TheYoungHorn

This is so predictable. It is also sickening, because it rewards the chicanery that drives this city into a deeper mess.

If the weather is nice, a dinner at Shady Grove is still a good choice. Green Chile Chicken Fried Steak will do. Though as mentioned above, it is hard to beat Chili Parlor. I would do it for lunch.

I understand on the face why he did it. But just screwing with Austin, isn't really screwing with "Austin" that the GOP guys want to do. If they wanted to screw with Austin, they would find a way to let the State Legislature rezone all of Austin, or do away with zoning in general in say Travis County. Backing up Fred Lewis and his cronies in another front to stop any version of zoning change in Austin just doesn't make any sense, unless you just hate the City Council and Mayor.

Or, to boil it down simply, why is Ken Paxton carrying Fred Lewis' water on this one?

Can someone help explain to me why Ken Paxton is involved in the Planning Commission makeup argument? Wouldn't Paxton, the supposed "defender of conservative causes" want to not be on the same side as the NIMBY liberals that are raising lawsuits against the planning commission makeup?

Yes to both. But 1: they improve on this stuff every day because 2. They have told a story and backed it up that investors have bought. Walmart never told such a story, and thus were and have been judged as other retailers have always been.

Randomly took a class of his back in the day. Physics for non-technical majors. On some days it was among the worst classes I ever attended on campus. On others, it was pure genius. It was odd, when a lecture hall of students looking for a blow-off science credit ran into someone that should have won at least one Nobel prize, and had no idea of his background. He had a unique style when dealing with people who didn't want to learn physics, often slowing things down in an attempt to simplify topics, but then the next class getting extremely frustrated. Though, he seemed to relish the chance to convey at least some of what he was passionate about to a diverse audience and had a great sense of humor, though it almost entirely came at the expense of other students. Many of which, because of his thick accent, and style had no idea what was going on. I do remember him joking about some of the Nobel drama a lot, at least he found some humor in it.

You also have the bar downstairs at the Drafthouse, the place on the corner has a full bar (Colleen's) and for beer you can also do Whichcraft.

No, I got your point. And I was trying to point out that I don't think in this current Texas football environment that Herman will want to voluntarily pack up his whole team, staff and hopefully humming organism to move into some ad-hoc, slapped-together solution elsewhere on campus. Yes, of course they can do it, and have done similar things in the past, but that wasn't in a recruiting/player-development age where elite facilities were such a bargaining chip, or at least elevated to the level they are now. One thing working against Texas is the campus isn't in a small college town, where there is still a lot of open space for greenfield development. We can't really just build a brand new football complex, including indoor facility next door, then move into that before we start a stadium renovation, especially not in an area where they might also squeeze in a new basketball area and training facility. This decision is going to be primarily about two things: 1. getting Herman the best facilities in the nation/connected directly to one of the largest stadiums in the nation. 2. Elevating the premium spaces to capitalize on the success CDC is demanding from all teams, and improving/innovating the game day experience to make DKR a jaw-dropping venue to showcase the program/university/city to recruits, media, etc.

Do any of you live in Austin? Anti-development, anti-growth policies are as carved into the stone and fabric of this city and it's leaders.

CDC isn't just going to pack up and move a football team into Gregory Gym. Gregory Gym utilized everyday by thousands of students and faculty, and as big as it is, has no room to house 100 athletes on a dedicated basis, much less the other necessary training and meeting facilities the team needs to operate. Let's be serious for a second and be realistic. Because this is 2018 and CDC seems like a very realistic and intelligent character. They are not going to pack up the entire football team and move into Gregory Gym for a year. They just redid the entire locker room, and I believe the weight room/training room. In addition to the SEZ, expansion and additional remodeling of player/coaches facilities, we will also need a new indoor facility in the near-ish term. They are thinking about solutions that get them to the entire package they want and need to recruit and compete competitively, and also attract more high dollar/corporate premium seats. This isn't wrong, it might suck that it isn't what you or I would want to see, or how we would design it on SketchUp, but I would bet it is a consideration.

Also, for those of you proposing the full SEZ bowling. Where does the football team's entire operation move for the year plus after Moncrief is destroyed and the new thing isn't completed?

Do you not understand Capitol View Corridors? This whole cities development is restricted because of them.

Wasn't it a La Michocana? And then it was supposed to be that first coffee-shop/cafe for a long, long time. Good to see that something finally made it in. I would think they will be the tip of the spear for a rapid redevelopment of that whole shopping center.

Of course that is just a rendering, but I wouldn't expect the addition to include any connections to the East and West sides, that makes the project more expensive and causes more of the existing stadium to be interfered with. Which is why I would guess why you get a rendering like this one. Lowering the overall vertical profile, while increasing the premium seating and most importantly for us facilities wise, additional amenities all connected to a totally revamped Moncrief. We are getting lapped on the training facility/hang out space for players, and whatever we build will connect the stadium, coaches and players facilities into one complex that rivals anything, while maximizing the value of having an amazing view of one of the fastest rising downtown skylines in America. Bowling in the SEZ, in the same way as the NEZ, even without the tiny upperdeck (or a video board on top) would block off all of that, plus add comparable seating options to what already exists in the NEZ.

Okay. So they have a longer track record of innovation, and cultural export than we can claim as Americans, because their's is much longer. Not to discount what American has done in ripping off British invention and really kicking off the Industrial (and now post-industrial) ages. Because we certainly rocked at that. It's hard because we have all lived in only a Western-centric, western-dominated world where western-Liberalism has been the hero and engine of the last bit of history, but it would be naive to assume things will stay that way.

Gunpowder. Paper. Printing. THE FREAKING COMPASS

Hahaha. You caught me. The most CaucASIAN person you might ever meet. Pale skin, blonde hair and blue eyes.

Did I miss the part where y'all talked about China's history of invention and perfecting techniques that spread across the globe and became standards even in pre-modern times. For example: the white dishes your mom and grandma called "china." The literal whole field of porcelain is named after them for a reason, and it isn't because they made crappy, ripped off products.

Because they aren't doing the same thing. In reality, if you understand their business model and culture you could see that Walmart won (ie, killed off independent retailers) in an age of scarcity, where controlling supply was the key to success. As a result, their ruthless and penny-penching culture made them the best at a certain game (lower prices as the result of true globalization and commodification of every possible thing Americans would want to buy) by specifically focusing on and optimizing for scale (both in the store and diversity of SKUs and in their footprint) and making every thing else a process that could operate at the least-common denominator, thus allowing them to treat their employees as just another replaceable cog in a humming machine. This is the same world that made newspaper publishers the richest people in their communities, and often in the world. We now live in a world where the power does not lie in controlling supply, but in being the source of aggregated DEMAND. So just as a newspaper can't charge a king's ransom to sell a local business an ad, the only real way to reach the audience at scale in his market, Walmart can't (or maybe can't) be as ruthless in squeezing their suppliers to death, exploiting globalization and have a customer-agnostic culture and just expect to "win" because they are either (or both) cheaper and more convenient than another retailer. To get your product in Walmart's stores might take years, massive capital investments to scale up your production, and more, only to see your business get squeezed at every possible turn. But now you can launch a new product on Amazon, with theoretically a larger reach than even WMT ever had, in minutes and scale as your sales scale. Because Amazon is increasingly driving demand in all online commerce, they are also growing a marketplace where any retailer can reach the world's (or at least the affluent customers of the US), and all they have to do is pay them a small percentage of what they sell in exchange. Amazon is not really interested in cutting costs just to spite their customers, as they want to continue to drive more and more of the demand, while forcing suppliers to come on their platform to sell, and thus reap a small "tax" on every retail transaction. There is no limit on shelf space at AMZN, much less a limit on departments, and with aggregated demand even the most niche players can find the very specific market they are looking for and build a successful business.

Honestly, Walmart has still had a much larger impact on killing out the old retailers (department stores and regional grocers pre-Big-Box era) and big box competitors than AMZN. As mentioned previously, eCommerce hasn't even crossed the 10% mark of US retail sales, where WMT is still the dominant player. Brick and Mortar is far from dead. Mom and pops, and small boutique retail is on a massive rebound in affluent markets (the same markets AMZN is growing to own) and will continue to grow there. Play this out and you'll literally have some weird post-retail-apocalypse scenarios where thriving cities like Austin have tons and tons of independent retailers thriving alongside a humming AMZN powered infrastructure to move the stuff around and sell the commodity stuff and you'll have the rest of the country with only one choice to buy everything--Walmart. If you think lack of innovative jobs is exacerbating brain drain on rural America, wait until the cultural/amenity gap becomes even more pronounced.

Actually, bikes/walking can become more viable for commuters should a city provide for real, sufficient density. It's just another odd disconnect with the NIMBY/NC folks who run this place, they could enact real change toward making the area less sprawly, less car-dependent, less carbon emitting, less, less, less... All the things they say they care the most about, but it would require massive changes in land use.

Great, great great patio. Very strong chips and salsa. Makes their own fresh flour tortillas, which is saying something in this hell hole of a flour tortilla town. Free rainbow sherbet after your meal, to cleanse your pallet from the grease and spice, as it should be at an old-school Tex-Mex joint.