I may have written about West Campus a time or two before. But this time I come not to praise West Campus, but to bury it -- in new developments! On Thursday, October 3, Austin's City Council will consider the biggest changes to the rules that govern a good chunk of West Campus (known as UNO or the University Neighborhood Overlay) since they were initially ...
Zoning
The regulations we need to #parktheplinth
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 ...
Opportunity Kicks
The hottest political topic in Austin right now is a proposal by the owner of the Major League Soccer franchise Columbus Crew to lease space on a city-owned parcel in North Austin. To see the more colorful side of the debate, browse the #MLS2ATX or #SavetheCrew hashtags on twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidMiller0789/status/1028412218520596480 I'm not going to rehash ...
Does transportation serve people or do people serve transportation?
No big city has solved either of two problems: making car traffic flow smoothly or making parking simple and cheap. The issue isn't that governments in every city are bad, though sometimes they are, or that traffic engineers didn't anticipate the future, though sometimes they didn't, or that drivers drive too aggressively, though sometimes they do. The issue is that these ...