Engagement, Transparency and Trust Building. Austinites are intrinsically compassionate. I would steward (with the support of facilitation and engagement experts) cross-functional stakeholder groups that bring together elements from as many facets as possible within a region. Like so many Austinites, I’m tired of the binary politics–it is entirely possible to have a priority set that includes combinations of both character preservation and the pragmatic development of an urban core. Not only is it possible, but as a result of interconnected elements of an economic function, it’s necessary. At the end of the day, when residents of the same communities face each other and discuss pain points, other residents are sensitive to those same pain points and attempt to help resolve them. I think the challenge has been breeches of confidence, when neighborhood residents have been willing to make concessions for density development in the name of affordability for other residents–and it didn’t happen.