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Feels like old times: "Put it on my tab!" @ Royal Blue Grocery

Jude Galligan | February 4, 2009 |

More reasons to shop at Royal Blue Grocery

I was having coffee earlier this morning and chatting with someone about how most people in the world purchase their food on a daily or weekly basis. In New York it’s routine to drop in to D’Agostinos and pick up a few things for the next day or so. Then, with synchronicity, a few minutes ago I receieved a note from DANA’s Roger Cauvin telling me that at Royal Blue Grocery you can open a “tab”! That’s cool.

“Did you know that you can open a “tab” with Royal Blue? When you sign up, they take your credit card info and enter you in their computer. Then, whenever you buy items at the store, they simply put it on your tab. At the end of each month, they automatically charge your credit card and send you a statement. There is no fee for the service.

One of the benefits of having a dense downtown is that it makes conveniences such as this one viable, due to the sheer number of residents within walking distance of retail shops.” – Roger Cauvin

The phenomenon of the supermarket was an American invention that paralleled the exodus from cities into suburbs. Well, as people move back to the city to become more connected, it’s nice to see an Austin entrepreneur, George Scariano, meet the demand for more neighborhood friendly businesses that are walkable and accessible on a daily basis. Also, see Waltons Fancy & Staple and Emerald City

Royal Blue is located @ 3rd & Lavaca. Their second location, at the ground level of 360 condos, is expected to open next week.

Gov't stimulus money is gonna' get spent. Vote to make sure it's spent in Austin

Jude Galligan | February 3, 2009 |

Vote yes for funding the Waller Creek Tunnel Project
http://www.stimuluswatch.org/project/view/1309

Then, please vote yes for funding Phase II expansion of the MetroRail*
http://www.stimuluswatch.org/project/view/1186

*M1EK, “I have a dream!” 😉

link to Stimulus Watch

Downtown Crime: the solution is not more light

Jude Galligan | February 3, 2009 |

KVUE and FOX 7 news are reporting that the Public Safety Task Force is proposing to cut down on Downtown crime by… get ready for it… adding more light. 🙁

This is a misguided effort to thwart a much bigger problem.

There is a BIG elephant in the room, and it’s called the ARCH. Drug dealers come from all over the city and prey on those with addiction and/or have mental illness.

According to the article, “Austin police call the area bordered by 8th, 6th, Red River and Trinity, a hotspot for crime. Forty-two percent of all drug arrests in downtown happen here.” Adding more street lamps is only going to disperse the problem, and will make the understaffed police force’s job more difficult!

As I’ve said before, the ARCH doesn’t belong across from a major liquor store and a block from Austin’s biggest party – Sixth Street. The way to cut down on crime in Downtown Austin is to: 1) expand the day-time uses of the historic Sixth street buildings, east of Neches St. 2) move the ARCH and its support services away from Sixth Street – though, NOT out of Downtown 3) Revitalize Waller Creek, because right now drug dealing and drug use is hidden from view below the banks of the creek.

Yes, the ARCH should remain Downtown. Doing so relegates to ‘bunk’ status the argument which demands the ARCH remain centrally located, and the NIMBY-ism arguments against moving the ARCH at all. Downtown Austin is a big place with plenty of under-utilized land and buildings.

Downtown Austin Flash Mob – Whole Foods

Jude Galligan | February 2, 2009 |

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv–5rKnMJs]

Nice example of urban hackery. Yesterday, months of planning came through with an Improv Everywhere-esque human freeze at Whole Foods. This is why I love Austin (and Whole Foods)… from the Flash Mob Austin blog…

“Can we just do a quick shout-out to Whole Foods and their Lamar/ Flagship crew? They were such good sports! They could have very easily gotten annoyed and angry and demanded that we leave, but they were super cool with it. Huge kudos goes out to Whole Foods security, managers, and food staff on the salad bar side of the store. Thanks for not calling the police! Oh, and thanks so much to those who grabbed some lunch there or bought some groceries after you unfroze!”

Video of the Flash Mob @ Whole Foods

Flash Mob Wiki

DANA elects new leadership

Jude Galligan | February 2, 2009 |

If you live in Downtown Austin, or have an interest in its growth, then you should consider joining DANA. The Downtown Austin Neighborhood Assocition recently transitioned its leadership team. Outgoing President Marshall Jones remains on the board, while Jamie LaGarde takes his new role as President. Marshall has been President of DANA for the past two years. This is a tireless and, often, thankless job. Of course, these positions are volunteer without pay. Marshall always had the ability to approach political challenges with grace and class. I can comforatbly speak for all DANA members when I thank him for his commitment to making DANA the knowledgeable, influential, and social organization it is today. With over 1,000 members and growing, Marshall and the presidents that preceded him can be proud of what they’ve created.

Leaving the board is Jim Furrow and Michael McGill, though each will remain active DANA members, and you can expect they will continue to be vocal stakeholders in the Downtown community.

Welcome the new DANA Board:

Jamie LaGarde – President (Austin City Lofts)
Roger Cauvin – Vice President (Plaza Lofts)
Randy Hammelman – Treasurer
Lindsay Wiebrand – Secretary (Gables West)
Larry Schooler (404 Rio Grande)
Bill McCann (360)
Greg Anderson (360)
Josh Allen
Will Steakley (360)
Jude Galligan *your’s truly* (Sabine on 5th)
Marshall Jones (Five Fifty 5)
David Weaver (Plaza Lofts)
Shayama Golden (Railyard)

Spring [almost] tops out

Jude Galligan | February 1, 2009 |

Spring tops out at 42 stories — Spring almost topped out at 42 stories

According to an email I received this morning from the developer, Spring condominiums will complete it’s vertical construction soon and is on pace to be ready for move in by this summer. Word on the street is Spring has more than 60% of the units under contract.

From the announcement…

“Expect to see a tree on the top of Spring Condominium soon. The tree is a tradition, symbolizing a building has reached the top floor of its construction. Spring’s glass envelope will also soon be complete. Once the painters have completed the exterior color coating, most of the tower’s exterior elements will be complete.

Interior work continues with installations of finishes reaching level 25. Over 400 workers are on-site working simultaneously on all aspects of the construction of Spring. From work on the structure to installations of glass windows and walls, flooring, tile, cabinetry, electrical and mechanical to the finalization of the pool deck and lobby design, Spring’s team is combining efforts to complete the building by Summer 2009.“

Roundup – Austin politico's websites

Jude Galligan | January 30, 2009 |

Sheryl Cole - Place 6 incumbant — Sheryl Cole - Place 6 incumbent

These days its pretty much unacceptable to not have a website if you are running a campaign. You should be able to do a Google search for “candidate’s name + city council” and your campaign page should be #1 or #2 on the search results page. Some of you candidates have work to do!

Mayor:

Brewster McCracken – http://www.brewstermccracken.com
Lee Leffingwell – http://www.austinleadership.com
Carol Strayhorn – http://www.caroleforaustin.com

City Council:

Chris Riley (place 1) – http://www.chrisforaustin.com
Mike Martinez (place 2) – http://www.martinezforaustin.com
Perla Cavazos (place 1) – http://www.voteperla.com
Rick Cofer (place 1) – http://www.rickcofer.com
Bill Spelman (place 5) – http://www.billspelman.org
Sheryl Cole (place 6) – http://keepsherylcole.com

Candidate’s in green are those which I am currently supporting. I think the best coverage of city hall comes from the BurntOrangeReport.com and Wells Dunbar’s (Austin Chronicle) City Hall Hustle. If you find bias, it should be easy to filter.

Okay, everyone with local political aspirations, you should right now purchase FirstnameForAustin.com!

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

Chris Riley for Austin City Council Place 1

Jude Galligan | January 26, 2009 |

Chris Riley - Downtown Austin resident and candidate for Austin City Council

Friday night at Threadgill’s World Headquarters, Downtown Austin resident Chris Riley launched his campaign for Austin City Council Place 1. Riley spoke about his platform of repairing the economy and environment together, improving transportation, and preserving Austin’s character:

“We need to create green jobs. We need to reduce our dependence on cars, and promote alternate forms of transportation. And we need to make sure that Austin lives up to the things we expect it to be: a place that provides secure homes to people across the economic spectrum; a place with a great arts and music scene; and place with a rich history that prides itself on tending to the needs of our whole ecosystem and all of its inhabitants.”

ChrisForAustin.com

East Ave: The Racial Divide

Jude Galligan | January 23, 2009 |

Most of you know that I-35 used to be East Ave and that Austin wasn’t born with these two decks of transportation dystopia. I’ve always assumed that the historical racial divide between East Austin and West Austin was artificially created by the beast we know as I-35. Perhaps not. According to this Community Impact article…

“Deed restrictions kept African-Americans and Mexican-Americans east of the Avenue until actual segregation laws were passed in the 1920s.”

I’ve been working on acquiring a piece of land in West Austin. Just last week I was reading through the deed records and was shocked when I read something similar. It’s interesting to see that in our history, being on the wrong side of the tracks was actually written into law.