Health leaders developing plan to help those with substance use disorder
For the past two years, a network of local stakeholders has been thinking about how best to help community members who struggle with an addiction to drugs or alcohol. After two years of “planning to plan,” representatives from the Travis…
Public Health • By Willow Higgins • Mar 17, 2022
Chamber of Commerce offers rosy jobs report
Austin has once again come out as a top city in the country economically, as shown by a new report on job growth and unemployment from the Austin Chamber of Commerce. Researchers at the chamber found that Austin ranked number…
Austin • By Jo Clifton • Mar 16, 2022
Transportation Department reveals plans for federal infrastructure grant
Transportation Department Director Robert Spillar stopped by the City Council Mobility Committee meeting last Thursday to share how the department aspires to use the first round of funding from the federal bipartisan infrastructure law. The infrastructure law, passed last November,…
Transportation • By Kali Bramble • Mar 16, 2022
Could Austin’s airport taxis break free from the garage?
Facing steep declines in ridership, Austin’s taxi industry was offered a glimmer of hope at the most recent City Council meeting. Earlier this month, Council unanimously approved a change that will have the city license taxis as an operating authority,…
Transportation • By Elizabeth Pagano • Mar 16, 2022
Commissioners want business, tech funds to support creative sector
The Austin business community, particularly the technology companies flocking to the area, will likely be asked this year to increase their support for a creative sector that is being squeezed by the rising cost of living across the city. Members…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 15, 2022
City seeks solutions to Barton Springs lifeguard problem
Spurred by news that Barton Springs Pool will soon be closed two days a week, City Council Member Paige Ellis will be asking City Manager Spencer Cronk to come up with additional strategies to address the city’s lifeguard shortage. In…
Parks • By Jo Clifton • Mar 15, 2022
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Using neighborhood demographics might create deeply affordable housing. It might also be illegal.
As Austin’s housing affordability crisis deepens, public officials and advocates are looking for ways to create more income-restricted homes – especially those that are affordable to people at the lowest end of the income spectrum. One idea, floated by the…
Housing • By Jonathan Lee • Mar 15, 2022
Austin looks into opening a trauma recovery center
Austin’s Public Health Committee is taking a look at establishing a trauma recovery center in the city to help victims of violent crime navigate their way to recovery. The resolution, which the committee passed last week, directs city staff to…
Public Health • By Willow Higgins • Mar 15, 2022
I-35 expansion could destroy a 70-unit affordable housing complex. TxDOT didn't notice at first.
The Texas Department of Transportation overlooked a 70-unit affordable housing complex when tallying how many homes could be destroyed by a move to widen Interstate 35 through Central Austin. Aria Grand, an apartment community in the Travis Heights neighborhood that opened in…
Roads • By Nathan Bernier, KUT • Mar 14, 2022
As Covid numbers improve, city eyes increasing homeless shelter capacity
As Covid-19 infections and other public health indicators related to the pandemic continue to improve locally, City Council members want advocates for the area’s homeless population to look at increasing capacity at shelters around the city. At a recent joint…
Public Health • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 14, 2022
Homeowners concerned about implications of updates to Austin Strategic Mobility Plan
The city’s Transportation Department has begun updating Austin’s Strategic Mobility Plan for the first time since its inception in 2019, but not before encountering a few snags in community feedback. “I think one of the issues we’re having is that…
Transportation • By Kali Bramble • Mar 14, 2022
It's official: Texas’ new voting law led to higher rejection rates for mail-in ballots in Central Texas
County election officials in the Austin area are reporting a higher than usual rejection rate for mail-in ballots during the March 1 primary election. This was the first election since Texas’ new voting law went into effect. The law, known…
