Stories by Josh Rosenblatt
Council weighs pros, cons of anti-lobbying rules for social service providers
Council members are considering waiving the city’s anti-lobbying ordinance in order to improve the social services procurement process. At yesterday’s meeting of the Health and Human Services Committee, representatives of various charitable groups expressed frustration with the level of access…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • May 26, 2011
Acevedo proposes hiring delay and overtime reduction for APD budget
Despite two high-profile violent crimes on East Sixth Street over the last two weeks, Austin Police Department Chief Art Acevedo went before the City Council yesterday to say that both crime and the department’s expenses are down. Council members wanted…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • May 25, 2011
Austin to remember Kent Butler at memorial service this Thursday
Kent Butler, considered by many to be one of the pioneers of conservation and the environmental movement in the Austin area, died in a hiking accident on May 13. There will be a service to honor his memory this Thursday…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • May 24, 2011
Ethics commission rules it has no jurisdiction over Shade complaint
The Ethics Review Commission’s hearing last Friday on a complaint filed by Council Member Randi Shade against Place 3 challenger Kathie Tovo ended badly for Shade but may have ended worse for the commissioners. The commission’s decision to dismiss the…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • May 23, 2011
Defiant Shade draws distinctions, affirms place in runoff election
If anyone was entertaining thoughts that Council Member Randi Shade would be drifting quietly off the Austin political stage following her disappointing showing on Election Day, the incumbent put those notions to bed Thursday at City Hall. Speaking to a…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • May 20, 2011
AFD must retest 2,400 firefighter candidates after test questions leaked
The Austin Fire Department will be retesting some 2,400 applicants for its firefighter academy after learning that the questions and scoring grid of the structured oral interview portion of the process had been leaked. At a hastily arranged news conference…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • May 20, 2011
Subscribe to our newsletter
City medical staffers refute claims of toxic water fluoridation
Against all odds, the debate over water fluoridation is still raging at City Hall. Yesterday the City Council’s Health and Human Services Committee convened a discussion about the controversial practice that resulted in dire warnings about how unsafe it is…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • May 19, 2011
Travis County Commissioners balk on courthouse funding vote
Hopes for a brand-new civil and family courthouse in downtown Austin hit yet another bureaucratic snag yesterday. Faced with a request from the county’s purchasing officer to hire a consultant to assess the feasibility of entering into a public-private partnership…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • May 18, 2011
Bickering Council approves funding for youth center
The debate over increasing funding for an African-American youth center in northeast Austin came to a happy conclusion for center administrators at yesterday’s Council meeting but not before Council members once again went toe to toe over the proper way…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • May 13, 2011
Council members scrap over African-American youth center funding
One day after staff recommended cutting off funding in next year’s budget for nearly half of the social service agencies currently contracted with the city, a disagreement among Council members about funding for an African-American youth center came to a…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • May 11, 2011
Staff proposes no funding for half of current social service groups
Almost half of the more than 50 social service agencies currently receiving money from the City of Austin are not being recommended for funding in next year’s budget, according to a presentation by city staff on Monday. A representative of…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • May 10, 2011
Council hears Watershed and Transportation budget forecasts
With Council inching closer to solidifying next year’s budget, financial forecasts presented Thursday by the heads of the Watershed Protection, Transportation, and Public Works departments could be evidence of an economy starting to improve after years of stagnation. The…
