We’re proud to receive FixAustin.org’s highest rating of “5 Paws”. Check out their press release here.

The independent group, which advocates for cost-effective animal shelter management, says:

Spelman has a well-deserved reputation for demanding the enactment of best practices in city government, and he will fight for the implementation of proven programs to benefit Austin’s lost and homeless pets. He is a policy wonk and “good government” expert….

Thanks FixAustin.org!

Over the last few months, we’ve hosted community town halls to get your feedback regarding Austin’s future.

We’ve discussed topics including public participation, strengthening neighborhoods, open government, the local economy and the city budget. To learn more about these community discussions, please check out the participant comments:

• Notes – 1st Town Hall
• Notes – 2nd Town Hall

Next Saturday, we’re hosting our final community town hall. We’ll discuss affordability, the social safety net and how that affects the long-term sustainability of our community. Austin faces tough challenges ahead, but by working together, we can leverage our city resources to get the most bang for our taxpayer buck.

COMMUNITY TOWN HALL
Affordability, Sustainability & the Social Safety Net
Saturday, May 2
10:00 a.m. – Noon
Victory Grill
1104 East 11th
Austin, TX 78702
RSVP on Facebook

Thanks for your support. I look forward to hearing how you think we can best improve Austin.

We’re honored to add the Statesman as another community supporter. Check out the full post here.

Austin American-Statesman April 19, 2009

Place 5 — Bill Spelman

Former Austin City Council Member Bill Spelman, 51, is unopposed for this seat being vacated by McCracken. A public policy professor at the LBJ School at the University of Texas, Spelman served on the council from 1997 to 2000. He is an expert in police administration, and the council will benefit from his return to the dais.

This week’s Austin Chronicle has their city council endorsements. Check it out:

Place 5: Bill Spelman

Austin Chronicle – April 24, 2009

While we traditionally do not issue formal endorsements in uncontested races, we note that former Council Member Bill Spelman (1997-2000) has been diligent and engaged on the campaign trail, and that bodes well for his return to the dais. We expect he’ll be a considerable asset to the new council.

We had a great discussion about the state of Austin’s economy and budget this past Tuesday evening. Our deepest thanks to those in attendance as well as to our hosts at the First Unitarian Universalist Church. Please find below our notes of participant comments from the meeting. We look forward to continuing the important dialogue about how best to approach the difficult economic times.

Participant Comments from Community Town Hall

April 14, 2009

First Unitarian Universalist Church

Economy – Role of government and economic development

1.       Do not incentivize big corporate businesses

2.       Focus on locally owned business that can provide serious import substitution

3.       How do we retain locally grown businesses?

a.       Some big corporations are good citizens, provide good jobs and good wages, and support Austin

                                                               i.      Samsung, e.g., brings about $50 million/ year to the city’s economy and is a major sponsor of many cultural events

b.      Some big corporations eventually become “local” companies

c.       COA offers very few incentives to begin with and only to fill holes in the industrial portfolio

d.      COA does not incentivize retail and no longer incentivizes project-based

4.       Loss of Austin as a great community which can naturally attract business without financial incentive

5.       Concern that big business has us “over a barrel” as we compete with other cities and states to attract new high-potential industries

6.       Concern about the existence of a “retail monopoly” and its affect on locally owned small businesses

7.       We should grow our local industrial base and focus on manufacturing and production

a.       Difficult to move a manufacturing facility once it’s established

b.      Should be firms that utilize Austin’s human capital as much as possible

8.       How can we keep local labor costs competitive to retain business?

a.       Focus on affordability measures to keep workers in Austin so it’s less expensive for the resident and the business

9.       Government should educate residents on best practice affordability policies that help alleviate higher cost of living in Austin

10.   Offer free electricity to filming events

11.   Search for companies that have local ownership

a.       Keeps more of corporate income inside Austin

12.   Expand COA Emerging Technology Incubator and UT’s Austin Technology Incubator

a.       Ensure integration with Chamber’s business retention and expansion program

13.   COA should improve its contract process to bind recruited companies to the promises they made

14.   Bring a medical school to Austin

15.   Biggest incentives should be based on corporate/business model. 

a.       This encourages locally owned companies to stick in Austin and incentivizes companies to think how best to share profits

                                                               i.      Capital accumulation; commonwealth bank fund; enterprise model; credit creation model are different models over revenue sharing etc. that may be more responsible in the long-run

Budget – Use of Federal Stimulus Money

1.       Focus on weatherization and energy efficiency retrofits

a.       Is there a conflict with Austin Energy being in the energy conservation business, especially given the amount of money it transfers to the city?

2.       Develop Education

a.       Example given about a group of Chicago students who trained in an Italian closed loop industrial park and returned home to launch their own polytechnic school.

3.       Increase COA share of fuel efficient cars and develop Mass transit

4.       COA should lobby the Strama/Watson bill that would allow residents to amortize cost of energy efficiency retrofits or appliance upgrades over several years

5.       Develop 3-share health care plan

a.       System in which individual, company and city share the cost of health insurance

b.      This in turn helps small businesses grow and serves as an incentive for small local business to stay in Austin

Budget Cuts

1.       Focus on salary cuts so as to protect jobs of city employees

a.       Some will choose to remain in position at lower rate

b.      Others will leave – COA can then rehire the position at lower rate so as to maintain service delivery and capture cost savings

c.       Allows all departments to “share the pain” of the budget cuts

d.      Can we re-open Meet and Confer contracts?

2.       Look at discontinuing high-dollar bond packages to reduce the annual debt service payments

a.       E.g., Water Treatment Plant #4 and Waller Creek redevelopment

b.      Meanwhile search for conservation initiatives that yield similar net increase in volume of water but also reduces cost to city of providing water, e.g.

3.       Why is Austin Police Department the highest paid PD in the state?

a.       Also drives up Travis Co. Sheriff rates which is passed through to property tax assessment

4.       Increase transfer of surplus from Enterprise Funds (Austin Energy, Water Utility, etc.)

5.       EMS is looking at a different response models to try to limit its need to increase fleet size

a.       Might have one paramedic respond to low priority calls to triage on the scene

6.       Change city policy to have idling public safety vehicles shut off to avoid wasted gasoline

7.       Look at procurement policies and make choices that would save city money

a.       E.g., of COA fleet converting to cheaper fuel alternative

b.      Consolidate procurement contracting to take advantage of bulk rates

8.       Provide incentive to employees and residents to come up with creative ways of saving money (offer idea leader 1% of saved money)

9.       Institute fee structure for unnecessary APD response

10.   Developers should have increased fees to:

a.       Cover more of pro-rata cost of infrastructure serving the development, and/or

b.      Make Neighborhood Planning and Zoning revenue neutral.

c.       Must ensure that only targeted developments are included in fee increase

d.      COA is responsible to provide services to big downtown developments and doesn’t collect enough fees to cover the added expenses

e.      Austin already has a reputation as a difficult city to do business, so be wary of increasing fee burdens

11.   How do we keep up with infrastructure costs – raise taxes?

a.       Find point at which growth stops paying for itself and stop growth at that rate

b.      Or consider it as what growth rate is sustainable and limit growth to that rate

Summary Ideas

1.       How can COA work together with AISD and Chamber of Commerce to make smart growth decisions?

2.       COA could raise property taxes if it can make a good business case

a.       Some concern that combination of COA plus Travis Co. taxes are already too high

3.       Need to consider underemployment rate alongside unemployment rate to get sense of how our economy is doing

4.       Measure income that comes with growth – in other words, are we adding good paying jobs as more and more people come to Austin?

5.       Try to reach out to eligible low income and/or homeless residents and register them for federal social services assistance to increase share of federal funding

6.       Neighborhoods should have option to add tax assessment to their own bills to pay for neighborhood specific improvement

a.       Expanded version of Neighborhood Matching Fund

b.      Residents must be able to “turn off” assessment once project is fully funded

7.       Review Chamber of Commerce contract to ensure they aren’t “going for the home run” chip plant and remain focused on business retention and development

This article was on the front page of today’s Metro/State section…

Former Council Member Returns

Austin American-Statesman – April 13, 2009

As Bill Spelman prepares to step into the City Council seat he left nine years ago, he sometimes waxes philosophical about the public servant he was then and the one he intends to be now.

Spelman still professes loyalty to the neighborhood and environmental groups that elected him in 1997 to wage the political war at the time between them and Austin developers. But now, nine years after he stepped away from the council and watched Austin change, the lanky, 51-year-old urban policy professor says his perspective on governing has broadened.

“I’m thinking about things differently,” Spelman said, “and seeing more points of view.”

Read the rest of this entry »

You’re invited to our upcoming town hall meeting focusing on the budget and economy. We have tough challenges ahead of us, and we need to work together to develop solutions.

Please join us and make your voice heard. If you can’t make it, please share your ideas online.

Bill Spelman Town Hall Meeting

• Topic: Budget & Economy
• Tuesday, April 14
• 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
• First Unitarian Universalist Church
• 4700 Grover Ave
• Austin, TX 78756
• RSVP on Facebook

Check out this front-page story…

UT professor seeks second term on Austin City Council

March 25 – Daily Texan

After nine years away from the Austin City Council dais, Bill Spelman, a professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, is trying to return to City Hall.

Spelman started teaching applied mathematics, statistics and criminal justice at UT in 1988 and served a three-year term on the council from 1997 to 2000. Spelman said his motivation to enter politics came from his former students.

“I was tired of living vicariously,” Spelman said. “Former students would send me postcards telling me what they were doing, and it inspired me.”

Spelman took his first term on the council as an opportunity to let his students understand how urban policies are made, rather than simply teach the subject. Now he said he wants to make sure Austin can ride out the national economic hardships with a strong local economy.

Thank you to the members of the Austin Neighborhood Council for your endorsement. Bill looks forward to working with you at City Hall to help preserve Austin’s quality of life.

Click below to watch the video from ANC candidate forum: