City Charter

• City Hustles to Initiate Prop 3 Tasks
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• Auditor coordinating with proponents of 10-1 plan
• to begin what will be a lengthy transition process
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• by Ken Martin
• © The Austin Bulldog 2012
• Posted Thursday, November 15, 2012 1:25pm
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• Faced with a December 1 deadline to announce a call for volunteers to serve on the Citizens Independent Redistricting Commission (CIRC), and a panel of auditors to screen applications, the city auditor’s office has shifted into high gear.

• The deadline was set by Proposition 3: Ordinance No. 20120802-015 to implement what was approved by 145,910 voters, or slightly more than 60 percent of those who cast ballots on this proposition November 6.

The CIRC will ultimately draw 10 council districts that the City Council will have no choice but to adopt for the November 2014 elections, subject to approval by the U.S. Department of Justice under the Voting Rights Act. Only the mayor will continue to be elected at-large.

The city’s Fiscal Impacts for Propositions 1-10 estimated that Proposition 3 includes a one-time cost of $888,000 for construction and build-out of new offices and additional ongoing costs of $1.4 million a year to operate the four additional council offices.

But the cost of the conducting the work necessary to draw council districts and get federal approval has not been determined.

• 10-1 Plan To Rule Council Elections
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• Both propositions for geographic representation pass
• but grassroots group dominates election results
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• by Ken Martin
• © The Austin Bulldog 2012
• Posted Wednesday November 7, 2012 3:21am
• (Updated Wednesday, November 7, 2012 at 3:08pm)
•  (Updated Wednesday, November 7, 2012, at 5:48pm.)

Austinites for Geographic Representation’s Proposition 3 won a thumping victory Tuesday with its plan for electing 10 council members from geographic districts and electing only the mayor at-large.

“This is a historic moment,” said retired State Senator Gonzalo Barrientos, who chaired the 2012 Charter Revision Committee. He told the crowd made boisterous when the early voting results were announced, “I have never seen the people of Austin come together like they did on this campaign—that is truly American.”

Some five hours later the Travis County Clerk’s report posted at 12:17am this morning indicates that Proposition 3 got 142,615 145,910 votes (60.02 60.15 percent) while Proposition 4 (the 8-2-1 hybrid plan) got 118,855 121,366 votes (51.08 percent). (Updated Wednesday, November 7, 2012, at 5:48pm.) Because Proposition 3 got the most votes it will be implemented and Proposition 4 will be rejected.

• Mayor: My Commission Beats Your Commission
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• Mayor Lee Leffingwell lifts idea for citizens to draw
• council districts and undercut opposing proposition
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• by Ken Martin
• © The Austin Bulldog 2012
• Posted Friday, November 2, 2012 6:22pm

On Wednesday Mayor Lee Leffingwell's automated telephone calls rang the phones of thousands of Austin voters to criticize the Independent Citizen Redistricting Commission for City of Austin that's part of Proposition 3’s 10-1 plan for electing council members from geographic districts. (More about the transcript of that call later.)

Today, the mayor held a noon-hour press conference at City Hall to propose his own version of a “Citizens Committee to Review Redistricting” that would be used if Proposition 4’s 8-2-1 plan passes and gets more votes than the Proposition 3 plan put on the ballot through a petition drive led by Austinites for Geographic Representation (AGR).

The chief difference between the two redistricting proposals is that Prop 3’s Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission would draw council districts the City Council would have no choice but to adopt.

The mayor’s proposed committee would only be advisory and the City Council would be able to reject, revise, or adopt the committee’s recommendations.

• Prop 3 Fundraising Outpaces Prop 4
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• Financial support for 10-1 council elections
• far outstrip dollars donated for 8-2-1 hybrid
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• by Ken Martin
• © The Austin Bulldog 2012
• Posted Monday, October 29, 2012 9:11pm

Austinites for Geographic Representation (AGR), proponents of Proposition 3’s 10-1 plan for electing council members, continues its lopsided advantage in fundraising compared with Austin Community for Change (AC4C), which is backing the 8-2-1 hybrid plan for electing council members.

Through the previous reporting period that ended September 29, AGR had raised a total of $69,793. That’s 15 times the $4,592 raised by AC4C.

Today’s reports indicated that AGR raised an additional $54,058, bringing its total to date to $123,851. AGR still has $13,856 left on hand for the sprint to the finish.

AC4C’s latest report indicates the 8-2-1 hybrid plan backers raised $14,600, bringing its total to date to $19,192. AC4C still had $1,227 on hand through today’s report.

The proponents for Proposition 3’s 10-1 plan for electing council members met Saturday and laid out the campaign strategy they hope will bring victory November 6.

If so, the seventh time’s a charm, given that between 1973 and 2002 voters have shot down six previous attempts to have geographic representation on the Austin City Council.

Proposition 4 advocates of the 8-2-1 plan for electing council members have campaigned only by participating in speaking engagements and running full-page ads in The Austin Chronicle the past three weeks.

Using its coalition of 30 supporting organizations the AGR tactics will rely almost entirely on a ground game, neighbor to neighbor, house by house, phone by phone, in an effort to turn out people who will vote for Proposition 3.

Volunteer political advisor Peck Young said, “This election will be decided by people who don’t know what we’re talking about. ... The truth is, what will decide this election is what’s done in the next two weeks.”

 Although Austinites for Geographic Representation (AGR) had raised $90,000 by the first of this month, and says it raised another $18,000 through it’s recent e-mail campaign, the group has no plans to buy television spots because the cost is prohibitive.