Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole lists a set of familiar responses as milestones for her 2013 Council year. And though she clearly sees the importance of such items as the start of the Land Development Code rewrite, wage floors, and the potential coming of Urban Rail, she quickly focuses on what to her was the […]
Local Politics
Posted inDevelopment, Local Politics
Austin’s continuing success biggest story for Leffingwell
Mayor Lee Leffingwell likes to point out that Austin, by most measures, has an extremely successful economy, gets high marks for job creation and has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation—4.7 percent, according to numbers released late last month. In December it was rated the top performing city in the United States […]
Posted inLocal Politics
Newly formed Civil Service Commission still developing rules
Austin’s newly formed Municipal Civil Service Commission continued to work at answering a number of fundamental questions aimed at developing a set of operating rules at its meeting Tuesday night at City Hall. Voters approved a civil service system for the City of Austin for most non-public safety employees in November 2012. Most public […]
Posted inDevelopment, Local Politics
Council approves metered parking plan at Butler Shores park
After a City Council vote last week, plans to meter parking at the Butler Shores Ball Field parking lot in South Austin are moving forward. Council approved the plan in a 6-1 vote, with Council Member Kathie Tovo voting no. Tovo argued that there were reasonable alternatives to installing the meters, including enforcing […]
Posted inDevelopment, Local Politics
Council moves ahead on plans to overhaul Auditorium Shores
Despite talk of postponing their decision in the face of public scrutiny, City Council members moved forward with plans to rehabilitate Auditorium Shores Thursday night. “Delays into January, when work is supposed to start this month, it triggers a domino event for all of those events where we have specifically timed them in the […]
Posted inLocal Politics, Transportation
Council endorses Lone Star Rail but hangs on to the money
Lone Star Rail will move forward with the backing of the Austin City Council, though not with any of the city’s money just yet. In a 6-1 vote, the City Council authorized the city’s participation in the Lone Star Rail District. But it set its funding for the project temporarily at zero. The plan […]
Posted inDevelopment, Environment, Local Government, Local Politics
City buys Hays County land to block development over aquifer
Austin City Council members Thursday unanimously approved the $18 million acquisition of land in Hays County that might otherwise have been developed as the Jeremiah Ventures project. With the move, Council members eliminated a long-running fight over grandfathering rules, environmental protections, and the regulatory reach of city government. Though this specific issue appears settled, […]
Posted inLocal Politics, Transportation, Uncategorized
Council endorses Highland Mall-East Riverside Urban Rail route
Austin City Council members Thursday night endorsed a plan by transportation officials to pursue an urban rail line that extends south from the Highland Mall region, through the city center, and east out East Riverside Drive. The move begins a process that could end in a multi-million dollar bond election over rail for the city […]
Posted inLocal Politics
Strains show between Council, City Manager over Auditors’ office
Tensions continued to mount Tuesday between City Manager Marc Ott and a number of Austin City Council members. At immediate issue is where to relocate the office of City Auditor Ken Mory as City Hall is reconfigured to make room for additional Council members under single member districts. During Tuesday’s work session, there was […]
Posted inLocal Politics
Mayor nominates police intelligence agency for free Google Fiber
A pitch from Mayor Lee Leffingwell to include the Austin Regional Intelligence Center, or ARIC, on a list of sites that will receive free access to Google’s new ultra-high speed Internet service met with some amount of skepticism from his colleagues Tuesday. At their regular work session – the last one of 2013 – […]
Posted inLocal Politics
City Ethics Commission clears Almanza of conflict of interest
An emotional battle between a business shut down by the city and an Austin Parks and Recreation Board member came to an official end Wednesday. The fallout may be felt for some time, perhaps even into the next election cycle. The city’s Ethics Review Commission voted unanimously that Susanna Almanza, a Parks Board member […]
Posted inLocal Politics, Resources
Council eases rules on delinquent utility bills
At the urging of advocacy groups and a tenacious City Council Member Kathie Tovo, the Council on Thursday approved an ordinance that gives additional breaks to residential utility customers having trouble paying their bills. Supporters of the ordinance said the action would especially help in preventing customers with low and fixed incomes from having […]