Stories by Sean Saldaña
Austin Animal Center contemplates 'notifications for possible euthanasia'
In a memo last month, Chief Animal Services Officer Don Bland updated City Council and Mayor Steve Adler about the ongoing capacity issues at the Austin Animal Center. The memo included a few lines that made animal lovers around the…
Austin • By Sean Saldaña • Jul 16, 2021
Vision plan takes on mobility woes at Zilker Park
Last month, the Parks and Recreation Department held its first community meeting for the Zilker Metropolitan Park Vision Plan, an ambitious effort to develop a framework for the park’s future. The department calls it the “first comprehensive planning effort in…
Planning • By Sean Saldaña • Jul 13, 2021
Landmark Commission sends West Line case to Architectural Review Committee
Last week, applicants asked the Historic Landmark Commission for permission to demolish a building located in the West Line Historic District and replace it with a one-story cabana and a garage at 1415 W. 10th St. The building, which was…
Preservation • By Sean Saldaña • Jul 7, 2021
Landmark commission reverses course, grants demolition for Scenic Drive home
Last month, a demolition permit request for the property at 2708 Scenic Drive came in front of the Historic Landmark Commission. The home, which was built in 1952, has fallen into disrepair, but instead of granting the permit, city staffers…
Preservation • By Sean Saldaña • Jul 1, 2021
PARD continues to work through lifeguard staffing shortages
After a year of lockdown measures and closures aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus, Austinites have entered the summer season ready to interact with the world again. But as people head outdoors, they’re noticing that the city’s aquatics operations…
Parks • By Sean Saldaña • Jun 29, 2021
City begins blue-green algae mitigation at Red Bud Isle
Since 2019, dog-lovers in Austin have had to worry about cyanobacteria, more commonly known as blue-green algae, when stories came out of several dogs dying after swimming in Lady Bird Lake during the algae bloom. A particular area of concern…
Environment • By Sean Saldaña • Jun 24, 2021
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Austin Animal Center continues to struggle with capacity
Earlier this week at the Animal Advisory Commission’s monthly meeting, commissioners discussed the reopening process of the Austin Animal Center as the risk of coronavirus continues to decline locally. In recent months, the shelter has been running out of kennel space for…
Austin • By Sean Saldaña • Jun 18, 2021
ZWAC looks to extend contract for encampment cleanups
Last week, the Zero Waste Advisory Commission voted unanimously to advance a contract extension with Relief Enterprise of Texas Inc., a contractor that has handled homeless encampment trash cleanup for the city around Interstate 35, U.S. Highway 183, Loop 1…
Austin • By Sean Saldaña • Jun 16, 2021
Former Long Estate granted demolition permit after March fire
Last month, the Historic Landmark Commission unanimously voted to issue a demolition permit for 2308 Woodlawn Blvd., a property located in the Old West Austin National Register Historic District. Unlike many demolition permit requests that the landmark commission hears, this…
Preservation • By Sean Saldaña • Jun 9, 2021
Last residential house on Rainey cleared for demolition by landmark commission
In 2019, a KUT report introduced Austinites to John Contreras, then known as “The Last Man on Rainey Street.” Rainey Street, historically a residential neighborhood, has become one of the city’s most prominent centers for nightlife and large-scale development. Contreras’…
Preservation • By Sean Saldaña • Jun 4, 2021
Jackson-Novy-Kelly-Hoey House gets approval for front-yard pool
This week, the Historic Landmark Commission revisited a case from March in which homeowners at 2406 Harris Blvd. had requested a certificate of appropriateness to put a pool in their front yard. The issue raised concerns among commissioners because the…
Preservation • By Sean Saldaña • May 27, 2021
City devising permanent solution to erosion threat in Guerrero Park
Southeast Austin’s Roy G. Guerrero Park is home to a disc-golf course and baseball fields and is a popular destination for birding. But according to the city, a growing threat poses a risk to the popular park: erosion. The 360-acre park…
