In its lawsuit against the Travis Central Appraisal District over valuation of commercial property and vacant land, the city of Austin has dropped its claim for mandatory disclosure of real estate sales prices. The city’s lawyers say they are no longer pursuing that request in their response to a motion for summary judgment filed by the defendant Junk Yard Dogs LP. Junk Yard Dogs owns the building where Protax, an appraisal protest business, is located. “The city is only seeking a fair tax process where all parties are taxed using the same value – market value – meeting the constitutional mandate of ‘equal and uniform’ taxation,” the city says. The decision to drop the claim that real estate sales prices be disclosed eliminates one of the grounds the defendants used to argue that the city’s suit should be dismissed. The city’s response was filed on Friday. The parties will gather at the courtroom of Judge Tim Sulak this Friday to argue about whether the suit should continue or be dismissed. The state of Texas intervened in the lawsuit last week, claiming that the city was attempting to usurp legislative duties in the realm of tax policy.

This week, the Austin Monitor has its eyes on just one City Council meeting: Monday’s Health and Human Services Committee meeting, which will take place at 4 p.m. Although the committee’s agenda is posted online, at the time of publication that link was broken, so that’s about all of the information that was available. All will (obviously) be revealed at the actual meeting. Also, as a reminder, there is no Council meeting this Thursday.

In response to devastating flooding in the region, the city has compiled resources for those impacted and those wanting to help. Information is available at austintexas.gov/help or by calling 3-1-1 for information. The website offers information about shelter locations, legal clinics, child care and housing issues, as well as information for those looking for ways to assist residents impacted by the flooding. Austin/Travis County public safety officials have established a shelter for people who need it at the Dittmar Recreation Center, located at 1009 W. Dittmar Road. Over the weekend, Austin Animal Center took in 200 animals, and the city is encouraging those looking for lost pets to visit the shelter. According to a press release from the city, “Financial donations can be made to the Red Cross, Austin Disaster Relief Network (ADRN), Salvation Army or United Way.” ADRN is also accepting donated goods, which can be dropped off at a mobile trailer at Teri Road Baptist Church, 1844 Teri Road, Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Gently used men’s, women’s and children’s clothing and shoes are being accepted, as are new pillows, blankets, socks and undergarments.

This Saturday, Oct. 31, City Council Member Don Zimmerman will hold a town hall meeting to discuss “current Council issues,” including high water bills, festival fees and transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft. According to a press release about the event, Texas Department of Transportation representative Bruce Byron will also be on hand to give an update on the FM 620 Corridor Study. The District 6 meeting will take place at the Anderson Mill Limited District Office, which is located at 11500 El Salido Parkway, from 1:30 until 4 p.m. Following that, Zimmerman will be celebrating Halloween with a blood drive and party at his field office, located at 10401 Anderson Mill Road, Suite 101, next to Shipley Do-Nuts. The event runs from 1 to 4 p.m.

Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a motion to intervene in the city’s lawsuit challenging the Travis Central Appraisal District’s valuations of commercial and vacant properties. The state of Texas “seeks to intervene in this case to defend against the City of Austin’s invalid attempt to take control over Texas tax policy from the Legislature by challenging the constitutionality and the validity of” certain sections of the Texas Tax Code, according to the petition filed Thursday afternoon. The attorney general’s petition states that although the city limits the relief it is seeking to the appraisal of commercial properties, “its claim challenging the constitutionality of the state’s tax appraisal system applies to all Texas property owners, residential and commercial alike.” Because Judge Tim Sulak granted TCAD’s motion to strike the attempted intervention by six homeowners, the state claims that “homeowner taxpayers have been deprived of a voice in the city’s attempt to rewrite Texas tax law.” The city, TCAD and commercial property owners are scheduled to return to court for a hearing on a motion to dismiss the case filed by Junk Yard Dogs LP next Friday morning. Junk Yard Dogs LP is the owner of the building in which the property tax protest business, Protax, is located.

After a year of being out of use because of unsafe equipment, the playground at Cook Elementary School is open once again. City Council Member Greg Casar, Austin Independent School District Superintendent Paul Cruz, AISD District 3 Trustee Ann Teich, Parks and Recreation Department Director Sara Hensley and Austin Parks Foundation Executive Director Colin Wallis will join Cook Elementary School students in celebrating the new park (and new equipment) today, Oct. 30, at 2 p.m. The reopening is a result of a collaboration among AISD, the Austin Parks Foundation and the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.

The Parks and Recreation Department is conducting a series of Swim 512 focus groups in order to gather in-depth public input on city and neighborhood pools. The focus groups will be held throughout November at various locations around town, and each one will last about 45 minutes to an hour. To participate, sign up here.

The National Association of City Transportation Officials kicked off its fourth annual traveling conference Wednesday at the JW Marriott hotel. Austin Mayor Steve Adler greeted the 650 attendees with a few words about how Austin’s transportation network ties with its affordability concerns. “Mobility and transportation is where our fundamental answers to those challenges need to come from,” he said. “So, the work that you’re doing here, the work that you’re doing all over is so important to help our city find the directions and the ways to go.” Janette Sadik-Khan, the chair of the organization and former commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, set the scene for the conference. “We’re really here to teach one another, to learn from one another and to share ideas that can work from coast to coast and (share) strategies that promote walking and biking and transit and safer streets,” she said. After a few other presentations about new transportation initiatives in cities such as New York and Los Angeles, attendees sat in on panel discussions – one of which this reporter participated in – on topics ranging from transit systems to pedestrian networks. The main conference will continue through Friday, with some activities on Saturday as well. Sadik-Khan will join the Downtown Austin Alliance for a reception and keynote presentation on Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m.

The Austin Parks and Recreation Department is seeking input on improvements to be implemented at Ricky Guerrero Neighborhood Park in South Austin. It will be hosting a come-and-go meeting on the morning of Nov. 7, from 9 to 11 a.m., during which interested members of the community can discuss improvements one-on-one with members of the project team. In particular, the team will be looking for feedback on sidewalk reconfigurations, potential improvements to play equipment and preliminary designs for increased connectivity. The meeting will be held at the park at 2006 S. Sixth St. Anyone seeking more information can contact project coordinator Greg Gregson by phone (512-974-9475) or by email.

In the latest chapters of City Council Member Don Zimmerman’s war against high water rates and the ongoing battle to stay in Austin’s headlines forever and ever, the District 6 Council member is now urging Austinites to “Show Us Your Manhole.” On Facebook, the absurdly named campaign describes its call to action this way: “The City of Austin is not reading the water meters throughout Austin and using algorithms to calculate bills. Show us your undisturbed water meter manhole!” Zimmerman shared the page on his own Facebook page, asking constituents for photos.

Early voting for the Nov. 3 election has continued this week, and as of Wednesday night, only 3.02 percent of registered Travis County voters – 19,205 – had cast ballots. So far, the busiest voting center has been the Randalls grocery store at Research and Braker, which has seen 2,601 ballots cast. In contrast, Parque Zaragoza Recreation Center at 2608 Gonzales St. has seen only 88 votes cast so far. A complete list of polling locations is available on the county clerk’s website.

After just 10 months, Vanessa Sarria, who has been policy initiative and advancement director for Mayor Steve Adler, is stepping down from her post. Sarria told the Austin Monitor that she wants to spend some more time with her family. “The mayor is a very hard-working man, and I have a 9-year-old and 14-year-old. I really would like to be at their school events.” Doing so is particularly difficult because Sarria and her family live near Lakeline Mall. “This is a wonderful opportunity but not the best time of my life,” she said. Prior to going to work for the mayor, Sarria was executive director of the Community Advancement Network, a job that allowed considerably more flexibility, she said. The mayor is well-known for attending events and scheduling meetings from early morning until late at night, seven days a week. Sarria said that she would continue to work in the community on issues such as affordability, equity and opportunity. Jim Wick, who was Adler’s campaign manager and has been director of community engagement in the mayor’s office, will take over Sarria’s role, which means that he will be leaving his communications job, taking over the agenda process and helping to direct initiatives. Adler policy adviser Lesley Varghese is close to full term in her pregnancy, Wick said, and she is currently working from home. When the baby arrives, she will go on maternity leave, although it is not clear how long she will be gone, he said. He added that Monica Williams has been hired to temporarily fill in for Varghese. The city has posted a job opening for communications director in the mayor’s office to take over the work that Wick has been doing. Others working in the office include John-Michael Cortez, Brandi Clark Burton, Kazique Prince, Frank Rodriguez, Sly Majid, Nancy Cardenas and Barbara Shack.