Headlines / Quote of the Week
Fri., Jan. 26, 2024
Tovo Runs for Mayor: Longtime City Council Member Kathie Tovo announced her campaign for mayor last week. Tovo served on Council for over a decade, first as an at-large member then representing Central Austin’s District 9. Should she win, her approach to housing would stand out on the dais: She takes a more conservative approach to land code changes, and prioritized squeezing as much affordable housing out of individual projects as possible. Read more online.
… And So Does Llanes Pulido: Community organizer Carmen Llanes Pulido is also running for mayor. Executive director of the nonprofit GAVA (Go Austin/Vamos Austin), where she has worked in different capacities for around 10 years, she opposes the HOME Initiative and has opposed prior efforts by Council to relax the Land Development Code. So far, Mayor Kirk Watson hasn’t formally announced his run, but earlier this month he told KXAN that he plans to.
Blues on the Green Canceled: Blues on the Green, the long-running free concert series at Zilker Park throughout the summer, is officially canceled for 2024 due to rising costs, Austin City Limits Radio announced last Wednesday. Blues on the Green has been an Austin institution for over three decades, drawing tens of thousands of Austinites to Zilker Park. Read more online.
Failing Uvalde: U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said last week that law enforcement agencies across the country should immediately prioritize active shooter training, following the release of a report about the handling of the 2022 Uvalde massacre. The Justice Department’s report found “cascading failures of leadership, decision-making, tactics, policy and training” led to the poor response, The Texas Tribune reported.
ATX <3 MovieMakers: Austin may be getting tougher for artists to afford, but it’s still come in at No. 4 on the prestigious MovieMaker magazine list of the Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker. The mix of new studios, regular work, the recent massive hike in funding for the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program, and a supportive film community were all cited. Read more online.
R.I.P. Howard Waldrop: A legend of science-fiction short stories and a beloved mentor to many writers in the Austin community and beyond, Howard Waldrop died of a stroke on Jan. 14, aged 77. Waldrop also played a pivotal role in the history of the Chronicle as the author of our very first cover story, an interview with The Rocky Horror Picture Show creator Richard O’Brien. Read more online.
Change of the Cap Metro Guards: Cap Metro plans to station unarmed security guards at major transit hubs for the first time due to a flood of complaints about safety, the transit agency said. Locations will include North Lamar Transit Center, South Congress Transit Center, Republic Square Park and the Tech Ridge Park and Ride. Cap Metro plans to contract the guards through a private firm, KUT reported.
Blocking the Puberty Blocker Bill: On Jan. 30, oral arguments begin at the Texas Supreme Court in the case against the state and Senate Bill 14, Texas' new ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors. In an August decision, Travis County District Judge Maria Cantú Hexsel wrote that SB 14 "interferes with Texas families' private decisions and strips Texas parents … of the right to seek, direct, and provide medical care for their children."
Feeding Futures: The Central Texas Food Bank launched the first location of its Feeding Futures School Pantry Program at Creedmoor Elementary School in partnership with Del Valle ISD on Wednesday. The new program provides pantry staples after school, during weekend hours and on holidays including when school is not in session.
Hey, Don’t Forget Human Rights: Civil rights groups submitted a petition to the United Nations this week that accused Texas of human rights violations on Monday. The joint letter – a collaboration between Equality Texas, ACLU of Texas, and GLAAD – points to recently passed anti-LGBTQ+ laws, as well as statements and opinions issued by state officials. Read more online.
Changing Petition Process: For now, any citizen or group can get their suggested policy change on the city ballot by collecting 20,000 signatures. But the Charter Review Commission continues to discuss what changes they will recommend for the city’s petition process. They may recommend raising the threshold of required signatures to get a proposition on the ballot or switching to a percentage of registered voters as a requirement and changing the timing of elections, the Austin Monitor reported.
Multimillionaires Welcome: The Austin Monitor reported this week that the city has increased its limit on personal net wealth for individuals seeking to join the city’s procurement program, which aims to give preference for city contracts to businesses owned by women and/or minorities. The program’s cap on personal net wealth will increase to more than $2.2 million from the previous cap of $1.82 million.
City Leaders Apologize: As part of the terms of a lawsuit settlement, city leaders issued a public apology Tuesday for the past mishandling of sexual assault cases by the Austin Police Department. “We can all agree that the cases of the survivors were involved and were not handled appropriately,” interim Assistant City Manager Bruce Mills said, per KVUE’s report.
New Homeless Response Program: Downtown Austin Alliance will partner with Urban Alchemy, the nonprofit group that manages two downtown shelters, to launch the Homeless Engagement Assistance Response Team (HEART) program. The six-month pilot costing about $150,000 will start Feb. 1, with three-person teams reaching out to unhoused Austinites to address nonemergency issues, the Austin Monitor reports.
Razor Wire Gets Cut: In a dispute over razor wire at the border, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in favor of the federal government this week. In a blow to Gov. Greg Abbott and A.G. Ken Paxton, SCOTUS reversed a 5th Circuit ruling, The Dallas Morning News reported. Now, Border Patrol agents can go back to cutting razor wire the state put along the U.S.-Mexico border while the 5th Circuit considers the legality of it.
Big Medium Blaze: On Monday, Jan. 15, a fire damaged the South Congress art gallery Big Medium and an exterior wall, destroying a picture from their current exhibit, HodgeKerr’s No Kings But Us. Curators are also assessing the other works for damage. The gallery will be closed for at least two weeks, and is asking for donations to help cover the estimated $25,000 in costs. Read more online.
Quote of the Week
"No."
– Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison’s full public statement in response to the announcement of former APD Chief Art Acevedo’s hiring
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