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Most Popular Stories
- HUD cuts could endanger portion of more than $15M in federal housing funds
- Austin Transit Partnership presents pedestrian features, changes to stops in revised Project Connect plan
- Austin’s new CapMetro Rapid lines debut with buses every 20 minutes
- Amid ongoing measles concerns, Austin ISD’s vaccination rate is below target for its youngest students
- Under threat of a federal freeze, city staff says they’re staying the course on infrastructure grants
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Austin
Immigrants in Austin pay more taxes, have more spending power than in other large Texas cities
A new study shows immigrants have an outsized impact on Austin’s economy. Overall, 4.8 million immigrants in Texas paid $34.8 billion in taxes and had an economic footprint of $109.9 billion, according to an analysis of 2017 census data from…
Austin • By Andrew Weber, KUT • Mar 22, 2019
As hotel tax growth slows, Tourism Commission targets short-term rentals
The growth of short-term rental activity in the city and a possible saturation of the local hotel market are seen as the biggest causes behind a flattening of Austin’s once fast-growing Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue. That was the conclusion at…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 22, 2019
With new hiring, city adds focus to issues of growing senior population
The city’s recent hiring of a program coordinator for issues related to the local senior population, and a community session next week on possible future budget needs for senior services, have elevated the attention paid to one of Austin’s fastest-growing…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 21, 2019
Discussing the opportunities and challenges of smart city accessibility
At a high-minded talk about the impacts of smart city technology speeding ahead without including input from disabled communities, a stark example from the city of Toronto hammered the point home during last week’s South by Southwest conference. The anecdote…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 18, 2019
Austin taking over underpass cleanup from TxDOT
The Texas Department of Transportation, which has been cleaning under the city’s highway overpasses for many years and cleaning up homeless camps for about three years, has notified the city of Austin that it can no longer provide those services.…
Austin • By Jo Clifton • Mar 15, 2019
Open data movement brings tough questions for city-led panel
With Austin chock-full of forward-thinking tech professionals and ideologues from a variety of industries attending South by Southwest, the city and several leaders behind the movement for open data gathered this week to examine where that cause is headed. The…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 15, 2019
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Communication and expectations seen as key in move to smart cities
The term “smart cities” has a variety of roles in present-day civic planning discourse. It’s certainly a buzzword – “smart” as a descriptor appears 16 times in the titles of panels and sessions at this year’s South by Southwest conference –…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 14, 2019
CTM’s Office of Design and Delivery: Corporate workshops should not be awful
As Austin grows and city officials begin to question how their jobs are evolving to meet the demands of the tens of thousands of new residents every year, it stands to reason that the city of Austin would ask for…
Austin • By Jessi Devenyns • Mar 13, 2019
Real estate group hears tough talk from homeless advocates
As one of the city’s leading advocates for the homeless, Ann Howard knows not to waste an opportunity when she gets in front of a room full of people who can help her cause. So she didn’t mince words last…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 4, 2019
Austin's homeless population still growing
Despite the expenditure of millions of city and federal dollars, and the fact that Austin’s efforts are frequently cited as best practices in other cities, homelessness is still on the rise here. Ann Howard, executive director of the Ending Community…
Austin • By Jo Clifton • Feb 28, 2019
City audit says Austin doesn't effectively help people get out of homelessness – or measure progress
A new audit of the homelessness service providers in Austin says the city doesn’t always hold providers accountable. The report from the City Auditor found nine of the city’s largest contracts in 2017 met city benchmarks for service only about…
Austin • By Andrew Weber, KUT • Feb 27, 2019
Mayor talks taxes, mobility at RECA lunch
Mayor Steve Adler faced a friendly crowd at Wednesday’s Real Estate Council of Austin meeting. He spoke about his hopes for the future, outlined challenges the city faces in the areas of mobility, affordability and property taxes and answered questions…