Dear Neighbors,
It's been a difficult week in Austin with a freeze and a boil water notice. As I was about to click "send" on this newsletter, Austin Water Director Greg Meszaros announced his resignation. I will still be moving forward with my call for a third party audit of Austin Water because our community deserves answers and assurance that these incidents won’t continue to happen. I will have more information on both the audit and Austin Water’s change in leadership in my next newsletter, but today I want to share another piece of important news.
I believe every sexual assault survivor deserves healing and justice. That’s why I have worked with survivors to reform Austin’s sexual assault response system. Over the years, I have secured additional funding for victim services counselors, pushed for improvements with Austin’s DNA testing system, and fought to establish accountability from APD leadership. Last month, I was proud to move approval of a settlement for survivors of sexual assault who alleged their cases had been mishandled by the Austin Police Department and the District Attorney from 2006-2019. The settlement includes an official apology to the plaintiffs as well as significant policy changes and investments to improve investigations and services for survivors of sexual assault.
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Alongside the settlement, I provided additional direction to develop specialized training related to sex crimes and to implement additional policy reforms identified in an ongoing evaluation of the sexual assault response system that I previously sponsored. Both the settlement and my direction were unanimously approved by the Council. Read more about my direction and the settlement in these recent articles from Community Impact and KUT. |
After the vote last month, I shared a moment outside of City Hall with the survivors. I am grateful to these fifteen brave plaintiffs and their attorneys for speaking up and forcing systemic change. As your representative, I am committed to leading Austin to become a model for other cities seeking to improve their sexual assault response system and ending such violence in the first place. |
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To learn more about the challenges and opportunities for transforming our sexual assault response system, I invite you to view my remarks from the dais here. I also shared more of my thoughts on a recent episode of the podcast “This is Democracy” where I was joined in conversation by Hanna Senko, one of the plaintiffs.
I would like to conclude by thanking the many City staff and essential workers that helped us navigate last week’s freeze and boil water notice. Read about my call for an audit of Austin Water to prevent this from happening again in this recent update or in this recent news story. My Austin Water Audit resolution will post to the Council agenda page by the end of the day on Friday (February 11th) and will be discussed during our special called meeting on the 15th, with a vote expected at our council meeting on the 17th.
In the remainder of this newsletter, you will find winter fire safety tips, opportunities for local artists, ways to provide input on local mobility projects, and more.
I hope you will share this newsletter with your friends and neighbors, and encourage them to subscribe at bit.ly/d10newsletters. Our newsletter is normally a slightly lighter read. 😉
Regards, Alison Alter Mayor Pro Tem
P.S. Happy Valentine's Day from the District 10 team!
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Council Recap, Committee Assignments, and Winter Storm Briefings APD/EMS Graduation Black History Month Happy Lunar New Year Mentorship Month Boards and Commission Openings Call for Municipal Civil Service Applicants Winter Fire Safety Tips COVID Testing Update Zilker Vision Plan Community Meeting Summer Camps Early Registration Map Out A More Mobile Austin With ATX Walk Bike Roll Quality of Life Commissions Town Halls People’s Gallery 2022 Call for Artists Public Art Commissions Deadline for Application to Vote by Mail Blood Shortage and Call for Donations
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We held our first two Council meetings of the year back to back. Below you will find highlights from those meetings: January 27th Meeting Highlights Supported arts learning in Austin to create new generations of artists, creative workers, arts audiences, and residents with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. (Item 8)
February 3rd Meeting Highlights Strengthened our workforce, healthcare and early childhood systems using federal ARPA dollars to contract with Capital IDEA to train Austinites to be nurses and to fund United Way administration of emergency childcare and family support services in Austin including our Pre-K Partnerships and other programs. (Items 17 & 18) February 3rd was the last City Council meeting for my colleague, Council Member Greg Casar. On Monday, new District 4 Council Member Jose “Chito” Vela was sworn into office. Best wishes to Greg Casar, and welcome to my new colleague, Council Member Vela! 2022 Committee Assignments I am pleased to share that I will continue to chair the Audit and Finance Committee, and that I have been appointed to serve on the following other committees and intergovernmental organizations:
Briefings on Winter Storm Uri As we recover from last week's freeze, I want to share some recent briefings on 2021 Winter Storm Uri and the City’s response. I will share more information on our City’s preparedness for for freezing temperatures in the coming weeks.
Discussion of the 2021 Disaster Preparedness Audit from the January 19th meeting of the Audit and Finance Committee. As Chair, I outlined several questions for staff to answer in their presentation, including why the City has not implemented recommendations from previous after action reports over the years, as well as how the City Manager is prioritizing action steps that will have the greatest impact on the safety and well-being of residents.
A collection of all after action documents and resources is available on the City’s Winter Storm site.
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Congratulations to the new APD and EMS academy graduates! I recently joined the Austin Police Department and Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services to celebrate respectively the 144th APD cadet class graduation and ATCEMS Class 1221 in their swearing in. Please join me in congratulating our newest first responders as they begin their careers in public service. |
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Each February, we celebrate the achievements and remember the struggles of Black Americans in U.S. history. In Austin, this means remembering some painful parts of our own city’s history. I encourage you to initiate a conversation in your family or community to acknowledge Black History Month. You can find resources here. |
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Happy Lunar New Year to all who celebrate! On February 1st, we welcomed in the Year of the Tiger. Learn more about this holiday here. |
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At the January 27th Council meeting, I read a proclamation honoring the community members who volunteer their time to mentor AISD students. During the pandemic, mentors are needed more than ever. If you want to mentor a student, check out these organizations: Austin Partners In Education Communities In Schools Seedling Mentors
Thank you to these incredible volunteers, and happy Mentorship Month! |
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Boards and Commission Openings If you are interested in volunteering for this commission, please send your resume and a short memo with the following information to my office at district10@austintexas.gov:
• What is your assessment of the top three policy questions that this commission will be dealing with over the next four years? • A statement of the expertise and experience that you bring to these issues. • A statement of what issues you anticipate emphasizing in your work supporting the commission. Please feel free to share this opportunity with your friends and neighbors. |
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