Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2009 > August > 02
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Brainstorming East Sixth Street, Part 1
That Sixth Street column led to a fortuitous lunch meeting at El Sol y La Luna, where owner Nilda de la Llata is shaking up perceptions about Mexican cuisine.
To my relief, the meeting was not confrontational. They agreed wholeheartedly with my recommendations. Which allowed us to dig into a hundred or so questions I had about their strategies for preserving and improving this vital social gem.
The main eye-opener: Although work on the the Waller Creek Tunnel will begin in January, it will take four years to complete. If businesses decide to improve their properties along the creek’s banks in the interim, they’ve rolling the dice that a major flood could wash away some amenities.
As it stands, downtown’s northeast sector, split by Waller Creek, remains something of a blank slate. Positive developments include full apartments across the street from Club de Ville and Mohawk, a planned national Episcopal archive on Seventh Street and a youth center/parking garage for the First Baptist Church uphill of the archives. That leaves too many blocks fallow. But gives developers time to consider much-needed affordable housing. (The type of development that has lifted the southwest sector is hampered by terrain and Capitol view corridors).
Even blocks away, this makes an impact on East Sixth Street, as does the campus for the homeless on East Seventh Street. City leaders are looking into a comprehensive strategy for the homeless on the model of San Antonio’s Haven for Hope. But it’s not likely to land elsewhere, given the city’s rampant NIMBY-ism. Improved order — along with consistent, disciplined empathy from all of us — seems the only answer.
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Public safety concerns on East Sixth Street
Two days after my short screed about improving East Sixth Street ran in this space, a July 30 front-page news article detailed a series of unprovoked “punch-and-run” attacks on Austin’s main entertainment stem.
In my breezy column last week, I didn’t address public safety. Instead, I wrote about filling in Sixth Street’s business gaps, cleaning its sidewalks and managing the mix of its pedestrians. Yet the perception of public danger remains a nagging issue.
Personally, in 25 years of striding up and down what composer Sterling-Price McKinney dubbed “Electric Street,” I’ve never felt threatened. Some people do, despite increased police presence.
Partial blame can be attributed to an old bugaboo: Too much testosterone. Sometimes Sixth Street reminds me of a classic port of call with all the strutting, preening and bluffing from revelers and bouncers alike.
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The WhoDo at Jovita’s
Who suspected Lawrence Wright rocks out?
The WhoDo (or some of them)
The Austin author of substance (“The Looming Tower,” The New Yorker) slapped the keyboards (quite well) and sang (well enough) with the roots band, the WhoDo, at Jovita’s on Saturday.
Claire and Katie Breihan
Must be his alter ego, “Larry.” The South Austin assemblage delighted in the tunes, including a jazzy version of “The Eyes of Texas.”
Heyden and David Walker
Many in the crowd go back to Armadillo days (1970s). Others trace their Austin credentials even further back to Giant Armadillo Days (1950s).
Jim Hightower and Susan Demarco
One sweet lady coasted up to me, saying “Must be a slow weekend, if you’re covering this …”
Laura Castro and Daphny Dominguez
Truth is, I live spittin’ distance from Jovita’s, a short stroll across the steaming pavement, so a natural choice.
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