Last week, the city’s Watershed Protection Department released its 2023 annual report. The report breaks down the department’s work to manage the city’s creeks, drainage systems and water quality programs. Regarding building and maintaining drainage infrastructure, the department completed eight pond repairs, 1,900 service requests for clearing debris from creeks and channels and 3,097 commercial […]
Nina Hernandez
Posted inTransit
Cap Metro to increase security guard presence at transit centers, Republic Square
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors’ operations, planning and safety committee at its Wednesday meeting heard an update on the system’s Public Safety Program. The program, approved by the board in 2021, is based on a three-prong approach that includes public safety ambassadors, intervention specialists and transit police. Darryl Jamail, senior director of […]
Posted inTransit
Cap Metro conducts partial audit of methods for tracking and reporting greenhouse gas emissions
Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority is working toward a goal of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. Last fall, Capital Metro partnered with University of Texas graduate students on an audit of its current methods for tracking and reporting greenhouse gas emissions. The project team included UT interns Vanessa Li and Avery Smitheal as […]
Posted inTransportation
Airport commission hears update on Concourse B and Connector project
In a Jan. 10 presentation at the Airport Advisory Commission’s regular meeting, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport deputy chief development officer Lyn Estabrook gave an update on the Concourse B and Connector Project, part of the airport’s $164 million expansion of the Barbara Jordan Terminal. She showed a map of the overall Airport Expansion and Development Program […]
Posted inWater
Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District installing two monitoring wells at Garrison and Zilker parks
This month, the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District will install two new scientific monitoring wells in Garrison and Zilker parks. The new wells will be used to collect information about Edwards Aquifer water level and quality, as well as further the city’s federally mandated task of protecting the health of the endangered Barton Springs and […]
Posted inCity Hall
Commission approves creation of Finder to Foster working group
The Animal Advisory Commission at its regular meeting Jan. 8 voted to officially create the Finder to Foster working group. Commissioner Paige Nilson explained at the commission’s Dec. 11 meeting that city code currently mandates that when an animal is admitted to the shelter, it must be held for three days. “And city legal is […]
Posted inParks
Commission discusses spike in animals leaving shelter without being spayed or neutered
The Animal Advisory Commission at its regular meeting Jan. 8 pondered an unexpected rise in the number of animals leaving the shelter without being spayed or neutered. In an overview of monthly reports, Jason Garza of the Animal Services Department told commissioners that the Austin Animal Center took in 681 animals in December, and the […]
Posted inPublic Health
Commission questions what Central Health is doing to address persistent disparities in health access
The Austin/Travis County Public Health Commission heard key findings of Central Health’s 2022 Demographic Report at its regular meeting on Jan. 3. Central Health updated the report in February 2023, finding that Austin’s high cost of living and affordability crisis has morphed into a regional one that is impacting Travis and surrounding counties. Austin is […]
Posted inHousing
City seeing mixed results halfway through Strategic Housing Blueprint
The city is seeing mixed results halfway through the Austin Strategic Housing Blueprint adopted by City Council in 2017. After five years, the city is on track to meet goals aimed at preserving affordable housing and building new housing in some areas of town. However, the city continues to be far behind on its district-based […]
Posted inTravis County
County Judge Brown to focus on diversion center, passenger rail in 2024
In January, Travis County Judge Andy Brown told the Austin Monitor that he intended to double down on overdose prevention efforts and the county’s work to build a mental health diversion center to help more people in crisis avoid jail time. In December, Brown sat down with the Monitor again and confirmed not just his […]
Posted inCity Council
Fuentes spent 2023 on program implementation
City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes continued her focus on working families and delivering community-focused policies in 2023, bringing forward 19 items and co-sponsoring another 80 resolutions. “We’ve been very active and collaborative with my colleagues on the dais,” Fuentes told the Austin Monitor. She is most proud of the measure she sponsored directing the city […]
Posted inCity Council
D3’s Velásquez says: ‘We’re doing exactly what we set out to do’
For District 3 City Council Member José Velásquez, this past year’s theme was accessibility and constituent relations. “We’re doing exactly what we set out to do, which was make the office as accessible as possible and make the person sitting in the chair as accessible as possible,” Velásquez told the Austin Monitor. “That hasn’t always […]