Latest Headlines for Saturday, March 23
Friday, March 22, 2019 by Chad Swiatecki
Austin
As hotel tax growth slows, Tourism Commission targets short-term rentals
The growth of short-term rental activity in the city and a possible saturation of the local hotel market are seen as the biggest causes behind a flattening of Austin’s once fast-growing Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue.That was the conclusion at this…
Friday, March 22, 2019 by Andrew Weber
Austin
Immigrants in Austin pay more taxes, have more spending power than in other large Texas cities
A new study shows immigrants have an outsized impact on Austin’s economy.Overall, 4.8 million immigrants in Texas paid $34.8 billion in taxes and had an economic footprint of $109.9 billion, according to an analysis of 2017 census data from the…
Friday, March 22, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Housing
County celebrates major renovations of affordable housing communities
The Housing Authority of Travis County hosted a ribbon-cutting celebration Thursday morning to honor the completion of the $10.4 million rehabilitation of two of its affordable housing communities.The project involved improvements to 51 units at Alexander Oaks in Oak Hill…
Friday, March 22, 2019 by Jessi Devenyns
Planning
BoA grants boat dock variance, swayed by trees
After being denied a variance to reconstruct an existing dock to 44 feet instead of the code-compliant 30 feet, the case of 1515 Manana St. returned before the Board of Adjustment at its March 11 meeting.Based on a “substantial” amount…
Thursday, March 21, 2019 by Ryan Thornton
Planning
Debate over rezone gets in the way of voluntary annexation deal
A decision by the Zoning and Platting Commission Tuesday to push a zoning case hearing back to April could jeopardize an opportunity for the city to annex a 42-acre lot south of FM 2222.The heavily wooded property, east of Lake…
Thursday, March 21, 2019 by Chad Swiatecki
Austin
With new hiring, city adds focus to issues of growing senior population
The city’s recent hiring of a program coordinator for issues related to the local senior population, and a community session next week on possible future budget needs for senior services, have elevated the attention paid to one of Austin’s fastest-growing…
