Stories by Jack Craver
Council wants action on city-owned vacant lots
City Council is looking to more than a dozen city-owned properties as opportunities to provide affordable housing, arts spaces, parkland and economic development, in some cases looking to emulate past developments on public land, such as Mueller and Seaholm. City…
Austin • By Jack Craver • Mar 12, 2018
Council approves plan aimed at holding city programs accountable
City Council approved a wide-ranging plan on Thursday aimed at forcing city programs to prove their worth. The Austin Strategic Direction 2023 Plan has been in the works since the beginning of 2017, when Council began exploring the concept of…
City Hall • By Jack Craver • Mar 9, 2018
Council considers gentrification and 'right to return' policy
On Tuesday, City Council members got their first glimpse at a study they voted to authorize that examines gentrification in Austin. The first phase of the study, conducted by three University of Texas professors, analyzed the demographic profile of nearly…
Austin • By Jack Craver • Mar 8, 2018
EMS union urges city not to forget it
The union that represents the city’s paramedics is urging the city to come to the bargaining table and approve a new contract that will offer ambulance workers what it describes as a much-deserved 2 percent pay raise. Tony Marquardt, president…
EMS • By Jack Craver • Mar 6, 2018
Council extends paid sick leave to city's temporary employees
On Thursday, City Council made good on its promise to apply the same sick leave requirement to city government that it voted two weeks ago to impose on private employers. In a 9-2 vote, Council approved a resolution directing city staff…
City Council • By Jack Craver • Mar 2, 2018
Council buys local on computer training contract
City Council rejected the advice of city staff and awarded a technology training contract to a local group over a national nonprofit that only recently arrived in Austin. Staff had recommended that the city contract with Community Technology Network to…
City Council • By Jack Craver • Mar 2, 2018
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Austin could use rising property values to create affordable housing
City Council Member Greg Casar wants to get the most out of the hundreds of millions of dollars that the city is poised to spend to upgrade its transportation corridors in the coming years. The improvements coming to Austin’s corridors…
Housing • By Jack Craver • Mar 1, 2018
Council to vote on extending paid sick leave to all city employees
Two weeks after approving an ordinance that will require private employers to provide paid sick leave, City Council is scheduled to vote on a similar measure to extend the same benefit to all city employees, including its many temporary workers.…
City Council • By Jack Craver • Feb 28, 2018
Council tries 'outcome-based' budgeting
Last year, City Council talked about the idea of doing “outcome-based” budgeting. 2018 is the first year that it is giving it a try. The idea is based on six strategic outcomes that Council developed last year: Having economic opportunities…
Budget • By Jack Craver • Feb 23, 2018
Newest CodeNEXT draft gets criticism from all sides
CodeNEXT has plenty of critics, but they’re far from united in their criticism. The third draft of the proposed Land Development Code is being attacked from both sides of the perennial debate over growth. Neighborhood preservationists say it will lead…
Land Development Code • By Jack Craver • Feb 22, 2018
Homelessness action report calls for doubling spending
If Austin wants to get serious about ending homelessness, it needs to spend about twice as much on the variety of programs that currently serve the more than 2,000 people living on the streets. That’s according to an action plan…
Austin • By Jack Craver • Feb 20, 2018
Council approves paid sick leave ordinance
Shortly after midnight on Friday, Austin became the first city in the South to require employers to provide workers with paid sick leave. The ordinance, authored largely by City Council Member Greg Casar, will require businesses and nonprofits to provide…
