Stories by Joseph Caterine
Travis County sheriff responds to community outcry after 'sanctuary' policy reversal
At a town hall meeting on Monday organized by the Commission on Immigrant Affairs, Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez faced a crowd of immigrant rights advocates, service providers and undocumented community members, many of whom expressed disbelief at her Sept.…
Public Safety • By Joseph Caterine • Oct 11, 2017
The new 'old code' zoning category makes waves at commission
If adopted, CodeNEXT will be a total rewrite of the Land Development Code, but as comprehensive as the revisions will be, remnants of the old code will remain. At their Oct. 3 joint meeting, the land use commissions learned about…
Land Development Code • By Joseph Caterine • Oct 9, 2017
CodeNEXT 2.0 facilitates affordable housing, but where?
The Halloween deadline for CodeNEXT’s third draft recommendations is closing in for the land use commissions, and the sense of urgency that has driven the review process thus far teetered on full-blown panic at Tuesday’s joint meeting. The new land…
Land Development Code • By Joseph Caterine • Oct 6, 2017
AISD fails to acquire additional voting sites
Travis County has denied a request from the Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees for additional mobile early voting sites during this year’s bond election. In a Sept. 27 memo to County Judge Sarah Eckhardt, County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir…
AISD • By Joseph Caterine • Oct 5, 2017
AISD board and east side group dispute bond tax rate
The Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees has hedged its bet on passing the largest bond in the district’s history by asserting that it will not raise the tax rate. At its Sept. 25 meeting, however, the board was…
Bonds & Propositions • By Joseph Caterine • Sep 28, 2017
Will CodeNEXT help protect against the next big flood?
When Hurricane Harvey inundated Houston last month, the city’s flood mitigation deficiencies came under fire. In Austin, the Halloween Floods of 2013 and 2015 raised similar questions about Austin’s infrastructure, so commissioners at the Sept. 19 joint land use meeting…
Land Development Code • By Joseph Caterine • Sep 26, 2017
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Commissioners poke holes in consultant's housing capacity predictions
Austinites would like CodeNEXT to solve a lot of the city’s problems, and the housing crisis is chief among those problems. At the Sept. 19 meeting of the joint land use commissions, John Fregonese of Fregonese Associates claimed that the…
Land Development Code • By Joseph Caterine • Sep 25, 2017
CodeNEXT 2.0 is here, but supplemental materials are missing
At the Sept. 19 joint land use commissions meeting, the dazzling presentations detailing the new aspects of the second CodeNEXT draft could not overshadow supplemental information that was missing. Commissioners expressed frustration with city staff and consultants who they said…
Land Development Code • By Joseph Caterine • Sep 21, 2017
School district drums up support for upcoming bond package
In its campaign to get inform voters about most expensive school bond in Austin’s history, the school administration has counted on the age-old aphorism that seeing is believing. Last Thursday, the Austin Independent School District hosted a media tour of…
AISD • By Joseph Caterine • Sep 19, 2017
Commission recommends East 12th stay on urban renewal course
No speedometer exists for the vehicle of urban renewal, so the Planning Commission at its Sept. 12 meeting had to rely on guesswork to decide whether sections of the booming East 12th Street corridor should maintain their current pace of…
Planning • By Joseph Caterine • Sep 18, 2017
Rezoning denial may not matter after CodeNEXT
When the world (of the current Land Development Code) is coming to an end, a single property zoning decision can seem insignificant. At the Zoning and Platting Commission’s Sept. 5 meeting, commissioners denied what one Northwest Austin community perceived to…
Zoning • By Joseph Caterine • Sep 15, 2017
Rezoning denial could mean east side showdown
Planning commissioners took a united stand Tuesday night by voting to deny a rezoning application for an east side property that contains the former Montopolis Negro School. The case has drawn controversy as it has moved through other city commissions,…
