Tag Archives: Austin City Council
Thursday, August 16, 2018 by Chad Swiatecki
Entertainment & Events
Stadium agreement approval clears the way for pro soccer in Austin
Wednesday’s 7-4 vote to have city staff finalize and execute an agreement that will result in the construction of a professional soccer stadium on the city’s McKalla Place property in North Austin broke along expected lines.The four City Council members…
Wednesday, August 15, 2018 by Chad Swiatecki
Entertainment & Events
Council vote on soccer stadium hinges on amendments – lots of them
After 10 months of discussion and roughly three months of often very public negotiations, the fate of Austin as the possible home of a professional sports franchise will come down to the fate of 28 amendments.Today’s special called City Council…
Tuesday, August 14, 2018 by Chad Swiatecki
Planning
Four city parcels ID’d for redevelopment focus in next budget
The Economic Development Department is recommending City Council spend the next budget year focusing on putting four pieces of city-owned property into higher use with mixtures of housing, commercial space, parklands and more.A recent memo detailed the department’s efforts since…
Monday, August 13, 2018 by Jack Craver
Bonds & Propositions
Council faces legal action over wording of two ballot initiatives
Supporters of two ballot initiatives are threatening legal action against the city of Austin over ballot language that they claim City Council crafted to mislead voters.Just after midnight on Friday, Council approved language for 11 separate propositions that voters will…
Monday, August 13, 2018 by Austin Monitor
Reporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Disagreement and understanding
I know you are but what am I?… On Saturday afternoon, Council Member Leslie Pool, the lead critic of the proposed soccer stadium deal, posted a message on Facebook taking aim at the arguments that Mayor Steve Adler and others…
Friday, August 10, 2018 by Chad Swiatecki
Entertainment & Events
Amendments push Council decision on soccer stadium into overtime
City Council’s expected decision on a soccer stadium deal at McKalla Place was delayed Thursday, with the 11 members agreeing to make a final vote by noon at a special meeting on Wednesday.The delay was caused in large part because…
Friday, August 10, 2018 by Jack Craver
Austin
Council boots big booting fees
City Council approved a measure Thursday to reduce the amount that drivers can be charged to have boots removed from their illegally parked cars.Council voted in favor of an ordinance that will bar booting companies from charging more than $50…
Friday, August 10, 2018 by Syeda Hasan
Land Development Code
Council votes unanimously to scrap CodeNEXT
City Council voted unanimously today to scrap CodeNEXT, the controversial overhaul of the city’s Land Development Code.In a resolution, Council said “due to a combination of significant disruptions to the process, CodeNEXT is no longer a suitable mechanism to achieve…
Thursday, August 9, 2018 by Jack Craver
City Hall
Council seeks to steer incentives from big business to local business
In Austin, the city’s practice of providing financial incentives for companies to relocate or move operations here has garnered plenty of criticism, ranging from outright opposition to the practice to concerns about whether the incentives are leading to jobs for…
Thursday, August 9, 2018 by Jo Clifton
City Hall
Council seeks review of insurance appeals
Last month, Chuck Lesniak retired from the city of Austin after 28 years, most recently as the city’s environmental officer. However, his involvement with the city is continuing as he urges City Council to establish a third-party appeals process that…
Wednesday, August 8, 2018 by Chad Swiatecki
Development
Council offers questions, praise and frustration amid McKalla presentations
Threaded between questions and comments Tuesday about alternative proposals to develop the city’s McKalla Place tract was frustration. Many members of City Council bemoaned the hurried decision-making process that has put the city, area developers and the owners of a…
Tuesday, August 7, 2018 by Jack Craver
Transit
For game-changing public transit, Austin needs the feds to chip in
Austin and the surrounding metro area needs a transportation game-changer, and it’s not going to come from more roads. And to build it, we’ll need some help from Washington, D.C.That was the message that officials from Capital Metro delivered to…
Tuesday, August 7, 2018 by Chad Swiatecki
City Council
McKalla proposals hold promise, with no promises from city
Tuesday is the day when those with hopes of turning the city’s property into something other than a 20,000-seat soccer stadium will get a chance to convince City Council members that everything from open space and performance stages to high-concept…
Monday, August 6, 2018 by Austin Monitor
Reporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Valuable lessons
In other soccer news… Precourt Sports Ventures and the other parties involved in their ongoing lawsuit in Ohio – Major League Soccer, the city of Columbus, and the state of Ohio – will have to file updates every two weeks…
Thursday, August 2, 2018 by Audrey McGlinchy
Land Development Code
‘Something has gone horribly wrong’: Adler calls for a reset on CodeNEXT process
Mayor Steve Adler wants the city to scrap CodeNEXT and start over.In a post to the City Council Message Board Wednesday, Adler asked that the city manager come up with a new process for updating the city’s 34-year-old Land Development…
Thursday, August 2, 2018 by Chad Swiatecki
City Council
Council seeks clarity – and more money – in soccer negotiations
Wednesday’s City Council meeting dedicated to the ongoing push that could bring Austin a professional soccer team frequently resembled a public bargaining session, with Council members pushing staff and hired legal counsel to extract more concessions and precise terms and…
Wednesday, August 1, 2018 by Chad Swiatecki
City Council
Expect talk on rent, rail station and ticking clocks at soccer hearing
With the term sheet for a proposed professional soccer stadium on city property in North Austin out for public debate since Friday, a special City Council meeting today on the possible agreement will give those on both sides a chance…
Monday, July 30, 2018 by Chad Swiatecki
Entertainment & Events
Term sheet lays out stadium deal for rent, possible rail station
The term sheet for a proposed professional soccer stadium on city land ups the financial outlay of the Major League Soccer team’s to the city, with the possibility of bringing a metro rail line to the property as an ongoing…
Monday, July 30, 2018 by Elizabeth Pagano
Parks
Reporter’s Notebook: Grave concerns
We only know how to bury ledes… A very strongly worded memo from the Parks and Recreation Department’s Acting Director Kimberly McNeeley warns that failure to extend a contract for interment and burial services in city cemeteries could have serious…
Thursday, July 26, 2018 by Chad Swiatecki
Entertainment & Events
IndyAustin targets stadium proposal, suggests petition for referendum
The local political action committee that helped to force an upcoming public vote on the implementation of CodeNEXT has set its sights on the city’s McKalla Place property and the push to build a professional soccer stadium there.IndyAustin is in…
