Thread by @MayorAdler

#ATXSOTC thread:
So here we are now, confronting challenges unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Where do we begin? In times of such great uncertainty, what should be our guiding light? I think we begin with -- and look to -- “justice.”

We all want the local economy--and our lives--back as we knew them. #ATXSOTC

We tried to open businesses as they had operated pre-virus... as if the virus was gone. Leaders at the national and state levels gave destructive or ambiguous messages about what we needed to do to prevent a surge. And so the virus came roaring back. #ATXSOTC

Truth is, the virus was never gone. It just hides... waiting for us to invite it back into our lives. #ATXSOTC

Today, it appears we’re in a plateau. That’s better than a surge – but still dangerous. The virus is real and the infectivity in our community is still too high. You want to open businesses and schools? Drive down the infection rate further than we are now. #ATXSOTC

This virus is more than just an attack on our physical health, it’s also a devastating blow to our economic health. Unemployment is at unimaginable levels. Businesses have shuttered -- some temporarily and some lost forever. #ATXSOTC

Many of our neighbors don’t know how they’re going to feed their families or whether they’ll be evicted from their homes. Tenants struggle with rent; homeowners and landlords struggle with mortgage payments. #ATXSOTC

Congress needs to pass CARES II and it needs to provide support to cities so we can help ourselves. #ATXSOTC

COVID-19 is also a moral challenge. In many ways, it makes this moment even bigger than all of that. COVID-19 isn’t just killing people, its impacts are disproportionately felt by communities of color. #ATXSOTC

Our stay-at-home mandate revealed the housing insecurity of hundreds of thousands among us. COVID-19 made it clear how many “essential” workers lack access to the essentials. #ATXSOTC

In our community, far too many of the people most in need of affordable, reliable, rapid transportation to meet their daily needs and improve their lives don’t have it. #ATXSOTC

#ProjectConnect is a bold transit plan for the just and accessible city we aspire to be. It certainly addresses traffic, but it will do so much more #ATXSOTC

With light rail, a downtown transit tunnel to speed up travel, no matter what vehicular mode you choose, new MetroRapid lines and vehicles, and a transition to a zero-emissions fleet, #ProjectConnect will connect our entire city, creating new opportunity for Austinites. #ATXSOTC

We must acknowledge that major transportation investments in our past have done more to deepen inequality, to segregate rather than connect, to displace rather than benefit. We must learn from that painful past and ensure we do not repeat those injustices. #ATXSOTC

We must ensure that the very communities we intend to serve with improved transit are actually able to keep living in those areas once the improvements are in place. #ATXSOTC

No other city has embarked on a project of this magnitude in a way that learns from the mistakes of the past and makes, real meaningful investments to ensure equitable outcomes. #ProjectConnect #ATXSOTC

In November, I hope and believe our council will give voters the chance to right many transportation wrongs in an historically grand way. #ProjectConnect #ATXSOTC

I support engaging in the re-imagining of the police department in many different ways. #ATXSOTC

I support the process the City Manager and Deputy City Manager have put into play to evaluate, together with the community, ideas whether and how any idea makes sense and would be achieved. #ATXSOTC

I support removing elements, such as mental health response, the 911 call center, forensics lab, Internal Affairs, training, family violence, and health-related calls from the police budget and putting them into a transition budget category. #ATXSOTC

This transition budget category will contain well over $100M in elements currently in the police budget. I support only authorizing expenditures out of the police budget and the transition budget for six months. #ATXSOTC

The success of Austin and Texas began at the expense of its slaves. Blacks were kept from voting in 1902 with a poll tax, were segregated on public transportation in 1906, and preventing from voting in primaries in 1923. #ATXSOTC

In 1928, Austin adopted a land plan that forced African Americans to leave their homes and move to the east side of town. In 1932, ordinances were passed that moved nearly all those that hadn’t already been moved. #ATXSOTC

We have to acknowledge the roadblocks to prosperity for people of color in Austin were set intentionally and their impacts will be felt for generations unless we act. We must harness the energy of disruption to remake Austin as a city of real opportunity for all. #ATXSOTC

I’m adding my voice to those of Mayors across the country who are calling on Congress to develop and execute a national program of restitution for descendants of slaves in this country. #ATXSOTC

This is the moment to define who we are. We should dedicate ourselves to doing justice – and not in little ways. We must rise to the moment and change history.
#ATXSOTC

So let’s do big things. Let’s end homelessness. Let’s bring real mobility to Austin. Let’s reimagine how we keep one another safe. Let’s address race & do something about correcting centuries of injustice because it is the fundamental injustice that fuels so many others. #ATXSOTC

We have to recover, but shame on us if we rebuild systems as inequitable as before. #ATXSOTC

Let’s celebrate the opportunity born of the necessity to rebuild. Let’s commit to be guided by a search to deliver justice. Let’s join in a DISRUPTIVE RECOVERY, seizing the moment rebuild in a just and equitable way. #ATXSOTC

Thank you for tuning in to #ATXSOTC. Please go to MayorAdler.com for text of the speech.

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