Will We Get to Vote on the CodeNEXT Petition?

Yesterday Austin attorney and community leader Fred Lewis and SOS Executive Director Bill Bunch argued before Travis County District Judge Orlinda Naranjo that Austin citizens have a right to vote this November on the petitioned ordinance signed by over 30,000 Austin voters. Lewis and Bunch represented Austin NAACP leader Nelson Linder and other community leaders and petition signers.  City lawyers defended the decision of a split 6-to-4 City Council to keep the petitioned ordinance off of the ballot.  If the court orders the petitioned ordinance placed on the ballot, and voters approve it, then any version of CodeNEXT that the City Council might approve would not go into effect until after a waiting period and subsequent voter approval.  Read an  excellent summary in the Austin Bulldog, or a fun one from today's Statesman. 

Breaking News - Austin Planning Commission in Hot Water

Yesterday, the Texas Attorney General filed a lawsuit seeking to remove Austin Planning Commissioners for violating the Austin City Charter provision that prohibits more than  1/3rd of the Commissioners from being connected directly or indirectly to land development. The  petition is linked here pdf Texas v Austin Planning Commission Petition (990 KB) .  The legal action was filed pursuant to a complaint, also filed by Fred Lewis, Bill Bunch, Nelson Linder and others.

On news of this action being filed, Fred Lewis said, "I want to thank the local authorities, and especially the Office of the Texas Attorney General, for filing this suit to enforce Austin's Charter to prevent development-related domination of the Planning Commission. Austin's charter language and and the facts are clear: there are too many development related engineers, lawyers and architects on the Planning Commission, and this law enforcement action is warranted. Lewis added, "The illegal composition of the Planning Commission undermines the validity of its work over the last 3 years, whether on individual rezoning of specific properties or on CodeNEXT." Council should have fixed the illegal composition 3 years ago, when this was first brought to their attention. But Mayor Adler and the council majority ignored the illegal composition of the Planning Commission even while forging ahead with the first comprehensive rewrite of the City's development regulations in 30 years.

Zilker Parking Lot Nixed for Now

Thank you to everyone who contacted City officials to protest the rush to pave over seven acres of Zilker Park to convert lake front park land into a parking lot for ACL.  Last Wednesday night, Austin's Environmental Commission voted unanimously to recommend against  the project in favor of a park access and master plan for Zilker Park that would lead to less parking in the park.  Thank you Commissioners!! Then, late Friday afternoon Acting Parks Director Kimberly McNeeley sent a memo to City Council stating that staff was "putting the proposal on hold indefinitely." 

Once again, some people claimed it was "a done deal," a waste of time to oppose this sneak attack on Austin's most favorite and irreplaceable park.  But with vigilance from citizens like you, strong volunteers serving on the Environmental Commission, and hard work from SOS and Zilker and Barton Hills Neighborhood Association leaders, we saved this bit of park paradise from another parking lot.   At least for now.

Eco Tours

Sign up for the $10 Summer Membership Special and receive a 3 Springs Eco-Tour with Snorkeling!

Discover the underwater world of Barton Springs and learn about Old Mill Spring & the new Eliza Spring project.

All tours are from 9-11 AM on Friday and Saturday Morning from 5/26-8/11

Please indicate in the comments which tour date you would like to attend 

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"Barton Springs Eternal" Remastered All-Star Recording

Exhumed from the archives!  We're happy to present this 1992 epic legendary all-star recording of Austin's music community coming together to sing the praises of The Soul of Austin, Barton Springs.

Featuring the talents of Bill Oliver, Bob Livingston, Jerry Jeff Walker, Marcia Ball,  Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, Ponty Bone, Paul Pearcy, Steven Fromholz, Joe Ely, John Inmon, David Halley, Sarah Elizabeth Campbell, Doug Powell, Bobby Bridger, Tomas Ramirez, Riley Osbourn, and Mitch WatkinsChorus: all of the above plus:Aunt Pearl (Joe Sears), Didi Snavely (Jaston Williams) of Greater Tuna, Susan Lindfore, Christine Albert, Connie Hancock, Tommy Pierce, Monty Montgomery, Jim Ellinger (Wheatsville), Jeri Arsenault, Cecelia Nasti & Bryan Beck (KGSR radio), Jenny Clark (ACTV), Helen Ballew (Hill Country Foundation), Jennie Hamilton (SOS Coalition) - "Barton Springs Eternal" is now available for download from our new Bandcamp page:

Grab the song in any file format you like for as little as a dollar - all proceeds from the sales of this track go to Save Our Springs Alliance and Save Barton Creek Association to support our round-the-clock work to preserve our clean water and the Austin way of life.