The U.S. Green Building Council has granted the new Ronald McDonald House of Austin and Central Texas a top green honor - LEED platinum certification. It is the first building in the city of Austin and the third building in the state of Texas to be built to LEED-Platinum standards, which is the highest level of sustainable building in the United States. ... [continue]

Our pal Austin Contrarian is reporting that at last night's City Council hearing, the councilmembers acceded to demands from the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association to deny pedestrian and bicycle access between Hyde Park and a new development on 51st Street. This means that not only will the street grid that is the basis of Hyde Park not be extended for cars, it will also not be extended for bikes and pedestrians. The street grid is the groundwork on which an urban environment is built. Urban streets form a network that allows movement in every direction via multiple modes of transportation. Suburban streets form a maze of dead ends and require every trip to use an arterial road, almost always by car.... [continue]

Editor's note: In hopes of getting a little more information on how the candidates in the May 10 Austin City Council election may respond to issues facing Austin, we sent out a few questions. Up next is Cid Galindo, who is running for Place 4 against Jennifer Gale, Robin Cravey, Laura Morrison, Sam Osemene and Ken Vasseau. See all his responses after the jump.... [continue]

Editor's note: In hopes of getting a little more information on how the candidates in the May 10 Austin City Council election may respond to issues facing Austin, we sent out a few questions. Up next is Ken Weiss, who is running for Place 3 against Jennifer Kim and Randi Shade. See all his responses after the jump.... [continue]

Editor's note: In hopes of getting a little more information on how the candidates in the May 10 Austin City Council election may respond to issues facing Austin, we sent out a few questions. Up next is Randi Shade, who is running for Place 3 against Jennifer Kim and Kenneth Weiss. See all her responses after the jump.... [continue]

Editor's note: In hopes of getting a little more information on how the candidates in the May 10 Austin City Council election may respond to issues facing Austin, we sent out a few questions. Up next is Jennifer Kim, the incumbent running for Place 3 against Randi Shade and Kenneth Weiss. See all her responses after the jump.... [continue]

Editor's note: In hopes of getting a little more information on how the candidates in the May 10 Austin City Council election may respond to issues facing Austin, we sent out a few questions. Up next is Jason Meeker, who is running for Place 1 against Lee Leffingwell and Allen Demling. See all his responses after the jump.... [continue]

Editor's note: In hopes of getting a little more information on how the candidates in the May 10 Austin City Council election may respond to issues facing Austin, we sent out a few questions. Up next is Allen Demling, who is running for Place 1 against Lee Leffingwell and Jason Meeker. See all his responses after the jump.... [continue]

The long anticipated condo project near the Hotel San Jose finally has a flashy website and a big billboard. The project will apparently include 77 condos ranging in price from $300k-$900k and may break ground before the end of this year.... [continue]

New York's LTL Architects have unveiled plans for a renovated Arthouse on Seventh and Congress. The building that is now the Arthouse was a department store in the 1950's and a theatre before that. Now it will again be a theatre, with a 90-seat screening room on the second floor and a large movie screen on the roof.... [continue]

Howdy istites. My name's Mike Dahmus, otherwise known all around various ratholes of the internet as M1EK, and I've been invited to write an honest-to-goodness post instead of a wimpy little comment. Normally, I crackplog ("crackplot blog") at my own place, M1EK's Bake-Sale of Bile, which is "Mostly Austin. Mostly Transportation. Mostly Bile.". I served on the city's Urban Transportation Commission from 2000 to 2005, before Daryl Slusher gave me the boot for being insufficiently slavish to Mike Krusee's plan to screw Austin's rail fans forever. I've been writing that crackplog since about 2003, starting in the run-up to the commuter rail disaster. ... [continue]

What do you get when you recycle 80,000 pounds of aluminum cans, or approximately 2.7 million cans? Well, evidently $5,000 dollars and a national award for the City Recycling Challenge. Mayor Will Wynn accepted the Cans for Cash prize on behalf of the City of Austin at the recent U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting taking place last week.... [continue]

Photo not to scaleNow that we're finally settled into the new year, we're on the prowl for a few fine individuals to join our motley crew of writers and photographers. Specifically, we're recruiting contributors in the following areas: Arts & Entertainment Film, Art, Theater, Comedy/Improv News Local/State Politics, GLBT News, Items of an Offbeat/"WTF" Nature, Breaking News, Campus Shenanigans Other Cartoonists, Community and Volunteer Opportunities, Sports (UT) Photography Photo Essays, Special Events If you're interested,... [continue]

After being closed to new subscribers for a period of time, Austin Energy's GreenChoice program is extending its green arms for Austinites far and wide. Claiming to be the nation's most successful utility-sponsored green power program, GreenChoice is an opportunity to walk the sustainability talk. ... [continue]

As we reported last week, the Austin-birthed Teeth will be hitting our silver screens on Friday, January 25th. But of course, it would be a grievous crime against the good people of Austin to not give them the chance to see this genre-bending flick before the rest of the unwashed masses, so the tireless miracle-workers over at Ain't It Cool News and the Alamo Drafthouse have cooked up a little sneak preview for our collective cringing pleasure, with Director Mitchell Lichtenstein live in person to field all of your probing questions.... [continue]

Just as the F.T.C gatheredlast week to revisit new guidelines surrounding green marketing claims, Austin's own EnviroMedia has launched the Greenwashing Index (GWI). In a partnership with University of Oregon, consumers can post, review, and assess the credibility of new ads claiming the green word. Volkswagon, BP, and Lexus are among some of the first ads posted.... [continue]

The Statesman is reporting that Tim Finley (owner of most of the block soon to house a new Marriott) has reached an agreement with the Perez sisters (owners of Las Manitas and a building on the northwest corner of that block). Las Manitas will move from its current location into the building owned by the Perez sisters. The buildings currently housing Las Manitas, Escuelita del Alma and Tesoro's will be torn down to make way for a single 1,000 room Marriott hotel.... [continue]