For those curious about the progress of repairs to Shipe and Govalle pools: A representative for the Parks and Recreation Department tells us that renovations are currently in the initial planning phases. City Council appropriated $6.2 million during this last budget cycle for the badly needed repairs. So far, the Contract Management Department has provided the scope of the project. In the next 90-120 days, the city will solicit a Request for Qualifications, evaluate responses to that RFQ and interview finalists. After that process is complete, Parks officials expect that it will take another 60 days for them to start on the design, though a concrete timeline won’t be available until the process is further along.

If you didn’t deduce it from our recent story, this past Tuesday City Council Member Ann Kitchen was sworn in as a member of the Capital Metro board of directors. She replaces former Council Member (and board chairman) Mike Martinez and will finish out his term, which expires June 1, 2016. Kitchen was selected by the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization to serve on the board. CAMPO has also reappointed board member Terry Mitchell. Mitchell, whose original term expires June 1, is CAMPO’s financial appointee. In a news release, Capital Metro President/CEO Linda Watson welcomed Kitchen, saying, “From (Kitchen’s) time as a state representative to her role representing District 5 and serving as chair of the Mobility Committee, Capital Metro is gaining a wealth of knowledge that will benefit everyone in Austin.” Watson also recognized Martinez’s contributions. “During his time with Capital Metro, Mike Martinez gave everything he had toward improving the lives of all Austinites,” Watson said. “We’re sad to see him go, but we’ll be forever thankful for all he did in setting Capital Metro up for continued success in the future.”

Starting Saturday, the eastbound vehicle and bicycle lanes on the 100 block of East Third Street between Congress Avenue and Brazos Street will be closed during installation of parking islands on the south side of East Third Street, reducing that block to a single, westbound vehicle lane. Existing street parking on the block’s south side will be closed during the duration of this work as well. Immediately following the construction’s completion, the westbound vehicle and bicycle lanes will be closed to install a barrier curb along the bicycle lane on the north side of the street. Officials expect the work to take approximately three weeks.

Members of the Open Space, Environment and Sustainability Committee talked Wednesday about holding a public hearing for the long-considered Decker Lake Golf Course. Community members called foul when the committee allowed local activist Brian Rodgers to speak against the golf course, allotting him 10 minutes compared to the routine three for citizen communication. Environment Board Chair Mary Gay Maxwell sat in on the meeting. She agreed that more time, across the board, needed to be given to this item. “It has not gone through adequate public scrutiny to get to the point where it could go sailing through the Council,” she said. Richard Suttle, attorney for the golf course developer, was among those who felt Rodgers should have been allotted the usual three minutes — and nothing more. Maxwell said if they were talking about fair process, why had the golf course proposal not been brought to her board? Suttle said the developer would gladly present at the Environment Board. “And I look forward to your coming, Mr. Suttle, and we’ll give everybody lots of time,” said Maxwell.

The Cultural Arts Division of the city’s Economic Development Department is now accepting applications for the Cultural Expansion funding program. With a goal of strengthening the organizational marketing capacity and audience development of creative, culturally based organizations, officials say the Cultural Expansion Program was borne from the need to increase visibility for minority and traditionally underserved arts organizations. To be eligible for funding, applicants must have an IRS 501(c) designation and be a culturally based arts organization in Austin. Three applicant workshops have been scheduled in May:

• May 2, 11 a.m.-noon, at the Little Walnut Creek Branch Library;
• May 6, noon-1 p.m., at the University Hills Branch Library; and
• May 7, 6-7 p.m., at the Pleasant Hill Branch Library.

Interested applicants should visit the city’s website for program guidelines and eligibility. Deadline for applications is June 1.

The Austin 311 system received the 311 Award of Excellence at the CS Week 311 Synergy Group Conference this week in Charlotte, North Carolina. Each year, the group recognizes a centralized government customer service center that has demonstrated a customer-focused approach to improving local government. In addition, the award commends Austin 311 for its efforts to provide new avenues for residents to communicate with the city, including through the Austin 311 mobile app. Austin 311 receives more than 1 million calls per year, producing over 200,000 service requests for city departments. For more information, go here.

This week, the Colorado River Alliance in partnership with the Austin Water Utility announced the launch of their first Texas Colorado River Rolling Mobile Exhibit, which will visit middle school students throughout the Austin Independent School District. According to a news release about the exhibit, “the Mobile River will function as a traveling, interactive science learning center, featuring collaborative exhibits and hands-on activities housed inside a 42-foot trailer. … The Mobile River contains interactive exhibits about the Texas Colorado River watershed’s key features and vividly showcases critical issues such as water use, water conservation and pollution in Texas. It also encourages students to take active roles in promoting a clean watershed, helping to keep the Texas Colorado River flowing clearly for future generations.” The exhibit is expected to reach 8,000 to 10,000 Central Texas kids and more than 3,000 community members each year. Mayor Steve Adler joined AWU director Greg Meszaros and Colorado River Alliance executive director Sarah Richards for Tuesday’s launch of the exhibit. As a presenting sponsor, Samsung Austin Semiconductor donated about $200,000 to help create the exhibit, which was also funded by Impact Austin, Texas Pioneer Foundation, Institute of Museum and Library Services, 3M and the Lower Colorado River Authority.

Lack of affordable housing is not a new problem for Austin. The city has tried various methods to increase housing stock for the less affluent for more than 30 years. The city started working to create Homestead Preservation Districts in 2005 and established the first such district in Central East Austin in 2007. State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin) passed legislation during the last session that will aid the city if it decides to create more such districts. However, the city has not yet created the funding mechanism for building more affordable housing in those districts. City Council Member Pio Renteria, chair of the Council’s Housing and Community Development Committee, is hopeful that the city can move forward with that process now. His committee is meeting at 9:30 a.m. today and will talk about creation of tax increment reinvestment zones within the homestead districts in order to fund affordable housing. Renteria has prepared a draft resolution to move the process along and said Tuesday that once the ordinance is approved, the city will take a snapshot of the value of all the properties in the district. After that, officials will appoint a tax increment financing board to oversee affordable housing spending within the district. “If we ever get to that point where we establish a TIF board, they get 25 percent of the increased value due to gentrification, and they invest that in affordable housing,” Renteria said. In addition to the Central East Austin district, called District A by staff, there are four other possible Homestead Preservation Districts, although one near the University of Texas seems unlikely to pass muster. Its high percentage of students is in conflict with legislation approved in 2013, and city staff is not recommending its creation. Renteria’s resolution envisions holding public information meetings in each proposed district and presenting a draft ordinance to his committee by June 18.

Travis County Commissioners on Tuesday put off for another week a vote to initiate the county’s first “large-scale organizational assessment since the 1990s.” The notion came up two weeks ago during a discussion about hiring a new county executive for administrative operations. Judge Sarah Eckhardt told her colleagues that she wanted to move very cautiously on the decision and review the various departments that report to the Commissioners Court. She also cited the absence of Commissioner Margaret Gómez, a co-sponsor of the item, as a reason to postpone the vote. (Gómez was out sick.) But before Eckhardt reset the item, two other commissioners expressed their skepticism. Commissioner Gerald Daugherty worried that a long review process would prove costly and produce only nonbinding recommendations that could go ignored. And Commissioner Ron Davis questioned the need for a review at all, pointing to the county’s triple-A bond rating as a sign of a government operating in top form. “We’re doing a dadgum good job,” Davis exclaimed before adding, “My goodness gracious, how can we become more efficient with one of the top bond ratings in the state of Texas?”

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport officials have reached an agreement to temporary extend its pilot program with transportation network companies Lyft and Uber to provide on-demand services for ABIA passengers. The six-month operating agreement will be in place while City Council’s Mobility Committee reviews the role of TNCs in Austin and the entire Council determines a formal policy. Under the temporary agreement, TNCs will pay a $1 per trip fee for picking up passengers at ABIA. Lyft and Uber apps register each time a driver enters the airport grounds. A digital decal maintained by each TNC driver while using the app will track each trip to the airport. Austin City Code includes provisions related to ground transportation services at the airport that authorize the director of the Aviation Department to adopt rules to meet customer and fiscal needs for convenient and efficient airport operations. Go here for more information.

The Save Our Springs Alliance is planning a rally against the proposed State Highway 45 SW/MoPac loop and double-deck toll lanes over Lady Bird Lake. In a message to its supporters, SOS requested that people gather Saturday to protest the CTRMA’s plan to build four toll lanes on MoPac Boulevard from Cesar Chavez Road south to Slaughter Lane, including a double-deck bridge over Lady Bird Lake and Zilker Park with a flyover next to Austin High School. The SOS website said the plan would expand MoPac to 12 lanes, compared to only eight on I-35. Participants are asked to gather at 10:30 a.m. at the Roberta Crenshaw Pedestrian Bridge along with elected officials and neighborhood, parks and conservation leaders for the rally. For more information, go here.

The Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department has released its annual 2015 Critical Health Indicators Report. The report provides an analysis and overview of adverse health conditions such as cancer, heart disease, obesity and diabetes that affect the county’s population of more than 1 million people. Among its findings:

• African-Americans have disproportionately higher rates of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and are more likely to die from HIV than other groups.

• The infant mortality rate for African-Americans is two to three times higher than for Caucasians, and babies born to black mothers are more likely to be premature and have low birth weights.

• Hispanics have over seven times the number of teen births compared with Caucasians and approximately six times the number compared with blacks.

• Since 2003, the number of primary and secondary syphilis cases has increased over 300 percent. Almost 95 percent of reported cases are among males.

The report notes that in Travis County, chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, chronic lung disease and diabetes account for nearly three out of four deaths. Cancer remains the No. 1 killer and lung cancer is the deadliest, with almost 90 percent of lung cancers directly linked to smoking. For the full report, go here.