The city’s push to utilize blockchain technology as a way to assist the local homeless population takes its next step today with the new MyPass Initiative. As an incentive to encourage homeless residents to provide their vital personal information for storage on a blockchain platform, the city and other community organizations created a pop-up resource clinic at Parque Zaragoza Recreation Center, on Gonzales Street near Pedernales Street in East Austin. Representatives from Dell Medical School at the University of Texas, the city’s Innovation Office and Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services will be on hand to assist visitors and explain the process, which is intended to make it easier to compile and track health and other information so people have better access to housing, health, employment and other resources for the homeless. Austin is funding the program using some of the $100,000 it received as one of 35 Champion Cities in Bloomberg Philanthropies’ 2018 Mayors Challenge to create new solutions for civic problems. One grand-prize winner will receive $5 million in October, with four runner-up cities receiving $1 million each, to fully develop their solutions.

Many businesses are realizing that supporting a healthy community and promoting green initiatives, such as reducing waste and conserving water and energy, is beneficial not just for the environment but also for reducing costs and attracting like-minded customers. Every year, Austin Green Business Leaders recognizes those businesses, large and small, in the local community who are leading the pack in their commitment to sustainability. This year, just in time for Earth Day, the group is welcoming 33 businesses to join its ranks, bringing the total membership of the group up to 228. View the city’s press release for a complete list of the new members.

Elaina Ball, who served as Austin Energy’s deputy general manager and chief operating officer starting in October 2016, has become chief administrative officer for El Paso Electric. With Ball’s departure, AE General Manager Jackie Sargent appointed Mark Dombroski as acting chief operating officer. Dombroski has been serving as deputy general manager and chief financial and risk officer at AE. El Paso Electric, an investor-owned utility, has been in business since 1901. According to the company’s website, El Paso Electric serves about 417,000 customers spread out over a 10,000-square-mile area from Van Horn, Texas, to Hatch, New Mexico. Austin Energy has about 448,000 customers, but they are confined to a much smaller geographic area. “It was really tough to leave Jackie and the Austin Energy team, but this is going to move me closer to family and will give me new experience,” Ball told the Austin Monitor. She said she is “thrilled and excited” to be in her new job, which started this week, although she will miss Austin. Before arriving at Austin Energy in 2012, Ball worked at CPS Energy in San Antonio.

The Austin Tech Alliance and Capital Factory have partnered to launch a competition for startup companies interested in improving city operations in areas such as service delivery, transportation, clean energy and affordable housing. Competing companies will vie for a $100,000 investment and assistance launching in Austin, with the winner announced at the pitch and funding day on July 27. Any tech or consumer-focused startup focused on creating a smart city can apply on AngelList and will be judged based on company mission, approach for changing the city, display of abilities, and resourcefulness and ability to learn from mistakes. The winning company will receive the full investment amount, access to “A-list” entrepreneur advisers from Texas, one year of unlimited space at Capital Factory and access to its mentor network, legal company formation services, and an assortment of complimentary resources from companies affiliated with Capital Factory.

Travis County residents have not escaped the opioid epidemic that is ravaging the United States, and  Austin Public Health broke down the numbers this month in an article published in the Travis County Medical Society Journal. The article shares that the total amount of drug-related deaths has been rising since 2006, including deaths from opioid overdoses. From 2006 to 2016, 1,398 residents died from drug overdoses in general, which works out to an average of 127 a year, and 42 percent of those deaths were due to opioids, such as heroin and fentanyl. Males have an opioid overdose death rate that is twice that of females, the article says, and the data show the death rate of whites is more than twice that of African-Americans and two and a half times that of Latinos. While overdoses happen from both prescription and illegal opioids in Travis County, the article does point out that the county’s prescription rate of 51.2 per 100 persons is much lower than the national and state rates of 66.5 and 57.6, respectively. “Based on the data, Austin Public Health recommends expanding access to evidence-based substance abuse treatment, expanding access and use of naloxone, a safe antidote to reverse opioid overdoses, and improving prescription drug monitoring to improve patient safety and prevent abuse,” said Dr. Philip Huang, medical director and health authority for Austin Public Health.

After a tumultuous debate last year as to whether or not Simple Recycling would continue their curbside pickup of textiles, Austin Resource Recovery is now considering extending their contract past next year. Although the Zero Waste Advisory Commission did not make any recommendations at its April 11 meeting, it asked Austin Resource Recovery to continue the discussion at a future meeting. Commissioner Kaiba White noted that the contract was important because “obviously there are a lot of people who are not going to take their items to be donated, sadly.”

In 2017, there were significant concerns from local nonprofits that this recycling service would divert clothing donations from being taken to nonprofit centers. Although Austin Resource Recovery requested data on the impacts nonprofits have seen since Simple Recycling began operating in December 2016, it never received any. Despite the lack of information from the charities, however, in order to allow the company to continue with as little adverse effect as possible to local donation centers, the original contract was amended to include a provision that states that 40 percent of materials collected by Simple Recycling will be sold to local markets by June 2018.

Austin Resource Recovery shows that 14 percent of its customers are currently participating in the program and 590,273 pounds of materials have been collected since December 2016. Simple Recycling does not pick up at multifamily units. Recently, Simple Recycling submitted data to Austin Resource Recovery indicating that Austin ranked 112 out of 113 cities around the country with the service in terms of pounds of recycled textiles per households. “I’m hoping the reason is we’re 112 is because people are still utilizing Salvation Army (and) Goodwill,” noted Chair Gerry Acuna.

Two Travis County first responders owe their lives to a little help from above. The first responders from Emergency Services District 1 were part of the wider response effort to a wildfire last week in the northwestern section of the county. According to ESD 1 Fire Chief Donnie Norman, both firefighters found themselves trapped in a pocket of the burning brush. Norman said a STAR Flight crew was able to locate the pair and lead them out to safety. “ESD 1 and all of Travis County owes a debt of gratitude to STAR Flight. Without their life-saving services, ESD 1 would be mourning the loss of two firefighters,” Norman said. Before digging into its regular voting session agenda on Tuesday, the Commissioners Court took time to recognize the efforts of the STAR Flight crew and the other first responders who successfully extinguished the wildfire.

In August 2017, City Council passed Resolution 61, which requires Austin Energy to push to have 65 percent of its energy come from renewable sources by 2027. This resolution contained an amendment by Council Member Leslie Pool that gave Austin Energy a parallel goal to create models that would show what 75 and 80 percent renewable energy by 2027 would require and what achieving 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 would look like. These studies are on the calendar to be finished by September 2019. So far, none of the studies have commenced.

In response to the slow start, members of 350 Austin showed up to the April 16 Electric Utility Commission meeting to remind the commissioners that there was no reason to wait to start the study. Beki Halpin, an Austin resident, also came to the commission to say that “Having a well-thought-out study means we would need to start now.” She came bearing a goodie bag full of symbolic gifts. When Commissioner Stefan Wray asked hopefully if it was snacks, she had to disappoint him to explain that each gift was a physical object to represent the complexity of the situation. “That’s what your gift represents. (The situation) is not naughty, but k-n-o-t-t-y.”

Travis Duncan, a mayoral candidate for the 2018 election, also arrived to show his support for beginning the study now – his platform focuses on providing access to free, equitable energy for all Austinites. When looking through Austin Energy’s budget, he found there was $189 million spent toward the Fayette coal plant. “Why are we investing a single penny in that plant given that we’re going to close it in the near future,” he said. Instead, he suggested repurposing the funds to alleviate some of the financial risk associated with building more solar plants in the city to provide energy locally. “I don’t think we necessarily need a study to know what we need to do,” he said.

The 2017 Austin Independent School District bond provided funding for the Metz-Sánchez-Zavala Modernization Project, which aims to construct a single, modernized elementary school at the Metz, Sánchez or Zavala campus. Work on the project has been in progress since November 2017 by the community planning team. Families with an interest in the project are invited to a meeting on Tuesday, April 17, 6-7:30 p.m., at Martin Middle School, to hear an update from the planning team, receive answers to any questions, and provide public comment on the project. Dinner will be provided, as well as child care and Spanish interpretation. Transportation from Metz, Sánchez or Zavala will be available at approximately 5 and 5:30 p.m. Call the Austin ISD Community Engagement office at 512-414-9761 for more information.

Keeping small businesses successful is a critical component of Austin’s eclectic economic profile, and so the city is celebrating National Small Business Week, April 30-May 4, with 15 courses and meet-ups centered around fostering their health and sustainability. The City of Austin Small Business Program is hosting the events, which will provide advice and skills training to small business owners on essential topics such as business planning and marketing. “Austin has a vibrant small business community,” said Rebecca Giello, interim director of the Economic Development Department. “A key goal of the city of Austin is to continue to support our small business sector with the tools and information needed to continue to grow our economy.” Find the event roster and free registration at www.SmallBizAustin.org.

Recently, officials at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport found themselves concerned with what happens to all the in-flight waste that ends up at Austin’s airport. Whose responsibility is it to regulate its disposal? “The challenge is when you fly into Austin, there are no controls (in flight),” said Kane Carpenter, the environmental manager with the airport, at the most recent meeting of the Zero Waste Advisory Commission. Sometimes, he explained, airlines claim that they are taking the trash to their next stop to recycle. Austin is trying to confirm that is the case. Although ABIA is working to confirm the waste diversion practices for all airlines, according to Carpenter many airlines are already complying with Austin’s wish to regulate their waste diversion practices when they land at the airport. Those who are on board include United, American Airlines, Delta and Southwest. Carpenter explained that for willing participants, the airport conducted a waste sort where they found that 20 percent of the material that was recycled was actually trash. The study was based on weight. Commissioner Joshua Blaine said, “That’s way better than the waste analysis studies we’ve done here,” meaning at the city of Austin. Commissioner Kaiba White, however, saw the results differently. “I suspect that this is not a good news story,” she said. According to her, since the study was based on weight, it could have failed to take volume into account, items like plastic forks, spoons and bottles that don’t weigh much but are generated in massive volumes and could be incorrectly disposed of. Similarly, according to her, when you’re on board a flight, there is no efficient way to recycle contaminated plastic. Nevertheless, Carpenter explained that environmentally considerate waste diversion is a nationwide initiative and that he is working with corporate environmental managers in both airports and airlines around the country to focus on waste diversion from the planes.

On April 11, the Zero Waste Advisory Commission welcomed Council Member Ellen Troxclair’s District 8 appointee, Phil Howry. Howry has lived in the District 8 Lost Creek neighborhood since 1981 and has been an active but unofficial voice since this southwestern part of the city was annexed in December 2015. Notably, he recently argued against Austin Resource Recovery overtaking the neighborhood trash routes, claiming that his bill was five times as expensive as it was before annexation. Now he has an official spot through which he can help improve waste recovery efforts in the city of Austin.