Chad Swiatecki

The city is projected to need $35 million annually over a 10-year period to effectively end homelessness via a plan that emphasizes adding hundreds of permanent supportive housing units while also addressing emergency shelter and prevention steps to keep people from losing their homes.

The Music Commission has formed a working group to evaluate the execution of the second year of the Live Music Fund, which recently awarded $4.5 million to just over 100 musicians, promoters and music venues throughout the area.

The latest report on downtown Austin’s economic and cultural health shows the city core is seeing ongoing vacancies and low utilization of office space in a trend that has caused a flattening of many indicators of business activity. That analysis was among the findings of Downtown Austin Alliance’s Q3 State of Downtown report, which looked at commercial, housing and cultural activity for the area.

The Music Commission has signaled it intends to ask the city to waive fees and streamline the administrative processes involved in allowing small community groups to hold arts and music events in local parks facilities.

You know that sinking feeling when you hear your car make a noise it definitely shouldn't? Multiply that by 1.4 million and you'll know the feeling of dread hanging over executives and stockholders of one of the world's major auto manufacturers thanks to a brewing

The Tourism Commission has changed its stance from last month and approved a recommendation that City Council adopt the Planning Department’s Equity-Based Preservation Plan, which intended to guide the city’s use of hotel taxes dedicated toward historic preservation.

The Community Development Commission wants City Council to further delay implementation of the second round of HOME initiative changes to the land use code, out of concern that more time is needed to properly design an equity overlay to address displacement concerns.

Businesses and supporters in the Red River Cultural District see the city’s recent commitment of annual funding as a milestone to provide stability for the area’s cluster of live music venues, with the hope that more policy changes are coming to help the city’s entertainment and creative economy. District stakeholders held a press conference Monday to celebrate the recent passage of a resolution providing $150,000 annually to the district, and looking ahead toward further securing the area that is seeing development moving in on all sides.

More than 90 percent of the city’s historic tax exemptions in 2023 went to property owners west of Interstate 35, with a significant portion concentrated in downtown commercial areas, according to a recent analysis conducted by the city’s Planning Department.…

While discussing the housing affordability crisis and its impact on Austin’s essential workers, a local EMS leader captured attention Wednesday morning with her account of how emergency services staff are pushing themselves beyond reasonable limits because of their long commutes into the city.