There are those who believe that using the citizen’s initiative petition tool to call for a public vote is simply an attempt to govern by mob rule. Austin Chronicle writer Michael King, who wrote against Prop 2 last November, tried to make the case that the initiative process is simply “government by petition” and therefore “folly”.  (Remember, Prop 2, aimed at putting the brakes on the City’s use of retail subsidies, particularly for the Domain luxury mall, was placed on the ballot through a 27,000 signature petition drive, led by Brian Rodgers.)

What the citizen’s initiative detractors fail to mention is that our City Charter and our state constitution guarantee citizens the right to petition for a public vote to initiate a new law (initiative), to reverse a decision (referendum) and even to recall (vote them out) officials.  Texans have this right only at the municipal level, whereas voters in 24 states enjoy initiative and referendum rights at the city, county and state level.  Voters in 18 states enjoy statewide recall rights.

To be fair, King isn’t the only detractor of the citizen’s initiative in Austin.  The Austin American-Statesman has long held an anti-initiative position that borders on hysteria.  You can search their archives for a long list of anti-initiative editorials urging the legislature not to extend initiative rights to county and statewide issues.  The Statesman has also editorialized against every citizen’s initiative in recent memory, at least since 1992.

Recent History of the Citizen’s Initiative in Austin

In 1992, when environmentalists petitioned for the SOS (Save Our Springs) initiative to curb development over the Edwards Aquifer watershed in order to protect Barton Springs, the Statesman railed against it.   The Chronicle, apparently a different animal back then, supported the SOS initiative. SOS passed overwhelmingly.  In 1995 citizens petitioned for a vote on a rushed City Council decision to use public dollars on a baseball stadium, without a required vote of the people.  The Council claimed the stadium decision was an “emergency”, to get around a charter provision which required a public vote on all new debt!  The Statesman, a corporate sponsor of the stadium, went ballistic on the referendum.  The people won that one decisively too (2 to 1).  In 1997 a citizens group with the tongue-in-cheek name, Austinites for a Little Less Corruption, petitioned for a vote for $100 limits on contributions to Council candidates, at a time when no limits existed and candidates could visit a handful of expectant law firm benefactors for their entire war chest.  After the City Clerk (likely following then Mayor Bruce Todd’s direction) fraudulently crossed out 14,000 mostly perfectly valid petition signatures, and a harsh court order to place the measure on the ballot, it passed with little opposition.  The measure had some problems, including that the limits were too low without Austin changing from having all citywide races, to single member districts.  Two years later ALLC asked the Council to engage in discussions to correct the problems with campaign financing.  This went nowhere.  In 2001 Clean Campaigns began another petition drive to to raise the limits and to institute public financing.  This one failed decisively, during an economic downturn as the Chamber of Commerce, the Real Estate Council and the Statesman worked together to defeat it.

In 2004, a petitioin drive was begun for a public vote to recall Mayor Will Wynn and Council members Brewster McCracken and Danny Thomas related to their votes on CAMPO (our region’s transportation planning group) for the controversial “double-tax” toll road conversion plan (see more under our “Toll Road War” section for details).  The requirements for recall are very tough (and well they should be).  The recall drive came up 5,000 short of the 36,000 signatures needed.  Anti-tollers had made their point, however, as the recall helped to drive the debate on how we fund roads — a debate that continues today.

You can read more about the history of the initiative process itself here.  It’s been around for about 100 years.  Thomas Jefferson is its most famous supporter.  Texas politicians and publications beware — the people will continue to defend and use this important check and balance on local government gone astray.

Founded in 2008 by Brian Rodgers, Linda Curtis, and Albert Marino, ChangeAustin.org is a political action committee that reports all contributions and expenditures to the Texas Ethics Commission as well as the City of Austin. Those reports are online and open to the public for review. We invite your donations of time and money to make Austin a better place for ALL of Austin.

You can read more about Brian Rodgers here in the Austin Bulldog, though he is no longer considering running for the Austin City Council. A lot has happened since then, including the “10-1” revolt, sparked by ChangeAustin.org. That revolt, it is our hope, will continue. It will continue to expose those in local government who continue going along to get along on the efforts to bring so many people to the Austin area, it is choking our affordability and stressing our water availability and quality. They — the real estate “growth lobby” — are pushing us to the brink of a bonafide man-made real estate bust and all the pain that will come with it.

More on our history….

ChangeAustin.org is dedicated to the vast majority of voters and local businesses who lack representation. We began our focus at City Hall just following the narrow defeat of Prop 2 (to stop the Domain luxury mall taxpayer giveaway).

In 2007, local activists and Austin businesses gathered 28,000 signatures of Austin voters calling for a vote to stop the retail subsidies to a luxury shopping mall, The Domain. Despite the support from 500 local businesses and all local political parties — and everyone thinking that we were going to win– we lost by 2%. The Austin real estate “machine” (Chamber of Commerce, Real Estate Council of Austin, the Austin area Homebuilders, Simon Malls, individuals like Gary Farmer of Heritage Title and, of course, the developers of The Domain, Endeavor Real Estate), ponied up $400K for a last minute media buy with then Mayor Will Wynn using the slogan “Keep Austin’s Word”. The Austin Chronicle and a few big wheels in the local Democratic Party (Kirk Rudy, Endeavor Real Estate and Andy Brown, then Travis County Democratic Chair), despite the party’s support to end the subsidies, also played a role in defeating us. It was then that we realized that The Domain was just one of the ways in which Austin residents are subsidizing the real estate industry and we had a tiger by the tail.

We formed ChangeAustin.org in order to have a protracted battle with the proverbial real estate hogs at the public trough who continue to demand way more than their fair share. This — the subsidization of an industry that needs no handouts — is, in our view, to blame for longtime Austinites fleeing the city seeking an affordable way of life that is no longer in Austin.

In 2010, Brian Rodgers commissioned a study by Eben Fodor and Associates to find out who pays for Austin’s breakneck growth. This came on the heels of our efforts to expose the property tax burden of the 40% undervaluations of commercial properties, on average, throughout Texas. That information was released in a study by the Texas Association of Appraisal Districts in 2006. This information is parked at CostofGrowth.com.

Here are the things we think are fundamental to our right to better and more honest government:

1) A serious commitment to full transparency and greater public oversight of decisions with far reaching fiscal implications.

2) Champions for locally owned businesses and real leadership to keep our dollars from leaving the community — shoring up our local economy.

3) Policies requiring that development growth pays for itself and make those who benefit bear the costs.

4) Publicly supported plans for our region’s transportation needs (ending the “toll road war”).

5) Respect for the rights of citizens to petition city government, guaranteed by our City Charter and state constitution.

ChangeAustin.org is an amalgam of local activists and local businesses dedicated to activism (Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Greens, and independents who are working together!) — new and old — who believe the future determines the past.  Can “we the people” put our deep differences aside for now and work for the common good?

Now that would be real change, wouldn’t it!

Where do we go from here?

ChangeAustin.org sparked the “10-1” revolt that was passed by Austin voters in 2012. This brought us a new voting system with 10 single-member districts and the first independent citizens redistricting commission in the state of Texas. Now, the real war begins to take Austin back from the special interests who will be done with us when Austin’s real estate play is over and our affordability is fully a thing of the past. Austin sets the pace for central Texas, so if you don’t happen to live in the city, not to worry — you’re welcome here.

This web blog is dedicated to educating and activating you, yes YOU reading this blog.  Please share your thoughts on any section of this site, don’t forget to sign in to get our emails, and please bring your friends to ChangeAustin.org to join this movement for a new direction for our great city and region!

Please comment on any portion of this web blog and contact us when you’re ready to get to work!

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