City Hall Insider: Free Austin library cards extension, Red River district funding & more
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Editor's note: City Hall Insider is a roundup of items the Austin City Council is set to vote on other local government news and an inside look at my reporting process. This story was updated after the Austin City Council voted.
While there are always things happening at the municipal level in every department and elected office of the tenth largest city in the country, it seems that one or two items usually take the cake as to what city leaders, and readers, are interested in talking about. But these past two weeks have felt different, at least to me.
There were several nuanced storylines that have emerged from city hall with more to come from Thursday's nearly 100 item City Council agenda.
To briefly recap: the mayor took on the coal plant, the city killed an audit of it's homeless contracts and programs and the City Council and H-E-B saved Blues on the Green.
There are several items of note: free library cards for some non-residents, a resolution to help identify more funding and support for downtown Austin's Red River Cultural District, on Thursday's city council agenda as well.
Let's get into it.
Free library cards for non-residents
Live close to Austin city limits but don't have access to the city's free library card? That could change.
The City Council voted today to remove non-resident library card fees for residents of the city’s limited purpose and extraterritorial jurisdictions.
Limited purpose annexation extends some of the city's ordinances and regulations to surrounding areas, but does not include services like policing. An extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) is unincorporated land within 5 miles of Austin’s city limit that is not within the city or ETJ of another city, according to the city, which currently extends into Travis, Hays, Williamson and Bastrop counties. The city does not collect taxes in either locations.
The ordinance, spearheaded by Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, will allow area residents living in eligible areas to have access to Austin's free public library card, rather than pay a fee of up $120 annually.
"This nonresident fee creates an economic barrier to all individuals who may work in Austin and have been forced to relocate to surrounding areas due to gentrification and increased costs of housing that commute into Austin for work," a supporting city document for the proposal states.
Want to know if the ordinance applies to you, click on the city's jurisdiction map.
Red River Cultural District
The City Council will voted to take steps to identify funding and support for the Red River Cultural District in downtown Austin.
The resolution, led by Council Member Zohaib "Zo" Qadri, calls for the city manager to "identify funding options in the current fiscal year that could be used for the Red River Merchants Association."
This could include, according to the draft resolution, adding more venues and performers to Red River Cultural District’s Hot Summer Nights and Free Week festivals, conducting an economic impact analysis and documenting the history of live music in Austin via walking tours and murals.
Nicole Klepadlo, interim executive director of the Red River Cultural District, spoke at a January music commision meeting asking the city for more funding.
"This funding is critical as we think about Red River Cultural District as a place," Klepadlo told the music commission in January. "This place is a major economic and cultural generator for the city and key tourism driver."
Even though it was approved today, city staff still needs to identify funding and support options, then return to the City Council for approval.
It's worth noting that the city's economic development department is also working on a plan to fund new and existing cultural and business districts, which is also needs council approval, according to the draft resolution.
Watson wants out of the Fayette Power Plant
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson made clear his stance on the city's involvement in the coal-burning power plant in Fayette County: he wants the city to shut down its portion no later than January 2029.
In an online newsletter, Watson said it is time to halt the 2030 Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan — Austin Energy's guide to reach 93% carbon-free emissions — and "scrub all the options," I reported last week.
The city has been trying for over a decade to end it's involvement in the plant, which it co-owns with the Lower Colorado River Authority, with no avail.
Austin Energy has not yet been able to come to an agreement allowing the utility "to affordably retire its share of the FPP coal plant as originally planned," Bob Kahn, Austin Energy's general manager, wrote in a statement to the American-Statesman.
"We have to start, right now, putting together how we want to get out of Fayette by January of 2029," Watson told me. "That's going to take a lot of innovation, a lot of thought and some creativity. We can do that."
Austin killed the McKinsey audit of homelessness
A million dollar audit of the city's homeless contracts and programs, to be conducted by the international consulting firm McKinsey & Company, is a no-go, Interim City Manager Jesús Garza recently announced.
I reported last week that the $2 million review, approved by the City Council in January, was set to be a joint assessment of several agencies that provide homelessness services including Central Health, Travis County and Integral Care. Each were set to contribute to the contract, with the city paying half the total bill.
More: Read more: Austin kills million dollar McKinsey & Company audit of homelessness contracts, programs
But Travis County commissioners voted against it, saying they want a review but not with McKinsey. Both Integral Care and Central Health approved funding for the review, according to a February memo from Garza.
Garza said he still supports the comprehensive review with the same agencies, as does Watson.
"We have at least four jurisdictions that are overlapping," Watson told me last week. "We ought to be willing to look at how we work together on that, so that we provide better service, and a better and more appropriate use of those tax dollars."
City Council, and H-E-B, save a popular Austin music festival
And last, but not least, for this week's "City Hall Insider," Blues on the Green is saved!
Organizers of the event announced in January they would not be able to host the festival this year due citing rising costs of putting on a free event without admission fees or bar sales.
But just a day after the City Council approved a resolution that authorized the city to negotiate with the Blues on the Green to make it a city co-sponsored event, Austin City Limits Radio announced the popular, free music festival in Zilker Park would return, citing the resolution and increased financial support from H-E-B.
More: Read more: Blues on the Green in Zilker Park returns. ACL Radio says City Council support is reason.
Next steps aren't exactly clear yet.
The resolution, approved earlier this month, directed the city manager to return with a resolution or ordinance for any associated fee waivers, co-sponsorships or related budget authorizations, related to the event, according to the draft resolution.
ACL Radio, when announcing the festival was back, said they would have more information soon.
If you've made it this far, thank you for following along! I hope you'll continue reading "City Hall Insider," published the day of every Austin City Council meeting, which is usually bi-weekly. In the meantime, I will continue my coverage of local government and politics. To share additional tips or insight, email me at emccarthy@statesman.com. You can also find me on X, formerly Twitter, @byEllaMcCarthy.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: City Hall Insider: Free library cards, cultural district funding
