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Stories by Sean Saldaña

Austin Animal Center contemplates 'notifications for possible euthanasia'

In a memo last month, Chief Animal Services Officer Don Bland updated City Council and Mayor Steve Adler about the ongoing capacity issues at the Austin Animal Center. The memo included a few lines that made animal lovers around the…

Vision plan takes on mobility woes at Zilker Park

Last month, the Parks and Recreation Department held its first community meeting for the Zilker Metropolitan Park Vision Plan, an ambitious effort to develop a framework for the park’s future. The department calls it the “first comprehensive planning effort in…

Landmark Commission sends West Line case to Architectural Review Committee

Last week, applicants asked the Historic Landmark Commission for permission to demolish a building located in the West Line Historic District and replace it with a one-story cabana and a garage at 1415 W. 10th St. The building, which was…

Landmark commission reverses course, grants demolition for Scenic Drive home

Last month, a demolition permit request for the property at 2708 Scenic Drive came in front of the Historic Landmark Commission. The home, which was built in 1952, has fallen into disrepair, but instead of granting the permit, city staffers…

PARD continues to work through lifeguard staffing shortages

After a year of lockdown measures and closures aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus, Austinites have entered the summer season ready to interact with the world again. But as people head outdoors, they’re noticing that the city’s aquatics operations…

City begins blue-green algae mitigation at Red Bud Isle

Since 2019, dog-lovers in Austin have had to worry about cyanobacteria, more commonly known as blue-green algae, when stories came out of several dogs dying after swimming in Lady Bird Lake during the algae bloom. A particular area of concern…

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Austin Animal Center continues to struggle with capacity

Earlier this week at the Animal Advisory Commission’s monthly meeting, commissioners discussed the reopening process of the Austin Animal Center as the risk of coronavirus continues to decline locally. In recent months, the shelter has been running out of kennel space for…

ZWAC looks to extend contract for encampment cleanups

Last week, the Zero Waste Advisory Commission voted unanimously to advance a contract extension with Relief Enterprise of Texas Inc., a contractor that has handled homeless encampment trash cleanup for the city around Interstate 35, U.S. Highway 183, Loop 1…

Former Long Estate granted demolition permit after March fire

Last month, the Historic Landmark Commission unanimously voted to issue a demolition permit for 2308 Woodlawn Blvd., a property located in the Old West Austin National Register Historic District. Unlike many demolition permit requests that the landmark commission hears, this…

Last residential house on Rainey cleared for demolition by landmark commission

In 2019, a KUT report introduced Austinites to John Contreras, then known as “The Last Man on Rainey Street.” Rainey Street, historically a residential neighborhood, has become one of the city’s most prominent centers for nightlife and large-scale development. Contreras’…

Jackson-Novy-Kelly-Hoey House gets approval for front-yard pool

This week, the Historic Landmark Commission revisited a case from March in which homeowners at 2406 Harris Blvd. had requested a certificate of appropriateness to put a pool in their front yard. The issue raised concerns among commissioners because the…

City devising permanent solution to erosion threat in Guerrero Park

Southeast Austin’s Roy G. Guerrero Park is home to a disc-golf course and baseball fields and is a popular destination for birding. But according to the city, a growing threat poses a risk to the popular park: erosion. The 360-acre park…

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