Dear Neighbors,
As we head into the summer months and experience record high temperatures and dry conditions, I want to remind you of steps you can take today to boost your personal preparedness for before, during, and after a wildfire.
The ideal time to prepare is before a wildfire event occurs. Your best resource is the Austin Area Wildfire Hub, which serves as the portal for community-based initiatives that improve wildfire safety in Austin and Travis County.
1. Regularly monitor wildfire conditions for high danger days. Hot, dry, and windy conditions create the perfect environment for a wildfire. Current wildfire conditions are available at Austin’s Wildfire Hub. The daily fire danger will be the first notification that you should be on alert for a potential wildfire event.
2. Make sure you’re signed up for Warn Central Texas, the free emergency notification service for Central Texas. You can receive alerts for natural and man-made disasters by text, email, and/or in the Warn Central Texas app and receive important instructions like evacuation orders. I urge you to sign up for several methods of communication. During a wildfire event, pay attention to all alert systems, news media, and local information sources. Do not wait to be advised to leave if there is a possible threat to your home or evacuation route. Keep in mind that embers can travel up to 1.5 miles from the main fire and start fires elsewhere.
3. Have a personal Wildfire Action Plan for you, your family, and your pets, using the Austin-Travis County Wildfire Coalition’s Ready, Set, Go! Guide, which serves as your template.
4. Know and plan for all possible routes in and out of your area. In the event of an emergency evacuation, your usual route may not be safe, or you and members of your family may not be home when a wildfire starts. Listen to instructions from local officials about where to go and which roads may be closed. Conditions may change quickly and routes may need to be altered.
5. If you are advised to leave by local authorities, do not hesitate. Seconds matter; your material items can be replaced, your life cannot. Have an easily accessible Go Kit stocked with emergency supplies so you can leave and get to a safe place without delay. Implement your wildfire action plan and continue to listen to local authorities for additional information about where to go and what to do.
There are many other action items you can do to better protect your home and neighborhood, such as joining your local Firewise community, hardening your home to make it more fire resistant, creating defensible space on your property with fire-smart landscaping practices, and more. For more resources, please see my previous newsletter on wildfire preparedness.
As the Austin-Travis County Wildfire Coalition says, wildfire is everyone’s fight. When everyone does their part, we are all safer. I encourage you to get involved locally to make Austin a Fire-Adapted Community.
In the remainder of this newsletter, you will find a recap of our most recent council meetings, a save the date for the District 10 budget town hall, and more.
Regards, | | Alison Alter Mayor Pro Tem Council Member, District 10 | | Budget Engagement Opportunities
Council Recap
Mayor Pro Tem Alter in the Community Gun Violence Summit, Town Hall, and Proclamation Ride-Along with Paramedic Practitioner Westlake/Loop 360 Opening People’s Gallery Opening SOS 30th Anniversary Party EMS Week Meeting with Mayor of Limerick, Ireland
City News
Announcements
Accessing City Services Resources for Baby Formula Pool Openings and Lifeguard Update Collections Update from Austin Resource Recovery
Safety Tips and Updates
Service and Public Input Opportunities Meals on Wheels: Call for Help Town Hall on Public Safety: People Living with Disabilities and Policing City Seeks Applicants for Community Climate Ambassadors Program City’s Budget Priorities Survey
| | | | | Save the Date: Budget Town Hall I want to hear from you before the Council votes on the City budget.
Save the date for my budget town hall on the evening of Thursday, August 4th! More info coming later this summer.
I also invite you to email District10@austintexas.gov to share your FY23 budget priorities.
| | City’s Budget Priorities Survey The Budget Office wants to hear from you about what our budget priorities should be. Take a short survey here to share what you’d like to see in the upcoming City budget. | | | | June 16th was our last council meeting before we transitioned to the annual budget process and we took action on a wide range of items. I would like to highlight several public safety and good governance items that we adopted. Public Safety: Gun Violence - In the wake of the mass shooting in Uvalde, I authored a resolution directing the City Manager to explore every option for the City to prohibit or reduce the sale of AR-15 and other semi-automatic rifles to anyone below age 21. Check out my interview with Fox 7 Austin to learn more. Additionally, I co-sponsored a resolution authored by Council Member Paige Ellis directing the City Manager to provide a status report of previous gun-violence prevention initiatives and to continue advancing strategies to further protect public safety and reduce gun violence. Building on my prior work creating the City of Austin's Office of Violence Prevention and the recent Gun Violence Summit and Town Hall I co-hosted in early June, I’ll keep working in collaboration with other elected and community leaders to end gun violence in our community.
Water Safety - This action expanded the existing no wake zone near the Pennybacker Bridge to calm boat traffic and reduce the risk of a dangerous collision. The expanded zone will be clearly marked with buoys deployed by the Lower Colorado River Authority. You can view a map of the Pennybacker Bridge No Wake Zone here. Reduced Speeds - Council established new and reduced speed limits on certain roads in the City, including segments of the following District 10 roads: 35th Street, Jollyville Road, City Park Road, and Great Hills Trail.
Traffic Safety - I co-sponsored a resolution directing the City Manager to explore strategies to increase enforcement of speeding violations and other dangerous driver behaviors. The Manager was also directed to create a plan that includes a timeline to increase City resources dedicated to proactive and consistent traffic safety enforcement.
Wildfire Preparedness - I sponsored a resolution to incorporate additional provisions of the International Wildland-Urban Interface Code (WUIC) into our land development code to bring Austin closer to full adoption of the WUIC and help prevent wildfires.
Good Governance: Living Wage - Item 50 established Council support for a living wage of $22.00 per hour, and directs the City Manager to bring forward budget recommendations to help get us there as quickly as possible. 911 Call Taker Compensation - This item, which I co-sponsored, established a new policy to increase compensation for our 911 call taker and dispatcher employees to be within the top quartile of the market rate pay for these positions. Remote Work - I co-sponsored a resolution to conduct a study of office space occupancy rates at City facilities as a result of remote work schedules and other changes in office space needs. This project will help us better plan for our long term facilities needs.
Legislative Agenda - I offered a resolution to support state legislative action to eliminate sales taxes on diapers and certain menstrual products. | | On June 9th, Council advanced several items related to planning, development, and the environment. I co-sponsored item 61, a resolution, authored by Council Member Kathie Tovo, which initiates several code amendments to strengthen our environmental rules to mitigate flooding and the urban heat effect. Item 62 initiates a code amendment to make it easier to build Accessory Dwelling Units. Item 69 directs the City Manager to create a district level planning process that prioritizes how Austin should accommodate new growth with an emphasis on Project Connect commuter, light rail, and MetroRapid corridors. The Manager must return to Council for approval of this process and the process must incorporate community engagement. Council also updated our Vertical Mixed-Use (VMU) ordinance to allow VMU properties to build taller buildings in exchange for additional affordable housing onsite. Council initiated a code amendment which I co-authored that would relax compatibility standards on a select set of corridors. The proposal, which must go through several public processes before final approval, would limit the changes to streets that are Project Connect transit corridors, highways, or Imagine Austin Corridors. In most cases, the relaxed rules would require projects to build on-site affordable housing and in some instances they would be allowed to reduce their parking requirements. I worked to achieve a consensus among the dais while still allowing for reasonable development on our key corridors where our planning and community engagement anticipate growth, such as our Project Connect lines. The item was approved unnanimously and was supported by several of us who had opposed CodeNEXT because this proposal was more prudent and reasonable. Stay tuned for more details as this item makes it way through the public process, including hearings at our Land Use Commission. On June 9th, we also amended the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan to incorporate technical corrections to better align the City’s mobility planning documents. I appreciate the inclusion of two new policies related to 1) future-proofing our transportation infrastructure and operations and 2) improving coordination between regional partners for emergency transportation planning. I worked with staff to update an action item related to disaster preparedness and emergency response coordination to better address the wildfire threat and the need to better plan for evacuations. | | | | | Gun Violence Summit, Town Hall, and Proclamation On June 8th, I hosted a gun violence summit with law enforcement officers and policy makers, followed by a community town hall, alongside District Attorney Garza, Judge Brown, and Mayor Adler. To learn more about how you can interrupt violence in our community, check out the Facebook live video of the town hall here. I also declared June as Gun Violence Awareness Month in Austin via a proclamation. | | | | Westlake/Loop 360 Opening I recently spoke at the groundbreaking of the Loop 360 at Westlake/Cedar Street improvement project. When complete, we can expect smoother traffic flow and improved safety for Loop 360 drivers due to the removal of traffic signals, the addition of an underpass, and shared use paths/sidewalks for cyclists and pedestrians. | | People’s Gallery Opening It was an honor to open the 2022 People’s Gallery exhibition! Over 150 works by local artists are displayed in City Hall each year, and it’s a privilege to see this reminder of Austin’s creativity each day when I go to work. The new artwork is on display at Austin City Hall until 2023, and includes some pieces by artists in District 10. Come by and check it out–there are self-guided tours accessible by cell phone. | | SOS 30th Anniversary Party This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Save Our Springs Ordinance, which was passed in a landslide by Austin voters in 1992. June 2020 also marked 30 years since over 1000 Austinites showed up at City Hall and persuaded the City Council to vote against a proposed development on the banks of Barton Creek. It was a pleasure to celebrate with the Save Our Springs Alliance and reflect on the way they have shaped Austin policies today. To donate or volunteer, visit sosalliance.org. | | EMS Week Last month, I presented a proclamation for National EMS Week, and recognized the Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services team of paramedics, EMTs, doctors, nurses, educators, administrators, and communicators has continued to provide 24/7 lifesaving care to our community during the pandemic. Thank you Austin/Travis County EMS! | | Meeting with Mayor of Limerick, Ireland It was a pleasure to host the Mayor of Limerick, Ireland at City Hall! Mayor Butler and I had a great conversation about how our two cities can support each other. | | | | | Happy Pride Month! We loved the performance by Cynthia Lee Fontaine at the June 9th City Council meeting. All Austinites are welcomed and celebrated at City Hall. | | Drought Stage 1 Restrictions Austin Water reports that the water supply in our Highland Lakes has fallen below 1.4 million acre-feet, triggering Drought Stage 1 Regulations. The main changes in the Stage 1 regulations will be limitations on watering and irrigation times. See restrictions and updates here. | | | | | | | Street Maintenance in District 10 Austin Public Works crews are beginning the annual street maintenance season. Crews will be working on residential streets in districts around the city to help preserve Austin's streets and prevent costly construction. Crews will notify residents in advance of preventative maintenance treatments with door hangers that list procedures and ask that vehicles be temporarily removed from the street. | | Progress on Davenport/360 Fire and EMS Station We have a construction update on the joint Fire/EMS station that will serve the Davenport/Loop 360 area. Austin Fire Dept. Station #52/EMS Station #41 is framed, with expected completion in March of 2023. I’m looking forward to faster emergency response times for this part of my district! | | | | |
|
|
