LULAC May Sue City of Austin

Leaders at the recent LULAC meeting in Puerto Rico have voted to sue the city of Austin if the city does not change how the city council is elected by the end of 2009. LULAC wants the courts to force Austin to change from at large districts to single member districts. Austin voters have rejected single member districts in six times.

The decision to pursue a lawsuit comes after a bill was filed in the Texas Legislature that would have forced Austin to change the election of city council members. The city council voted unanimously to oppose the bill. That bill died in committee.

City Council member Mike Martinez, who says he favors single member districts, opposed the state law because he feels the decision should be made by voters.

"Get it on the ballot so that the citizens can decide, not necessarily the legislature," Martinez said in April of the proposed legislation.

“Single-Member Districts Elections will allow us to elect our preferred candidate from our particular geographic area,” El Concilio Director Gavino Fernandez said in a statement released by LULAC. El Concilio is an umbrella group for East Austin neighborhood associations. “We feel that we can hold a Single-Member District candidate more accountable to the Mexican American barrios, especially if that person contributes their victory to our votes.”

“Austin is the only city in Texas with a population of over 500,00 which opposes single-member district voting, and the city has allowed a white voting bloc in the central urban core, West of I-35, to control the outcome of elections by virtue of their relatively high turnout,” said Marcelo Tafoya, LULAC 12 District Director in a statement. “We have exhausted all of our options to achieve geographic representation and are now forced to go to the courts.”

The resolution passed by LULAC leaders calls on the group to provide the funds and support to sue the city of Austin if it has not changed the way it elects city council members by December 31, 2009.