Austin | 44 East | 573 Feet | 49 Floors | Complete

[ATXboom]

Originally Posted by Armybrat

I hear the hike & bike trails are being trashed by the expanded homeless camps. Is that true?

I'm out there every week. None on the trails... the most I see are on the Cesar Chavez sidewalk just west of Congress.

[Mopacs]

From Sunday, 1/17

[Urbannizer]

[JAM]

Originally Posted by Armybrat

I hear the hike & bike trails are being trashed by the expanded homeless camps. Is that true?

1000% more than prior years, that is for sure. working down the trail:


- very nice tent setup at Edward Rendon Park (havent' been that way in a few weeks)
- tent on the shoreline in front of Milago - been there 6 months, maybe more?
- tent at the MAC - been there a few months
- crazy guy by the ped bridge near row house. not sure where he was camped, yelled at my wife and other women everyday. she stopped walking that way to work, he seems to be gone now. may have been under the bridge
- tent recently set up by Congress bridge (have seen others there before)
- lots of tents just behind the ones on the sidewalk between congress and 1st along Cesar Chavez - set up for the view of the lake
- seen a few come and go between 1st and Lamar, there were quite a few hidden up on the bank a while back - nothing presently there
-tent on south side of shoal beach ped bridge. dont see people using the benches over there like before. that one has been there for a while now
- dont see any beyond these points. apparently downtown is the attraction.

Not trail related, but other interesting points I've heard

- know a guy who lives in Cedar Park where a tent was setup on the other side of his backyard fence. very unlikely spot. kind of makes him worry for his 9 year old daughter.

- was driving down Radam Ln towards St David South , an empty lot across from a bunch of houses was full of tents. seems like an unlikely spot, maybe its safer???

[KevinFromTexas]

They're setting up in Butler Park up under the trees next to the train tracks. I also saw a bunch of tents in Southeast Austin next to the lake along the trail just before you get to Longhorn Dam.

[paul78701]

Originally Posted by JAM

1000% more than prior years, that is for sure. working down the trail:


- very nice tent setup at Edward Rendon Park (havent' been that way in a few weeks)
- tent on the shoreline in front of Milago - been there 6 months, maybe more?
- tent at the MAC - been there a few months
- crazy guy by the ped bridge near row house. not sure where he was camped, yelled at my wife and other women everyday. she stopped walking that way to work, he seems to be gone now. may have been under the bridge
- tent recently set up by Congress bridge (have seen others there before)
- lots of tents just behind the ones on the sidewalk between congress and 1st along Cesar Chavez - set up for the view of the lake
- seen a few come and go between 1st and Lamar, there were quite a few hidden up on the bank a while back - nothing presently there
-tent on south side of shoal beach ped bridge. dont see people using the benches over there like before. that one has been there for a while now
- dont see any beyond these points. apparently downtown is the attraction.

Not trail related, but other interesting points I've heard

- know a guy who lives in Cedar Park where a tent was setup on the other side of his backyard fence. very unlikely spot. kind of makes him worry for his 9 year old daughter.

- was driving down Radam Ln towards St David South , an empty lot across from a bunch of houses was full of tents. seems like an unlikely spot, maybe its safer???

What I've noticed is that a fair number of these tents seem to be housing people who may be recently homeless. I imagine they are recently unemployed due the pandemic. At least, that's what it looks like to me. I haven't talked to them, so I can't say for certain.

[The ATX]

Working on floor 24. From the GC...


https://www.instagram.com/intracorphomesatx/

[Urbannizer]

East Ave - Rainey District Austin by Grexsys, on Flickr

[
url=https://flic.kr/p/2kw5GZx]Downtown Austin Panorama[/url] by Dub G Photography, on Flickr

[The ATX]

Half way up - work on floor 25 from this week:


https://www.instagram.com/intracorphomesatx/

[Echostatic]

Once topped out this will have the 3rd highest roof in the city (for a short time.) I feel like this gets lets coverage than it should because it's shoved wayyy in the corner of downtown.

[JAM]

Originally Posted by paul78701

What I've noticed is that a fair number of these tents seem to be housing people who may be recently homeless. I imagine they are recently unemployed due the pandemic. At least, that's what it looks like to me. I haven't talked to them, so I can't say for certain.

Wondered the same thing. But there is an eviction moratorium until March 31, 2021 ??? Also noticing more tents coming up along the trail in the last month. The pavilions are also used. There are even tents under the bridges on N. 183

[JAM]

Apparently the RNA is not happy about recent F.A.R. exemptions along Rainey. No infrastructure to go along with it. i.e sidewalks, pot holes fixed. personally, I sure would like a few pot holes fixed. Otherwise I'm gonna have to buy a huge gas guzzling truck to navigate them. So much for being green !

[Geckos_Rule]

Originally Posted by JAM

Apparently the RNA is not happy about recent F.A.R. exemptions along Rainey. No infrastructure to go along with it. i.e sidewalks, pot holes fixed. personally, I sure would like a few pot holes fixed. Otherwise I'm gonna have to buy a huge gas guzzling truck to navigate them. So much for being green !

Yup -- there was an "emergency" meeting a week ago or so about this, and they've encouraged everyone to write our city council members....

Funny, considering our building also had discussions about Rainey St. infrastructure plans, including expanding Red River, shifting Rainey to pedestrian only, adding another traffic circle, and extending Rainey out to Cesar Chavez. And the majority of other residents were against that as well.....

[drummer]

Are there any serious discussions about extending Rainey St. to Cesar Chavez?

[migol24]

Originally Posted by drummer

Are there any serious discussions about extending Rainey St. to Cesar Chavez?

I personally don't think that would be a good idea. Just to think of that clusterfudge it create on that intersection. They probably wouldn't allow for a left turn unless they are forced to add a light on Cesar Chavez. It's stressing me out just thinking about how gridlocked it would be.

[drummer]

Originally Posted by migol24

I personally don't think that would be a good idea. Just to think of that clusterfudge it create on that intersection. They probably wouldn't allow for a left turn unless they are forced to add a light on Cesar Chavez. It's stressing me out just thinking about how gridlocked it would be.

Yeah, that's part of the motivation behind my question - I'm unsure how it would work. It's a weird street "grid" as it is, but I'm not sure how to improve it.

[KevinFromTexas]

I'm not sure what floor they're on, but judging from the height, I think it's about half its height now.

[JAM]

Originally Posted by drummer

Yeah, that's part of the motivation behind my question - I'm unsure how it would work. It's a weird street "grid" as it is, but I'm not sure how to improve it.

I don't recall seeing the idea in writing, maybe it was a discussion at a meeting. But agree, can't see how it could help traffic. When ever traffic is heavy, its backed up to Red River stop light anyway. What would help traffic, is to have an Uber designated area for drop-off and pick-up. At least during busy times. The Uber guys are lost, looking for their pick-up, park in the middle of the street so no one can get by, block drive-ways, or what ever, get distracted and cause traffic flow problems. Reserve specific spot pick-up for disabled people only.

[urbancore]

This building has 70% presold, per my source.

[Geckos_Rule]

Originally Posted by JAM

I don't recall seeing the idea in writing, maybe it was a discussion at a meeting. But agree, can't see how it could help traffic. When ever traffic is heavy, its backed up to Red River stop light anyway. What would help traffic, is to have an Uber designated area for drop-off and pick-up. At least during busy times. The Uber guys are lost, looking for their pick-up, park in the middle of the street so no one can get by, block drive-ways, or what ever, get distracted and cause traffic flow problems. Reserve specific spot pick-up for disabled people only.

Austin Transportation released a study listing a number of different options January of 2020: https://app.box.com/s/y5e8m03ril7rrwfi4i7pko4gwm0h94n4

Among the different proposed options were: (1) adding a traffic circle at the Red River/Davis St. intersection; (2) Connecting Rainey St. to Cesar Chavez; (3) Adding a couple traffic lights; (4) Renovating the alley to the west of Rainey (behind the Van Zandt and Shore to the east, and behind 70 Rainey to the west); (5) Extending Red River St. further south, and having be either two-way or one-way traffic; and (6) closing off the majority of Rainey St. to vehicle traffic.

They ultimately found that the option that reduced congestion the most would involve extending Rainey to CC, Extending Red River St. through to 70 Rainey, and shutting down most of what we currently see as Rainey St. from non-emergency vehicles.

Though, I'm probably one of about 10 Rainey-area residents that would really support that sort of plan....