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Stories by Ryan Thornton

City hopes fewer Covid cases and cooler temps will boost open-air business pilot

Austin’s Covid-era pilot for safe outdoor shopping and dining has been running since June 15, but not many local shops and restaurants have sought to take advantage of the program so far. During the first 10 weeks of Shop the…

Council approves $23 million in partial purchases for Corridor Construction Program

City Council has authorized the Office of Real Estate Services to start negotiations with landowners for $23 million in real estate acquisitions from a number of properties along the nine segments of the Corridor Construction Program. Mike Trimble, director of…

Project Connect: Council to consider equity metrics

Included in the $7.1 billion Project Connect proposal for Nov. 3 is $300 million for affordable housing and neighborhood-level displacement prevention strategies along transit corridors. On Thursday, City Council will vote on a resolution further clarifying that impacted neighborhoods are…

Tiered-rate parking payment system to free up parking spots, decrease use of parking tickets

Over the next month and a half, the Austin Transportation Department will be updating on-street parking meters to a more flexible “pay-by-plate” system that will make it easier for drivers to add extra time to a parking session. The new…

Austin to become a better 'laboratory' for UT research under interlocal agreement

While City Council members and city departments have long sought help from the University of Texas to research challenges facing the city like gentrification or the “downtown puzzle,” there has never been a formal process to coordinate those efforts –…

Broadmoor rail station to break ground in September, replace Kramer station

A new Red Line commuter rail station will break ground next month, directly servicing the Domain and the future $2 billion mixed-use Broadmoor development by summer 2022. The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority board approved a public-private partnership with Brandywine for the…

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Council to consider approving grants for APD safety projects

Thursday’s City Council meeting agenda has 10 items requesting approval of grant awards to the Austin Police Department for a variety of ongoing projects. While the grants support important community programs like mental health first response, sexual assault evidence testing…

Capital Metro electric buses running longer than predicted, cutting emissions

By the end of the month, the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority will have received all 12 battery-electric buses that make up its initial investment in what will become a zero-emission public transportation fleet. With two of those already in service…

City Council candidates discuss growth, segregation and the land use code

The Nov. 3 election is set to shape the future of transportation in Austin, but it could also shift City Council’s 7-4 divide on housing and density in the Land Development Code rewrite. While the effort is now tied up…

City forms team to ensure equity with I-35 cap-and-stitch

As the Texas Department of Transportation moves ahead with plans to expand Interstate 35 under the Capital Express project, the city has joined the effort to use the giant construction project as an opportunity to help minority communities recover from…

Austin Energy price on coal energy reduces emissions 20 percent since March

In a little over four months, Austin Energy’s carbon pricing program, REACH (Reduce Emissions Affordably for Climate Health) has cut the utility’s carbon emissions by roughly 20 percent, saving more than 480,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere since the…

Integral Care set to address most mental health emergency calls without involving APD

Last week, City Council approved an additional $1.3 million for the Integral Care-EMCOT program next fiscal year, increasing the budget for the Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team by about 75 percent. With those extra dollars, Integral Care, the mental health…

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