After months of waiting, one of 2012’s most anticipated restaurants, Swift’s Attic, will follow a series of discounted soft opening dinners this week with an official opening next week. Originally slated to open in late 2011, building delays pushed Swift’s Attic opening date back, but with a Certificate of Occupancy in hand, the wait is finally over. more ›

After closing its doors last fall, Hickory Street has re-opened with a new owner and a heavy design and menu makeover. Local entrepreneur Brendan Puthoff, who also owns Third Base and Barcelona bars, along with executive chef Camden Stuerzenberger, formerly of Bess Bistro and Walton's Fancy & Staple, have created a menu that focuses on local ingredients affordably priced between $6 and $13. more ›

This post is by new news writer Rosa Barnes. -- ed. Wednesday evening, Fatima Barrie, biology major and track athlete of Huston-Tillotson College, was placed on life support after falling victim to a stabbing in downtown Austin. Early Sunday morning, after leaving Republic Live on West 5th, 21 year-old Barrie was confronted by Kaitlyn Ritcherson, 19, and as friends attempted to pull Barrie away Ritcherson stabbed her. more ›

In order to combat a spike in pedestrian deaths, the Austin Police Department launched a jaywalking initiative on Monday, targeting key intersections in downtown and South Austin. more ›

The City of Austin says that "a record for the most simultaneous events on the same day" will be set on Saturday, given that eight different events are taking place in the downtown area that day. Prepare accordingly if you head downtown on Saturday! A map of road closures/roads affected by the Texas Book Festival, Gypsy Picnic, etc. can be viewed here (.pdf). more ›

Good news for those in the downtown area: a new location of La Boite is slated to open October 24 at the Old Bakery Building at 10th Street and Congress Avenue. more ›

@austintexasgov is confirming that the smoke you're inhaling downtown today is just blowover from surrounding counties, not indicative of any fires in our immediate, central Austin area. The National Weather Service has explained that "the current smoke problems are from an inversion in the atmosphere that is keeping smoke low to the ground." KVUE's Albert Ramon explains here. more ›

The developers of Spring Condominium -- one of the most affordable downtown properties, with 1-bedrooms starting in the low $200's -- announced today that they're on board to help lighten the load of back-taxes owed by East Austin residents. If East Austin Conservancy raises $25,000 for its new Preserve Eastside Affordability campaign, Spring Austin Partners will match the funds. more ›

We spent a large chunk of yesterday afternoon with eyes on @CityHallHustle's live-tweets as the city council mulled over Mike Martinez's suggested extended parking meter hour compromise during their meeting. There was disagreement on the changed grid in this compromise. However, the updated days and times were included in the plan that passed yesterday. more ›

Councilmember Mike Martinez has proposed a compromise on the extended downtown parking meter hours, which were originally set to kick in this month but had been delayed until September 6. Newly-elected councilmember Kathie Tovo and councilmember Laura Morrison had considered attempting to delay the meter changes even further, but Morrison has said that given this compromise, she'll withdraw her call to postpone implementation of the extended hours til 2012. more ›

Falling glass has plagued the W Hotel recently. On Monday, a few glass panels fell more than 20 feet from the side of the downtown hotel; yesterday a glass panel shattered in place and broke two pieces under it, with glass falling onto the closed pool area. Luckily, no one was injured. Given this chain of events, the W Hotel has closed for the time being so that all the balcony glass on the building can be replaced. more ›

Texas Monthly is moving its offices back downtown, to a 21,610-foot space at 816 Congress Avenue. They are currently at the University Park Development, which was recently given back to lenders and sold. Their new space is a class-A spot, recently renovated and only steps from the Capitol. Approximately 80 Austin employees will make the move this summer. The new space has 20 stories, and features 24-hour securitie, covered parking, conference rooms, fitness center, plaza, mail room, deli and a full-service bank. more ›

Over the weekend, the Texas Relays took place here in Austin, and the celebrations spilled over to 6th St., as they often do. Though Austin is a safe haven for party people all year long, it's rare to see something quite like the scene the Relays bring. The clothes, cars and spirit are something to behold, and photographer Patrick Bresnan has done an incredible job with his TX Relays series on his site. Have a look, but if you're at work be cautious. more ›

We took the survey, read the Transportation Department's recommendations, and on Thursday the city council will finally decide whether to extend paid parking hours downtown (as the Transportation Department recommends) or not. The suggestion put to the city council is to change the weekday parking hours from 8:30 to 5:30 to 8am til midnight -- and to include Saturdays under these new hours. more ›

The City of Austin has a survey open until January 12 on how Austinites use parking downtown. According to this survey, the city is looking into extending the hours of downtown parking meters until midnight Mondays through Saturdays (Sundays would still be free). If you live or work downtown, or just enjoy spending a lot of time in that area of town, let the city know what you think about this idea. [City of Austin survey] more ›

If you've been down Congress Avenue this fall, you've likely noticed a great deal of activity in the ground floor of The Austonian. While there's a small Caffé Medici in there as well, the focus of all the hard work is the ambitious new pair of restaurants from former Driskill Grill and Bolla chef David Bull. more ›

The annual Downtown Living Tour—your best (legal) chance to see just how all of those fancy condo-dwellers live—is next Sunday, October 24th. The Downtown Austin Neighborhood Association (DANA) and Launch787 have teamed up with showcase over a dozen properties scattered around the downtown area, plus a few outdoor spaces (Republic Square Park) and museums (AMOA). more ›

The pedicab industry in Austin may be about to face some new regulation. The bike-powered cart contraption favored by tourists and downtown revelers alike has become an Austin staple in the past few years. more ›

Ed Note Update: The original press release from City of Austin attesting to the fact that Best Wurst's permit was renewed at a location 40 feet east of its previous location has been published after the jump. To help solve the conflict between the food vendor and Parkside, the City of Austin renewed Best Wurst's operating license yesterday -- but told the sausage cart's owner he had to move 40 feet east of the cart's usual location. Best Wurst will now be at 309 E. 6th St., in the street and off the sidewalk, and Parkside should be able to set up outdoor seating. [KVUE] more ›

Around 7am, the Austin Fire Department was called to a blaze at 9th Street and Congress at the site of the ultra-upmarket Restaurant Jezebel on Congress Avenue. No one was injured in the fire, though due to the timing, firefighters had to force entry to the property to respond. KXAN is reporting that the blaze did roughly $150,000 of damage to the Downtown restaurant, which is known mostly for upscale modern fusion dishes, a unique service style (a server only approaches your table when you summon them), and an incredibly expensive European wine list not for the faint of heart or wallet. more ›

As a woman walked to her car early Sunday morning from a club on W. 6th between Lavaca and Guadalupe, she noticed a man following her. When she reached 2nd Street (where her car was parked), he grabbed her and took her to a field closeby where he attacked her. She fought back; the suspect was last seen heading north on Lamar. He is described as a 25-30 year-old Hispanic male, around 5'4"-5'5", at about 145 pounds. At the time, he was wearing a brown shirt and blue jeans. The victim says he spoke broken English, had long black hair and no facial hair. Please call the Sex Crimes tip line at 974-5095, Crime Stoppers at 472-TIPS or text "Tip 103" (along with your message) to CRIMES if you have any information that might aid this investigation. [KEYE] more ›

Right now, Austin is covered in art - quite literally! Magda Sayeg and her enterprising crew of yarn bombers, Knitta Please, have swathed artist Carl Trominski's Moments (the blue signs along Lamar at 6th Street) with custom knit cozies. Art Week culminates with this weekend's Art City Austin, a two day downtown festival featuring nearly 200 juried artists, more installations, live music, great food, family art projects, and more. Daniel Patrick Morrison's photo-mosaic Carboard Sky will debut this weekend. Art City Austin will take to the streets (Cesar Chavez Street, from Colorado to Lamar including the 1st Street Bridge, to be exact) on Saturday between 10am and 6pm and on Sunday from 11am to 6pm. Tickets can be purchased at the entrances of the festival. more ›

Art Alliance's Art Week Austin is in full swing with many exhibits and happenings taking place around town today. Down in the 2nd Street District, Rachel Cook and Claire Ruud have curated the multifaceted exhibit, One swallow doesn't make a summer. Taking it's name from former mayor Kirk Watson's assertion that "One swallow doesn't make a summer, and not even a dozen development projects make a Great Downtown", One swallow hopes to invigorate our developing downtown by inviting artists into unique exhibition spaces for many to enjoy. Various artists have pieces on display at 210 Guadalupe, 400 W. Cesar Chavez, 117 Lavaca, and 233 W. 2nd St. - work ranges in scope from large painted canvases to sound and video installations. One swallow's gallery spaces are open from 11am to 6pm today through Saturday with curator walking tours taking place at 12:30pm daily. more ›

Art Week Austin is warming up with an opening Art Talk taking place tonight at the Carver Museum. This evening's speaker, Dan Cameron, is a New York based curator with ties to the New Orleans. After Katrina, he organized Prospect New Orleans, the premiere biennial of international contemporary art in the nation. The first Prospect, which took place at the end of 2008, temporarily turned the Big Easy into a contemporary art metropolis. Tonight Cameron will be in Austin discussing Prospect New Orleans and how it helped invigorate our neighbors to the east. An accomplished curator himself, Cameron will also provide insight into current trends in the vast (and often daunting) world of contemporary art. He will also discuss the selection process for the next Prospect New Orleans which is scheduled for November 2011 through February 2012. more ›

• Mayor Leffingwell announces his downtown plan. (PS - No mention of condos!)
• Five arrested in alleged gang rape at homecoming dance in California.
• Get ready for ski season!

In what will surely prove to be one of this year’s more inspired bookings, Dearborn, Michigan’s ambient heroes Windy & Carl will feature in the ecumenical confines of downtown Austin’s Central Presbyterian Church tonight. The husband and wife duo have been playing their brand of strangely comforting, guitar-generated soundscapes since 1993. For twelve of those last sixteen years, the duo have been releasing albums on Chicago’s haven for experimental and ambient recording artists, Kranky records, also home to former Austinites and Windy & Carl contemporaries Stars of the Lid. more ›

Members of a rap group fired gunshots outside hip-hop club Spiros on Red River last night, just after downtown bars had closed. According to police, the scuffle started when members of one of the groups performing at the club earlier in the evening were forced to leave the venue. Later, around 2:15 a.m., two of them came back and opened fire on the crowd. At least six people were sent to hospitals for non-life threatening injuries. Authorities are still unclear as to whether the incident happened inside or outside the venue. Neither men have been identified, an the investigation is pending. [Blotter] more ›

Taking a cue from successful local business models like Soup Peddler and Dishalicious, Whole Foods Market's flagship store at 6th and Lamar is launching a new lunch and dinner delivery by bicycle. more ›