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| JOSIAH JAMES INGALLS |
| FOR AUSTIN CITY COUNCIL PLACE 1 |
| 2011 |
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Our City government has failed to provide the transparency the people deserve. The City does not provide accurate meeting minutes of City Council meetings. Instead the City continues to keep the people in the dark by not providing records that go beyond the resolution and if the resolution was adopted or not. As your City Council member I would propose a resolution that would mandate that the City posts full meeting minutes and full video footage of City Council meetings on the City’s website. This would not only bring transparency to our City government but it would also make this information readily accessible to those who are unable to attend City Council meetings.
special interest groups have representation. This is why I am a strong supporter of single-member districts. As your City Council member I would continue my work on placing single-member districts on the ballot for November 2011. Budget priorities The current City Council has not delivered on their promise for transparency on the City budget. As your City Council member I would propose a City ordinance that requires all persons with the authority to make purchases on behalf of any branch of local government must document the following: who approved the purchase, who made the purchase, what was purchased, the company from which the purchase was made, and how much the purchase was including all taxes and shipping. This documentation would have to be delivered to City Hall to be put on the City’s website. I will only support budget cuts that don’t affect the delivery and effectiveness of our emergency services. I will work to ensure that our social services such as affordable housing, mental health care and drug rehabilitation services are properly funded.
Under the law the City must balance the budget without a deficit, but yet past and present City Council members have manipulated the law by using bond spending as a way of having a negative budget. This in turn costs the tax payers far more because not only do we pay for the projects the City wants but we are also paying millions in interest to the lender. I believe that we, as a society, have seen far too much of government spending beyond its means. Economic Development I believe that Austin needs to continue to support our local small businesses and whenever possible we should contract out City work to local businesses. Austin should continue working to diversify our job market in order to ensure that we can survive any downturn in the economy. We should also be equally distributing funds for economic growth programs in different job markets to encourage new businesses and corporations to move to Austin while encouraging job training programs.
City Council has made many failed attempts to bring affordable housing to Austin in order to bring down the homeless population. As your City Council member I will take a broad approach to homelessness. I believe that in order to effectively lower the homeless rate in Austin you must fight the causes of homelessness equally. The City should equally fund affordable housing, mental health availability, and drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs along with economic growth programs.
I would not support budget cuts that would affect the delivery of the social services Austin provides. The City should work with Travis County in order to make mental health assistance a larger part of the Travis County Medical Assistance Program as well as offering more assistance to our local MHMR in order to expand their services.
Austin has made great strides to become an environmentally friendly city, but our City government has failed to provide an affordable and effective recycling program. I would propose that City Council adopt a long term plan to expand Austin's Solid Waste Services to include recycling for all residential and commercial properties, which would also include a new state-of-the-art recycling facility. This would effectively allow Austin to sell its recyclable materials to manufacturers in order to supplement the loss of revenues from Austin Energy as we encourage our citizens to be more energy efficient. Despite the fact that Austin has a watering restriction ordinance, businesses and residential properties such as apartment complexes continuously violate our watering restrictions, increasing the demand for water. As a result City Council has now approved Water Treatment Plant 4 knowing full well that the Austin water plants are one of our biggest polluters. As your City Council member I will work to implement stiff penalties for violators of Austin’s water restriction ordinance while increasing our efforts to enforce our City ordinances designed to protect the environment.
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport As your City Council member I will do everything within my legal power to prevent the use of full body scanners at ABIA. These scanners are a direct violation of our civil liberties and should not be tolerated by our citizens or our local government. Toll Roads I would support a resolution that would prevent current and future City Council members from passing any resolution that would approve any and all financial assistance for new toll roads while working towards a long term goal of making our current toll roads free to the general public. Bike Use I will continue to support Austin’s efforts to provide bike lanes on all new roads as well as implementing bike lanes on expansions of existing roads whenever possible. Capital Metro Capital Metro has become a self-serving, multi-million dollar corporation that no longer provides an affordable public transportation system. I would support efforts to break Capital Metro’s monopoly on providing public transportation services to Austin. I also would support no longer giving public funds to Capital Metro. They have the financial capability to fund their own operations. Instead I would promote using the same public funds to establish a competitor company owned by the City of Austin. This will effectively bring affordable public transportation to Austin.
I will continue to support the efforts to convert Austin Energy to a wind and solar energy plant in order to effectively reduce Austin’s carbon footprint. I also will work to continue Austin’s tax breaks for land owners who install energy efficient technologies.
I will work to prevent development in Austin’s wetlands and aquifer recharge zones while working to purchase this property and rezone it as a public park to prevent development in the future. Parks and Trails I believe that Austin should continue to fund its parks and trails because it contributes to the quality of life of Austin citizens. As your City Council member I would push for new management of Austin’s parks and trails. Some of the current management of Austin’s parks and trails worked to do away with the Trail of Lights. In 2009 we saw it to be a reality; and now they have set out to do away with the dog parks, stating that it is a waste of time and money. As your City Council member I will do everything in my power to ensure that the Trail of Lights continues next year and that none of our parks are closed.
In the 2009 elections Austin’s website came under fire and candidates vowed to improve the City’s website, but yet no real changes have occurred. As your City Council member I will work to bring full video footage of the City Council meetings along with complete transcripts of meeting minutes to the City’s website. |
| Pol adv paid for by Josiah Ingalls Campaign, Tiffany Moya-Sanchez treasurer, 3005 S. Lamar Blvd., Ste. D109-177, Austin, TX, 78704 This campaign has not agreed to comply with the contribution and expenditure limits of the Austin Fair Campaign Chapter. Accordingly, no public funds will be utilized. |
