What's next for Mackowiak?

OK folks, City Council is still deliberating on the budget. It looks like they'll probably get it done tonight, but I'm not sure, so I'm going to wait and do a (rare) Friday newsletter tomorrow to tell you what happened with the budget. I have some important "housekeeping" news at the bottom that I would encourage you to read.

A blow to Austin's water future

Mayor Kirk Watson announced last night that Austin Water is dropping plans to pursue an Aquifer Storage and Recovery project in Bastrop County. Apparently Bastrop elected officials aren't on board.

"While Austin put our best foot forward to achieve the collaboration and partnership that would be needed to complete testing and eventually build such a regional project, we didn’t reach the level of partnership that we need for this project’s success," wrote Watson.

That's too bad. I don't often approvingly quote Save Our Springs' Bill Bunch, but he put it well this morning when he described the ASR as the "big kahuna" of the city's long-term water plans.

ASR is the injection of water underground into an aquifer, where it is stored for use later on. It's an important mechanism to protect water access in an environment where groundwater is expected to become scarcer due to longer and more extreme droughts.

Matt Mackowiak's next gig

Conservative group Save Austin Now recently conducted a poll gauging voter support for potential ballot initiatives on a number of subjects, ranging from EMS staffing to electric scooters.

SAN's most notable campaigns include the successful campaign to restore the homeless camping ban in May 2021, an unsuccessful effort to impose a costly police staffing mandate six months later, and of course the campaign against Prop Q earlier this month.