At its meeting earlier today, Austin’s City Council passed a resolution initiating a number of potential modifications to the city’s Downtown Density Bonus Program — that’s a set of optional guidelines first established in 2014 allowing developers to build taller and bigger buildings downtown in exchange for meeting various community benefit requirements, like pedestrian-friendly street designs, superior energy efficiency, and affordable housing. The resolution instructs Austin’s…
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Chris Riley Prepares the Next Move For Giant Chess at Wooldridge Square
Although he’s often called the originator of Austin’s urbanist movement, Chris Riley is really just a guy who believes in the potential of cities as places for people. As a former City Council member, co-founder of the Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association, and a friend of everyone involved with this site since the beginning, Chris revealing that his cancer…
Affordable Housing Plan Moving Forward at East Austin School District Site
Efforts by the Austin Independent School District to repurpose one of its large land holdings for affordable housing development are moving forward, with a rezoning case for a nearly 20-acre AISD property in the Govalle neighborhood of East Austin known as the Anita Ferrales Coy Facility at 4900 Gonzales Street securing the approval of Austin’s Planning Commission earlier this week. The rezoning, now scheduled…
Austin’s Ready To Rumble on ‘Crashy Cameron’ and ‘Deathtrap Dessau’ Roads
If you drive regularly on Cameron Road between East 51st Street and Rundberg, or Dessau Road, which is what that same road’s called once you hit the north side of Rundberg all the way up to Parmer Lane, you’re probably aware in the abstract that it’s a pretty difficult transportation corridor — busy, congested, maybe even risky….
Michael Corcoran Never Stopped Believing in Sixth Street
After 40 years documenting the past and present of Austin’s music scene in publications like the Austin Chronicle, local journalist Michael Corcoran died last week at the age of 68. The passage of “Corky” into the pages of local history marks the end of an era in a city that never seems to stop ending eras — but as…
Flash Back 45 Years to Willie Nelson’s 1979 Fourth of July Picnic
Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July Picnic was an Austin tradition for a while, or at least an Austin-area tradition, but after consistently hosting the event here from 2015 to 2023 — with 2020 and 2021 skipped for pandemic reasons, naturally — Texans were shocked to learn a few months back that the 2024 picnic would take place in Camden, New Jersey. Although…