Despite the angst it expressed over not making a spot at the airport for longtime Austin restaurant Threadgill’s, City Council voted to award the contract for new airport restaurant concessions to HMSHost, the company whose bid included the 24 Diner and Parkside restaurants. The vote was unanimous, with Council Member Ellen Troxclair absent. In response […]
City Council
Posted inCity Council
In unanimous vote, Council rejects police contract, sends back to negotiations
City Council members voted unanimously to send a five-year contract between the city and the local police union back to the negotiating table late Wednesday. The contract, which dictates pay, discipline and oversight of Austin Police Department officers, is negotiated once every several years. The city and the Austin Police Association began negotiations back in […]
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Austin’s two city manager finalists: Howard Lazarus and Spencer Cronk
The seemingly interminable search for Austin’s next city manager has finally been winnowed down to two applicants for the job. On Thursday, Stephen Newton of consulting firm Russell Reynolds Associates, which City Council hired to lead the candidate search, recommended that Council choose either Howard Lazarus or Spencer Cronk to be Austin’s top civil servant. […]
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Changes proposed for Chapter 380 agreements
During Tuesday’s City Council work session, David Colligan, the manager of global business expansion in the Economic Development Department, and economist Jon Hockenyos presented an outline of their plans to revamp the city’s incentive policy for recruiting businesses under the state law known as Chapter 380. The biggest changes – as dictated by a Council resolution […]
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Council reveals six finalists for city manager position
After getting heat for keeping candidates’ identities secret and evading reporters, City Council has released the names of six finalists for the city manager position. Mayor Steve Adler published the names and biographies to the Council Online Message Board Monday afternoon. The city has spent more than a year searching for a city manager, Austin’s […]
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Public to meet manager candidates after all
After months of insisting on keeping the names of all city manager candidates secret, Steve Newton of Russell Reynolds Associates announced during Thursday’s City Council meeting that the names of the finalists would become public on either Friday or Monday. In addition, he said that the public would get to meet the last group of […]
Posted inCity Hall
2nd Street gets another five years of free parking
For at least another five years, patrons of businesses located in the downtown Second Street District will continue getting two hours of free parking in the City Hall parking garage. After a lengthy debate Thursday, City Council voted to renew a parking deal that the city originally struck in 2005 with AMLI and UP Schneider, […]
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Council members question free parking for Second Street stores
Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo isn’t sure whether shoppers on Second Street should get free parking courtesy of the city of Austin anymore. At a City Council meeting last week, Tovo questioned city staff about its recommendation that Council renew contracts with several properties that house a number of small retail businesses and restaurants on […]
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Council issues stern warning to ZACH Theatre
Is management at ZACH Theatre interfering with employee efforts to unionize? The answer could cost them $272,500 from the city. The money in question is part of the city’s annual cultural arts contracts. Though more than $8.4 million in contracts passed without discussion, City Council pulled the ZACH Theatre funding, which includes a separate $60,000 […]
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Downtown puzzle up for vote Thursday
Consideration of Mayor Steve Adler’s complex “downtown puzzle” resolution will apparently move forward on Thursday despite doubts some of his colleagues have expressed about the timing and about a key piece of the plan: expansion of the Austin Convention Center. When the item came up at Tuesday’s work session, Adler called on City Council Member […]
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Austin explores a new approach to helping the homeless
Austin leaders are considering whether to try out a simple strategy for helping the homeless: give them jobs. The idea is based on a program in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that has gained national attention and been credited with connecting homeless people in that city to services and long-term employment. The program is pretty straightforward: A […]
Posted inCity Council
‘Downtown puzzle’ plan sets aside millions for Austin music
City Council endorsed one new plan for hotel occupancy taxes last week. At the end of this month, it will take up another. Last Tuesday’s release of Mayor Steve Adler’s Initial Financing Framework for Downtown Investments – known colloquially as his “downtown puzzle” plan – puts some numbers to a recently simmering idea for the […]