The 30-day public comment period for the city’s Fiscal Year 2021-22 Draft Action Plan started yesterday. According to a news release from the city, the plan “describes community needs, resources, and priorities for the City’s affordable housing, community development, homelessness services, public services, and economic development activities.” Public input on the community needs and service gaps “is instrumental in setting priorities” for federal funding. You can review the report and leave feedback on SpeakUp Austin until June 11.

The Parks and Recreation Department is asking community members to help with the hiring of two new recreation program managers. Successful candidates for the job “will be responsible for the development, implementation and monitoring of programming and providing oversight for work-groups in each of the two units within the Community Recreation Division,” according to PARD’s announcement. Meet the finalists and listen to a Q&A at a virtual event on Wednesday, May 12, at 6 p.m. Attendees “will be given the chance to score the finalists’ responses, and your scores will count towards a percentage of the overall hiring score of these finalists. A link with the interview questions and a score sheet will be provided on the evening of the event.” Register here.

The Central Texas Counties Vaccine Collaborative’s drive-thru clinic is moving to the Travis County Exposition Center, at 7311 Decker Lane. The relocated clinic will continue to operate as a drive-thru clinic for anyone who needs a Covid-19 vaccine. All those who are 16 and over qualify for their free first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. People who received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine four weeks ago at the old Circuit of the Americas location should get their second dose at the expo center. The clinic’s no-appointment-needed hours of operation are Friday, May 7, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (for first doses only) and Saturday, May 8, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (for first and second doses).

In an effort to get more students to stay enrolled, Austin ISD is laying the groundwork to make it easier for kids to get to school in the first place. The school district will be expanding school bus transportation in the fall for 24 elementary, middle and high school campuses, which will help those students who live within a two-mile radius of the select schools. As a news release explains, “Under current state funding requirements, the district does not receive funding to provide transportation services to students who live within the two-mile radius. AISD will invest its resources to add additional bus routes.” Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said, “We hope this expansion will create a path to re-enroll students. We are committed to investing in providing additional services for our students while they pursue an excellent education in Austin ISD.” The district will be contacting families who will benefit from the expanded bus routes with more details. Kris Hafezizadeh, executive director of transportation, said, “Expanding our bus routes will allow us to reach more students and provide a safe, reliable ride whether they are going to school or back home.”

Community members and neighborhood residents familiar with the North University-Heritage-Rosedale Neighborhood Bikeways project will soon be able to try out a new design, courtesy of the Austin Transportation Department. After conducting community engagement, staffers identified a “new preferred design” for West 31st Street/Shoal Creek Boulevard between West 34th Street and Lamar Boulevard. The new design includes a shared-use path integrated into the street, an off-street trail connection, advisory speed signs, and keeping the parking on the north side of the street. To test out the new elements, the project team is conducting a short-term pilot project using street markings, cones and signage. They’ll monitor the pilot to see how well it works and will “make adjustments as needed based on community feedback.”

Photo by Ryan Thornton

Did you know that May has historically been recognized as National Bike Month? Indeed, the monthlong celebration of everyone’s favorite two-wheeled, human-powered vehicle was established in 1956 in an effort to encourage more Americans to take up pedaling. This year, the Transportation Department will be hosting #BikeMonthATX on its social media platforms throughout May, “posting each day about biking tips, places to cycle, bicycle advocacy organizations, community conversations surrounding bicycling and more.” Austin is a notoriously bike-friendly city, as the city’s All Ages and Abilities Bicycle network can attest. So use this month to get in the saddle, explore some new-to-you urban trails and don’t forget to post some photos on your social media network of choice.

Austin has a new chief information officer. Chris Stewart will start in his new position, which oversees the Communications and Technology Management Department, on May 10. Stewart has worked for the city for more than 20 years, most recently as CIO of Austin Water. “I look forward to continuing my service to the city of Austin providing technology solutions that ensure the best possible customer service to our department stakeholders and residents,” Stewart said in a press release from the city. The release goes on to explain what the communications department does: “CTM manages three major programs: Communications and Technology Management; the Combined Transportation, Emergency and Communications Center (CTECC); and Wireless Communication Services. CTM’s customer base also includes other governmental entities that are members of the Greater Austin/Travis County Regional Radio System (GATRRS) as well as the partners of CTECC. The CTM Department is the principal IT department for the city of Austin and provides centralized IT services and business units across the municipal organization.”

The Travis County Children’s Protective Services Board is seeking to fill several vacancies. The board’s mission, according to the announcement from the county, “is to provide financial support for the special needs of children in the care of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, to educate the community about child abuse and neglect issues, and to support and provide a liaison between Travis County Child Protective Service workers and the public by increasing the community’s awareness of child welfare program policies and needs.” Candidates who have some leadership experience as well as knowledge and direct experience of the child welfare system and the CPS legal system will be given preference. The deadline for applications is Friday, May 14, at 5 p.m. Find more information and the application packet here.

Photo of golden-cheeked warbler by Bettina Arrigoni, made available through a Creative Commons 2.0 license.

The next Wild Neighbors webinar couldn’t be more timely, coming right in the midst of the spring bird migration season. In “Behind the Music: Rare Birds of the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve,” Travis County Natural Resources biologists Dave Morgan and Nancy Sandoval will offer a “behind-the-scenes look at the golden-cheeked warbler and black-capped vireo, two of the animals the BCP was created to protect. They’ll show you a day-in-the-life of a field biologist on the preserve, and all the work that goes into making the BCP a good home for these rare birds.” The presentation will be followed by a Q&A. Friday, May 14, noon-1 p.m. Register here.

Austin voters have resoundingly embraced moving the city’s mayoral elections to sync with presidential elections. Just over 66 percent of voters – 102,070, to be precise – endorsed the move, which is intended to increase turnout in mayoral elections. To enable the switch, Austin’s next mayor will be elected for a two-year term in November 2022, before getting on pace for the new cycle starting in November 2024. This also means that the mayoral election will join the cycle of City Council districts 2, 4, 6, 7 and 10. That leaves Council districts 1, 3 5, 8 and 9 paired with the Texas governor’s race. For comparison, the four most recent presidential elections (starting with the most recent and going back in time) saw turnout of 78.89 percent, 64.56 percent, 60.34 percent and 65.08 percent of registered voters, according to the Office of the City Clerk. The two mayoral elections held under the single-member district system saw turnout of 60.5 percent in 2018 and 40.4 percent in a 2014 race that had candidates from all of the Council districts.

Supporters of Proposition H, which was defeated Saturday 57.2 percent to 42.7 percent, want City Council to consider ordinance language that could implement the so-called Democracy Dollars system to fund campaign finance in city elections. Council action is one possibility for a reboot of the effort led by Austinites for Progressive Reform, which could also attempt to revise the proposal and put it back in front of voters as early as 2023. Democracy Dollars would have provided city-funded vouchers of $25 to registered voters to use in support of City Council and mayoral candidates in election years. In theory, that model would lessen the impact of high-dollar donors on local elections and increase the participation of the general electorate in supporting candidates for office. Proposition H as worded received some criticism from advocates for green card holders and the formerly incarcerated, who wouldn’t have received vouchers unless Council took steps to amend the implementation of the program. Still,  supporters think the conservative makeup of the early voting electorate had the most impact on the defeat because of the alignment of those voters in favor of the successful Proposition B. “Democracy Dollars won the votes on election day, and it is a worthy idea that addresses some of the more pressing problems in our electoral system here,” said Jim Wick, campaign manager for Austinites for Progressive Reform. “It is an idea that deserves additional consideration. That could be from City Council in the form of an ordinance or pilot program. For the cost, the benefits are a great bargain.”

If a unifying issue still exists in this polarized age, it might be support for firefighters. More voters got behind Proposition A, which amends the City Charter to allow the local firefighters union to initiate a binding arbitration in negotiations with the city, than any other ballot measure this election cycle. According to preliminary results, 81 percent (124,215 people) voted in favor with just 19 percent (29,089 people) against. Ever since voters approved collective bargaining for firefighters in 2004, wage and benefits negotiations with the city have proven unsuccessful, with discussion between the two sides often reaching an impasse. The only agreement, a modest wage increase, the union still deemed unfair. Though the union called for binding arbitration during these talks, the city always rebuffed the demand. With the passage of Prop A, firefighters can force the city to sit down with an arbitrator, meaning no one leaves the table until an agreement has been reached.