FAN Membership’s Austin City Council Endorsements Based on Neighborhood Inclusion and Diversity

For the first time in Austin’s history, Friends of Austin Neighborhoods (FAN), empowered by a vote of its membership, has based City Council candidate and bond initiative endorsements on the principles of neighborhood inclusion and diversity. In keeping with all of FAN’s voting practices to date, the membership voted and issued endorsements when choices reached a supermajority threshold of 60%. Full membership voting results and percentages can be found here: http://www.atxfriends.org/votes/.

Vote results:

Council Candidates:

• District 2: Delia Garza
• District 4: Gregorio “Greg” Casar
• District 6: No consensus
• District 7: Natalie Gauldin
• District 10: Sheri Gallo

Mobility Bond: No consensus

To prepare its membership for this vote, FAN stuck to its principles of inclusion and online participation by hosting Q&A forums via the public Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) format. The forums were open not only to FAN’s membership, but to all users of the public site. Council candidates answered user-submitted questions, and transportation policy experts weighed in on questions regarding the $720MM Mobility Bond, on the ballot as Proposition 1.

FAN also endeavored to do things differently with its candidate questionnaire, which asked only 4 questions regarding inclusiveness, affordability and diversity within neighborhoods.

FAN’s Public Responses can be found here:

• Candidate AMAs
• Candidate Questionnaire
• Mobility Bond AMA
• Current Council Voting Record – Find Out How Each City Council Member Voted on The Issues

For additional in-person candidate forums, check out events sponsored by Austin Technology Council, Glasshouse Policy / The Austin Monitor / KUT, and the Austin Area League of Women Voters.

Austin Monitor / Glasshouse Policy / KUT Open Mic Debates:

• District 2 – 2016-09-06: Audio recap here
• District 4 – 2016-09-19 Audio recap here
• District 6 – 2016-09-20 Audio recap here
• District 7 – 2016-09-27 Audio recap here
• District 10 – 2016-10-04 Audio recap here

LWV & CoA Ethics Review Commission:

• District 4 – 2016-09-08: Video recap here
• District 7 – 2016-09-09: Video recap here
• District 6 – 2016-09-15 Video recap here
• District 10 – 2016-09-20 Video recap here
• District 2 – 2016-09-23 Video recap here