A Travis County-led stakeholder discussion between construction contractors and labor interests reached a boiling point last week when one of the participants used a racial slur, according to people at the meeting. Multiple sources confirmed to the Austin Monitor on Monday that, when discussing wages and other work site conditions, Aaron Cabaza of Aaron Concrete […]
Travis County
Travis County is the urban county that includes, notably, Austin.
Posted inAustin
2017: A Monitor year in review
City Manager search Oh boy. City Council closed out the year by (finally) appointing new City Manager Spencer Cronk more than a year after former manager Marc Ott announced his departure. That is great news for a city that has been in a bit of a holding pattern as the position remained filled on an […]
Posted inBonds & Propositions
AISD and Travis County bonds win easy victories
AISD Voters resoundingly supported the Austin Independent School District bond, which maintained a wide margin of victory all Tuesday evening. In the end, 72.06 percent voted in favor of the bond. Austin ISD posed a $1.05 billion bond question to do improvements to all the district’s schools. For some schools, this will mean repairs or […]
Posted inAISD
AISD fails to acquire additional voting sites
Travis County has denied a request from the Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees for additional mobile early voting sites during this year’s bond election. In a Sept. 27 memo to County Judge Sarah Eckhardt, County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir explained that the deadline for additional site requests had passed. On Sept. 8, the county […]
Posted inPolice
Austin’s crime lab failure points to national crisis
The latest audit of the Austin Police Department’s crime lab would read as a comedy of errors, if the stakes weren’t so high. Some concerns in the report released last fall are simpler to fix – equipment failures or cross-contaminating evidence. Reading further though, the lab had flaws in many of its most fundamental operations. […]
Posted inAustin
Austin is ready to close its shelter for Harvey evacuees
Austin’s centralized shelter for Hurricane Harvey evacuees at the Met Center could close by the end of the week. About 170 people remain at the South Austin shelter. It held as many as 400 evacuees after the storm, which brought record flooding in Houston and devastated parts of the Gulf Coast and Southeast Texas. Travis […]
Posted inRadio
Austin Monitor Radio: 308 Guadalupe
Mark Gilbert, the managing director of Travis County’s Economic & Strategic Planning Division, sits down with Austin Monitor freelance reporter Caleb Pritchard to talk about the deal to develop 308 Guadalupe Street as a mixed-use development, permanently shelving plans to develop a civil and family courthouse on the site. The complete radio show is embedded […]
Posted inRadio
Austin Monitor Radio: Travis County bonds
Travis County Bond Advisory Committee member John Langmore joins Austin Monitor freelance reporter Caleb Pritchard to talk about (what else?) bonds. Specifically, they discuss the upcoming November election, and what Travis County has in store for voters this time around. Audio embedded below: [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/332612304″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /] The Austin Monitor’s work is […]
Posted inTravis County
Eckhardt sends Adler a HOT letter
Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt has put Mayor Steve Adler and Interim City Manager Elaine Hart on notice that the county is still keeping alive its interest in levying a tax on tourists. In a letter sent to both city officials on Friday, Eckhardt recounted the Commissioners Court’s recent vote to study the impacts of […]
Posted inTravis County
State of the County speech features state drama, innovative bonding and a surprise setback
In the early months of her third year in office, County Judge Sarah Eckhardt is still bullish on the state of Travis County. On Wednesday evening, she told a large crowd gathered inside the Commissioners Court chambers that the county is “strong” and added, “There are many reasons to be optimistic about our future.” Eckhardt’s […]
Posted inTravis County
Travis County explores ways to overcome funding cuts
Travis County raised nearly $90,000 as of Monday afternoon through an online initiative set up after Gov. Greg Abbott cut $1.5 million in grant funding over Sheriff Sally Hernandez’s new immigration policy. State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin) launched the fundraising site Friday in partnership with the Austin Community Foundation. “It was really quite spontaneous, and […]
Posted inMusic & Entertainment
New Rodeo Austin chief calls Expo Center expansion ‘a no-brainer’
With a deep banking and private investment background as well as an extensive business network throughout Texas, new Rodeo Austin CEO Rob Golding could be an important dealmaker in the long-brewing effort to conduct a grand revamp of the Travis County Expo Center. Golding, who has lived and worked in Austin for more than 30 […]