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Talk to the 7/28/14 meeting of Texans for Accountable Government at Sherlock's in Austin, Texas.
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0:00
he wants to come to tag and address this
0:02
body this astute body that's going to
0:03
give them the difficult questions then
0:06
by all means whether your establishment
0:07
or not you're welcome here so I'd like
0:11
to bring up Ed English thank you very
0:13
much
0:16
thank you for privilege for having an
0:18
opportunity to speak to you and I've
0:20
been here several times but beyond that
0:22
I've known many of you for quite a while
0:24
we've worked together on a very
0:26
important project which is changing city
0:28
government and I want to try to be as
0:30
brief as possible so that I can save
0:32
time for a little question Justin if you
0:34
wave at me in about five minutes I'll
0:36
try to wrap it up so we can take a few
0:37
questions
0:38
but I am at English and I'm running for
0:41
City Council in district 7 which we are
0:43
sitting virtually in the middle of and
0:45
I'm running for city council one really
0:47
overarching reason and that's because I
0:50
want to be part of taking back control
0:52
of this city and city government for you
0:54
and I for far too long in fact I would
0:58
say two to three decades and get a lot
0:59
of agreement on that the decisions that
1:01
have been made by city council and the
1:04
city government are not in your best
1:06
interest in mind they've been made by
1:09
council members and mayors that have
1:12
been funded by the same group of people
1:14
real estate developers downtown law
1:16
firms and those the direction of the
1:18
city has certainly favored them and
1:21
lined their pockets and we need to
1:22
change that
1:23
the the framework has been put in place
1:27
to make that change happen I and many
1:30
other very very dedicated volunteers but
1:32
literally thousands of hours over a two
1:35
to three year period into getting a
1:37
system that's in place now to implement
1:40
that change those same powers that we're
1:43
trying to replace they've lost tooth and
1:45
nail from from the start they said we'd
1:47
ever get the petitions uh enough
1:49
petition signatures to get it on the
1:50
ballot we proved them wrong they said
1:53
we'd never get it passed in fact they
1:54
threw a competing proposition on the
1:56
ballot of November of 2012 to confuse
1:58
the voters we'll never get it passed we
2:01
did they said a group
2:04
they said a group of average citizens
2:07
without the help of a lot of
2:08
professionals could never draw maps that
2:10
would represent the city that was done
2:12
in fact it's very very rare in this
2:16
state where you draw a line on a map and
2:18
say this is a voting district that
2:20
lawsuits don't come out of the woodwork
2:22
the maps were finalized in November and
2:24
there has not been a single legal
2:26
challenge to those Maps
2:31
and I want to be a part of that change I
2:34
want to be a part of taking back control
2:36
of this city for you and I unless you
2:38
happen to be a downtown skyscraper
2:40
Builder or a very high-powered attorney
2:43
and then I'm sorry we got a difference
2:44
of opinion
2:46
but but the city continues to this day
2:49
to make decisions that are not in your
2:51
best interest or either patently illegal
2:53
uh it not in your best interest
2:56
whether you see the bond package that
2:58
you're going to be asked to vote on for
2:59
a rail project in November thank you
3:02
very much if you look at if you look at
3:04
what underlies the decision they made on
3:07
the route for this rail it's not to take
3:10
cars off the road it's not to reduce
3:12
traffic it's delaying the pocket of
3:14
developers that can build uh very
3:17
expensive projects along that route and
3:19
in fact what they're doing right now is
3:22
they're spending your tax dollars to
3:24
promote that project that's illegal the
3:27
city can spend your money to inform you
3:30
of what's on a bond package but they're
3:32
not allowed to promote that if you
3:34
started to hear the ads I think it's
3:36
very clear that they're promoting that
3:38
something else they've done that's
3:40
patently illegal in fact it was recently
3:42
ruled so by a state judge if you looked
3:45
at your utility bill you've seen all
3:46
those little those little fees that are
3:48
stacking up on the bottom more and more
3:50
of them get bigger and bigger
3:53
that's illegal
3:54
I'll give you an example the city made a
3:57
decision to put onto your utility bill
4:00
and drainage fee or they're working on
4:02
that now and it's a done deal to pay for
4:05
the buyout for the homes that were
4:08
damaged or lost in the Onion Creek
4:09
floods now whether you're for that or
4:12
against that is a different decision
4:13
it's a different matter but that
4:16
decision belongs to you and I it needs
4:18
to be on a ballot we need to vote on how
4:21
that money is spent
4:22
and for those reasons I want to make a
4:25
change I want to be part of a change and
4:27
I urge you to look at more than one
4:31
candidate more than one District because
4:33
when it comes time to make these changes
4:35
it's going to take more than one vote on
4:37
the city council because it's going to
4:39
be a team environment you're going to
4:41
have to have a group of people who can
4:43
see common ground and make progress who
4:46
have a like-minded make a change that's
4:48
better for all of us not just for
4:50
developers and law firms and I'm running
4:53
against several candidates in this
4:55
District district 7 who are nothing more
4:58
than a voice for the same old
5:01
establishment people and I ask for your
5:04
support in whatever form you can provide
5:06
I need your time I need your talent and
5:10
I need your money and if you can make
5:12
donations it'll go a long way toward
5:14
helping me get elected in this District
5:17
I'm Gonna Leave it right there and take
5:19
some questions because I got the way
5:23
foreign
5:27
so I'm kind of disgusted by the amount
5:30
of debt that our local governments have
5:31
gone into Austin is definitely a leader
5:34
in that and with this another Bond
5:37
coming another election and you said
5:38
that they're using our money to promote
5:40
it which is like you said illegal how do
5:42
we hold them accountable to stop the ads
5:44
now before they have an influence and
5:47
then maybe catch it later after the what
5:48
happened to be four million dollars how
5:50
many millions of dollars is it
5:52
um how do we stop them
5:56
billion dollars
5:59
yeah B with a B
6:02
3.34 billion dollars plus that doesn't
6:06
include the overruns and and other
6:08
things against May is going to tell us
6:10
about yeah
6:12
the buying package
6:14
workers voters in
6:15
November the exact language of it's
6:17
being worked on now will probably be
6:19
approved within the coming weeks you
6:21
don't have a lot of time and you're
6:22
going to have to do it the old-fashioned
6:24
way you're going to have the right
6:25
letters you're going to have to go down
6:27
to Council meetings you're going to have
6:28
to participate in what they call
6:29
Citizens communication when these issues
6:31
come up and express your discontent with
6:33
it sadly the decision will be made
6:36
before well I say sadly that assumes
6:39
that the voters approve it and I right
6:41
now the winds are blowing to this Rail
6:43
Project is running into a stiff headwind
6:45
and you're going to see a very very
6:47
slick marketing campaign that really
6:49
ramps up over the next couple months to
6:50
sell you on this idea and the decision
6:53
will be made in November right now it
6:56
looks like it's going to fail there's if
6:58
they're just facing too much resistance
6:59
in fact they threw some Road
7:01
improvements in with the Rail Project is
7:03
a little sugar coating on it to get more
7:05
people to vote for it but you're going
7:06
to have to do it the old-fashioned way
7:08
if you want to stop it before November
7:09
and
7:11
unfortunately for Council Prospect like
7:14
me who would take office in January the
7:17
decision will be made hopefully we won't
7:18
have to be implementing a very
7:20
importantly thought out real project the
7:22
voters will turn it down in November
7:26
is this only in Austin because I live
7:29
in uh actually in Travis County but I'm
7:33
out in Pflugerville is it going to
7:36
affect me in other words is it going to
7:38
raise my taxes too or is uh am I able to
7:41
vote on this I mean because obviously
7:44
all the peoples out in Hayes County want
7:45
to vote on it and things like that maybe
7:47
but I mean they're going to try to put
7:49
it all together so we can all get
7:51
screwed together that's a that's a very
7:52
good question and it's my understanding
7:54
uh and until the the way I always look
7:57
at Bond packages are the devil's in the
7:59
details until that bond package is
8:01
actually written and you see the
8:02
language of it anything can actually
8:03
anything can actually happen but it's my
8:06
understanding right now that that'll
8:07
only be presented to Austin voters there
8:09
are several other Transportation
8:11
projects which would be voted on by a
8:13
larger audience Merry Christmas
8:21
on tan one and I really thank you for
8:23
all the work that you've done
8:27
I wouldn't trade a minute of it
8:33
questions are you familiar with the UN
8:35
Agenda 21 plan yes I am how do you
8:39
I think a lot of things that you see
8:41
going on here in Austin a lot of
8:42
decisions that have been made are are a
8:45
little spooky because they very much and
8:47
I'm not the expert on that but I do have
8:49
some level of knowledge of of agenda 21
8:51
and the decisions that have been made
8:54
here in Austin are eerily close to the
8:57
propositions put forward by the United
8:59
Nations my other question is how do you
9:01
feel about
9:03
I'm going to answer that very honestly I
9:05
don't know enough about it I need a
9:06
little bit more of an education but I
9:08
would be very open to hearing uh the
9:10
concerns about that do you think it's
9:12
right for a city to force medicate its
9:16
population yes or no no I don't know
9:19
thank you
9:32
thank you
9:34
thank you so much in English
9:36
foreign
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