Vacant storefronts in downtown Austin could become temporary homes for arts and creative organizations beginning this summer thanks to a pilot program under development by the Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation. The foundation is currently working on a lease agreement with the AMLI Residential real estate company to temporarily take over up to three vacant spaces […]
Austin
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EDC eyes push to make more city properties available for music, arts uses
The city’s new economic development corporation will make a push this summer to identify city properties that could be repurposed into music venues or creative spaces, and has started to assemble the financial models for creating two arts spaces in the redevelopment of properties just south of the Congress Avenue Bridge. During a presentation at […]
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Council committee delves into ACE finances
Jolsna Thomas, who serves as secretary/treasurer of the board of Austin Convention Enterprises, which oversees financial matters related to the downtown Hilton Hotel, asked members of the City Council Audit & Finance Committee Wednesday to work on getting City Council to appoint an additional two members to the board. With a full complement, the board […]
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Austin Pets Alive! provides neonatal care for kittens in kitten season
It’s kitten season, the time of year when the population of kittens explodes in communities across the country. Kitten season begins in the spring and peaks during the summer, lasting until the fall months. During this period, thousands of kittens are born, putting pressure on municipal shelters and animal rescue groups to keep up with the flood […]
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Downtown leaders map out pandemic recovery amid construction boom
Downtown Austin leaders painted a mixed but promising picture of the city’s core on Wednesday, with large-scale construction projects accelerating and helping the area shake off the slowdown of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Downtown Austin Alliance presented its annual State of Downtown report as well as its post-pandemic Roadmap to Recovery at a virtual press […]
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Music supporters’ budget proposals seek $20M+ for pandemic recovery
Advocates for Austin’s music community have come forward with a pair of budget proposals urging the city to earmark roughly $20 million in its next budget specifically for music-related purposes to help the creative economy recover from the pandemic. On Friday the advocacy group Music Makes Austin released its proposed budget priorities for the city’s […]
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City names anti-displacement officer as real estate prices climb
As Austin’s real estate prices continue to soar, the city has named a new point person in charge of reducing the displacement of residents from affordable housing units. Nefertitti Jackmon recently started her new role as the community displacement prevention officer within the Housing and Planning Department. Jackmon previously worked on programs related to displacement […]
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Austin’s village of tiny homes for formerly homeless folks to triple in size
The nonprofit that runs Austin’s Community First Village has acquired land and plans to build out more tiny homes to house Austinites transitioning out of homelessness. The far East Austin development of tiny homes and trailers, managed by Mobile Loaves and Fishes, houses 221 formerly chronically homeless people. The expansion could add space for at […]
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City awards second round of SAVES funds to closed music venues
The city has begun awarding grants to 28 music venues selected to receive assistance from a $5 million program created to help preserve businesses that have been largely closed since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic last spring. The grants of up to $140,000 each were the second phase of awards from the Save Austin’s […]
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City seeks input on post-Covid economic recovery plan
The city is taking feedback from residents on a wide-reaching plan to restructure how many departments operate, and how economic development is handled in the post-pandemic world. The Economic Recovery and Resiliency Framework is a list of 45 ways the city can create new or transform existing programs to better serve residents and small businesses. […]
Posted inPlanning
Panel weighs future potential of city’s health care innovation district
The battle over reconstructing Interstate 35, and the stalled Land Development Code update, are factors that continue to influence the shape and scope of the developing health care innovation district in the eastern section of downtown Austin. Those larger civic questions were among the points of discussion during a recent Urban Land Institute Austin panel […]
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Austin Animal Center offers free microchipping to help residents track their petsÂ
In an effort to educate and encourage Austin residents to get their pets microchipped, the Austin Animal Center will offer a free drive-up clinic to pet owners on April 10. The process involves implanting a microchip, a tiny electronic device the size of a grain of rice, between the animal’s shoulder blades. Once the chip […]