Amy Babich  Candidate for Austin City Council, Place 5

Human Power Party

P.O. Box 49084, Austin, TX 78765 * (512) 453-0438 *

Transportation

Make it a major city priority to facilitate non-motorized transportation. Such facilities are inexpensive and provide a lot of bang for the buck.

The City must take responsibility for sidewalk construction and maintenance. Spend at least as much on sidewalks as we spend to park private cars.

Promote bicycling for transportation with car-free bikeways, equity at traffic lights, and public awareness.

Improve public transportation. Supplement Capital Metro's transit service with city-run buses and trams. We need frequent service, comfortable bus and tram stops, and public/private transit partnerships.

Build the regional light rail system. If the current light rail proposal fails, do not spend the money on highways. Use it for sidewalks, bikeways, or trams.

Reduce the number of cars on the streets of Austin.

Do not build SH 130.

Create car-free areas in Austin. Plan for a car-free Austin.

Prevent harassment of non-motorists by motorists

More details on Amy's transportation agenda

The Environment

The environment is the world we live in. It is the bottom line. It runs on the laws of nature and does not recognize principles of politics or economics.

We must recognize the ecological costs of everyday things like cars, air-conditioners, lawn chemicals, leaf-blowers, etc., and reduce their use.

Protect the Edwards Aquifer, but not by sprawling over East Austin.

City buildings should have rainwater collection systems and windows that open.

Continue the policy of buying land to protect it from development. When feasible, allow public use of this land, but do not allow cars or parking lots on this land.

Public Safety

We must make it easier to report dangerous drivers and hold them accountable. Crack down on hit-and-run driving.

Crossing the street should not require bravery.

Minimize Austin's participation in the "War on Drugs."

Continue work on establishing a citizens' police review board.

Economic Justice

Establish a citywide Living Wage, geared to the average cost of local housing. A person who works full time should be able to afford a place to live.

Encourage public and private employers to offer high-level jobs on a part-time basis.

Supply adequate public transportation to equalize job opportunities.

Repeal the ban on camping in public places.

Ban random drug testing in Austin.

Economic booms should not price longtime residents out of their homes.

Continue support for female and minority contracting programs.

Improve public and non-motorized transportation to increase mobility and opportunities for young people.

Make it easier for citizens to participate in local government.

Growth

Growth must be limited by available water and other environmental constraints.

Stop encouraging explosive population growth in Austin.

Developments that increase traffic problems must share responsibility in solving these traffic problems.

People should not be driven out of their homes by "economic growth."

Move large parking lots and industrial sites out of residential neighborhoods to allow denser, mixed-use infill development.

Strongly restrict sprawl in the Desired Development Zone. Protect water quality downstream as well as upstream.

On being a car-free councilperson

[The following letter was published in the 4-7-00 edition of The Austin Chronicle.]

Bikes, Feet, & Buses

 

Dear Editor,

 

In a letter published March 31, Caryl Weiss demands to know how a car-free council member would deal with a schedule involving meetings in Oak Hill at 9am, downtown at 10, the Arboretum at 12, and Bergstrom Airport at 2pm.

 

If I am elected to City Council, I will continue my present policy of traveling on foot, by bicycle, and by public transportation. If I am faced with the sequence of appointments described above by Weiss, I will ask that some meetings be rescheduled. Meeting schedules can be changed; the damage done to our air and water by too many cars cannot.

 

We need to recognize that our relationship to the world we live in, the world of air, water, insects, birds, and snakes, is more important than an artificial schedule that can be changed. Our schedules should revolve around our treatment of our environment, not the other way around.

 

Austin is full of so-called environmentalists whose busy schedules require them to drive cars everywhere. Such people are vaguely aware that they're damaging the natural environment, but don't like to think about it. So they go on driving to environmental meetings, instead of demanding that these meetings be easily reachable by public transit. They go on regarding parking space for cars as more important than sidewalks, bikeways, trams, and buses. And they consistently rank motorist convenience above pedestrian safety in importance.

 

This is why I think that there should be at least one car-free person on Austin City Council. I regard my car-free status as a qualification for office, not a disadvantage.

 

Yours truly,

 

Amy Babich