It appears Austin’s Arts and Music commissions are backing away from their ambitious plans to ask voters for up to $40 million to create two new facilities to provide space and resources for local artists. That was the message at Monday’s Music Commission meeting from members of a working group dedicated to pushing for more money in the cultural portion of a bond election slated to take place in November. The $40 million would have come on top of $67.5 million already recommended in the bond to pay for modest expansions at the city’s four existing cultural centers. The working group’s first meeting found there’s not enough agreement between its members on how to best ask for an increase to the cultural bond request, with up to $77 million extra required to meet all the additional needs for the arts community and especially the city’s three ethnic cultural centers. With City Council expected to vote on a resolution Thursday that would begin the process of determining the size and composition of the total infrastructure bond package – currently recommended at $816 million – members of the working group and commissions planned to gauge the appetite for bond expansion with their respective Council members. Council’s final decision on the bond package is expected to come in August. Also discussed during Monday’s meeting was exploring public-private partnerships that could possibly direct municipal funds toward existing arts centers such as the Museum of Human Achievement and Mosaic Sound Collective, rather than spending money to build and staff new facilities the city would be responsible for maintaining.

Mayor Steve Adler was in Boston June 8 to accept the 2018 Mayors’ Climate Protection Award for Austin Energy’s Community Solar Program. The Mayors’ Climate Protection awards program is sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and Walmart and is now in its 12th year. The award acknowledges mayors who have made strong efforts in energy and climate protection: Mayor Gary McCarthy of Schenectady, New York, also received the award on Friday. AE has offered solar incentives since 2004. A little over a year ago, the utility began the Community Solar Program. A 185-kilowatt rooftop solar array at the Palmer Events Center was the first project for the program, and the La Loma Community Solar Farm followed in March 2018. An AE press release says that La Loma is “the largest community solar farm in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and the first in Texas to offer low-income customers a discounted rate on community solar. The program allows residential customers to meet their electric needs with 100 percent locally generated solar energy at a fixed price for 15 years.” Adler expressed his appreciation for the award and pride for the AE Community Solar Program at the awards luncheon during the 86th annual meeting of the USCM. “As cities are leading on climate change, Austin is focused on inclusive innovation around sustainability. We are realizing a more green future and the Austin Energy Community Solar initiative shows the world how everyone in your community can support and benefit from renewable energy,” said Adler. “Austin is proud and honored to be cited for our leadership on this critical issue.”

After City Council decided not to put a measure on the November ballot that would have allowed citizens to vote on whether to approve any ordinance coming out of the CodeNEXT process, attorney Fred Lewis filed suit on behalf of a group of citizens. Lewis announced on Thursday that the request for mandamus would go before a judge on June 27. As noted in his email, Judge Orlinda Naranjo will hear legal arguments but there will be no testimony. Lewis said that he and Bill Bunch will represent the petitioners, and lawyers from Scott, Douglass & McConnico will be representing the city. Council has been advised by its attorneys that the city is neither authorized nor required to call an election on this particular petition. According to a memo obtained by the Austin Monitor, “The outcome of litigation is never guaranteed; however, the significant weight of legal authority supports the conclusion that an election is not required.” Council will have until August 20 to place the matter on the ballot if ordered to do so by a judge.

This Saturday, June 9, City Council Member Ora Houston is holding a town hall, which a press release announces will “examine the challenges and opportunities realized” in the district, as well as “the relationships that have been established since 2015 when the District was created; and what awaits on the District’s horizon.” The State of District 1 event is 1-3 p.m. at the Boyd Vance Theatre at the George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center. Interpretation services will be available in Spanish and for the hearing impaired. There is limited seating, so reservations are strongly encouraged. RSVP by visiting the Eventbrite page or by calling 512-978-2101.

Panda, an 8-year-old border collie mix, is now available for adoption after a stint at the Travis County Correctional Complex. Panda is the first graduate of Dogs 101, a program that offers inmates the chance to ready dogs from the Austin Animal Center for adoption. “The inmates worked on crate training, leash skills and overall manners with Panda,” said a news release from the Animal Center. “At Panda’s ‘graduation ceremony’ on Monday, the inmates said goodbye and made cards for the dog, who they considered part of their family, and wrote letters to his future adopters.” The program was created following a similar pilot program last year among female inmates, Kittens 101, where three inmates were given a kitten to look after and train.

What’s next for CodeNEXT? More CodeNEXT. City Council is scheduled to take on the Land Development Code rewrite on both Tuesday and Wednesday next week. On Tuesday, Council plans to start public discussion at 9 a.m. with lunch and executive session at noon. Depending on how long that runs, they may or may not continue public discussion after, up until 5:30 p.m. On Wednesday, June 13, Council will start again at 9 a.m. with a possible break for lunch at noon, and a definite break for the Council Health and Human Services Committee. Discussion will continue from 3:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m., with scheduling of future meetings to finish off the talks. (Tentative dates are June 21, 26 and 27.) As for what, exactly, will be discussed, that’s still being worked out on the City Council Message Board.

An avid agenda-reader at KVUE noticed that the June 14 City Council agenda includes an item that would extend City Manager Spencer Cronk’s housing stipend of $4,500 per month. Cronk earns a base salary of $325,000 annually, with an annual executive allowance of $7,200. In addition to that, Council approved $27,000 to offset the cost of temporary housing in Austin for six months. The item on the June 14 agenda would extend that temporary housing stipend another six months, bringing the total to $54,000 paid to Cronk for housing alone. According to the agenda backup, the additional funds are needed because “City Manager Cronk has been engaged in several major events: SxSW, Austin bombings, Police Chief Recruitment, and attendance at many after-hours events, which has prevented a comprehensive search for a permanent home in the City of Austin. An extension of his housing allowance, which expires in August 2018, will allow Mr. Cronk to search for a permanent home, and continue to provide service to the residents of Austin, the City Council, and the City employees.”

Word got out early last month that Jason Stanford was stepping down from his job as communications director for Mayor Steve Adler, but the man who served as the funny bone of the @MayorAdler Twitter account was quiet about where he was headed. That ended on Wednesday, however, with the announcement that Stanford has signed on as the senior vice president of global communication for Hill + Knowlton Strategies, the Austin-based global public relations and communications firm. Stanford served in the mayor’s office for just over two and a half years, and his new role will be focused on corporate media relations for Hill + Knowlton. Stanford emphasized in his announcement that the company will not pursue business related to the goings-on at City Hall, adding that he hopes to maintain the friendships and professional relationships he made during his time as Adler’s media intermediary. It is not known if Adler has plans to replace Stanford before the mayoral election set for November.

Austinites now have another tool for navigating the chaos of the city’s rush-hour roadways. The Austin Transportation Department has joined the Waze Connected Citizens Program “to provide traffic updates directly to residents and to better understand real-time road conditions in Austin,” according to a city press release. The crowdsourced traffic and navigation app has over 500 partners in the program throughout the world so far. The department “provides Waze with information on scheduled road closures related to special events. With this information, Waze sends push notifications to its users and reroutes trips close to the closures. In turn, Austin Transportation’s Transportation Management Center receives up-to-date, anonymous information from Waze about major traffic delays, allowing staff to make targeted signal timing adjustments.” Waze is available on both Apple and Android devices.

According to a post on the City Council Message Board, Council Member Greg Casar has sponsored a pair of resolutions on the June 14 agenda that take aim at discretionary arrest and city policies regarding immigration enforcement. Casar explains that he intends public testimony for both items to be taken together because “(w)hile they are two separate items, many of the same community members are interested in both, and the two items support each other in reducing racial inequity in our criminal justice system.” The post also offers up the reasoning between the two resolutions. In 2017, he writes, more than 1,000 people were arrested for citation-eligible offenses, putting people in jail for offenses that are not punishable by jail time and “data also shows that stark racial disparities exist in who is being discretionarily arrested for these misdemeanors.” Item 74, which addresses immigration enforcement, directs the city to make sure residents know their rights, and establishes reporting requirements between police, elected officials and the public, among other things. “I believe we need to ensure our policing resources are not unreasonably or unnecessarily dedicated to civil federal immigration enforcement. I believe protocols to protect these resources for only reasonable and/or necessary cases are important. We should be as transparent as is legal and possible about our priorities at the police department, especially as it relates to a topic of such heightened public concern,” writes Casar.

“For La Raza,” one of several murals on the exterior wall of the decommissioned Holly Street Power Plant, has been restored. The mural was painted in 1992 by Robert Herrera and Oscar Cortez. A group called Arte Texas, which includes the original artists, completed the restoration. The project is part of phase one of the Holly Shores Master Plan implementation, and Arte Texas worked with neighborhood groups as well as with area students to create “a unique artistic collaboration blending generations from across the community,” the press release says. “This mural represents the strength of our people and serves as a cherished cultural expression of our survival as Mexican Americans and Chicanos,” said Bertha Delgado, founder and executive director of Arte Texas. A free, public event will celebrate the mural on Saturday, July 21, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 2215 Riverview St. “The restoration of this beloved artwork simultaneously honors the history of the Holly Shores neighborhood while also looking towards its future,” said Sue Lambe, manager of the Art in Public Places program. “Representing multiple generations and artistic styles, the new mural celebrates the distinguished heritage of the community and reflects its values and character.”

As the Austin Monitor reported Tuesday, City Council members Ellen Troxclair, Ora Houston, Leslie Pool and Ann Kitchen are sponsoring a resolution on next week’s Council agenda to raise the homestead exemption for homeowners. That exemption is currently at 8 percent and could be expected to rise to 10 percent if six members vote for that. In response to an email request, Houston said that the need for additional exemptions in District 1 “should be a no-brainer. An increase in the homestead exemption is a small way to assist individuals on fixed incomes from losing their homes because of rising property taxes. It is a way for seniors to age in place in an area where market values of homes have skyrocketed more than other areas in the city. The owners of homestead property in the district may be unable, because of their social security and/or retirement income, to keep up with the annual tax increases they face on their property.” Under state law, Council must approve any additional homestead exemptions before July 1. Although Houston did not support increasing that exemption in 2016, she appears to be ready to fight for the increase now. In her email, Houston said, “The most reasonable option would be to adopt a tax freeze on homes of owners who are over age 65 or disabled, which the school district does. Another suggestion is to implement a ‘generational freeze’ to maintain those levels if an adult son or daughter signs an affidavit each year to attest to the fact that they inherited the home, it is now their homestead and the levels would remain in effect until the house is sold. People don’t think about the loss of inherited/generational wealth,” but when a senior citizen dies, she noted, “the freezes are lifted and the next generation is unable to pay the additional cost.” Houston said she is fortunate to be able to live on her state retirement and Social Security benefits with her Austin Independent School District taxes frozen. But, “I have no idea what the taxes will be for my daughter who will return to live in the ‘family home’ that was built in 1954.”