The city is deep into developing the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, which calls for limiting parking, encouraging alternative forms of transportation and reducing the number of Austinites driving solo in their vehicles from 74 percent to 50 percent by 2039. So commissioners at the April 8 meeting of the Planning Commission were hyper-aware of the consequences of constructing a two-story parking garage smack dab along the southern shore of Lady Bird Lake. The Dougherty Arts Center redevelopment plan features a two-story, 200-space parking structure that slightly exceeds the parking requirements for the 80,000-square-foot space. While the Parks and Rec Board already noted its disapproval of the gargantuan structure and its pollution potential, the Planning Commission expressed other reasons for not liking the idea. “It’s just interesting that there was a stadium proposed here that wasn’t going to have parking,” said Commissioner Greg Anderson. “I hate to see this thing celebrating this central spot with a parking structure,” noted Chair James Shieh. Although Kevin Johnson, the project manager for the DAC redesign, assured commissioners that some thought had gone into removing current ZACH Theatre parking and relocating it to the parking garage, the commissioners said that should be done on a larger scale and that local arts centers in the immediate area should consider sharing parking. However, they warned not to make parking free. “That’s just a better incentive for folks to show up on foot and enjoy the space. Because it’s a park, not a parking lot,” Anderson said. Commissioner Todd Shaw cautioned that parking shouldn’t be so severely limited that parents who drive their children to activities at the DAC struggle to find parking. Parking for parents at drop-off, he said, is “a really big deal.”

In February 2018, City Council passed an ordinance requiring businesses to provide sick leave to employees. Almost as soon as it passed, Texas Republican lawmakers went to work overturning the law. Now, after a year and a half of work, SB 2485 and SB 2487 passed in the Texas Senate in a party-line vote for each bill of 18-12. The two bills have drawn the ire of LGBTQ activists in recent months who have cautioned that state lawmakers overriding municipal ordinances could also threaten the city’s other non-discrimination ordinances. According to Sen. Brandon Creighton, who was involved in a heated debate with Sen. Kirk Watson about SB 2485, the bill has “nothing to do with any discrimination ordinance.” Watson tried to amend the bill to contain verbatim language from Creighton’s original bill for local non-discrimination ordinances. The amendment failed but the bill passed. A statement released by Council Member Greg Casar – the author of Austin’s sick leave ordinance – just after the passage of the two bills, acutely expressed the intention of the bills and the ramification they will have on Austinites. “Let there be no question: Senator Creighton’s bills are a disgrace,” Casar said. “His bills clearly nullify our non-discrimination ordinances and strip Texans of their rights to sick days. Creighton has promoted his bills under the false pretense of ‘freedom for business,’ but there is no freedom for the people who will be forced to work sick, forced to work in the sun without water breaks, or denied benefits because of who they love.” The two bills will now move off to the House for another vote.

This is your lucky day: The 2019 Mobility Annual Plan has been posted online. That means a cool interactive map so you can check out all of the mobility and safety improvements in progress and plan your next bike ride or urban hike. You can find out where new sidewalks and bike trails will be going, the safest routes to walk to school and all the other stuff being paid for by the 2016 Mobility Bond. Robert Spillar, director of the Austin Transportation Department, said in the announcement that the 2019 MAP “charts a course for nearly 400 mobility and safety improvement projects citywide.” If maps aren’t your thing (we don’t judge), you can read about the planned improvements here.

Austin Independent School District is hosting a series of community engagement workshops in order to solicit the community’s input on potential school closures and consolidations, program planning and repurposing facilities. AISD staff, community members, planners and developers will participate in the panel discussions with the ultimate goal of giving more students access to what the district calls “21st-century learning spaces.” To learn more, check out AISD’s “reinvention roadmap.”

The “Academics and Economic Opportunity” panel will focus on the district’s academic priorities and response to the changing economic landscape in Central Texas:

• Tuesday, April 16, 6-8 p.m., at Bowie High School, 4103 W. Slaughter Lane
• Wednesday, April 24, 6-8 p.m., at Alternative Learning Center, 4900 Gonzales St.

The “Equity and Community Benefit” panel will focus on how AISD can continue to meet community needs and how the reinvention process presents an opportunity to increase equity:

• Wednesday, April 17, 6-8 p.m., at Fulmore Middle School, 201 E. Mary St.
• Thursday, April 25, 6-8 p.m., at Dobie Middle School, 1200 E. Rundberg Lane

For more information about the workshop series, visit AISD School Changes.

On Thursday, Council approved a plan for investment in the only homestead preservation reinvestment zone that Austin has been allowed to create. The zone is an area in Central East Austin that includes seven predominantly low-income neighborhoods where 20 percent of the tax revenues generated are put into a fund to finance housing for low-income families. Right now there is $740,000 in the fund and staff anticipates adding nearly $677,000 for Fiscal Year 2019, according to Rosie Truelove, director of Neighborhood Housing and Community Development. Council approved increasing the increment set aside for financing housing from 10 percent to 20 percent in December. Revenue generated by the district will be awarded on a competitive basis through programs under NHCD, including Rental Housing Development Assistance, Acquisition & Development and Home Loan Rehabilitation programs. All revenue generated from the homestead preservation reinvestment zone shall be used to develop, build and preserve affordable housing within the zone and to benefit households at or below 70 percent of the area median family income, with at least half of the revenue to benefit households at or below 50 percent of the area median family income. The city asked legislators to allow them to create additional homestead preservation zones in 2017, but when the bill got to Gov. Greg Abbott, he vetoed it.

After years of discussion, City Council will likely vote on the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan at today’s meeting. It’s a lengthy document, with lots of moving parts, and it’s expected that Council members will have a number of amendments to the transportation plan. Those unwilling to wait can check out the City Council Message Board, where a number of the amendments – including removing the Morrow “pork chop” – have been written out. Much more information, of course, can be found in the backup for today’s agenda, which gives some indication to the extensive conversation that awaits.

The beginning of April is that magical time when officer elections take place at the Planning Commission. After a year of service, most of which occurred during the all-consuming discussions of CodeNEXT, the commission’s executive team decided to really change things up this year. Chair James Shieh’s experience with CodeNEXT gave him the epiphany that instead of busying himself with the administrative tasks of chair, “I would actually enjoy taking the time and diving back into (the issues).” After he stepped down from the role of chair, he was elected unanimously to serve as parliamentarian. Former Vice Chair Fayez Kazi took his place as chair. The newly vacated vice chair position was filled by Conor Kenny after Yvette Flores declined a nomination for the position, filling up the commission’s executive team with fervent urbanists. Commissioner Todd Shaw noted that this chair/vice chair duo was likely to set the commission up for success as the new land development code starts to come through commissions. In an unexpected twist, the secretary, Patricia Seeger, was absent from the April 8 meeting and was unable to acknowledge on the record whether or not she wanted to continue in her position. Although she was nominated, only Commissioner Shaw voted for her. The remaining commissioners voted for Commissioner Flores as secretary, a position she happily accepted.

This week, Austin’s EVs for Schools program made headlines for providing electric vehicle charging stations to Akins, Lanier and Travis high schools and Kealing Middle School. Fast Company recognized the initiative in its 2019 World Changing Ideas Awards and the program received a 2019 Smart 50 Award at the Smart Cities Connect Gala in Denver. Along with the charging stations, the EVs for Schools initiative provides AISD teachers with a related curriculum that allows teachers and students to use the stations to collect data and measure usage for STEM-related projects on electric vehicles, green energy and sustainable mobility. The program began in November 2018 with the goal of educating city residents about the power of electricity. “Ensuring we included schools with significant representation of low-income students is important to demonstrate that these new technologies are accessible and for everyone,” said Amy Atchley, Austin Energy’s senior project lead for the program. Now that the city utility has been awarded for its work combating one of the major issues facing humanity, there is almost no likelihood that this innovative EV technology will slow down.

Louis Grachos, who has served as executive director and CEO of the Contemporary Austin since 2013, will be stepping down from his position to take up a new post as executive director of the Palm Springs Art Museum. Margie Rine, currently the museum’s deputy director, will act as interim director until a new leader is found. Said Kathleen Loughlin, president of the museum’s board of trustees, “The Board of Trustees is grateful to Louis for the dedication and enthusiasm he brought to The Contemporary Austin, to its staff, and to the broader arts community over the past seven years. He is leaving the organization stronger than it has ever been.” The board is preparing to launch an international search for a new director and CEO.

For many people, spring means planting season. And what’s the single most important element of successful gardening? Healthy soil, of course! The city of Austin has all sorts of resources to help home gardeners, and one of the coolest is the Austin Soil Kitchen, which offers free soil testing to determine whether there is any harmful stuff in your soil or if your soil needs amending so it can nurture the plants you’re cultivating. Just bring a sample of your dirt – ahem, soil – to the kitchen and it will be tested for nutrients and screened for heavy metals by representatives from the city’s Brownfields Office, which runs the Soil Kitchen. Bring soil from your backyard, neighborhood school or community garden. Visit the Soil Kitchen at the East Austin Garden Fair at Parque Zaragoza Recreation Center, 2608 Gonzales St., on Saturday, April 13, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday, April 14, from 9 a.m. to noon. Learn how to collect a soil sample on the Soil Kitchen page. For more info about gardening in Central Texas, visit the city’s Grow Green page or Travis County Master Gardeners.

Capital Idea and Austin Interfaith are extending invitations to presentations in Austin today by researcher Mark Elliott about the positive economic impact of helping low-income adults earn credentials that give them access to strong sectors of the economy, particularly health care, trades and technology. Elliott and his team have done a study of Project QUEST in San Antonio to determine the project’s impact on earnings, following graduates over a nine-year period. According to Elliott, the study found that “investing in the skills of low-income workers not only can make a difference, it can move families out of poverty into the middle class.” Steve Jackobs of Capital Idea notes that Elliott has received $1 million from the nonprofit Arnold Ventures so that he and his colleagues can do a study of the impact of training provided by Capital Idea, which is modeled after Project QUEST. The city of Austin has provided funding for Capital Idea. Elliott will be making a presentation at noon in Room E1.010 at the Texas State Capitol, and at 3:30 p.m. in the Boards and Commissions Room at City Hall. Everyone is invited.

Those who live or work near Slaughter Lane will want to stay in the know about planned improvements to the corridor funded by the 2016 Mobility Bond. In fact, you can spend this Saturday afternoon at the city’s Slaughter Lane Corridor Public Office Hours event learning all about the mobility, safety and connectivity improvements planned for Slaughter Lane between FM 1826 and Bluff Springs Road. Stop by anytime between 1:30 and 4:30 p.m to meet members of the Slaughter Lane corridor team, who will be happy to answer all of your questions and provide updates. Saturday, April 13, Circle C Community Center, 7817 La Crosse Ave.