By Jo Clifton and Tyler Whitson City Council adopted a balanced $3.5 billion Fiscal Year 2015-16 budget on Thursday that reduces the anticipated property tax burden for owners of median-valued homes by about $14. With an overall jump in utility rates and fees, however, those hypothetical Austinites will likely still see an approximately $4 increase […]
Austin Monitor
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Fix(at)ing (on) crazy
“You can’t fix crazy”… During a presentation about traffic fatalities at a City Council Mobility Committee meeting on Sept. 2, Council Member Don Zimmerman expressed consternation about the fact that 43 percent of the traffic fatalities that have occurred so far this year involve what the Austin Police Department identifies as “transients,” or homeless people. […]
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Reporter’s Notebook: A pornographic departure
We make news… Capital Metro Transportation Authority’s Twitter account went off the rails last week after an apparent security breach led to a decidedly non-family-friendly detour. Shortly after 11 a.m. on Thursday, Community Impact’s eagle-eyed reporter Jennifer Curington noticed that @CapMetroATX had quietly started following scores of adult-oriented profiles, including porn stars, adult film production […]
Posted inAustin
Reporter’s Notebook: Wild Wild West Sixth
Point taken… A briefing about the proposed Austin Police Department budget took an unusual turn Wednesday when City Council Member Don Zimmerman and APD Chief Art Acevedo got into a philosophical exchange about crime on Sixth Street. The debate took place during a discussion about the APD’s request to add 82 new patrol officers to […]
Posted inAustin
Reporter’s Notebook: Swimming with the sharks
Kitchen argues for longer lunch break … City Council Member Ann Kitchen expressed concern Thursday about the length of lunch breaks during Council meetings. When Mayor Steve Adler suggested continuing for 30 minutes after citizen communications closed just before 1 p.m, Kitchen protested. “I’d like to take a break for lunch,” she said. “I think that’s […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Penalty cards and petitions
Eckhardt deals a new hand from a new deck… Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt introduced last week a new method for dealing with citizens whose comments during public communications might stray outside of the Travis County Commissioner Court’s wheelhouse. Perhaps with the stunning arrests of FIFA’s top executives fresh in her mind during Tuesday’s regular voting […]
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Reporter’s Notebook: Concerns about concerns about concerns
Queen of Zoning exits City Hall stage… Betty Baker, the chief author of Austin’s historic preservation program as well as the first and only chair of the city’s 14-year-old Zoning and Platting Commission, said goodbye to her friends at the city on Thursday as she stepped down from ZAP. Baker, 82, began her city service […]
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Reporter’s Notebook: gates, pies and tracheotomies
Council ponders homestead exemption, pie… City Council members may have been craving pie Wednesday afternoon, having tossed the metaphor around while discussing ways to fairly distribute the costs and benefits of a proposed homestead tax exemption on residents. Council Member Leslie Pool took the concept to levels of abstraction that may have had members of […]
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Reporter’s Notebook: Au revoir, RDCC
That’s one set of appointments no one has to worry about … Last Thursday, City Council dissolved the Residential Design and Compatibility Commission. The RDCC initiated the process, passing a resolution to dissolve itself in February due to the decreased number of cases coming before the commission. “They felt the need not to exist,” explained […]
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Reporter’s Notebook: Decker Golf saga continues
Decker Golf proponents want Pool to recuse from issue . . . Two Colony Park neighborhood leaders who believe that the Decker Lake Golf development would benefit them and their neighbors have called on City Council Member Leslie Pool to recuse herself from participating in committee meetings during which the proposal is being considered. Pool said […]
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Reporter’s Notebook: The Return
What a country! … Before hearing a set of briefings from Transportation Department staff at a March 25 meeting of the City Council Mobility Committee, Council members had a high-level discussion about the merits of regulating Austin’s taxicab industry. Council Member Don Zimmerman turned heads when he compared Austin’s taxicab regulations with his experiences in […]
Posted inAustin, Development, Resources, Water
Reporter’s Notebook: City cuts ribbon on WTP4
After 30 years, WTP4 finally begins pumping water … Do you remember what you were doing in September 1984? If you lived in Austin and were of voting age, you may have voted “yes” to allow the city to go into debt to build a new water treatment plant to serve the growing northwest part […]