by Daryl Slusher | Apr 18, 2021 | Austin Elections, City Council 2021
In any other election season a proposal to change Austin’s form of City government would likely gather the most attention. Not so this year as the tents of homeless people line Austin roadways, sidewalks and parks. This situation results from a City Council decision...
by Daryl Slusher | Apr 18, 2021 | Austin Elections, Strong Mayor Initiative
This story marks the Austin Independent’s final pre-early voting coverage of the strong mayor proposal. Early voting starts Monday April 19 and ends Tuesday April 27. Election day is Saturday May 1. To review, in earlier coverage we laid out the principle that...
by Daryl Slusher | Apr 14, 2021 | Strong Mayor Initiative
For today’s installment in coverage of the strong mayor proposal I want to return to the approach described in an article on the subject back in July. There, I laid out some principles to guide the Independent’s coverage, writing that “changing the form of...
by Daryl Slusher | Apr 13, 2021 | Strong Mayor Initiative
The homeless camping issue is so controversial, visible and seemingly intractable that the proposed rollback of the Austin City Council’s June 2019 repeal of the City’s camping ban long ago became the marquee item on the upcoming May 1 City Charter amendment ballot....
by Daryl Slusher | Mar 31, 2021 | Police and Public Safety
On March 25 the Austin City Council moved a step closer to authorizing a new police cadet class beginning June 7 — after over a year without a cadet class. The vote was eight to one with two Council Members abstaining. Council Member Greg Casar voted no while Mayor...
