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 (Au...

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, Ro...

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 4 (north/east Austin) City Council race. Host Amy Stansbury sits down with four of the candidates: José "Chito" Vela (interview starts at 9:20) Monica Guzmán (intervi...

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 6 (northwest Austin) City Council race. Host Amy Stansbury sits down with both of the candidates - Mackenzie Kelly and Krista Laine. Not sure which Council district y...

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 10 (west Austin) City Council race. Host Amy Stansbury sits down with five of the candidates: Pierre Huy Nguyễn (interview starts at 9:18) Todd Shaw (interview starts...

Election season is back! This fall, half of Austin's City Council seats are up for election... and the mayor's race is on the ballot... 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 Austin's mayoral election. Host Amy Stansbury sits down with four of the five candidates running: Kirk Watson (interview starts at 6:36) Kathi...

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 10 (west Austin) City Council race. Host Amy Stansbury sits down with both candidates - Marc Duchen and Ashika Ganguly. Not sure which Council district you live in? Y...

After a bit of a break, our podcast mini series on homelessness is back with a look into one of the solutions to homelessness - Rapid Rehousing. Host Amy Stansbury speaks with Eli Cortez and Alfredo Reyes Jr. (VOCAL-TX) about what the program is, who it does (and doesn't) work well for, and their advocacy efforts to try and improve the program at the local level. Later in the episode, we also hear...

On May 4th, voters in Travis County will get to vote for 3 seats on the Travis Central Appraisal District Board of Directors. It's a super confusing election, but as always, we're here to explain it all for ya! This episode features interviews with nearly all of the candidates, including Don Zimmerman, Jett Hanna, Shenghao "Daniel" Wang, Jonathan Patschke, Matt Mackowiak, & Dick Lavine.

Our podcast mini-series on homelessness continues with a focus on emergency shelter, which is meant to provide people with a safe place to sleep (temporarily), while they work to get connected to more permanent housing. But in Austin, we don't have enough emergency shelter beds, which can mean long wait lists, just to find a place to sleep that isn't outside. How do our shelters deal with this? An...

This episode of the The Austin Common Radio Hour kicks off a mini-series on homelessness in Austin. In this first episode, we focus on some of the first steps a person experiencing homelessness might take on their path toward receiving services and eventually gaining access to housing.... visiting the Sunrise Hub (a homelessness services day center in south Austin) and taking a Coordinated Assessm...

On December 7th, Austin City Council will vote on the HOME Initiative, a proposal to allow up to three housing units to be built on single-family lots. The idea is to increase the city's supply of "missing middle" housing, but like so many debates related to housing and land use, the issue is complicated. In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury interviews several people...

The are 14 proposed state constitutional amendments on the ballot this year. In this episode we take a deep into several of them, including Prop 4 (property taxes), Prop 6 (water), Prop 8 (broadband internet). Our guests include state Rep. Vikki Goodwin, Jennifer Walker (National Wildlife Federation), and Kelty Garbee (Texas Rural Funders).

The are 14 proposed state constitutional amendments on the ballot this year. One of them, Prop 14, would create a $1 billion centennial parks conservation fund to grow our state parks system. To tell us all about it, host Amy Stansbury sat down with Luke Metzger (Executive Director of Environment Texas).

If you live in Travis County, you have two very important propositions on your ballot this year - Prop A (which is all about roads, bike lanes, and sidewalks) and Prop (which is about parks). To help you understand exactly what you'll be voting on, host Amy Stansbury interviewed Jennifer Bristol, who served on the Travis County Citizens Bond Advisory Committee.

In this episode of The Austin Common Radio Hour, host Amy Stansbury interviews Austin City Council Member Alison Alter about HB 1526, a new law passed by the Texas Legislature that will dramatically change the way Austin funds and acquires new parkland.

Earlier this summer, a route was chosen for Austin's first-ever light rail system. It will start at 38th Street, run down Guadalupe Street, cross Lady Bird Lake at Trinity Street and then split, running south along South Congress (ending at Oltorf) and running east along Riverside Drive (ending at Yellow Jacket Lane). But why was this route chosen? To answer that question, Austin Common Radio Hour...