Michelle Myles will be Austin’s Office of Violence Prevention program manager. In the brand-new position, Myles will take the lead on policy and community safety strategies in the city. “I’m very excited to continue my work with Austin Public Health leading the Office of Violence Prevention,” Myles said in a statement to the press. “Throughout my career, I have been passionate about working to heal and prevent trauma, violence and abuse. The prevalence of violence, like other societal ills, exists in part due to a historical lack of investment in certain segments of our population; as a result, addressing violence through an equity and public health lens is integral to developing meaningful solutions that improve the lives of individuals and our community.” Myles has previously worked for Austin Public Health, Downtown Austin Community Court and Foundation Communities. The city’s Task Force on Gun Violence paved the way with its recommendation to create the new office, which will be part of Austin Public Health and is part the ongoing effort to “reimagine public safety” by distributing issues once solely under the purview of the Police Department across city departments. “We look forward to incorporating Austin Public Health into our overall plan to address gun violence within our community,” interim Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon said. “The health and safety of our residents and officers are our priority.”

Among the many things approved at Austin City Council’s last meeting prior to their summer break, Council members voted to allocate $1.5 million to Del Valle schools from the $143.6 million from the American Rescue Plan. The money will pay for dual-language full-day pre-K for students in the underserved area. Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, who supports universal pre-K and is a former Head Start student herself, praised the move to fund the program in Del Valle, which has the highest density of economically disadvantaged students in the county. “While I will always fight for AISD funding for District 2 students, there is a dire need to level the playing field for DVISD. … Returning to the pre-pandemic status quo will continue to leave Del Valle children and families behind,” said Fuentes in a statement to the press. “Research shows dual-language students outperform their same-age peers by the time they reach middle school. Because of the funding from the American Rescue Plan, more children in Del Valle will be able to share in that success.”  A press release from Fuentes’ office notes that the city has allocated more than $23 million to AISD social service programs from 2008 to 2019. Over that same period of time, Del Valle ISD has received $113,000.

The bartender says, “How did you do that?” In the next installment of the Wild Neighbors Speaker Series, Travis LaDuc, curator of herpetology at the Biodiversity Center at UT Austin, will be discussing an important and often misunderstood animal – the snake. LaDuc will talk about the natural history of Central Texas snakes and identity some of the most common species you’re likely to see in the region. He’ll explain why snakes are such a critical part of the ecosystem and why, most of the time, humans have nothing to fear from these shy, solitary animals. Thursday, June 17, noon-1 p.m. Register for the webinar here.

Former Austin City Council Member Ellen Troxclair has announced she’ll be running for Texas Senate District 24. The seat will be open as current state Sen. Dawn Buckingham (R-Lakeway) has declared that she’ll be running for land commissioner. “With the Biden Administration doing everything it can to force its radical leftist agenda through executive orders and acts of Congress, Texas needs proven, conservative fighters to hold the line at the state level,” Troxclair said in a statement to the press, announcing her candidacy. Troxclair previously served Council’s District 8 as a rare conservative voice on the dais. Since her departure, she has written a book, served as a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and director of Strategic Partnerships for Army Futures Command, and continued to manage a real estate business, among other things.

Ellen Troxclair is a board member of the Capital of Texas Media Foundation, the parent nonprofit of the Austin Monitor.

Kurt Lockhart, who works for the nonprofit Raise Your Hand Texas and serves as a volunteer Travis County deputy voter registrar, has announced his candidacy for Travis County Clerk. In a press release, Lockhart said he plans to run in the March 1, 2022, Democratic primary. He said he wants to “use the office to resist voter suppression efforts and build the model for voter accessibility, awareness and education for the state of Texas and the nation.” Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir, who has served in her position since 1987, was last reelected in November 2018. She had no Republican opponent and bested the Libertarian candidate with 87 percent of the vote. The Austin Monitor asked Lockhart’s campaign manager, Brennan Lee, whether his candidate, a political novice, was running because he thought DeBeauvoir might not run next year. Lee said they were unaware of DeBeauvoir’s plans. In addition to increasing poll workers’ salaries, Lockhart advocates putting the job of voter registration into the clerk’s office. Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector and Voter Registrar Bruce Elfant has worked hard over the years to increase registration and said he would not support moving voter registration out of his office. “For the 2020 election we had a 97 percent registration rate of eligible citizens. Last year, Travis County had 5,000-6,000 deputy voter registrars,” he noted, adding that his office is currently working on a video to teach people how to sign up new voters. DeBeauvoir could not be reached for comment.

The city is seeking volunteers for its Eating Apart Together initiative, which assembles and delivers meal bags for people experiencing homelessness in Austin. The goal is “to make 4,000 bags of food over two days, to last our distributors through the end of the month.” The effort needs volunteers who can pack bags from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, June 10, and Friday, June 11. The work is divided into two shifts a day (9 a.m.-noon and 1-4 p.m.) and volunteers may sign up for one or both shifts. Find more details or register for this volunteer opportunity here.

Bartaholics, rejoice! The parks department’s aquatics team has completed its cleanup of Barton Springs Pool after the flooding of last week and the popular pool will reopen this Friday. Deep Eddy Pool, which had expanded its hours while Barton Springs was closed, will return to its regular modified hours on Saturday. And thanks to some newly hired and trained lifeguards, Barton Springs is able to expand its available reservations for the month of June. Barton Springs Pool is open daily from 5-8 a.m. for free swimming at your own risk (translation: no lifeguards). On Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, the pool is open from 8 a.m.-10 p.m. with lifeguards present. Reservations will be required until the end of June.

What could be more back-to-normal than a fireworks display? The H-E-B Austin Symphony July 4th Concert and Fireworks display is “planned, produced and performed” entirely by the symphony, with some help from its sponsors. This free event features special guest speakers, a musical performance of “symphonic patriotic classics,” a variety of vendors selling food, drinks, crafts and memorabilia, and “mile-high” fireworks. Vic Mathias Shores by Long Center for the Performing Arts, Sunday, July 4, 8 p.m. More details here.

It’s not too late to get your two cents in about the city’s budget process. The budget truly does affect everyone who lives in and pays taxes in Austin. If you have opinions about things like where you live and work, how you play and shop and how you get from place to place, you’ll want to be involved. Watch this short video about the budget process and then take the survey and let city leaders know your priorities.

Several road safety-related projects in the Austin area have been selected to be the beneficiaries of the Texas Department of Transportation’s 2020 Highway Safety Improvement Program. The funded projects include new signal installations and safety lightings on segments of roadway that have been identified as “high-injury” by the Austin Transportation Department. The planned improvements “can reduce up to 25 injuries per year,” according to a news release from ATD, which added that recent work to improve the department’s crash data “enabled quick identification of specific locations where local projects would rank and compete best for local streets funding through this program.” Assistant City Manager Gina Fiandaca said in the release, “The city of Austin is proud to partner with TxDOT for these vital safety improvements. We have a community goal to reach zero deaths and serious injuries on our roadways despite being one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation.”

A special called Austin City Council meeting will look at issues related to homelessness at 2 p.m. today. The meeting was pitched as a way to continue Council’s discussion on plans to allocate American Rescue Plan funds toward the issue, and on Thursday, Council members also decided it would be a good opportunity to talk about sanctioned encampments in the city. A preliminary list of 45 potential campsites released in May was met with criticism from Council and public, and city staffers have asked for more time and a clearer set of guidelines from Council. In terms of the ARP money, while Council has indicated its hope that a large portion of the $143.6 million could be used to help fund permanent supportive housing, those numbers are not yet nailed down, and how the funding interacts with other resources remains “extremely confusing,” as Council Member Alison Alter noted at Thursday’s meeting.

Safer bike routes are coming soon to the Cherrywood neighborhood. Austin Transportation is set to start construction this month on the Cherrywood Neighborhood Bikeways, the latest project from the 2016 mobility bond. The routes are planned for parts of East 34th Street, Cherrywood Road, Schieffer Avenue, and Wilshire Boulevard, with construction scheduled in three phases between now and 2024. Phase one includes immediate improvements like paint and flex posts, with concrete pedestrian islands and pinch points for cars coming in later phases. Much of the improvements are intended to slow traffic down so most people can feel comfortable riding their bikes in the middle of the street.