The Daily Hustle: 4/23/10

City staff revising an item

Finishing out our recap of last week's City Council meeting, Laura Morrison brings us up to speed on her tweaks to liquor license applications. Plus, a glimpse at the week ahead.

The agenda for this week's council meeting (Thursday, April 29) is up already, a 76-item doozy. If that ain't enough, council holds another Wednesday budget work session this week, this time on the Enterprise Departments, money-earning city arms like Austin Energy.

But returning to last week's meeting, one of the topics TDH was riffing on prior was Item 3, clean-up language clarifying the city's role regarding businesses applying for liquor licenses. It being recently found that the city requirements placed on applicants was onerous and possibly illegal, the original language stripped out visits from Police, Fire, and the Health department as a condition for even applying for a state permit.

But the changes didn't sit too well with Laura Morrison. Her amendment reinserted the city checkups, but having them occur after the initial application, not as a prior hurdle. From the dais she noted those city departments would have information to share with the state regarding the applicant, which is perfectly legal, but the application would be submitted immediately as long as proper zoning was in place.

Earlier, TDH caught up with Morrison, who said by initially removing all the requirements, "staff originally had taken a sledgehammer" to the ordinance. She also noted the investigations apply to new and renewed licensees; "In the unfortunate event we have a bad actor" up for licenses renewal, Morrison said, her amendment preserves the city's ability to "have a discussion" with him or her. Yikes!

What the hell else is happening?

On the city calendar: The Capital Metro board meets at the Cap Metro offices, 2910 E. Fifth, at 3pm. On the agenda: action on the proposed August 2010 service changes.

The 2010 Transportation Bond Citizen Task Force meets in the Board and Commission room at City Hall, 310 W. Second, 3pm. They'll receive a CAMPO planning overview, and a presentation of the draft Austin Strategic Mobility Plan.

The Citizens Water Conservation Implementation Task Force meets at Waller Creek Plaza, Room 105, 625 E. 10th, 5:30pm. Among other items, they'll receive updates on their 2007 recos, and a briefing on AWU's ever popular rebate programs.

The Design Commission meets in the B&C room at 5:45pm. Briefing topics include the Downtown Plan, Planned Unit Developments, and the Downtown bike boulevard.

The Historic Landmark Commission meets in Council Chambers, 7pm. Seven historic zoning cases and demolition requests are on the agenda.

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