Voting Recommendations and Voter Guide

 

Voting Recommendations:

TX Senate: Beto O’Rourke
U.S. House of Representatives: Julie Oliver (South of 45th St)
Austin Mayor: Austin Mayor Steve Adler
Austin City Council District 9: Danielle Skidmore
Proposition A to I: For
Proposition J: Against
Proposition K: Against

 

Friends of Hyde Park’s voting recommendations and guide only include races and propositions that impact Hyde Park. View the Voter Guide below for an explanation for each candidate and proposition endorsement. The Friends of Hyde Park board makes candidate and proposition endorsements based on alignment with our bylaws, goals, and previous membership votes. Friends of Hyde Park advocates for affordable housing and a more walkable, bikeable, inclusive, environmentally sustainable, and transit friendly neighborhood.

 

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Voter Guide:

TX Senate: Beto O’Rourke

Beto O’Rourke supports Urbanist policies, more market rate housing, and affordable housing. As an El Paso city council member, Beto supported “filling in low-density central city areas with transit-supportive mixed-use multifamily development” and “retrofitting suburban, single-family neighborhoods with ‘rowhouses, condominiums, and even lofts that can be built above stores and offices.’” As a U.S. Senator, Beto could help eliminate restrictive zoning laws nationally by supporting Elizabeth Warren’s recent housing bill that “attempts to strip away the zoning laws that made developing housing so expensive in the first place.”

Read more about Beto’s housing stances here:
https://medium.com/the-austin-metropolitan/beto-the-apostate-77c943214949

Read more about Elizabeth Warren’s housing bill here:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/09/elizabeth-warrens-fix-americas-housing-crisis/571210/

 

U.S. House of Representatives: Julie Oliver

Julie Oliver supports better land use policies as a way to fight climate change. “The devastation that Harvey visited upon Houston wasn’t just the effect of superstorms that are becoming more powerful and more frequent with global warming–it was so much worse because for too long, local authorities turned a blind eye to sensible land use policies.” As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Julie Oliver could also support Elizabeth Warren’s housing bill to fight climate change and to make housing more affordable.

Read more here:
https://www.oliver2018.com/issues/climate

 

Austin Mayor: Austin Mayor Steve Adler

Mayor Steve Adler has been a consistent advocate for the values shared by Friends of Hyde Park. He says he will “open up opportunities to build missing middle housing throughout the city.” Mayor Adler voted to relax regulations on accessory dwelling units (also known as garage apartments or granny flats) city wide, voted to designate Guadalupe Street as an Imagine Austin activity corridor, championed and achieved the $720 Million Transportation Bond, and helped pass the Austin Strategic Housing Blueprint with housing goals of 135,000 units in 10 years with 75% of that housing to be within ½ mile of activity corridors like Guadalupe Street.

Read the full Friends of Hyde Park endorsement for Mayor Steve Adler here:
http://friendsofhydepark.atxfriends.org/hydepark/friends-of-hyde-park-endorses-steve-adler-for-mayor/

 

Austin City Council District 9: Danielle Skidmore

Danielle Skidmore is an LGBTQIA+ advocate, an advocate for the disability community, would also be the first transportation engineer elected to the Austin City Council, and is a strong advocate for the environment. Danielle is running on a platform to address traffic, environmental, and affordability problems in Austin. “Urban density isn’t something to fear. Building up, not out, means less sprawl and less pavement overall—which means more green-space for our enjoyment and our planet’s well-being. By realizing a compact, connected city (less pavement, more people) we reduce our need to drive and the amount of greenhouse gases we’re pumping into the atmosphere.”

Read the full Friends of Hyde Park endorsement for Danielle Skidmore here:
http://friendsofhydepark.atxfriends.org/hydepark/friends-of-hyde-park-endorses-danielle-skidmore-for-austin-city-council-district-9/

 

Proposition A: For

To issue $250 million in bonds to provide funding for the creation, rehabilitation, and retention of affordable rental and ownership housing.

 

Proposition B: For

To issue $128 million in bonds for libraries, museums, and cultural arts facilities.

 

Proposition C: For

To issue $149 million in bonds for parks and recreation, including parkland acquisition, aquatics, parkland improvements, building renovations, and supporting infrastructure.

 

Proposition D: For

To issue $184 million in bonds for flood mitigation, open space, and water quality protection.

 

Proposition E: For

To issue $16 million in bonds for a neighborhood health services center in the Dove Springs area.

 

Proposition F: For

To issue $38 million in bonds for renovations to EMS and Fire stations.

 

Proposition G: For

To issue $160 million in bonds for transportation infrastructure.

 

Proposition H: For

This allows more flexibility for the City Council to appoint and remove their appointees to the Planning Commission, similar to how all other boards and commissions currently operate.

 

Proposition I: For

This is a spelling, grammar, and punctuation correction for the city charter. “Removing unnecessary commas, uncapitalizing words, changing numerals to spelled out numbers and adding a few missing words.”

 

Proposition J: Against

Read Prop J is Bad News for Climate Change – by Environment Texas
https://environmenttexas.org/blogs/blog/txe/prop-j-bad-news-climate%C2%A0change

Austin has an affordability crisis. New solutions for both market priced homes and affordable housing are necessary if we are to meaningfully address the crisis we face today. Prop J would require needless delays of up to three years or more for badly needed changes to our laws for managing growth. Austin needs new solutions now, not years from now.

 

Proposition K: Against

Prop K would require the city to hire an outside firm to do an “efficiency study” of the city’s operations and finances. The city already has its own internal auditing office and uses outside auditors as well.

 

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Information About Friends of Hyde Park

Friends of Hyde Park is currently the largest neighborhood association in our neighborhood with 423 current members (approximately 50% renters and 50% homestead homeowners).

Sign up for free to become a member at the link below to help us improve our neighborhood and community: http://friendsofhydepark.atxfriends.org/join/

Board of Directors of Friends of Hyde Park

Pete Gilcrease
Teresa Griffin
Thomas Ates
Matt Desloge
Tom Clear
Adam Luikart
Robert Prentiss