ARG Bull Creek Ltd. is ratcheting up pressure on City Council members to approve the Grove at Shoal Creek, a massive planned unit development it hopes to build on a 75-acre lot at the corner of Bull Creek Road and 45th Street. In a letter addressed yesterday to Mayor Steve Adler and all 10 members […]
Leslie Pool
Austin City Council member for District 7
Posted inElections
District 7 candidates take different approaches to growth
Candidates for the District 7 City Council seat faced off Tuesday night in front of a full audience at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Village. Incumbent Leslie Pool, who has represented the north-central district since her win in 2014, fielded questions from residents alongside opponent and politics newcomer Natalie Gauldin. Few were surprised by the topic […]
Posted inDevelopment
Council appears divided over Grove PUD
City Council on Thursday will finally begin its deliberations on the Grove at Shoal Creek, a controversial planned unit development proposed for a vacant 75-acre lot at the corner of Bull Creek Road and 45th Street. In anticipation of hours of testimony from members of the public both for and against the project, Council members […]
Posted inCity Council
City commissions move closer to gender balance
In Austin’s first election featuring geographic, single-member districts, voters sent seven women and four men (including the mayor) to the new 10-1 City Council, making the capital of Texas the first major U.S. city governed by a majority-female elected body. The new Council has also come closer to achieving gender parity on citizen commissions, the […]
Posted inCity Hall
Council OKs lobby ordinance on first reading
After giving notice to those interested in City Council Member Leslie Pool’s revised lobby registration ordinance Thursday morning that he would like to postpone the public hearing on the matter, Mayor Steve Adler called up the ordinance item and dealt with it in just 63 seconds Thursday afternoon. Adler asked the four people who had […]
Posted inCity Hall
Pool offers changes to lobby ordinance
When City Council Member Leslie Pool first proposed tightening up the city’s lobby registration ordinance last year, she encountered considerable resistance, especially from architects and engineers who said that the work they do when they talk to city officials is not lobbying. And, since a number of those people sit on city boards and commissions, […]
Posted inDevelopment
Arguments heat up over controversial Grove PUD
Plans and feelings will have to change dramatically in the coming weeks if City Council is ever to reach a consensus on the Grove at Shoal Creek, an enormous mixed-use development proposed for a 75-acre tract of land in North Central Austin. Council’s only action on the project Thursday was unanimous: It voted to postpone […]
Posted inTransportation
Council members float mobility bond alternatives
Three members of City Council have floated two separate alternatives to Mayor Steve Adler’s $720 million mobility bond proposal. On Monday, Council Member Ann Kitchen’s office posted on the Council Message Board a draft resolution for a significantly pared-down vision of Adler’s plan to fund projects on several of the city’s significant corridors and regional […]
Posted inPlanning
“Pork chop” battle continues between districts
At the intersection of Morrow Street and Lamar Boulevard, a concrete barrier prevents District 4 residents to the east from heading due west into District 7. But the divisions between those who want to see the barrier removed and those who would like to see it remain aren’t as straightforward. In the grand tradition of […]
Posted inCity Hall
Reporter’s Notebook: Passes and postponements
Official solicited, got free SXSW passes… Rondella Hawkins, who oversees the city’s Office of Telecommunications and Regulatory Affairs, requested and received three complimentary badges for 2016’s SXSWi, the interactive portion of the famous festival that Austin hosts, from festival director Hugh Forrest. Pinaki Ghosh, a former member of the city’s volunteer Community Technology and Telecommunications […]
Posted inEnergy
Citizens panel to consider AE finalists
Eight more pairs of eyes will be scrutinizing the four finalists for general manager of Austin Energy in meetings scheduled for today. City Council members Leslie Pool and Sheri Gallo along with Mayor Steve Adler chose representatives from the community to serve on the Austin Energy community panel, with the approval of City Manager Marc […]
Posted inAustin
Reporter’s Notebook: On the case
No tweet too small… Each side in the Proposition 1 debate has accused the other of fudging the facts, and your Austin Monitor team is dutifully doing what it can to keep everyone honest. On Friday, for example, we noticed City Council Member Leslie Pool shoot out a tweet accusing Uber of electioneering at one […]