It's a question people have been asking all year: "Will Mayor Bonnie Rietz run during this year's mayoral race?"

At Monday's Austin City Council meeting, she announced that she will run for another two-year term.

Rietz said that after being involved with city government for 14 years, six of which have been spent as mayor, "I wanted to take some time to think about it."

And think about it she did. Rietz said she spent time every night reflecting on the positive and negative aspects of her job and realized the list of positives was far longer than the list of negatives.

"It's such an honor, such a privilege to be mayor. My favorite part is the people … I really admire and really like the council members and I think Austin is a city we can be proud of," she said.

Rietz said that if she wins another term, she hopes to continue working on extending infrastructure to the Cook Farm project. She also hopes to keep improving downtown Austin because "it's important to have a vital downtown area," and she wants to see continued improvement in the city's quality of life.

Amanda L. Rohde can be reached at 434-2214 or by e-mail at amanda.rohde@austindailyherald.com