On Jan. 27, the Northwest Austin Coalition will host the first forum for candidates running for Travis County judge and county commissioner in Precinct 2.
The forum is open to the public and is held at the Spicewood Springs Library Branch from 6:30–8:30 p.m. Candidates for County Judge—Andy Brown and Sarah Eckhardt—and candidates for county commissioner—Garry Brown, Richard Jung, and Brigid Shea—will be present for a question-and-answer session, and to discuss concerns such as water, transportation, public safety, affordability and wildfires. The event is moderated by Traci Rodriguez, Austin Metro publisher of Community Impact Newspaper.
"My hope is that the residents of Northwest Austin will get more direct access to our future elected officials that really speak to the issues that we face in this part of town," said Jimmy Flannigan, organizer of NWAC. "The [fact that this] is the first ever forum focused specifically on Northwest Austin, I think is a glaring omission in our local politics. It's going to be an exciting time to see how the residents of Northwest Austin will be able to have their voices heard and their concerns addressed by these potential future officials."
NWAC is a nonpartisan group that was formed in April 2013 to give Northwest Austin residents representation during the city of Austin's redistricting process. The group was the first in the city to submit recommended maps to the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission—the organization charged with creating the final redistricting map.
