The Austin Common Radio Hour

Austin Common Editor-In-Chief Amy Stansbury sits down with all four candidates running in the 2026 Democratic primary election for Travis County Precinct 2, which is in central/western Travis County.

Have no idea what a commissioner even is? Don't worry. We'll walk you through it all with this episode!

Austin Common Editor-In-Chief Amy Stansbury sits down with all four candidates running in the 2026 Democratic primary election for Travis County Precinct 4, which is in eastern Travis County.

Have no idea what a commissioner even is? Don't worry. We'll walk you through it all with this episode!

This episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour gives you a more in-depth look at the arguments and for and against Prop Q, featuring interviews with Council Member Duchen (who voted against the city's budget) and Council Member Vela (who voted for it).

On August 13th, Austin City Council will vote on a new budget for next year, one that will likely include a TRE or a tax rate election. In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury sits down with three Council Members (Ellis, Vela, and Duchen) to help explain what a TRE is and share their thoughts on the city's budget.

How did this past legislative session impact Austin? Host Amy Stansbury sits down with state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt (who represents most of the Austin area) to hear her thoughts.

Podcast music by Blue Dot Sessions and The Tiarras

Should the City of Austin build caps over I-35? That's the question Austin City Council has to decide on May 22nd. To dive deeper into the details and learn more about the debate over this issue, host Amy Stansbury sat down with Julio Gonzalez Altamirano, Council Member Ryan Alter, and Tom Wald.

On February 27th, Austin City Council will vote on a new set of rules regulating short-term rentals (Airbnbs and Vrbos) in Austin. To learn more about what's been proposed, host Amy Stansbury spoke with Daniel Word (from the City of Austin Development Services Department) and Austin City Council Member Marc Duchen.

Thought the elections were over? Not quite.

If you live in Austin City Council District 7, you still have a runoff election to vote in. In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury sits down with both of the candidates -Mike Siegel and Gary Bledsoe.

PS - And for info on the AISD school board runoff, be sure to check out the League of Women Voters Guide. https://lwvaustin.org/

On December 12th, Austin City Council will vote on an update to Austin Energy's Resource, Generation, and Climate Protection Plan. The name might sound boring, but the plan contains lots of important information that will influence everything from Austin's carbon emissions to what we all pay for electricity bills... for years to come.

To learn more, host Amy Stansbury sat down with Lisa Martin (Austin Energy) and Kaiba White (Public Citizen and the city's Electric Utility Commission).

For reference, the interview with Lisa Martin was recorded on November 20th, the first interview with Kaiba White was recorded on November 13th and the second follow-up interview on December 3rd.

Election season is back! This fall, half of Austin's City Council seats are up for election... and that's a lot of candidates! But don't worry, as always, we're here to break it all down for you.

In this episode we cover the District 2 (southeast Austin) City Council race. Host Amy Stansbury sits down with candidate (and current Council member) Vanessa Fuentes. The other candidate in this race, Robert Reynolds, did not respond to our interview request and does not appear to have a campaign website.

Not sure which Council district you live in? You can look it up here - www.austintexas.gov/government