As South by Southwest once again tests the limits of the Austin Convention Center, Travis County Commissioners Court is considering a new proposal that could not only bring the facility some relief but also attract the attention of a major league sports owner. Those were just two of the many enticing details embedded in a […]
East Austin
East Austin is the quadrant of Austin that, generally speaking, is east of IH-35.
Posted inCity Council
Rosewood Courts’ historic zoning back in play
It was far from clear what had happened after a flurry of amendments and votes. But when the dust settled, the question of historic zoning for Rosewood Courts remained open. City Council voted 8-0-3 to initiate historic zoning on Rosewood Courts, with Council members Don Zimmerman, Sheri Gallo and Pio Renteria abstaining. That vote will […]
Posted inPreservation
Rosewood Courts preservation fight finds new life
Anyone who thought the bid to save Austin’s Rosewood Courts was over just lost a bet. This Thursday, City Council will consider initiating historic zoning on the East Austin housing project. Council Member Ora Houston has sponsored a resolution supporting both the zoning change and the nomination of Rosewood Courts to the National Register of […]
Posted inElections
County moves to correct shortened voting hours
Officials from Travis County and the city of Austin became aware shortly after early voting started this week that a failure to communicate meant that some voters have not been able to vote early in the morning or after work, as both city and county officials had intended. That mistake meant that voters hoping to […]
Posted inDevelopment
Crowd turns out to decry One Two East project
Anyone who has spent time on the near east side of Austin in the past few months has probably seen the (literal) signs that neighbors have been gearing up for a fight over development plans for the CVS shopping center at East 11th Street, along the I-35 Frontage Road. Last Tuesday, that fight came to […]
Posted inDevelopment
Displacement fears block recommendation of Montopolis project
Concerns about family displacement and housing affordability prevented the Planning Commission from recommending approval of a proposed apartment complex in the Montopolis neighborhood Tuesday. In two different votes, the commission failed to garner the seven votes necessary to endorse the recommendation by city staff for the proposed 23-acre mixed-use development on Bastrop Highway and Ponca […]
Posted inCity Hall
Ethics panel dismisses complaints against Historic Landmark Commission
For the second time in recent months, the Ethics Review Commission waded into the affairs of the Historic Landmark Commission in response to a complaint from an activist. But unlike the previous instance, the commission quickly dismissed the complaints, ruling that it did not have the jurisdiction to judge the merits of the allegations, which […]
Posted inHousing
Oracle: when a tech company expands in Austin
Demolition, it seems, follows Robin Wilkins. Wilkins, 54, moved into the Lakeview Apartments on South Lakeshore Boulevard after another apartment building she was living in was slated to be torn down. She stayed for five years, paying no more than $720 a month for a two-bedroom apartment. Nonetheless, throughout that stay she knew the fate […]
Posted inAustin
Seniors lead East Austin trike revival
As James Maxwell tells it, the first journey nearly broke him. “I almost gave up bike riding,” he said. “These are something else.” Maxwell, 68, stares down a line of five glossy, red tricycles. While at the moment they’re idling in the rear parking lot of East Austin’s Conley-Guerrero Senior Activity Center, later in the […]
Posted inAustin
Is gentrification a human rights issue in Austin?
Over the past few months, the city’s Human Rights Commission has been taking a hard look at preservation and gentrification. Though such issues might seem outside the commission’s purview, onetime City Council candidate Fred McGhee has a different opinion. McGhee’s complaints come after the Historic Landmark Commission rejected historic zoning for the Rosewood Courts in […]
Posted inLand Development Code
Designed to be neighborly, porch fuels animosity
A still-pending variance request may have seemed simple enough at first glance, but on Austin’s East Side, issues of gentrification are never far away. And at the Board of Adjustment, unhappy neighbors are usually on hand as well. At the board’s most recent meeting, Justin Cofield was seeking a variance that would change his front […]
Posted inLand Development Code
STR prohibition proves popular in variance case
With new regulations for short-term rentals in the works, the topic of STRs has become subtext in any number of seemingly unrelated development cases in the city. This was certainly the case at the most recent Board of Adjustment meeting, when an East Austin request for variances turned into a brief discussion about STRs. With […]