After a strained meeting last week with Hispanic city leaders that led them to send a letter to the city council complaining of his condescending attitude, City Manager Ott says he "has great respect" for Austin's diversity. School zones are back in effect: AISD started today. Two FLDS members charged with bigamy. Kyle corrections officer in critical condition after a vehicle hit his bike this morning....

After a string of local and national accidents involving construction cranes, Austin's City Council will decide tonight if it should ask the city manager to study whether the city should regulate the safety of cranes. Cranes have towered over Austinites in greater numbers these last few years, showing a city in flux with a dramatically altered skyline. The Statesman counts two dozen on a given day. Of late, however, the greatest concern has not been the long-neck steel eyesores, but whether the cranes won't come down on your head, or the lunchroom in your office building. ...

So there’s a couple of new heads in The Hall, and I have to ask the question: the result of the elections seriously feels like little more than a new layer of paint, and is that what we need right now? With everything that's building up and out around us?...

Spurred in large part by Mayor Will Wynn's concern that Austin was losing too many music venues, the City created the Live Music Task Force last February. As the downtown area grows and develops, it is the charge of this task force to find a way to find a way to optimally integrate music into our city's future....

Tonight at the City Council Chambers, Austin's Live Music Task Force will meet to discuss sound issues -- and you're invited....

Our pal Austin Contrarian is reporting that at last night's City Council hearing, the councilmembers acceded to demands from the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association to deny pedestrian and bicycle access between Hyde Park and a new development on 51st Street. This means that not only will the street grid that is the basis of Hyde Park not be extended for cars, it will also not be extended for bikes and pedestrians. The street grid is the groundwork on which an urban environment is built. Urban streets form a network that allows movement in every direction via multiple modes of transportation. Suburban streets form a maze of dead ends and require every trip to use an arterial road, almost always by car....

Ethics Reform Commission hosting City Council candidate forum Thursday evening. UT student in trouble with campus police after bringing his gun on campus. Copperas Cove High School student suspended after answering a call from his dad (who is stationed in Iraq) between classes; the school doesn't allow cell phones. Richardson man arrested for traffic violation, mistakenly chosen from a lineup by victim of another crime and jailed for 23 years has been cleared by DNA evidence....

Photo by Andy Sternberg/LAist A posthumous tribute wall dedicated to singer/songwriter Elliot Smith sat defaced by graffiti for months on end -- LAist said enough, so did the fans and city council.SFist was surprised to learn that chronic presidential candidate Ralph Nader picked former San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzalez as his running mate.Phillyist explored the possibilities of green cleaning.In the latest edition of Reel Toronto, a bi-weekly feature looking at films shot in Toronto......

AT&T Marathon this Sunday morning; watch out for street closures. Early voting starts next week, but you can't vote at Northcross! Bill Clinton will visit Hillary's new Austin campaign headquarters on Saturday night. Ack! 26,000 people so far have entered the raffle for the 100 seats at next week's debate. UT Associate Athletic Director Douglas George Wilson being investigated by Travis County and UT for possible theft of $60,000....

Wednesday at the Drafthouse Downtown, Japanese documentary filmmaker Kazuhiro Soda will be on hand to introduce his documentary, Campaign (Senkyo), a fine look at campaign ethics, the dirt of politicking (we love when that's a verb) and contemporary Japanese culture in general....

Police on the lookout for Adrian Jaimes and his three abductors; his older sister recognized one of the abductors as someone who had harassed her and her brother in January on their way home from school. Sorry, Texas GOP Primary voters planning to vote for Romney! He's dropped out so that his campaign won't help the terrorists win. Or something like that. A lot of Texas GOP voters not happy about having to vote for McCain....

Allen Demling has announced that he will run for election to the Place 1 seat in 2008 (the seat currently held by Lee Leffingwell, who is also running). The election is Saturday, May 10, 2008. Allen will be competing in the 2nd Annual Misprint Magazine Beard and Moustache competition at Club DeVille on Saturday, February 9th. He also has a fundraising event scheduled for February 22nd at the Scoot Inn....

City Council is considering a proposal that would revise the zoning regulations on East 12th Street along the lines of the recent revisions to the zoning regulations on East 11th Street (item 44 on the agenda). The new regulations would apply between I-35 an Poquito St. and would generally allow for mid-rise construction along 12th Street. ...

Scientologists' lawyers are threatening a huge lawsuit against the author of this week's controversial new biography of Tom Cruise, which also exposes many of the sect's most embarrassing secrets. Facebook has been asked to remove the Scrabulous game from its website by the makers of Scrabble. Although there's been quite a bit of hype about all the changes this year, which promise singers playing real! live! instruments! and fewer guest coaches, the first Idol......

Photo by gunnyrat on flickr The oil that spilled onto Sixth Street and into Waller Creek last week came from a 100-year-old underground tank. Jennifer Kim on the Northcross WalMart: "It's going to be a freaking disaster." Celebration Church in Georgetown has its own Starbucks and 5,000 attendees. Sayeth the pastor: "You can't do church without money." Wachovia Bank on Mesa Drive robbed this morning. Statewide public meetings on the Trans-Texas Corridor to begin tomorrow.......

Photo by Payton Chung on flickr Two remaining candidates for City Manager: Jelynne Burley of San Antonio and Mike Ott of Ft. Worth. City Council approved McCracken's downtown parking proposal at today's meeting. Cars who park in marked bike lanes can now be ticketed by a few workers from the Public Works Department Bicycle and Pedestrian Program. Travis County constables try to cut down truancy at Johnston High. Attorney General Abbott has a plan to......

We mentioned the plan a while ago, but it appears to have legs, so here we go again. Brewster is proposing creation of what he calls the "Austin Parking Enterprise." The city would partner with developers to own parking garages in buildings being developed. Initially, it would operate the Seaholm garage and any in the Green Water Treatment Plant redevelopment. We're scared that this proposal will mean more parking gets built, making downtown more car-centric and pedestrian-unfriendly than it already is. According to the proposed policies, the Parking Enterprise "should seek to maximize the availability of public parking" and "may finance more parking spaces than are required for an associated private development."...

Former Austin mayor Gus Garcia struck and killed a pedestrian with his car in an accident Sunday evening on North Lamar Boulevard....

Austin City Council proposed a resolution to reduce the use of plastic bags back in May, but Whole Foods is taking matters into their own hands and no longer offering plastic bags at check out. They are upping the ante from 5 cents to 10 cents for those who bring reusable bags, or customers can conveniently purchase the new 99 cent "better bag" made of 80% post-consumer waste....

Thousands of monkeys are invading government buildings in Delhi, forcing employees to arm themselves with sticks and stones in case they are attacked. David Byrne and Thom Yorke on the Real Value of Music at Wired magazine. Britney Spears' 16-year-old sister, who stars as a schoolgirl in Nickelodeon's popular TV show "Zoey 101," is pregnant. She met the father at church. Reuters photographs of the year The Pirate Bay just launched their new music......

Woman who had worked as pharmacist for the CVS on Riverside had fake documents. 60 soldiers who had been serving in Iraq for over a year return home to Ft. Hood for the holidays. Look what our city might be gifted: a 60-foot saxophone sculpture!...

The Planning Commission approved a proposal by the Organization of Central East Austin Neighborhoods to tighten the McMansion restrictions applicable to the smallest lots in Central East Austin. The proposal would remove the current McMansion rule allowing a house up to 2,300 square feet on any size lot. Instead, these lots would only be allowed to build floor area equal to 40% of lot size (e.g. a 1,500 square foot house on a 3,750 square foot lot). City Council may take up the issue tomorrow, but will probably wait until next month....

City Council Member Lee Leffingwell and the City of Austin seek resident and visitor input alike for a major City of Austin website redesign via the Austin Go survey. Up until January 4th, you can tell the gub'ment just how you'd like their new-fangled webhighwaytubes to assist you by filling out the online survey on such topics as how you use the City of Austin site, how you'd like to see it improved, and how you rate redesign areas such as navigation, timeliness and accuracy of the online information the city provides, and security of personal information....

Photo by pisti on stock.xchngAustin City Council will discuss a resolution today that calls for expanding services for the local homeless population. Councilmember Jennifer Kim, citing the need for a "comprehensive and compassionate" strategy in dealing with Austin's estimated 6,000 indigents, sponsored the proposal. From what we've seen, the measure mostly calls for re-prioritizing and increasing social services funding, providing more beds at local shelters, and collecting more data on the homeless. Critics of the......

Photo by dground on flickr City Council considering the gathering of information about Austin's homeless and the expansion of services that help them. The council may also merge Park Police, Austin Aviation Police and City Marshals with APD. Travis County officials aiding Hays County officials in the search for a woman who may have witnessed the murder of her son. Williamson County man on the run from child sexual assault charges captured in Costa Rica.......

Photo by *clairity* on flickrA public hearing is scheduled for tonight to discuss a proposed city-wide ban on panhandling. The ban would outlaw panhandling on roadsides and within 1,000 feet of all schools. The current solicitation ordinance prohibits panhandling in three zones of downtown, including the area around the University of Texas, a section of North Austin near the 51st Street day-laborer site and the Second Street District down to Lady Bird Lake. APD reported......

Apparently everyone thinks Clinton shined in last nights presidential debate, but the best sound bite came from Rep. Dennis Kucinich who said, "Impeach now!" U.S. envoy arrives to pressure Pakistani president into admitting defeat. A cyclone that slammed into Bangladesh's coast has killed at least 426 people. The Senate has blocked a Democratic proposal to pay for the Iraq war but require that troops start coming home. Iran is still shady about their nuclear......

Photo by debaird on flickr Austin City Council met today; they passed the LCRA water deal and unanimously approved the red-light camera contract. Councilmember Leffingwell wants to lighten the SOS ordinance to allow for redevelopment of older buildings. Two women are dead after a church van drove off IH35 in Round Rock this morning. Travis County sheriffs are keeping an eye out for shoulder-passers on Loop 360. Round Rock cops pepper-sprayed a student for taking......

Image from Austin City Connection. Waller Creek Design Workshop9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007Austin City Hall (301 W. 2nd St.)[info] City Council Member Sheryl Cole and the Waller Creek Citizen Advisory Committee are asking the public for input regarding the Waller Creek corridor at a design workshop 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007, at Austin City Hall. Displays from the joint venture engineering team will be, uh, displayed. Silly ideas like......

Photo by hamron on flickr Austin City Council is pretty much ready to sign a contract setting up red-light cameras at 15 intersections (to start with). Big Brother - er, APD - is watching your energy usage. And Austin Energy is cool with that! Southeast Austin standoff this morning ends with cop shooting the suspect. Round Rock police on the lookout for a suspected stalker. Local company under Neil Bush (Dubya's bro) is being investigated......