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Austin Energy considers scams, rising home values in changes to assistance programs

The city-owned electric utility Austin Energy has been a national leader over the past 30 years in helping customers lower their electric bills through energy efficiency programs. In addition to helping customers of all income levels cut costs by reducing…

Parks board OKs Givens Park Master Plan

After months of preparation and committee reviews, the Givens District Park Master Plan arrived before the Parks and Recreation Board on Jan. 22 as a consent item, only to be pulled due to members of the public who attended the…

A new vision for Brush Square Park

City officials believe that Brush Square Park, home of the O. Henry Museum, the Susanna Dickinson Museum and Austin Fire Station 1, has the potential to be a downtown gem. As it stands, however, it is an inefficiently used piece…

Environmental Commission debates 30 years of history to approve project

At the Environmental Commission, the third time was not the charm to recommend a change to the land plan of the Senna Hills Municipal Utility District. The proposed change would repurpose 11.73 acres of irrigation land with two developable acres…

Austin Energy tries to encourage Austinites to buy electric cars

Last week, the city of Austin was awarded a coveted $2.5 million grant from a foundation funded by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to pursue a number of environmental initiatives focused on energy efficiency and green transportation. While the…

Scientists discover three new species of salamander in Central Texas

A team of biologists announced this week they’d found three new species of rare salamanders in Central Texas. The discovery of any new species is big news in science, but in Texas – where the fate of salamanders and people…

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Austin Water report shows big impact of boil order was conservation

Austin Water delivered an “after action” report to City Council yesterday on the weeklong boil-water order enacted during severe flooding in October. The presentation shed more light on what happened to bring about the emergency and what the city might…

Austin Energy’s new chief operations officer ‘proud’ of first-year results

At Austin Energy, successful operations begin with safety. With a growing city and a growing need for electric services, Austin Energy has begun to internally push its “Safety Starts With Me” campaign in an effort to reduce the number of…

Even with new funding, parks board says city has a long way to go to repair pools

The year 1996 was the gold standard for Austin’s city Aquatics Division, according to Richard DePalma, a member of the Parks and Recreation Board. Since then, “We’ve just continued to shrink.” At the Dec. 4 meeting of the board, DePalma…

City cemeteries will soon see the light with new bond funding and event space

The city of Austin has operated cemeteries since 1839; however, it was only in 2013 that the Parks and Recreation Department assumed responsibility for cemetery operations, at which point the department made a few changes. Despite funding challenges allowing for…

Austin Energy finishes the year with $50.5M in excess revenue, lower bills for customers

After weathering an erratic Electric Reliability Council of Texas market this summer, Austin Energy finished the year in a financially stable position with extra revenue that will be passed on to the public in the coming year. According to Mark…

Austin Energy discusses how to resolve repercussions of water bill fiasco

It has been over a year since the water bill saga first made headlines in Austin. However, only now are city utilities releasing a post-mortem report designed to help them avoid a similar situation in the future. While the report…

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