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There are 10 days left for U.S. residents to complete the census, and local leaders are calling on Austinites to make sure they are counted.
<p>The results of the decennial effort will determine how much federal funding is directed to Austin over the next decade as well as the upcoming redistricting process and the allocation of new state and federal representatives. </p><p>"It is vital that every single household do this," Mayor Steve Adler said during a press conference on Monday morning.</p><p>Every 10 years, the federal government is constitutionally required to count every person who is living in the country, regardless of origin or immigration status. For the first time, residents are able to <a href="https://my2020census.gov/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>complete the census online</u></a>; the questionnaire takes about 10 minutes to complete. </p><p><strong>Challenges</strong> </p><p>This census, however, has been disrupted by myriad factors. </p><p>In 2018, the Trump administration attempted to add a question about citizenship to the census. Although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such a question was unconstitutional, the proposal prompted concerns about data privacy and confidentiality that <a href="https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2019/CES-WP-19-18.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>could depress participation</u></a>. </p><p>"It is safe to take the census," State Senator Sarah Eckhardt said, adding that census data is private and not shared across federal agencies. "But I also acknowledge the courage of the individuals in the foreign-born community in standing up and being counted." </p><p>Then, just as the nationwide census rollout was getting underway, the pandemic arrived, preventing traditional door-knocking campaigns and other in-person outreach. </p><p>Most recently, the U.S. Census Bureau announced on July 30 that it was <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/09/18/911960963/how-trump-officials-cut-the-2020-census-short-amid-the-pandemic" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>shortening the response period</u></a>, moving the deadline up to Sept. 30 from Oct. 31. </p><p>A bureau analysis concluded that a "compressed review period creates risk for serious errors," according to <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/documents/Census%20Slide%20Deck%20Aug%203%202020.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>an internal document obtained by the House Oversight and Reform Committee</u></a></p><p>"One of the things that is a challenge right now is the 30 days that we were anticipating that we would have … are no longer with us," Adler said. "It makes the next 10 days that much more important." </p><p><strong>Consequences</strong> </p><p>It is critical that as many people respond to the census as possible because each person who is counted equates to around $1,500 in federal funding annually directed toward their community. </p><p>So far, only 66.3% of Travis County residents have self-responded to the census, which is a lower rate than Tarrant and Bexar counties but slightly higher than Dallas and Harris counties. The self-response rate in Travis County was around 75% in 2010, Adler said. </p><p>At the current response rate, Travis County stands to lose $350 million a year in federal funding, Adler said. </p><p>This funding supports a plethora of programs, including natural disaster relief, Medicaid, student loans, housing vouchers, highway construction and subsidized lunches.</p><p> "The census is the baseline document for the distribution of those federal funds," Eckhardt said.</p><p>Adler added that census numbers were used when allocating coronavirus relief dollars. </p><p>"The amount of money that we got was directly proportional to the number of people who are believed to live in our community," he said. </p><p>The census also informs the political redistricting process and the allocation of seats in Congress and the Texas House as well as school board members. </p><p>Texas is expected to <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2019/12/31/texas-poised-to-gain-multiple-us-house-seats-after-2020-census-new-population-data-show/" target="_blank">gain two—possibly three—seats </a>in the U.S. House due to its population growth over the last decade. </p><p>"The more people we have counted, the more voters we get," Adler said.</p><p><strong>Solutions</strong> </p><p>Since the census began early this year, outreach efforts have been targeted to hard-to-count communities. </p><p>Young children, homeless people, college students, people of color, immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission and people who do not speak English are all considered hard to count, according to the bureau. </p><p>The lowest self-response rate in Travis County is found in the census tract just west of the University of Texas at Austin campus, where only 27.8% residents have participated, according to <a href="https://www.censushardtocountmaps2020.us/?latlng=40.00000%2C-98.09000&z=4&promotedfeaturetype=states&baselayerstate=3&rtrYear=sR2020latest&infotab=info-rtrselfresponse&filterQuery=false" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>a mapping tool created by the City University of New York</u></a>. </p><p>Local complete count committees—including <a href="https://aaul.org/make-black-count" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>Make Black Count ATX</u></a> and the <a href="https://www.aaccc-atx.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>Austin Asian Complete Count Committee</u></a>—have been working to encourage participation for months, but they have been stymied by coronavirus restrictions and the abbreviated timeframe. </p><p>As a result, Adler and Eckhardt called on Austinites to complete the census if they haven't already and encourage others to do the same while there is still time left.</p><p>"We really just need all hands on deck at this point," Eckhardt said. </p><p>Austinites can complete the census online <a href="https://2020census.gov/en/ways-to-respond.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>, by calling <a href="https://2020census.gov/en/ways-to-respond/responding-by-phone.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">844-330-2020</a> or by mailing the questionnaire sent to their household. </p>
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Austin Trail of Lights will take place this holiday season.
The Austin Trail of Lights—an annual event that transforms Zilker Park into a winter wonderland, featuring more than 60 displays and two million lights—will take place this holiday season, despite the pandemic.
<p>The Trail of Lights Foundation announced Thursday that this year's event will be a drive-thru experience after Austin City Council voted to approve <a href="https://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=346801" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>the change and extend the event period to 30 days</u></a>. </p><p>"What is old is becoming new again," Executive Director James Russell said in a statement. </p><p>In recent years, the Trail of Lights has attracted around 400,000 visitors annually. The drive-thru model will allow approximately 1,300 cars to attend each evening—or around 39,000 over the course of the event period—and adhere to local public health orders meant to contain the spread of COVID-19.</p><p>More details about the 56th annual Austin Trail of Lights will be released in mid-October. </p>
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Austin land use code rewrite stalls amid pandemic, lawsuit—but both sides say a solution is possible
11 September
(Emma Freer)
Although the city of Austin has scrapped CodeNEXT, signs in opposition to a land use code rewrite continue to pop up. This one was photographed near Clarksville on Sept. 11.
Before the pandemic, it looked like the city of Austin was finally on track to approve a new land use code—after nearly a decade-long process that had cost more than $10 million and was mired in controversy.
The code would determine how land can be used throughout the city, including what can be built, where it can be built and how much of it can be built. The code was last rewritten in the mid-1980s.
<p>"Modernizing it is important," said Annick Beaudet, assistant director of the city's Transportation Department and co-leader of the rewrite process. "If you drive around in a 1970s car, you're really polluting, right? … We know more now than we did in the '80s, and we should be using that knowledge to regulate the built environment." </p><p>The city first initiated a rewrite process—later dubbed CodeNEXT—in 2012, with the aim of streamlining the code and allowing for denser and more affordable housing given the city's population growth. Other fast-growing cities, such as <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/development/article34109337.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>Charlotte</u></a> and <a href="https://www.curbed.com/2018/11/27/18113208/minneapolis-real-estate-rent-development-2040-zoning" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>Minneapolis</u></a>, are attempting to do the same. </p><p>But in August 2018 Mayor Steve Adler scrapped the effort, which <a href="https://austincouncilforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1076&sid=99f1cf027af8caf9b3167360c66c7bc0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>he wrote</u></a> had become "divisive and poisoned," and asked the city manager to create a new process.</p><p>The second attempt at a rewrite <a href="http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/pio/document.cfm?id=319515" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>began in 2019</u></a>, and <a href="https://communityimpact.com/austin/central-austin/government/2020/02/13/austins-eight-year-effort-to-rewrite-land-code-advances-to-final-vote-with-city-council039s-second-round-approval/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>in February</u></a> of this year City Council voted 7-4, along urbanist vs. preservationist lines, to approve an updated draft, with aims to reach a consensus on a third and final version later in the spring. </p><p>The pandemic arrived in March, however, and that same month a Travis County judge ruled against the city in a lawsuit over its efforts to rewrite the code, further stalling the process. This November, <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-city-council-seats-up-for-election" target="_self"><u>20 candidates will vie for five council seats</u></a>, with many making their support for or opposition to the code rewrite a central plank of their campaign platform. </p><p>Despite the abandonment of CodeNEXT, divisiveness still surrounds the issue of rezoning. Multiple community groups organized in opposition to the rewrite, which their members claim is exclusive, panders to developers and will destroy neighborhoods. Supporters, on the other hand, argue that single-family zoning stands in the way of a more equitable, sustainable Austin, at best, and is <a href="https://www.kut.org/post/white-homeowners-dominate-input-over-austins-land-code-rewrite-one-group-trying-change" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>racist and classist, at worst</u></a>. </p><p>Still, those on both sides of the debate believe a compromise—in the form of a code that balances increased density with preserving single-family neighborhoods—is attainable.</p><p>Fred Lewis is president of Community Not Commodity, the group that brought the lawsuit against the city. "I think [a new code is] absolutely possible," he said.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="93d4f5c0bb28e5c6a8a31e44ade829be" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="de4df" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzk3NzExMy9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMzk5ODA5M30.QxMLkEw_n6HWD3zbwoA7c0w3p3buMVjvpu-0p2wg2uo/img.png?width=980"/>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Austin City Council voted 7-4 to approve a draft of the land use code rewrite on second reading on Feb. 13. </small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">(City of Austin)</small></p><p><strong>The opponents</strong></p><p>Critics of CodeNEXT include CNC and other community organizations, such as the recently formed Voices of Austin, as well as residents with "CodeNEXT wrecks Austin" signs in their front yards. They say the process has been bungled. </p><p>"From day one, Austin has followed the wrong course in how they have done this, and it's really unfortunate," said Jim Duncan, vice chair of the city's zoning commission and a member of CNC's board of directors. </p><p>Their grievances are myriad. </p><p>The current draft <a href="https://austincivicfund.com/austins-land-development-code-what-is-all-the-fuss/" target="_blank">is longer</a> than the original code, even though a stated aim was to streamline zoning requirements. Duncan called it "the least user-friendly document I've ever seen in my life."</p><p>The process of arriving at this longer version has also been "subservient to special interests," Duncan argued, and would benefit developers, who he said stand to make more money on multi-family projects than on single-family homes.</p><p>Opponents also dispute council members and planners' claim that increased housing stock in denser formations will help relieve Austin's affordability crisis. This is akin to "trickle-down housing theory," Lewis said. </p><p>Peck Young, executive director of Voices of Austin and a long-time Democrat consultant, put it in starker terms: "Nobody in the real estate industry wants to build a goddamn affordable house," he said. "You can't make any money."</p><p>VoA was formed, in part, because its founders felt City Hall had left homeowners and neighborhood associations out of the rewrite process. "It says the average Austinite pays the bills but they don't have a right to an opinion," Young said. </p><p>This perceived dismissiveness toward homeowners is grating for the rewrite's opponents. </p><p>"Don't they understand that people's homes and neighborhoods matter to them?" Lewis asked. "They act like, 'So what?'"</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="971eead5f3dc0cb43fce1ff78ab90a66" id="a9278"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1303152130157678592"><div style="margin:1em 0">#Austin City Law Department & #ATXcouncil (7 of the 11) like to spend 💲💲💲and time in courtrooms instead of doing Th… https://t.co/pdNwZMXZFL</div> — CodeNO (@CodeNO)<a href="https://twitter.com/CodeNOatx/statuses/1303152130157678592">1599530653.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Protecting these interests is at the core of CNC's lawsuit against the city, which accuses the city of denying homeowners' the right to receive notice of and appeal changes to the zoning of their property.<br/></p><p>"Nobody should be told they have to live next to triplexes or tenements," Young said. </p><p><strong>The supporters</strong> </p><p>Proponents of the rewrite include the local urbanist organization AURA; industry groups such as the Austin Board of Realtors, <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2019/05/04/reca-austin-chamber-react-to-citycouncils-big-leap.html" target="_blank"><u>Austin Chamber, Real Estate Council of Austin</u></a>; and, arguably, a majority of local voters who, in the 2018 midterm elections, re-elected Austin Mayor Steve Adler over a preservationist opponent and narrowly defeated an anti-CodeNEXT proposition. </p><p>They argue that a new code is necessary to increase the city's limited housing stock, adapt to a rapidly growing population and prevent the continued development of <a href="https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/codenext-could-limit-mcmansions-to-boost-affordability/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>extra-large single-family homes</u></a> where multi-family properties could be built to serve more residents. </p><p>Jeni Williams, ABoR's deputy director of government affairs, said the current code has exacerbated the city's housing inventory crisis. "It has made development of new housing extremely difficult," she said. </p><p>Williams and ABoR advocate for a code that balances increased density with the preservation of Austin's single-family neighborhoods. The most recent draft, she said, "definitely made a lot of progress" toward this goal. </p><p>But not every supporter feels this way. </p><p>Jake Wegmann, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture, said single-family zoning that excludes other forms of housing is outdated and "abhorrent." </p><p>"You'll hear the same thing over and over again," he told Austonia. "'When I bought my house, I was buying into a neighborhood, and I basically have the right to expect my neighborhood wouldn't change.'"</p><p>But Austin has changed. Since 1984, the city's population has more than doubled. In August, the median home price was $423,000, up more than 11% year-over-year despite the pandemic.</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="aa23fe8e293c17cbeaaa3209f37bb539" id="73736"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1289613217392553985"><div style="margin:1em 0">A “be afraid, CodeNEXT is Back” sign in Travis Heights. Any irony it stands in front of a $2,438,248* single famil… https://t.co/osYNNrSYQp</div> — Greg Anderson (@Greg Anderson)<a href="https://twitter.com/WalkableAustin/statuses/1289613217392553985">1596302725.0</a></blockquote></div><p>On top of that, Wegmann disputes opponents' claims that a rewrite would adversely affect <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/gentrification-architecture/" target="_blank">the neighborhood character</a> that some homeowners seek to protect or disproportionately benefit developers.<br/></p><p>"How is it preserving neighborhood character to replace a small, old, rundown house with [a] very large, very expensive, brand-new house that no one earning under $200,000 can ever dream of affording?" he asked. </p><p>Opponents often identify as David against "the big bad developer" Goliath, Wegmann said, but in his eyes the reverse is true. </p><p>"I'm not going to say that developers don't have lots of influence at City Hall," he said. "But by and large in terms of defending single-family zoning specifically, the homeowners have been very successful in doing that." </p><p>Fayez Kazi recently resigned as vice-chair of the city's planning commission. In his announcement, he lamented the limitations of the current code and the "constant bad-faith attacks from the likes of Fred Lewis" directed at those in favor of a rewrite. "If we continue to poison the well of civic discourse in Austin, we'll pay a big price for it long-term," he said.</p><p class="pdf-loader"><a class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6eafb09072940233ccb0f4049e4f91a5" href="https://roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms/documents/7144/Map of proposed transition areas .pdf">Map of proposed transition areas .pdf</a></p><p><strong>At loggerheads</strong> </p><p>The city's planners have worked to balance the preservationist and urbanist viewpoints, Beaudet said. Before the lawsuit halted work on a third draft, her team was updating their proposal to implement <a href="https://austintexas.gov/department/what-are-transition-areas" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>transition zones</u></a>—areas along corridors and in the urban core earmarked for increased density—based on concerns that they would encroach into residential neighborhoods. </p><p>"We did listen to the community," she said. "We did propose changes. But we never got that opportunity between second and third reading to discuss those and see how the mayor and council felt about them."</p><p><br/></p>
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(Waterloo Greenway/Twitter)
Waterloo Park, an 11-acre component of the forthcoming Waterloo Greenway park system, will open this spring.
Waterloo Greenway, an urban park system that runs 1.5 miles along Waller Creek from 15th Street to Lady Bird Lake, will soon make its debut.
<p>The first phase—Waterloo Park, an 11-acre park bordered by East 15th, Red River, East 12th and Trinity streets—broke ground in 2017 and will open this spring.</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="23e27dcbab32b9ab6e20141cd39ecd73" id="5931b"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1300569771574988806"><div style="margin:1em 0">Check out these incredible bird’s-eye views of #WaterlooPark. #InTheHeartOfAustin♥️ #OutOfThisWorld🌎 https://t.co/ioXjpn9OTh</div> — Waterloo Greenway (@Waterloo Greenway)<a href="https://twitter.com/WaterlooGW/statuses/1300569771574988806">1598914971.0</a></blockquote></div><p>The 10-year, 35-acre project is the result of a public-private partnership between the city of Austin and local nonprofit Waterloo Greenway Conservancy. Its estimated total cost is $250 million, of which approximately $150 million the city committed through bond funding. The conservancy will raise the remaining $100 million from donors and grants.</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="657cb86a13e6b10440cbc554ff9dd00a" id="b5597"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1301608908721664001"><div style="margin:1em 0">This week, nearly 38,000 square feet of fresh grass is being spread out and packed onto Waterloo Park’s Great Lawn!… https://t.co/pUOLOp6mU9</div> — Waterloo Greenway (@Waterloo Greenway)<a href="https://twitter.com/WaterlooGW/statuses/1301608908721664001">1599162721.0</a></blockquote></div><p>CEO Peter Mullan previously served as executive Vice President of Friends of the High Line—a nonprofit that founded, funds and oversees the High Line public park in Manhattan. <br/></p><p>The second phase will be an overhaul of the Creek Delta portion, which includes nine acres between Lady Bird Lake and 4th Street. It is currently in the design phase and is expected to be completed in 2023.</p><p>The last phase includes the middle section of the park system, from 4th to 11th streets, as well as Palm Park, which abuts the Fairmont Austin hotel and the I-35 frontage road, and Pontoon Bridge, which crosses Lady Bird Lake. It will be completed in 2026.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e24a83f0cfc7546dac49a26415579759" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="95886" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzYzNTI0My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMDQ4MzgzOX0.sr006ZkFX4abCFXMeiSNFoEyLFvGCgqiivqn6DW8Exo/img.jpg?width=980"/>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">The three-phase development process is under way and expected to be completed in 2026. (Waterloo Greenway)</small></p><p>Waterloo Greenway is named after the city's original name, Waterloo, <a href="http://www.austinlibrary.com/ahc/faq2.htm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>according to the Austin History Center.</u></a> It is also the name of a city in Belgium, combining "water" with the Flemish word "loo," which means "sacred wood." <br/></p>
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This dashboard is updated daily using data from the Travis County COVID-19 Public Dashboard and Austin Public Health's key indicators for staging.
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(The Weather Channel)
With Hurricane Marco on his way out and Hurricane Laura on her way to Texas, Austin first responders will likely see some action along the coastal communities threatened by the storm—but residents here in Central Texas won't see much rain, forecasters told Austonia on Tuesday.
<p>"It's actually going to have little to no impact on our weather here in Central Texas," said Aaron Treadway, meteorologist for the National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio. "We may see some scattered thunderstorms with the outer rain bands tomorrow into Thursday, but we're only calling for a 20-30% chance of rain."</p><p>Winds are not expected to increase here at all, he said, meaning that the humidity and heat index is likely to stay the same throughout the week. </p><p>Laura was upgraded to a hurricane on Tuesday morning, with winds up to 75 mph, and expected to make landfall Wednesday along the Gulf Coast near the border of Texas and Louisiana. Before hitting landfall, Hurricane Laura is predicted to Category 3 hurricane or stronger, according to the <a href="https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2020-08-25-hurricane-laura-forecast-texas-louisiana" target="_blank">Weather Channel</a>. </p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-proxy-image">
<a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/NWSSanAntonio/status/1298283572214865920" target="_blank"><img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ed14a63e5c0f7f53aacee35c428eac86" id="2e568" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vbWVkaWEucmJsLm1zL2ltYWdlP3U9JTJGbWVkaWElMkZFZ1J1QnhOV2tBVVhCUHUuanBnJTNBbWVkaXVtJmhvPWh0dHBzJTNBJTJGJTJGcGJzLnR3aW1nLmNvbSZzPTI4OSZoPTQ2NmMwMTRlNjE5ZTk1MTVjNTdhNWY2YTg4NGI2ZDE5ZWEwNDliYzcxM2U2OGMzNTFkNTk3NTcyMDE0NDEyZDMmc2l6ZT05ODB4JmM9MjAwNTY2MTY0IiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNTY5MjczMX0.mtf_VtDg46Z5HGlW1SOA1Khts1dMYTJ74N9EEkayteo/img.jpg"/></a>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">(National Weather Service)</small>
</p><p><br/></p><p>On Tuesday, the City of Austin, Travis County, Hays County and Williamson County activated the <a href="https://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=255527" rel="dofollow" target="_blank">Capital Area Shelter Hub Plan</a>— last activated in response to Hurricane Harvey—at the state's request to prepare to receive evacuees from coastal communities. </p><p>Several evacuation centers will open today, including one in Austin at The Circuit of the Americas at 4 p.m.</p><p>The plan has been in place for several years and is activated by major disasters and other events requiring mass sheltering.</p><p>The Austin Fire Department and Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services have deployed resources ready to help the coastal communities, both agencies announced. </p><p>Firefighters are sending six boat teams, two helicopter rescue crews and five urban search-and-rescue crews. EMS has ambulance and bus crews, a swift-water rescue crew and other support personnel. </p><p><br/></p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="486e948ae58ec809b6d21351d08e71a1" id="703a7"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1297901155759140865"><div style="margin:1em 0">Late last night, we rostered 13 members of our dept—including 6 for a 🛥️ team, 2 🚁 rescue personnel, and five urban… https://t.co/8DkXA22p5Z</div> — Austin Fire Dept (@Austin Fire Dept)<a href="https://twitter.com/austinfiredept/statuses/1297901155759140865">1598278724.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Treadway said even if the storm moves more westerly, closer to Houston, rain chances would still go up in Austin but only slightly. <br/></p><p>Moderately milder temperatures—80s mid-day, highs in the upper 90s—will give way to triple-digit temps come Friday, Treadway said, lasting at least through the weekend.</p>
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(City of Austin)
The homeless community will now have a place to store their belongings with the City of Austin's newly launched Violet KeepSafe Storage program, that provides 96-gallon bins and locks to unsheltered individuals so they can store their possessions without fear for their safety.
<p>Bins are provided to those referred by the Homeless Outreach Street Team or the Downtown Austin Community Court. The city will provide 85 bins but hopes to expand its capacity up to 200 more bins in addition to opening new facilities in decentralized locations. The facility is located in the HealthSouth parking garage in downtown Austin. </p><p>The program is designed so people who live unsheltered can untether themselves from their belongings and safely attend doctor's appointments, pursue employment opportunities or rest without worry.</p><p>Assistant City Manager Chris Shorter said this is an important step, as it is often hard to travel with large items, such as blankets, and people often do not want to show up to an important appointment carrying everything they own with them.</p><p>"This is a major step forward for our support system in response to our homeless population and it's just a first step," Shorter said in a press release. "We are expanding citywide and will be able to serve hundreds more." </p><p>Violet KeepSafe Storage builds on existing programs by FrontSteps, which provides storage, showers, laundry, computers and other resources to the Austin homeless community through the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless.</p><p>The program aims to preserve dignity within the homeless and unsheltered community and was inspired by similar programs across the country. You can find more information on Violet KeepSafe Storage <a href="http://www.austintexas.gov/department/violet-keepsafe-storage" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
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(Austonia staff)
The city of Austin announced a new $17.75M rental assistance program on Monday to help those financially impacted by COVID.
A new $17.75 million rental assistance program, by the city of Austin and the Housing Authority of the City of Austin, includes nearly $13 million in direct rental assistance to eligible Austinites who have been financially impacted by COVID-19.
<p>The Relief of Emergency Needs for Tenants, or RENT, Assistance Program, will also provide an additional $4 million in funding for tenant stabilization, eviction prevention and outreach efforts.</p><p>It is the second such assistance program offered by the city, which distributed nearly $1.3 million in rental assistance to more than 1,000 households in May, although demand far outpaced supply.</p><p>With this new round of funding, the city expects to help around double that number of households between now and January. </p><p>"We are thrilled to partner with HACA to move funds quickly to help as many Austin renters as possible, recognizing that while the $12.9 million provided by the RENT program is not enough to meet the overwhelming need, it is a proud step we can take to help Austin renters in need," Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Director Rosie Truelove said in a statement issued on Monday. </p><p>The program is open to households making at or below 80% of the area median family income, which is $78,100 for a four-person household. Eligible renters may apply through a portal <a href="https://austin.covidrenthelp.org/Account/Login?ReturnUrl=%2F" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow" target="_blank"><u>starting Wednesday</u></a>; for those who are randomly selected, the city will issue a payment directly to their landlord. </p><p>Last month, Austin Mayor Steve Adler and Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe extended a moratorium on evictions until Sept. 30 due to the pandemic. </p>
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