Though they handed a transportation package that included money for an urban rail system a resounding defeat Tuesday, Austinities left a lot more unsettled when it comes to City Council District races. In all, voters will return to decide as many as nine runoff elections on Dec. 16, including those in every District aside from […]
City Council
Posted inAustin, City Council, Elections, Local Politics
Election roundup for City Council Districts 6-10
Close District 6 race will see December runoff District 6 candidates Don Zimmerman, Jimmy Flannigan and Jay Wiley all remained within 375 votes of each other as of publication. If that holds, Zimmerman and Flannigan would face each other in a Dec 16 runoff. Zimmerman celebrated at his campaign office on Anderson Mill Road with […]
Posted inAustin, Budget, City Council, Local Politics
Audit calls Public Library’s equity into question
Despite not having a formal definition of “equity” available to the public, the Austin Public Library insists that it uses equity as a guiding principle in all decisions. The city’s public library system challenged a report presented last week at City Council’s Audit and Finance Committee meeting claiming that its performance-measure data, particularly in the […]
Posted inAustin, Bonds & Propositions, City Council, Development, Local Politics, Resources, Water
Reporters Notebook: Rail bonds & fluoridated water
Discovering the flip side of Laura Pressley … Two separate local media outlets started digging deeper into District 4 City Council candidate Laura Pressley’s recent political past Thursday. The Chronicle struck first with a piece from Monitor political editor Jo Clifton that runs down a host of odd beliefs attributed to Pressley, including wide-ranging concerns […]
Posted inAustin, City Council, City Hall
Policy could ban incentive recipients’ tax protests
On Monday, City Council Member Kathie Tovo told the Austin Monitor that she has asked city staff to prepare language for a policy that would have the effect of making recipients of City of Austin economic development incentives agree not to protest their property tax valuations for a period of time. The move comes on the […]
Posted inAustin, City Charter, City Council, Elections, Local Politics
Residents express concerns over final Council districts map
A week after the final proposed map of Austin’s first single-member districts was released, Austinites gathered mainly to tell the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission what they felt was wrong with the map and, occasionally tell them what the panel had done right. The meeting, held at The Lodge at 700 Dawson (formerly the Elks Lodge), […]
Posted inAustin, City Charter, City Council, Elections, Local Politics
ICRC holds final public hearing on proposed Council districts
As the deadline for a single-member district map grows closer, the crowd wanting to address the map has grown larger and more vocal. Wednesday night, the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission held its fourth and final public input meeting designed to solicit testimony about the Sept. 28 preliminary map. The commission heard from a full […]
Posted inAustin, City Charter, City Council, Elections, Local Politics
ICRC continues hearing on preliminary 10-1 Council Districts map
As a deadline for establishing Austin’s first single-member districts looms, the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission continued to listen to citizens over the weekend. The commission is currently on a whirlwind tour of the four Travis County Commissioner precincts. This past Saturday, they were in Dove Springs, taking public input on the preliminary map, which […]
Posted inAustin, City Charter, City Council, Elections, Local Politics, Uncategorized
Second Council district map emerges as critics pan ICRC’s first effort
A preliminary map drawn by the members of Austin‘s charter election-born Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission is now not the only proposed single-member district Council outline drawing criticism. A map dubbed by its architects as a “Compact District Map” emerged over the past week and quickly drew fire from the group behind the election-day passage of […]
Posted inAustin, City Charter, City Council, Elections
Neighborhoods mostly unhappy with first map of Council districts
Though some may have worried that breaking Austin up into 10 Single-Member Districts would divide the city, that hasn’t proven to be true so far. Monday night, Austinites from across the city united in expressing their discontent with the initial map drawn by the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. The complaints emphasized two main points […]
Posted inCity Council
City Manager’s 2014 compensation becomes issue
Austin City Council Member Bill Spelman took the unusual step of abstaining Thursday on a vote over FY2014 compensation and benefits for City Manager Marc Ott. The move came as tension appears to mount between at least two Council offices and the City Manager. In remarks delivered just before his colleagues voted to approve […]
Posted inCity Council, Development
Split Council OKs settlement with Jeremiah Venture for development
After a contentious 6-year battle, Austin City Council members reached a settlement agreement Thursday with Jeremiah Venture LP. It came on a reluctant 4-3 vote. With the agreement, the group gets city support in a permitting process that could result in 1,000 single-family homes on the environmentally sensitive Edwards Aquifer. The deal gives […]