I am not advocating that everyone vote for 6 of 11. I am trying to point out (perhaps badly) that a citizen today can go to only two people that need his or her vote. Everyone else on council has no reason to care. Lobbyists have time and money to give to causes they care about, and they are free to twist the arms of all eleven. I believe that some of the conflict we are seeing today is happening because groups that are lobbying city council are not aligned with the citizens of the city. Compromise is difficult, because two opposed groups just go to the rails when conflict happens.
Honestly, I did approach CodeNEXT with a goal of learning about it and hopefully putting in my opinion. I took time to read the drafts, look at the maps, comment online and attend sessions that the city promoted as ways to offer my input. I am not opposed to reasonable change in my neighborhood. I thought R2C zoning was mostly acceptable, before the lot sizes and parking restrictions were changed. I would really love to see more taller development like the university overlay, especially in areas like the Domain, where development can happen without fundamentally changing neighborhoods. I liked Adler's Austin Bargain, where he said the goal was "not to force density in the middle of neighborhoods."
The end of the CodeNEXT process was pretty crazy, with tons of amendments and changes and factions divided pretty evenly down the middle. It was impossible to keep track of the latest proposal. To me, it felt very out of control. So yes, if we are going to change zoning I would like the Prop J protections in place, to allow the voters some time to see the final work product and decide if this right for Austin or not.