AUSTIN | Misc. Discussions - No Politics

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by the Genral

I'm planning a night trip to downtown this weekend. Are there still activities going on I should be aware of? I don't want to drive somewhere I could regret.

I'm downtown at night for work every weekend. There are still some very small protests/gatherings - especially on Saturdays - but they have been at APD HQ or the memorial for the shooting incident.
The problem I have with downtown now is that there are a lot fewer people out at night which increases your chances of being harassed for money.

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by The ATX

I'm downtown at night for work every weekend. There are still some very small protests/gatherings - especially on Saturdays - but they have been at APD HQ or the memorial for the shooting incident.
The problem I have with downtown now is that there are a lot fewer people out at night which increases your chances of being harassed for money.

I guess I will postpone my visit for a while and stay home and watch tv. Appreciate all the feedback. I might still do an I35 drive by tomorrow though.

[urbancore]

Originally Posted by the Genral

I might still do an I35 drive by tomorrow though.

Yes. Do that.

I think we need a “scenic view” pull over spot along I35 to really take in all the action from UT/Capitol/DT. It’s MIND bending.

[the Genral]

Just read that the French Bulldog is now one of the most popular dog breeds in Texas. It is also at or near the top of most popular dog breeds in California, especially in their largest cities. Coincidence?? I think not. They are bringing their French Bulldogs with them to Texas and pushing the Labrador down the list. This useless information brought to you by pure boredom.

[atxsnail]

I came across this 2018 article about a parking garage conversion project in Wichita that seems to have been pretty successful. It's a bit of a special case in that the garage was aesthetically interesting and was listed on the national register of historic places, but it's still pretty cool.

The apartments look like what you'd expect from a garage conversion.

https://amp.kansas.com/entertainment...208445814.html

[the Genral]

I did a day trip to downtown last Thursday. In a word, WOW! Disappointed to see the camping along Caesar Chavez. That is too pretty an area to not have a solution for this. Drove by the Tesla Site and it is massive. Also took a look at the MLS Stadium. I was surprised by how close to Burnet Rd it is and how much bigger it looked in person. I also took a drive on the 183 toll road from 71 to Burnet Rd. Still lots of construction at HWY 71 and if I was new to the area, it would have been very confusing what lane I needed to be in to stay on 183 north. Really appreciated the Aggie Maroon on all the guard rails and overheads. Had to remind myself I was in Longhorn country. Trash in great abundance along 71 close to I35. Its really bad. My biggest take away was how dense some parts of downtown are. And that the Northshore is now one of my favorite buildings by the lake. And knowing the names and info of most of the buildings downtown does not impress everybody including a friend who was with me during my visit. He kept saying "Who gives a shit", and "They're just buildings". Next time he's NOT invited. What a freak...

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by the Genral

I did a day trip to downtown last Thursday. In a word, WOW! Disappointed to see the camping along Caesar Chavez. That is too pretty an area to not have a solution for this. Drove by the Tesla Site and it is massive. Also took a look at the MLS Stadium. I was surprised by how close to Burnet Rd it is and how much bigger it looked in person. I also took a drive on the 183 toll road from 71 to Burnet Rd. Still lots of construction at HWY 71 and if I was new to the area, it would have been very confusing what lane I needed to be in to stay on 183 north. Really appreciated the Aggie Maroon on all the guard rails and overheads. Had to remind myself I was in Longhorn country. Trash in great abundance along 71 close to I35. Its really bad. My biggest take away was how dense some parts of downtown are. And that the Northshore is now one of my favorite buildings by the lake. And knowing the names and info of most of the buildings downtown does not impress everybody including a friend who was with me during my visit. He kept saying "Who gives a shit", and "They're just buildings". Next time he's NOT invited. What a freak...

Looks like you got a great tour while you were out. Saw a lot of stuff! It's amazing to see in person. I've been taking a lot of quarantine drives around the area, just to get the F out and get some air and the changes everywhere are hard to describe.

I will say the homeless situation DT is a couple of orders of magnitude worse than in the spring when I was working . . . it's really hard to imagine people taking 6th street back over as an entertainment district at this point. It's just really depressing in that spot right now.

I've also noticed a marked increase in graffiti around town -- not the good mural kind, but the tagging and defacement kind. I'm wondering if that's just what happens when fewer folks are on the street? Or is a certain cop contingent less active?

[papertowelroll]

Originally Posted by We vs us

I will say the homeless situation DT is a couple of orders of magnitude worse than in the spring when I was working . . . it's really hard to imagine people taking 6th street back over as an entertainment district at this point. It's just really depressing in that spot right now.

I've also noticed a marked increase in graffiti around town -- not the good mural kind, but the tagging and defacement kind. I'm wondering if that's just what happens when fewer folks are on the street? Or is a certain cop contingent less active?

My feeling in general is that APD is protesting the fact that people want to hold them accountable by doing nothing. I've also seen a bunch of homeless camping on the town lake trail recently. Underpasses is one thing, but camping is supposed to be explicitly illegal in parks...

[Riverranchdrone]

Originally Posted by the Genral

I guess I will postpone my visit for a while and stay home and watch tv. Appreciate all the feedback. I might still do an I35 drive by tomorrow though.

I am sure you can still do a few safe places downtown. The second street bridge and library area should not be too bad. The night view of Austin from Butler park is not too bad. Just a few scattered homeless. I am always nervous about the Fairmont area day or night though.

[KevinFromTexas]

Really, the only area of downtown that I avoid is around 6th and 7th - the arch area and around the police station. Otherwise, I don't worry too much.

[Tyrone Shoes]

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[Geographer]

What's the behind the increased homeless presence in downtown?

[Sigaven]

Originally Posted by Geographer

What's the behind the increased homeless presence in downtown?

I'd say repeal of camping ban combined with general downtown emptiness with bars and offices closed.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by Geographer

What's the behind the increased homeless presence in downtown?

Services. 10 miles is a long ways to walk from the boonies to the homeless shelter, that is if you don't have change for the bus. This is the same reason that small towns typically don't have large homeless populations. They simply don't have the services and resources to deal with them, so those people go to the cities where they are offered. We also have the disadvantage of having good (not cold) weather for months. It's why northern cities have smaller homeless populations. If you think them sleeping on the sidewalk is bad imagine them dead and frozen.

[Geographer]

Services. 10 miles is a long ways to walk from the boonies to the homeless shelter, that is if you don't have change for the bus. This is the same reason that small towns typically don't have large homeless populations. They simply don't have the services and resources to deal with them, so those people go to the cities where they are offered. We also have the disadvantage of having good (not cold) weather for months. It's why northern cities have smaller homeless populations. If you think them sleeping on the sidewalk is bad imagine them dead and frozen.

Hypothetically, would reducing services also reduce the homeless population in Austin?

Also, I thought the massive backlash to the camping ban repeal led to the ban on camping being reinstated by the City Council. What's the current status of that?

[We vs us]

I was also wondering about the camping ban. I thought it had been repealed or reversed . . . ?

[atxsnail]

Originally Posted by Geographer

Hypothetically, would reducing services also reduce the homeless population in Austin?

Also, I thought the massive backlash to the camping ban repeal led to the ban on camping being reinstated by the City Council. What's the current status of that?

Was the backlash really that massive? The petition campaign failed to collect enough valid signatures to put it on the ballot, despite the incredibly low bar required by law in Austin (20k in a city of our size?).

Hypothetically, reducing services could lead to a decrease in the homeless population, but so would a number of other fairly cruel things like bus tickets to nowhere or closing soup kitchens entirely. As far as I'm aware there has not been any meaningful change in the services offered to homeless people in the past several years.

FWIW there was quite possibly an increase in the homeless population between 2019 and 2020 based on the city's imperfect Point in Time count. I believe that increase is in part attributable to the fact that homeless people were simply more visible this time around for volunteers to count. The 2020 count from January had 2500, up from 2255 in 2019.

Each year there are changes in volunteer numbers, weather, methodology, etc. so comparison between years is rough at best. However, that's the best we have to work with. Looking back at the historical raw counts between 2010 and 2019, the overall number of homeless people was remarkably stable, going up and down but hovering basically around 2,000 people for the whole decade. We'll have to see what future numbers look like in order to be able to guess what the impact of the camping ordinance changes has been. Even then, we'll never really know if there has been significant increase in numbers or if people who were out of sight just feel more comfortable out in the open now.

[StoOgE]

The homeless population is more visible because they don't have to hide in the greenbelt anymore.

[freerover]

Just want to say again that if you don't vote for Project Connect (Prop A) and to a lesser degree Prop B then you have no right to ever complain about parking podiums in downtown ever again. Vote!

[mercury6]

Originally Posted by freerover

Just want to say again that if you don't vote for Project Connect (Prop A) and to a lesser degree Prop B then you have no right to ever complain about parking podiums in downtown ever again. Vote!

Is there an agreement to stop building parking podiums that I'm unaware of?