Charles Boisseau

In 2012, Austin experienced a quiet revolution at the ballot box.   Since 1973, Austin voters six times rejected plans to create some form of geographic representation for their City Council. But 2012 was different. Many voters who had never cast a ballot on the question before decided the time had come to elect City […]

For six months, runners and walkers will take a detour on the north shore of Lady Bird Lake’s Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail as workers try to keep a narrow stretch of the lake from washing away.   Austin city officials on Tuesday gave reporters an on-site overview of a $1 million […]

Members of the Lake Austin Task Force on Monday delved into the murky waters of hydrilla, the invasive vegetation that has become a growing menace to boaters, residents and users of the lake.   This July, shortly after Austin City Council formed the task force, hydrilla reached an all-time high, covering 580 acres of the […]

Austin voters approved all but one of seven city bond proposals Tuesday night. When all is said and done, the funds raised will fund everything from roads and parks to libraries and a new fire station.   Prop. 15, which proposed to raise $78.3 million to build and renovate low-income housing, narrowly came up short. […]

It was billed as the first race on the Formula 1 track and the first chance for the public to see the new $400 million Circuit of the Americas facility.   Instead, participants in a 3.4-mile fun run on Saturday morning suffered from a gargantuan traffic jam and frustration from organizational foul ups.   “It […]

On Aug. 2, members of the Austin City Council unanimously agreed to place a charter amendment on the Nov. 6 ballot that asks voters to decide whether to create a potentially costly civil service system to cover thousands of the city’s rank-and-file employees.   Since Council approved the measure without any comments, the vote left […]

The union representing 15 percent of the city’s workforce wants the city to grant civil service protections to all municipal workers – a proposal that could cost the city tens of millions a year and limit the city’s ability to hire the most qualified employees, according to an analysis by City Manager Marc Ott.   […]

Austin Energy is seeking authorization from the City Council to spend $400,000 to hire a company to rework the utility’s troublesome new billing software to implement its new rate structure.   Austin Energy Larry Weis sent a memo to City Council members and Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell on July 11, saying the implementation, configuration and […]

The nation’s largest biomass power plant has begun operations near Nacogdoches in East Texas – the latest effort by the City of Austin to generate more than one-third of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020.   Austin Energy, the city-owned electric utility, has contracted to pay $2.3 billion over 20 years for the […]

The City of Austin on Thursday lifted its “stage two” watering restrictions but – in a response to last year’s historic drought – put in place new limits on the number of hours residents may water each week.   The return to stage-one watering restrictions – which allows homeowners to water twice a week – […]

Saying it would cost too much and benefit too few, Austin City Council members rejected a proposal to build a $5 million temporary airport terminal in time for this November’s inaugural Formula 1 United States Grand Prix.   Council voted 7-0 Thursday night not to go forward with a proposal from officials with Austin-Bergstrom International […]

The Austin Airport Advisory Commission has endorsed a fast-track project to build a $5 million international terminal to accommodate the thousands of visitors expected to descend on Austin in mid-November for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix.   The commission voted 3 to 1 last night to recommend the building of what would amount […]