- COA Downtown Commission convenes tonight at 5:30. On the agenda are updates on Bicycle Boulevard from Annick Beaudet with City of Austin Public Works Department, and Waller Creek District Master Plan presentation by Jim Robertson with City of Austin Planning and Development Review.
- Another professionally managed shared bicycle system could be a good fit for Austin. This one is called B-cycle, and it gets rolling in Denver tomorrow. You can vote on their website for Austin to be the next city considered (we’re already tracking as #1). We’ve recommended to City Council Members Riley, Cole, Spelman, and Martinez that they consider integrating a shared bicycle system, like BIXI, as part of the City’s mobility strategy. Since this mode of transit could be of great utility to visitors, one thought was that a hotel tax could fund part of the cost of a shared bicycle system.
- Know that island of vegetation across from City Hall? It shall be called the “Treeangle.”
- In case you missed it, check out this inspired adaptation of an otherwise blah art installation on Lamar.
- The ABJ is reporting “Austin area home sales rose dramatically in March — up 27 percent — compared with the same month last year, while the median price of buying a home was unchanged.” The surge is being attributed to the home buyer tax credits. We share that belief, and explore the downtown market in detail in our recent quarterly report.
I think it’s a misnomer to continue to call the proposed Nueces/Rio Grande bike improvements a “bicycle boulevard”. While I believe the proposal is a positive step, it doesn’t prioritize bicycle traffic sufficiently over motor vehicle traffic to fit the definition of “bicycle boulevard”.