Fuentes put her focus on working families in 2022

Elected to represent Southeast Austin’s District 2 in 2020, City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes has quickly become one of the more accessible and well-known members of the dais within the community.

That was intentional, Fuentes told the Austin Monitor. It’s notoriously difficult for residents of Southeast Austin to regularly visit City Hall.

“It was really important to me to basically let the people in,” Fuentes said. “For me, it was even more important to leverage every mode of communication to share back and to share out, and to really provide that opportunity for Austinites to be involved and engaged.”

That meant putting considerable resources into communications and media strategy. Her office has been a resource for city matters on social media, and she has been a regular presence in the media.

Fuentes’ first year on the dais was overwhelmingly focused on pandemic and Winter Storm Uri response. In 2022, her office was able to focus on broader issues such as city services.

One of Fuentes’ major wins was pushing for a $20 minimum wage for city employees. She was a loud voice in favor of raising the wage more than the initial $18 per hour in the draft budget.

“What helped us be so successful to deliver on $20 as the minimum wage – one of the highest in the country – is we really worked to center employee voices,” she said.

She recalls in vivid detail the many stories during testimony that day of Austinites living paycheck to paycheck.

Her office also worked to commission a study on increased paid parental leave; another part of her plan to find ways to lift the burden on working families.

“This year for me has really been focused on working families and looking at what we are doing for working Austinites,” she said.

Her office fought to limit the increase of Austin Energy’s base rate, noting on the dais that many working people were already grappling with a rising cost of living.

“While we didn’t get what we wanted, we did get a more reasonable increase,” she said.

Fuentes noted Council’s work in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade to protect abortion rights within the city limits and provide free menstrual products in City Hall.

Next term, the city will contend with the rising cost and changes to the plans outlined in Project Connect, and she said Council will need to have discussions with the community about what the implementation looks like going forward. A big part of the process will be working to keep the trust of Austinites that the city is spending their funds wisely.

When it comes to housing and land development reform, Fuentes said the past election shows how much voters want to see decisive action. She is looking forward to seeing what incoming Mayor Kirk Watson will have on his agenda.

But, she emphasized, there is no time to waste. She said she has spoken to many residents who have returned to public life after the pandemic lockdowns “to an Austin they don’t recognize.”

Fixing that, she said, will require a holistic approach that involves affordability considerations, increased housing supply and further increasing worker wages.

“We need to act with urgency and to the scale of the housing crisis we’re in. Time is of the essence.”

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Posted In: City Council, District 2