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- Parks Board recommends vendor for Zilker Café, while voicing concerns about lack of local presence
- Office slowdown sparks new downtown housing ambitions
- City leaders evaluate surprising ideas for water conservation
- Audit: Economic official granted arts, music funding against city code
- Downtown Historic Resource Survey eyes seven new districts eligible for designation
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Environment
Austin Parks Foundation gives an update on Zilker train restoration
The Austin Parks Foundation has laid out its plans to restore the beloved train formerly known as the Zilker Zephyr, which ceased operations last year. In January 2020, after more than two decades in operation, the owners of the Zephyr…
Parks • By Sean Saldaña • Feb 25, 2021
Austin Energy customers need not worry about skyrocketing bills
Austin Energy customers, like the customers of other utilities throughout the state, experienced power outages and water shortages caused by winter storm Uri. But unlike customers of other utilities, Austin Energy customers will not be facing a huge spike in…
Energy • By Jo Clifton • Feb 23, 2021
Just before the storms, Austin Energy gave Covid relief update
Before winter storm Uri wrought devastation and widespread power outages, Austin Energy was focused on the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and its accompanying economic damage. In April of last year, City Council approved measures collectively providing $46 million in utility bill…
Energy • By Ramon Rodriguez • Feb 23, 2021
City says water outages could last for days
Many Austinites remain completely without water Friday as tens of thousands of cold-related leaks riddle water mains and pipes, leaving the city in a water crisis that is set to last days. “We never imagined the day where hospitals wouldn’t…
Water • By Jonathan Lee • Feb 19, 2021
Frigid temps put strain on wildlife and pets alike
As an energy crisis triggered by unusually frigid weather persists throughout the state, even our wild neighbors have struggled to adjust, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department reports. Mortality events have been observed in several bird species, including various species of…
Environment • By Seth Smalley • Feb 19, 2021
Austin Water issues citywide boil-water notice, urges residents to conserve water
Austin Water has issued a citywide boil-water notice as a result of “extreme weather conditions.” In a statement Wednesday night, the utility said there had been power loss at the Ullrich Water Treatment Plant, its largest water-treatment facility, and drops…
Water • By Marisa Charpentier, KUT • Feb 18, 2021
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Power could get cut to circuits that include hospitals as a 'last resort,' Austin Energy warns
Austin Energy could decide to shut off electricity to circuits that include critical infrastructure – such as fire stations, hospitals and 911 operations – to prevent the state’s power grid from collapsing, the municipal utility warned Tuesday. “Only as an…
Energy • By Audrey McGlinchy, KUT • Feb 17, 2021
PARD gives update on cemetery improvement plans
Last September, around 15 gravestones were vandalized with blue paint at Evergreen Cemetery in East Austin, the city’s first municipal graveyard for Black residents when it was founded in 1926. Commenting on the event, Mayor Steve Adler tweeted that the…
Parks • By Sean Saldaña • Feb 17, 2021
Storm deals heavy blow to Austin Energy, other utilities
With roughly 40 percent of its customers without power Monday, Austin Energy and other local officials worked to explain what happened when an unprecedented winter storm swept through the entire state, leaving roughly 2 million Texans without electricity. The Electric…
Energy • By Jo Clifton • Feb 16, 2021
Parks department needs 600 lifeguards by May
In anticipation of the upcoming swim season, Parks and Recreation Department Director Kimberly McNeeley submitted a memorandum to City Council on Jan. 22 that contained an update on maintenance and staffing in the city’s aquatics department. The memo states that the…
Parks • By Sean Saldaña • Feb 10, 2021
Parks department considers ways to standardize its partnerships
The Parks and Recreation Department is continuing its work creating uniformity and standards in partnerships with nonprofit organizations that are expected to play a larger role in maintaining and improving parks facilities in the coming years. At last week’s Parks and…
Parks • By Chad Swiatecki • Feb 2, 2021
Parks board asks Council to update rules for naming facilities, features
The city will change its rules for naming parks and the amenities within them, in a move to increase equity and add more public input to the process commonly used to honor community leaders. The Parks and Recreation Board voted…
