city planners

The City is proposing to tighten the standards for its Residential Permit Parking Program.  This is the program by which the City transfers to homeowners, for free, effective ownership of a portion of the public right-of-way in front of their houses.  The new standards would "raise the bar on documenting need" by, for example, requiring traffic studies.

At any downtown Austin conference, particularly a conference attended by out-of-towners, one invariably hears complaints about the lack of parking.

 Downtown retailers complain, too.  As do weekend shoppers and bar hoppers.

An article in yesterday’s New York Times analyzed downtown Austin as a second home location. The enthusiastic article shed light on an important trend in the downtown market: the popularity of downtown condos with out-of-town buyers looking for a weekend getaway.

We have heard first-hand from many developers that affluent Houston and Dallas residents, especially this with children attending UT, have been active buyers in the downtown Austin condo market.

The City Council has not been tested on the VMU ordinance until now.  The first few neighborhood opt-out applications respected the VMU "bargain":  allow density on the transit corridors; relieve the development pressure on neighborh

As downtown Austin continues to grow and thrive, it gets harder and harder to find a parking spot. For city planners, there are two ways to view this phenomena: either as a problem or an opportunity.