As usual, Fredericksburg is celebrating Oktoberfest this month. The ASPCA is celebrating Adopt a Shelter Dog Month. Here in Austin, October is Code Month, thanks to a proclamation presented by Council Member Greg Casar to the Code Department’s assistant director, Daniel Word, honoring the department. According to the proclamation, the hard-working employees of Austin Code investigate more than 38,000 citywide code cases per year and perform more than 75,000 inspections. Code has grown from a small division of the Austin Resource Recovery Department to a department with more than 150 employees. “Throughout this pandemic, our employees have continued their work as essential workers, responding to community needs and going to locations throughout the city to inspect properties, homes and businesses to help ensure the safety of the public,” Word said. “Whatever the future may bring, we at Austin Code are dedicated to ensuring safe places to live, work and play.” He thanked Council for the recognition and said his department looks forward to building a more resilient Austin.

Want to celebrate music and life at the same time? Get vaccinated at the Austin City Limits Music Festival! Travis County’s intrepid mobile vaccine team will be on the scene, providing Covid-19 vaccines on both weekends of the festival, Oct. 1-3 and Oct. 8-10, from noon-4 p.m. Anyone who’s 12 and older can receive their first or second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Pfizer booster shots will be available as well to those who qualify. If you’re getting the booster, bring your vaccination card so it can be updated. Travis County Constable George Morales points out that, while the county now has more than 70 percent of its 12-and-older population vaccinated, “we can’t stop here.” He says the mobile vaccination collaborative “is committed to continuing our efforts to go where the people are and make certain everyone who wants the vaccine can get one.” Not going to ACL but still need the vaccine? Check out Travis County’s online calendar and map for a Covid vaccination event near you.

A library card is the gateway to knowledge, inspiration, entertainment, and so much more. Starting today, any kid enrolled in school in Travis County – including private school, day care, charter, and home school – will be eligible for a free library card from Austin Public Library. Formerly, Austin library cards were only free for city residents, while those who lived outside the city had to pay a $120 annual fee. Thanks to an updated budget for the library approved by City Council in August, the fee has been waived in the new fiscal year. Director Roosevelt Weeks said library staff are “excited to be able to expand access to library materials to all students in Travis County. Lifting a financial barrier to accessing the library’s resources for tens of thousands of Travis County students will provide a significant boost to literacy and learning in the Greater Austin community.” A non-resident Austin library card offers the same privileges as a resident card, allowing the cardholder to check out books, music and DVDs from 21 branches in Austin and remotely access online databases and download e-books, audiobooks and videos to a personal device. Apply for an Austin Public Library card online.

If you plan on voting in the Nov. 2 election and you are not yet registered, Monday is the last day you may register to vote if you intend to cast a ballot in that election. The Nov. 2 election includes eight state constitutional amendment changes impacting taxes, the judiciary, and religious freedom. There are also several municipal propositions on the ballot, including Austin’s Proposition A, which calls for increasing police staffing and training. Find your closest voter registration site in Travis County at TexasVDRs.com. You may also register to vote at any Travis County tax office branch. (check locations and hours here). Voter registration applications are online at VoteTravis.com. The applications may be filled out online, but must be printed and mailed in or delivered to a tax office location. Voter Registrar Bruce Elfant warns against mailing in voter applications too close to the deadline, saying, “By law, we cannot accept voter registrations for the Nov. 2 election if they come in postmarked later than Oct. 4. We will still register you to vote but you won’t be eligible to cast a ballot for the Nov. 2 election.”

Travis County Commissioner Precinct 2 Brigid Shea has served in that position since she was first elected in 2015, and has already indicated that she intends to run again in next March’s Democratic primary. Shea helped found the Save Our Springs Alliance and served one term on Austin City Council. On Wednesday, Bob Libal, a criminal justice and immigration reform advocate, announced that he too would be running for the Precinct 2 seat. Libal is the former executive director of Grassroots Leadership. His main focus appears to be on jails and reforms to incarceration.

Registration for the Austin Parks Foundation’s volunteer participation extravaganza, It’s My Park Day, starts Monday, Oct. 4. The big day itself is Saturday, Nov. 6. In order to stay Covid-safe, the number of volunteers for each project will be capped at 25 and face masks will be required. Once again, there will be virtual activities for those unable to participate in person. It’s also not too late to submit a project request for IMPD. Submit your event or project idea here. Sign up here to get the latest info on IMPD volunteer opportunities.

Technology is getting smarter all the time. Even crosswalks are getting so smart they can communicate with motorists to warn them of pedestrians in their path. The city’s vendors are installing pedestrian crosswalk warning systems on Rosewood Avenue at Angelina and Navasota streets. “When the crosswalk’s push-button is activated, the system will send communications to drivers in connected vehicles, or vehicles capable of connecting to wireless networks, that pedestrians are present and crossing the street in their intended path. Connected vehicles have the ability to use this wireless technology to communicate with infrastructure and other vehicles, and their features include displaying safety messages to drivers.” Those not lucky enough to drive connected vehicles will still receive warnings in the form of “highly visible, rectangular rapid flashing beacons on both sides of the road.” If the pilot is successful, the Transportation Department may proceed to retrofit more areas of the city with the new technology.

If you’re one of the many Austinites who enjoy spending time on the Violet Crown Trail, you might consider joining forces with Hill Country Conservancy and Emerging Professionals In Conservation to help keep the trail clean and safe. Volunteers will meet at the Dick Nichols Trailhead (near the Arbor Trails shopping center) “and spend about two hours on the trail picking up trash, removing graffiti and enjoying a leisurely walk.” Oct. 9, 10 a.m.-noon. Register in advance on Eventbrite.

A new phase of construction beginning in October will bring more improvements to South Austin’s Stassney Lane. According to the city’s Transportation Department, this next phase of updates will “make it easier to cross the street, improve access to transit, provide protected space for people bicycling and improve overall intersection operations for everyone.” The work is happening at Stassney’s intersections with Lewood Drive, Buffalo Pass, Emerald Forest Drive, South First Street and South Congress Avenue. The project will last about three months. Then phase three starts in 2022, bringing even more improvements to the intersections.

Courtesy of Google Maps

A Confederate-era granite obelisk will finally be removed from the Caldwell County Courthouse lawn at 110 S. Main St. in Lockhart. Leaders of the yearslong effort to relocate the monument announced Monday that, with the help of a GoFundMe campaign, they were able to raise $29,600 to pay for the cost of relocating the monument from its prominent downtown location to the county museum. Lockhart resident and movement leader Cody Kimbell explained in an open letter in the Lockhart Post-Register last year that the obelisk is a visible symbol of white supremacy and a “slap in the face” to community members.

With Austin soon to be engulfed in ACL Fest, the Austin Police Department is launching a round of No-Refusal, “an enforcement strategy that allows jurisdictions to obtain search warrants for blood samples from suspected impaired drivers who refuse breath or blood tests,” according to the city. What that boils down to is, don’t drink and drive. If you’re planning on drinking, find a safe option to get to and from wherever you’re going that doesn’t involve getting behind the wheel of a car or a bike. As the city points out, there are more travel options than ever before, but you have to plan ahead. The No-Refusal program will be in effect for the first 10 days of October, from the beginning of ACL Fest weekend one to the end of weekend two.

Austin-based authors Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson and Jason Stanford joined forces to research and write the timely new book Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of the American Myth, which purportedly tells the “real story of the Alamo, dispelling the myths, exploring why they had their day for so long, and explaining why the ugly fight about its meaning is now coming to a head.” The three writers will be discussing their book at a free, outdoor, socially distanced event hosted by the city’s Museums and Cultural Programs Division. Get advance tickets on Eventbrite. Friday, Oct. 22, 7 p.m., Zilker Hillside Theater, 2206 William Barton Drive.