The year 2019 has been a good year for Mayor Pro Tem Delia Garza. The former firefighter pushed hard for new fire stations for her District 2 constituents, and she got a great birthday present on June 5 when the city broke ground on a new station for the Del Valle/Moore’s Crossing area. “It was […]
City Council
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Renteria appreciates slow but steady progress to affordable, equitable city in 2019
As he did in 2019, Council Member Pio Renteria will continue working to create a more integrated, walkable and resilient city in the next year. “Historically, Austin is a city that has been segregated, and we’re trying to change that,” he told the Monitor during an interview last week. Renteria praises the city’s success in […]
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Council members support using hotels to house homeless, but are wary of locations and quick timeline
Austin City Council members say they’re concerned about the timeline, placement and funding strategy for a plan to expand efforts to buy and retrofit hotels to house homeless Austinites. Last month, Council OK’d a plan to buy the Rodeway Inn near Oltorf and Interstate 35 to house at least 87 people. At their work session […]
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Neighbors win Open Meetings suit again
Once again, the city of Austin finds itself on the losing end of a legal battle over public information. Last week, the 14th Court of Appeals sided with the Lake Austin Collective, which sued the city for failing to give adequate notice of an agenda item changing the terms of development regulations for the Champion […]
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Austin OKs plan to buy and retrofit a motel to house homeless
The Austin City Council unanimously passed an $8 million plan to buy and repurpose the Rodeway Inn in South Austin to house people transitioning out of homelessness. The motel could house at least 87 people. Billed as a more proactive approach to provide more immediate housing, the proposal allows the city to buy the land […]
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New worries arise over tax increment financing
Council members approved a resolution Thursday directing the city manager to bring them a plan for financing two Capital Metro Red Line rail stations in north Austin, one at McKalla Place and one at the new Broadmoor development. However, several Council members expressed unease about using tax increment financing, a vehicle the city has used […]
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Austin abandons South Austin shelter as it prepares to buy hotels to house the homeless
Austin is no longer pursuing a 100-bed shelter in South Austin and could opt instead to provide housing in motels for homeless Austinites. The move comes after a suggestion from the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, the nonprofit that coordinates Austin and Travis County’s efforts to address homelessness. Council members will vote on the proposal at their […]
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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 of a specific purpose committee called Our Town Austin, which seeks to recall Mayor Steve […]
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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 within 15 feet of a doorway to a home or an open business and within […]
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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 downtown Hilton Hotel. The current agreement, which was signed in 2001, prohibits the hotel from […]
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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 people be safe than be in the woods somewhere and we’re trying to move people […]
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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 his office had helped a homeless veteran and his partner get housing and other services. […]