Reporter’s Notebook: Oompa Loompa, doompa-dee-doo

I’ve got another puzzle for you… The “downtown puzzle” continues to, well, puzzle. At the moment, Mayor Steve Adler’s plan for downtown that includes funding for music, homelessness, and Austin Convention Center expansion using Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue and a tourism improvement district is scheduled for this Thursday’s meeting. But even that scheduling is causing a bit of confusion over at the City Council Message Board. Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo and Council members Ora Houston, Leslie Pool and Alison Alter have all posted about their discomfort with moving forward on Thursday without a work session or additional chance to review the puzzle (and all of its pieces). “I sense that there is discomfort over more than just the process here. Fundamentally, we have not had a chance to craft either the frame nor the elements of the vision for downtown together as a Council. Nor have we examined some of the underlying assumptions,” wrote Alter. “The downtown area affects all parts of town in a way that no other part of town does. There may be more pieces to this puzzle or additional dimensions that might lead to greater improvements. In my view each component of the puzzle merits its own work session and perhaps more. We need to review data and financial models to make sure our good intentions are matched by thorough forecasts and accurate assumptions.” In response to the posts asking for more time, Mayor Steve Adler reminded everyone that the resolution does not take final action on any plan. In addition, he wrote, “An amendment is under consideration that would allow the process to move forward, but would also allow Council Members to be a part of it so as to be able to continue to ask questions, test concerns, and refine the concept.” The downtown puzzle is now noticed for Tuesday’s work session and Wednesday’s CodeNEXT work session, in addition to Thursday’s regular Council meeting, for discussion.

Housing hole in CodeNEXT urban core… CodeNEXT promises to bring more housing density to Austin’s urban core, with the desired effect of bringing down rent prices, and last week at a special called Council meeting consultants and staff presented the actual numbers of the future housing capacity based on the second draft of the new land use code. Anyone who wants to comment on or criticize the text must dive into the dense 1,388-page document and search for errors hidden in its complexity, but some problems appear at surface level, as Council Member Greg Casar pointed out at the meeting. A heat map designed by Fregonese Associates illustrated where the 160,687 CodeNEXT-enabled housing units would likely appear across the city, with many of them cropping up in the center of town between MoPac, U.S. Highway 183, I-35 and Ben White Boulevard – except for the northwest corner. “If we’re trying to reduce vehicle miles traveled and have housing opportunities inside the city, in high opportunity areas, then it just seems that we (have) that hole,” Casar said at the meeting. “It looks like (the second draft) addresses it somewhat, but that there’s still a gap there.”

About that pilot program… Outdoor venues in the Red River Cultural District are finding themselves in a bit of concert-booking no man’s land as the six-month pilot program granting them later sound curfews on weekends sunsets after October. With the plan set to be reviewed for possible extension after the pilot period concludes, venue owners and managers are starting to adjust their calendars with earlier set times that will temporarily remain even if the later sound curfews are made permanent. That’s because touring acts that attract the large crowds that necessitate larger shows get booked two or three months in advance. And since clubs couldn’t start booking later shows until the pilot period was approved, in real terms those clubs have only had two or three months to fully capitalize on the later hours, which are when revenue from beer and liquor sales increases dramatically. The pilot program was enacted to improve the financial prospects for outdoor clubs in the area and create more opportunities for Austin musicians to play and earn revenue in front of larger weekend crowds. Anecdotally, business owners in the area say they’ve seen revenues increase between 10 and 20 percent, with district-wide data being compiled for review by Council when it decides on whether to make the later hours permanent.

This week’s Reporter’s Notebook comes from the notebooks of Elizabeth Pagano, Joseph Caterine and Chad Swiatecki.

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