Project Catalyst raised some eyebrows recently when the developers announced that they would need to cut a right of way through 11,000 square feet of Guerrero Park. After speaking on the matter before several commissions, Malcolm Yeatts decided to dig deeper into the rights of way through the parkland to find that the portion of green space Project Catalyst is appropriating for a roadway is not a unique case. Supported by engineering drawings from the 1980s and ’90s, Yeatts told the Parks and Recreation Board at its April 23 meeting, “It shows clearly that the Lakeshore Boulevard row extends east into Guerrero Park, crosses Country Club Creek and intersects with a north extension of Crossing Place Boulevard.” And it doesn’t stop there. “This drawing also shows a future spur of Lakeshore Boulevard connecting to Grove Boulevard by the ACC Campus.” In fact, a 1997 row amendment showed that, “There are more street row extensions of the other roads in Guerrero Park.” The implication of having these rights of way strewn through the park is that as the city grows and traffic congestion worsens, developers have the opportunity to open up arteries through the park to alleviate some of that traffic. To avoid this fate, Yeatts implored the board to recommend to Council that the city vacate all the street rows through Guerrero Park east of Wickersham Lane in exchange for granting the additional easement required by Project Catalyst.

Confused about your property taxes? Who wouldn’t be? Natasha Harper-Madison and Pio Renteria are here to offer you some help. The two Council members will be moderating a town hall-style panel on property taxes featuring Travis County Tax Assessor Bruce Elfant and Travis County Chief Appraiser Marya Crigler. The four will do their best to answer all of your questions about property tax exemptions, how to protest your taxes, the appraisal process, keeping property in the family, payment options, and more. Admission is free and refreshments will be served. The event is this Saturday, May 4, from 1-3 p.m., at the Conley-Guerrero Senior Activity Center, 808 Nile St.

In an effort to help local music venues be more earth-friendly, produce less waste and help Austin reach its zero-waste goal, the city’s Music & Entertainment Division and Austin Resource Recovery have partnered up for a live panel discussion on venue sustainability on Tuesday, April 30, 1:30-2 p.m. Natalie Betts, the city’s circular economy program manager, will moderate a panel featuring Edgar Farrera of Circuit of the Americas and Daniel Kietzer of the United States Business Council for Sustainable Development. Participants can tune in to ask questions via Facebook Live at Facebook.com/ATXMusicOffice or ATXN.tv.

A new option for how to preserve and pay for Lions Municipal Golf Course emerged last week from the desk of state Sen. Kirk Watson of Austin. Senate Bill 2553, which was filed on April 23, would make a taxing district out of much of West Austin, with the goal of keeping the historically registered golf course in its current state. For years the University of Texas, which owns the land that the 141-acre course sits on, has sought options for using the property for a mixed-use development. That goal has clashed with the wishes of longtime fans of the course, which is operated by the city under a lease agreement with the university. The fate of Watson’s legislation is uncertain, but the city and UT recently agreed to extend the lease for another year to May 25, 2020.

April 22 marked the changing of the guard at the Historic Landmark Commission. Although Emily Hibbs, Matt Jacob and Terri Myers were absent, officer elections took place per the requirements set forth in the commission’s bylaws. Both Myers and Emily Reed were nominated for the position of chair in a unanimous vote. Commissioner Reed took the seat and now presides over the body, and Commissioner Beth Valenzuela was voted into the position of vice chair without any contest or contention.

Reilly Elementary School students who ride their bikes to and from school will now be safeguarded by a new, two-way, protected bikeway on the south side of Denson Drive from Lamar Boulevard to Airport Boulevard. Other recent street and safety improvements near the school include a new pedestrian island at Chesterfield Avenue; a sidewalk on portions of Denson Drive and Guadalupe Street; and a new pocket park called Reilly Mustang Button Park. To celebrate the improvements, Austin Transportation, Public Works and Parks and Recreation are hosting a ribbon cutting on Tuesday, April 30, 10 a.m., at the southwest corner of Reilly Elementary, 405 Denson Drive.

City Council passed a package of five resolutions Thursday to move forward with enhanced forensic analysis of DNA evidence gathered by the Austin Police Department. The resolutions, which passed under consent, continue or expand contracts with Houston Forensic Science Center, the University of North Texas Health Science Center, Bode Cellmark Forensics, and Signature Science LLC, with all four contracts totaling just over $9 million. Council also approved a budget amendment to APD’s special revenue fund for a new full-time position, funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, to work on enhanced analysis of DNA evidence in sexual assault cases. The contracts and the increased capacity they will provide are expected to greatly increase the department’s ability to analyze DNA evidence. In 2016, the city’s DNA lab was shut down due to concerns over how evidence was being used and handled.

Capital Metro has finally made it to Wheatsville Food Co-op. To celebrate the arrival of the 801 and 803 MetroRapid lines to a bus stop on 31st and Guadalupe streets, Council Member Kathie Tovo and Cap Metro President and CEO Randy Clarke came to clip a ribbon and commemorate the new transportation option for Austinites looking to support local independent businesses. “Any program that helps employees and consumers reach their destination in a cost-effective, timely way is good progress,” said Rebecca Melancon, president of the Austin Independent Business Alliance. “Local businesses face a shortage of both due to transportation and affordability concerns. Expansion of transportation options definitely helps.” MetroRapid is a branch of Austin’s public transportation where buses run every 10 minutes on weekdays and every 15 minutes on weekends. To help encourage riders to show up and celebrate, GoodPop handed out free ice pops to attendees, which made celebrating in the Texas springtime sunshine a much more bearable experience. The ice pops brought out kids and adults alike who populated the front porch to share tables and a Thursday night dinner.

Hurricane season is right around the corner (it officially begins June 1) and the state of Texas wants you to be prepared. The clever geniuses in the state comptroller’s office know that the best way to encourage Texans to be prepared is to give them a reason to shop, so the state is issuing a sales tax holiday this weekend on all emergency supplies. Consumers will not be charged sales tax on any items that fall within the category of emergency preparation supplies. No, that doesn’t include s’mores! But you can get batteries, portable generators, emergency ladders, hatchets, ice chests, fire extinguishers, first aid kits, flashlights and a bunch of other stuff that will see you safely through a hurricane. The sales tax holiday begins Saturday, April 27, at 12:01 a.m. and ends midnight on Monday, April 29. You’ll find more details and a list of items that qualify for the tax holiday (and those that don’t) here.

The Pease Park Conservancy wants to know what you think – specifically, about Pease Park. Preparing to launch its interpretive master planning process, the conservancy is holding an evening devoted to Pease Park’s past, present and future in the hopes of eliciting community feedback to find out what Austinites think of the 84-acre park. Conservancy staff, with the help of Erin McClelland Museum Services, will be on hand to discuss the master plan and describe exactly what interpretive planning is. Then attendees will break into small groups to brainstorm and drill deeper into the park’s many stories. Participate in the discussion Thursday, May 9, 6:30-8:30 p.m., at Lamar Senior Activity Center Multipurpose Room, 2874 Shoal Crest Ave. Find more details here.

Following Austin’s lead, the city of Dallas now has a paid sick leave ordinance that will fall under immediate threat by the Texas state Legislature. Dallas City Council approved the ordinance, which requires one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours of work, in a 10-4 vote on Wednesday, April 24. Businesses with fewer than 15 workers will have a cap of six paid sick days per year. Workers Defense Action Fund praised the legislation. “Dallas City Council has done the right thing and voted to provide paid sick time to working families so that no one in Dallas has to choose between taking a pay cut or losing a job, and staying home to care for themselves or a sick child,” said the group’s executive director, Jose Garza. Austin approved a similar ordinance in February 2018, but implementation is on hold by the courts, and both cities’ ordinances could be quashed by a handful of bills currently under consideration in the state Legislature. Both ordinances are also opposed by the Alliance for Securing and Strengthening the Economy in Texas, a pro-business group that released a statement Wednesday, saying, “Today’s action by the city of Dallas is proof that local employment ordinances are the biggest threat to Texas jobs and future prosperity for our state. Even as the Legislature is considering common-sense bills to streamline employment regulations, local bureaucrats are launching a power grab to force burdensome regulations on the job creators that fuel their communities.”

Word came through yesterday that former interim assistant city manager and soon-to-be former Parks and Recreation Department director Sara Hensley is officially moving on to become an assistant city manager of Denton, Texas. She starts her new position May 13. Hensley announced her move at Tuesday’s Parks and Recreation Board meeting, saying, “I have enjoyed the last 12 years of my career here in Austin and it’s a bittersweet pill for me to swallow … but when you feel like you are ready to do something a little different and take on a new challenge, there’s nothing more exciting.” She also took time to praise improvements in the department. “When I first came to Austin, no one wanted to work for the Parks and Recreation Department. Now we have other staff in other departments dying to come over and work with us,” she said, offering to help if needed while expressing confidence in the crew she was leaving behind. “There will not be a skipped beat.”