Mike Siegel plans to balance ‘big goals and broad ambitions’ with pragmatism during his first year on Council

After winning a close runoff election on Dec. 15, incoming District 7 City Council Member Mike Siegel told the Austin Monitor he is feeling “tired, busy and excited.”

Siegel, a former assistant city attorney and organizer with Ground Game Texas, beat out runoff opponent Gary Bledsoe by around 200 votes. The two were the top contenders from an initial crowded field of six candidates vying to represent outgoing Mayor Pro Tem Leslie Pool’s district in North Central Austin.

Siegel said he has “big goals and broad ambitions” for issues like climate resilience, housing, workers’ rights and public safety reform, but he also hopes to plug into some of the work Council has already been doing on these policy areas. He hopes his legacy as a Council member will include developing strong ways of collaborating, researching and solving problems on a day-to-day basis.

“Job No. 1 is setting up a really strong Council office staff … people who are effective, efficient, … progressive at heart but also practical,” Siegel told the Monitor. He is also prioritizing developing relationships with his new colleagues on Council.

During the runoff, Siegel highlighted his past experience standing up to conservative state leaders. He commended the current dais for navigating the ongoing, challenging dynamic with the state Legislature: “I feel like Council made some very brave and controversial decisions,” he said. “Fighting to protect Project Connect … was an important part of the last legislative session. Apparently, we’re going to have to do that again.”

Siegel’s support for public transit ties into one of his campaign’s key issues: climate resilience.

“I started my campaign (by) talking about climate action and all the different ways the city … through its electric, water and waste management utilities, through its departments and programs … how we could make a tremendous impact,” he said, adding that his goals are to “create good jobs in a renewable energy economy, clean up pollution and really prioritize investment in the communities that have been most negatively impacted.”

In addition to contributing to several climate initiatives the current Council has worked on, such as the potential climate bond, Siegel has some ideas he hopes the city will explore.

“One of the things I’m interested in adding to the conversation (is) basically more entrepreneurial things that the city could do to advance our climate goals … (such as) partnerships with other government agencies as well as … for-profit companies (or) nonprofits,” he told the Monitor. “I think there’s a lot of multiplying we could do to catalyze … bigger movement on climate action.”

For instance, Siegel suggested Austin Energy might partner with private companies like Tesla to build battery storage.

“I think there’s a big question about our Generation Plan. … How do we encourage utility-scale battery manufacturing in the Austin area? Because … one of the missing links of our Generation Plan is having this backup power that’s not reliant on fossil fuels,” he said.

Siegel also commented on some of the recent policy debates surrounding homelessness, public safety and the HOME ordinances.

“I will be one of 11 people (on Council). … I know a lot of ideas have already been tried,” Siegel said of Council’s approach to homelessness. “But I definitely want to work on that and put my shoulder to the wheel.” Siegel noted that emergency shelters get people off of the streets but are not a comfortable or long-term solution for most people experiencing homelessness. He aims to approach this issue from a public health lens: more support for longer-term housing and individuals at risk of homelessness, improved accessibility of social services and partnership at local, state and national levels.

On the issue of public safety, Siegel emphasized that he wanted to look more closely at some of the systemic challenges impacting Austin’s police response times.

“We’ve committed to the budget side of … public safety … but what about … the other services that we need?” he asked. “We’ve got the (police) contract in place. How do we improve police response times? How do we improve the police academy so less cadets quit during each class? How do we improve officer retention?”

Siegel adopted a similarly system-focused lens when speaking about the recent contentious HOME ordinances.

“My position on the HOME initiative was that I support it, and it’s not enough. It’s not going to deeply address affordability in our community. It’s not going to desegregate Austin,” he told the Monitor.

“I think the next steps are to actually fulfill the promise of HOME,” Siegel added. He noted that his reasons for supporting the code changes were because he believed they had potential to bolster climate resilience by mitigating sprawl and “car culture,” to create more taxable space for the city (by building on new lots) without raising property taxes and to generate more accessible housing for Austin’s workers.

“I heard over and over again that our nurses and teachers and electrical workers – the people who really power Austin and make it this wonderful place – can’t afford to live in the city,” Siegel said. “To me, it’s a worker fairness issue to make housing in more income levels in more parts of the city available for working-class people.”

He believes the “Site Plan Lite” initiatives, which aim to streamline some permitting processes, could be a lever for the city to negotiate with builders to guarantee some permanently affordable housing.

Siegel said he also wants to get into the details of constituent services.

“I think District 7 has very deep equity issues,” he told the Monitor, citing food insecurity as one example. “I don’t think [these equity issues are] necessarily unique to this district, but they are pronounced. … I think there’s a fair amount of inequity between the core, older parts of the district and the parts that were more recently incorporated.”

Siegel added that he’d like to see some pools, parks or libraries added to these newer areas of the district, explaining that some District 7 neighborhoods are currently closer to Pflugerville amenities than Austin ones.

“I want to more deeply understand the equity issues in the district and figure out how both through city programs and partnerships with the schools and the county … we can take more action,” he said.

Siegel expressed his gratitude and his desire to serve all members of his district.

“I am extremely grateful for the hundreds of people and dozens of organizations that worked on my campaign,” he said. “Frankly, for the people who opposed me, I just want to deliver for you too. … I want to prove through my actions that I’m going to be a strong representative.”

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Posted In: City Council, District 7