downtown Austin's real estate and neighborhood blog
Proving once and for all that it’s OK (really) to live in South Austin and embrace downtown Austin urbanism… Michael Barnes, the Statesman’s social columnist, relays some quick math on the downtown Austin great streets program.
“Imagine all the shade trees, smooth, wide walkways and space for sidewalk businesses, especially cafes”
Thanks to DANA’s Greg Anderson for the heads up!
APD and PARD are cracking down on bridge jumpers, according to KXAN.
More bridge jumping photos can be found at Living Off The Air blog.
-Jude
I discovered this documentary, Sprawlling From Grace; Driven To Madness, about the adverse effects of sprawl. Have any Downtown Austin Blog readers seen this? The blog has great photos of old Texas towns.
In Austin, sprawl has encroached on the Backyard, Hamilton Pool, and just about every green belt in the form of horizontal development and black-top parking lots. Simultaneously, Austin has seen the benefits of urbanism. The most salient display of this trend is the surge in density in downtown Austin over the past 10 years. In an ideal world urbanism would provide attainable housing, replace automobile reliance with mass-transit, and reduce the development impact on our hill country.
Austin is finding its way and the discussion is passionate. Our city has vocal advocates for protecting views of the Lady Bird Lake and the Capitol building. A worthy endeavor indeed, but does this result in bolstering already expensive land values in the urban core neighborhoods and thereby inhibiting the development of more attainable housing? How should the city prioritize its goals?
From the website:
“Wrestling with these emerging realities, state and city governments are finding that they can no longer encourage these patterns of growth by further investing in highway and utility infrastructures. They are now forced to find viable alternatives by investing in public transit in the form of BRT (Bus Rapid Transit), commuter rail, and light rail to serve their community’s transportation needs. Through this process they are gaining an historical understanding of the relationship between land use and transportation.”
Hmmm….. there is a phone in this couch. Dual massage zones. It’s in Pflugerville. It demands our attention. I’ve been meaning to start a best of craigslist column. I think it’s just begun.
“I have a great couch its dark green had built in massagers in both sides and in the middle console there is a working phone just plug it in and ready to use the massage controls are in the center with the phone and the massages are heated so it awsome great deal for 150”
If someone in downtown Austin buys this, please invite us to come sit on it.
From this week’s Chronicle:
“Kudos to the Hilton for Saving the Pun-Off
Dear Editor, Utmost kudos to the Downtown Hilton, which rose to the occasion and saved the 32nd O. Henry Pun-Off from being canceled by last Saturday’s noontime deluge. The Hilton offered use of a sixth-floor ballroom, and the joyful event was held by some soggy and very appreciative people. As the Pun-Off is one of the main annual fundraisers for the O. Henry House museum on the block next to the Hilton, it was truly neighbor helping neighbor. Bless y’all at the Hilton for your generosity and lifeline to the punsters.
Guy Ben-Moshe”
I’ve worked with Joe Bolash [GM of the Hilton Austin] on efforts for DANA and Sixth Street Austin and his team is always prepared to lend a hand for the benefit of downtown.