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Emerald City Press on Lamar Boulevard almost won its off-site parking variance from the Board of Adjustment this week, but was one vote short and will have to return to the BOA next month. In the meantime, the owners made some changes to their ambitious plan to expand its business. on Lamar Boulevard finally got its […]

The race to be Austin’s next mayor got a jump-start on Monday, as Mayor Pro-Tem Brewster McCracken held his official campaign-kick off announcement and supporters of Council Member Lee Leffingwell announced formation of a political action committee to urge him to join the race. Former State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and former Texas Monthly publisher […]

City Manager Marc Ott, saying that city is facing the same “challenging economic climate” as many private sector companies face, has informed city workers that there will be no pay raises for merit this year.   Ott said in a memo last week that city staffers who achieve a “Satisfactory” or higher job performance ranking […]

Hays County Commissioners are leading a regional effort to urge state legislators to provide local powers when it comes to development in the Hill Country.   Judge Liz Sumter, who is the Hays County representative on the Hill Country Coalition of Counties – a 15-county organization formed to lobby the Legislature, has spearheaded the effort.  […]

Spansion, which makes energy- efficient flash memories, has notified the City of Austin that it is initiating a three-week furlough beginning December 13. “During the furlough, all operations will cease and employees will not report to work,” according to Rodney Gonzales, acting director of Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services Office. Gonzles notified the Mayor and […]

After a bit of behind-the-scenes scrambling last week, City Manager Marc Ott began looking for ways to undo the damage done by an agreement between the city and BFI Waste Management that left opponents of expanding a northeast Austin landfill – and some City Council members – feeling blindsided.   Council Members Mike Martinez, Laura […]

The trend of African-American families – and especially middle-class families – departing Austin continues. And, despite the efforts of the African-American Quality of Life initiative, the percentage, numbers and even the income of African-Americans in the Austin community continues to decline. Demographer Ryan Robinson presented an update to the African-American Resource Advisory Committee Wednesday night. […]

The Planning Commission last week rejected a zoning change for a pool hall on Manor Road in East Austin. The Rey de Bastos establishment is licensed as a restaurant, but has been cited by the city because a majority of its revenues does not come from food service.   “My client took over this property […]

The phrase for Austin’s legislative agenda in the coming session should be “less is more.” The city learned its lesson last session. Too much of an agenda is simply… well… too much. So the city’s chief lobbyist John Hrncir has honed in on a shorter list of primary issues and a small number of issues […]

Hays County Commissioners have spent the last two weeks in court wondering aloud how best to proceed hiring a project manager for the recently passed $207 million road bond. While each commissioner is content with the ubiquitous Prime Strategies handling the “pass through” roads – the highway projects which demand close coordination with TxDOT and […]

The City of Austin and Austin Energy, along with the Environmental Defense Fund, the University of Texas, and a growing number of corporate partners, have officially launched a long-term effort to distribute power generation throughout the utility’s electric grid. The Pecan Street Project will bring together staff from Austin Energy and several major corporations to […]

The Terrace Planned Unit Development, in hibernation for most of the past two decades, is waking up and its developers are planning to complete what they started some 20 years ago. The 109-acre development is on the northeast corner of MoPac Boulevard and Loop 360.   Developers of the PUD, which was originally proposed in […]