Tag Archives: Economic Development Department
Venue rent relief seen as goal of new incentives programs
As Economic Development Department staff worked on plans to update the city’s economic incentives program, the department’s top executive gave a preview earlier this week of how the creative economy could be helped in the coming years. At Monday’s meeting…
Music & Entertainment • By Chad Swiatecki • Jul 14, 2017
City reveals new music division manager
The city has selected the new head of the Music and Entertainment Division, roughly three months after the position opened following a cloud of controversy. The announcement that Erica Shamaly, a longtime Austinite with close to two decades in local…
City Hall • By Chad Swiatecki • Jul 11, 2017
Colony Park development expected to move forward this fall
The city’s next big planned unit development will begin moving forward this fall when potential developers begin showing their bona fides and ability to handle the multistage project. The Request for Qualifications process for the Colony Park community in Northeast…
Development • By Chad Swiatecki • Jul 6, 2017
Council approves workforce training audit
It took a while for City Council to wrap its collective head around the concept, but after an hour and a half of discussion it overwhelmingly approved a study that will try to assess the effectiveness of some area workforce…
City Council • By Jack Craver • Jul 5, 2017
Agent of change revamp to add hotels could delay vote on proposal
Austin’s much-debated policy proposal to address conflicts between music venues and nearby developments appears to be getting a makeover and a possible delay from a planned early June vote by City Council. That was the feeling of venue owners, city…
Music & Entertainment • By Chad Swiatecki • May 31, 2017
Music omnibus advances as venues await agent of change, licensing moves
The city is touring its early progress in enacting pieces of the Music & Creative Ecosystem Omnibus, a slate of actions designed to protect Austin creatives and venues from further eroding under development pressure. Presentations to the city’s Arts and…
Music & Entertainment • By Chad Swiatecki • Apr 17, 2017
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Music venues' 'agent of change' proposal faces revisions ahead of spring vote
The city of Austin has concluded its series of public forums on a pair of proposed policy moves that would attempt to draw clear lines of responsibility between new residential developments and creative spaces that are increasingly co-mingling in the…
Music & Entertainment • By Chad Swiatecki • Feb 3, 2017
Council expected to take up agent of change and entertainment licenses in March
Regulations for live music venues throughout Austin appear to be changing both very quickly and remarkably slowly. At Monday’s meeting of the city’s Music Commission, the dominant topic was the long-proposed “agent of change” principle that is intended to reduce…
Music & Entertainment • By Chad Swiatecki • Jan 10, 2017
Virtual reality expected to help city attract billions in foreign investment
Through the use of virtual reality, the city of Austin is turning to the thriving local video game industry to help attract overseas investors and billions of dollars in new economic development money. The hope is that local developers can…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Nov 28, 2016
Character, retention of businesses fuel expansion of Soul-y Austin
Though he works on the very same block, Josh Blaine had never been inside East Austin’s Vortex theater prior to attending a meeting of what is now the Manor Road Merchants Association. But as manager of the In.gredients neighborhood grocery…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Nov 10, 2016
City lands $10 million "minibond" agreement to save endangered music venues
The city of Austin will team up with private investors to save some of the city’s most iconic — and increasingly economically distressed — music venues through a new program announced prior to Thursday’s City Council meeting. Mayor Steve Adler announced…
Music & Entertainment • By Chad Swiatecki • Sep 23, 2016
Adler: Business incentives shouldn't be 'bad word'
In a booming city with an unemployment rate south of 3 percent, it’s not surprising that people might be skeptical of spending taxpayer dollars to lure more jobs into town. In a recent survey of Austinites about city spending priorities,…
