City of Austin Council Message Board

BACKGROUND: During our research of the money trail for subsidized housing projects and the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) scoring system for awarding federal subsidies, we discovered that the only elected officials who can affect scoring--both favorably and unfavorably--ar...

Dear Council:

I intend to pull items 8 and 9, regarding $3,000,000 of ART spending, and items 22-33 regarding subsidized housing grants of ~$6 million and resolutions supporting subsidized housing projects.

Dear Colleagues: I’m formally requesting that Mr. Jim Skaggs, retired NASA engineer and former Tracor CEO, Director of Coalition On Sustainable Transportation (www.COSTaustin.org), be included on the discussion panel for the Monday Feb 9th “Transportation and Mobility” forum, as an expert voice, NOT...

Dear Colleagues: I’m formally requesting that Mr. Jim Skaggs, retired NASA engineer and former Tracor CEO, Director of Coalition On Sustainable Transportation (www.COSTaustin.org), be included on the discussion panel for the Monday Feb 9th “Transportation and Mobility” forum, as an expert voice, NOT...

Dear Council Colleagues: Please review and comment on this resolution which ends the practice of requiring 2% of a construction budget be spent on art. Please co-sponsor if you can so we can discuss this Feb 12th. Feb 12th Agenda Items #8 and #9 call for $3,000,000 in art spending, triggered the ord...

Message from ANC: "The Austin Neighborhoods Council (ANC) is a major stakeholder of the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan and the future growth of our city. ANC is comprised of members of over 100 member neighborhoods, homeowner associations, and around 30 neighborhood plans. It is appropriate ...

Dear Vanessa and Council Colleagues: We have an “expert” voice that can provide a unique “perspective” on subsidized housing. Not only is Ingrid Edwards a CPA and constituent of mine in District 6, she is also a legal immigrant from the Czech Republic; Ingrid would like to inform the council of the ...

Council members: I just e-mailed Ms. Goodall and Mayor Adler this message regarding speaker request for Thursday mornings' discussion. I understand we don’t have “process” yet for selecting appropriate voices for the policy deep dives, but I’d like to urge that we consider the two below: Tim Irvine,...

Hello Ann - I'd like to assist in writing that editorial.
I've published numerous Op-Eds in the Statesman over the last decade or more.

CM Casar:
Thanks for posting this.
Please list me as a CO-SPONSOR, as I strongly support the withdrawal of RFP-8300.
Thanks,
Don

Council Member Zimmerman (District 6) Committee Preference Council Committees 1. Mobility 2. Audit & Finance 3. Public Utilities 4. Open Space, Environment, and Sustainability Committee 5. Housing & Community Development Intergovernmental and Other Bodies 1. Capital Area Metropolitan Plannin...

Interesting idea, but I'm not generally in favor of it at this time. Such an integrated IT system can be very expensive, and it appears to me we have software tools adequate to do the job we have just started. After 12 months on the job, my opinion of this could change, but right now I would oppose ...

CM Kitchen - These all seem reasonable based on a cursory examination. Let me add these two suggested edits from the original posted document: 1. Page 5, line 23, in Section 2-5-106 Committee Agendas: ... (4) at the request of the city manager. Add (5) at the request of 2 council members 2. Page 7, ...

The policy of waving fees for certain events, and not for others, by itself seems divisive and unfair. Now if 100% of the city were to participate in the event, it would make sense to waive a fee we ALL have to pay for, but such an event doesn't exist to my knowledge. So in selecting criteria, based...

I would like to pull the following items for discussion at the January 29, 2015 Council Meeting: Item# Topic Estimate Not to Exceed Duration 18 Power Supply Inc, Preister-Mell & Nicholson, KBS Electrical - 3 Phase transformers for AE $ 14,006,754.00 $ 28,013,508.00 36 months + 3 12 month extensi...

Whereas, the Austin City Council members are directly elected by Austin voters, and are term limited; and Whereas, the Austin City Manager and City Attorney are not elected, are not directly accountable to voters, and are not term limited; and Whereas, the new 10-1 Austin City Council is restructuri...

Let me summarize numerous comments on our "committee" plan and my interpretation of them. Most people are focusing along lines of "I'd rather speak to all council members instead of a subset". My reply is OF COURSE (DUH) it would be best if every Austinite interested in any issue...

Thanks for bringing this up Kathy. I never understood what "resiliency" was about, unless it was a reference to gentrification. Re-zoning (and other factors) can quickly lead to higher property taxes, which force people to move -- if you are forced to move, it could be said you lacked &quo...

I read Brad Parsons remarks - especially the observation that city staff seems to retain all their power to directly place items on the agenda with no review by council committees, while the public (and council?) are being moved to put items before committees. So we might explicitly add that one (or...

Mayor & City Council members: I submit this resolution for your consideration, with background declarations for why we should stop the current RFP-8300 regarding fire fighter hiring processes and re-engage AFA in the process after our deep dive policy discussions. Regards, Don Zimmerman CITY OF ...