AUSTIN -- Walking along the south shore of Lady Bird Lake is a trip down memory lane for Steve Adler and his wife Diane Land.
"I proposed right over here somewhere," Adler said pointing to an area where boats are docked.
"We were walking along the trail and came upon a boat that had a violinist and a white table cloth, you know table set up for dinner. And we got on it and went on down the river. And he proposed to me," recalled Land.
Sixteen years later, with three daughters out of the house, the Adler-Land clan is ready for a a new challenge; Austin City Hall.
"I'm concerned about my city because I think we're at a tipping point," said Adler.
Austin is Adler's city by choice. He grew up in Washington, D.C. A first generation college student, he graduated from Princeton and moved to Austin to attend law school at the University of Texas because it was the most affordable.
"I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was going to go back to the East Coast to practice law," said Adler, "but like so many people that come to UT, I fell in love with the city."
"It was a city where nobody was too good and everybody was good enough," he added.
Adler worked as an eminent domain attorney representing property owners, went on to be Chief of Staff and General Counsel for State Senator Elliot Shapleigh and started his own firm. He's served on the board of several civic organizations and now wants to address Austin's challenges as mayor. His top priority is affordability.
"You fix affordability by one of two ways, you either make things less expensive or you give people more money to spend," said Adler. "We're bringing in more jobs than anywhere in the country, but 60 percent of the jobs we're bringing in don't pay a living wage. We need to do better than that."
Adler also wants to give homeowner's a property tax exemption and find ways to decrease fees for renters. If elected, he plans to address education, poverty rates and look for traffic solutions.
While he says he is frustrated with the lack of leadership in the urban rail campaign, he supports the proposition.
"I'm going to vote for prop one because I think that the city is going to be better off if it passes than if it doesn't pass."
Making Austin "better off" with a new way forward is Adler's goal.
"I don't know many people that are as thoughtful, as visionary and as smart as Steve is. And I think it's very rare to have someone with those qualities who will actually give up and sacrifice what you sacrifice to go into public office," said Land.
"People have a choice in this election," said Adler, "they can chose the old leaders or they can choose a new leader."
