The Travis County Citizens Bond Advisory Committee is ready to take its ranked list of more than a billion dollars’ worth of potential bond projects out for public review. The committee has spent the last four months weighing the $1.1 billion list and has at last ascribed each one a priority ranking on a four-part scale. This evening, county staff and members of the committee will trot out the revised list at the first of six public meetings to be held across the county. Feedback from those events will be collected and weighed in future revisions of the list. The Travis County Commissioners Court will ultimately decide later this summer which, if any, projects will go before the voters this November.

Short of initiating the bond election itself, the Austin Independent School District Board moved closer to setting it in motion by voting to approve the list of items for the bond 8-1 at their June 19th regular meeting, with Trustee Ted Gordon dissenting. The current project total sits at $990 million $952,644,000, and superintendent Dr. Paul Cruz explained that the majority of the package would be funded by the bond itself, contingency funds, and land sales. The administration cautioned the board before their deliberation that going too far over $1 billion would increase the tax rate. Board president Kendall Pace cited a recent poll where the majority of those surveyed said that they would not vote for a bond that increased the tax rate, and fears still linger from the last bond election in 2013 when two propositions of the package failed. Several amendments adding or subtracting projects were proposed at the meeting, but all of them failed except for one from Trustee Ann Teich, which passed 4-1-4. Her amendment proposed to add the Northeast Middle School to the list if that could be done at a cost that would keep the total under $1 billion. However, there was some confusion among some of the trustees as to what the vote was about, and the board later voted to rescind the amendment 7-1-1. Still, Cruz said he would look into it and report back next week. There remains a possibility that more amendments will be added next Monday when the board meets again before they are expected to officially make the order to call for the 2017 bond election.

Although staff members in the city’s Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department have worried about their budget since President Donald Trump announced his proposal to eliminate numerous federal programs, they were able to breathe a sigh of relief after learning late last week that funding for such stalwarts as the Community Development Block Grant Program would continue through Fiscal Year 2017-18. In a press release issued on Monday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development noted that Austin would receive almost $7.2 million in block grant funding as well as more than $2.5 million for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program. Through the use of these grants, the department is able to provide housing assistance to low-income residents and the homeless, as well as services for special needs populations, including people with HIV/AIDS. These amounts represent roughly the same amount that the city is receiving this year. Those two programs currently pay for the salaries of 33 employees in the department. Federal funding will also continue for services in the Department of Health and Human Services. In his budget announcement, Trump proposed to eliminate more than $4 billion for HUD and $4.8 billion for health and human services. It remains to be seen what kind of budget Congress will adopt in September, which will impact the city’s FY 2018-19 budget.

The city is currently working on plans for transforming the Seaholm Waterfront, made up of the historic intake facility and associated parkland along Lady Bird Lake. Give the Parks and Recreation Department, along with the Austin Parks Foundation and Trail Foundation, your two cents at the first community input meeting on Saturday, June 24. Beginning at 9 a.m., residents can share their thoughts at four different locations: the Seaholm Intake Facility, the Butler Splash Pad, the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge and Vic Mathias Auditorium Shores Deck. There will be snacks on hand at each station. Those who can’t make it during the event (which wraps at 11 a.m.) can give their feedback in an online survey. Find a map of the public input stations here.

Yesterday, the city announced Mabel Davis Pool won’t open this swim season. The Southeast Austin facility was temporarily closed earlier this summer when the Parks and Recreation Department found it was leaking more than 200,000 gallons of water per day. According to a press release, crews found “significant leaks in the pool’s return lines” upon further inspection. As for the rest of the summer: Residents can take advantage of shuttle service from the site to the nearby Garrison Pool. Find a full list of pools and splash pads on the city’s website.

The Main Street of Texas could soon borrow a page from the French, if Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo has her way. The District 9 City Council member is planning on introducing a proposal at Thursday’s meeting that could clear all cars from a lengthy stretch of Congress Avenue, at least for one as-yet-undetermined day next year. The item would direct the city manager to explore the costs of the proposal, which is aimed at paving the way for what would be Bike Austin’s largest-ever Ciclovia, an event focused on spreading the gospel of two-wheeled transportation. However, the scale of this proposed Ciclovia would also allow for a much larger outdoor party in general: Tovo is looking to ban cars from Congress Avenue from 11th Street all the way down to Mary Street, a total distance of about two miles.The proposal is reminiscent of action other cities have taken to occasionally reclaim streets for pedestrians and bicyclists, include the monthly car bans on Paris’ iconic Champs-Elysees. Tovo’s office tells the Austin Monitor that major stakeholders are on board, including the Bouldin Creek Neighborhood Association, the South River City Citizens Neighborhood Association, South Congress Merchants Association and the Downtown Austin Alliance. If Council approves the mayor pro tem’s resolution on Thursday, the city manager would bring a full report back on Oct. 1.

Update: Tovo’s office told the Monitor on Monday afternoon that the Mayor Pro Tem has decided to ask the city manager to report back to Council on Sept. 1 in order for Council to have the information well in hand ahead of budget adoption later that month.

In a special Father’s Day post to the City Council Message Board, Council Member Alison Alter alerted her colleagues to a change she is proposing to an item on Thursday’s agenda. Item 43 is a resolution tweaking the review process for the Land Development Code rewrite. Alter would like to clarify that both land use commissions – Zoning and Platting and Planning – will be able to review and make suggestions on the second and third drafts. “It was always the intention for both of our Land Use Commissions to have that responsibility, however the resolution will be clarified to make that explicit,” Alter wrote. “I anticipate that the amendment to the resolution will be to substitute ‘Land Use Commissions’ for ‘Planning Commission’ in the resolution.”

Last week, City Council approved construction contracts that will pave the way for work to be done on some of Austin’s most dangerous intersections. The 2016 Mobility Bond provided $15 million in funds for safety improvements to more than two dozen “high-crash” intersections in the city. The first group of three intersections are Slaughter Lane and Alice Mae Lane, Pleasant Valley Road and Elmont Drive, and South Congress Avenue and Oltorf Street. The Slaughter and Alice Mae intersection is the first on the list. Crews are expected to install a new traffic signal there at the end of the month.

Yesterday, Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed 50 bills passed by the Texas Legislature. Included in that show of force was a move to veto the not-previously-controversial House Bill 3281, which would have allowed the city to continue its use of homestead preservation districts to use tax dollars to fund affordable housing. In his statement explaining the veto, Abbott said, “The best way to ensure people do not lose their home because of rising property taxes is to cut property taxes. This bill does nothing to lessen the tax burden for Texans on the verge of being taxed out of their home. It merely permits the City of Austin to continue redirecting tax dollars for city-initiated redevelopment. If the City of Austin is concerned about rising taxes displacing its residents, it should reconsider its tax policies or its spending priorities.” State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin) and State Sen. Kirk Watson (D-Austin), both of whom sponsored the bill, spoke out against the veto.

.@GovAbbott vetoed #HB3281, my affordable housing bill. His cruel veto makes it harder for cities to address affordability crises. #txlege pic.twitter.com/GcOQUwqbm1

— Eddie Rodriguez (@EddieforTexas) June 15, 2017

I was proud to be senate sponsor. Veto designed to punish ATX. Real effect is to punish struggling families who need affordable housing. https://t.co/d9CaSZo8hr

— Senator Kirk Watson (@KirkPWatson) June 15, 2017

City Council approved a resolution reducing event days for three parks and codifying regulations covering parking, noise limits and vending. The resolution was postponed last week per Council Member Ann Kitchen’s request, who was not present for the meeting. Council Member Jimmy Flannigan also worried that Austin City Limits Festival and other major events would take up the majority of the reduced event days, leaving even less room for less popular events. The Parkland Events Task Force made recommendations for Zilker Park, Vic Mathias Shores at Town Lake Metropolitan Park (“Auditorium Shores”) and Edward Rendon Sr. Park at Festival Beach (“Festival Gardens”). The task force recommended Zilker go from 29 to 24 event days, Auditorium Shores from 20 to 17, and Fiesta Gardens from 19 to 17 days through attrition, meaning new events cannot replace any existing events that choose to leave. Existing events such as Austin City Limits and South by Southwest are safe and sound, and the task force has said it is not kicking out existing events, but rather suggesting they go elsewhere to venues farther from the downtown hub. Parking is also prohibited on a park’s grassy area or an area designated “reserved for patrons” or “special event parking.”

City Council Member Ellen Troxclair is seeking cosponsors for her proposed resolution to raise the city’s homestead exemption from its current level of 8 percent to 14 percent. Troxclair, Council’s only conservative, posted her resolution on the City Council Message Board on Thursday. Along with the resolution, Troxclair noted, “The deadline for us to take action is July 1st so we would need to act next week on this important item.” Last year, Council raised the homestead exemption from 6 percent to 8 percent, but the vote was 6 to 5 with Mayor Steve Adler and Council Member Leslie Pool voting for the exemption. Pool and Adler have already indicated that they believe the city does not have enough funding to consider raising the exemption this year and it seems unlikely that they would change their minds. Last year’s 2 percent increase cost the city an estimated $3.8 million. However, Troxclair insists that Council made a commitment to phase in a 20 percent homestead exemption over four years, starting in 2015. Deputy Chief Financial Officer Ed Van Eenoo told Council in April that setting the exemption at 10 percent would result in a $23.61 tax reduction for the typical homeowner and cost the General Fund about $3.3 million. The impending special session of the Texas Legislature, which includes a call to limit property tax increases to 5 percent, would be another reason for Troxclair’s colleagues to reject increasing the exemption. However, Troxclair’s staff said she is hopeful of finding a cosponsor.

Today, the Travis County Commissioners Court, its staff and the community will celebrate Juneteenth. The ceremony starts at 10 a.m. at the court, after which the commissioners, staff and the community will make their way to the parking garage at Eighth and Lavaca streets to continue the celebration. It’s a tradition at the court, which County Judge Sarah Eckhardt inherited from her predecessor, former Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe. If you can’t make it out to the court today, be sure to check out the 12th Annual Juneteenth Festival on Saturday at the George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center. It kicks off at noon.