On issues ranging from immigration to support for clean energy technology to the future of media, the coming Donald Trump presidency brings a whole lot of uncertainty and possibly some opportunity to the tech scene in Austin. That was the prevailing logic Wednesday at the Austin Tech Alliance’s panel discussion “Trump’s Impact on Tech in […]
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 inMusic & Entertainment
New Rodeo Austin chief calls Expo Center expansion ‘a no-brainer’
With a deep banking and private investment background as well as an extensive business network throughout Texas, new Rodeo Austin CEO Rob Golding could be an important dealmaker in the long-brewing effort to conduct a grand revamp of the Travis County Expo Center. Golding, who has lived and worked in Austin for more than 30 […]
Posted inTransportation
Highways and interstates a top priority for pedestrian safety plan
Austin appears to have had some early success in recovering from an all-time high in road fatalities in 2015, with 76 in 2016 compared to 102 the year prior. But reaching zero fatalities and serious injuries by 2025 remains the city’s goal, which local planners say will require analyzing huge amounts of data and implementing […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Council seeks robust feedback on first CodeNEXT draft
City Council and the other groups involved in completing and implementing CodeNEXT – the multiyear process of rewriting the city’s Land Development Code – got a hard look Wednesday at how citizens will be able to review and give feedback on plans for Austin’s future growth. The joint meeting between Council and the 18-member Code […]
Posted inAustin
Hotel business – and HOT revenue – would accelerate with convention center expansion
The biggest number looming over the Visitor Impact Task Force is fairly easy to grasp: The city’s Hotel Occupancy Tax generated more than $90 million in revenue in 2016, with double-digit growth expected well into the future. It’s the many other numbers and percentages – and how those figures are parsed and allocated – that […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Council expected to take up agent of change and entertainment licenses in March
Regulations for live music venues throughout Austin appear to be changing both very quickly and remarkably slowly. At Monday’s meeting of the city’s Music Commission, the dominant topic was the long-proposed “agent of change” principle that is intended to reduce legal friction between incompatible uses, such as music venues and residential development. That issue has […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Hopes for music industry growth fuel first omnibus resolution
For all the focus Mayor Steve Adler and others in city government have put on the health of Austin’s music economy in recent years, it’s easy to lose sight of what it means to be a “working musician” in Austin in 2017. Napster and the go-go days of illegal downloading in the early 2000s zapped […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
With $90 million up for grabs, Visitor Impact Task Force faces hefty charge
The city’s new Visitor Impact Task Force hopes to accomplish several goals in the next four months, all of them having to do with how the city can best grapple with the growing number of tourists coming to Austin each year. But the most significant of those goals by far is coming up with ideas […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Liquor tax cut a top priority for music venue lobbying group
Music venues in Austin are lining up to try to get their state liquor tax rates reduced in a bid that’s being presented as a needed step to preserve clubs and bars that heavily promote live music. The effort is still in its nascent stages and could be something of a reboot of a 2013 […]
Posted inParks
Task force report recommends moving popular events to different parks
Parks facilities in East Austin are likely to become host sites for a variety of large events in the coming years as the city looks to reduce the event schedule at its major urban core parks. A move toward utilization of parks such as Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park and Onion Creek Memorial Park is […]
Posted inLand Development Code
CodeNEXT could allow new music districts and creative spaces around Austin
Affordability – for both the city’s mostly lower-income artists and the venues and galleries where they work – will be the creative community’s biggest concern as Austin rolls out and gradually revises its CodeNEXT plan, a comprehensive rewrite of the Land Development Code. Release of the first draft is set for January. At Monday’s meeting […]
Posted inPublic Health
Medical school seeks solutions to boost community health
The Dell Medical School is on the lookout for ideas big and small that may improve the health of Austin’s vulnerable communities concentrated in East Austin. The school’s Center for Place-Based Initiatives (CPBI) put out the call for ideas and hopes to bring local nonprofits, researchers, business investors and many other resources to bear in an […]