John Davidson

Two of the nation’s top transportation consulting firms are vying for the city’s $1.5 million Strategic Mobility Plan contract, and each made their case to City Council on Thursday.   The firms, Kimley-Horn and Fehr & Peers, are the finalists in the city’s search for a consultant to head its Strategic Mobility Plan (SMP), a […]

On a vote of 6-1, the Council on Thursday approved execution of a contract outlining the scope of work on the city’s $1.19 million contract with Wallace, Roberts & Todd, the design firm working on the city’s Comprehensive Plan. Council Member Laura Morrison voted against the motion after failing in her bid to make changes […]

Representatives of MPB, an Austin-based debt collection agency, appeared before City Council on Thursday to object to the process the city used to hire a firm to collect outstanding accounts for the city’s Emergency Medical Services Department.   MPB, one of nine applicants for the contract, finished second to last in the “Demonstrated Experience” category […]

For more than a year, the city has been seeking input from residents about the Boardwalk Trail at Lady Bird Lake, a project that would close the eastern gap of the hike and bike trail around the lake with more than a mile of raised concrete boardwalk over portions of the lake and shoreline.   […]

City Council Member Chris Riley thinks there’s a way to revitalize the struggling commercial corridor along Airport Boulevard near Highland Mall and that it is with a form-based code.   What is a form-based code? Simply put, it refers to a method of regulating development to achieve a specific urban form. In this case, a […]

An effort to restore habitat for the Black-capped Vireo, an endangered bird native to Central Texas, is yielding results in Travis County.   Central Texas contains the only remaining large swaths of habitat suitable for the Black-capped Vireo: open grassy or rocky areas with low, broad-leaved shrubs, where the bird breeds during the spring and […]

After months of listening to complaints from dog owners, the Parks and Recreation Board listened one more time last week but still insisted on the closure of Bull Creek District Park for six months beginning in November. The Parks Department wants to replant and restore vegetation there and monitor the level of E. coli in […]

Austin Technology Incubator gave its annual report to City Council Thursday and reported its efforts in the last year have had an overall economic impact of $20 million for the Austin area.   Director Isaac Barchas told City Council the non-profit incubator worked with 28 startup companies last year and graduated 11 of them. Those […]

City Council approved a controversial plan Thursday to reallocate $550,000 from the Holly Neighborhood Home Rehabilitation Program for improvements to Festival Beach, Fiesta Gardens and the Holly Power Plant Site Park. The move drew criticism from some East Austin residents, who say the funds should only be used to assist homeowners with improvements to their […]

As part of a broad effort to update city planning policy, the Zoning and Platting Commission’s Flag Lot Subcommittee agreed Wednesday night to a recommendation that would require the Austin Fire Department to review and approve subdivisions and resubdivisions that have flag lots.   So-called flag lots are properties that have been carved out of […]

Seven private firms interviewed about the prospect of forging a public-private partnership with the city to build a Materials Recycling Facility (MRF, sounds like murf) said it should be privately run whether or not it was publically owned.   RW Beck, an engineering firm hired last year by the city to perform initial design engineering […]

The process of selecting a citizen task force to help in the creation of the city’s Comprehensive Plan began Thursday afternoon at a special meeting of the Council’s Comprehensive Planning and Transportation Committee. Council Members Sheryl Cole, Chris Riley and Laura Morrison, charged with selecting 20-29 people for the task force from a pool of […]