Josh Rosenblatt

On Tuesday evening, the Parks and Recreation Board voted unanimously to delay making a recommendation on the approval of both permanent and temporary use of parkland within the Upper Bull Creek Greenbelt by the Austin Water Utility. The utility would use the site, located at Spicewood Springs Road and Old Lampasas Trail, for the installation […]

City officials are in the process of filling the new animal behaviorist position at the Town Lake Animal Center, but they’re learning that finding qualified candidates isn’t easy. Or cheap.   The animal behaviorist position was established by City Council in March as part of the Implementation Plan to Reduce Animal Intake and Increase Live […]

The city moved another step closer to establishing Hyde Park as a local historic district last week when the Planning Commission voted to approve a staff recommendation and send the neighborhood’s application on to City Council. Should Council approve the application, homeowners in the neighborhood would be eligible for generous tax abatements but also subject […]

Discussion about a rezoning case on the east side became surprisingly heated on Tuesday when the Planning Commission met to consider the request of an owner to convert his property into a music recording studio.    The property in question is a vacant church located at 2205 East 12th Street. The owner and applicant, Dr. […]

The battle over the city’s Water Treatment Plant 4 project came to the Parks and Recreation Board’s Land, Facilities, and Programs Committee this week, with representatives from the Austin Water Utility and the Spicewood Springs Coalition butting heads over a proposed shaft site on city-owned parkland.   On one side was AWU Director Greg Meszaros, […]

Negotiations between the Zilker Neighborhood Association and the South Austin café Opa! have resulted in an agreement modifying the Outdoor Music Venue permit the city granted the café on March 9. The agreement came just days before City Council was slated to hear the neighborhood association’s appeal of the permit.   Under the terms of […]

All in all, it was a good couple of weeks for Richard Troxell.   With Troxell’s backing, changes to the city’s Downtown No Sit/No Lie Ordinance that would allow for more medical exemptions to the law were recommended on Sept. 22 by the Council’s Health and Human Services Subcommittee. A week later, on Oct. 1, […]

The verdict is in on Austin Energy’s FY2010 energy efficiency rebate programs and it’s good. According to Karl Rabago, the utility’s vice president for distributed energy services, 2010 saw “unprecedented demand” for AE’s Home Performance with ENERGY STAR rebate program, which provides up to $1,575 in rebates for air conditioning, attic insulation, solar screens, caulking, […]

The long, contentious debate over the status of the Callan-Boswell House on East 33rd Street ended last Thursday, with Council unanimously approving staff’s recommendation to not grant the house historic landmark status. The vote came as a relief to the property’s owners, Charles and Christine Boes, who had filed an application to demolish the house […]

The city lost nearly $1 million in revenue over four years due to problems with fee administration in the Watershed Protection Department, according to estimates calculated by the Office of the City Auditor. Non-residential Transportation User Fees and Drainage Utility Fees generate approximately $36 million for the city annually, but inconsistencies in the application of […]

Focusing on promoting self-sufficiency among program recipients, the city’s Health and Humans Services Department is recommending that the City Council approve changes in the way Austin solicits and engages its social service contracts.   Council members will vote Thursday on approval of a new Request for Proposal process that will begin in October for contracts […]

After more than a year of debate, discussion, and stakeholder and committee meetings, the City Council voted Thursday to approve tougher code requirements for the city’s mobile food vendors.   As the number of mobile food vendors in Austin has exploded over the past several years – with over 1600 permits granted at last count […]