Chief equity officer calls Austin ISD's school closure process inequitable and 'short-sighted'

School closures and consolidations are not “equity strategies,” the Austin Independent School District’s chief equity officer says in a report released Monday. “They are short-term and often short-sighted approaches to cost savings that are seldom reinvested in programming in the…

Workforce housing conservancy lands first bank investor, with $500,000 pledged

A $500,000 investment from Texas Capital Bank, announced last week, marks the first money from a large financial institution put into a fund created to preserve workforce housing units around Austin. In addressing the investment in the Austin Housing Conservancy…

White homeowners dominate input over Austin's land code rewrite. One group is trying to change that.

More than 100 people sat in Austin City Hall chambers just past 10 a.m. on Saturday, gearing up to share their thoughts about the city’s rewrite of its Land Development Code. Council Member Alison Alter, who represents part of Northwest…

Parks board expresses concern over metered parking in public parks

After postponing their decision in October about parking meters on city parkland, the Parks and Recreation Board broached the subject again at its Dec. 3 meeting. Following a long discussion about the equity and access issues that accompany metered parking,…

Music commissioners want urgency, care in spending hotel tax money for industry

Members of the Music Commission and interest groups related to the city’s music industry are pushing for quick decisions on how to spend an initial pool of Hotel Occupancy Tax dollars that City Council allocated for the city’s commercial music…

Reporter's Notebook: Alternatives to hissing

Instead of hissing… On Saturday, the city held a public meeting to discuss the draft Land Development Code, which City Council is scheduled to vote on today. How did it go? In a nutshell: 392 Austinites spoke on the draft…

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Austin orders sweeping probe of alleged racism, bigotry among police, including social media audit

The city of Austin will conduct a department-wide investigation of discrimination in the Austin Police Department, following accusations of racism and homophobia among the highest ranks. “There comes a time in everybody’s existence to have to do something really hard…

Council OKs amended emergency mutual aid pact

Council gave final approval Thursday to a mutual automatic aid agreement designed to ensure that 19 fire and rescue departments throughout Travis and Williamson counties will assist each other in far-flung parts of Austin and the included counties. The city…

Chamber forecast sees tight labor, housing markets as biggest threat to Austin economy

Austin’s economy continues to be one of the strongest in the nation and should stay that way for the foreseeable future, but a national economist said the city’s extremely tight labor market is likely acting as a drag on the…

Daugherty will not seek reelection

Travis County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty announced his retirement Thursday. “It has been a privilege and honor to serve my neighbors as their commissioner,” said Daugherty. “I’ve done my very best to deliver on the promises that I’ve made over time.…

Firefighters union and commissioners call for strengthening AFD sexual harassment policy

In the aftermath of several public sexual harassment cases, Austin EMS and the police and fire departments are updating their sexual harassment policies to create consistency across city emergency services. The action comes in the wake of Austin Fire Department…

Residents near Hamilton Pool up in arms about proposed RV park

The Travis County Commissioners Court spent all morning Tuesday discussing a proposed RV park on Stagecoach Ranch Road in Southwest Travis County, near Hamilton Pool. The court still hasn’t come to a decision on the matter and will take it…