After a heated exchange between City Council members Ellen Troxclair and Greg Casar, Council voted 10-1 Thursday to approve $200,000 in emergency funding for immigrant legal services. Troxclair, Council’s only Republican, offered the only no vote and the only negative commentary about increasing funding to Catholic Charities of Central Texas to aid people seeking legal […]
Ellen Troxclair
Austin City Council member for District 8
Posted inCity Council
Troxclair has opinions
This year, District 8 City Council Member Ellen Troxclair welcomed her first child. She also saw her fair share of accomplishments (and frustrations) within City Hall in 2016. Troxclair counted “making some progress on the Homestead Exemption” among her accomplishments for the year, though she pointed out that the exemption still isn’t quite up to […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
With $90 million up for grabs, Visitor Impact Task Force faces hefty charge
The city’s new Visitor Impact Task Force hopes to accomplish several goals in the next four months, all of them having to do with how the city can best grapple with the growing number of tourists coming to Austin each year. But the most significant of those goals by far is coming up with ideas […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Vultures everywhere
Reply all … Over the weekend, Public Safety Commissioner Mike Levy put Austin Neighborhoods Council President Mary Ingle on blast over the upcoming transportation bond election. It all started last week, when ANC held a panel on the upcoming bonds. That panel was held in front of a packed, interested house – but it was […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
Could more tourist spots benefit from hotel tax?
Austin residents are no strangers to big local events and, increasingly, neither are out-of-towners – but all of those visitors can take a toll on the city’s infrastructure. City Council is set to consider a plan that could direct more funding toward facilities affected by tourism. The money would come from something called the Hotel […]
Posted inCourts
Zimmerman, Troxclair file brief against city
In its response to a lawsuit seeking to change ballot language for the May 7 election on regulations for transportation network companies, the city of Austin is arguing that the Uber supporter who filed the writ of mandamus last Wednesday at the Texas Supreme Court was seeking the wrong remedy and had failed to file […]
Posted inBudget
Troxclair wants to cut utility transfers
Wading into the affordability debate with a new tactic, City Council Member Ellen Troxclair is proposing to cut transfers from the Austin Water utility to the city’s General Fund. On Wednesday, members of Council’s Public Utilities Committee unanimously approved forwarding Troxclair’s resolution – which seeks information on cutting or eliminating the transfer – to the […]
Posted inCity Council
Council member fears lawsuits over new ordinance
It’s no secret that on Tuesday, Austin’s city clerk is expected to tell City Council that she has validated at least 20,000 signatures on a petition to change an ordinance governing transportation network companies. And, it’s clear that her announcement will trigger a requirement for Council – within 10 days – either to adopt Ridesharing Works […]
Posted inCity Council
Troxclair keeps focus on District 8 through year one
In 2015, City Council Member Ellen Troxclair’s most gratifying moment came when one of her District 8 constituents told her that the things she had talked about during her campaign were consistent with the change she has since worked to effect at City Hall. “They said that I made them proud,” said Troxclair. “I get […]
Posted inAustin
Reporter’s Notebook: The time she got to Arizona
Ghosts of resolutions passed… Though city officials’ trips to Paris may have garnered all the headlines last week, City Council Member Ellen Troxclair’s trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, for the American City County Exchange Policy Summit sparked the most interesting question: Was it legal? Of course it’s fairly routine for Council members to travel for such […]
Posted inAustin
Zimmerman, Troxclair resurrect failed proposal for civil courthouse
Two Austin City Council members are renewing an effort to persuade Travis County to build a new civil courthouse in the so-called “Eastern Crescent.” The day after voters narrowly rejected the county’s $287 million bond to build the facility in downtown Austin, Council Member Don Zimmerman posted to the City Council Message Board a modified version of […]