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Jo Clifton is the Politics Editor for the Austin Monitor.
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Stories by Jo Clifton
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…
Elections • By Jo Clifton • Apr 2, 2021
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…
Bonds & Propositions • By Jo Clifton • Apr 1, 2021
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…
Bonds & Propositions • By Jo Clifton • Apr 1, 2021
Environmentalists, city say sewage will harm Barton Creek
Houston developer Stephen Cleveland has requested a permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to dump partially treated sewage into Long Branch, a tributary of Barton Creek. Although TCEQ has issued a draft permit, environmental organizations and the city…
Environment • By Jo Clifton • Mar 31, 2021
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,…
Housing • By Jo Clifton • Mar 26, 2021
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…
Development • By Jo Clifton • Mar 25, 2021
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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…
Development • By Jo Clifton • Mar 24, 2021
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…
Bonds & Propositions • By Jo Clifton • Mar 24, 2021
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…
Bonds & Propositions • By Jo Clifton • Mar 19, 2021
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…
Environment • By Jo Clifton • Mar 17, 2021
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…
Austin • By Jo Clifton • Mar 12, 2021
Adler, Brown say they won't back down as Paxton threatens suit
Attorney General Ken Paxton sent a letter to Mayor Steve Adler and Travis County Judge Andy Brown Wednesday threatening a lawsuit if Austin and Travis County do not rescind rules devised by Austin’s health authority to slow the spread of…
