Josh Rosenblatt

This Thursday, city staff will recommend to Council the priciest of six bids for a two-year service contract for the transmission and distribution of electrical services. A representative from one of the other five companies told In Fact Daily that he is dissatisfied with the city’s Request for Proposal (RFP) process and upset that staff […]

At a special called meeting Tuesday, the Parks and Recreation Board contributed their two cents to the discussion on how best to handle shoreline erosion on Lake Austin without infringing on property rights. It’s a conversation Council has been having for more than month and that they will continue at their next meeting, Dec. 9. […]

The head of the Austin Firefighters Association said Monday that an arbitrator’s decision against Fire Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr in favor of captain passed over for a promotion could indicate that politics creeping into the promotions process.   Kerr’s decision to deny the promotion of Captain Guy Groomer in March was the subject of a […]

After more than 25 years, Environmental Officer and Assistant Director of Watershed Policy Pat Murphy will be retiring from city government at the end of January. Murphy, a lifelong Texan who came to Austin after college, worked his way up from assistant city arborist to help create some of the most significant environmental policy in […]

A special called meeting of the Urban Renewal Agency to address concerns about a proposed plan to revitalize the Marshall Apartments on East 12th Street ended with far more fatalism than it began Monday night. By the end of the three-hour session it was clear not only that the agency can’t affect the Marshall project but that […]

After many years in the making, the proposed Hyde Park Local Historic District came before Council last week, but consideration was barely got under way when members learned of a possible valid petition opposing the measure filed by a group of neighborhood residents.   Jerry Rusthoven of the city’s Neighborhood Planning and Zoning Department informed […]

Helping the city move forward with its no-kill animal services implementation plan and the construction of the new Levander Loop Shelter, set to open in November, 2011, staff announced this week the filling of several positions crucial to the completion of Animal Service goals and the expanding of the search to fill another.   At […]

A proposed plan to revitalize a dilapidated apartment complex on the eastside brought the concern, and eventually ire, of several home and business owners in the area at Monday’s meeting of the Urban Renewal Board. The property in question is the Marshall  Apartments, a 40-year-old complex on East 12th Street. According to the city, 100 […]

Candidates for the city’s new Chief Animal Services Officer got a thorough going-over on Monday.   Early in the day, the four candidates – chosen as finalists from a group of almost 80 applicants – interviewed with the city’s executive search committee and a stakeholders’ committee. That was followed by a meeting Monday night where […]

On Tuesday, Austinites voted to move forward with Proposition 1, the $90 million transportation bond package, with 56 percent voting yes.   Proposition 1 will fund about 70 road, pedestrian, and bicycle projects and is considered a prelude to a much larger transportation bond package planned for 2012. The package features funds for area road, […]

Election day is upon us and it’s shaping up to be a big one for Republicans. Pundits and politicos from across the ideological spectrum are predicting a Republican wave that could trump even the election of 1994, when that party took back the U.S. House of Representatives. Many have even expressed doubts about the Democrats […]

After hearing a presentation by the Watershed Protection Department yesterday, Council voted unanimously to delay making a decision on new restrictions on bulkheads, docks, and shoreline access on Lake Austin. Watershed staff believe those restrictions could help protect the lake from further shoreline erosion and other detrimental environmental impacts. Others believe the restrictions wouldn’t do […]