The city of Austin held its first City Council elections under the 10-1 districting system in November. Previously, all council members and the mayor were elected at-large, but in 2014 voters elected 10 City Council members representing discrete geographic areas, while the mayor was still elected at-large. Council members were sworn in Jan. 6.

Voters elected Ellen Troxclair, former Texas legislative Chief of Staff for Rep. Jason Isaac, as the representative for District 8.

"For the past several decades our previous City Council members have been from the downtown area, so they don't necessarily sit in traffic on MoPac in the morning, and they're not dealing on a daily basis with the issues that those of us who live in Southwest Austin deal with," Troxclair said.

Council takes shape

Community Impact Newspaper defines Southwest Austin as the area south of Southwest Parkway, east of FM 1826, west of I-35 and north of FM 1626. The Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission that created Austins voting districts divided that area into four districts: 2, 3, 5 and 8.

During the 20 years local automotive shop owner Charles Coleman has lived in Austin, there has been little representation for Southwest Austin, he said.

"Southwest Austin is neglected as far as tax dollars are concerned," he said. "I'm hoping that with the 10-1 [system] that the rest of the underserved districts will begin to get their fair share of tax dollars distributed to [their] area."

Troxclair said the council has an opportunity to make impactful policy changes and improve communication with the public.

"We are paying a huge amount of the [property] tax burden for the city; we have the highest rate of home ownership in District 8. And I think there is a feeling that we were not getting our return on investment in the form of road infrastructure and public safety resources and things like that, but also that there was no one on the other end listening to [residents]."

Bradley Dartez, past Oak Hill Business and Professional Association president, said as a resident he is excited to see whether having geographic representation will improve council's work on citywide issues, such as safety, as well as neighborhood-specific requests, such as allocating funding for improvements at Dick Nichols District Park.

"[Troxclair] lives right down the street from me, so it's kind of nice to have somebody that's local [on City Council]," he said.

In District 5, local issues include flooding and transportation, Councilwoman Ann Kitchen said.

"We're a big city; we're not going to build our way out of congestion. It's all about providing more options for people," she said.

Residents want council to improve roads and options for pedestrians and cyclists, she said. Many also say they want Capital Metro bus services expanded south of Slaughter Lane and throughout District 5, she said.

The council will concentrate on the ongoing CodeNEXT effort to rewrite the city's land development code as well, Kitchen said.

Cost of living, engagement

Austin is fast approaching a point where residents will be priced out of their neighborhoods, Kitchen said. The council needs to look at changes to property taxes and other initiatives to lessen that burden, she said.

"That's a tall order, but we need to pay more attention to what it costs to live here and how we can help people with that," she said.

District 2 Councilwoman Delia Garza said one of her primary goals on council will be to help establish an affordability committee with representatives from entities such as Travis County and AISD to examine Austins cost of living.

"Every time there is a bond measure, it affects everybody. When Travis County taxes go up, it affects your monthly bill. And for your average person, they want to know, 'How is this going to affect my monthly bill?'"

She said an ordinance to establish the committee is slated to be part of the councils Jan. 29 agenda.

Districts 2 and 3 are among the districts with the lowest median family incomes, District 3 Councilman Sabino "Pio" Renteria said.

"We need to plan to come up with more housing for these people. And right now, with gentrification and the high value of homes, the value of the land itself has gone up so high. We need to have more density-type family apartments built in Austin," Renteria said.

Renteria said he is familiar with the needs of East Austin because he has been a community activist there for years. However, he plans to communicate with organizations on the west side of District 3 to ensure they are heard as well.

Residents can email, call or write to council members or set up in-person meetings at council offices, Renteria said.

"[Residents in each district now] have a contact at City Hall that is actually going to be looking out for their needs," he said.