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City Council
Flood plain variance a conundrum for Council
After hearing from the city’s flood plain expert, Council voted 6-5 Thursday to grant a variance to allow a property owner to replace an older, smaller home in the flood plain of Waller Creek at 4515 Avenue D with a…
City Council • By Jo Clifton • Mar 8, 2019
Alter worried about cost of city leases
Council Member Alison Alter is worried about how much money the city is spending on renting space for city offices as compared to purchasing or building those offices. At Tuesday’s work session, Alter grilled Alex Gale, the city’s interim real…
City Council • By Jo Clifton • Mar 7, 2019
Petition drive to stall stadium will likely head to voters, after construction start
The petition drive started last year in an attempt to stall or prevent the construction of a soccer stadium on city property could go before voters in November, roughly two months after construction of the 20,000-seat facility is expected to…
City Council • By Chad Swiatecki • Feb 22, 2019
Casar makes small changes to affordable housing resolution
City Council appears poised to approve a resolution aimed at easing regulations on affordable housing developers. At a Tuesday work session, Council members offered suggestions, but not significant criticism, of the measure drafted by Council Member Greg Casar. The proposal,…
City Council • By Jack Craver • Feb 20, 2019
Casar seeks to reduce parking, compatibility requirements for subsidized housing
City Council Member Greg Casar is proposing a measure aimed at maximizing the impact of low-income housing developments in Austin. The measure, which was unveiled Tuesday and will be on Council’s agenda Feb. 21, directs city staff to craft an…
City Council • By Jack Craver • Feb 6, 2019
City of Austin orders outside review of police handling of sexual assault cases
The city has ordered an independent review of the Austin Police Department’s handling of sexual assault cases, asking investigators to track incidents from when they’re first reported to police to when they’re closed or handed off to the district attorney’s…
City Council • By Audrey McGlinchy, KUT • Feb 1, 2019
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New city agreement with ARCH would shift focus to housing
The Austin City Council will vote Thursday on renewing the contract for Front Steps, the operator of the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless. The new agreement could bring systemic changes to the city’s homeless shelter. One of those changes…
City Council • By Andrew Weber, KUT • Jan 31, 2019
Who's serving on City Council committees?
It’s finally time for the first City Council meeting of the year – and consequently, time to reconstitute Council committees. But anyone expecting big changes in the membership of those committees would probably be mistaken, though there will be some…
City Council • By Jo Clifton • Jan 31, 2019
Council considering emergency shelter resolution
The number of homeless people in Austin continues to grow, yet shelter for these people has not kept pace, according to data gathered by the city and the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, or ECHO. On any given day, there were…
City Council • By Jo Clifton • Jan 30, 2019
City proposes ditching Recycled Reads
Some City Council members are alarmed at a proposal from city staff to phase out Recycled Reads, a service operated by the library system that repurposes, recycles or sells books that are discarded by the library or donated by residents.…
City Council • By Jack Craver • Jan 30, 2019
Political accelerator ready for next class of future Council hopefuls
Having been an active presence in Dallas-area Democratic and political organizations prior to relocating to Austin four years ago, Zenette Dorsey noticed some unique traits about local political discourse around big issues. “Austin is going through an identity crisis with…
City Council • By Chad Swiatecki • Jan 9, 2019
Adler calls on Council to do 'big things,' Garza elected mayor pro tem
Mayor Steve Adler began his new four-year term on an optimistic note, saying that the city is “poised to get some really big things done” when it comes to addressing Austin’s major challenges, notably housing and transportation. Adler, along with…
