Whispers

A well-known rail opponent, Jim Skaggs, has been appointed treasurer of a PAC to be known as “Citizans against Rail Taxes.” Seriously, that’s what it says on the front page of the filing. Citizens is spelled in the more traditional way on Page 2 where he declares the group is opposed to whatever rail proposition […]

Mayoral candidate Steve Adler may not have a very good time at Austin Environmental Democrats today since the Austin Bulldog published a story Tuesday outlining how Adler and his law partner, SteveMichael Barron, benefited from an old restrictive covenant on land within the Barton Springs zone of the Edwards Aquifer. The group plans to endorse […]

There was some news on the City Council campaign trail this week. District 3 candidate Frank Guajardo told the Austin Monitor that he was “seriously dropping out of the race” after filing his campaign treasurer report on July 15. As far as we can tell, Guajardo managed to run his three week campaign without letting […]

This week’s Council agenda – 179 items long – could keep members, staff and interested citizens up late Thursday night, or more likely, early Friday morning. Council is likely to postpone at least one downtown zoning caser. City staffers say they erred in posting notice about the request for CBD–CURE zoning for the tiny piece […]

Austin City Council members engaged in a brief discussion about a potential ban on driving while using handheld devices Tuesday morning. Though they took no action — and one is expected for another two or three weeks — Mayor Lee Leffingwell did express some skepticism over a portion of the ordinance that would limit such […]

At Tuesday’s work session, the City Council discussed a proposed interlocal agreement between the city and the Texas A&M University System to investigate potential future uses of unmanned aerial vehicles (aka drones) and other robotics in emergency response situations. Austin Fire Department Assistant Chief Richard Davis stated that the agreement would have no fiscal impact […]

City officials will discuss actions today that will be taken to respond to concerns about issues arising from the heavy use of the Barton Springs Spillway, the area just north of Barton Springs Pool, at a news conference. The Austin Parks and Recreation Department and the Austin Police Department have seen a 40 percent increase […]

The Environmental Board meets at 6:30 p.m. in Room 325 at One Texas Center, 505 Barton Springs Road . . . The Police Monitor Citizen Review Panel meeting is canceled. . .

District 1 candidate Ora Houston filed the documents necessary to get her name on the November 4 ballot Monday at about the same time that Steve Adler filed his paperwork for the mayoral ballot.

The current phase of the CodeNEXT rewrite of the city’s Land Development Code is fast coming to an end, and that phase is already set to cost the city about $500,000 more than originally anticipated. The current contract with Opticos Design, Inc. will end in October 2014, and has had several adjustments to its scope […]

The City of Austin has received praise recently for its work with Geographic Information System applications. The city was recognized with two awards for unique GIS application solution. The first was from the Public Technology Institute for Significant Achievement in GIS for the Infrastructure Management, Mapping, Planning and Coordination Tool. The second award was from […]

Travis County Commissioners are scheduled to vote today on the request from Charles Schwab, a San Francisco-based brokerage and banking corporation, for an $8.5 million economic incentive agreement to expand its offices in Austin. If the court approves the motion, the corporation will also get $4.5 million from the state. The Greater Austin Chamber of […]