The Austin Monitor thanks its sponsors. Become one.
City Manager Marc Ott has chosen three California utility executives to interview for the position of General Manager of Austin Energy, according to well-informed sources at City Hall. None of the candidates who work at Austin Energy—Karl Rábago, Cheryl Mele…
Joe Cantalupo, in his last meeting as CAMPO’s executive director, had to answer some of his toughest questions yet: For instance, how did the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization manage to avoid its required annual financial audit? Cantalupo presented…
Plans for future bond elections got a lot more interesting Wednesday, as Mayor Lee Leffingwell’s office announced he would now favor a 2012 election on urban rail—as well as a change in the city charter to have City Council select…
Any plan to upgrade Travis County’s downtown campus should include more than the “nuts and bolts” required for day-to-day business — it should include features that would allow the county to weave itself more tightly into the community. That,…
No solid theme has emerged as Austin residents consider which fat to trim from their city’s 2011 budget. Still, responses continue to arrive at the city-sponsored web survey that asks for popular opinion on the matter. Given an opportunity…
The lengthy story of the Upper Boggy Creek Neighborhood Plan got another chapter Thursday when City Council voted, just barely, to amend the plan’s vertical mixed use conditional overlay. Moving against the wishes of the neighborhood’s contact team, Council voted…
Travis County commissioners on Tuesday approved spending $942,749 in federal money, primarily on road improvements, homebuyer assistance, and social work services. The money will come from a federal pot know as the Community Development Block Grant, or CDBG, which…
Faster buses and boardwalk trails may be in Austin’s future if a proposed transportation bond package made public Monday is able to snake its way through committees, task forces, and City Council this summer and win voter approval in November.…
The zoning case for 904 San Antonio could be a precursor to what Planning Commission can expect to see in the wake of the downtown neighborhood plan. Agent Ron Thrower was at the land use commission last week to rezone…
Five members of the board Pedernales Electric Co-Op—including two who will be retiring on Saturday—voted Monday to fire General Manager Juan Garza, who has worked for the past 28 months to bring transparency and accountability into an organization that seemed…
Six months after grudgingly approving historic zoning status for a record number of properties on the understanding that staff would return with recommendations for revising city code on the issue, Council members voted last week to approve a resolution to…
Capital Metro is facing a projected budget shortfall of $1.4 million for FY2011, and staff at the transit agency is currently in the process of soliciting and studying citizen input on how best to cut expenses and increase revenue without…
