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Council Audit and Finance Committee hears updates on APD recruiting and hiring practices

On Wednesday, City Council’s Audit and Finance Committee heard a briefing on the Austin Police Department’s recruiting and hiring efforts. City leaders have been raising concerns about APD response times and staffing of sworn and non-sworn public safety employees for…

Police • By Mina Shekarchi • Apr 18, 2025

Downtown Commission looks at partnerships, philanthropy to address homelessness

The city is establishing new partnerships with homelessness relief organizations and could announce new philanthropic partners later this month, while continuing to improve programs already in place to address the needs of the area’s growing homeless population. The most recent…

Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Apr 18, 2025

Watershed report focuses on projects to prevent and prepare for floods

The Watershed Protection Department has released its 2024 annual report, highlighting a lengthy list of achievements in flood prevention, future flood preparedness and erosion control projects in several corners of the city. The department credits these efforts for Austin’s improved…

Environment • By Amy Smith • Apr 18, 2025

716,000 meals canceled for Austin-area food bank as federal funding is cut

The Central Texas Food Bank is feeling the effects of the Trump administration’s funding cuts after the U.S. Department of Agriculture slashed more than a billion dollars in funding for programs that support food banks and help schools buy goods from local…

Public Health • By Becky Fogel, KUT • Apr 17, 2025

City eyes strategy shifts to address affordable housing shortfalls

City staff members are evaluating the idea of investing more in housing as well as other strategies to address shortfalls in key areas of the Strategic Housing Blueprint, including deeply affordable housing and permanent supportive housing. A memo released this…

Housing • By Chad Swiatecki • Apr 17, 2025

Fed spending cuts delay city's workforce, infrastructure training plans

City staff are seeking additional time to develop a comprehensive plan for funding and implementing the city’s workforce development program, in part due to federal funding delays and broader budget uncertainties. A recent memo to City Council from the city’s…

Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Apr 17, 2025

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Facing displacement, Acacia Cliffs apartment tenants mobilize at City Hall

Plans to redevelop an apartment complex in Northwest Austin are off to a rocky start, drawing a crowd to City Hall last week with demands for more concessions to displaced tenants. Acacia Cliffs residents and their neighbors took to the…

Housing • By Kali Bramble • Apr 16, 2025

Austin Resource Recovery to formally amend cart collection rules

Austin Resource Recovery, the city department that handles Austin’s waste, wants to clarify some things about how residents put out recycling, trash and compost carts. In a presentation to the Zero Waste Advisory Commission during a meeting on April 10,…

Resources • By Miles Wall • Apr 16, 2025

West Campus zoning program set for changes as city plans density-focused upgrade

Austin’s West Campus neighborhood may be about to enter a new era of development, as city staff plan to update a special zoning overlay that has guided new building in the area since the early aughts, according to a presentation…

Planning • By Miles Wall • Apr 15, 2025

Scaled-down Violet Crown development near Bee Cave under consideration again

The embattled Violet Crown Amphitheater – a planned development including condos and offices off Highway 71 in Southwest Austin that was successfully beaten down in 2022 by angry neighbors – looks to be back, now under a new name: White…

Development • By Lina Fisher • Apr 15, 2025

Music Commission, staff weigh final criteria for next Live Music Fund grants

The Music Commission is weighing several potential changes to the city’s Live Music Fund grant program, including the removal of criteria tied to languages spoken and census tract residency, clearer definitions of what qualifies as a live music venue, and…

Music & Entertainment • By Chad Swiatecki • Apr 15, 2025

Austin ISD gets $41 million from the Education Department. What happens if the agency closes?

When Christy Fox thinks about why federal funding is important to Austin ISD, she thinks about who those dollars support: staff typically working with the district’s most vulnerable students. “I think about the human behind it,” she said, “because these…

Education • By Becky Fogel, KUT • Apr 14, 2025

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