Be aware: The Austin Independent School District has mounted cameras on the sides of its buses in an effort to help stop motorists from illegally passing stopped buses in the process of boarding or disembarking schoolchildren. According to a press release about the safety initiative, “A recent study completed by the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services found that in a single day in Texas, more than 7,600 cars illegally passed stopped school buses.” Indeed, according to that same press release, a pilot program conducted by AISD in spring 2014 recorded an average of 60 violations per day. Texas carries a $300 penalty for the first offense of a school bus stop-arm violation; however, for the first month of the program, Austin Police officers will be issuing only warnings.

At the moment, City Council is scheduled to hold its Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee meeting prior to the jam-packed first regular Council meeting of 2016 on Jan. 28. That could change … if Council members can find a time when they won’t be attending another meeting. Committee Chair Sheri Gallo kicked off the rescheduling effort with a suggestion on the City Council Message Board that the meeting be held the previous day, at 1 p.m. Unfortunately, that time would potentially conflict with the Open Space, Environment and Sustainability Committee meeting and the Audit and Finance Committee meeting, which flank the suggested time. A suggestion to move the meeting to Jan. 25 also quickly became problematic, as it would conflict with a Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority board meeting. We’ll keep you posted on the developing rescheduling effort.

“Spring Festival Season” is fast approaching, and the city is getting ready. Yesterday, the Austin Center for Events announced a Feb. 5 deadline or a 120-application cap for special event permits for events that will take place between March 11 and March 20 this year. (Last year, the city had a goal of 105 permits.) According to a press release, “ACE will accept applications for Temporary Use, Temporary Change of Use, and 24-hour/96-hour Amplified Music Permits for outdoor temporary events during Spring Festival Season until 5 p.m., Feb. 5, 2016, or until 120 applications have been received, whichever occurs first. Any applications submitted after this date will not be reviewed or accepted. … ACE is currently receiving applications at an accelerated rate. Based on this, ACE is encouraging all venues to submit their applications as soon as possible. Applications must include a detailed site plan and will not be accepted if they are incomplete.” The press release also explained that temporary event sound-permit cutoff times will be extended during South by Southwest to midnight from Sunday to Thursday and 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Though just underway, the new year is already bringing change to some City Council offices. For one, policy aide Ashley Fisher, who has been working in Council Member Pio Renteria’s District 3 office since his election, is making the shift to city staff. Fisher previously worked in former Council Member Bill Spelman’s office, and she is now heading off to be a senior planner at Austin Resource Recovery in its Strategic Initiatives Division. In addition, over the break, Community Impact Newspaper‘s Jennifer Burkhardt (formerly Jennifer Curington) made the switch to the other side. She will no longer be covering City Hall, but she will probably still be sitting through some long meetings in her new position as a member of District 10 Council Member Sheri Gallo’s office. And, in staff news, Samantha Alexander, public information and marketing manager for the Austin Transportation Department, is making a move to the Austin Independent School District, where she will be the assistant director of public affairs and operation. She will also be reunited with Reyne Telles, AISD executive director of communications and community engagement, whom she worked with in the city’s Public Information Office prior. This whisper has been corrected to reflect the fact that Jennifer Burkhardt is now going by her married name.

This month, Austin’s Conversation Corps is talking water. Specifically, the group is holding a series of public meetings about whether the city should make the Stage 2 Water Use Restrictions permanent. Those restrictions, which limit watering to one day per week, have been in place since 2011 due to the drought. The Austin Water utility has proposed making them permanent in order to encourage conservation. To gauge public sentiment, Conversation Corps is scheduling meetings around town. All are open to the public. A list of meetings, which will continue to be updated, is available online here.

Let’s say you love plants but are wildly allergic to local flora. Up until now, that probably made trips to the Zilker Botanical Garden a source of internal conflict. Luckily, the city has good news for you. As of now, the botanical gardens can be seen virtually, through a tour available on the garden’s website. The tour offers information about the gardens and their history, and it is available to all – not just the housebound.

Austin Independent School District has announced plans to display more than 1,500 works of student art in an exhibit launched in celebration of Youth Art Month. In addition to the various media on display as part of the exhibit – which will include paintings, drawings, print and mixed media, sculptures, collages, weaving, ceramics, photography, jewelry and electronic media – 10 billboards designed by Juan Salcedo, an 11th-grader at Travis Early College High School, will soon appear around town. T-shirts designed by Phoenix Tovar, a fifth-grade student at Govalle Elementary School, will also be available for purchase. The exhibit, which runs Jan. 31 through Feb. 16, will be located at the AISD Performing Arts Center, 1500 Barbara Jordan Blvd. It will be open to the public Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.

Despite an Austin Business Journal report that ignited a firestorm of speculation Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Steve Adler’s staff says that Adler has not announced plans to propose a bond referendum this year to add managed toll lanes to I-35. In a written statement sent to the Austin Monitor Tuesday evening, Jason Stanford, communications director for Adler’s office, clarified the remarks that Adler made at an Austin Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce luncheon earlier that day. “The Mayor has frequently said that we need to act seriously to improve and address mobility and he would not be surprised if, and he’d like to see, the City move forward in a joint effort with the rest of the Central Texas region to address congestion as well as other mobility projects around the city, and this could well lead to a November bond election. The Mayor also expressed, as he often does, his support for managed lanes to facilitate transit such as are being built on MoPac (Expressway).” Stanford also clarified comments Adler made about the idea of using tax increment financing to fund a light rail system in the city. “He also thinks and has often said that he can’t imagine mobility in Austin in 20 to 30 years, with a projected regional population in excess of 4 million residents, without some kind of rail component. He also expressed the view that, given the last election where rail was defeated, that any future rail project would need to be different and probably need to be smaller in scale, federal funding would constitute a greater part of the project cost, and where the resulting increase in value of the immediately surrounding property would shoulder a greater share of the project cost. He did not suggest that this would be part of any immediate plans, much less a specific bond election, and was only speculating about what the future may hold.”

City Manager Marc Ott has made it clear that he is not pleased with a recent Austin American-Statesman article about outgoing Austin Energy General Manager Larry Weis. In a memo addressed to Mayor Steve Adler and City Council, Ott said that he was “troubled by many of the things conveyed in the article” and took particular issue with the categorization of Council as “naive.” He wrote, “I completely disagree that the City Council is ‘naive’ about utility issues. This Council has gotten up to speed very quickly and has engaged in ‘utility issues’ on many fronts. Any newly elected official will spend time getting familiar with the organization, but painting you as ‘naive’ is a disservice.” In the memo, Ott apologized for that characterization of Council, and in reference to Weis’ interview with the Statesman, he explained, “I assure you that I did NOT endorse this public process and was only informed about it after it had occurred.”

Travis County Commissioners Court heard an uplifting report about nearly 19,000 acres of land in rural North Texas that the county has owned since before statehood. In 1839, the Republic of Texas granted Travis County three leagues of land in Throckmorton County. Later, Travis added another league to the spread, bringing the total to 18,820 acres. The land is managed by an outfit called Spade Ranches, which channels revenue back to Central Texas coffers through grazing and hunting fees as well as a small number of oil wells. All of the money ends up in the Permanent School Fund, where it is then disbursed to school districts within the county. On Tuesday, Madelena Johnson, county director of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, told the court that her trip to the ranch in November convinced her that the property is in good shape. Johnson credited heavy rains throughout 2015 with providing ideal grazing conditions. “As we were touring, I just wanted to make sure we didn’t get stuck, because there was a lot of water,” said Johnson. “But the gentleman assured me he knew exactly what he was doing, and we never got stuck. So that was good.”

Beginning later this month, the city of Austin will start issuing citations to pet owners who allow their dogs to roam free at Auditorium and Vic Mathias Shores outside of the new off-leash park, a 4.5-acre parcel of land created as part of the recent redevelopment of Auditorium Shores. According to an announcement from the Parks and Recreation Department, dog owners wishing to avoid a citation should stick to the “western end of Auditorium Shores,” where the new off-leash area provides three areas of access to the water and features a walking trail, open green spaces, drinking fountains and a dog shower. Thanks to the redevelopment, some areas of Auditorium Shores that were formerly designated as off-leash are now designated as on-leash. Although that change began officially in September, park users were given a four-month grace period to adjust to the changes. That grace period ends Monday, Jan. 25, at which time violators may be fined up to $500.

Over the holidays, the Austin Animal Center saw an unusually high number of senior dogs. According to a press release, the shelter now has 40 senior dogs up for adoption and is seeking temporary fosters until that number can be reduced. Any resident interested in fostering can visit the shelter between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Deputy Chief Animal Services Officer Kristen Auerbach said that her department prioritizes adoptions of senior dogs. “The shelter environment can be particularly difficult for older dogs,” said Auerbach. “Most older dogs that end up homeless are here through no fault of their own. … These are loving, family pets that have no idea why they’re here, and many of them are sad, scared and confused.” To help with adoptions, Classic Canines of Austin offers incentives that include fee waivers, pet supplies and medical services. In addition, the group will hold an adoption event on Sunday, Jan. 10, from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., at the Austin Animal Center.