AUSTIN News Thread

[Downtown_Austin]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Yikes!

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...w_hotel_i.html

Pic of the culprit windows... Amber was eating across the street when it happened.

[kingkirbythe....]

Strange that they fell at the same time but came from two different floors. Was the wind up at the time?

[BevoLJ]

What do y'all think about this? One question I have is if any sort of hotel tax is collected? On the whole I think it is a good thing. I mean in Austin our demand for hotel and such is far greater than our supply we can provide for many of the large events held in the city. I know many people who used services like HomeAway to rent out their homes or condos in town for New Years, SXSW and a few other busy days here. It is a good chance to get out of town when 100,000's of thousands of visitors invade our city, and make a few bucks while out of town. A couple of my friends took a little vacation to Peru over SXSW and rented out their home in Barton Creek and they told me they broke even. That the cost of their vacation was payed for by renting their home. They got their HOA approval beforehand and it all worked out great.

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/n...cation-rentals

New rules could stop vacation rentals
Planning commission is reviewing ordinances

AUSTIN (KXAN) - A decision by the city of Austin Board of Adjustment could stop short-term housing rentals in Austin also know as vacation rentals.

On Monday, the Board of Adjustment took up a case involving a specific home located in the Allandale area.

Earlier this year, neighbors asked city staff to determine if the home's owner was following city rules by renting out the house on a short-term basis.

Staff from the Planning and Zoning Department came back and said the owner was operating within city ordinances. However, city staff did recognize the fact that changes are needed to deal with problems that could arise from short-term rentals.

On Monday the Board of Adjustment reversed its earlier decision and said that the specific property in question was breaking city rules by allowing someone to essentially live there less than 10 days. Although city code does not define what a transient is, the Board of Adjustments ruled that a transient is anyone who lives somewhere less than 10 days.

...

[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/pr...n-offices.html

Showers becoming the norm in Austin offices

Austin Business Journal - by Cody Lyon , ABJ Staff
Date: Friday, June 24, 2011, 5:00am CDT - Last Modified: Thursday, June 23, 2011, 3:24pm CDT

More Austin landlords and companies are embracing the cycling commuter, providing shower facilities where employees can freshen up after pedaling or exercising in Austin’s brutal heat.

“I’ve seen this trend increasing,” said Matt Levin, managing principal and broker at Equitable Commercial Realty. He cited downtown buildings such as the Frost Tower and Bank of America Tower, which have showers available to those who are members of their in-house health clubs.

[KevinFromTexas]

This woman had been reported missing last month after she went for a walk from the W Hotel and wasn't seen again. She was found dead in a ventilation system at the Norwood Tower yesterday.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...g_woman_f.html

Police: Body of missing woman found in building’s air duct

Monday, June 27, 2011, 04:45 PM

The body of 26-year-old Jamie Minor, who went missing late last month, was found in an exhaust duct system inside the downtown Norwood Tower building in what police are describing as a tragic accident, authorities said Monday.

Minor was using the system as a way to access Perry’s Steakhouse restaurant, which is located in the Norwood Tower property area, to see a friend, police Cmdr. Julie O’Brien said. But Minor instead became trapped and died, O’Brien said.

Minor went missing May 23 after she was let go from her hostess job at the Trace restaurant in the W Hotel, her mother Pamela Minor said.

[Armybrat]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

This woman had been reported missing last month after she went for a walk from the W Hotel and wasn't seen again. She was found dead in a ventilation system at the Norwood Tower yesterday.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/conte...g_woman_f.html

Very bizarre & sad.

RIP, sweet young lady.

[Austinite101]

That's just horrible! I feel so sorry for the family.

[BevoLJ]

http://impactnews.com/central-austin...r-eco-festival

SXSW announces October eco festival
Community Impact
By Andrea Leptinsky
Monday, 27 June 2011

CENTRAL AUSTIN — South by Southwest Conferences and Festivals has announced it will host its inaugural SXSW Eco Conference in Austin on Oct. 4–6.

Following SXSW traditional programming setup, the eco conference will unite sustainability experts from around the world to discuss the issues and challenges facing the environment, economy and society. SXSW Eco will include three days of varied programming aimed at "executive decision makers from the public, private and academic sectors," according to the organization's statement.

“Just as SXSW Music, Film and Interactive emerged as a vibrant space for the creative and entrepreneurial communities, we hope SXSW Eco will foster a similar, productive environment for policy makers, academics, and professionals to build meaningful relationships and develop tangible solutions,” said Roland Swenson, SXSW Managing Director. “We are eager to apply our successful event experience to provide a new forum that will address these timely, complicated and interdependent issues of sustainability.”

The conference will be held at downtown's Hilton Austin, 500 E. Fourth St., and will host a variety of events, including keynote presentations, panels and core conversations.
...

You can send them ideas here... http://sxsweco.com/present

[KevinFromTexas]

http://www.statesman.com/life/downto...inglePage=true

Downtown is going to the dogs

A warm and fuzzy vibe is growing in urban Austin with boom in pet-friendly dwellings, businesses.

By Michelle Cerulli
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Updated: 5:57 p.m. Saturday, July 2, 2011
Published: 5:44 p.m. Saturday, July 2, 2011

Despite the heat and crowd at the downtown farmers market on a recent Saturday, a 150-pound Roman Rottweiler named Buster cooly ambles his way through Republic Square Park with owner Mathieu Flamant.

They stop by Paw Bakery's stand, the creation of Jasmine Lee, where bags of dog treats such as mini pizzas and peanut butter and "fresh breath" cookies are neatly displayed. People come and go, with fresh vegetables, coffee drinks and other market fare in hand. Buster, the tallest dog in the park, looks as if he owns the place.

Flamant, who got Buster when he was a puppy almost six years ago, takes his shiny, black-coated pooch almost everywhere from his downtown home at the Monarch apartments, including bars, restaurants and stores.

[BevoLJ]

I've met Buster! And now he has gone and gotten his picture in the paper and is famous. Probably should have gone on a quick diet before getting his picture taken though. lol

[BevoLJ]

This isn't really about Austin, but about Alamo Draft House.

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/...scars-archive/

This is really cool. Those posters just rock. They are the first ones outside of Hollywood that will be used by the Oscars. And they all have the Draft House and Austin written all over them. =)

[migol24]

Originally Posted by BevoLJ

This isn't really about Austin, but about Alamo Draft House.

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/...scars-archive/

This is really cool. Those posters just rock. They are the first ones outside of Hollywood that will be used by the Oscars. And they all have the Draft House and Austin written all over them. =)

wow! this is awesome. thanks for sharing this. it's hard to believe but here in san francisco there isn't a theater that compares to alamo drafthouse, except one in el cerito and its far away from where i live. i tell everyone just how cool drafthouse is and it's not just because you can eat and drink but cause of the whole experience from their posters, to their previews before each film. drafthouse is one of the things i miss about austin the most. its too bad, i had to move here just to go to film school. this is awesome.

[BevoLJ]

Originally Posted by migol24

wow! this is awesome. thanks for sharing this. it's hard to believe but here in san francisco there isn't a theater that compares to alamo drafthouse, except one in el cerito and its far away from where i live. i tell everyone just how cool drafthouse is and it's not just because you can eat and drink but cause of the whole experience from their posters, to their previews before each film. drafthouse is one of the things i miss about austin the most. its too bad, i had to move here just to go to film school. this is awesome.

Lol, ya. I remember I took this girl (or well she dragged me yelling and screaming) to go to the Rocky Horror Picture Show sing along they have. Well we had a blast! This was when I was really young. Anyway what is funny is a couple days later we were having dinner with my parents and I mentioned it and they said that on their second date they went to the Rocky Horror sing along at the same draft house! lol.

[DougRockstead]

ok.. I"m confused.... how old are you? I have a 21 year old son and I remember back when I was young and the summer before I met his mom I saw it at the Theatre on East Riverside. I forget the name of it, but it was not the one by the HEB, but another theatre (that has since closed down) a few blocks west of that HEB. (in a shopping center just West of Burton Drive) I think they had a half price books in that shopping center. It was across the street from the Bevo's Bookstore and riverside liquor. I remember a dumpy mexican "Marisco's" (seafood) restaurant in the parking lot.

Why do I say this? because the Alamo Drafthouse has only been around since 1997. I remembe when they opened in their downtown location.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alamo_Drafthouse

Maybe they are mis-remembering?

Originally Posted by BevoLJ

Lol, ya. I remember I took this girl (or well she dragged me yelling and screaming) to go to the Rocky Horror Picture Show sing along they have. Well we had a blast! This was when I was really young. Anyway what is funny is a couple days later we were having dinner with my parents and I mentioned it and they said that on their second date they went to the Rocky Horror sing along at the same draft house! lol.

[BevoLJ]

Odd. I am in my 30's but I doubt my parents would get that one wrong. They go to see movies at the Draft House all the time. I don't know, maybe they were just talking about seeing the movie. The movie did come out in '75 which was the year they met. But as I remember the conversation (this was like 10 years ago) I remembered it as them saying they went to a sing along at the same place.

[hookem]

Originally Posted by BevoLJ

Odd. I am in my 30's but I doubt my parents would get that one wrong. They go to see movies at the Draft House all the time. I don't know, maybe they were just talking about seeing the movie. The movie did come out in '75 which was the year they met. But as I remember the conversation (this was like 10 years ago) I remembered it as them saying they went to a sing along at the same place.

They could have been talking about the Village Cinema, which was a movie theatre for a long time before the Alamo drafthouse bought it. So they certainly could have seen Rocky Horror at the Village back then, and it would technically have been the same theatre. Also the "sing along" part to Rocky Horror happened long before there were Alamo Drafthouses -- they'd do the sing-alongs in regular theatres, usually at midnight showings.

Also, come to think about it the one on South Lamar was a theatre too before the Drafthouse took over.. I guess several of them were.

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by hookem

They could have been talking about the Village Cinema, which was a movie theatre for a long time before the Alamo drafthouse bought it. So they certainly could have seen Rocky Horror at the Village back then, and it would technically have been the same theatre. Also the "sing along" part to Rocky Horror happened long before there were Alamo Drafthouses -- they'd do the sing-alongs in regular theatres, usually at midnight showings.

Also, come to think about it the one on South Lamar was a theatre too before the Drafthouse took over.. I guess several of them were.

I was thinking the same about the Village Cinema. But I thought the Sought Alamo was a grocery store before Alamo....???

[migol24]

Originally Posted by MichaelB

I was thinking the same about the Village Cinema. But I thought the Sought Alamo was a grocery store before Alamo....???

Yeah, I remember the grocery store too. It was a Fiesta Market. Went there a few times when I was still a teeny weeny.

[BevoLJ]

The one that has the Midnight Rocky Horror sing along in the Village Cinema up by North Cross.

I remember that Fiesta. I remember they had some crazy stuff in there. Some that was great and some stuff that almost made me puke when I saw it. lol.

[BevoLJ]

Not really Austin but close. CNN did a bit on Giddings.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/15/lee...RSS%3A+U.S.%29