The Public Safety Commission approved a draft recommendation Monday urging city staff to proceed carefully before equipping Austin police officers with body cameras. The commission’s recommendations were fourfold: consider any research analyzing the effects of body cameras on police work; devise a privacy policy to protect more sensitive cases such as sexual assault or child […]
Audrey McGlinchy, KUT
Posted inRoads, Transportation
Opposition to MoPac lanes grows stronger
Opposition to the 2040 Regional Transportation Plan is escalating as members of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Transportation Policy Board prepare to take a final vote on the long-range plan next week. City of Austin and Travis County officials held a rally Saturday urging the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority to downsize the proposed […]
Posted inWhispers
Committee considers golf course hearing
Members of the Open Space, Environment and Sustainability Committee talked Wednesday about holding a public hearing for the long-considered Decker Lake Golf Course. Community members called foul when the committee allowed local activist Brian Rodgers to speak against the golf course, allotting him 10 minutes compared to the routine three for citizen communication. Environment Board […]
Posted inParks
Parks will consider keeping city pools open
After impassioned reactions from neighbors to news that the city would close Metz Neighborhood and Mabel Davis Municipal pools this summer for extensive repairs, the Parks and Recreation Department told the Open Space, Environment and Sustainability Committee on Wednesday that it was looking into ways to keep the pools open. These would only be stopgap […]
Posted inParks, Resources
Residents confront Parks Board over pool closures
East Austin residents demanded answers from the Parks and Recreation Board during its Tuesday meeting over news that Metz Neighborhood Pool and Mabel Davis Municipal Pool will close this summer for extensive repairs. The item was not on the board’s agenda, but after hearing Monday that the two pools, both in District 3, will be closed, residents […]
Posted inTransportation
CapMetro seeks new Pine Street Station owner
Members of the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority board voted Monday to speed up the search for a new owner for Pine Street Station. The board waived the two mandatory 30-day periods during which the agency has to make the item it is trying to sell — be it a bus, a computer or, in this case, […]
Posted inEnergy, Texas State Legislature
Adler suggests changes to AE business model
Mayor Steve Adler says City Council members are open to shifting how Austin Energy makes its transfers to the city, a move that may quiet talk in the Texas Legislature of deregulating the municipal energy company. “There is some support of us to looking at a CPS (Energy) model where they handle their transfers in […]
Posted inRoads, Transportation
CTRMA hopes variable tolls change driving habits
An official with the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority hopes that variable tolls on proposed express lanes on MoPac Boulevard will serve as an incentive to commuters to change their driving habits. CTRMA’s Rick L’Amie says Capital Metro buses and registered van pools will drive the express lanes for free — a sight, he said, […]
Posted inRoads, Transportation
Land Committee concerned over Zilker Park lanes
In response to pushback from members of the Land, Facilities and Program Committee last week, engineers said they are open to reconsidering the placement of elevated express toll lanes proposed as part of a MoPac South expansion plan. As the proposed plan stands, two elevated express lanes would start their rise north of Bee Caves […]
Posted inBicycles, Parks, Preservation
Urban Forestry Board critical of USA Cycling report
Members of the Urban Forestry Board are highly critical of the methods used in a report by USA Cycling that claims the city, not the cycling organization, caused most of the damage done to 57 trees in Zilker Park during a Cyclocross event in January. USA Cycling said in January it had budgeted funds to […]
Posted inPublic Safety, Roads
Safety chair questions commitment to Vision Zero
A city planner Monday gave the Public Safety Commission an update on the Vision Zero Task Force work toward devising a traffic safety plan for the city. The task force’s name reflects the blueprint it’s tasked with drafting: a Vision Zero plan aimed at reducing the number of traffic deaths to zero. However, at least one […]
Posted inCity Council
Animal Commission votes to protect circus animals
Before the Austin Animal Advisory Commission endorsed a proposed ordinance Wednesday banning the use of painful devices on circus animals, commissioners deliberated how the city should define a circus animal. Members said the inclusion of lions, tigers and bears, plus other usual circus animals, was certainly right. However, Commissioner Babette Ellis worried that including horses and […]