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City Hall
Council adopts new flood control resolution
In her first move on City Council, new member Vanessa Fuentes authored a resolution directing the city to provide an update on its flood resilience plans. “Often in my community it’s not a matter of if the next big flood…
City Council • By Jonathan Lee • Jan 28, 2021
Council plans hotel purchases for housing homeless, floats camping sites
At Monday’s work session, City Council members discussed purchasing two hotels in North Austin to secure more than 150 permanent supportive housing units for the homeless. Mayor Steve Adler urged Council to act to remedy what he called an “emergency…
City Council • By Jonathan Lee • Jan 26, 2021
Council proposes focus on four encampments in HEAL resolution
The city will focus on four encampments as the first phase of a plan to reduce the growing homeless population by providing housing and support services. The resolution, called the HEAL (Housing-Focused Homeless Encampment Assistance Link) Initiative and slated for the Feb.…
City Council • By Chad Swiatecki • Jan 25, 2021
Central Health operating revenues, expenses down
Over the past fiscal year, Central Health’s operating revenues – consisting of lease revenues from the Central Health Downtown Campus and the Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas – have dropped by 10 percent. Meanwhile, its nonoperating…
Budget • By Ramon Rodriguez • Jan 25, 2021
EDC creators explain priorities for creative space, affordable housing
Some of the main architects of the city’s fledgling Economic Development Corporation assured members of the local real estate and development community Wednesday that the entity was not created to interfere with or compete for private sector business deals. That…
City Hall • By Chad Swiatecki • Jan 22, 2021
Audit shows problems with city pagers
According to a report issued by the Office of the City Auditor, the city is not effectively managing many of the 1,600-plus pagers issued to city employees. The result, auditors say, is unnecessary spending and the possibility that the lack…
City Hall • By Jo Clifton • Jan 19, 2021
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Austin Animal Center’s December report looks bright
The Animal Advisory Commission convened on Jan. 11 to discuss, among other things, the accomplishments of the Austin Animal Center at the end of 2020. One recent highlight was the implementation of a new chatbot designed to field questions residents may…
Austin • By Sean Saldaña • Jan 14, 2021
Lodging industry slows push for hotel tax to fund housing, aid for homeless
Leaders of the city’s lodging industry have slowed their push to create a new tax on hotel stays that would indirectly free up money to fund services for the homeless. The Tourism Commission received an update at its Monday meeting…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Jan 13, 2021
Groups ready to battle over strong mayor
The group Austinites for Progressive Reform, which wants to replace Austin’s council-manager form of government with a strong mayor form of governance, submitted 24,000 signatures to City Clerk Jannette Goodall on Monday in an effort to place four charter amendments on…
City Charter • By Jo Clifton • Jan 12, 2021
Postponement shows ZAP issues around receiving timely public comment
The Zoning and Platting Commission voted to postpone the only zoning discussion case of their first meeting of the year. The request was to grant Townhouse & Condominium Residence (SF-6) district zoning on 24.3 acres at 8201 Thaxton Road. But…
City Hall • By Daniel Salazar • Jan 12, 2021
Mayor Steve Adler: Reflections on a challenging year
At the start of 2020, Mayor Steve Adler was thinking about how to convince his colleagues to pass a new Land Development Code and how to convince the public to vote for a $7 billion mass transit bond proposal in…
City Council • By Jo Clifton • Jan 8, 2021
City Manager Spencer Cronk: Operating smoothly under extraordinary circumstances
As the person in charge of making sure things run smoothly at the city, City Manager Spencer Cronk has had a year that underscores his gratitude for the people he works with. Cronk attributes a lot of the city’s effectiveness…