BG Note | News - What We're Reading (August 10, 2017)
Central Austin neighborhoods are providing the most feedback on CodeNEXT (Austin Monitor) LINK TO STORY
The complete rewrite of the city’s Land Development Code known as CodeNEXT will have significant effects on housing, transportation and commercial development throughout Austin in the coming years. But so far, public input on the code has been anything but equal across the city.
Online feedback, in particular, has been overwhelmingly focused on the wealthiest parts of the city.
City staff recently released a map of online comment on CodeNEXT, showing which parts of the city people have weighed in on. Those comments are overwhelmingly concentrated in the city center. They become somewhat sparser in West Austin and virtually disappear along the eastern edges of the city.
Increased support outside ARCH to target crime, help homeless (Austin Monitor) LINK TO STORY
Four months after city officials called on the Austin Police Department and other public safety departments to address a spike in drug use around the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, the next phase of help is about to begin.
Starting Aug. 15, a coalition of public safety and social services groups will begin a concentrated effort to reduce drug use further while also offering more services to the homeless who gather outside the vastly overused facility in the heart of downtown Austin. The tactics involved include increased police presence, installing temporary restrooms, altering the schedule of food availability to make it harder for drug dealers and other criminals to target the homeless population, and identifying more ways to find housing and needed services for those experiencing homelessness.
Council moves toward tax swap with AISD (Austin Monitor) LINK TO STORY
In an effort to help the Austin Independent School District lower its tax rate and send fewer dollars to the state under the so-called Robin Hood plan, City Council voted 6-4 Wednesday to begin consideration of raising the city’s property tax rate to 46.51 cents per $100.
That’s two cents higher than the current rollback rate of 44.51 cents and an increase of more than 14 percent over this year.
With bathroom bill all but dead, supporters scramble for alternatives (Houston Chronicle) LINK TO STORY
With the controversial bathroom bill all but dead, as the special legislative session entered its final week, supporters on Wednesday scrambled to find creative options to tack it onto another bill at the last minute.
Leaders in both legislative chambers predicted privately that as few as five bills of the 20 that Gov. Greg Abbott wanted passed will be approved when the final gavel drops next Wednesday.
Today's Meetings
Austin City Council Regular Meeting @10AM
Agenda
Note: Item #12.
The resolution requires the “personal delivery devices” to:
Only operate on City of Austin owned sidewalks and crosswalks;
Be capable of operating autonomously.
Have a maximum speed of 10 mph; and
Weigh no more than 300 pounds, excluding cargo;