Jack Craver

With less than a percentage point separating them, Natasha Harper-Madison and Mariana Salazar will advance to a December runoff election for East Austin’s District 1 seat.

As of 1:26 a.m., Salazar had 5,673 votes (or 26.01 percent). Harper-Madison was 204 votes behind at 5,469 (25.07 percent).

Council Member Pio Renteria finished way ahead of his multiple opponents in his bid for re-election in East Austin’s District 3, but is heading to a runoff against his sister, Susana Almanza. 

Renteria won roughly 48 percent of the vote. Almanza came in a distant second place, with about 22 percent.

From the Austin Monitor: If City Council Member Don Zimmerman is unhappy about losing the seat he has held for two years, he’s not showing it.

After losing re-election to Jimmy Flannigan – the same candidate he beat to earn his spot on the then-new 10-1 Council in 2014 – Zimmerman said he accepts the will of the voters, particularly in light of how well Hillary Clinton performed in the traditionally conservative northwest suburbs that Zimmerman represents.

From the Austin Monitor: After more than two years of fierce debate among neighbors, a developer and City Hall leaders, City Council finally approved the Grove at Shoal Creek, a massive planned unit development to be built on 75 acres of vacant land at the corner of Bull Creek Road and 45th Street.

Uber does not have hard feelings about Prop 1.

In a forum hosted by the Austin Monitor, Glasshouse Policy and KUT on the patio of the Ginger Man bar downtown, a representative of the ride-hailing giant expressed regret about the tenor of the multimillion-dollar campaign waged by the company earlier this year. 

From the Austin Monitor: After weeks of back-and-forth with city staff and three days of wrangling for dollars and cents on the dais, City Council approved a $3.7 billion budget Wednesday evening for the upcoming Fiscal Year 2016-2017.

From the Austin Monitor: City Council voted unanimously Monday to adopt a new set of electricity rates for residents and businesses served by Austin Energy, the city-owned utility.

The vote was the culmination of an eight-month process, starting with a rate proposal submitted by the utility in January, followed by months of back and forth between AE and more than two dozen “intervenors” representing businesses, consumer groups and environmental advocates.

From the Austin Monitor: After years of decline, Austin’s African-American population appears to be growing again.

In a presentation during a City Council work session Tuesday, city demographer Ryan Robinson explained to Council members that the black population within Austin’s city limits increased by an estimated 8,000 in the four years following the 2010 census. In the entire Austin metropolitan area, it grew by an estimated 20,000.

From the Austin Monitor: City leaders traded accusations of dishonesty over ride-hailing regulations at a meeting Tuesday as they grappled with potential solutions to the transportation void created by the recent departure of Uber and Lyft.

The debate was prompted by a resolution proposed by Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo that directs city staff to explore a number of means of helping other ride-hailing companies and taxi services in the city prosper, including city loans or technical assistance.

From the Austin Monitor: The Ethics Review Commission voted unanimously to sanction City Council Member Don Zimmerman for two violations of city campaign finance code Tuesday night. They also voted unanimously to issue a written reprimand to Zimmerman, though they did not recommend prosecuting the matter further.

From the Austin Monitor:

Members of the Ethics Review Commission didn’t seem to know what to make of the four complaints lodged against Austin City Council Member Don Zimmerman. The charges, leveled by Mark Walters, a law clerk, forced the panel to explore the murky line between the public and private life of an elected official, a line that the world of social media has made all the more difficult to define.