AUSTIN | Misc. Discussions - No Politics

[paul78701]

Originally Posted by Lobotomizer

The city doesn't have generators to keep our water treatment plants operational during power outages? That seems like negligence in my opinion.

I know for a fact many government and commercial buildings in this city have generators to keep the lights on if there's a power outage.

Hopefully the necessary changes to keep this from occurring again will be made.

It was not an issue with generators or the plant's systems or whatnot. As Stooge mentioned, it was apparently some sort of "user error" that caused the issue. It's not clear what that means exactly, but it has been reported that an investigation will be done to more precisely determine what transpired.

[lonewolf]

Originally Posted by enragedcamel

ah, yes, the impeccable "any publicity is good publicity" logic. i can't believe we have played right into their hands!

people on twitter are talking about it, we're talking about it, mysa.com is talking about it

it says in the article as remote work heats up ohio is betting on people moving from high cost of living areas to lower cost. these billboards are their attempt to center themselves in that conversation.

looks like it's partially working

[kingkirbythe....]

Over 600 acres of Honey Creek now shielded from development

https://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...m-16832278.php

Expansion in the Hill Country — from highways, homes and gas stations — is closing in on Moore’s family ranch from all sides. And the land, which holds some of the last remaining natural areas just north of San Antonio, is under threat. To protect her home for future generations, Moore did what she knew she had to do. She conserved it.

Honey Creek Spring Ranch — a 621-acre tract south of Honey Creek State Natural Area and Guadalupe River State Park — will now be under a conservation easement, adding to 2,294 acres of previously protected habitat.

[drummer]

Originally Posted by kingkirbythe....

Over 600 acres of Honey Creek now shielded from development

https://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...m-16832278.php

Expansion in the Hill Country — from highways, homes and gas stations — is closing in on Moore’s family ranch from all sides. And the land, which holds some of the last remaining natural areas just north of San Antonio, is under threat. To protect her home for future generations, Moore did what she knew she had to do. She conserved it.

Honey Creek Spring Ranch — a 621-acre tract south of Honey Creek State Natural Area and Guadalupe River State Park — will now be under a conservation easement, adding to 2,294 acres of previously protected habitat.

Awesome!

[KevinFromTexas]

Someone spotted a bobcat today on the Walnut Creek Trail in southeast Austin. My brother and I do some mountain bike riding around Austin. We've seen deer and rattlesnakes and coral snakes, but no big cats.


https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...90034467872051

[SproutingTowers]

A few days ago had a fox in my backyard.

[KevinFromTexas]

Yeah, I've seen a couple of them in our neighborhood. I saw two of them together last summer and then again a couple of weeks later. And a year and a half ago I saw a coyote across the street. I only just happened to see it because I looked out the window and saw it walk in front of our neighbor's driveway lights. That was a few months after I saw it on the main street outside our neighborhood. I figure they probably are coming up from Williamson Creek, which is near us. I see raccoons here every month at least and hear them fighting at night sometimes.

[H2O]

I have a neighbor who swears he saw a mountain lion on the Walnut Creek Trail. He claims it was much larger than a bobcat, without spots and had a long tail. We have nightly visits from possums on our fence. Coyote, hawks and owls are common sights in the neighborhood.

[Echostatic]

I was working in the Stephenson Nature Preserve for a school research project a few months back and my teammate swore they saw a bobcat. We got the hell out of there after that.

[kingkirbythe....]

Pour Out Some Popcorn for the End of Austin’s Very First Alamo Drafthouse

https://austin.towers.net/pour-out-s...mo-drafthouse/

The original 1997 location of Austin’s now-national Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain is currently in an advanced stage of demolition near the southeast corner of West Fifth and Colorado Streets in downtown Austin, as part of work to clear the area for the upcoming 415 Colorado office and residential tower project by local developers Stonelake Capital Partners. We casually noted this in our article about downtown demolitions published earlier this week, but figured it deserved a little more attention — so here’s a brief rundown on the past life of 409 Colorado Street.

[kingkirbythe....]

Dystopian Author Christopher Brown Truly Lives on the Edge

The writer’s home, which is partly buried deep in the earth, integrates with nature just a few miles from downtown Austin.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/style/c...-house-austin/

The East Austin home of lawyer and critically acclaimed novelist Christopher Brown is difficult to see from the street, and not just because it sits at the back of a one-acre lot near the Colorado River. Called the Edgeland House, which the architects loosely modeled on a Native American pit house, the dwelling is buried some seven feet into the earth. The structure’s two separate triangular roofs blend seamlessly into the landscape. In fact, because they also serve as a miniature Texas blackland prairie habitat, they are very much a part of it.

The roofs were spiky-haired and wild with plants when I met with Brown on a late fall afternoon. I followed the writer and his rescue dog, Lupe, along a rocky path in his purposefully overgrown front yard. He pointed out a family of sunflowers, all taller than myself, and gave me a heads-up to sidestep a spiderweb that was under construction. I also narrowly missed walking into an armadillo burrow, and then I almost crushed the largest grasshopper I’d ever seen. Feeling the urge to put my shirt collar up to protect against more insects, I was glad I’d worn sensible boots.

[drummer]

I've seen bobcats in the Hill Country just west of Austin pretty frequently at my family's place.

I've also heard of mountain lions occasionally in the Hill Country but have never seen one myself except for once at Big Bend. I have heard that Canyon Lake has seen some in recent years.

[KevinFromTexas]

Last fall someone posted to the Austin Mountain Bike group on Facebook that they saw a mountain lion out on the Slaughter Creek Trail out by 1826. And I remember a while back that near the Lady Bird Wildlife Center there was a report of one. I'd love to see one, but I'd also like to not get eaten. lol My brother and I do a lot of night rides where we actually start riding just as the sun is setting. And I'm talking about riding in the woods where you just have your bike light to light the way. So far so good, we've only seen an owl fly across our path. There's one trail we do ride called the bone yard or something, and there are actually a lot of bones along the trail. People have even taken them and spelled out things. I think those are mostly foxes and coyotes and birds of prey leaving them behind since they look to be small animals.

[Maximusx1]

My boss lives in Driftwood and tells a funny story of one day in the neighborhood a little girl was standing under a tree sobbing and yelling, pointing up into the tree. When people finally looked up there was a dead deer tangled and bloody in the upper branches of the tree. It had obviously been dragged up there by a large mountain lion, but a shocking sight for sure!

[kingkirbythe....]

The new temporary HEB on South Congress is open, and we went on a shopping mission inside

https://www.statesman.com/story/life...ry/9299631002/

The H-E-B store on the southwest corner of Oltorf Street and South Congress Avenue has had some pretty slim pickings lately. All part of the plan.

The Texas grocery giant announced last year that it would temporarily shutter — well, demolish — that location, which opened in 1957, ahead of a planned remodel. When the news broke, H-E-B representatives said the company would open a temporary store in the adjacent Twin Oaks shopping center in early 2022, right before the big kaboom down the road. Construction is slated for this month, though a representative for H-E-B did not provide an exact date. That project at the previous store site is expected to last two years.

The time has come, and there's now an H-E-B open steps away from the old store, just north of Oltorf Street. The new location is at 2301 S. Congress Ave., formerly home to a CVS Pharmacy. It first welcomed customers on Jan. 26.

[kingkirbythe....]

How did this dinosaur become one of Austin's most famous residents?

https://www.statesman.com/story/ente...se/6698184001/

There’s a longhorn skull nestled within cacti. Not too out of place at Barton Springs Road and Lamar Boulevard, no.

Nearby, you find a taco the size of a golden retriever. Still par for the course. Except … there’s a bug on top. And she's kind of sexy, in a Betty Boop way? She has a microphone, and she's wearing pumps.

That’s not even mentioning the Goliath-sized clown head popping up out of the ground, or the polka-dotted dogs coated in kaleidoscope colors. You aren’t having a Timothy Leary moment. Strange things are afoot at Peter Pan Mini Golf, just like they’ve always been. Thank goodness.

[eskimo33]

A month or so ago, we had a meeting where we were told that in about three years, 505 Barton Springs Rd (One Texas Center, at the corner of S 1st St and Barton Springs) would be vacated and torn down. In its place, there will be two high-rises built. My understanding is one will be City of Austin offices, and the other would be apartments (maybe affordable housing?).

[chinchaaa]

Originally Posted by eskimo33

A month or so ago, we had a meeting where we were told that in about three years, 505 Barton Springs Rd (One Texas Center, at the corner of S 1st St and Barton Springs) would be vacated and torn down. In its place, there will be two high-rises built. My understanding is one will be City of Austin offices, and the other would be apartments (maybe affordable housing?).

That's a big chunk of land. I hope they do more than just two towers. Between that, the Extended Stay, Threadgills, those random offices, this could be a whole new neighborhood right on a light rail stop. Build dense!

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by eskimo33

A month or so ago, we had a meeting where we were told that in about three years, 505 Barton Springs Rd (One Texas Center, at the corner of S 1st St and Barton Springs) would be vacated and torn down. In its place, there will be two high-rises built. My understanding is one will be City of Austin offices, and the other would be apartments (maybe affordable housing?).

We actually had some info and a massing diagram on that project from around two years ago. It's probably buried in the update thread. I don't recall the heights though, but I remember it was good for south of the river.

[H2O]

The City doesn't own the Extended Stay or Threadgill's but could maybe build three towers (where the parking garage, existing tower, and front parking lot are). I would expect the affordable housing component to be limited to mid-rise stick frame construction, however.