Council approves climate funding and telework policies

Austin’s environmental activists don’t always agree with one another on local policy issues, but they spoke with one voice Thursday in support of a resolution to beef up funding for the city’s many ambitious climate plans.

As expected, City Council passed the resolution, which sponsoring Council Member Ryan Alter modified to incorporate several amendments. The vote was 10-1, with Council Member Mackenzie Kelly dissenting, stating her concerns about the ultimate cost to taxpayers.

Save for brief comments from Council members, there was no discussion on the measure since Council hashed out consternations over a potential 2024 bond election at Tuesday’s work session. It’s still uncertain whether there will be a bond election this year, but if Council heeds the debt concerns of the interim city manager and financial staff, it’s possible there won’t be a ballot measure on climate until 2026. The resolution also calls for other potential funding mechanisms, such as grant dollars and utility rates and fees.

While Thursday’s speakers represented a cross-section of advocates with varying environmental interests, they expressed a clear and unified desire for the city to put its money where its mouth is on climate issues.

“We think of ourselves as a very environmental city, but from my perspective we have been woefully underfunded related to a variety of environmental initiatives,” said Lucia Athens, Austin’s former chief sustainability officer, who served in her position for 12 years. “It’s important that many of the plans named in the resolution be fully funded. These plans are critical for us to maintain the quality of life that we currently enjoy and want to maintain here in Austin to keep pace with the breakneck pace of development.”

The resolution garnered student favor as well. Charles Mossberger, a political science student at St. Edward’s University, attended the Council meeting with his classmates and visibly exuded enthusiasm as he spoke in support of the item.

In his comments before the vote, Alter recalled the testimony of residents from the Santa Rita Courts public housing community, who recently came before Council to talk about “the walls in their homes that get so hot during the summer that they literally feel like they are baking, and how they’re so cold during the winter that they are just chilled to their bones.

“This is not just a housing story,” Alter said, “it’s a climate story. This is what more and more Austinites are facing because our summers are getting hotter and winter storms are so bad that we’re naming them like hurricanes. We cannot accept this as the new normal. It’s not normal to pray that our electricity will work when we need it most; it’s not normal for my 4-year-old daughter to tell me she doesn’t want to go to the playground because the slide burns her legs; it’s not normal to face wildfires from all directions and hope the next one isn’t next door.”

Alter’s item, co-sponsored by Council members Vanessa Fuentes, José Velásquez, Paige Ellis, Chito Vela and Zo Qadri, also drew direct and indirect support from leaders of Local 1624 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the union representing city and county workers. The climate measure coincidentally tied in with two other agenda items related to the city’s revised telework policy, which will be incorporated into the Climate Equity Plan and the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan. Both items passed with Fuentes’ amendments to encourage more teleworking citywide and to establish a goal to allow for no fewer than 85 percent of eligible city employees to participate in the telework program.

Last year, interim City Manager Jesús Garza found himself in conflict with AFSCME when he ordered most employees back to city offices, a directive that threatened to upend a telework system in place since the pandemic. Under pressure from AFSCME, however, Garza agreed to tap the brakes and work with union representatives on a compromise. City boards and commissions also got involved, both in solidarity with the union and to ensure the city meets its environmental and transportation goals. Finally, all sides came to an agreement on a telework policy. Nevertheless, testimony from some union representatives Thursday made clear that the issue is still a sore point.

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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