A small grassy field just off Sixth Street would provide easier access to the Shoal Creek Trail and preserve a historically significant piece of downtown, but City Council members delayed action on the $1.1 million purchase to address concerns that the money might be spent better elsewhere. City Council opted to postpone a vote Oct. […]
Environment
Posted inEnvironment
Some air pollutants increased in Austin during the pandemic. The big question is why?
As Covid-19 spread across the globe in the spring, people noticed a strange side effect of the pandemic: The air was getting cleaner. Stay-at-home orders, along with the economic crash caused by the outbreak, meant less industrial and transportation-related pollution. But not necessarily in Austin. A review of Austin air quality by the Capital Area […]
Posted inParks
Hancock Conservancy pushes for park
As the city looks for alternatives to maintaining the Hancock Golf Course, which sits on Red River Street between East 38th and East 41st streets, a newly formed group is urging the city to turn the nine-hole course into a public park. The Hancock Conservancy is joining a dispute about whether the property, which has […]
Posted inEnvironment
Watershed Protection Department seeks to fill gaps in city regulation for creekside health
The Watershed Protection Department recently discovered two pieces of regulation missing from Austin’s land use code that could aid and restore the health of the city’s many creeks. Ana Gonzalez, a senior environmental scientist with the department, presented the issue at the Oct. 7 meeting of the Environmental Commission. She explained that the banks of a […]
Posted inParks
PARD contends with homeless encampments during pandemic with limited resources
With nearly 300 parks and 17,409 acres of property to oversee, Wes Bickham, an environmental coordinator with the Parks and Recreation Department, has a lot of ground to cover in his work finding alternative solutions for people experiencing homelessness who are camping on city park grounds. Couple this vast expanse of city greenery with the […]
Posted inParks
Parks board pushes against long-term reservation program for parks
Every year when the weather warms up, the city’s parks and greenbelts fill up. This year, that trend has been amplified by the pandemic as Austinites flock to city parks, causing some of the most popular outdoor spaces to hit capacity, close their gates and begin monitoring the numbers of visitors. This May, in an […]
Posted inEnergy
Combating climate change in Austin to start at Austin Energy
As the Office of Sustainability’s newly revised Climate Equity Plan makes its way through boards and commissions for public comment, its latest stop was the Electric Utility Commission on Sept. 14. Zach Baumer, who is the program manager for the plan, told commissioners that while there are plenty of ways Austinites can help the city […]
Posted inEnvironment
Commissioners identify reliance on electric vehicles as weakness in revised Climate Equity Plan
Transportation is the main driver of local air pollution and is on its way to becoming the single greatest source of greenhouse gases in Austin. Though the city and Capital Area Metropolitan Transportation Authority are taking steps to electrify their fleets, the city’s revised draft Climate Equity Plan has identified the roughly 600,000 fossil-fuel-burning private […]
Posted inEnvironment
The Office of Sustainability releases draft Climate Equity Plan
The Sustainability Office released its new revised Climate Equity Plan for public comment Wednesday, with hopes to submit the plan to City Council in October. The 97-page document, which is available through the city’s engagement portal, outlines the Sustainability Office’s plans to decrease the city’s impact on the climate. The original plan, which was called […]
Posted inParks
Municipal golf courses to phase out BYOB policy, negotiating concession vendor contracts
The Parks and Recreation Department announced it will be eliminating its bring-your-own-beer policy for municipally run golf courses, starting Oct. 1. PARD’s Golf ATX Division quietly updated its website and Twitter on Aug. 21 with a public notice informing golfers that municipal courses will slowly transition away from the BYOB policy in favor of offering […]
Posted inParks
Council won’t vote on Walter E. Long Park plan now
Despite the fact that the vision plan for the nearly 3,700-acre Walter E. Long Park has been in the works for years and has won approval from both the Parks and Recreation Board and the Environmental Commission, a majority of City Council members expressed reluctance to move forward on the plan at Tuesday’s work session. […]
Posted inWater
City could store three Lake Austins’ worth of water underground by 2040
Austin gets all of its water from the Highland Lakes, but that might not always be the case. The city recently took a first step toward storing massive amounts of water underground. If the plan works, it could help Austin survive as the climate crisis threatens traditional water supplies. With this technique, called aquifer storage […]