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Stories by Kali Bramble

West Downtown on track to receive national historic status

Austin could soon welcome a brand-new historic district into the mix, with an application for the West Downtown National Register District lined up to get the rubber stamp next month. Located west of the Capitol between Seventh and 15th streets,…

Drained from emergency debris collections, Austin Resource Recovery prepares for a squeeze this budget cycle

As it continues to pick up the pieces of Winter Storm Mara, Austin Resource Recovery is preparing to weather financial challenges thanks to the $20 million relief effort. Four months out from budget season, Director Ken Snipes and Finance Division…

Austin Energy reflects on emergency response two months after record-breaking ice storm

As brush collectors make their final sweeps for toppled tree debris, Austin Energy is working to uncover the hard lessons wrought by February’s catastrophic ice storm. Gearing up to deliver an after-action report to City Council this spring, interim Deputy…

Landmark Commission stalls demolition at former summer camp in Northwest Hills

A sprawling lot in Northwest Hills – once home to a summer camp for boys – could be headed to City Council’s agenda sometime soon, after a move to zone the site historic secured approval from the Historic Landmark Commission…

Preservationists lament the eroding of Travis Heights at Historic Landmark Commission

The city’s Historic Landmark Commission mourned the steady chipping away of homes recognized in the Travis Heights-Fairview Park National Register district last week, with yet another falling to the housing market’s demand for more contemporary, spacious designs. The application to…

Historic Landmark Commission votes to keep the party going at legacy venue the Broken Spoke

The Broken Spoke will keep its doors open to honky-tonk enthusiasts for the foreseeable future, after a move to grant the venue a historic zoning designation made its way through the Historic Landmark Commission last week. Now 59 years old,…

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Council sets its sights on affordable student housing

City Council newcomer Ryan Alter is making headway, kicking off his tenure with a call for more robust housing in the increasingly unaffordable neighborhoods around Austin’s college campuses. Alter’s resolution, which passed unanimously, directs city staff to explore partnerships and…

Animal Advisory Commission splinters over spay/neuter expansion

The city’s Animal Advisory Commission continues to duke it out over an approach to shelter overcrowding, with a proposal to expand contracts with Emancipet and Austin Humane Society forecasting more friction ahead. The proposal, put forth by the commission’s spay/neuter…

Dark traffic signals lead to havoc, hazards across Austin

As thousands awaited relief from dayslong power outages this past weekend, motorists, cyclists and pedestrians encountered hazards of another sort, as hundreds of stoplights went offline across the city. Richard Mendoza, the interim director of the city’s Transportation Department, addressed…

New City Council kicks off 2023 with UN biodiversity pledge

Austin’s brand-new City Council has officially begun legislating, kicking things off with an ambitious pledge to environmental stewardship. The resolution, sponsored by Council Member Leslie Pool, commits the city to adopt 23 targets established at the UN’s 15th Convention on…

City looks for silver lining in TxDOT's I-35 expansion

With the Texas Department of Transportation circling in on finalized plans for Interstate 35, city staffers are racing to seize opportunity of a number of cap-and-stitch projects that could come to be a silver lining in the largely unpopular interstate…

‘Parking district’ proposal may solve South Congress parking woes

The dicey parking shuffle on South Congress is about to get a bit more predictable, thanks to the city’s Transportation Department. City Council’s Mobility Committee rang in 2023 with the welcome announcement that a new South Congress Parking & Transportation…

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