The Travis County Commissioners Court, City Council and City Manager Marc Ott are teaming up to host the Spirit of East Austin community forum on Sept. 12. The public is invited to participate in small problem-solving groups, share ideas for equitable economic development and learn about current economic development efforts underway. Participants are also encouraged to share their own experiences and to bring photos, artwork or other objects relevant to their stories. Children will be welcome to join in supervised youth activities, and services for participants requiring assistance or language interpretation can be arranged beforehand. (Email barbara.shack@austintexas.gov or call 512-978-2100 by Sept. 9.) The event will take place at the Travis County Expo Center, 7311 Decker Lane, 9 a.m.-noon (doors open at 8:15 a.m.). To RSVP, go here.

On Wednesday afternoon, the city’s tax rolls came out. They showed $4.9 billion more in property tax values than previously estimated ($111.1 billion compared to the estimated $106.2 billion). What does that mean? For one, it means that the tax rate needed for the proposed budget has fallen to 45.98 cents for every $100 of property valuation (from 48.14 cents). It also means the median homestead taxable value is now $217,367, not $218,336. According to a memo from Deputy Chief Financial Officer Ed Van Eenoo, based upon the certified tax roll data, “The annual tax bill for the owner of a median valued homestead in fiscal year 2015-16 is projected to decline $12 relative to the current year’s median tax bill. It is noteworthy that but for (City) Council’s action to enact a 6% general homestead exemption, the projected tax bill for the median valued homestead would have been $40 higher and an increase of $28 over its fiscal year 2014-15 level.” Of course, the proposed budget remains theoretical for the time being and has yet to be determined. Today, Council members will continue to discuss their priorities, take public testimony and hammer out the details of the $3.5 billion budget with an eye toward finalizing it next month.

This morning at 8:30 a.m., City Council Members Greg Casar, Leslie Pool and Ann Kitchen will hold a press conference to announce a new budget proposal. The Residents’ Advocacy Project is designed to improve how the city handles dangerous rental properties and short-term rental enforcement. According to a press release about the new program, “This initiative would utilize $350,000 from the proposed budget of the Austin Code Department for a contract to fund outreach positions and legal support to address major violations of substandard and dangerous conditions in rental properties. Furthermore the proposal will empower the City’s Law Department and Code Department to pursue litigation to provide relief for tenants and neighborhoods from dangerous rental properties and persistently non-compliant STR operators.” The press release goes on to explain that the city would contract with a nonprofit legal organization that would perform outreach and education about tenants’ rights and bring forward complaints about unsafe building conditions. Though the proposal is budget-neutral, it will be discussed during the budget process, which will continue today with a public hearing and is set to conclude Sept. 10.

The Parks and Recreation Department announced on Wednesday that it is seeking public input on two redevelopment proposals for the Seaholm Intake Facility. The facility once served as the pump house for the now decommissioned Seaholm Power Plant and remains a prominent feature of the downtown landscape given its signature Art Deco design. Indeed, the final proposal, according to the city’s announcement, “should incorporate the design sensibility of the overall existing space” and “maintain the historic façade” while also allowing for design improvements. Ultimately, the hope is that the space – which consists of three buildings on a 3.4-acre parcel of land – will be multifunctional and “engage the trail, park users and lake front” nearby. The search for a design team to redevelop the site began in October 2014, when the city released a Request for Qualifications. Now the city has launched an online survey, available until Sept. 13, soliciting feedback on the top two proposals. For more information, visit the city’s website.

In a story published earlier this week, the Austin Monitor incorrectly reported that Trinity Street would be closed to cars and maintained as a pedestrian-only street if plans to expand the Convention Center move forward. In fact, closures of Trinity Street would be event-driven and temporary, and not dictated by the convention center expansion.

It’s a tall order, but Mayor Steve Adler will be announcing a plan to end veteran homelessness in Austin by Veterans Day this year. Adler, along with Sen. Kirk Watson and representatives from the Austin Board of Realtors, the Austin Apartment Association and the Real Estate Council of Austin, among others, will be hosting a press conference at 11 a.m. today at at 2903 Burning Oak Drive, the home of a recently housed veteran. “Housing Our Heroes” is Austin’s effort to answer the national Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness and features a coalition of coordinated community partners. The coalition includes representatives from government, nonprofit, for-profit and real estate sectors working together to house over 200 veterans in the next 12 weeks. Landlords participating in the program will receive HUD vouchers through the Veterans Administration. On Oct. 15, 2014, then-Mayor Lee Leffingwell and his colleagues announced that by pooling resources with various local organizations, the city would aim to end veteran homelessness by the end of 2015. On May 1, 2015, Adler reaffirmed the commitment at the annual meeting of the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition. Today’s press conference will describe efforts by the city, the real estate community, the Austin Community Foundation, Caritas, Front Steps, the Salvation Army, Watson’s office and federal agencies to ensure that Austin meets that goal and all local veterans have homes by Veterans Day.

City Council unanimously approved a deal to turn 64 and 58 Rainey St. into parkland yesterday, after years of battle over the land closest to the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center. As part of the deal, developer Sackman Enterprises will be allowed to use 64 Rainey St. as a construction staging area for two years, while construction of a luxury condominium complex at 70 Rainey St. is underway. In return, the developer will pay $400,000 toward a master plan rewrite for the MACC. As the vote neared, Council Member Greg Casar sought – and found – assurance that the parkland could not be revoked by a future City Council.

An intergovernmental working group is gradually bringing more clarity to the once-blurry proposal for Austin’s first drunk tank. On Tuesday, Roger Jefferies, county executive for the Travis County Justice & Public Safety Department, gave the Commissioners Court an update on the group’s progress. Jefferies said that the consensus is leaning toward the idea of recommending that a special local government corporation be created to run the joint operation between Travis County and the city of Austin. Jefferies also suggested that a so-called sobriety center could be set up inside a county-owned building in downtown Austin at 1213 Sabine St. That space is expected to become free when its current occupant, the Medical Examiner’s Office, moves into new digs in Northeast Austin as early as January 2017. Among the features at the ME’s building that make it “perfect” for a drunk tank, according to Jefferies, are its “drains on the floor, a sally port for drop-off (and) separate space for women.” The question of funding the construction and operation of the sobriety center is still up in the air, and Commissioner Gerald Daugherty, who sits on the working group, warned his colleagues that it won’t be cheap. However, County Judge Sarah Eckhardt added that savings could be reaped over time by reducing recidivism of chronic alcoholics. Jefferies told the Austin Monitor that he expects to give the commissioners another update sometime in the fall, if not earlier.

Just shy of a majority of City Council gathered mid-work session on Tuesday to show support for a $6.7 million increase in the city’s Health and Human Services Department budget. Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo and Council Members Ora Houston, Delia Garza, Greg Casar and Ann Kitchen held a press conference with One Voice Central Texas to declare their support for the increase. One Voice, which is a coalition of 85 area nonprofits, has launched a campaign for the increase in the hope that it would help close the gap between the city’s richest and poorest residents. The group notes that while police, fire and even parks department budgets have increased about 250 percent over the past decade, the budget for Health and Human Services has increased only 20 percent, despite growing poverty in the region. “What is a booming economy for, if we remain such a segregated economy, if we remain such a segregated city?” asked Casar. More information about the plan can be found on the One Voice website, and it will surely be a topic of discussion during Council’s ongoing budget talks. Council will approve a final budget next month.

Despite the fact that there were still only seven of the 11 members present, the Historic Landmark Commission elected its officers Monday night. “The clerk’s office has told us we pretty much have to do it,” said Historic Preservation Officer Steve Sadowsky. With that in the rearview, commissioners voted unanimously to make official the temporary officers from their first meeting. Mary Jo Galindo will remain chair, and David Whitworth will serve as vice chair. The District 2 commission seat remains vacant.

A new play group program for shelter dogs begins this week at the Austin Animal Center. The play groups provide an opportunity for dogs to play together in an off-leash environment while also allowing potential adoptees to see how the dogs interact. The center hopes the play group program – which has been implemented in more than 100 other municipal shelters, according to an announcement from the Animal Center – will help increase the number of pet adoptions in Austin. Aimee Sadler, founder and director of Dogs Playing for Life, is conducting training sessions to teach Animal Center staff and volunteers how to lead the play groups. The public is invited to drop in and observe the sessions, which take place every day through Aug. 30, 8 a.m. to noon, at the dog play yards near the center at 7201 Levander Loop. During this time, adoption fees for play group dogs will be waived. To further sweeten the deal, the center will be hosting a pizza party on Saturday, Aug. 29, with Stony’s Pizza and Jim-Jim’s Water Ice, from 9 a.m. to noon.

Austin’s Don’t Block the Box program shifted locations this week. Yesterday, enforcement moved to intersections at North Lamar Boulevard and Fifth Street, Sixth and 38th streets and the intersection of Lake Austin Boulevard and Atlanta Street. Officers will be at those locations from 7 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 6:30 p.m. During that time, they will be looking for drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists who violate red lights, block intersections, don’t stop at the proper place, don’t yield, drive in bus lanes, drive recklessly or cause other “unsafe moments.” According to a press release, “The Don’t Block the Box campaign was implemented on Monday, April 6, 2015 as part of the City Manager’s Traffic Congestion Action Plan. The goal is to reduce traffic congestion on Austin’s major arterial roadways and in the Downtown Central Business District. Additional Don’t Block the Box signs will be deployed to various locations across Austin during the upcoming weeks. Drivers should know, whether or not there is a sign or an officer at the location, it is still illegal to block the box.”