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Despite Uncertainty in Media Reports, Council Appears Set on Tax Rate Election Path
Some local media have suggested that a Tax Rate Election (TRE) may occur for the 2025-26 City of Austin budget. Recent Council activity indicates it's all but decided. The Audit and Finance Committee meeting on July 22nd, along with the City Council Message Board...
Ideology and the Kerr County Flood
Here in Austin it seemed like such a pleasant July 4 afternoon. Rain was coming down, not in a threatening way, but in a very welcome and comforting way — keeping the Texas heat at bay in the middle of summer. It was very relaxing. Then I checked the news. A...
Jackie Goodman – A Life In and For Austin
Jackie Goodman wielded her power on the Austin City Council quietly and responsibly— and she used it to benefit Austin.
Council Reaches Decision on Acacia Cliffs, As Residents Make Last Stand
The Austin City Council had another crowded zoning agenda on June 5. Numerous residents of East Austin turned out to express reservations about proposed DB90s (Density Bonus, 90 feet in height) at the northeast corner of Oak Springs and Airport and another at 2967...
Watson’s Quiet Cajoling
To begin let’s return briefly to the City Council meeting on May 22 of this year. The Acacia Cliffs item is about to be heard. That’s the case in which the owner of a naturally occurring affordable apartment complex in northwest Austin is proposing to tear down the...
Attention Democrats: MAGA Did Not Make This Up
Let’s begin by following up on our last story about the Acacia Cliffs apartment complex. That’s where a new City Council-devised development incentive called DB90, supposedly designed to create new affordable housing, instead turned into an incentive for the owner of...
True Stories
Legislature Adjourns – Greg Abbott Gets Meaner – States’ Rights Trumps Local Control
This week’s good news is that the Texas Legislature adjourned. The bad news is that they will be coming back later this year.
Abbott Defends Rights of the Unborn – The Born, Not so Much
Texas Governor Greg Abbott is looking out for the unborn, but he’s not quite as enthusiastic about protecting the already born, at least not all of them.
Giving the Anti-Strong Mayor Campaign Its Due – A Ray of Good News About Barton Creek – Another Major Zoning Case In East Austin
The Independent gives the stong mayor campaign its due; office towers proposed at former East Austin tank farm site, good news on Barton Creek, but a tragedy in the local environmental community.
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