Jeb Boyt Wins the Endorsement of the Austin Environmental Democrats for the District 7 City Council Race

The Austin Environmental Democrats endorsed Jeb Boyt for the District 7 city council seat last week, at a packed endorsement meeting that also heard from District 7 candidates Jimmy Paver, Leslie Pool, Pete Salazar, and Melissa Zone. During the meeting, each candidate had the opportunity to introduce themselves and then answer a series of questions asked by AED club members in the audience. The discussion focused around Proposition 1, Barton Springs Pool, and environmental leadership. What follows is a recording of that meeting: 

 

 

And if you don't have time to listen to the whole thing, we've picked out the highlights for you: 

Jeb Boyt

  • Boyt grew up in Liberty County, Texas and first learned about the value of conservation from his grandfather.
  • He went to college in Portland, Oregon, where he worked with local and national environmental nonprofits on the conservation of the spotted owl and the forests of the Pacific Northwest.
  • He went to law school in New York to get an environmental certificate. There, he worked with the River Keeper and Pete Seeger’s Hudson River Sloop Clearwater organization.
  • He moved to Austin in 1993.
  • He went to work as an environmental attorney working with state agencies, like the Railroad Commission and the Land Office. There, he worked on issues related to water quality and protection of the wetlands for a large part of his career. 
  • He also served as director of  the Texas Coastal Management program, where he worked to protect land and conduct environmental education initiatives.
  • Boyt represented Texas on the Coastal States Organization, where he said that he pushed for a discussion about climate change at every opportunity. 
  • He has also worked in Austin with environmental nonprofits. 
  • In terms of personal environmental behavior, Boyt said that he has improved weatherization in his home and that he tries to walk and cycle a lot. “A good weekend for me is a weekend when I don’t get in the car,” Boyt said.
  • Boyt is voting for Proposition 1. He said that the whole package is designed well to get federal funding and boasted that the rail line will create a new north/south corridor. He also expressed his support for bundling the rail and road bonds together, saying that that is the way it has been done in the past and that it allows people to see that the city is taking a comprehensive approach to transportation throughout all of Austin.

 

Jimmy Paver

  • Paver is a lifelong resident of Austin. 
  • He spent 10 years working in state and federal politics , including six years working with congressman Lloyd Doggett.  
  • “I frankly have to be honest with you here,” Paver said. “There are plenty of people on this panel with a more extensive environmental resume than I have.” But, he stressed that he does care deeply about the environment.
  • He said that he is most interested in working on renewable energy and issues related to Austin Energy. 
  • He also said that he wants to work on water conservation.  If Austin really is going to experience such exponential growth, Paver said, then the city has to figure out how to best distribute and conserve its water supply.
  • The fastest ways to reduce pollution, Paver said, is to get Austin’s auto and industrial pollution under control by focusing on urban transit options that really do something for the environment at a substantive level. 
  • As far as his personal environmental ethos goes, Paver said that he is currently looking into installing residential solar on his home.
  • Paver stressed that growth and development in a prudent way that is a net zero or a net positive for the environment is crucial for Austin’s future. 
  • When talking about Proposition 1, Paver mentioned that, “you can tell a lot about a bond by whose backing it.” He said that he is in favor of a rail that serves demand, but that he doesn’t believe the current rail proposal does that, so he will not be voting for it.

 

Leslie Pool

  • Pool kicked things off by saying that she is an environmentalist first, a protector of the neighborhoods, and a lifelong, avid, strong democrat.
  • She has been a member of the Austin Environmental Democrats on and off since it formed in the 1990s.
  • She is a former president of the Austin Women’s Political Caucus.
  • She worked for the National Wildlife Federation for seven years. 
  • Pool said that she would like to see purple pipe be approved for use throughout the city. 
  • She worked with the Save Our Springs Alliance in the 1990s.
  • More recently, she has spent time building a coalition along the Bull Creek Road issue. Pool said that there are currently 80 acres along Bull Creek Road and Shoal Creek that the state owns, but doesn’t use. So, she helped to form a partnership between the Shoal Creek Conservancy and her neighborhood coalition in order to force positive action on the issue. According to Pool, her efforts are working and she is hopeful that Austin City Council will purchase the land by the end of the year.
  • In terms of her personal eco habits, Pool said that she has a 600 gallon rainwater storage tank in your yard and was an early adopter of GreenChoice. She also said that she has weatherized her home, replaced her windows, and has a habitat steward certified yard.
  • Pool was adamant in expressing her opposition to SH 45SW.
  • She said that Proposition 1 costs too much and is in the wrong place. She said that the proposed rail line doesn't take people where they want to go.

 

Pete Salazar Jr.

  • Salazar was born and raised in Austin. 
  • “The funny thing is, I never knew I was an environmentalist until I moved out of Austin,” Salazar said, noting that when you’re born in Austin, it’s just a way of life. 
  • Salazar said that his grandfather taught him at an early age that there is a way to live with the earth and a way not to live with earth, and that we should always choose the way to live with earth. 
  • He has a history degree, with a focus on environmental issues.
  • Salazar has worked with Goodwill and other nonprofits to get unemployed people back to work and to connect them with good jobs in the renewable energy sector. 
  • As far as his own personal environmental attributes, Salazar said that he doesn't drive. Instead, he just rides the bus, or walks anywhere that is two to three miles from his house. He also said that he doesn’t use a lot of air conditioning because he has tinted windows in his home.
  • Salazar is voting no against Proposition 1. He said that it costs too much and serves too few.

 

Melissa Zone

  • Zone introduced herself by saying, “most of you might not know who I am, but I know you’re familiar with my work. I’m one of those environmentalists who works from the inside.” 
  • She is a co-author of the Colorado River Corridor Plan, which was so successful that the commissioners asked Zone and her team to move forward and do a county wide plan with a focus on balancing growth with protecting the natural environment. Zone said that she is the project manager of the public engagement process of that plan.
  • She used to live in Florida, and worked for the city of Fort Meyers. There, she was the author of the Shoreline Management Plan, a regulation that protected estuaries, manatees, and transformed the hardscape of the shoreline back into its natural state. 
  • She worked for Collier County for five years and was their principal planner.
  • “I have a long history of protecting our environment and I want to take this experience and proven record to City Hall,” Zone said.
  • As far as her own personal environmental habits go, Zone said that she has planted native plants in the yard, weatherized her house, and added more insulation in the attic.
  • Zone said that she is very much a fan of urban rail, but that she believes that the rail and road bonds should have been split. “We should not have had rail and road together,” she said, noting that she will not be voting for Proposition 1. However, she said that once on council, she plans to bring back a rail line that is appropriate and can be funded the right way.  

 

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