More power over more highways. That’s part of what the Austin Police Department hopes to attain in its effort to reverse last year’s record number of fatal car accidents, which resulted in 102 deaths, and limit the number of pedestrian deaths, which totaled 30 last year. “There was a city ordinance … that had not […]
Audrey McGlinchy, KUT
Posted inAustin
East Austin reunion tells two tales of local preservation
Jimmy Reed, 78, stands in front of his childhood home on East Austin’s Garden Street. It has been stripped to the 1920s wooden frame, and the barely 800-square-foot home looks more condemned than livable. Reed lived here, he estimates, from 1942 to 1953, with his seven siblings and parents. They were a big bunch. But […]
Posted inElections
Uber and Lyft proposition doesn’t fall neatly along party lines
Recently, local political action committee Ridesharing Works for Austin hired two Republican campaign veterans – Reed Galen and Travis Considine. Between them, they’ve worked on campaigns for John McCain, George W. Bush and Rick Perry. And in what feels like the same breath, the Travis County Democratic Party formally took a stance in opposition of […]
Posted inParks
As splash season nears, city begins to write future of Austin pools
As the temperature in Austin climbs, kids and adults flock to the city’s several dozen pools. But while the industry puts a pool’s lifespan at 30 years, many of Austin’s pools are 50 years or older. So in 2012, the city decided it would create an Aquatic Master Plan, a document that would imagine the […]
Posted inPolice
As APD tests out body cameras, state eyes in-house data storage
Local police agencies outfitting their officers with body cameras may have the option to store their data with the state. On Monday, Dale Richardson, chief operating officer of the Texas Department of Information Resources, told members of the House Select Committee on Emerging Issues in Texas Law Enforcement that his agency was working on opening […]
Posted inAustin
How the city handles SXSW cleanup
On Sixth Street just past midnight, small herds of young people mill in the street or near the entrances of bars – some smoking cigarettes, others looking at their phones. Virginia Alexander honks at them to move. She is trying to drive her ATV down the street to get to the trash cans. “Watch out, […]
Posted inCity Council
Is Austin still tech-friendly?
“Austin has spent decades building a reputation as an innovative city, but our new City Council’s confusion about (the) issue is destroying our reputation and driving away investment capital,” according to Capital Factory Executive Director Joshua Baer. In the Medium post, Baer is reacting to recent actions by Council placing occupancy limits on short-term rentals, […]
Posted inAustin
As East Austin changes, what power do neighbors have to stop it?
Recently, residents of the city’s East Cesar Chavez neighborhood asked a city of Austin committee to put in place interim controls potentially limiting the influx of new bars, restaurants and breweries. The decision was delayed – and then eventually denied. Had the action gone through, it would have been a rare decision. As things stand […]
Posted inPublic Health
No big changes to mosquito protocol, says city
Despite two confirmed cases of the mosquito-borne virus Zika in Travis County, the city of Austin says it will not make any big changes to its mosquito-control strategy as the warm season begins – a time ripe for insect breeding. “We have not had any reason to believe that there’s any infected mosquitoes in the […]
Posted inCity Council
Updated: Petition to Recall Council Member Kitchen Deemed ‘Insufficient’
From KUT News: A petition submitted by a political action committee attempting to recall Austin City Council member Ann Kitchen has been deemed “insufficient” by the City Clerk. The PAC Austin4All failed to get the petition notarized, which was required to attest to the validity of the statement at the top of each petition: “The […]
Posted inCity Council
The nitty-gritty of a Pilot Knob reconsideration
City Council members will decide today whether to revisit an affordable housing deal approved by vote in December. And how they might re-table the deal is a bit mystifying. Council Member Ellen Troxclair is proposing an amendment that would initiate a second look at the deal. (Council members Leslie Pool, Ora Houston and Don Zimmerman […]
Posted inCity Council
Council might ban the box as part of hiring mandate
Sometimes, a potential law goes by two names. But other times, it goes by one – while confusion breeds alternative monikers. City Council members have spent the past year chewing over hiring requirements for private employers. But recently, Council Member Ellen Troxclair expressed some confusion about what to call this: “ban the box” or a […]