When the poverty rate in a city drops, many would consider it a cause for celebration. In Austin, however, where property value increases have outpaced family income growth for decades, that is not the case. City Demographer Ryan Robinson told members of the Regional Affordability Committee at their first meeting Monday that recently released poverty-rate […]
Tyler Whitson
Posted inPreservation, Resources, Water
Downward oxygen trend a risk for salamanders
Barton Springs is the only known home to the endangered and federally protected Barton Springs and Austin Blind salamanders. Unfortunately, for these unique creatures, the level of life-sustaining dissolved oxygen in their ecosystem has dropped on average over the past 35 years. Watershed Protection Department engineer Abel Porras brought the issue to the Wednesday meeting […]
Posted inAustin, Hays County, Roads, Transportation, Travis County
US Fish and Wildlife concerned about SH 45 SW
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent letters to Mayor Steve Adler, Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt and others Wednesday, expressing concerns about the potential environmental impacts of the proposed State Highway 45 Southwest on the Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan, or BCCP. Eckhardt has called for a hold on current plans for the highway. In […]
Posted inRoads, Transportation
MoPac South may only work with raised ramp
Whether it includes two or four express lanes, a proposed MoPac South expansion project would likely require the elevated ramp over Lady Bird Lake that has caused a stir in recent weeks. That is what Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority Executive Director Mike Heiligenstein said at Monday’s meeting of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization […]
Posted inEnergy, Texas State Legislature
Austin Energy deregulation bill sent to Senate
A bill that could have major implications for Austin Energy and the city budget passed its first hurdle in the Texas House on Tuesday and now goes to the Senate floor. It could give certain Austin Energy customers the ability to break away from the utility and buy energy on the deregulated market. The Senate […]
Posted inWhispers
Kitchen joins Capital Metro board
The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization transportation policy board selected Austin City Council Member Ann Kitchen on Monday as its official appointee on the Capital Metro board of directors. Kitchen, who also chairs the Council’s Mobility Committee, will complete the term of former Council Member Mike Martinez, which expires June 1, 2016. She will join […]
Posted inWhispers
Austin, San Antonio in health contest
Mayor Steve Adler released a video April 3 accepting San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor’s open challenge to participate in the annual H-E-B Community Challenge, presented by health advocacy organization It’s Time Texas. Competing mayors must outline health-focused policies that their city councils have passed, take a wellness pledge and, of course, upload a challenge video. Individuals, schools, […]
Posted inCity Council, Transit, Transportation
Mobility Committee maneuvers on taxicab contracts
While the city has begun a process to rewrite regulations for both taxicabs and transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft, a looming expiration of the city’s taxicab franchise agreements and a bill in the Texas Legislature appear to be complicating the matter. In an effort to address the issue, the City Council Mobility […]
Posted inCity Hall, Environment
Mayor talks climate change with health experts
Though climate change poses a major threat to the environment, it is also a danger to the public, both worldwide and in Central Texas. That’s the point Mayor Steve Adler made Tuesday when he sat down in his office at City Hall with Christy Goldfuss, managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, […]
Posted inCity Council, Energy
Council pushes Austin Energy on solar solicitation
To RFP or not to RFP? According to City Council, the answer is yes, and ASAP — or at least by April 15. Council voted Thursday to impose the deadline for Austin Energy to issue a request for proposal, or RFP, for up to 600 megawatts of utility-scale solar power generation and require that the […]
Posted inCity Council
Council votes for extra staff through September
Following weeks of deliberation, the mayor and City Council offices are receiving a boost in staffing — at least for the next few months. Council voted 9-2 Thursday to approve a resolution that will effectively add three full-time staff members to Mayor Steve Adler’s office and one full-time staff member to each Council office for the […]
Posted inTransit
Mobility Committee considers taxicab regulations
While taxicabs have served Austin for decades, the entrance of Uber and Lyft into the picture has prompted a ground-up re-evaluation of how the city regulates the seasoned industry. The City Council Mobility Committee considered a set of amendments to the city’s taxicab ordinance Wednesday that, among other changes, would increase the number of available […]