For Katie Kam, running to represent UT and West Campus in the Austin City Council \u201cwasn\u2019t a matter of if, it was a matter of when.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kam holds four degrees from UT, ranging from a Ph.D. in civil engineering to a master\u2019s degree in community and regional planning. She has worked as an academic researcher focused on transportation, an engineer for the city and a teacher for Austin Independent School District.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always cared about Austin,\u201d Kam said. \u201cI feel now is the right time to run for city council because what I have seen so far of decisions that are being made, they\u2019re getting Austin on the wrong track for the future.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The seat is currently held by incumbent Zohaib \u201cZo\u201d Qadri, who has served on the city council\u00a0 since 2023 and is running for reelection. Kam will face Qadri<\/a>, UT student Dave Thadani and former UT professor Rich Heyman<\/a> in November.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As a former West Campus resident, Kam said she understands the unique struggles students face in terms of affordability, poor street conditions and a feeling of powerlessness as a tenant.<\/p>\n \u201cStudents (feel) like they have very little tenant rights, that the landlords are the ones (who) have the say,\u201d Kam said. \u201cThis is just something that we should have conversations about. What can we do as a city to help protect students when dealing with that?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Kam said she would take input from University students and adjacent neighborhoods on how to move forward in fixing the lack of affordable housing options for students.\u00a0<\/p>\n The number of potholes and the poor street conditions come from city council decisions, \u201cwhere they invest in big, shiny projects and forget about investing in the everyday experience,\u201d Kam said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kam said she would advocate for increasing accessibility to infrastructure that can accommodate low-speed electric vehicles like golf carts and electric trikes.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s get out of this idea that we just have walking, biking \u2026 cars and buses (when) we have these other mobility options,\u201d Kam said.<\/p>\n