Austin will get a new Major League Soccer franchise, ending more than a year of brokering and deal-making that began in late 2017. At a fan and media event Tuesday afternoon at Rustic Tap on West Sixth Street, MLS commissioner Don Garber made it official, announcing that the team will begin play in spring 2021. The Austin FC will play in a 20,000-seat stadium set to be constructed on the city-owned parcel known as McKalla Place, which is located near the Domain. The use of city land for the stadium – in a deal that will see the club’s management group finance the stadium but not pay property taxes as part of a 20-year lease with more than $8 million in rental fees – caused months of debate. Ultimately, City Council approved the term sheet in August by a 7-4 vote, with city staff and the team’s management group completing the lease agreement last month. In a news release following the announcement, Austin Chamber Board Chair Brian Cassidy said, “Today we formally became home to a major league sports franchise: Austin FC. We are thrilled with the culmination of more than a year of hard work, collaboration, and commitment across our community. Congratulations to Mayor Adler, City Council, Anthony Precourt, Major League Soccer, and the community of activists and soccer supporters that made today a reality.” At the announcement ceremony Mayor Steve Adler proclaimed Tuesday as Austin FC Day.

A cluster of city departments including Parks and Recreation, Public Works and the transportation and law departments have put their heads together to create a pilot program allowing electric bikes and motorized scooters on the following urban parkland trails in Austin:

• Johnson Creek
• Shoal Creek (south of 15th Street only)
• Northern Walnut Creek Trail
• Southern Walnut Creek Trail
• Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail at Lady Bird Lake  (electric bikes only)
• The Boardwalk (electric bikes only)

All trail rules will still apply, including a speed limit of 10 mph. The city hopes that the pilot program will show whether the trails are suitable for electric-assist bikes and scooters. If things go smoothly, the city intends to craft recommendations related to potentially changing city code. Current code excludes the use of electric bikes and scooters on parkland trails and this rule will continue to be in effect on all trails that are not part of the pilot program. Learn more and express your opinion about the program at SpeakUp Austin.

The Parks and Recreation Department and the Austin Parks Foundation invite the community to attend the Parque Zaragoza ribbon-cutting to celebrate the new playground and improvements to the baseball fields, which now boast new safety netting and batting cages. The event will take place on Saturday, Jan. 19, at 10 a.m. at Parque Zaragoza Park, 2608 Gonzales St. The 15-acre park is named for General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin, who was credited with a notable victory over French troops during the Battle of Puebla in 1862. The project was funded by Parks and Rec and with grants from Austin Parks Foundation and St. David’s Foundation.

There’s set to be a fairly prominent shadow over the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, with local developer Cielo Property Group completing a purchase of the completely vacant Block 87 immediately west of the homeless shelter. Austin Business Journal reports that the purchase from St. David’s Episcopal Church was completed Dec.31, likely at a price far higher than the $12.7 million appraised value of the parcel that has served as a paid parking lot in recent years. Cielo plans to break ground on a mixed-use project next January. The development could spur more interest in the eventual fate of the ARCH property, with city staff noting in a memo last year that debt for the parcel is slated to be paid off by 2023, which could allow city leaders to consider other possibilities for its long-term use. As of now, the city is in the process of selecting a vendor for a new management contract for ARCH, which is currently managed by Front Steps.

For those in need of some real, concrete data on the scooterification of Austin, the city’s Transportation Department has you covered. On Monday, city officials announced that, “In the spirit of transparency and collaboration, Austin Transportation has published open data and reporting tools that lay out citywide usage of dockless mobility, including bicycles and scooters. This data is anonymous and streamlined using data standards shared by leading American cities.” The open data and reporting tools include information on how many dockless vehicle trips have been taken (more than 2 million at the time of publication) and an interactive tool that shows where trips begin and end. The city also has a new “Dockless Reporting Dashboard” that summarizes monthly statistics about trips. A press release explains: “Licensed dockless mobility operators are required to provide the city with real-time trip reporting feeds. These feeds are informed by the Mobility Data Specification, an emerging data standard for dockless trip reporting. The standard, which can be adopted in whole or in part, was initiated by the city of Los Angeles with contributions from the cities of Santa Monica, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin and others.” You can submit feedback on these data reporting tools to transportation-data@austintexas.gov.

Chief Appraiser Marya Crigler, the Travis County Appraisal Review Board and two companies that represent taxpayers seeking to lower the appraised value of their homes have reached a settlement agreement that will afford a hearing for each of the 135 Travis County property owners who filed suit in October. According to a written statement from attorneys for Crigler, the review board, Texas Protax-Austin and Five Stone Tax Advisers, the parties are dropping all claims against one another and the review board will provide hearings for each of the property owners. In the lawsuit filed by attorney Bill Aleshire on behalf of the tax advisers and their clients, plaintiffs claimed deliberate mistreatment by the appraisal review board, alleging that Crigler was scheduling hearings in such a way that the plaintiff tax companies could not participate. Some of the property owners, if not all of them, have already paid their 2018 tax bill since it was issued based on the original appraised value. The due date for those taxes is Jan. 31 but many people pay them in December. Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector Bruce Elfant has assured the Austin Monitor that his office regularly issues refunds when there is a determination that the taxpayer has overpaid. Texas Protax-Austin and Five Stone Tax Advisers filed suit against the review board and Crigler in October. She responded by filing a claim against them under the Texas Citizens Participation Act.

After hearing several cases regarding fraudulent timesheets from Austin Energy employees throughout 2018, the Ethics Review Commission decided it wanted to comment publicly on the utility policies it perceived were causing this recurring issue. Believing that they have identified “wider holes in the policies,” the commissioners want to discuss how the timesheet cases fit into the broader context of Austin Energy and figure out how to bring the utility’s attention to the issue. According to them, hearing these cases in the context of the commission is merely taking a “hammer” to an individual, when the city should be putting a “Band-Aid” on the solution. “It gives me a real big headache because I pay Austin utility bills,” said Chair Ben Stratmann. The topic is slated for a future agenda item.

Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department has announced that starting Tuesday, Jan. 22, Ricky Guerrero Neighborhood Park at 2006 S. Sixth St. will close for renovations. During the construction period, the restrooms, play equipment and picnic areas will be off-limits to the public. When completed, the park will sport new ADA-compliant sidewalks, picnic tables, grills and benches; rain gardens; upgraded drainage control; an improved restroom facility; and a preschool play structure. Park renovations are expected to be completed by early summer 2019.

Austin got another feather in its cap Friday, when Bloomberg Philanthropies announced that the city was a winner in the Bloomberg American Cities Climate Challenge. Austin will now enroll in a two-year program that will help the city meet (and perhaps exceed) carbon reduction goals. According to a press release, “Bloomberg Philanthropies selected Austin as a winning city because of their innovative and ambitious climate action plans to reduce air pollution and city-wide emissions with specific projects aimed at reforming their respective transit and buildings sectors, areas which are typically responsible for 80% total of all citywide emissions. Bloomberg recognized Austin Mayor (Steve) Adler and City Manager (Spencer) Cronk for their commitment to ambitious climate action and securing a cleaner, safer, and healthier environment and economy for Austin residents.” According to the release, the city plans to use its newfound support to incentivize sustainable commuting, work with car dealerships to increase electric vehicle sales, retrofit municipal buildings to render them more environmentally sound, increase Austin Energy’s commercial rebate program, and implement new parking management and pricing to help reduce vehicle emissions.

According to a report by KXAN, the city’s chief animal services officer, who was heading up the department on an interim basis, is leaving her position to work at a nonprofit. Lee Ann Shenefiel, who was appointed to the position at Austin Animal Center after Tawny Hammond vacated it in May 2017, will leave her post on Feb. 1. The search for a permanent replacement has already been launched. In the meantime, acting Parks and Recreation director Kimberly McNeeley will be serving as the head of animal services.

Austin’s 2019 [Re]Verse Pitch Competition has announced that it will award two prizes totaling $20,000 to local entrepreneurs on April 30. To be eligible for the award, contestants must create products or services using a unique selection of discarded raw materials that would otherwise be cast off as waste. The fourth annual competition, which is co-hosted by the Austin Young Chamber of Commerce and the city of Austin, is designed to inspire profitable ventures and support a more circular local economy that makes use of all materials and products and generates little to no waste, in the service of Austin’s zero-waste goal. This year’s raw materials, which will be supplied by five local entities, range from wine-grape skins to Styrofoam coolers to office chairs. Learn more about the competition at reversepitch.org.

Sue Lambe, who has managed Austin’s Art in Public Places Program since 2016, has been elected by Americans for the Arts to serve a three-year term on the national nonprofit Public Art Network Council, which advocates for the arts and arts education in the U.S. Lambe’s role will be to advise Americans for the Arts’ staff on developing programs and services. She will also work with fellow national arts leaders at the Public Art Network Council to advise on annual programming, choose the Public Art Network award recipient and offer her perspective on public art and public art programs. Lambe currently manages the city’s public art collection, which consists of over 300 pieces.