City Council Member Don Zimmerman wants to talk trash with his dais peers and is actively looking for two others who will support his proposal to privatize the city’s solid waste collection service. All other Council members at Monday’s Public Utilities Committee meeting curbed their enthusiasm for the idea, save for Council Member Ellen Troxclair, […]
Eva Ruth Moravec
Posted inAustin
Expo Center revitalization could be city’s next bond election
The Travis County Expo Center – situated on the city of Austin’s largest park – is in need of a $620 million facelift, and City Council members hinted Wednesday that the renovation could be funded by a bond election. News came in the form of Hunden Strategic Partners’ draft report on a market study of the […]
Posted inCity Council
Council pledges to protect mobile home residents
The majority of City Council members voted Thursday to protect mobile home residents along with other tenants who are displaced by development. In an 8-1-1 vote with Council Member Don Zimmerman opposed, Council Member Sheri Gallo abstaining and Mayor Steve Adler out of town, Council passed a resolution directing staff to include owners and renters […]
Posted inWhispers
Scientists, come one and all
City Council Member Don Zimmerman gave his peers a sneak peek on Tuesday into what’s got his goat this week: climate change, if you believe it. At a Council work session, Zimmerman said he planned to propose an amendment to Item 17 on Thursday’s Council agenda. The item authorizes a $116,000, 36-month contract with ATMOS […]
Posted inWater
Council to address water utility debt
Issuing and selling bonds, paying off debt and applying for state loans for the Austin Water utility will be up for discussion at City Council’s meeting Thursday. At their work session on Tuesday, Council members seemed generally supportive of the items, which include: applying for $167 million in loans from the AAA-rated Texas Water Development […]
Posted inPolice
Officials reflect on safety at SXSW 2016
This year’s South by Southwest festival was one of the safest yet, say SXSW and public safety officials, thanks to overtime funding that allowed Austin Police Department officers to fill festival staffing spots internally. Overall, the number of festival-related arrests was lower than in recent years. “It went really, really well,” Brad Spies, SXSW’s special […]
Posted inWhispers
City Manager Marc Ott will keep his job
Following the evaluation in executive session of City Manager Marc Ott’s performance, Mayor Steve Adler told the Austin Monitor that Ott won’t be let go anytime soon. Adler said the performance review is ongoing – City Council will likely discuss goals, measures and priorities next week – but added late Tuesday, “It is my sense of the […]
Posted inCity Hall
Council mulls changes to campaign finance rules
Austin City Clerk Jannette Goodall has come up with a list of proposed changes to the city’s rules governing campaign finance reports. She says the changes will make electronic filing “easier and more transparent.” Goodall and Bob Guz, who heads an effort to implement a City Council mandate to create a publicly accessible database for campaign […]
Posted inPolice
500 body cameras soon to be within APD’s reach
The Austin Police Department is inching closer to acquiring at least 500 body-worn cameras, but some close to the process told the Public Safety Committee on Monday that more public input should be sought. This month, APD announced a “pilot confirmation process” with Taser International Inc., which bid on a job to procure the 500 cameras and provide […]
Posted inWhispers
Austin adopts Fair Chance Hiring Ordinance
Austin businesses that employ 15 or more workers will be prohibited from asking job applicants about their criminal background until they are ready to make a conditional job offer under the Fair Chance Hiring Ordinance that City Council adopted Thursday night. The ordinance passed on an 8-2 vote with Council members Ellen Troxclair and Don […]
Posted inCity Council
Council extends living wage to subcontractors
City subcontractors – such as airport food vendors and construction workers – will now be paid $13.03 an hour after City Council extended the city’s living wage requirements on Thursday to everyone working on a city contract. Two ordinances that closed the loophole that left subcontractors out of previously passed living wage requirements passed on […]
Posted inCity Council
Council poised to pass fair-chance hiring ordinance
Despite the fact that Jacqueline Conn has a master’s degree, it took her 10 months to find a job in Austin, a delay she attributes to a 15-year-old felony conviction. On Tuesday, Conn, 34, stood behind Council Member Greg Casar and other elected officials as they celebrated Casar’s fair-chance hiring proposal, which Council will likely […]