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Lady Bird Lake Boat Ramps

Jude Galligan | October 5, 2009 |

I found this site that documents where you can pull your canoe or jon boat into Lady Bird Lake. While normal motor boats are banned from use on the LBL, you are permitted to use small trolling motors. Having kayaked the lake on several occasions I can appreciate the utility in these little buggers. You can also try sailing.

If you don’t have a canoe or boat of your own, it’s easy to head down to the Texas Rowing Center (our favorite city concessionaire) and rent a canoe for the day.

Who remembers AquaFest (wiki) – Austin’s regatta? In the ’70s you could find drag boats racing on Town Lake. Before there was ACL, AquaFest was the biggest annual concert in Austin, Texas.

-Jude

Downtown Austin Open Houses

Jude Galligan | October 2, 2009 |

The great thing about downtown Austin open houses is that you can generally walk from building to building. Take a stroll downtown now that summer is over and the temperature is cooler. On this weekend’s calendar you’ll find the Austin City Lofts and Cambridge Tower. Also, a good reason to head downtown this weekend is the opening of West Elm furniture at 5th and Lamar (which happens to be across the street from the Spring Condos sales center)

Saturday
1) 800 W. 5th Street #908, 2bd, 2ba, $995,000, 1-3pm [TateProperty]

Sunday
1) 800 W. 5th Street #908, 2bd, 2ba, $995,000, 1-3pm [TateProperty]
2) 1801 Lavaca Street #13A, 1bd, 2ba, $369,000, 2-4pm [UptownCondos]
3) 1801 Lavaca Street #7E, 2bd, 2ba, $365,000, 2-4pm [UptownCondos]
4) 1801 Lavaca Street #7D, 1bd, 1ba, $325,000, 2-4pm [UptownCondos]

Norwood House Restoration Benefit

Jude Galligan | October 2, 2009 |

The Norwood Posse - www.restorenorwood.org

I rediscovered the Norwood House this past May, and learned of a group – the Norwood Posse – acting as stewards for its restoration and preservation. Wolf Sittler, leader of the posse, contacted me this week to let me know about a fund raiser for the restoration. Please take a few minutes to browse their website and familiarize yourself with the history of this amazing property.

The Chronicle has a recent write up about the challenges facing the Norwood House. Perhaps the most frustrating fact is that the house was purchased by the City in 1985, only to be neglected into near ruin.

-Jude

Live At Seaholm

Jude Galligan | October 1, 2009 |

If you haven’t heard, RARE magazine is producing the “Live At Seaholm” party at downtown Austin’s Seaholm power-plant. A limited number of wristbands are available now at Waterloo and Birds’. The wristbands are free and give priority over attendees without them.

Forwarded message below.

This is a free event, so we encourage you to show up early. Doors are at 8.

Be advised, because the wristbands are for both nights, we distributed more than capacity.

Wristbands give you priority access over those without wristbands, however they do NOT guarantee access if we are at capacity!

You are allowed TWO (2) wristbands at the drop location. You must put ONE on upon pickup, and you are allowed ONE more to take with you.

Wristbands WILL run out quickly at these drop locations, regardless of whether or not you’ve RSVPed.

AGAIN, RSVP IS FOR WRISTBAND LOCATIONS ONLY AND DOES NOT GUARANTEE YOUR ADMISSION.

Drop locations are as follows:

Waterloo Records at 6th and Lamar
Bird’s Barbershop on East 6th
Bird’s Barbershop on South Lamar

Thank you for your overwhelming interest. We look forward to having you be a part of this historic event!

Click on image for more photos of Seaholm

ACL Festival Road Closures

Jude Galligan | October 1, 2009 |

ACL Road Closures – per the ACL Site (link):

Roads leading into the park area will close at 12:01 AM on Friday, October 12th, 2012 and will open again by 5:00AM on Monday, October 15th, 2012.

The following roads will be closed for ACL:

Barton Springs Road at Robert E. Lee (Barton Springs Pool Parking accessible at Robert E. Lee Entrance)
MoPac Frontage at Columbus Drive (No travel allowed into Zilker Park or Barton Springs Pool from this road)
Stratford Drive at Nature Center Drive

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

What a great weekend to leave the car at home and hop on the bicycle, or take the ol’ leather express.

-Jude

# # #
From: From the Public Information Office
Date: Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 11:53 AM

City prepares for Austin City Limits Festival

The City of Austin welcomes the 2009 Austin City Limits Music Festival. The three-day musical event, which expects crowds upwards of 65,000 people, runs Friday, Oct. 2 through Sunday, Oct. 4, at Zilker Park. Motorists should expect delays around the Zilker Park/Barton Springs Road area and throughout downtown. The following streets will be directly affected:

· West Fourth Street between Nueces and Guadalupe streets (full closure)
· Barton Springs Road between Columbus Street and Robert E. Lee Road (full closure)
· Stratford Drive between Nature Center Drive and Barton Springs Road (full closure)
· West Fifth Street between San Antonio and Guadalupe streets (right lane closed)
· Guadalupe Street between West Third and West Fifth streets (parking lane closed)

Road closures begin at midnight Thursday and continue through midnight Sunday. A street closure map is available for download at www.cityofaustin.org/specialevents/downloads/aclfest_map_100209.pdf

There is no parking available at the festival site. Festival goers are encouraged to bike, walk or shuttle to the park. The official ACL Web site lists several parking/transportation options at www.aclfestival.com/info/transportation, and a complete schedule and map of Capital Metro’s free ACL shuttle service is available at www.capmetro.org/news/news_detail.asp?id=7495.

# # #

Walton’s Fancy and Staple Pleases Me

AG | September 29, 2009 |

Walton's Menu Board and Deli — Walton’s Menu Board and Deli

A little deli and flower shop with some big backers (namely Sandra Bullock, who also has ownership interest in Bess) opened in downtown Austin earlier this year. All of the DAB crew was pretty excited to have another daytime-use casual cafe downtown. It’s technically the second location for a Walton’s (there is a Walton’s florist shop on Bee Caves). I’ve been a few times this year, but I took the almost extinct ‘Dillo there last week with the express purpose of doing a little write up on the place.

First of all, I think the atmosphere is awesome. The place is kind of split up into three different parts: 1) the front, deli area with some seating, 2) a little flower shop in the back of place and 3) a separate alleyway that consists of only seating. There’s also a small outside dining area. Here are some pictures:

The vibe in here is….well, frankly, it’s adorable. It’s kind of a clean and airy 1940’s vibe. Very light, very sunny. Feminine, but not uncomfortably so.

Now, on to the food. Hog Island Deli fans may not like this statement very much, but it’s been said, and I agree, that Walton’s Fancy and Staple fills the gourmet sandwich void in downtown Austin. I think we all at least can agree that it’s a hell of a lot better than Subway, Which Wich, or Murphy’s. I ordered what I considered more of a specialty sandwich, the seafood po boy:

It was really, really good, as everything I have ordered there has been. It was pricey ($12.99, if I remember correctly), but oh-so-delicious. Everything on the sandwich was fresh and cooked to order, and was delivered to my table pretty quickly after ordering. I didn’t have dessert, but it was not for want of temptation (the desserts are also reasonably priced, in my opinion):

After I ate, I meandered over to the florist shop area. Very adorable, but not extremely affordable. Here are some close ups:

To sum up:

Pros: Great vibe, great food, fills downtown Austin’s gourmet sandwich void.

Cons: A little pricey.

Check it out and judge for yourself: Walton’s Fancy and Staple Website

-AG

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Downtown Austin Plan Districts Town Hall Meeting on October 10, 2009

Jude Galligan | September 29, 2009 |

(As sent from the DAA)

“The City of Austin’s Downtown Austin Plan team invites you to participate in a town hall meeting on Saturday, October 10. Details below. We hope you will attend and share your thoughts on the key issues affecting downtown.

Dear Downtown Austin Plan Stakeholder,

Please join us at a “Town Hall” Meeting and share your vision and ideas about the nine districts in Downtown Austin. On Saturday October 10th, 2009, we will be meeting to share our preliminary thoughts and recommendations — and to get your input — on some key issues facing Downtown:

– Downtown District Goals and Priorities
– Downtown Transportation
– Live Music, Art, and “Creative Culture” Policies
– Historic Resources and Preservation Policies
– Land Use and Urban Design Regulations

These issues and more are being addressed by the “Downtown Austin Plan.” For more information about the Plan, please see the project website at:http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/downtown/downtownaustinplan.htm

The specifics of the meeting are as follows:

Event: Downtown Austin Plan — Town Hall Meeting
Date: Saturday October 10, 2009 Time: 9:00 a.m. to Noon
Place: Waller Creek Center, 625 E. 10th Street Room 104
Parking: At this time, we are unsure about the availability of off-street parking, but there is on-street parking in the area. Transit: For bus route information, please consult:http://www.capmetro.org/planner/.

Please feel free to pass this invitation along to any interested individual wishing to attend.

You may receive this invitation more than once as we may have you on multiple stakeholder lists so please excuse the redundancy. If you have any questions about this event, and to RSVP, please contact Jorge Rousselin atjorge.rousselin@ci.austin.tx.us or (512) 974-2975.

The Downtown Austin Plan Team”

Downtown Austin Round Up

Jude Galligan | September 29, 2009 |

Hi How Are You Gets iPhowned — "Hi, How Are You" gets iPhowned

-Arthouse at the Jones Center raises $5MM to triple their space.

-Congress Avenue dresses up with a new retailer.

-David Byrne talks to heads of Austin’s bicycle community at the Paramount

-West Elm bridges the furniture affordability gap between Ikea and Ligne Roset this Wednesday.

-CapMetro delays commuter line until 2010, is content to be Austin’s whipping boy.

Downtown Austin Open Houses

Jude Galligan | September 26, 2009 |

We’ve received several inquiries about open houses, so Downtown Austin Blog will begin listing open houses each weekend. The great thing about downtown Austin open houses is that you can pretty quickly bounce between buildings.

Make a day of it this weekend and drop by the Old Pecan Street Festival on 6th Street. On this weekend’s calendar we’ve got the Austin City Lofts and Villas On Town Lake.

Sunday
1) 800 W. 5th Street #704, 1BR, 1BA, $374,900, 1-3pm [AvenueOne]
2) 80 Red River Street #103, 2BD, 2BA, $309,000, 12-2pm [John Horton]

Take The CAMPO Survey

Jude Galligan | September 26, 2009 |

The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) is presenting the three possible concepts for investing in the transportation system between now and 2035.

Give your feedback here and help positively impact Central Texas for decades to come!

Thanks to the Thomas Butler with the DAA for the link!

-Jude