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Originally Posted by miaht82
Read some of the comments on the article; its a little ironic that when the E-N runs a story on the Riverwalk, people comment that we need to be more like Austin and stop spending money on the Riverwalk, and in the Statesman, people from Austin (at least a couple of those who comment) say that they need to be more like San Antonio and invest in something like the Riverwalk.
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Oddly enough, we're doing exactly that. Waller Creek which runs through downtown Austin, will be turned into a riverwalk-like-development. Right now the creek is a mess. It's a public bath for the bums and fills with trash and debris from runoff. And because it's prone to flooding, it's virtually unusable and insurance companies refuse to cover it for any major development along its banks. A tunnel project in Waterloo Park a few blocks east of the Capitol will change all that. They'll be able to keep the water level at a constant by pumping water up through the tunnel (pipe) from Town Lake. It'll also control the flood waters. So basically a riverwalk-like setting could be created. The tunnel is already under construction. With this project finished, 27 acres of downtown could be opened up for major development. It would totally transform the east side of downtown.
Our newspaper readers usually don't know what's going on in downtown either, and mostly complain about things, namely spending. There's a lot of condo bashing going on for sure, which is funny since most of these condos don't cost taxpayers a dime and generate millions of dollars for the city in property taxes. The funny thing is, these are people who never even go downtown. So not to be harsh or cruel, but their value of opinion in that area is nil. The fact that most of them have never even heard of the Waller Creek tunnel project that I mentioned above, shows how unfamiliar they are with issues and developments in downtown. It's not only "downtown" bashing either, it's pretty much anything that can be seen as progressive and urban, like people complaining about spending on bike lanes or sidewalk improvements. Their position is that they don't want to pay for it. Of course these are people who don't live in downtown or Central Austin, most live in suburban areas, or at least not in central ones. Some of the biggest opponents of downtown come from people who don't even have an Austin address, but live inside the metro. Round Rock comes to mind here.
And again, not to sound harsh or cruel, but you have to cut those people out of the picture. Ignore their money and bribes. The City needs to do what is best for the central neighborhoods and central commercial zones based on what people of those areas want, but also to do things that have been proven before to keep the central part of the city vibrant. People on the fringes of the city will always complain, while at the same time never setting foot there to see for themselves the improvements. The fact that they're unwilling to compromise means there's no hope for working with them on things. These are people who have already made up their minds that they don't want anything to do with downtown or the central areas.