City Council gave first-reading approval Thursday to an ordinance that will eliminate an auto salvage business above Bull Creek, remove contamination in the critical water quality zone and add to the trail system for that area. In return, owner Roy Cavanaugh will have the right to trade about 230,000 square feet of impervious cover credits […]
Jo Clifton
Jo Clifton is the Politics Editor for the Austin Monitor.
Posted inWhispers
Commissioner Ron Davis to retire
At his birthday party/fundraiser last night, Pct. 1 Travis County Commissioner Ron Davis announced his intention to retire. Davis, who was celebrating his 70th birthday, says he will leave office at the end of 2016. He was first elected in November 1998 to fill the unexpired term of Sam Biscoe, who had been elected county […]
Posted inWhispers
Cobb running for district attorney
Longtime Assistant District Attorney Gary Cobb has indicated that he intends to announce his candidacy for DA in the 2016 Democratic primary. Cobb, director of the Grand Jury/Intake Division of the District Attorney’s Office, has prosecuted numerous high-profile defendants in his 24 years with the DA’s office. That list includes, most recently, George De La Cruz, […]
Posted inCity Council, Land Development Code
Code advisory group to get new east side members
The City Council Planning and Neighborhoods Committee decided at last week’s meeting to add four new members to the group of citizens putting together recommendations for a new Land Development Code, known as the Code Advisory Group, or CAG. Since its appointment in 2013, CAG has been working to overhaul the city’s complicated regulatory rules. It […]
Posted inWhispers
Casar renews challenge to Pressley lawsuit
Attorneys for City Council Member Greg Casar have filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by the candidate he soundly defeated in December’s runoff, Laura Pressley. Pressley has her own definition of what should be counted and claims that Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir did not follow the appropriate procedures during the December runoff […]
Posted inDevelopment
Development rights swap coming to Council
The City Council Planning and Neighborhoods Committee voted 3-0 Thursday, with Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo abstaining, to recommend that the full Council enter into an agreement that will remove a longstanding auto salvage company from the banks of Bull Creek, remediate the contamination and transfer impervious cover credits to the owner for sale to […]
Posted inCity Council, Housing
Committee seeks data on homestead district
The City Council Housing and Community Development Committee took a small step forward Wednesday toward funding affordable housing within the Homestead Preservation District in Central East Austin and possibly elsewhere. However, committee members did not pick a financing mechanism and still have questions about how much such a district would cost. The initial Homestead Preservation District […]
Posted inWhispers
Committee to look at homestead preservation
Lack of affordable housing is not a new problem for Austin. The city has tried various methods to increase housing stock for the less affluent for more than 30 years. The city started working to create Homestead Preservation Districts in 2005 and established the first such district in Central East Austin in 2007. State Rep. […]
Posted inCity Council, Environment, Uncategorized
Zimmerman rejects briefing by climate scientist
Our climate is changing because of human activity. Most scientists, including Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist who studies climate change, agree with that statement, although some do not. Hayhoe, a professor and director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University, was one of several speakers at Monday’s City Council briefing on resilience. After Hayhoe’s […]
Posted inResources, Water
New water tap rule causes cost, consternation
In the midst of what almost everyone agrees is a housing affordability crisis in Austin, planners and residential contractors have discovered a new rule that significantly increases the cost of retrofitting garages into apartments and building new granny flats. Longtime Austin architect Girard Kinney said that the Austin Water Utility’s decision to require that new […]
Posted inCity Council, Local Politics
Zimmerman appointments given a rough ride
Following their rejection of two of Council Member Don Zimmerman’s nominees to city commissions, City Council members narrowly approved his appointment to the Historic Landmark Commission Thursday. However, they did not have to go through the painful process of removing Zimmerman’s most controversial appointment, Rebecca Forest, to the Commission on Immigrant Affairs. Forest sent a […]
Posted inWhispers
Forest asks out of board appointment
City Council Member Don Zimmerman’s controversial appointee to the Commission on Immigrant Affairs, Rebecca Forest, asked Zimmerman on Wednesday to rescind her appointment, “as it is apparent the City Council is determined not to honor it.” Eight members of the Council indicated Tuesday that they would support Council Member Greg Casar’s resolution calling for the […]