As part of the push to rename city streets and landmarks that pay homage to the Confederacy, City Council will vote Thursday to do away with Jeff Davis Avenue, in North Central Austin. The resolution, authored by Council Member Leslie Pool, proposes renaming the street after Will Holland, a former slave who fought in the Union Army and was later elected to the Texas House of Representatives and the Travis County Commissioners Court. He later became an education advocate and successfully lobbied the state to fund the Deaf, Dumb and Blind Institute for Colored Youth, which he later oversaw as superintendent. If Council approves the name change, city staff will undertake a process to alert all the residents on the street of the new name as well as a variety of public agencies, including the Police and Fire departments and the post office, which will continue to deliver mail that references the old street name to the newly named street.

An April 20 memo to the mayor and City Council from Capital Contracting Officer Rolando Fernandez shows that city staff is hard at work implementing a Council resolution that took aim at the border wall along the United States/Mexico border. Council approved the resolution in February, asking the city manager to investigate the economic impact of the proposed wall and require companies that have economic ties to the wall’s construction to disclose those ties with an eye toward using that information to make decisions. It will probably come as no surprise that a task force has been formed to explore the issue, and an initial report will be back at Council by August 7.

Today was the first day of early voting for the Travis County Joint General and Special Election on May 5, and a smattering of residents showed up to mark the occasion. As of press time, the unofficial tally showed a total of 392 voters, 8 of whom voted at the Harbor at Lakeway mobile voting location. There were also 870 mail ballots received, for a grand total of 1,262 voters. The last day of early voting is Tuesday, May 1. The County Clerk’s Office has sample ballots here, which cover these local races in Cedar Park, Round Rock, Pflugerville, Lakeway, Bee Cave, Briarcliff, Lake Travis Independent School District, and several municipal utility districts.

Big Medium’s annual West Austin Studio Tour is happening May 12-13 and 19-20 this year. During WEST, studios within the boundaries west of I-35, east of MoPac Expressway, south of U.S. Highway 183, and North of William Cannon open their doors from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and members of the public are invited to visit with artists and learn about their works and creative process. Various “Pit Stops” – neighborhood businesses that have pledged a percentage of their profits to the the tour – provide chances for rest and refreshment along the way, and a party at the Lawn at Seaholm on May 10 from 7 to 10 p.m. will kick the whole thing off. View the participant list on Big Medium’s website here and volunteer openings here.

Missing the days of City Council committee overhauls? They may be upon us once again, according to this week’s Council agenda, but discussing the changes will most likely be put off until Thursday. That’s because Mayor Steve Adler will not be at today’s work session, and we assume his request to hold off will be honored. Adler also promises to post language that more clearly articulates Council’s intent in amending the city code concerning Council committees. Our understanding is that Council is looking for a little more flexibility in committee makeup after paring back the committee system that they expanded. Needless to say, we will tune in Thursday for all of the nitty-gritty details.

It’s crunch time for CodeNEXT, the proposed rewrite of the city’s Land Development Code. The city has mailed notification postcards inviting all residents to the public hearings that represent the last stage in the process before City Council votes on adoption of the proposed code rewrite. There will be two hearings that are run jointly by the Planning Commission and Zoning and Platting Commission followed by two Council hearings. Not sure what the dickens this is all about? The city’s CodeNEXT website and the Draft 3 Guide are great places to start. There are bike racks and free parking at all meeting locations, and all locations are served by public transit. An overview of the hearing schedule is as follows, but there is more detailed information on the postcard page:

• Joint Land Use Commissions Meeting #1: Saturday, April 28, 10 a.m., Dove Springs Recreation Center, 5801 Ainez Drive
• Joint Land Use Commissions Meeting #2: Tuesday, May 1, 4 p.m., Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton Springs Road
• City Council Meeting #1: Tuesday, May 29, 10 a.m., City Hall, 301 W. Second St.
• City Council Meeting #2: Saturday, June 2, 10 a.m., City Hall, 301 W. Second St.

Readers interested in increasing voter turnout (or potential voter turnout) in Travis County can train to be volunteer deputy registrars next week. Registrars can register people to vote and promote voter registration after a free one-hour training session at the Travis County Tax Office (5501 Airport Blvd.). No reservations are needed, and the next sessions take place on Tuesday, May 1, at 10:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. or Saturday, May 5, at 10:30 a.m. The deadline to register to vote for the Nov. 6 midterm election is Tuesday, Oct. 9.

St. David’s Foundation has announced a series of more than $1 million in grants to encourage access and health activities in Austin’s parks. In a partnership with the Austin Parks Foundation and the Trust for Public Land, the grants will pay for improvements at a variety of Austin parks locations, with individual projects coordinated through recipient nonprofits or community organizations. Among them:

• Austin Parks Foundation will make improvements at Butler Park, Edward Rendon Sr. Park at Festival Beach, Martin Neighborhood Pool and Parque Zaragoza
• Barton Springs Conservancy will renovate the bathhouse at Barton Springs Pool
• Downtown Austin Alliance and Austin Parks Foundation will begin programming events at Republic Square Park
• Pease District Conservancy will install equipment at Pease Park
• Shoal Creek Conservancy will implement a connectivity plan for Shoal Creek Trail
• Trail Foundation will install bilingual signage and maps on Butler Trail
• Waller Creek Conservancy will create physical activity training at Palm Park
• Keep Austin Beautiful will create recreation space at LBJ High School
• The Trust for Public Land will implement the Health Parks Plan for Travis, Bastrop and Caldwell counties

With a whole four days to spare, City Council will decide Thursday on a measure to make later weekend noise curfews in the Red River Cultural District a permanent feature of city code. Thursday’s agenda item comes barely ahead of the April 30 sunset of the second six-month pilot program for the district, which was created to increase the revenue of the five nightclubs in the district with outdoor stages. Merchants in the area began campaigning for the later hours in late 2016 because existing noise curfews there prevented those businesses from capitalizing on the tendencies of weekend bargoers to drink late into the night, i.e., after concerts had to be completed. The first pilot program went into effect last spring and was extended in the fall, and studies throughout the 12 months have shown increases in revenue, employee pay, and money and bookings made by local musicians. It is expected that making the later noise limits permanent will have an even greater long-term effect for local music because clubs will be able to program their calendars several months ahead with the later hours in mind. Noise studies performed by the city’s Music and Entertainment Division found no measurable increase in noise disturbances or crime increase relevant to later hours. The Austin Music Commission voted this month to recommend Council make the later noise curfews permanent.

The city is conducting a fair housing assessment to find out residents’ thoughts about and priorities for housing in the Central Texas region. Questions explore factors such as how people feel about access to schools and employment as well as challenges or discrimination they’ve faced when procuring housing. The survey should take around 15 minutes, and upon completion, participants can enter to win a $100 Visa gift card. Find out more information about the survey at www.centraltexasfairhousing.org, or follow these links to dive in:

English: https://www.research.net/r/CentralTXAI

Español: https://es.research.net/r/CentralTXs

中文：https://www.research.net/r/CentralTXc

Tiếng Việt: https://www.research.net/r/CentralTXv

한국어: https://ko.research.net/r/CentralTXk

عربى: https://www.research.net/r/CentralTXa

The survey will be available until May 31. Contact Jen Garner at jgarner@bbcresearch.com or 800-748-3222 ext. 236 to request an alternative format, or contact Matthew Ramirez at matthew.ramirez@austintexas.gov with questions about the study.

Begun in 2014, the Shoal Creek Restoration (15th-18th Streets) project is now finished. Everyone is invited to Pease Park at 10:30 a.m. today to celebrate the completion along with the partner organizations who made the project happen and special guest Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo.

Precourt Sports Ventures, owner of the Columbus Crew soccer club that is seeking to relocate to Austin from Ohio, is mounting a legal battle to throw out a lawsuit intended to prevent the team from moving. The company and Major League Soccer have teamed up to file a motion to throw out a lawsuit based on Ohio’s so-called “Art Modell Law” that was created in 1996 to prevent teams from abruptly moving if they’ve utilized tax-supported facilities. The motion claims the law, which requires six months’ notice of intention to move unless approved by state and local governments and requires interested buyers be given a chance to preserve the team, is unconstitutional. The lawsuit filed by the city of Columbus and state of Ohio in March seeks a permanent injunction that would prevent the team from moving while the lawsuit plays out. PSV had hoped the team would play its 2019 season in a temporary facility in Austin, and it is awaiting a city study on possibly using the city-owned McKalla Place parcel in North Central Austin as the site for a permanent 20,000-seat stadium.