AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin City Council will be meeting Thursday and, this week, there are many important items on the agenda.
They set a public hearing to consider renaming Confederate Street to Maggie Mayes Street. Back in February, the council gave the renaming the green light.
The new name will honor former educator Maggie Mayes, who founded the first school in Clarksville. This item was approved on consent.
The council also approved a CROWN Act ordinance, which will change city code to prohibit discrimination based on Black hairstyles in housing, public accommodations and employment by city contractors.
Additionally, the council discussed and approved plans to repurpose the Austin Opera House. Developers want to turn the iconic music venue into "200 Academy," a multi-purpose development made up of a music museum, a park, housing and retail shops.
Willie Nelson actually bought the venue back in the 1970s and, according to the Austin American-Statesman, he said he's "looking forward to supporting the reopening of an Austin institution."
Also on the agenda was an item that would reduce the speed limits on nearly 50 sections of roads around the Austin area, including Payton Gin Road, Dessau Road, Slaughter Lane and Southwest Parkway. Most of the items were approved while two were pulled for further consideration.
Part of the thought process behind these reduction has to do with growth, as the speed limits were set before more people and development came to these areas. But it also has to do with the goal of eliminating serious injury and deadly crashes on area roads.
A number of the speed limit items passed while others were pulled. Click here for more information.
Council members approved increased safety measures for Sixth Street in Downtown Austin.
Sunday will mark one year since a shooter opened fire in the popular bar, killing Doug Kantor and injuring many others. Since then, the City of Austin has looked for ways to make the popular street safer.
On Thursday, they voted on the Safer Sixth Street Resolution, which follows the shooting of Kantor last summer, in addition to several other shootings along Sixth Street within the year.
Two parts of the Safer Sixth Street Resolution have already passed. City Council Member Kathie Tovo pushed to pass the third part, adding 13 HALO cameras for around $200,000 along Sixth Street, making it a total of 60 in the Sixth Street area. The resolution also looks to see if businesses along Sixth would want metal detector wands to check people at the door.
Two others parts of the resolution previously passed include working with business owners to add lighting to their property, especially in alleys, and encouraging bar owners to create written safety plans and train door staff.
Click here to check out the entire Austin City Council agenda.
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