Joining the legions of groups endorsing in the upcoming city election Monday, AURA made its picks known. The group describes itself as a “a grass roots urbanist organization focused on building an Austin for everyone by improving land use and transportation through policy analysis, public involvement, and political engagement.” Given their recent participation in local politics, it should come as no surprise that they are urging a vote against the city’s ballot proposition for rail and roads. The group also announced endorsements for most of the City Council races Monday. AURA members endorsed Mike Martinez in the mayoral race, but noted there was “substantial support” for Sheryl Cole among their members. They also endorsed Delia Garza (District 2), Jose Valera (District 3), Greg Casar (District 4), Jimmy Flannigan (District 6), Jeb Boyt (District 7) and Chris Riley (District 9).

Austin now has a new billboard, advertising the fact that many grocery stores have polling places. The billboard, which is on Oltorf Street, just east of South Lamar, was donated by Reagan National Advertising and sponsored by the Texas Campaign for the Environment Fund. Executive Director Robin Schneider said, “This billboard makes it clear how convenient voting can be for busy Austinites.” Those stores, which include numerous Randalls, Fiestas and a couple of H-E-B’s, will operate not only during Early Voting but also on Election Day, Nov. 4. Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said, “With all the new people coming to our area, many come from places where Early Voting and voting at grocery stores is not possible. This billboard is one more way of getting the word out to Travis County residents,” Travis County Tax Assessor–Collector Bruce Elfant said there are currently about 658,000 registered voters in the county. His office worked to register new voters and get voters who have moved to re-register, adding about 65,000 voters to the rolls. Schneider said Brigid Shea, who is a member of the environmental group’s board and a candidate for Pct. 2 Travis County Commissioner, worked with Reagan to get the donated space. She said the billboard will remain up at least through Election Day.

Council Members Laura Morrison and Bill Spelman are set to help the Monitor close out its 2014 Beers Brains and Betterment discussion series with what we’re calling an exit interview on Nov. 18. As always, the event is at the North Door — 501 Brushy Street — where doors will open at 7 p.m. Tickets are free and can be found here. We expect a candid discussion.

In one of the more interesting moves to take place during this City Council election, three District 4 candidates have banded together to form an alliance and are speaking out about four candidates who they say moved to District 4 solely to run for office. Candidates Katrina Daniel, Sharon Mays and Roberto Perez Jr. issued a joint news release that stresses their deep roots in the district. It reads, in part, “The candidates all encouraged the voters to dig deeper and not be misled by expensive mailers sent from out-of-district interests” and also advertises a YouTube video of the three candidates, which they call the “most important 8 minutes in this election.” In that video, all three talk about their long-term ties to the area and, in particular, go after District 4 candidate Greg Casar.

The Austin Young Democrats have also endorsed in the Austin City Council election, and made their endorsements public last week. AYD endorsed Mike Martinez (mayor), DeWayne Lofton (District 1), Delia Garza (District 2), Greg Casar (District 4), Ann Kitchen (District 5), Jimmy Flannigan (District 6), Jeb Boyt (District 7), Ed Scruggs (District 8), Chris Riley (District 9), and Mandy Dealey (District 10.) Candidates had to earn 50 percent of votes to win an endorsement, and submit a questionnaire and RSVP to AYD’s forum to qualify for the ballot. According to AYD president Katherine Haenschen, the mayoral and District 8 races were decided in a runoff, District 1 was decided after two runoffs, and in District 3 more than 50 percent of those voting chose no endorsement over the candidates on the ballot. AYD also backed the Rail Bond, and encouraged Austin voters to vote “yes” on Proposition 1.

Austin celebrated the opening of the Southern Walnut Creek Hike and Bike Trail over the weekend. The 10-foot-wide trail runs from Govalle Park to Johnny Morris Road and is about 7.3 miles in length. The project was funded by an $8.08 million TxDOT grant, along with $2 million from the Parks and Recreation Department and additional funds from 2006’s trail-bond program. More information and a map of the trail can be found here.

On Thursday, City Council approved two boards and commission nominations. Council Member Bill Spelman appointed Meredith Walker to the Downtown Commission, and Council Member Kathie Tovo appointed Melissa Orren to the Building and Standards Commission.

District 10 candidate Robert Thomas is getting a big boost from the Austin Board of Realtors PAC. According to a report of independent expenditures filed with the Austin city clerk’s office this week, ABoR PAC has invested $50,000 on a mailer, online ads and robocalls for Thomas. That is considerably more than the group spent on other candidates it has endorsed. For example, in a document filed with the city clerk’s office on the same day, the PAC said it had spent about $10,000 on a candidate mailer for District 2 candidate John Sheppard. Last week, the ABoR PAC reported similar amounts to further the campaigns of District 4 candidate Greg Casar and mayoral candidate Steve Adler. The Austin Firefighters PAC, known as the Austin Firefighters Public Safety Fund, reported that it spent relatively small amounts to pay people to walk door to door and for door-hanging brochures for District 2 candidate Delia Garza, District 6 candidate Jay Wiley, District 9 candidate Chris Riley and District 3 candidate José Valera, as well as for Thomas. Thomas’ opponent, Mandy Dealey, put out a call for donations Thursday upon learning about the ABoR PAC donation to Thomas. Dealey noted in her fundraising email that Saturday is the fundraising deadline for the final report on campaign finances before the election. That report is due next week.

Travis County is not the only place in the state where early voting is on a pace to break some records. The Texas Secretary of State’s office reports that the first few days of early voting in many of the state’s larger counties has already surpassed the entire voter turnout from the 2010 midterm elections. Austinites continue to hit the early polls, with another 9,805 ballots cast Thursday. That puts the four-day total at 46,843, or 7.21 percent of Travis County registered voters. That puts Austin on track to have between 20 and 23 percent of registered voters cast ballots before the Nov. 4 Election Day. Early voting remained fairly heavy in west, central and southwest parts of town Thursday, with turnout relatively light in the east and southeast parts of the city. Early voting runs through Oct. 31. For more information and a list of polling places, go to the Travis County Elections website.

Looking to wean itself off municipal water, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center approached the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District for a pumping permit in March. The aquifer district approved the 6.7 million gallon-per-year permit Thursday night, waiving a rule disallowing new pumping to start under drought conditions for the Wildflower Center. Though the district doesn’t allow new firm-yield permits on the Edwards Aquifer, the Wildflower Center’s permit is for an existing Middle Trinity Aquifer well. The district advertises the Trinity as an alternative to the Edwards, and only 32 percent of that aquifer is allocated through permits (with the new permit, 133 million gallons allocated versus an estimated 419 million gallons of available groundwater). The permit is exclusively for irrigation.

Early voters continued to flock to the polls Wednesday to cast ballots for the city’s first single-member district City Council election, the Proposition 1 transit bonds, or other races. The number of voters Wednesday hit 9,798, bringing the three-day total to 37,007, or 5.67 percent of Travis County’s registered voters. Voters at the Randall’s at Research and Braker in District 10 continued to turn out in heavy numbers Wednesday, with 1,029 votes cast. The Ben Hur Shrine Center was one of the busier polling stations with 699 votes Wednesday, bringing the total since the polls opened Monday to 2,069. And so far, 5,587 votes have been cast by mail, while 2,106 votes have been cast via the Travis County Mobile Voter vans, which are in different locations every day. Early voting ends Oct. 31. For information on early voting polling places and mobile voter locations, visit the Travis County Elections website.

Planning and Development Review Department Director Greg Guernsey said Tuesday that he plans to ask City Council for an “indefinite postponement” Thursday of an ordinance that would allow the city to issue permits for overnight concrete pouring on downtown mixed-use and public zoned properties. He said he would likely propose a modified ordinance with adjusted hours and noticing requirements at a later date. Council Member Laura Morrison said that noise from concrete pouring has made certain places downtown “essentially unlivable,” and that overnight pouring is prohibited in Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth. Morrison also said she was considering proposing a modified, interim ordinance that would allow overnight pouring on public zoned properties in addition to what is currently allowed on central business district zoned properties, but limit all pouring hours to 2 a.m. The interim ordinance would include language that allows for exceptions under “extraordinary circumstances” and takes into account other mitigation strategies.