A lawsuit challenging the city of Austin’s decision to rename Manchaca Road will go to trial. The suit, brought by the group Leave Manchaca Alone, alleges the city didn’t properly inform residents and businesses ahead of a City Council vote to change the spelling of the street’s name to Menchaca. The suit also argues changing […]
Andrew Weber, KUT
Posted inAISD
Austin ISD budget document suggests consolidating 12 schools to cut costs
Facing a shortfall and declining enrollment, the Austin Independent School District is considering consolidating schools, among other options, to cut its deficit by as much as $55 million over the next few years. A budget document sent to the Austin school board shows the district is considering two possible options. One would consolidate 12 under-enrolled […]
Posted inCourts
Manchaca is (again) still Manchaca – for now
A Travis County district judge has hit pause on the city’s attempt to change Manchaca Road to Menchaca – again. Business owners from the group Leave Manchaca Alone sued to block the Austin City Council’s October decision to change the name of the eight-mile South Austin road earlier this month. They said that the city […]
Posted inPolice
Council approves labor contract with police after a year without one
Officers with the Austin Police Department are getting a new labor contract. After nearly a year of negotiations, City Council members unanimously approved a four-year and $44.6 million contract between the city and the local police union. Police reform activists celebrated the contract as a step toward more transparency – including the ability to file […]
Posted inCourts
Locals sue to stop Austin from renaming Manchaca Road
A group of property owners and businesses along what’s called (for now) Manchaca Road is challenging the city’s move to change the South Austin road’s name before the name change goes into effect Thursday. The Austin City Council passed an ordinance Oct. 4 to change the spelling to Menchaca Road to honor Tejano revolutionary José Antonio Menchaca, who […]
Posted inAustin
Austin reconsiders homelessness ordinances as Houston laws are challenged in court
It’s a new fiscal year for the city of Austin, and one of the myriad items on City Council agendas over the next year will be an overhaul of ordinances relating to homelessness. That won’t be easy, as federal courts could inform – and complicate – that effort. In the last three years, Austin police […]
Posted inAustin
Equity Office proposes renaming 7 Confederate streets – and even the city itself
The Equity Office is recommending the city remove or change the names of streets, parks and markers in Austin that honor the Confederate States of America and slavery. The office also suggests eschewing the name “Austin” altogether, as Stephen F. Austin fought to defend slavery in the Texas Revolution and supported the institution after the […]
Posted inAISD
AISD Board President Kendall Pace resigns after text message controversy
Kendall Pace, president of the Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees, said this morning that she would resign from her position as president and as Place 9 trustee after controversial text messages she sent to another board trustee surfaced last week. The Austin teachers’ union had called on Pace to resign over the texts, […]
Posted inBicycles
Dockless bikes are (maybe) coming to Austin. But first, let’s talk it out.
Nobody wants to be the withholding stepparent. That’s why, when dockless bike companies Ofo and Spin rolled out during South by Southwest last year, they put the city in a tough spot. Austin, which markets itself as an innovative, tech-savvy city, had to stifle two seemingly forward-thinking tech startups during a festival that’s been a […]
Posted inBicycles
Research hopes to fill in the gaps for bicycle and pedestrian data
Traffic is terrible. City and state officials are really good at counting cars to see how terrible traffic is and how it got that way, but that sort of data-collection infrastructure doesn’t exist for bike and pedestrian data. New research hopes to change that. The project has a simple goal, but you wouldn’t glean that […]
Posted inTexas State Legislature
Texas sues Austin, Travis County over ‘sanctuary city’ law
Texas is preemptively suing the city of Austin, Travis County and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund to enforce the state’s newly minted “sanctuary city” law, Senate Bill 4. The suit, filed on Monday, asks a federal court to declare the law constitutional. Precedent allows states to consolidate impending legal challenges to a […]