• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Downtown Austin Blog

downtown Austin's real estate and neighborhood blog

You are here: Home / Austin photos, images / Day five, becoming a model urban neighborhood: what does Downtown Austin need?

Day five, becoming a model urban neighborhood: what does Downtown Austin need?

Jude Galligan | February 19, 2009 |

Each day this week I am serving up one item, with non-politically correct candor, that Downtown Austin needs to become a model of re-urbanization, as I see it.

Politicians love to talk, form task forces, and spend time doing everything except for making decisions as they are needed.  So, this is an appeal to Downtown Austin stakeholders that know how to get things done:  the residents, developers, retailers, and land owners.

Improved landmark protection, design standards, and enforcement

This is an average landmarked building on East Sixth Street.  Here is another – note the beautiful brick archwork accented by a plywood sign!  The building owners, tenants, and the city should be embarrassed.  So much of Austin’s history exists in those buildings.  Any building that has a landmark plaque should be respected and preserved.

The city may say “we don’t regulate ugly”.  They should.  The city must better leverage the Historical Landmark Commission and Heritage Society to protect the facades, awnings, and cleanliness of our historic buildings..  Unless the city begins to affect positive change, we will continue to see the warehouse district disappear and East Sixth Street deteriorate.  It appears that voluntary compliance by landlords to maintain an expected (or expressed) standard doesn’t work and the city must begin to enforce regulations.

BTW, the owners of landmarked buildings get significant tax breaks.

Filed Under: Austin photos, images, buildings, downtown austin, entertainment district, history, Real Estate, urban planning

About Jude Galligan

Jude Galligan is Principal at TOWERS.net.

Primary Sidebar

Archives

Tags

2nd street 360 condos 904 west Austin austin apartments austin auction austin bicycle austin bike share Austin City Council austin coffee austin condo auction austin condos austin history austin hotels austin lofts austin news austin parks austin transit austonian bel air auction bike share buildings condos development downtown austin downtown austin apartments downtown austin condos downtown austin retail entertainment district historic austin legacy on the lake life Parking rainey street Real Estate retail sabine condos seaholm sold spring condos SXSW waller creek warehouse district w hotel w hotel austin
LEGAL NOTICE: Texas Real Estate Commission Consumer Protection Notice. • Information About Brokerage Services. • Copyright © Jude Galligan. All rights reserved. Site Map