The third annual Digital Inclusion Youth Art Contest has opened to Austin students ages 10-18 “to show us how they see a world where everyone can harness the power of a fast internet connection,” according to the news release. Rondella Hawkins, who oversees telecommunications and regulatory affairs for the city, said the contest aims “to draw attention to the fact that there are still too many families and residents without the ability to access and afford high-speed internet. We are asking Austin students to paint a picture of what the future, the near future we hope, looks like with everyone having the same digital tools to access and use a high-speed internet connection for work or fun.” The top three entries win prize money as well as the chance to have their artwork shown in city spaces. The contest deadline is Tuesday, Nov. 22, at 11:59 p.m. Find more details, contest rules and entry info here.

TreeFolks is putting out the call for volunteers to help plant saplings at the nonprofit’s first Ready, Set, Plant event of the season this Saturday, Nov. 5. The event, at Bayton Loop in South Austin, aims to “transform degraded creek banks into grow zones brimming with diversity and life.” Staffers from the city’s Watershed Protection Department and Community Tree Preservation Division will also be there to lend a hand. Ready, Set, Plant is a volunteer tree-planting program that runs from November to February, and aims to restore Austin’s creeks and rivers with creekside plantings. RSVP here.

Austin’s Office of Sustainability is partnering with nonprofit Planted Society and local restaurants for the Plant Based for the Planet climate initiative that aims to educate the public about the benefits of plant-based dining. November is World Vegan Month, and to celebrate, the initiative will allow Austinites to support local businesses, help the environment and experiment with plant-based eating at participating restaurants. At the end of the month, diners can vote on the best vegan options and enter to win prizes from sponsors. “Austin residents care about climate change, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed thinking of all the things we have to sacrifice to decrease our carbon footprint,” Planted Society’s Executive Director Britty Mann said in a statement to the press. “This challenge offers an easy way for every Austinite to make an impact, even just while dining out at their favorite neighborhood restaurants.” So far, about 30 restaurants are participating in the effort, but that number is expected to grow.

City Council Member Kathie Tovo is sponsoring a resolution on this Thursday’s agenda to honor two people important to preserving Austin’s history. The resolution proposes naming the Austin History Center Reading Room in honor of the late Betty Baker, who led efforts to create the city’s Historic Preservation Office, and the late Steve Sadowsky, who served as the city’s historic preservation officer for 21 years. Baker was a city employee for many years before joining the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau. She was able to serve on the city’s Planning Commission, which she chaired, and later became chair of the Zoning and Platting Commission. As the resolution notes, “Sadowsky led the successful effort to rename the structure at 2402 San Gabriel Street so that it became the Rev. Jacob Fontaine Gold Dollar Building, a name reflecting its roots as home of the Gold Dollar, the first African-American newspaper in Austin, founded in 1876 by Rev. Jacob Fontaine, a man who had been enslaved.” This was one of many historic buildings Sadowsky helped to preserve. If the resolution is approved, the city will install a commemorative plaque in their honor. Tovo’s co-sponsors include Mayor Steve Adler and Council members Ann Kitchen and Natasha Harper-Madison.

If you have any interest or background in food issues, you might consider applying to a new community advisory committee spearheaded by the city’s Office of Sustainability. The committee members will be tasked with helping to create the very first Austin/Travis County Food Plan, a five-year road map aimed at addressing food access programs for the community, financing options to mitigate historic food disparities and improving healthy food availability for all. Hoping to get a diverse group, the city encourages any community members with interest in these topics to apply. Learn more at AustinTexas.gov/food and apply here. Applications are due Friday, Nov. 4.

As the Monitor has been reporting, the city is reviewing the amount that Austin Energy charges customers. Currently, the plan will raise rates for residential customers, but that won’t happen until City Council approves the changes. That vote, which is scheduled for Dec. 1, will take place after a series of discussions and opportunities for public testimony. According to a message board post from Council Member Leslie Pool’s office, the work sessions, public hearings and votes are scheduled for:

• Nov. 1, 9 a.m., City Council work session
• Nov. 9, 10 a.m., special called AEUOC meeting with invited testimony from AE, IHE, ICA, and all base rate participants
• Nov. 14, 6 p.m., Austin Energy HQ: Electric Utility Commission, public testimony allowed
• Nov. 15, 10 a.m., City Council public hearing, public testimony allowed
• Nov. 29: 9 a.m., City Council work session and AEUOC meeting
• Dec. 1, 4 p.m., City Council regular meeting, public hearing and vote on base rates – public testimony allowed

All of the meetings, aside from Nov. 14 at Austin Energy headquarters, will be held at City Hall.

As of Sunday night, 166,439 Travis County voters had cast ballots in the Nov. 8 election. That’s close to 19 percent of the registered voters in the county. Southpark Meadows saw the highest number of voters (9,660) as of Sunday night. The next two places in Austin with the heaviest vote were the Austin Oaks Church near Oak Hill, which had seen 9,430 voters as of Sunday night, and the Ben Hur Shrine Center in Northwest Austin with 9,344 voters. But the PACE Campus Gym in Pflugerville beat all of them with 10,273 ballots cast. On the other hand, the Conley-Guerrero Senior Activity Center in East Austin had seen only 1,238 voters and the community center at Del Valle had a total of 1,244 as of the end of voting on Sunday. Early voting runs through Friday, Nov. 4.

As you may have read in the Monitor, the city auditor’s office is engaged in an audit of Austin’s Animal Services Office, as directed by a Council resolution passed in July. Community engagement is a major component of the audit, and that means it’s critical for you, citizen, to offer your input to help the audit team “get an understanding on what the community views as the biggest areas of concern regarding animal services.” The next virtual meeting will be held on WebEx on Wed., Nov. 2, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Can’t attend the meeting? Take the online survey. The survey is brief – just six questions – and is primarily focused on gathering public opinion to help the auditors identify an outside expert to collaborate on the audit. The third and final public engagement meeting is coming up on Thursday, Nov. 10, 6:30-8 p.m., at the City Hall Boards & Commissions Room, 301 W. Second St.

Community members are invited to a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Govalle Neighborhood Park to celebrate the “renovation of the playground area, basketball court upgrades, connection trails and the installation of a new multipurpose field for the community.” The project is the result of a collaboration between the parks department and the Austin Parks Foundation. Monday, Nov. 7, at 11 a.m., 5200 Bolm Road.

The nonprofit MAS Cultura is throwing an inaugural festival with the goal of “amplifying Latino artists throughout the city and empowering the community to claim their history and their presence.” The three-day fiesta, which aims to put “Latinos front and center as narrators of their own stories through art and music,” will feature a musical showcase with seven acts, food vendors and tastings, seven DJs, a lowrider car show, and two art galleries. Find out more here. Nov. 18-20, KMFA Classic Radio 89.5, 41 Navasota St.

Austin Parks & Recreation Department

Artists, start your imaginations: The parks department has launched its annual Zilker Tree Art Contest. The contest is open to submissions from Austin-area artists ages 5-10. The winner gets to light the Zilker Holiday Tree. The submission deadline is Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 4:30 p.m. (if by mail or drop-off to to 200 South Lamar, Austin, TX 78704), or 11:59 p.m. if uploaded through the website. Find the contest rules here.

Faced with ongoing overcrowding and … other issues, the city’s animal shelter has launched the traditional city solution of unveiling a dashboard. The new dashboard, which was launched this week, displays current capacity levels for cats, small dogs and medium/large dogs. “Our capacity often changes hour to hour. We needed a way to communicate to the public about our intake status,” AAC spokesperson Kelsey Cler said in a statement to the press. The shelter worked with staff from the city’s Communications and Technology Management Department to create the meters. The tool indicates whether, for each group of animals, intake is open, limited or “emergencies only.” According to Cler, limited intake means that the shelter is limiting the type of animal being taken in to the number that left the shelter the previous day. Under emergency intake status, the shelter evaluates each case, and will still take in sick or injured animals.