District 10 is Austin’s wealthiest district – it boasts an annual median family income of $131,100. It’s also one of the city’s most sprawling districts, stretching from MoPac Boulevard to Lake Travis. The race for District 10 is the most crowded among the five districts on the ballot. City Council Member Sheri Gallo is the […]
Audrey McGlinchy, KUT
Posted inElections
More than a yard sign: Differing ideas about how District 7 should grow
You could classify Austin’s District 7 as the “middle district” – it falls smack dab between the city’s lowest- and highest-income districts, with an annual median family income around $74,000. Half (around 56 percent) of district residents rent their homes. It’s also geographically central and narrow, stretching from the city’s North Loop area to the […]
Posted inElections
More than a yard sign: A runoff rematch in District 6
Austin’s District 6 is one of the city’s wealthiest – the median family income is about $86,000 a year. It also boasts the largest number of Asian residents in the city. Council Member Don Zimmerman represents Austin’s northernmost district. He has served as a resounding voice of fiscal conservatism, often abstaining from votes because of […]
Posted inElections
More than a yard sign: A near repeat of 2014 in District 4 race
Austin’s District 4 is one of its most diverse – more than 65 percent of its residents are Hispanic, and nearly 10 percent of the district is African-American. Currently, City Council Member Greg Casar represents the north central district. Austin’s youngest-ever Council member, Casar faces two opponents this election – one he beat in 2014 […]
Posted inElections
More than a yard sign: An incumbent, a boxer and a tech guy in District 2
Complaints we hear citywide about affordability are magnified in Austin’s District 2. The southeast district has some of the lowest-income residents, with a median family income of $42,650. The district also boasts the largest Hispanic population – a point of pride for City Council Member Delia Garza, Austin’s first Latina local representative. In her 2016 […]
Posted inAustin
Festival hopes to begin new chapter at 12th and Chicon, with city help
Austin’s trolley cars, which retired in 1940, used to stop at East 12th and Chicon streets. It’s there that Ada Harden and her brother would hop on, pay the five-cent fee and ride with little concern about a destination. “We’d go to the end of it and turn around and come back,” said Harden. She […]
Posted inElections
District 2 candidates debate for first time
Beneath a basketball net and a shut-off scoreboard at the Dove Springs Recreation Center, two City Council candidates for Austin’s District 2 squared off against each other and against the incumbent, Council Member Delia Garza. The forum, hosted by KUT, Glasshouse Policy and the Austin Monitor, kicked off with a question about the transportation bond […]
Posted inCity Hall
Council digs into hiring process for new city manager
The candidates for Austin’s next city manager will be vetted by nearly a million people. At least, that’s how necessary City Council members and city staff have said public input is to the process of hiring Austin’s newest city manager in roughly a decade. City Manager Marc Ott announced two weeks ago he would leave […]
Posted inTransportation
Could the mayor’s ‘Go Big’ bond go bigger?
Mayor Steve Adler has christened the $720 million transportation bond as the “Go Big Corridor Plan,” which prompts the question: Is this really that big? Seattle recently placed on a ballot a $54 billion transportation bond. Still, judging by other news reports, a number that large seems like an anomaly among municipal bond programs. Regardless, […]
Posted inThe Code
City contract hopes to protect tenants who speak up
Black mold and a stack of documents Legal notices and lease copies blanketed a plush beige couch in a North Austin apartment. Rebekah Jara rummaged through the papers. Lawyers had urged her and her fiancé, Juan Aranda, to keep copies of everything. More letters would come. But up to that point, Jara and Aranda had […]
Posted inTransportation
What does a $720 million transportation bond get us?
Members of the public have weighed in on Mayor Steve Adler’s $720 million transportation bond proposal. While we know generally where the money would go if voters approved the bond, the spending on subcategories is still subject to change, with City Council members having taken the first two of three votes needed to officially place […]
Posted inCourts
Council approves alternatives to jail time for indigent defendants
City Council members approved a measure Thursday clarifying the process to be used by municipal judges to deem a defendant incapable of paying a municipal fine – and emphasizing community service as an alternative to jail time for unpaid fines. Council Member Delia Garza brought the item forward. “I absolutely believe that our Austin judges […]