The Travis County Commissioners Court isn’t making nearly the progress it hoped on reforming vacation policy for county employees. Currently, county law enforcement personnel are allowed to accrue unlimited vacation, while civilian employees are allowed to accrue only up to 240 hours. Both types of employees, however, can only cash out a maximum of 160 […]
Jack Craver
Posted inPolice
Safety commissioners voice concerns about forensic officer’s firing
Slowly but surely, reported Austin Police Department officials at a recent meeting of the Public Safety Commission, the city of Austin is reducing its backlog of DNA evidence. The total backlog has dropped from roughly 4,500 batches in June to 2,535 now, reported Assistant Chief Troy Gay. That’s made up of 1,686 sexual assault kits, […]
Posted inEnergy
Austin Energy defends demand charge for small biz
Shudde Fath, the legendary advocate for ratepayers, wants Austin Energy to change the way it charges certain small businesses for their electricity. In a January letter to Mayor Steve Adler and City Council members, the longtime member of the Electric Utility Commission wrote that she hoped that the utility would roll back a change from […]
Posted inTravis County
Travis County: No place for bondsmen
It’s much better to be arrested in Travis County than most other places in Texas. Nearly 70 percent of defendants in the Travis County criminal justice system are released on “personal recognizance bonds,” meaning they don’t have to come up with any money, either by digging into their own pocket or getting a loan from […]
Posted inTravis County
Travis County backs lawsuit over Trump sanctuary city order
Travis County has joined nearly three dozen other cities and counties across the country, including the city of Austin, in the legal battle against President Donald Trump’s crackdown on sanctuary cities. After a brief discussion of the lawsuit during a private executive session, the Travis County Commissioners Court voted 4-1 for the county to be […]
Posted inWhispers
Environmentalists optimistic about Austin, less so about state, nation
A number of environmental advocates lauded efforts undertaken by the city and its electric utility at a Monday meeting of the Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee. Austin Energy has done a “great job” facilitating greater use of solar energy, noted Kaiba White of Public Citizen. There is still far more to do, she and others […]
Posted inWhispers
Paul Robbins still concerned about customer assistance program
Paul Robbins, the longtime environmental activist, revealed his research on Austin Energy’s customer assistance program at a Monday meeting of the Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee. Robbins told City Council members that CAP, which is intended to give discounts to low-income customers on their utility bills, remains a “partially broken program” because it is still […]
Posted inResources
City utilities devise plan to help with unpaid bills
Austin’s two city-owned utilities are teaming up to help some of the city’s most indebted customers catch up on unpaid bills. Beginning this summer, the joint effort between Austin Energy and Austin Water will target 543 customers who participate in AE’s low-income customer assistance program and owe between $1,750 and $3,000 to the utilities. Those […]
Posted inParks
City moves forward on major park in Onion Creek area
The city is trying to make the best out of a bad situation by turning flood-ravaged land near Onion Creek into one of Austin’s premier open spaces. Earlier this month, City Council approved a resolution to begin the process of rezoning roughly 99 acres of formerly residential property that the city, in partnership with the […]
Posted inCity Council
What really happened with the new ethics ordinance?
An ordinance approved by City Council last month aims to strengthen the Ethics Review Commission, the citizen panel tasked with investigating and judging ethics complaints made against city officials. The ordinance, which had been in the works for about a year and a half, will give the commission a number of new powers, including to […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Report inspires city leaders to look at gentrification in CodeNEXT
Two weeks ago, a draft report authored by a city task force accused CodeNEXT, the proposed overhaul of the city’s land use rules, of being a “tool of institutionalized racism.” The report, which was leaked to media outlets and reported on by the Austin American-Statesman, bemoaned the city’s failure to prevent the displacement of longtime […]
Posted inCity Hall
Ethics Review Commission weighs campaign finance proposal
Members of the city’s Ethics Review Commission are considering a number of potential changes to Austin’s campaign finance rules in the wake of a federal court ruling that blocked enforcement of certain restrictions on candidate fundraising. In a ruling last year prompted by a lawsuit by former City Council Member Don Zimmerman, U.S. District Judge […]