Add this one to your calendar alongside previously announced holiday events. Travis County will host its 34th annual Juneteenth Celebration from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today on the first level of the parking garage at 800 Lavaca St., across from the Travis County Administrative Building. The theme of this year’s event is “Showtime at Juneteenth – Discovering our Roots.” Members of the public can expect a performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” music by DJ Breedlove, informational booths and food. Parking will be available at the garage; enter on Guadalupe Street. Plus: They validate! Find more info at the county’s website.

The city will hold a community open house to review preliminary designs for the Bradshaw Road Substandard Street Project from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on June 21 at Southeast Branch Library (5803 Nuckols Crossing Road). “Substandard streets are publicly owned roadways within the City of Austin’s jurisdiction that do not meet current City of Austin requirements because they have pavement widths that are less than 24 feet and typically lack some curb and gutter, drainage, bicycle accommodations and sidewalk infrastructure,” according to a news release. The Bradshaw Road project includes a portion of Old Lockhart Road and extends from Slaughter Lane to River Plantation Drive. At the open house, members of the public can “meet with project managers, ask questions about the planned improvements and hear about next steps in the project’s process,” according to the release. Feedback gathered at the session will be used for the Preliminary Engineering Report for Bradshaw Road, expected to be completed this summer. For more information, visit the city’s website.

You might have seen the details on the George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center’s Stay Black and Live Juneteenth Festival from June 12 to 19. Here’s another way to observe the holiday. The city and the Greater East Austin Youth Association will host the Central Texas Juneteenth Parade and Festival from 9:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on June 17. The parade begins in the morning at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Salina Street, and then it heads down Chicon Street to Rosewood Avenue before ending at Rosewood Neighborhood Park. The parade will be followed by food, vendors, music and games at the park. Find more info on the parade and festival at juneteenthcentraltexas.com.

Buzz-worthy news, to be sure: As part of Austin’s affiliation with Bee City USA, locals can celebrate Pollinator Week June 19-25. “Bee City Austin celebrations will include pollinator talks, a night walk and other fun activities for adults and families,” according to a news release from the Parks and Recreation Department and the Austin Public Library. For example, you can mark the grand opening of the Austin Science and Nature Center’s Seed Library. Austin became part of the Bee City USA network in 2022. Bee City USA works to “galvanize communities to sustain and support pollinators, specifically the approximately 3,600 species of bees native to the U.S.,” according to the release. Find a list of events and registration information at austintexas.gov/blog/pollinator-week.

Austin Public Health’s Blackland Neighborhood Center is hosting its 25th annual pre-Juneteenth wellness and education fair. This popular community event features live music, free barbecue, a gift card drawing, PPE (masks and hand sanitizer) and lots of enticing giveaways. In addition to the fun, there will be health education and an abundance of free vaccinations to keep you and your loved ones safe and healthy. Along with the standard lineup of Covid-19 vaccines, Austin Public Health is offering mpox, hepatitis A and B, HPV9 (for those aged 18-26), flu, PCV20 (must meet criteria), shingles and Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) shots. Find bus routes to the fair here and parking info here. The fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at Blackland Neighborhood Center, 2005 Salina St.

Have some thoughts about the city’s proposal to make some changes to Barton Springs Road? The project, to take place between Stratford Drive and South Lamar Boulevard over a yearlong period, would “enhance safety for everyone on Barton Springs Road, including the most vulnerable road users, such as people dining outdoors, walking, bicycling or riding a scooter,” according to the Transportation Department. Proposed changes include providing one lane in each direction between Azie Morton Road and South Lamar Boulevard “to improve safety and multimodal facilities”; providing additional lanes at the intersections of South Lamar Boulevard and Azie Morton Road; connecting “a future continuous ADA-accessible pedestrian route from Barton Springs Bridge to Stratford Dr. along the north side of Barton Springs Road”; upgrading bike lanes and making them wider; and shortening the pedestrian crossings on Barton Springs Road. Learn more at the virtual open house, and leave your feedback in the survey. 

Austin is gearing up to celebrate Juneteenth for a full week, as the George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center (1165 Angelina St.) hosts the Stay Black and Live Juneteenth Festival from June 12 to 19. This year’s theme is Austin Family Reunion, according to the museum. Grammy-winning high school music teacher Pamela Dawson will deliver an interactive lecture and singalong from 6 to 8 p.m. on June 12. James Beard Award-winning author Michael T. Twitty is set to teach festgoers about African American foodways from 6 to 8 p.m. on June 15. Then get your party shoes on from 6 to 9 p.m. on June 16 for a community kickback and dance party that will close with a special edition of Body Rock ATX. The museum will host a cookout and music festival from 3 to 9 p.m. on June 17 in the Rosewood neighborhood. The tunes continue starting at 6 p.m. on June 17 with SaulPaul, Sonya Jevette and more artists, followed by a performance from GAPX at 8 p.m. The Juneteenth festival wraps up on the June 19 holiday, starting with Dr. Annette Gordon-Reed speaking about her book, “On Juneteenth,” from 1 to 3 p.m. Later that day, the museum and Austin Justice Coalition will partner for their Community Revival and Remembrance to honor victims of police violence in Texas. It will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. Find more information at juneteenthatx.com.

A group of organizations led by the Govalle/Johnston Terrace Neighborhood Contact Team and PODER that includes Sierra Club, Save Our Springs and the Austin Neighborhoods Council will hold a press conference today to address the proposed redevelopment of the Borden Dairy Plant on Austin’s east side. “This project, as proposed at 120 feet with up to 95 percent impervious cover, will instantly overwhelm the bottleneck transportation access infrastructure, from 500 trips to over 21,000 trips per day, and the proposed impervious cover will contribute to acceleration of flooding runoff and contribute to the heat island effect,” said Daniel Llanes, chair of the Govalle/Johnston Terrace Neighborhood Contact Team. “Further, seven new development projects within 3/4 mile of this site, including two slated riverfront developments, have all developed within the existing 60-feet development criteria.” The organizations are calling for more environmental review and consideration, including Dark Skies standards to protect the nearby wildlife, restricted access to the wildlife sanctuary and an extension of the city’s Waterfront Overlay. If the project moves forward without more extensive review, they ask that it move forward with protections consistent with the Waterfront Overlay, including setbacks from the river and parkland and height and impervious cover consistent with “what normal commercial zoning would permit.” City Council is slated to take up the proposed redevelopment Thursday.

The union representing city employees, AFSCME Local 1624, will hold a rally and press conference Thursday to protest a proposed telework policy that will send them back to the office. The “Rally to Save Telework” will call on interim City Manager Jesús Garza to postpone implementing changes that reduce telework to two days per week for most, and eliminate it entirely for executives. The rally asks for a data-driven policy based on things like feedback, productivity rates established during the pandemic, and climate goals. A press release from the union invites all city employees to join the rally at noon on Thursday and notes, “The City of Austin is in a near crisis of recruitment and retention, and this policy proposal would hobble the City’s ability to compete for the best of the workforce. Now, more than ever, the City should be looking for ways to expand the benefits and privileges of working for the City, not implementing changes that would make City work environments less desirable.”

The city is thinking of adding protected bike lanes, improving pedestrian crossings and making improvements to intersections in the name of safety on North Loop, East 53rd Street and Hancock Drive. But before it does, Public Works officials would like to hear from the public. More information about the project and its current proposed path can be found on a city website dedicated to the topic that also includes a survey, which is open to the public through June 11.

During last week’s City Council meeting, zoning officer Joi Harden said the Brodie Oaks PUD would be heard on third reading at 1 p.m. July 20. The date was no surprise, but almost all zoning cases are set for 2 p.m. That has been the rule for several years, and Council Member Alison Alter questioned why the change was being proposed. “We normally meet at 2 and we’re switching to 1, and I would just like to know the background on that and the rationale,” Alter said. “I don’t know if that’d be more appropriate for our work session discussion, but you’re setting a hearing for 1 p.m. and it’s normally setting hearing at the request of staff.” Harden replied that she did not make the decision, but she had heard from “staff above my level” that zoning would be at 1 p.m. starting in July.

Assistant City Manager Veronica Briseño was on the dais. She said, “We did direct staff to start posting zoning items at 1 to allow for flow of your meeting. We’ve had a couple of gaps these past couple of weeks, so you’ll get to continue on and hopefully end the day earlier.”

That did not sit well with Alter. “So I’m not sure whether that will continue and I’m comfortable trying that, but I would reserve the ability to move back since we haven’t had any discussion about that,” she replied. “I think some of us use that time wisely and (it) is helpful for our day. Let’s have this motion and if we need to we’ll figure that out.”

Mayor Kirk Watson took the hint and said they should set the hearing for 2 p.m. on this particular case. So, we look forward to future discussions on this question.

Do you know someone who has made a difference in preserving or sharing historic records in Texas? The Texas State Library and Archives Commission is soliciting nominations for its 2023 archival awards, recognizing efforts in “excellence, advocacy and distinguished service.” The commission is accepting nominations through July 1, and winners will be announced in October. Information on the nominating process and forms can be found here.