Despite not having a formal definition of “equity” available to the public, the Austin Public Library insists that it uses equity as a guiding principle in all decisions. The city’s public library system challenged a report presented last week at City Council’s Audit and Finance Committee meeting claiming that its performance-measure data, particularly in the […]
Local Politics
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Tip Sheet: Austin City Council 11-4 & 11-6
The Austin City Council meets in a work session Tuesday and for its regular meeting Thursday. In the interest of space, we’ve decided not to post the entire agenda here. The City Clerk’s office hosts a copy at its website, here. We’ve posted these in chronological order. Where applicable, however, we’ve paired items that appear […]
Posted inAustin, Bonds & Propositions, City Council, Development, Local Politics, Resources, Water
Reporters Notebook: Rail bonds & fluoridated water
Discovering the flip side of Laura Pressley … Two separate local media outlets started digging deeper into District 4 City Council candidate Laura Pressley’s recent political past Thursday. The Chronicle struck first with a piece from Monitor political editor Jo Clifton that runs down a host of odd beliefs attributed to Pressley, including wide-ranging concerns […]
Posted inElections, Local Politics
Ethics Commission gives candidates slap on wrist
Some City Council candidates are having trouble following Austin’s campaign finance laws. The Ethics Review Commission addressed three complaints against candidates in Districts 6, 8 and 10 Tuesday night. Each candidate admitted wrongdoing, and none of them walked away with major sanctions. After spending more than an hour discussing the complaints behind closed doors, the commission […]
Posted inElections, Local Politics
Council candidates file ‘8-day-out’ finance reports
(This story is compiled from campaign financial reports from Austin’s Office of the City Clerk as reported by Jo Clifton, Elizabeth Pagano and Mark Richardson.) Mayor Political newcomer Steve Adler continued to raise more money than his two opponents during the past month, according to campaign financial reports filed with the City Clerk’s office Monday. […]
Posted inElections, Local Politics
Leffingwell endorses Adler in mayor’s race
After voting, Mayor Lee Leffingwell walked out of City Hall on Monday and announced to the media that he was proud to have voted for mayoral candidate Steve Adler, who is running against Leffingwell’s Council colleagues Mike Martinez and Sheryl Cole. Leffingwell had previously been officially neutral. But Monday he said he didn’t make the […]
Posted inElections, Local Politics
Early voting patterns hard to figure in new districts
Political observers have been watching early voting this past week with an eye toward what the voting patterns may mean for Austin’s first election of a City Council with single-member districts. Because of the new 10-1 Council, prognosticators find themselves in uncharted territory as far as using early ballots as a bellwether for what will […]
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Tip Sheet: Travis County Commissioners 10/28
The Travis County Commissioners Court meets at 9 a.m. Tuesday. In the interest of space, we’ve decided not to post the entire agenda here. The County Clerk’s office hosts a copy at its website. Items of interest for Commissioners Court include: 2. CONSIDER AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION ON ITEMS RELATED TO THE PROGRAM YEAR 2013 […]
Posted inElections, Local Politics
Austin Monitor Radio Show 21
Austin Chronicle news editor Michael King joins Monitor editor Liz Pagano to talk Austin City Council elections. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/173635343″ 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 inElections, Local Politics
Mayor’s race turns ugly with labor PAC attack
Austin City Council politics has hit the big time, with an out-of-state political action committee making numerous negative phone calls into the city to lambaste mayoral candidate Steve Adler. This reporter received one of those calls Thursday afternoon from a man with a Southern accent who refused to say where he was or give the […]
Posted inElections, Local Politics, Transportation
Reporter’s Notebook: Urban rail parking spaces
We’re saving extra parking spaces for the train … In a discussion about the value of a possible rail station at Austin Community College’s Highland Mall campus this week, Travis County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty brought up an interesting question. Commissioners were discussing a nomination for the high-tech company Rackspace to the Texas Enterprise Zone Program, […]
Posted inDevelopment, Local Government, Local Politics
Council continues to deliberate quarry sale
The proposed sale of a northwest quarry continues to inspire debate among City Council members. At Tuesday’s work session, the revelation that proceeds from the sale would go to a struggling water utility complicated an already-nuanced discussion about the relative merits of the city’s options. Today, Council will vote on whether or not to sell […]