City Council members have been taking sides on the City Council Message Board over competing timelines for a climate bond election, and on Wednesday the proposal for a longer lead-up was left standing. The back-and-forth on the message board – the city platform Council members use to communicate with one another without violating open meetings […]
Environment
Posted inParks
After lake drownings, safety upgrades come to Rainey Street trailhead
Lee esta historia en español More than a year after community members called for better lighting and safety measures along a portion of Lady Bird Lake near Rainey Street, permanent upgrades are finally nearing completion. The pleas and demands came from family and friends of two men who drowned in the lake last spring near […]
Posted inParks
Parks Board hears from the public on the next (and former) PARD director
The Parks and Recreation Board got an earful of public testimony earlier this month regarding the city’s national search to replace former parks director Kimberly McNeeley. McNeeley recently left the Parks and Recreation Department after accepting the position of CEO of the Trail Conservancy, one of the department’s nonprofit partners. Several speakers, including some department […]
Posted inEnvironment
Joint Sustainability Committee voices support for climate fee proposal
Members of the city’s Joint Sustainability Committee expressed support Wednesday for a proposal to establish a climate fee to fund green initiatives. A resolution calling on City Council to pursue a climate fee to help fill funding gaps in the Austin Climate Equity Plan received support from members at the committee’s meeting, but was not […]
Posted inParks
Austin adds more than a dozen shade structures to recreation areas. Here’s where to find them.
In an effort to beat the heat, several shade structures are going up at public parks, playgrounds and pools around town. Austin dedicated $4 million to provide more shade in public places. City officials said it has become necessary as summer temperatures more frequently reach above normal, and falls and winters become more mild. Temperatures tend […]
Posted inEnergy
Resource Management Commission sets sights on natural gas utilities in bid to expand oversight
As the city prepares to renegotiate its contract with Texas Gas Service, Austin’s Resource Management Commission is vying for a seat at the table, with a proposal to expand its purview to include the utility’s oversight on its way to City Council. The proposal, spearheaded by Commissioner Paul Robbins, would amend the commission’s bylaws to […]
Posted inEnvironment
Meadows Center receives $500,000 to study link between climate change and polluted beaches
If you’re considering a trip to the coast this summer, maybe think again: Texas beaches have a poo problem. In 2021, Environment Texas published a study that found 90 percent of the state’s beaches contained dangerous pathogens found in fecal matter. (Especially avoid Cole Park Beach in Corpus Christi.) So this week, Austin’s U.S. Rep. […]
Posted inParks
City launches free swim pilot program, eliminating fees at Walnut Creek Pool this summer
Austin is moving forward with a pilot program aimed at reducing pool fees as a way of increasing access this summer. The city will eliminate fees entirely at Walnut Creek Pool in North Austin and offer two free days at Bartholomew Pool near the Mueller Development and Garrison Pool in South Austin. Bartholomew Pool’s first […]
Posted inEnergy
Austin Energy on track on its goals for assisting low-income customers
A year and a half into Austin Energy’s campaign to expand its Customer Assistance Program, the utility says it’s on track to enroll 90 percent of eligible ratepayers by June of next year. The enrollment target dates back to December 2022, when Council asked the utility to tackle its underwhelming 37.5 percent participation rate among […]
Posted inWater
Austin Water aims to transform landscape requirements for new homes
Austin Water is planning a landscape transformation initiative for new single-family homes as part of the city’s long-range water conservation strategies, according to a progress report Wednesday to the Water and Wastewater Commission. Kevin Critendon, Austin Water’s assistant director over environmental, planning and development services, noted that while rainfall in May brought the combined Highland […]
Posted inEnvironment
New climate report shows last summer’s record-high temps might not be a fluke
The results are in from researchers at the University of Texas’ Climate CoLab, and those who hoped last summer’s record-breaking temperatures to be a deviation from the norm might want to adjust their expectations. The new Climate Projections report, which hit city desks last week, runs climate models with both static and increasing emissions scenarios […]
Posted inEnvironment
A ‘heat dome’ is back over Texas. Here’s what that means (and why it’s the worst).
Last year was a lot. It was the second-hottest summer in Texas. Much of that heat is because, well, Texas is hot as all get-out. Not just some get-out. It’s hot as all get-out. But last year, we thought, was novel: a pressure system, formally known as a heat ridge, crept up from the South and parked a mass […]