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Spelman has less than a month to serve and get negotiations started Nine months in the making and the final report of the Police Oversight Focus Group (POFG), which was submitted April 14, is still waiting for action by the City Council. Council Member Bill Spelman made a run at getting it on today's agenda […]

Almanza attacks Intel incentives and decries impact on East Austin Planning Commission Member Susana Almanza attacked the city's plan to provide $15 million in incentives to Intel Corp. Tuesday, calling the plan "insulting." "I want the general public to know what's happening to East Austin. It's not a gravy train for us," Almanza said, because […]

City Council to approve package Thursday The cost of having Intel inside downtown Austin is estimated at $7.7 million in an incentive package that will go the Austin City Council Thursday for approval. Not everything that's in the menu of incentives has even been costed out yet, so the total amount may increase later. In […]

Yett property at 3601 W. Parmer Lane subject long criticized The City Council designated five additional roadways as scenic roadways last Thursday and a commercial strip on one of them has been the subject of an ongoing battle, with neighbors arguing that cleaning up the place is long overdue. The property at 3601 W. Parmer […]

But ordinance to be fine-tuned to mitigate impact on neighbors A modification to City Code Chapter 25-2 to allow more infill housing caught considerable flak at a public hearing last night, causing the City Council to adopt it but delay the effective date of the change until Aug. 17. The council ordered that by that […]

Downtown Commission sees harm to other downtown retailers Jan Hilton, CSC/City Hall deputy officer for the City of Austin's Redevelopment Services, provided what was to have been a routine update on retail plans for the 2nd Street area last night to the Downtown Commission. She ran into a buzz saw of resistance to the idea […]

Home improvement retailer promises to leave 40 percent of property in trees The South River City Citizens (SRCC) and Home Depot have reached an agreement that sets the stage for the home improvement giant to build a new store on the southwest corner of Woodward and South I-35. Clark Hammond, president of SRCC, said, "The […]

Utility pushing for blanket resolution, consumer advocates ask for public debate Whether the City of Austin's electric utility morphs from an aircraft carrier that operates in full view into a submarine whose strategic operations are mostly hidden was to have been debated by the City Council this week. But Austin Energy pulled the item off […]

Television, money, and continuing low voter turnout In the 1967 hit movie, The Graduate, the tip for success for a young man fresh out of college was the word "plastics." For the 2000 City Council elections, the surefire winner was wrapped in the word "television." Those who had it– Mayor Kirk Watson, Place 5 candidate […]

Austin Fair Campaign Finance Fund provides shot in the arm to candidates If Danny Thomas manages to get in a runoff with incumbent Council Member Willie Lewis in Place 6, Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson may need to dip into those lottery winnings again. The reason is that Lewis would likely get a wad of cash from […]

When an election is not an election, it's a coronation We're down to the wire for the 2000 City Council elections to be held Saturday, May 6. Absentee voting has ended with 9,337 ballots cast, says City Clerk Shirley Brown. That's 56 percent more than the 5,988 early votes cast in 1999. Whether that foreshadows […]

Complaint filed with State Board of Architectural Examiners blows whistle This is not like the infamous case of Railroad Commissioner Lena Guerrero, who got caught padding her résumé with a degree she didn't earn, but City Council candidate William Patrick Wynn may nonetheless suffer politically for having claimed to be an architect when he is […]