MPT Tovo and the 6/23 Agenda

[Kathie Tovo]

Dear Colleagues,
I have a medical issue that will prevent me from attending all of our scheduled Council meetings this week. I am hopeful that I may be able to attend at least a part of Thursday's meeting, and I will try to watch as much of the various committee and Council meetings as possible. I have sponsored several items on this agenda -- most of which are time sensitive -- and so I would welcome your questions in this forum so that my staff can help provide information.

79. This resolution directs the City Manager to move forward with (1) securing temporary restroom facilities for the Downtown area as soon as possible, (2) initiating a process to procure a more permanent solution such as the Portland Loo (but the latter would require additional Council action before the purchase), and (3) completing the work that would allow the exterior City Hall restrooms to be open for extended periods of time. Providing public restrooms in this area of our City is, I believe, long overdue, and a necessary step for environmental, public health, economic, and humane reasons. I sponsored an earlier resolution related to this topic, and the Health and Human Services Council Committee heard a briefing about the staff's research and the stakeholder discussions. My staff would be happy to provide links to those documents and/or media stories offering more information about the topic.

82. The Historic Preservation Officer currently has the discretion to issue administrative approvals for demolition permits of structures older than 50 years rather than referring them to the Historic Landmark Commission for review. This resolution would initiate a change to require demolition permits for all civic structures over 50 years old to be reviewed by the Historic Landmark Commission. For some background on this item, please read:
Alberta Phillips, "African-American churches worth more to Austin than their land value," http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/op ... tha/nrb4z/

Alberta Phillips, "Old East Austin church razed despite questions of its historic worth," http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/op ... of-/nq5jt/

Alberta Phillips, City must fix demolition protocol to preserve Austin history," http://viewpoints.blog.statesman.com/20 ... n-history/"

33. The City Manager is also bringing forward the interlocal agreement for the Sobriety Center and briefing Council on Tuesday. This initiative has been in progress since about 2002 and has been the subject of two resolutions I brought before our Council in the last year or so. Council Member Casar, Council Member Kitchen, Commissioner Daugherty, Commissioner Gomez, and I have served on the most recent work group to discuss the governance structure and the proposed location. I believe the Sobriety Center will prove to be a valuable public safety and public health resource within our community, and I'm very hopeful that we can approve this item this week.

AHFC - Item 4 - On the Austin Housing Finance Corporation agenda is an item I have sponsored with CMs Houston, Renteria, and Pool. Although the Recommendation for Board Action does not link to the actual resolution, Joi Harden posted the text on the message board last week. In response to a recent zoning case, property owners within a community land trust were told that they do not meet the state requirement regarding valid petitions. My resolution would direct the General Manager of AHFC community land trusts to sign a zoning petition if a high enough percentage of owners within a community land trust express opposition to a proposed change.

I look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Best,

Kathie Tovo