By LYNETTE HAALAND
Four Points News
Although the race was extremely close, Marc Duchen claimed victory in the District 10 City Council contest over his only opponent, Ashika Ganguly. Duchen finished with 20,810 votes to Ganguly’s 20,321, with only 489 votes separating the two.
“It hasn’t entirely sunk in,” shared Duchen in a Four Points News interview the week after he won the November 5 election.
In the head-to-head race to represent District 10 in Northwest Austin, the two well-educated and well-spoken candidates worked hard to win over voters in the second-wealthiest district of the city. District 8 in Southwest Austin has the highest median income in the city.
The new council members will be sworn in and seated on the dais in early 2025.
Duchen hit the ground running the day after the election, shifting gears from running his campaign and his business to now putting his company in hibernation mode and getting up to speed on District 10 concerns.
“I was running a business for the past eight years, so I’m shedding most of my clients and putting my business on hold,” Duchen said.
Being a council member is a full time job and some estimate 50+ hours a week is average. The annual salary for council members is just over $121,000.
Duchen is working on staffing and he expects his staff will include four to five people. The city of Austin expanded the pay to $600,000 for district staff when the 10 district system was approved several years ago.
“Even with five staff, they will usually be working multiple positions… as District 10 serves nearly 100,000 people,” he said.
Duchen is also meeting with various groups like Firewise and attending meetings with current and former council members. He is visiting with current council member Alison Alter and her staff.
“There’s a learning curve to get familiar with things,” Duchen said.
Duchen says he’ll be working on a number of challenges in Northwest Austin which includes the 2222 corridor and as far west as Steiner Ranch, and River Place.
“There are a number of challenges,” he said. “A big one is infrastructure and traffic management out there. There’s a lot of congestion and it’s a public safety risk. We need comprehensive traffic solutions.”
Road expansions or widening and improving throughput where that makes sense along 620 and 2222 is one of Duchen’s ideas.
He’d like to see more smart traffic light systems and improving timing of signals during peak times in the morning, afternoon and evening.
Duchen likes the idea of transit options like a bus stop and a dedicated route in the Northwest.
“Nothing in the city moves people east and west,” he said and he wants to see that change.
Safety is another concern. For example, people in River Place have shared that police don’t show up in a timely manner and they feel like they are not getting the response they need.
In some neighborhoods in District 10, Duchen has heard of an uptick in crime like with vehicle break ins.
Some crimes go unreported but he encourages residents to report crimes to the police because then resources are made available when areas need more policing.
He wants to see more Austin Police Department district reps working with the communities. Those officers are supposed to be the first point of contact. The city cut APD community liaisons with budget cuts several years ago and now they are rebuilding those staffs again and re-engaging with the communities they serve. They are supposed to have quarterly meetings with their communities as well.
He cited that in the Baker sector, district reps and local police got involved to help curb speeding motorcycles along RM 2222. Resources were employed and solutions were being built out to address the need.
Wildfire prevention is another initiative he is taking very seriously in District 10. Much of Northwest Austin is surrounded by parks, greenbelts, and preserve lands including the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve.
“I will continue to support funding for wildfire prevention, fire safety, responsiveness, and readiness. I want to see enhanced wildfire strategies, towers with AI for detecting fires early, fire breaks, education, structural ignition zone evacuation strategies or SIZE, community outreach, and better responsiveness,” Duchen said. “… because District 10 is all in high risk areas.”