Austin Monitor

Discount Electronics’ owner Rick Culleton has made no secret of his distress about the fact that Wal-Mart is putting in a super center down the street from his store on West Anderson Lane.   Culleton, who does business through his corporation, First E-Commerce Inc., has likewise made no secret of the fact that he supports […]

Representatives of the Austin Police Association (APA) met with the city’s negotiating team to begin new contract talks on Thursday. The meet-and-confer process is likely to take several months, but both sides hope to reach a new five-year agreement by the time the current contract expires in September. The City Council will have to approve […]

Candidates for the first new Travis County District Attorney in 30 years are in the home stretch towards the April 8 runoff, with today the final day to vote early in the election. As of Thursday, only about 8,200 Travis County voters had cast early ballots. Today is the final day to vote early.   […]

Despite the gloomy news coming from other parts of the country about entire blocks of empty condominium projects, there is high demand in the downtown condominium market, according to a study commissioned by the Downtown Austin Alliance.   Charles Heimsath of Capitol Market Research gave the good news to members of the DAA on Wednesday. […]

State Senator Kirk Watson on Wednesday unveiled a plan to get the CTRMA and CAMPO to help fund safety improvements on some area roads. At the top of Watson’s list for improvements is State Highway 71 in southwest Travis County, which has seen several deadly wrecks during the past year. He made his proposal at […]

Local officials offered a warning on Tuesday that the region may have problems meeting the new federal clean-air standard adopted by the EPA. The announcement was timed to coincide with the beginning of ozone season in Central Texas, and included pleas from both Austin Mayor Will Wynn and State Sen. Kirk Watson for local residents […]

The City of Austin is trying to give social service organizations a little help this year in the wake up cutbacks from United Way. Earlier this month, the Council approved an extra stipend of $108,000 to the Salvation Army for temporary shelter for the homeless.   Last week, the Council’s Health and Human Services Subcommittee […]

The Austin Neighborhoods Council has issued its endorsements in the Austin City Council races. Following a candidate forum Wednesday night, the group unanimously endorsed former ANC President Laura Morrison in Place 4, incumbent Council Member Jennifer Kim in Place 3, and did not issue an endorsement in the Place 1 race.   In a statement […]

The Austin City Council took two important steps toward the construction of Water Treatment Plant 4 at Thursday’s meeting. In addition to approving a $27 million amendment to the contract with Carollo engineers for design work on the plant at its new site at Bullick Hollow, they approved the purchase of land by the Austin […]

Incumbent Council Member Lee Leffingwell was the big winner last night, securing the endorsements of four Democratic clubs holding a joint candidate forum to hear the contenders speak on issues important to Austinites.   The groups, South Austin Democrats, Capital Area Progressive Democrats, Texas Environmental Democrats of Austin, and the Austin Asian American Democrats, met […]

Several members of the City Council and Austin Police officials have reacted sharply to an auditor’s suggestion that the city should not merge all of its public safety functions into one agency.  An audit of the city’s public safety agencies reviewed Tuesday includes more than 100 recommendations on improving police functions and reducing costs.   […]

The City of Austin has won an important round in the lawsuit over moving the Town Lake Animal Center. PODER and a coalition of neighborhood groups sued the city, alleging violations of the City Charter and the Open Meetings Act. But District Judge Margaret Cooper dismissed those allegations and granted the city’s motions for summary […]