The annual PARK(ing) Day event creates public space in downtown Austin by converting, for a day, many of Congress Avenue's street parking spaces into temporary parklets. It's a fun time, but perhaps more importantly, the event serves as a reminder of how much space we've sacrificed to parking in the public realm of our most famous street -- space that, in many cases, can be ...
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The Scarbrough Building’s ‘Keep Austin Weird’ Sculpture Has Some Haters
Remember that pocket patio and "Keep Austin Weird" sculpture planned in front of the Scarbrough Building at the corner of Congress Avenue and Sixth Street? I ripped on the sculpture a little last time for being kinda corny, but now I feel bad about it. Turns out a significant portion of Austin's Historic Landmark Commission really doesn't like it. The project, ...
Sidewalk Cafe, ‘Weird’ Statue Planned for Scarbrough Building on Congress
Plans for improvements on the ground floor of downtown Austin's historic Scarbrough Building appear to be moving forward, based on new documents out of the city's Historic Landmark Commission. Remember, everything built in the Congress Avenue Historic District has to hit the commission's desk at some point, and this project's up for discussion at tonight's meeting, giving us a ...
Getting to Know the Avenue, Downtown’s Upcoming Experiment in Car-Free Living
With so many tower projects in the works for downtown Austin, picking a favorite is a lot like picking a favorite child -- you've probably got one, but it's not polite to talk about in front of the other buildings. Still, the Avenue apartment tower planned at 721 Congress Avenue is high on my list, for a number of reasons. It's a good-looking tower, yeah, and ...
40 Years Ago, Downtown Austin Was on the Brink. What Have We Learned?
In 1978, journalists Bruce Hight and David Frink collaborated on seven stories in the Austin American-Statesman, published every day for seven days between May 8 - 14. The title of the series was "Downtown: On the Brink," and this week of warnings told the story of a declining downtown Austin -- highlighting both the early signs of its decay, and the more dire possibilities the ...