Leslie Pool faced something of a quandary nearly two years ago, when she considered running for the office of tax assessor-collector for Travis County. Knowing that her time as a City Council member would expire in 2024, she saw the county post as an opportunity to further extend her role in public and an opportunity […]
Leslie Pool
Austin City Council member for District 7
Posted inCity Council
Reflections and celebrations with outgoing City Council members
The city honored outgoing City Council members Mackenzie Kelly, Leslie Pool and Alison Alter with a special event in advance of their final Council meeting this Thursday. City staff, former Council members, local elected officials, plus family and friends gathered in Council chambers on Tuesday after the work session to celebrate and share remarks. Kelly, […]
Posted inWater
Leslie Pool takes question of water extension requests off Council agenda
City Council Member Leslie Pool notified her colleagues that she has withdrawn her request that the group consider a controversial item related to the extension of water and wastewater service in the city’s Drinking Water Protection Zone and outside the city’s jurisdiction. A service extension request is required when a property owner or developer wants […]
Posted inCity Council
Mayor expresses opposition to amphitheater, parking garages in Zilker Park Vision Plan
Mayor Kirk Watson on Tuesday expressed strong opinions about the Zilker Park Vision Plan, particularly areas of the plan that have already caused controversy. Watson wrote in his “Watson Wire” email that he was opposed to putting a proposed 5,000-seat amphitheater on the Great Lawn, which would replace the aging Hillside Theater. The mayor wrote, […]
Posted inCity Council
Leslie Pool is ready to take on more duties in 2023
December was a busy month in the busy year of 2022 for District 7 City Council Member Leslie Pool. As chair of the Council Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee, her most important duty was shepherding through the utility’s rate change, which will bring Austin Energy much-needed revenue but was not popular with some advocates for […]
Posted inCity Council
Pool’s 2022 priorities include district-level plans, increased EV use
With City Council set on implementing building code changes by individual plans and priorities, Council Member Leslie Pool said in 2022 every member of Council will get their own “time to shine” with the chance to push the changes important to their districts. Of course, each of those initiatives will need to have broad support […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Field trips and missteps
Why extend the deadline when you can eliminate it?… During a budget work session on Wednesday morning, Council Member Ora Houston asked whether the deadline for submitting items to the budget concept menu was Tuesday night or Wednesday night. Don’t worry, she was assured, she still had until midnight to submit items. What followed was […]
Posted inCity Hall
Ethics Review Commission weighs campaign finance proposal
Members of the city’s Ethics Review Commission are considering a number of potential changes to Austin’s campaign finance rules in the wake of a federal court ruling that blocked enforcement of certain restrictions on candidate fundraising. In a ruling last year prompted by a lawsuit by former City Council Member Don Zimmerman, U.S. District Judge […]
Posted inCity Council
Pool looks at a good past year in the “last bastion”
City Council Member Leslie Pool is happy with her sophomore year. “We did some important, amazing stuff,” said Pool. “It’s really been a good two years.” Pool, who easily retained her District 7 seat this past November – winning nearly 72 percent of the vote – has lots of praise for the past year. She […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s notebook: Old endings, new beginnings
Love actually… Bob Gedert, who has served as director of Austin’s Resource Recovery Department since 2010, is retiring for love. Following his final appearance before City Council on Thursday, Gedert was standing outside Council chambers when the Austin Monitor caught up with him. He said he was moving to Cincinnati and would become a consultant […]
Posted inRoads
Speed limits going down on parts of Lamar and Parmer
The Texas Department of Transportation is moving to reduce speed limits on sections of two busy roadways in Austin. At least one City Council member, however, is hoping the city can go further than what the state agency put forward in an effort to reduce driving speeds and traffic accidents. The state agency is recommending […]
Posted inDevelopment
Council wants to move forward with Grove PUD
Mayor Steve Adler hopes to start the process of approving the Grove at Shoal Creek, a controversial planned unit development in Central Austin, at City Council’s next meeting on Thursday. At a Council work session on Tuesday, Adler explained to Council colleagues that he supports approving a draft plan of the PUD on “first reading” […]