Austin, Monitored: Discrimination, Harassment, Retaliation and UNO
Tuesday, May 20, 2025 by Austin Monitor
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Audit cites city failures to address discrimination, harassment
From Jo Clifton:
The city has made some progress in handling discrimination, harassment and retaliation complaints by city employees, but some investigations still fail to follow basic rules for conducting such inquiries, according to an audit conducted by the City Auditor’s Office. Members of the City Council Audit & Finance Committee heard about the audit, which followed up on an audit from 2017, during Monday’s committee meeting.
“In the most alarming example we reviewed, a city executive was accused of sexually harassing two subordinates. The complainant provided the names of both alleged victims, the executive, and the executive’s boss, who was allegedly aware of the situation. However, the investigator failed to interview any of the people named in the complaint,” according to the audit. “Instead, the investigator interviewed the department’s HR supervisor to ask if any complaints had been made against the respondent. When the HR supervisor said they did not know of any complaints, the investigator closed the investigation.”
From Miles Wall:
Planning commissioners and the public weighed in on planned changes to a West Campus zoning plan during a marathon public comment session on May 13.
“This isn’t a zoning decision, it’s a decision about who gets to live in the city and who gets pushed out,” said Mario Perez, who spoke in favor of the plan during the meeting. Perez, who identified himself as a “proud University of Texas student,” a resident of West Campus and an amateur beekeeper, offered an offbeat analogy.
“A hive only thrives when every bee has a place. You can’t build a colony without making room for new workers,” he said. “Austin is no different. Without space for new students, without policies that welcome new residents, the whole system starts to break down.”
A message from today’s sponsor, the Downtown Austin Alliance:
2025 Future of Downtown on May 27th
Welcome to the Future of Downtown, presented by the Downtown Austin Alliance. We’re bringing the best parts of downtown to ACL Live to celebrate our annual State of Downtown report and a keynote from our new CEO & President, Davon Barbour.
WHISPERS
How much would this tax election cost, anyway?
Recently, faced with a looming deficit of about $33 million, City Council has been edging closer and closer to a tax-rate election that would allow them to raise property taxes beyond what is allowed by a state cap (if voters approve.) But how much would it cost? Council is currently considering a one-cent hike that would raise $21 million or a two-cent hike that would (naturally) double that and bring in $42 million more for the city budget. According to the Chief Financial Officer for the city of Austin Ed Van Eenoo, the one-cent increase would have a $38 annual impact for a homestead-exempted home with an appraised value of $475,000. That’s something to keep in mind as Council continues to hammer out the process for calling a tax-rate election, which is on their agenda this Thursday.
Planning Commission postpones hearing on West MLK hotel
The Planning Commission voted 9-1 to postpone a hearing on a proposed development of a three-story, 168-room hotel at 305 West Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to May 27th, in response to a request from neighbors concerned about traffic and pedestrian safety to postpone the hearing to a later date of June 10. Ron Thrower, speaking as an agent on behalf of the developer, said he believed they were “tertiary” to the case and that neighbors’ issues would be best taken up with the city, but that the developer was open to a dialogue with the neighbors. Commissioner Joshua Hiller voted in opposition to the postponement. — Miles Wall
Bee for real
Today is World Bee Day, and local environmental activists will be marking the holiday with political action by urging the state to create a pollinator health task force. The task force would be created by the passage of SB 2850 to address declining pollinator populations and health in the state. (An analysis by the Senate Research Center noted that “Texas experienced an annual loss of 33.9 percent in honey bee population from April 2021 to April 2022.” According to a press release from Environment Texas, beekeepers and pollinator advocates will gather at the Texas Capitol Auditorium today at noon to educate the public and advocate for passage of the bill.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NEWS
It’s been a hot and hazy few days here in Austin, Texas. KXAN tells us what’s up with the lack of blue skies this May.
Texas Monthly takes us all into a new East Austin health club focused around the benefits of raw milk and Making America Healthy Again (whether we like it or not.)
And, the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command is moving out of Virginia and headed to Austin in a merge with the Army Futures Command in Austin that will consolidate operations.
Thanks for reading!
Liz
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