Alberta Phillips

Oftentimes, I’m asked about what makes Austin Free Press different from other local media. My simple response is that we tell stories that others don’t – or won’t – that are key to ensuring accuracy in the story Austin is telling itself and the world. That covers many topics, community partnerships and a nationally acclaimed Huston-Tillotson University journalism project, which you can read about in our look back at 2025.

A former editor of the Austin American-Statesman years ago schooled me up on progressive versus conservative politics by drawing a line across a page. He then marked the center of the line, noting that everything left of that center was “progressive,” and everything right of center was “conservative.” As each side moved farther from the center toward the extreme ends of the line, he showed me something bizarre. The opposite points can bend so sharply that they intersect.

As a new appointee to the Planning Commission and as an African American mother who suffered the consequences of previous land use plans implemented by the city, I feel it is necessary to be on the record about the HOME initiative: As originally drafted, it's a plan that has written out Austin's Black and Brown communities, crafted without meaningful consideration of the unintended consequences to Communities of Color.