Send a message to City Manager Garza, cc Mayor Watson and City Council
Add your name to the letter below to City Manager Garza in support of the Community Investment Budget (CIB).
The CIB includes about $100M (7.7% of general revenue) in spending recommendations for next year’s City of Austin budget with the goal of advancing equity and promoting a safer Austin for all. Dozens of groups collaborated to develop the CIB and more than 40 organizations currently endorse it.
A more equitable Austin must increase investments in housing, childcare, parks and youth programming, workforce development, food access and increased wages for the City workers that provide essential services. A safer Austin means more Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel and community health paramedics, gun violence prevention programs, harm reduction services, and shelter for the unhoused providing protection from the elements and a path to long-term housing. Stubbornly high rents, the resumption of evictions and ongoing inflation keep many Austin families unsafe, financially precarious and on the brink of homelessness. Help us send City Manager Garza a message that he must prioritize equity in next year’s city budget!
“Dear City Manager Garza,
I support the Community Investment Budget because it prioritizes the most urgent needs we have in the city this year: keeping struggling families in their homes and services to lift people out of homelessness; improving wages for city workers and especially at EMS, where high vacancy rates threaten essential services and our safety; childcare, youth programming and park maintenance to ensure young people in our city have safe and healthy places to go; gun violence prevention programming to combat the scourge of gun violence; and workforce development to help people attain good jobs with living wages.
As you finalize your “baseline” budget, I urge you to direct new revenue to the items listed in this Community Investment Budget. These initiatives will advance equity in our City and promote a safer Austin.
Yours, [your name will be added here]
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Add your name! We will email you the letter once it goes to City Hall.