On Thursday, City Council put an end to two and a half years of squabbling over a lucrative contract to manage biosolid waste generated by the city water utility. Council voted 10-1 to award the contract to Synagro of Texas-CDR Inc., which has been providing the service to the city for years. The contract is […]
Jack Craver
Posted inWhispers
Planned Parenthood lease prompts tense back-and-forth
On Thursday City Council voted to grant Planned Parenthood another 20 years on the city-owned parcel at 1823 E. Seventh St. The city will charge $1 a year in rent. The item was passed on the consent agenda, but not before Nicole Hudgens of Texas Values, a socially conservative advocacy group, voiced her objections. Hudgens […]
Posted inCity Hall
Council: What to do about boards and commissions?
City Council members seem to all agree that something should be done to make the city’s dozens of citizen boards and commissions more efficient and effective. At a Council work session Tuesday, Council members discussed whether the city should embark on yet another review of the volunteer panels, which are tasked with analyzing and recommending […]
Posted inAISD
Cruz gets another year at helm of AISD
The Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees only took a few minutes Monday night to approve a one-year extension of Superintendent Paul Cruz’s contract. The extension means that Cruz will continue getting paid $310,000 a year through 2021. After getting a 1.5 percent pay hike last year, Cruz did not request a salary increase […]
Posted inElections
One month from election, candidates report fundraising figures
Reports from each candidate for mayor and City Council were due at the Office of the City Clerk on Tuesday. Mayor Steve Adler reported raising nearly $140,000 for the latest time period. His total raised for the current race is more than $714,000, according to a press release from the campaign. Laura Morrison, his major […]
Posted inTransit
Project Connect: Cap Metro insists everything is on the table
Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Randy Clarke insists that nothing is set in stone. He has cautioned the community to view the vision document for Project Connect, the long-term plan for high-capacity transit that Capital Metro released last week, as nothing more than the starting point of a lengthy community conversation about how to bring […]
Posted inHousing
Council debates how to convert downtown property into affordable housing
Almost every member of City Council agrees that the city should use two pieces of prime downtown real estate for affordable housing. However, questions and potential disagreements remain about how the land should be used to provide housing. Some Council members are adamant that the city partner with a developer to build housing on the […]
Posted inPreservation
Developer envisions 700-unit student apartment that wraps around historic Kenney House
A developer seeking to build a 700-unit, 17-story apartment building targeting students on West 22nd Street can’t proceed with the project unless City Council agrees to remove historic zoning from part of an adjacent property, known as the Kenney House. Developer Mike McHone is asking for the city to remove the historic zoning not from […]
Posted inEnergy
Austin Energy proposes local solar farm
In spite of the tremendous appetite for renewable energy in Austin, the city doesn’t offer many opportunities to build the kind of large-scale wind and solar farms necessary to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. “It’s an issue of land,” explained Khalil Shalabi, vice president of strategy, technology and markets for Austin Energy. “Land is expensive. […]
Posted inTransportation
Old Enfield: Another neighborhood divided over speed humps
It’s no wonder that the Transportation Department gets a lot of grief in a city as choked by traffic as Austin. Some of the complaints are unfounded or make demands that city transportation experts will not agree to. However, said Annick Beaudet, assistant director of the Austin Transportation Department, some of the negative feedback makes […]
Posted inHousing
Low-income housing project advancing in Northwest Austin
An affordable housing development that has drawn fierce opposition from nearby residents in North Austin is one step closer to realization. The proposed Elysium Grand apartments at 3300 Oak Creek Drive, just west of MoPac Expressway, will include 90 units. Only 21 units will have no income restrictions, while 17 will be restricted to households […]
Posted inAISD
Declining enrollment, segregation dominate AISD board meeting
The Austin Independent School Board’s unanimous decision to spend $25 million modernizing Sanchez Elementary School was welcomed by a substantial contingent of those who packed the board’s chambers Monday night, but it hardly assuaged long-term concerns from east side activists who say that the school district is allowing East Austin schools to flounder. The first […]