Some Austin City Council members grew irritated while debating the problems of bicycles at intersections and whether to accept grant money that could ease those problems at Thursday’s meeting. At issue was a proposal that the Austin Transportation Department accept $200,000 in federal grant money already awarded by the Texas Department of Transportation to install bike-visible […]
Jenny Blair
Posted inTransportation
Transit priority lanes considered for the Drag
Close to half of all rush-hour travelers through the Drag may go by bus, and the busy corridor’s future may include dedicated bus lanes, commissioners learned at Tuesday’s Urban Transportation Commission meeting. The Austin Transportation Department is studying ways to improve the design of the notoriously congested stretch of Guadalupe Street between MLK Jr. Boulevard and […]
Posted inWhispers
City to beef up restaurant inspections
Eight more sanitarians and support staff will soon turn out to inspect Austin restaurants for health violations. According to Carlos Rivera, director of Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services, national standards call for each “fixed food establishment” to receive two inspections a year. Austin’s restaurants are only logging about 1.6, in part because the number […]
Posted inLocal Politics, Public Safety
Background checks for dog walkers ?
Fingerprinting and an eight-week wait for a background check … to walk shelter dogs? At Wednesday’s City Council budget work session, Council Member and mayoral candidate Mike Martinez noted that some would-be Austin Animal Center volunteers decide to help elsewhere when faced with these stringent requirements. According to Chief Animal Services Officer Abigail Smith, all […]
Posted inLocal Politics, Uncategorized
Ethics Review Commission dismisses complaint against Neslund
The Ethics Review Commission dismissed a complaint Tuesday night that Melissa Neslund should have registered as a lobbyist, after a hearing that chair Austin Kaplan called perhaps the board’s most contentious. A special called meeting of the commission weighed whether Neslund, a Land Development Code Advisory Group member, is a lobbyist. Austin Neighborhoods Council president […]
Posted inTransportation
AURA accuses Project Connect of funding political ads for urban rail
Project Connect’s ubiquitous summer media spots about its proposed urban rail project have drawn fire from the transit activist group AURA, which calls the ads unethical. The group says the ads are a political advertising campaign funded by taxpayer dollars. Project Connect officials say they are educational. The radio, television, print and digital ads in […]
Posted inTransportation
Fix 290 calls CTRMA, TxDOT evaluation of Oak Hill Y plan ‘biased’
A representative of an Oak Hill community group is calling the criteria used to evaluate the Oak Hill Parkway Project – designed to improve the junction of SH 71 and US 290 – “subjective and biased.” Most Austinites know the area as the Oak Hill Y, an intersection with a long and tortured history of […]
Posted inWhispers
Scandalous Whisper Here
Council Member John Smith said he saw Santa in his underwear.
Posted inEnvironment, Local Politics
Council takes no action on move to remove Leffingwell from BCCP
Activists opposed to State Highway 45 Southwest lost a battle at Thursday’s City Council meeting when a motion died to replace Mayor Lee Leffingwell as chair of the Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan’s Coordinating Committee. Council Member Kathie Tovo moved to replace Leffingwell with Council Member Laura Morrison, but the motion died for lack of […]
Posted inEnvironment, Local Politics
Leffingwell clashes with Morrison, Tovo on his position on SH45 SW
A testy exchange between Mayor Lee Leffingwell and several members at Tuesday’s Austin City Council work session put deep divisions about the proposed State Highway 45 Southwest on full display. Leffingwell found himself in the hot seat when colleagues asked him how he’d vote if the highway appeared on the agenda of the Balcones […]
Posted inLocal Politics
Council members look for ways to shorten weekly meetings
Mindful of citizens forced to wait long hours to testify – and perhaps hoping to catch at least a few hours of sleep themselves – Austin City Council members hashed out ways Tuesday to end this Thursday’s meeting a little earlier. As the Council work session wound up, Council Member Kathie Tovo asked that […]
Posted inDevelopment, Transportation
Capital Metro picks Endeavor Group for Plaza Saltillo development
The choice of a Plaza Saltillo developer came down to a nail-biter in the final minutes of the Capital Metro Transportation Authority board meeting Monday. In the end, the board chose Endeavor Real Estate Group and Columbus Realty Partners in a 5-3 vote. The board’s other option, Saltillo Collaborative, will not continue negotiations with Capital […]