entertainment district

Blight

Jude Galligan | January 29, 2009 |

Downtown Austin - Parking Garage Nirvana

Blight: Something that impairs growth, withers hopes and ambitions, or impedes progress and prosperity.

In Downtown Austin nothing kills hopes, dreams, ambitions, old ladies and little children like under-developed land. According to DANA board member Roger Cauvin, in economic terms, blight can be considered an “externality,” which “are the indirect costs imposed on society by an economic activity. Pollution is an example of an externality. If economic agents (e.g. developers) aren’t made to pay for the externalities, we are effectively subsidizing harmful behavior.”

In Downtown Austin, blight manifests itself in the primary forms of:
1) parking lots (or razed lots)
2) parking garages
3) chain link fence
4) perpetual disrepair

The Northeast quadrant of Downtown Austin takes the cake for parking garages. The area is desolate and completely void of human interaction. Unimproved parking lots are scattered throughout Downtown. It could easily be argued that Downtown Austin blight reaches it’s zenith on 6th Street. (slideshow) Broken doors, windows, tattered chain link fence, destroyed ATMs, it’s all there.

As I see it, the problem of blight is rooted with the owner of the property that is creating or hosting the blight. The economic behavior of hoarding undeveloped property in the CBD is contrary to the density goals of Downtown Austin stake holders. It is also contrary to the city’s and county’s goals of collecting ad valorem taxes. Perhaps more importantly, razing your lot and wrapping it in chain link fence is contrary to the sense of community.

Over the past couple of months you’ve seen related topics discussed at Austin Contrarian. According to Chris Bradford, “We badly need a mechanism for discouraging property owners from warehousing vacant lots downtown. The solution is not to shut out all redevelopment to eliminate the risk of this kind of behavior. What we need is a vacant-lot surcharge or something like it. A surcharge calibrated to compensate the other downtown property owners, businesses and visitors for the very real cost of blighting a block. This might encourage property owners/developers to leave existing buildings in place or to fill in currently vacant lots, even if the structures are inexpensive and small.”

Well said.

-Jude

Tattered chain link fence along Waller Creek

Club FUZE – citizen stakeholders want it gone

Jude Galligan | January 23, 2009 |

Club FUZE is the next venue on the Downtown stakeholders’ list of night clubs identified as hosting recurring criminal activity. A letter was sent on behalf of several Downtown stakeholders (including DANA, Capital Metro, and multiple residential buildings) to Don Garner, the owner of 505 Neches where Club FUZE is located. According to the letter:

“In the past year the criminal activity inside and surrounding Club Fuze has escalated considerably. Reports obtained from the Austin Police Department data base reveal a serious escalation of violence, public drunkenness, prostitution, and illegal drug activity both in the club and on the adjoining street.”

The letter goes on to state,

“The club’s dangerous and illegal activities have reached the point that visitors are now being warned to not walk down Neches during peak club hours, hotel guests are being encouraged to avoid the area, and local residents have been forced to avoid the area and to warn their friends to not park near the club.”

Part of the challenge for the Police is coping with venues that have recurring problems. According to data found at Krimelabb.com you might want to avoid club FUZE and the area around it. Below is a list of criminal activity inside or in front of FUZE in December.

2008-3432326 2008-12-08 POSS OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA
2008-3360157 2008-12-01 AGG ASSAULT
2008-3360157 2008-12-01 CUSTODY ARREST TRAFFIC WARR
2008-3500238 2008-12-15 DISTURBANCE/OTHER
2008-3360157 2008-12-01 ASSAULT W/INJURY-FAM/DATE VIOL
2008-3371894 2008-12-02 POSS OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA
2008-3550403 2008-12-20 UIPP
2008-3382492 2008-12-03 PEDESTRIAN ON ROADWAY
2008-3360157 2008-12-01 POSS MARIJUANA
2008-3360157 2008-12-01 FAILURE TO IDENTIFY
2008-3360157 2008-12-01 VIOL OF EMERG PROTECTIVE ORDER
2008-3361590 2008-12-01 PUBLIC INTOXICATION
2008-3361590 2008-12-01 REQUEST TO APPREHEND

Citizen stakeholders have recently been successful in purging the neighborhood of offending night clubs. Last month, Tim Finley, the owner of the building housing Club Paradox and Club Planeta, was urged to clean up his tenant’s act after discussions with residents, police, hotels, and the convention center. After years of increasing crime and violence in and around clubs Paradox and Planeta, it was clear to Tim Finley that change was needed. He terminated their lease.

Public Invited to View Waller Creek Tunnel Models

Jude Galligan | January 16, 2009 |

This month the public can preview at the Downtown Austin Public Library a model of the future tunnel. While progress is slower than we would like to see, this has been a good month for Waller Creek. Below are some other highlites.

US Army corp of engineers report
This is a strong indicator that the engineering efforts are moving forward.
http://downtownaustin.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/waller-creek-army-corps.pdf

Waller Creek district TIF is now line item on property tax statements
The city and county approved TIF financing is now a line item on the property tax bill for properties within the Waller Creek District. This indicates that the County is prepared to fund its portion of the redevelopment. No additional taxes are levied, rather a % of property taxes collected from Waller Creek district properties go towards repaying the bonds financing the construction of the tunnel.

Home

Dale Glover will replace Tracy Atkins on the Waller Creek Citizens Advisory Committee
Dale is a vocal and outspoken advocate of Downtown Austin and Waller Creek redevelopment. His appointment is for the DAA’s chair on the committee. This is in addition to his involvement with Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association, Downtown Austin Alliance, and the Austin Parks Foundation.

Also, over the holidays, I shared a thought about how the loss of the Marriott and AMOA should reflect positively on 21c’s decision to move forward. The addition of 21c museum/hotel/residences along Waller Creek would be excellent for our values. Hopefully, they will begin to see the light!

Gang Of Female Bandits Preying On Men

Jude Galligan | December 10, 2008 |

A buddy of mine just sent me this link to an article about a “Gang Of Female Bandits Preying On Men” on 6th street. The title roped me in and it just got better from there.

“At this point, it’s 5:30 in the morning. I know who I am. So I hitchhike all the way back to my apartment, about three miles. And I’m going into my building and, because it was such an obscure hour, I needed my building ID, so I get my wallet out and I realize it’s been completely rifled through. And so that was really my heads-up.”

link

Paradox and Planeta are SHUT DOWN!

Jude Galligan | December 5, 2008 |

by jude galligan

Bye bye Paradox! Dont let the door hit ya! — Bye bye Paradox! Don't let the door hit ya!

For months there have been rumors that Tim Finley would not renew the leases for night clubs Paradox and Planeta. According to the Austin Police Department Downtown Area Command, Tim Finley officially terminated their leases yesterday.

[update] Through the grapevine, I’m being told that Finley is not in a big rush to find a replacement tenant, and he is not inclined to install another bar. The building is actually pretty nice once all of the black plexiglass peels off. This weekend I’ll try to find some old photos of the building and hopefully put together some history. The intersection of 5th (formerly Pine St) and Trinity is one of the very few instances in Austin where each building, on each corner, was built before 1940.