The Austin Animal Center is creating three new positions with some of the money from the $1.17 million Maddie’s Fund grant awarded in 2014. Two of the positions are dog enrichment and exercise specialists who will each handle 40 dogs a day. These skilled handlers will work with the dogs that are too difficult for […]
Vicky Garza
Posted inCity Hall
Advocates push for permanent animal cruelty prosecutors
The Travis County District Attorney’s Office has assigned two prosecutors to handle animal cruelty cases after a family and animal law attorney made the case for a special animal cruelty prosecutor to the Animal Advisory Commission last month during citizens communication. However, the animal law attorney, Robyn Katz, sat again before the commission on Monday […]
Posted inDevelopment
State considering sale of land in Central and West Austin
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission is considering the sale of state-owned land totaling 223 192 acres on two sites in Central and West Austin. The first step is a study, currently underway, to determine the feasibility of relocating the Austin State Hospital and the Austin State Supported Living Center. The study is required […]
Posted inPlanning
Grove PUD plan punted back to developers
After getting the thumbs-down from the Parks and Recreation Department last week, the Grove at Shoal Creek Planned Unit Development has been put in a two-week timeout by the Environmental Commission to give the developer time to address some outstanding environmental issues. The postponement was approved 6-4-1 despite a recommendation in support of the PUD […]
Posted inParks
Parks board weighs in on Shoal Creek PUD
After more than three hours of presentations and testimony, the Parks and Recreation Board decided to send the message that the amount and quality of open space planned for The Grove at Shoal Creek Planned Unit Development is not to their satisfaction. There was a lot of confusion during the meeting, starting with the fact […]
Posted inEnvironment
Commission votes to clean up ‘East Austin’s Mount Bonnell’
In a move some residents and commissioners referred to as symbolic, the Environmental Commission voted to clean up a site that has been called the Mount Bonnell of East Austin. The La Loma trail and Red Bluff site, located behind the city-owned facility at 6301 Harold Court, has been used for illegal dumping for over […]
Posted inHousing
Tenant relocation assistance program moves forward
In recognition of urgent community need, the Planning Commission’s Committee on Codes and Ordinances voted unanimously to push forward with a proposed tenant relocation assistance program, despite the lack of a draft ordinance at the meeting. As requested by City Council in April, the reworked ordinance adds mobile home residents to the list of tenants […]
Posted inThe Code
Proposed ordinance puts charter schools at odds with neighborhoods
Though they gave it a shot, members of the Planning Commission’s Committee on Codes and Ordinances were unable to reach an agreement on what to do with the draft ordinance that would remove site development plan exemptions for charter schools. Andrew Linseisen, the Land Use Review Division manager in the city’s Development Services Department, told […]
Posted inWhispers
Grove PUD delayed again
Discussion on The Grove at Shoal Creek Planned Unit Development has been put on hold once again as city staff is still reviewing the overall project. Although it was on the agenda for the May 18 Environmental Commission meeting and a roomful of stakeholders showed up to speak, commissioners decided to wait to hear it […]
Posted inParks
New study envisions major changes around Barton Springs Pool
Austin’s rapid population growth and development, along with Zilker Park’s aging facilities, are threatening Barton Springs, the pool and its bathhouse. In a presentation to the Parks and Recreation Board on Tuesday, city staff and members of the Barton Spring Conservancy laid out several recommendations to preserve and improve the area around Barton Springs Pool […]
Posted inWhispers
Austin steps up to rehome 26 roosters
Last month, the Austin Animal Center took in 29 roosters rescued by Travis County deputies from a cockfighting ring. Three had to be euthanized due to their injuries, but after nursing the remaining 26 roosters back to health, the city’s Animal Services Department was able to rehome them only six hours after making them available […]
Posted inWhispers
Hammond bites back
Austin Animal Center Director Tawny Hammond couldn’t keep quiet at this month’s Animal Advisory Commission meeting when it came to a story KXAN aired in late February. The report asked the question: Are Austin’s no-kill shelters adopting out dangerous dogs? “I was very disappointed to see how that story came out, because it is not […]