Josh Rosenblatt

As Austin Energy prepares to raise rates for the first time in 16 years, one of its biggest customers is considering the possibility of jumping ship and striking out on its own.   According to Jorge Ramirez, deputy executive director of the Texas Facilities Commission, the organization that manages most of the state’s properties, the […]

NRG Energy is in full lobbying mode, trying to convince Austin Energy to sign on to an agreement to receive more of its electricity from the South Texas Project nuclear power site. Though the public utility turned down an earlier proposal to invest in the construction of two new nuclear units at STP in Matagorda […]

Despite opposition from residents of the Bouldin Creek Neighborhood, yesterday City Council voted 6-1 on first reading to rezone the Park property on Barton Springs Road as a Planned Unit Development (PUD), allowing the owners of the property to put up a building of 96 feet on the old Filling Station Restaurant site.   At […]

Supporters of Austin’s plan to make its animal shelter a “no kill” facility received some encouraging news from the Animal Services Office late last week. In a memo sent Friday to the Council and the Animal Advisory Commission, Filip Gecic, the interim chief animal services officer, reported that live-outcome rates at the Town Lake Animal […]

NRG Energy Inc. is once again asking the city to consider purchasing more of its energy from the South Texas Project nuclear power plant. Though City Council rejected two previous proposals to invest in the building of two additional units on the site in Matagorda County, this time NRG Energy is armed with polls it […]

As staff continues to prepare recommendations that would alter the city’s historic zoning ordinance, public hearings on three houses up for landmark consideration last Thursday gave onlookers a glimpse of what individual Council members might be looking for when those recommendations come in.   The first property up for consideration was the Olson-Foster House, a […]

Ever since the Holly Street Power Plant went up in 1960, it has been a source of controversy for the city. Now even the process of bringing down most of the decommissioned facility is fraught with problems.   As the city prepares to decommission and dismantle the 50-year-old facility, questions have arisen about the way […]

It is official: Hyde Park is a Local Historic District.   Council put the exclamation point Thursday on a years-long effort by Hyde Park residents to get historic status for the neighborhood. Council denied a request for postponement from a neighborhood group opposed to the measure and voted unanimously in favor of creating the district. […]

Animal rights activists, stakeholders, and curious onlookers finally got the chance to meet the fifth, and last, finalist for the city’s animal services officer position. Tuesday night, following daytime interviews with city staff, Abigail Smith answered questions from the public about how she will run Austin’s animal-services system should she be hired to do so.   […]

Those expecting a heated debate when the Austin Housing Finance Corporation took up the issue of financing the purchase of the Marshall Apartments on East 12th were not disappointed yesterday. Though the corporation (the Austin City Council) voted unanimously in favor of the plan, public sentiment was split and spoke to longstanding social, economic, and […]

Last November, in response to one of the worst and most prolonged droughts the region had ever experienced, the City Council passed a resolution directing staff to develop an ordinance that would require commercial storm water runoff to be directed to landscaped areas. No longer should rainfall running off rooftops be directed to storm drains, […]

Yesterday the four finalists for the city’s police monitor position met with the press to discuss their positions on police accountability, procedural transparency, and the often-contentious relationship between Austin’s citizens and its police force. Although all four spoke on a wide range of issues, they all agreed on the one thing needed to improve the […]