EverGreen Austin Hosted Green Space
& Climate Change Policy Forum
Monday, September 30, 2024 5 PM - 7 PM
City Council District 10
Candidate Introductions
The following transcripts were created from a recording provided to us
Candidate District 7 City Council
Marc Duchen
So Austin’s got no shortage of environmental challenges and I would probably include climate change at the very very top of that list and we don’t have time for a learning curve here. My name is Mark Duchen and I am the environmental candidate in this race. I’ve been endorsed by the Sierra Club, the Austin Environmental Democrats, environmental leaders like Brigid Shea, Allison Alter here, part of the reason is because I can hit the ground running. I’ve got over 20 years experience, I’ve got an MBA, I’ve run a business for the last eight years and I’ve got two decades of dealing with city issues. I want to continue Allison’s work specifically on park land acquisition and maintenance ‘cause we really do want balanced growth and environmentalism going forward. We also need to address water and air quality issues so thank you so much for having me, I look forward to your questions.
Candidate District 7 City Council
Ashika Gangly
Hi everyone, thank you so much having me and I’m so thrilled to be here today to talk to all of you. My name is Ashika Gangly. I’m running for Austin City Council District 10. Right here in beautiful west Austin. I grew up here in west Austin, my parents immigrated here from India because of the economic opportunity that was afforded to a young family trying to build their life here in the city. I started my career as a classroom teacher just across Mopac at Matthews Elementary where I taught 5th grade for five years. Throughout my time in the classroom, I saw a myriad of different local issues playing out in both families lives and my student’s lives. Namely, childcare access, transit affordability, public safety and yes, parks and our green spaces was key among those. I really wanted to be able to make a difference for those families and for my community so I decided to, after year five, to take the step to move into public policy work. I got my masters in Policy at UT and I currently serve as a legislative director at the Texas House. I’ve seen just how much parks and the environment have affected my childhood and I have many fond memories on the town lake trailand at Zilker Park, and I’ve seen how it added to the quality of life for my students. I’m thrilled to be able to be an advocate for the parks, both as a candidate and hopefully as your next council member in District 10. Thank you so much.
Question 1
Do you support proposing a climate bond in 2025 or 2026?
What provisions would you like to see in the bond package
and would this bond funding be used to execute the city's existing climate plan?
Candidate District 7 City Council
Marc Duchen
Yes, I absolutely support everything we can do to expedite the climate bond as soon as possible. I think one challenge we have in general with bond spending is to make sure that we are spending efficiently and effectively. So making sure that we’ve got everything lined up. It should be aligned with climate equity plan, it should be about reducing emissions, and making sure our most vulnerable communities are protected from the effects of Climate Change. In terms of specific provisions. I really would focus on two things right now, one’s gonna be obviously park land acquisition that’s a huge issue. Planting trees in District 10 and reducing heat island and creating a tree canopy for the whole city. I think there is also going to be some provision for making sure we do better with storm water drainage. I think that has an issue here in district 10 as we’ve developed as we have more growth space, that we have plans for re-treatment that we’re not just taking up park land to try to an address those issues. So those are the two issues I would focus on. Thank you.
Candidate District 7 City Council
Ashika Gangly
I also support a climate bond in 2025 or 2026. I definitely want to make sure, that before we invest in this bond, that we are able to come to a consensus about what those investments would like. There a lot of different folks in the city that care about climate issues but have different opinions about how to go about it. So I would be someone who would be a champion to bring different kinds of stakeholders to the table, encourage collaboration and compromise with the climate bond and for me three things I would really want to look at is parkland acquisition, moving toward renewables for energy generation and making sure we have a good handle on water. Thank you.
Question 2
Many Austinites support addressing affordability with increased density,
but wonder if a denser city means a less green city.
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How would you as an elected official advocate for and implement policy to prioritize green space planning to keep pace with development?
Candidate District 7 City Council
Marc Duchen
So I think the bottom line is, we've got to have green to balance out the gray and to me that means balanced land. Use policy going forward. I think that's something that we haven't always had. I think when I think of even the home ordinance, that's changes to setbacks, that we mean trees are going to come down and we need to be thoughtful about all the consequences from taking down those trees. In terms of water, flood mitigation, our heat island effect. And so on in terms of specific policy policies, I like to see two things. One - I think when we’ve got new development, whether it's mixed use or commercial or residential, I'd love to see more micro green spaces, things like Unity Gardens, and rooftop Gardens, and things like that. And two, I'd love to see also something like a green density fund, right? If you're going to come into a neighborhood or area and have more density let's also help you pay and do a green density fund. That helps build up and acquire green space to offset the density that you are adding in the grade that you're adding. Thank you.
Candidate District 7 City Council
Ashika Gangly
I think this is a very key issue for me, I believe that we have a housing crisis in Austin that we need more types of housing for more types of people in the city. I've seen it, as a young professional myself, trying to build my own life here. After having grown up in the city, I saw it as a teacher, knowing that many of my colleagues could not afford to live within the city limits and we're commuting, 45 minutes to an hour every day. Um, I think often growth is conflated with ideas of an urban jungle with less green space but it doesn't have to be and I'm committed to being a council member who can allow for managing our growth in a responsible way. The reality is that more compact walkable communities, where they work can create, uh, you know, opportunity to mitigate sprawl and pollution. Um, conserve water and enable less trafficking congestion on our roads. Um, I do, I'm very aware that there's a lot of environmentally sensitive land, especially in District 10. Especially with regards to flood risk and wildfire risk. So, I am a proponent of making sure that we have those denser communities where it is feasible and where we can allow it while also, making sure that we are preserving our Parkland, our green space amidst, our growth as it happens. Thank You.
Question 3
The city of Austin set a goal to provide park space within a quarter of a mile walk for the urban core and a half a mile walk for those outside of the urban core. In 2023, the city of Austin lost an important tool to acquire parkland with the elimination of parkland dedication fees, estimated at 20 million dollars, annually.
Do you support finding a permanent source of funding for parkland acquisition?
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If so, how would you approach finding a permanent source of funding for our parks?
Candidate District 7 City Council
Marc Duchen
I think we do vigorously and urgently approach, a new source of funding and partnerships of funding is possible. I think that could be from anything from property taxes to development impact fees to some of the ideas that I mentioned in the last question. I think we can also explore public private partnerships with a lot of our community members here. I think public Improvement districts could be an option for setting aside certain areas. I think there's another component to it, which is maintaining what we've got, has to be a key component, as well. It's something that I think we've also fallen short on regarding that. We've got a bond going back. Six years ago, a parks bond. That's more than 40 percent of unspent right now and so figuring out. How do we use the resources that we've got? Uh I think it's going to be also an important part of that piece while making sure that we are spending well until we can get it from its source going.
Candidate District 7 City Council
Ashika Gangly
I fully support finding a permanent source of funding for our Parks and green spaces here in Austin. We've seen many different parks and green areas in the city benefit from a Conservancy model Waterloo. Peace, the Shoal Creek Conservancy, and the Trail Foundation have all been really big Boons to the city and created beautiful public areas within the city. So I would definitely be a proponent of exploring public private Partnerships through a Conservancy model at a larger scale for the City. I think that many business-minded folks in the in Austin understand that beautiful Parks is good for economic prosperity in the city and would be willing to invest in into our parks. Outside of partnerships, I'm interested in looking at dedicated, green bonds, uh, designated Park Improvement districts and then I would consider seriously consider pursuing a TREe a taxpayer election four parks for the city. But what I would want to make sure we Park, Advocates Park, experts, constituents and stakeholders. All at the table to make sure that this is the correct path forward for our Parks. Thank you so much.
Question 4
Most Austinites would be shocked to learn that the Trust for Public Land's Park score ranks Austin's Park system, 44th out of the top 100 most populous cities.
Thought leaders attribute this embarrassing ranking to a departure from Austin's green cultural roots. What policies will you champion and what actions will you take to put Austin on a pathway of ranking in the top five cities?
Candidate District 7 City Council
Marc Duchen
When I got here, 28 years ago, I felt like we were a leader in the state and obviously that's changed dramatically as far as Parkland per capita. In terms of Ideas. I would love to see, like we talked about in the last question, a permanent fund for property acquisition. I think that's got to be our number one priority to try and keep up with all the growth that we've had. We've got like we said, bonds bids other tools in our tool chest that we can use for that acquisition. We've got to expand our existing trail system, you know, violent uh Violet Crown Trail is supposed to be 30 miles when it's done, and we need to make sure that we stay the course. And not just connect that but connected to Zilker and other Greenbelt areas, and continue our work, making sure that we have a community Green City. We can also make sure to protect what we've got right now. We're in Muni as a jewel of West Austin. And one of my concerns is it's under threat of being redeveloped. I'm the only candidate in this race to not have supporters that are urbanists that want to redevelop this beautiful place that we’ve found. It's a carbon heat sink. It's home to, you know, to many, many Heritage trees and it's a recharge zone. So let's make sure that we can protect what we've got.
Candidate District 7 City Council
Ashika Gangly
This was a shocking number for me to read. I know that Austin's Parks have been a staple of my childhood into and throughout my life and into adulthood. And I've always thought of our city as a beautiful place for great space and for Parks. So, it's Paramount for me to make sure that we get back to, where we were to be known as a city. That is a champion of our parks and I'm looking uh, specifically at five key areas and number one is Park accessibility. To making sure that we do have that walkable park access for all Austinites, sustainable funding, like we were talking about in the last question, park quality and amenities. So not only acquiring new park land, but making sure that we're able to continue to maintain and provide the amenities that are needed in those parks. I always say you know every Park provides a different function. You know Peace Park has lots of structures and play areas because it's meant for families. Zilker Park is meant to be an open space that's accessible to the entire city. So understanding the function of each different park is also key. Park equity – prioritizing underserved areas with new Parkland, acquisition and development and then Partnerships and engagement. Just through Community awareness, Partnerships with private entities to make sure that such as Keep Austin Beautiful to make sure that we're really championing our parks in a meaningful way. Thank
Question 5
So Robert Mace executive director for the Meadows Center for Water
and the Environment states --
We don't need a water plan that allows us to survive.
We need a plan that allows us to thrive.
What does the what does a water plan for Austin look like?
Candidate District 7 City Council
Marc Duchen
Water conservation has to be Paramount. That's where you get the most bang for our buck is our education efforts and everything from xeriscaping to incentivizing renewables, and all kinds of other options. That's something that we can really stretch our dollars on to make sure that we are not backsliding as we have for the last six or so years on what our conservation efforts are. We used to be a leader there and have struggled. So I think that's something I would love to start to turn the corner on. Uh, one is purple pipes, extending them to large buildings. Particularly the ones that are downtown – A single large building can save, literally tens of millions of gallons per year. So making sure that we can do that is going to be important. Also, I think sticking to the provisions, in the Austin of water for task force that, we've got a great plan that we need to not let sit on the shelf. There are things like aquifer storage and recovery that we can Implement that could help make sure that we are harvesting rain. And finally, I think there's also opportunities, as I mentioned earlier for storm water. Right now we know Larson has told us that urbanization is one of the major causes for toxicity for runoff for flood mitigation issues and it's really sad to me that there. In some cases there are strategies to take our Parkland for flood retention areas, that done with Reed Park. So I want to make sure that that's unacceptable and that we have real strategies for storm water going forward, so they can get properly treated. And we're not having to take our existing green space because we are dealing with urbanization issues. Thanks.
Candidate District 7 City Council
Ashika Gangly
Yeah, I think water is a key issue for the city as we continue to face growth. I'm a big proponent of making sure that we are managing that growth. And the reality is, you know, my opponent just spoke about the fact that, uh, he is the only candidate that wants to preserve green spaces which is frankly, not true. My vision for Austin is one that does not include sprawl which is going to create more expensive and more challenging ways to get water to Suburban areas. And so, when I'm thinking about water in particular, I'm thinking about again, five key areas, number one is water reuse. So thinking about rainwater, harvesting gray water and expanding purple piping throughout the city to make sure that we are continuing to reuse, water water, conservation, initiative, expanding water incentives, and rebates uh to include xeriscaping, purple piping, low flow plumbing, more efficient appliances, Um, green water, and storm water management. Making sure that we have lots of green infrastructure, and sustainable, building practices, as we continue to manage that growth. Um and then long-term water supply. So making sure that we have a plan and we're prepared for drought. When it does come that we have a collaboration with our regional partners and that we know what the plan is when that does happen and then lastly Community engagement. So again just like our Parks, we need to be engaging. Um our private sector, we need to be engaging our community members. We need to be engaging constituents in understanding, how to conserve reviews and Champion. Our water here in Austin. Thank you so much.