AUSTIN | Photos & Videos Thread

[Urbannizer]

Humid Morning by Keith Shuley, on Flickr

[clubtokyo]

Originally Posted by Urbannizer

Humid Morning by Keith Shuley, on Flickr

Wow!

[Jdawgboy]

I live just blocks from that view.

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

I live just blocks from that view.

Damn!! That's awesome Jdawgboy. I might just happen to be a tad jealous. That's one of Austin's best sides. the other is from the west.

[drummer]

Lots of red lights. You know, it'd be cool if they synchronized them to do neat little patterns across downtown. If they're required, might as well have fun with them...

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by the Genral

Damn!! That's awesome Jdawgboy. I might just happen to be a tad jealous. That's one of Austin's best sides. the other is from the west.

He does have a pretty cool view of downtown from his neighborhood. I live about 2 miles from him further south and from time to time I ride my bike down his street. There are some neat views around that part of South Austin. Over the weekend I was taking a storage building apart that I found off of Banister Lane just north of Ben White, and there are some views of downtown that just pop up. I caught a glimpse of the Fairmont there the other day. Plus, there's an apartment complex over there with a pretty cool view of the South Austin Medical Center. The neighborhood in that area is a bit strange. The houses are a mix of big and small, but most seem to be fairly old. And it is way overgrown. I felt like were driving through the jungle with all the bamboo in people's yards. Some of those houses are completely hidden from the street, and they don't even have big front yards. It's a really funky area of South Austin.

[drummer]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

He does have a pretty cool view of downtown from his neighborhood. I live about 2 miles from him further south and from time to time I ride my bike down his street. There are some neat views around that part of South Austin. Over the weekend I was taking a storage building apart that I found off of Banister Lane just north of Ben White, and there are some views of downtown that just pop up. I caught a glimpse of the Fairmont there the other day. Plus, there's an apartment complex over there with a pretty cool view of the South Austin Medical Center. The neighborhood in that area is a bit strange. The houses are a mix of big and small, but most seem to be fairly old. And it is way overgrown. I felt like were driving through the jungle with all the bamboo in people's yards. Some of those houses are completely hidden from the street, and they don't even have big front yards. It's a really funky area of South Austin.

Are you trying to say that JDawgboy needs to mow his yard? Pretty indirect way of telling him....jk

[KevinFromTexas]

haha Nah, his neighborhood is a bit different from the other one I was talking about. We were up around the Dolphin Drive area. It's really hilly around there, which I imagine is the reason some of the yards are so overgrown. I would bet mowing them wouldn't be easy.

Here's the apartment complex with the view of the hospital.
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2303...7i13312!8i6656

Right around the corner from there is a small view of downtown. I'm sure the apartments there have a decent view of it.
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2302...7i13312!8i6656

This is on Lightsey. It's some of what I was talking about. It's hard to believe an area like this exists so close to downtown.
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2392...7i13312!8i6656

That area is only a few blocks east of Blue Bonnet, which is off of Lamar.

[drummer]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

haha Nah, his neighborhood is a bit different from the other one I was talking about. We were up around the Dolphin Drive area. It's really hilly around there, which I imagine is the reason some of the yards are so overgrown. I would bet mowing them wouldn't be easy.

Here's the apartment complex with the view of the hospital.
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2303...7i13312!8i6656

Right around the corner from there is a small view of downtown. I'm sure the apartments there have a decent view of it.
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2302...7i13312!8i6656

This is on Lightsey. It's some of what I was talking about. It's hard to believe an area like this exists so close to downtown.
https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2392...7i13312!8i6656

That area is only a few blocks east of Blue Bonnet, which is off of Lamar.

Yeah, I personally love that this kinda stuff does exist so close to downtown. It breaks things up and reminds us that there's a lot of nature out there...

[Jdawgboy]

I always thought Dolphin Drive was a cool name even though we are inland lol.

Yea that's a fun area to go through like on Clawson, Lightsey and Bluebonnet. My hood is just south of Ben White off Banister.

I'm having to plant a lot of tall evergreens and let the bamboo spread along our north fence because they built some 2 story houses only feet from the fence line. Now I'm all for increased density, however there are a couple of issues I have about the way that the builder went about it. Its greed plain and simple at the cost of existing neighbors privacy. They won't be having a clear view of my back yard for long. Instead there will be a wall of evergreen bushes and bamboo 30 to 50 feet tall.

For example here is a pic I took when the electrician left the lights on. My yard goes to that fence. The house including an overhang second floor are about 8 feet from the peppery line.



We complained about the lights being left on citing light pollution and since then, they have been kind enough to keep the upstairs lights off.

[lzppjb]

My grandma would always take us on Del Curto to Lightsey, and go fast over those hills.

I grew up in the same neighborhood as jdawg, spending a lot of time at my grandma's. My mom and aunt are going to be selling the house soon. It'll be a sad day.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by lzppjb

My grandma would always take us on Del Curto to Lightsey, and go fast over those hills.

I grew up in the same neighborhood as jdawg, spending a lot of time at my grandma's. My mom and aunt are going to be selling the house soon. It'll be a sad day.

You should take the reigns and buy it. Understandable that new people coming in would want to make upgrades but seeing a lot of full demolitions. Also hate hate HATE with a passion how some of these builders throw rocks down in the yards. This isn't El Paso, secondly it takes away native habitat for insects and birds, fireflies need grass. Native species are 100 times better and grass is gonna grow up in those yards regardless. They then use poison to kill it which further causes problems for the environment as well polluting water runoff.

[lzppjb]

I wish I could afford it. Houses in that neighborhood are selling for $300-350k. Insane.

A few lots on the street have already been rebuilt. The crazy one is on Mt Vernon. It's 2-story and white. Looks like a modern barn or something.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by lzppjb

I wish I could afford it. Houses in that neighborhood are selling for $300-350k. Insane.

A few lots on the street have already been rebuilt. The crazy one is on Mt Vernon. It's 2-story and white. Looks like a modern barn or something.

Yea it's pretty ginormous compared to the surrounding houses.

[hequals2henry]

Originally Posted by Urbannizer

Humid Morning by Keith Shuley, on Flickr

Once there's a distance from the skyline the heights of the buildings gets more accurate. The independent is really close to the height of 500 W. 2nd at this point

[resansom]

Grabbed this from the 3rd & Shoal web cam, yesterday afternoon:



Makes me wonder if a "Shoal Creek Tunnel" project is in the works or - if not - if such a project -should- be in the works.

Back when I lived in Austin, it was an almost yearly occurrence for Shoal Creek to jump its banks. I remember one time, I was in the ACC parking lot, next to the football stadium, when the water went from zero to 18" in about 5 minutes, back in 1981 or 1982. My sister and her husband, who lived on the creek just north of Northland Drive, had her home flooded 2-3 times during those couple of years.

[Maximusx1]

Originally Posted by resansom

Grabbed this from the 3rd & Shoal web cam, yesterday afternoon:



Makes me wonder if a "Shoal Creek Tunnel" project is in the works or - if not - if such a project -should- be in the works.

Back when I lived in Austin, it was an almost yearly occurrence for Shoal Creek to jump its banks. I remember one time, I was in the ACC parking lot, next to the football stadium, when the water went from zero to 18" in about 5 minutes, back in 1981 or 1982. My sister and her husband, who lived on the creek just north of Northland Drive, had her home flooded 2-3 times during those couple of years.

Yes, there have been rumors of such a tunnel plan for Shoal Creek, BUT the cynic in me says that it won't happen because the city can't add land to the tax rolls by building it like they did with Waller Creek tunnel. The Waller tunnel moved 28 acres out of the flood plain, making them buildable and taxable. The argument obviously being that those new tax dollars would eventually cover the cost of the tunnel. Looking at Shoal Creek, I do not see that situation as a possibility.

[Jdawgboy]

The city needs to restore Shoal Creek, what I mean by that is it's one thing to build up walls but if there is no way for the water to slow down, it just washes everything away. They need to restore native riparian flora not just along the sides of the creek, but the creek bed itself. That will go a long way in helping to slow the water flow down and will also help to keep water in the creek longer. It needs to be done throughout the Shoal Creek watershed and neighborhood's where the creek flows through need to be educated as well.

It was an average rainfall which should not cause that kind of flow. It's the result of poor urban runoff planning along with loss of native riparian flora.

[Riverranchdrone]

pennybacker (7 of 8) by partyboyrrock, on Flickr

[resansom]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

The city needs to restore Shoal Creek, what I mean by that is it's one thing to build up walls but if there is no way for the water to slow down, it just washes everything away. They need to restore native riparian flora not just along the sides of the creek, but the creek bed itself. That will go a long way in helping to slow the water flow down and will also help to keep water in the creek longer. It needs to be done throughout the Shoal Creek watershed and neighborhood's where the creek flows through need to be educated as well.

It was an average rainfall which should not cause that kind of flow. It's the result of poor urban runoff planning along with loss of native riparian flora.

I remember reading something in this forum a few years ago about the restoration of Shoal Creek - it was a link to an article or web site that had plans and pictures showing a few sections of the creek. Some of them had been restored while others were still in planning. Does anybody have any updates on that project?