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Tag Archives: SXSW
Europe offers a road map for moving from cars to bikes and scooters
As Austin continues to grapple with managing the growing commercial fleets of electric scooters available on its streets, other questions about urban mobility multiplied at this year’s South by Southwest Conference. In a pair of short talks on March 9…
Transportation • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 12, 2019
SXSW economic impact grows north of $350M
The economic impact of the South by Southwest festival inched across the $350 million mark in the latest analysis by Greyhill Advisors of the spring festival’s effect on the community. The $350.6 million total for the 2018 festival represented growth…
Music & Entertainment • By Chad Swiatecki • Jul 10, 2018
Reporter's Notebook: Parking and ... other ... concerns
Still hanging around… We have it to thank for our intimate knowledge of celebrities’ lunches, Capital Metro’s train delays and the president’s spontaneous thoughts, so why not also give Twitter pre-emptive credit for helping to establish a working urban cable…
Reporters' Notebook • By Elizabeth Pagano • Mar 19, 2018
Austin's music preservation efforts draw praise. But is it enough?
The attention placed on Austin’s music community in recent years by local leaders – most especially the affordability issues and stagnant income levels of working musicians – went under the magnifying glass Tuesday at South by Southwest. Attendees of the…
Music & Entertainment • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 16, 2018
From 'Starbucks' lines to 'full-scale riot': How cops and clubs control crowds during SXSW
The influx of 300,000 to 400,000 people to downtown Austin during South by Southwest requires an extraordinary amount of crowd control, both for event organizers and first responders. Austin’s Police Department uses a Special Response Team to patrol downtown. “It’s…
Music & Entertainment • By Nathan Bernier, KUT • Mar 16, 2018
Rising hotel and other costs fuel SXSW's growing economic impact
A rising cost of living and high prices for hotel rooms and other tourist accommodations helped fuel a 7 percent increase to the economic impact the city of Austin felt as a result of the South by Southwest festival. That…
Music & Entertainment • By Chad Swiatecki • Sep 28, 2017
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Reporter's Notebook: This week in conflict management
Fighting for privacy in the nude… During a special City Council meeting Wednesday, John Miki, one of the consultants leading the proposed overhaul of the city’s Land Development Code, described some of the community divisions over development that he encountered…
Reporters' Notebook • By Austin Monitor • Jun 12, 2017
Public Safety Commission has a HOT debate
As the city of Austin scrounges for money to hire more police officers, firefighters and paramedics, it shouldn’t look to the tourism industry for help. That was the message delivered to the Public Safety Commission Monday by Bill Worsham, a…
Police • By Jack Craver • Jun 8, 2017
Can Austin innovate itself out of long meetings?
Given the recent tilt toward performance art at City Council meetings – those poor eggs! – and running times that are the longest among major cities in Texas, it seems like the last thing Austin needs is more citizen participation…
City Hall • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 30, 2017
Examining Austin's "smart city" bona fides
Austin’s reputation as one of the nation’s smartest cities went under the microscope Sunday, with policy and academic experts examining the technology, educational, housing and transportation components – and the city’s shifting needs as it grows – that combine to…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 14, 2017
Adler: A blue Texas "all but inevitable"
It’s something of an old saw in the political world that progressive cities in otherwise red states are like “a blueberry in a bowl of tomato soup.” Austin Mayor Steve Adler and his mayoral colleagues on Friday’s “America’s Mayors: Holding…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 14, 2017
Austin officials rap about Smart Cities, robot cars at SXSW
Nine months after Austin lost the federal Smart City Challenge to Columbus, Ohio, the vision of a data-enhanced urban future is still alive and well. Top officials from Mayor Steve Adler to Austin Transportation Director Robert Spillar took time during…
