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Wesley Faulkner
Wesley Faulkner was a candidate for District 2 of the Austin City Council in Texas. He was defeated in the general election on November 8, 2016.[1]
Biography
Faulkner holds a B.S. in computer science from St. Edward's University and a B.S. in electrical computer engineering from the University of Texas, Austin.[2]
As of his run for city council in 2016, Faulkner was a social media manager for the domain name company Namecheap. His professional experience also includes work as a social media and community manager for the software company Atlassian, as a moderation manager for the social marketing firm LiveWorld, and in various roles for the computer processor company AMD and the computer company Dell.[2]
Faulkner founded the social media and technology project WordRipple and has served as a board member for South by Southwest Interactive and the experiential marketing company The Experience Firm.[2][3]
Campaign themes
2016
Faulkner participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of municipal government candidates. The following sections display his responses to the survey questions. When asked what his top priority would be if elected, the candidate made the following statement:
| “ | Restoring trust in our local government by adding transparency and accountability to our process.[4][5] | ” |
When asked what he would most like to change about the city, the candidate made the following statement:
| “ | I wish it was easy for everyone to live here.[4][5] | ” |
When asked what he is most proud of about the city, the candidate made the following statement:
| “ | We're so different from the rest of Texas.[4][5] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the city, with 1 being the most important and 12 being the least important. This table displays this candidate's rankings from most to least important:
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| City services (trash, utilities, etc.) | |
| Housing | |
| Transportation | |
| Government transparency | |
| Civil rights | |
| Unemployment | |
| K-12 education | |
| Environment | |
| Homelessness | |
| Public pensions/retirement funds | |
| Crime reduction/prevention | |
| Recreational opportunities | |
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer four questions from Ballotpedia regarding issues facing cities across America. The questions are in the left column and the candidate's responses are in the right column:
| Question | Response |
|---|---|
| Very important | |
| Local | |
| Increased economic opportunities | |
| Changing zoning restrictions |
Additional themes
Faulkner's 2016 campaign website listed the following goals:
| “ | ” |
In a post on his 2016 campaign Facebook page, Faulkner said:
| “ |
Austin is becoming too expensive too fast and citizens are being displaced. Traffic is really bad, and getting worse. Our city is the most economically segregated in America. We’re not too far down this road to fix this. The cost of growth needs to be closer to the actual amount charged. Austin charges less than even surrounding municipalities for connection fees to city-owned utilities, pushing the balance of that burden on taxpayers. Charging closer to the cost of growth will help relieve the burden on the people that live here. We need to support multi-modal transportation to divert more people out of cars and onto buses, PRT, light rail, bikes, and sidewalks. We also need to encourage companies to move to places all around Austin. That will allow people to live and work in the same area, so they don’t have to get on I-35. It will also raise the income in depressed areas, and cut down on economic segregation.[7] [5] |
” |
Elections
2016
The city of Austin, Texas, held elections for city council on November 8, 2016. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was August 22, 2016. Five of the ten city council seats were up for election.[8] Incumbent Delia Garza defeated Casey Ramos and Wesley Faulkner in the Austin City Council District 2 general election.[9]
| Austin City Council, District 2 General Election, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Delia Garza Incumbent |
65.17% | 9,775 |
| Casey Ramos | 19.61% | 2,941 |
| Wesley Faulkner | 15.22% | 2,283 |
| Total Votes | 14,999 | |
| Source: "Travis County", "Travis County Election Results", accessed November 8, 2016 | ||
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Faulkner is a first generation American. He is a founding member of the government transparency group Open Austin and has volunteered with a number of area nonprofits, including Meals on Wheels, Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Central Texas, and the Texas School for the Blind.[3]
Faulkner and his wife, Maggie Tate, have two children.[3][10]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Wesley Faulkner Austin. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
- City of Austin
- Campaign website
- Social media:
Footnotes
- ↑ City of Austin, "Order of Place on the Ballot for General Election to Be Held on November 8, 2016," accessed September 29, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 LinkedIn, "Wesley Faulkner," accessed September 29, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Austin for Everyone, "About Wesley Faulkner," accessed September 29, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Ballotpedia's municipal government candidate survey, 2016, "Wesley Faulkner's Responses," October 21, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Austin for Everyone, "Platform," accessed September 29, 2016
- ↑ Facebook, "Wesley Faulkner for City Council," September 27, 2016
- ↑ City of Austin, "City of Austin Election Calendar," accessed February 25, 2016
- ↑ City of Austin, "Ballot Applications - November 2016 Election," accessed August 23, 2016
- ↑ Austin Monitor, "Candidates Fail to File Financial Information," August 31, 2016
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