^Youtube has a lot of videos of that one. If this can work in a place like New York which is extremely pressed for space, it can work anywhere.

• Video Link

I have to say the Tramway seems to go pretty slow.

Really though, look at the cars on the bridge. They're only going about as fast as it is thanks to congestion.

Cuius est solum eius est usque ad caelum et ad inferos.

For whoever owns the soil, it is theirs up to Heaven and down to Hell.

In modern day this is modified somewhat so that the rights are limited to what you could reasonably use (not going to be building into airline flight paths for example). But yes, a property owner could reasonably use the air above it someday for a skyscraper. Putting a gondola above someone's property would necessarily mean getting an easement or condemning the use of the air space.

Makes no sense that if its yours up to the heavens you'd have to get permission to build highrises, skyscrapers by the city council. A bit off topic but this also makes me wonder that if, hypothetically speaking, I actually had a rocket that would fly me to outer space, the government would allow me to do such thing.

I don't think so. Since the article was posted, I have heard so much positive feedback. It's even been featured twice in the ABJ.
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/bl...re-catchy.html

Height restrictions are like any other zoning restrictions. So long as it doesn't totally destroy the value of the property they are constitutionally permissible.

That doesn't mean that you lack the property rights - it just means you must conform to the zoning (or get a variance). As a practical matter - it may well be an argument in favor of not having to get air rights if there is a height restriction in place.

But the underlying principle of property rights in America begins with the notion that if you own the surface you effectively own the subsurface and the air above it (of course, mineral rights are frequently severed from surface lots, especially here in Texas, but that is another matter altogether).

As far as building a rocket - I'm fairly certain the FAA holds jurisdiction on all matters involving flight and has the federal power to regulate it as it likes.

I get the feeling this wont happen because will think its "ugly"

"ugly" meaning anything different and taller than a tree.

I don't think its ugly at it. If made right it could be quite elegant and whimsical

My friends and I have talked about having a gondola to serve downtown to Zilker many times in the past. I always thought it would be PERFICT for Austin! :) What they are suggesting above is a lot more than I would have ever thought of, but wow! How cool would that be? :D

I hope they try it at least on a small scale. I'd imagine it is something that they could easily grow in the future.

As far as someone thinking it is 'ugly' well who could possibly think anything like that could be half as ugly as I-35 near UT? lol

So,

After (mostly) having recovered from the race weekend, I have to give the organizers and the city some really big kudos for pulling it off without a hitch.

I parked at the expo center and made it to the track in less than an hour (including parking) every day and never took more than 2 hours to make it home after the race. Much much better than I thought it would be.

The race itself was amazing (with tons of on track passing!), the facilities aren't ready, but everything still went well.

Of some interest to people here, there is a 250 foot observation tower at the track that you can go up. I think it costs 30 bucks or so to go up, but it seems like it would be a good view.

The Fan Fest downtown was a bit disapointing. There were tons of race fans downtown, but it seemed like all of the Austinites decided to stay as far away as possible from downtown this weekend.. 6th street hardly had anyone on it. the bars around the fan fest (3rd/4th) were packed, but a lot more people should have come out.

It was certainly not the cluster some were predicting.

Maybe it was the London effect. During the Olympics, Londoners, fearing a crush, stayed home in droves. Restaurants and shops were dying on the vine.

I went on Saterday, Fan Fest was fun walking around and taking a few pictures of people who ask me to, then it got kind of dull after seeing everything. I got a few pictures of the cars, and the female models but that was pretty much it. Overall I say it was good but everything there seemed overpriced even the sodas were selling at $3 a bottle, no thank you.

Yeah, am I the only one that felt like "fan fest" was just a giant elitist sexist commercial that threw up on downtown. It was really unoriginal and BOOOORING. #improvements #takenotes

The organizers need to let Austin be Austin next year. That's why people like this city so much. The Fan Fest organizers tried to turn their blocked off area of downtown into some generic F1 event. Take a page out of the SxSW play book next time.

That's the impression that I'm getting from the photos on the F1 events taken by Mexic-Arte and such. Bunch of fake booby models posing with fat ugly man drinking budweisers and whatnot. That doesn't seem something like the average Austinite would be into.

And one thing you can count on is that organizers of these events will not listen to constructive feedback since its all about the $$$$$$$.

I enjoyed the free cigars, sunglasses and Enrique Inglesias concert:cool: But yes, not many people and plenty of booths that I could care less about. Still, most of the tourists I talked to were having a good time.

Now just imagine if they let the locals take charge!

That's what they should of done in the first place is to let the locals takeover the party. But it was an awesome event.

I was downtown last night at the Royal Blue store off congress and was amazed to see they completed the deck project that covered 2 parking spaces downtown. I will take some pictures later on today.