Exactly what role City Council will play in an ambitious new framework conceived to tackle downtown parking problems remains to be worked out. On Wednesday afternoon, members of the Mobility Committee became the first among their colleagues to be briefed on the Downtown Austin Alliance’s Downtown Austin Parking Strategy, a 79-page document that assesses the […]
Downtown Austin Alliance
A nonprofit, membership-based organization focused, according to its website, on “preserving and enhancing the value and vitality of downtown Austin.”
Posted inParks
Parks board embraces plans for Republic Square
Ten years after Austin first announced its vision for the remodeling of Republic Square, the space is finally set to make its debut in the heart of downtown Austin this fall. Mandi Thomas, the partnership and development director of the Downtown Austin Alliance, presented the park’s 2017 Management Plan to the Parks and Recreation Board […]
Posted inAustin
Parking price jump almost certain as study heads to city officials
Increased pricing for street-front parking is almost a certainty in downtown Austin’s near future. That tactic was one of more than a dozen recommended by a consulting firm tasked with solving the parking crunch that plagues many areas of Austin’s downtown core almost daily. The plan from San Francisco-based Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates also calls for […]
Posted inPlanning
Austin launches initiative to redesign Congress Avenue
For Austin visitors, it’s hard to beat the iconic view of the Texas Capitol from Congress Avenue. But for those who live and work along the corridor, the streetscape could use some improvements. On a Friday afternoon, about a dozen customers sit and sip coffees at the Hideout Theatre and Coffee House downtown. But in […]
Posted inAustin
Looking for history: Austin’s public squares
From Lyndon B. Johnson announcing his first Senate campaign in Wooldridge Square to Booker T. Washington speaking there in 1911, some of Austin’s most historic moments and stories are set to be preserved in the city’s three original public square parks. The program known as Our Austin Story is a partnership between the Austin Parks […]
Posted inCity Council
Capitol view corridors to compete at Council today
Stand atop the hill at the northeast corner of the Texas State Cemetery, and you’ll have a clear view of the Texas State Capitol. It rises alongside a row of trees, now leafless, and a Texas flag. That view, some City Council members say, demands protection. “This resolution is to preserve the Capitol corridor views […]
Posted inAustin
Downtown parking study calls for more expensive street spaces
Streamlined technology and more expensive parking spaces – those are some of the recommendations of a new report that looks at improving parking in downtown Austin. The $260,000 study analyzed parking in the area bordered by Interstate 35, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Lamar Boulevard and Lady Bird Lake, along with the South Central Waterfront […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Coalition asks to keep CodeNEXT on track
A coalition of eight Austin organizations got together to ask the city to honor a January 2017 deadline for the new land development code draft on Wednesday. Pointing out that four years have passed since the rewrite was laid out in the Imagine Austin comprehensive plan, representatives from AURA, the Austin Apartment Association, the Austin Board of Realtors, […]
Posted inAustin
Downtown Austin Alliance targets homelessness
The Downtown Austin Alliance has launched a new pilot program aimed at tackling the glaring problem of chronic homelessness in Central Austin. The Homeless Outreach Street Team, or HOST program, hit the streets on June 1. Its small roster is made up of representatives from the DAA, the Austin Police Department, Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical […]
Posted inAustin
A census, but for downtown parking
In a city obsessed with mobility issues, even parking can be a flashpoint that excites visceral debates about whether there is too much or not enough temporary vehicular storage. Soon, however, the Downtown Austin Alliance will temper parking passions with cold hard data mined from a sweeping census of all available spaces in the city’s bustling […]
Posted inAustin
Council to soon consider public restrooms downtown
Everyone has to use the restroom, but sometimes it can be frustrating to find somewhere to go, especially if you are in downtown Austin. To help alleviate this problem, the City Council’s Health and Human Services Committee has directed the Office of the City Manager to look into the feasibility of installing free, 24-hour public […]
Posted inAustin
Mayor, community leaders unveil new facility for the homeless
A $14.6 million facility combining housing and services for Austin’s chronically homeless is expected to break ground in Central East Austin early next year with the support of Mayor Steve Adler, the Downtown Austin Alliance, various nonprofit organizations working to end homelessness and several prominent community leaders. The 40,000-square-foot Housing First Oak Springs facility will […]