District 3 - Neha Shah
What is your favorite historic building or legacy business in your district, and why?
I love the Historic Boggy Creek Farm on Lyons Road. Its Greek Revival farmhouse was built in 1840 and 1841, making it one of the oldest surviving homes in Austin. Sam Houston once wrote to his wife that he had supper there and that the food was "first rate." Today it is a working urban farm with a market where neighbors such as myself can buy fresh produce, eggs and goods from local businesses. It is also a lovely third space for families, a place where people from across East Austin run into each other, talk with the people who grow their food and feel connected to the land under their feet. At the same time, the farmhouse was built by the Smith family and the people they enslaved. Honoring places like Boggy Creek Farm also means telling the whole story, including the stories of the Black Austinites whose labor built them and whose histories have too often been left out. That is the kind of preservation and historical storytelling I want to be a champion of on Council.
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! For decades, Austin's preservation system protected grand homes west of I-35 while the histories of Black, Tejano and Chicano Austinites were bulldozed or never written down. The 1928 Master Plan pushed Black families east of East Avenue, and those same neighborhoods now face the fastest displacement. I want to see the Equity-Based Preservation Plan be successful!
In Delhi, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture partnered with government agencies to restore Humayun's Tomb, the neighboring Sundar Nursery and the historic working-class settlement of Nizamuddin Basti as one effort. Sundar Nursery, a 16th-century Mughal garden that had become a neglected plant nursery, reopened in 2018 as one of Delhi's most loved public parks. Next door, the same initiative built schools, improved sanitation and trained local young people as heritage guides. Residents became partners in preservation instead of people pushed aside by it.
The City is going through a budget crisis so I am not confident about what is available as it is. That is also why my #1 priority is transparency on our city spending. I believe a lot of the scarcity comes due to economic development plan focusing on specific sectors and industries, that are dominated by big billionaire corporation interests . I think there's an opportunity to push for aspects of our Economic Development plan to work hand-in-hand with the goals of the Historic Preservation Plan...and allow community-centered private ad corporate partners to commit to community benefits via preservation of historic parts of Austin.
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?
I was born in and grew up in New Delhi, a city where centuries-old monuments sit beside busy, modern malls and markets. Visitors come for the monuments, but they spend their money in shops that families have run for generations. Heritage is not separate from a city's economy…it becomes a foundation for the economy that gets built. There are so many examples of using history for economic benefits -- San Antonio has used its UNESCO-listed Missions to draw visitors beyond the River Walk; there are whole tours in cities and countries poorer than Austin that draw on their historical heritage to encourage longer tourist visits. However, even local Austinites are not aware of Austin's incredible historical spots like the French Legation, or the Victory Grill's iconic status.
I see historic buildings as homes for the inexpensive, third spaces Austin keeps losing: the cafés, galleries, maker studios and small shops where neighbors actually meet. Cities around the world are proving that heritage can be exactly that. I grew up in the Arabian Gulf, and have recently watched watched Jeddah restore the coral-stone houses and souks of Al-Balad, its UNESCO-listed old town, so that families gather there in the evenings and visitors come to experience Saudi culture. Mexico City, whose culture is woven into Austin's own, has brought its Centro Histórico back to life with pedestrian streets, and its public mercados remain gathering places for every neighborhood. Seattle's Pike Place Market is a promising example of a public authority leasing its historic buildings to local farmers, artisans and small businesses instead of chains, and the rent keeps the market standing. Austin has seen the opposite on Rainey Street, where historic bungalows that were once filled with small business restaurants and bars were then largely lost to towers and corporate retail businesses - it is not clear to me what opportunity for preservation was considered during that dramatic transformation.
As a council member, I would advocate for the following –
Turning Legacy Business Month into a permanent City legacy business registry with lease-stabilization grants, and support the commercial trust concept Council has discussed for keeping legacy businesses in their neighborhoods.
Leasing City-owned historic properties to local businesses, artists and nonprofits with local-first leasing and stable rents, so the rent helps pay for upkeep.
Growing the Hotel Occupancy Tax-funded Heritage Preservation Grant and offering hands-on help so smaller East Austin applicants can compete.
Sending more tourism to the East 5th Street Mexican American Heritage Corridor and Six Square, Austin's Black Cultural District through wayfinding, walking tours, partnering with tourism apps, and prominently featuring these areas in Visit Austin marketing. For eg: Offer time travel styled "then-and-now" tours with QR codes for visitors to compare present-day to archives.-
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?
Yes! This is important because it seems the main threat is not a lack of customers. What is hurting legacy businesses is rising rents and property taxes. Most commercial leases pass this on straight to the tenant, along with owners nearing retirement with no plan for who carries the business forward. It
Austin could adopt the best of both that SF and San Antonio have done:
1. A city-wide legacy business registry for locally owned businesses open 20 years or more, built in partnership with Preservation Austin and actively reaching businesses rooted in Tejano, Chicano, Black and immigrant communities.
2. Lease-stabilization grants that reward landlords for offering legacy tenants long-term leases at stable rents.
3. Small grants for repairs, accessibility upgrades and keeping historic storefronts and signs.
4. Work with local non-profits and educational institutions to get businesses free technical help with lease negotiation, succession planning and online marketing. I used a local education institution's students for such resources when I started a new company - surely we can also support legacy business owners.
5. I will also also push preference for legacy businesses in City catering, events and tourism promotion (if that isn't happening already)
I also do think a long-term path to ownership through the commercial trust concept Council has discussed should be looked into deeper, so businesses can stay in their neighborhoods permanently. This program can be funded from Hotel Occupancy Tax heritage dollars, a modest budget allocation and private gifts matched by the City. As an immigrant, I have seen that small, family-run businesses are often how newcomers can feel safe, build a life, and how communities keep their identity. Protecting them is one of the most direct ways to keep Austin unique.
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. Seems as though the Preservation Bonus is a good idea that isn't working at scale. If keeping an older home works out worse than tearing it down, it will be torn down. Fewer than ten projects since 2023 suggests the incentive is not that attractive, as opposed to thinking that the itself idea is wrong. I don't think it is right to make folks choose between preservation and housing - we have to be able to do both. In India, the cities of Mumbai and Ahmedabad let owners of heritage buildings sell unused development rights instead of demolishing them , and then Ahmedabad became India's first UNESCO World Heritage City in 2017. Here in the US, older neighborhoods in cities like New Orleans and Philadelphia already have the mix of houses, duplexes and fourplexes we are now trying to legalize... and the irony is that East Austin was once built the same way...but we seem to have lost it.
This is also about equity. Demolitions fall hardest on East Austin, where older homes on large lots are exactly what investors target. A stronger bonus lets longtime Black, Tejano and Chicano homeowners add units and build wealth without selling or tearing down the family home. I would pair it with plain-language outreach and a pre-approved site plans so that homeowners, not just developers, can use these bonuses..
Finally, as a candidate who also cares about efficiency and environment-forward policy, this would be a climate win too because the greenest building is usually the one already standing...and our older homes were more often built more sustainably, local-climate resistant materials.
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! Surveys matter most for communities that have been overlooked. Wealthier neighborhoods often have residents with the time and money to research and nominate their own homes; or work on these projects independently. Working-class Black, Tejano and Chicano neighborhoods usually do not, so their history goes unrecorded until a demolition permit is filed. The City's own guidance calls for updating surveys about every ten years. In a city changing this fast, that should be the minimum.
In addition, I'd like to advocate for the following
1. Identify private-public annual funding for surveys, with a published schedule of which areas come next.
2. Using data to prioritize areas and communities with the most development pressure and the least documentation, including much of District 3 and the Eastern Crescent.
3. Adding oral history and community-led research, so surveys capture churches, dance halls, corner stores and cemeteries that carry deep cultural meaning even if they aren't architecturally remarkable.
4. Fully staffing the Historic Preservation Office, including the two positions that the Historic Landmark Commission has already recommended.
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 this is very important especially in District 1, 2, and 3. We have so much history here, and I worry it is getting erased and buried under new construction and investment properties!!
Owners' concerns are real and can often be rooted in distrust of the government, so my approach would combine protection with money and flexibility rather than just rules. I can understand owners worried about losing property value pushed for that change; but combined with my earlier answers about this boosting economic commerce of the neighborhood and allowing for more third spaces - we can get overall community wins. I would attempt to get more information to rally for support in designating survey-recommended districts even when a minority of owners object.
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'd like to propose an idea to maybe Equity-Based Preservation Plan's call for a cultural mapping program into a partnership between the City and the Austin History Center that connects the community knowledge we already have to the decisions that determine what survives.
The Austin History Center holds over a million photographs, many filed by street address, and its Community Archives Program has spent over two decades building trust with African American, Mexican American and Asian Pacific American communities. Groups like E4 Youth and Mexic-Arte have created powerful digital oral history and mapping projects. But these efforts live in separate places, and none of them is connected to the moment a building is slated for demolition. This is a data problem, and an initiative that allows greater visibility, collaboration can go a long way to preserve our city's history and heritage!