All the players in the new 10-1 Austin City Council are finally in place after Tuesday’s runoff elections. There is a lot that is remarkable about the city’s first Council elected from single-member districts. For starters, 10 of the 11 members are holding a city office for the first time, with only one returning member […]
Austin Monitor
Posted inAustin, Local Politics
Reporter’s Notebook: Council gets a big send-off
What was wrong with David Bowie’s “Ch-Ch-Changes”? … Thursday was the last meeting of the current City Council. Maybe it was a case of managed expectations, but given the length of the agenda, when the meeting ended at just past 1 a.m., it seemed almost reasonable. The meeting ended with a burst of good cheer […]
Posted inAustin, Elections
Mayoral, Council candidates still spending money
(This report was written by Monitor reporters Jo Clifton and Elizabeth Pagano.) There seems little doubt that the 2014 campaign for mayor will end up being the most expensive in the city’s history. Both Steve Adler and Mike Martinez, as well as political action committees supporting and opposing them, have filled the airwaves with television […]
Posted inDevelopment, Environment, Local Politics
Reporter’s Notebook: glass (rental) houses
Neither Pressley nor Casar longtime residents of District 4 … District 4 Council candidate Laura Pressley likes to paint a picture of herself as a longtime Austin resident and taxpayer and her opponent, Greg Casar, as a renter, one who does not pay property taxes. However, Pressley and her husband currently rent the house they […]
Posted inDevelopment, Elections, Local Politics
Reporter’s Notebook: AAS changes endorsement
Casar finally gets paper’s backing in District 4 race … In a Friday editorial titled “Casar for City Council District 4,” the Austin American-Statesman reversed its District 4 endorsement. While the editorial board had already rescinded its endorsement of Laura Pressley, the editorial staff had not gone so far as to endorse opposing candidate Greg […]
Posted inElections, Environment, Local Politics
Reporter’s Notebook: Rules are rules
A no-endorsement endorsement, and other missives from the campaign trail . . . Austinites for Equity, a political action committee for the local AFSCME organization, has supported numerous progressive and Democratic candidates. So observers were surprised when they noticed a filing on the City Clerk’s website indicating that the group had spent money apparently in […]
Posted inElections, Energy, Travis County
Reporters Notebook: Last dance with Austin Energy
Current Council to get one more shot at Austin Energy . . . For those of you worried that the days of the current Council Committee on Austin Energy had ended: Fear not. The committee plans to have another meeting before the last Council meeting, set Dec. 11. Council Member Chris Riley pointed out that […]
Posted inDevelopment, Elections, Local Politics, Travis County
Reporters Notebook: Campaign cash still flowing
Adler raises $100K the first day after the election … The election judges hadn’t even caught up on their sleep yet Thursday when mayoral candidate Steve Adler began indulging in a little financial chest-thumping. Adler’s campaign announced that he raised $100,000 from 400 donors during the first day of the runoff election campaign. According to […]
Posted inAustin, Bonds & Propositions, Elections, Local Politics
Austin rejects bond for urban rail by wide margin
Despite the backing of Mayor Lee Leffingwell and many of the city’s power brokers, Austin’s $1 billion transportation bond proposal, Proposition 1, went down to defeat Tuesday night. Opponents say it was the wrong plan in the wrong place, but those pushing for the mass transit system say it might have been Austin’s last chance […]
Posted inAustin, City Council, Elections
Election roundup for City Council Districts 1-5
Though they handed a transportation package that included money for an urban rail system a resounding defeat Tuesday, Austinities left a lot more unsettled when it comes to City Council District races. In all, voters will return to decide as many as nine runoff elections on Dec. 16, including those in every District aside from […]
Posted inAustin, City Council, Elections, Local Politics
Election roundup for City Council Districts 6-10
Close District 6 race will see December runoff District 6 candidates Don Zimmerman, Jimmy Flannigan and Jay Wiley all remained within 375 votes of each other as of publication. If that holds, Zimmerman and Flannigan would face each other in a Dec 16 runoff. Zimmerman celebrated at his campaign office on Anderson Mill Road with […]
Posted inAustin, Bonds & Propositions, City Council, Development, Local Politics, Resources, Water
Reporters Notebook: Rail bonds & fluoridated water
Discovering the flip side of Laura Pressley … Two separate local media outlets started digging deeper into District 4 City Council candidate Laura Pressley’s recent political past Thursday. The Chronicle struck first with a piece from Monitor political editor Jo Clifton that runs down a host of odd beliefs attributed to Pressley, including wide-ranging concerns […]