Questions of where and how people live in Austin – specifically in District 9 – remained a front-of-mind issue for Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo in 2018. Whether she was on the City Council dais or involved in campaign events ahead of her successful re-election in November, Tovo said a combination of displacement, homelessness, affordability, […]
District 9
District 9, which is only 12 square miles in size, is bordered by MoPac and Lamar boulevards on the west, Manor Road and Interstate 35 on the east, Oltorf Street on the south and 51st Street on the north. District 9 includes most of downtown and the University of Texas campus but does not include the Capitol or most of the state office complex. Residential neighborhoods include Bouldin and Travis heights to the south, Clarksville and Hyde Park on the north and Cherrywood and Mueller on the east.
Posted inElections
Tovo easily wins third term
Kathie Tovo will serve her third term on the Austin City Council after winning a relatively easy victory over three opponents on Tuesday, finishing with almost 53 percent of the vote. Her closest challenger, Danielle Skidmore, garnered less than 32 percent of the vote, with two other candidates each winning less than 10 percent of […]
Posted inElections
Transit, CodeNEXT, homelessness grab attention for District 9 candidates
The candidates vying for City Council’s District 9 seat next month have their pick of issues and pain points that need fixing. From transportation to homelessness to the recently scrapped CodeNEXT process to update the city’s Land Development Code, there are plenty of talking points and big things that need fixing in the district that […]
Posted inRadio
Austin Monitor Radio: District 9 candidate Danielle Skidmore
This week, Danielle Skidmore joins Austin Monitor freelancer Caleb Pritchard and editor Elizabeth Pagano to talk about why she’s running for City Council’s District 9 seat, how she prepared for the challenge, and what she hopes to tackle if elected. To hear it all, tune in below. The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by […]
Posted inElections
Kathie Tovo gets an opponent
Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo will face at least one opponent in her bid for re-election. Danielle Skidmore recently filed paperwork to join the race for District 9, which includes all of downtown and many Central Austin neighborhoods between MoPac Expressway and Interstate 35, including Bouldin, Hyde Park, Clarksville, West Campus, Old West Austin and […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: We’ve made haranguements
Save Our Strings… Could the city be moving toward declaring musicians as an endangered species? Not yet, but at last week’s meeting of the Austin Music Commission there was a good deal of talk about declaring the city’s music culture as a natural resource that needs to be actively protected from growing development pressures throughout […]
Posted inCity Council
Tovo keeps chipping away
Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo came prepared with folders of articles for her look back on 2017. Immediately, she notes that this year’s progress looks a lot like last year’s, but there is a reason for that. Her focus has remained on the issues that are closest to her heart: housing and homelessness. “I’ve made […]
Posted inCity Council
Tovo concentrates on homelessness, affordability
For Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo, 2016 was a year she made progress on issues related to the homeless, affordable housing, and uncovering and fighting discrimination and retaliation within the ranks of city employees. In the Austin Monitor‘s year-end conversation with her, Tovo also cited moving forward on the sobriety center, a long-sought goal for […]
Posted inPreservation
Seeking more info, HLC stalls demolition for now
For the first time under the 10-1 City Council system, all of the members of the Historic Landmark Commission were appointed and present at the commission’s final meeting of 2015. And, with everyone accounted for, it looks like some of the ideological questions the new commission has been struggling with since summer persist. Some of […]
Posted inCity Council
Mayor Pro Tem Tovo reflects on an “interesting” year
As the sole returning member of City Council, Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo is able to offer a unique perspective on the past year. Tovo was re-elected to represent Central Austin’s District 9, which includes downtown, and was later elected mayor pro tem by her fellow Council members. “It’s been an interesting year,” said Tovo. […]