Stories by Jo Clifton
Thursday, April 22, 2021 by Jo Clifton
City Hall
Report raises questions about convention center finances
In the wake of Covid-19, revenue at the Austin Convention Center dropped from more than $35.8 million in Fiscal Year 2019 to about $12.8 million in FY 2020, according to a special review of convention center finances conducted by the…
Wednesday, April 21, 2021 by Jo Clifton
City Council
Council to delve into Airport Hilton questions
City Council is preparing to discuss extending a $2.6 million loan to cover overdue bills from the Austin Airport Hilton. The hotel, which is operated by Austin-Bergstrom Landhost Enterprises, or ABLE, lost a considerable amount of revenue over the past…
Tuesday, April 20, 2021 by Jo Clifton
Bonds & Propositions
Groups report endorsing, rejecting propositions
The Travis County Democratic Party has endorsed Proposition A on the May 1 ballot, which would give Austin firefighters the authority to require the city to participate in binding arbitration. The party has also urged its members to reject Prop…
Wednesday, April 14, 2021 by Jo Clifton
Health & Human Services
City’s vaccination task gets harder
Interim Austin-Travis County Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott has been advising City Council members and Travis County commissioners that there was more demand than the city had available vaccine for all the Travis County residents who want to be protected…
Tuesday, April 13, 2021 by Jo Clifton
Zoning
Neighbors nix liquor store at south-side mini mart
Last December, the Galindo Neighborhood Association told the city it had no objection to a zoning change that would allow for the development of a liquor store at the Sunrise Mini Mart at 913-915 W. Oltorf St. By March, opinions…
Monday, April 12, 2021 by Jo Clifton
City Council
Council barely OKs eminent domain for U.S. 290 expansion
With just six members voting in the affirmative last Thursday, City Council authorized staff to move forward with eminent domain proceedings to purchase new right of way in order to move wastewater lines that are in the path of the…
Thursday, April 8, 2021 by Jo Clifton
Planning
Neighbors tell ACC board: No concrete plant here
Neighbors of Austin Community College’s Pinnacle campus in Oak Hill begged the ACC Board of Trustees to reverse its apparent decision to allow a Texas Department of Transportation contractor to operate a concrete batch plant on the campus. About 20 neighbors…
Wednesday, April 7, 2021 by Jo Clifton
Texas State Legislature
Mayor, City Council express opposition to state legislation
Mayor Steve Adler and several City Council members expressed their frustration with the Legislature at Tuesday’s work session, after Intergovernmental Relations Officer Brie Franco described legislation aimed at curbing Austin’s authority to govern itself. Among Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s announced…
Tuesday, April 6, 2021 by Jo Clifton
City Council
Council stresses need for cooperation in forming strategic plan for homelessness
After hearing the results of a follow-up audit related to the city’s efforts to help the homeless, Mayor Steve Adler and Council Member Leslie Pool both stressed the need for other segments of the community to get involved in resolving…
Friday, April 2, 2021 by Jo Clifton
Elections
Ballot item backers report $100K in donations
Austinites for Progressive Reform, the group that’s sponsoring propositions D, E, F, G and H on the May 1 ballot, has reported raising more than $100,000 since the beginning of the year to fund its campaigns. The group has spent…
Thursday, April 1, 2021 by Jo Clifton
Bonds & Propositions
Mayors, environmental groups oppose strong-mayor plan
Three former Austin mayors and six local environmental organizations have announced their opposition to Proposition F, the charter amendment that would change Austin’s Council-manager form of government to a system that would eliminate the city manager and give the mayor the…
Thursday, April 1, 2021 by Jo Clifton
Bonds & Propositions
Should mayoral election be moved to presidential years?
When voters cast their votes on the May 1 ballot, they will have a chance to weigh in on the question of whether Austin’s mayor should be elected in November of presidential election years, instead of on a cycle that…
Friday, March 26, 2021 by Jo Clifton
Housing
Council OKs $22 million in low-income housing bonds
After hearing complaints Thursday from several of her constituents, District 2 City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes announced during Council’s meeting as the board of the Austin Housing Finance Corporation that she would vote against bond funding for a 179-unit, low-income,…
Thursday, March 25, 2021 by Jo Clifton
Development
Uproar over update of plumbing, mechanical codes
Every four years, the city’s Development Services and Austin Code departments go through a process of updating their technical codes related to plumbing, heating and air-conditioning design, installation and inspection. And with those updates comes a renewal of the battle…
Wednesday, March 24, 2021 by Jo Clifton
Development
Brodie Oaks developer explains plans
Barshop & Oles and Houston investment firm Lionstone Investments are proposing a complete transformation of the Brodie Oaks shopping center. Their vision, as described to City Council Tuesday by urban planner Rebecca Leonard of Lionheart Places, would transform an old…
Wednesday, March 24, 2021 by Jo Clifton
Bonds & Propositions
Firefighters push for passage of arbitration amendment with Proposition A
Most politically involved Austinites are thinking about Proposition B, the camping ban, or Proposition F, which would eliminate the current city manager form of government and create a “strong-mayor” system. But Austin firefighters are hoping voters will pay attention to…
Friday, March 19, 2021 by Jo Clifton
Bonds & Propositions
No on B aims to fight with Republicans
A new political action committee called Homes Not Handcuffs has announced its presence in Austin with an email declaring that “every part of Travis County’s big tent Democratic Party” is joining together to oppose Proposition B in the No on…
Wednesday, March 17, 2021 by Jo Clifton
Environment
Proposed concrete plant at ACC upsets neighbors
When Cynthia Wilcox, president of the Oak Hill Association of Neighborhoods, heard the news that there would soon be a functioning concrete plant at the Austin Community College Pinnacle campus near her home she felt “completely blindsided.” Wilcox reached out…
Friday, March 12, 2021 by Jo Clifton
Austin
Rescue plan gives Central Texas $500 million
According to U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin), Travis County is set to receive $247.08 million and the city of Austin an estimated $195.8 million under the American Rescue Plan, approved by Congress and signed yesterday by President Joe Biden. The…
