Austin City Government - Circus of the Insane

[Orange&White 5528]

They'll spend $10M on it now then spend $20M to unfuck it in a few years. 

But will somehow chock it up to making Austin more affordable.

[atomheartbevo 89685]

You could almost argue that building bike lanes is their version of a time machine - it's for an Austin that no longer exists.  

Okay, my shitty takes aside, I agree with Lobo on a lot of those points about bike lanes - they just fucked around with Shoal Creek between 38th and 45th not too long ago, and I'm up and down that area in the morning and afternoon walking my kid to and from school, and I jog along it as well in the mornings or evenings, and I see who uses (and how little it's used).    It feels like an indulgence for a certain group of people, and I know Bozo you've said in the past the bike crowd shows up more than other groups, and it's clear.

But we get the Austin we vote for.

[Armybrat 40850]

Well, living inTaipei 60+ years ago I saw the obvious benefits of physically separated bike lanes on the main thoroughfares. But at least their main streets in town were wide enough to still have 3 car lanes each way. There was no mass transit though, just jillions of bikes, mopeds, and pedicabs.

 

[smokebomb 357]

1 hour ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

And lest I wasn’t clear, fellas, I’m not defending council. They suffer from weak stomachs and toxic positivity. 
But Austin voters are the problem. We are afflicted with a terminal combination of pound foolishness and toxic nostalgia. And if you don’t trust council to pull a lane that doesn’t work out of a short stretch of road you probably shouldn’t count on them to build you a  time machine. 

 

[blacklab 11939]

Yes, the hundreds of cars an hour that turn right from southbound Lamar to Barton Springs that are now going to be in what is now the middle lane won't back up Lamar any. The prettiness of the bike lane will clear them out of there and make it flow better.

[Pasken 1309]

17 hours ago, blacklab said:

Yes, the hundreds of cars an hour that turn right from southbound Lamar to Barton Springs that are now going to be in what is now the middle lane won't back up Lamar any. The prettiness of the bike lane will clear them out of there and make it flow better.

The right turn lane is still there but it starts at Butler. All those people are already in the 2 SB lanes going over the river. You aren't forcing them to bottleneck. 

[Guest Lobo]

Toomey Road is about to turn into a cut-thru shitshow then.  

[Pasken 1309]

10 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Toomey Road is about to turn into a cut-thru shitshow then.  

Definitely  possible but you're talking about a road bordered my parks and apartments. I'll take that to make our streets more usuable by the people who actually live there.

[blacklab 11939]

So someone that pulls out of schlotsky's and wants to turn right at barton springs (that doesn't know about Toomey Road), now has to get into what is now the center lane, go for about 50 yards and then go into the right turn lane instead of just turning into the right turn lane.

Can you please explain to me how that speeds up the flow of traffic?

[Guest Lobo]

True, Pasken.  And if you've ever driven that road at 5:00p in the spring or summer (during non Covid obviously).  It's cars parallel parked on both sides all up and down the street from Schlotzsky's to Chuy's.  It's tough to actually have two lanes of opposite-traveling vehicles move through there between 3-7pm because of the volume and all the little league games and restaurant-goers.  The speed bumps there barely do anything.  It'll be a disaster and some little leaguer is gonna get hit walking across to his game by some angry happy hour reveler/angry rush hour commuter.  But you could say that about a lot of thoroughfares in Austin.  But this one sticks out to me because hundreds use if every afternoon already to go between downtown and MoPac/2244.  That road can't handle that, let alone become the tacit right turn lane for Lamar to Barton Springs.  

Edited December 21, 2020 by Lobo

[Bozo_Casanova 26472]

25 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Toomey Road is about to turn into a cut-thru shitshow then.  

AKA, people using streets for their intended use

[Guest Lobo]

Toomey was designed for local/collector functionality, not arterial and not even full-collector status.  Otherwise it would have had turn lanes, no speed bumps, and not the dozens of driveways that populate it from Lamar to Barton Springs.  And you know...not have 100 marked parallel parking spaces on it...one of the densest collections of parking outside the CBD.  That doesn't make for an efficient flow of traffic when Sally is trying to parallel park her Suburban at 5:00p Friday for her son's t-ball game.  it's also probably the last collection of parking for folks that want to use the trail, you can kiss that goodbye when they remove those spaces.   That road cannot handle the kind of cut-thru traffic it already gets (pre-Covid), it will be a debacle of the highest order after this Lamar diet.  Maybe Jessie and Josephine Streets can offset some of that but those things are just glorified driveways.  

Corridor Program Director, Mike Trimble...looked in me in the eye a few years ago...on the record...and stated that any contraction of Lamar between the River and Oltorf would completely screw up the local-collector roads to the east and west, particularly during southbound rush hour traffic leaving the CBD.  Surprise, they lied to us during the 2016 mobility bond.  And they're lying to us now.  This bond allocation was kept obfuscated and vague for corridor programs so they could pull shit like this.  I asked for verbal commitment (selfishly since I often come home that way to South Austin).  He gave it to me.  But that was an eternity and a fortune ago in terms of Austin politics. 

Edited December 21, 2020 by Lobo

[Pasken 1309]

17 minutes ago, blacklab said:

So someone that pulls out of schlotsky's and wants to turn right at barton springs (that doesn't know about Toomey Road), now has to get into what is now the center lane, go for about 50 yards and then go into the right turn lane instead of just turning into the right turn lane.

Can you please explain to me how that speeds up the flow of traffic?

You're not even talking about all the schlotsky's customers. Only the ones that are leaving and intending on going west on Barton. You're still better off because everyone leaving goes into a lane that can get them to any direction they want instead of a right turn lane that they are most likely not going to use and then having to force their way into traffic from the right turn only lane.

[Guest Lobo]

Why the fuck are you guys talking about Schlotzsky's?  It's been closed for a year and it's since been turned into a makeshift headquarters for vagrants and rapists.

Sorry to be typical asshole Lobo, but read my post a few above.  It lays a lot of what is wrong with this Lamar road diet, and all the unintended consequences coming squarely for Austinites south of the river.  We are screwed.  

[blacklab 11939]

Not just Austinites Lobo, but those of us leaches living in unincorporated Travis county that leave that way from downtown occasionally. We have rights too!

 

[Guest Lobo]

^

Our sarcasm aside, it really is a forecasting tale of what's to come.  Living in Austin is getting expensive to the point of being confiscatory.  People are spreading out into nearby cities, ETJ Travis County, et. al.  The road "diets" may not be as big of a deal to people in those typical Austin pockets of political power, Travis Heights, Tarrytown, Clarksville, Hyde Park, some parts of close-in East Austin, etc.  But for those that were forced out of Central Austin (and even broader Austin), who have to make their way through these connector roads that can't handle arterial-level traffic, to highways and larger roads...it's gonna fuck up their day twelve ways from Tuesday.  And it'll just get worse as more people have to move out of town to avoid the taxes going to mass transit that will never benefit them.  

The current council's vision for Austin mobility is pet mass transit projects benefiting real estate developers, bike lanes for the wealthy who have showers at work and have their nanny drop the kids off at school while they live out their Tour de France fantasy, pedestrian friendly great streets in the CBD for those that can casually walk to work or multi-million dollar condo, and those whose last mile home won't be effected that much by road diets because they live in uber-expensive Central/South/West/other points close-in Austin while the hard working folks have to trek another 45 minutes after that road diet to get home still because the CapMetro plan doesn't even feature their neighborhoods on the fucking map, let alone making it a part of the actual rail service.  

Some of y'all's vision for Austin mobility sounds an awful lot like the plan from the 70's when the plan for Austin was also fewer cars and more white people.  

[dcar00 14210]

Bike lanes, fucking idiotic.  less lanes are better!  traffic circles are fine but reducing lanes is just stupid.  they want to do it on Jollyville Rd.  the city council is full of a bunch absolute morons.  

oh yeah and the land use code is the problem as well.   there are plenty of places to build tall apartment buildings for which the current code allows.  do it.

[Celery Man 20962]

Christmas gif for people who hate local control

 

[DanRydell 799]

3 hours ago, blacklab said:

So someone that pulls out of schlotsky's and wants to turn right at barton springs (that doesn't know about Toomey Road), now has to get into what is now the center lane, go for about 50 yards and then go into the right turn lane instead of just turning into the right turn lane.

Can you please explain to me how that speeds up the flow of traffic?

The new development at the Schlotzky's site will only be accessible from Toomey, which is controlled by a light.

[Guest Lobo]

The Toomey Road access drive at the old Schlotzsky's site (meaning the E-W egress)...you're saying that's controlled by a light?  There is a light at Toomey and Lamar, but that's not going to help people going/coming from the SW corner of that new development where there is absolutely not a light nor could there be one. The people trying to leave out of that exit of the new development will be constantly barraged by people turning right onto Toomey to avoid the Barton Springs lane diet.  As such, them turning left out of their development to get into the light queue to turn left onto Lamar so they can get into the CBD will be next to impossible.  They'll turn right and pour onto Josephine and Jessie Street, where they can then do Barton Springs U-turns and take a left onto Lamar using those two northbound turn lanes (which is one of the few things that intersection does well). 

  I may be misunderstanding what/where you're saying.??? 

It's beyond curious that the City of Austin is dropping this change considering not just the pandemic so it looks like it's all much less traveled, but where that developer is in the redevelopment process with that Schlotzky's site.  They're gonna fuck over a lot of future tenants who were told something wildly different.  Nevermind, this road diet could wait until construction is done at that site ~2years from now.  Instead you're have the lane diet plus lane closures for construction there.  It's impossible Ann Kitchen convinced everyone this was a good idea.  Think about an active and dense construction project taking place at Lamar & Toomey/Barton Springs.  They'll effectively become one-lane roads during the two year construction period.  Maybe the setback won't cause them to have to block off lanes for too long, but there'll be significant shutdowns for at least the initial 6 months of earth moving and getting out of the ground.  If I owned one of those Barton Place condos, I'd sell right now at peak height.  Closing Riverside Drive, always and forever, between Lamar and South First still remains a serious option for the corridors overhaul in near South Austin, which would grossly complicate what we're already talking about here.  And if your kid plays little league at those fields, enjoy next season there...because it'll among the last.  City Council is gonna fuck that up too when this is all said and done for that great little pocket of South Austin that I live pretty damn close to.  So yeah, it's a little bit NIMBY but it's also just I was lied to on the record by multiple people involved in all this shit at an official commission hearing.  

Edited December 21, 2020 by Lobo

[atomheartbevo 89685]

3 hours ago, blacklab said:

So someone that pulls out of schlotsky's and wants to turn right at barton springs (that doesn't know about Toomey Road), now has to get into what is now the center lane, go for about 50 yards and then go into the right turn lane instead of just turning into the right turn lane.

Can you please explain to me how that speeds up the flow of traffic?

[BrazilHorn 6611]

The important thing is to provide easier access for panhandling. 
The longer cars are stuck in traffic the more money these folks can make begging. 
Gotta think big picture. 
 

[atomheartbevo 89685]

4 hours ago, Lobo said:

The speed bumps there barely do anything.  It'll be a disaster and some little leaguer is gonna get hit walking across to his game by some angry happy hour reveler/angry rush hour commuter. 

Let's pray that there are no Cars and Coffee along that stretch, and that no Mustangs attend if there are.

[DanRydell 799]

The Toomey Road access drive at the old Schlotzsky's site (meaning the E-W egress)...you're saying that's controlled by a light?  There is a light at Toomey and Lamar, but that's not going to help people going/coming from the SW corner of that new development where there is absolutely not a light nor could there be one. The people trying to leave out of that exit of the new development will be constantly barraged by people turning right onto Toomey to avoid the Barton Springs lane diet.  As such, them turning left out of their development to get into the light queue to turn left onto Lamar so they can get into the CBD will be next to impossible.  They'll turn right and pour onto Josephine and Jessie Street, where they can then do Barton Springs U-turns and take a left onto Lamar using those two northbound turn lanes (which is one of the few things that intersection does well). 
  I may be misunderstanding what/where you're saying.??? 
It's beyond curious that the City of Austin is dropping this change considering not just the pandemic so it looks like it's all much less traveled, but where that developer is in the redevelopment process with that Schlotzky's site.  They're gonna fuck over a lot of future tenants who were told something wildly different.  Nevermind, this road diet could wait until construction is done at that site ~2years from now.  Instead you're have the lane diet plus lane closures for construction there.  It's impossible Ann Kitchen convinced everyone this was a good idea.  Think about an active and dense construction project taking place at Lamar & Toomey/Barton Springs.  They'll effectively become one-lane roads during the two year construction period.  Maybe the setback won't cause them to have to block off lanes for too long, but there'll be significant shutdowns for at least the initial 6 months of earth moving and getting out of the ground.  If I owned one of those Barton Place condos, I'd sell right now at peak height.  Closing Riverside Drive, always and forever, between Lamar and South First still remains a serious option for the corridors overhaul in near South Austin, which would grossly complicate what we're already talking about here.  And if your kid plays little league at those fields, enjoy next season there...because it'll among the last.  City Council is gonna fuck that up too when this is all said and done for that great little pocket of South Austin that I live pretty damn close to.  So yeah, it's a little bit NIMBY but it's also just I was lied to on the record by multiple people involved in all this shit at an official commission hearing.  

I’m saying you won’t be able to turn right onto Lamar out of that development (the scenario Blacklab posited). That you’ll have to turn onto Toomey and then turn onto Lamar.

[Guest Lobo]

How do you turn right onto Toomey if you leave that development on Lamar?  You're either going SB on Lamar or you use the SW driveway and try to turn left on Toomey to get NB on Lamar.  I'm not trying to be difficult, this is just obviously hard to explain over a message board without diagrams.  

[Pasken 1309]

3 minutes ago, Lobo said:

How do you turn right onto Toomey if you leave that development on Lamar?  You're either going SB on Lamar or you use the SW driveway and try to turn left on Toomey to get NB on Lamar.  I'm not trying to be difficult, this is just obviously hard to explain over a message board without diagrams.  

The development is adjacent to both roads.

 

 

Edited December 21, 2020 by Pasken

[Guest Lobo]

yeah< i know.  So if you leave the new development on Lamar, your only choice is to turn right and head down to Butler Road, Barton Springs Road, or points further South.  Or you can get batshit nuts and try to dart across the new lane diet of congestion and heartache and try to get to the u-turn lane at that stoplight at Toomey/Lamar.  

But say, you're wanting to get Northbound on Lamar, to the CBD.  The lane compression will render that even more difficult than it is already.  You can turn right on Lamar and head down to try to U-Turn it at Barton Springs, but I would contend the lane diet is going to make that at least 3-5x more difficult because that gone lane would have been your option to head across lanes of traffic to get queued up for the U-Turn.  Now you'll just  be backing up traffic near there with your left-turn signal on hoping somebody lets you in.  That's the easy part.  The hard part is how does someone try to do that from the parking exit of that new development.  Previous plans were to bring them out at the SW driveway on Toomey proper.  They could (relatively) easily turn left onto Toomey and queue up at that light and turn left on Lamar NB to enter the CBD.  My point is from 3-7pm, you're going to have a non-stop flow of cars turning right onto Toomey to get to Barton Springs/MoPac.  with no turn protection and constant right turns even on red from Lamar, it'll be a constant flow of cars coming onto Toomey.  They lied to that developer and to the citizens.  I mean, it's the same shitshow for most of us, but tenants of that thing aren't going to be able to get NB out of their complex, period.  Full stop.  Literally.  And the 2 year construction shitshow there is only a preview of things to come.  

Between 7-10am and 3-7pm, illustrate to me how someone leaves that incredibly dense new development and gets NB on Lamar.  The flow of westbound traffic on Toomey, according to Mike Trimble---NOT ME---but the guy in charge of corridor programs, from Lamar would increase 3-5fold if we didn't improve Lamar.  I'm just using his stats.  He may very well have meant cut lanes when he used the word "improvement", but that kinda seems like something a person in charge of lanes would mention specifically to their funding commission.  I dunno, that's just me.  I don't testify before the FAA and say shit like, "By improving runways, we could land more airplanes more efficiently" and the whole time, I secretly meant shutting down 2 runways at a major airport.  

[atomheartbevo 89685]

In the Fitlump thread, I pointed out that if she can get elected, surely a Surly member could.

We need that to happen, and their platform needs to be "fixing Austin's traffic by getting people to stop moving here, and getting current Austinites to move elsewhere."

[Pasken 1309]

33 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

In the Fitlump thread, I pointed out that if she can get elected, surely a Surly member could.

We need that to happen, and their platform needs to be "fixing Austin's traffic by getting people to stop moving here, and getting current Austinites to move elsewhere."

You guys would hate me on the council.

[atomheartbevo 89685]

3 minutes ago, Pasken said:

You guys would hate me on the council.

She's going to give us a freak show.

You would give us performance art.

[DanRydell 799]

yeah But say, you're wanting to get Northbound on Lamar, to the CBD.  The lane compression will render that even more difficult than it is already.  You can turn right on Lamar and head down to try to U-Turn it at Barton Springs, but I would contend the lane diet is going to make that at least 3-5x more difficult because that gone lane would have been your option to head across lanes of traffic to get queued up for the U-Turn.  Now you'll just  be backing up traffic near there with your left-turn signal on hoping somebody lets you in.  That's the easy part.  The hard part is how does someone try to do that from the parking exit of that new development.  Previous plans were to bring them out at the SW driveway on Toomey proper.  They could (relatively) easily turn left onto Toomey and queue up at that light and turn left on Lamar NB to enter the CBD.  My point is from 3-7pm, you're going to have a non-stop flow of cars turning right onto Toomey to get to Barton Springs/MoPac.  with no turn protection and constant right turns even on red from Lamar, it'll be a constant flow of cars coming onto Toomey.  They lied to that developer and to the citizens.  I mean, it's the same shitshow for most of us, but tenants of that thing aren't going to be able to get NB out of their complex, period.  Full stop.  Literally.  And the 2 year construction shitshow there is only a preview of things to come.  
Between 7-10am and 3-7pm, illustrate to me how someone leaves that incredibly dense new development and gets NB on Lamar.  The flow of westbound traffic on Toomey, according to Mike Trimble---NOT ME---but the guy in charge of corridor programs, from Lamar would increase 3-5fold if we didn't improve Lamar.  I'm just using his stats.  He may very well have meant cut lanes when he used the word "improvement", but that kinda seems like something a person in charge of lanes would mention specifically to their funding commission.  I dunno, that's just me.  I don't testify before the FAA and say shit like, "By improving runways, we could land more airplanes more efficiently" and the whole time, I secretly meant shutting down 2 runways at a major airport.  

I feel like we’re talking about different blocks here. If you want to go NB on Lamar from the development that ends up replacing Schlotzky’s, you’ll turn left onto Toomey and then turn left onto Lamar. Removing the third lane does make it more difficult to go SB on Lamar since you can’t just turn right directly onto Lamar but going NB from Schlotzky’s already required exiting onto Toomey or turning right onto Lamar and then u-turning.

[Guest Lobo]

Yes, and it will be beyond difficult to come out of that development in the SW corner, those two driveways that are near the Nowlin rehearsal space at Toomey and Jessie.  there's two egress drives there.  People will want to come out of those, take a quick left on Toomey going EB and then wait at the light to get on Lamar NB.  My point is the people leaving there between 2-8pm will never get to turn left on Toomey.  The volume timing on the light will change but mostly it'll just be a constant flow of cars turning right onto Toomey from Lamar to avoid Barton Springs and it won't stop onto Toomey no matter the light cycle.  The people there will have to wait a half dozen cycles to get out of their development onto Toomey and onto Lamar.  It's just timed for that volume, particularly with what's coming.  And the real shitshow will be the two years of construction there.  Basically, envison it like this:  You leave that Schlotsky Mixed-Use Tower and want to go into the CBD.  You pull out of the parking complex to Toomey going south towards Barton Springs, with the plan to turn left onto Toomey to get to Lamar.  The cars coming from your left never stop.  How do you get NB on Lamar that now has less lanes a fucked up timer? 

[Gardner Barnes 1562]

So someone that pulls out of schlotsky's and wants to turn right at barton springs (that doesn't know about Toomey Road), now has to get into what is now the center lane, go for about 50 yards and then go into the right turn lane instead of just turning into the right turn lane.
Can you please explain to me how that speeds up the flow of traffic?

That restaurant is going to be town down also and a mixed use apartment building will be built on its place.

Nah. Won’t be any traffic problems there.

[DanRydell 799]

Yes, and it will be beyond difficult to come out of that development in the SW corner, those two driveways that are near the Nowlin rehearsal space at Toomey and Jessie.  there's two egress drives there.  People will want to come out of those, take a quick left on Toomey going EB and then wait at the light to get on Lamar NB.  My point is the people leaving there between 2-8pm will never get to turn left on Toomey.  The volume timing on the light will change but mostly it'll just be a constant flow of cars turning right onto Toomey from Lamar to avoid Barton Springs and it won't stop onto Toomey no matter the light cycle.  The people there will have to wait a half dozen cycles to get out of their development onto Toomey and onto Lamar.  It's just timed for that volume, particularly with what's coming.  And the real shitshow will be the two years of construction there.  Basically, envison it like this:  You leave that Schlotsky Mixed-Use Tower and want to go into the CBD.  You pull out of the parking complex to Toomey going south towards Barton Springs, with the plan to turn left onto Toomey to get to Lamar.  The cars coming from your left never stop.  How do you get NB on Lamar that now has less lanes a fucked up timer? 

I agree turning left onto Toomey out of that development will be a pain the ass. That’s just totally unrelated to losing the third lane on Lamar for that stretch.

[Guest Lobo]

the people tired of waiting in the new far-right lane on SB Lamar won't want to wait to get to Barton Springs, they'll just start turning right at Toomey instead.  It already happens on a daily basis to the tune of hundreds of cars per hour during peak travel times.  When it's down to two lanes on SB Lamar, it'll number in the thousands.  Mike Trimble pointed out this potential error to me years ago.  It's not my wicked invention.  

[Pasken 1309]

1 minute ago, Lobo said:

the people tired of waiting in the new far-right lane on SB Lamar won't want to wait to get to Barton Springs, they'll just start turning right at Toomey instead.  It already happens on a daily basis to the tune of hundreds of cars per hour during peak travel times.  When it's down to two lanes on SB Lamar, it'll number in the thousands.  Mike Trimble pointed out this potential error to me years ago.  It's not my wicked invention.  

I have one question. Do you get high with Carlos Leon ever?

[Guest Lobo]

I don't know who that is.  If it's going to be a problem for you that I mentioned a mid-level city employee in charge of this shit, lemme know.  It's not a humblebrag, it's incredibly germane to the thread.  It's like knowing the head waiter at an iHOP.  I agree with you on so much, don't lose the forest for the trees.  Or the trees being cut down to make way for the forest.  Or losing the car for the parking lot, or missing the lot for the trees by the cars.  Dammit, I had something for this. 

[dcar00 14210]

3 hours ago, Lobo said:

The Toomey Road access drive at the old Schlotzsky's site (meaning the E-W egress)...you're saying that's controlled by a light?  There is a light at Toomey and Lamar, but that's not going to help people going/coming from the SW corner of that new development where there is absolutely not a light nor could there be one. The people trying to leave out of that exit of the new development will be constantly barraged by people turning right onto Toomey to avoid the Barton Springs lane diet.  As such, them turning left out of their development to get into the light queue to turn left onto Lamar so they can get into the CBD will be next to impossible.  They'll turn right and pour onto Josephine and Jessie Street, where they can then do Barton Springs U-turns and take a left onto Lamar using those two northbound turn lanes (which is one of the few things that intersection does well). 

  I may be misunderstanding what/where you're saying.??? 

It's beyond curious that the City of Austin is dropping this change considering not just the pandemic so it looks like it's all much less traveled, but where that developer is in the redevelopment process with that Schlotzky's site.  They're gonna fuck over a lot of future tenants who were told something wildly different.  Nevermind, this road diet could wait until construction is done at that site ~2years from now.  Instead you're have the lane diet plus lane closures for construction there.  It's impossible Ann Kitchen convinced everyone this was a good idea.  Think about an active and dense construction project taking place at Lamar & Toomey/Barton Springs.  They'll effectively become one-lane roads during the two year construction period.  Maybe the setback won't cause them to have to block off lanes for too long, but there'll be significant shutdowns for at least the initial 6 months of earth moving and getting out of the ground.  If I owned one of those Barton Place condos, I'd sell right now at peak height.  Closing Riverside Drive, always and forever, between Lamar and South First still remains a serious option for the corridors overhaul in near South Austin, which would grossly complicate what we're already talking about here.  And if your kid plays little league at those fields, enjoy next season there...because it'll among the last.  City Council is gonna fuck that up too when this is all said and done for that great little pocket of South Austin that I live pretty damn close to.  So yeah, it's a little bit NIMBY but it's also just I was lied to on the record by multiple people involved in all this shit at an official commission hearing.  

well of course you were lied to.  nothing gets passed if this bunch of morons tells anyone the truth about what the end game is.

[Pasken 1309]

2 minutes ago, Lobo said:

I don't know who that is.  If it's going to be a problem for you that I mentioned a mid-level city employee in charge of this shit, lemme know.  It's not a humblebrag, it's incredibly germane to the thread.  It's like knowing the head waiter at an iHOP.  I agree with you on so much, don't lose the forest for the trees.  Or the trees being cut down to make way for the forest.  Or losing the car for the parking lot, or missing the lot for the trees by the cars.  Dammit, I had something for this. 

 

He's the batshit crazy dude that comes in for every single citizen's communication. Usually complains about abortion at some point. 

[Guest Lobo]

Well I am batshit crazy, but I don't show up to public hearings, or discuss abortion, or get high with anyone.  My reference was to my city capacity for some of this transportation.  I tried to fight the good fight for a few years.  I wasn't advocating for more roads, it was just me asking them to quit obfuscating everything and just be transparent with Austin voters.  So they stripped most of my power and formed a new group.  I still review old bonds and find opportunities to move money around, but mostly during Covid-19, I just get drunk and dial-in to Zoom and laugh at how fucked we're gonna be in about 5 years. 

 

[Pasken 1309]

2 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Well I am batshit crazy, but I don't show up to public hearings, or discuss abortion, or get high with anyone.  My reference was to my city capacity for some of this transportation.  I tried to fight the good fight for a few years.  I wasn't advocating for more roads, it was just me asking them to quit obfuscating everything and just be transparent with Austin voters.  So they stripped most of my power and formed a new group.  I still review old bonds and find opportunities to move money around, but mostly during Covid-19, I just get drunk and dial-in to Zoom and laugh at how fucked we're gonna be in about 5 years. 

 

I was just kidding man.

[Guest Lobo]

Oh, I don't kid about this shit.  I've only come here to do two things.  Build roads and drink beer.  And it looks like we're all outta roads!

Edited December 21, 2020 by Lobo

[Armybrat 40850]

1 hour ago, Lobo said:

Oh, I don't kid about this shit.  I've only come here to do two things.  Build roads and drink beer.  And it looks like we're all outta roads!

Try some of this Taylor brew... it’s pretty good stuff:

 

[Bozo_Casanova 26472]

The fight over the next mayor pro-tem is ... really something.  Greg Casar had the votes, then he didn't. Pool supported him, now she's with Alter. He's willing to stand aside for a female MPT, but only one from East Austin, which would mean Natasha Harper-Madison. 

As always, the subtext of this is a symbolic signal about the direction of land use. Casar is for LDC reform and so is Harper-Madison. Alter is, in a word, not. Neither is Pool.  Now there are semi-competing MPT threads on the council message board.

 

Edited December 22, 2020 by Bozo_Casanova

[Pasken 1309]

20 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

The fight over the next mayor pro-tem is ... really something.  Greg Casar had the votes, then he didn't. Pool supported him, now she's with Alter. He's willing to stand aside for a female MPT, but only one from East Austin, which would mean Natasha Harper-Madison. 

As always, the subtext of this is a symbolic signal about the direction of land use. Casar is for LDC reform and so is Harper-Madison. Alter is, in a word, not. Neither is Pool.  Now there are semi-competing MPT threads on the council message board.

 

Tovo is the one behind the scenes pulling the strings.

[Texas Jeff 1945]

22 hours ago, Pasken said:

The development is adjacent to both roads.

 

 

Thanks for posting that drawing, it helps to see it...

Why are two-way bike lanes needed on both sides of the street?  That seems like overkill, esp with Lee Barton and Josephine parallel to Lamar.  Anyone biking north on the Zach side of the street is going to have to cross over anyway to continue north across the Pfluger bridge.  The people riding against traffic, closest to traffic, will be a lot less safe than their counterparts across the street.

Also, any P. Terry's in town should be required to have a 50 car queue for the drive in that does not block traffic on a major street.  I see five cars in line on that drawing.  That rightmost southbound lane on Lamar is going to be P.Terry's parking from 11-1.

Edited December 22, 2020 by Texas Jeff

[bschoolprof 6255]

11 minutes ago, Texas Jeff said:

 

Why are two-way bike lanes needed on both sides of the street?  

Do you even Austin? This city spent $15 million on a Mopac bridge to help a couple dozen bike commuters a few years ago.  

[TKthunder2 4992]

51 minutes ago, Pasken said:

Tovo is the one behind the scenes pulling the strings.

So...

Alter, Tovo, Ellis, Pool, and I presume fitlump

vs everyone else (does Adler get a vote here?)

[Pasken 1309]

1 minute ago, TKthunder2 said:

So...

Alter, Tovo, Ellis, Pool, and I presume fitlump

vs everyone else (does Adler get a vote here?)

Yea, Adler is basically just a city council member that is elected at large.

[Deej 76800]

26 minutes ago, Texas Jeff said:

Why are two-way bike lanes needed on both sides of the street?

Because fuck you and your car.