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Whispers
Friday, November 15, 2019 by Tai Moses
Volunteer for the 2020 Point in Time Count
It’s time to start preparing for the Point In Time Count, an annual census of the homeless population in Austin and Travis County. The PIT Count is a project of the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, which aims to recruit 800 volunteers to fan out into the community on the early morning of Jan. 25 to try to count all those who slept outside the night before. The count is conducted in teams that are split up into designated geographic areas. In a press release, ECHO Executive Director Matthew Mollica calls the PIT Count “a crucial instrument for measuring our community’s progress towards federal benchmarks for ending and preventing homelessness.” This year, PIT Count volunteers will use an efficient new digital survey system. Volunteers will also distribute care packages that include snacks, toiletries, and warm socks and hats. Says PIT Count volunteer coordinator Axton Nichols, “Volunteers are vital to the success of the PIT Count, and it’s a great way for people to contribute towards the mission of ending homelessness in our community.” Volunteers can sign up to participate in the 2020 PIT Count at ECHO’s website, austinecho.org/PIT. Before participating, all volunteers must attend a mandatory training, either in person or online.
Thursday, November 14, 2019 by Tai Moses
Get smart about recycling contamination
This Friday, Nov. 15, is America Recycles Day, which makes it the perfect time for Austin Resource Recovery to raise awareness about a critical problem in the city’s residential recycling stream: contamination. Contamination in this case means something in the recycling stream that shouldn’t be there and that ruins everything it touches. Some of the most common contaminants are food, Styrofoam and wood, but the most troublesome ones by far are “tanglers” – items such as garden hoses, plastic bags, rope and anything bendable or stretchy. Tanglers pose a hazard to recycling facilities by becoming tangled in the gears of machinery, creating a danger for the employee who has to call a halt to the whole process and manually remove the tangled item from the gears. If you’re uncertain whether or not an item belongs in the trash or the recycling, go to AustinRecycles.com and scroll down to the handy tool, “What Do I Do With…?” All you have to do is type in the name of your item, and the tool will tell you (politely) what to do with it.
Thursday, November 14, 2019 by Tai Moses
APH urges public to get flu shots
Austin Public Health wants the public to know it’s not too late to get a flu vaccination, and with flu activity across Travis County increasing, getting a flu shot now could save you – and your family, friends and co-workers – a lot of misery. As Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott said in an announcement, “It is not just about you. It is about those around you who are at greater risk.” Uninsured adults and children who are uninsured or are Medicaid recipients can get flu shots at APH’s Shots for Tots/Big Shots clinic by appointment at (512) 972-5520. Those with health insurance can visit VaccineFinder.org to find locations near them. For updates on flu activity in Austin and Travis County as well as information about prevention, visit AustinTexas.gov/flu.
Thursday, November 14, 2019 by Jo Clifton
Council considers directive for Red Line Parkway
Council seems likely to approve an item on today’s agenda directing City Manager Spencer Cronk to explore what types of agreements the city might enter into to spur development of the long-sought Red Line Parkway Initiative. Council Member Leslie Pool is the lead sponsor of the item. The Red Line trail is envisioned as a 32-mile stretch of hiking and biking trails, with adjacent parks, stretching the length of Capital Metro’s Red Line from downtown to the northern city limits. The Red Line goes into East Austin and turns north to near Mueller, past Highland and Crestview neighborhoods to near the Domain and finally to Cedar Park and Leander. Tom Wald, executive director of the Red Line Parkway Initiative, told the Austin Monitor the new trails would go through parts of the city where there’s “not very good walking and biking connectivity,” including “at least two major areas where there are parkland deficits. This would ameliorate the problem.” He estimated the cost for the entire project – which is to be done in phases – would be $100 million to $200 million. Wald said the parkway project already has some funding from the 2016 bond election, including money for the segment from Braker Lane to the northern Walnut Creek Trail where it meets MoPac Expressway. In addition, there are other segments that have their own funding, including the trail near Plaza Saltillo, which would run from Interstate 35 to Comal Street. That portion is being funded by Endeavor. Supporters of the Red Line Parkway Initiative are planning a launch party Nov. 21 at the Palm Door on Sabine.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019 by Tai Moses
Traffic victims vigil urges statewide adoption of Vision Zero
A diverse movement of traffic safety advocates is urging elected officials across Texas to “take responsibility for their role in ending the epidemic of traffic violence,” according to a press release. Family members of accident victims, Austin Mayor Steve Adler, leaders of Vision Zero Texas, Central Texas Families for Safe Streets, and the Austin Pedestrian Advisory Council are among the organizers and attendees of a World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims vigil that aims to “publicly call for swift implementation of safety measures across Texas.” An average of 10 people lose their lives each day on the highways and streets of Texas while “another 50 suffer life-altering serious injuries. Activists and transportation safety professionals demand that every level of Texas government adopt Vision Zero” by the end of 2020. The vigil will be held Sunday, Nov. 17, at Wooldridge Square Park, 900 Guadalupe St., 5 -7 p.m.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019 by Tai Moses
Learn to testify at City Hall
The group A Functional Democracy is training newbie activists to learn how to speak out at City Council meetings. The goal of First-Time Testifiers Night is “to bring 150 Austinites, who have never testified at a City Council meeting before, to City Hall to make their voices heard.” No prior knowledge of local government or public speaking is necessary, just “a desire to make your community a better place to live.” In addition to democracy training, the event features music, food and drink, a photo booth, art and costumes. Those who want to participate should register on Eventbrite and/or sign up for text message service by texting localgov to 474747. Subscribers will receive “a series of educational videos leading up to the event, in order to help them prepare to write a well-informed testimony.” Find more information here. Wednesday, Dec. 11, 5:30-9 p.m., Austin City Hall, 301 W. Second St.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019 by Chad Swiatecki
Learn about TravCo bonds
Travis County will hold a forum to help local businesses learn about opportunities to perform work on projects included in a $185 million bond package approved by voters in 2017. The forum will take place at 4 p.m. on Dec. 4 at the Asian American Resource Center on Cameron Road. It will include presentations from county staff on the bidding process and best practices related to the projects that will improve roadways and drainage, and create better environments for pedestrians and bicyclists. Scheduled speakers include David Greear, the county’s assistant public works director; Luke Luper, a bonding consultant for the city of Austin; Hopeton Hay, director of underutilized business programs for the University of Texas System; and Jennifer Winkler and Randle Jackson, procurement specialists for the county. Attendees are encouraged to network to form possible partnerships and increase their opportunities for winning contracts.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019 by Jessi Devenyns
ZAP votes to honor Council decision from 1984 rather than modern code
When the city of Austin expanded U.S. Highway 183 to include a frontage road in the 1980s, businesses that fronted the highway and backed up to Jollyville Road were given the opportunity to relocate any of their improvements made in the areas that were sacrificed to the right-of-way condemnations to another portion of their property. In the case of Covert Ford at 11514 Research Boulevard Southbound Service Road, this was the on-site parking. Today, things have changed, and now the owners of the property are looking to convert the surface parking into a multi-level garage. However, the current site for parking is located on the backside of the property and is partially in a 120-foot-wide strip along Jollyville Road that is zoned Limited Office and not Commercial, as is required for a parking garage. This strip of Limited Office zoning was incorporated into the property as part of the Jollyville Road Study, which was adopted in 1984. In an effort to comply with the precedents set by Council over the years, city staff did not recommend rezoning the area to commercial. Alice Glasco, representing the applicant at the Nov. 5 Zoning and Platting Commission meeting, said that the property owners were willing to limit the use of the piece of property to Limited Office with the addition of three commercial uses: automotive sales, automotive repair and automotive washing. Sherri Sirwaitis with the Planning and Zoning Department told the Monitor that a parking garage fell under the automotive sales use. Although staff did not support commercial zoning, the commission did vote 8-1 to recommend the rezoning of the strip. Commissioner David King voted against the motion and Commissioner Jim Duncan was absent. “I really have just wondered what is served … by bringing up something that was done in November of 1978,” said Commissioner Bruce Evans. He said basing a recommendation on a study from 1984 is also not reflective of modern-day needs: “That is 40 years old; let’s get current with things.”
Tuesday, November 12, 2019 by Tai Moses
Cold temps trigger opening of emergency shelters
As temperatures dropped into the 30s overnight, the city opened cold weather shelters across Austin. The shelters are activated when temps fall below 35 degrees with rain or 32 degrees when the skies are dry. According to a post on the city’s Twitter feed, single adult men and women who need a warm roof over their heads can go to the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, while homeless families may shelter at the Salvation Army. For more information, call the 24/7 shelter hotline at (512) 305-4233.
Tuesday, November 12, 2019 by Chad Swiatecki
Troublesome alley gets cleaned up
Club owners in the Red River Cultural District are expressing reserved optimism at the progress made on cleaning up an alley between Seventh and Eighth streets that has long been a hotbed of criminal activity. At last week’s Music Commission meeting, Cody Cowan, executive director of the district, said the alley has been boarded off, cleaned and graded, and showed a marked improvement after years of being used for selling and using drugs, soliciting prostitution and as a repository for human waste. Cowan said a gate system will be installed to allow emergency response crews into the alley when needed, and that the district is looking for the budgetary resources to install murals on the building exteriors along the alley. “Right now it is probably the cleanest an alley has ever been in the history of Austin,” he said.
Tuesday, November 12, 2019 by Chad Swiatecki
Meet the Moody Center
The University of Texas’ new downtown basketball arena will have a familiar name when it is completed in 2022. Thanks to a $130 million donation from the Galveston-based Moody Foundation, the new sports arena and entertainment venue will be known as the Moody Center. The replacement for the 42-year-old Frank Erwin Center will be built on university-owned land located just south of the Mike A. Myers soccer stadium, with groundbreaking set for Dec. 3. The donation, along with a partnership from the California-based Oak View Group, will give the school a new $338 million state-of-the-art arena with capacity of up to 15,000 fans at no cost to the school. The university will have up to 60 dates per year to use for men’s and woman’s basketball games, with the rest of the calendar available for concerts and other touring events.
Friday, November 8, 2019 by Chad Swiatecki
Annual Disability Employment Awards today
The Mayor’s Committee for People With Disabilities will hold its Annual Disability Employment Awards today at City Hall. The event, which starts at 6 p.m., aims to promote the full employment of Austin residents with disabilities and will recognize businesses that have demonstrated positive employment practices in that community. Recipients include Convo Relay for providing video relay and other communication solutions for the deaf; Scan Mailboxes for committing to hiring people with disabilities at every opportunity; Dr. Beth Hamilton for her work advocating for the deaf and hearing impaired communities; Texas School for the Deaf CEO Claire Bugen for her work in the national Education of Deaf Students program; and Tracey and Steve Brown, promoting athletics and other inclusion activities for children with disabilities. The awards ceremony is free and open to the public.