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Visit Austin offers look at strategy to support hotels during convention center closure

Staff from Visit Austin plan to aggressively market the city to new and recurring visitors in the coming years as part of a three-part strategy to support the local hotel and convention industry during the four-year closure of the Austin…

SXSW is accused of cozying up to ‘war profiteers.’ Musicians are boycotting.

Austin percussionist Thor Harris has been playing South by Southwest since the ramshackle days, when the festival was a platform for up-and-coming musicians hoping to be discovered by music industry insiders. This year, it’s different. “I’ve played hundreds of other…

City preps for eclipse visitors at a pace to rival SXSW nights

Next month’s solar eclipse is expected to bring a short boost for local hotels that could match some of the nine-day stretch of South by Southwest. Austin’s location as one of the most opportune viewing spots in the path of…

Austin public safety agencies roll out electronic payroll system

Austin’s public safety agencies – the Austin Fire Department, the Austin Police Department and Austin-Travis County EMS – are in various stages of rolling out an electronic payroll system in an effort to streamline scheduling and other logistical tasks. The…

TipSheet: Austin City Council, 3.7.24

Today, City Council will convene for a normal Thursday meeting, and we’ve put together a few of the items on this week’s (short!) agenda that caught our eye. Proposed changes to environmental protections on the Ann and Roy Butler Hike…

Music Commission's $3M budget request includes HAAM funds, marketing program

The Music Commission has asked the city for just over $3 million in the next budget to expand some existing programs and provide added economic and medical assistance for local musicians. At Monday’s meeting, the commission unanimously approved six requests…

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County commissioners prepare for a complicated budget season

Each year, the Travis County Planning and Budget Office presents its budget guidelines for the upcoming fiscal year to the Travis County Commissioners Court, furnishing the court with important data and forecasts while launching talks about further planning efforts. On…

HAAM seeks $500K in next year’s city budget to fund local musicians’ insurance

Health Alliance for Austin Musicians is seeking ongoing support from the city and possibly Travis County to cover the costs of subsidized health insurance coverage for more than 2,000 local musicians annually. Tonight’s Music Commission meeting will feature a presentation…

As Council prepped public support, local Google workers learned of layoffs

Some private-sector workplace drama took place in real time during Thursday’s City Council meeting, with a group of local Google workers learning they’d lost their jobs while commenting on a proposed city resolution intended to support their cause. On the…

Austin makes library cards free to people outside the city

People who live in unincorporated areas outside the city no longer have to pay $120 for an Austin Public Library card. In December, City Council voted to remove the fees after the Library Commission recommended the change. In their recommendation,…

Council passes a resolution calling for greener procurement practices

After its recent approval of a measure to create an investment strategy for financing the city’s climate plans, City Council on Thursday passed a complementary item to establish more sustainable procurement practices. Like the previous resolution, this one, too, was…

Budget ‘headwinds’ could force tough Council decisions headed into summer

City Council members received an early look at some of the difficult budget decisions they could face this summer thanks to an expected decline in sales tax revenue and the end of federal funding related to the American Rescue Plan…

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