Tag Archives: Austin City Council
Monday, August 21, 2017 by Elizabeth Pagano
City Council
Memo identifies preliminary locations for temporary homeless shelters
As part of a recent push to help Austin’s homeless, the city has been looking into using city-owned buildings to help ease overcrowding in downtown shelters. Last week, the Parks and Recreation Department provided a list of recreation centers that…
Monday, August 21, 2017 by Elizabeth Pagano
Budget
City Budget: Austin weighs in
For the past month or so, City Council has been working through the details of this year’s proposed budget. At their most recent meeting, Council members heard from Austinites in a 2 1/2-hour public hearing that focused on the shape…
Monday, August 21, 2017 by Austin Monitor
Reporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Lessons learned
A parking pittance… Members of City Council listening to a lengthy presentation on the Development Services Department budget Wednesday didn’t suggest any major changes to the way the department is running or spending its money. But a number of Council…
Friday, August 18, 2017 by Jack Craver
Energy
Council approves ambitious renewable energy goals
City Council overwhelmingly approved a plan Thursday that sets big goals for Austin Energy, the municipally owned electric utility, to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels over the next decade.The update to the Austin Energy Resource, Generation and Climate Protection…
Friday, August 18, 2017 by Lisa Dreher
City Council
Taxes from unregistered short-term rentals sit unused
Millions of dollars in tax revenue from unregistered short-term rental properties sits unused because the city cannot collect it, according to Visitor Impact Task Force Chair James Russell.In 2016, City Council passed an ordinance to phase out Type 2 short-term…
Friday, August 18, 2017 by Caleb Pritchard
Courts
Council opts to sue the state over housing discrimination beef
After months of the Texas Legislature seemingly taking shot after shot at the city of Austin, City Council is swinging back.On Thursday, Council gave the go-ahead to Interim City Manager Elaine Hart to sue the state over a 2015 law…
Thursday, August 17, 2017 by Jack Craver
City Council
Council to tackle two displacement resolutions today
While Mayor Steve Adler is touting a new task force on gentrification as a fresh opportunity to come up with ideas to address economic displacement, some of his City Council colleagues stress that it will only be a worthwhile effort…
Thursday, August 17, 2017 by Jack Craver
City Hall
City employees likely to see raise in 2018
Good news for city employees: City staff wants to give them a raise, and some members of City Council are interested in pushing for an even bigger pay hike.On Wednesday, the city’s human resources director told Council members that she…
Wednesday, August 16, 2017 by Lisa Dreher
City Council
Initiative to rename Robert E. Lee Road moves forward
Cities across the country, including Austin, are swiftly making strong statements following the recent clash in Charlottesville over removing a Confederate statue, which ended in a woman’s death and a response from President Donald Trump some deemed lukewarm.Council Member Ann…
Tuesday, August 15, 2017 by Audrey McGlinchy
City Council
A Council member wants to officially rename Robert E. Lee Road. What would it take to do it?
Following a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville over the weekend, Austin City Council Member Greg Casar is calling for the renaming of Robert E. Lee Road in South Austin and Jeff Davis Avenue in North Austin.Over the weekend, someone…
Monday, August 14, 2017 by Austin Monitor
Reporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Fine by APL
We’re thunderstruck… Into the apparent state Democratic vacuum for next year’s governor’s race steps Austin musician – and owner of an absolutely superb and bitchin’ beard – Thor Harris. The news came last week via Twitter when Harris, holding a…
Friday, August 11, 2017 by Jack Craver
Energy
Environmentalists swarm City Hall in push for carbon-free electricity
In what was clearly the largest turnout for a City Council meeting yet this year, hundreds of activists showed up at City Hall Thursday night to speak out on Austin Energy’s proposed update to its resource plan.Following a rally in…
Friday, August 11, 2017 by Jo Clifton
Zoning
Surprise vote ends liquor store zoning case
With Mayor Steve Adler and Council Member Pio Renteria out of town, leaving just nine City Council members to vote at its meeting yesterday, the owner of the property at the intersection of Hymeadow Drive and U.S. Hwy 183 lost…
Thursday, August 10, 2017 by Jo Clifton
Budget
Council moves toward tax swap with AISD
In an effort to help the Austin Independent School District lower its tax rate and send fewer dollars to the state under the so-called Robin Hood plan, City Council voted 6-4 Wednesday to begin consideration of raising the city’s property…
Wednesday, August 9, 2017 by Jack Craver
Parks
Unhappy with pools plan, Council members push for a new task force
Unsatisfied with an Aquatic Master Plan that they say endangers many of Austin’s most beloved pools, some City Council members are pushing for a new pools task force to explore ways the city could raise more money to preserve its…
Wednesday, August 9, 2017 by Syeda Hasan
Austin
Council considers using city-owned buildings to ease overcrowding at homeless shelters
City Council is looking at using city-owned buildings as temporary homeless shelters.The idea comes from Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo, who says overcrowding at downtown shelters has led to harsh conditions for people experiencing homelessness.Speaking at City Hall on Tuesday,…
Monday, August 7, 2017 by Austin Monitor
Reporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Cool for cats?
It is in Austin!… During a discussion of the Aquatic Master Plan during a City Council work session last Tuesday, Council Member Delia Garza highlighted the dearth of public pools in her southeastern district, which includes parts of Del Valle.…
Friday, August 4, 2017 by Jack Craver
Housing
Council struggles against displacement and segregation
“I believe that part of our role as a community and as a government is to provide protections against immoral market forces,” said Council Member Greg Casar, describing his efforts to increase affordable housing and fight economic segregation.If Casar sees…
Thursday, August 3, 2017 by Jo Clifton
Budget
Adler bashes Texas over ‘state property tax’
During Wednesday’s budget presentation to City Council, Mayor Steve Adler spoke passionately about the state’s system for funding public schools, calling the current system a “state property tax.”It is not city taxes that are out of line, Adler said. If…
