North - Northwest Austin Edition | February 2024

Government

BY BEN THOMPSON

Council pushes for climate investment plan City Council voted to prioritize new sustain- ability and environmental investments to address slow progress on Austin’s Climate Equity Plan and resilience eorts. A closer look A resolution passed Feb. 15 directed city man- agement to seek community input and outline the investments needed to fulll several adopted city plans related to the environment. The Climate Equity Plan outlines 74 strategies such as greenhouse gas reduction and support for community-led initiatives. Austin’s $5.47 billion scal year 2023-24 budget includes $385,000 in one-time funding for climate plan recommendations. Council member Ryan Alter said a goal of the eort is to look at how city ocials can budget for specic investments toward climate.

Police issue apology to assault victims Austin ocials on Jan. 23 formally apol- ogized to sexual assault victims who had their cases mishandled by the Austin Police Department and committed to reforms related to the city’s response to sex crimes. The public apology was one term of a $875,000 settlement with survivors who had sued the city over allegations of systemic failures in the APD’s work and mistreatment of victims over the course of many years. “Hear me when I say: I and all members of the Austin Police Department are com- mitted to making sure no other survivors go through something like this or some- thing similar in the future,” interim Police Chief Robin Henderson said.

"We as a city have made a lot of plans with a lot of great environmental goals

for reducing our impact on the climate but in too many instances have failed to make the investments needed to meet those goals or just, quite frankly, [have been] falling short" RYAN ALTER, COUNCIL MEMBER

Funding could come through increased utility rates, general fund spending or new bonds. Despite city sta recommending council pause on bond elections until 2026, Alter said the matter is too pressing to wait another two years. What’s next A public hearing will take place May 30 regard- ing the city’s climate investments. A location and time are to be determined.

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