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City Council
Blythe starts PAC to unseat City Council
Sharon Blythe, best known around City Hall for her activism related to cemeteries, is hoping to unseat every member of City Council not currently slated to be on the ballot in November 2020. Blythe filed a document appointing herself treasurer…
City Council • By Jo Clifton • Oct 22, 2019
Austin reinstates limited bans on camping and resting in public
The Austin City Council reinstated partial bans on camping, sitting and lying down in public on Thursday. After hours of debate, Council approved the new ordinance on a 7-4 vote. The city’s new rules ban camping, sitting and lying down…
City Council • By Andrew Weber, KUT • Oct 18, 2019
Pool asks whether city should sell Hilton property
More than 30 members of UNITE HERE Local #23 came to the Council meeting Thursday to show their support for an item on the agenda asking the board of Austin Convention Enterprises to rewrite its agreement with management of the…
City Council • By Jo Clifton • Oct 18, 2019
Council finds little common ground on camping ordinance
Still divided over the best way to manage camping in public spaces, City Council will consider an ordinance Thursday that aims to create structure around its policy without reverting to a blanket ban on camping in public. “We’d rather have…
City Council • By Ryan Thornton • Oct 16, 2019
Flannigan attacks, Tovo responds
On Tuesday, in the midst of a lengthy Council work session about how to construct a revised ordinance to prevent homeless people from camping on sidewalks and rights of way, Council Member Jimmy Flannigan launched into an anecdote about how…
City Council • By Jo Clifton • Oct 16, 2019
Council nixes appeal, asks staff to work with restaurant
On Thursday City Council rejected an appeal from Casa de Luz, a vegan restaurant on Toomey Road that has had multiple disputes with building officials, the latest one specifically about compliance with requirements of the city fire code. The appeal…
City Council • By Jo Clifton • Oct 4, 2019
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Council expands pilot program providing employment for homeless
On Thursday City Council authorized $720,000 from the city budget to fund an additional year of the growing Workforce First program, which offers temporary work opportunities and supportive services to individuals experiencing homelessness. The money will be drawn from the…
City Council • By Katherine Corley • Oct 4, 2019
Casa de Luz continues fight with city
Casa de Luz, a vegan restaurant on Toomey Road, has been involved in an ongoing dispute with city building officials over its compliance with requirements of the Fire Code for the past eight years. City Council will be asked to…
City Council • By Jo Clifton • Oct 2, 2019
Adler, others on Council want staff to lead on homelessness; DAA says city at 'tipping point'
Mayor Steve Adler and City Council members Jimmy Flannigan and Paige Ellis weighed in Wednesday and Thursday with their views that the city manager, leaders from the Austin Police Department and the city’s new homeless strategy officer should determine how…
City Council • By Chad Swiatecki • Sep 27, 2019
Community concerns with teeth: Council postpones vote on animal-related code changes
Austin is the largest no-kill city in the country and residents would like to keep it that way. Yet some have expressed concern that maintaining the animal shelter’s no-kill status could come at the expense of community safety. Although much…
City Council • By Jessi Devenyns • Sep 25, 2019
Boundary change puts landfill site under Travis County's watch
City Council voted Thursday to change the boundaries of its extraterritorial jurisdiction, in essence giving up regulation of more than 800 acres that includes the controversial Austin Community Landfill property. By a unanimous vote, Council approved an ordinance change amending…
City Council • By Chad Swiatecki • Sep 23, 2019
Council approves $3M annually from hotel tax for musicians, venues
For the first time, Austin’s city government will provide direct annual funding to the local commercial music industry, including venues and performing musicians. On Thursday, City Council unanimously approved an ordinance and amendments to city code covering the allocation of…
