If you find yourself driving on Southwest Parkway next week you may notice some construction work, flaggers and lane reductions in effect between West William Cannon Drive to just past Amarra Trail. Starting Monday, Nov. 9, a city contractor will be doing a “mill and overlay,” which is a fancy way of saying the street is being resurfaced. The project “will improve street conditions on SW Parkway providing a smoother, durable, and safer surface for vehicles,” according to the city. The project will take about three weeks, weather permitting, as always.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3 (!) – and among other things, that means if you haven’t yet sent in your mail-in ballot, the Travis County clerk says you should plan on hand-delivering it instead. With only five days to go until the election, if you mail the ballot, there may not be time to ensure it will be processed and counted. So bring your completed ballot to 5501 Airport Blvd. The hand-delivery drop-off site is open every day between now and Election Day. The hours are Fri.-Sat., 7 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sunday, noon-6 p.m.; Monday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; and Tuesday, 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Oh, and another reminder: You may only hand-deliver your own personal ballot and not your spouse’s, friend’s, neighbor’s or dog walker’s ballot.

Despite the cold and wind, a group of transit advocates gathered outside of Carver Branch library Wednesday to encourage Austinites to cast their votes in favor of Proposition A and Project Connect. Mayor Steve Adler said he is concerned people are making decisions on Prop A based on false or misleading information spread by organizations that refuse to disclose the sources of their funding. Adler said most of the opposition is taking advantage of the sticker shock reaction to the investment of $7.1 billion on the ballot, whereas the true impact of Project Connect would amount to about 78 cents per day per resident. “For the cost we get so much for our community – we get to actually do something about traffic, we get to meet our responsibility on climate change, we actually get to provide mobility equity,” Adler said. Chas Moore, executive director of Austin Justice Coalition, expanded on that last point, saying the plan is a “direct investment in the quality of life for black people, for brown people and for everyone who’s been marginalized because of their skin color or their bank account.” Adler clarified that the $300 million anti-displacement fund included in the plan is the largest such investment in the nation and would help ensure that “almost 60 percent of every income-restricted affordable housing unit in this city is going to be within walking distance of a Project Connect station.” Rep. Donna Howard also joined the group with calls for action: “If you want to offset 285,000 car trips a day and give everyone, whether you take public transit or not, a faster way to get around … if you want to cut down on our number-one source of greenhouse gases and give people a cleaner alternative to private cars, we need you to get out and vote for Prop A.” Mayor Pro Tem Delia Garza urged residents to embrace the transit plan as a continuation of the city’s push toward equity. “Prop A so embodies our progressive values as Austinites” who “believe in science” and climate change, she said. Moore said while the city hasn’t always lived up to the progressive values it proclaims, “Prop A is our chance to put our money where our mouth is.”

For the second installment of its popular public art initiative, Writing on the Walls, the Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation has commissioned four murals for Bouldin Creek, a new office building at the corner of Oltorf Street and South Lamar Boulevard. The murals, designed by local artists Soledad Fernandez-Whitechurch, Tyler Hobbs, Sophie Roach and Jana Swec, will “celebrate the characteristics and cultural significance of South Austin and the greenbelt. Organic elements and colors inspired by nature blend with structure to create modern art with features that are familiar to Austin,” according to the news release. Two of the murals will be installed in the parking garage, one will be on the front of the building facing Oltorf, and the fourth will be inside the building’s lobby. Molly Alexander, executive director of the foundation, said, “We are excited about the second installation of Writing on the Walls and working with the public and private sectors and nonprofit organizations to pair local artists with walls and funders. The project at Bouldin Creek allows us to support the work of local artists while creating new and unique places to connect downtown with our community.” Work on installing the first mural begins today and continues throughout the weekend.

Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe reaffirmed that bars in Travis County will remain closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In a statement about the decision, Biscoe wrote, “In review of the projections for the Austin MSA, there is ongoing concern for the threat of substantial increases in the utilization of hospital beds, ICUs and ventilators. These projections indicate that we may pass the threshold for stage four of our community risk by Nov. 4, 2020. Additionally, there are concerning trends in other metropolitan counties in Texas. The most concerning of which is El Paso where they are experiencing exponential growth of Covid-19 cases and are critically short on hospital and ICU beds. The patterns across Texas create a very concerning picture for November and likely December for our state.” Biscoe recommended that data be collected for an additional 14 days to evaluate whether his recommendation to keep bars shut should change. While an earlier executive order from Gov. Greg Abbott allowed for the reopening of bars in Texas, it left the ultimate decision in the hands of county authorities.

On Tuesday, the Austin Monitor reported that the majority of Council candidates had filed their campaign finance reports due eight days before the election. Filings from three candidates failed to make the cutoff to appear on the city clerk’s website Monday, and were posted Tuesday. Vanessa Fuentes and Casey Ramos are running against David Chincanchan for the District 2 seat being vacated by Delia Garza, who is running unopposed for Travis County attorney. Fuentes reported collecting $8,137 in contributions in the last month from 82 contributors. She still had nearly $20,000 in the bank as of Oct. 24. Ramos’ report shows he collected $2,625 from 11 contributors and spent $4,074 over the past month. According to the report, he had $1,330 left in the bank. In District 6, Deedra Harrison is running against incumbent Jimmy Flannigan as well as Jennifer Mushtaler and Mackenzie Kelly. Harrison reported that four contributors gave her $1,050, and after spending $862, she still had $1,435 left in the bank.

For millions of people, lack of transportation presents a barrier to voting on Election Day. Fortunately, a coalition of mobility companies have stepped up to offer free and discounted rides to polling places across the country on Nov. 3. For those who want to take an electric scooter, enter the code VOTE2020 on Election Day to receive a free half-hour Bird ride on the big day. Rideshare company Lyft is giving passengers 50 percent off one Election Day ride with the code 2020VOTE. To see the full list of all mobility providers participating in this initiative, visit Roll to the Polls.

AISD Food Service will be providing free curbside meal packs at eight district polling sites on Election Day, Nov. 3, in addition to its regular weekly meal distribution. The sites will serve the free meals from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m., or until all meals have been distributed. The eight polling sites are Davis and Zilker elementary schools; Bailey, Bedichek, O. Henry and Small middle schools; Navarro Early College High School; and the AISD Performing Arts Center. While Langford and Pleasant Hill elementary schools are also being used as polling sites, AISD will not have a meal service at those locations on Election Day. According to the district’s announcement, “Meals are free for any child under 19, or those over 19 who utilize special education resources or who are enrolled in school to complete the requirements for a high school diploma. Parents or caregivers may receive meals without children present by providing documentation (e.g., birth certificate, student ID card, report card, attendance record) at the point of meal service.”

After receiving more than 185 sign-ups for two community engagement meetings about the future of the Hancock Golf Course, the Parks and Recreation Department postponed the meetings scheduled for Monday and Thursday nights. According to a press release from PARD, “In order to maintain a mutually respectful environment that cultivates and supports inclusive public engagement and honest dialogue between and among participants and city representatives, PARD will be adding additional options for participation, focusing on small group meetings. PARD will reach out to neighborhood and community groups to schedule online meetings regarding the course operation proposal.” The large number of potential attendees, coupled with news about last week’s meeting of the Hancock Neighborhood Association, indicates that neighbors will not easily agree to turning Hancock over to private developers, as PARD proposes. At the Hancock Neighborhood Association meeting, the group’s parks committee put forth a proposal for half park, half privatization, which was “shot down three to one,” according to Adam Sparks, a spokesperson for the Hancock Conservancy, which is dedicated to turning the property into public parkland. Sparks told the Austin Monitor that his group was “incredibly happy that PARD heard the voices of Austinites who want to have more of a say in the future of Hancock Golf Course. We’ve been blown away by the support of the local Austin community. It seems like momentum is now on our side.” Sparks said his group has a lot of leads on raising money for a public-private partnership. The Hancock Conservancy will be hosting a community engagement meeting with the Hancock Neighborhood Association and planning a vote on a pro-park resolution on Nov. 18. View the responses PARD received about its proposal.

This whisper has been corrected since publication. Though Hancock Neighborhood Association and Hancock Conservancy may hold meetings on the issue in the future, they will not be holding an outreach meeting together in the near future.

A new report released by the Austin Chamber of Commerce finds that the city grew by 16 percent between 2010 and 2019, adding a total of 355,902 residents. The report also touches on trends “like where people move when they leave Austin or what counties within the Austin metro area people move between,” finding that “Travis and Williamson counties accounted for the most moves in the region,” according to the Austin Transportation Department. Looking at transit trends (albeit pre-pandemic), the report found that a huge majority – 74 percent – of residents are still driving alone to work while 26 percent used alternative modes of transportation like bicycling, carpooling, taking public transit or walking. The Transportation Department notes that while in all likelihood many people will continue to work remotely from home, “as more people continue to move to Austin, it remains critical to provide different options for people to efficiently get where they need to go.” The department’s goal is to achieve 50/50 mode share by 2039 – half the population driving alone to work and half using some other mode. “If we achieve the mobility goals set in the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, we can maintain approximately the same number of cars that are on the road today, while almost doubling in population.”

From urban trails to protected bike lanes to neighborhood bikeways, there are more ways to ride your bike around Austin than ever before. For those interested in cycling to and from their destinations, SmartTrips Austin has created customized DIY ride guides to make getting around by bike more enjoyable and stress-free. We looked at the DIY guide for South Central parks, which features a short video as well as a digital map. The ride guide, which includes turn-by-turn directions, tells you how long the ride is, where it begins and ends, and how difficult or easy you can expect the route to be. Find more DIY ride guides at SmartTripsAustin.org.

The Austin Police Department has announced it will not be releasing the Critical Incident Community Briefing video for an officer-involved shooting. The shooting took place on Aug. 25 at the 6100 block of Manor Road. Officers attempting to serve a warrant were shot at by the suspect and returned fire. A release by the department explained that “a federal judge assigned to the officer-involved shooting case involving Austin Police Department officers working with the U.S. Marshal’s Service Lone Star Fugitive Task Force, issued a Protective Order that prohibits release of information related to the case until the conclusion of the criminal prosecution.” As a result, though it was produced in accordance with APD policy, the video will not be released.