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Council reviews Ott, renews annual salary with no raise

City Manager Marc Ott, even a month ago, probably had no idea he would spend his annual review not only with Council members behind closed doors but also with speakers who would publicly criticize his treatment of the minority community.…

Council vote could bring changes to taxi franchise system

After months of pitched debate over the issue, the Council agreed Thursday to five-year extensions for the city’s franchise agreements with Austin Cab and Yellow Cab. With the action, Council members took the first steps toward aligning the deals that…

Council questions Law Department, others over KeyPoint issues

The City Council got a chance Thursday to publicly question its legal department about the series of steps that led to last week’s sudden release of the independent report associated with Officer Leonardo Quintana’s shooting of Nathaniel Sanders. As part…

Property owners question value of transferring development rights

A proposal to use development rights to preserve the buildings in downtown’s warehouse district got significant push back from property owners Tuesday night.   The Planning Commission intended to discuss the preservation of the warehouse district as part of a…

City staff hears concerns about East 11th and 12th streets

The question at last night’s “corridor” forum was a whole lot clearer than the answer: Where should the city go from here with, or without, the tri-party agreement to redevelop East 11th and 12th streets in East Austin? Last night’s…

TDS, city joust over MRF disqualification

On Wednesday morning, city staff and representatives from Texas Disposal Systems (TDS) finally met for a complete version of the appeal hearing concerning the company’s disqualification from the city’s ongoing Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) request for proposal (RFP) process (see…

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Labor intensive fountain-turned-splash pad to reopen June 15

If all goes well, the popular Liz Carpenter Fountain will reopen in three weeks. But it will be closed two days per week and may need 40 to 50 labor hours per week in maintenance.   “We plan to reopen…

County issues first FY2011 revenue estimates, projects tax hike

Travis County commissioners have received their first look at projected revenue numbers for FY2011. Those figures include $336.6 million in property tax revenues. That number is, in turn, based on a projected 3.61-cent increase in the maintenance and operations (M&O)…

Declining development revenues hitting city budget hard

The current state of the City of Austin‘s budget is not nearly as bad as it is projected to be next year, according to the city’s budget office. In fact, the most recent budget forecast for FY2010 indicates a $2.1…

City reveals more KeyPoint report missteps

Another day, another apparent mistake from the Law Department in the handling of the KeyPoint Government Solutions report on the shooting of Nathaniel Sanders.   According to city officials, after he received the KeyPoint report that claimed Officer Leonardo Quintana…

Initial reactions mixed for proposed changes to historic zoning process

Reactions from city officials and others to a proposed series of changes to the way the city determines historic landmark zoning are a mixed bag, ranging from positive to skeptical. Since last week’s release of a memo that detailed staff…

CAMPO 2035 plan approved after discussion of priorities, funding

The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Transportation Policy Board approved the CAMPO 2035 plan last night on a vote of 17-2 in favor of the final plan. State Highway 45 SW, expected to generate fireworks, played less of a role…