Amid mounting opposition to a proposal to add four tolled express lanes to a section of South MoPac Expressway, City Council is considering a resolution that would ask the region’s planning organization to cut the project from its 2040 Regional Transportation Plan. Council went into detail at a Tuesday work session, in preparation for a […]
Tyler Whitson
Posted inWhispers
Panel nominates civil service commissioners
Following three hours of interviews, the City Council Audit and Finance Committee recommended unanimously Monday that Council appoint Michael Murphy and Lottie Dailey to fill two positions on the Municipal Civil Services Commission that expire Saturday. The commission’s outgoing members are Chair Kimberlee Kovach and Commissioner Kevin Russell. The committee also unanimously supported the commission’s […]
Posted inAustin, Environment
Barbecue smoke ordinance continues to sizzle
Though City Council turned down the heat on a controversial barbecue smoke mitigation ordinance last month, it did refer the issue to committees for vetting. The Council Health and Human Services Committee took the issue off the back burner Monday, holding a public hearing and discussing potential alternatives with city staff and restaurateurs. The committee […]
Posted inTransportation
Redbud, Barton Springs bridge fixes move ahead
As Public Works Department Director Howard Lazarus said at Wednesday’s City Council Mobility Committee meeting in regard to improving the Barton Springs Road and Redbud Trail bridges, “If you never get started, you’ll never get finished.” Those projects, it appears, are one step closer to getting started. The committee recommended at that meeting that Council […]
Posted inTransportation
Council committee wants co-op taxicab proposal
While City Council mulls over ways to renew the city’s contracts with its three existing taxicab franchises, the drivers who contract with those companies appear to be inching closer to their dream of a fourth, a worker-owned cooperative. The Council Mobility Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend that the full Council direct city staff to bring […]
Posted inTexas State Legislature, Transportation
Austin representative takes on transportation
As the only member of the Texas House Transportation Committee hailing from Austin, freshman Democratic Rep. Celia Israel has vowed to bring the region’s gridlock woes to the Capitol. She recently told the Austin Monitor about a few of the bills she filed this session with the goal of providing mobility improvement tools to Central […]
Posted inAISD, Education, Texas State Legislature
Why Texas isn’t paying for what it wants from Austin’s classrooms
Travis County and the City of Austin take part in a regular fiscal dance with the State of Texas over who pays the costs of government. Over the next three days, KUT News and the Austin Monitor will look at key examples of that interaction in our series, “The Buck Starts Here.” Today, we take […]
Posted inTransportation
How you’re paying (and maybe paying again) for Austin’s roads
Travis County and the City of Austin take part in a regular fiscal dance with the State of Texas over who pays the costs of government. Over the next three days, KUT News and the Austin Monitor will look at key examples of that interaction in our series, “The Buck Starts Here.” Today, we take […]
Posted inWhispers
Tovo voices ‘plea’ for water task force members
Council Member Kathie Tovo reminded her colleagues at Tuesday’s Council work session that some of them have yet to appoint members to the Austin Integrated Water Resource Planning Community Task Force created in a December resolution. She noted that Austin Water is waiting for the task force to meet before issuing a solicitation to hire […]
Posted inAustin, Courts, Texas State Legislature
Why your speeding ticket doesn’t pay for what you think it does
Travis County and the City of Austin take part in a regular fiscal dance with the State of Texas over who pays the costs of government. Over the next three days, KUT News and the Austin Monitor will look at key examples of that interaction in our series, “The Buck Starts Here.” Today, we take […]
Posted inCity Council, Transit, Transportation
Taxicab drivers rally for worker-owned co-op
As Austin’s ground transportation service industry faces upheaval due to new competition, taxi drivers are using a looming expiration of the city’s taxicab franchises as an opportunity to push for, among other requests, a cooperative, driver-owned franchise. Dave Passmore, president of the taxicab union Taxi Drivers Association of Austin, garnered attention Tuesday morning when he […]
Posted inWhispers
TxDOT responds to SH45 SW letter
The Texas Department of Transportation provided the Austin Monitor with its response Monday to a letter that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent to Mayor Steve Adler, Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt and others April 15. The letter expressed concerns about the environmental impact that the proposed State Highway 45 Southwest may have on […]