Busy Council day includes a call for cease-fire in Gaza

City Council will hear once again from a coalition asking Council as a whole to call for a cease-fire in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Council members Vanessa Fuentes, Zo Qadri and José Velásquez last month issued a statement in support of the cease-fire. According to a news release from the Austin for Palestine Coalition, the group will gather both inside and outside City Hall during today’s Council meeting in hopes of garnering support for a cease-fire and release of hostages held by Hamas.

Earlier this week, the city’s Asian American Quality of Life Advisory Commission approved a resolution supporting a permanent cease-fire. In addition, the group called for the Austin Police Department and city staff to address antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab sentiments. Although a number of other cities have approved similar resolutions, it is not clear that Austin Council members other than the three who have already addressed the issue will be willing to add their names to the resolution.

In addition to holding a press conference outside City Hall, the group has a number of speakers who will be addressing Council during the citizen communication portion of the meeting at noon. They will also be sitting in the audience, like they did in December, holding signs in support of Palestinians.

More locally, the issue of homelessness tops this week’s Council agenda, with a number of items intended to address the issue, including funding of services for homeless people and funding of a study to determine how well the city and its partners are doing in providing and paying for those services.

Council will also consider a resolution from Mayor Kirk Watson and four other Council members directing the city manager to bring Council an ordinance setting pay and benefits for Austin police officers, including a provision preserving the Office of Police Oversight. The current ordinance, which Council approved last February without a vote of the Austin Police Association, is set to expire next month. The APA has not agreed to sit down with the city, but Watson and his colleagues want to make sure that pay and benefits continue to increase for officers.

Unless they items are postponed, which is always possible, Council will be looking at 35 zoning items on today’s agenda. At least three of those have enough neighborhood opposition to present a valid petition to the city. That means the item will need nine votes in order to pass.

At Tuesday’s work session, Council finished working out which Council members would serve on which Council committees. The following is a list of those Council committees and their officers:

• Audit and Finance: Alison Alter, chair. Leslie Pool, vice chair. Vanessa Fuentes, Mackenzie Kelly and Ryan Alter.
• Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee: This committee includes every Council member, with Pool as chair and Chito Vela as vice chair.
• Austin Water Oversight Committee: Pool, chair. Ryan Alter, vice chair. Alison Alter. Alison Alter told her colleagues on Tuesday that she thought this committee needed more members.
• Public Health Committee: Fuentes, chair. José Velásquez, vice chair. Ryan Alter and Zo Qadri.
• Housing and Planning Committee: Natasha Harper-Madison, chair. Ryan Alter, vice chair. Paige Ellis, Qadri and Mayor Kirk Watson.
• Mobility Committee: Ellis, chair. Qadri, vice chair. Vela, Harper-Madison and Kelly.
• Public Safety Committee: Watson, chair. Kelly, vice chair. Vela and Qadri.

Most of the outside committee appointments remain the same, with a few exceptions. Ellis had said on the City Council Message Board that she wished to step down from the Clean Air Coalition. However, when none of her colleagues volunteered to take over that duty, she said Tuesday that she would be willing to continue her service there. The list online does not include her name, but otherwise seems to be correct.

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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