Latest Headlines for Friday, September 30
Friday, September 30, 2016 by Caleb Pritchard
Politics
Activists seek to ‘reboot 10-1’
Several activists who led the charge to create single-member City Council districts have begun a campaign aimed at further reform. On Wednesday night, a group of just over 30 people gathered at Austin Energy headquarters on Barton Springs Road to…
Friday, September 30, 2016 by Jo Clifton
City Council
Tovo, Garza to help fund downtown toilet project
Downtown Austin has scores of restaurants, bars and shops, but what it does not have is strategically located public toilets. That deficiency has proved problematic for any number of people, including the homeless and late-night visitors on the streets after…
Friday, September 30, 2016 by Joseph Caterine
Planning
Tovo pushes alternatives in lieu of fees-in-lieu
Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo is pushing ahead in her efforts to steer the city’s density bonus programs in a new direction. Near the end of last year, she initiated a staff review of the current programs, suspecting that there…
Friday, September 30, 2016 by Syeda Hasan
Police
Austin and Travis County officials talk sobriety center plans
People picked up in Austin for public intoxication downtown might no longer be headed straight to jail or the emergency room. Austin and Travis County leaders are moving forward with plans to open a sobriety center. The downtown facility would…
Thursday, September 29, 2016 by Jo Clifton
City Hall
Complaint filed against former housing director
The chief of investigations for Austin’s Office of the City Auditor filed a complaint late Wednesday against Betsy Spencer, the former director of Neighborhood Housing and Community Development, with the city’s Ethics Review Commission. In that complaint, Chief of Investigations…
Thursday, September 29, 2016 by Caleb Pritchard
Transportation
Adler labors to clarify a complicated bond package
Mayor Steve Adler used two separate forums on Wednesday to address a set of “myths” that he said are circulating around his $720 million transportation bond proposal. “The myths as I hear them in the community are that the total…
Thursday, September 29, 2016 by Caleb Pritchard
Transit
CTRMA board gives the go-ahead to gondola study
The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is leaving the future of mass transit to hang. On Wednesday, the CTRMA board of directors approved without any dissent a small stipend to study the feasibility of a proposed gondola system in South…
Thursday, September 29, 2016 by Jo Clifton
Police
Audit points out flaws in APD complaint process
The process for handling complaints against Austin police officers is difficult to use, and even high-profile incidents involving an officer’s use of force – such as the widely covered incident involving an Austin teacher – have not always made it…
Wednesday, September 28, 2016 by Audrey McGlinchy
Preservation
New East Austin survey tells story of loss
To the uninformed, Shonda Mace looked like she was being a real creep. On a morning last March, the young woman loitered in front of a home on East 22nd Street. She eyed the house in front of her before…
