Committee fails to endorse lobbying rules changes

The City Council Audit and Finance Committee voted unanimously on Wednesday to forward changes to the anti-lobbying ordinance proposed by the city staff to the full Council, but did so without a recommendation. Three members of the committee, Mayor Pro…

Reporter's Notebook: Is CodeNEXT spreading?

Contagion… Is the trauma of CodeNEXT spreading to other Central Texas cities? That’s the horrific question at least one Sunset Valley resident must have asked herself when she opened her mailbox recently. Inside was a postcard sent by the city…

Austin Monitor Radio: District 8 candidate Bobby Levinski

This week, City Council candidate Bobby Levinski joins Austin Monitor freelancer Caleb Pritchard and editor Elizabeth Pagano to talk about why he wants to represent District 8. Listen in below to hear his take on CodeNEXT, MoPac and other issues…

Austin Monitor Radio: The ARCH

On this week’s show, Front Steps Executive Director Greg McCormack joins Austin Monitor freelancer Caleb Pritchard to talk about the challenges and future of the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless. Listen in; the entire show is embedded below. The…

Council votes to clarify the road ahead for Austin's $482M corridor plan

Austin voters now have a clearer road map for a slate of bond-funded projects intended to relieve congestion and improve city infrastructure on a massive scale. With little more than a guarantee from City Council, voters overwhelmingly approved a $720…

Two Confederate street names dropped

After an outpouring of commentary from the community – most of it positive – Council voted unanimously on Thursday to rename two city streets after prominent African-American historical figures and shed the previous names, Robert E. Lee and Jeff Davis.…

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boy swimming

Parks board pushes for $62M for pools

Austin pools are in serious need of repairs. Everyone knows that, but the question is how much money the citizens are actually willing to pay to fix them. Currently, $33 million of the proposed 2018 bond package totaling $851 million is…

Dell Med School using grant money for population, teen mental health

A grant of nearly $1 million from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation is paying for a pair of programs at the University of Texas’ Dell Medical School that will attempt to advance treatment of teenage mental health and the…

Libraries plan to designate areas for petitioning

After a month of consultations with the Law Department over the language of the rules governing petitioning on library property, the Austin Public Library may have found a compromise. Instead of limiting petitioning to sidewalks surrounding the libraries, which groups…

Austin renters facing eviction could get help through a new counseling service

David Jones has been renting his apartment in North Austin for four years. He’s grown an impressive herb garden on his front porch: Rows of parsley, oregano and thyme line one side. He’s a veteran on a fixed income, and…

Austin skyline

Real estate leaders tackle equity, housing affordability at ULI breakfast

Austin’s ability to continue its rapid economic and population growth while trying to keep longtime residents from being forced out due to affordability issues was the topic of the day at Wednesday’s breakfast meeting for the Urban Land Institute. The…

CodeNEXT: The devil is in the details

As the development process for the land use code rewrite known as CodeNEXT has progressed, a common refrain heard from critics is that it will drastically alter Austin’s existing zoning. However, at Tuesday’s work session, Planning and Zoning Department Director…