Central Texas isn’t just an appealing place for humans; a wide array of wild creatures also calls it home. Balcones Canyonlands Preserve has invited Kelly Simon, an urban wildlife biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife, to give a webinar talk titled “Animals of the Wildland-Urban Interface.” In addition to describing the rich diversity of urban wildlife, Simon will reveal how we can create more welcoming habitat for other critters and how different species contribute to a healthy, functioning ecosystem. Friday, Nov. 20, noon-1 p.m. Register to attend here. If you can’t attend the online event, a recording of the webinar will be posted on the Austin Water Wildland Conservation Facebook page and YouTube channel afterward.

City playgrounds, skate parks and pavilions are set to officially reopen, though city officials will continue to urge caution in using the facilities. While the parks department has found that these outdoor recreation areas do pose some risk, the lack of direct correlation between usage and virus spread (and the fact that people were using them anyway) has caused the city to change its strategy. A Nov. 4 memo from PARD Director Kimberly McNeeley explains, “Beginning immediately, PARD will replace closure signage with caution signage to inform users of risks and suggest usage parameters should an individual elect to engage with the amenity.” The memo goes on to say that city sports programming will remain on hold. Parks system closures and regulations, which remain dependent on current Covid-19 conditions, can be found at austintexas.gov/parkclosures.

The city’s Watershed Protection Department says there is still a high risk of blue-green algae that is toxic to dogs at Lady Bird Lake and Red Bud Isle. With cooler weather, the algae is becoming less predictable and more sporadic on Lady Bird Lake. While no blue-green algae was found in the most recent sample taken from the lake, on Oct. 27, clumps of the algae were found at Red Bud Isle. City officials strongly recommend that dog owners keep their dogs from swimming in or drinking from the lake. Handling the algae is also not recommended. For more information, check out the city’s web page on the subject.

Following her report at Monday’s board of trustees meeting, AISD Superintendent Dr. Stephanie Elizalde wrote a letter to district staff summarizing the information she shared with the board. In the letter, she gave an update on Texas Education Agency funding, remote vs. on-campus learning, a staffing summary, an update on Covid-19 in Austin, and AISD’s participation in the Rapid Testing Project. Read the superintendent’s entire letter here.

Near the end of Tuesday’s ballot, voters who live within Austin Independent School District got a chance to vote on school board candidates. Two of those races resulted in runoffs, allowing voters to return to the polls on Dec. 15. In District 5, the candidates were Piper Stege Nelson, Lynn Boswell and Jennifer Littlefield. Nelson came in third behind Boswell with more than 38 percent of the vote, and Littlefield with more than 36 percent. The other AISD runoff is in the at-large position 8, where Leticia Moreno Caballero got about 46 percent of the vote and Noelita Lugo won 30 percent. The other candidates, Mike Herschenfeld and Jared Breckenridge, won about 12 percent each. Ofelia Maldonado Zapata won the District 2 contest with more than 60 percent of the vote, besting John Mckiernan-Gonzalez, who got 28 percent of the vote, and Adolphus “Andy” Anderson, who won just 11 percent. Kevin Foster ran unopposed for the AISD District 3 seat. In Del Valle, Damian Pantoja got nearly 65 percent of the vote to win the District 2 seat on the Del Valle ISD Board of Trustees. His only opponent was David J. Albert.

As expected, Democrat Andy Brown will be the new Travis County judge, officially filling Texas state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt’s empty seat. Brown will serve the remainder of Eckhardt’s term after being nominated by the Travis County Democratic Party. The court will also see a new commissioner, with former ECHO head Ann Howard defeating Republican Becky Bray with 56.88 percent of the Precinct 3 vote. In Precinct 1, Commissioner Jeffrey Travillion will hold on to his seat easily, with a staggering 75.92 percent of the vote over Republican Solomon Arcoven. During Monday’s Travis County Commissioners Court meeting, interim County Judge Sam Biscoe said he expected to hand the keys over to Brown sometime in mid-November.

Andy Brown is on the board of the Capital of Texas Media Foundation, which is the parent nonprofit of the Austin Monitor.

The Texas Municipal Clerks Association has named Austin City Clerk Jannette Goodall as its Municipal Clerk of the Year for 2020. Mayor Steve Adler took a few minutes to congratulate Goodall at last Thursday’s City Council meeting. Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison said she was surprised that Goodall had not been sainted, given the amount of patience required for the job. In addition to that honor, Goodall was also elected treasurer of the Texas Municipal Clerks Association at its annual meeting last week. The organization has more than 1,030 members throughout Texas and operates the Texas Municipal Clerks Certification Program at the University of North Texas in Denton. Goodall, who has been Austin’s city clerk since early 2013, has worked for the city for more than 20 years.

Today, at long last, is Election Day and polls will be open from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. If you haven’t voted, here’s a list of Travis County voting locations; you may cast your ballot at any of these. Please vote safely: Wear a face mask, keep your distance if you have to wait in line and bring hand sanitizer. If you’re wondering whether it’s safe to vote, what will happen if there’s no clear winner in the presidential contest, and what if one side doesn’t accept the results, we recommend The New York Times‘ Anxious Person’s Guide to the 2020 Election, which succinctly answers all of these questions and more. And finally, what about predicted post-election unrest in the streets tonight? Well, we can’t foretell the future, but it’s always a good idea to stay safe at home.

Photo credit: City of Austin

Last week Austin-Travis County reached the grim milestone of 450 deaths from Covid-19. Last Thursday, in memory of those lost souls, Austin Public Health staffers displayed 450 lit candles at the Long Center for Performing Arts. The following day, buildings across downtown turned their lights green “to promote the continued health of our community during the pandemic.” The health department hopes the memorial will serve to remind the community that Covid is not going anywhere, and that, with the holiday season approaching, it’s more critical than ever “to practice protective behaviors such as washing your hands often, masking and social distancing in public, covering coughs and sneezes, not touching your face, and staying home if you’re sick.”

Travis County District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble ruled last week in favor of the Save Our Springs Alliance, reversing a decision by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that would have allowed the city of Dripping Springs to discharge wastewater into Onion Creek in Hays County. Bill Bunch, executive director of SOSA, told the Austin Monitor, “The TCEQ was ignoring both the law and the science in granting the permit … and in our view this ruling should put an end to new discharges to Hill Country streams.” A number of environmental organizations opposed discharges into Onion Creek, but based on a perception that TCEQ would grant the permit anyway, they reached a settlement in 2018. In her decision, Judge Gamble wrote that TCEQ’s approach to degradation of the creek “converts municipal wastewater discharges into benefits that should be encouraged rather than, as the Clean Water Act provides, pollutants to be eliminated from our nation’s waters.” The city of Dripping Springs, which had intervened in the suit on the side of TCEQ, had argued that the wastewater discharge would somehow “enrich Onion Creek, making it more biologically productive, while deeming as irrelevant effects of the discharge on native aquatic species adapted to the very low nutrient conditions of Onion Creek and other Hill Country streams,” the judge wrote. Such an interpretation “has turned the Clean Water Act upside down. This approach allowed the (administrative law judge) and the agency to ignore as irrelevant the multiple scientific studies introduced into the record concluding that increasing phosphorus in Texas streams” above a certain level “would lead to a displacement of native aquatics by more nutrient-tolerant and lower dissolved oxygen tolerant species,” according to Judge Gamble. Dripping Springs has moved forward with its new wastewater treatment plant, but so far has only disposed of the wastewater through irrigation. Bunch said the city had indicated it would start discharging into the creek when it reached 400,000 gallons a day, but is not at that level yet. If the state decides to appeal, which seems likely, the next court to hear the matter will be the 3rd Court of Appeals.

The Travis County Commissioners Court will meet today, instead of on the usual Tuesday (which of course is Election Day). Travis County will convene at the normal time of 9 a.m., though the Covid-19 presentation may be earlier than usual. Find information on the rest of the agenda online.

A basic understanding of business may not be something most artists enjoy, but it’s essential to lasting success and a productive career. The George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center, in collaboration with Capitol View Arts, is launching the fourth installment of its Art and Business Conversation Series, which offers some practical skills that will “provide motivated artists insight into the business of art and the cultivation of sustainable full-time careers” along with addressing some of the challenges artists of color face in the workplace. Guest speakers and presenters include Lise Ragbir, director of the Christian-Green Gallery and the Idea Lab at UT Austin; Andrea Mellard, director of public programs and community engagement for The Contemporary Austin; Shani Hebert, president of Hebert Tax Consulting, LLC; visual artist Ryan Runcie; and Adrian Resendez, attorney for Texas Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts. All three webinars take place on Zoom, from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. on three Thursdays this month. Find additional details about speakers and register here for the Nov. 5 event, here for Nov. 12 and here for Nov. 19.