work with the del valle ISD for internship pathways through their career and technical institute, and certainly having a hospitality base is exciting and something that is part of the commitments being made moving forward. Also, the water quality issue that is highlighted for del valle is an Austin colony, which is a complicated part of the del valle community, largely residing in the etj. And so certainly part of. As you all know, del valle is a huge part [3:47:56 PM] of Austin and crosses three different council districts and is partly in the county. But that's what makes this proposal so exciting and such a milestone in our commitment and really having a first of its kind type of city partnership in the area, I had the opportunity to have a town hall with state representative lulu flores last weekend in del valle. And when we talked about this proposal specifically, the community applauded about the partnership. They really are appreciative and see the potential that we have here with this type of partnership. So I have a lot of hope and faith on what this means for our southeast Austin community, and just want to share my appreciation for everyone who has shared their support along the way. And and grateful for this council's consideration. Thank you. >> Thank you, councilmember, there being no further discussion, you. >> Mean I had my hand raised, then it went down. Okay, I'd love to say something. >> After this is over. Let's [3:48:56 PM] come over here and I'll show you how this works. I'll push it. >> I'm telling you. Okay. Thank you so much. I, I, I also wanted to note how much it means to me to hear from the members of our unite here union and so many community members. Thank you to councilmember vela for covering the last few of my concerns. There is the. The artistic and creative community is certainly of strong importance to me and. And councilmember Fuentes for her leadership. The last thing that I really would like to touch on is thanking our economic development staff who have been working around the clock on not just this agreement, yes, this agreement and others that are so critical to our city's ability to rise to the challenge of our current financial realities, combined with the pressing community needs that we know we have with both thoughtfulness and speed. And thank you for allowing me to ask the questions I have, and I appreciate your thoughtfulness, so that we don't need to waver from our shared values, even as speed [3:49:58 PM] signals to all that Austin is, in fact open for business that will help us weather the current financial storm. I'm really pleased to join you all in supporting this agreement. >> Thank you. There being no further discussion on item number six, as amended, without objection, item number six, as amended, is approved with councilmember harper-madison off the Dyess. Congratulations, everybody. Congratulations to you all and thank you for what you do. Members, that will take us to item number 29, item number 29, which was pulled from the consent agenda. And I will turn to the city clerk to start calling on speakers for item number 29. >> Thank you, mayor, for item 29. We have Katherine Garcia, Hans maverick, bill bunch, Chris Harris. Ben sutterby. [3:50:58 PM] Please state your name and begin speaking. >> If your name has been called, please come forward. Please go ahead. Watson one second, everybody, everybody that's leaving the council chambers. Thank you for being here. We appreciate it. But if we could have you hold your conversations until you get outside. Thank you. >> Mayor Watson. >> Mayor pro tem vela, council members, thank you for the opportunity to testify today about item 29, the trust act. My name is Hans maverick and I'm a resident of council district ten. I'm also a policy and research organizer for grassroots leadership here in Austin. Here's the thing. The last several years have seen an alarming growth in for-profit mass surveillance systems. The companies that develop these technologies only care about the money they can make from people, from brokering people's data, not people's civil and human rights. Despite repeated assurances to the contrary, [3:51:59 PM] many systems have been found to have back doors that allow unauthorized access to the data they collect, as if the authorized access wasn't bad enough. We already know that employees of companies like floc have used their access to these tools in ways that range from merely disturbing to downright illegal. I worked for more than 20 years in the tech sector, so I'm aware that these systems are never perfectly safe. Human error, greed, and racial bias compromise their integrity all too often. Because of that, I hope that this ordinance will give austinites insight into and control over the decisions the city makes about surveillance technology, in particular the requirement of a privacy impact assessment means that the council and the community can make informed decisions about whether to adopt a given type of surveillance technology. I want to shout out mayor pro tem and council member Siegel and their respective staffs for all [3:52:59 PM] their hard work on this ordinance, especially for keeping community stakeholders like us in the loop. Mayor pro tem vela motions to reduce the exigent circumstances period to 60 days and increase the lead time to review contracts to four weeks are welcome and necessary improvements. I believe this ordinance strikes the proper balance between safety and our public spaces and respect for Austin residents. I urge you to vote yes on the item. Thank you. >> Mr. >> Good afternoon. I'm Ben, said, a resident of d4, and I'm here to deliver testimony on behalf of the no. A lprs coalition in support of the final trust ordinance language on today's agenda as item 29, our coalition of over 35 organizations has watched council grapple with a number of challenging decisions over the last year regarding whether to use technology that compromises the civil liberties of austinites in the name of public safety. These choices are difficult because council is tasked with keeping our city [3:54:00 PM] safe, but navigating proposals that involve surveillance often requires you all to learn about very new technologies quickly enough to make policy decisions that impact millions of people. We trust and support the trust act because we want to lend our support to you as you navigate those decisions. And we believe the amended ordinance language meaningfully expands our opportunity to do so by ensuring we can lend our expertise with respect to surveillance, use contract analysis, and impacts on privacy. We believe trust is an important step in the right direction, but we want to emphasize that implementing this policy to the collective benefit of austinites requires vigilance from us and from you. All unethical companies like floc have found ways to circumvent ordinances like trust in other cities. Moreover, we have to be ready to respond to companies and technologies that haven't even been created yet. Even with trust, the necessity of learning, researching, and vetting remains. Crucially, trust offers us a longer window to [3:55:02 PM] analyze and share insights with your offices, avoiding last minute mobilizations of community that is already deeply engrossed in defending democracy and at capacity working to block the authoritarian consolidation of power taking place in our community and in our country. We hope to offer material relevant perspectives that will meaningfully support you in making decisions that serve our community. And in exchange, we trust that you will listen and engage with the concerns we raise. We want to express our gratitude to councilmember councilmember Siegal's offices for working to draft. >> That continue on item 29. Daniela silva, Kennard, Rudolph. Mckenzie. Ryan. Justin swash, Nick. Cavallaro. >> Good afternoon, mayor and council. My name is Daniela silva. I'm a resident of district three here on my personal capacity to speak in support of the trust act. Thank you, council members, for bringing this forward on the agenda. I know it's taken a lot [3:56:04 PM] of hard work and has been very wonky work getting this all together. There's a common joke that congress could be sent to its knees simply by asking the members to reformat a word document into PDF. While reductive, it does point to a larger concern technology is evolving faster than our government has been able to keep up with. You have the power to be more intentional with technology adoption to protect Austin residents from extractive and exploitative companies who sell their harmful mass surveillance tech under the guise of keeping people safe. But we have seen time and time and time again that these technologies have often been abused and safeguards ignored when adopted in cities across the country, the trust act is a step in the right direction, allowing our elected officials and the public to better understand the technologies we are spending our tax dollars on and implementing into the daily lives of millions of people without their consent. We know what keeps people safe investments in housing, health [3:57:05 PM] care, public education, parks, restorative justice practices, and the arts. Not unbridled and unaccountable, ai fueled mass surveillance technologies that only see bodies but not humans. Please pass the trust act to begin to build our trust in you, that you'll prioritize our rights to privacy and spend our tax dollars on technologies that help and not harm us. Thank you. >> Thank you. Please. Please begin. >> Hi, my name is Mckenzie Ryan. Certainly not as exciting a name as Anita bong hit, but nevertheless, I'm a digital rights attorney and a resident of district nine. I'm speaking in support of the trust act today. I want to start by saying how much I respect the difficulty of the decisions this council faces. You are regularly asked to evaluate really complex and fast moving technologies and make policies that affect more than a million people. That's no small thing. The fact that you're meeting that challenge directly with this ordinance speaks well to this body. The surveillance [3:58:05 PM] landscape shifts faster than any policy can possibly keep up with. In 2016, I was a computer science major using a research grant to do work with my vision lab for Amazon's image recognition tool, rekognition, supposedly to help workers locate packages that, within a year was taken for mass surveillance. In just a few months time, ring quietly partnered with over 1300 agencies to share users data without their knowledge. That's how fast the landscape shifts. Not in decades, not in years, but in months and often in secret. This surveillance fight requires vigilance from all of us. You should honestly expect surveillance companies to violate this ordinance, and for them to try and work it in their favor in any way possible. They spend a lot of time and money doing that exact same thing across the us constantly, and we should be ready to meet that challenge when it arises. But this ordinance is a very good step in the right direction and provides some pretty good safeguards against that. Surveillance technology is extraordinarily difficult to understand and fool the systems, the contracts, the downstream consequences. I don't expect any single council member to have all the answers because no [3:59:06 PM] one possibly can. That's exactly why something like the trust act matters. It creates a window for informed community voices to bring their expertise and experiences before decisions are made, and gives council time to review the contracts and consequences for these powerful tools so that what none of us know in full doesn't end up hurting all of us. I'm grateful to mayor pro tem vela and councilmember Siegel for their leadership in strengthening this ordinance. Genuinely, this council has shown that it takes civil liberties seriously, and I look forward to continue working alongside you to keep Austin free and privacy respective. >> Thank you. Yes. >> Okay. And I am Nick Cavallaro, and I am not an austinite. I've driven here from Houston four times so far to either speak out against invasive surveillance cameras or give my support for legislation that restricts such camera systems. Flock cameras are already in use in Houston and have been misused and are being misused. This proposed privacy impact assessment will, [4:00:07 PM] at the very least, help bring to light civil rights violations that will otherwise be ignored. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> That concludes all speakers on item 29. >> Members, that concludes all the speakers on item number 29. I'll entertain a motion. The mayor pro tem moves approval of item number 29 is seconded by council member zo qadri. Before we go to discussion members, we have. As I understand it, three proposed amendments. The first amendment is by the mayor pro tem, and then we have two proposed amendments by council member duchen. I'm going to recognize the mayor pro tem on his proposed amendment. You have it in front of you is item number 29. April 23rd, 2026. MPT vela motion sheet one. Mayor pro tem, you're recognized. >> Thank you. Mayor. The one of the the speakers mentioned it, but we're increasing the time required to lay out the the [4:01:07 PM] privacy impact assessment from two weeks to four weeks. And then with regard to the city manager's ability to adopt and use technologies in exigent circumstances, we're reducing that time frame from 120 days to to 60 days, and a handful of different sections to, again, to, to tighten up the requirements to make sure that we're getting information quickly and that the public is getting that same information quickly. So we can all kind of make our assessments of whether the, the, the technology is good and whether the benefits outweigh the costs. >> Members. Mayor pro tem vela moves to amend item number 29 with vela amendment number one. As he's indicated, it makes six different changes, all related to the two issues he's described. The motion to amend by council by mayor pro tem vela, seconded by council member Siegel. Is there [4:02:08 PM] discussion on the motion to amend vela number one to item number 29? Hearing none, without objection. Vela amendment number one to item number 29 is adopted with council member harper- madison absent. That will take us now to council member duchen. Proposed amendment number one, it is labeled C M duchen amendment number one on item 29. It is to amend the draft ordinance to add a. Section two 1910 capital F council member duchen you're recognized on duchen proposed amendment number one to item 29. >> Thank you. Mayor, I want to say a few comments just leading up to that. Essentially, this amendment is going to add some additional language to subsection F, requiring additional reporting regarding this ordinance and its effect to the public, to public safety. [4:03:08 PM] So the amendment or sorry, the item actually has reporting in it, but it's regarding violation of civil liberties, of misuse of technology, of review, of other policies relating to surveillance technology. And that's I'm happy that's in there. That's all vital. What isn't included is whether the ordinance itself is slowing down our adoption of reasonable technologies or preventing advances in public safety to some unintended degree, and without this amendment, will only be reviewing what was permitted. So I want us to know what was what was the opportunity cost here for the city. And and the specific concern, I think, is just looking at other cities and how they've adopted similar policies and recognizing that in some cases, it, you know, that is substantially delayed, not even adopting, but evenpjust piloting technologies that might be useful, that may have taken many years just to get to that stage. So I think it'd be valuable for us to know that. I want to further add, you know, [4:04:11 PM] I came this week with every intention of supporting this item. And, and I agree with my colleagues that and often, frankly, really the speakers that this is needed for our city. However, we've had recent outreach from various stakeholders that have given me some pause on it. And that's one reason I want this amendment. And frankly, I wish we had more time to discuss some of the details of this. And I'm you know, I'm very aware that for many of you, this is the first time you're hearing this. In the future. I'd really like to be able to bring these issues to light in discussions earlier. Part of what the challenge is, is I'm precluded from discussing them with the authors by, you know, open meetings act and quorum policy. So while I'm broadly supportive of the policy. That's going to allow the city to employ technological solutions for public safety interests, I worry that as it's currently designed, it's going to have some unintended consequences that may stymie [4:05:11 PM] our ability to adopt basic technology for everyday quality of life issues that we deal with. The current assessment process for minimal risk to civil liberties appears, in some cases, overly broad, and that determines that any technology, in essence, may have greater than minimal risk that we're talking about here. And I have a couple of examples to step through. The presence of any one factor will weigh strongly against this idea of minimal risk determination that's outlined in the ordinance. Among those factors is whether someone could associate anonymous data with, quote, a group. And although not an attorney, logically, if any set of data exists, by definition, that is a group that alone could weigh strongly against the adoption of technology by city staff without council approval. There are additional issues, however [4:06:13 PM] pedantic they may seem with grammar, that we could be wise to resolve before trying to implement this policy from a privacy assessment algorithm. If the electronic device quote can collect sensitive data, personal personnel information without a warrant or quote. If technology allows for the creation of data records, that shall weigh strongly against a determination of the technology is minimal risk. So can allow opens the doors for virtually anything you can think of. And I can't think of many technologies that don't meet this threshold. Any database the city has is collecting data and creating records, and that could be captured in this process. One last example. I'll move on. Quote. It shall weigh strongly against a minimal risk assessment. If the technology collects data that is, quote, disproportionately associated with a particular demographic. I have to admit, I have no idea what limiting principles would [4:07:14 PM] prevent this from applying to literally any data at all. So I'm hoping that registered or made sense. But there's language in here. And even per mayor pro tem motion, we've been tinkering with this up until today. So if we can't get this amendment passed, what I would then ask is us to really consider postponing for two weeks. And I want to do that to make sure the language reflects both the community's needs and the city's needs, because this is going to be in place and working for us for years, if not decades. And part of this, because the language has, as I said, been tinkered with. And I think we need to strive to get it right. This is going to guide technology across many different departments. We've seen these other cities, like Seattle, struggle with unintended consequences of their comparable policies. In some cases, we're seeing cities not even, as I said, pilot or understand whether there's an [4:08:14 PM] appropriate use that meets the needs to adopt or purchase. And finally, the last thing I'll say is we are already having to make tough budget choices and think through those decisions, what to fund, what to scale back, recognizing that we can't have it all, and that precarious balance is also true for safety and our safety decisions, and will be short hundreds of officers for several years. We. But at the same time, everybody here wants more responsiveness. We want less crime. And public safety professionals are going to tell you the number one way to economically address that gap is through smart, safe use of technology. So I'm just asking you all to take a little, either take a little longer to get this right or to consider the consider this amendment, which just adds some additional reporting for us to, to work on. So with that, I, I move for adoption. >> Council member duchen a moves approval of duchen amendment number one to item 29. Is there a second councilmember [4:09:15 PM] else you seconded. The motion is seconded by council member Ellis. Additional discussion. Mayor pro tem and this is a discussion on duchen proposed amendment number one to item 29. >> It's a couple of of of quick thoughts. We've worked very closely with city staff to try to minimize the administrative burden while trying to maximize information available to the public. And again, this item doesn't put the thumb and say, we are going to use this technology and we're not going to use this technology. It just creates a framework by which to analyze the types of surveillance technologies that we do use. I don't have a problem in principle for a review from staff. A year after this comes out to say, hey, what kind of because the way I read it, council member duchen, [4:10:15 PM] is that, you know, is this too hard to implement? Is this causing too much of an administrative burden or is this causing us problems in the procurement process? My concern, honestly, I would I would be supportive of the amendment if it was direction and not in the actual kind of because you're here, we're amending the ordinance, whereas I think direction to have staff come back and report back after a year of the trust act pending would be a more palatable, let me just say, that way, instead of putting it permanently in the ordinance, I would I would just offer that as an amendment to the amendment. Could we make it direction instead of instead of an actual amendment to the ordinance? >> I appreciate that suggestion. Can you help me understand the distinction between those two options and what that looks like, practically speaking? I just want to also clarify really quick, to your point, I think that to me, it's less about the administrative burden and instead capturing to understand if we are [4:11:16 PM] experiencing similar challenges that I know you're well aware of that other cities have faced when implementing similar policies regarding not the civil liberty side, but the technology side. Are we are we being overly broad? As per the examples that I listed in our dragnet for capturing and reviewing technology that's in the city that may have nothing to do with surveillance? >> Well, I would this is a one time review. It's not kind of an ongoing review. I mean, it's basically divided into two parts. One is existing technologies of which the city manager has. Lord, I believe a year to return or close to a year to return with saying, hey, these are the existing types of surveillance technologies we use. This is some basic information about them. And then for new technologies as we adopt them. Again, just to take an example, the parks cameras, there would be a before again, four weeks before it comes to council for the public, where the privacy impact assessment would be out there so we could understand what data is being [4:12:17 PM] collected, who is has access to it, how long are we keeping the data, those kinds of just relevant questions. And I put that out there. And I appreciate your comments on the administrative burden because, for example, with the parks cameras item, again, not to beat that to death, but that's come forward a handful of times now. And we didn't have the kind of the answers to some of the questions that we needed. This is designed to, to make the, the discussion and debate and, you know, adoption or rejection of those technologies more streamlined. So we're not having to kind of debate the same thing again and, and again. So in, in a certain sense, even though we're creating kind of a, a workflow around the adoption of these technologies, I think ultimately it will reduce administrative burden in the sense that we're not kind of having the same argument again and again and again, that that's the goal of the, of, of the, the ordinance. So, and again, we do, we're asking the city manager to come back with that report on the existing technologies. Again, I don't [4:13:19 PM] mind adding your amendment kind of to that report to say that are there. Are we tripping ourselves up in any ways, or are there procurement concerns and all of that? Like, I would just like it more as it's kind of a standalone report as opposed to, again, it's just kind of it's a cleaner, I think, and better way to approach what is ultimately a one time like it's, you're saying, hey, we want to, to take a look at this and I'm fine with that. I think direction would probably be just a cleaner and better way to, to make it. So I would offer that as amendment to the amendment. Mayor, I'm sorry, I don't have a a document in front of me. I know you like that. But. >> Typically we want to have a document. But let me let me I'll try to provide a little help here. What I would do is I would take for those that want to follow along here, I would take duchen amendment number one, strike the words. Additionally, one year after the effective date of this ordinance and begin it, the city is directed to work in coordination with Austin technology services to [4:14:19 PM] conduct a review of any procurement. Take that down to the third line from the bottom and then add at the. At the end of the sentence that is start doesn't start there, but it's completed on that third line from the bottom. This review should be conducted one year after the effective date of this ordinance, and the findings of this review shall be provided to the public safety committee. That would be what I would offer as direction, as opposed to an amendment of the ordinance. Yes, councilmember alter. >> Just for clarity, are we striking the add 2-19- ten? >> Yes, yes. Of course. Thank you. Good catch. So let me read this into the record and then I'll see if there's a second to the motion to if the vela motion to amend is instead of it reading, I move to amend the draft ordinance to add two 1910 capital F, it would read as [4:15:19 PM] direction to the city manager. The city manager is directed to work in coordination with Austin technology services to conduct a review of any procurement, possible procurement or pilot program of surveillance technology affected by this ordinance. The review should assess impediments to technological advancement that may affect the city's ability to serve the public. It will also determine if there are more effective ways to use the technology and determine if it could improve efficiencies for other departments. This review should be conducted one year after the effective date of this ordinance, and the findings of this review shall be provided to the public safety committee within 60 days following the one year anniversary of the effective date. Is that your motion, mayor pro tem. >> I will second your motion there. >> All right. The motion, I guess it's now I don't know how that happened, but yeah, I do. Became Watson's motion to amend the duchen amendment. Number one, is there discussion on [4:16:21 PM] that motion to amend hearing none. Without objection. Watson. Motion to amend. Duchen. Amendment number one is adopted with councilmember harper-madison absent. So item number 29 is now there has been amended by the vela amendment number one, and then there is direction to the city manager. Well, we got to go back to, to to I'm sorry, we got to go back to the motion to amend by councilmember duchen, which has now been amended to be direction to the city manager. Do you want to close. >> I'll just say very briefly, I appreciate your accommodation on that and would look forward to the results. And I think this addresses a lot of the concerns. I do think there's some language that still probably could be cleaned up, but hopefully that can that conversation, if need be, will happen in a year from now when we gather some additional information. >> Fair enough. Members, the vote is on duchen amendment number one to item number 29 as it has been amended. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. Without objection. Duchen [4:17:23 PM] amendment number one, as amended, is adopted with councilmember harper-madison being absent. That will now take us to duchen proposed amendment number two to item number 29. >> I'll go ahead and call that. >> All right. Councilmember duchen is pulling down of the motion to his second proposed motion to amend. So, members, that now takes us back to the main motion on item number 29, item number 29, as amended. Councilmember Siegel. >> Just a brief comment before. >> We vote. What are you commenting on. >> On the motion, I guess. >> Let me get let me get it out there as a as a base motion. Wonderful. I'll recognize you right off the bat. >> Thank you sir. >> The discussion now is on the main motion, which is the motion to motion to adopt item number 29, as it has been amended by the vela motion number one and duchen motion to amend number one as it was amended. Councilmember Siegel, you are happily recognized. [4:18:24 PM] >> Thank you. Mayor. Mayor pro tem, did you want to go first? No, no. Okay. Thank you sir. Well, I just want to say thank you to mayor pro tem for your really important leadership on this and also the work of your staff. The trust act is a critical procedural reform that will provide public transparency and opportunities for discussion before the city acquires new surveillance technology. And we've seen the need for the trust act and prior votes, where something was brought to us under the auspices, for example, of license plate readers or park cameras. And we didn't have all the information about the artificial intelligence back end and who could get access to that data. And so this item, this trust act really is going to bring our procurement process into the information age. It's a recognition that artificial intelligence and big data present profound risks to our fundamental right to privacy and to our civil liberties. And I'm really thankful that the city is now becoming a national leader in protecting our community from unwarranted surveillance and corporate driven violations of privacy. Thank you, mayor. >> Thank you. Councilmember, any further discussion? Mayor [4:19:25 PM] pro tem, I'll recognize you to close. >> Thank you very much. I'm very excited to get this done, and I really want to thank the stakeholders that we worked with very closely. Grassroots leadership comes to mind as he hands out there Texas civil rights project. There are too many to mention, but it was a really good collaborative process to get here. I think this is a big step forward. And we if we're going to have good debates on the dais, we need to have good information. We can't be guessing at things. We can't be dealing with misinformation. We, you know, having that privacy impact assessment in hand to refer to when we're debating the adoption of a surveillance technology, I think will really help center and ground our debates in a more kind of factual and realistic and kind of weighing the costs against the benefits. So a very happy to to see this move forward. And I think it will be a big step and a big change and serve as a model, hopefully for, for other cities. [4:20:26 PM] I just want to thank Rainey co and from my office and Emily garrick from councilmember Siegal's office, who have put in a lot of time on this ordinance over the last six, eight months. And it's a it's a good document. I have to thank deputy city manager John fortune, the the police department, the different departments that have also kind of taken a look and given us guidance. We didn't want to put something out there that was going to, you know, make people just kind of go crazy and pull out their hair about how difficult it is. We've talked to other cities where that was that that did cause major problems and gum up the works. That's not what we're trying to do. And I just, I really appreciate their, their, their thoughts and their guidance. And with that close. >> Thank you very much, mayor pro tem. All right, members, there being no further discussion on this item on item number 29, as amended, without objection, item number 29 is adopted, as amended with [4:21:26 PM] council member harper-madison absent. Thank you. That will now take us to item number 33. I'll turn to the city clerk for comments by people. Well, I know we already had that. We had that during the consent agenda. This item was pulled after we heard the comments on the consent agenda. So I'll recognize council member Ellis on item number 33. >> We did. And I apologize if this is out of order, but I believe the applicant's my mic is way too loud. I believe the applicant's representative is here, but had not signed up to speak. I don't know if it would be out of order to let them do a brief presentation. >> No, it would be out of order for them to to to be able to speak if they didn't sign up to speak. >> Okay, well, I've got a couple of folks here. I know the director of Austin water is here and I think our director of watershed protection, oh, we've got Liz. Okay. Our environmental officer is here. I just wanted to highlight this because I know a lot of folks had kind of asked me where I was at with this wastewater service extension request. These are getting trickier and [4:22:26 PM] trickier as our city grows and shrinks and we have properties release themselves from the extraterritorial jurisdiction. This particular case had the environmental environmental commission unanimously vote to deny the service extension request. This was one that had come to us about a year and a half ago, but the timeline had expired. And so as this conversation progresses around where do we offer our utility services and what are some of the other environmental protection rules that different tracts of land do and don't abide by? I just wanted to flag. I am starting to lean on the denial of service extension request, simply because the environmental commission had denied it, and the watershed protection staff had denied it. But I would like to flag for us as colleagues that this conversation around this service extension request and the drinking water protection zone continues to get stickier and stickier as the years go by. [4:23:26 PM] And I know that former council member and mayor pro tem Leslie pool had started to open up this conversation around when and how did these come to council and when do they get administratively approved? And so right now it is split kind of west Austin versus central and east Austin. It's the drinking water protection zone. And then the other side is the desired development zone. That was set a number of years ago. And I'm finding that these are getting more complicated as they come to us. And not every council office has to deal with them. But I did want to just flag for staff that. I think we need to open that conversation back up and figure out a smoother way to better rightsize our utilities and make sure that we're getting as as many environmental protections as we possibly can out of these service extension requests. So I know this had already been postponed once or twice, but I'm having a hard time continuing to extend wastewater service into an area that is getting less environmental protection as the years go by, and also has more [4:24:27 PM] demand on our wastewater utilities. So I've struggled with this. I'm sorry for keeping folks here all day to be able to talk about this one particular item, but I'm going to move. Denial of the service extension request. >> Members. Council member Ellis has moved denial of item number 33. It is seconded by council member alter discussion with regard to item number 33. Hearing none. Without objection, the motion by council member Ellis to deny item number 33 is passed with council member harper-madison off the dais. All right, members, that will now take us to other non consent items. The first ones we'll take up will be items 42, 43, 44, 45 and 46. Those are items that are related to eminent domain. And I will turn to the city clerk for calling out the names of the people who have signed up to speak on item 42. [4:25:28 PM] >> We have no speakers on item 42. >> All right, members, what I'm going to do is, is I'm going to put those together as a packet after we've heard the speakers on all of them and just take them as one motion unless there's an objection. All right. Item number 43 is also an eminent domain item. And I'll ask if there are there any speakers on item 43? >> No speakers on item 43. >> Item number call up item number 44. >> No speakers on item 44. >> Item number 45. >> No speakers on item 45. >> Item number 46. >> No speakers on 46 members. >> Those are all of the eminent domain items. So I will entertain a motion that with respect to items 42, 43, 44, 45, and 46 being nonconsent condemnation items. The motion is to the effect that the city council of Austin authorizes the use of the power of eminent [4:26:29 PM] domain to acquire the property set forth and described in the agenda for the current meeting for the public uses that are described therein. Councilmember Velasquez moves approval of that motion. Is there a second? Second by councilmember Siegel discussion? Hearing none. Without objection. Items 42, 43, 44, 45 and 46 are adopted members that will take us to the public hearings. The first one will be item number 48. This is, I've indicated, is a public hearing. So without objection, we will open the public hearing on item number 48. The public hearing is now open, and I will turn to the city clerk. >> No speakers on item 48. >> Members. There are no speakers on item number 48. I'll entertain a motion to approve the ordinance in item number 48 is made by councilmember qadri, seconded by mayor pro tem discussion. Hearing none. Without objection, item number 48 is adopted with councilmember harper-madison absent. That will take us to item number 49, which is also a public hearing. Without objection, we will open the public hearing on item number [4:27:30 PM] 49 and I'll turn to the public. Hearing is now open, and I'll turn to the city clerk. >> Speaking on item 49. Bill bunch. >> Mr. Bunch, you wish to be heard. All right. All we have to go on is you signed up. >> I'll pass. >> All right. Those are all the speakers on item number 40, the public hearing on item number 49. So without objection, we will close the public hearing on item number 49. The public hearing is now closed. Is there a motion to approve the ordinance? Motion made by councilmember Velasquez, seconded by councilmember Siegel with any discussion. Hearing none. Without objection. Item number 49 is approved with councilmember harper-madison. Absent. Item number 50 is also a public hearing. Without objection, we will open the public hearing on item number 50. The public hearing is now open. I'll turn to the city clerk. >> Speaking on item 50. Bill bunch. >> Mr. Bunch, you want to speak [4:28:31 PM] on 50? Thank you. Mr. Bunch is not speaking on 50. That's the only speaker signed up on item number 50. So without objection, we'll close the public hearing on item number 50. The public hearing is now closed. I'll entertain a motion to approve the ordinance in item number 50. Is there a motion? Motion is made by the mayor pro tem seconded by council member Siegel. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. Without objection, item number 50 is adopted. That'll take us to item number 51, which is also a public hearing item. Without objection, we will open the public hearing on item number 51. The public hearing is now open and I'll turn to the city clerk. >> No speakers on item 51. >> Members. There are no speakers on item number 51. So without objection, we will close the public hearing on item number 51. The public hearing is now closed. I'll entertain a motion with regard to the ordinance in item number 51. Is there a motion? Council member qadri moves approval of the ordinance. It is seconded by the mayor. Pro tem is there discussion on item number 51? Without objection, item number 51 is approved with council member harper-madison off the [4:29:31 PM] dais. Members that will now take us to item number 52. Item number 52 is also a public hearing. We'll open the public hearing on item without objection. We'll open the public hearing on item number 52. The public hearing is now open and I'll turn to the city clerk's office. >> Thank you. Mayor. We'll begin with remote speakers. Kevin coke on item 52. >> Mayor. >> Council members. My name is Kevin cook. I speak only for myself and on behalf of any commission, association or body, I appreciate your taking a new tack on this very complex subject. Regarding. The director stated on the message board, the suggested directors presume a need to make it easier to relocate billboards. Please consider directing staff to first define the public need for flexibility and relocation, or any ordinance change at all, and communicate that justification publicly before proposing any changes. At this point, we have questions as to how this need was identified to begin with. Since account of billboards impacted by project [4:30:32 PM] connect wasn't even yet available for planning commission, I appreciate the stated goal of removing billboards from residential areas and scenic areas, but consider. As we successfully create a denser and more interconnected city, there is not a good place for billboards anywhere. If the directive is to find easier ways to relocate, we need to know exactly where and why the potential impacts of any change need to be clear and publicly communicated. I ask that the 40 year goal of ultimately eliminating billboards from the city be considered a starting point for any analysis. Please do not dismantle any part of that, including the 25 year moratorium on the one time only relocations that are currently allowed, and I suggest staff start from an understanding of the issues around all the billboards that have already been relocated, their 25 year terms coming up very soon. I ask that interested citizens be involved in the process, such as scenic Austin and the cherrywood neighborhood association, at least on par with business interests. Most importantly, I ask the city allow all billboards condemned by the state along I- 35 to be permanently removed by the state. This is a state issue on state land. We should not be facilitating retention of any billboards condemned by the state or their relocation back [4:31:32 PM] onto city land. Finally, please consider billboard companies are not like housing developers, restaurants, music venues, health providers, offices, or industries offering a significant number of jobs or retail establishments serving public needs. They offer only visual pollution and light pollution, driver distraction and as noted earlier on the message board, they complicate housing development and lower property values, which is why we wanted them gone for decades. That should remain our ultimate goal. Like our peer cities across the state, Texas is a big state with plenty of room for billboards. We don't need them in the city. >> Thank you very much. >> Next, speaking remotely on item 52 is Robert Schmidt. >> Yes, hello, my name is Bob Schmidt. I've lived in Austin since 1986. That's 40 years. And over this time, I always thought and believed and assumed that the Austin city council, which is a council for Progressive city, is different than that that's going on in Washington, DC and in the Texas legislature, and that you all [4:32:33 PM] actually represent citizens and real people and not just moneyed special interests. Honestly, that's why I'm so disappointed that with this item 52 and mayor pro tem vela, his initiative involving billboards, only two billboards, companies interests were being represented. The mayor pro tem and his office met privately for months with billboard company lobbyists and no other stakeholders. The lobbyists also met privately with members of the planning commission. There's an article that was published in the statesman that details some of the special interest involvement. The first proposal that was put out on this literally called for amending the code to allow billboards to be zero feet from residential property. Only by luck did somebody from our neighborhood spot this on the planning commission agenda. And because we testified against it, the proposal was changed to be a little better 150ft or basically a half a block from residents instead of 500ft. That's been in place since the 1980s. We've pushed back [4:33:33 PM] several times now and honestly spent countless hours fighting this. And we understand it's to be indefinitely postponed. And we are truly grateful for this. If this issue comes back, we hope this time the interest of regular citizens who don't want a billboard moved in their backyard are brought into the discussion and taken account. I'm concerned that this item will somehow pop back up on the agenda, and regular people like us who don't check these agendas of planning commission and city council are just going to miss it. I believe that that was the hope of the billboard lobbyists and perhaps the mayor pro tem when this item was first brought up. We asked that that not happen this time. I thank the mayor pro tem for changing course on this. And I ask you and that the city staff include and notify groups like. >> Thank you very much. >> Association. >> Other. Moving to in-person speakers on item 52. Maria Rosa morales, Betsy Greenberg and bill bunch. [4:34:46 PM] >> Bill bunch, district five executive director, save our springs alliance. Definitely hope that you will listen to all that you've heard from the previous speakers. It all sounds really very reasonable to me. I haven't followed the details on that. This so far, I admit completely, but we're just inundated with commercial messages everywhere. We do not need to be accommodating billboards anymore than we're required to by state law. So please take your time. If anything, go and take action to reduce billboard clutter in our in our city. Thank you. >> That concludes all speakers on item 52 members. >> Those are all the speakers on item number 52. So without objection, we will close the public hearing on item number 52. The public hearing is now closed. That will take us to the ordinance count. Mayor pro tem, you're recognized for a motion on item number 52. >> Thank you. Mayor, I have a [4:35:47 PM] motion. It was posted on the message board a few days ago, I believe, and council member Ellis made a, I think, a very good suggestion, and that's reflected in my motion. I just wanted to a little bit of background on this. I know it's been a long day, but 20 years ago, a little bit, maybe more than 20 years ago, actually, billboards, new billboards were banned in the 80s. The ordinance that essentially tried to push for their removal was passed about 20, 21 years ago. There are more billboards today in the city of Austin than there were when the ordinance was originally passed. And I think that the number of billboards that have been removed, I could probably count them on, on, on both hands. So the reality is that we're we're not in a good status quo. The a [4:36:49 PM] lot of billboards that were put up were in different areas. They were in different parts of the city that had different goals. I think about minor road. I think about the old airport where there are so many billboards right around that area, because that used to be where the airport was, and they really don't even serve much of a purpose anymore. But they linger there and they will linger there indefinitely, kind of in the heart of the neighborhoods and in the middle of the city. The the goal of the original item was relatively modest to reduce any costs for when we have to remove a billboard because of eminent domain. I don't want to be spending money, city money on buying out billboards. When we have a road project or as project connect builds out. But ultimately, I think we need to [4:37:50 PM] look again at how we are handling billboards in Austin and take some kind of. Right now, we just used a stick approach, and we've kind of tried to just force them out, and that has not been successful. They are grandfathered in. They can stay where they are for decades if they want. Very few of them have been removed. So I don't consider the that 2000 and I believe in 2006, 2004 ordinance to have been successful. Other cities have been able to provide some kind of combination of of carrots and sticks to be able to get to a better place. We have not done that. And with this direction, I want to open the door to that as a possibility. It's a very short direction. And I would move to postpone indefinitely and then provide direction to the city manager to go out and kind of talk to all the [4:38:53 PM] stakeholders and see where we can get on this very kind of tricky and difficult item. And one of the things this is not in the the motion itself, but, you know, it's kind of the elephant in the room is digital billboards. I know a lot of people, you know, fiercely dislike digital billboards. I, I don't see a huge difference between a billboard and a, and a digital billboard. And to the extent that there's some kind of negotiation that can happen to reduce the overall number of billboards, if we allow a certain number of billboards, for example, along major highways to do so. Again, I don't know where that will take us, but I do think that it's important that we open the door to some kind of discussion and negotiation that could potentially get us to a place where we are in a win win situation, where we're pulling a lot of the billboards that [4:39:53 PM] are lingering in our residential neighborhoods out and, and, and leaving the ones that are more kind of along highways, again, in line with the 2006 ordinance. But unless we do something, the status quo is not going to change. And that's more than anything, the point that I was trying to make. So with that, I would move passage of my direction. >> Members, you have been provided a copy of item number 52. Mayor pro tem vela motion sherry one. Version two. He moves approval of that motion and second by council member Velasquez. Is there any discussion? Yes. Council member duchen. >> Just really a question for mayor pro tem. We've been struggling with this also in terms of how to find what the right balance is. And you've heard frustration from speakers today about what that might be and trying to think about this in a way that's perhaps more, I don't want to say sophisticated, but maybe more granular than the city was currently thinking [4:40:54 PM] with just a blanket 150ft from dwellings. And even if that's the right or wrong distance, but thinking about, you know, which side of a corridor, for instance, might have, might, might have, might be a sign beyond and, and, you know, does it need different measurements based on that corridor? Which side it is? Right. Is there a distinction, say, between taller multifamily and single family? Is the intent behind what you've got here? The the investigation, the direction to staff to go help explore those options and come back with a better sense of what we could be voting on, whether it's height or distance or whatever the circumstances are, knowing that we need to identify some locations to prevent some other scenarios from coming, coming to light. >> I would say in answer to your question, councilmember, all of the above, I'm not trying to say, you know, just this or just that. Just go see what would potentially work, what would be acceptable to the [4:41:56 PM] different stakeholders. Again, whichever side that they're on and see if there's a better path forward. I don't want to be prescriptive and say, you know, list a bunch of items that they should. That's why it's a it's very broad language to give staff the ability to go out there and take a look at it. And again, just to be frank, if there's not the desire and if no one wants to change it and we just want to stick with the status quo, so be it. But I just wanted to open that up as an opportunity. If folks can come together and we can get to a place where the stakeholders, various stakeholders are happy and we move forward, great. If not, then so be it. We'll just stick with the status quo. My concern is that I think we know what the status quo is going to be. >> I don't what is the status quo with 150ft proposal? What is the status quo? >> No, I mean, the status quo is that the billboards are where they are, and they're not going to move from where they are because there is no incentive for them to move. They're kind of really dug in [4:42:57 PM] and, you know, just extending leases and just kind of really just trying to to stay. Our ordinance is designed where once it moves, you can move the billboard once and then it starts this kind of 25 year clock where purportedly at the end of the 25 year clock, the billboard is then supposed to end. I don't think that's going to happen. I mean, just to be perfectly blunt, I think that, again, I'm speaking for myself here, not on behalf of law. I think that's a taking. And if we want to, at the end of that 25 year period, remove that billboard, we're going to have to buy that billboard. And that's just a concern. I don't think that the current status quo is is going to change, I would just put it that way. And that's my concern, is that we're just kind of kind of no one wants to mess with it. And so we're just going to continue with the with everything in the same place indefinitely. And I don't think that's what anybody wants, honestly. >> All right. So you're thinking more broadly, even just getting back information [4:43:58 PM] about the condemnation process. You're thinking about all billboards and what happens there. Am I dancing a line here? >> This would be broad direction to staff to go out there and again, see what's possible. >> Okay. All right. Thank you for clarifying that. >> Thank you. Members. The motion has been made and seconded. It's the it's the mayor pro tem motion. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. Without objection. Item number 53 as I'm sorry. 52. Item number 52. As motion was made by mayor pro tem vela is adopted with council member harper-madison being absent. That'll take us to. Item number 53 was also, which is also a public hearing. Without objection, we will open the public hearing on item number 53. The public hearing is now open and I'll recognize the city clerk's office. >> No speakers on item. >> There are no speakers on [4:44:58 PM] item number 53. So without objection, the public hearing will be closed. The public hearing is now closed and there is no motion to be made. On this item. Item number 54 is a public hearing. Without objection, we will open the public hearing on item number 54. The public hearing is now open and I'll turn to the city clerk. >> We have one speaker for item 54, Ali Tharp. That concludes all speakers. >> All right. There are no further speakers on item number 54. So without objection, we will close the public hearing on item number 54. The public hearing is now closed. Members. This was to conduct a public hearing in accordance with. 5554 with the Texas parks and wildlife code. I will now entertain a motion with regard [4:45:59 PM] to the resolution on item number 54. Is there a motion? Motion is made by council member alter. It is seconded by councilmember duchen. Is there any discussion on item number 54? Hearing none. The motion. Without objection, the motion is adopted with council member harper-madison being absent. Members. That will take us to our. For 46 and 34 second time. Certain zoning items. And. Miss harden has been waiting patiently, knowing full well that at some point we would get to ask her questions. It's all yours, miss harden. >> Absolutely. Thank you, mayor and council. I'm joy harden with Austin planning your zoning and neighborhood plan amendment agenda begins with item 55npa20250026 .02. This [4:47:02 PM] item is offered for consent on all three readings. The related rezoning item is 56 C one for 2025 0099. Again, this item is offered for consent on all three readings with the following motion, which reads remove research services from the list of prohibited uses in part two a of the draft ordinance. And with that again, this item is offered for consent on all three readings. Item 57 is C eight one for 2018 0122.03. This item is offered for consent. First reading only. This item has two staff motion sheets that includes language to be added to the ordinance when this item returns may 21st for second and third reading consideration, these motion sheets are in your backup, and the language reflects ongoing discussions with the applicant concerning parkland and cocktail lounge use. Again, this item is offered for first reading only and will return for second and third reading [4:48:03 PM] consideration on March. March. May 21st, may 21st and consent first reading. Thank you. Item 58 C one 420 250121. This item is offered as an applicant postponement to your may 21st council meeting item 59ac81420080087 .02. This item is offered for staff postponement to your may 7th council meeting. And lastly, item 60 C one 420 250080. This item is offered for a neighborhood postponement to your may 21st council meeting. This concludes the reading of the zoning and neighborhood plan amendment portion of your agenda. And as always, this is at your discretion. >> Thank you. Thank you, miss Harding. First of all, any council members have any questions of miss Harding? I want to make sure I understand something on item number 57. The staff have two proposed motions, and you read both of those. [4:49:03 PM] >> There in your backup? Yes. So they're in there. >> Back up. Two different motions. >> Yes. Two different motions. One deals with the cocktail lounges and one deals with parkland. >> I want to make sure that everybody understands that. And councilmember Fuentes, it's my understanding you also have a proposed direction to staff. Is that correct? So what I'm going to do, unless there's objection, is I'm going to ask that we take up item number 57 off the consent agenda, just so that there's no lack of clarity with regard to that. And we make sure that councilmember Fuentes has the opportunity to provide the direction that she wants to provide on that. Is there any objection to that? All right. Then, the consent agenda that I'll entertain a motion on will be the following. Item number 55. All three readings. Item 56. All three readings subject to the motion sheet that was read by miss harden. Item number 58. A postponement to may 21st. Item number 59. A postponement to may 7th and item number 60. A postponement to may 21st. That is the consent agenda. Is [4:50:05 PM] there a motion on the consent agenda? A motion is made by councilmember alter, seconded by councilmember Laine. And I'll turn to the city clerk and see if we have people signed up to speak on those items. >> Thank you, mayor. Item 59, bill bunch and Malcolm Yates. >> I'm not clear on that. Are you waive. I can't hear you. Did you say you're waving or what are you. >> I just said support the postponement. >> Oh okay. Well all right. >> We don't have a postponement for 59. >> We do. We do on 59. Staff postponement to to may 7th. >> Oh perfect. >> It looks to me like there were some changes made today. So that's why you may not have that in your notes. >> On item 60. David Ruddick. >> Mr. Ruddick David Ruddick doesn't appear to be here. >> That concludes all speakers on the consent. >> Thank you very much, members. [4:51:05 PM] That concludes all the speakers on the consent agenda as it was read. Is there any discussion on the consent agenda as it was read? Yes, councilmember. So 59 as a postponement to may 7th and 60 as a postponement to may 21st. Thank you. Any further discussion? Hearing none, without objection, the consent agenda is adopted with councilmember harper-madison absent. That will take us back to item number 57. Members, I'll entertain a motion on item number 57, which includes the motion sheets that were read by miss harden. The two items that I asked her about just a minute ago. And then I'm going to recognize councilmember Fuentes for direction to staff. Motion made by councilmember Velasquez that seconded by councilmember alter to approve. By the way, this will be on. This is on first reading, only second and third reading. It will come back for second and third reading on may 7th. Councilmember Fuentes, you're recognized. [4:52:05 PM] >> Thank you. Colleagues, I move to this is a motion sherry that's in your backup. For reference, the city manager is directed to collaborate with the property owner, cap metro and Travis county on the future expansion of public transportation services to the pud, including identifying a location on the property for a future bus stop. >> Members. Councilmember sorry. Councilmember Fuentes moves to amend item number 57 to add the direction that she just read into the record. It is seconded by councilmember Siegel. Is there discussion on the Fuentes motion to amend item number 57? Hearing none. Without objection, the motion to amend is adopted. That will now take us back to the main motion. Before I call for the main motion, I want clarity on when this comes back for second and third reading. >> Yes, this item will be returning at your may 21st council meeting. >> Very good. May 21st for people that are interested in that. It will come back on may 21st. All right. With that [4:53:07 PM] being said, we go back and we. Now, I guess what we need. We have a motion and now we have a motion to amend item number 57. So we will go back to the main motion as amended on item number 57. Is there discussion on item number 57 as amended? >> I'm signed up to speak on this mayor. Yeah. >> Okay. Well then, come on down. We've been waiting for you. >> Nobody called me, I don't think. >> Mayor, we pulled that off consent, so I didn't call speakers for that. >> I'm teasing. I was teasing Mr. Bunch. He doesn't take the joke very well, but I was teasing him. >> I had. >> Yeah, I'm fine. We're getting ready to call speakers. So you're right. Mr. Bunch is right. I jump the gun. >> Thank you. Mayor, council members. Bill bunch, executive director, district five. First, I have a whole raft of points of order here. You can't do first reading on an ordinance [4:54:08 PM] when there is no such ordinance. You can't amend an ordinance when there's no such ordinance that you're violating the city charter. There's no ordinance in the backup. I don't know what you're talking about. Secondly, you have all the posting violations of the Texas open meetings act that we still have on litigation with the statesman flood. You put this as zoning. There's all kinds of things in here that are have nothing to do with zoning. I don't know why you would continue to do this. The posted notice says we're amending from pod to pod, which tells people nothing, unlike our traditional zoning categories, we say sf one to multifamily. You know, mf people understand that pod to pod amendment basically tells the reader who's not an expert, who's not y'all, that there's no change at all. There's dozens of items in here. [4:55:09 PM] You can't do this. I'll say it again and only give somebody two minutes. That's completely unreasonable given the complexity, but it's also illegal because there's a whole lot more than one item, the summary of what you're talking about that just gives us an outline is amendments to an ordinance that are not just a to Z, but they're a to Z plus a to double, a to double I. And some of these are horrible. You're losing 79 acres, 78 acres of open space. You're saying we're going to put a golf course in the critical water quality zone with all the fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides. That's nasty. You're talking about getting rid of a commitment to build two soccer fields. Thank you for the public. You're cutting me off at two minutes. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And I have someone donating [4:56:10 PM] two minutes. >> Well, did they sign up to speak? >> Sharon Blythe? >> Yeah. >> You will have four minutes. >> You'll have four minutes. >> Okay. Thank you very much. I very much approve this. And thank you, council member Fuentes, for bringing this forward. This fits very nicely with trying to do as much economically and what we can out there in that district. When I was reading the backup, I have to agree that a lot of it I didn't understand. So as I started looking at it, I said, you know, really what is Cota? What? What are we looking at here? And so I thought I'd point some of these things out to you during the covid crisis, they were shut down. You said the council shut them down like they shut every other business down. And all of a sudden, unfortunately, this was when f1 was coming and they were in a serious situation. They had to lay off people because >> Unlike the government, if you don't have money coming in, you can't pay your people. But [4:57:11 PM] you know what they did in in covid. Despite the serious layoffs and the financial problems, Cota donated 2 million to the food bank. 2 million meals. How many people did not starve? Because what Cota did. Then, of course, there was a problem of how are we getting these people shots? And Cota had the first drive through shot and and that that went on and on. And so they came to the community, even though they were hurting with everything else. Goodwill was getting things and they couldn't store them during this area, Cota said. Bring them up to us. You can bring your trucks here and you can and store them here during weather crises. And there's a lot out in that part of town. Cota always has been open for the governments to come in and use their facility as a staging [4:58:11 PM] area. They're more than just trees and things like that. This is a major impact not only on the money. I mean, we know how how important f1 is and we know what they bring in. But there's a lot more out there. Another thing I would like to point out, and that is when the police were on their knees when we were defunding police. And you know how I hated that the a P a decided that they would have a picnic, a morale picnic for their people. And someone called me up and said, would you mind calling Cota and see if they'd donate $500? And I did that. And you know what the answer is? $500. They can come out here. We will host them. They came out to Cota. They've been doing that for for I think it's four years. The children of police and the police. Free hot dog for each kid, a drink they could ride free on the little rides. And one of the people said to me, they invited me and I was happy to go. And she said, they're treating us so well here. And it kind of [4:59:12 PM] made me feel bad that people think that they shouldn't treat our our police very well. The other thing is when George Pastore, one of our police officers, was tragically killed, police all over the state of Texas wanted to come to the funeral, and Cota opened their door. And that's where it was. And even more touching to me was, and I think Bobby paid this for himself, this huge flag on the back of the of the amphitheater, the American flag. And when you looked up there and you saw that officer, he gave his life and that flag, that's the kind of organization that Cota is. And they have done countless things for the del valle district. So I just wanted you to look at that as it's more than just numbers. It's what are they doing for our community? And this we we are blessed to have this. And you combine this with this new hotel convention center. I mean, it's a win for everything. And I thank you so much for [5:00:13 PM] bringing it forward. Thank you. >> Thank you, miss Terrell. >> Switching to remote speaker Luke Charlton. >> Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Thank you. Councilmember Fuentes and other council members for taking this up. And also all the hard work you've put in today. It's been a long day for everybody, so I'll make it short and sweet. Speaking in favor of item 57. My name is Luke Charlton. I'm the chief operating officer of Rita development. We are proposing to build the hotel on the Cota premises and in favor of this pud, because we believe it clarifies a lot of unclear drafting in the original pud. And this amendment is necessary for us to be able to construct the improvements. Thank you all for your time. >> Thank you. >> Moving back to in person speakers, Willie Gonzalez, Gus Trujillo, Marquita Presley, [5:01:16 PM] Tanisha Marberry, Michael Whalen, Daniela silva. >> Good afternoon, mayor and council. My name is Daniel silva. I'm a resident of district three. And here in my personal capacity, for the record, I am a union member of nolsw uaw local 2320, an active participant of the central labor council through my day job, and am generally a massive supporter of unions and union jobs. What really keeps me up at night is that capitalism, billionaires, and lawmakers have created a false dichotomy, making us feel like we either prioritize union jobs or prioritize our collective future by protecting the environment. Since this pod was approved back in 2023, amendments have been made, and each one was used by developers to make incremental requests as a tactical way to get away with devastating changes. What was originally a project with land set aside for affordable housing, soccer fields and parkland, has morphed into a luxury resort for out-of-town [5:02:16 PM] visitors. 1000 room luxury hotel, helipad, convention center practice racetrack, golf course in the water quality zone, two buildings in the floodplain, swimming pools, illuminated signage at night and no noise barrier to protect the nearby community from the additional racetrack. There are at least six other golf courses within ten miles of this project. Do we really need another one in town? Built in a critical water quality zone, that means it's positioned right next to a creek and all the pollutants will leach into it. What is being offered in exchange for all of this destruction is just 0.87 acres of wetland mitigation. Think about 0.87 acres on a thousand acre lot. It's a pittance. We are on the cusp of stage four critical drought. For the first time in recorded history, Corpus Christi is running out of water. Texas is at the forefront of data center colonization. We must protect what little water we have and using it on golf courses and luxury hotels for out of town, ultra wealthy, is not it? No amount of hotel occupancy tax funds will help solve our water crisis. I understand the amount of money and jobs this project [5:03:17 PM] will bring into the city, and both of which are deeply needed in today's economy. But selling off tomorrow in order to pay for today is the extractive and scarcity mindset that billionaires who control our economy have conditioned most of us to make decisions through. Please consider taking the time between now and may to think about these ecological ecological devastation. >> Thank you. >> That concludes all speakers on item 57. >> Members. That concludes all the speakers on item number 57. You've heard the motion is to approve item number 57 on first reading only. It will come back on second and third reading on may 21st. It is as it was amended, with the direction of with what was read by miss Hardin and the direction in the motion to amend by council member Fuentes. Is there any discussion? Yes. Councilmember Fuentes. >> Thank you. And I just want to again emphasize this is on first reading. Only the ordinance is in. The backup starts on page 62 of the staff report. This has been a very long process to amend. The putt [5:04:19 PM] has gone through several zoning and planning commissions, environmental commission and and parks and rec board as well. And through that work and through the recommendations and the feedback from our volunteer commissioners and through the work of our district two office, the way the putt stands before us is in a really strong place. And so I think there's been a lot of efforts to ensure that the community gets the benefits that our del valle community deserves. And certainly there have been a lot of modifications and improvements to the original proposal. So I just want to highlight that and flag that. My motion that I added to it really hones in on the transportation piece. Circuit of the Americas. Cap metro are all in agreement that we need to get a bus stop out at Cota, especially with us having this type of activity in the area. We're going to have 900 people in and out of the hotel activity, so we want to make sure that we get that long awaited bus stop. So I'm really pleased to offer that motion. I'm sure that conversations move forward and that we're able to improve public [5:05:20 PM] transportation access. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any further discussion on item number 57, as amended? Without objection, item number 57, as amended, is adopted on first reading only with council member harper-madison absent members. That concludes all of the items that have been posted on the agenda for the Austin city council on this April 23rd, 2026 regular meeting. So without objection, the Austin city council is now adjourned at 5:05 P.M. Thanks, everybody.