A new interactive community engagement series from Downtown Austin Alliance, conducted in partnership with KAZI 88.7 FM, is focused on creating “a community vision for the I-35 project through downtown Austin.” Called Our Future 35, the series of conversations with local leaders, national experts and artists is intended “to help build a coalition to advance community values and priorities for I-35 alongside TxDOT’s formal schematic design process that will launch this fall. While the two efforts are completely separate, coordination between the Downtown Alliance and TxDOT is taking place.” Dewitt Peart, president and chief executive officer of the Downtown Alliance, said in a news release announcing the project, “This series is a crucial step in helping our community heal and reverse damage from highways and policies that have long divided our city and deepened inequality. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to come together as a city and community to transform I-35 into a valuable regional asset for generations to come, and this community input will be integral to the project’s success.” The next installment of the series, “Facing the Past to Co-Create Our Future,” is on Aug. 22, from 4-6 p.m. on KAZI 88.7 FM. Find more details on the series and the schedule for upcoming installments at OurFuture35.org.

If you’ve never tried your hand at sewing and you have a growing pile of garments needing mending, Austin Resource Recovery has a virtual workshop designed just for you. This latest installment of the Fix-It at Home series, held today from 4-5 p.m., is aimed at teaching basic sewing and mending skills, “even if you only have a mending kit from a hotel.” According to ARR, “These techniques will equip you with skills for your own mending endeavors, so you can repair that tear in your favorite shirt or replace a missing button. No machine required!” The class is taught by Kat Davis, “a former theatrical costumer who has sewn, altered and repaired clothing for over 15 years.” The workshop is hosted on WebEx. Register for the class and find out what materials you’ll need to have on hand on Eventbrite.

After wrestling a bit with state requirements, City Council will now hold an in-person public hearing on Wednesday, Aug. 12, at the Palmer Events Center, though Council members themselves will be participating remotely. Public testimony can be given remotely over the telephone, or in person. For those who opt to show up to the meeting, face coverings and temperature checks will be mandatory. Speaker registration opens today at 5 p.m. or when the agenda is posted, whichever comes last, and will be open through Monday, Aug. 10. If public testimony warrants it or Council has not reached a decision by the end of the 12th, the meeting may be continued on Aug. 14. Speaker registration and the agenda can be found here, and more information about the meeting and its requirements can be found here.

The Economic Development Department will be reopening the Austin Music Disaster Relief Fund on Monday in an effort to reach more local musicians facing financial hardships due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The $1.5 million fund provides $1,000 grants to musicians to cover emergency needs. Sylnovia Holt-Rabb, acting director of the EDD, said in a news release announcing the reopening, “We have revised eligibility to ensure that grant guidelines accommodate more of our local musicians. The reopening of the Austin Music Disaster Relief Fund will ensure that these recovery dollars serve immediate needs like rent and groceries for those musicians struggling since the pandemic hit Austin.” The application link will be live on Monday, Aug. 10, and will start accepting submissions through the MusiCares Foundation at 10 a.m. on a first-come, first-served basis. According to the EDD, “To be eligible for the program, applicants must reside in a City Council district and be able to document their participation as a professional Austin musician.” Financial statements are no longer required and questions about income have been simplified. Find more information about eligibility requirements here.

Big Bend National Park reopens for public use today, in a limited capacity. All paved roads in the park are now open with the exception of the roads leading to Rio Grande Village, Castolon and the Santa Elena Canyon areas. Trails off the paved roads are also available for day use. The kiosks at Panther Junction and Chisos Basin Visitor Center are staffed and the Panther Junction store and gas station are open. All campgrounds and campsites within the park remain closed. Also closed are Chisos Basin Lodge & Restaurant, areas for river use, backcountry trails, the Boquillas Crossing Port of Entry, and all unpaved roads except the road to Dug Out Wells. Hotels, camping and RV sites are available in the nearby communities of Study Butte, Terlingua, Lajitas and Marathon. Brewster County, where Big Bend is located, is observing a mandatory mask order in public, along with a restriction on group size to five people or the size of your household, whichever is greater. On Aug. 6, Brewster County had less than 10 active Covid-19 cases.

Mayor Pro Tem Delia Garza and Council Member Ann Kitchen are partnering with the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, constables George Morales and Stacy Suits, and a roster of community sponsors to distribute free personal protective equipment to the Latino community in South Austin, in areas that are experiencing some of the highest Covid-19 positivity rates in the city. Families in need may pick up free face masks and hand sanitizer along with basic school supplies, and sponsor H-E-B may include a “little surprise giveaway” in the bags. Those living in ZIP code 78744 may pick up items at Mendez Middle School, 5106 Village Square Drive. Those in ZIP codes 78745/48 may come to Akins Early College High School, 10701 S. First St. Volunteers will be at the sites as long as supplies last on Saturday, Aug. 8, 9-11 a.m. Find more details about the event on Facebook.

A separate track will allow for the separation of cyclists and pedestrians.

Construction on Boggy Creek Trail is expected to begin the week of Aug. 17 and could take up to three months to complete, according to the Austin Transportation Department, which is partnering on the project with Public Works and PARD. The trail’s current concrete path will become a dual-track trail running between Rosewood Avenue and East 12th Street, allowing for cyclists to take one track and pedestrians the other. During construction, trail users will need to take a series of detours. See a map of the project here.

As reported by KUT, the Austin Independent School District board will vote Thursday to delay the start of the school year from Aug. 18 to Sept. 8 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and threat to public health. In addition, the district is asking the Texas Education Agency for permission to extend remote learning for an additional four weeks. AISD trustees are scheduled to vote on the delay Thursday at 9 p.m.

In a symbiotic bit of grant funding, the makers of Claritin have awarded $47,000 toward the preservation of the historic Auction Oaks at Republic Square. The money comes from the Clarity Parks Project and the Project for Public Spaces. The grant was announced by the Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation, which maintains and operates the square. “The Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation is honored and grateful to Claritin, Clarity Parks Project and the Project for Public Spaces for granting us the funds and providing assistance as we intentionally design the area around the Auction Oaks to protect and enhance these 584-year-old trees,” Molly Alexander, executive director of the Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation, said. “Republic Square is considered the birthplace of Austin and also became the center of Austin’s Mexican and Tejano communities. The preservation and enhancement of this treasured public space is paramount.” The Lafitte Greenway in New Orleans, Louisiana, and H.A. Chapman Centennial Green in Tulsa, Oklahoma, were also chosen to be part of the Clarity Parks Project by the Project for Public Spaces.

The Trail Foundation and Austin Parks and Recreation Department are partnering on a project to replace and improve the exercise equipment just off the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail, near PARD headquarters on West Riverside Drive. According to TTF, the project will include the following:

• Exercise equipment offering a well-rounded variety of workouts
• Visual guides showing exercises for each piece of equipment
• Natural hardscape materials
• New native plants and shade trees
• Engineered wood fiber surfacing
• Concrete ribbon curb to separate the trail from the fitness zone
• Limestone block seat wall
• New drinking fountain, bike racks, trash and recycling receptacles

The project team is asking the public to weigh in with feedback and opinions in two community engagement sessions. The first session is ongoing throughout August, ending on Sept. 1., with a survey available in English and Spanish online. The second community engagement session “will include an online video meeting in the fall, where a summary of community input and the selected equipment design will be presented.” The project is scheduled to be completed in 2022. Check out the site photos and more details about the project online.

With the heat of summer comes conservation stage watering restrictions. That means Austin Water is restricting watering gardens and lawns to two days a week at assigned times. Any waste of water is prohibited during this time, and water hogs may be fined up to $500. Type in your address to find your assigned watering days here. There are some exemptions to the water restrictions; the following preferred methods are allowed on any day of the week:

• Watering with drip irrigation, a hand-held hose or a refillable container
• Watering trees with a Treegator, soaker hose or automatic tree bubbler
• Watering vegetable gardens with a soaker hose
• Pressure washing sidewalk/driveway/deck/patio/paved areas/home siding/fence

Last year, according to Austin Water, Austinites “achieved their lowest water use rate ever at 120 gallons per person per day.” This year the water utility hopes to break that record. Read the utility’s FAQ about conservation stage watering restrictions.

After coming back from summer recess in July, the Public Safety Commission began its August meeting with no chair and a new face on the dais. Former commission Chair Meghan Hollis resigned due to a new position she took working for the state Legislature. “I was so honored to serve as chair of this body,” she said in a statement read by Rebecca Webber. To replace Hollis, the commission unanimously voted to have Rebecca Gonzales step into the role of commission chair beginning at the September meeting. In addition to a new chair, the commission also welcomed Rocky Lane to its ranks. Lane comes from a background as a paramedic in Austin and is the current board chair for the Transgender Education Network of Texas, where he told commissioners he has gained experience working and negotiating with the city.