The city is organizing a community job fair to offer job seekers the opportunity to “meet face-to-face with representatives from city of Austin departments and local private employers committed to hiring and assisting individuals from all backgrounds, including justice-involved individuals, those who are 50+, veterans and people with disabilities.”Among the long list of participating employers is the Austin Convention Center, the public library, the post office, police and fire departments, UPS, the UT Austin facilities department, Meals on Wheels, FedEx, Habitat for Humanity and many more. Find more information and job seeker registration at austintexas.gov/jobfairs. Tuesday, Dec. 13, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Workforce Solutions Capital Area (North), 9001 N. Interstate 35, Suite 110.

The Travis Central Appraisal District announced Monday that it has been hit once again with a ransomware attack that is impacting the agency’s level of service. The district works to appraise property for tax purposes for each taxing unit in the county. The TCAD website had a notice Monday afternoon letting people know that the agency’s phone lines and chat function were down. However, TCAD chief appraiser Marya Crigler said the online property search function and email were operating. Property tax bills and payments to the Travis County tax office were not affected by the TCAD problem. TCAD spokesperson Cynthia Martinez confirmed that the agency had previously been hit by ransomware in 2019. She said via email, “We have since adopted numerous security measures that are allowing us to continue our operations and assure property owners that their personal information was not accessed during this attack. It may take longer than usual for property owners to have their TCAD-related issues addressed while we recover from this situation. We appreciate their patience.”

This month’s webinar installment of the popular Wild Neighbors Speaker Series gets festive with Tyler Miloy’s “The History of the Christmas Bird Count.” Miloy, a naturalist and longtime birder, has compiled the results of Austin’s Christmas Bird Count over the past six years. He’ll relate some of the fascinating history behind the annual count (e.g., it started as a bird hunt, not a count) along with several little-known facts about the event. Register here for the webinar on Friday, Dec. 16, noon-1 p.m. Speaking of bird counts, Austin’s actual, in-person Christmas Bird Count, conducted by Travis Audubon Society, is coming up and everyone is invited to participate. You don’t have to be a birder or have any experience. This year’s count will take place on Saturday, Dec. 17. Find registration info for the bird count here.

In their monthly report, officials at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport say passenger traffic in October “was up 31.57 percent compared to October 2021 with 2,002,078 passengers flying during the month.” That mind-boggling number explains why AUS officials are urging travelers to get to the airport as early as possible for flights over the upcoming holiday and to plan ahead for everything, parking included. Bon voyage!

As of Saturday night, early voting numbers for Travis County show about 3 percent of registered voters had cast ballots in runoffs for mayor and City Council seats in districts 3, 5 and 9. In Williamson County, that number was 1.45 percent. Altogether, 19,263 voters had weighed in on their choices for the Dec. 13 election. The Ben Hur Shrine Center, always a popular early voting location, has seen the most voters with 2,814 ballots cast, followed by the Balcones Woods Shopping Center with 1,873, the Austin Oaks Church with 1,580 and Southpark Meadows with 1,421. Travis County also reported receiving 2,257 mail ballots. Early voting continues through Friday at 17 different locations. Check out your options here.

The Development Services Department has scheduled a workshop on Tuesday, Dec. 6, to help businesses and developers learn about the city’s new process for installing charging stations for electric vehicles. Substantial increases in EV use are one component of the city’s Climate Equity Plan, which calls for the charging infrastructure for those vehicles in anticipation of that shift. The department is launching a quick-turnaround service to move qualifying charging projects through the approval process more quickly, with eligible projects potentially completing the process in a week or less. The workshop starts at 10 a.m. at the Permitting and Development Center on Wilhelmina Delco Drive, with the Commercial Building Plan Review team outlining the process and the criteria for fast approval. Register here.

Outgoing mayor Steve Adler held a press conference yesterday outside of City Hall before heading in to vote in this month’s runoff elections. Adler, who is a resident of District 9, said he would be endorsing and voting for Zo Qadri in the City Council District 9 race. Qadri was at the press conference and the two voted together after the mayor’s remarks. Adler said that while he could not vote in the District 3 runoff, he would endorse marketing strategist José Velásquez. Though Adler said he would not make an endorsement in the race for his successor, he noted his long history and good relationships with former Austin mayor and state Sen. Kirk Watson and state Rep. Celia Israel, and he said either one of them “is ready to be mayor.”

On Nov. 29, District 5 Council candidate Stephanie Bazan sent out a press release announcing her endorsement by former District 5 candidates Ken Craig, Bill Welch and Brian Anderson. Similarly, a coalition of former District 9 candidates including Tom Wald, Zena Mitchell, Ben Leffler and Danielle Skidmore endorsed Qadri on Nov. 22.

The much-discussed shake-up and reinvestment of the city’s Sixth Street entertainment district has grown and changed its complexion since this summer when Dallas-based Stream Realty Partners revealed its plans for the segment of downtown commonly referred to as “Dirty Sixth.” Austin Business Journal reports that Stream’s holdings now total more than 40 parcels – up from just over 30 this summer – and that the company is considering adding multifamily residential units to some of the reconstruction sites. In meetings with assorted city commissions throughout the summer and fall, Stream representatives said they were only planning on building a boutique hotel and office building in parcels concentrated on the north side of the street where it crosses Red River Street. The possibility of adding residential uses to the district would hedge the $500 million to $750 million project somewhat against a substantial downturn in the market for office space in recent months. The Historic Landmark Commission is the next city entity needed to give approval for some of the reconstruction to move forward, though a date for that request and vote has not been finalized.

With City Council’s authority, the Austin Transportation Department is hoping for $12 million in state funding (and a local match of $3 million) to expand the MetroBike bike-share program. A memo from interim Director Richard Mendoza explains that, with the money, improvements could include fully electrifying the fleet and tripling the network of docking stations from 80 to 240. The money would come from TxDOT’s Transportation Alternatives 2023 Call for Projects, and if a grant is awarded to the city, the project is expected to be on the ground in Fiscal Year 2024. Approval for moving forward with the grant will be on the Dec. 8 City Council agenda.

The Austin Chamber of Commerce has named Kerry Hall as its interim president and CEO, following the recent announcement that Laura Huffman is stepping down as the organization’s top executive at the end of the year. Hall, a board member of Susser Bank and Opportunity Austin, and a longtime player in local economic development matters, will begin her term Jan. 3. The chamber plans to conduct a national search for a permanent president and CEO. Huffman, who took over the group’s leadership in 2020 in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, hasn’t announced her next business pursuit, but she was recently named as a board member for Water Finance Exchange. WFX is a nonprofit group that advocates with national and regional political and business leaders to bring better water infrastructure to communities facing water issues across the U.S.

The Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center has issued an invitation to all community members to attend a celebration marking the start of construction of the second phase of the facility’s expansion and renovation. Community leaders, public officials and members of the project team will be at the cultural center’s groundbreaking ceremony. As District 9 City Council Member Kathie Tovo noted in a news release, “The ESB-MACC serves as a cultural cornerstone for our community, and I’m excited to see us begin this long-awaited expansion. These improvements will allow the ESB-MACC to offer more arts programs and classes and to host more cultural events. With this expansion, the ESB-MACC will be able to reach and serve even more Austinites from across the city.” In addition to more performance spaces, classrooms, galleries, office/support space, dedicated storage space and culinary space, the renovation includes enhanced safety features, better natural light, permanent public art displays and improved wayfinding. ESB-MACC, 600 River St., Saturday, Dec. 10, 10 a.m.

Austin’s quality-of-life commissions want to hear from you; specifically, what you like about living in Austin, what you don’t like, and what’s needed “to prioritize, to uplift and improve the quality of life for all Austinites.” That’s a tall order. That’s why the commissions are hosting three town halls, to allow people space to share their thoughts, both in person and virtually via Zoom. There will be catered food, activities for the kiddos and language interpretation in Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese and ASL. (To request a language interpreter, call 311 at least five days before the meeting you plan to attend.)

• East Austin town hall: Montopolis Rec Center, Dec. 15, noon
• South Austin town hall: Southeast Branch Library, Jan. 11, 6:30 p.m.
• North Austin town hall: Asian American Resource Center, Jan. 14, 10:30 a.m.

Register here for the event of your choice.