Tag Archives: Top Stories
Thursday, February 1, 2018 by Joseph Caterine
Land Development Code
City demographer smashes assumptions about growth at CodeNEXT meeting
For the past year, the land use commissions have been reviewing the drafts of CodeNEXT, and the discussions have primarily revolved around how to accommodate the incredible population growth the city has experienced for the past few decades. About two…
Wednesday, January 31, 2018 by Jo Clifton
City Council
New negotiations for police, EMS contracts
Several City Council members, particularly Jimmy Flannigan and Alison Alter, sharply criticized city staff during Tuesday’s work session discussion of the Austin Police Association contract, with Flannigan and Alter claiming staff failed to communicate as the contract was being crafted.…
Tuesday, January 30, 2018 by Jo Clifton
City Council
Resolution: Wall builders need not apply
Led by Council Member Delia Garza, five Council members are sponsoring a resolution directing the city manager to study the potential impacts on Austin of construction of President Donald Trump’s threatened wall between the United States and Mexico. According to…
Monday, January 29, 2018 by Chad Swiatecki
Austin
Soccer proponents abandon Butler Park, turn to alternate stadium sites
Owners of a Major League Soccer team hoping to move their club to Austin have turned their ambitions for a new stadium away from a controversial waterfront site. On Friday, Dave Greeley, president of Precourt Sports Ventures, issued a statement…
Monday, January 29, 2018 by Caleb Pritchard
Transit
CTRMA board finalists talk up transit during Travis County interviews
The Travis County Commissioners Court will decide on Tuesday which two of six candidates it will appoint to the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority’s board of directors. The court interviewed the applicants during a special session on Thursday. Of the…
Friday, January 26, 2018 by Joseph Caterine
Zoning
Neighborhood fights for holistic infrastructure improvements on east side rezoning
Less than a week after the Planning Commission held a CodeNEXT discussion on the predicament of upzoning in areas with insufficient infrastructure, it had the opportunity to weigh in on a real-life example. At their Jan. 23 meeting, commissioners voted…
Wednesday, January 24, 2018 by Jo Clifton
City Hall
Audit: Lax oversight in city savings program
City employees overseeing a program to help low-income residents pay for school, buy a home or start a business failed to provide the oversight necessary to prevent waste of city and federal dollars, according to a draft audit from the…
Wednesday, January 24, 2018 by Joseph Caterine
AISD
School district fiscal forecast bleak
Although it did not come as a shock, the precarious position of the Austin Independent School District’s financial future dampened the mood at the end of the board of trustees’ Jan. 22 meeting. The ever-increasing amount of recapture the district…
Wednesday, January 24, 2018 by Audrey McGlinchy
City Hall
Here’s what the new city manager’s salary and benefits could look like
When incoming City Manager Spencer Cronk moves to Austin next month, he’ll have some help. City Council members are scheduled to vote next week on a compensation package for Cronk, who comes to Austin from Minneapolis and starts on Feb.…
Tuesday, January 23, 2018 by Chad Swiatecki
City Council
City parkland could vanish from soccer stadium consideration
A resolution is in the works that would remove two city parkland sites from consideration as possible locations for a proposed soccer stadium. Council Member Ann Kitchen is sponsoring the resolution, out of concern about and growing opposition to Butler…
Tuesday, January 23, 2018 by Jack Craver
Land Development Code
In Hyde Park, urbanists say they’re the ones defending neighborhood character
In Austin’s ongoing battle over development, it’s generally the traditional neighborhood associations that talk about defending “neighborhood character” and developers and urbanist activists who argue that a growing city needs to accept change, whether that is taller buildings or reduced…
Friday, January 19, 2018 by Caleb Pritchard
Fire
AFD aims to weigh in on developments sooner rather than later
The Austin Fire Department could soon start reviewing individual development plans much earlier in the process than it currently does. Fire Marshal Rob Vires told the Public Safety Commission at its Jan. 8 special called meeting about ongoing discussions to…
Friday, January 19, 2018 by Jo Clifton
City Hall
Audit: City employees violated lottery rules
An assistant director of the city’s Human Resources Department helped to conduct a raffle last summer at an event sponsored by a large non-city organization. City employees participated in that raffle in violation of city HR policies, according to a…
Wednesday, January 17, 2018 by Elizabeth Pagano
Preservation
Proposed demolitions rattle Old West Austin
At the most recent meeting of the Historic Landmark Commission, neighbors showed up in force to protest the prospect of demolishing a swath of homes in the heart of Old West Austin. The five demolitions are all part of a…
Tuesday, January 16, 2018 by Jack Craver
Elections
Crowded field of candidates emerges to challenge Troxclair in Southwest Austin
In addition to Mayor Steve Adler, five City Council members are up for re-election this November. In three of those races – District 9, District 5 and District 3 – nobody has yet declared their intention of running against the…
Friday, January 12, 2018 by Caleb Pritchard
City Hall
Parks department mired in drama over cultural center access program
The Mexican American Cultural Center Advisory Board voted Wednesday night to ask for the indefinite suspension of a new program that would keep the city’s various cultural arts centers open in the late-night hours. The move came after three performance…
Wednesday, January 10, 2018 by Jack Craver
Roads
Austin’s new ‘speed cushions’ spark outcry
Susanne Paul worries that Jester Estates, the affluent Northwest Austin neighborhood where she’s lived for nearly 20 years, may be broken beyond repair. What was once an “extremely friendly” community is now fraught with political divisions that many of her…
Tuesday, January 9, 2018 by Audrey McGlinchy
Elections
Former Council Member Laura Morrison to run against Adler for mayor
Austin Mayor Steve Adler has his first official challenger in the race for mayor in November. Former City Council Member Laura Morrison announced in an email Monday that she will run against Adler for the city’s top elected position. “I’m…
Tuesday, January 9, 2018 by Caleb Pritchard
Transit
Capital Metro CEO finalists face the public
The auditions are over and now it’s time for the judges to determine who gets to be Austin’s next top transit executive. The final four candidates in the running for the open president/CEO job at the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority…
Monday, January 8, 2018 by Elizabeth Pagano
Preservation
Landmark commission pushes for full preservation of Rosewood Courts
This year, a plan to preserve and redevelop Rosewood Courts will be making its way through City Hall. After more than two years of work, advocates for the plan hope that they have struck a compromise between modernizing the property…
