Watson Wire: Long-term vision, short-term focus

In my first Watson Wire as mayor, I shared some of the Ground Rules that I’ve developed over the years to help guide me through difficult policymaking decisions.

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One of those principles – have a long-term vision with short-term focus – stemmed from surviving cancer oh so many years ago. When you’re supposed to be dead, well, that helps to put the fleeting nature of time in some perspective. I’ve tried to focus on achieving results right now, but in a way that benefits the long term.

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Striking a balance between the now and the future is often the greatest challenge of policymaking. That challenge has been on my mind a lot lately as we’ve been navigating through all the big, thorny, controversial, high-stakes issues that we’ve inherited.

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The legislation aimed at killing Austin Light Rail is a good example. Some in the Legislature are coming after us because we used a new funding mechanism – in full compliance with state law – to go big on light rail. And they do love to hate Austin.

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What’s the long-term vision? Protecting this generational, voter-approved investment so that our already-big (and still growing) city can keep moving forward.

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And the short-term focus? Clearing the way for a different version of the bill to get through the Legislature. The initial versions forced another election but included a number of landmines and poison pills. And simply killing the bill (assuming we could) left lots of risks, including that they’d just come back next session. That risk, by itself, would have made our ability to get federal money a lot less likely.

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The current version of the bill, which will probably be on the House floor as early as Tuesday, removes those obstacles that were in the previous versions and gives Austin voters a fair election to reaffirm their overwhelming support for investing in light rail.

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Our objective is to ensure that Austin Light Rail is built on a solid foundation for the future. And the best way to do that is an election in November 2023 to authorize the issuance of the revenue bonds needed to finance construction of the project. Those bonds are backed by the dedicated tax dollars voters already approved in 2020 so the vote won’t change anyone’s tax bill.

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As I’ve said before, the Legislature has the power to force another vote, but the ultimate power lies with the people of Austin. And I have full confidence that the people of Austin will prevail in the end.

Assuring Safety

I’ve relied on a similar approach to the partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety. The long-term vision is to bring some stability to the Austin Police Department, which is severely understaffed. That has contributed to longer response times, more crime and less safety in Austin as well as an overworked police force.

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The staffing situation isn’t likely to change anytime very soon. We currently don’t have a contract with the police union, and we’re seeing more retirements and resignations than new recruits. Now, this City Council has shored up the pay and retirement benefits for police officers even in the absence of a contract and has offered new recruitment and retention incentives as well. But it’s tough to attract new folks into such an uncertain situation, particularly given that law enforcement agencies all over are struggling with staffing.

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My hope is that the police union will return to the negotiating table after the May 6 vote on the two police oversight initiatives, and we can start working together in the best interest of our community. But there are a lot of moving parts here, and I’m not certain that will happen real quick.

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While the long-term stability remains elusive, the short-term focus has been to provide support and supplement to our police department through this partnership with DPS. The partnership’s goal is to be responsive to residents who fear violent crime and have called 911 to ask for help, to reduce crime, to keep people safe in our community, and reduce traffic fatalities and injuries. To achieve that purpose, patrol and deployment are prioritized in those area with a high-call volume.

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People have the right to be safe and feel safe, including and without question, if you’re a person of color being stopped by police or if you are someone making a 911 call reporting a violent crime.

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Let me be clear: If there are unintended consequences to our approach, we must address them immediately because we want to ensure Austinites have no reason to fear that they’ll be racially profiled or targeted by this effort. This continuing collaboration with DPS requires transparency and accountability.

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At the same time, a key reason for this short-term focus is to better serve those who are the most impacted by violent crime and are wanting help. During the campaign I heard from them. And we hear from them in real time with their calls wanting police response.

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We want to make Austinites more safe. The initial results show that there has been a decrease in response times and crime.

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As for transparency, we started that process at the April 18th work session meeting. Tomorrow, the City Council will have another work session with an open and full conversation regarding this partnership, and DPS will be present.

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We are counting on DPS and other agencies to provide additional data so that we can fully evaluate the partnership and provide some assurance to our community. If we’re not satisfied with the answers, we can recalibrate and do things differently or we can end the partnership at any time.