AUSTIN | Misc. Discussions - No Politics - Page 128

the Genral · #**2541** Posted **Aug 20, 2021, 12:40 AM**

Maybe someone here can explain to me something that has been puzzling me for a few years. My property taxes will be higher next year than this year because the value of my house has gone way up and I have to pay higher taxes based on the current value. The City of Round Rock in turn will be getting much more revenue from property owners just based off the added value. Then why do they feel compelled to or feel the need to raise the tax rate? I feel they should be lowering it since my tax bill is going up dramatically in the first place. Wtf??!!

enragedcamel · #**2542** Posted **Aug 20, 2021, 1:00 AM**

About 7 years ago I was living in California and trying to decide my next destination. I narrowed it down to Denver and Austin. At the time, Denver was more expensive. I checked today, and for what I would get by selling my house today, I could buy up to 50% more house in Denver... which is crazy to me.

Armybrat · #**2543** Posted **Aug 21, 2021, 5:07 PM**

Just stumbled across this historic trivia, but nsiap:

First air conditioned residential neighborhood in the US... 1954... in Austin, Texas:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/...tioned-village

MANY MODERN-DAY AMERICANS WOULDN’T BE able to survive a summer without a central air conditioning system. Those systems owe much of their existence to this small cluster of about 20 homes in the North Austin neighborhood of Allandale.

In the first half of the 20th century, air conditioning was a luxury that was only found in commercial business settings. But things began to change in the 1950s, when the National Association of Homebuilders came up with the novel idea of using air conditioning equipment in a residential setting.

Austin, Texas was lucky enough to be chosen as the location for a new housing development that would test this new idea. In 1954, these homes and the families living in them were subject to a year-long series of construction method tests, air conditioning installation tests, and social experiments implemented by dozens of the nation’s premier air conditioning companies, builders, and social scientists. The builders tried out a number of different features and technologies, including radiant barriers, white roofing, shading, vented gables, attic fans, and new insulation materials.

Although not quite as famous as they once were in the 1950s, the houses from the Austin Air Conditioned Village are still standing today in what is now a beautiful, quiet neighborhood in North Austin. Thankfully, very few of the homes have been remodeled or demolished due to Allandale’s strict policies on new development, preserving this unique piece of Austin’s history.

Know Before You Go
The Air Conditioned Village homes are still functional residences, so remember to be mindful of the people living there while you are visiting. The houses are located around the block formed by Twin Oaks Drive, Daugherty Street, Park View Drive, and Nasco Drive, just about 500 feet down Twin Oaks Drive from where it intersects Burnet Road at the 6600 block.

ahealy · #**2544** Posted **Aug 26, 2021, 2:34 AM**

OOOOK, SO.....Just got back from DC and feel injected with ideas for Austin's capital complex future. Are there any viable sites around the cap that would suit a future art/science/history museum? I used to be fairly against that area hosting a "district", but realize how stupidly wrong I was.

It has sooooo much potential to be the best in the state for a condensed zone of that nature imo. Thoughts?

resansom · #**2545** Posted **Aug 26, 2021, 5:03 PM**

I spend a lot of time paging through the topics looking for renderings. How do you forum members feel about creating a topic that is for nothing but renderings? That would provide an easy way to scroll through page after page of renderings rather than having to search the individual topics, some of which can be quite long.

What do you think?

lonewolf · #**2546** Posted **Aug 26, 2021, 5:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by resansom

I spend a lot of time paging through the topics looking for renderings. How do you forum members feel about creating a topic that is for nothing but renderings? That would provide an easy way to scroll through page after page of renderings rather than having to search the individual topics, some of which can be quite long.

What do you think?

i am pro making a thread for any and everything and letting comment activity take care of what makes front page or not. that is not a popular opinion on here.

sjk · #**2547** Posted **Aug 26, 2021, 6:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by resansom

I spend a lot of time paging through the topics looking for renderings. How do you forum members feel about creating a topic that is for nothing but renderings? That would provide an easy way to scroll through page after page of renderings rather than having to search the individual topics, some of which can be quite long.

What do you think?

I really like that idea. It would be nice to have a spreadsheet or something similar to what is on the Wikipedia page (broken down into "under construction" and "proposed", etc) that gives the essential information like name, height, status, and links to renderings. Wikipedia doesn't have links to renderings or anything, so that is what is missing. Ideally, this entire forum could be brought into the 2020's and we'd be able to have something integrated like that, but I'm well aware that it is outside anything I can control. I suppose for now, the only option is to create that on your own. Or if someone has something they've created, it could be shareable like a Google Drive folder/file?

Here's the Wikipedia article I referenced:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._Austin,_Texas

austlar1 · #**2548** Posted **Aug 26, 2021, 7:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armybrat

Just stumbled across this historic trivia, but nsiap:

First air conditioned residential neighborhood in the US... 1954... in Austin, Texas:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/...tioned-village

MANY MODERN-DAY AMERICANS WOULDN’T BE able to survive a summer without a central air conditioning system. Those systems owe much of their existence to this small cluster of about 20 homes in the North Austin neighborhood of Allandale.

In the first half of the 20th century, air conditioning was a luxury that was only found in commercial business settings. But things began to change in the 1950s, when the National Association of Homebuilders came up with the novel idea of using air conditioning equipment in a residential setting.

Austin, Texas was lucky enough to be chosen as the location for a new housing development that would test this new idea. In 1954, these homes and the families living in them were subject to a year-long series of construction method tests, air conditioning installation tests, and social experiments implemented by dozens of the nation’s premier air conditioning companies, builders, and social scientists. The builders tried out a number of different features and technologies, including radiant barriers, white roofing, shading, vented gables, attic fans, and new insulation materials.

Although not quite as famous as they once were in the 1950s, the houses from the Austin Air Conditioned Village are still standing today in what is now a beautiful, quiet neighborhood in North Austin. Thankfully, very few of the homes have been remodeled or demolished due to Allandale’s strict policies on new development, preserving this unique piece of Austin’s history.

Know Before You Go
The Air Conditioned Village homes are still functional residences, so remember to be mindful of the people living there while you are visiting. The houses are located around the block formed by Twin Oaks Drive, Daugherty Street, Park View Drive, and Nasco Drive, just about 500 feet down Twin Oaks Drive from where it intersects Burnet Road at the 6600 block.

Interesting, but it probably is inaccurate to suggest that Austin Air Conditioned Village jump started central air-conditioning in Texas or elsewhere. I grew up in North Texas (FW) in the 1950s. I can tell you that residential central AC was already a thing up there by 1954. Well off homeowners were lined up to retrofit central air into their homes, and most new homes in middle class subdivisions were offering central AC as an option by that time. I had relatives in Dallas who owned the Carrier AC outlet in that city (Carrier-Bock), and they were happily becoming very rich while supplying builders and homeowners with central AC units.

Armybrat · #**2549** Posted **Aug 26, 2021, 10:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by austlar1

Interesting, but it probably is inaccurate to suggest that Austin Air Conditioned Village jump started central air-conditioning in Texas or elsewhere. I grew up in North Texas (FW) in the 1950s. I can tell you that residential central AC was already a thing up there by 1954. Well off homeowners were lined up to retrofit central air into their homes, and most new homes in middle class subdivisions were offering central AC as an option by that time. I had relatives in Dallas who owned the Carrier AC outlet in that city (Carrier-Bock), and they were happily becoming very rich while supplying builders and homeowners with central AC units.

I just posted the linked story, but have no idea about its accuracy.
I was living in Puerto Rico at the time - no a/c down there.

eskimo33 · #**2550** Posted **Aug 27, 2021, 12:08 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armybrat

I just posted the linked story, but have no idea about its accuracy.
I was living in Puerto Rico at the time - no a/c down there.

It looks like there is a pending nomination to the National Register of Historic Places at the Texas Historical Commission.
Some additional information:
Application Packet: https://www.thc.texas.gov/public/upload/preserve/national_register/draft_nominations/Austin%2C%20Air%20Conditioned%20Village%20SBR.pdf

Armybrat · #**2551** Posted **Aug 28, 2021, 12:44 PM**

Not Austin, but here is an interesting article about San Francisco’s efforts to fix the infamous leaning 58 story 645’ Millennium Tower:

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/20...t-blasts-plan/

drummer · #**2552** Posted **Aug 30, 2021, 2:29 PM**

That's nuts.

kingkirbythe.... · #**2553** Posted **Aug 30, 2021, 6:39 PM**

A few pics of jeeps around Austin.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/08...pg-efficiency/

sjk · #**2554** Posted **Aug 30, 2021, 8:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingkirbythe....

A few pics of jeeps around Austin.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/08...pg-efficiency/

Love that!

Tyrone Shoes · #**2555** Posted **Sep 6, 2021, 7:04 PM**

Hey.....what the Hell??????? I thought we were supposed to be WEIRD?????

kingkirbythe.... · #**2556** Posted **Sep 6, 2021, 8:28 PM**

A few cities have latched onto the “Keep ______ Weird” slogan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_P...rd?wprov=sfti1

The ATX · #**2557** Posted **Sep 6, 2021, 8:47 PM**

We need to move on from that slogan. We get credit for creating it, and that's enough.

the Genral · #**2558** Posted **Sep 6, 2021, 10:36 PM**

Wanabees....

drummer · #**2559** Posted **Sep 7, 2021, 1:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by The ATX

We need to move on from that slogan. We get credit for creating it, and that's enough.

Yeah, I like the local business part of it, but it's turned into a kitsch phrase for me.

Sigaven · #**2560** Posted **Sep 7, 2021, 3:28 PM**

And Austin's really not that weird anymore.