The Austin Neighborhoods Council outlined four strategic initiatives for 2017 in its monthly meeting held last Wednesday, April 26. 

This year's strategic initiatives are:

1. CodeNEXT - the redevelopment of the city's land use code is the priority of the ANC.

2. The ANC wants to have “a clear, equitable and metric/data-driven land use regulation that adequately addresses problems such as affordability, displacement and lack of public input.” Developing such a system will be discussed in next month's meeting.

3. The ANC also wanted to prioritize the creation of a department of neighborhoods within city government. ANC also insisted that the Austin City Council should publish a tabulated record of council member votes after each council meeting, for transparency.

4. Lastly, the topic of affordable housing has been brought forth for further discussion by the council in efforts to recognize the magnitude of the problem and how it can be solved through community-level intervention. The initiative calls for "result-driven policies for improving affordability for everyone," with special consideration to families living at the 50% limit of median family income.

Interested to know more about the other topics discussed in the last meeting? You can access the article that first appeared in Community Impact Newspaper here. What are your thoughts on the initiatives listed by the ANC? Let us know your opinion in the comments!