With the Council chambers full of cheering supporters, City Council on Thursday unanimously endorsed an award of low-income housing tax credits from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs for a multifamily development at East Fourth and Chicon streets to be called Pathways at Chalmers Courts East Apartments. It will replace the current Chalmers […]
Jo Clifton
Jo Clifton is the Politics Editor for the Austin Monitor.
Posted inWhispers
Ken Craig recovering from serious injury
Around City Hall, people have been missing Ken Craig, senior policy advisor to District 5 Council Member Ann Kitchen. Craig suffered serious injury when his truck apparently hit ice on a Slaughter Lane overpass on Jan. 16 and fell 30 feet from the overpass. Mayor Steve Adler and Kitchen both spoke warmly of Craig during […]
Posted inWhispers
Council OKs Circuit of the Americas applications
In a vote of 9-2, City Council approved authorizing the Circuit Events Local Organizing Committee to act on the city’s behalf to seek funding from the Texas Events Trust Fund for two events. Under the resolution, the committee will seek funding for the FIA World Rallycross events and for future MotoGP events to be held […]
Posted inPublic Safety
Council rejects first aid services contract
During Tuesday’s work session, City Council members expressed enough objections to a contract to hire an outside firm to provide medical services at the Austin Convention Center that city staff agreed to remove the item from today’s agenda. Council members Delia Garza, Leslie Pool, Jimmy Flannigan and Ora Houston each weighed in on the proposed […]
Posted inCity Council
New negotiations for police, EMS contracts
Several City Council members, particularly Jimmy Flannigan and Alison Alter, sharply criticized city staff during Tuesday’s work session discussion of the Austin Police Association contract, with Flannigan and Alter claiming staff failed to communicate as the contract was being crafted. As a result, they said, by the time they knew what was in the contract […]
Posted inWhispers
Champion tract backup still causing problems
The Champion tract at 6409 City Park Road is once again on Thursday’s City Council agenda, and it is still causing problems for staff. At its last meeting in December, Council directed staff to take the proposed amendment to the settlement agreement to the city’s Environmental Commission. It asked the commission to weigh in on […]
Posted inCity Council
Resolution: Wall builders need not apply
Led by Council Member Delia Garza, five Council members are sponsoring a resolution directing the city manager to study the potential impacts on Austin of construction of President Donald Trump’s threatened wall between the United States and Mexico. According to the resolution, President Trump’s executive order directing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security “to take […]
Posted inWhispers
Zaragoza retiring from Planning Commission
Nuria Zaragoza, who has served on the Planning Commission as Council Member Laura Morrison’s appointee, and for the last three years as Council Member Leslie Pool’s appointee, is stepping down. Pool praised Zaragoza, saying, “It was important to me when I was first elected to get somebody really good for the Planning Commission.” She said […]
Posted inWhispers
McGill joins mayor’s staff
Michael McGill, who served as an aide to Sheryl Cole when she was mayor pro tem, has joined Mayor Steve Adler’s team. He joined the Office of the City Auditor in January 2015 and has worked there as a senior auditor for the past three years. On Monday, his first day in the mayor’s office, […]
Posted inWhispers
Christian firm acquires Wyatt Brand
Elizabeth Christian Public Relations announced Thursday that it had acquired Wyatt Brand Inc. and that the combined firm represents one of the largest independent public relations agencies in Central Texas. Wyatt Brand co-founder David Wyatt has joined ECPR as a director, and co-founder Rachel Wyatt is the firm’s new creative director. In addition, Kristin Marcum […]
Posted inCity Hall
Council members blast city savings program
Members of the City Council Audit and Finance Committee on Wednesday expressed outrage over the lack of oversight exercised by the city’s Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department in administering a program designed to help low-income residents learn how to handle money. As reported by the Austin Monitor, the audit performed by the Office of […]
Posted inCity Hall
Audit: Lax oversight in city savings program
City employees overseeing a program to help low-income residents pay for school, buy a home or start a business failed to provide the oversight necessary to prevent waste of city and federal dollars, according to a draft audit from the Office of the City Auditor. The program, called the Matched Savings Account, allows participants to […]