From deep dives to creative thinking, Alison Alter brought an innovative approach to her policy work

When Alison Alter came into office in 2017, her primary issues were parks, climate change and responsible growth. That was just a preview. Over the next eight years, the District 10 City Council member built an expansive policy portfolio that extended well beyond its initial focus.

On a late afternoon in December, Alter reflected on her record of achievements, including an overhaul of the Austin Police Department’s response to sexual assaults, increased wildfire preparedness measures and improved child care opportunities, which helped lead to the successful Travis County tax rate election to expand access to affordable child care.

Alter spent much of her final year in office closing the loop on many of her initiatives from previous years. But even with her extensive reach on citywide issues, she is quick to point to her lesser-known record serving her constituents.

“I’m really proud that my District 10 team and I are known for being attentive, responsive and good communicators who will work to find solutions big and small,” she said. She noted several quality-of-life and safety improvements for the district during her tenure, including the acquisition of new parks and preserve spaces, renovated recreational facilities and playscapes, two new fire and EMS stations, improved libraries, better utility reliability with new vegetation management protocols, safe routes to schools and other mobility improvements.

Those who have worked with Alter are familiar with her passion, her attention to detail and her penchant for pressing onward with a policy matter until its completion, even if it takes an entire Council term or two.

“She has really challenged us – publicly and privately, painfully and nicely at times,” Fire Chief Joel Baker said during a recent Council briefing on the updated draft of the Wildland-Urban Interface code. “But her challenge to us has made the Austin Fire Department one of the most prepared fire departments in the state, if not the country.”

On other areas of public safety, Alter in 2019 called for evaluating and reforming the Austin Police Department’s handling of sexual assault cases. The notoriously troubled sex crimes unit became the target of two lawsuits, which the city has since settled. Now, Alter said, the city is better able to meet the needs of sexual assault survivors and “help them find healing and justice” through APD’s relatively new Collective Sex Crimes Response Model. “We are at a place where we now have survivors sitting down with the chief of police and working actively to make changes.”

From there, she secured more funding to shore up the staffing levels in the Victim Services Division, adding more counselors and equipment; she led on the creation of a gun violence prevention task force and obtained funding in the 2021 budget to create the Office of Violence Prevention. Following the 2021 arson of her synagogue and several antisemitic displays in her district, she brought forward a resolution calling for strengthening the city’s response to all hate crimes. This led to the creation of the city’s anti-hate campaign, We All Belong, which Alter jump-started with funding obtained through a budget amendment.

Alter also led on the creation of the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Officer, adding more physicians and physician assistants to support Austin-Travis County EMS by delivering care to patients through telehealth or in the field, reducing medical costs for patients and freeing up ambulances and emergency rooms for those with critical needs. Because of her work in this area of ​​collaborative health care, she was invited to speak at the National Association of EMS Physicians’ annual conference this year.

Over her last two years in office, Alter worked with the Economic Development Department and the Diversity and Ethnic Chamber Alliance (comprising the LGBT, Hispanic, Black and Asian chambers of commerce) to develop the soon-to-be-released Regional Economic Development plan, a road map for the chambers to strengthen their support of small and local businesses in local hiring, job creation, marketing and other activities.

“We are empowering those chambers to do what they do best, which is to help the small businesses and their communities get the resources and the access they need so they can succeed in providing economic opportunities for everyone,” she said.

Alter’s climate and environmental work has been wide-ranging. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she led on an initiative to create the Austin Civilian Conservation Corps, a city workforce development program that provides a pipeline for green jobs and other employment opportunities.

She worked with University of Texas faculty and city staff in helping establish, with federal dollars, the UT City Climate Co-Lab to drive Austin-specific research and policy related to climate impact. The city formalized the partnership in the 2023-2024 budget, and Alter secured additional funding for the project during this year’s budget process.

“It’s going to allow us to use research and data science and simulations to better plan for our climate future so we could be more resilient,” she said.

Additionally, she and her staff worked with Austin Resource Recovery to pilot a hazardous waste curbside pickup program in District 10, which goes citywide in 2025.

As chair of the Audit and Finance Committee, she gained a wide perspective on how the city operates – from employee pensions, to cybersecurity, to the 911 call center and more.

Summing up her eight years on the dais, Alter is pleased she was able to broaden her policy interests beyond her initial focus areas.

“I loved being able to go deep into certain policy areas and push the envelope, and find people in our city who have great ideas and work with them to create something that the country is now watching out for in different ways,” she said. “This year we were landing a lot of the planes on some of these things like child care and the (Austin Energy) generation plan. I really wanted to solidify those successes and make sure that my successor and the Council could build on that work.”

Alter’s successor, Mark Duchen, will step into the District 10 role in January.

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Posted In: City Council, District 10