Austinist: Austin TOD Neighborhood Workshops Next Week

ol'pappy

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 11:16:44 -0600

Yeah, I already read that on Thursday and chuckled at it. If developers are interested in shitty neighborhoods, they need to go raid the Rundberg / Rutland pantry (if they can keep themselves from getting shot up there).

waltsatan

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 13:59:06 -0600

From the Oak Hill Gazette: “While the construction of a new Oak Hill Park and Ride is an important priority for Capital Metro, the advancement of this project is heavily dependent on the final design of TxDOT’s 290/71 expansion. Capital Metro’s goal of establishing an Oak Hill Park and Ride with Transit-Oriented Development possibilities would also be dependent upon consensus among property owners and stakeholders in the area.” If TxDOT has their way with a 12-lane mega-tollroad through Oak Hill, rail will never happen here. Fix290.org!

SolMan-ATX

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 09:47:55 -0600

ol'Pappy - Here's an onion article you should see, I'm sure it's the future of St. Johns: Shitty Neighborhood Rallies Against Asshole Developer

ol'pappy

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 20:31:32 -0600

Or no, I was wrong. Huntsman - where they're putting in Crestview Station. Maybe the do-gooders won't reach over past Lamar, but I bet they do.

ol'pappy

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 20:28:56 -0600

I could be wrong, but I thought they were going to build a station where Westbrook Metals is which is in the Saint Johns neighborhood which happens to be where I live. So if they're going to encourage Transit Oriented Development, (which is what this is all about, right?) they're going to make the neighborhood I live in nicer which means my rent will increase. Or am I wrong about Westbrook Metals? I was under the impression they were going to build fancy tract houses and condos and all that junk over here. Please say I am wrong. I'd love to hear it.

mdahmus

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 20:28:34 -0600

"But, it's at least a step forward." No, it's a step backward; because in order to build light rail now, you have to tear up commuter rail. There's no way to evolve the one into the other. It's like saying going 50 miles towards El Paso is the first step in your drive to Houston. And it doesn't go "to downtown". It goes to a train station where you have to transfer to a shuttle bus to get downtown, or to UT, or to the Capitol. And unlike Chicago, there's enough parking at those places that the transit alternative can't simply rely on "at least you don't have to pay 20 bucks to park".

RAT

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:43:45 -0600

mdahmus, please spare us the diatribe that commuter rail sucks of course commuter rail will not be as efficient as light rail. But, it's at least a step forward. a baby step at that.In general, Texans are so ignorant about public transportation they need training wheels. 39% percent of them elected a governor who aims to litter the Texas landscape with miles of concrete. Now that's real innovation for ya. I think a lot more people will be using it than just suburbinites. How can you argue with a train that can take you from MLK to downtown.And if you're going to bitch about waiting for a bus give me a break. Please visit the city of Chicago where combining a bus ride with a train can be an everyday occurrence. You also have the option of walking your fat ass.

mdahmus

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:59:55 -0600

Tim, I think you're conflating a lot of positions there all at once. I believe light rail would work (as proposed in 2000) because it's worked everywhere else, and the line here would have brought a bunch of people from the suburbs AND the dense residential parts of town right to UT, the capitol, and downtown. We had a GREAT chance to come back in 2004 with a scaled back version of the plan that just barely lost in 2000 due to Krusee's stab-in-the-back and a bunch of mouth-breathers coming out to vote for Dubya; but instead, Krusee rode in again and derailed Austin for the long-term benefit of his own constituents (who don't even pay Cap Metro taxes, by the way). I think commuter rail is going to fail because it ONLY serves the suburbs, and requires those people, who are already the least likely to want to ride the bus, to ride a bus twice a day (from train station to downtown, UT, capitol; since the commuter rail line doesn't go anywhere near the last two and barely touches the lamest corner of downtown - too far for most people to walk to work). As for how this TOD will affect the neighborhoods - I think the current zoning is set so far below what the market demands in this part of town that ANY excuse to build denser will work - but it won't be true TOD because the residents won't ride the transit (because, unlike light rail, this transit will, in fact, suck). Is that making it any clearer?

Tim Thomas

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:45:52 -0600

Dude, what's up with South Austin? We don't get any planning? WTF? I mean, I know our buses work well, and are pretty fast, but that doesn't mean they're going to stay that way forever. I want to hop on a train and be downtown in minutes... Hopefully this will pass because people don't pay much attention to public transit. The more we get, the better it will be and the more people will use it. You guys can spend 4 hours a day going 5 miles on the parking lot that will be MoPac in a few years. I'll happily zoom around on public transit. I find it hilarious, though, that this public transit that no one is going to be taking is going to completely tranform the way neighborhoods work. Right... My guess is it'll be like having a park and ride in your neighborhood. You SUV drivers won't even know it exists.

Stan

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:33:57 -0600

seriously, pappy-- how is building some sort of public transportation that actually works going to increase your rent?

ol'pappy

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:23:09 -0600

Is there a fly in here? I thought I heard a buzzing. I guess it was nothing though.

mdahmus

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:09:49 -0600

pappy, Increasing the (ridiculously low) density allowed (not required, remember, just allowed) around these stations would only lead to increased rent for you in the universe in which economics is completely backwards, AND the universe in which Yosemite Yuppiesam actually wants to spend a ton of money to live next to a rail line that runs to a couple of train stations on the edge of town from which he needs to transfer to a bus to actually get downtown, UT, capitol, The Domain, or anywhere else worth going. Unfortunately for those among us who might actually prefer to see you priced out of rent, and most particularly, internet access, neither one of the aforementioned universes actually exists.

ol'pappy

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:54:21 -0600

Oh boy. More new stuff to raise the rent. Whatta scream.

mdahmus

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:51:10 -0600

Thanks for the link, by the way. The best introduction to why TOD isn't going to work isn't my most recent crackplog (which is more of a complaint about the Chronicle's lack of actual analysis) but this one instead: http://mdahmus.monkeysystems.com/blog/archives/000405.html which has use cases, maps, and a picture of one of our nation's most beloved letters.

M1EK

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:47:58 -0600

There's no plan for a rail station in Oak Hill, but they asked to be included in TOD for their bus station, which is just precious. Folks, there's never ever ever been any TOD around anything but extremely high-quality rail transit. Not around bad rail service that requires you to hop on shuttle buses to get to work (Tri-Rail in South Florida) and most DEFINITELY not around bus service, no matter how good it is.

cc

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:43:18 -0600

I've been looking through the CapMetro site and all I see everywhere are Park n Rides for Oak Hill, with those Rapid buses that trigger green lights.

s

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:42:16 -0600

I meant, when the ordinance was amended in 2005, not 2006. Woopsy.

s

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:40:56 -0600

I'm pretty sure there will be a rail station in Oak Hill. It's not on the latest TOD station map because they've yet to designate the TOD district boundaries for that particular station. If you look on the map, it should say something at the bottom right about this. When the TOD Ordinance was amended last year, I believe this was the major amendment - an Oak Hill station (since there will already be one there as it is for the Austin-Leander rail line).

coffee cat

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:16:32 -0600

Whatever happened to having a rail station at Oak Hill. Is there going to be nothing but shuttles going to far South/west Austin? That's no change.

Derek

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 13:46:02 -0600

It's funny that you linked to M1EK's blog and then used a picture of a light rail train in a post about Austin's commuter rail future. That seems calculated to drive him nuts.