As part of the City Manager recruitment process, the City is inviting community members to submit questions that may be included during the moderated discussion.

Questions can be submitted here at SpeakUpAustin page.
Questions will be accepted until 11 p.m. March 20.
The two candidates under consideration, T.C. Broadnax and Sara Hensley, will be introduced on Monday, March 25 at the Permitting and Development Center, 6310 Wilhelmina Delco Drive.
The event begins at 6 p.m. and doors will open to the public at 5:30 p.m. Free parking will be provided at the adjacent parking garage, which can be accessed from Wilhelmina Delco Drive, Middle Fiskville Road or East Highland Mall Boulevard.

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Texas Attorney General Paxton targets Austin's light-rail plans (KUT)

Austin's effort to build a high-frequency urban rail network is facing a challenge from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose legal arguments seek to dismantle the funding mechanism behind the voter-endorsed transit expansion.

In a court filing, Paxton slammed the city's payment plan for the 10-mile light-rail starter system. The financial strategy was designed to navigate the increasingly tight strictures the state Legislature has placed on how Texas cities raise money.

If a court sides with Paxton, it could kill the light-rail expansion known as Project Connect.

In November 2020, Austin voters approved a 21% increase in the maintenance and operations portion of their property tax rate to fund the project. The tax hike generates about $166 million a year and growing… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Black arts collective wants progress on city’s African American cultural district (Austin Monitor)

An East Austin arts nonprofit is looking to organize musicians, artists and other creatives for job opportunities and to put pressure on the city to move forward with building out plans for the African American Culture and Heritage District that were approved by City Council in 2021.

The East Austin Creative Coalition is seeking members to join its registry of artists and creative professionals, which is intended mainly as a platform for marketing and economic development of Black artists and organizations.

Harold McMillan, founder of the group, made presentations recently to the Arts Commission and Music Commission looking to promote the registry and to ask for city support to share the group’s information with cultural contractors and grant applicants who may find it relevant.

During his talk with the Arts Commission last month, McMillan also said the EACC wants the city to follow through on the placemaking, funding and organizational steps spelled out in the 2021 resolution... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin weather to see brief cold spell Tuesday and high of 80 by Sunday (Austin American-Statesman)

Temperatures in Austin will return to a regular range this week, with a brief cold spell bringing lows in the 40s before giving way to highs in the 80s by the end of the week.

Weather in March typically sees averages in the mid-70s to the low 50s, according to the National Weather Service's historical climate data.

Rain chances remain on the lower end this week, with some storms predicted Wednesday evening to Thursday morning. Last weekend's rain brought just under an inch to Camp Mabry… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Pflugerville City Council proposes development standards overhaul (Community Impact)

A public notice sent to roughly 2,000 Pflugerville residents announcing City Council's intent to modify development standards prompted concerns about property rights. The proposed changes aim to encourage mixed-use and high-density developments along the SH 130 corridor.

A public hearing will be conducted during a March 26 City Council meeting, where council members may opt to approve amendments to the city’s unified development code.However, the notice sent to residents included language stating, “The city of Pflugerville is holding a hearing that will determine whether you may lose the right to continue using your property for its current use,” raising concerns from both homeowners and business owners alike.Addressing these concerns, Jeremy Frazzell, director of planning and development services, said single-family homeowners and business owners will not be affected. He emphasized that these adjustments target future development and the language included in the notice is a new state requirement… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Supreme Court extends block on Texas law that would allow police to arrest migrants (Associated Press)

The Supreme Court on Monday continued to block, for now, a Texas law that would give police broad powers to arrest migrants suspected of illegally entering the U.S. while the legal battle it sparked over immigration authority plays out.

A one-page order signed by Justice Samuel Alito indefinitely prevents Texas from enforcing a sweeping state immigration enforcement law that had been set to take effect this month. The language of the order strongly suggests the court will take additional action, but it is unclear when.

It marks the second time Alito has extended a pause on the law, known as Senate Bill 4, which the Justice Department has argued would step on the federal government’s immigration powers. Monday’s order extending the stay came a few minutes after a 5 p.m. deadline the court had set for itself, creating momentary confusion about the measure’s status… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Has SXSW lost its cool? (Texas Monthly)

The music portion of South by Southwest has endured a tumultuous week. The festival, once an exemplar of cool, has seen artists pull out of their official showcase performances over the past few days—first as a trickle over the weekend, then, by Monday evening (the first official day of SXSW Music), as something of a flood. By Tuesday afternoon, more than eighty artists had announced that they wouldn’t be performing, citing two factors stemming from the bombing and starving of Palestinian civilians amid Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza and the U.S. government’s accelerating military aid to Israel.

One factor is the presence of the United States Army as a “super sponsor” of the festival, one of the above-the-fold names listed on all of SXSW’s promotional materials. A second factor is the inclusion in the festival of panel discussions and other speaking events featuring representatives of U.S. weapons manufacturers, including RTX, formerly Raytheon, and its subsidiary Collins Aerospace. What started as a decision by a single artist (Chicago’s Squirrel Flower) ballooned into a movement, which wound up gaining the support of some of the festival’s biggest names. On Monday, rising Brooklyn pop and R&B star Yaya Bey, a major get for the festival, announced that she would be skipping her official festival performance. Instead, she would be playing a free show at an event sponsored by the democratic socialist–aligned Working Families Party.

This year’s controversy comes at an inflection point in SXSW’s history. After the 2020 edition of the festival was canceled, the first major U.S. event to pull the plug amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the business that runs it was in dire straits.

It sold a 50 percent stake in 2021 to Penske Media, which controls a portfolio of lifestyle brands including Variety, Billboard, and the Hollywood Reporter, and the festival returned as an in-person event in 2022. That year was bleak—the hip tech companies that had been fixtures throughout the previous decade were largely absent, and the festival economy was buoyed by cryptocurrency cash, a bubble that even the tech enthusiasts who typically populate the first few days of SXSW seemed to sense was on the verge of bursting.

The festival culminated with a joyless Dolly Parton performance that was minted as an NFT, or non-fungible token, for blockchain enthusiasts to buy as a piece of digital property. It marked a steep fall for an event that over the years had grown from a local party to an international powerhouse. SXSW was widely regarded as one of the coolest events in the world for more than a decade. But nothing remains cool forever, and this year’s boycott by many of its scheduled performers puts the festival’s credibility at risk once more.

Which leads many fans, performers, and sponsors to wonder: Can SXSW keep its cool? Most major American festivals are fairly straightforward: the promoters book artists and pay them to perform, and fans buy tickets to attend. SXSW operates in a more complex and delicate ecosystem. The festival barely pays the majority of its performers. (Through 2023, solo artists received $100, while bands got $250; amid protests last year, those numbers went up to $150 and $350, respectively).

There are no official grounds. The event takes place throughout Austin, primarily downtown, in individual venues—some of which require attendees to purchase a badge for a chance to get in (music badges start at $995 for a walk-up purchase). Performances in some other venues are not only free; they ply attendees with free booze, food, and other giveaways.

Those enticements can range from draft beer to handmade craft cocktails, from stacks of pizza to catering by famed pitmaster Aaron Franklin, from branded sunglasses to free iPads—all of which has helped foster a sense that attendees are always missing something better, if only they knew it was happening and were important enough to get in… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

If you voted in the Texas primaries, you’re in the minority, and that’s a problem (Dallas Morning News)

So many Texas voters don’t like participating in primaries. Only 18% of the nearly 18 million registered voters cast ballots in the March 5 Democratic and Republican primaries. That’s down from 25.3% in 2020, when there were 16.2 million registered Texas voters. Turnout in the Republican primaries was slightly up, with 12.6% voter turnout, compared with 12.4% in 2020. Democratic primary voting dipped significantly from 2020, when nearly 13% of voters showed up for a competitive race between Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Democratic turnout two weeks ago was 5.4%. For this year’s primaries, 82% of registered voters stayed home. That made nonvoters the most influential bloc in the primary process, though not for their own interests. By not participating in the nominating process, nonvoters empower the more extreme set of voters in both major political parties.

Because Texas’ legislative districts were drawn to produce few competitive general election contests, low-turnout primaries allow a fraction of Texas voters to determine who’s elected to office — and the laws and policies that result. “There’s just a general apathy,” said Joyce LeBombard, president of the League of Women Voters of Texas.

“Some people just don’t think their votes matter.” LeBombard said apathy this year started at the top of the ticket, with polls showing a clear majority of Americans unenthusiastic about a rematch between President Biden and former President Donald Trump, who dominated the primary process long before the race got to Texas.

“Having that apathy at the presidential race level really impacts those down-ballot races,” she said — even though those races have more direct impact on people’s lives. Other voting advocates agree. “There’s a lot of disillusionment with both the candidates, particularly the presidential candidates, and also the parties and the process,” said Ramiro Luna, a leader in Somos Tejas, a nonprofit voter advocacy group. “That’s disappointing because the real fight is often in the primaries.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Why some Texas cities are getting rid of their minimum parking rules (Texas Tribune)

In car-dependent Texas, most cities have rules on how many parking spots must be built anywhere people live, play or do business. But those requirements have come under scrutiny in recent years, with critics saying they do more harm than good.

As the nation tries to curb carbon emissions and fight climate change, climate activists and urbanists have chided the regulations for encouraging car dependency. Housing advocates and developers have also identified those minimums as a barrier to building more homes and taming housing costs.

“This is a pretty obvious target for helping to address [the housing affordability crisis],” said Tony Jordan, co-founder of Parking Reform Network.

In major Texas cities like Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and El Paso, developers usually can’t build single-family homes or apartments without parking. Government regulations like those, critics argue, effectively force housing developers to provide parking spots where they may have instead built housing — contributing to higher home prices and rents… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US/WORLD NEWS]

The G.O.P. flamethrower with a right-wing vision for North Carolina (New York Times)

As Mark Robinson completed his rapid six-year rise from conservative internet sensation to the Republican nominee for North Carolina governor, he worked relentlessly to sell his political vision to evangelical Christians. Traveling from church to church and thundering away on social media, he condemned “transgenderism” and “homosexuality” as “filth.” He said Christians should be led by men, not women.

And on at least one occasion, he explicitly called to upend American tradition on God’s role in government. “People talk about the separation of church and state,” Mr. Robinson, North Carolina’s lieutenant governor, said in a speech in October. “I’m trying to find that phrase somewhere in our Constitution. Trying to find it somewhere in our Declaration of Independence. Trying to find it in the writings of any patriot, anywhere, and I cannot. And I cannot because it does not exist.”

He concluded, “There is no separation of church and state.” Mr. Robinson’s long history of inflammatory statements has generated a torrent of headlines since he became the Republican standard-bearer in this year’s most closely watched race for governor. But underlying his combative proclamations on race, abortion, education and religion is an exceptionally right-wing worldview — with deep roots in modern evangelical Christianity — that would make him one of the most conservative governors in America if elected.

Mr. Robinson has telegraphed, often in bombastic terms, how far to the right he would try to push North Carolina, supporting a ban on all abortions once a heartbeat is detected, calling for arresting transgender women if they do not use the bathroom of their sex assigned at birth, and urging the introduction of prayer in schools. As he runs to replace the term-limited Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, and give Republicans full control of state government, Mr. Robinson has shown no sign that he plans to moderate his message for the November general election… (LINK TO FULL STORY)