Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo wants to help the nonprofit Austin Rowing Club continue operating the city-owned Waller Creek Boathouse on Lady Bird Lake by instructing staff to extend the club’s contract rather than offer the boathouse for competitive bidding. Tovo and her co-sponsors, City Council members Leslie Pool, Ann Kitchen and Alison Alter, have posted […]
City Council
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Council approves changes to anti-lobbying ordinance
Early Friday morning, City Council approved what supporters described as a temporary solution to an ongoing battle between Texas Disposal Systems and other waste contractors over city lobbying rules. The measure approved by Council makes a few small changes to the anti-lobbying ordinance, which is designed to prevent companies seeking contracts with the city from […]
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Council raises homestead exemption to 10%
On a vote of 7-4, Council on Thursday approved raising the homestead exemption from the current rate of 8 percent to 10 percent for the coming year. The resolution’s sponsors included Council members Ellen Troxclair, Leslie Pool, Ann Kitchen and Ora Houston. Mayor Steve Adler and Council members Alison Alter and Pio Renteria joined the […]
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Council rejects contract award to contractor who used racial slur
City Council on Thursday used a contractor’s use of a racial slur as an reason to reject his company’s bid to repair two intersections along East Seventh Street. The Austin Monitor first reported that Aaron Cabaza of Aaron Concrete referred to construction workers as “wetbacks” at a Travis County-sponsored meeting in May. Soon after that […]
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Houston withdraws, and Harding enters, in race for D1 Council seat
Austin’s City Council District 1, which is made up almost entirely of portions of East Austin, will definitely have a new representative in 2019, with current Council Member Ora Houston announcing Wednesday she will not seek re-election. Houston’s decision came less than a week after she hosted a State of the District event at the […]
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Questions arise over CodeNEXT votes
Attorney Bill Aleshire has alerted Mayor Steve Adler that a constituent saw a problem with the new method of counting City Council votes at Tuesday’s work session on CodeNEXT. That method required members to signal their support for an idea by raising one to five fingers for mild to enthusiastic support and a fist for […]
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Homestead exemption talk on the agenda
District 8 Council Member Ellen Troxclair is once again working to increase the general homestead exemption for property owners. She has worked on this issue since she was elected in 2014. Although City Council voted for a 6 percent exemption in 2015 and raised that amount to 8 percent in 2016, last year Troxclair was […]
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Council votes to move ahead with People’s Plan to combat displacement
City Council’s push to address the area’s rising cost of living could soon include components of a plan put forward by a coalition of community groups to prevent low-income residents from being priced out of Austin. At last week’s meeting, Council unanimously passed a resolution directing the city manager to conduct an analysis and make […]
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Council rejects attempt to remove Planning commissioners
Following an occasionally heated debate, City Council voted down a proposal Thursday that would have declared the current membership of the Planning Commission to be in violation of the city charter. At issue is a provision of the charter, approved by voters in 1994, that calls for no more than one-third of the Planning Commission […]
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Municipal Court move to Met Center OK’d
Although Council Member Ora Houston made numerous arguments against a 120-month lease for Austin’s Municipal Court at the Met Center in Southeast Austin, only Council Member Pio Renteria joined her during Thursday’s Council meeting in voting against authorizing city staff to negotiate and execute a $31 million contract with Zydeco Development. Council Member Leslie Pool […]
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Who has a ‘direct or indirect interest’ in real estate? It depends who you ask
City Council appears divided over what do about a provision of the city charter that requires two-thirds of the members of the Planning Commission to be “lay members” who are not “directly or indirectly connected with real estate or land development.” Activists opposed to CodeNEXT have filed a complaint with the Travis County District Attorney […]
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City Council approves plan to end homelessness
The rising concern surrounding homelessness and its growing numbers will receive greater attention and resources moving forward, now that City Council unanimously approved a resolution to endorse the city’s Action Plan to End Homelessness at its April 26 meeting. The action plan is the result of the combined efforts of the city and the Ending […]