Prospective travelers might have seen headlines about unprecedented demand for U.S. passports causing major processing delays. Some happier news, then, for globe-trotting hopefuls: Austin Public Library on Tuesday announced expansion of its Passport Services office. Previously, library patrons could only apply for passports at the Central Library. Now, the Ruiz Branch, Spicewood Springs Branch and Recycled Reads Bookstore all offer such services. Applicants can make an appointment at any of those four locations. Get more information – including hours, appointment instructions and required application materials – at library.austintexas.gov/passports.

If this item was a car dealership commercial, we might say, “Dive into these savings!” But it’s a news brief, so: The city’s Parks and Recreation Department announced on Tuesday that admission fees will be waived at almost all public swimming pools starting Wednesday and lasting thorough Sept. 30. The waiver was made “in consideration of the ongoing excessive heat,” according to a news release. There’s a catch: You still have to pay to use Barton Springs Pool, but any other pool is fair game. Last week, the city announced that six seasonal pools would stay open longer than normal, through Sept. 24. Get more info on pool hours at austintexas.gov/pools.

This fall, the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas will launch its new Sustainability Leadership program to train business and nonprofit executives to lead environmental organizations. The program begins Sept. 14 and is offered through UT’s Texas Executive Education center in a nine- or 12-month model. The program is open to those with at least 10 years of work experience, and it costs $16,000 to $18,000. Participants will complete 18 weeks of core modules on sustainability in business, sustainability leadership and success measurement, followed by 12 weeks of web-based elective courses and a capstone project to create a business case for a sustainability initiative.

The 33rd Austin Pride Festival and Parade are set to add a little color to our lives on Saturday, and the city has announced road closures in advance of the celebration of the LGBTQ community. This year’s parade starts at 8 p.m. at the Capitol, marches down Congress Avenue and ends when it hits Cesar Chavez Street. Various downtown road closures will begin starting at 1 p.m., and most affected streets will reopen by midnight except for Fourth Street from Lavaca Street to Congress Avenue. (Y’know, for the partying.) Find a map of the closures at the city’s website. Highlights include:

• 11th Street will be closed from Colorado Street to San Jacinto Boulevard starting at 5 p.m.
• San Jacinto Boulevard will be closed from from 11th Street to 15th Street starting at 1 p.m.
• Congress Avenue will be closed from 11th Street to Barton Springs Road starting at 5 p.m.

The city offered alternate route suggestions:

• Northbound/southbound traffic: Red River Street and Interstate 35
• Northbound only traffic: Trinity Street and Lavaca Street
• Southbound only traffic: Guadalupe Street
• Eastbound/westbound traffic: 15th Street, Riverside Drive and Barton Springs Road

Get more info on this year’s Austin Pride at the city website.

City Council Member Leslie Pool told the Austin Monitor she does not intend to run for another office after she finishes her City Council term at the end of 2024. The news comes after the Austin American-Statesman reported over the weekend that Pool “informed a local Democratic club she is considering running to succeed” Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector Bruce Elfant. Elfant is retiring from the post he has held for the past 10 years. But Pool told the Monitor that she changed her mind after visiting her daughter, Emily, in New York and learning that Emily plans to marry in the near future. Pool said that in addition to her focus on the wedding, she will have a busy year when she becomes mayor pro tem in January. She noted that during her final year on the dais, there will be significant issues to tackle, starting with the search for a new city manager. Pool said she also is working on resilience and sustainability as vice chair of the National League of Cities Committee on Energy, Environment and Natural Resources. Closer to home, Pool is chair of the Council committees on Austin Energy and Austin Water, vice chair of the Capital Metro board and vice chair of the Council Audit and Finance Committee. She concluded in a text to the Monitor, “I have a lot of work ahead, and the culmination of 10 years of effort.”

Travis Central Appraisal District Chief Appraiser Marya Crigler has announced her intention to retire in early 2024. The district’s board of directors is scheduled to finalize plans for a nationwide search for the next chief appraiser during this month’s meeting.

Crigler has served as chief appraiser since 2011 and worked at TCAD since 1990 in various roles since graduating from college. A news release about her retirement touted her leadership in launching the “Truth in Taxation” website. According to the release: “Throughout her career, Crigler has received numerous recognitions for her work, including being awarded the Earl Luna Award and the James A. Goodwin Excellence in Education Award from the Texas Association of Appraisal Districts (TAAD) for promoting the effective and efficient functioning of appraisal districts in Texas. During her tenure as Chief Appraiser, Crigler has also served as President, Vice President, and Secretary/Treasurer of the Texas Association of Appraisal Districts; Treasurer and Trustee of the Texas Association of Assessing Officers; and Chair of the Metropolitan Council of Appraisal Districts. Under her leadership, the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) awarded TCAD the Distinguished Assessment Jurisdiction Award in 2017 and the Public Information Program Award in 2021.”

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my 33 years at TCAD and am grateful for the opportunities this agency has given me,” Crigler told the board when she informed them of her intention to retire.

Last month, Mayor Kirk Watson gave leaders of the local real estate sector a sneak preview of the findings of an analysis of the city’s development review process conducted by the consulting firm McKinsey & Company. Speaking at the Austin Board of Realtors’ Central Texas Housing Summit, Watson shared that McKinsey found 11 city departments are involved in every permit review process, which includes more than 1,470 steps. He said the firm also found that, on average, every application goes through five review cycles, calling the process “wildly inefficient.” Watson said the firm’s work, which is expected to be fully disclosed soon, will help the city to streamline development reviews to make it easier to build homes and other real estate projects. “The McKinsey findings will give us a path forward, and the proposed budget includes funding to implement changes so the city can move quicker and stop being an obstacle to creating essential housing and infrastructure,” he said.

Given all the recent discussion about Austin’s spacious minimum lot sizes for single-family homes, which set on the path to being greatly reduced last month, there’s little surprise that an analysis from the self-storage company StorageCafe ranked Austin sixth in a list of cities with the largest median home and lot size. The study found Austin has a median lot size of 8,620 square feet and a median home size of 2,020 square feet. Only three other cities – Milwaukee; Omaha, Nebraska; and Miami – had a median home size of more than 2,000 feet, though Atlanta and Nashville, Tennessee, were among the cities with substantially larger median lot sizes. The study noted that the longtime embrace of large lot sizes and the continued migration of newcomers into Austin has created a robust real estate market with substantial price growth: “With a price tag of over $586K, Austin joins the list of the most expensive real estate markets, below only DC, Boston, NYC, Seattle, Denver, Miami and a few California cities which feature higher home values.”

City Council has not met since Tuesday, when a federal judge ruled that the city’s short-term rental ordinance is unconstitutional. That ordinance, passed by Council in 2016, requires that owners of short-term rental properties claim their rental property as their homestead. Last year, José Roig, the director of Austin’s Code Department, told Council that a majority of the city’s short-term rentals were operating without licenses. At that time, Roig said that “there are anywhere between 9,000 and 11,000 STR listings in Austin, depending on the day, but only around 2,000 of those are licensed.” Council Member Ryan Alter already is looking forward to fixing the problem. He told the Austin Monitor on Thursday, “It didn’t take our courts to tell us that the city’s STR policy isn’t working. My office has been exploring opportunities to improve the current regime for some time, and this decision further solidifies that we must act. Once we get past the budget, I look forward to working with my colleagues on a new STR policy that will enhance compliance, revenue collection and quality of life for our neighborhoods throughout Austin.”

Austin Public Health is warning that wastewater data is showing an uptick in Covid-19. A press release from the health authority said the presence of the virus has increased over the past six weeks, though it remains below the national average. “We have seen an increase in the spread of Covid-19 every summer, and it is important to get vaccinated and receive your booster dose,” said Austin-Travis County Health Authority Dr. Desmar Walkes in a statement. “Ways to prevent the spread of Covid-19 remain the same – maintaining healthy habits like frequent hand-washing, covering your cough, staying home and testing when you are sick.” Though Covid-19 has lingered past the official national emergency caused by the virus, hospitalizations remain low. That is attributed to vaccines, which continue to protect against the virus even when new variants spread. Updated vaccines that will target these variants are expected in the fall. Anyone can visit vaccines.gov (vacunas.gov in Spanish) to find nearby Covid-19 vaccine providers.

Workforce Solutions Capital Area has partnered with Austin Community College and health care training nonprofit Dwyer Workforce Development to increase job training for nurses needed throughout Central Texas. Workforce Solutions Capital Area is covering tuition and some child care costs for students taking the training offered by Dwyer, with a personal case manager available to assist with the application process. With Texas Workforce Commission finding a shortage of 26,863 nurses across the state, the need for nurses is sure to grow locally as all of Austin’s major hospital systems – Ascension Seton, St. David’s HealthCare and Baylor Scott & White Health – have plans for significant expansion in the next five years. Workforce Solutions Capital Area is also hosting a summit on the state of local workforce education on Aug. 9 at the San Marcos Conference Center at Embassy Suites. Information and registration is available at business.sanmarcostexas.com.