Austin Monitor

The City Council has set March 11 as the date that it will decide what to do with the remaining $13 million in General Obligation (GO) bonds that has been set aside for affordable housing.   The move came as over two hours of public comment on the issue dragged the Council into a session […]

Thanks to strict water restrictions, a dramatic increase in rainfall, and the current poor economic environment, the Austin Water Utility is facing a shortfall in year-to-date fiscal year (FY) 2010 revenues. For the first quarter of FY2010, the utility reports that it has collected $37.2 million in water services revenues — a $12 million budget […]

Downtown property owner Harry Whittington has won what may be the final round in his quest to prove that he was right and the City of Austin was wrong in condemning his property, a city block bounded by Red River and Sabine streets between East Fourth and Fifth streets.   The 3rd Court of Appeals […]

The City of Austin will allow Greenstar (Mid-America Recycling) to bid on the chance to build a new Materials Recovery Facility (MRF).   Purchasing Officer Byron Johnson signaled the end of the appeals process with a letter addressed to the Mayor and City Council Members on Thursday morning, accepting a recommendation from hearings officer Monte […]

City Council voted on Thursday to pass an ordinance that would amend last year’s Street Events Ordinance to allow only city-sanctioned peace officers to control traffic in public rights of way during events. The 5-2 vote came after calls for more stakeholder input. There was also a failed attempt by Council Member Bill Spelman to […]

The City of Austin received welcome news this week as the State of Texas made its December sales tax figures available, giving Austin an 11.4 percent increase—or $15.9 million this month compared to $14.3 million in February 2009.   But the picture is not a simple one, according to Austin’s Chief Financial Officer Leslie Browder. It was adjustments from prior […]

Austin’s economic future is in the life sciences, Charles Barnett told the annual meeting of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.   Barnett, CEO of the Seton Family of Hospitals, accepted the Austinite of the Year award at the annual meeting. In his remarks, Barnett said the goal of establishing a medical school in Texas […]

The new Zach Scott Theatre, underwritten in part by city bond funds, would be a tall and significant presence along Lamar Boulevard, but the Design Commission wasn’t entirely pleased with its proposed orientation or relationship to a larger ZACH campus.   The Zach Scott Theatre Center was originally incorporated as the Austin Civic Theatre in […]

Mayor Lee Leffingwell offered a bullish speech on the state of Austin’s economy at the Real Estate Council of Austin yesterday, pledging to actively push an incentive package to draw online legal document company LegalZoom to town and pushing a November bond election expected to include a downtown urban rail proposal.   The Real Estate […]

The city’s financial office says Austin currently has about $200 million to spend on a proposed downtown rail project before it would have to begin raising taxes to pay for such a system. That would get the process started, but voters would have to approve the rest of the funding, which could be a considerably […]

The City of Austin has accused two of the biggest local players in the single-stream, single-family recycling industry of violating the city’s anti-lobbying ordinance. If Texas Disposal Systems (TDS) and Mid-America Recycling – which operates as Greenstar – don’t win their appeals, they will be prohibited from participating in the bidding process for a new […]

The Design Commission signed off on the Schlosser mixed-use project at Sixth and Bowie streets Monday night with only minor objections.   The block, part of Schlosser Development’s larger Market District project, would be home to two towers: a four-story retail site and a 350-foot tower with a mix of office space, residential units, and […]