Home > City Beat > Archives > Council chatter category
Council chatter
August 26, 2009
Mayor Leffingwell forms community Cabinet
Mayor Lee Leffingwell has made good on a campaign promise by forming a Cabinet of community leaders that he will meet with once a quarter to seek input and advice on policy issues.
“I’m honored and humbled that such a diverse group of community leaders would agree to share their perspective and advice with me and my team. We’re going to make the best use we can of their counsel to benefit the city,” Leffingwell said in a statement.
It’s a pretty diverse group, and even includes a few folks who backed Leffingwell’s rival, former council member Brewster McCracken, during this spring’s mayoral campaign.
The meetings will be private, and the first will be held sometime in September. Leffingwell’s chief of staff, Mark Nathan, said the mayor will want to know what issues and projects the group members are working on, and will also seek input about issues coming before the City Council in the short-term and long-term, including plans for a new water treatment plant and a possible rail and transit election next year.
The group consists of:
Russell Bridges: Government and Community Affairs Manager, 3M Corp.
Paul Carrozza: Owner, Run-Tex.
Perla Cavazos: Former legislative aide, Texas State Senate.
Raymond Chan: engineer, Raymond Chan & Associates.
Danette Chimenti: president, Austin Neighborhoods Council.
Brandi Clark: executive director, Austin Eco Network.
Cloteal Davis Haynes: contractor; former member, Austin Planning Commission.
Gary Farmer: president, Heritage Title; former chair, Greater Austin Chamber.
Frank Fernandez: executive director, Green Doors.
Gus Garcia: former Austin mayor; former trustee, Austin Independent School District.
Jesus Garza: former Austin City Manager; executive vice president and chief operating officer, Seton.
Joene Grissom: entrepreneur; former chair, Community Action Network.
Hopeton Hay: manager, Historically Underutilized Business Technical Assistance Program, University of Texas.
Paula Hui: owner, Paula Hui Real Estate Services; Board of Directors, Austin Asian-American Chamber of Commerce,
Terry Lickona: producer, Austin City Limits.
DeWayne Lofton: risk manager, Texas Association of School Boards.
Perry Lorenz: residential developer, Constructive Ventures.
Annette LoVoi: trustee, Austin Independent School District.
Louis Malfaro: president, Education Austin.
Susan McDowell: executive director, LifeWorks.
Nan McRaven: chair, Austin Community College Board of Trustees.
Sylvia Orozco: executive director, Mexic-Arte Museum.
Rev. Joseph Parker: senior pastor, David Chapel Missionary Baptist Church.
Susan Rieff: executive director, Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Cookie Ruiz: executive director, Ballet Austin; chair, CreateAustin Working Group.
Ted Siff: former executive director, Austin Parks Foundation.
Fritz Steiner: dean, University of Texas School of Architecture.
Eleanor Thompson: community activist.
Michael Whellan: lawyer; president, Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody.
Permalink | Comments (65) | Post your comment Categories: Council chatter
July 24, 2009
City leaders help sculpture find a new home
Today was supposed to be a somber moving day for “Prelude,” a 15-foot-tall bronze sculpture in Republic Square Park downtown.
City crews had planned to truck the sculpture by Israeli artist Itzik Benshalom to a Decker Lake storage facility so that renovations could be made to the park.
Instead, because of some 11th-hour inspiration by city and hospital leaders, the sculpture was moved to the campus of the University Medical Center Brackenridge, where it will eventually be placed in a planned tranquility garden or near the hospital’s entrance.
“It’s a good solution to a problem and it came about very quickly,” Mayor Lee Leffingwell said.
Leffingwell said that at a Thursday ceremony celebrating the hospital’s 125th anniversity, he mentioned to Greg Hartman, a senior vice president for the Seton Family of Hospitals, that “Prelude” was slated to be moved the next day. Hartman said hospital staffers and patients value having artwork on the premises. So hospital and city leaders spent Thursday afternoon hammering out a plan, then gathered at Republic Square on Friday to see the sculpture, an abstract piece of two figures entwined, placed on a flatbed truck for the short trip northeast to the hospital.
The sculpture will be stored in a hospital facility until the garden is built, a spokeswoman said.
“Prelude” had to be moved because it is not included in a master plan for Republic Square. The Austin Parks Foundation has spent more than a year redesigning the park and trying to improve the health of very old trees there.
Private owners loaned the sculpture to the city in 1986 for a year, but never tried to reclaim it, city officials said. The city had the sculpture appraised recently — it is worth up to $240,000 — and had planned to auction it off.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Council chatter
June 10, 2009
Leffingwell chooses mayoral staff
Council Member and mayor-elect Lee Leffingwell has chosen the team of staffers who will help carry out his campaign ideas in the mayor’s office.
Leffingwell won the mayor’s race last month after Council Member Brewster McCracken bowed out of a runoff.
Mark Nathan will be Leffingwell’s chief of staff. His policy aides will be Nancy Williams, Amy Everhart and Matt Curtis. And his executive secretary will be Janet Jackson.
Nathan ran Leffingwell’s 2005 and 2008 council campaigns and his recent mayoral campaign. Nathan has also advised the campaigns of four out of six of the current council’s other six members.
Everhart worked on Leffingwell’s mayoral campaign and has run campaigns for Council Member Mike Martinez and former Council Member Jennifer Kim. Williams is a former director of the Texas Democratic Party who has worked for Leffingwell since his council term began. Curtis, a former aide to Mayor Will Wynn, will be leaving a job at Capital Metro to join Leffingwell’s team.
Leffingwell and new council members Chris Riley and Bill Spelman will be sworn in June 22.
Permalink | Comments (16) | Post your comment Categories: Council chatter
April 21, 2009
Council to take on noise rules for restaurants
The City Council is set to take a look at altering the noise requirements for certain music venues in town.
The council will vote Thursday on whether or not about 16 music venues designated as restaurants by the city’s zoning regulations can be changed to cocktail lounges. This will allow them to play live music at up to 85 decibels instead of 70, said Bobby Garza, an aide to Council Member Mike Martinez.
Included in the group are Threadgill’s, Shady Grove and other restaurants that play live music. If the resolution passes, the city will waive the restaurants’ new permit application fees and expedite the permit process.
“This is our attempt to work with individual venues and come up with broad solutions when we can,” Garza said.
Not included in the list is Freddie’s Place, which cancelld all its live music last week after failing to meet the noise ordinance requirement. Garza said Freddie’s is not zoned in a way that would allow the change.
Read the story about Freddie’s Place here: http://www.austin360.com/search/content/music/stories/2009/04/0415freddies.html
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Council chatter
February 7, 2009
Deer feeding and other topics on tap for council
Looks like the Austin City Council’s meeting this Thursday will be pretty busy.
Here are some noteworthy items they’re slated to vote on:
Making it a Class C misdemeanor to intentionally feed deer. (Looks like this will mostly be complaint-driven and the Health and Human Services Dept. will handle enforcement.)
Deciding whether to put a solar power array on 300 acres in Webberville.
Removing forgivable loans as an option from the Business Retention and Enhancement Program. This program came under fire in 2007 when the council offered a forgivable loan to Las Manitas, a Mexican eatery. The owners ultimately declined the loan.
Asking the city manager to devise a formal process (including public input!) for compiling a list of projects to apply for federal stimulus money. (Could this be due to the lashing Austin took in the national media this week for including a Frisbee golf course on a list of possible stimulus projects?)
Briefings about: Plans to build a boardwalk to close a gap in the hike-and-bike trail along Lady Bird Lake, and the finalist firms vying to write a new comprehensive plan for Austin.
A zoning decision on Wildflower Commons, a mixed-use project that would sit over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone. Environmental activists are upset about the project.
The fun starts at 10 a.m. Thursday.
Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment Categories: Council chatter
December 18, 2008
Tributes for Gale flow at council
All seven members of the Austin City Council gave personal tributes to Jennifer Gale today is what was a touching and sometimes funny goodbye to the transgendered homeless woman who was a regular speaker — and singer — at council meetings. She also ran and lost numerous races for the council and other elective offices.
Gale had made her last three-minute appearance at a council subcommittee meeting Tuesday evening, spooling out her typically crowded list of concerns — health care, Iraq, abortion — and singing an on-tune and lilting version of “Silent Night.” A tape of her performance was played at council chambers today, with most of the audience and several council members joining in the singing.
“She’s always been an incredibly sweet person,” said Council Member Brewster McCracken, who recalled sitting with Gale for about 30 minutes not that long ago and asking about her life story. She told him about living in the Carolinas, about serving in the Marines, about working at a Stuckey’s.
The outpouring for such an unusual person, McCracken said, ” is a reminder of the better angels of all of us as Austinites. But the idea that she died alone on a park bench on a cold night is a reminder that we have not lived up to our better angels as a community.”
Council Member Mike Martinez pointed out that Gale had a particular problem finding proper shelter. She couldn’t go to a male shelter because she lived her life as a woman, but couldn’t go to a woman’s shelter because she was “anatomically” a man, Martinez said. He pointed out that the homeless residential facility that the council briefly considered months ago might have provided a place for someone like Gale.
Council Member Laura Morrison recalled that Gale was among the six who ran for the seat Morrison won. Gale came in fourth, Morrison said. Her favorite memory, Morrison said, was a Real Estate Council of Austin election forum when Gale “led about 500 suits and their guests at the Four Season’s ballroom in a rendition of “You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling.”
Mayor Will Wynn said he had the “distinct honor of running twice for mayor with Jennifer. You didn’t run against Jennifer, you ran with her.”
“Jennifer will be sorely missed,” Wynn said. “Semper fi.”
Permalink | Comments (45) | Post your comment Categories: Council chatter
Wynn: Donate in Jennifer Gale's honor
The Austin City Council just after noon will officially honor Jennifer Gale, the homeless perennial candidate for local offices who died Wednesday while sleeping outside a local church. But Austin Mayor Will Wynn began this morning’s meeting with his own tribute in the form of a crystal bowl and $100.
Wynn made the donation to House the Homeless, money that he said buys the homeless thermal underwear (for $10 donations) and in addition socks, gloves and a hat if the donation reaches $25. The bowl will stay there throughout today’s meeting.
“Jennifer most nights slept outdoors,” Wynn said. “Jennifer we believe is the 136th person who has died sleeping on the streets (of Austin) over the last 12 months.”
Permalink | Comments (21) | Post your comment Categories: Council chatter
September 26, 2008
Council member welcomes baby girl
Austin City Council Member Randi Shade gave birth to a healthy baby girl this afternoon.
Emily Austin Shade-Shell — “Emme,” mom said — arrived at 12:38 p.m., weighing 7 pounds, 10 ounces and measuring 20.5 inches long.
“She is healthy and beautiful,” Shade said in an e-mail.
Shade and her partner, Kayla Shell, also have a toddler son, Ethan.
Shade was elected to the council in May, replacing Jennifer Kim in Place 3. She said earlier this year that she plans to have child care help and hopes to return to work shortly after the birth.
Permalink | Comments (19) | Post your comment Categories: Council chatter
September 25, 2008
Council member wants to beef up tow-truck rules
Austin City Council Member Mike Martinez said at this morning’s council meeting that he will bring forward a proposal to crack down on tow-truck drivers who illegally tow automobiles or flout other city laws.
Martinez said he recently sat down with five Austin police officers to discuss the issue, and they “went through example after example where we have significant gross negligence related to tow truck drivers … Some of these companies are just acting completely out of line,” he said.
Martinez said he was illegally towed two weeks ago, and he relayed other stories of what he called predatory towing.
Most tow-truck drivers operate ethically, Martinez said, but “there are a handful who are taking advantage of loopholes in our ordinance.”
Permalink | Comments (27) | Post your comment Categories: Council chatter
September 16, 2008
Cedric Benson, City of Austin team up for coat giveaway
Former Longhorn Cedric Benson’s foundation, NuffCed, is paying for 250 winter coats that it will give to kids at three East Austin schools this week.
Austin City Council Member Mike Martinez said Benson approached him recently about teaming up with the city to give back to the community.
The two came up with the coat giveaway idea, though Benson couldn’t be there for this morning’s announcement.
School officials at Barbra Jordan Elementary School, Gus Garcia Middle School and the University of Texas Elementary School have helped the city identify kids in need of coats. The giveaways will take place Thursday afternoon and Friday morning at those schools.
Martinez said Benson has also agreed to give money for programs and repairs at City of Austin recreation centers. The amount and specific projects have not yet been determined, he said.
On May 3, Benson was charged with boating while intoxicated and with resisting arrest after an incident on Lake Travis. Five weeks later, he was charged with driving while intoxicated in downtown Austin.
Asked whether those arrests played a role in Benson’s generosity, Martinez said “This has nothing to do with Cedric’s personal issues over the past few months … He’s trying to move past that. His single motive is to give back to his community.”
Permalink | Comments (29) | Post your comment Categories: Council chatter
July 25, 2008
Austin's affordable housing fund gets a boost
Housing advocates were not happy when they saw that the 2009 budget proposal (presented by City Manager Marc Ott on Wednesday) did not include money for the Housing Trust Fund, a pot of money that pays for affordable housing.
The fund was set up in 2000, when the City Council decided to set aside some of the property tax proceeds from redeveloped, city-owned land to use for affordable housing. The council agreed to put $1 million a year into the housing fund through 2004. But it has continued to make that annual commitment through this year.
So far, $8.8 million from the fund has been used to build 984 rental units for low-income residents.
Ott recommended not putting any money into the fund in 2009 to help close a $25 million budget gap. But he, Neighborhood Housing Director Margaret Shaw and Chief of Staff Anthony Snipes came up with a solution that they unveiled at the council meeting yesterday.
The city will put $200,000 of the redevelopment property-tax proceeds into the fund, as well as $800,000 leftover from another program — the SMART Housing Program — that also aims to build affordable housing. The proposed budget would remain balanced because the housing fund money would not be drawn from the general fund, which pays for most city services.
The solution elicited cheers from the audience at yesterday’s meeting. But Shaw and others cautioned that it will be challenging to find a more permanent way to replenish the housing fund beyond 2010.
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment Categories: Council chatter
June 4, 2008
New council member expecting a baby
Randi Shade called this morning to relay the happy news that she and her partner are expecting a baby girl in early October.
Shade won the Austin City Council race against Council Member Jennifer Kim in May. She will be sworn into the Place 3 seat in late June.
Shade and her partner, Dell attorney Kayla Shell, also have a two-year-old son Ethan.
Shade, 42, said she does not plan to take a maternity leave and will probably miss only a few council meetings.
The baby’s timing couldn’t be more perfect; Shade will give birth after the council slogs through its toughest task of the year: crafting a city budget in August and September.
Permalink | Comments (50) | Post your comment Categories: Council chatter
May 15, 2008
Kim wishes Shade well
Council Member Jennifer Kim took a moment at this morning’s council meeting to thank the community for her time on the dais.
Kim lost to Randi Shade in Saturday’s elections after a contentious re-election battle.
But Kim seemed energetic and cheerful this morning. She wished Shade “much success” and said that serving the city has been a great honor. She also thanked city staff members she’s worked with and constituents who have sent kind words her way.
Mayor Will Wynn kidded Kim that she can’t say goodbye just yet: her term doesn’t end until mid-June.
“You still have three more meetings left,” he quipped.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment Categories: Council chatter
May 5, 2008
Ott will do national search for ACM
The City Hall staffing shuffle continues.
Austin City Manager Marc Ott said today that he will conduct a national search for a new assistant city manager following the departure of ACM Laura Huffman.
Huffman announced last week that she’s leaving soon to head up The Nature Conservancy of Texas.
Ott said he’ll name an interim assistant city manager by mid-May. He’ll also appoint a new chief of staff in the next few weeks to replace departing chief of staff Kristen Vassallo.
For the time being, the Neighborhood Housing and Human Resources departments will report to Assistant City Manager Rudy Garza. And the Agenda and Government Relations offices will report to communications director Gene Acuna. Those departments used to report to Vassallo.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment Categories: Council chatter
April 16, 2008
Committee cool to billboards plan
A subcommittee of the planning commission gave a chilly reception last night to proposed new billboard rules.
The rules, proposed by council members Mike Martinez and Betty Dunkerley, would expand an existing relocation ordinance and, for the first time, allow sign owners to relocate billboards to some “scenic roadways.” Martinez has said the change would encourage sign owners to move billboards out of residential areas and into more suitable, commercial spots.
The “scenic” roads under consideration — Slaughter Lane, Parmer Lane, Mopac north of 183 and part of Ben White Blvd. — are arguably no longer scenic, but are designated as such in city codes. Residents near other “scenic roadways” such as 2222 and 360 fear that billboards could be moved to those areas.
The four-person subcommittee recommended against allowing billboards on any scenic roads. And they rejected two other key ideas in the proposal: allowing billboards moved to commercial roads such as Burnet and Lamar to be as big as 672 square feet (the current size limit is 300 square feet) and allowing relocated billboards to sit 25 feet above “elevated highways.”
The group OKed Martinez’ idea of requiring sign owners to tear down two or three smaller billboards in order to put up a bigger sign at a new location. But they wanted to clarify that the smaller signs must be fully torn down before the new, larger sign goes up. And they recommended that the relocated sign only be allowed to stand 10 years, not the 25 years currently allowed.
They also recommended that relocated billboards sit at least 1,000 feet away from residentially zoned properties — not 500 feet, as currently allowed — and at least 800 feet from schools.
The committee OKed two other ideas Martinez and Dunkerley have proposed: banning mobile billboards and imposing fees on cab companies that display third-party ads on their taxis.
The full Planning Commission will vote on the proposal next Tuesday, and the City Council will hold a public hearing and vote on it next Thursday.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment Categories: Council chatter
April 15, 2008
City's chief of staff bids farewell
Kristen Vassallo, the chief of staff to City Manager Marc Ott and former City Manager Toby Futrell, said today that she will resign her post on May 2.
“Professionally and personally, it’s time for me to make a change,” she said. “There are some neat options out there.”
Vassallo, 37, said she’s considering several possible job opportunities, but will also take a breather and spend time with her family. Vassallo is a mom to three-year-old twins.
A grad of the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT, Vassallo was Futrell’s chief of staff for the past two and a half years. Prior to that, she was the city’s director of communications, the manager of Kirk Watson’s campaign for attorney general and Watson’s chief of staff when he was mayor.
Vassallo said the decision was her own; she wasn’t nudged out. She told Ott in her resignation letter: “Please know that I will help in any way I can to make this a smooth transition for you and the organization … As you continue your introduction to this organization and the community, please do not hesitate to call on me,” she wrote.
She said today that what she’ll miss the most are the employees she’s worked with.
“It’s the most remarkable, talented, intelligent group,” she said.
Permalink | Comments (15) | Post your comment Categories: Council chatter
January 9, 2008
No city manager finalists yet
The City Council finished interviewing semifinalists for the city manager’s job today but didn’t announce a list of finalists.
About 5 p.m., the council came out of closed session to say it would continue its discussion of possible finalists tomorrow. It’s going to be a busy day; the council also has a regular council meeting scheduled.
Each of the seven semifinalists interviewed with individual council members Tuesday. Today, each candidate fielded questions from the full council in closed session and also gave a PowerPoint presentation on how he or she would approach the first few months on the job.
The candidates are applying to replace outgoing Austin City Manager Toby Futrell.
Permalink | | Categories: Council chatter
November 5, 2007
Want a minute with Jennifer Kim?
Council Member Jennifer Kim is holding open office hours every Monday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and until 5:30 p.m. the first Monday of the month due to CAMPO.
“I realize that it can be difficult to get on a council member’s schedule, especially for last-minute issues. Our calendars can often be booked weeks in advance,” Kim wrote in a message that went out on the Austin Neighborhoods Council listserv. “Whether you want to provide input on an issue, have something you want to bring to my attention, or just want to chat, I’ll be there.”
You can stop by during Kim’s office hours or call her secretary, Grace, at 974-2255 to put your name down in advance.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Council chatter
