In celebration of Thanksgiving, Capital Metro will operate its Sunday bus schedule. That means no MetroRail, UT Shuttle service, Night Owl buses or E-Bus service. On Friday, Cap Metro will operate its Saturday service, with no MetroRail UT Shuttles or E-Bus service. On both days, MetroAccess subscription trips will be automatically canceled. In addition, Cap Metro warns that there will be several detours on Thursday due to the Turkey Trot. Those changes are listed here. Service will be back to normal on Saturday.

With Thanksgiving on Thursday, this week looks to be a slow one at City Hall. Not only is there no City Council meeting, there are also no Council committee meetings to speak of. As a result, this will be a week without TipSheets for the Austin Monitor. It will also be a week with an extra-long weekend, as the Monitor will be taking Thursday and Friday to celebrate the holidays with friends and family.

The Austin Monitor, KUT News and the LBJ School of Public Affairs have teamed up for the second CitySummit, which will take place on Dec. 4. In addition to the already announced list of panelists, Cedar Park Mayor Matt Powell and Manor Mayor Rita Jonse will join Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt to discuss issues and opportunities facing the region with Monitor Publisher Mike Kanin. More information about the summit’s itinerary and tickets are available here. Hope to see you all there!

As promised, the owner of the proposed Austin Oaks PUD along with neighborhood representatives will participate in a “design charrette” in January in order to come to some consensus over the site’s design. The owner of the site, Spire, agreed to the charrette, which is “a multi‐day design exercise that brings neighbors together with a multidisciplinary team of designers, engineers, and other specialists to produce a design for the property,” according to a press release about the process. “Neighborhood representatives and the owner have hired Doug Farr, FAIA, from Chicago as the design facilitator for the charrette, and the Austin firm TBG Partners has been hired as the design team. Farr and the professionals at TBG are among leading urban design architects and landscape architects in the United States.” The charrette is scheduled to take place from Jan. 24 to Jan. 29 at the Austin Oaks site. Leading up to the exercise, there will be neighborhood meetings and workshops to help clarify the neighborhood’s input. For more information, contact project manager Ben Luckens at ben_luckens@sbcglobal.net or 707‐616‐0608.

As a way to bring attention to the need for bike and pedestrian infrastructure in the Riverside Corridor, Bike Austin is inviting Austinites to participate in its “Survive Riverside Ride.” According to a petition posted online, “The Bike Austin Neighborhood Bike Advocacy Committee is calling for a ‘Complete Street’ with protected bike lanes, traffic calming measures and pedestrian safety improvements on Riverside Drive to reduce lethal speeding, boost local business and improve quality of life along the entire corridor.” In order to raise awareness, the group is holding a ride “to show how dangerous the street is in its current configuration.” No bike? A Facebook invite explains that pedestrians can participate in a “Riverside obstacle course,” which is “a rugged trek through some of the biggest obstacles to safe walking and biking on Riverside, including ‘Crossing the street’ and ‘Balancing on narrow sidewalks.'” More information about the ride and RSVP can be found here.

It may be a little cold for swimming, but Barton Springs Pool has reopened after recent flooding closed the year-round facility. The Parks and Recreation Department notes that some sections of the pool will remain closed for repairs, but lap swimming will not be restricted. From Nov. 20 until March 11, no admission will be charged, and the pool is open from 5 a.m. until 10 p.m., with lifeguards on duty from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. Barton Springs is closed Thursdays from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. for cleaning.

City Council agreed to sign a co-development agreement with Colorado nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute on a 10-1 vote on Thursday, with Council Member Don Zimmerman casting the dissenting vote. The development agreement includes an in-kind match from the Austin community, but, according to city staff, does not require a budget amendment. It provides a basis for the nonprofit and the city to work together over the next several years on a market-driven “mobility transformation” program for Austin that includes transit integration with mobile technology such as RideScout, electrification of for-hire vehicle fleets, a movement toward autonomous vehicle technology, transportation data analysis and involvement with the CodeNEXT Land Development Code overhaul. Zimmerman said he opposed the agreement because he is concerned about implicit costs and feels that the nonprofit has a “policy objective.” Council Member Ann Kitchen, who chairs the Council Mobility Committee, called that a “mischaracterization,” arguing that Council will continue to make policy decisions and that the agreement will not alter the city budget. After a nationwide search, the nonprofit selected Austin and Denver for its new transportation partnerships.

Good news for you swimmers who are at least 80 years old: City Council has voted to allow you to swim for free at all Austin city pools. The vote was 10-1, with only Council Member Don Zimmerman opposed. This is the second time the item has come up. Council Member Delia Garza wondered why the age was 80, saying that she would be willing to let anyone 75 years old or above swim for free. Council Member Ora Houston reminded her colleagues that the item was coming back because former Mayor Frank Cooksey had come to Council for a free pass to Barton Springs Pool for his wife, Lynn, who recently turned 80. At the time, anyone of that age or above who wanted a free swimming pass had to ask Council for that privilege. (Otherwise, 80-year-old swimmers have been paying $1 to swim.) Houston said a lot of people don’t have time or even know that they can ask for the free pass, and she wanted the free swimming to be automatic for anyone at least 80 years old. Parks and Recreation Department Assistant Director Kimberly McNeeley explained that the original age for Council to award the free swimming pass was 85, but that was later lowered to 80. McNeeley said the estimated fiscal impact of the new change would be about $18,000.

This weekend, Architects of Air returns to the lawn of the Long Center with its latest inflatable luminarium sculpture – the Pentalum. Anyone who has been in Austin for the past few years is probably familiar with the brightly colored structure even if they haven’t visited, from either spotting it perched on the Long Center lawn or seeing the countless, colorful selfies that flood social media whenever the interactive sculpture is in town. It will be the fourth visit to Austin and will be open from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. during weekdays and 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on weekends, Nov. 20-29 (excluding Thanksgiving). Tickets are on sale here.

City Council discussed a new $50 registration fee for “central preparation facilities” for food trucks and other mobile food vendors at a work session on Tuesday ahead of a vote scheduled for Thursday. Council Member Ora Houston, who chairs the Council Health and Human Services Committee, noted that the body recommended the new fee in a unanimous vote and called it a “public health issue.” She said it would provide oversight to facilities where food is prepared for sale in trucks across the city. Council Member Don Zimmerman said he opposes the measure, raising concerns about affordability for small-business owners. City staff estimates that there are about 300 central preparation facilities, and on Oct. 8 Council approved an ordinance requiring them to be registered with the city. Amending the current budget to institute the fee would bring in an estimated $15,000.

At today’s meeting, City Council will consider authorizing a co-development agreement with the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute to carry out a “mobility transformation” program to combat Austin’s traffic problems. Greg Rucks, a principal with the organization, said at a Monday meeting of the Council Mobility Committee that, within the next year, he hopes to have “electric vehicles deployed in for-hire vehicle fleets” –including transportation network companies and taxicabs — initiation of “an autonomous-friendly regulatory environment and infrastructure,” “better mobility options tested and new, integrated commuting solutions deployed with employees,” and availability of “transit data offering more options and providing improved experience for users.” The committee voted 3-1 in favor of recommending the agreement, with Council Member Don Zimmerman opposed. Zimmerman reiterated his opposition in a work session on Tuesday, calling the nonprofit a “policy group that has a certain agenda” and saying that the agreement calls for a “50-50 match” in city resources for carrying out the program between the institute and the city. Council Member Ann Kitchen, who chairs the Mobility Committee, countered. “RMI is not setting policy, nor are they working on any projects that are their ideas. These are projects that are already within the Transportation Department’s list of activities,” she said. “With regard to the dollars, this is … a community match, not a city of Austin match. And that means that it’s a match from all the folks in the community that will be participating. And it’s an in-kind match. So we’re not held to any dollars, we’re not changing the budget.”

In response to the ongoing drought that has created friction between Central Texas cities and rice farmers in the Lower Colorado River Basin, the Lower Colorado River Authority has signed a $174 million contract to build its first major reservoir since the first half of the 20th century. The organization’s board of directors approved the contract on Wednesday with Phillips & Jordan Inc. to build the Lane City Reservoir in Wharton County. The river authority has partnered with the Texas Water Development Board to issue $255 million in bonds to pay for the project. The 40,000 acre-foot off-channel reservoir, planned for completion in 2018, could provide as many as 90,000 acre-feet of water per year to the basin’s supply and reduce its reliance on releases from reservoir lakes Travis and Buchanan – which provide Austin’s drinking water – downstream for agricultural and other interests. One acre-foot equals about 326,000 gallons.