Skip to main content

City of Austin Mayor Kirk Watson's Wire: Practical Idealism

January 7th, 2025 

Last night, I was honored and grateful to begin what will be my fourth term as Austin mayor. I’m truly proud to have been selected by the voters to, again, serve this community that we all love so much. I will say also that being re-elected this November was especially gratifying, as I believe it was a genuine reflection of voters’ renewed confidence in the ability of City Hall to actually get good things done.


And that – getting good things done– is even more important than ever. The difficult truth is that we live in a time when extreme divisions seem to have transformed our federal and state governments into forums primarily for delivering insults rather than results.



When so many in Congress and the State Legislature are so transparently intent on building power just to impose their political point of view, instead of using it to actually get anything done, it’s no surprise at all that voters want their local government — and especially their city government — to really solve problems, to really make day-to-day life in our community better.


As mayor, I’m asking myself every day: Are the things we’re doing going to make a real difference for real people in the real world?


Local government respects and demands a practical idealism — a values-based approach to addressing challenges that connects us with our neighbors, manifests the optimism we share, and pours our creative energy into the stuff that needs to get done.


If we come together — really setting aside personal and ideological agendas — it will make a big difference today…and a transformative one tomorrow. If we rally around a shared vision, we'll make Austin the place we want it to be, and we'll lay the foundation for the place we want it to become.


We need to fix the day-to-day problems we all face. And we also need to put the city on a track that makes people want to live here, and that ensures they can. Our children, our grandchildren, deserve to love Austin as much as we do.


That's a hard thing to do, but it's very doable. I've seen it! It's in our control, which makes this enormously valuable and important work, especially now. We can show Texas, our nation, and our world what's possible when people are willing to work — not fight, but really work together — for their community and its future.


We have substantially righted the ship at City Hall over the past two years. And we did it not by grandstanding or by finger-pointing, but by doing the hard and unglamorous work of governing with specific outcomes in mind. Using a little common sense. That’s the model I want us to carry forward.


If we’ll continue to embrace that, we can and we will make Austin more affordable, more safe, more compassionate, more innovative, more inclusive, more unique, and just plain better for more people.


We can and we will, together, make a truly lasting, positive difference in the life of this great city and the lives of all of its people.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Bonnie Fish McGee's Spooky 1st Birthday Party! Oct. 19th, 2024. Good times.

 

Austin, Texas has a DOG PROBLEM.....

  Austin, Texas has a DOG problem (Letter I wrote and sent) Dear Austin City Council Members, Hello and well regards, Yesterday afternoon during a simple bicycle pedal exercise ride, I was physically chased by an unleashed Pitbull dog in ZILKER PARK. Then directly after recovering from almost being mauled by an unleashed pit-bull in Zilker Park, I attempted to buy a Gatorade at a nearby Barton Springs Road Market, but that didn't go well either, as an interior Market commercial customer had a massive mixed breed dog trolling through the diminutive shopping isles. Then this morning, at a Coffee shop on SoCo, there was only 1 entry way in and out, and there was another large, although more docile mixed breed dog. All of this has occurred in less than 24 hours. What's the point? The City of Austin's dog friendliness and citizen enabling of irresponsible dog owners has gotten out of control. Newsflash! Not everybody like dogs, being everywhere all the time. especially within ...

I got up early and went = ESPN's Live College Football Gameday Show @ University of Texas - Austin Fall 2024

 I awoke circa 5:30 am this past Saturday, took a shower, grabbed a quick bite to eat and coffee@ QT; then rode my moped down to the University of Texas, South Lawn or "6-pack" area to view the LIVE ESPN taping and broadcast show, COLLEGE GAMEDAY. When I arrived on campus at 6 am it was still dark and there were plenty of fans already there. The actual LIVE College Gameday Show started at 8 am Central Time. We as fans are simply backdrop visuals and noise for the show. There were tons of fans signs, almost too many to even read. All of the On-Air TV Talent was friendly and excellent! Desmond Howard, Lee Corso, Pat McAfee, Kirk Herbstreet, and Nick Saban. Pat McAfee is the "get the home crowd revved up" talent, which is needed for the live show. Overall it was quite entertaining and free to attend. It'll get your Saturday juiced up. https://promo.espn.com/collegegameday/