My top priority will be our continued response to COVID-19 and the safety of our city. I will also continue focusing on job creation and economic growth, improvements in animal management and welfare, funding our first responders, street repairs, and improving high-speed internet access for all citizens.
COVID-19 pandemic response. Conducted community roundtables (20+ industries) and created systems for long-term care of public health. Created small business grant programs, the www.AmarilloAlerts.gov website, and the daily COVID-19 report card. Created a regional infusion center to treat COVID-19 patients. Facilitated the creation of our drive-thru testing center, which has been operational for 11 months and tested over 13,500 citizens at no cost. Created a city-wide vaccine clinic that vaccinated 18,000 people in the first two weeks it was open. Governor Abbott called Amarillo’s vaccine clinic a “model clinic” for other cities to emulate.
Supported First Responders. Created the First Responders Excellence and Innovation Fund to support the police and fire departments with extra equipment and training.
Coming Home Program. Created the Coming Home program to assist people experiencing homelessness. Over the last three years, the program has housed veterans, making our homeless veterans rate effectively zero. Additionally, 81 people have homes through the program, 4 people have jobs because of the project, 31 people are getting medical care because of the program, and 6 people have graduated from the program.
Increased public safety budget. Since Nelson entered office in 2016, the public safety budget has increased yearly, moving from $86,591,652 to $94,084,025.
Affiliated Baseball. Negotiated and signed a lease with the Elmore Sports Group for over 30 years of MLB affiliated baseball. The lease rate is the highest paid rate in the Texas League. Completed construction of Hodgetown stadium on time and under budget.
State-wide Connections. Participated in and supported the West Texas Mayors Coalition and the Big City Mayors Coalition.
THRIVE. Supported the THRIVE scholarship program with partners Amarillo College, Amarillo Economic Development Corporation, and AISD. The program provides graduates of AISD schools four semesters of college at no cost to the student. It is in its second year of students.
Texas Tech Vet School. Raised $90 million of local support to cover construction costs for building and furnishing the school. Worked two years with a state-wide effort to gain legislative approval and funding of $17 million to operate the vet school. Assisted in getting the school accredited and approved by the Higher Education Coordinating Board. The Texas Tech Veterinary School is currently under construction and nearing completion in the medical district. The project will create 95 new jobs and have 60 students annually. It’s annual economic impact will be $76 million. The school will attract new industry investment in Amarillo through animal sciences, human sciences, and pharmaceuticals. The Vet School will create economic impact in Amarillo for decades to come.
Neighborhood Plans. Supported and approved the North Heights Neighborhood Plan. Created the Barrio Neighborhood Plan, the San Jacinto Neighborhood Plan, and began the Eastridge Neighborhood Plan.
Bus Stops. Improved high use bus stops with benches and weather protection. Initiated project to begin building covered bus stops in Spring 2021.
Economic growth. The City of Amarillo’s economy has fared well through the pandemic and is reaching full recovery. As of January 2021, sales tax collections are up 5.78% over the current approved budget. Hotel occupancy tax (HOT) continues to remain strong amid COVID-19. In the current fiscal year, through December 2020 collections, HOT revenue is 2.1% ahead of the same time last year. Construction projects and real estate continue to remain strong in Amarillo’s economy with demand driving real estate prices up for an increase of over 10% beginning in the summer of 2020. The local Amarillo economy continues to remain strong and growth-oriented.
State of the City. Created the State of the City event to increase communication and transparency with citizens. The first year had 500 attendees. Subsequent years had 700 plus in attendance, including many students from local high schools.
Customer Service Position. Created Customer Service position in Planning and Development to help builders and developers solve problems and get quicker answers.
City Boards. Systemized the appointment process of city boards. Appointments are now made annually in one meeting (as opposed to ad hoc with little notice throughout the year) and allow for more media promotion for applications. Applications from citizens have increased year over year since the new system was implemented.
Updated Zoning Laws. Passed a complete restatement of all city zoning laws to modernize and clean up our city Zoning Ordinance. This project was last done in 1968.
Bulk Trash Program. Created a Bulk Trash program that allows citizens to place large trash items on their front curb; the city will pick it up at no charge in 24-48 hours. Service saves work for citizens who may not want to spend time taking large trash to the landfill. The program reduced the wait time in alley cleanups from 18 months to 60 days.
Tree Chipping Sites. Created two tree chipping sites that make it easy for customers to drop brush waste and pick up mulch at no cost.
Communications Department. Increased communications department from 1 employee to 4 employees, including a graphic artist. These employees have improved social media platforms, created a brand new website (amarilloalerts.com), completely reworked the city’s website (Amarillo.gov), facilitated a monthly council connect event to hear citizen concerns, created “360” weekly informational videos, and created a City YouTube channel to easily access recorded City meetings and City videos.
Task Force for Greatness. Created the Task Force for Greatness to address racial equality and social justice issues in the city. This committee of citizens is charged with partnering with Amarillo businesses, non-profits, and education organizations to create healthy and productive conversations in our city about racial equality and social justice issues.
Mayor’s Summit on Homelessness. Created and hosted a community wide event with more than 400 people in attendance. Dr. Sam Tsemberis spoke on the Housing First model in helping people in homeless situations.
Zero to Five Summit and Initiative. Supported the event, designed to bolster early education initiatives and workforce futures. Guests included Dr. Ron Ferguson, who discussed his First Five model for brain development in young children, and Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, who discussed how Fort Worth businesses have improved the quality of life in their city by creating on-site daycares for employees’ children. 350 people attended two different events, including an evening event for local educators and working parents.
Thompson Park Pool. Designed and built new Thompson Park Swimming Pool, scheduled to open in May 2021.
Creation of Public Arts and Beautification Committee. This committee launched a city-wide mural art project as well as supporting a local citizen in launching a Keep Amarillo Beautiful non-profit with city-wide cleanup efforts. Worked with TxDot to beautify highways in the city with mowing agreements and new landscaping for the 1-27/1-40 interchange.
Polk Street Lights. Organized and installed permanent string lights over the Polk Street entertainment district.
Parks and Rec Plan. Completed Parks and Rec asset assessment and Parks and Rec Master Plan to cast a long-term vision for improvement of our city parks.
Buy the Way. Created the Buy the Way campaign to support local businesses and increase sales tax revenue. Sales tax revenue increased for years 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Upgraded Water Meters. Worked on a plan to upgrade and replace all water meters in the city (70,000+) with new digital meters. The new meters will conserve water, allow customers to track water usage on their phones, increase accuracy of water bills, and create a digital network across the city for use by other city departments (such as traffic for light sensors or 911 for emergency services). The plan is to be completed in 2022.
Convention and Visitors Bureau. Reorganized the Convention and Visitors Council into the Convention and Visitors Bureau, an independent organization that will continue to partner with local restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues to promote Amarillo as a tourism destination and benefit our local economy.
Hike and Bike. Updated the Hike and Bike Masterplan to create more hike and bike trails inside the city. The new plan will require TxDot to design future sections of Loop 337 with hike and bike trails separate from traffic lanes.
Ports to Plains. Supported the Ports to Plains initiative to extend I-27 from Laredo to the Canadian border. Worked with TxDot and State of Texas to complete economic study on an extension of 1-27 and move forward with federal designation to extend I-27.
Over the last three years, City Council has prioritized the public safety of citizens in budget decisions and kept taxes low. Under Ginger Nelson’s leadership, retail sales are up and education opportunities are growing.
We are making true progress on improving our animal shelter. There is more work to do in this area and we need leadership to stay focused on increasing the momentum we have started.
The Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine was a tremendous win for our city. But we are just getting started on making the most of the opportunities it will bring to our city. We need established relationships with leaders across the state and the nation to recruit pharmaceutical manufacturing and medical research businesses and jobs to our city. I’ve spent the last three years developing many such relationships and want to use this influence to bring these jobs and businesses to Amarillo.
I want to continue improving customer service at City Hall and making it easier for businesses and entrepreneurs to do business here.
I will continue to focus on reducing crime and making sure our neighborhoods are safe. I will always support our police and will continue to look for ways to provide them with additional funding and manpower to keep our community safe.
I’ve asked city staff to put together a proposal that would give every citizen in Amarillo basic access to a city-wide high-speed network at no charge. With this quality of life benefit, businesses can recruit employees to Amarillo and students all over the city can have equal access to high-speed internet. With this network, we could recruit people to live in Amarillo but work (remotely) anywhere.
While I know the construction has been an inconvenience, the street improvements were badly needed and will benefit us in the future. We must continue with long term planning and commitment to our streets, roads, and infrastructure.
As Mayor, I want to hear from you. I value your ideas as we continue to create an agenda that will improve the lives of our local citizens for years to come. I welcome emails at Ginger.Nelson@Amarillo.gov or call my Mayor Hotline at (806) 378-6445 during normal business hours.