1. Willingness to listen to the public's voice
While both Morrison and her opponent Cid Galindo's plans for growth incorporate public input, Morrison makes public participation and transparency of government a more important issue throughout her platform. She has also consistently shown a dedication to the opinions of local residents through her work with Austin Neighborhood Council and the Community Action Network Council.
2. Idea's to curb traffic congestion
Morrison's plans to combat this increasing problem are much more immediate and efficient than Galindo's. Galindo plans to establish various town centers around the city that would shorten commutes and keep more cars off the road by bringing work and home closer together. While this does sound plausible, it's an ambitious project that would be unnecessarily costly and take years to complete (and would likely exacerbate traffic woes in its execution). We think it more pragmatic to work with what town centers we already have than to create new ones. Morrison's plans include working with local businesses to stagger work hours and making public transportation a priority.
3. Education in disaster preparedness
Though Morrison's Graduate Certificate in Community Preparedness and Disaster Management from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill is no doctorate, given recent blunders made by federal and local governments alike in events of natural disasters, it is nice to know that a candidate has some professional instruction on which to base those crucial decisions, rather than relying solely on an adviser's opinion.
4.Support of Mayor Will Wynn's Austin Climate Protection Plan
While we do have some concerns over how the plan's required "energy efficiency improvements" in existing buildings and homes will be funded, it outlines some ambitious steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as powering all of the city's facilities with renewable energy by 2012 and requiring all city vehicles to be powered by alternative fuels by 2020.
Editor's Note: The runoff election between Laura Morrison and Cid Galindo is on June 14. Early voting ends Tuesday.
