Today the Austin City Council passed a $3.7-billion balanced budget for the 2016/17 Fiscal Year.
“This is a strong budget that balances affordability with our critical needs,” said Mayor Adler.
On affordability, this budget:
Austin, recently named by CNBC as “America’s best place to start a business” and by the Kaufmann Index as the top US city for startups, is now home to a new startup with an unusual pedigree: the Defense Department. Today Defense Sec. Ash Carter announced that Austin will be the third location of the Defense Department’s technology startup, the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, DIUx. By establishing a tech foothold in Austin, the Defense Department hopes to leverage reservists and guard corps and help scout for tech that DIUx can co-invest in.
“I created DIUx last year because one of my core goals as secretary of defense has been to build, and in some cases rebuild, the bridges between our national security endeavor at the Pentagon and America’s wonderfully innovative and open technology community,” said Secretary Carter. “Austin’s commitment to innovation, access to talent and academia, as well as the department’s longstanding ties to Texas make this an ideal next location for DIUx.”
“That Secretary Carter picked Austin is the third site for a defense startup speaks volumes about our role as a tech leader,” said Mayor Adler. “As proud as I am for what this says about Austin’s role as a hub for innovation, I’m even prouder that our city will play a role in protecting our country into the future.” Continue reading
Salaam Alaikum.
You will and have heard people tell you about this loving, strong man who protected us. He has witnesses here who can tell you who this man was and what he meant to his family and to his fellow officers.
My opportunity here is different. I witness for the community. It’s my privilege to tell you – and especially his family – what this man meant to this city.
I never met Officer Amir Abdul-Khaliq, but I have visited with his family. I first went by on Saturday to visit at Brackenridge. I would not bring it up except that Amir’s mother, Jalillah Abdul Khaliq, and her two daughters, told me something remarkable. Continue reading