OK fellow Austinites,

Now it’s your turn. Wait, that’s not right. It’s OUR time. Time for us to step up and act. Act as one. But as individuals. This is one of those times where the O’s the parts is greater than the whole.

This is painless. I promise. All I am asking you to do is vote. But I am also telling you HOW to vote and why to vote as I tell you.

We have an upcoming Presidential election and so we will have a large and wondrous turnout for the upcoming November 6th election. Well, ‘wondrous’ may be a bit of a bold statement, but it is the largest turnout we get as

FACT: Voting YES to EVERY Proposition on the ballot will not increase your taxes. Not one red cent. While this may be a massive shortcoming of our current government and a tremendous missed opportunity, that is a different post for a different day (which you will never read here).

For those of you short on time and attention (or the rare few of you who trust me) I implore you to slog through 12 or pages of the ballot and vote:
VOTE YES to Proposition 1
VOTE YES to Proposition 15
VOTE YES to Proposition 17

That’s it. Done!!

Now, for those of you who need some reasoning behind my suggestions (or do not trust me implicitly) on how your exercise your 1st and 26th Amendment right to vote, please read on.

I’ll take each Proposition one at time. Feel free to skip,to the one that interests you (but still vote YES for Propositions 1, 15 and 17.

Proposition 1: Funding for a Central Teaching Hospital
Well, yes and no. Here is why I am supporting Proposition 1
– $35 million dollars from Prop 1 will be used to fund Mental Health Care for Austin’s most mentally ill
– Austin spends the least amount of money on our mentally ill of any city in Austin. Surprised? I was to. So much for the blueberry in a bowl of strawberry soup.
– Texas spends the least amount of money on our mentally ill of any state in the nation. Not a surprise.
– Due to a Federal regulation called “1115 waivers”, we can spend $1.46 for every dollar we commit to serving our mentally ill
– that means, if we vote YES to Proposition 1, we are really saying YES to spending $51.1 million on mental care for our most vulnerable, mentally ill.

It’s that simple, Austin. Due to the leverage of the Federal Government, we the citizens can close the gap on necessary funding for the mentally ill. The homeless living on the street in the elements without the care. For families, children, the sick and the dying. Call it a compassionate play.

Proposition 15: Affordable Housing
Proposition 15 affords $78.3 million for all types of affordable housing. While I do not personally support the entire proposition, sometimes we have to look through the forest to see the trees.
– A (much to small) portion of these funds will go to Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH).
– Let’s call it 20%, or $15.6 million.
– PSH gives homeless people a home.
– 1person dies on the streets of Austin EVERY 3 days.
– The City has already committed to building 350 units of PSH and so far has built 140 leaving 210 remaining.
– At a cost of approximately $76,000 per unit to build, the City is actually on the hook for another ~$16 million JUST to build these units.

Do the math.

Oh. By the way. We actually have a need for 1886 units according the Cities own studies. That’s $132 million for you math heads.

Proposition 17: Women and Children’s Shelter
Really? Do we need to cover why this is important? It’s women and children. OK, seriously. This is a lay-up.
– God bless Irit. She was instrumental in getting an additional $3 million for to help our homeless and near homeless women and children.
– While there are other initiatives being funded here, remember the forest.
– We have a great Women’s and Children’s shelter and with more funds, it will be more awesome.
– If we can’t help our most vulnerable citizens, who the hell can we help?

Thank you for your time and paying attention to these crucial matters. Remember, if you were to vote YES to every proposition on the ballot, it would not raise your taxes one red cent. Period.

So join me. Let’s take responsibility for our neighbors; our most vulnerable; our fellow Austinites. If you don’t vote for me – vote for them.

Thank you,
Marshall