If you’re tired of hearing about the face-off between Sen. Ted Cruz and Congressman Beto O’Rourke, maybe it’s time to turn your attention to local elections, like the mayor’s race. Mayor Steve Adler is fighting to retain his seat against six challengers, most of whom are political newcomers with some wild ideas – including building […]
Laura Morrison
Former City Council Member
Posted inElections
Former Council Member Laura Morrison to run against Adler for mayor
Austin Mayor Steve Adler has his first official challenger in the race for mayor in November. Former City Council Member Laura Morrison announced in an email Monday that she will run against Adler for the city’s top elected position. “I’m running for mayor to reset that path that Austin is on, so that our future […]
Posted inLocal Politics
Victorious Prop 1 PAC prepares for next battle
Dozens of supporters of the homespun political action committee that brought two multibillion-dollar global corporations to heel last May held a victory party of sorts in Central Austin last week. According to the invitation, the Our City, Our Safety, Our Choice PAC event was nominally about raising money for a new battle as the PAC’s […]
Posted inAustin, City Council, Local Politics
Morrison says campaign colored Council in 2014
City Council Member Laura Morrison decided in March that she would not run for mayor. That, of course, did not mean that the decisions by four of her colleagues to seek elected office in 2014 played out far from Morrison’s seat on the dais. Indeed, Morrison told the Monitor that the opposite was true. “For […]
Posted inLocal Politics, Resources
Reporters Notebook
Hey, it’s our med school, so it must be our sky bridge … Central Health is all for the proposed sky bridge between the new medical school at Seton Medical Center and an associated parking garage, as long as there’s some flexibility in the planning process. At Wednesday night’s regular meeting of the Central Health […]
Posted inLocal Politics
Morrison, Spelman see progress on budget
Council Members Bill Spelman and Laura Morrison told the Monitor Tuesday that they’ve seen serious progress in the process of developing the City’s annual budget. Their comments were heard Wednesday on the weekly Austin Monitor Radio news show on KOOP 91.7 FM. “My first budget, I went down to the budget hearing. I was basically […]
Posted inLocal Politics, Resources
City Council closing in on a final budget
City Council didn’t pull any punches at the start of Tuesday’s budget session, setting next year’s tax rate before anyone’s coffee had time to cool. Council members voted unanimously to adopt the tax rate of 48.09 cents per $100 taxable value, which is in line with the budget proposed by City Manager Marc Ott. The […]
Posted inLocal Politics, Transportation
City Finance Committee compares notes with CapMetro on rail costs
With an upcoming rail bond election almost certainly on the horizon, the city continues to take a closer look at what a new urban rail system might mean. A special called meeting gave the Austin City Council’s Audit and Finance Committee a chance to meet with the Capital Metro Finance Committee Monday and go over […]