Over Mackenzie Kelly’s two years as City Council’s lone conservative, she has made a point of finding common ground with those she often disagrees with and avoiding the charged rhetoric employed by politicians at the state and national level. “That’s really been a mainstay of how I’ve conducted myself here, finding out what priorities other […]
City Council
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Renteria reflects on his time on Council as D3 prepares to usher in a new member
On a Thursday afternoon in mid-December, District 3 City Council Member Pio Renteria is packing up his office. Council had its last meeting for the year the week before and now he’s clearing out the space for his successor. “I have so many certificates and all the stuff that I’ve accumulated over the years,” Renteria […]
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José Velásquez promises to deliver access to D3 residents
The overarching theme of 2022 for the residents of District 3 was access, according to newly elected City Council Member José Velásquez. Outgoing Council Member Pio Renteria served the central eastside district for eight years and hit his term limit. After a general election with six candidates, Velásquez and community advocate Daniela Silva competed in […]
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Vela ready to take action to create more housing in 2023
City Council Member José “Chito” Vela has been hard at work since he was sworn in to the District 4 seat in February following his election in January. He’s been holding down two jobs, serving as a Council member and finishing up his work as an attorney. In mid-December, he had six cases to complete […]
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Harper-Madison looks to spark D1 civic involvement in 2023
After completing her fourth year in office, City Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison wishes she’d known from her first day roughly as much as she knows now about the workings of city government. Her thinking: There should be an apparatus that teaches basic process and procedures to residents who want to know more about their city, […]
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Fuentes put her focus on working families in 2022
Elected to represent Southeast Austin’s District 2 in 2020, City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes has quickly become one of the more accessible and well-known members of the dais within the community. That was intentional, Fuentes told the Austin Monitor. It’s notoriously difficult for residents of Southeast Austin to regularly visit City Hall. “It was really […]
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City, restaurants partner to reduce single-use plastics
City Council wants the local hospitality industry – including restaurants, bars, food delivery services and the tourism bureau – to curb its reliance on single-use plastics. Council members recently directed staff to incentivize such behavior, including by working with the Austin Restaurant Association, citing the city’s goal of drastically reducing the amount of trash sent […]
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City Council approves 10% raise for city manager, Austin’s top executive
Citing a much-delayed cost-of-living adjustment, Council members on Thursday bumped Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk’s salary from $350,000 to just over $388,000. The move represents an 11 percent increase in pay and the first change to Cronk’s base salary since late 2018. Council members characterized this raise as in line with pay bumps city employees […]
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Council backs senior center plan for Nash Hernandez building
The city will move forward with plans to convert the long-idle Nash Hernandez building in East Austin into a senior activity center that could also offer programs for area schoolchildren. Last week, City Council approved on its consent agenda an item brought by Council Member Pio Renteria directing the city manager to move forward with […]
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Council members irked at low appraisal of parkland for Oracle expansion
City Council members pushed back against some of the steps taken by staff over the past year to work out a complex swap of city parkland approved by voters last year. During Tuesday’s work session, Mayor Pro Tem Alison Alter used discussion of Item 60 on today’s agenda to question the appraisal process used to […]
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Extended Statesman PUD deliberations end in approval
After years of discussions, City Council approved a redevelopment plan Friday for one of the city’s most prominent tracts of land – the 19-acre lakefront property at 305 S. Congress Ave., formerly home to the Austin American-Statesman. Approval of Planned Unit Development zoning allows a huge mixed-use development to move forward over the coming years. […]
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Council enacts stronger wage theft protections
City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Thursday to help prevent wage theft by employers. “Violation of wage laws harms workers and their families,” said Council Member Ann Kitchen, who sponsored a resolution initiating the ordinance. “This ordinance helps ensure they get paid what they have earned.” The ordinance creates a position for a city wage […]