Josh Rosenblatt

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 they’ve had to their representatives during the process, raising the question about whether they—unlike other […]

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 assurances from Acevedo, however, that moves by the department to decrease its budget in FY2012 […]

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 at UT’s Etter-Harbin Alumni Center. Butler, a professor of architecture at the University of Texas […]

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 complaint due to a lack of jurisdiction left the commissioners unsure about their role going […]

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 large crowd of supporters and media, Shade made it clear that not only would she […]

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 Thursday, AFD Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr said a copy of the test was sent to […]

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 to put chemicals in our water. The last time the committee held a hearing on […]

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 for the project, members of the Travis County Commissioners Court put off the vote to […]

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 for the city to parse out money to social service agencies.   At Tuesday’s work […]

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 head. At yesterday’s work session Council members Bill Spelman and Sheryl Cole questioned the wisdom […]

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 one of the agencies said they felt “gut-punched” by the proposed cuts.   After months […]

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 big news coming out of the Watershed Protection Department is their need for six new […]