Ronald J. “Ron” Culver jumped into the Mayor’s race yesterday, appointing himself his own campaign treasurer and filing the necessary paperwork to be on the ballot. His address indicates he lives in far Northwest Austin in Williamson County. Culver pledged not to collect or spend more than $500 on the race. Otherwise, the only candidate who has actually filed for Mayor is Mike Martinez, who did so Monday.

Many candidates and prospective candidates were present at Wednesday’s Austin Neighborhoods Council meeting. However, those gathered for the meeting offered applause for just two – District 3’s Susana Almanza and District 1’s Ora Houston. Neighborhood interests have traditionally held sway in Austin City Council elections. We’ll have to wait until Nov. 5 to see if that is true under the new system with many more candidates and voters.

Two more City Council candidates made it official Tuesday by filing their ballot applications for a spot on the Nov. 4 ballot. Jeb Boyt filed for the District 7 seat and Margie Burciaga filed for the District 10 spot. That brings the total of official candidates to nine.

Texans for Accountable Government has declared its support for anti-fluoride activist Laura Pressley, a candidate in the District 4 race. The largest donor to this group was Jeff Kantoff, identified online as a member of Ron Paul Republicans Meetup Group. Austinites for Geographic Representation filed the appropriate paperwork for dissolution of their political action committee. Stacy Suits, campaign treasurer, declared no further expenditures would be made and there was no money left in their coffers. After all, they won their fight more than 18 months ago when Austinites finally agreed to single-member districts. Let’s Go Austin, the PAC collecting money to support Austin’s rail project on the November ballot, raised about $76,000. Of that, the Downtown Austin Alliance contributed $37,000, dwarfing others’ donations. Tyson Tuttle, the CEO of Silicon Labs, contributed $10,000. The architects of Page Southerland Page gave $5,000, as did Texas Gas Service. Rather surprisingly, the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association donated $4,000 to the effort. Engineers and land planners Cunningham- Allen, Inc. gave $2,500.

Ernesto Gonzales, a 22-year veteran of the city’s Resource Recovery Department, died Tuesday in a crash near Austin Bergstrom International Airport. Police say a pickup truck driven by Gonzales was involved in a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer on FM 973 near Eva Street. Police say Gonzales was pronounced dead at the scene. City Manager Marc Ott issued a statement Tuesday offering condolences to Gonzales’ family and co-workers.

The Parks and Recreation Department is planning to ‘Zelebrate’ Zumba at Zilker Park Thursday. Attendees may enjoy a group Zumba class and giveaways. Zumba is a popular dance fitness program. On July 1, Mayor Lee Leffingwell proclaimed July as Parks Month in support of PARD and the National Recreation and Park Association’s nationwide initiative to promote healthy communities through recreation and leisure. The “Zumbathon Zelebration” is set for 10 a.m. at Zilker Park, 2100 Barton Springs Road.

Travis County Intergovernmental Relations Coordinator Deece Eckstein joins Monitor Publisher Mike Kanin to talk about ongoing concerns associated with the Travis Central Appraisal District’s property tax appraisal process. Tune to 91.7FM KOOP at 2 p.m. today to hear the discussion.

The Commission on Immigrant Affairs plans a special called meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the Terrazas Branch Library, 1105 E. Cesar Chavez Street . . . The Building and Standards Commission meets at 6:30 p.m. at One Texas Center, 505 Barton Springs Road.

Council Member Mike Martinez was officially the first to file documents required to get his name on the ballot under the heading of Mayor. He filed just after 9 a.m. Monday, with Susana Almanza filing for District 3; Mike Rodriguez and David Senecal filing for District 5; Jimmy Flannigan and Jay Wiley filing for District 6; and Melissa Zone filing for District 7. 

Political Action Committees were also required to file contribution and expenditure reports last week. A peek at them shows nothing too exciting, however.ChangeAustin.org. reported collecting only about $658, all of it from founder Brian Rodgers, and spending about $2,600 on salaries. Linda Curtis, the PAC treasurer, got about $1,200 of that as a consulting fee. The PAC reported no remaining funds.

The City of Austin is seeking development team members familiar with the Housing First model of Permanent Supportive Housing to provide insights for the city’s program. The Austin Housing Finance Corp. and Health and Human Services Departments want input on the best approaches to solicit partners for Housing First developments for the Austin community. A Request for Information was released Monday and responses are due by Aug. 4. The housing agency is looking for teams with experience in design, construction and/or operations of Housing First Permanent Supportive Housing. Later, the city will solicit its first “Housing First PSH development” providing at least 50 units to highly vulnerable, chronically homeless individuals. Click here to download the RFQ.

The city’sCapital Planning Office has received the Public Technology Institute’s 2013-14 Technology Solutions Award for its Strategic Capital Investments GIS mapping analysis, which can be found in the Long-Range Capital Improvement Program Strategic Plan. The Public Technology Institute’s annual Solutions Awards Competition recognizes PTI member local governments that demonstrate how they use technology to solve specific problems, improve community services and internal operations and reduce costs. The Capital Investments GIS Mapping Analysis, also known as the Strategic Investment Areas Overlay Analysis, overlays city initiatives identified by the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan with infrastructure need. For more information, click here.