By the end of this week, Austinites will know a lot more about their elected officials and who it is they truly serve. That’s because Mayor Steve Adler and the Austin City Council are about to decide whether or not local residents will have an opportunity to vote on CodeNEXT, City Hall’s controversial attempt to rezone, redevelop, and reshape neighborhoods across our community.

CodeNEXT is supported by the Austin Board of Realtors and other members of the local land-development industry, and they want our city council to adopt it before local voters have a chance to weigh in on the matter themselves. The Austin NAACP, PODER, La Raza Roundtable, Save Our Springs Alliance (SOS), and the Austin Neighborhoods Council (ANC) have joined Community Not Commodity in opposing CodeNEXT, and the Austin Justice Coalition (AJC) has formally withdrawn its support for it. We believe CodeNEXT will worsen gentrification, displacement, and Austin’s affordability crisis. That’s why we want local voters to have an opportunity to vote on it in November.

Our city council will decide whether or not to put it on that ballot during their regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday, May 24th.

The legal stakes are high. State law requires that any ordinance put forth by a valid citizen petition be either adopted by a local government or put to a public vote—and since the city council recently declined to adopt an ordinance put forth by nearly 32,000 petitioners that would have required voter approval of CodeNEXT, the same issue must be put on the next available public ballot, this coming November.

Will our elected officials follow the law? It’s hard to say, because they have a history of ignoring the rules when it comes to CodeNEXT.

As you read this, the CodeNEXT scheme is being amended by a public commission dominated by individuals with professional ties to the land-development industry, a blatant violation of our voter-approved city charter. The Austin American-Statesman confronted officials on the matter last week, demanding to know what the city’s legal department thinks. City Hall refused to answer the question.

It’s not too late for our mayor and city council to change course and start following the law. It’s not too late for them to do the right thing and listen to the community they’ve sworn to serve.

It’s time for them to put CodeNEXT on the November ballot.

Call them today and tell them so!

Mayor Steve Adler: 512-978-2100
Ora Houston (District 1): 512-978-2101
Delia Garza (District 2): 512-978-2102
Sabino Renteria (District 3): 512-978-2103
Greg Casar (District 4): 512-978-2104
Ann Kitchen (District 5): 512-978-2105
Jimmy Flannigan (District 6): 512-978-2106
Leslie Pool (District 7): 512-978-2107
Ellen Troxclair (District 8): 512-978-2108
Kathie Tovo (District 9): 512-978-2109
Alison Alter (District 10): 512-978-2110

Together we can build an Austin for everyone!