District 1 - Amber K. Goodwin
What is your favorite historic building or legacy business in your district, and why?
As a longtime leader in the fight for reduced gun violence in our communities, I will always have a north start and focus for the Millennium Youth Center. In 1992, 16-year old Tamika Ross was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting at the intersection of 12th and Chicon in the heart of District 1. The community rallied for and was successful in creating a safe space for the youth in the area to spend time at. It was a great idea and concept, but has since fallen by the wayside. As a city and a community, we need to build on this important city-owned land and update it for the new generation.
In 2024, Austin City Council adopted the Equity-Based Historic Preservation Plan to replace Austin’s 1981 historic preservation plan with a more inclusive, community-oriented vision for the City’s preservation program. Its proposed policies, programs, and tools aim to protect Austin’s unique heritage and shape an equitable, inclusive, sustainable, and economically vital future for all. The plan's future success will rely on buy-in from Council to execute its recommendations.
If elected, would you support the plan’s recommended policy changes, and the budget allocations needed to support them, to ensure that the future of preservation in Austin is proactive, collaborative, and accessible to all? Please explain.
Yes, the Austin City Council unanimously adopted the Equity Based Historic Preservation Plan. I respect and agree with this unanimous vote and believe the city has a responsibility to follow through on the execution of the plan all the way to completion. I also believe there should be a public transparency report or dashboard to show the public why and how the rats of completion are going, and what can be expected for current and future policy changes.
Historic places play a significant role in Austin’s economy. South Congress, the Paramount Theatre, and Barton Springs are beloved to locals and tourists alike, as are legacy businesses like Broken Spoke, Cisco’s, and the Continental Club. These places support local jobs and local dollars in addition to embodying our local heritage. They define our identity and make Austin a destination in so many ways.
If elected, how would you leverage historic places to generate economic benefits for Austin?
District 1 is full of historic places that bring a unique sense of community to East Austin, especially given the historic disinvestment in Black communities. I would like to pair historic preservation efforts with strong anti-displacement measures to ensure that working class families are not excluded from the benefits that come with new historic landmarks. I would like to see the District leverage its historic landmarks to increase tourism and provide a boost to small businesses that can benefit from these efforts. Historic landmarks and buildings are critical to protect and build on so that future generations will be able to see the path that East Austin has walked.
In 2023, City Council officially proclaimed October as Legacy Business Month in honor of Preservation Austin’s inaugural Legacy Business Month passport program, which encourages Austinites to support participating businesses and broadly promotes their heritage. The city’s explosive growth has made protections and financial support for legacy businesses more important than ever. City governments in San Francisco and San Antonio have adopted ground-breaking legacy business programs to protect and support their cities’ legacy businesses through designation, education, and directly supporting businesses with financial resources.
If elected, would you support creating a similar program for the City of Austin? Why or why not?
Absolutely. A similar program will help protect longstanding businesses that have served Austinites for decades. I would like to consider an expansion of the Legacy Business Month to also highlight legacy institutions founded and managed by families of color. East Austin has been underserved by the city as a whole for generations and we must work to offset this inequality. Legacy business months can and will help with that.
Preservation Austin, Austin Infill Coalition, and AIA Austin partnered on a Preservation Bonus that City Council adopted as part of HOME Phase 1 in 2023. The bonus exchanges increased development entitlements for preserving single-family homes built before 1961 to preserve more naturally affordable, historic-aged homes while supporting density. Since the adoption of this tool, however, fewer than 10 residential infill projects have used the Preservation Bonus. Research conducted by Cedar shows that expanding entitlements for Preservation Bonus projects, such as increased impervious cover and allowing four units per lot, could generate 10x as many housing units as the current bonus allows, and save more historic-aged houses from demolition (see report HERE).
If elected, would you support increasing entitlements for Preservation Bonus projects to preserve existing housing and support Austin’s affordability goals? Why or why not?
Yes, the extremely low usage of the Preservation Bonus points indicates it is currently a broken solution to the problem it was created to fix. As I mentioned earlier, East Austin homes have skyrocketed and economic opportunities for the residents have not kept pace with this inflation. If we can provide proper and sensible incentives for new developers to increase housing supply while at the same time protecting historic homes, we could ensure that these guardrails help lower housing costs while protecting unique and historic homes that protect the culture of District 1.
Historic resource surveys inventory historic neighborhoods and make recommendations on buildings and districts eligible for historic designation. Accurate and up-to-date surveys enable City staff, elected officials, and citizens alike to make decisions about which properties and neighborhoods ought to be protected. For example, in 2020, the Rogers-Washington-Holy Cross neighborhood successfully became Austin's first local historic district dedicated exclusively to Black heritage. This effort relied on data gathered in the 2016 East Austin Historic Resource Survey to define the district's boundaries and identify contributing structures. Without this survey, this historic district may not have been possible.
If elected, will you support annual funding for historic surveys and the City’s preservation office? Please explain your answer.
Yes. These historic surveys help ensure that these communities that have often been the most underserved Black, brown and low income communities in the history of Austin are given resources that will help protect our cultural identities. Quantitative and objective data should always be considered and prioritized when making decisions that will impact our neighborhoods, and again we need to be transparent with how and where the resources are being spent.
Local historic districts, established by City Council through historic zoning overlays, are one of the most important preservation tools available to protect Austin’s historic and cultural resources. The City of Austin’s existing historic resource surveys include recommendations for designating dozens of new local historic districts across our city. Proactive zoning efforts for historic districts are the most effective way to protect heritage in a city changing as rapidly as ours. Before 2021, a simple majority of City Council votes was required to establish a local historic district as long as 51 percent of all property owners within a proposed district’s boundary approved. Since 2021, however, state law requires a supermajority vote by Council to designate a local historic district if just one property owner within the proposed boundaries objects. Austin currently has only 8 local historic districts and has not designated a district since state law changed.
If elected, would you support the proactive designation of local historic districts that the City’s historic resource surveys identify as priorities? Would you do so even if a minority of property owners object? Why or why not?
Yes, but I would take a case by case bases- the change in the 2021 state law requiring a supermajority even if just one property owner objects to the proposed boundary has made new historic district creation much more challenging. I would have to consider the area and level of minority support involved in this important decision. One single household could be a minority as could 49% of an entire neighborhood. Important decisions like these must be openly discussed and we must invite and welcome community feedback and open vigorous public debate.
As a member of Austin City Council, what is one policy or initiative you would enact to ensure the preservation of our city’s historic and cultural heritage?
I would like to see increased and sustained budget resources committed towards the anti-displacement and heritage preservation efforts-- and take an all of government approach to make sure we are pairing these efforts with more affordability for everyone across all of D1. The District is large and long/wide and I want to make sure that everyone from E7th to Whisper Valley know the history of the land and people. We must ensure that in addition to protecting historic buildings, we also work to protect the people, cultural institutions, and businesses that make East Austin such a great place to live.