Adler pledges to make Austin a global leader
Calling this year “a new Austin moment,” Mayor Steve Adler vowed to make the city a global leader in politics and culture in spite of what he sees as a wider environment of political turmoil.
“It seems our country is losing its way in the world,” Adler said during his State of the City address Tuesday evening. “Here in Austin, though, we know who we are. And if we remain true to ourselves, we will always find the solid ground on which to build our future.”
His address comes as the city of Austin has found itself at odds or in direct fights with the state and federal government.
The city remains one of the lead plaintiffs in a fight to overturn Senate Bill 4, which bans so-called sanctuary cities and requires local governments to cooperate with immigration enforcement. Adler has committed that Austin would uphold the Paris Climate Agreement even as the U.S. pulled out of the accord. And more recently, Adler supported passing a paid sick leave ordinance that already had drawn the ire of state lawmakers who will likely try to kill the measure.
But Adler spent the greatest amount of time in his speech focusing on the growing property tax burdens facing Austin’s residents, placing the blame on the state’s school financing system.
Adler joked that he was “up here channeling Ross Perot,” as he unveiled a pair of charts
illustrating the rising tax bills. Over the past five years, Adler said, the property tax bill for a median price Austin home has gone up $1,408 — with $1,023 of that coming from Austin school district taxes recaptured by the state and distributed to other school districts.
“It is high time the state Legislature finally does something about increases in property taxes,” Adler said.
Adler’s address was about 42 minutes and hit on many of the challenges facing the city, including traffic, affordability, racial inequity, transportation and CodeNext.
But there were notable absences from the speech: Adler made no mention of the proposed school district tax swap that he pitched, then pulled last year. That proposal aimed to reduce the amount of school taxes recaptured by the state by moving some school district services to the city’s books.
Nor did Adler mention Major League Soccer or the Columbus Crew SC team that is considering a move to Austin.
Mexican Consul General Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez introduced the mayor, telling the crowd of several hundred gathered at the Austin City Council’s chambers at City Hall that Adler was one of the first, if not the first, mayor from a major city to visit Mexico after the November 2016 election of President Donald Trump.
“It is fair to say that during November 2016, Mexicans were nervous about the results of the election,” Gonzalez Gutierrez told the crowd.
But during his visit, Adler maintained a refrain that no matter what, Austin would remain a welcoming community for immigrants, Gonzalez Gutierrez said.
Adler followed up Gonzalez Gutierrez’s introduction by noting that the two had grown closer since the immigration raids of early last year by federal agents.
Adler spoke about the recent indictments related to Russian meddling in the 2016 federal election almost as much as he spoke about CodeNext. He said the Russians’ infiltration exacerbated political divisions and mistrust, and it turned people who merely had differences in political opinions into enemies.
Austin should “lead the way out of this mess,” Adler said. “Austin is emerging as a voice offering reason and progress in a world that isn’t getting enough of either these days.”
On CodeNext, Adler said the most recent draft of the land use code left him encouraged that it was closer to the “Austin bargain” of preserving neighborhoods while focusing growth on the city’s major transportation corridors.
Austin resident Angelica Erazo, who attended the speech, said she would have liked to have heard some more specificity on CodeNext.
“I’ve been really concerned about the direction of CodeNext as well as the sustainability efforts in the city, so that’s kind of what brought me here, just seeing what the mayor’s expectation was and what the timeline of CodeNext was,” Erazo said. “I thought he was going to talk a little more about the draft and his opinions there, but we didn’t get to it this time.”
Resident Joan Huntley gave the mayor’s address a positive review.
“I think that Steve Adler has a good handle on the pulse of the city, so I have supported him,” Huntley said.