Why are you running for re-election?
I started in this 10 months ago because I feel like everyone needs to give back to their community. In 10 months I realized how much there is to do -- how much I’ve learned in 10 months and how much more I want to do. Kyle is really exciting right now. We’re moving forward. The future looks incredible. I want to be a part of that. I want to be a part of the leadership.
What are some of the things you wanted to get done in those 10 months but could no get done?
Of course, we’re working hard on the roads. That took a while. So I would like to see those started and put in. I think we need infrastructure all the way around to bring in businesses. We need businesses, something like manufacturing that will bolster our sales tax income. And I would like to tighten up our zoning ordinances. I want to work with developers but there are people who are already here so I don’t think developers should be allowed to come in here and do whatever. But I don’t think they should be in a stranglehold either. It’s a fine line. People think I’m against apartments. I’m not against apartments. I’m just against somebody looking in my backyard so close.
What do you think the best ways are to communicate with constituents?
I like what we’re doing to our Web page. I think we’re putting more on there. We’ve got (software) programs now that will allow people to write in and say more. I think it’s really important for citizens to go to City Hall and listen to the City Council. Usually when it’s packed, it’s for one certain thing and then everybody leaves. I’m not sure how to do that. I want the community to feel that everything we do impacts them because it does. But I do like that we have started with the new programs on-line that they can be involved with. I also think walking is important, but I have found that in a couple of neighborhoods I went to I walked to between 400 and 500 houses and out of that I maybe talked to 20 or 30 houses. And the rest were just "OK, whatever." And they shut the door. So how do you make these people want to care? I think that’s something all of us have to be concerned about. My home address is on the web site. My personal cell phone number, which I have with me 24 hours a day, is on the web site. Walking is one thing, getting people to City Council meetings is another thing and promoting our Web page more. Other than that, I don’t know how to get people interested.
Do you think that attitude among residents might because citizens here feel this is just some place where they come to spend the night?
I know what you’re saying, but we’re growing. I moved here before we had the H-E-B and all that and it was nice. I liked that. As we grew and as we started getting more people in, it seemed like we grew really fast. It’s hard to get those young families in and those older families in and mix that. I was lucky. I lived in Travis Heights (a historic neighborhood in South Austin bounded by Lady Bird Lake on the North, I-35 on the east, Congress Avenue on the west and Oltorf Street on the south) before I lived here and Travis Heights was just a mix of everything. I’d be standing on the street corners on Saturdays with retired people and professionals and we’d be drinking our coffee and talking. And that’s what I love. But I think just going from what we were to what we are now has happened so fast. I think it will settle out but until we get to that point where we’ve kind of leveled out it’s not going to happen.
What do you think about town hall meetings?
I like town hall meetings. I’m big into town hall meetings. But how do you promote them? How do you get people to attend them? Presidential races is where I saw them first and I love them.
How do you feel about town hall meetings specifically designed to get constituent feedback on the city manager’s proposed budget?
I think everyone should have a voice, but they would have to come early in the budget process. I think it’s a god idea for people to see where we’re at and I think they need to have a right to say things about the budget. It would just have to be really early on. And we do need to know what the people think about the budget. And I would be up for trying it just so long as we did it right after the city manager proposed his budget. Look, if 90 percent of the people say we should go in another direction than what’s in the budget that’s huge and we need to know that. So I’m not against that idea at all. And it would also help just to explain budget items to constituents. If people, for example, realize we only have two police officers at night and what happens when one of them is sick and the other one is at the jail. What do you do when you have to respond to an incident? So it gives us a chance to explain things in the budget as well.
What are the major issues facing Kyle?
Infrastructure. Getting the roads done because it’s been so long. That’s on everybody’s mind so that’s going to be the biggest push. Taxes is another push. I’m hearing "No taxes, no taxes, no taxes." Well, with the roads there’s going to be some increase but if you can bring in enough business, you can offset that increase. So that’s what we need to do. We have to bring in business to offset possible increases in taxes. Water we’re sitting pretty good at. I’m really proud with what the city has done in regards to water. So going forward it has to be business and infrastructure.
Kyle seems to be doing a good job in attracting retail. What can be done to attract more salaried jobs?
I don’t want a Dell here, but I would like to see someone who supplies Dell here. Big manufacturing is what is going to help our sales taxes. We have the land, we need to get water and sewers put in. One thing I have to say is that Kyle works well with others, like other cities. That’s a big help right there. We can show businesses that we mean business. We go to conventions like the retail one upcoming in Las Vegas and they are great. We need to do that. Somehow we need to do that with other types of businesses. We need to look further into that. I know that there’s been businesses looking at us and they’ve been great and they really like what we have so I think it’s going to take getting one of those to start things off. I don’t know what that little edge is to get that one but we’re going down the right track with what we’re doing. We’re able to show a full package. We’ve got our water, electricity. We just need to finish getting sewer and the water lines in some places. But as far as being able to supply it, we have it. As a package, I think Kyle has everything it takes, we just need to get our name out there. And we’re starting to do that. Like I said, we have businesses looking at us. They’ve been pleased, according to all the feedback we’ve received. It’s just going to take one and then you’re going to see it grow from there.
What do you think of the city manager’s idea to make Kyle a destination city?
He gave us some examples and I liked his examples, so it’s hard to say I don’t like that when I liked what he said. I don’t think we want to become a bedroom community — a place like you said where people just come to spend the night. I don’t think we are that and I don’t think we’re going to be. We have the opportunities and the abilities to become a destination city. I don’t want us to put ourselves on the map for just anything, but for the right reasons, yes, I would like Kyle to be a destination city.
What are your views on the recent recommendations to reformulate boards, commissions and committees?
In the past some of these committees had really good charges but then those charges waned and if you don’t update them you just have people hanging out there, trying to do the best they can. It’s not necessarily what we’re looking for or anybody else is looking for. So I think we need really good charges. I do think we can get rid of some committees. There’s no doubt about it. I think there are some committees that don’t disappear forever, but you just call on them when you need them. There are ones I’m behind. The Library Board is one. Economic Development — I’m probably behind that one, but there are some things I’m behind but we can definitely get rid of some of them.
What do you think of TIFs and PIDs?
I have been asking for months to have a workshop on just this topic. Because the things I’ve found out so far really come to us. It’s really up to us as a city to decide what the requirements are and I don’t want to just throw something together. We have a community that hasn’t been treated very fairly at all. And I don’t want anyone else to wind up like that. So the first question I have is how are you going to let the buyers know that they’re going to have this. The answer I get is it’s in the documentation. Well, if you’re a first-time home buyer do you really read all that documentation? I think we need to talk to lawyers and other experts on PIDs to find out what we need to know. For someone on the council to just say, "OK, let’s approve them because the developer wants us to," that’s just not right. So I am not a huge supporter of them as they are done here currently but I am not absolutely against them. I just want to know more about them. I don’t think any of us know enough about them. And I don’t want another community going through what some of the ones we have are going through.
What are your feelings about roundabouts in general and specifically one to replace the four-way stop sign at Kohlers Crossing and Kyle Parkway?
As a parent in a subdivision I like that. I like that a lot. I have a hard time getting out of Plum Creek so I would feel pretty safe having children over there. They have them in Austin around Town Lake and I never feel comfortable with them. Do you go? Do you not go? People are waiting and all of a sudden everybody’s there. It’s worse than a stop sign is. Does it help traffic? I don’t know. I’d really want to see more studies on that simply because as a driver I am not so sure of them.
What do you think about the concept of using tax money on items some might find frivolous such as art in public places?
I work at UT and they have just installed some new art there and it’s really interesting,. I believe in beautifying our city. And I believe that art can possibly be a part f that. And I’ve seen it in places where I think it’s very well done. I would consider it. It’s not something I would just pull out of my pocket and say let’s go spend all this money on art. But it definitely is something I would consider for beautification. So it’s not a top priority, but I would consider it.
What do you think of the current council makeup of three at large and three single member districts?
I believe it’s OK. I believe for what I have in my district, it is good. So I think having half and half works out OK. If we went to one more single member district in place of one of the art-large districts that would probably be even better.
What are your thoughts on having council elections every year?
That costs money. It’s the money I’m concerned about. I would have no problem if it didn’t cost us money but it does. Putting more elections together saves us money and that’s the way to go.
Are you a fan of the council manager form of government or do you prefer a strong mayor type?
I definitely am a supporter of the council manager form,. I understand the mayor does a lot. He’s even busier than us as far as outside work.. But I like everyone having one vote. That’s why we hold elections. We are the voice of the people and I think that’s the way it needs to stay.
Any changes you would like to see to the city’s charter?
I don’t know about changes as much as we need clarifications. There are terms in there that too many people can read in too many different ways. We need to take everything and determine what we think it means. The mayor will say this is what the city charter says and I’ll say this is what it says, so which one is it? What’s right? And we need to get to a point where we can all agree on what it says. This is what it means. Period, End of conversation. This is how much you need to save. This is how much you can spend. This is what you can do. Right now there’s too much discussion about what that is. So we need to streamline it so we can put it out there and say this is what it means. And if we’re there, then we can think about other major changes, Yes, there are changes I think have to be made especially concerning about what funds we can spend money from. But until we get those clarifications, I don’t want to go into great detail.
Do you think the city should invest in any form of mass transit and, if so, what form should that be?
I drive into Austin every single day. And if you don’t leave by five thirty in the morning, you’re going to sit there for an hour or two. I believe, as we move forward — it’s not necessary right now — we may need to think about this. I think there needs to be something to get us there, whether it be bus, train or whatever. I lived in the Chicago suburbs and we used the train constantly. Easy travel, nice travel, there and back. I also lived in San Diego and you could take the train up to L.A. and back. I do believe in mass transportation. I think we’re going to have to look at that so the day never comes when we look back and say "Gee I wish we would have." That’s something that needs to be planned out and needs to be thought about right now. And there is talk, research talk. But we do need to move forward with something.
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