After more than a year of virtual silence, City Council’s long-standing tradition of hosting local musical acts during a meal break at its Thursday meetings will make a comeback in January. That’s the one point Council members seemed to agree on during a discussion on meeting procedures at Tuesday’s work session. What’s not clear is whether the musicians will perform during the dinner break – typically around 5:30 p.m. – or whether Council will shift the performances to the lunch break, when many working musicians are just starting their day. Also uncertain is whether to continue coupling music with proclamations or sticking with the current 9:30 a.m. proclamation time, which hardly anyone seems to like. The bigger sticking point, however, is how to efficiently handle public testimony from residents signed up to speak on agenda items. The one certainty so far is that virtual testimony will remain available for those who can’t get to City Hall to speak.

If you’re interested in transit, equity and development, you may well be interested in transit-oriented development, or TOD, which “manages what can get built in neighborhoods close to transit stops and encourages walkable neighborhoods for residents to get around, whether walking, biking or riding transit,” according to the Transportation Department. TOD is a good thing because of the community benefits it brings, but it can also be a bad thing because “the growth around these developments could cause new investment to drive up rent and displace nearby vulnerable communities.” With Project Connect coming down the pike, City Council has allotted $300 million in anti-displacement funds “to support projects and programs that will help low-income families avoid getting priced out of their neighborhoods and assist others who could be negatively affected by impacts of the transit investment.” Lots to discuss, as you can see, and you can discuss it all at a virtual community forum on Wednesday, Nov. 17, from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Register here.

Attorney Laurie Eiserloh, who lost in a runoff to Delia Garza for Travis County Attorney last year, has set her sights on becoming the next judge of the 455th District Court. She has compiled a lengthy list of notable Austinites who support her in the race for the Democratic nomination. Those supporters include Mayor Steve Adler, Council members Alison Alter, Ann Kitchen, Leslie Pool and Kathie Tovo, all four Travis County commissioners – Jeff Travillion, Brigid Shea, Ann Howard and Margaret Gómez – the entire Travis County delegation at the Legislature, and former senators Kirk Watson and Gonzalo Barrientos. Eiserloh told the Austin Monitor that another attorney had planned on running for the seat, but decided to run for a Court of Appeals position instead. Currently, Republican Cleve Doty is serving as the judge in the court after being appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott in October. Prior to his appointment, Doty was an assistant attorney general. He also served as counsel for the First Liberty Institute and as an associate for Baker Botts. Doty has not indicated whether he wants to run for the position. Both Republican and Democratic primaries are scheduled for March 1.

The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization Common Ground for Texans invites community members to a Zoom panel presentation, followed by audience questions, about the “outcomes and likely consequences of the redistricting maps approved by the 87th legislative special sessions.” Mike Ignatowski will moderate the discussion with panelists Genevieve VanCleve with All on the Line, Katya Ehresman with Common Cause Texas, Gary Bledsoe with NAACP TX, Martha Cotera with Latina Policy Coalition, and Alice Yi with League of Women Voters Austin Area, all of whom were involved in the redistricting process. Saturday, Nov. 20, 2-3:30 p.m. Join the Zoom meeting.

It takes a village to keep people healthy. That’s the idea behind the Austin/Travis County Community Health Plan, which is described as a “collaborative planning initiative organized and implemented by health care and social service providers throughout the Austin/Travis County area.” The plan sets health priorities and focus areas for three years, but in order to do that properly, community input is critical. So Austin Public Health is holding a public meeting to solicit feedback on what makes – and keeps – the community healthy. Don’t worry, things won’t get too personal: “Questions will be very general and focus on health needs and barriers to health.” There are several ways to participate. You can register on Zoom to take part in the virtual discussion on Thursday, Nov. 18, from 6:30-8 p.m. Or, you can call into a special radio show hosted by KAZI FM 88.7 on Friday, Nov. 19, from 6-7 p.m. Finally, you may complete a survey and leave your comments at SpeakUpAustin.

Mayor Steve Adler’s policy adviser, Ashley Fisher, has announced she will be leaving City Hall this Friday after nearly 10 years with the city. She started her city work with Council Member Bill Spelman in 2012 and later worked for District 3 Council Member Pio Renteria before a stint at Austin Resource Recovery. She also served as publisher for the Austin Monitor for several months before joining Adler’s team back at City Hall. She wrote on her LinkedIn page, “I am proud of all that we have accomplished over that time. But now, after spending most of the last decade there, it is time to see what’s next.” City Hall is also losing David Chincanchan, who has worked for Renteria for nearly seven years. He worked his last day with the city on Friday. Chincanchan told the Monitor he would begin his new job as senior policy analyst with the Workers Defense Project today, involving him in policy discussions with people in Houston and Dallas as well as Austin. We will miss them both.

Although the election to replace District 4 Council Member Greg Casar, who is running for a seat in Congress, is likely to occur at the end of January, only one candidate, Jose “Chito” Vela, has begun campaigning for the Council seat. And Vela is the only person who has filed an appointment of campaign treasurer for that job. The Council members in districts 1, 3, 5, 8, and 9 will be ending their terms next November. Members who have served one term – which includes Council Member Paige Ellis and Mayor Pro Tem Natasha Harper-Madison – are eligible to run again in 2022 without collecting signatures within their districts. The race to fill the spot currently held by Council Member Kathie Tovo in District 9 is likely to draw an array of candidates. Zohaib Qadri and Ben Leffler have filed their treasurer appointments. Attorney Jason Hyde, whose office is in that district, has designated Judith Creason of Des Peres, Missouri, as his campaign treasurer. The appointment form did not indicate what seat Hyde might be running for and he declined to tell the Austin Monitor. Richard Smith, a member of the city Board of Adjustment, designated a campaign treasurer in July, indicating he would seek the District 8 seat currently held by Ellis. In District 5, Stephanie Bazan has designated Amanda Eldridge as her treasurer for the seat currently held by Ann Kitchen, who has already served two four-year terms and seems unlikely to take on the arduous task of collecting signatures to run again in November 2022. So far, no new candidates have indicated an interest in running for the district 1 or 3 seats. Council Member Pio Renteria is in his second term in the District 3 seat and seems unlikely to run again. Bertha Rendon Delgado announced her candidacy for the seat on Facebook, but has not designated a treasurer. Finally, Jennifer Virden, who lost a race for City Council District 10, filed a treasurer designation in June to run for mayor next year.

This whisper has been corrected to remove a statement that those elected will serve two-year terms. They will serve four-year terms.

Attention, swimmers: Big Stacy Pool at 700 E. Live Oak St. will be closing for maintenance Tuesday through Friday of this week. Workers will be installing a new pool pump and motor and repairing a section of the pool deck. Don’t despair, however: Barton Springs, Bartholomew, Deep Eddy, Springwoods, and dozens of other pools are all open for use in the interim. Find locations and hours of operation for all Austin swimming pools here.

Austin Public Health invites all residents of Travis County to share their Covid-19 vaccination experiences in a brief, confidential online survey. According to the health department, the feedback collected “will be used to shape future vaccine community clinics for all ages, education and outreach programs as well as other public health services.” The survey, which includes just five questions, is anonymous and takes only a few minutes to complete. The results will be provided in a summary report. Take the survey.

State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez formally announced his candidacy for the 35th Congressional District on Thursday, pitting him against Council Member Greg Casar, who has been preparing for the race for quite some time. Rodriguez made his announcement with the backing of Austin state Reps. Sheryl Cole, Celia Israel, Gina Hinojosa, Donna Howard and Vikki Goodwin. Rodriguez has served as a state representative since 2002. His supporters include Cleo Petricek, who tweeted her support for him. (Petricek and Travis County Republican Party Chair Matt Mackowiak are the founders of Save Austin Now, the group that put the police item on the Nov. 2 ballot, which Austin voters rejected by a two-to-one margin.) There are at least three other candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination– Claudia Zapata, James Sasinowski and David Anderson, Jr. More importantly, San Antonio state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer announced Tuesday that he would run for reelection, not for Congress. According to the San Antonio Express-News, Martinez Fischer said he is going to concentrate on challenging the redistricting he believes put Austin voters at an advantage over San Antonio. In the meantime, Casar announced he had raised more than $100,000 in the first three days of his campaign. The Council member also announced three back-to-back parties on Saturday, starting with an 11 a.m. kickoff at AquaBrew in San Marcos. Next, the campaign will host a party at the Cherrity Bar in San Antonio at 3 p.m. Finally, the Austin kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Native Hostel at 807 E. Fourth St.

The Downtown Austin Alliance announced Wednesday that it was halfway to its pledge of $2 million to Mobile Loaves and Fishes Community First! Village. DAA has raised $1 million toward supporting a capital campaign to expand the tiny home community that serves those transitioning out of chronic homelessness. “Community First! Village represents an innovative, private sector-driven approach that is proving to be a benefit for many people in our community,” Dewitt Peart, DAA president and CEO, said in a statement to the press. “They are serving those who were living unsheltered – in some cases, for years – and those in our community who have the greatest needs for housing and services.” The village was opened in 2015, and initially housed 200 residents. Once completed, planned expansions will house 1,500 formerly homeless Austinites. DAA has also partnered with the Homelessness Health and Wellness Center program and the Family Reunification Partnership with Trinity Center. More information on its work with homelessness initiatives can be found here.

City administrative offices and other municipal facilities will be closed today, Nov. 11, in observance of Veterans Day. City Council offices, Austin Public Library branches and the Austin Animal Center are among the closures. The offices of Austin Resource Recovery will be closed, but curbside services will continue, so do not deviate from your regular pickup schedule. While museums and cultural centers will be closed, most Parks and Recreation facilities, including recreation centers, senior centers, swimming pools, golf courses and tennis centers, will be open and operating at normal hours. You can find a complete list of parks department closures here. All Covid-19 test sites operated by Austin Public Health sites will be closed, but the Delco Activity Center and Sims vaccine clinics will be open. Oh, and the Austin Monitor will also be taking the day off, which means we won’t be publishing Friday.