Category Archives: Big Ideas

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Great Cities Do Big Things: The State of our City Roundup

“We are the city of the future, but what future will that be? If we do not do big things now, we will end up with the housing costs of San Francisco and the traffic congestion of Los Angeles.” -Mayor Adler

If you weren’t able to join us at the Topfer Theatre last night for the State of our City address (or watch it live on ATXN) — or if you want to catch up on what people are saying about it — you’re in luck. Consider this page your online library for all of your State of our City needs.

Read all about it after the break.

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“Great Cities Do Big Things” – State of Our City Feb. 16, 2016 Austin, Texas

“Great cities do big things not because they are great. Cities become great because they do big things.”

Thank you, President Fenves. I am grateful for your leadership at the University of Texas and for our growing working relationship and even friendship.

And with the conversations that need to be happening between UT and the City on issues like the development of the Innovation Zone around our new medical school, a replacement arena for the Drum, the future of the MUNY golf course site, as well as expanding opportunities for closer connection between Austin and the incredible intellectual resources of your faculty, there’s a lot for you and me — and the community — to be talking about.

And by the way, I’m grateful to you for skipping the West Virginia game tonight. You get pretty good seats, so I know what kind of sacrifice this is.

President Fenves recounted the story of the Austin Dam. I love that story, because as the Mayor of Austin I’m often asked what the secret sauce is that makes us a magical city and a center for innovation and creativity. Most every other city wishes it could replicate our success. When I attended the climate change talks in Paris, the 100 Resilient Cities meeting in London, the Almedalen Political Rhetoric Festival in Norway, and the traffic control center in Dublin, Ireland, and people found out that I was the Mayor they’d get a big smile on their face and tell me how much they love Austin.

Cities from all over our country and the rest of the world send entire delegations here to troop through our offices in hopes of finding the magic formula written on a white board somewhere.  These leaders from other cities ask me what makes Austin so special. I tell them about Barton Springs and how our commitment to our environment became perhaps our most important asset. I tell them about Willie Nelson and our live music, how by embracing diverse cultures we established an inclusive community where creativity thrives, about a community where it is okay to fail so long as you learn and grow. And I tell them about Michael Dell reinventing the assembly line in his dorm room and how coming up with radical new ideas here doesn’t make you an outcast — it can make you rich and famous.

And then I tell them about the Austin Dam, and how when the dam burst we were set on a path that turned us into a boomtown of the Information Age. The lesson, I tell these visitors from other cities is clear. They need to leave Austin, return to their hometowns, and destroy all their dams and bridges, too.

But some cities just aren’t willing to do the Big Things.

Continue reading after the break.

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I want to keep Uber and Lyft in Austin

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I want to keep Uber and Lyft in Austin, and I want to do it in a way where passengers have a meaningful choice that makes them feel safer. That’s always been the goal.

Now that we have a verified petition in front of us, we only have two options. We can either set an election in May, or we can accept the Uber-Lyft petition ordinance as is with no changes.

If we set an election, it will cost taxpayers between $500,000 and $800,000 and would take our attention away from transformative affordability and mobility projects.

If we just accept the Uber/Lyft ordinance, some attorneys argue that Austin’s Charter means we would not be able to touch that ordinance for two years, and then only with a super-majority thereafter. This would impose a rigid regulation upon Austin, stifling innovation and closing opportunities to adapt. This could mean that we lose the authority to do innovative solutions like the voluntary, non-mandatory Thumb’s Up! recently passed by Council.

But maybe there’s a way out of this box. Perhaps we can accomplish the petitioners’ and my goal of keeping Uber and Lyft in Austin by not mandating fingerprinting and our goal of creating fingerprinted rideshare drivers at scale while preserving our ability to innovate with ideas such as rewarding drivers who volunteer to get fingerprinted.

I want to know what the community would think about adopting a new Austin Innovation TNC Ordinance different from both our December ordinance and the Uber/Lyft petition ordinance. The Austin Innovation TNC Ordinance would specifically prohibit mandatory fingerprinting and clearly allow incentive programs such as the Thumb’s Up! badge. In concrete terms, this would not take anything away from Uber and Lyft drivers who choose not to participate. This could allow Austin to reward our city’s rideshare drivers with hundreds of thousands of dollars (paid for by the fee that the Uber/Lyft petition ordinance deleted) simply for choosing to give their passengers a choice that makes them feel safer.

But, this would require holding an election in May. Both sides would want to keep Uber and Lyft in Austin. However, only a “no” vote would preserve the Austin Innovative TNC Ordinance that allows the Austin to use the Thumb’s Up! badge or other incentive program. The Uber/Lyft Ordinance would seek to enforce rigid regulation, while we would be campaigning to reward drivers and encourage innovation. Maybe that could be the choice that goes to voters in May.

What do you think?

 

Release: COUNCIL SET TO MAKE HEADWAY ON MOBILITY THURSDAY

Funding for traffic mgmt, signals program, parking system, more on agenda

On Thursday, the Austin City Council will consider items that, if passed, would make headway in addressing the city’s mobility challenges. Described below, these innovative ideas include funding for a traffic management center operations expansion project, membership in the Lone Star Rail District, a video imaging detection system to improve traffic signals, a dynamic parking system, and mobility improvements all across the city.

“This is the year of mobility,” said Mayor Steve Adler. “People are having a hard time getting to work, so it’s time for us to get to work. On Thursday, we’re going to be doing everything from funding sidewalks to approving innovative systems that will make it easier for you to find a parking place. Great cities do big things, and there is nothing bigger facing Austin right now than our mobility crisis.” Continue reading →

Mayor Adler writes in support of Next Century Cities

Next Century Cities is a national city-to-city coalition of more than 120 member communities committed to delivering the benefits of fast, affordable, reliable broadband to all residents and businesses. Mayor Adler, one of the 44 undersigned local government leaders from Next Century Cities member communities wrote in support of the Commission’s work to modernize Lifeline to support broadband connectivity. Lifeline modernization will benefit our community members and help us tackle the pressing but rewarding challenges of local governance. See NCC Lifeline Letter