As if this weather hasn't been enough to get even the laziest of Austinites out and running, Paul Carrozza and his team over at RunTex are creating even more reasons to get out and about in 2008. Over the course of this month, the Lake Austin Boulevard RunTex will be stripped of its retail shelves—in its place will be a running institution aimed at consulting, training, and creating various fitness programs and seminars for local athletes....

UT's Brackenridge Tract Tack Force has released its initial recommendations regarding the land owned by the University west of Mopac and south of Enfield, which includes Lions Municipal Golf Course, West Austin Youth Association, the Colorado and Brackenridge Apartments, the Brackenridge Field Laboratory, a Randall's, and some other apartments and stores. The bottom line is that they suggest hiring an outside master planner to come up with a master plan for everything, and that......

The American Planning Association has named Old West Austin one of the first ten Great Neighborhoods in America, noting that "Resident Participation Keeps Neighborhood Character Intact." Some might quibble with the characterization of this neighborhood as the "most dense and diverse" in Austin. Also, some haters would probably dispute (apparently contradictory) statements like "Voluntary efforts of residents and developers alike have kept the neighborhood's character intact in the absence of local ordinances governing building......

The Neighborhood Plan Kickoff Meeting for the Central West Austin Combined Neighborhood Plan is tonight, Thursday, June 21 from 6:30-8:30pm at the Lions Club House @ Lions Municipal Golf Course, 2901 Enfield Road. The First Workshop will be Wednesday, July 11, 2007, 6:30-8:30pm also at the Lions Club House @ Lions Municipal Golf Course, 2901 Enfield Road. Central West Austin has been largely left behind by the city's VMU ordinance and commercial design regs.......

When we last posted about the Mean Eyed Cat, we didn't really understand what the problem was. Why did they need a petition to get a zoning change to keep on doing what they were doing? With time (and "articles" by real media publications that do "research") comes clarity. It has now become clear that the Old West Austin Neighborhood Association is the driving force behind the attempt to deny the rezoning request. If......

An elderly woman plowed her car into a West Austin Randall's market yesterday, after becoming disoriented in the parking lot. Much like the man who crashed his Buick Le Sabre through a Santa Monica farmer's market several years ago, the woman reportedly experienced a bout of "pedal error," stepping on the accelerator instead of the break. Four people inside the market were injured by flying debris, including the woman's son, who ended up pinned under......

Unless you frequent the Hike and Bike Trail or attend Austin High School, you may not have noticed the recent construction of a lime green wall and several over-sized pieces of fruit on the southwest corner of Veterans Drive and Lake Austin Boulevard. These new additions to a popular West Austin corner, already host to Magnolia Cafe, Thundercloud Subs and Deep Eddy Cabaret, are attributed to the good people at Daily Juice down on......

Katherine Gregor has an excellent article in this week's Chronicle about Austin's move towards Vertical Mixed Use zoning on core transit corridors. It does a nice job explaining what the city's VMU overlay means (residential and office space above retail space), why it benefits developers (allows them to build more condos on a given lot), and why it benefits residents (affordability, better building design requirements, pedestrian-friendly, green, integration reduces need for car trips). The......

The internets is some crazy shit. Bloggers across the country were all atwitter yesterday over the latest low-res camera phone pictures coming out of the Old 97's show last Friday at Stubb's. There is no way, in the midst of his page turning (...too soon?), that disgraced Representative Mark Foley would take the time (or have the nerve) to travel 1,500 miles to catch the Dallas alt-country band...no matter how much Rhett Miller shakes his......

So you've had enough of the '02 and the '04, huh? You want to know what's going down in the '03? Well, here it is: 1704 Hartford - $449,950, 1,630 square foot cute bungalow on a cool looking overgrown lot. Built in 1937. Could use some paint and som de-cluttering, but it looks like it is in good shape. Great location in Old West Austin among the mansions. It may be deja vu, but......

KXAN informs us that a bat discovered at Deep Eddy Pool last weekend tested positive for rabies: The Austin-Travis County Health and Human Service Department has posted warnings around the pool in Central West Austin. They do not think anyone came into contact with the bat. Health officials say it's not uncommon to find rabid bats in Central Texas during the summer months and warns you should never handle a bat. Those freaking out are......

What's currently the abandoned Intel parking garage shell began its transformation into the future 360 Condominiums today. Once complete, the 44-story, 580-ft-tall mixed-use building at Nueces and Third (360 Nueces Street) will be taller than Frost Bank (515 feet), though still not as high as the future 675-ft-tall slab of glass at Fifth and Congress. "This type of urban infill, transforming abandoned spaces into functioning residential and retail units, is exactly what downtown Austin needs......

The Democratic and Republican primary run-offs are tomorrow, April 11th. If you vote in the run-offs you cannot sign Carole Keeton Strayhorn's or Kinky Friedman's petition. You can find your polling location here. Endorsements: Austin Chronicle Austin Lesbian/Gay Political Caucus Austin Sierra Club endorsements West Austin Democrats endorsements Statesman endorsements Strayhorn's petition is available online at www.carolestrayhorn.com or by calling 512-469-9393. Information about Mr. Friedman's petition is available at www.kinkyfriedman.com or by calling 512-326-5465.......

So it's a primary and you have no clue who's running. Do what we did; go to the League of Women Voters Austin Area site and get their Voter's Guide. We'll even go one step further because we love our readers: here's a direct link to the guide (.pdf). If you care about endorsements, here you go:Austin Chronicle's picks (include Chris Bell for Gov and Charlie Baird for district judge) Austin Lesbian/Gay Political Caucus......

How high is too high? This isn't a reflective piece by Cheech and Chong...we're talking about construction downtown, this time a 36-story condominum complex planned for Third Street, a block east of Lamar. Members of the Old West Austin Neighborhood Association want to wait to see city's entire plan for downtown before signing off the "ok" to build the ginormous building. They're afraid of what's coming....in other words, how many other towers are going......

Looking for a reason to get out of the house on those slow, rainy Mondays? Tired of poring over your leather-bound editions of Shakespeare and wishing that weekly poker game you played in was a nightly poker game? Well, for those of you who need to feed your poker jones and are not satisfied playing poker at home with friends or in casinos with strangers, here is an opportunity to have a little of......