Stories by Kali Bramble
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…
Preservation • By Kali Bramble • Mar 14, 2023
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,…
Preservation • By Kali Bramble • Mar 8, 2023
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…
Housing • By Kali Bramble • Feb 28, 2023
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…
City Hall • By Kali Bramble • Feb 27, 2023
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…
Public Safety • By Kali Bramble • Feb 8, 2023
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…
Environment • By Kali Bramble • Jan 31, 2023
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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…
Roads • By Kali Bramble • Jan 27, 2023
‘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…
Roads • By Kali Bramble • Jan 24, 2023
Travis Heights residents put up a fight to preserve century-old fourplex
The Historic Landmark Commission kicked off 2023 with a bang last Wednesday, with nearly a dozen Travis Heights residents taking the stand to oppose demolition of a century-old home on the corner of East Monroe Street and Newning Avenue. The…
Preservation • By Kali Bramble • Jan 18, 2023
Brigid Shea: Seeking local solutions for global problems
If you’d asked Brigid Shea 30 years ago where she’d be in 2022, the Travis County Commissioners Court likely wouldn’t have topped her list. Nevertheless, the outspoken environmentalist and former City Council member, who broke into the political scene co-founding…
Travis County • By Kali Bramble • Jan 4, 2023
Before passing baton, Kitchen reflects on eight years in the housing trenches
In her eight years on Austin City Council, Ann Kitchen has navigated both the thrills and the growing pains of the second-fastest-growing city in the country. Kitchen has spent 2022 refining policies she hopes will continue to address Austin’s housing…
City Council • By Kali Bramble • Dec 27, 2022
Environmental Commission ponders new South Central PUD
Another South Central Waterfront planned unit development proposal has officially commenced, with real estate development attorney and City Council regular Richard Suttle stopping by the Environmental Commission last week for preliminary negotiations. If realized, the project will bulldoze the defunct…
