News 8 Austin taped a series of candidate forums for the upcoming Austin City Council and mayoral election. Below is a transcription of the Place 6 forum with candidates Sam Osemene and Sheryl Cole. News 8 Austin’s Paul Brown and City Hall reporter Reagan Hackleman moderated the forum.

BROWN: Hello, I’m Paul Brown. Thanks very much for joining here on News 8 Austin.

HACKLEMAN: And I’m News 8 City Hall Reporter Reagan Hackleman. For the next hour, we’re going to introduce you to the two people who want to represent you on the City Council for Place 6.

BROWN: First, we will introduce the incumbent Sheryl Cole. She easily won in 2006. She was the first black woman elected to the Austin City Council. She is still a practicing attorney and also a CPA as well.

HACKLEMAN: And hoping to kick Ms. Cole out of her seat is Sam Osemene. You’ve seen his name on the ballot before. Last year, he ran an unsuccessful campaign to take over Place 4 on the City Council. He works for the state and is also a Professor of History at ACC.

BROWN: And Sheryl and Sam, thanks very much to both of you for being here. We appreciate it. And we’ll start off and I’ll start ladies first here with Sheryl, but for both of you, first tell us, in your case, while you’re running again.

COLE: I’m running again because I’m proud of my record. I’ve worked on City Council on a variety of issues from parks, trails, affordable housing to transportation and I’d like to be sent back to City Hall from the voters.

BROWN: And Sam, why are you running?

OSEMENE: I am running for Place 6 because I am proud of my record. I think we can continue that record. We need a new direction and for the past three years, the City Council has not performed. We need a new direction and I think we need a higher spending and I believe many are, of course, are very upset with the way the city is going so we need someone with a clear vision, someone that is not in the pockets of lobbyists to change this city, to give you your city back. That’s why I’m running.

BROWN: Okay. Reagan, I’ll let you kick it off here.

HACKLEMAN: The big topic right now that people are talking is obviously the economy. How can Austin make it through recession better than other cities?

COLE: These are tough times and this is a touch nationally and we have recently just begun to see that downturn in Austin. I think it’s going to be imperative that we make those tough decisions and calm the budget with all of the departments and so that we don’t look to just one area for cuts. We have managed to cut $20 million dollars from the budget and as the city manager said, that was the fat and now we’re going to have to get to the muscle. To what extent we fare better than other cities is going to depend a lot on the decisions that we make and what the community’s suggestions are about those decisions that we do make. I think that many other cities don’t have the real estate market that we have and that market is down, but it’s not as down as it is in other cities and we don’t have the glut in that market as we have and we also still have a strong downtown economy.

OSEMENE: Okay Reagan that’s a very good question. Let me say this. Before we move forward, we need to look at how we got here. Mismanagement, level of conspiracy on deals being made behind closed doors at the City Hall. Well, this is how you fix it. You open the system up. No more the era of low bid contracts. Where lobbyists can come and tell you, give you money for the campaign, will you give us a contract and I also propose with this campaign what I call consolidation of services. You come to Travis County and see what it can provide at a cheaper rate. You look at the city council and City of Austin also. What we can’t do, we can create. If it costs the city let’s say $1 million dollars to provide that service and it cost Travis County let’s see $200,000.00 to provide that same service, we can say okay, do this for us all. We absorb yours. That will help us balance the budget. If you recall about a month ago, the City Manager said we should sacrifice.. I agree with him, but guess what, let’s start from the top. What about city council member pay cut? Show good leadership. Don’t balance the budget on the backs of the poor or the elderly or the needy people in the city. I am not going to go for that. I will fight for the poor, the elderly and the needy, so we have to hold those accountable that put us in this mess. Somebody drove this bus into a ditch and I don’t think that those who drove this bus into a ditch will be the ones that will drive this bus out of the ditch. We need a new driver. That’s why I’m running for City Council Place 6 and Council Member Cole is one of those drivers and we need to hire a new driver and we need your support.

BROWN: Do you feel that your opponent was one of the drivers of that bus since she does have a record?

OSEMENE: Absolutely. She’s one of the front seat drivers of that bus, and she has voted on many issues like corporate subsidies for the city, which I believe, contributed to where we are at today and also look at her record. So my argument is this: you cannot reward back on a record. Thomas Jefferson said a long time ago, past behavior is the single best prediction of future behavior. When you look at her record, it tells you what she’s going to do in the future. I’m not going to sit down here for her to tell me what she’s going to do the next three years. Look at what she has done the past three years. It’s like sending your child to school. Look at their performance. If a child doesn’t perform, who is accountable? This election is not about the start of school. So that’s why I feel I will do a better job because I will replace any people and I want her to defend her record so this is an opportunity for us to here about her record she says she is proud of. We are not proud of her record. We need to change that record. That is what this election is all about.

BROWN: So are you a good bus driver?

COLE: No, I’ve never drove a bus and I did not drive the bus of the city into this ditch as has been alleged. I never voted on the domain subsidies which was a big discussion the last election. I just wasn’t on the council at the time. The only economic development incentive that I have voted on is Heal your Vote which provided a substantial amount of jobs and it was an unanimous decision by the council and it is a very positive, I believe, for the city. One of the ways that we cannot have such a budget shortfall is to have economic development and I believe when we bring jobs to the city that…those jobs create a tax base in property taxes and sales taxes. We have done a positive thing for the city and also I worked on the Waller Creek project and that project is the biggest economic development project that’s currently going on within the city creating approximately 1,900 jobs so I’m very proud of my record on economic development and I think it is key that we focus on economic development so that we do not have as many budget shortfalls as we have seen.

HACKLEMAN: The budget is…we’re going to start the next year’s budget coming up here very quickly. Obviously, we more than likely will see more cuts are going to be made, sales revenues are already down about 10 percent for the year. It’s expected to go down even more. Is there anything in the budget for both of y’all that is off the limits that you cannot touch?

COLE: Well we managed to cut $20 million dollars from the budget without cutting social services and I’m very proud of that and I was a staunch defender of that because social services suffered the most when the economy is down. I hope that we can continue to do that and I feel strong about not cutting social services.

OSEMENE: Yeah, I agree with what she said on social services. I would not cut any budget that benefits the poor and the needy and the elderly in this city because if you look at it, my argument has been why is it in this city and in this government when it comes to cuts, they always cut the poor folks what affects the poor, lets look at those on top, so like I said if you really want to figure out how we got here …she says she didn’t vote for the corporate subsidies … where was her position during the bill last year? She wasn’t in support of ending it; she supports corporate subsidies so this election is about who do you believe? Who is telling you the truth? I am not going to sit here and tell you what is untrue, because of politics. My argument is, I will tell you the truth. If you want to vote for me, you vote for me. This is not a game. You are playing with peoples’ lives. People that depend on some of the decisions we make. Just like Robin Ravintz said that day…she defined politics. She said politics is personal action and there are policies to help people. If we are to have personal actions we need to have also a winning record. She has been voting against the interest of the people so we need to stop that and, it amazes me, when it comes to corporate subsidies, she voted for $215 million for solar energy panel at East Travis County for 5,000 residents. Here in Austin; we have over 5,000 residents in this city. She voted for $1.2 billion dollars for an energy company in Nacogdoches, Texas to supply biosphere energy…that’s wasteful spending to me. That’s not the way to go about it. You just can’t be giving contract to your buddies or lobbyists at City Hall at the expense of those that live in East Austin, South Austin or West Austin. This is a city that we need to go back and look at our priorities. I say you know what, this is not the way Austin used to be. I’m running for city council because I want Austin to be affordable for everyone, but, it doesn’t matter where you live, this city belongs to you.

BROWN: Let’s let Sheryl respond to some of the things that Sam has said just a moment ago and then I want to pick up from this conversation about single member districts because I think this goes hand in hand with a couple of issues that were brought up, but anything that you want to respond to that was just mentioned.

COLE: Yes, several things. I didn’t respond to the accusation that I had voted for toll roads. I am a member of CAMPO and I’ve never voted for a toll road. I do not believe in toll roads on existing roads. There was a statement about the rubber bill contract for solar energy. I support our renewable energy goals. I think it’s imperative that we move to renewable energy for our future, but I mean, they are high renewable energy goals, and we have to make tough decisions whether we are going to make that long-term investment into them, but the actual energy that is used for those renewable energy goals is not spent until we pay for it so it’s inaccurate to allege that we spent $250 million dollars on that; that’s just the capacity that those plants actually have, and I believe in solar energy and I also believe in biomass energy.

OSEMENE: I also believe in solar energy. She said she did not support $250 million for the solar energy. That is incorrect. Look at her record. This is what I’m talking about who is not telling the truth. She’s voted for it. I don’t know why she’s going to say she didn’t vote for that. This is my argument. If you give every resident, those 5,000 residents, $250 million, you divide it then buy solar power. You can buy it at a cheaper rate, it was a no-bid contract that was done behind close doors so I can’t understand why she’s going to say, oh, I didn’t vote for that. Then where was she when the bill was being debated at City Hall. She didn’t participate in that debate or she just found out about it today.

BROWN: Would you say…

COLE: No, I voted. I did not say that I did not vote for the Webberville solar energy and the panels for that energy. I support our renewable energy goals and I have voted both times for the biomass plant and also for the Webberville Plant.

HACKLEMAN: Now to move to single-member districts. Single member districts, Ms. Cole, I know that you are not in favor of them. They’ve been voted down six times here by the citizens of Austin. Now we have a state lawmaker who wants to basically force Austin into a single member district system. Do you think that it will help City Hall be more accountable to certain areas of town to neighborhoods, to communities?

OSEMENE: Absolutely. On Tuesday, I was teaching my students political science class at ACC. We were talking about the different models of council and government and we had this debate about council manager, strong mayor and a weak mayor and I said look, single member district…this is why people are agitated for that right now is the frustration that we have right now in the City Council. This is the game, which I don’t want to play that game. They say, well if you live east of I-35 they don’t vote, let’s focus on one part of the city. And guess what, they feel like they don’t have representation, so if the council members who did do what they are supposed to do which is represent the interest of the people, probably we wouldn’t have this argument, so people are agitated for single member district because we need a change. I will support that because let me tell you why -- the advantages. It will reduce the cost of election, how much we spend in running for public office, it would take away the interest of the lobbyists and the political system and also think about it this way…representation -- you know who represents your interests. Right now if you have a problem, Reagan, walk into City Hall. There are about five or six of them working on one issue, the same issue about money so what you do is walk to that council member…I have this issue with my neighbor…they don’t concern. You can vote out at the next election so this idea of dividing the city, I don’t care about this type of town let me focus here eliminate it and it would be cheaper and I also propose move the city council election to November. Come on, that would save taxpayers some money. They don’t want to do that, because they figure it out. All special interest sometimes you give them the money they need. They will have budgets, that’s what the vote is, so it’s not about the whole city so I strongly believe in single member district. Maybe that will send a message to council members that accountability is the key.

HACKLEMAN: Sheryl, you’re worried that if we go to single member districts, it would take away the African-American representative on the council. Is that correct?

COLE: Well I don’t think that it’s a fair statement to say that I’m totally against or against single member districts, because I would send a hybrid system to the voters, but I had particular concerns when we were trying to do that on the council earlier and my particular concerns were 1) there was no map, and I didn’t think voters could make a decision about their district if there was no map because we could conceivably split up neighborhoods that were concentrated that they had similar interests; 2) there was no estimation of the cost of what those districts would run if we went to single member districts which would be a lot larger than what we have now, perhaps 12 or 13, 14 members and I thought the voters needed to know that and have that estimate before they voted on this and finally, as you mentioned, I was very concerned about the African-American representation. African-Americans tend to be spread out across town and no longer just live in East Austin. We live in all parts of Austin, and so I talked to several African-American members of the community including members of the Urban League and members of the NAACP and they too were concerned and did not want to support the current system as it was being proposed with only nine members. So given that, I did not support it.

HACKLEMAN: And both of y’all are…I know that you are against a Texas senator trying to force this on Austin, correct?

COLE: Yes and I’m against the Texas senator trying to force this on Austin and I think that you should be against that whether your for single member districts or against single member districts because just like we had Austin bashing, that’s similar to Austin trashing…it’s the legislature telling us how to run our government and if we want to go to a single member district system or a hybrid system, that decision should be made by City Council.

OSEMENE: Reagan, you see…let me tell you the truth here and I’m kind of surprised sitting here listening to what she just said. We are being in different forums. She said, oh I support single member of district flatly but right now, she’s changing her position. Oh, hybrid system, oh, this one. Let’s be honest. You cannot go to a different group and say something different and go to a different and say something different. You’re either for it or you are not. It’s about honesty and integrity. And also, she made mention that the African-American would not have representation in the city. Myself as an African-American and when I hear that statement, I feel very insulted. Let me tell you why. I live in North Austin, I live in South Austin, I live in East Austin. Government should not be promoting or perpetuating segregation. The way is set up one district for Hispanics, one district for African-American. Think about it, Reagan. If we have a Caucasian’s district in this city, what would happen? You know CNN would be here. It’s not fair. My argument is it doesn’t matter where you live. If you are qualified to run for public office, you make your case, people vote for you. If you’re not, then choose somebody else. So this idea that the NAACP wouldn’t want it, let’s look at those leaders. Who’s in the leader position? I don’t belong to any group because you’re selling your own people out for your own personal gains. It’s wrong. Many African-Americans are tired of it. Some of those, they don’t speak for me. I have an independent mind. So I want Council Member Cole to answer the question, does she support single member districts or not? Let’s not be semantic about hybrid or no hybrid. Yes or no. Do you support it? Or you don’t. I believe in single member districts.

BROWN: And I think it’s important to mention, too, cause a lot of people who are new to Austin may not be aware that there’s a gentleman’s agreement in certain places in this particular place that it would be for an African-American. Do you feel that if this gentleman’s agreement wasn’t in place, that there would be an African-American on the City Council?

COLE: I simply don’t know because we’ve always had an at- large system. I just…I don’t know the answer to that.

HACKLEMAN: Do you agree with the gentleman’s agreement?

COLE: I think the concept of a gentleman’s agreement is offensive, but I’ve talked to people that are offended by that, but we have always had an African-American elected under that system and the numbers don’t necessarily support that one would be elected unless we have a bigger council and if we had a bigger council where there was a minority impact district, then I would support that.

OSEMENE: Reagan, let me touch on that. The sheriff is an African-American, Greg Hamilton. He was elected in Travis County. Sam Biscoe is an African-American on the Commissioner’s Court. Also Ron Davis, Commissioner’s Court, elected so this argument that when it comes to the city council election we have to preserve this seat for African-American is ridiculous. Like I said, it’s common sense. It’s about leadership Reagan. Let me tell you what is going on here. If you recall last week, when we talk about leadership and judgment about the Highland Mall issue. Let me tell you why I was so upset with council about those actions. They were talking about making it a racial issue. It was not about race; it was about lack of leadership. Council members had information that mall was going to be shut down. They did not act. When it was shut down because of politics, council members went before the cameras and tried to make a speech. They would call me. Oh, Mr. Osemene these are not what you need for you to be on cameras so they can know who you are. I said I don’t play racial politics. It’s not about race; it’s about peace. Hanging out and behaving badly. So for her to take that position and say that African-Americans are welcome in this city, myself, as an African-American, this is my city. I feel insulted and I feel she owes an apology for saying that Austin is racist. Austin is not a racist city. That’s my argument so for her to make…to align herself with some people to push that goal oh maybe they were Caucasians or this group don’t like African-Americans in this city is ridiculous. If you are a public servant, you represent people. Don’t be divisive. That’s my argument. So when I received that phone call I refused it. I said you are not going to see my face right there cause I know that’s not what it’s all about. It’s not about race. Let’s focus on the issue. No. 1 I challenge NAACP like I told some of them. Lets be more proactive instead of being too reactive. Everything is about race.

HACKLEMAN: You think it’s about race?

COLE: Well, I want to back up to the thing called single member district member deal first because I think the voters will see it and I think I will end up casting a vote to put in on the ballot once those issues of map cost and African-American participation are actually answered. Because other cities that have single member districts have single member districts because they were actually mandated by the Justice Department and they were mandated by the Justice Department because African-Americans could not be elected so Austin was never mandated by the Justice Department because they had always elected an African-American and a Hispanic by single member district so I think it’s important to know that history before you make a decision. You asked a question about Highland Mall. I think it was more about the Texas Relays and their response to Highland Mall. My record shows that I’ve been a staunch supporter of tourism and I was very offended by the notion that the Highland Mall would close because of our visitors and our visitors trying to come to enjoy themselves, but more than that, there were street closures that the city had actually made along I-35 and I felt highly responsible to address that, so from the morning that I got the information that the street closures were going to occur, I dealt with the street closure issues with APD and city management and ultimately, the street were opened and the decision was made and after that decision was made, I called a press conference to announce about the street closures being opened and at that press conference, of course, people asked questions about Highland Mall and I said that I was offended by the treatment of our tourists. I think Austin is a very open city and that we should welcome our guests and when we have taints on our reputation, they need to be addressed by the leadership.

HACKLEMAN: What type of message did that send to the people that were visiting Austin?

COLE: I think it sent a message that they were not welcome and that the city was not opening up its arms to Texas Relays as we open up our arms to South by Southwest or the Pecan Street Festival, and I felt that was not right and it was not right for the city to close the exits along 35 and that was not a proper response by Highland Mall.

HACKLEMAN: Do you think the city did everything they could beforehand to try and stop this or even afterwards?

COLE: Well, I am still working on it afterwards because I think that there’s a lot of healing that needs to go on and I think that our community still has to come together to show that we welcome Texas Relays as we have often welcomed it in the past and as far as what the city should have done before Highland Mall, we were not specifically briefed on any actions or Highland Mall, but I don’t know, we have no control over private businesses and, of course, I’m a supporter of local businesses, but I do think that it’s important for us to come together as a city and send the message that we do welcome Texas Relays as we welcome our other events.

OSEMENE: Well, Reagan, you know it’s good when I sit here and I listen and I pay attention to words and language Council Member Cole uses. Healing? Healing from what? Healing from race issue? Let’s be realistic here. She mentioned about South by Southwest, Pecan Festival…these are languages they use or is it Caucasian event…well guess what? They don’t show that in the city when they’re having this event. I disagree with that kind of language because those kids at Highland Mall you have a mix of white, blacks, Hispanics, Asians…everybody…they were allowed there. But my frustration is this. When it comes to any single…African-American issue has nothing to do with race, you see politicians go out there and try to make it a racial issue, and I think Council Member Cole, like I said, she still needs to apologize to us for the statements she made this year on TV, in the newspaper, because if you want to be in a leadership position you should be bringing people together, not dividing people and I would like today, are you going to tell me and lets that he was a Hispanic, Spanish or Caucasian, Council Member Cole would go out there and make a statement. No. It’s what you did before. She knew…they knew they was going to shut it down and they did not do anything about leadership and judgment, so I despise some of the languages she use and I despise some of the language she used…I want her to reject and denounce some of the people that she hangs out with and making some statements that divide this city. Everybody’s welcome. People are welcome in this city. Austin is…I’ve been around Texas. This is a place I can move anywhere in this city. Just behave and know how to act. It’s not a racist town, but she portrayed Austin to be a racist city and using that word “welcome.” Welcome by whom? Who said you are not welcome to this city? My argument like I said…I’ve been saying through this campaign. I don’t believe in racism. If somebody discriminates because you are black or Hispanic, you should stand up and speak up against it, but let’s not…you have to be very careful…you go to East Austin -- you have to be careful because you see that political leader on camera telling it’s a racial issue, it’s a racial issue. Why if it’s not a racial issue. I said, crime has no collar. Violence has no collar. You can be Caucasian, Hispanic, anybody, but I want her to understand that we must not play politics, play racial politics is very divisive. I was by myself and when I got that phone call I refused to participate in that. If it’s a legitimate issue, I’ll be there, but don’t say because you are running for re-election, the African-American…those folks wanted to be involved in camera to make their.. prove their case then you jump in and follow. That was wrong. That was in poor judgment, in my view and there are many African-Americans who like myself, we feel very insulted. Some people that the leaders of African-American in this community. No, you speak for yourself. You don’t speak for me. I can think for myself. That’s why there are people who I have respect in this city. We have people like Sam Biscoe, I respect the man. Greg Hamilton, I respect him. I respect Ron Davis. These are the leaders we look up to. If they’re speaking, I can say yes, because they have common sense, but when you go down the line and see these are putting distance together, no, they profit from it. NAACP supposed to be a good that promote is for justice and equality. But it has been hijacked by some elements. That’s a new game. Now it’s about white versus black. I don’t want to be part of that group. We should be more proactive. I will be a member of NAACP if they change the mentality they have. I wanted to go to schools in East Austin. Talk to kids. Mentor those kinds. Talk to them and say you know what, don’t do this…this is what you’re supposed to do. Read to them. Stay in school. Those are the things I would like to see them do instead of when everybody say we cannot shoot it you be on camera. When everybody say they cannot be here you see them and I would talk to the media. Don’t give them press time. That would help a lot.

BROWN: That’s a whole other subject.

HACKLEMAN: Let’s move on to…we’re Twittering during this and we’ve have a question from Pete Farley and he wants to know about y’alls stance on APD’s blood draws and also Chief Acevedo’s plans to get cameras downtown.

COLE: Chief Acevedo’s blood draws are currently not in effect at the city and we still issue search warrants to try to get a blood draw and I support that. The question is whether Chief Acevedo’s lobbying at the legislature to change that whether we support allowing him to do that and ultimately if that result in blood draw. That’s a different question. I do not support anything that ultimately will be unconstitutional, but I don’t know if the legislature is going to approve that and if it’s not unconstitutional, then I will abide by it.

HACKLEMAN: So if the legislature were to approve that, how would that change what…how it goes right now?

COLE: Well the question of constitutionality would come up and so we’d have to address what our search warrants would and would not have to say.

HACKLEMAN: What do you think of the cameras downtown?

COLE: I support the cameras downtown. I don’t know if we’ll be able to fund them. There is a lot of potential crime issues downtown with the increased level of housing downtown. I think we should address this.

OSEMENE: Thank you Reagan. That’s a great question. Let me tell you the truth. What Council Member Cole didn’t tell you…she mixed these two issues together? They are separate issues. The police chief’s policy to draw your blood on a suspicion on DWI. Council Member Cole supports that. She knows that. And she is trying to mix it with the check-point issue which I know Acevedo disagree with. It does not make sense just because a cop suspect maybe you have alcohol or you’re drunk they’re going to detain you and get a judge’s order so they can take you downtown or whatever and strap you down and draw your blood. Last time I checked, the Constitution is again the Fourth Amendment, Search and Seizure. If you read the Constitution and also the Fifth Amendment, it says, you cannot be forced to submit evidence to be used against you. We live in a country of the law. I’ve been saying this. If judges in Travis County can enforce the law, get the real offenders. Probably that is not the first time or the second time they’ve driven drunk. But when you have emotional judges they let you out -- go ahead and drink and drive back and forth. Enforce the laws. Collective punishment is not the way to go and also what Council Member Cole is not telling you, they gave us a federal grant they received from the federal government…the question is what did they promise the federal government. It’s about being in a national DNA database. They’re gonna put it in a national DNA database. My fear is this. If you go look for a job tomorrow or have a medical condition or have access to that database to see your medical record. If you’re going to be employed or get insurance, so it’s wrong. We need to reject that. I do know one thing. Knowing the history of APD and the minority group in this city, APD is going to target the minorities, African-Americans, students and the Hispanics. I know that issue is going to come. What about lawsuits? What if you draw my blood Reagan and it comes out negative? What’s my recourse? Do you think I’m just going to walk out and go home and be happy? No. There’ll be a lawsuit. Your officer drew my blood…Definitely someone is going to pay for it. We’re talking about the city budget. We don’t have money for lawsuits. Guess what? Police chief said it at City Hall. They have to train APD officers to be the ones that would draw the blood. Hospitals in this city will refuse to participate. What is wrong? We need to get it. That’s why I said; some council members don’t get it. They are out of touch. We need someone that is in touch; that understand what is going on. On to the red light camera. I believe Austin’s in a violation of my freedom of movement. It’s about big money grant. Why would we put a camera and so if somebody runs a red light then they’re going to send me a ticket. What if Reagan is driving my car, and maybe I travel? You’re going to send me a ticket because the car is registered in my name. Who pays for it? That would bring bigger bureaucracy. It doesn’t make sense. Guess what? There is a private entity that profits from that red light camera. If the camera is to fight crime like APD suggests it, I would support it, but if it’s for a company to make millions of dollars in this city, something’s wrong with that. You would have thought it? She did. They all lobbied and paid for it so it doesn’t make sense. We need to change our direction. We need a good leadership. Someone who understands what the common folks go through in this city. Council Member Cole doesn’t get it and I don’t think that in three more years she will get it so that’s why I need your support.

HACKLEMAN: Just to be fair…there has been no vote on cameras for downtown, red light cameras there has been a vote, but no cameras downtown.

BROWN: Let’s talk about – we’re at the Chase Bank Tower at the Headliner’s Club in the middle of downtown Austin, a beautiful skyline behind us. I don’t know if one of the guys wants to get a shot as I talk about downtown -- but as you look out these windows and Reagan and I were talking about this before…how it has changed? I was here for an event I think in 2006, probably the year that you were elected and now the skyline looks much different. Both of you. Do you like what you see out there, the cranes, lots of buildings going on, are we doing everything we can for downtown and should we doing…should we be focusing on downtown?

COLE: I believe that downtown is the economic engine of which our entire city thrives. It is the living room where everybody comes to enjoy and live and play. I think that without a dynamic downtown, our city would simply die and there are many cities throughout the United States that have let that happen and I am proud of the fact that we, the City of Austin, has had a close relationship with the Downtown Austin Alliance and I fully supported that so that many of the projects have went forward and that they increase our economic base and we simply cannot pay for parks, libraries, public safety and streets without some economic development and we made a decision a while ago that we were going to try to keep development from over the aquifer. We were going to try to develop the city east and east was including downtown so when we made that decision, I think we have to support policies that allow that to happen especially in downtown where we have so much impervious cover already so I support a strong downtown economy.

BROWN: What do you see out there?

OSEMENE: I love Austin. I see a lot of tall buildings, condos going up every day. Downtown may be our living room, but east of I-35 is like Ground Zero. So the question is, how do you balance that? If you live downtown and look east, the question is the tale of two cities. Are we the same city or what? Who do you think that has the strength, the vision to say you know what, what is good for Paul is good for Peter? We can also make this community better for everyone. I support growth, I believe in economic growth. People can come, they are welcome. Come and invest, but when you just focus in one section, something’s wrong with that picture. So I would like us to spread out and also have affordable housing in the city because what you are seeing are the malls, homes and condos. What about someone that lives in South Austin? An elderly lady has no place to eat. What about the homeless in this city? What do we do to take care of the homeless? Can they afford to live in condos and live downtown? No. So we have to set our priorities straight. This is my argument I said when elected to the city council, I would propose having a homeless shelter, a real homeless shelter, where you can house them, provide for them like human beings and take care of them. They’re part of our society because it shocks my moral conscience when I go downtown and see how people live. They shouldn’t live that way. So we need to have affordable housing. It’s just like the lady I met in East Austin. She said Mr. Osemene, I’m about to lose my home. What can the city do to help us out? These are people we have to listen to. It’s not about someone that lives in a condo in Downtown Austin. Some of them don’t get it because they live in condos so how we set the priorities and encourage the developers to invest in affordable housing. You have to partner out with the private sector. Government cannot do it.

BROWN: What is affordable housing? Is there a level there?

OSEMENE: Absolutely. Good question. If you talk to any council member they’re going to tell you we have affordable housing in the City of Austin. That’s a lie. They’re looking at $100,000 as affordable. Of course, it’s affordable for a millionaire if you made that money. Go down to East Austin, or West Austin or North Austin and talk to any poor individual. Can they afford to live in a $100,000 home? No. Affordable housing to me is probably let’s see $60,000 or $70,000 they can afford to live in. They’re just begging for shelter. I’m not asking to live in a big condo over by the Mueller Airport, they told us it’s going to be affordable housing. How many people are listening to this program can afford to live at the old airport, they changed the old blueprint. Council Member Cole mentioned earlier about the Waller Creek project. If we were to be honest, I challenge you guys, media guys to go look at the original blueprint of that plan and see what we have today. APD is going to move to St. Johns and I-35 and they’re going to come back and tell us we need this land for the APD and now there’s a plan to move all of those clubs on Red River straight from Fifth Street to Ninth Street and move everybody out. It’s about condos…It doesn’t take … just put a little bridge over there. But that’s not what it’s all about. It’s about money grabbing condos.

BROWN: Yeah go ahead.

HACKLEMAN: He’s talking about the Walter Creek project, but before we get to that real quick. So you’re saying $60,000 -$70,000 is affordable for housing?

OSEMENE: For some people. Depending on your income…if you’re on SSI and you’re on a fixed income. Let’s say you have a grandma that is disabled, $60,000 is too much. We look at you and assess your income, but let’s look at the maximum, $60,000-$70,000, that would be…most people can afford that, but if you’re on SSI, we can reduce that, because we want you, like she said, you are welcome. We want to welcome you to this city, to live in this city.

BROWN: Do you have a number?

COLE: Most of our projects involving transit-oriented developments along the commuter line require 80 percent of median income and that’s based on federal level and that number is about $56,000 to $60,000 a year that you earn. I happen to actually agree with Sam with the notion that we do not have enough housing in our city with deep levels of affordability and if he’s talking about housing at $60,000 to $70,000, then that’s probably going to look at a median family income of $20,000 and $30,000.

HACKLEMAN: Affordable housing was a strong point of your first campaign. What have you done in the last three years to help get more affordable housing here in Austin?

COLE: Well, there’s a couple of things, Reagan. One, I was actually the council member that led the motion to increase the amount of affordable housing in all of the transit-oriented developments. Those are the nine stops that actually go along the commuter rail line the Capital Metro is proposing and I hope that that line continues and that we don’t get stopped with that, but I know there’s problems with Capital Metro, but I’m not going to address those…

BROWN: Let me ask you…

COLE: Well you might ask me to talk about them, but I think that that is a very, very important and so we actually increased that number and I led on that motion and I think that motion was actually considering that particular day of Plaza Saltillo that is in Southeast Austin, but at the time we made the motion, we applied it to all. I have voted consistently for vertical mixed use throughout City and that also contains required levels of affordable housing and density bonuses.

HACKLEMAN: Do you think, in your mind, you’ve done enough or is there always more to do?

COLE: Oh in affordable housing there’s always more to do. I think there’s a strong sentiment in our city that we do not want Austin to become like some other cities with just rapid housing increases, but we’re starting to see a downturn in the economy and so I think that it may be somewhat self-correcting on its own, but that is very sad for the city budget, but I agree with you, there is always more to do and that we have to be vigilant about staying on top of that and I also support it. The third thing that I did is I also supported the Homestead Preservation District which actually applies to East Austin and trying to work on actually a tax increment financing which is just a certain area where you take the taxes that that area generates and give people a choice if they can’t afford it to be able to use it for to reduce their housing cost.

BROWN: We only have about 10 minutes left and we want to talk about a couple of other topics at least and you mentioned Metro Rail and Cap Metro, but that brings up transportation and as it stands, we’re at-large, everyone’s voting for you, transportation issues affect everybody in various ways. Sam, I’ll start with you and then let Sheryl talk about transportation. Whether it’s the Cap Metro, the Metro Rail that’s delayed. Do you feel like that’s going to have a impact? Is that the beginning of maybe some good things down the line and just transportation in general? It’s always an issue. People even out of town talk about our transportation even though they love our city.

OSEMENE: Good question. I’ve lived in this city for almost 20 years. Capital Metro since last year I’ve been seeing about Cap Metro. We need to reform Capitol Metro. I know how they spent all their money. One example, I had asked how they pay their salary. You know Cap Metro a guy from Dallas who relocated to Austin, $25,000 to relocate and I said, I could get a U-haul for about less than that in this city and also we need to look at our priorities. We can build more pedestrian lanes who can ride their bikes if they don’t want to drive, pedestrian friendly lanes and also I disagree with the light rail issue. We started with commuter rail and my argument has been, if you go riding down one area of 183 to City Hall from Burnet Road goes to UT then downtown and then go back what happens to the rest of the city? They’re pay pass too. If we can’t connect South Austin to North Austin, East Austin, connect the whole city before you talk about light rail. Right now, the council members are talking about building a light rail from Leander to San Antonio. This is not about big business. What about the people? So my beef with the whole thing is when the lobbyists show up at the City Hall, they listen to them so we need to finish the commuter rail where we can access. If you live here to right now go to Manchaca and William Cannon take a Cap Metro bus to Parmer and Lamar and we leave at the same time and going to Houston, I’ll be in Houston and you are still on your way to North Lamar and Parmer because it’s not an efficient system so that’s what I said…my thing is I’m going to review it and make changes to make it more efficient, but I support commuter rail and light rail, we need to postpone that.

BROWN: You see commuter rail hearing in the right direction and what about light rail?

COLE: Well, I support the commuter rail and I do think Capital Metro needs changes and especially an independent audit. I fully support that. As far as the downtown rail that we discussed. I fully support that from Mueller through downtown and potentially to the airport and I also sit on the Austin-San Antonio Rail Corridor and I support the potential for a rail line from Leander to San Antonio with three stops in Austin that would actually connect with the rail system that Capital Metro is contemplating and also with the rail system that we’re contemplating downtown. When you talk about transportation though, I don’t believe that it’s just about rail. I think it’s also about our freeway in particular, I-35 and MoPac. I think we need to address the mobility issues on I-35 and I think we need to look at managed lanes along MoPac and I also support more pedestrian and bikeways. I think we need a multi-motile transportation system and a comprehensive plan as our city grows.

BROWN: I think we have time for maybe one other issue before we wrap things up.

HACKLEMAN: It seems like hearing these candidate forums, we’re hearing a lot about the economy, a lot about transportation, but we’re not hearing much about the environment. Has the environment and the environmental issues here in town kind of taking a back seat recently?

OSEMENE: Not really, and I’m very disappointed in some of the groups because you don’t just support a candidate because you’re friends with that candidate or giving this candidate money in the past. You look at the record. If that candidate is not environmentally friendly, oppose that candidate, period. Right now, right on Southeast I-35, right about Edwards Aquifer Council Member Cole supports building like a toll road out on that area that would open it up for the developers. I’m against that so I keep on asking why is the city going to support her? And that comes out to the whole argument In this city, if you’ve got different groups that have tracking, you need to examine somebody’s record, that comes out to the whole argument. Look at the Mexican-American Democrats, look at the Better Austin Today, look at changeaustin.org, look at Austin Neighborhood Council, look at all these groups. They did not endorse her because they took the time to examine her record and I congratulate them for not endorsing Council Member Cole for this race because if you look at the record, it is a dismal record you would not be proud of. I respect her that she’s proud of it, but Austin’s not proud of her record. To the environmental, you do need to look into that. Robin gave a really good presentation a month ago she made a good point. She said look, this sounds so progressive the council member…this sounds very progressive but their actions are not progressive. They need to do more than making business, open up the whole city… lets build, lets build, lets build. So I don’t think if you really examine Council Member Cole’s record on the environment, that she does a lot and I think I would do better than that.

OSEMENE: I have sponsored the initiative on compact fluorescent lights (CFL) and partnered with H-E-B and there is currently a coupon for $1 off in every H-E-B in the city and that was one of my initiatives. Second, I sponsored the Barton Springs Master Plan which is moving through the system and the stakeholders are working on that. I have voted for every single climate protection initiative that has come before this council as we discussed on solar biomass. I support those. I don’t think that the city has forgotten environmental issues. I also sat on the Water Conservation Task Force and am very pleased with the results throughout our city and what we’ve done to conserve water. And so I think I have a very good environmental record and I am proud of it.

BROWN: Well we are running out of time so we want to at least as we finish off give both of you an opportunity just to state again why you think you’re better suited than your opponent there. Again, many issues already talked about so just maybe touch on some things that you think are highlights or maybe that we have talked about briefly, but Sam, as the challenger, I’ll let you go first. Why are you better suited for Place 6?

OSEMENE: Okay thank you. Winston Churchill said a long time ago, the former British Prime Minister. He said, the difference between a politician and a statesman is that a politician looks at the next election and the statesman looks at the next generation. This election is about the next generation this city and we will have a lot of our children and our grandchildren. Thomas Jefferson said a long time ago, past behavior is the single best predictor of the future behavior. Council Member Cole’s record is not something we should be proud of. I respect her. She’s part proud of her record, but we are not. We need a change. And also let me tell you what I will do. I will listen to you, I will partner with you, affordable housing will be a reality. No toll road on an existing road will happen. The environmental issue will be addressed and also I believe in local business. Council Member Cole does not represent you. She is a corporate Democrat. I’m the peoples’ candidate. I will represent your interests and I will fight for you. Right now, it’s election season. This is not a time to play racial politics and I despise and I denounce and I reject what happened a few years ago, the Highland Mall issue. This lack of judgment and lack of leadership, Council Member Cole failed and I believe, I strongly believe, I’m convinced, she owes us an apology for insinuating or inferring that Austin is a racist city. We are not racist. So please, this election is important. I need your support and I need your vote come May 9. Remember early voting starts April 27. Let’s change Austin…let’s take Austin back and also let me end it by saying this…I thank changeaustin.com for their support and Mexican American Democrats for their support and also the groups that have endorsed me, the small business groups and also the Republican and Libertarian Caucus have endorsed me for this election because you know we can make a difference. Like Obama, yes we can. Change is coming to the City Hall where the status quo cannot stop us. This is a movement and Mr. Osemene will be around for a while. I’m not going away. I need your support. Thank you very much.

BROWN: And Sheryl, as the incumbent, what makes you the best-qualified candidate?

COLE: I believe that downtimes are not do-nothing times, but they’re opportunity times. This is the opportunity that we have to actually plan for our comprehensive transportation system that actually includes not only rail and roads, but also trails and bicycles paths. This is also the time for us to support our high tech industry and concentrate and recruiting green jobs. It is also the time for us to work on a park system throughout our city and to actually plan for that and I’m proud to have worked on the Trail Master Plan. I take very seriously my current role as chair of the Audit & Finance Committee and am committed to make the tough decisions to maintain our services and keep our budget balanced. I do want to thank the many, many groups that have endorsed me from public safety to green groups and the numerous Democratic organizations. I am especially pleased that you have allowed me to serve you, and I ask that you continue to allow me that pleasure. I ask for your vote and I ask for your support. Thank you.

BROWN: Sam Osemene and Sheryl Cole, the candidates for Place 6. Thanks to both of you for being here. We appreciate it and our thanks to the Headliners Club for hosting our forum here today.

HACKLEMAN: Early voting starts on Monday, April 27 and Election Day is May 9.

BROWN: Okay. Again, thanks for joining us and we encourage you to vote.