Part I: District 7 Council candidates talk public safety, climate resilience, land use

This is Part I of a two-part series profiling the candidates running for Austin City Council’s District 7 seat. Part II will be published on Tuesday.

Mayor Pro Tem Leslie Pool, who has represented North Central Austin since the creation of the district-based 10-1 City Council system in 2014, is completing her final term on Council. In a packed race, six candidates are vying to replace her and serve as the second-ever representative for Council District 7.

Some of the candidates differ in their approaches to land use, and in their perspectives on the recent, contentious Home Options for Mobility and Equity (HOME) amendments. However, the six contenders seem to agree on major priorities for District 7 and the city: emergency preparedness, climate resilience, public safety, and housing.

Edwin Bautista

Allandale resident Edwin Bautista believes his lived experiences as the son of Mexican immigrants, a member of Austin’s LGBTQ+ community, and a member of Generation Z will bring a fresh perspective to Council. After moving to Austin in 2016 to pursue a B.A. in urban planning, he says he experienced Austin’s housing crisis firsthand while trying to access affordable housing in undergrad. Bautista, who earned his real estate license in 2017, holds a master’s degree in community and regional planning from UT. Currently he works as a planner at GrantWorks, facilitating access to Community Development funding for rural Texas communities.

Bautista has previously served on the West Campus and Highland neighborhood associations, and the city of Austin’s College Student Commission, as well as on the Project Connect Anti-Displacement Community Review Panel. “One of the most critical issues the Council will face is how to manage Austin’s growth in a way that is sustainable and equitable,” Bautista told the Austin Monitor. “The latter includes tackling housing affordability by reforming our Land Development Code, ensuring that transit-oriented development is genuinely equitable and integrating climate resilience into every aspect of city planning.”

If elected, Bautista says his priorities include increased density along transit corridors, support for equitable transit-oriented development, and stronger protections for renters and homeowners facing displacement. “I will also work to make sure that the voices of all residents, especially those who have been historically marginalized, are included in the decision-making process,” he added.

Bautista’s other goals include creating more opportunities for public engagement (if elected, he wants to create an Office of Community Engagement) and supporting the implementation of Project Connect and related anti-displacement initiatives. His campaign garnered some attention earlier this year when he proposed transitioning the city to a strong-mayor form of governance, restructuring the 10 Council districts, and eliminating the city manager role. “Now is the time for fresh voices and innovative ideas to ensure our city’s growth benefits all Austinites,” he said.

Gary Bledsoe

Gary Bledsoe, a civil rights attorney and former president of the Texas NAACP, differs from outgoing Mayor Pro Tem Pool when it comes to land use. Bledsoe says he will advocate for the creation of “diverse and affordable housing options,” but believes District 7 deserved better when it came to the recent HOME reforms, which he says were rushed and involved too many unknowns. Referencing the hours of public testimony before each of the recent HOME votes, he told the Monitor he was concerned residents of color were not being heard. “HOME will address providing more homes pursuant to a free market system, but the empirical data is overwhelming that this will not include those below 80 percent (of Austin’s Median Family Income)”.

Bledsoe boasts an impressive resume when it comes to civil rights advocacy and public safety reform. As a UT Law alum and the former acting dean of the Thurgood Marshall School of Law, he says he has spent most of his life fighting for equal rights. In Austin, he has coordinated efforts to improve police transparency, including installing video cameras in APD vehicles. Bledsoe told the Monitor he is running to “restore lost integrity and commitment to open government” at City Hall.

If elected, Bledsoe says he is committed to implementing Austin’s Climate Equity Plan, and to identifying other potential funding sources to improve Austin’s climate resiliency, including climate bond initiatives and leveraging funding from the Inflation Reduction Act.

Bledsoe also promises to prioritize equity for working people in Austin, especially creatives and families earning below the median income. “We want our teachers, state workers, individuals on fixed incomes, artists, musicians and others to be able to live here,” he told the Monitor. Bledsoe believes this is a “watershed moment” for the city: “Either we will keep Austin special or we will not.”

 

Pierre Nguyễn

First responder and Coast Guard member Pierre Nguyễn says that seeing the resilience of communities in times of crisis motivates him to serve. As the son of Vietnamese refugees and a trained firefighter and EMT, Nguyễn is no stranger to grit. If elected, he pledges to improve citywide disaster preparedness by expanding neighborhood resilience hubs and community emergency response trainings.

After his experiences coordinating disaster response with American YouthWorks and the Medical Reserve Corps and serving on the city’s Asian American Quality of Life Commission, Nguyễn believes in a tailored and localized approach to community engagement. He supports the expansion of language access programs and the creation of neighborhood-led Quality of Life plans, as well as community-based climate planning initiatives. “One challenge I’ve seen with the narrative of the city is they’re creating policies that are one-size-fits-all,” Nguyễn said.

Nguyễn also serves on the city’s Public Safety Commission. He says he believes we can improve emergency response times while also bolstering police accountability and transparency. He supports data-driven policing and strategies that focus on building trust between law enforcement and community members and incorporating feedback from Austinites. “Police have been in an emergency state in Austin. When you’re in that survival mode, you can’t do the relationship building that’s necessary to really have effective community policing,” he told the Monitor.

When it comes to land use, Nguyễn says the recent HOME code amendments were rushed. He is concerned that our infrastructure won’t be able to keep up with their implementation: “There really needs to be more of a critical lens of focusing on resiliency first instead of being reactionary to some of the housing challenges going on.”

Nguyễn also says that, if elected, he will work to address overcrowding at the Austin Animal Center and implement a pet-friendly housing initiative.

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Posted In: Elections, District 7