Austin and its city government are not perfect, but they both deserve some respect. That seems to be the gist of the 2016 Year in Review recently released by the city manager. “I often feel like the unforgiving pace of ‘what’s next’ blurs our view of the vast list of achievements and progress we’ve made,” […]
Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce
The Austin Chamber of Commerce is a private, membership-driven organization that includes 3,000 businesses, civic organizations, educational institutions, and individuals. According to the chamber’s website, “Its mission is to provide leadership that facilitates the creation of a prosperous regional economy and effective advocacy for its members.”
Posted inDevelopment
Council OKs worker protections with expedited permit review
City Council acted to increase protections for construction workers and speed up the building permit process for some at last night’s meeting. Council members strongly supported a proposal that would allow developers to pay an extra fee in order to pass through Austin’s building permit process more quickly. In exchange, developers must agree to pay […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Coalition asks to keep CodeNEXT on track
A coalition of eight Austin organizations got together to ask the city to honor a January 2017 deadline for the new land development code draft on Wednesday. Pointing out that four years have passed since the rewrite was laid out in the Imagine Austin comprehensive plan, representatives from AURA, the Austin Apartment Association, the Austin Board of Realtors, […]
Posted inCity Council
Council poised to pass fair-chance hiring ordinance
Despite the fact that Jacqueline Conn has a master’s degree, it took her 10 months to find a job in Austin, a delay she attributes to a 15-year-old felony conviction. On Tuesday, Conn, 34, stood behind Council Member Greg Casar and other elected officials as they celebrated Casar’s fair-chance hiring proposal, which Council will likely […]
Posted inDevelopment, Local Government, Local Politics, Transportation
Travis Commissioners finally endorse SH45 SW
Many of the same Austinites made the same arguments they’ve made for decades, but this time, the result was different. At the behest of Pct. 3’s Gerald Daugherty, the Travis County Commissioners Court on Tuesday endorsed construction of the controversial SH45 Southwest roadway. Just three years ago, a somewhat different group of Travis County […]
Posted inDevelopment, Local Government, Transportation
Watson: Shorting Texas transportation needs hurts state’s future
State Senator Kirk Watson offered attendees at Wednesday’s Austin Chamber of Commerce’s State of Transportation lunch a steady diet of road talk. Though Watson did briefly mention the importance of other regional transportation modes during the course of a roughly 30-minute speech, his focus stayed firmly on pavement. Watson framed the issue in terms […]