Austinist: Northcross Suit in Court Today

LoudMouth

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:55:06 -0600

They can keep the Wal Mart out but they can't do a damn thing about the Yellow Rose and Mehl's Motel and all the trashy people like me living on the other side of Lamar or above 183. ...at least until they build the condos and shit at Crestview and Highland.

Grape Ape

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:35:20 -0600

Saying that WM will create traffic problems is crap. The intersection and roads were built with a successful mall in mind and they had that for a while. Just because it turned to crap and you don't see as much traffic does not mean the road will not support WM traffic. As for the neighborhoods being affected, there are no homes on Anderson, just stip malls and individual big building businesses. It seems as though they should have been some sort of uprising over Lowes as well? The more I talk to people who live there, the more I get the idea that its not really WM they don't want in their area, its the stereotypical people that shop at WM. Maybe they should institute a rule as well that they check ID's to make sure no one from the surrounding neighborhoods actual triesd to shop there once its open, becuase they will. Then there is always the why did RG4N just buy the property and do what you wanted with it? If successful in getting what you all want, can WM then tell you what color to paint your homes and what kind of landscaping you can have? I mean, its the same thing isn't it?

name

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 08:34:57 -0600

greycat, your worries of traffic created by a wal-mart are no different than if the existing mall was actually successful. if you are looking for less traffic in the area, then your logical suggestion would be to wipe this site clean of all development so that no one would ever come or go from the area. another alternative is to continue to create density on core transit corridors such as Anderson Ln, whereas the entire area will become more walking-friendly and thereby cut down on trips. that is, if texans can get rid of their love affair with their cars. im not saying wal-mart is the poster child for dense development, but now the city has the tools to implement this sort of development in the future that did not exist when wal-mart submitted their application. (http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/planning/designstandards.htm)

greycat

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 19:03:29 -0600

Tim...I live in the apartments just adjacent to Northcross. Honestly, the only way i'll be benefiting is the fact that there will be a super cheap grocery store within a 5 minute walking distance of my apartment. As much as I would love that, i still don't want wal-mart there. Why? Well, to be perfectly honest, i was all on board the Wal-Mart train (it'll be an "upscale" one, the plans look nice and as long as it's clean and doesn't trash out the neighborhood, it's fine, i can shelve my personal feelings toward the company and how it treats it's employees.) then i started to think. I walk everywhere. Or i take my other mode of transport, the #3 bus. Walking across Foster lane to Sun Harvest is sometimes perilous. Cars coming from each direction, and even though I'm in a cross walk, they don't care about stopping. This is the way it is NOW, without the huge amounts of traffic Wal-Mart will generate on a daily basis. Can you imagine how much traffic will come down Foster Ln to Shoal Creek? I routinely see kids from these apartments try and run across the street at the crosswalk to avoid cars - cars that tend to ignore the fact that there are kids in a crosswalk. If they put a 3 way stop in, that's great. If they put a light in, good too. If they even just put speed bumbs down, that would help. But honestly, it's going to take one person getting hit and killed before they will do anything. I really don't want to see that happen.

mdahmus

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:51:57 -0600

And by the way, if you honestly believe that most of RG4N's supporters want a dense, mixed-use, urban project on Northcross, you're dumber than dirt. A tiny few do, but most have shown through their actions on other projects (including very recently) that they view the honest ones as useful idiots.

mdahmus

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:47:47 -0600

Or how about a link to frequent commenter "Austin Contrarian" who has covered the legal aspect of this case from a law-talking-guy's perspective? Most recently here: http://austinzoning.typepad.com/austincontrarian/2007/11/another-northcr.html

tim

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:42:53 -0600

What if we want to support the majority of those living in the surrounding area (in apartments, rental housing, and houses purchased pre-2000) who would most likely benefit from a wal*mart in the area? Got any links for us?