Drawing on his last two years, Qadri hopes to expand his leadership on mobility
Thursday, January 2, 2025 by
Amy Smith After a busy year, Zo Qadri has set his sights on taking on more mobility work in 2025.
That seems an apt role for the City Council member who represents District 9, which covers Downtown, the University of Texas and much of Central Austin.
When the mayor hands down new committee assignments – a decision typically made with input from each Council member – Qadri hopes he’s able to secure a seat on either the Capital Metro board or CAMPO, also known as the Central Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. Qadri also expects to remain on Council’s Mobility Committee, where he currently serves as vice chair.
Looking back on his work in 2024, Qadri said he was happy to see Council’s approval in November of funding the Red River Cultural District.
“That’s something I’m really proud of,” Qadri said of the $150,000 funding authorized for the district each year for four years. “Making sure that we’re really taking care of our artists and creatives in the city is extremely important.”
The funding will help the district’s managing organization, the Red River Merchants Association, pay for marketing, heritage and cultural preservation, artistic and cultural productions and economic development programming critical to remaining a tourist destination.
Qadri and his team also worked with the city Transportation and Public Works Department on new micromobility rules regarding scooters – reducing the number of scooters from 14,000 to 8,700 and reducing the scooters’ maximum speed from 15 miles per hour to 10 mph between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in the main entertainment districts.
On voting rights issues, Qadri brought forward a resolution to increase the city’s role in voter registration efforts by partnering with Travis County and other nearby counties.
“I was really excited about working with a lot of students in the area on that item,” he said. The goal is for would-be voters to be able to register in city buildings, with city employees volunteering as deputy registrars. Qadri also wants to see voter registration information distributed to new utility customers. The city manager is expected to provide Council with cost estimates for such a program in May.
Qadri also passed a resolution calling for a feasibility study on creating a public bank – a relatively new concept that cities like Philadelphia, San Francisco and Los Angeles are exploring. A staff memo in November estimated that start-up costs would run several million dollars and that potential funding sources or partnerships would need to be identified, followed by further study.
During this year’s budget process, Qadri succeeded in obtaining funding for the Mental Health Diversion pilot program, a collaboration that includes the city, Travis County, Central Health, Integral Health and the Downtown Community Court.
“As elected officials, as public servants, we should be judged on how we treat our most vulnerable communities and making sure that we continue to do right by them,” he said.
In a similar vein, Qadri also secured funding to expand the Homelessness Engagement Assistance Response Team, or HEART, a group of trained outreach professionals who work with nonviolent unhoused people in the Downtown area to reduce 911 calls, minimize interactions with police and increase access to services, shelter and housing programs.
“A lot of folks in the Downtown area were really excited about that item and see it across the finish line,” Qadri said.
On labor issues, Qadri brought a resolution in support of employees of YouTube Music, a Google subsidiary, which unexpectedly garnered national attention when Google’s contracting company, Cognizant, fired the workers as they were testifying in support of the item. Qadri successfully pressed ahead with the resolution supporting the workers’ right to organize, which Council passed with nine votes.
“We’ve made sure that we continue to stand with workers,” Qadri said.
All in all, he continued, “I’ve very much appreciated the two years that I’ve been able to serve, and I think as a Council, we’re on the same page … doing right by those that elected us. I think everyone, despite some of the difficulties, everyone really came together, and we were all able to get a little bit of of what we wanted.”
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