Austin Monitor

The Austin City Council will vote tomorrow on a resolution instructing the City Manager to conduct a feasibility study on the prospect of acquiring the land used for the Lions Municipal Golf Course (MUNY) and the West Austin Youth Association. That land is part of UT’s Brackenridge Tract, which is being studied by UT for […]

The third attempt to open a “La Bare” nightclub in Austin ran into a roadblock at last week’s Zoning and Platting Commission. Developers are seeking a zoning change to CS-1 for a vacant lot at Wells Branch Parkway and IH-35 along with a permit for an adult-oriented business.   No neighbors showed up at the […]

Recommendations from subcommittees of Austin’s Live Music Task Force – including the creation of a new City of Austin Music Office – were presented to the full task force at a meeting Monday night. The groups have been studying four key issues related to live music, which will be merged into a final document.   […]

Travis County’s process to create a county campus and courts plan is a slow and methodical, clearly intended to avoid repeating the mistakes that happened with the criminal courts building. County Judge Sam Biscoe ended a stalemate between Planning and Budget and Facilities Management departments last week by appointing Christian Smith, former executive director of […]

Last week, Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe broke the deadlock on the county downtown master plan by appointing recently retired Planning and Budget Office Director Christian Smith to devote himself full-time to getting past the current in-house impasse.   The Planning and Budget Office and Facilities Management have been at odds over the plans for […]

City Council members learned two important things Thursday about the potential effects of Proposition 2 – the citizen-backed charter amendment to stop the city from making payments to Domain developer Simon Properties. Austin voters will decide whether to enact the amendment on Nov. 4.   First, according to the city’s Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services […]

The leader of the Austin chapter of the NAACP on Tuesday called for the Austin Fire Department to increase the number of African-American firefighters within the department. Joining NAACP President Nelson Linder were some current and former Austin firefighters, who said the department was falling behind in its efforts to recruit African Americans.   They […]

The Zoning and Platting Commission at its last meeting rejected a requested zoning change for a home at 11777 Jollyville Road. The chiropractor who purchased the property earlier this year wants to convert the property into an office for his practice, but would need a change from the single-family zoning on the property to LO […]

The Austin City Council has approved a resolution to hire outside legal help to mitigate the unintended consequences the proposed Stop Domain Subsidies charter amendment might have on the Mueller Airport redevelopments.  In addition, city staff will make a presentation at next week’s Council meeting on how Simon Malls, owner of the Domain, has met […]

Austin City Council Member Mike Martinez on Thursday announced plans for an update to the city’s regulations for wrecker drivers. Noting numerous incidents of improper towing, Martinez wants to strengthen the punishment for wrecker drivers or towing companies found to be violating the law.   Martinez told his colleagues and the audience, “And in the […]

Although some members of the Hispanic community are seeking an apology from City Manager Marc Ott for allegedly showing disrespect to some of their leaders last month, former Mayor Gus Garcia said Wednesday, “I’m not particularly interested in apologies.”   Along with former Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, Garcia is the best-known member of the group of […]

The Street Closure Task Force is moving closer to drafting a recommendation to the City Council for new rules for holding events downtown. At Monday night’s meeting, members discussed how to define who is affected by street closures and came to a tentative agreement on whether to recommend limiting the number of events downtown.   […]