Asian American Quality of Life Advisory Commission - Feb. 20, 2024
Asian American Quality of Life Advisory Commission Regular Meeting of the Asian American Quality of Life Advisory Commission - Hybrid meeting format, hosted both in person at City Hall & Online/Virtual via WebEx
ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY-OF-LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING AGENDA February 20th, 2024 REGULAR MEETING of the ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY-OF-LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION FEBRUARY 20th, 2024 at 6:00pm (CST) CITY HALL, BOARDS & COMMISSIONS RM #1101 301 W 2ND ST, AUSTIN, TX 78701 MEETING AGENDA This meeting is being held in a hybrid format, with both in-person and online virtual participation via WebEx. Some members of the Commission may be participating by videoconference. Public comment will be allowed in-person or via telephone. Remote speakers must register in advance (February 19th by 12pm-Noon). All public comments will occur at the beginning of the meeting and public speakers will be allowed up to three minutes to provide their comments. To speak or attend remotely, residents must contact the Equity Office’s Community Services Program Coordinator, Alejandra Mireles, no later than 12pm- noon on Monday, February 19th, 2024. Please telephone call & leave a voicemail at (512) 974- 8045 or email alejandra.mireles@austintexas.gov. The information required is the speaker’s name, the item number(s) they wish to speak on, whether they are for/against/neutral, email address, and telephone number (must be the same number that will be used to call into the meeting). BOARD MEMBERS: District Commissioner District Commissioner VACANT Seonhye “Sonny” Sin 9 10 Sabrina Sha Satyajeet Dodia Kuo Yang Lily Trieu Nayer Sikder VACANT Anna Lan Mohsin Lari Mayor Hanna Huang (Chair) At-Large Padmini Jambulapati At-Large Pierre Nguyen At-Large Zahra Shakur Jamal-Hassan At-Large Sarah Chen (Vice-Chair) 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY-OF-LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING AGENDA February 20th, 2024 CALL TO ORDER MEETING AGENDA PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: GENERAL The first ten speakers signed up prior to the meeting being called to order will each be allowed a three-minute allotment to address their concerns regarding items not posted on the agenda. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Discussion and possible action to approve the minutes of the COMMISSION’s SPECIAL MEETING on JANUARY 30th, 2024. STAFF BRIEFINGS 2. DISCUSSION ITEMS 4. Brie Franco, Intergovernmental Affairs Officer, 2023 Legislative Update. Staff briefing regarding updating the 2012 Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan. Presented by April Geruso, Planning Department. 3. Asian Desi Pacific Islander American Collective, presentation on financial needs for graduation ceremony, due to losing funding after Senate Bill 17. Discussion of City Manager’s Office leadership vacancies and hiring of those positions. 5. DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS 6. Select an Asian American Quality of Life Advisory Commission member to represent the …
RECOMMENDATION: The Asian American Quality of Life Commission (AAQoL) recommends that City Council members continue to direct the City Manager to cultivate a transparent and coordinated process of hiring executive leadership positions within the City of Austin, including the roles of the City Manager and Directors. DESCRIPTION OF RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL: WHEREAS, the City of Austin is committed to upholding good governance principles, including transparency and public accountability; and WHEREAS, recent instances of five leadership positions, transitioning from interim to permanent without public notification and feedback, based on the City’s organizational chart released in September 2023 and January 2024, have raised concerns about transparency and fairness in the hiring process; and WHEREAS, additional questions remain regarding the efficacy of the grouping of strategic offices such as Equity, Sustainability, Civil Rights, Innovation, Small Minority Business Relations and Resilience, most which operate with interim or acting leadership and three under one acting director; and WHEREAS, the recent spate of new positions and hiring of individuals without consulting City Council or the general public has raised concerns about the lack of transparency and accountability in the hiring of leaders for the City of Austin; and WHEREAS, Interim City Manager Jesús Garza, in a memo dated January 30, 2024, addressed these concerns by acknowledging ongoing communication with Council Members and outlining his plans for key personnel hires within the next 90 days; and WHEREAS, while the City Manager has discretion over hiring and organizational structure, the many appointed and newly created executive leadership positions since late 2022 has caused significant community and negative news concern; and WHEREAS, a transparent and inclusive hiring process fosters public trust, attracts qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds, and ensures a deliberate selection of the best individual for the job; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY OF LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION: 1. Strongly urges City Council direct the City Manager to properly and meaningfully reinforce the authority of the Strategic Offices of Equity, Sustainability, Civil Rights, Innovation, Small Minority Business Relations and Resilience as equals alongside other City Departments with Director information listed in the City’s organizational chart; 2. Advises the City Council to adopt a policy requiring the City Manager to prioritize public listing and a competitive application process for executive leadership positions, including positions only open to internal hires; 3. Recommends that City Council considers requiring new City Manager leadership provide them with more frequent …
ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY-OF-LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION (AAQoL) RECOMMENDATION 20240220-007 Transparent Hiring in Executive Leadership Date: February 20, 2024 Subject: Recommendation on Transparent Hiring in Executive Leadership Motioned by: Commissioner Hanna Huang Seconded By: Commissioner Pierre Nguyen ---- RECOMMENDATION: The Asian American Quality of Life Commission (AAQoL) recommends that City Council members continue to direct the City Manager to cultivate a transparent and coordinated process of hiring executive leadership positions within the City of Austin, including the roles of the City Manager and Directors. DESCRIPTION OF RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL: WHEREAS, the City of Austin is committed to upholding good governance principles, including transparency and public accountability; and WHEREAS, recent instances of five leadership positions, transitioning from interim to permanent without public notification and feedback, based on the City’s organizational chart released in September 2023 and January 2024, have raised concerns about transparency and fairness in the hiring process; and WHEREAS, additional questions remain regarding the efficacy of the grouping of strategic offices such as Equity, Sustainability, Civil Rights, Innovation, Small Minority Business Resources and Resilience, most which operate with interim or acting leadership and three under one acting director; and WHEREAS, Interim City Manager Jesús Garza, in a memo dated January 30, 2024, addressed these concerns by acknowledging ongoing communication with Council Members and outlining his plans for key personnel hires within the next 90 days; and WHEREAS, while the City Manager has discretion over hiring and organizational structure, the many appointed and newly created executive leadership positions since late 2022 has caused significant community and negative news concern; and 1 WHEREAS, a transparent and inclusive hiring process fosters public trust, attracts qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds, and ensures a deliberate selection of the best individual for the job; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY OF LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION: 1. Strongly urges City Council to direct the City Manager to properly and meaningfully reinforce the authority of the Strategic Offices of Equity, Sustainability, Civil Rights, Innovation, Small Minority Business Resources and Resilience as equals alongside other City Departments with Director information listed in the City’s organizational chart; 2. Advises the City Council to adopt a policy requiring the City Manager to prioritize public listing and a competitive application process for executive leadership positions, including positions only open to internal hires; 3. Recommends that City Council considers requiring new City Manager leadership provide them with more frequent or regularly …
88TH STATE LEGISLATURE Intergovernmental Relations Office – Brie L. Franco, Officer WHERE WE STARTED: 2022 PRE-FILED LEGISLATION • Multiple Austin-specific and General City bills were pre-filed in 2022, indicating a tough session ahead for Austin and Cities in general. • Austin Specific • District of Austin – HB 714 by Patterson • DPS Takeover of Austin Police Department – HB 880 by Slawson • Guaranteed Income Preemption – HB 553 by Troxclair • Paid Sick Leave Preemption – SB 130 by Campbell; HB 121 by Vasut • City Specific • Intra-state Commerce Preemption • Municipal Permitting • Community Advocacy (i.e. taxpayer funded lobbying) • By the time the Session began, additional bills concerning significant issues impacting Cities had been filed, such as ETJ regulation, permitting, anddisannexation. 1 88TH REGULAR SESSION STATISTICS • A total 8,153 bills and joint resolutions were filed in the 88th Regular Session, with 1,020 bills and joint resolutions filed on the final day of filing alone. • For context, a total of 7,148 bills and joint resolutions were filed in the 87th Regular Session in 2021. • IGRO tracked 1,678 bills • IGRO identified 81 priority bills that would have had a highly negative impact on City. By the end of the 88th Session, 75 of the priority negative bills failed to pass and 6 finally passed. • Governor Abbott vetoed 76 bills, many of which he said could be taken up again in a special session. No vetoed bills were taken up during the special sessions. 2 88TH SPECIAL SESSIONS: STATISTICS 1st Called Session 2nd Called Session 3rd Called Session • May 29 – June • June 27 – July 27 Filed. 13 Filed • Oct. 9 – Nov. 7 JRs Filed • 66 Bills and JRs • 94 Bills and JRs • 287 Bills and JRs Filed • No bills passed • 3 bills passed • 2 bills passed 4th Called Session* • Nov. 7 – Dec. 5 • 161 Bills and • 2 bills passed * First time a Texas governor has called a fourth special session the same year as the regular session 3 88TH SPECIAL SESSION(S) • The Governor called a total of four Special Sessions on a range of topics, including: • Cutting property-tax rates • Increasing or enhancing the penalties for criminal conduct involving the human smuggling or the operation of a stash house • Border security infrastructure and …
Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan Community Update City of Austin Boards & Commissions Meeting Winter 2024 What is Imagine Austin & why does it matter? • Imagine Austin (IA) is the City’s comprehensive plan, a guide for long-term growth, development, and land use decisions • A comprehensive plan is required by City Charter Article X containing: • Initially adopted in 2012, IA is a 30-year plan, • 231 Actions & 289 Policies • 8 Priority Programs - Overseeing implementation • 1 Growth Concept Map • 1 Community Vision • It seeks to make Austin a city of “Complete Communities”* * Areas that provide amenities, transportation, services, and opportunities that fulfill all residents’ material, social, and economic needs. Imagine Austin Update – Timeline 4 Q 3 2 ‘ 1 Q 4 2 ‘ 2 Q 4 2 ‘ 3 Q 4 2 ‘ 4 Q 4 2 ‘ 1 Q 5 2 ‘ 2 Q 5 2 ‘ 3 Q 5 2 ‘ 4 Q 5 2 ‘ 6 2 ‘ 7 2 ‘ 8 2 ‘ Project Kickstart SEP - MAR Data evaluation; City staff pre-engagement; Framework development; Contracting Engagement JUN - OCT Plan Update Draft Data ongoing; Active dev. with public input Budgeting / IA integration NOV - MAY Ongoing coordination Implementation Priority Program Implementation Enhancements Today Key highlights of IA update pre-planning efforts to date • Refinement of plan update goals & strategies (ongoing) • City collaboration (ongoing) with: • Sustainability & Resilience; and Equity • City Departments • Department Leadership • Priority Programs & Champions • Budget Office • CPIO • Equity-driven Public Participation Planning (draft complete: March/April) Reasons, Goals, Strategies for an update to Imagine Austin: Our Equity Vision The Planning Department acknowledges the history of planning in Austin, and how past planning, including the City’s 1928 Comprehensive Plan and redlining in the 1930s produced continued struggle with displacement and gentrification, and growing disparities across all quality of life outcomes, still felt today. Additionally, the Planning Department acknowledges neighborhood planning, still in place today, covers only a fraction of the city, and even as of 2016 lacked representative decision-making and transparency. Further, those plans were found to be inconsistent with the citywide vision. In sum, some plans in place today have created planning-related outcomes both inconsistent with citywide goals, and planning activities with barriers to representative decision-making. Planning understands this opportunity to learn lessons from the …
SB-17 Impact on UT ADPAC Aneesha Kandikonda(Financial Director) Rachel Joseph (Co-Director of Operations) Agenda 01 ADPAC and the MEC 03 How to help 02 SB-17 04 Discussion What is ADPAC? We are the Asian Desi Pacific-Islander American Collective! We serve as a registered student organization that: - provides community resources, identity-based events, leadership institutes, - - - the tools to fight for Asian American/immigrant rights, - and plans the ONLY graduation event for Asian American students on campus, encompassing over 50,000 students. What was the MEC? The Multicultural Engagement Center, formerly Minority Information Center, has been on campus for 36 years. We are: - a hangout space for all students as often serve as a 'home away from home' for many. - provide multiple computer stations, outlets, watch tv, study desks, spaces to talk/hangout with five full-time dedicated staff! - house five University sponsored student groups: Afrikan American Affairs (AAA), Asian Desi Pacific islander American Collective (ADPAC), Latinx Community Affairs (LCA), Native American and Indigenous Collective (NAIC), Queer Trans Black Indigenous People of Color Alliance (QTBIPOCA) - Mid-1980s - - campus. - Founder: Michael L. Davis university - 2014 History of the MEC and Student Activism at UT Students held sit-ins, protested on the mall and demanded UT Austin to withdraw investment and support for the South African economy. The student-led anti-apartheid struggle spurred increased awareness of racial fissures on - Goal: centralize academic, social and financial support resources available from the - Davis was honored with the Heman Marion Sweatt Student Legacy Award. Davis served as deputy assistant Secretary of Labor during President Obama’s first term and is now a member of the Global Institutional Services management team at T. Rowe Price What is SB-17? Prohibits diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices, policies, and programs at state funded universities in Texas Author: Sen. Brendan Creighton Date Effective: January 1st, 2024 Date Passed: June 16th, 2023 The Breakdown Constraints on: Prospective Employment 1. 2. Current Employees 3. University Power → increased political oversight, hold on state funds, state compliance audit(every 4 years) a. anti-DEI ban by Board of Regents b. DEI trainings needed for state law approved by THECB and university counsel 8 exemptions: Course Instruction, Scholarly Research, Student Orgs & Activities, Guest Speakers, Data Collection, Student Retention & Admissions, Grants & Accreditation, Initiatives for Student Achievements or Post-Graduate Outcomes SB-17 and its Consequences Under the exemptions, we should have …
ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY-OF-LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES 02.20.2024 ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY-OF-LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES FEBRUARY 20th, 2024 The ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY-OF-LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION convened a SPECIAL meeting on TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20th, 2024, in the Boards and Commissions Room #1101 in City Hall (301 W. 2nd Street, Austin, Texas 78701). Chair HANNA HUANG called the ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY-OF-LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING to order at 6:11 pm CST. Commissioners in Attendance: Hanna Huang (Chair) Kuo Yang Padmini Jambulapati Commissioners in Attendance Remotely: Sarah Chen (Vice-Chair) Seonhye “Sonny” Sin Pierre Nguyen Sabrina Sha Nayer Sikder Mohsin Lari Commissioners Absent: Lily Trieu Anna Lan Satyajeet Dodia Zahra Shakur Jamal-Hassan Staff in Attendance: Alejandra Mireles – Community Services Program Coordinator, Equity Office Eric Anderson – Program Coordinator, Office of City Clerk CALL TO ORDER PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: GENERAL 1 ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY-OF-LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES 02.20.2024 The first ten speakers signed up prior to the meeting being called to order will each be allowed a three-minute allotment to address their concerns regarding items not posted on the agenda. a. Sergio Torres, Food and Resilience Coordinator, Office of Sustainability: follow up from 2021 food plan; start the process of compiling all the content from over the past two years which has included 21 workshops and 2,000 people. The office is creating a draft plan which should be ready for review and feedback from March 18-april 18. Love to hear from the Commission during a presentation or workgroup for feedback to the draft food plan in a future meeting. There will also be an online survey and an online review meeting on April 3 via zoom. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Discussion and possible action to approve the minutes of the COMMISSION’s SPECIAL MEETING on JANUARY 30th, 2024. The JANUARY 30th, 2024, the minutes were approved on COMMISSIONER SARAH CHEN’s motion, COMMISSIONER SONNY SIN’s second on a 9-0 vote. (Absent: Commissioner Lily Trieu, Anna Lan, Satyajeet Dodia, and Zahra Shakur Jamal-Hassan.) STAFF BRIEFINGS 2. Brie Franco, Intergovernmental Affairs Officer, 2023 Legislative Update. COMMISSIONER SARAH CHEN asks what the efforts were to deflect AE bills. Answer, to mitigate taking away from those investors into the AE (the city) to get the return (go back to the budget). COMMISSIONER HANNA HUANG asks between now and the next sessions, what can the Commission do to help the work in the city. Answer, given some of the Commission’s priorities, find …
