Austin voters will decide starting Monday whether to change the city of Austin's government from a strong-manager system to a strong-mayor one. The controversial proposal stems from a citizen-led petition organized by the political action committee Austinites for Progressive Reform, whose members argue that a strong-mayor system, sometimes called a mayor-council system, would empower voters, correct the Jim Crow-era origins of the current system and better position the city to address intractable issues such as homelessness.

But a diverse, and unlikely, coalition of opponents has formed to defend the current strong-manager, or council-manager, system. Labor leaders, environmental groups, business interests, criminal justice reform activists and most council members have denounced Proposition F, which they fear will create a power imbalance between the mayor and council and erode the gains of the 10-1 system.