City Council members have presented plans to roll back city laws passed in June that effectively allowed camping, sitting or lying down in public. Council members will consider the changes, which limit that behavior at specific locations, at their Sept. 19 meeting. This morning Council members Ann Kitchen and Kathie Tovo debuted their plan to […]
Andrew Weber, KUT
Posted inAustin
Austin City Council could use e-scooter regulations to limit homeless encampments, memo says
City officials released additional guidelines Friday on how to limit homeless encampments in Austin, including spatial limitations on sidewalks and along waterways. The memo from the city manager and the Homeless Strategy Office is meant to guide the Austin City Council as it rolls out a plan to limit resting and camping in public. The […]
Posted inTravis County
Travis County’s public defender office is officially funded
Travis County is in the home stretch of its yearslong effort to establish a public defender office for low-income adult defendants. On Thursday the Texas Indigent Defense Commission OK’d a four-year grant to establish the office in the county – the largest jurisdiction in the country without such an office. All told, the state and […]
Posted inElections
Austin City Council finalizes ballot language for convention center vote
In November Austin voters will decide the fate of the convention center’s expansion, along with a possible reshuffling of how the city spends money from hotel stays. Ballot language for the public referendum was OK’d by the Austin City Council this afternoon, after a state appeals court ordered the city to rewrite language it found […]
Posted inCity Council
At homelessness forum, Council members challenge fears and ‘urban myths’ about shelters, revised law
Austin’s mayor and members of City Council tried to allay fears about the city’s revised rules on homelessness and its push to expand shelter space, at a forum hosted by the Downtown Austin Alliance. The brunt of Wednesday’s discussion focused on the rhetoric surrounding Austinites living on the street and city efforts to address the […]
Posted inCity Council
Austin looks to limit camping and resting in public as it pursues housing-first solutions
The Austin City Council provided some clarity Tuesday over where it will limit camping and resting in public, as well as its overall strategy to boost citywide, housing-focused initiatives and investments. Council members heard a briefing from city staff on a memo released last week on solutions to homelessness in Austin – one that suggested […]
Posted inAustin
City memo says Austin could put limits on where homeless people may camp or rest
Austin will reexamine its new rules governing homelessness, according to a memo released Friday. The memo sent to City Council on behalf of Austin’s Homelessness Strategy Office says the city could abandon its idea to make space for emergency encampments in every Council district. The office said after meeting with the Downtown Austin Alliance, the […]
Posted inPublic Safety
Council members say audit on Austin’s ‘enormous’ wildfire risk doesn’t go far enough
Austin City Council members say they need a better look at where the city could be falling short in terms of its wildfire preparedness. A report out today from the Office of the City Auditor said the city is doing enough to prepare for wildfires, but that Austin could do a better job of reducing […]
Posted inEnvironment
Zebra mussels have muscled their way into Lakes LBJ and Pflugerville
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department announced Monday that reproducing populations of zebra mussels have been found in lakes Lyndon B. Johnson and Pflugerville, bringing the number of statewide lakes infested with the invasive species to 17. In Central Texas, reproducing populations of the mussels have infested lakes Austin, Belton, Canyon, Georgetown, Lady Bird, LBJ, […]
Posted inEMS
A majority of Austin EMS personnel say assaults on the job are common and ‘unavoidable’
A majority of Austin EMS personnel say they’ve been assaulted on the job in the last two years, according to an internal survey. Most first responders also say they don’t feel properly trained to address aggressive behavior. Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services hoped to quantify verbal and physical assault among staff fielding calls and emergency […]
Posted inAustin
Packed homelessness forum calls for more shelters, support: ‘We are dealing with human beings here’
As the city adjusts to new rules for panhandling, camping or sitting or lying in public, the Downtown Austin Alliance hosted a forum Tuesday to discuss the road ahead for dealing with homelessness and plans to expand emergency shelter access across the city. In the three weeks since the city’s revision of its homelessness ordinances […]
Posted inLocal Politics
PAC files petition to put Austin Convention Center expansion to a public vote
The city’s proposal to expand the Austin Convention Center could be on the ballot in November. A group opposing City Council’s decision to build out the center says it submitted a 30,000-signature petition calling for a referendum that would force a public vote as the city moves ahead with the plan. The political action committee […]