Council: No Place Like Home

Last Thursday's City Council meeting was a relatively sedate affair, with a truncated agenda, several postponements, and a brace of "first readings" – Council's way of saying "It's not quite soup yet." A few of those temporary accomplishments:

• A step toward cutting back on overnight concrete pours in the Central Business District; as Downtown has become more ­residential, some of those residents are ­complaining about being kept up all night by construction of new buildings, some of them ­residential....

• Authorized "negotiation" of a potential management contract for a new golf course at Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park (i.e., at Decker Lake); golf-enthusiasts and golf-skeptics were out in force, and Council requested more public input.

• Approved resolutions likely moving amplified sound regulation on parkland from Parks & Rec. to the Music Office.

• Asked the city manager to explore civic crowdfunding opportunities, and establish a pilot to benefit the Neighborhood Partnering Program.

• Began, but did not conclude, the public hearing on the CodeNEXT process, trying to determine just how "sweeping" the land development code revisions should be.

Sober Is as Sober Does

Next week's meeting (Nov. 6) will occur in the immediate wake of the general election – with four members on the dais learning whether they've won, lost ... or are heading to December run-offs. The meeting's focus may be a little diffuse.

We're tempted to report that the biggest news on the draft agenda is the return of the "coyote conflict management strategy" – a directive to city staff to adopt one – an ACME project still being kicked down the road from several meetings ago. But the headline is ... Council returns home, to a remodeled Council Hall, with three more seats to be filled come January.

But the agenda burgeons again, currently at 118 Items, with likely a few more to come later this week.

• They'll take a further look at CodeNEXT, with staff having recommended a "middle way" between minor tweaking (Option 1) and wholesale rewrite (Option 3).

• More action on sound amplification regs – moving toward the Music Office.

• Second and third readings – if there's no more disputation – on the ordinance regarding "source of income" nondiscrimination in rentals.

• A hunt for potential sites, jointly with Travis County, for a "sobriety center" – where drunks can sleep it off instead of clogging the Travis County Jail.

We'll drink to that.