How do you think the city should use technology to engage the public and share information about complex policy proposals such as Imagine Austin and CodeNext?

Kathie Tovo

City Council, District 9

I fully support exploring innovative strategies for using technology to improve our community outreach and engagement. I believe that we should continue to look for ways to implement the recommendations from the Task Force on Community Engagement, which focused on making information accessible, making it easier to provide input, explaining how that input will affect decision-making, providing everyone the opportunity to engage, and ensuring City staff have the training and resources they need to engage with the community.
In addition to lowering barriers to access, I also believe it is crucial to the success of our community engagement programs that the City builds trust in the legitimacy of engagement processes by demonstrating that the feedback provided has been captured and has informed the policymaking process.