As has been widely reported by now, civility lost its way at last Thursday’s City Council meeting, culminating with a tweet from Council Member Leslie Pool. That tweet, since deleted, read, “So maybe this is the nail in Gallo’s coffin.” It was posted as tensions, and subtext, ran high during a heated discussion about proposed […]
City Council
Posted inPremium Types
TickTock: Austin City Council Meeting 1.28.2016
TickTock is the sortable-by-item-number transcript of Austin Monitor publisher Mike Kanin’s Twitter feed from City Council. Click on the item number to scroll to the corresponding tweets. ITEMS 8 9 10 13 21 31 35 50 64 65 66 67 68 70 73 79 80 85 86 89 91 92 96 Tick Tock Participants: MKanin […]
Posted inAustin, City Council, Monitor News & Media, Radio, Uncategorized
Kanin on Council: January 29, 2016
Austin Monitor publisher Mike Kanin talks with KUT’s Jimmy Maas about Austin City Council action from Thursday, January 28, 2016. Post is embedded below: [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/244438643″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
Posted inCity Council
Council stalls mandatory fingerprinting for TNCs, adopts voluntary program instead
City Council on Thursday stalled an ordinance requiring drivers for transportation network companies to pass a fingerprint-based background check and adopted incentives to motivate drivers to voluntarily submit fingerprints. “We’re only deciding whether or not we want to encourage volunteers to get fingerprinted, and if they’re willing to do so, if it’s something the community would want […]
Posted inCity Council
Pilot Knob fee waivers to cost city $50M – $80M
At their last meeting in December, when City Council members approved annexation for the Pilot Knob Planned Unit Development, they agreed to give up $50 million to $80 million in fee waivers for installation of water and wastewater lines over the next 20 years, according to a utility spokesman. The money that the developer would […]
Posted inAustin, City Council, Monitor News & Media, Radio
Kanin on Council: TNCs Negotiations, the Kitchen Petition & Impending Budget Negotiations
The Austin Monitor’s Michael Kanin joins KUT’s Jennifer Stayton to talk about Austin City Council negotiations with transportation networking companies, a petition to oust Council Member Ann Kitchen and the looming prospect of city budget negotiations. Post is embedded below: [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/243236072″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
Posted inAustin, City Council, Elections, Local Politics
Mystery surrounds Kitchen recall petition
As Mike Blizzard describes it, Wednesday morning began like any other. Then came a knock at his door. “A lot of people come through the neighborhood trying to get you to replace your windows, and I thought that’s who it was,” said Blizzard. “But instead it was a canvasser with a petition to recall City […]
Posted inAustin, City Council, Transportation, Uncategorized
Little clarity in TNC debate
Where there was once a clear path for City Council to revise rules for transportation network companies, there is now a plethora of possibilities. Council voted last month to require fingerprinting background checks of TNC drivers, and it is set to lay out a system of incentives and disincentives for the companies at its next meeting, Jan. […]
Posted inAustin, City Council
Transition panel reaches some conclusions
Mayor Steve Adler has proposed adding an extra week to the time between when an item is posted on City Council’s draft agenda and the day Council hears the item. Members of the transition committee – an unofficial Council committee working on changes to committee rules and procedures – seem to have reached agreement on […]
Posted inCity Council, Elections
Ridesharing supporters quickly surpass signatures needed to push for ordinance change
Ridesharing Works for Austin has collected 65,103 signatures on a petition to change a city ordinance requiring that drivers be fingerprinted – which could force either a new City Council vote or a city-wide election. The political action committee opposes rules that Council adopted in December that would require drivers of transportation network companies like Uber, Lyft and […]
Posted inCity Council
Casar proposes changes to committee rules
City Council Member Greg Casar is proposing that most items go directly to the Council agenda, eliminating the assumption that items are discussed before a Council committee before being passed to the full Council for consideration. This proposal is just one of several that the District 4 Council member has put forward to change the […]
Posted inAustin, City Council
KUT Interview: The Austin City Council 10-1 system after year one
The first Austin City Council elected under the city’s new geographic district system was sworn into office on January 6, 2015. After about a year in office, how are things going? Is the system of ten geographic districts – rather than members elected at-large – delivering on its promises? KUT’s Jennifer Stayton talks with the […]