City Council Notebook

Agenda highlights for the Thursday, Nov. 1, council meeting.

Item 7: Setting the 2008 meeting calendar. Bet there's a lot of Thursdays.

Item 8: Accepting a $990,000 Dept. of Justice grant to fund SWAT, the "Automated Fingerprint Identification System" and "operations in crime hotspot areas." Where's Alex Jones when you need him?

Items 13-25: Dropping the speed limit on dozens of streets to 25 MPH. Where's Sammy Hagar, for that matter?

Items 26-33: This week's Purchasing Office bonanza includes cash for water meters, one-inch river rock, liquid phosphate, and backfill polyurethane foam kits for stabilizing utility poles. Fun!

Item 37: Directing Toby Futrell to implement "Open Government Online, a citywide redesign project to the city’s Website with a goal of significantly increasing the number of online services available to the public." Let's hope this transparency doesn't stop at online bill pay …

Item 38: Making four-person staffing the minimum for Austin Fire Department engines. Does wonders for Chinese fire drills.

Item 45: Setting public hearing to consider Lee Leffingwell's SOS Ordinance revisions next meeting, Nov. 8, 2007, 6pm. Planning Commission chair Dave Sullivan reminds us not to lose our "civility of tone!"

Items 53-59: A smattering of zoning cases, including tweaks to the Domain, and making the Antique Marketplace (5350 Burnet) vertical mixed-use.