All five mayoral candidates take the stage at forum

All five mayoral candidates participated in Wednesday’s mayoral forum, hosted by Austin PBS and the LBJ School of Public Affairs’ Urban Lab, to discuss major issues facing the city, including policing, housing, economic development and affordability. 

Policing was the first topic on the docket after the Austin police union and the city agreed to a $218 million, five-year contract this week that will be up for a City Council vote on Oct. 10. 

Candidates Doug Greco, Carmen Llanes Pulido and Kathie Tovo expressed support for strengthening public safety and concern about transparency and accountability in policing. 

“Our officers deserve a fair and competitive wage, and the voters deserve to make sure that the contract that is approved by the Council has the accountability measures in it that the voters approved and that the court has affirmed,” Tovo said. 

“In this particular contract, we have not seen all the details. But based on initial reports, it appears that the city is proposing to trade away the public will on transparency in a key measure,” Greco said, referring to voters’ support of the Austin Police Oversight Act and the court’s ruling that files containing conduct complaints and internal investigation results must be released. It is unclear how the contract will address the ruling, as the contract’s language has not been made publicly available yet, a divergence from previous years of contract negotiation. “We voted for transparency and we should not trade that away for a police contract. We should be able to pay our public safety officers well and support the voters’ will.”

Mayor Kirk Watson responded to these concerns by expressing his support for the contract and a need to increase the presence of public safety officers: “The No. 1 way for us to address the need of Austinites to feel safe and be safe is that we need to have more police officers,” Watson said. “Ultimately getting that police contract, that we now have the opportunity for (approving), will be the best approach.” 

Housing, development and affordability also emerged as a divisive topic as candidates Jeffery Bowen, Greco, Llanes Pulido and Tovo criticized the HOME initiative – passed by City Council during Watson’s administration – for both its lack of protection of affordable housing and the rising cost of living in the city. 

“Affordability first is a simple lie. It’s been affordability last since the very beginning,” Llanes Pulido said. “We can see what’s happening in all of our central areas where modest homes are scraped, lots are subdivided and these properties are sold for millions of dollars. … If we actually let people in, we could craft policies that bring us real affordable housing.”

“There was no provision within (the HOME initiative) for affordable housing, not even an affordable housing contribution,” Tovo said, also criticizing Council for permitting short-term rentals under the initiative. “If there are three units on the property, at least two of them can be investor-owned short-term rentals 100 percent of the time. That doesn’t create housing for people – that creates hotels.” 

Bowen agreed that the HOME initiative carried harmful flaws. “The negative impacts are still there because there was no affordability in either (phase).” 

Greco advocated for more measures to support residents’ access to housing.

“We have lost our working class (in Austin),” he said. “We need to double down on rental assistance, mortgage assistance, down payment assistance and loans for ADUs. Forty percent of homes in Austin are bought by institutional investors. … Families can’t compete with that. … We need a mayor who is going to fight for the working class.”

Candidates also discussed the displacement concerns as they related to Austin’s small businesses. 

While Greco criticized historical incentives for large corporations, he called for extending incentives to small businesses.

“We are subsidizing major manufacturers,” he said. “Why shouldn’t we subsidize small businesses? Including start-up costs, loan programs, ongoing support and – if they have to relocate – some assistance in relocating to a neighborhood in which that may be more viable.” 

Bowen, a small-business owner, echoed the need to boost support for small businesses: “I would like to see more emphasis and more economic development to keep small businesses open because they generate the sales tax revenue that helps fill the budget.” 

“We need to include our local business owners in our anti-displacement strategies and in our economic development strategies,” Llanes Pulido said. “Our businesses need actual, caring people who are going to look at how to pave the way for these programs. … We have champions in the Economic Development Department that just need the agency and leadership to work directly with our small businesses to preserve that culture that is going to ultimately help Austin thrive economically.” 

Watson acknowledged the need to preserve and protect the interests of small businesses and said that the city’s Economic Development Department is bringing forward a small-business incentives program.

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