Austin Texas Community
www.kut.org
Or shade. I am also reminded of how CapMetro spent money to rip out the perfectly fine existing shelters and benches to replace them with the newer, flimsier ones.
Verdict: not great, not terrible. VIP probably not really worth it. Had VIP for James/Marr. The rear VIP area is nice, but far form the stage and people line the rail so hard to see. The stage VIP area is just about useless. If you aren't at the rail on the left side, you can't see a thing and even then the speaker blocks a good part of the stage. A good spot on the floor not behind a tree or way back to the right or behind the sound booth or behind a tree has a great view, and the sound is probably way better. Sound was mid. Couldn't hear the guitarist from James talking, and it was a bit muddy at times. Inside looked just as I remembered it. Good for small shows.
The company plans to complete construction in Austin by 2026.
Of all the things I did not expect, this is on up there. But it is pretty awesome.
https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2024/08/texas-gas-service-rate-hearing-at-council-this-thursday/
https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2024/08/texas-supreme-court-to-decide-whether-austin-has-charter-election-this-year/
[@austin](https://lemmy.world/c/austin) Will this work posting from my Mastodon account? Let's see! My latest adventure in car repair went more smoothly than expected so I'm ok right now, but Autonation Chevrolet seems to be the only dealership near me that services battery/charging related issues in Bolts. The last time I had a problem they had my car for weeks. Is there a good local shop for EVs anywhere in ATX? Austin EV Only is near me and I contacted them but they seem to focus on hybrids. Or at least not Bolts.
Because of Texas’ messed up “Robin Hood” school funding, a chunk of that increase would go to the state, not to Austin ISD. https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2024/08/austin-isd-is-asking-voters-to-approve-a-new-tax-rate-to-help-fund-pay-raises-reduce-deficit/
Would be great to see something like this trialed in Austin. https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/cool-pavement-temperature-relief-dallas/3621553/
I know this will sound callous of me, but fuck this NIMBY bullshit, and also KVUE for promoting it. This apartment complex is going up a 60 second walk from the Highland Station on the Red Line. Throw a rock and you can hit both Airport Blvd and 2222. This is the geographical center of Austin near some of the busiest intersections in the city. It's not reasonable to expect the vacant lot behind your house will stay that way.
Proterra bankruptcy really threw a wrench into it. https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2024/07/cap-metro-stops-shift-to-all-electric-bus-fleet/
So far there are thirteen planned propositions. https://communityimpact.com/austin/south-central-austin/government/2024/07/22/austinites-likely-to-face-13-ballot-measures-on-government-election-rules-this-november/ https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2024/07/council-oks-13-proposed-charter-amendments-for-november-ballot/
Good guide from KUT and Austin Common. https://www.kut.org/austin/2024-07-15/austin-travis-county-voter-guide-voting-where-to-vote
https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2024/07/austin-water-tees-up-to-propose-rate-increases-to-council/
Looks like Dallas is actually considering it. Of course this is one of those mythical startups, so it will probably go nowhere. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/uber-like-elevated-cable-cars-could-be-dfw-s-next-attempt-at-tackling-traffic/ar-BB1p14tW
https://www.kut.org/health/2024-06-27/ascension-will-stop-offering-health-insurance-plans-in-texas
variety.com
Wonder how much worse it can get?
Any tips on growing corn in central Texas? Is it even practical? I sowed some corn in February, and they only grew 3ft. and looks like I might have a few very small corn cobs. The last time I tried to grow corn was in Ohio, and used the 3 sisters method, which worked pretty well. But idk wtf to do in central Texas.
DAE have problems with ACH transactions at Amplify Credit Union? Since I opened my account a few months ago I have had so many problems - Amplify being unable to send me their own security codes, third parties not recognizing the bank or its routing number, and inability to complete ACH transactions. The most recent issue is that a third party recognizes the bank, but says "there was a problem processing" the transaction. Luckily I have an account at a different bank and was able to pay them. What can I do to get this resolved? I see a lot of good reviews for the bank but haven't seen any reports of this issue, but surely it can't be just me? Did I make a mistake opening this account with them?
Anyone know of a place around town that does reel mower sharpening? Austin Outdoor Power website says they no longer offer it. I have a kit but I don’t want to deal with doing it myself if I don’t have to. Thanks for any leads.
Also $8 mil in park improvements. https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2024/05/acl-fest-shows-499m-economic-impact-with-8-1m-donated-to-parks-improvements/
xkcd.com
Bad things have happened to me and next to me and behind me because of niceholes wanting to control the traffic flow.
This whole project is such a waste of money. When your tuition goes up even more, this will be one reason why. Fascinating how the rendering for these “UT caps” show mostly parking lots. I still haven’t seen any info on how the exorbitant yearly maintenance costs for these caps are going to be funded. https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2024/05/ut-pledges-13-5-million-to-cover-i-35-from-dean-keeton-to-15th-street/
www.austinmonitor.com
Two years ago, with the office real estate market in Austin stuck at a 20 percent vacancy rate, Brad Stein took the first of two trips to other markets to see if some of the hundreds of thousands of empty spaces in downtown Austin and areas beyond could be converted into badly needed housing stock. What Stein saw in a 2022 visit to Chicago and another trip to Dallas last year was that housing space and office space are two very different puzzle pieces that don’t fit together without considerable and expensive alterations. “It’s easy to throw the idea out, to say, oh, we should just do office conversions to residential,” said Stein, president of Intracorp Texas, which has three residential developments in the works in Austin. “I was curious myself, and so I toured an office conversion to a multifamily rental project. … I wanted to see: Is this something that we could do in Austin?” While those kinds of conversions are feasible and successful in other cities with older office buildings and less demand for new development, which keeps land prices lower than in Central Texas, the reality quickly set in that office-to-residential conversion isn’t likely to take place locally in any major way unless office vacancies rise to 50 percent or higher. Stein and other real estate experts who spoke with the Austin Monitor said it would take a precise mix of factors to make those conversions make economic sense locally. Among them: Properties need to be 30 to 40 years old and already in need of significant renovations and improvements; Only buildings with floor plates of 15,000 square feet or less offer the ready access to windows and egress needed for residential use; Vacancies would need to be high enough to force owners to essentially give away a distressed asset at or below its land value. Unless an owner is several years or even decades into owning a building that is only half full, Stein said it’s unlikely that the time and cost of a conversion would be in any way attractive. Since the surge in Austin office space has taken place in the last 10 to 20 years, owners would rather wait out a downturn instead of taking on substantial new costs or exiting a project at a loss. “The offices and the areas where people want to live, I think they’re just kind of too new,” Stein said. “And I don’t think that the owners and the lenders of these office (real estate spaces) right now … are really willing to take a huge loss to kind of sell them and get out of them.” By most industry measures, office space in the Austin area sits at about 20 percent vacant, though that number doesn’t take into account the amount that has been subleased by major tenants who had signed on for full occupancy of some new buildings and then changed course. Aquila Commercial listed the central business district vacancy rate at 22 percent in March, with the Domain having the lowest area vacancy rate at 11 percent. The persistence of the vacancy rate has become a regular point of conversation with developers, real estate brokers, architects and planners, with conversion as a far-off “what if?” solution. The biggest obstacle to putting beds in place of desks and work stations comes from the far different space needs for the two uses. Centrally located bathroom banks won’t work for residential properties that aren’t offered in a dormitory style, which means expensive new water lines are needed throughout the structure. The same is true for heating and air conditioning systems, with individual units needed for every living space rather than centrally located plants that serve an entire building or portions of them. Brandon Townsend, principal and project director for Page architects, said the costs of office-to-residential conversions are so high that cities and counties would have to offer substantial incentives or fee waivers to make the process attractive. Townsend said another reason older office buildings are the most viable target for housing space is that older properties were likely constructed below their maximum allowed floor area ratio because the local economy at the time didn’t justify the expense, even in a desirable area downtown. Now that housing demand downtown is high, he said the most likely move would be to knock an underutilized building down and build to its maximum height rather than converting to apartments or condominiums. “If you had a building that was built in the early 1980s or late 1970s, when Austin was kind of going through one of its growth spurts, there probably wasn’t a need to build an 800,000-square-foot office building, even though they had the ability to do it,” he said. “The demand just wasn’t there because the city wasn’t that big, and so they built maybe a 30- or 40,000-square-foot office building. Is it better to take that building and take it down and build the full capacity that that site can bear, to 800,000 multifamily?” In the world of office space developers, most are exercising patience over the current state of the market rather than taking drastic moves like conversion, which would be even more expensive than in recent years because or persistently high interest rates. Tim Hendricks, senior vice president and managing director of Cousins Properties, said his company and others are taking a variety of smaller steps to slowly increase vacancy including investing in renovating buildings to suit smaller, non-tech occupants, and slowing or outright halting new development to allow new businesses in the Austin market to soak up available space. Hendricks said conversions aren’t an attractive option for companies like his, which play purely in office space and would have to sell a property outright to a company more able to handle residential uses. There is some potential in areas outside hot business districts where owners may have fewer options to address low office occupancy. “What we have seen is pressure on the older suburban assets that aren’t able to provide the amenities that customers are looking for today. The capital that’s required to modernize older buildings – they are struggling. I believe they will struggle for a while when it relates to conversions,” he said. “There’s been a few folks that worked on converting office to residential, vertical residential and high-rise residential, with some of that going on in New York City.” Hannah Rangel, vice president of built environment for the Downtown Austin Alliance, said conversion has been a regularly popular topic in recent years as the city has had to address the need for housing as well as the effects of vacant office space on surrounding businesses. Like Stein and others, her research shows that the combination of high costs, logistics challenges and the expected slow rebound of the Austin market will make full conversions almost impossible downtown and in many other areas. What’s more likely, she said, is incorporating a mix of smaller professional businesses into currently available space. And Rangel is a proponent of short-term conversions for creative, lifestyle and other businesses that could keep office space active for 10 years or so, with a return to office when the market is ready. Another area of interest Rangel and the DAA have identified is equitable transit-oriented development areas, where the proximity to transit and possible incentives could make office-to-residential conversions at least somewhat feasible. “It’s a totally worthwhile conversation to happen for Austin broadly outside of downtown. Things get really interesting when you start to think about class B and class C properties and kind of low-rise office parks,” she said. “We’re already making commercial-to-residential conversion, so even though I think we want to be sort of forceful in the conversation and say this isn’t a fit for downtown, that shouldn’t stifle the conversation because I think that those two Lego pieces do go together – sort of – in other submarkets in Austin.”
austin.eater.com
Official Statement: >Dear Dom’s Kitchen & Market and Foxtrot Customers, > It is with a heavy heart that we must inform you of a difficult decision we have had to make. After much consideration and evaluation, we regret to announce that Foxtrot and Dom’s Kitchen & Market will be closing their doors starting on April 23, 2024. The closure affects 2 Dom’s stores and 33 Foxtrots across Chicago, Austin, Dallas, DC areas. We explored many avenues to continue the business but found no viable option despite good faith and exhaustive efforts. > This decision has not been made lightly, and we understand the impact it will have on you, our loyal customers, as well as our dedicated team members. We want to express our sincerest gratitude for your support and patronage throughout the years. It has been our highest honor to elevate the everyday and create a remarkable shopping experience for people who love food as much as we do. It has been a privilege serving you and being a part of your everyday lives. > We understand that this news may come as a shock, and we apologize for any inconvenience it may cause. We genuinely appreciate your understanding during this challenging time. > We would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for your loyalty and trust in Dom’s and Foxtrot. It has been an honor to serve you, and we will cherish the memories we have created together. We would also like to thank our team members who have committed themselves over the years to providing a unique selection of quality foods and creating an outstanding in-store customer experience. Lastly, we would like to thank our many partners, without whom we would not have been able to build such a strong brand. > You can access FAQ’s below. > Once again, thank you for your support, and we wish you all the best in the future. > Important dates: > April 23, 2024 – Delivery capabilities are no longer available. > April 23, 2024 – Store operations are no longer available. > April 23, 2024 – Store credits are no longer available. > April 23, 2024 – All customer-facing operations are disabled. > When will the Dom’s/Foxtrot stores close? > Operations will end on April 23, 2024. > When will the Dom’s Go/Foxtrot Apps close? > Operations will end on April 23, 2024. > Will consumers be able to use Foxtrot / Dom’s credits? > All Dom’s/Foxtrot account credit and member perks will expire on April 23, 2024 — https://domschicago.com/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_9658007
https://electrek.co/2024/04/22/tesla-skirts-austins-environmental-rules-at-texas-gigafactory/
www.austinmonitor.com
A Travis County resident is trying to [remove District Attorney José Garza](https://www.kut.org/politics/2024-04-20/travis-county-da-faces-removal-attempt-under-texas-law-targeting-rogue-prosecutors) from office. Betsy Dupuis filed a lawsuit Friday under House Bill 17, which allows anyone in a county to try to remove that county’s top prosecutor. Her complaint is similar to a [previous one filed](https://twitter.com/England_Weber/status/1732909511956975965) against the DA. Dupuis also [told KXAN](https://www.kxan.com/news/local/travis-county/person-who-filed-petition-to-remove-travis-county-da-steps-forward/) that Garza’s office mishandled a case after she accused someone of sexual assault. HB 17, which took effect in September, has yet to be used in court. Supporters of the law argue that some district attorneys in the state have gone “rogue” by, in their estimation, not enforcing laws, allowing folks to get out of jail more easily or dropping cases altogether. Garza’s office isn’t prioritizing low-level offenses like marijuana possession, opting to dismiss some cases rather than locking up residents. Garza has also said he [will not investigate](https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/28/texas-legislature-prosecutors-removal/) cases involving abortion access. In her petition, Dupuis cites Garza’s marijuana and abortion policies as reasons to remove him – as well as his prosecution of police officers accused of misconduct. Opponents say the law undermines the will of voters, who elect district attorneys, and that it’s a way for the GOP-dominated Texas Legislature to meddle in Democratic counties, like Travis County. Garza [cruised](https://www.kut.org/politics/2024-03-05/jose-garza-jeremy-sylestine-travis-county-district-attorney-2024-democratic-primary) to a primary victory this spring and faces Republican Daniel Betts in the November general election. The traditionally blue county typically elects Democrats. At a news conference with congressional Democrats on Monday, an attorney representing two** **Texans being prosecuted for getting abortion-related care said HB 17 uses an enforcement mechanism similar to the state’s abortion ban. “What HB 17 did was deputize every single person in Texas to go after every single prosecutor in Texas. It makes no sense,” Austin Kaplan said. “There are 254 counties. There are untold numbers of prosecutors … and all of them now are subject to attack from (anyone) across Texas for their decisions.” There have been a couple of attempts to remove elected officials since HB 17 took effect. A petition in Hays County to remove District Attorney Kyle Higgins [was dropped](https://www.kut.org/crime-justice/2023-09-22/hays-county-district-clerk-drops-lawsuit-against-the-countys-district-attorney), and an earlier attempt to get Garza removed failed because the petitioner was being prosecuted by his office for drug possession. The law allows any county resident to file a petition to remove a prosecutor – as long as they’re not being prosecuted in that county. A hearing in the latest attempt to remove Garza is scheduled for May 16. The case will be heard in a Comal County court, with a Republican judge presiding and a Republican prosecutor from Bell County. That political divide underscores all of this. If a prosecutor is successfully removed, Gov. Greg Abbott would appoint someone to take over. State Rep. Donna Howard, who voted against the bill, said that erodes the will of voters who elect prosecutors to do their jobs. “We knew it could be misused to target DAs for political reasons under the guise of policy, disagreements rather than actual misconduct,” she said. “No DA prosecutes all crimes; all DAs use prosecutorial discretion to determine how best to serve those who elected them within their available resources.” Howard and other Democrats said Monday the petition filed Friday is identical to the earlier one – pointing out that it even includes the same typos. They said the petition was initially submitted by Martin Harry, who ran against Garza for DA in 2020 and who has been shopping [possible plaintiffs](https://twitter.com/MartinHarryFL/status/1782001448542150868) on social media. They also point out that the alleged misconduct** **Dupuis accuses him of took place before the law went into effect and is not enforceable in this instance. Garza has said the case is politically motivated. In a [statement published Monday](https://betsydupuis.substack.com/p/statement-regarding-petition-to-remove?r=7g00m\&triedRedirect=true), Dupuis said that’s not the case and that she wants accountability on the part of his office. “While the petition focuses on Garza’s politically framed policies, upon legal advice, I saw signing it as the most viable way to initiate an investigation into the corruption of Garza’s office,” she said.