Category Archives: Speeches

Eulogy for Amir Abdul-Khaliq

amirSalaam Alaikum.

You will and have heard people tell you about this loving, strong man who protected us. He has witnesses here who can tell you who this man was and what he meant to his family and to his fellow officers.

My opportunity here is different. I witness for the community. It’s my privilege to tell you – and especially his family – what this man meant to this city.

I never met Officer Amir Abdul-Khaliq, but I have visited with his family. I first went by on Saturday to visit at Brackenridge. I would not bring it up except that Amir’s mother, Jalillah Abdul Khaliq, and her two daughters, told me something remarkable. Continue reading →

Speech – Mayor’s Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness

Thank you, Congressman Doggett, for that introduction. And thank you, Secretary Castro, for being here today, and good morning to everyone here.

Not with us today is Senator Kirk Watson, whose staff showed up to help with this initiative and never left. He can’t be here today, but rest assured he’ll know that we’re thanking him now, so thank you, Kirk.

Normally, the way you do this is to start off by thanking people before you get to the meat of your speech. This is not going to be that kind of speech. It’s all going to be all thank you’s. There are going to be so many thank you’s that if this were an Oscars speech I’d never be allowed to finish.

We’re here today to celebrate that all of you have achieved what at one time was thought impossible — the functional end to chronic veteran homelessness in Austin. And I mean all of you. If success has a lot of fathers, we’re never going to be able to establish paternity here.

Continue reading →

Speech: State of Our City

We’re going to talk about “change” tonight, because Austin is ready for change. We’ve voted for change. But if you want to see change — look around. 1,200 of us in an accessible, free, community-gathering place. This is what change in government feels like!

Thank you Christopher Michael for poetry that challenges us to build bridges. Thank you Max Frost for starting this evening with live music, after all we’re in Austin, Texas. Thank you, Valentina Tovar, for a beautiful speech. Your generation’s passion is a powerful example to mine. Finally, thank you Dr. Cruz for joining other central Texas superintendents and school boards in educating our children, perhaps the single most important thing we do to insure economic opportunity and preserve our quality of life. And thank you for letting us borrow such a fabulous facility.

Continue reading →

Speech: Austin Chamber

Austin Chamber Speech
Thank you very much Gene for that generous introduction. It’s an honor to be here with you today and I also want to thank the Austin Chamber for hosting this conversation. It’s also great to see some of my colleagues here and also so many friendly faces.

But today among many friends, I wanted to more informally share some thoughts.

Continue reading →

Speech: League of Women Voters

League of Women Voters Speech
It’s great to be with you tonight. It’s an exciting time at City Hall. For the first time, each of ten new council districts has their own special and community voice.

I want to take a moment to acknowledge the work that all of you and the League of Women Voters did in passing our new system of government, 10-ONE. Your support of both this new system, and our independent citizens’ redistricting committee, has led us to today. Look around this room and please take a moment to give yourselves a hand.

It’s an honor to be here at the 23rd Annual State of the City Dinner as the representative of the new council, as the ONE in 10-ONE.

Continue reading →