Last post, I talked about physical alternatives that would let us #parktheplinth. Or in normal terms, ways to build downtown towers that don't have giant parking plinths. Before that, I also discussed the regulatory reasons why large parking plinths are common downtown, but much less so in West Campus. So, today, let’s combine the two thoughts: what regulations could we have ...
Five Alternatives to Giant Parking Plinths
Last year, I sketched out why downtown has so many huge parking plinths. But another world is possible! Today, we'll check out alternatives to the plinth. Then, coming soon, we’ll have a look at how regulations could finally #parktheplinth. Transportation Demand Management The easiest car to park is the one that isn’t driven to the destination at all. TDM programs ...
Six Reasons Austin Should Go Big On Small Apartments
Coming up on Thursday, the 2019 version of the Austin City Council will start deliberating on one of the biggest decisions of this year: where to go now that CodeNEXT is dead. City Manager Spencer Cronk asked for direction from City Council on five questions, including how much we should allow “missing middle” housing (think: small multi-unit buildings like triple deckers or ...
Economic Development without Tax Breaks
Economic development incentive deals -- tax breaks to companies for bringing jobs to a city -- have had a pretty bad run of news in Austin and beyond. Amazon's HQ2 headquarters search earned a mile of negative attention for every inch of excitement even before they gave up on a deal with New York. In Austin, economic development deals have been controversial for a while. ...
The problems with scooters are real. Let’s fix them.
In an age of polarizing issues, there has been perhaps no issue more polarizing than the deployment of shared dockless scooters. Any news article or twitter mention of them rapidly fills up with tales of people's hatred and love for the little rideable devices. The lovers -- myself very much included -- sometimes (always) like to deflect from the problems with scooters by ...