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October 27, 2009
Barton Springs Pool remains closed
Flooding and debris is keeping Barton Springs Pool closed for now, according to the Austin Parks and Recreation Department Aquatic Division.
Aquatic division staff has not been able to clean the debris and silt from the pool as flood water continues to pour in. After the water flow stops and a cleaning can be done, staff will decide when the pool can reopen.
Deep Eddy Pool nearby revised its schedule to accommodate Barton Springs swimmers. It will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. most days this week, the city said, except tomorrow, when it will open at 7 a.m.
For more information, go to the Parks and Recreation Department website.
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July 8, 2009
South Austin water main repaired overnight
A 54-inch main water pipe in South Austin that was accidentally drilled into Monday was repaired about 2 a.m. today, said Kevin Buchman, a spokesman for Austin Water Utility.
“Today we will be charging and flushing the line, and building pressure and restoring the levels in our reservoirs throughout the day,” Buchman said.
Buchman said the utility has lifted a temporary ban on outdoor watering in South Austin, but residents should follow normal water restrictions.
The 54-inch pipe, which serves about 60 percent of South Austin, is one of two used to channel water to customers south of the Colorado River. The pipe is in the 2100 block of Walsh Tarlton Lane in Southwest Austin.
Service was shut off for a bank close to the pipe, but no other customers were affected, said Buchman.
Before the utility could turn off water going through the main, it lost about 5 million gallons of water, less than 2 percent of daily production, said Greg Meszaros, director of the Austin Water Utility.
Utility workers were on the scene Monday night and Tuesday. Repairs will cost in the tens of thousands of dollars, Meszaros said. He said the city would “take all the appropriate steps to recover the costs from the contractor.”
He said he did not know the name of the contractor, who was performing geotechnical boring for an Austin Water Utility expansion project. The contractor was a subcontractor of the engineering firm PBS&J.
“The boring contractor misunderstood the location marks, and he bore where he shouldn’t have,” Meszaros said.
The line, which runs near Barton Creek Square mall, carries water from the Ullrich Water Treatment Plant and provides about 60 percent of the water used in South Austin, which consumes about 60 million gallons a day, Buchman said.
Buchman did not say whether or not residents should continue restricting water usage.
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June 18, 2009
Shady Grove reprieve approved
The Austin City Council approved a resolution to retroactively extend certain expired permits for outdoor music venues.
Under the plan introduced by council members Mike Martinez and Laura Morrison, venue owners whose permits were scheduled to expire between March 23 and Thursday will now have until Nov. 1 to renew.
This gives Shady Grove, a restaurant on Barton Springs Road that features live music, a reprieve from their sound and permitting issues, which came to a head last week when police shut down “Unplugged at the Grove” after a noise complaint from a neighbor.
In April, the council passed an ordinance that allowed certain restaurants that regularly feature live music to be classified as cocktail lounges. Cocktail lounges may play music at 85 decibels, while restaurants are limited to 70 decibels.
Shady Grove’s permit to host live music expired on May 23, which is why the restaurant was told to stop rather than quiet down. Shady Grove owner Mike Young said last week that he had applied for a variance while waiting for the classification change and thought he was in compliance with city law.
The council extension applies to venues bounded roughly by Interstate 35, Lamar Boulevard, 15th Street and Lady Bird Lake, and some other venues, including Shady Grove, outside that area.
The council delayed a decision to create a city music department until August. That resolution — sponsored by Martinez, Morrison and Council Member Randi Shade — would have directed the city manager “to allocate city resources, including staff, to centralize city programs and activities related to supporting Austin music.”
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January 9, 2008
City Store to be empty no more
Austin could soon trade snow globes for sneakers.
Run-Tex is eying the vacated City Store space on Second Street for a new store called FitCity, according to a memo to the City Council from City Manager Toby Futrell.
Leasing of the space is on Thursday’s Council agenda.
FitCity would sell athletic clothing, shoes and gifts for downtown denizens, the memo said.
The City Store, located in the northwest corner of City Hall, was closed this fall after the Council chose to no longer subsidize the retail effort. It sold items that “positively promoted” Austin, such as Saks Fifth Avenue snow globes featuring the Austin skyline.
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October 10, 2007
Trouble brewing in city human resources department
We’ve gotten a steady stream of letters from city Human Resources employees in the past few months complaining about discriminatory treatment by a city human resources employee. Another letter arrived this week.
The employees have declined to speak on the record, but 15 of them have sought help and representation from Carol Guthrie of AFSCME, the city employees’ union.
The angst and anger among employees has reached critical mass, Guthrie said, and the employees want the official to be removed or re-assigned.
“The trust is gone. The employees don’t want to work with (the official); she has rendered herself ineffective by abusing her power,” Guthrie said.
In a nutshell, the employees say that the employee revealed two HR employees’ private medical information, has discriminated against black employees by creating roadblocks to job reclassifications (which are similar to promotions) and has tried to intimidate or discredit other employees.
City Manager Toby Futrell hired lawyer Connie Cornell in July to investigate the medical information allegation, and Cornell (who was paid about $8,000) concluded she couldn’t substantiate those claims. Futrell also brought in a federal mediator last month to interview several human resources employees and make recommendations about how to improve the dynamics in the department.
Mediator Mike McMillion has not made recommendations yet, but at his urging, Futrell has met with individual human resources employees and with a group of them, city spokesman Gene Acuna said. Guthrie said the employees might file a complaint with the Texas Human Rights Commission if Futrell does not re-assign the official, Guthrie said.
The employees are also upset that Futrell hired Cornell, because city auditors questioned the thoroughness of a separate investigation Cornell conducted into former Austin Clean Water Program manager Bill Moriarty. The city has paid Cornell a total of about $300,000 in the past few years to investigate six different issues in various city departments.
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