Before he was killed, 14-year-old Alexei Bauereis had quit the backyard stunts like jumping from trees onto roofs and downhill skateboarding that defined his childhood. He was saving his legs for ballet. “Dance was so important to him,” said Eric Bauereis, Alexei’s dad. Just past 10 p.m. on June 7, 2016, a driver hit and […]
Audrey McGlinchy, KUT
Posted inPolice
Manley lays out vision for Austin Police in interview with public for permanent chief job
A week ago, Interim Police Chief Brian Manley was tapped by City Manager Spencer Cronk as the sole finalist to be the city’s new permanent police chief, and now Cronk and the city are engaged in a public input process before possibly bringing on Manley full time. Residents gathered in a rec center in East […]
Posted inTransportation
Council votes to clarify the road ahead for Austin’s $482M corridor plan
Austin voters now have a clearer road map for a slate of bond-funded projects intended to relieve congestion and improve city infrastructure on a massive scale. With little more than a guarantee from City Council, voters overwhelmingly approved a $720 million mobility-focused bond in 2016. Council voted Thursday to approve a construction plan for some […]
Posted inCourts
Business groups sue to block city’s paid sick leave law
An Austin-based conservative think tank has sued the city over its paid sick leave ordinance. The ordinance, which goes into effect Oct. 1, requires all private businesses to provide anywhere from six to eight paid sick days per year for employees. The Texas Public Policy Foundation filed the lawsuit in district court Tuesday. The foundation […]
Posted inCity Hall
Without final rules in place, Austin closes two fair chance hiring complaints
When Lewis Conway Jr. was released from prison in 2000 after serving time for manslaughter, the state required him to wear an electronic monitoring device. But nothing fit his ankles. “So they put the electronic monitor on my wrist,” said Conway, who works on criminal justice issues for the nonprofit Grassroots Leadership. “It was about […]
Posted inTransportation
After two dockless scooter companies launch in Austin, city speeds up rule process
Jumping the gun works, it seems. While city staff was devising a pilot program to govern dockless bikes and scooters, expecting to bring a proposal to Council members in June, two companies dropped their electric scooters throughout the city. Now the Austin Transportation Department has proposed fast-tracking approval of the pilot program. In a memo […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Petition to potentially put CodeNEXT on the ballot filed with city clerk
Activists filed a petition with the city clerk on Thursday in an effort to put all Land Development Code rewrites, including CodeNEXT, to a public vote. “We believe (residents) should have the right to decide whether this is the new Land Development Code for the city of Austin, or whether we continue under our old […]
Posted inCity Council
Austin law requires job seekers with criminal pasts get a fair shot. But it’s not being enforced.
When Lauren Johnson started job hunting in the early 1990s, she walked from business to business, filling out applications by hand. “It’ll be so much easier someday when this is all computerized,” she remembers thinking. Two decades later, job applications had moved online. Something else had changed, too: After spending three years in and out […]
Posted inAustin
In 2018 State of the City, Adler calls for political unity at local level
Has a foreign government infiltrated the CodeNEXT process? Well, no one’s saying that. But in his annual State of the City address on Tuesday, Mayor Steve Adler said the “alleged Russian infiltration” on our nation’s politics has inflamed divisions across the country – and highlighted rifts at the local level, as well. CodeNEXT, the city’s […]
Posted inCity Council
City Council considers prescribing paid sick leave for private employers
Mornings at Hoover’s Cooking are spent hammering beef to make it thin enough for the restaurant’s best-selling dish: chicken-fried steak. “Other things that are good sellers are our fried catfish … and pork chops,” said Hoover Alexander, who has owned the restaurant on Manor Road since 1998. Alexander said he’s weathered the highs and lows […]
Posted inAustin
Austin is full of anti-gentrification ideas, but most wouldn’t have a direct impact
Since 2000, the city of Austin has had a lot of ideas about how to slow down gentrification. A task force recommended in 2002, for example, that the city educate residents about available property tax exemptions. In 2008, City Council members asked the city manager to find city-owned land suitable for affordable housing. And there […]
Posted inCity Council
Equity Office tries to make good on year-old institutional racism report
Austin’s Equity Office is considering how to make good on a report published last April that laid out more than 200 recommendations for how the city can combat institutional racism. “We sent out the report to all of our city departments and requested that they actually review and read the report and also to respond back […]