Ho-hum. Another record-breaking year for passenger traffic at Austin Bergstrom International Airport. The bustling airport set its fourth consecutive yearly record for passenger traffic, with more than 10.7 million people traveling through in 2014. That’s up 7 percent — about 700,000 passengers — over 2013. ABIA officials say airline traffic is keeping pace with the overall growth in Austin as well as with the large crowds drawn by events such as South by Southwest, the Austin City Limits festival and the Formula 1 race. In addition, several new direct routes, including a 787 Dreamliner nonstop to London Heathrow, have helped bump up the number of passengers. Many of those passengers opened their wallets while passing through ABIA. Airport officials said that in 2014, travelers chowed down on more than 62 tons of brisket (5,200 pounds more than 2013) and 622,310 breakfast tacos (up 7.5 percent), watched 1,158 live music performances and bought 36,196 “Keep Austin Weird” T-shirts to take home to the kids.

Mayor Steve Adler carried to Thursday’s meeting a recent copy of Robert’s Rules of Order, the go-to book on how to conduct meetings. In addition, he had a copy of the same book that was new 25 years ago, a gift from his father. Adler said his father gave him the book when he was elected president of his junior high school class. Then he read the inscription from 1970: “To my son Steve … With the thought that within a framework of order and discipline, men of goodwill and intent can always find conciliatory and harmonious answers to further the well-being and betterment of their fellow men.” He added, “We just need to do that together as a group.” We’ll be watching for the times when that does not happen.

Austin Police Cpl. Mike Bowen, known to many as the man most likely to be providing security for former Mayor Lee Leffingwell for the last several years, called it quits Thursday. Bowen said he was retiring after 26 years with APD and four prior years in the Army. His new job is security director for Aegis Innovations. Bowen, a former vice president of the Austin Police Association, is known for his calm demeanor. Leffingwell, who was on his way to play golf when contacted Thursday, remarked, “Mike Bowen has had a long and distinguished career with APD. … I thoroughly enjoyed working with him … he’s very competent.” Noting that Bowen had any number of angry citizens to deal with in his job, Leffingwell added, “He’s better at handling people than anybody I’ve ever known.” We don’t know how many angry citizens Bowen will encounter in his new post, but we’re sure he’s up for it. Cpl. Paul Kaderli will join Officer Louie Carmona in providing security for Mayor Steve Adler.

Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo will be among those celebrating the induction of the West Sixth Street Bridge over Shoal Creek into the National Register of Historic Places at 10 a.m. Friday. The bridge, built by hand in 1887 with local limestone, is older than the Texas Capitol Building. Historically known as the Pecan Street Bridge, the structure is credited with opening up West Austin for development and expansion of the city. The Shoal Creek Conservancy submitted the bridge for induction into the national register last year. The bridge is approximately one-half mile west of the intersection of Sixth Street and Congress Avenue. According to documentation about the bridge, its wide dimension conforms to the width of the streets originally determined by Edwin Waller’s 1839 city plan, which allowed for the passage of wagons going in either direction, and also facilitated the installation of tracks for mule-drawn streetcars, which were first used in Austin in 1875. When the bridge was built, it replaced an iron bowstring arch, the site of the first bridge in Austin. In addition to remarks from Tovo, those attending will be hearing from Joanna Wolaver, executive director of the Shoal Creek Conservancy, and Jo-Dee Benson, chief culture officer for Cirrus Logic. Following the speeches, attendees will be able to take an interpretive tour over, under and around the bridge.

During a discussion on campaign finance reform (elaborated upon here), Austin City Clerk Jeanette Goodall revealed that this past 78-candidate election took its toll on people outside of the media, too. When Goodall was asked about a plan to institute online filing for candidates and questioned about why it hadn’t yet been implemented, she gave a brief history and made it clear that her office would embrace the plan being taken up again. Essentially, the city started the project, but it was abandoned when it became apparent that creating the system would be expensive. Goodall pointed out that it isn’t just building an online system; it is also maintaining the system and keeping it up-to-date. “Trust me when I say … I would love to have an electronic filing system,” said Goodall. “Because when you have 78 candidates coming into our office, that pretty much knocks out my entire department for the entire day … Some of the candidates, their reports are four- or five-hundred pages long. They have to print them out, bring them into our office, and we re-scan them and post them out on the Web. It’s not the most efficient.”

Though the Ethics Review Commission found that Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo violated city code on Tuesday, during that same meeting it also made clear that it had no desire to deal with anything like that again. Commissioners also voted unanimously to recommend a code change that would ensure the ERC “may not hear or initiate a sworn complaint alleging a violation of Article 4 (Code of Ethics) against a member of the City’s classified municipal civil service system or a member of a state civil service system.” The recommendation will go to City Council. This whisper has been corrected to reflect the fact that the change will not actually exempt the city’s Police Chief from ERC jurisdiction.

If you were lucky enough to see (and not just smell) the biohazard spill that took place on the upper deck of IH-35 at 11:20 a.m. Monday, the city could use your help. (The accident caused the roadway to be shut down for about seven hours.) Anyone with information is asked to call the Highway Enforcement-Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit at 512-974-5789.

Monday night, the city’s Ethics Review Commission found that Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo was in violation of city code when he failed to submit a 2012 personal finance report by the required deadline. Commissioners opted not to send on the matter to the city attorney for prosecution, but will let the office know about the outcome. The vote was unanimous, with Chair Austin Kaplan recused. The commission additionally voted to send out a letter of notification, which recognizes that the violation was unintentional. That motion also passed unanimously, with an additional direction to get written confirmation of filings in the future. The complaint against Acevedo was filed by former Austin police officer Jermaine Hopkins. During Monday’s hearing, Hopkins urged commissioners to impose the maximum punishment on Acevedo. Hopkins also said that the fact that Acevedo was not present but participating by phone suggested he wasn’t taking the process seriously. “I don’t know how many times we are going to allow him to keep rendering these public apologies and let him get away with it,” said Hopkins. “It’s to the point now where he feels like he is immune to any disciplinary action.” Hopkins was fired by Acevedo on Oct. 30 for failing to follow orders and other violations of department policy, according to the Austin Police Department. His dismissal is currently on appeal. Acevedo’s attorney, Keith Campbell, said his client would have been at the meeting but was on business in Washington, D.C., “for the good of the city.” Acevedo’s assistant Janet De La Rosa testified that she submitted the document, and when she couldn’t print the form, she called the Office of the City Clerk twice but never got through. Campbell said that it was interesting to note that Acevedo’s 2012 report was handwritten. The reason for that, he explained, was “he didn’t trust that rascal filing system.”

Travis County Commissioners approved $200,000 Tuesday in funds to continue the prosecution of former Gov. Rick Perry, who faces charges of abuse of power and coercion of a public servant. The funding will allow a special prosecutor to continue the case through at least March while it is being heard on appeal. Perry was indicted last year on charges related to a threatened veto of funding for the Public Integrity Unit in the Travis County District Attorney’s office unless DA Rosemary Lehmberg resigned following an arrest for drunken driving. When she refused, Perry made good on his threat. Travis County stepped in shortly thereafter and approved funding to keep most of the Public Integrity Unit operating. Former Senior District Judge Bert Richardson was appointed to hear the Perry case. He named Michael McCrum as special prosecutor. The funding comes from county reserves.

If you haven’t had a conversation with a lamp post lately, this could be your chance. The “hidden life” of Austin’s street furniture will be part of the launch of Hello Lamp Post, an international art project created by London-based Pan Studio. According to the city, the project invites people to strike up conversations with familiar objects around the city through a text message. Anyone can text the official Hello Lamp Post phone number and “wake up” lamp posts, mailboxes, hydrants or even buildings and “discover what these objects have to say.” The project was commissioned by the city’s Cultural Arts Division of the Economic Development Department in celebration of the Art in Public Places program’s 30th anniversary.  Starting Feb. 12, anyone can text the official phone number and chat with their favorite piece of street furniture. The public is invited to a free kickoff event, complete with drinks and snacks, set from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Feb. 12 at Republic Square Park, 422 Guadalupe St. For more information and a short video about the project, go to hellolamppostaustin.com.

The Austin Monitor’s Beers, Brains, and Betterment discussion series will be making the bold leap into 2015. This year’s first discussion will feature Austin Mayor Steve Adler, who will join Monitor publisher Mike Kanin for a live interview. The event will be held at the North Door, on Monday, February 23, from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Tickets are free, and you can RSVP here to reserve a spot now.

Those hoping to witness the new City Council members in action at their first work session will likely have plenty of time to do so. Word is that Council members have pulled virtually all of the 50-plus items on Thursday’s agenda for a closer look. Whether that is a sign of things to come remains to be seen, but Council Member Don Zimmerman has declared his intention to “pull $74.8 million” from Thursday’s agenda for discussion (which is 13 items). Zimmerman has also said that he will request “the respective department director to testify that these items are necessary and needed immediately.”