Next Office Hours on April 2, 2010

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News

Because next week is spring break, I am moving the next regularly scheduled community office hours to April 2, 2010. We’ll be meeting up with folks that day at the Thunderbird Cafe on Manor Road. I hope to see you there.

2 Responses to “Next Office Hours on April 2, 2010”


  1. r meinen had this to say on April 15th, 2010 at 12:45 AM

    Bill,

    talk to us about the upcoming AE generation plan on the CC agenda for 4-22, earth day, the work of the water conservation task force on the CC agenda for 4-29, and your neighborhood planning initiatives….you said there would be updates
    early spring. I think what you need to remember is the public still has a dearth of relevant information, and we count on you to share it as you know it. Thanks

  2. barksdale had this to say on April 28th, 2010 at 10:39 AM

    My apologies for the delayed reply — we’ve recently changed some settings to alert us about new posts on the website. So hopeful y’all will see a quicker response time from here on out.

    Austin Energy’s Climate Protection and Generation Resource Plan through 2020
    The AE generation plan represents a significant step forward for Austin Energy and its customers. It embodies an important — and by some measures unusual — collaboration between the utility, industrial and residential users, environmental activists, and low income advocates. It also outlines our commitment to mitigating the utility’s share of climate changing emissions through a financially responsible and relatively publicly transparent process.

    This plan is a vision statement — it does not bind the utility to any investment decision, rather it lays out the goals for the future of our electricity utility. City Council retains the responsibility to authorize every single new source of generation. Moreover, AE must develop an affordability dashboard prior to making any investment of 10 megawatts or greater under this plan. We anticipate the dashboard to be presented sometime in the next 4-6 months.

    Neighborhood Partnering Program
    On April 12th, the city’s Public Works Department unveiled its new website which marks the arrival of the Neighborhood Partnering Program (NPP). You may remember from Bill’s campaign the Seattle, WA program called the Neighborhood Matching Fund. NPP is Austin’s version of this. And we’re excited to see the program rolling out.

    The basics of the NPP are as follows: neighborhood or community groups can get together to propose a project to the city that improves the quality of life in a neighborhood. Applicants must be able to offer a match — whether through volunteer service, cash contributions, or inkind donations — that help get the project constructed. Depending on the size and scope of the project, the city will contribute as much as 74% of the total project cost. NPP allows neighborhoods to articulate their priorities to the city and helps the City stretch its financial resources. We’ll be working with Public Works over the coming weeks to build out their website, identify dedicated funding sources, and spread the word about this new program.

    We’ll have more to say about the water conservation task force soon. Please stay tuned.

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