Stories by Josh Rosenblatt
Lack of oversight on short-term rentals costing Austin tax revenue
Austin could be losing up to $300,000 in tax revenue every year due to deficiencies in the way the city keeps track of short-term vacation rental properties, according to a report to the Council Audit and Finance Committee. That…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • Feb 25, 2011
Council approves Suburban Lodge housing project on South I-35
Ask Walter Moreau, the executive director of Foundation Communities, and he’ll tell you it’s not easy convincing a neighborhood to accept a new affordable housing project, especially when that neighborhood is already home to the most affordable housing units in…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • Feb 22, 2011
Council committee agrees to final changes to Sit/Lie ordinance
For nearly a year, City Council and city staff have been working to come up with amendments to the No Sit/No Lie ordinance that will make it both more humane and more enforceable. Last week, the Council’s Public Health and…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • Feb 21, 2011
City’s Climate Protection Plan director set to retire next week
It will be the end of an era Feb. 25, when Ester Matthews, director of the Austin Climate Protection Program, retires after more than 25 years in city government. During her tenure, she’s worked for a Council member, the Austin…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • Feb 18, 2011
Waller tunnel gets Council go-ahead to start construction
Let the digging begin. Council members approved a series of contract authorizations, ordinances, and amendments to prior agreements on Thursday that will at long last enable work to begin on the Waller Creek Tunnel Project. According to city documents,…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • Feb 18, 2011
Split vote adds another chapter to city’s historic landmark debate
As city staff continues to prepare recommendations for a revised historic landmark ordinance, a split vote on a historic-designation application at Thursday’s Council meeting highlighted just how divisive the debate can be. The property in question, the Fitzgerald-Power-Lynn House,…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • Feb 14, 2011
Subscribe to our newsletter
AWU Director projects $10 million savings on WTP4 construction
The Austin Water Utility is estimating that Water Treatment Plant 4 will come in more than $10 million under budget. However, AWU Director Greg Meszaros was quick to point out to the Council’s Audit and Finance Committee last week that…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • Feb 7, 2011
Rollout of new utility billing system to be delayed up to six months
The city’s new utility billing system, which was originally approved by City Council almost two years ago, won’t be up and running by its projected go-live date. According to city officials, the Custom Care & Billing system will likely miss…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • Feb 4, 2011
NRG nuclear proposal to city includes sale of Fayette coal plant
NRG Energy, Inc. has offered to buy Austin’s share of the coal-fired Fayette Power Project and replace the energy currently generated by the plant with nuclear power from the South Texas Project. In addition, NRG President of Advanced Technology Juan…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • Feb 2, 2011
Council solves two problems with addition of new AFD battalion chief
The City of Austin gained a new Fire Department battalion chief last week, and in the process, managed to lose a knotty personnel problem. City Council members resolved a longstanding dispute involving the Austin Fire Department and one of…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • Feb 1, 2011
Austin Energy head says rate hike needed to meet generation goals
Note: This story has been corrected since an earlier version. A rate increase of more than 10 percent is coming for all Austin Energy customers sometime between 2012 and 2013, General Manager Larry Weis told Council yesterday. That increase,…
Uncategorized • By Josh Rosenblatt • Jan 28, 2011
McClintock leaving watershed management after 25 years
When Nancy McClintock began working as a field biologist for the city of Austin in 1986, environmentalism was not quite the science it would become over the course of her 25-year tenure. Instead, she and her fellow municipal biologists, conservationists,…
