Travis County Commissioners and the promoter of the Saxet Gun Shows reached an impasse Tuesday over a contract provision that would require the promoter to perform background checks on all gun sales. Negotiations for a year’s lease to hold eight gun shows at the Travis County Expo Center have broken off. Background checks for […]
Local Government
Posted inLocal Government, Uncategorized
Commissioners still pondering prevailing wage questions
Travis County Commissioners found themselves in the middle of tug-of-war Tuesday over proposed policy changes to the county’s Economic Development and Construction Procurement Practices. The issue of the county requiring a prevailing wage of $11 per hour for all construction done with county money sparked an extended debate. The Travis County Economic Development Task […]
Posted inDevelopment, Local Government
Council postpones hearing, vote on Holly Shores Park to Jan. 30
City Council members postponed a planned public hearing and vote last Thursday on the redevelopment of Festival Beach on Lady Bird Lake into the Holly Shores/Edward Rendon Sr. Park at Festival Beach. The hearing and vote were postponed until Jan. 30 after neighbors of the planned park complained loudly that they were only given […]
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 Government, Transportation
Current long-term plans do nothing to improve Austin’s I-35 headaches
Current long-term plans – such as the 2035 CAMPO Transportation Plan – will do little more than maintain the current level of traffic bottlenecks on Interstate 35 and won’t take enough vehicles off the road to significantly cut commute times, according to a report on traffic congestion on the I-35 corridor through Austin. The […]
Posted inLocal Government
County clerk hopes to ease lawyers into mandatory electronic filing
Starting in January, attorneys in Austin and other large cities in Texas will be required to file all of court documents electronically. While e-filing court papers is not new – the process has been available for civil and probate cases for several years – it will inevitably mean that some law firms may have to […]
Posted inLocal Government, Local Politics, Resources
PUC: Non-city utility customers must pay legal fees
The Texas Public Utility Commission has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of non-City of Austin ratepayers against Austin Energy. That dismissal means that ratepayers who are not Austin residents will foot the $1.55 million bill for the utility’s legal fees related to a rate case settled earlier this year. So, those who […]
Posted inDevelopment, Local Government
Apartment occupancy rates, rental costs at all-time high
As Austin’s population continues to increase, occupancy rates and rents for apartments and the construction of new multifamily properties are at all-time high levels. And while that may be a financial boost for owners and landlords, City of Austin housing officials say it presents a serious challenge to their mission of creating affordable housing. […]
Posted inDevelopment, Environment, Local Government, Local Politics, Public Safety
County finds just $4.3 million to buy flood-ravaged homes
Travis County officials say they have searched their budgets, bond programs and possibly even the couch cushions to come up with $4.3 million to buy out damaged and destroyed homes from the Halloween floods. But it will be another week or two before County Commissioners will be get an estimate on just how much […]
Posted inLocal Government, Public Safety
County official says damage from Halloween flood likely underestimated
A Travis County official says that estimates of the damage from the Halloween flood may have been “grossly underestimated,” and further examination of the damage could bring the total high enough to trigger federal aid. Travis County Emergency Management Coordinator Pete Baldwin told Travis County Commissioners Tuesday that state and federal officials have further […]
Posted inLocal Government, Transportation
CAMPO puts $28 million in transportation funding up for grabs
The City of Austin will have to battle six counties and the cities within them for a chance at a chunk of more than $28 million up for grabs for transportation projects in the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s service area. Local governments in the region have been scrambling for cash to fund projects […]
Posted inLocal Government, Resources
LCRA board votes to raise drought trigger to rice farmers’ dismay
A bitterly divided Lower Colorado River Authority Board voted Tuesday to change the drought trigger to 1.1 million acre-feet for lakes Travis and Buchanan. That means that unless combined storage improves significantly by March 1, downstream farmers will again go without water from the Highland Lakes in 2014. With that trigger in hand, the […]