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Tuesday, the Austin chapter of the American Association of University Women held the first of two forums this week that focused in part on local city races.

The forum featured the city races for Austin mayor, along with City Council positions for Wards One, Two and Three. Thursday night’s forum will focus on the school board races and will start at 6:30 p.m.

In the mayor’s race, Steve King is running for a second term against newcomer Bradley Johnson and in the first question of the evening focus turned to challenges the candidates see in the community and how do they address them.

While both candidates mentioned housing being one of those key challenges, something the city has been coping with for a number of years now, they also had different ideas on what else needed to be approached. For Johnson, one of those keys regarded taxes.

“Taxes are going to keep going up if we don’t start figuring out how to (stop that),” Johnson said, adding that one way to reduce costs to the city of Austin is to divest some of Austin public property that soaks up maintenance costs.

Meanwhile, King said a focus should be placed on promoting a healthy business community, referencing what he sees as the “silver tsunami” or smaller businesses that are aging out.

Importance, he said, should be placed on helping these businesses find ways forward.

“There are a lot of really viable, identifiable businesses I want to keep going,” he said.

When the forum shifted to population growth and how to attract people to Austin, King linked this answer to the first question, but also came back to the question of diversity that was asked later on in the forum. He said the diverse community of Austin is key to engaging a healthy business community.

“Our immigrants are part of that,” King said. “They are also starting up amazing businesses.”

Johnson cast an eye to downtown, urging a focus toward revitalization.

“I think we need to revitalize some of the buildings we have downtown,” Johnson said. “I think we have to ask people, using the DCA we’ve got, and find out why people aren’t coming to town. I feel it’s important we ask a lot of questions.”

Downtown became a focus later in the forum, as candidates were asked for specific plans in supporting downtown. The key to that, Johnson argued, was creating a vibrancy through activities.

“I think it’s important that we come up with some activities that are downtown,” Johnson said, pointing to the example of the November event “A Hometown Christmas” and his own involvement with the Austin Enhancement Group. “We’re trying to come up with some more activities to enhance the downtown area.”

King said he viewed downtown as the core of Austin and that work strengthening that core begins with providing living options for people moving to Austin. Earlier in the evening, King referenced the newest apartment additions downtown including Mill on Main and the nearly finished 1st and 3rd Apartments near the post office.

“I want some density in the core of our city that we’ve never had,” King said. “You bring in people to live there, they are within walking distance of those businesses.”

Diversity was key for both candidates with King saying that Austin’s growth is largely credit to immigrants coming to Austin. He promoted pathways for city involvement for those in diverse populations and highlighted opportunities such as Honorary Council Member and Mayor for a Day.

He also advocated for more diverse voices on boards in Austin.

“Make sure our boards look like our community,” he said.

Johnson said he would go straight to the communities themselves in order to gauge their needs.

“I would like to meet with the groups and ask what their needs are,” he said. “Let’s talk to each other. Let’s figure out what you need.”

Both candidates also touched on the strong needs for infrastructure maintenance in Austin, with both acknowledging the continued diligence in keeping up with the current needs of the city through adaption and sensible funding needs.

When asked about climate change and environmentally sustainable initiatives, both indicated a desire to adapt Austin to rising trends and needs and to make sure opportunities for a cleaner footprint are available to the citizens.

Ward 1

In Ward 1, former council member Rebecca Waller is running against Miguel Garate to fill the seat currently held by Geoff Baker, who was appointed to the position two years ago.

The candidates faced similar questions as presented in the mayor’s portion of the forum including the challenges of today. Garate said he wanted to ensure people coming to Austin had easier access to materials and resources.

“A way to direct people in the right direction for resources for newcomers,” he said. “It can be a challenge for them if they don’t know where to go.”

Waller, meanwhile, returned to housing as one of the challenges she sees that needs to be met, including more single-family homes. 

“We’ve had some new developments, but single family — that is where we’re really struggling,” she said, adding that she would like to see more retailers and businesses come to town to encourage more shopping locally.

In terms of environmental sustainability, Waller said the city needs to take a realistic approach to these kinds of steps as well as educating the community and hearing what steps they think the city should take.

Garate, meanwhile, again referenced people coming from all over the world and that the city needs to ensure that Austin has options for all those coming into the community.

In strengthening the diverse community, Garate went back to show how far the community has come and how it has been set upon a course of inclusion.

“Ever since I’ve been here, there have been some challenges,” Garate said. “Those years are gone. Those people from other countries are really welcomed. We’re here to stay and to work together.”

Waller also celebrated Austin’s diversity.

“I love our community and how diverse we are,” she said. “We need every single person to be involved in the city, giving any type of advice or comment you want.”

Moving to infrastructure, Waller said that maintenance is important because if that maintenance is not kept up, then the costs will simply rise in the future as the city is forced into constructions because of deteriorating infrastructure. 

She viewed it as an investment.

“We have to maintain what we have,” Waller said. “It’s our best investment to take care of what we have. It’s something we can’t ignore.”

Garate, who moved to Austin in the late 90s, has seen an immense amount of change throughout the city, which shows the city is growing and needs to continue to do so.

“Ever since I moved here in 1997, Austin is completely different,” he said. “Everywhere I go is  construction. I’m very pleased and happy there is something getting done and more to come.”

Ward 3

In the Ward 3 race, incumbent Paul Fischer is running for a third term on the City Council and is running against challenger Brian Prentis, however, Prentis declined to be a part of the Tuesday night’s forum.

Fischer reiterated many other’s opinions on the challenges facing Austin, which included primarily housing and indicated a need for a cleaner community, which needs to be addressed.

He highlighted the city’s work with Austin Utilities in creating charging stations in town for electric vehicles, but also said that steps regarding lighting needs in Austin have also been met in the replacing of street lights while moving to cost efficient LED lighting. However at the same time, he advocated for more.

“We are making some changes, but we have a long ways to go,” Fischer said. “… we have to push this.”

Regarding his views on maintaining Austin’s infrastructure, Fischer said the city has been good at seeking out grants and other modes of funding to help decrease the amount placed on city taxpayers.

“The city does a good job being fiscally responsible,” he said. “I think our engineering department, council and state all work together to save the city money.”

He also agreed that those in diverse communities should be involved more in how the city runs and the way to do that is to not only promote being involved but help them thrive through economic impact.

“Get some feedback from the folks and see what they need,” he said. “We make it a point to reach out to those immigrants and include them anyway we can.”

Ward 2

While Mike Postma is running unopposed for a return to his Ward 2 seat, he was given the opportunity to give his impressions on the questions asked.

On the questions of supporting diverse sections within the community, Postma said the work so far is important in leading to future efforts.

“A lot of us are proud of our diversity,” Postma said, adding that Honorary Council Member opportunities provide that first step. “Give them a taste of what it’s like to be on the city council.”

“Invite them to the decision-making table,” he added.

Postma kicked off this part of the forum by identifying housing — specifically single-family homes, supporting the Austin Police Department and ensuring there is intentional growth in Austin. 

That intentional growth carried over somewhat when asked about his views of environmental sustainability.

“I think it’s really important, as a city, that we’re good environmental stewards, but I also think we don’t have to be at the bleeding edge,” Postma said. “We sped up how quickly we replaced our lighting with LED. It’s looking for opportunities like that that make sense and are win-wins.”

With a major project like the Oakland Avenue and First Avenue one-way projects on the horizon next year, Postma highlighted the importance of maintaining roads, understanding that the city has done a good job in that area in expanding the life-expectancy of roads in Austin.

That has come with making sure plans are approached smartly.

“Do it well the first time,” he said. “Let’s make sure we’re very intentional. It’s doing it one time and doing it well.”