An assistant director of the city’s Human Resources Department helped to conduct a raffle last summer at an event sponsored by a large non-city organization. City employees participated in that raffle in violation of city HR policies, according to a brief special report released by the Office of the City Auditor on Thursday. Although city […]
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Posted inPreservation
Proposed demolitions rattle Old West Austin
At the most recent meeting of the Historic Landmark Commission, neighbors showed up in force to protest the prospect of demolishing a swath of homes in the heart of Old West Austin. The five demolitions are all part of a single development proposal. Four of the properties – located at 905 Maufrais St. and 1404, […]
Posted inElections
Crowded field of candidates emerges to challenge Troxclair in Southwest Austin
In addition to Mayor Steve Adler, five City Council members are up for re-election this November. In three of those races – District 9, District 5 and District 3 – nobody has yet declared their intention of running against the incumbent, although challengers will most likely emerge eventually. The one race that is attracting a […]
Posted inCity Hall
Parks department mired in drama over cultural center access program
The Mexican American Cultural Center Advisory Board voted Wednesday night to ask for the indefinite suspension of a new program that would keep the city’s various cultural arts centers open in the late-night hours. The move came after three performance groups raised their concerns about the Artists Access Program and its associated contract that would […]
Posted inRoads
Austin’s new ‘speed cushions’ spark outcry
Susanne Paul worries that Jester Estates, the affluent Northwest Austin neighborhood where she’s lived for nearly 20 years, may be broken beyond repair. What was once an “extremely friendly” community is now fraught with political divisions that many of her neighbors believe may make it impossible to ever return to the “happy innocence of what […]
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 inTransit
Capital Metro CEO finalists face the public
The auditions are over and now it’s time for the judges to determine who gets to be Austin’s next top transit executive. The final four candidates in the running for the open president/CEO job at the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority faced three separate rounds of interviews on Monday in front of the board of directors, […]
Posted inPreservation
Landmark commission pushes for full preservation of Rosewood Courts
This year, a plan to preserve and redevelop Rosewood Courts will be making its way through City Hall. After more than two years of work, advocates for the plan hope that they have struck a compromise between modernizing the property and preserving its history. The Dec. 18 meeting of the Historic Landmark Commission revealed that […]
Posted inCity Council
In unanimous vote, Council rejects police contract, sends back to negotiations
City Council members voted unanimously to send a five-year contract between the city and the local police union back to the negotiating table late Wednesday. The contract, which dictates pay, discipline and oversight of Austin Police Department officers, is negotiated once every several years. The city and the Austin Police Association began negotiations back in […]
Posted inRoads
Traffic volumes increasing on MoPac
The MoPac Improvement Project, originally sold as a congestion relief initiative, has driven up the number of drivers on parts of the roadway, with some sections seeing an increase of nearly 30,000 vehicles per day. “The traffic has returned,” Jeff Dailey, deputy executive director of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, told his board of […]
Posted inParks
Council divided over $124M pools proposal
City Council appears divided over a nine-figure bond that the Aquatic Master Plan Task Force has said is necessary to repair, upgrade and expand Austin’s pool system. The bond proposal comes four months after the Parks and Recreation Department unveiled the Aquatic Master Plan, which presented a number of alternative approaches for dealing with the […]
Posted inAustin
Robot delivery drones are just around the corner
City-sanctioned land drones could be hitting a sidewalk near you by February 2018. That was the report Austin Transportation Department Chief of Staff Karla Taylor gave to the Urban Transportation Commission on Tuesday evening. Her briefing was an update on the development of a pilot program that would allow private companies to deploy electric-powered personal […]