The elves – OK, Transportation Department staffers – are hard at work imagining a better design for Austin’s downtown street network, called the Austin Core Transportation, or the ACT Plan. In order to do this, they need your help, or at least your input. This community survey explores community members’ opinions and preferences when it comes to mobility options downtown. The ACT Plan is important because it intersects with several big downtown projects, including Project Connect, I-35 Capital Express Central and the Palm District Planning Initiative. The survey will remain open until Sept. 30.

The lines at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport continue to astound travel industry watchers and travelers alike. According to the airport’s latest numbers, just released yesterday, “passenger traffic growth for June 2022 was up 44.88 percent compared to June 2021 with 1,985,801 passengers flying during the month.” Not too shabby. You can examine the data – and the exact number of emplanements – for yourself here.

City budget season is getting underway, with all its attendant meetings, big and small. Community members are invited to make their voices heard at the Fiscal Year 2023 Proposed #ATXBudget Community Input meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 2. Speaker registration is open now until Monday at noon. Take a peek at the proposed budget; learn more about the nuts and bolts of the process; then, if you’re game, register to speak at the meeting.

The Watershed Protection Department is in the process of updating its strategic plan. To kick-start the process, the department has launched a survey to gather input from the community. The Rain to River Community Vision Survey seeks to take the community’s temperature about Austin’s creeks, lakes, and other natural spaces. Watershed wants to know how much Austinites value these places and what impacts their enjoyment of them. Information gathered from the survey will help the department “develop goals and explore the community’s vision for how to embed equity and climate change at the core of Watershed Protection’s work.” Take the survey.

Erica Nix’s mayoral campaign is starting to come together, with a new website, a commercial and a platform centered on saving creative spaces, amplifying weirdo voices and introducing shade to the city’s many bus stops that are currently a sacrifice to the sky. Nix, who is a performance artist and body-positive activist among other things, has also launched a campaign slogan: “She needs a job!” Watch her campaign video below:

Central Health is inviting partners, stakeholders and community members to attend a conversation on Central Health’s Fiscal Year 2023 budget priorities “and learn how we are building a comprehensive healthcare system to improve the health of Travis County residents with low income,” according to the announcement. 

• Thursday, Aug. 4, 6:30-8 p.m., Turner Roberts Recreation Center, 7201 Colony Loop Drive. Dinner will be provided. RSVP here.
• Tuesday, Aug. 9, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Southeast Health & Wellness Center, 2901 Montopolis Drive. Lunch will be provided. RSVP here.
• Thursday, Aug. 18, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Central Health Headquarters, 1111 E Cesar Chavez St. Lunch will be provided.  RSVP here. (This event will also be streamed on Facebook Live.)

They say bad news comes in threes. So on the heels of Covid-19 and monkeypox, it should come as no surprise that a positive mosquito pool for West Nile virus has been discovered in the 78721 ZIP code. While no humans have yet tested positive for the mosquito-borne illness, Austin Public Health says the positive pool indicates that “the virus is in our community.” West Nile is generally transmitted via the bite of an infected mosquito; hence the importance of eliminating pools of standing or stagnant water where mosquitoes can breed. Marcel Elizondo, interim assistant director for Environmental Health Services, said in a press release, “The monitoring of mosquito pools is key to keeping the public informed and safe, especially when many people are spending time outside. By removing standing water and using prevention tools we keep ourselves, our families and communities safe.” Find out how to protect yourself from West Nile here.

Anyone who wants to attend and/or speak out about the city budget will have a variety of opportunities in the near future. Districts 3, 5 and 9 are holding such discussions this Saturday. District 8 is holding a budget town hall on Monday. Both are accessible online. District 1 is holding its meeting next Wednesday, Aug. 3, at the Asian American Resource Center at 8401 Cameron Road and also online. District 10’s budget town hall will be Aug. 4 at the Jewish Community Center, 7300 Hart Lane, and online. District 7 will host a budget meeting at the Northwest Recreation Center at 2913 Northland Drive on Aug. 6. District 6’s meeting will be online on Aug. 8. Find exact times and virtual meeting links here. District 2 Council Member Vanessa Fuentes has already hosted her budget meeting.

Discussions at the Planning Commission often stretch late into the evening and even, on occasion, past midnight. So it was remarkable when Chair Todd Shaw adjourned Tuesday’s meeting after barely half an hour. “This is kind of a historic moment,” Shaw said. “We don’t have any discussion cases.” The meeting was the shortest in (this journalist’s) recent memory. Even without zoning cases to discuss, there was still business to conduct. Several zoning and site plan items passed on consent, most notably a rezoning to Vertical Mixed-Use (VMU) for a 1.7-acre site at 830 and 838 Airport Blvd. and 917 and 923 Shady Lane where multifamily housing is planned. The commission also previewed upcoming meetings. In two weeks, commissioners will (again) tackle the question of how commercial projects should help pay for parks. In the meantime, a working group will meet to allow more discussion and stakeholder feedback. (Speaking of working groups, two recently established housing working groups are now fully populated and raring to make housing easier to build by proposing changes to the Land Development Code.) And on Aug. 30, the commission will meet jointly with the Zoning and Platting Commission to hear presentations from city staffers on notification requirements for rezonings, traffic analyses as part of zoning cases, and anti-displacement work happening through Project Connect. 

Former Mayor Lee Leffingwell reports that he is doing well following surgery for an aortic aneurysm. He described the condition as a weak spot in the aorta, the body’s largest artery. Leffingwell, who currently lives in Driftwood, said he is doing well and looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. Because of the surgery, he is not yet able to drive. Leffingwell, who served as Austin’s mayor from 2009 to 2014, said he was supporting former Mayor Kirk Watson in his race to return to the mayor’s chair.

Due to an upcoming system upgrade being managed by the Communications & Technology Management Department, the Austin Build + Connect portal will be temporarily unavailable. The portal will be offline from 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 28, to 8 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 1. CTM explains that the upgrade is needed “to ensure the long-term continuity of services for Austin residents and developers.” CTM asks customers who need the services of the portal to complete their work by 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 28, or wait until after the portal comes back online on Aug. 1. The system upgrade “is a technical, back-end upgrade that will improve overall functionality of the system” and will not cause any change in the customer experience.

As Council took its noon break from the public work session Tuesday, Mayor Steve Adler announced he would be wearing a mask for the afternoon session in response to a memo from acting City Manager Anne Morgan, who is covering the duties while Spencer Cronk is on parental leave with a new baby. Morgan wrote to warn city employees that the risk of Covid-19 is on the rise. Although Travis County is still at the “medium” level, surrounding areas are in a “high” level of danger. She encouraged all city employees to take the necessary steps to keep themselves, their co-workers and loved ones healthy. While urging everyone to stay up-to-date on their Covid vaccinations, her memo emphasized that wearing a mask indoors is important to stay safe. She said, “Much like how we prepare for rain by grabbing umbrellas and putting on raincoats, we need to prepare for this rise in Covid by putting on our masks. Wearing a mask is like putting on your raincoat.” According to the city website, as of Tuesday, 287,606 people in Travis County had tested positive for the virus. Currently, 191 area residents are hospitalized with the virus. One month ago, 97 Austinites were hospitalized with Covid, while on May 27, that number was just 28.