Every weekday morning we'll be featuring a photo (or two) from our readers. Please feel free to submit your photos (min 600px width) by adding them to the Austinist Flickr Group. 2008 Austin Triathlon - Biking a lap - Texas BY BSR-12......

Photo courtesy of supersassafrasThe city's Urban Transportation Commission is currently at a crossroads over the future of our quickly-expanding pedicab businesses. As we discovered from The Texan over the weekend, two transportation commissioners are each recommending very different resolutions, hoping to strike a balance between a growing business of bicycles and a growing city whose streets seem to be getting a bit more cramped. There are five registered pedicab companies currently operating in Austin: PediChad,......

The first two of six new commuter rail trains arrived in Austin this week. The diesel-electric trains trains, the last of which should arrive by late spring, were purchased from Swiss manufacturer Stadler Bussnang AG ("We Track Clever Solutions" -- get it?) for $34 million. Cap Metro plans to start testing these cars next month along the rail line from Howard Lane and Mopac down to 47th Street and Airport Boulevard—each will be run......

On Thursday night, City Council preliminarily approved the first phase of a plan to create a ‘second downtown’ in the area around the Domain. The North Burnet/Gateway Master Plan aims to transform 2,330 acres north of US 183 into a pedestrian and public transportation friendly mixed-use neighborhood. The plan envisions a redesigned Burnet Road as a ‘multi-use transit boulevard carrying Austin, bicycle and future transit service throughout the area.’ It will encourage the addition of......

This week, Phillyist saw the waters of a landmark fountain run red for a Showtime marketing stunt, the Phils pull ahead, and some serious nostalgia. They also got a chance to review an awesome tribute album, reminded folks to see the King, and appreciated their beautiful skyline. Chicagoist knows what it's like to like the Cubs. But naming your kid Wrigley Fields? At least they can breathe a little easier now that Grossman's out and......

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. After cooling down from a hot weekend of many badass Sunset Junction Street Fair photo dispatches, LAist asked......

If you missed out on the initial deadline to participate in this year's inaugural Maker Faire Austin festival, you're in luck! The event organizers have set a new deadline of Thursday, September 6, thereby affording you a comfortable two and a half weeks to come up with your very own zany creation. For an idea of what to expect, the MAKE blog highlights some of the inventions recently previewed at Austin Children's Museum, including hyperbolic......

Maker Faire, the annual Bay Area festival that revels in Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ingenuity, is expanding to Austin this year. The two-day, family-friendly event will showcase some of the coolest shit—arts, crafts, wickedly geeky science projects—you've never seen in your life; think Dorkbot but hulked out. What else would you expect from a festival organized by the staffs of Make and Craft magazines? If you're a "Maker" and are interested in showing off your zany (or......

1990s Cookies (Rough Trade/World's Fair) The 1990s "play music like a blond gets out of a car." This, we assume based on listening, means something like, "Our sound is snotty, a little fucked up on we-don't-remember-what, and always f-u-n." While John McKeown (Yummy Fur) won't make any news showing his knickers to paparazzi during a limo exit, he will succeed in promoting the display of everyone else's underthings on the dance floor, as Cookies......

Rain, rain, go away, we need to mow the lawn someday?! Aww, who are we kidding. We weren't going to mow it anyway, thank goodness the rain gave us a great excuse. There's way too much internet to surf and music to be heard to be working. Although we would like to go back outdoors at some point. Until then we'll just keep searching CL to bring you the best of last week's Missed......

Did you ever hear the joke about Nuns on a Bicycle? How about the traveller at the Ayr hostel? When you get an F because you forgot to study for your final exam, go ahead and sue your school. It's the American way. Taco Bell High should teach students about the real magic ingredients in the beans...or the sour cream...or the guacamole... Sounds like someone dug a really deep hole under Oklahoma. They found......

The fourth annual Texas 4000 for Cancer bike ride will kick off this weekend. Actually, it's less of a "ride" and more of a "trek." The 44-member cycling team, mostly made up of UT students, will cycle from Austin all the way to Anchorage, Alaska (that's 4,500 miles!) to raise money for the American Cancer Society. It's the longest annual charity bicycle ride in the world, and it kicks off this afternoon from the UT......

Austin's own Pink (a bicycle "love courier" service we profiled back in December) was recently nominated for "Best Independent Project of the Year" by the Austin Critics Table. To celebrate, they're taking their special brand of two-wheeled viral love-spreading to Portland, just in time for that bike-smitten city's Pedalpalooza fest. But first, they invite you to join them for a bike-in double feature tonight at Café Mundi, where you can take in both Pee Wee's......

Austin has a love/hate relationship with bikes. Love Lance. Hate the Lance-wannabes cruising FM-1826, slowing down the burnt-orange pickups on their way to the Salt Lick. Love biking the Hike-and-Bike trail. Hate slaloming between kids and dogs on a busy Saturday. Love the idea of bike lanes and bike commuting. Hate actual bikers slowing down traffic and swerving into the street because of cars parked in the bike lanes. Love reducing traffic and pollution......

There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to! Londonist took a walk through Oliver Twist's London, thanks to a gorgeous map layer for Google Earth. They also caught up with modern-day fictional London, with the Fantastic Four and 28 Weeks Later. It was a week of insanity over at DCist. They started the week off with......

If you aren't going to the launch party tonight, you can watch the first episode of Downtown's third season tomorrow night from the comfort of your own home. For those unfamiliar with the show, KLRU's award-winning series focuses on, well, the downtown area. Topics covered in past seasons have been: Waller Creek, First Night Austin, bicycle messengers, Austin's hip-hop scene, the Austin Farmer's Market, urban density, and more. Each thirty-minute episode is made up of......

There's something about this unpredictable spring weather that's just so tiring. If you think it's going to rain, it's going to be sunny. If you want sun, you're getting clouds. If you plan an Easter barbecue, it will be freezing cold and sleeting. These are the days the names of playlists on your iTunes are called "Upbeat" and "Light-hearted" and "Even If It's Raining I Will Ride My Bicycle." On these lists are Motown favorites......

SXSW Presents returns to KLRU TV tomorrow for its third season, with four brand new episodes slated to run through the end of February. The critically acclaimed series, hosted by SXSW Film Fest Producer Matt Dentler, showcases some today's finest examples of independent filmmaking, many of which have a local emphasis -- past epiodes have featured Viva Les Amis, 24 Hours on Craigslist, and Witches in Exile. BBQ: A Texas Love Story February 6th,......

Seaholm Power, LLC has released new renderings of the proposed Seaholm Power Plant redevelopment, which it will present to City Council tonight. The site plan includes an extension of the city street grid, filling the gap in Third Street, connecting West Avenue to Cesar Chavez and adding a new street, Seaholm Drive, between Third Street and Cesar Chavez. Both new streets get pedestrian/bicycle crossings at their intersections with Cesar Chavez, to help integrate this......

The future Lance Armstrong Bikeway is now one step closer to realization, with artwork for the public six-mile route to be approved by the Art in Public Places (AIPP) Commission today. News8Austin reports that ten "large yellow paintings" will be installed along the route, which will be made up of off-street concrete trails, on-street striped bike lanes, and on-street signed bike routes. Additionally, three large tunnels resembling "square Slinky-like coils" will be built. "They're......

Since early voting began today, we're going to do a very short series of posts on the city bonds up for vote. Proposition One in ballot language: "The issuance of $103,100,000 in tax supported General Obligation Bonds and Notes for reconstructing roads and streets, constructing, reconstructing, and improving drainage facilities related to the roads and streets; constructing, reconstructing, and improving bicycle and pedestrian mobility infrastructure; improving traffic signal synchronization and controls systems, acquiring and......

It's a definite sign of the times. Today alone, we told you of two Austin art institutions—Gallery Lombardi and Iron Gate Studios—closing their doors. Now, add to that another local organization: The Yellow Bike Project. For the uninitiated, YBP is a non-profit, volunteer run, community supported bicycle shop on East 51st Street. They act as a local bicycle advocacy group, teach bicycle maintanence, operate a pro bono bicycle shop for the community, and place......

In the north part of Austin's so-called Urban Core lies the intersection of Metric Boulevard, US-183, and MoPac. Now known collectively as the North Burnet/Gateway Planning Area, the roughly 2,300-acre section of land has grown considerably in the past few decades, from its origins as an industrial district and home of the UT Balcones Research Center (now J.J. Pickle Research Campus), built on a WWII-era magnesium plant, to the construction of various collosal highways......

The 2006 Tour de France kicks off tomorrow morning at 8:30AM EST. Those of us not lucky enough to be in France to watch the cyclist begin their month-long trek in Strasbourg can catch ongoing coverage on OLN, or head over to the Bicycle Sport Shop on South Lamar, where they'll be showing daily broadcasts and hosting special weekend viewing parties. Various other venues around town will be offering coverage, as well; Austinist will bring......

In America, we rock summertime barbeque. Hamburgers, ribs and the sacrosanct tofu pup all roast under our fair dominion. But soups are not quite within the purview. Austin's very own authority on the subject is trying to change that. His name is David Ansel, known to many as The Soup Peddler. He rose to fame locally in 2002 by delivering homemade soup to residents of Bouldin Creek (atop a yellow bicycle, of course, with......

For those who don’t know, Frankenbike is a pretty badass concept. We really respect the community aspect of their design. Frankenbike is, as quoted from their website in the form of dictionary definitions: FrankenBike (n) - A free bike swap meet held once a month in Austin, Texas that is open to anyone who wants to buy, sell or trade bicycles and bicycle related gear or parts. FrankenBike (n) - Any working bike that......

Calendar it, folks: through 2007, over 100 local artists are being showcased at Austin City Hall’s new exhibition, The People’s Gallery. Organized by the Hall’s Cultural Arts Division, it offers a fine sampling of homegrown, creative talent. The talent is nicely varied, too. Examples of the work include a cast bronze bicycle-powered Icarus (he’s right in the lobby), and, upstairs, a sculpture featuring strands of yarn looking as delicious as spaghetti. These pieces, two......

DCist helps us make more sense of the world this week. Posts like this concert review are the reason for Scott Stapp. DCist also enumerates the reasons for playing ultimate frisbee, Condi's tight buns, their love of a local convenience store, and their jealousy of a person in Seattle calling the city. LAist documented graf artist Banksy's most recent visit to LA in one two three posts. They also found the best possible use......

As everyone knows, this weekend is the big one before Mardi Gras! We're so excited we can hardly contain ourselves. Our shirts are going to stay on, but we're willing to do "other" things to earn beads. We'll even kiss another girl, indulge on colorful mixed drinks, make out with random strangers, run a few miles. St. Gabriel's School is hosting their 4th Annual Mardi Gras 5K Run and Walk tomorrow. It's an afternoon......

This weekend, December 9th through the 12th, sixteen shops on South First Street are participating in a Holiday Bazaar. During normal business hours, customers can enjoy special artist's booths, music, and holiday snack and beverages. Notable SoFi businesses participating in the event are: Sinsations, Secret Oktober, Unbridaled, Happiness, Phlox, End of an Ear, Vanilla Girl Designs, Bella Blue, The Opera House, The Stash, I C Gallery, Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse, Vintage Glamour, DJ Dojo, Southside......