Elroy Morales, Isaiah Thomas, Gary Matthews… These names are among the 158 homeless people who lost their lives last year in Austin.

“They may have been invisible to many people in their lives on the streets but today they are NOT invisible,” said city council member Laura Morrison at the Homeless Memorial Ceremony.

More than 9800 people in Austin are homeless. As city manager Marc Ott watched the proceedings, he reflected on his own decision to experience this life first-hand.

“For me it was eye-opening,” city manager Marc Ott said. “I mean I was struck by things like the idleness… simply having nothing to do all day. I was struck by when I first got there that morning, when I got downtown the reaction of people to me.”

Ott says he is still digesting from his experience.

“While housing first in my humble opinion, housing alone is not enough,” Ott said.

The Austin City council passed a resolution calling for 350 units of supportive housing, but other key factors must be addressed including mental health and job training.

“Beyond that a job would provide that same sort of aha, right on, work yes let’s go John Q citizen again rather than a reptile sitting on a dang gazebo,” Charles, who is homeless, said.

Charles and his wife, Alice, were left homeless after Hurricane Katrina.

“We’re a family. I’m a family man without so much the house,” Charles said.

They haven’t had much luck weathering the job market.

“People think we’re out here drinking… yeah I wish!” Charles said.

“People say, ‘why are they waiting around?’ Well, there are 3,000 people waiting to get into public housing, there’s a waiting list for case management, there’s a waiting list for the health clinic, there’s a waiting list for everything. So that at some point what else are they going to do,” said Dawn Perkins, the Director of Communications for Front Steps.

Life on the streets is waiting game… some wait to die. Others hope for a hand up rather than a handout.

- Nicole

Showing the Changes to Bus Stops on Congress Ave.

A little late writing about this, but thought it important to the Downtown Austin community that I post anyway.  On November 6, 2010, Cap Metro closed down several of the bus stops on Congress Avenue, citing traffic and safety issues under the old system, which had a bus stop at every block of one of Downtown Austin’s main downtown thoroughfares.

I talked with John-Michael Cortez, the Interim Manager of Community Involvement at Cap Metro.  He explained that these changes have been discussed for years, but the recent construction on Brazos Street and the subsequent detours routing extra busses to Congress stops have exacerbated congestion and traffic accident issues and has pushed the Agency to close some stops on Congress now.

He says these stop closures are the short-term solution, and that next steps will include gathering feedback, giving a preliminary report to Cap Metro Planning and Operations committee in early December, then giving a detailed, quantitative report on the outcomes to the Cap Metro Board in January.  If the bus stop closures are deemed to be successful in decreasing congestion / traffic problems while maintaining customer and stakeholder satisfaction, Cap Metro will most likely decide to close additional stops on Congress to have only 3 NB and 3 SB stops total.  THEN, if all goes according to service plan 2020 (which Mr. Cortez was quick to say was not set in stone), all Congress bus stops will be relocated to Lavaca / Guadalupe “transit corridors.”

Mr. Cortez said that, to his knowledge, the changes have only received a positive response.  However, some stakeholders may have the concern that by closing down bus stops will only increase the crowds at the remaining stops, thereby inhibiting pedestrian traffic to and from their space.  Also, at least at 6th and Congress, there seems to be an awful lot of people hanging out at that bus stop that have no intention of riding the bus – to where will that element relocate?  (I bet you that Keepers is pumped about the closure there.)  And lastly, those that use the Congress Avenue bus stops as transfer points may be seriously affected, to the tune of perhaps missing a tight transfer because they have to walk 1 or 2 blocks further.  Which means serious delays.

Mr. Cortez says that Cap Metro will actively be reaching out to the community to get feedback regarding these concerns, among others.  While he says they will be proactive in their attempt to talk with stakeholders about the impact of these closures, it never hurts to reach out to them if you have an opinion.  You can contact Community Involvement Coordinator Alissa Schram at Alissa.Schram@capmetro.org or John-Michael Cortez directly at John-Michael.Cortez@capmetro.org with your thoughts on this decision.

Not a turkey - but possibly being eaten on Thanksgiving anyway.

Downtown Austin Blog wishes our readers a Happy Thanksgiving!

And by the way, this turkey guinea fowl really has been running around Rainey Street for the past couple months or so.  I hope whoever is keeping it doesn’t plan to eat it.

Thanks to pal and Downtown commercial Realtor, Carl Daywood, I had opportunity to discover  a terrific new little eatery in the Sixth Street Historic-Entertainment District.  It’s called Carrob’s Cafe on Sabine, between 6th and 7th, essentially behind The Boiling Pot, where the former Texas Picnic Company was housed.

The name Carrob is derived from a combination of the owner’s first names, Carol Mitchell and Robert Barnes, a delightful couple who welcome guests with relaxed down-home friendliness, Austin style.  It’s a bright and cheerful space with large windows looking out to both Sabine and Waller Creek.

The menu is basically all-breakfast all-the-time!  And since that’s my favorite meal I couldn’t wait to dive in for a sampling.  I had a couple of excellent breakfast tacos that were served in toasted tortillas and packed with my choice of 3 ingredients from among 21 selections offered — for only $1.99 each no less!  Other options include egg platters, omelets, pancakes, biscuits & gravy and some killer-sounding breakfast burgers and club combinations.

In the drinks department, my iced mocha latte was also delicious and nicely made.  The menu has all sorts of yummy coffees, teas, lemonade and sodas.

The full menu can be viewed here with an extra click-through:  Carrob’s Menu.

For now, they are only open daytimes, 6 days a week:  7-5 Mon-Fri and 9-5 Sat; closed Sundays.  Hopefully Carrob’s will quickly build enough traffic to warrant opening on Sundays too.  And they would probably do well from midnight to 4am on Saturday and Sunday mornings if they actively promoted their existence up and down Sixth to the bar crowd to  sober up before heading to their cars.

Stop by and check ‘em out with a warm welcome to the neighborhood.  I’ll add a photo or two as soon as I make it back by (which will be soon!) and remember to bring along my phone/camera.

There’s a new pharmacy in town… And it’s not your typical “over-the-counter” experience.

“We are a firm believer in the body-mind connection,” said Scot Maitland, co-owner of Live Oak Pharmacy. “If you feel good you are gonna be good and healthy and well. So, to be able to provide people with a unique surprise when they walk in the door, that it’s not business as usual at Live Oak Pharmacy, it’s about you.”

Live Oak Pharmacy – located on West 5th street – opened its doors in April. Maitland says it’s not just about counting pills…. It’s about being rooted in the community.

“We’ve really kind of integrated ourselves in the community because we live here; we live downtown and our customers are our neighbors,” Maitland said.

The pharmacy hosts monthly health and wellness education programs and also supports local events such as the Mamma Jamma Ride and the AIDS Walk. But what really makes the pharmacy unique are its services.

Staff at Like Oak mix medicine – also known as compounding – in order to fit the unique needs of each patient.

“Not everything works for everybody,” Maitland said. “We live in a very customized world. You can customize your own car. You can customize your home. Why not customize your medications.”

Patients might request compounding to convert solid pills into liquid form or just to add a dose of their favorite flavor.

Live Oak also has a medication take back program. Customers can bring unused medicine to be disposed of in a safe way. Since the start of the program in April, Live Oak has collected more than 275 pounds of pills.

“We’ve been big advocates of collecting those unused medications that would have otherwise gone into our water supply or into a dumpster somewhere or worse yet into the hands of the hands of our youth,” Maitland said.

At Live Oak, wellness isn’t just about your health… it’s about the wellness of the community.

We’ve been covering the I-35 makeover for years, and it’s exciting to see it taking shape.   It’s more impressive in real life than it did as a rendered concept.  The polished inverted arches are huge – the size of these things needs to be seen up close.

I-35 Makeover, Day Perspective

Architect Phillip Reed of COTERA+REED ARCHITECTS explains to us the expected construction schedule. “…work will complete on the north block – roughly around Thanksgiving – and then start on the south block, which will complete around the middle of February.”

According to Reed, an artist is currently working on some programs for the lighting – which will be attached to the bottom of the stitches.  “When only the north block is open, it will only have a very neutral light quality, but when both blocks are open the lighting will be programmed to change,” Reed says.

Thanks to downtown Austin entrepreneur and purveyor of rave supplies, Neville Medhora @ nevblog.com, for his pics and video (taken yesterday)!