District 8

Modernizes public safety by expanding specialized crisis response teams and aligning emergency medical care with public health services to ensure the right aid arrives promptly while reducing strain on law enforcement.

Sources: Selena For Austin Campaign Platform, Austin American-Statesman, CBS Austin

Prioritizes full staffing for the Austin Police Department to cut emergency response times across Southwest Austin, while supporting public camping enforcement paired with expanded transitional shelter and first responder mental health resources.

Champions workforce housing, cadet residency stipends, and affordability protections to ensure paramedics, teachers, seniors, and first responders can afford to live in the community they serve.

Sources: Selena For Austin Campaign Platform, Austin American-Statesman

Opposes blanket citywide upzoning and the HOME initiative to protect neighborhood character, advocating instead for preserving naturally occurring affordable housing and concentrating density along major commercial transit corridors.

Integrates emergency response with public health systems, leveraging extensive medical experience to target mental health crises, substance use disorders, and healthcare safety net gaps.

Sources: Selena For Austin Campaign Platform, Austin American-Statesman, CBS Austin

Promotes expanding psychiatric crisis care and transitional shelters as stepping stones to permanent stability, while opposing regressive municipal utility fee hikes on working families and fixed-income seniors.

Focuses on housing stability for educators to improve local school district retention, alongside supporting city-funded childcare initiatives and safe community transportation corridors.

Sources: Selena For Austin Campaign Platform, Austin American-Statesman

Prioritizes neighborhood school stability and transparent coordination with Austin ISD on facility planning, alongside maintaining safe parks, green spaces, and youth recreation facilities across District 8.

Draws on frontline experience leading EMS through Winter Storm Uri to advocate for emergency response infrastructure, grid hardening, and clear inter-agency disaster logistics. Backs strict watershed safeguards over Barton Creek and the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone, emphasizing that dense housing must be concentrated along primary transit corridors to protect environmentally sensitive recharge features from suburban sprawl.

Sources: The Austin Bulldog and Austin Free Press.

Demands strict impervious cover limits and runoff protections to shield the Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone and Barton Springs watershed from dense development, opposing blanket citywide upzoning under the HOME initiative. Pushes for aggressive electric grid hardening, utility easement maintenance, and independent audits of Austin Energy and Austin Water spending before rate hikes or bonds are considered.

Sources: The Austin Bulldog and Austin Free Press.

Advocates for competitive wages, fair labor standards, and expanded career pipelines for healthcare workers and essential public service staff.

Sources: Selena For Austin Campaign Platform, Austin American-Statesman

Leverages small business construction experience to expand skilled trade apprenticeships, while pushing for systemic reforms within the Development Services Department to eliminate permitting bottlenecks for local trades.

Promotes transparent governance and responsive constituent services, bringing frontline worker urgency and open communication to ensure working families have a direct voice at City Hall.

Sources: Selena For Austin Campaign Platform

Centers governance on grassroots, bottom-up neighborhood advocacy developed through the Austin Neighborhoods Council, rejecting top-down City Hall mandates in favor of direct constituent dialogue on zoning cases.

Enforces disciplined municipal budgeting and strict accountability for taxpayer dollars, demanding fiscal audits and proven operational metrics before considering tax increases.

Sources: Selena For Austin Campaign Platform, Austin American-Statesman

Demands independent operational audits and fiscal transparency before tax increases or bonds are approved, utilizing legal challenges to enforce accountability on municipal ballot language.