By now, everyone knows that “artboxes” are traffic signal cabinets that have been intentionally transformed into works of public art. The city is planning four new artbox installations this spring:

• West Stassney Lane and Menchaca Road (District 5)
• Spicewood Springs Road and Four Iron Drive (District 6)
• Convict Hill Road and Brush Country Road (District 8)
• Far West Boulevard and Wood Hollow Drive (District 10)

Four local artists – Cody Schibi, Christy Stallop, Anna Ganina, and Elizabeth Sullivan – were selected to design the artboxes. Each artist created two design options “that reflect input from nearby residents about the unique character of the local community,” according to an announcement from the Transportation Department. Now comes the fun part: You get to vote on your preferred design. If you live or work near one of the above project sites, visit AustinTexas.gov/artbox, click on the location and cast your vote. The deadline for voting is this Thursday, May 21.

Those who are interested in learning about Heritage Grant guidelines and requirements may register here to attend a Heritage Grant Virtual Information Session this Wednesday, May 20, 4-5 p.m. Heritage Grants are a way of promoting tourism through “the preservation, restoration and rehabilitation of historic buildings, sites or districts,” according to the city. You can read all about Heritage Grants and find out who is eligible for them here. Applications for the program will be accepted through July 10.

Austin Public Health has unveiled its new Covid-19 digital dashboard. The new site, which is available in mobile and desktop formats, has been redesigned and moved off of the city’s Covid-19 site. Case counts, deaths and hospitalization data will continue to be updated daily, and demographic data will be updated weekly. In addition, according to a news update from the city, the dashboard now includes:

• Demographic data of all confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths
• Breakdown of Covid-19 symptom onset in comparison to local policy implementations
• Number of confirmed cases and deaths reported each day since the first reported case (March 13) as well as the first symptom onset date (March 2)
• Updates to visuals representing the progression of cases and hospitalizations since the first reported case
• Further clarification and context on information provided on the dashboard.

Ranked choice voting, also called instant runoff voting, has been implemented in multiple cities around the U.S. and in many Texas universities. Now there’s a movement afoot to adopt this election reform at the state level. As the group Common Ground for Texans explains, ranked choice voting is considered to offer voters greater choice, cost less and improve voter turnout. RCV allows voters to specify their second and third choices on a ballot, instead of simply selecting one candidate. The candidate with the majority of first-choice votes wins. Then, “In the first round of tallying, if no candidate has a majority, the one in last place is eliminated and their votes transfer to their voters’ next specified choice. Tallying then continues in another round and the process repeats until there’s a winner.” CG4TX continues, “RCV reduces negativity in campaigns, because if a candidate can’t be your first choice, they may still want to be your second. It allows voters more freedom of choice by eliminating the need to vote tactically to avoid splitting the vote. And it saves money, because voters don’t have to return to polling stations for runoff elections.” In a Zoom meeting held Saturday, May 23, from 2-4 p.m., CG4TX board members Joanne Richards and Dan Eckam will explain how RCV works and discuss its history, current practices and how participants can help enact this reform in Texas via the new group Ranked Choice Voting for Texas. Zoom call-in details will be posted on Facebook before the meeting, and in a reminder email.

Just a reminder not to miss the Project Connect district meetings this week. In this series of virtual community meetings, which are being held district by district, City Council members and Capital Metro board members will explain how your part of Austin fits into the larger Project Connect transit plan. Visualizations of the Downtown Transit Tunnel will be on hand and participants will be able to offer feedback and ask questions using Zoom’s chat feature. Closed captioning will be available for the hearing-impaired. See the dates, times and Zoom registration links for all of the district meetings here. The Project Connect virtual open house, which has all the latest information about the transit system, is open now through May 31 – take a look.

When the National Weather Service updated its rainfall maps from 1994 to 2017, it redefined the flood maps for Central Texas. Before the study, there was a 1 percent chance of 10.2 inches of rain falling in 24 hours in Austin – this was the accepted definition of what people call a 100-year storm. The new maps show a 100-year storm will be closer to 13 inches of rain in some parts of Austin, which is more in line with the current 500-year storm definition. To recalibrate watershed maps for the city, Watershed Protection Department staffers are working on a three-year effort to update 90 percent of the floodplain maps in Travis County. “Without their efforts, we would be in the position of waiting years for FEMA to update the floodplain maps,” said Shawn Snyder, a floodplain project manager with Travis County. To assist in Austin’s remapping efforts, the Travis County Commissioners Court unanimously voted to write a letter of support for the city’s application to request funding from the state’s Flood Infrastructure Fund. Austin is also collaborating with Bastrop County and the city of Pflugerville to expand the continuity of the floodplain map updates for the Central Texas region.

Judge Jan Soifer has restored the injunction previously issued against the city and its Council members forbidding them from ignoring or violating protest rights of citizens who object to a change in zoning regulations at or near their properties. Fred Lewis, an attorney and one of the plaintiffs who sued the city and got the original injunction stopping Council from enacting a new Land Development Code, told the Austin Monitor that when the city appealed the judge’s decision, the injunction was automatically suspended. However, the plaintiffs filed a motion for reinstatement of the injunction and posted a $500 bond. A spokesman for the city said, “The City is familiar with the recent motion that the Plaintiffs filed. This procedural step applies only when a city or state seeks to appeal a trial court judgment. For this reason, the motion was unopposed and the court authorized Plaintiffs to post a bond. The appeal, which is based upon Judge Soifer’s original ruling, will continue.” The vote on enacting the new land use code was 7-4, with Council Member Leslie Pool on the losing end. Pool said Thursday, “The Council has taken no action that would put it in violation of the injunction.” Council Member Kathie Tovo, who was also one of four opponents of the new code, said she expected the Land Development Code team to return to Council with some proposed changes not related to zoning. The urbanist group AURA has suggested a number of changes it believes Council could still enact without violating the injunction, such as reducing minimum lot sizes, reducing required setbacks and allowing “granny flats” in more areas.

The city has announced the hiring of a new chief information security officer, Shirley Erp. As CISO, which falls under the direction of Assistant City Manager Rey Arellano, Erp will be “responsible for the citywide information security program that covers safeguarding the city’s information, data, and technology infrastructure, and for overseeing the information security governance committee. The CISO will also support cross-departmental issues and engage external stakeholders as it relates to the six Strategic Outcomes.” Arellano said in the announcement about the hire, “I’m very happy to have Shirley join our team. Her experience is a powerful asset to the work we do to protect our information security and risk management efforts.” Erp has more than 20 years of experience leading large organizations and a strong background in “building cybersecurity operations centers for real-time monitoring, threat response and breach prevention.” She added, “I am excited about moving the city of Austin information security program to the next level to further mature the system by collaborating citywide and engaging departmental participation to leverage resources, increase knowledge, and expand our incident response capabilities.” Erp’s new job starts June 1.

Austin Water Director Greg Meszaros introduced his new assistant director for engineering, Shay Ralls Roalson, to the Austin Water Oversight Committee at Wednesday’s meeting. Roalson told the committee she has 27 years of experience in the municipal water and wastewater business, including the past 10 years with HDR Engineering. Roalson has been with the city for just five weeks now, so all of her meetings have been online, but she told the committee she was delighted to join the city water utility. According to information provided by the city, Roalson “led an engineering group with 59 professional staff and had overall responsibility for strategic planning, business development, client management, staff development, and financial performance” at HDR. Prior to her work at HDR, she worked for AECOM and Camp Dresser & McKee.

With Bike Month underway in Austin and across the nation, and with bicycling considered a suitable social distancing-friendly transportation mode, Austin Energy is reminding customers of their opportunity to get money back on all kinds of electric purchases, including electric bikes, scooters, mopeds, Segways, and motorcycles, through its E-Ride rebate program. The utility offers rebates from $50-$300 depending on the cost of the electric two- or three-wheeled vehicle. Spending any amount up to $499 on an E-Ride qualifies customers for the base $50 electricity rebate while the full $300 is reserved for purchases of $2,000 or more. Residents must buy their bikes through one of 19 qualifying local bicycle or electric scooter shops in order to qualify, and applications with a receipt must be submitted to the utility’s website within 60 days of purchase. Once approved, checks are mailed to applicants within six to eight weeks. With many people homebound, the utility is promoting cycling for mental and physical health. “Whether you’re hitting the trails or just cruising around your neighborhood, biking is a great way to relieve stress and get some exercise,” the utility said via Twitter. Businesses and organizations also qualify for rebates of up to $400 per vehicle when purchasing at least five e-bikes under the condition of allowing the utility to provide Austin Energy branding for each bike.

A new chart published by Austin Public Health will help residents of Austin-Travis County understand their risk of contracting Covid-19 and determine how to stay safe. The color-coded chart illustrates five categories of risk, from the lowest level, Stage 1, to the most serious, Stage 5. The chart recommends the behaviors each category of risk should follow in order to stay healthy during the pandemic. For example, “higher-risk individuals are urged to avoid dining and shopping except with precautions, and avoid gatherings of more than 25 people, even at the lowest level, Stage 1. As the stages progress from 1 through 4, higher-risk individuals are advised to limit the size of their gatherings, and their dining and shopping, to a greater extent than lower-risk individuals.” According to APH, “While the new guidelines are primarily designed as a resource to help individuals modify their behavior to protect themselves and others against transmission of Covid-19, they will also be used to inform APH recommendations around when restrictions on gatherings, business operations and events should be loosened or tightened in the months ahead.” Dr. Mark Escott, interim Austin-Travis County health authority, said, “Our risk-based guidelines should help individuals make safe choices as we move to increase our social interactions. … If we do this correctly, we can open up and stay open while also staying safe.” View the full-size chart here and read more about the guidelines here.

Yesterday’s meeting of the Travis County Commissioners Court marked the last time County Judge Sarah Eckhardt will preside over the body and the conclusion of her two decades working for the county. Although Eckhardt resigned from her position in March, she stayed on as county judge during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, there has been some controversy over whether serving as a holdover judge allowed her to be legally eligible to run for the Texas Senate seat being vacated by Kirk Watson. One day before the final filing deadline to run for state Senate, Eckhardt officially stepped down amid tears and fond words from her colleagues. Former County Judge Sam Biscoe was sworn in on May 12 and will take over in her stead until a new county judge is elected in November. While Eckhardt campaigns for the Senate seat, she will simultaneously serve in a voluntary capacity as an adviser to the Commissioners Court on matters related to Covid-19 emergency management.