Taxpayers Against Giveaways, the Save Our Springs Alliance and three taxpayers – former state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, former City Council Member Ora Houston and Allandale neighborhood homeowner Faye Holland – have filed a lawsuit suit against City Council to stop it from putting tax money into a fund for development of the former Austin American-Statesman […]
Ora Houston
Austin City Council member for District 1
Posted inCity Council
Houston: Council should be nonpartisan
In her final speech from the Council dais, Ora Houston urged her colleagues to encourage diversity at every level and to put partisan issues aside. The city’s first representative of District 1 said it is important to look at and care for the city as a whole and not concentrate so much on individual districts. […]
Posted inCity Hall
Oyervides passes arts program concerns to his MACC board replacement
One of the longest-serving members of the advisory board for the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center – and a frequent critic of city staff and programs affecting the Latino community – says he plans to stay vocal even after recently leaving his seat. Chief among the concerns is the ongoing push by the Parks […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Throwing side eye, catching rides
Side eye, or stink eye?… What exactly is the name given to the withering glances occasionally dished out by City Council Member Ora Houston toward her colleagues on the dais? Council Member Leslie Pool learned directly on Thursday during discussion of the resolution that will create a new city Tourism Commission. While praising Houston’s championing […]
Posted inCity Council
Houston withdraws, and Harding enters, in race for D1 Council seat
Austin’s City Council District 1, which is made up almost entirely of portions of East Austin, will definitely have a new representative in 2019, with current Council Member Ora Houston announcing Wednesday she will not seek re-election. Houston’s decision came less than a week after she hosted a State of the District event at the […]
Posted inCity Council
Houston stays true to her district
Council Member Ora Houston sums up this past year as “very interesting.” Speaking to the Austin Monitor, Houston started her review of 2017 by stressing her continued commitment to outreach in her district, which informs the work she does downtown at City Hall. “When I ran, I said I was going to represent all of […]
Posted inZoning
Council looks to roll back CURE zoning
Driven by concerns over gentrification, City Council is poised to do away with the final remnants of a policy that was put in place two decades ago to encourage redevelopment downtown. The central urban redevelopment (CURE) combining district that Council adopted in 1996 covered the entire downtown area between Lady Bird Lake, Lamar Boulevard, Martin […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Field trips and missteps
Why extend the deadline when you can eliminate it?… During a budget work session on Wednesday morning, Council Member Ora Houston asked whether the deadline for submitting items to the budget concept menu was Tuesday night or Wednesday night. Don’t worry, she was assured, she still had until midnight to submit items. What followed was […]
Posted inCity Council
Houston eyes community engagement in 2017
Before taking a look back over the past year, City Council Member Ora Houston wanted to make one thing crystal clear. “I consider myself a public servant, not a politician,” she said. “So I don’t talk like, I don’t do like, I don’t think like the expectations of a politician.” Houston starts the conversation where […]
Posted inCity Council
Council votes to spay/neuter stray animals on first impoundment
A proposal that requires that stray dogs and cats be spayed or neutered so they can’t reproduce moved forward this week, despite questions over whether the measure actually addresses the problems it’s meant to solve. City Council voted 8-1 to pass a proposal that dogs and cats be spayed or neutered the first time they […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Campaigns, opinions, etc.
Locals vs. State Legislators… In case you missed it, The Texas Tribune has posted audio from most of its 2016 Texas Tribune Festival panels. Mayor Steve Adler managed to score a seat on one of the panels, “Rideshare’s Road Forward,” talking about Austin’s now infamous ordinance governing ride-hailing companies. For those out of the know, Austin’s […]
Posted inLocal Politics
Activists seek to ‘reboot 10-1’
Several activists who led the charge to create single-member City Council districts have begun a campaign aimed at further reform. On Wednesday night, a group of just over 30 people gathered at Austin Energy headquarters on Barton Springs Road to hear the details of a plan dubbed “Reboot 10-1.” The meeting was organized by Linda […]