I threw out a question in the feedback forum about a general Austin thread in the hangout and the feedback seemed positive. We kind of hijacked the Uber thread a couple weeks ago and R/Austin is also the worst so I thought it would be cool to talk about city with the people that I've been talking to about everything else for more than a decade. Let's try to avoid flame wars about what city is better. So, The biggest gripe I had with the Lyft/Uber issue was that we were spending city time and money dealing with a mobility issue that actually worked for people and helped reduce congestion and increase quality of life. Everything about the law that was on the books for the first year and a half was working fine. But it is what it is. There is nothing we can do to get that lost time back now. At least there is a possible bond vote in November that can help get Austin, "unstuck." Steve Adler is issuing a call for an 800 million dollar bond (stay with me) to fund improvements to the following corridors: North and South Lamar, Airport Boulevard, Guadalupe, Riverside, Burnet, MLK East/FM 969. The studies and plans for these corridors are already completed. They just need the funds to get construction going so we have corridors where cars and public transport move quickly and are ideal for the high density apartments that we need to keep up with the housing demand. S. Lamar already fits this description perfectly. http://www.mayoradler.com/chamber-of-commerce-remarks-regarding-mobility-bond/ Spoiler TLDR: We do not have enough money to simply add lanes to every road, and in most cases we don’t have the space. And we can’t throw simply money at our affordability crisis. If we’re going to be a better city, Austin needs to be a smarter city.We don’t have room to add lanes on those roads, but even if we could, in a few years the congestion would be back. Same congestion, just more cars. And then what? How many times would you do that? We need to focus on our major streets. The planners call them “corridors,” but we know of them as the parking lots formerly known as North and South Lamar, Airport Boulevard, Guadalupe, Riverside, Burnet, MLK East/FM 969. But if we made these corridors “smarter,” we could move more people, faster and safer, within the same amount of space. We add turn lanes. Smarter intersections allow cars wanting to turn right or left to separate from regular traffic, which gets them out of your way, and you keep going. Also, a rough I-35 financing plan, " Kirk Watson says he has a plan to fund major improvements to I-35 in Central Texas without using bond funds " http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...WTwgEZE4F1dsg065f8eb3&t=1464270250&j=73529662 Spoiler In case you didn't know, a new highway is being build where 183 east is now. It's pretty dope. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPWMKf2xW4c
ugh it's the worst. That rail bond would have had matching funds from the federal government and been a solid starting point for rail. The city has a real problem with opening up city politics to a younger generation. A lot of the dialog is ruled by neighborhood groups and strong PACs and they now run the city council.
From the few times iv been to Austin I've liked it a fair amount. Hills and rivers are sweet, plenty of health stores/restaurants for me to go to. Went to the Hamilton pool and that was really cool.
Why did Austinites name their city's river after the state of Colorado? I mean, we named our lake Lake Houston. Austin is weird.
I did also. Every stupid road that has been built here in the last several years is a damn toll road. Every single one of them.
Thanks for the post. I just moved to Austin (sorry) from Houston 3.5 years ago and have remained pretty uninformed about local politics. Still, that is the longest TLDR I've ever read
Californians have made Austin almost unbearable. The only thing that is better now vs before are the restaurants. The restaurants used to suck, but the influx of people have brought in some really good chefs.
my favorite thing to do in Austin: <blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-version="7" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div><p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BFIErl2q_tS/" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">A photo posted by @mbarker1969</a> on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2016-05-08T00:28:03+00:00">May 7, 2016 at 5:28pm PDT</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async defer src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script>
It's true. I don't know why. The highways are smaller, but even in no traffic, people still drive the limit in the left lane. In Houston, traffic flows 10+ MPH over the limit in heavy traffic. I hate it, but at least the city is much smaller.
Who amongst you is keeping the General Austin Thread weird? Looks pretty corporate and boring thus far.
its actually weirder than that b/c as the colorado river makes its way thru austin we call it a lake. and it used to be called town lake and they wanted to call it lady bird lake, but lady bird johnson said she preferred it remain town lake b/c it belongs to the city. so when she died they went ahead and changed it lady bird lake anyway.