Archives for September 2014

Downtown Austin Streets Are Safer With Uber & Lyft

Jude Galligan | September 22, 2014 |

Update: 10/16/2014: The TNC Ordinance passed Council with a 6-1 Vote. Council member Chris Riley’s press release HERE.

We celebrated A’s birthday this past weekend with friends and family hanging out with us at the Shore condos, and later crawling Rainey Street. Everyone had a great time… and plenty to drink.

As we wrapped up the evening I observed 6-7 people use Uber to get themselves home safely.

I was struck by how effortless ride sharing is, and that it effectively keeps a percentage of drunk drivers off the streets of Austin. Remarkable.

I think back to just last year, when getting a cab was a non-trivial event. I’ve always been frustrated with taxis in Austin. They are notoriously difficult to locate, arrive late, or didn’t arrive at all. The result is that people would make the poor decision to just drive themselves after having a night on the town.

In cities where ride sharing is embraced, I fully expect to see data showing a drop in the number of DWIs.

Austin leadership should pay attention, and we’ll be watching as this topic goes before Austin City Council on the 25th.

-Jude

Eyebrow Threading in Downtown Austin

AG | September 18, 2014 |

Warning: This post is VERY girly! If you aren’t into finding convenient beauty solutions in downtown Austin – stop reading now!

But if you are, let’s get REAL girly together, starting now:

pink-girlie — Squeee!!! Fluffy pink unicorns and rainbows and bubbles!

I am a pale, pale lady. And along with my fair skin comes quite a bit of sensitivity. So, I’m not real big on getting my eyebrows waxed, which seems to be the common way most of my other lady friends keep their eyebrows looking spectacular.

So, for a long time, I just managed my eyebrows myself, which – you know – is not fun. And then, in the early 2000’s, I was living in Atlanta and I found a GLORIOUS alternative to waxing or tweezing [Read more…] about Eyebrow Threading in Downtown Austin

Hard Hat Tour Photos of Seven Apartments (née 7 Rio), Scheduled To Open This Winter

Jude Galligan | September 11, 2014 |

Admittedly, I was one of the disappointed spectators when the original concept, proposed as “7Rio”, was reduced to 23 stories.

Still, for the past 18 months, or so, many of us have been eagerly watching the construction site at the corner of 7th @ Rio Grande. Earlier this year I speculated that Seven could even “go condo,” but it appears that multi-family development continues to have legs.

Now that downtown Austin’s Seven Apartments is approaching completion, and will be delivering residences this winter, we were invited to take a hard-hat tour of the tower. This would be a great opportunity to get some insight into a new community that’s about to open in our neighborhood. I could also start to compare how Seven will compete with existing downtown Austin apartments for rent.

I love taking hard-hat tours. There’s no better opportunity to see the guts of a building. For me, riding up the bone-jarring ear-splitting construction elevator adds to the excitement. Peeking through the elevator’s diamond perforated sheet metal, accepting your fate as it creeps higher, you get a unique sense for how each additional floor impacts your perspective of what’s around you.

Here’s what we know about Seven:
Average Residence Size = 924 sf
Average Price per SqFt = $3.05 per month
Number of floors = 23
Number of residences = 220 (172 1bds, 48 2bds)

More pictures from the tour after the jump!