by Daryl Slusher | Sep 24, 2024 | City Council 2024
Well, let’s pick up right where we left off on the proposed City Charter amendments that would increase the powers of the Mayor and Council Members — at the expense of the City Manager and the citizenry. As noted in previous installments, the Austin Independent is...
by Daryl Slusher | Sep 12, 2024 | City Council 2024
In our last installment I reported that the 13 City Charter amendments proposed by the Austin City Council won’t be on the November because the Council was found to have violated the Texas Open Meetings Act, again, when they set the ballot. The Mayor and Council...
by Daryl Slusher | Sep 9, 2024 | City Council 2024
The news is out,All over town. . . What can I do? You win again. Hank Williams, You Win Again; or maybe Mayor Kirk Watson to Bill Bunch and Bill Aleshire after the City’s latest loss in court Yes, the Bills — Bunch and Aleshire — have once again teamed up to defeat...
by Daryl Slusher | Jul 16, 2024 | City Council 2024
There are two really big items posted on the July 18 City Council agenda which appear to be fundamentally contradictory to each other. Among other things, they raise the age-old question of does one hand know what the other hand is doing. In one item posted by...
by Daryl Slusher | Jun 12, 2024 | City Council 2024, Transportation
Project Connect is about to have its big day(s) in court. Specifically I mean the core element of Project Connect, Austin’s proposed light rail system. This is also the latest lawsuit challenging the legality of policies passed by City Councils when Steve Adler was...
by Daryl Slusher | May 30, 2024 | City Council 2024, Land Development Code/Zoning, Leslie Pool HOME proposal
In yesterday’s post we partially reviewed the May 16 public hearing and Council vote on the HOME 2 initiative and related issues. We also examined the links from that initiative to the upcoming application for light rail funds from the federal government. Today we...
by Daryl Slusher | May 29, 2024 | City Council 2024, Land Development Code/Zoning
If the long time battle over the City of Austin’s Land Development Code were a television series, May 16, 2024 would be a season ending episode and possibly the end of the series. It would now be that period where fans are left to wonder whether there will be an...
by Daryl Slusher | May 14, 2024 | City Council 2024, Land Development Code/Zoning, Leslie Pool HOME proposal
Thursday May 16 is going to be an historic day at the Austin City Council. A nine-vote Council super majority is poised to pass changes to the Land Development Code (LDC) that will transform the face and character of Austin and its neighborhoods. At the Austin...
by Daryl Slusher | May 1, 2024 | City Council 2024
Last week we examined the City’s legal shellacking regarding the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) for the Statesman PUD. In that article I mentioned that this is just the latest legal drubbing for the City and promised to discuss those legal losses in this...
by Daryl Slusher | Apr 24, 2024 | City Council 2024
First folks, I want to say I’m sorry it took an extra week to get this story to you. I sort of went off into a second spring break. But, also current events kept changing the story. I started out writing this installment about the current status of Project Connect and...
