Austin Energy has just launched a nifty online carbon footprint calculator. 

Click here to use the calculator, and click here to learn more about what you can do to reduce your carbon footprint.

Austin's own Direct Events has announced plans for an incredible concert this Sunday at the Austin Music Hall benefitting Haitian relief via the Clinton-Bush Fund and OXFAM.

The all-star lineup includes: Aleep at the Wheel, Bruce Robison, Charlie Sexton, The Flatlanders, The Gourds, Guy Forsyth, Jack Ingram, Joe Ely Band, Kelly Willis, Kinky Friedman, Paula Nelson, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Reckless Kelly, Robert Earl Keen and Shawn Colvin. You don't want to miss this show.

For the moment, tickets are available here.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."  - Martin Luther King, Jr., April 16, 1963 in "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

"Incentives — like everything else in life — carry a risk, but Hanger is an established company whose presence in Austin would not only help diversify the city's economy but also would position the city to attract more medical technology firms."

Read the full editorial here.

Today is the deadline for filing officeholder account expenditure reports.  These, plus recent campaign finance reports for City Council candidates, are all available in PDF form here.

In August 2005, we witnessed an unprecedented outpouring of support in Austin for those impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

Today, I’m calling on all Austinites to rally in support of the people and families devasted by yesterday’s earthquake in Haiti.

Monetary donations are needed immediately to provide relief to Haiti. I urge Austinites to please make a donation to the Red Cross International Response Fund.

Donations can be made at www.RedCross.org, or by calling 1-800-RED-CROSS. Austinites can also text "Haiti" to 90999 to send a ten dollar donation to the Red Cross.

Lee made welcoming remarks at this morning's Austin Area Interreligious Ministries breakfast.  Thanks very much to AAIM Chief Executive Officer Tom Spencer and Board president Jan Soifer for inviting Lee to be a part of the event.

Click here to read Lee's remarks.

The City of Austin's Channel 6 today announced the launch of "CityView," a new bi-monthly news program.  Check out the premiere episode here.  Kudos to Channel 6 Manger Keith Reeves, Public Information Officer Doug Matthews, and newly-minted TV host Reyne Telles for pulling it all together.

Spotted in the parking lot at Randall's on Ben White and Manchaca...

                            

Lee delivered a "State of Dowtown Austin" speech at the annual Downtown Austin Alliance lunch in late October.

Click here to read his speech.

The Austin City Council recently passed a resolution authored by Mayor Leffingwell making draft Council meeting agendas available to the public two weeks in advance of each meeting.  This is one of the most aggressive standards anywhere in the country for providing citizens with advance notice of upcoming agenda items.

You can sign up via Austin Notes to receive email notification when each draft agenda is posted on the City's website (along with email notifications on a host of other topics, if you so desire).  Remember that it remains a draft agenda until it is finalized on the Friday before each Thursday meeting, and thus subject to change.

To view all Council meeting agendas with back-up material and other information about the Council meetings, visit the aptly-named Council Meeting Information Center.

For the fifth year in a row, the mayor and friends took the Polar Bear plunge into Barton Springs on New Years Day.  Dirty little secret:  It's actually warmer in the water.

          

                                    Photo credit: Austin American-Statesman / Rodolfo Gonzalez

Hi everyone, and welcome to Mayor Leffingwell’s blog! All of us in the mayor’s office are excited to kick off a new year with a new website. We know you’ve been waiting by your computer with bated breath for months now.

Lee’s first six months in office have been a whirlwind of activity. We’ve all been working hard to follow through on each of the commitments made during the campaign, and to provide leadership at Austin City Hall.

Among Lee’s accomplishments in 2009:

• Led approval of the FY2010 budget, which preserved front-line public safety and social services funding, and avoided City employee layoffs or furloughs.
   
• Formed the 33-member “Mayor’s Community Cabinet” and held quarterly meetings of the advisory group.
   
• Launched the "Go Local" initiative to award more City contracts to Austin-based companies.
  
  
• Convened a Town Hall meeting on the Water Treatment Plant #4 proposal, which drew more nearly 500 attendees to Palmer Center; and led Council approval of the proposed facility.
  
  
• Successfully testified at the Texas Housing Commission in favor of state tax credits for local affordable housing projects.
  
  
• Passed legislation with Mike Martinez and Chris Riley to ban texting and other uses of mobile devices while driving in Austin.
  
  
• Worked with City staff to launch CityWorks Academy, a new 10-week-long civic education program for Austin citizens.
  
  
• Passed a resolution creating the "Energize Austin" program, which will provide low-interest loans to Austin homeowners for the installation of solar panels and other efficient energy infrastructure.
  
  
• Passed legislation with Mike Martinez and Randi Shade providing Austin citizens with more notification of upcoming City Council meeting agenda items.
  
  
• Served as Chair of fundraising events benefiting the Austin Public Library Foundation and the Hill Country Conservancy.
  
  
• Helped lead the effort to persuade Hanger Orthopedics to relocate their corporate headquarters from Nashville to Austin.
  
  
• Won a bet with the mayor of College Station!