With Central Texas experiencing cooler temps, elevated humidity and chances of rain on the horizon, Travis County Fire Marshal Tony Callaway has lifted the burn ban for the unincorporated areas of Travis County. The improved conditions signal a decrease in wildfire danger, though Callaway says, “We’ll continue to monitor the weather conditions.” Even with the burn ban rescinded, the fire marshal “urges extreme caution when burning outdoors. It is recommended residents have water nearby in case of a fire.”

The Travis County Commissioners Court has approved a resolution to encourage all county residents and businesses “to turn off non-essential lights at night to help save migrating birds.” Lights Out Texas, a statewide initiative, asks for all non-essential lights to be turned off from 11 p.m.-6 a.m. during the peak spring bird migration period, April 19-May 7. Migrating birds “use the moon, stars and sun to navigate, and light pollution can throw them off course and cause disorientation and collisions with buildings,” according to Travis Audubon. Each year, millions of songbirds are killed when they become disoriented by artificial light and collide with buildings. Protecting birds is as simple as flicking a switch and turning the lights off. An added benefit is the energy saved by conserving electricity.

Tappy Guide, one of the winners of the City:One Challenge, is seeking volunteers to help launch a pilot of the app. Tappy, a virtual assistant for people with disabilities and seniors, helps people with both indoor and outdoor navigation. Volunteers are needed to serve as navigation guides. As the announcement explains, “During the pilot, a caller will open the mobile app and place a video call which will be answered by a live guide. The guide will have access to the caller’s GPS location and live video feed from the caller’s camera. Volunteers will be able to serve as guides from the convenience of their own home and schedule shifts based on their availability. Volunteers will also be provided software and sensitivity training developed by mobility specialists from the Texas School of the Blind.” For more information or to volunteer for the pilot, contact Hannah Barron at Hannah.barron@austintexas.gov.

As the father of three teens, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar knows that “it’s never too early for young people to learn good financial habits.” That’s why Hegar is partnering with members of the Texas Legislature “to help give young Texans the knowledge and skills they need to make better-informed personal financial decisions in saving, spending, borrowing and planning.” Hegar points out that the past year has “highlighted the need to promote financial literacy at an early age. As the school year winds down, we’re reminded that the goal of education is to prepare students to meet life’s challenges. It’s never been more important to equip them with the tools they will need to sustain lifelong financial health. That goal is more achievable if we take small steps early on to promote basic financial literacy.” The effort coincides with Financial Literacy Month, which features a number of initiatives “to help consumers learn more about managing their finances to benefit their lives.”

After 10 months, the Healthy Streets Initiative is winding down. According to a memo from Austin Transportation Director Robert Spillar, “With a return to Stage 3 and evidence that greater numbers of people are now returning to their daily pre-pandemic travel patterns, ATD will resume the slow wind-down of the original program. This is necessary to balance staff capacity needed to effectively maintain Healthy Streets safety elements and devices that separate these street areas with the ongoing work to build permanent critical infrastructure.” Temporary routes on Riverside Drive, Garden Villa Lane and the northern section of Comal Street are in the process of being removed. The southern section of Comal Street, Avenue G, Bouldin Avenue and South Third will remain in place for the time being as the program is budgeted through September. However, as Spillar notes, a permanent version of the program is on the way. Staffers are exploring locations that would best support reduced traffic on a permanent basis as well as “actively working to transition the current Healthy Street on Pleasant Valley Road over the Longhorn Dam to a more permanent infrastructure configuration.”

The Texas Master Naturalist Program is presenting a webinar that will examine Winter Storm Uri’s impacts on the state’s fish, wildlife and natural ecosystems. According to the announcement from TPWD, “National headlines focused on the work being done in Texas to save and protect wildlife, from rescuing cold-stunned turtles and wintering bat populations to the impacts on coastal fisheries and bee populations.” Michelle Haggerty, state program coordinator for the Texas Master Naturalist Program, said, “We’ll get to answer the questions still lingering from this extreme weather event and learn how our resources adapt and recover from this and possible future events. Our Texas Master Naturalist volunteers are eager to learn about the effects from the polar vortex on natural resource flora and fauna in Texas, but more specifically, what recovery looks like and how they can help.” Natural resource experts from across the state will be presenting during the webinar, which is free and open to the public. Pre-register here. Tuesday, April 13, noon-3 p.m.

As the temperatures rise and Austinites crack open their crusty bottles of sunscreen, Austin’s pools are reopening. Bartholomew Pool at 1800 E. 51st St., where workers are still repairing damage from the winter storm, reopened yesterday on a modified schedule. The restrooms are still without running water but visitors may use the port-a-potties on site. Springwoods Pool at 13320 Lyndhurst St. is also open on a modified schedule. Reservations are not required, but pool capacity is limited and swimmers are asked to limit their time to no more than two hours. You can find the hours of operation for all of Austin’s pools here.

Waterloo Greenway has appointed Kathy Miller as interim CEO following Peter Mullan’s move to the Austin Transit Partnership to serve as its chief of architecture and urban design. Miller, who took on the new role last month, previously served 16 years as executive director of the Texas Freedom Network. Waterloo Greenway is currently conducting a national search for a permanent CEO, with that process expected to last six to 12 months. This summer will mark the reopening of a much-improved Waterloo Park with a new amphitheater operating on the 11-acre downtown park. “While we take the necessary time to thoughtfully identify Waterloo Greenway’s next great trailblazer, the position of interim CEO is an incredibly important one, and we are pleased to welcome Kathy and look forward to benefiting from her wealth of experience working with nonprofits,” said Cotter Cunningham, the organization’s board chair. “With the opening of Waterloo Park right around the corner, we are at an exciting inflection point in our organization’s history, and I believe that she is the right leader to see this project into its next remarkable chapter.”

If you live anywhere near Andrews, Harris, Pecan Springs or Winn elementary schools, Garcia Young Men’s or Sadler Means Young Women’s leadership academies, or Northeast ECHS, you may be visited by AISD volunteers this weekend. Teachers, team members and community volunteers are walking the neighborhoods in the northeast corridor of the school district “to reconnect with Austin families to learn about their education needs and priorities as well as welcome more learners to its family of schools.” The door-to-door campaign – dubbed Operation Reconnect – was designed to reconnect with district families and share information about program offerings such as free prekindergarten, fine arts, before- and after-school enrichment programs, career preparation programs and more. So if you hear a knock on your door this Saturday, April 10, between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m., most likely it will be a team of friendly volunteers wearing PPE and smiles on their faces.

The Parks and Recreation Department is hoping community members will share their thoughts and ideas about what updates they’d like to see at Beverly S. Sheffield Northwest District Park. The 31-acre park, located in the Allandale neighborhood, is named after a former director of the parks department. Besides baseball fields and basketball and tennis courts, the park features a pool, duck pond and walking trails along Shoal Creek. PARD will be gathering input through a community survey open now through April 18. The project team will discuss the proposed project at the first community meeting on Tuesday, May 4, at noon or at 5:30 p.m., via Zoom. The virtual meeting will be recorded and posted on the project web page.

Austinites for Equity, a labor-backed political action committee, tells the Austin Monitor its polling indicates that 70 percent of Austin voters can be expected to vote no on Proposition F, which would change Austin’s city government from the current Council-manager system to a strong-mayor system. The group hired Change Research, which surveyed 499 likely voters in the upcoming May 1 election, recruiting respondents via a survey instrument called Dynamic Online Sampling. According to the poll, which was conducted March 16-19, only 19 percent of those surveyed said the mayor does not currently have enough power. About half, or 49 percent, said the mayor has the right amount of power, and 32 percent said the mayor has too much power. Of those surveyed, 57 percent responded that it would be unfair for the mayor to be able to veto laws approved by the majority of Council. The poll found that only 20 percent of respondents would vote yes or lean toward voting yes on Prop F. Said Change Research: “That opposition is shared by majorities of voters across age, race, gender, education and partisan divides.” Austinites for Progressive Reform, the PAC that proposed Prop F, argues that the city government is currently led by an unelected city manager. Nelson Linder, one of the backers of Prop F, has said, “Austin voters deserve to choose the person who leads us. Moving to a mayor-Council system will strengthen our democracy and make our government more responsive to all of us.”