Our City Council can be justly proud of the budget they just passed, and the work and the process that got them there. (See “Point Austin: A Living Budget” and “Council Wrap-Up,” Sept. 18.) Their reward – aside from a couple of “Best of Austin” awards last week – is that they get smacked in the face with all the issues that have been backing up in the pipeline for the past three months. It starts out slowly this week, with mostly routine matters at the Council committee meetings, and a largely uncontroversial Thursday agenda, but there’s lots more bubbling up through the Boards and Commissions system: There are no less than 23 such meetings this week alone. One debate Wednesday was at a special-called meeting of the Ethics Review Commission, over whether people who are paid to spend their days at City Hall lobbying city officials should be considered lobbyists (the jury’s still out).
One issue that Council does have to deal with this week is the long-simmering, now-raging dispute over short term rental regulation. Tuesday’s much-anticipated Planning & Neighborhoods Committee special-called meeting on STRs turned out to be anti-climactic, with about 90 minutes of discussion on relatively minor details, and once again, no time left to discuss the basic issue, which was only finally broached indirectly in closing remarks from CMs Greg Casar and Sheri Gallo.
Casar noted that there’s consensus that the city must “figure out how to deal with the loud party-house issues that are tearing folks up,” but he went on: “Then there’s the second question, about short term rentals and their … growing existence in our economy.” He said that “I personally, because of our housing stock issues, would like to see as few STR 2s exist – and that’s a personal preference, that housing be for long-term renters or to be for home ownership … and not drive lots of investment to purchasing homes that nobody’s ever going to live in for more than two or three days ….”
Gallo, on the other hand, said the city should “promote the good short term rental operators in how they operate,” and suggested that the Code Department “now are going to aggressively bring into the fold the non-licensed short term rentals, and get them licensed, so we can add them to the maps.”
Where the clash in those two opinions is going to come to a head is in one of the dozen or so proposals which P&N forwarded to today’s full council meeting (Thu., Sept. 17) without recommendation or discussion: That council direct staff to institute an immediate moratorium on issuing new licenses for Type 2 (commercial, non-owner-occupied) STRs. Clearly, there are several on the Council dais who would like to move away from permitting these commercial operations in residential zoning, and at least one (only Gallo has thus far been vocal in defense of Type 2s) who would like to get more of them “licensed, so we can add them to the maps.” Thursday may bring the first full Council head count.
One other item of note on today’s agenda is a resolution directing the City Manager to bring a plan to Council no later than Oct. 1, “that outlines how the city will meet the 600MW utility scale solar goal by no later than 2017.” The proposal has the maximum five co-sponsors and would seem to be a no-brainer, but some backers are worried about the foot effect: foot-dragging at Austin Energy leading to cold feet on the dais.
Best Friends Animal Society’s Strut Your Mutt is this Saturday, Sept. 19, at Mueller Lake Park: A leisurely fundraising dog walk, followed by a doggie-themed festival with “pet contests, photos, doggie goodies, and activities for you and your furry friend.” Register online through noon Friday. Onsite registration opens at 9am; the walk starts at 10:30am, and the festival continues until 2pm. Benefits 28 different local animal rescue organizations. More info at www.bestfriends.org.
Local mobile startup BarkHappy will host the first BarkHappy Charity Doggy Ice Cream Social on Sunday, Sept. 20, from 11am-2pm at Fair Market, 1100 E. Fifth. Free dog ice cream from Amy’s Ice Creams, and a special wheelchair agility course set up by Service Dogs Inc. See www.barkhappy.com for more info.
And, this just in: Construction has begun on a new pet hotel at Austin Bergstrom International Airport. Details to come.
The Texas School for the Deaf is holding several events honoring Deaf Awareness Week, Sept. 21-27:
• Tue., Sept. 22: Free Family Movie Night. Enjoy No Ordinary Hero on Alamo Drafthouse’s jumbo screen, outside on the campus grounds, under the stars. Bring chairs and/or blankets and a picnic (no alcohol or pets). 7-9pm at the TSD campus, 1102 S. Congress.
• Wed., Sept. 23: Deaf Awareness Night Community Social. Meet and socialize with deaf and hard of hearing neighbors, and learn about issues that are important to our community. 4-8pm at Doc’s Motorworks, 1123 S. Congress. Free parking across the street at TSD.
• Thu., Sept. 24: Campus Open House. Tour the 158-year-old school and observe classroom teaching at TSD today. The school’s Heritage Center museum is a record of the oldest, continuously operating public school in Texas, with a new installation on the “Desegregation of TSD 50 Years Ago.” Guided tours from 10am-2pm. And at 5:30pm or 7:15pm, drop in to observe a free Beginning Sign Language Course at TSD’s Ford Building. www.tsd.state.tx.us
Meanwhile … Austin Community College has launched a new partnership with Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., that will let students in ACC’s American Sign Language and Interpreter Training Program continue their education with a bachelor’s degree from the world’s only university with programs and services specifically for deaf and hard of hearing students. ACC offers ASL courses at five campuses; with about 700 students enrolled in classes, and more than a dozen associate degree graduates last year.
Congrats to the Paramount Theatre, celebrating its 100th anniversary on Oct. 11. Check the new Austin Theatre History website: www.austintheatrehistory.org.
Fed Truck Friday: This Friday, Sept. 18, some 30 food trucks around town will donate 10% of sales to Keep Austin Fed, a local nonprofit that repurposes food that normally would have been thrown away, and distributes it to food banks, shelters, and churches. More info at www.fedtruckfriday.com.
This article appears in September 18 • 2015.