Last year, I sketched out why downtown has so many huge parking plinths . But another world is possible! Today, we’ll check out alternatives to the plinth. Then, coming soon, we’ll have a look at how regulations could finally #parktheplinth. Transportation Demand Management The easiest car to park is the one that isn’t driven to the destination at all. TDM programs work with…
Zoning
West Campus’ remarkable growth, charted
This blog has something of an obsession with West Campus. It’s the neighborhood that lives by upside-down, inside-out rules and it’s a window into the Austin that could be. So when we got a hold of data about West Campus’ growth, we pretty much had no choice but to put it in charts. Part 1: Understanding the scale and…
Five Things to Like and Five to Improve for the North Shoal Creek Neighborhood Plan
Susan Somers is a north Austin resident near the North Shoal Creek area, President of urbanist organization AURA, and the genius gif editor who made this blog’s most famous piece pounce. The city recently released a draft version of the North Shoal Creek Neighborhood Plan . North Shoal Creek is on the far edge of what you might consider north central Austin –…
Welcome to Bizarro Austin
There’s a neighborhood in central Austin that everybody knows but only its true students really understand. It’s a place where the normal laws of neighborhoods (or zoning ordinances at least) don’t apply. A place where up is down, zig is zag, and 40-minutes cursing at bumper-to-bumper traffic on MoPac is 15 minutes humming with your…
Move Over South Lamar, East Riverside Is The Next Big Thing In Austin Multifamily
The RiverView Austin Apartments, clad with a mix of local brick, stucco, and metal panels, are starting to take shape, and provide a bit of a premonition of what we might see along the much of the E. Riverside strip someday. The 280,000-square-foot, 302-unit RiverView sits on four acres at I-35 and E. Riverside, on…
City Staff Recommends Historic Zoning for Westgate Towers
According to a City of Austin Zoning Change Review Sheet dated September 24, 2012, City Staff has recommended that the zoning change (from CBD to CBD-H) recently requested by the Westgate Condominium Association for the Westgate Tower be granted. The Westgate Tower is the closest residential tower to the Texas State Capitol, and many consider…