Some City Council members felt underwhelmed with the latest version of the city’s Strategic Housing Plan, one puzzle piece in an assortment of plans and codes city leaders are hoping will help solve Austin’s affordability and transportation woes over the next 10 years. Presented at Thursday’s Council meeting, the plan that was an update of […]
Chad Swiatecki
Chad Swiatecki is a 20-year journalist who relocated to Austin from his home state of Michigan in 2008. He most enjoys covering the intersection of arts, business and local/state politics. He has written for Rolling Stone, Spin, New York Daily News, Texas Monthly, Austin American-Statesman and many other regional and national outlets.
Posted inAustin
Examining Austin’s “smart city” bona fides
Austin’s reputation as one of the nation’s smartest cities went under the microscope Sunday, with policy and academic experts examining the technology, educational, housing and transportation components – and the city’s shifting needs as it grows – that combine to make it a magnet for creatives. The South by Southwest panel “What Is a Smart […]
Posted inAustin
Adler: A blue Texas “all but inevitable”
It’s something of an old saw in the political world that progressive cities in otherwise red states are like “a blueberry in a bowl of tomato soup.” Austin Mayor Steve Adler and his mayoral colleagues on Friday’s “America’s Mayors: Holding The Line” panel at South by Southwest didn’t invoke that line themselves but let panel […]
Posted inAustin
Austin, UT could play in battle for telecom millions
Austin and the University of Texas have the potential intellectual and research firepower needed to compete for a portion of $100 million in National Science Foundation and private tech industry money and in-kind services aimed at creating city-scale advancements in using wireless data in everyday life, and improving the infrastructure that data requires. The award […]
Posted inAustin
Short-term rentals under scrutiny as SXSW kicks off
The Austin Code Department has started its annual tradition of stepped-up monitoring and enforcement of regulations covering short-term rental businesses, the official policy name for homeowners who rent out extra rooms to tourists visiting for the South by Southwest festival. The lucrative practice, which is aided by websites such as Airbnb and the Austin-based HomeAway, […]
Posted inAustin
Parks conservancies making their case for hotel tax dollars
Local parks advocates are stepping up their efforts to direct revenue from the city’s fast-growing Hotel Occupancy Tax toward the long-term capital needs of parks and recreation facilities throughout Austin. Projects such as a master plan for Barton Springs as well as ambitious renovations of the spring’s historic bath house and the Beverly S. Sheffield […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
SXSWTF? Dissecting a music festival’s immigration PR meltdown
In today’s installment of “A Good Rumor Travels Around the World Before the Truth Can Put On Its Shoes,” we watch with fascination as music fans from all over the world make South by Southwest out to be the newest arm of President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration fever dream. The pebble to that avalanche was a […]
Posted inPlanning
Creatives see little to preserve artist, music spaces in CodeNEXT
A month after the release of the first draft of CodeNEXT, supporters of Austin’s various creative communities have said they’re underwhelmed and expecting more protections for artist spaces in revisions of the city’s new land use code. Whether it be music venues priced out of business by rising land values or studios and theaters that […]
Posted inAustin
Homelessness in D4 spurs residents looking to marshal housing resources
Residents in the North Austin area focused in District 4 are looking to assemble a network of local service groups and government resources to respond to what’s believed to be an increase in the homeless population there. There’s no official count for the number of individuals with no permanent residence in the district, but anecdotal […]
Posted inWhispers
Fun Fun Fun Fest brand may be changing hands
The hot word in Austin music circles this week was a rumor flying in several directions that C3 Presents had purchased the Fun Fun Fun Fest brand from local developer Stratus Properties, which retained the festival as part of its 2016 split with fest founders Transmission Events. Representatives from both companies were mum on whether […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Seeking $100M, springs supporters target convention center expansion proposal
Fine arts and natural resources advocates are stepping up their involvement with a city task force that will play a large role in shaping how the city allocates the fast-growing pool of revenue from Hotel Occupancy Tax, which totaled about $100 million in 2016. And the methods used by the two sectors are different because […]
Posted inCity Hall
Shifting SXSW focus, permitting changes await music head upon return
Returning South by Southwest to its focus on industries and helping to usher components of the city’s plans to help the local music industry are high on the personal to-do list of Don Pitts, until recently the director of Austin’s Music and Entertainment Division. Pitts, who resigned from his position on Feb. 14 but later […]