At the May 24 meeting of the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors, Brian Carter, whose title is chief experience and engagement officer, presented the transit agency’s brand refresh proposal to board members. “Over the last couple of years, several years, we’ve been noticing that there’s a need for us to take another look […]
Seth Smalley
Posted inPublic Safety
After public condemnation, county to rework correctional master plan
A highly anticipated Travis County Commissioners Court meeting Tuesday was more contentious than usual and lasted later into the evening to accommodate hours of public comments criticizing a plan to allocate $80 million to fund a new women’s jail. Though the item in question specifically referred to the $4.3 million design contract for the Travis […]
Posted inPublic Safety
Commissioners clap back at justice advocates protesting county jail plan
The Travis County Commissioners Court on Tuesday responded to pushback from criminal justice reform advocates upset at the county’s plan to approve a $4.2 million design contract for a new women’s jail. While commissioners ultimately decided to delay the motion until next week (in a non-unanimous vote), several of them pushed back on the advocates’ […]
Posted inPublic Safety
Criminal justice reformers push back on county jail renovations
Just outside the Travis County Commissioners Court at 700 Lavaca St. yesterday, a number of criminal justice reform groups held a press conference to protest Travis County’s plan to spend $600 million on construction and renovation of new jail facilities in the county. The plan, says Amanda Woog, executive director of the Texas Fair Defense […]
Posted inTransit
Cap Metro board fields updates on Project Connect
At the May 24 Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors meeting, board members heard updates on the progress of Project Connect. Presenters displayed images of partial plans for the Blue Line – called “15 percent design drawings” – and said that they would soon receive similar plans for the Orange Line. “We’ve been working […]
Posted inPublic Safety
County budget office weighs up new correctional complex
At their May 27 work session, Travis County commissioners fielded a presentation on the 20-year road map for the Travis County Correctional Complex. Representatives from the Planning and Budget Office, the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, and the Justice Planning Department presented to commissioners on a range of topics, from demographic breakdowns of the facility population […]
Posted inAustin
Environmental Commission hears plans for Austin CCC
The Environmental Commission convened May 19 to discuss a variety of topics, among them an overview of the Austin Civilian Conservation Corps program. The Civilian Conservation Corps – or Triple C – was created by a City Council resolution that passed last year. Originally a Covid response program, Austin CCC was created to help Austinites […]
Posted inAustin
Joint Sustainability Committee looks at trends during flooding and extreme heat
On Wednesday, researchers Patrick Bixler, Diana Joyce Ojeda and Jessica Jones presented an update on sustainability indicators – particularly the effects of flooding and extreme heat in the Austin area – to the Joint Sustainability Committee. The research focuses on the differences in how people experience extremes of weather depending on their ethnicity, their income […]
Posted inTransportation
County scrapes together budget for a pass-through project
Last week, the Travis County Commissioners Court fielded a briefing regarding funding for the FM 969 pass-through from the county Public Works Division. David Greear, the assistant public works director, presented an overview of the project to commissioners. Public Works entered a finance agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation to finance the FM 969 […]
Posted inBudget
Budget report reveals Capital Metro has money to spare
On May 12, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority CFO Reinet Marneweck presented the financial report for the 2021 fiscal year to the Capital Metro Board of Directors. The report covered revenue, operating expenses and Capital Metro sales tax as they relate to budgeting in the company at large. “Seeing as we’re about 50 percent into the […]
Posted inTravis County
Report depicts the state of poverty in Travis County
On Tuesday, the Commissioners Court fielded discussion from Health and Human Services on the state of poverty in Travis County. Rochelle Olivares, April Klein and Lawrence Lyman, the core informing team of the HHS Research and Planning Division, presented a report using data obtained from the 2019 American Community Survey five-year estimates. “The data is […]
Posted inPublic Health
Vaccination in the county continues to soar, as FDA approves Pfizer for kids
The Travis County Commissioners Court and Austin City Council convened Tuesday to receive updates from interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott on the Covid-19 vaccination progress in the region. Thirty-eight percent of individuals in Travis County were fully vaccinated as of Tuesday, while 13 percent of individuals were partially vaccinated. Just over half the county, […]