Unmellow Lance Armstrong's new bike shop, Mellow Johnny's on Fourth and Nueces, opened last weekend, just in time for Bike to Work Day this Friday, May 16. The Austin Cycling Association is coordinating free breakfast that morning at the locations shown after the jump....

Still/BloodsportAn automated message service operating as "your neighbor Lisa" began dialing local residents last week, questioning some campaign promises supposedly made by City Council Place 3 candidate Randi Shade. In the broadcast, Shade, who is running against incumbent Jennifer Kim and Ken Weiss, is accused of promising to raise the salaries of Austin police and firefighter higher-ups in exchange for their endorsements. Shade's campaign office responded almost immediately on Saturday morning, sending out an angry......

Early voting for the Austin City Council Election starts today. Click here for voting locations. We hope you enjoyed the candidates responses to our questionnaire. If you don't like thinking for yourself, there are plenty of endorsements to consider: The Chronicle likes Leffingwell, No One and Morrison. The Statesman likes Leffingwell, Shade and Cravey. We just heard that DANA is endorsing Leffingwell, Shade and Galindo. Our posts on Leffingwell, Shade and Cravey got the most recommendations, but Demling, Weiss and Galindo got the most comments....

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....

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 Laura Morrison, who is running for Place 4 against Jennifer Gale, Robin Cravey, Cid Galindo, Sam Osemene and Ken Vasseau. See all her responses after the jump....

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....

The nationwide drop in home prices is disproportionately sharp for those houses farthest from employment centers. In Washington D.C., prices dropped an average of 11% in the last year, but have risen in areas close to downtown or public transportation. Local statistics seem to bear this out - average price per square foot was down 2.21% overall as compared to last year. Most central areas were up (except for Zilker, which was pretty flat), while some outlying areas were up and some were down....

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 Robin Cravey, who is running for Place 4 against Jennifer Gale, Cid Galindo, Laura Morrison, Sam Osemene and Ken Vasseau. See all his responses after the jump....

On Tuesday night, ROMA Design Group, the lead consultant for the Downtown Austin Plan, will present the findings so far of its study of Downtown mobility, potential public transit connections within Downtown, and potential public transit connections between Downtown and other significant destinations in Austin. Click here to see Ben Wear's description of the light rail plan to be discussed at the Mobility Workshop....

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....

KVUE News is reporting that developer CWS Capital has reached an agreement with SaveTownLake.org and the South River City Neighborhood Association regarding the proposed redevelopment of 222/300 Riverside. The deal is apparently that the existing apartments will be torn down, the 150 feet closest to Lady Bird Lake will become parkland, CWS can build condos up to 35 feet high between 150 and 200 feet from the lake, and CWS can build up to 96 feet high more than 200 feet from the lake....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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. First up is Lee Leffingwell, the incumbent running for Place 1 against Allen Demling and Jason Meeker. See all his responses after the jump....

Ben Wear has a nice entry on his Statesmen pseudo-blog about the myth that gas taxes fully pay for highway construction, indicating that in the past, the legislature directly contributed to highway construction from the general fund. Didn't we just pass a five billion dollar general obligation bond for TXDOT? Highways don't pay for themselves, even if you only compare gas tax revenues to construction and maintenance costs. Gas taxes generally pay for less than half of the construction and maintenance costs of any new highway. If you take costs associated with congestion, sprawl and global warming into account, highways look like an even bigger waste....

Allen Y Chen/Austinist Vandals recently defaced banners advertising the new Bridges on the Park development, perhaps in response to the recent closure of the Shady Grove RV Park — which was actually prompted by a different condo project going up nearby.......

CNU XVI starts today. On Friday, City Green of Austin is hosting two free events that are open to the public. The first is a Sustainable Buildings Tour, which will include several of Austin's LEED and AEGB certified buildings. The second is the Sustainabash at Speakeasy. Click here for information on more free events....

The regents of the University of Texas have selected Cooper, Robertson & Partners to create a master plan for potential development of the 345 acres south of Enfield, west of Mopac and north of Lady Bird Lake know as the Brackenridge Tract....

Travis County added 31,739 residents between July 1, 2006 and July 1, 2007 according to estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Only eight counties in the country added more, including four in Texas (Harris, Tarrant, Bexar and Collin). On a percentage basis, Williamson and Hays counties were among the fifteen fastest growing counties and Travis was in the top 100....

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....

King of the Hill showed its Austin ties on Sunday's recent episode, titled "Lady and Gentrification." Certainly gentrification is not an Austin-centric issue, but it is a current hot topic in our city, and it is hard to watch this episode and not see the parallels to what is happening in East Austin. True, the issue is a bit oversimplified in the 30-minute episode....

According to The Real Deal, Trammel Crow Residential has abandoned plans to build a multi-family complex at the site of Mercury Hall in South Austin. It is hard to tell whether this decision was the result of neighborhood objections or the deteriorating residential market. It is also hard to tell whether neighborhood objections were based on a love for the cathedral-cum-wedding venue, the numerous large oaks on the property or general objections to density. In any case, it appears that Mercury Hall will survive, at least until the next massive up tick in local property values....

The new Museum building will be developed in partnership with international developer Hines and world-class architecture firm Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, whose portfolio includes the MoMA in Manhattan, the future World Financial Center in Beijing, and the Citigroup Tower in London....

As the growth of downtown continues to explode, so does the need for commuter friendly alternatives - enter the bike. Granted nothing new, but with Lance Armstrong's recent unveiling of plans for a commuter biker shop, he really is bringing biking back. According to Armstrong: "This city is exploding downtown. Are all these people in high rises going to drive everywhere? We have to promote (bike) commuting."...

A lawsuit against the City of Kyle for violation of the federal Fair Housing Act started yesterday. The suit was filed by the national and Austin branches of the NAACP, the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin and the National Association of Home Builders. It alleges that Kyle has increased the cost of local housing by instituting revised zoning ordinances. According to the NAACP, the resulting increase in prices disproportionately affects minorities and the Fair Housing Act prohibits cities from zoning in a way that excludes housing for certain classes of people, even if officials did not intentionally discriminate....

Hope in the City, a church in southwest Austin that exists to glorify God by growing devoted followers of Christ in communities that advance His Kingdom in Austin and the nations, is running into trouble with the city. They have been so successful at attracting devoted followers of Christ that there is no longer room in the parking lot. The church would like to build another parking lot in the field between their buildings and Williamson Creek, but city officials denied their request because the church is in the Barton Springs watershed and has used its 15% land cover allowed by the Save Our Springs ordinance. City officials have suggested that church members could take the bus, but that would require a miracle. The church is now suing the city on grounds that their free exercise of religion is being illegally hindered....

City Council is considering a proposal that would revise the zoning regulations on East 12th Street along the lines of the recent revisions to the zoning regulations on East 11th Street (item 44 on the agenda). The new regulations would apply between I-35 an Poquito St. and would generally allow for mid-rise construction along 12th Street. ...

We mentioned the plan a while ago, but it appears to have legs, so here we go again. Brewster is proposing creation of what he calls the "Austin Parking Enterprise." The city would partner with developers to own parking garages in buildings being developed. Initially, it would operate the Seaholm garage and any in the Green Water Treatment Plant redevelopment. We're scared that this proposal will mean more parking gets built, making downtown more car-centric and pedestrian-unfriendly than it already is. According to the proposed policies, the Parking Enterprise "should seek to maximize the availability of public parking" and "may finance more parking spaces than are required for an associated private development."...