The Housing Authority of the City of Austin has received 89 vouchers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that will provide housing for non-elderly disabled residents. The vouchers, which are for use in congregate living facilities or to help individuals transition out of homelessness, will bring the Mainstream Housing Choice Voucher Program – formerly known as Section 8 – up to 148 total vouchers. HACA will work with organizations such as Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, Integral Care and ARCIL to distribute the vouchers and provide services to help recipients maintain a stable housing situation. The application process for the voucher program, which caps recipients’ portion of their monthly rent expenditure at 30 to 40 percent of their take-home income, is open until Sept. 24. After the application period closes HACA will choose 2,000 completed, eligible applications via a lottery to go on a voucher wait list. In 2014, the last time applications were taken, the agency received nearly 20,000 applications and put 2,500 on its wait list, which has been gradually served and exhausted over the intervening four years.

The year-plus game of “Will they or won’t they?” surrounding Amazon’s decision on a city to host its second headquarters became a bit clearer late last week. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos told CNBC that the company would not be making an announcement on Thursday, when Bezos is scheduled to take part in an interview with the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. That booking, combined with Amazon’s recent ramping up of its roster of lobbyists and other connections made in the political beltway had business-world tea leaf readers speculating that an announcement naming one of the three D.C.-area locations still in contention as the winner was imminent. Instead, all Bezos would confirm to CNBC is that Amazon will make its selection before the end of the year. So there’s that, at least. Austin is among the 20 finalist sites for the massive project that is expected to cost $5 billion and bring 50,000 high-paying jobs to the eventual winner.

The Travis County Democratic Party Executive Committee voted unanimously on Sunday to oppose Proposition K, the ballot item to require the city to conduct an audit of every department. The group voted after hearing speeches opposing the item from Council Member Greg Casar, Mayor Steve Adler, and Laura Morrison, the former council member seeking to unseat Adler. Local political consultant David Butts has pointed out connections between the audit idea and a number of right-wing groups. A story in Monday’s Austin American-Statesman points out that the group backing Proposition K appears to have broken local campaign finance law by shielding the names of donors to the organization. But the group, whose only known contact person is former Ellen Troxclair aide Michael Searle, put out a press release on Monday castigating the Democratic Party for failing to invite proponents of the audit measure to their meeting. Attorney Bill Aleshire told the Austin Monitor via email, “I personally favor full disclosure of the real source of every political contribution. But voters should judge the efficiency audit prop on what it will or will not do. Adler and Butts are also engaged in stupid political strategy trying to get the Democratic Party executive committee involved. When the Travis County Democratic Party opposes an efficiency audit of the city, it shows why our party may never get back voters who are angry at the cost and waste in government. The Democratic Party should stay focused on getting our candidates elected. Opposing Prop K won’t help.”

Revered short story writer and erstwhile Austin resident William Sydney Porter was convicted of embezzlement, but was he actually guilty? A collection of newly acquired letters suggests his innocence. Porter, who wrote as O. Henry, worked as a bank teller at the First National Bank of Austin for a time. Later, after he had left that post and moved to Houston, he was indicted for embezzlement at the bank and eventually tried, found guilty, and given a five-year sentence. He was released after three years for good behavior. The letters, discovered in El Prado, New Mexico, at a resort that was formerly a stop on the Pony Express, are on display in a new exhibit at the O. Henry Museum, Porter’s historical home. They show correspondence between him and J.L. Watson, the business manager of The Houston Post, where Porter worked as a columnist at the time he was indicted. “I want to state to you that the charges against me are not only unfounded, but are, I think, the work of spite as well,” Porter wrote to Watson in one of the letters on display. Some claim that Porter was a fall guy for the bank. After his death, several official requests for a presidential pardon were made on his behalf, but they were not successful. He was also featured on a U.S. postage stamp, an honor he shares with only one other person convicted of a federal crime, Susan B. Anthony. The display, “In Defense of Prisoner #30664,” officially opens on Austin Museum Day, September 23, 2018, from noon to 4:00 pm.

After over three years of meetings, the Austin Integrated Water Resource Planning Community Task Force is finally ready to bring its Water Forward plan to Council this fall. Although there is not yet a set date to appear in Council chambers, Teresa Lutes of Austin Water told the members of the Water and Wastewater Commission at their Sept. 12 meeting that they would be seeing the fifth and final version of the plan at their Oct. 10 meeting. “That will be the meeting where we plan to bring forward our final recommendation (to the commission),” she said. Right now, the task force has completed version four of the plan and will host a public open house on Sept. 18 to hear comments from the citizenry. (Another was held on Sept. 13.) “If there is any glowing red light from the public that (says), ‘Hey, we need to look at something,’ then we don’t put that off,” noted Commissioner Nhat Ho. Lutes assured him that public comments would be considered and appropriately executed on a rolling basis – the city expects to update the Water Forward plan every five years. However, as the first iteration prepares for implementation, Lutes said that the draft that goes before Council will include a recommendation that the task force continue through implementation. “We do think there is a lot of value with continuing to work with the task force,” she said.

Austin’s New Year’s Eve celebration is a free, family-friendly event held at Vic Mathias Shores in downtown Austin. The city has opened up the call for local musicians, performers, and artists to propose their performance, workshop or art installation for the audience of approximately 20,000 people. The alcohol-free program goes from 5 p.m. until the fireworks show shortly after 10 p.m. The city is looking to choose a variety of entertainment including, but not limited to:

Musical individuals and groups.
Performing artists such as actors, jugglers, storytellers, dancers, fire dancers, hula-hoopers, aerial performance, illustrators, spray can artists or other visual artists who produce work on the spot, elaborate costumes and other festive performances.
Temporary interactive art installations, especially those which feature light or sound.

Proposals must be submitted to contacteps@epstx.net by Sept. 28, 2018, and must include contact information, a written one-page narrative, and a detailed budget. Visit www.austinsnewyear.com for more information.

The Parks and Recreation Department is redeveloping the Dougherty Arts Center, one of one of Austin’s oldest community arts venues, with input from interested community members. Due to the center’s location on top of a former landfill in a floodplain, costs to rehabilitate the current building would exceed the cost to build a whole new center.  The department collected input on the proposed relocation and redevelopment project via a survey and community brainstorm session, and now it has scheduled a second discussion to share how it incorporated feedback from its first input session into its plans and collect additional feedback on what features are important for the project. The meeting is on Wednesday, Sept. 19, 5-7:30 p.m., Zilker Botanical Gardens, 2220 Barton Springs Road.

This morning, Mayor Steve Adler and the Mayor’s Health and Fitness Council will be giving awards to schools and workplaces that have gone above and beyond to promote health and well-being. The Mayor’s Healthiest Workplace and School Awards, which will be presented at an awards ceremony at 9 a.m. today at City Hall, are an extension of the Mayor’s Health and Fitness Council Partner Certification Program. The Mayor’s Health and Fitness Council created the program in 2007 to inspire workplaces to create comprehensive wellness programs and policies. Nine workplaces will receive partner certification this year, and 87 schools will receive an “exemplary” rating by the program. To cover the range of organizations that participate in this program, the workplace awards will be presented in the categories of small, medium, large, and extra-large – one organization will be chosen in each category. The healthiest schools award will be presented to four schools. In addition, an award will be given to the “Healthiest School District or Government Agency,” and one will be given to the “Most Innovative Workplace.”

Austinites can find out answers to questions about development, building construction, permitting and the inspection process 24/7, seven days a week, including holidays, now that the Development Services Department has partnered with 311 to use that service as the department’s primary point of contact. General questions will be answered right away; for anything that requires more in-depth knowledge, the 311 ambassador will create a service request with a tracking number. Customers can also use the 311 website to submit an online request. “We are excited to provide customers unlimited access to the department,” said department Director Rodney Gonzales in the press release. “Our customers will no longer have to rely on our business hours to request basic information from the department. Since 3-1-1 is the leading source of knowledge for the City of Austin, partnering with Austin 3-1-1 was the natural transition to providing quality and efficient customer service.”

Every time Dell sells something, Round Rock makes money, says Round Rock spokesperson Will Hampton. “We track sales tax revenue closely because it makes up more of our revenue than property tax,” he said Thursday as he happily talked about Dell’s continued revenue growth. As the Austin Monitor noted on Thursday, Comptroller Glenn Hegar reported on Wednesday that Round Rock collected $62 million for the current fiscal year as compared to about $53 million last year. Hampton said just for the month of September Dell receipts were up more than 45 percent over the same month last year. “We’ve had 17 consecutive months of increase in Dell sales tax receipts,” Hampton said. Unlike Austin and most other cities, 44 percent of Round Rock’s income comes from sales tax, as opposed to just 33 percent from property taxes, he said. Of course, Round Rock collects other fees to support economic development and to help lower property taxes, Hampton said.

Things are looking up for Austin Water this quarter. “We were trailing budget projections in March by about $3 million … we are now about $3 million ahead,” said Joseph Gonzales, a finance manager with Austin Water. “It’s about a $6 million swing.” Total revenues for the year now sit at $453.37 million. However, Gonzales said that he expects actual revenues to be even better. “The final quarter is generally where we see the highest revenues,” he said. “We expect to add another $20 million” to the revenue by year-end. At the same time, debt service has also been reduced. “We were expecting to be about 34 percent this year … we’re actually at 31 percent, which is actually where we expect to be next year as well,” said Gonzales. Last year debt service was about 36 percent of Austin Water’s total requirements. With a strong starting position and predictions for a lucrative fourth quarter, Austin Water is hoping to continue to pay down its debt service requirements and put the city in a favorable position to begin 2019. Now it all just depends on the rain.

With the knowledge that we are now in peak hurricane season, Land Commissioner George P. Bush has released a statement advising all Texans to be aware of severe weather warnings and prepare for them accordingly. The statement warns that the commission has been watching “several potential weather formations threatening the U.S., including a tropical disturbance over the Gulf of Mexico with a 70 percent chance of cyclone formation in the next 48 hours. The National Hurricane Center predicts heavy rainfall and gusty winds across Texas on Thursday and Friday.” Since we all carry a high-powered computer in our pocket, signing up for the local emergency warning system is a good place to start. In addition, the national Emergency Alert System and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Weather Radio also provide emergency alerts. Preparation basics include stockpiling key supplies (nonperishable food for you and your pets, water, first aid items and prescriptions, flashlights and batteries are a good start), gathering your important documents in one place, keeping your electronics charged (and maybe a couple of backup batteries), devising an evacuation plan, and getting your property ready by cleaning gutters and drains and even shuttering your home if necessary/possible. It’s important to note that most home insurance policies do not cover flood damage, so a separate flood insurance policy is advised.