AUSTIN | Misc. Discussions - No Politics

[ArchGuy1]

Originally Posted by ahealy

Not to steer more off topic, but Austin lacking some form of a public observation deck makes me so mad.

We're definitely in a place now where only the upper class/connected can really enjoy the city from a higher perspective. I'm not saying tickets for Tower of the Americas are cheap, but when you go to SA you'll see an array of folks enjoying the view and admiring architecture--some visit the bar up there on a regular basis.

I just hope we can reconnect tourists and locals alike to some elevated point for appreciation of this beautiful city. Wilson would be awesome for that, but yeah, way too narrow for individual elevator bays. Let's just continue the TX tradition and build an observation tower here too (yes I am counting spindle-top in Houston).

Perhaps we can stick out more and do something like Tokyo Tower:

Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Tower

The Eureka Tower in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Sapphire Tower in Istanbul, Palm Tower in Dubai, and the Q1 in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia have observation decks open to the public despite being purely residential otherwise. Shows you why the Wilson Tower should have had an observation deck open to the public. Also, Waterline would have been a good building for an observation deck as well.

[Lobotomizer]

Doug Sahm Hill in Butler Park would be a great location for an observation tower imo.

It will never happen, but I think it is an optimal location.

[EagerTurnip]

Originally Posted by Lobotomizer

Doug Sahm Hill in Butler Park would be a great location for an observation tower imo.

It will never happen, but I think it is an optimal location.

When I have family or friends visiting for the first time, I like taking them to get bbq at Terry Black's and then walking to this hill to show them the great view of downtown.

Is there one single urban public observation tower still open in the State of Texas that isn't part of a publicly funded entity? No, I wouldn't include the COTA tower - that's ridiculous. There was one in Houston I believe, in one of the 80"s skyscrapers Downtown, but I bet that closed.

Maybe Reunion Tower in Dallas, if that's still open? I would guess that entire complex was publicly, or partially publicly, funded, however.

An urban observation tower is by its nature a communal experience and, as much as most Forum members love their developers, communal is just a short slippery slope from communism.

[ArchGuy1]

Originally Posted by smallfrie

Is there one single urban public observation tower still open in the State of Texas that isn't part of a publicly funded entity? No, I wouldn't include the COTA tower - that's ridiculous. There was one in Houston I believe, in one of the 80"s skyscrapers Downtown, but I bet that closed.

Maybe Reunion Tower in Dallas, if that's still open? I would guess that entire complex was publicly, or partially publicly, funded, however.

An urban observation tower is by its nature a communal experience and, as much as most Forum members love their developers, communal is just a short slippery slope from communism.

There were actually two skyscrapers in Downtown Houston that had skylobby observation decks open to the public. They are the Wells Fargo Plaza and Chase Tower, which were closed to the public in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Another idea that I could see in Austin is a tall ferris wheel along the lines of the London Eye or High Roller in Las Vegas, but taller. Such a ferris wheel was proposed by someone for San Antonio in 2017. Austin would be a better location for such a huge ferris wheel.
https://www.ksat.com/news/2017/11/30...n-san-antonio/

[clubtokyo]

I love the Tokyo Tower

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by clubtokyo

I love the Tokyo Tower

Agreed. I was lucky enough to go up in the tower when I was in Tokyo. They've built the absolutely monstrous Tokyo Sky Tree now as well.

The Tokyo Tower is featured in this video.

• Video Link

[ArchGuy1]

Originally Posted by ohhey

Seattle and Boston have much more interesting views than Austin would.

Why do Seattle, Boston, New York City, and Chicago have more interesting views that what would be seen in Austin.

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by ArchGuy1

Why do Seattle, Boston, New York City, and Chicago have more interesting views that what would be seen in Austin.

Large bodies of water to break up the land mass, a variety of architectural epochs in tall buildings, and snow in the winter.

But with that said, Austin's skyline is becoming quite interesting for a city with only newish tall buildings. And while the river isn't a particularly large body of water, at least it provides a defining edge for Austin's downtown, and that makes it more interesting to look at from just south of downtown.

[StoOgE]

I actually think the bend in the river creates a very interesting downtown from butler park since it appears to stretch all around you.

The thing I will say about Austin is that because we have a lot of greenspace just outside of downtown its a very viewable skyline by the public *without* an observation deck.

[drummer]

Originally Posted by StoOgE

The thing I will say about Austin is that because we have a lot of greenspace just outside of downtown its a very viewable skyline by the public *without* an observation deck.

Seconded.

[the Genral]

Never seen anything like this. I just drove through my neighborhood and will describe the tree damage as just short of devastating. Limbs and branches on cars, including mine, on roofs, in the streets. So widespread. Tree trimming services will no doubt be busy for weeks if not months. I've already put my chainsaw to use. This truly is a cash cow for the professional tree trimmers. I know they are going to be getting some of my money. What a mess.

[KevinFromTexas]

Our power has been out since about 7 am. I went to bed late and started seeing flashes and hearing the transformers hum. Then the tree limb cracking started. Even the oaks are cracking,and that has never happened in the 40 years we've been here. Mostly small limbs, but larger one broke off about 20 min ago and landed on the roof. Our neighbor has a bunch of big broken elm and oak limbs way up. They cracked and broke but are still hanging. Someone up the street lost a whole oak when it up rooted and fell.

[enragedcamel]

Austin Energy says there are so many downed power lines that it might take some people until Friday afternoon to get their power restored, particularly because the crews are prioritizing critical infrastructure like hospitals and fire stations.There's 80+ crews from AE working, plus 30 or so from neighboring utilities. Sounds like an all-hands-on-deck situation.

[Echostatic]

I'm on PEC in a neighborhood with underground lines, so we've been up the whole time. But about half our crepe myrtle and a big branch off the oak have cracked off.

[We vs us]

I'm in northwest Austin, in Rattan Creek/Millwood. Power's been out since 6pm yesterday, but the tree destruction is just immense. So many mature trees just split right down the center. I'm really afraid our hood will never fully recover

I drove downtown to work today, and honestly north and central Austin are looking fairly good. Slightly less ice and whole lot less tree slaughter, at least that I could see.

[drummer]

Sorry to hear about you guys without power. I hope it gets resolved quickly. We're with City of Georgetown for electricity and have had power the whole time - though it flickered on and off a few times. I know that a lot of other folks in Georgetown have lost power, but I don't know what utility they're with. Lots of the folks I've heard about are down south of Inner Loop going toward 1431 adn the Round Rock border. We did lose internet for about half a day yesterday, but that just gave me a chance to take a break from work, so I didn't mind.

Fortunately, I trimmed our big oak tree last weekend, but I did end up sticking some 2x4s out to hold up some of the larger spans because we certainly don't want to lose the shade. All the other trees are around a year old and don't have leaves to collect all the ice, so we're in good shape there. My neighbor lost about half of his giant live oak tree in the front yard. Several others in our neighborhood have significant limb losses - didn't see any damage though on my drive this morning.

[the Genral]

We have underground electric so we didn't lose power but most if not all my trees suffered extreme damage. Trees I personally planted 25 years ago. I'm going to clear what I can but I'm going to have to hire someone to get the higher branches and haul off the mess.

[austlar1]

Southwest Austin got slammed. Major tree damage in almost every yard. Power has been out in large parts of the area since last night.

[AusTex]

Allendale in North Central Austin has had power but we too have had major tree damage. Split live oak trees blocking Shoal Creek Blvd, total collapse of the top of other trees, and even small trees taking the main leader out. Just a mess everywhere. City crews are out cleaning up the mess.