Kirk Watson’s Post

Latest #WatsonWire: A couple months ago, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the opening of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport with a fun and proud look back at the past. Today, we’re focused on updating, upgrading and expanding what we call “AUS” to accommodate the future — a future that is really already here. The airport’s long-term plan, which was finalized in 2019, projected that AUS would be serving 21 million passengers by the year 2027. Of course, that little unexpected pandemic thing happened in 2020 and, at the peak, barely 10,000 passengers flew in and out of AUS in a month. For a while, airline data suggested that it would take at least until 2023 to return to about 17 million annual passengers. Then the even-more-unexpected happened. Travelers came back in droves. Instead of taking years to return to pre-pandemic passenger volumes, it only took 15 months, and by 2022 the airport shattered the previous record of busiest year ever. Now, instead of serving 21 million travelers a year by 2027, as originally projected, our airport has been serving 21+ millions of travelers over each of the past two years and is on track to keep this volume of travelers. Since the pandemic pushed passenger volumes up by 6 years, the Journey With AUS expansion program was an additional 6 years behind when it was announced in 2021. On top of that, the City should’ve been quick to get things started once the long-term plan was complete. But as with so many other big issues, the City was simply moving too slowly and inefficiently. Now we’re changing that. The airport director when I took office was replaced. Jim Smith, who led the airport for almost two decades and retired in 2019, came back for a temporary stint last year to help get the work back on track. An experienced AUS professional, Ghizlane Badawi, stepped into the permanent CEO role earlier this year, and she is providing excellent leadership on this enormous, once-in-a-generation endeavor. And just this week, a passenger rights group called AirHelp named our busy airport among the 10 best in the country based on on-time performance, customer opinions, and food and shops. 

Latest #WatsonWire: A fun, valuable experience is participating in meetings of The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM). Last week, over 200 mayors from large and small cities in all parts of the country were in Kansas City for the 92nd annual meeting of the USCM. I always learn a bunch and stay impressed at how these gatherings help guide our advocacy work and ensure that Congress and the White House understand the priorities of America’s cities. Except for some badly misguided comparisons of Kansas City and Austin BBQ, this was a great meeting. In addition to my being able to have substantive one-on-one discussions with White House and other Administration officials, I was part of the USCM’s discussion and action on a variety of issues impacting cities, including affordability, homelessness, mental health, and gun violence.

The annual meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors started yesterday. I serve as Vice Chair of the standing committee on Transportation and was the first speaker at the meeting. I spoke about being more focused on localism when investing in our nation’s transportation system. Our system is more localized than ever in part bc of COVID, and a growing share of our economy is occurring on our local road network. When we invest in local decision making, we can improve how federal dollars are invested, improve mobility, enhance equity and empower local officials to act more efficiently. I’m grateful for our partners in the federal government and for the discretionary grants and resources provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. #Mayors2024

Latest #WatsonWire: The Austin Juneteenth Parade, which was held last Saturday, continues to be one of my favorite community events. Folks are happy. There’s tons of fun energy and friends and neighbors and little kids who love their candy. And there’s history– of resilience, freedom and hope. This celebration also brings folks together. One woman came up to me and asked if I was, in fact, Mayor Kirk Watson. I admitted that I was. She said, “Wow. I thought you were a lot taller. I thought you were about 6 feet tall.” I laughed, thinking we might be done with this funny and obviously inaccurate assessment. But she kept up the evaluation and said, “You’re only about 5-5.” I immediately (and maybe a little defensively) said, “I’m not 5-5. I’m 5-7.” She pushed back hard, “You aren’t 5-7. Maybe you were 5-7 when you were 25, but not today.” She cracked up both of us. We laughed and took a picture together. What I didn’t want to tell my new friend was that I seem to remember being 6-foot when I first became mayor, but this job can take sort of a toll.

This morning we celebrated the groundbreaking of The Lancaster, a 60 unit development that will provide high-quality, supportive housing with wrap-around services for folks who are survivors of domestic violence living homeless. It will be a safe place for people to live and build a life. The work that the SAFE Alliance and all of the partners who made this groundbreaking happen are truly going to transform the lives of so many people. 

Latest #WatsonWire: Folks frequently ask me what keeps me up at night in my role as mayor. Well, one big thing that I’m worried about this summer is whether we’re doing everything we can for so many unhoused people in Austin who are outside trying to sleep at night and live during the day in this inescapable heat. Even at night, temperatures are often beyond uncomfortable and simply dangerous. Since I became mayor 18 months ago, I’ve advocated for the City’s overarching strategy to focus on building out the full continuum of homelessness support from emergency shelter through permanent supportive housing. Previously, the City was too single-mindedly focused on just one part of the continuum, and we all know and remember that wasn’t getting us the results we wanted or needed. It’s important to support every tool in our Homelessness Response System, so we can be successful in helping people exit homelessness, better enforce the camping ban that Austin voters passed, and comply with state law. The City is now doing this through our Homeless Strategy Office that was created late last year.

Latest #WatsonWire: Recent thunderstorms brought us some cool light shows and a little respite from the heat but not enough rainfall to resolve the drought. We remain in serious drought conditions that are expected to get worse over the coming summer months. You might have seen that the Lower Colorado River Authority has scaled back their drought response to Stage 1 thanks to recent rains boosting lake levels. While that’s good news, Austin's Drought Contingency Plan is based on the long-term projections for the lake levels – and that situation hasn’t improved – so the City is still at Stage 2. Our water supply is stressed from years of drought, and we need to continue to use water wisely. Please be mindful of your water consumption and implement water-saving practices wherever possible. By working together proactively, we can ensure sustainable water for our community.

Spent time this morning with some of the Austin Under 40 Awards finalists. These awards celebrate and honor emerging professionals who are making an impact in our community. These folks have a lot of passion for Austin, and it was neat to hear about what they hope for in our shared future.

It was great to meet with U.S. Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg and her team at our United States Conference of Mayors Transportation Committee meeting today. Earlier this year, I was appointed Vice Chair for Inter-Modal Transportation. We have about $25 billion in new mobility infrastructure coming into our region, so having representation at these meetings is important— especially as Austin works to deliver these generational infrastructure investments in a way that best serves our community. Deputy Secretary Trottenberg & USCM Transportation leadership talked about the recent FAA re-authorization and the growing role local governments play in addressing the nation’s transportation needs. We also talked about the responsibility of the federal government in adjusting its funding mechanism in the next re-authorization.

Latest #WatsonWire: We talk about affordability in Austin a lot – and for good reason. It affects just about everyone every day in some way, though not everyone in the same way, of course. For young people just beginning to make a life here, thinking about homeownership is a dream. Housing affordability is also a priority for our teachers, firefighters, EMS personnel, police, wait staff at our favorite restaurants, musicians and artists. Just about all the folks that positively add to our quality of life. For families with small children, childcare is a huge line item in the monthly budget. For homeowners living on a fixed income, rising property taxes can break the bank. For a renter barely making ends meet, an unexpectedly high utility bill can make the difference between being housed and becoming unhoused. Too often, City Hall moves too slowly and inefficiently. It must react to Austin’s needs faster and with more results. It’s more than just talking about affordability. It requires focus, multiple approaches, and getting things done. We’re making real progress. Real change. Needless to say, there’s no single policy fix for all these challenges. And as policymakers, we have to strike a complicated balance so the cost of the fix doesn’t exacerbate the affordability problem. On top of that, many of economic levers that could make a big difference are outside the City’s control, things like inflation rates, federal tax policy and state child care reimbursements. So, what can the City do?