And what a year it’s been

City Manager Spencer Cronk has released his end-of-year review. While he admits that he, like many of us, is “looking forward to the end of 2020,” he made a valiant effort to find the silver lining.

“While 2020 may have tested us in many ways, as an organization and a community, we rose to the challenge,” he wrote in the introduction. “City employees, especially our public health care workers and first responders, stepped up repeatedly to answer the call and serve our community with unyielding dedication.”

Highlights from the review include:

• The Economic Development Department within five months established seven new programs to distribute millions in recovery dollars to individuals, families, local businesses, and non-profits. The department also trained hundreds of Austinites to be better prepared for the existing and future job market, provided classes and coaches which helped thousands of others to continue working. They also assisted small businesses who in turn created more jobs.
• Austin Energy and Austin Water focused on investments in a variety of energy, water, and air quality programs and initiatives, emphasizing conservation and environmental protection and helping reduce the City’s municipal carbon footprint.
• In partnership with Public Works, the Austin Fire Department and Austin/Travis County Emergency Medical Services opened a joint Fire/EMS Station in Del Valle/Moore’s Crossing, the first of five stations to be built in the coming years to provide improved response times in underserved neighborhoods.

There’s plenty more over at the 2020 Year in Review website, where you can find out about specific topics such as Covid-19 and reimagining public safety, and peruse detailed reports on the progress each department made this year toward the Strategic Direction 2023 plan.