Category Archives: Press Clips

See the Mayor’s latest news clips from media sites in Austin, around the country and around the world.

Oped: How Austin can support 60,000 ‘middle-skill’ jobs by 2021

By Mayor Adler and Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt

When considering our community’s access to opportunity and prosperity, Austin and Travis County have much to celebrate — but also much work to do.

Though we learned with last week’s release of the Community Advancement Network’s annual Dashboard Report that unemployment in Travis County has declined by more than 50 percent since 2012, we also learned that 25 percent of black and Hispanic families in the county live in poverty, as compared to only 10 percent of other families. Continue reading →

Oped: Why Austin is leading the charge to create a coal-free America

By Mayor Adler and Mike Bloomberg

Three years ago, Austin City Council made an ambitious pledge to have over 50 percent of its power come from renewable energy by 2025 — and to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. And last year, Austin Energy’s rate case settlement began to finance the shuttering of the coal-fired Fayette power plant. All the while, Austin has become one of the fastest-growing economies in the U.S.

Switching to clean energy has been an important part of this success, and many other cities and towns are following the same strategy. Of course, as with any major innovation, the proliferation of clean energy has led to job shifts. The coal industry, in particular, has faced growing challenges in the face of this progress.

Continue reading →