Image
Imagine Austin Blog
Published

There is not one simple answer to the Housing + Transit equation. A rewrite of the guidelines to the Federal Transit Administration New Starts program favors comprehensive solutions. Previous guidelines rewarded projects based on the speed of travel, sometimes even when there was nothing between point A and B of the transit line. Now, applicants must show commitment to affordable housing with implemented policies and plans and economic development in a proposed transit corridor.


As Project Connect prepares to submit its New Starts application for high capacity urban transit on three corridors (Riverside, Central Core, and Highland), local governmental entities need to be proa…

Published

Have you noticed the cool, new colorful building at the corner of 11th Street and San Jacinto? You may have thought it’s yet another new expensive downtown condo building, but for a lucky group of Austinites, it’s actually the first new affordable housing community built in the downtown area in over 45 years! Foundation Communities has created the opportunity for 135 low-income individuals, including downtown service workers and those who have experienced homelessness, to live in the heart of downtown.

Published

2015 has been an especially tragic year for Austin traffic deaths— in just over seven months more people have been killed than during all of last year.  For each person who dies, 3 or 4 more people are seriously injured. It’s a tragedy that touches many Austinites and leads us to a question of how many deaths and serious injuries are acceptable?

Safe transportation networks are the foundation for the complete communities envisioned by Austinites in the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan. Imagine Austin env…

Published

Can an alley be more than just an alley? 

This is the question that has been posed to stakeholders surrounding the Rainey Alley over the last few months.  For some, alleys are no more than back-of-house lanes to bring supplies in and remove trash.  To others they are unique assets of our shared public realm and should be activated with pedestrian centric activities.  To date, the Downtown Commission’s Alley Working Group and Austin’s Public Works Department have received 241 answers to this question; however, four local design teams donated their services to answer our question in graphic form. During our Rainey Alley Ideas Charette these teams offered Landscape Architecture, Archi…

Published

It’s very likely that the computer you’re reading this article on, or the one you have at home, or even that video game system in your kid’s room has a chip in it made by AMD.  They are one of the world’s largest producers of computer technology, and also one of the most devoted to a set of environmental goals at all of their global sites.
AMD Austin Waste Divesion percentage 2009-2014
Advanced Micro Devices, aka AMD, began tracking their global environmental goals in 1995, and recently reported on a set of five year goals for the years 2009-2014.  Globally their…

Published

For almost a year local NPR affiliate KUT has been reporting on the Dove Springs Neighborhood in South East Austin. 

When KUT  began this series, the goal was to document the neighborhood's successes and setbacks. “Dove Springs: Turning the Corner” looks at how local, state and educational policies affect the neighborhood – everything from city council representation to childhood obesity. And while it will continue to examine those ideas in-depth, it will also follow the community as it rebuilds from the floods.

Listen to the KUT piece below, or read it online.

Published

Dr. Deborah Cohen, author and senior scientist at the RAND Corporation, presents about neighborhood parks and community health. In her talk, we explored key findings from several recent studies focused on understanding how parks are used and how park policies, practices, features, and characteristics are associated with park use and park-based physical activity.

 

 

Published

In Central Texas water is a big deal, especially in the summer when the temperatures start to climb. For many, respite is found in the cool waters of nearby swimming holes, many of which are fed by creeks and streams and springs that feed into the Colorado River. The quality of these waters is important, and keeping a close eye on them takes the work of many, including a number of teenagers from Austin high schools.

Partnering with nine Austin high schools, Austin Youth River Watch works with teenagers to teach them to be environmental stewards through holistic youth development activities that focus on academic and environmental success. Students, known as River Watchers , work in…

Published

Homelessness affects our entire community.  The men and women who live on the streets are the most vulnerable souls amongst us, yet the only difference between their needs and the needs of the housed is the catastrophic loss of support they have experienced in their lives, leaving them without the safety, security and the dignity of a place of to call home.

Last year there were nearly 1,500 chronically homeless men and women living on the streets of Austin, accessing a variety of services for a range of needs that include mental illness, drug or alcohol dependency, physical disabilities and medical needs.  For these men and women finding housing is critical but the shelters are at…

Published

Creating a vision today will help ensure that private and public redevelopment over the next twenty (or more!) years will transform the South Central Waterfront to increase walkable connections along the shore of Lady Bird Lake.


Since January, over 400 citizens participated in two Waterfront Walkabouts and three Waterfront Talkabouts to learn and discover for themselves the possibilities for the rapidly changing South Central Waterfront.  These walks + talks all lead to the next critical step:  The Vision + Design Intensive where the community, property owners, officials, and professionals will come together over five days to create an illustrated Vision for the future of the…