Another candidate declares in District 7
And renaming Barton Springs?
In the inbox this morning is a campaign launch from Adam Powell, who is running for the District 7 seat that Leslie Pool will vacate at the end of her term next year. Mike Siegel and Pierre Nguyen declared their candidacies in mid-October and Edwin Bautista declared his candidacy at the beginning of November.
From Powell's press release:
“I was born in Austin and have spent almost my entire life in the greater Austin area. I’m running to represent District 7 because of my love for Austin and hope for its future,” said Powell. “We have an amazing opportunity to improve our policies regarding Housing, Transportation and Mobility, and our city’s most Essential Infrastructure.”
“I don’t want to run for the state legislature or national office; I want to focus on representing my neighbors locally in District 7 to the fullest of my abilities,” said Powell.
Powell is a community leader who has worked full-time as a union organizer, teacher recruiter, state employee, and tech executive. He is currently a SAFE Alliance Board Member, Vice President of the North Shoal Creek Neighborhood Association, Committee Member with CapMetro, and creator of over 130 videos on Austin’s local history on TikTok and Instagram. He and his wife are renters within the North Shoal Creek neighborhood.
Over the past year Powell, 29, has become a familiar face at City Hall, where he frequently speaks in support of progressive and YIMBY causes. Among other things, he has spoken in support of the HOME initiative and against the I-35 expansion.
On his campaign website, Powell expresses support for a variety of progressive positions but avoids specifics.
At this point, however, it still offers more than Siegel and Nguyen's sites, which do not yet include any policy proposals. Bautista's site includes some specifics –– a budget increase for the City Auditor, for instance –– but is pretty vague on housing, land use and transportation.
Yes, it's early, but I would like to see all of these candidates tell us more about what exactly they plan to do while in office.
Renaming Barton Springs?
From the Austin Monitor:
At its regular meeting on Nov. 27, the Parks and Recreation Board heard from the Barton Springs Bathhouse Working Group about its report, which includes a list of potential names for an updated bathhouse in addition to calling for the city to also reexamine the name of Barton Springs.
Hmm. This should be interesting. I wonder what Save Our Springs will say about this?
