City opens process for using $12M approved to preserve creative spaces

The city has launched the process of finding properties and organizations that could be matched in the next 12 months for public-private partnerships focused on preserving creative spaces around the city. The newly released request for information is the first step…

Council to consider approving grants for APD safety projects

Thursday’s City Council meeting agenda has 10 items requesting approval of grant awards to the Austin Police Department for a variety of ongoing projects. While the grants support important community programs like mental health first response, sexual assault evidence testing…

Travis County plans for drive-thru voting drop-off for mail-in ballots

November’s presidential election is fast approaching and the Travis County Clerk’s Office is working diligently to ensure county residents have safe and well-functioning access to voting, both in-person and by mail-in ballot. To provide the required safety measures and necessary…

Community Development Commission to study new uses for police funding

The Community Development Commission has formed a working group to recommend how City Council should make reductions to the Austin Police Department budget, and may move to sign to recent resolutions from three other commissions in support of the budget…

Thousands are out of work, but home sales in Austin are doing fine — better than fine. What gives?

Blake Taylor wants to be rid of the house she hardly leaves. Taylor lives with lupus, an autoimmune disease, and is terrified of what it would mean if she caught Covid-19. She’s been extra careful. When she heads to HEB…

Capital Metro electric buses running longer than predicted, cutting emissions

By the end of the month, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority will have received all 12 battery-electric buses that make up its initial investment in what will become a zero-emission public transportation fleet. With two of those already in service…

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Audit outlines challenges for Millennium Youth Complex

The Office of the City Auditor has found numerous problems at the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex in East Austin, starting with the city’s failure to effectively manage and monitor its agreements with the Austin Rosewood Community Development Corporation. The duties…

City Council candidates discuss growth, segregation and the land use code

The Nov. 3 election is set to shape the future of transportation in Austin, but it could also shift City Council’s 7-4 divide on housing and density in the Land Development Code rewrite. While the effort is now tied up…

Ethics commission discusses transparency in unbroadcast meeting

As Covid-19 has pushed city meetings online, questions about public participation have taken center stage, with community members and commissioners alike struggling with cumbersome web platforms and long waiting times on phone lines. The topic came before the Ethics Review Commission…

Here's how to make sure your Austin ISD student has access to a laptop and high-speed internet

Parents, teachers and advocates worry online-only lesson plans could widen the digital divide and exacerbate educational equity issues in the Austin Independent School District. To try to prevent that, the district, which has roughly 81,000 students, is distributing Wi-Fi hotspots,…

Zoning and Platting Commission recommends Circuit of the Americas PUD

At its meeting Tuesday, the Zoning and Platting Commission unanimously recommended – with staff members’ caveats – the Circuit of the Americas planned unit development. The commission would like staffers to track the impervious cover on the site and ensure…

ULI panel explores the lessons of transit-oriented development

With transit-oriented developments likely to become more prevalent as Austin relies more on mass transit in the coming years, the planners and builders involved in their creation are confronted with the issues of affordability, displacement and appropriate economic incentives. Those were…