Yesterday, a coalition that includes TechNet, Austin Music People and ATX Safer Streets announced that it has formed a new political action committee named “Ridesharing Works for Austin.” In a press release, the PAC explained that it intends to collect 30,000 signatures in order to adopt the previous incarnation of transportation network company rules in a permanent city ordinance that would replace the more recent ordinance approved by City Council in December. The coalition estimates that it will take about 60 days to gather the signatures. Once 20,000 signatures have been validated, Council must either adopt the ordinance as law or call for a public vote on the ordinance during the next election. According to the coalition’s statement to the press, “Caroline Joiner of TechNet will serve as treasurer of the Ridesharing Works for Austin committee. She said other community groups will be asked to join the coalition over the coming weeks, and confirmed that rideshare companies Uber and Lyft will play a role in helping mount the petition drive. ‘We are looking to the broader Austin community, including rideshare companies, drivers, riders, and other local groups to help us reach our goal,’ said Joiner.”

The Austin Public Library has announced its January lineup of weekend performances and special events around town, beginning with a Tejano performance from Manuel Cowboy Donely on Sunday, Jan. 10 at 2 p.m. at Faulk Central Library, 800 Guadalupe St. The following weekend, on Sunday, Jan. 17, the Tufts University Wind Ensemble performs from noon to 1 p.m. at Recycled Reads Bookstore, 5335 Burnet Road; then at 2 p.m., Faulk Central hosts a screening and discussion of the five-episode television series Dare to Go Zero, which examines Austin’s recycling and composting efforts through the experiences of Austin families. Toward the end of the month, on Saturday, Jan. 23, local author Mark Pryor will discuss his book Hollow Man at 2 p.m. at the Hampton Branch Library at Oak Hill, 5125 Convict Hill Road. Learn more about Austin Public Library happenings here.

The Austin Monitor will be taking a short break from publishing during this week’s holidays. We will return Monday to take a look back at the past year. Happy holidays!

On Thursday, City Council appointed the newest member, psychologist Richard K. Yuen, to the Central Health Board of Managers. Central Health works with a network of organizations to increase health care access for low-income residents of Travis County. Council appoints four of the volunteer board’s nine members, and the Travis County Commissioners Court appoints another four as well. One member is appointed jointly by Council and the Commissioners Court. According to an announcement from the city Central Health, Yuen has over 15 years of experience providing mental health care. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Austin Community College and a member of the city’s Asian American Quality of Life Advisory Commission. He will serve a four-year term on the Central Health board, beginning in January.

Over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, some city of Austin administrative offices and municipal facilities will be closed on Thursday, Dec. 24 and Friday, Dec. 25 in observance of the Christmas holiday, with normal business hours resuming Monday, Dec. 28. The next week, they will be closed Thursday, Dec. 31 and Friday, Jan. 1, with business hours resuming on Monday. City libraries, museums, recreation centers and cultural arts centers will all be impacted by the holiday closures. According to a statement from the city, “Trash, recycling and yard trimmings collection for Austin Resource Recovery customers will ‘slide’ one day for residents whose collection day is Friday the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s Day. Collections scheduled for Friday, Dec. 25 will be collected Saturday, Dec. 26. Collections scheduled for Friday, Jan. 1 will be collected Saturday, Jan. 2. Austin Resource Recovery customers can visit austinrecycles.com and select My Schedule to get personalized calendars that show their collection days, including holiday slide days.”

Also, from the city’s press release, “The Recycle & Reuse Drop-Off Center (formerly the Household Hazardous Waste Facility and the Resource Recovery Center) will close at 3 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 24 and will resume normal business hours Saturday, Dec. 26. The Center will close at 3 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 31, and will resume normal business hours Saturday, Jan. 2. The Austin Public Library and Austin History Center will CLOSE at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 23. The Library, Recycled Reads and Austin History Center will be CLOSED on Thursday and Friday, Dec. 24 and 25. On Thursday, Dec. 31, Library and History Center will CLOSE at 3 p.m. Recycled Reads will CLOSE at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 31. The Austin Public Library, Recycled Reads and Austin History Center will be CLOSED on Friday, Jan. 1, 2016. All golf courses and Barton Springs Pool will be open on Christmas and New Year’s Day, but staff will not be present. Members of the public may play or swim for free at their own risk. The Business Solutions Center and the Entrepreneur Center of Austin will be closed Dec. 22, 2015, to Jan. 2, 2016. The Austin Animal Center will be closing early at 3 p.m. Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, and will be closed all day Christmas Day, Dec. 25. The Center will also be closing at 5 p.m. New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, and closed all day New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, 2016.”

The Capital Metro Transportation Authority will run a regular weekday schedule on Christmas Eve for MetroRail, MetroBus and MetroRapid service, but there will be no UT Shuttle or E-Bus service. On Christmas Day (Dec. 25), MetroBus and MetroRapid will run on a Sunday schedule. MetroRail, UT Shuttle, Night Owl and E-Bus services will not be available on Christmas. On Dec. 26, MetroBus, MetroRapid and MetroRail will all go back to their regular schedules. More information about Capital Metro schedules and services can be found at capmetro.org.

Austin Water has proposed that the city move permanently to a one-day-per-week watering schedule. According to an announcement from the utility, one-day-per-week watering has been “critical in keeping the Highland Lakes above emergency levels during the worst parts of the drought,” and the utility believes that permanent implementation of this rule is a “sound direction for our community.” The city is hosting four meetings in January to gather public input on the matter, beginning with a meeting on Thursday, Jan. 7, 6 to 8 p.m., at Hampton Branch Library, 5125 Convict Hill Road. The meeting will be an open house, which means participants can drop in anytime. The full schedule of meetings in available here.

The bountiful supply of comfort food, booze and elaborate ornamentation that helps make the holidays merry should also make revelers wary, says the city of Austin. “Don’t let holiday hazards ruin your celebration,” warns a recent announcement from the Health and Human Services Department. The announcement lists food, alcoholic beverages and decorations as three major sources of hidden danger at this time of year and provides tips on how to avoid such perils as food poisoning, drunken driving and choking hazards. Examples include tips on proper thawing of frozen foods and handling of raw meats, advice on securing sober rides and information about toxic or otherwise dangerous decorations – particularly for children and pets – such as poisonous holiday plants (e.g., poinsettias and mistletoe), antique ornaments (which may have lead paint), bubble lights (which can contain methylene chloride) and sharp, breakable objects (especially those that look like candy). The holiday season also brings with it more than 5,000 “decorating-related falls” each year, according to the announcement. To avoid unnecessary accidents, it is best “NEVER” to stand on anything that can become unstable and always to be mindful of ladder safety rules, such as this one: “Space the ladder at least one foot away from the wall for every four feet high it reaches.” For more on how to avoid the season’s hidden perils, visit the city’s website here.

In a vote of 10-0-1, City Council approved $309,310 in fees for the South by Southwest Music, Film, and Interactive Festival. Council Member Don Zimmerman abstained from the vote. Council Member Greg Casar said that he didn’t think the way the city has handled fee waivers for the festival accurately showed what the city was, in fact, doing. “It looks like a fee waiver for a parade downtown. This is very different than that,” said Casar. He asked for everyone to think about it as “something different” and to consider what responsibility falls on the city and what falls on event organizers. In that spirit, he thanked organizers for “stepping up and sharing the burden more.” Casar added a provision that, in the future, “such agreements should outline the roles and responsibilities of the parties, potentially for multiple years.”

Though it garnered plenty of controversy along the way, in the end, City Council Member Leslie Pool’s lobby registration resolution passed with very little fuss. Council members approved the resolution in a vote of 10-0-1 with Council Member Don Zimmerman abstaining. Zimmerman expressed concern that some members of city staff are more powerful than lobbyists, which is an issue that is not addressed in the resolution. In a post on the City Council Message Board, Pool explained that the new regulations will allow citizens to see online who is lobbying and will implement clearer definitions and standards for lobbying in the city. “On the other hand,” wrote Pool, “a number of provisions are designed to exclude minor lobbyists: 1) the compensation threshold for lobbying is $2,000 and 26-hr a quarter of allocated compensation; 2) there is an exception from discretionary decisions for building and technical code issues on specific projects (e.g., plumbing, electrical, pipelaying, etc); and 3) there are reasonable, standard exceptions, such as from compensation for lobbying for applicants providing information to the city, citizens’ service on city boards, and for achieving compliance with city law.” The resolution will return to Council as an ordinance in the future, and if that ordinance is approved, the new regulations will take effect.

In what was a (blessedly) brief conversation, City Council voted unanimously on Thursday to lift the “Test the Waters” provision in the Short-Term Rental Ordinance. The provision has allowed those who operate STRs to advertise their rentals without a license, which has made it difficult for the city to enforce the ordinance. Only Council Member Don Zimmerman questioned the wisdom of the provision, asking, “What’s to stop competitors from advertising on behalf of someone who’s not licensed, and then people who are not licensed get a fine or citation from code compliance because there is an advertisement on the Internet that they didn’t authorize?” He was told that there would be an investigation to determine whether the house was actually an unlicensed short-term rental. “That works for me,” said Zimmerman. Council also set a date for the bulk of the proposed changes to the ordinance, which it will take up on Jan. 28.