Last week, City of Austin officials proudly proclaimed they had passed a transformative, progressive budget for 2021—a $4.2 billion package where equity “encompasses the full breadth of city services and functions,” to borrow a line from its introduction. Unfortunately, those words ring hollow when it comes to fighting the displacement of Austin’s current residents, one ...
City of Austin officials are scheming to circumvent Travis County District Judge Soifer’s March 2020 ruling, which orders the city to recognize notice and protest rights when rezoning properties. The city quietly filed last month with the court a “motion to clarify,” which actually sought to eviscerate her order. Late last week, Judge Soifer ruled ...
Montopolis, a historic low-income community of color, is under assault by developer speculators and city planners. Montopolis was founded nine years before Austin and was only completely annexed by the city in the 1970s. Today, it is a prime target for redevelopment profits and displacement of people of color. Nine separate single-family tracts now are ...
A good example of the Austin Planning Commission’s heavy-handed, dismissive approach to East and Southeast Austin residents of color can be heard this Tuesday, July 14, when upzoning cases in the East MLK neighborhood and Montopolis community go before the Planning Commission. Please follow these new guidelines to let the Commissioners know that you want ...
“Fiscal chaos.” That’s how the Austin American-Statesman sums up the situation at City Hall, where elected officials and municipal staffers are trying to draw up a budget in the midst of a COVID-19 surge and an economy wounded by business shutdowns. With public funds dwindling and the local unemployment rate growing, the city is under ...