Category Archives: News Releases

The latest news releases from Mayor Adler’s office

AUSTIN JOINS BLOOMBERG PHILANTHROPIES’ INNOVATION TEAM PROGRAM IN LATEST EXPANSION

bloomberg_philanthropies_logoNew multi-year grant of up to $1.5 million will be awarded to help Austin tackle homelessness

 

 

Today, Bloomberg Philanthropies recognized the city of Austin as a new member of its Innovation Team program, which helps City Halls drive bold innovation, change culture, and tackle big problems to deliver better results for residents. Austin was selected from a pool of municipalities with a demonstrated commitment to designing and delivering bold solutions to solve homelessness. Other cities selected for the global program include Be’er Sheva, Israel; Toronto, Canada, and Anchorage, AK; Austin, TX; Baltimore, MD; Detroit, MI; and Durham; NC in the United States.

Currently in the third round of funding, the program will allow Mayor Steve Adler and the City Council to fund an in-house innovation team, or “i-team”, to pioneer new approaches on homelessness.

“This grant will help us tackle problems in new ways that reflect who we are in Austin, and I’m excited to see what can come from this,” said Mayor Adler. “When we effectively ended veteran homelessness, we learned how effective new partnerships between the business community, philanthropists and non-profits could be. Bloomberg’s grant will allow our Innovation Office to experiment with new ways to house the homeless.” Continue reading →

Adler Joining Mayors From C40’s 86 Cities In Mexico City Tomorrow For Global Summit

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Mexico City, Mexico– Tomorrow, Mayor Adler will be attending and speaking at this year’s C40 Mayors Summit 2016 in Mexico City. From November 30 to December 2, 2016, the biennial C40 Mayors Summit will bring together the largest group of local leaders and climate stakeholders since COP21. He and Council Member Sabino “Pio” Renteria have been leading a trade delegation in Mexico since Monday.

“Economic growth and environmental stewardship enhance one another in Austin. We thrive because we prioritize both,” said Mayor Adler. “Cities will help lead the way on climate change, because many of the relevant decisions with transit, renewable energy generation, and conservation are being made at the local level.” Continue reading →

Statement by the Mayor on Chief Art Acevedo

“Houston is getting a world-class police chief.  Chief Acevedo has made our community safer and closer, and he is trusted and much loved by so many.  Austin is losing a moral and joyous leader, and I’m losing a friend.
“Losing Art Acevedo is a huge deal, and replacing him will be a daunting task in part because he gave so much of himself to his job and his community. But Austin is a safe city with a strong police force, and we’ll have talented applicants to take his place. We’ll shortly have a new city manager and a new police chief, and this gives Austin a unique opportunity to enter a new era in our history.”

ADLER ANNOUNCES MINIBOND PLAN TO SAVE MUSIC VENUES

As the official announcement was being made at the Bond Buyer conference in Los Angeles, Mayor Adler announced that the Mayor’s office had submitted one of five winning applications in the Neighborly Bonds Challenge, which called on innovative public agencies interested in offering their communities the opportunity to invest directly in local projects. Winning will allow the Mayor’s office to collaborate with Neighborly to establish a $10-million minibond to purchase and preserve iconic music venues, fulfilling one of the objectives the Mayor identified in the Music & Creative Ecosystem Omnibus Resolution introduced last February.

“I am excited about the possibilities that winning the Neighborly Bonds Challenge offers us. This is not a taxpayer bailout. Instead, this provides our community a way out of a problem that has hurt us deeply for generations. We have already lost clubs we will never get back, such as the Armadillo World Headquarters and Liberty Lunch, places where the Austin became the city we love today. We cannot lose these music venues without losing something that is vital to our identity and to our soul. Austin won’t be the Live Music Capital of the World if we keep losing music venues. Now, thanks to Neighborly, we have a way to do something about it,” said Mayor Adler, who envisions using Neighborly’s expertise, skill, and technology to crowdsource a $10 million investment vehicle that can create permanent affordability for music venues. “This is a creative solution for the creative class.” Continue reading →