Austin, TX
Austin voters elect Kirk Watson, who served as mayor two decades ago, to lead the city again
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In a good race, Austin voters picked a well-known face Tuesday night time to information the capital metropolis over the following two years because the area offers with skyrocketing housing prices and explosive progress.
In a contest between two Austin Democrats, former state Sen. Kirk Watson narrowly prevailed over state Rep. Celia Israel and retook the seat he final held greater than twenty years in the past.
“I’m as grateful at present as I used to be 25 years in the past to be entrusted with this job,” Watson mentioned at a watch celebration in Austin’s Rosedale neighborhood. “It means quite a bit to me to know that Austinites in each a part of this metropolis nonetheless need the sort of management that I’ve tried to ship each as mayor and as your state senator.”
Miles away at a watch celebration in North Austin, Israel conceded to Watson — whereas ruefully acknowledging Austin’s rising unaffordability, the race’s defining difficulty.
“Our marketing campaign was based on a quite simple concept: The individuals who constructed this metropolis and who proceed to construct this metropolis, who gown our wounds, who educate our children, who drive our buses, who reply our 911 calls … they deserve the respect and the compassion {that a} progressive metropolis can provide them,” Israel mentioned.
The race to steer Texas’ fourth-largest metropolis was a squeaker. Israel beat Watson in Travis County, which incorporates virtually all of Austin, by 17 votes. However Watson constructed a lead of 881 votes in Williamson County and 22 votes in Hays County, in keeping with unofficial election night time tallies — delivering him the mayor’s seat.
Polls closed at 7 p.m. Determination Desk HQ known as the election for Watson at 10:02 p.m.
The contentious race — which went to a runoff after neither candidate bought greater than 50% of the vote within the November election — was largely formed by the town’s more and more dire housing affordability disaster.
Watson, who served as Austin mayor from 1997 to 2001 and largely pitched himself as a back-to-basics candidate, and Israel every laid out intensive proposals for how one can deal with the housing disaster and enhance the town’s housing provide — although they struck totally different tenors on how one can strategy it.
Israel known as for aggressive motion to deal with the disaster and she or he mentioned she would work carefully with “pro-housing” advocates. However in a metropolis the place new housing growth is commonly met with steep opposition from neighborhood teams and environmentalists, Watson promised a extra diplomatic technique that may goal to herald extra new housing with out alienating the neighborhoods that oppose it.
Watson gained an enormous fundraising benefit over Israel early on and saved it over the course of the election.
Through the common election and runoff, Watson amassed greater than $1.8 million, giving Watson an almost 3-to-1 fundraising benefit over Israel’s haul of roughly $651,000. Watson spent greater than $1.5 million by Dec. 3 whereas Israel spent just below $566,000, in keeping with the most recent marketing campaign finance filings.
On prime of the town’s housing disaster, Watson must cope with the state’s Republican management, which has grown more and more hostile to Austin and Texas’ bluer city areas.
Inside the previous two years, Austin lower the town’s police spending within the wake of George Floyd protests and rolled again a ban on homeless encampments in public areas — strikes that Republican lawmakers within the Texas Legislature later rebuked by passing new legal guidelines reining in these measures and proscribing different main Texas cities from following in Austin’s steps.
Through the marketing campaign, Watson pitched himself as a veteran of the Legislature who may construct a working relationship with state GOP leaders — or at the very least keep away from their unfriendly gaze.
“Once we select to work collectively, we are going to heal previous divides and resolve previous issues,” Watson mentioned Tuesday night time. “Once we select to work collectively, Austin’s future will get brighter and brighter and brighter, I promise.”
Watson must run once more in two years, somewhat than 4 as Austin mayors usually do. That’s as a result of Austin voters handed a poll proposition final 12 months to maneuver the town’s mayoral elections from gubernatorial election years to presidential election years in a bid to extend voter turnout.
Austin, TX
'Great Concern': Texas Cop Who Got Slap on the Wrist After Pepper-Spraying Handcuffed Black Man Allegedly Caught on Video Beating and Slamming 2-Year-Old Son
A police officer in Austin, Texas, is facing a criminal investigation after multiple disturbing videos were released to authorities that allegedly show him abusing his 2-year-old son.
Austin police officer Cameron Caldwell surrendered himself to a county jail after being accused of child abuse by the mother of his children, according to the Cedar Park Police Department.
Court documents obtained by KVUE state that the allegations stem from a domestic disturbance that took place at Caldwell’s home on June 17.
Caldwell’s partner showed police five videos, including one of “great concern,” that allegedly show Caldwell hitting and abusing one of his two children.
The videos were recorded by a Nest camera posted in the kids’ bedroom.
In one video, a 2-year-old child is seen trying to protect himself before a man believed to be Caldwell picks him up, “violently” hits him on his backside, then strikes him eight times before dropping him on the ground, according to the local outlet.
The child is seen “crying hysterically” and trying to crawl away before Caldwell picks him up again and slams him on a mattress, court filings state. Caldwell then hits the toddler in the face three times and covers him with a blanket.
Caldwell’s 4-year-old son told detectives that his father once hurled a monster truck at his back and slapped him in the face in another incident. He also alleged that Caldwell hits him multiple times when he’s in trouble and forces him to do push-ups.
Caldwell is the same officer who was caught on video pepper-spraying a handcuffed Black man at the South by Southwest film and music festival in 2016.
Tyrone Wilson, who had traveled to Austin that year from Chicago, was arrested for resisting arrest. After officers placed the 25-year-old in a police van, he was heard kicking the door. Caldwell opened the door to the back seat and told him to stop kicking, then pepper-sprayed him in the face.
An arrest affidavit stated that Wilson had been combative toward officers, and one cop had used a stun gun on him during the arrest. Austin Police policy dictates that officers can use pepper spray on a “violent” suspect, but Wilson was physically restrained and showed no signs of aggression when Caldwell maced him.
Caldwell faced a disciplinary hearing and negotiated an agreement with the Austin police chief to face a 45-day suspension from his position for the incident.
“In the heat of the moment where you have a guy kicking and screaming and acting a fool, he made a decision, it was the wrong decision,” Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said at the time, according to the local outlet. “But what he has indicated to us through this process is that he gets it.”
As for the most recent alleged incidents involving Caldwell’s children, the Austin Police Department said it’s aware of the investigation being carried out by the Cedar Park police force.
Caldwell faces two charges of injury to a child.
APD has placed him on restricted duty for the time being and launched an administrative investigation.
Austin, TX
Austin's Brick Rodeo showcases Lego castle to support Ukraine rebuilding efforts
Austin, TX — Saddle up Lego fans! Brick Rodeo Austin welcomes thousands to this family-friendly event in North Austin from July 4th through the 7th, 2024.
Creators from all over Texas and the country have come together to show off their amazing creations! Keep your eye out for a LEGO castle replica of a nearly 400-year-old Ukrainian castle. Mark Segedie, a LEGO creator from LA, will be there with the Pidhirtsi Castle (Lviv region, Ukraine) LEGO set. The castle was constructed between 1635 and 1640, and in the 18th century, a theater was built inside the palace. Pidhirtsi Castle is also included in The World Monuments Fund’s list of 100 objects of world-historical and architectural heritage that can be lost to humanity.
Mark and other creators are coming together to help rebuild Ukraine, brick by brick, just like in their favorite game. They’ve teamed up with UNITED24 to recreate Ukraine’s stunning architectural gems in unique LEGO sets.
Austin, TX
Music Commission considers space, funding options for Texas Music Museum – Austin Monitor
The Music Commission plans to ask the city to provide emergency storage space and funding for the Texas Music Museum, which is facing overcrowding at its East Austin location and the possible loss of gratis storage space in an Austin Police Department warehouse.
At Monday’s meeting, commissioners heard a presentation from museum leaders and discussed possible options for assisting the museum, which has outlined a three-phase expansion proposal to eventually occupy 13,000 square feet – a dramatic increase from its current 2,000-square-foot space on East 11th Street.
In May, museum representatives told the commission about the dire straits it is facing, with thousands of audio, video and photographic artifacts from over 100 years of Texas musicians currently in storage and at risk of deterioration. For many years, the museum has been a labor of love for Clay Shorkey, president and caretaker of the facility, who covers some of its expenses with his Social Security benefits.
The first phase of the museum’s plan seeks 13,000 square feet of display, meeting and administrative space, plus another 1,000 square feet of storage. Its funding request for staffing, operations and other expenses totals just over $333,000.
“We only have space for three main exhibits, and we have a small conference room that we do presentations and performances that only fit about 60 people max,” said Sylvia Morales, information strategist and policy coordinator for the museum.
“Our ask right now for phase one is gonna be at around $330,000 to keep us afloat, to keep us going where we’re initially at right now. We would love in phase two to go into … discussions of where to go next.”
Commissioners who participated in a working group related to the museum’s future suggested space in the redevelopment of Blocks 16 and 18 or in the reconstructed Austin Convention Center as possible long-term options. For the short term, the commissioners plan to work with staff to draft a realistic recommendation for City Council to allocate money from the city budget toward the museum and assist in finding a stopgap space, possibly using an existing city property or facility.
“It’s gonna be really difficult if you ask for all of this money upfront … so how about we break it up into smaller chunks and see if we can get some help that way?” Commissioner Scott Strickland said of the museum’s long-term, multimillion-dollar plans.
“It would be a lot easier for us to approve a plan that’s immediate and help Council recommend something that is more immediate versus looking at something that’s five, seven years out.”
Shorkey said he and other museum stakeholders have reached out to the Texas Music Office and other would-be supporters of music-related efforts in recent years, with no substantial support having yet materialized. In 2017, the state Legislature considered providing space for a state music museum in the Capitol Complex project downtown, but that effort lost support due to objections from other music museums around the state.
Chair Nagavalli Medicharla asked members of the working group and museum representatives to identify the most critical space and budget needs that could be presented to Council in a way that communicates the severity of the deadline to find a new location and financial support.
“One thing to look at is the absolute must-haves and what is on the critical path, and then next would be the nice-to-haves,” she said. “The museum has a larger vision that could see city support but probably also needs much broader support from outside of the city as well.”
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