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Old 12-12-2007, 06:30 PM
 
2,238 posts, read 8,991,423 times
Reputation: 954

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Quote:
Originally Posted by twange View Post
Don't get me started on the sidewalk issue. Wait, you just did

My heartburn is back now.
Actually, at my last job I did a project for the city where we inventoried all sidewalks and missing sidewalk locations. Then we field assessed all sidewalks and curb ramps for ADA accessibility compliance. I don't think the project has been completely finalized so I can't say what the results were but it was not pleasant to say the least.
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Old 12-12-2007, 11:39 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
2,357 posts, read 7,876,110 times
Reputation: 1013
Quote:
Originally Posted by achtungpv View Post
Actually, at my last job I did a project for the city where we inventoried all sidewalks and missing sidewalk locations. Then we field assessed all sidewalks and curb ramps for ADA accessibility compliance. I don't think the project has been completely finalized so I can't say what the results were but it was not pleasant to say the least.
I imagine it wasn't. I understand that most of Austin's current infrastructure is circa 1950 but damn, people still walked didn't they? Or maybe they didn't. This is actually my number one criticism of Austin: crummy pedestrian infrastructure.

I don't think Austin will truly ever be a "green" town until it provides safe pedestrian design. It will all just be lip service. Usually, lack of sidewalks are common only to rural areas where auto traffic is light. Austin is a decent-sized city now for God's sake! It's just poor and unsafe really. But I get the sneaking suspicion that a lot of people would complain about losing a couple of feet off of their front yards in order to accommodate something like this.

My dog is still confused when I take her for a walk, since she's been taught to stay out of the street I mean c'mon, having to walk your dog in the street? It just really comes up short. Sidewalks on one side of the street only, if at all. No tree-lawns to provide a barrier from SUVs blasting inches from your face. Utility poles, signs, hydrants right in the middle of the side walk - not very cool when you're out running at night. I'm not exaggerating about any of this. But the worst is, your walking along, and the sidewalk simply ends....was this place engineered by Shel Silverstein?

Click image for larger version

Name:	where the sidewalk ends.jpg
Views:	1221
Size:	51.7 KB
ID:	11618

The irony is that the town in the Cleveland area that we left had fantastic pedestrian infrastructure. It was a streetcar suburb built around people, not cars. Unfortunately, these days there's not much to walk to, since car travel shrinks the scale and people just fly through the neighborhood. They're missing everything the neighborhood has to offer. Then everyone is confounded by all of the worn-down, empty store fronts. When you walk, or ride a bike, you have more of a connection to your area because you have time to notice it. That's why everyone thinks the old towns are so charming. They're built on the human scale where people can experience things at their own, natural pace.

I remember some genius in my old town spouting off about knocking some of the old buildings down and building parking lots and strip malls, since that's more in line with modern needs.

The horror.
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Old 12-13-2007, 06:48 AM
 
2,238 posts, read 8,991,423 times
Reputation: 954
Quote:
Originally Posted by twange View Post
Sidewalks on one side of the street only, if at all. No tree-lawns to provide a barrier from SUVs blasting inches from your face. Utility poles, signs, hydrants right in the middle of the side walk - not very cool when you're out running at night.
The sidewalks on one side of the street was a bone for developers. Don't want them building too many sidewalks and weakening their profit margin.

Austin Energy constantly puts light poles in the middle of sidewalks. They do not talk to Public Works who is in charge of building/maintaining sidewalks. When I worked on that project AE swore it didn't happen so we took pictures of it for them. The worst one is on Barton Springs just off Congress. There's wall right against the sidewalk and a light pole in the center. You either have to be 10" wide to squeeze by or jump the curb into traffic. Imagine having to do that in a wheelchair.
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Old 12-13-2007, 09:12 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
2,357 posts, read 7,876,110 times
Reputation: 1013
Quote:
Originally Posted by achtungpv View Post
The worst one is on Barton Springs just off Congress. There's wall right against the sidewalk and a light pole in the center. You either have to be 10" wide to squeeze by or jump the curb into traffic. Imagine having to do that in a wheelchair.
I know exactly the one you're referring to, I almost dislocated my shoulder on that pole. Simply bad.

When we first moved here, I saw a woman in a motorized wheelchair trudging along a little path on the grass where there should have been a sidewalk. Unfortunately, she didn't have over-sized wheels on the thing so she was moving pretty slow.

C'mon Austin.
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Old 12-13-2007, 12:27 PM
 
Location: Austin 'burbs
3,225 posts, read 14,029,351 times
Reputation: 783
You have a child, soon to be school age, and you don't care about schools? Good luck with that.

Personally, if you don't want to live in the less expensive suburbs, and your budget was rock bottom, I think you need to reconsider your move. What is that saying about champagne tastes on a beer budget, or something? Living in any city will be difficult.
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Old 12-13-2007, 01:43 PM
 
226 posts, read 1,167,729 times
Reputation: 82
Quote:
Originally Posted by twange View Post
If you live in Central Austin, close to jobs it's possible. The closer in the better(DT, South Austin north of Ben White, East Austin, University area). My wife and I share a car, but I work at home. If I need to go out, I ride my bike. We take the bus a lot, and have found it reasonably convenient depending on where we want to go and when. There are a lot of things within walking distance as well.

It really depends on where you or you or spouse will be working. Keep in mind that the closer into the city you are, the more expensive it becomes.
Twange is right about that. You can find solutions if you patch them together, like transferring from three different buses in other cities. Unfortunately, when people patch together transportation options in Austin, they usually include driving a car a short distance to the station, anyway. In defense of Austin, there are few cities left that make it convenient to go carless. Even in Chicago, the suburbs are mostly out of the grid. Out west, forget it. I'm surprised you were able to survive carless in California. If you did that successfully, I would imagine you should be able to patch together a solution in Austin. People are in love with their cars all over the USA, including Austin. I think Austin has the green/liberal mentality to make it a harbinger city of the future for rapid transit, if they would pool resources together. Even here, with that base, you hit your head against the wall per funding issues. Everyone wants rapid transit but no one wants to pay/fund it, here and everywhere. Even if you live near work, you still have to shop and such. I think it will be nigh impossible to survive without a car in Austin, but best of luck to you in finding a solution.
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Old 12-13-2007, 01:59 PM
 
2,957 posts, read 7,367,356 times
Reputation: 1958
Quote:
Originally Posted by twange View Post
I don't think Austin will truly ever be a "green" town until it provides safe pedestrian design. It will all just be lip service. Usually, lack of sidewalks are common only to rural areas where auto traffic is light. Austin is a decent-sized city now for God's sake! It's just poor and unsafe really. But I get the sneaking suspicion that a lot of people would complain about losing a couple of feet off of their front yards in order to accommodate something like this.

My dog is still confused when I take her for a walk, since she's been taught to stay out of the street I mean c'mon, having to walk your dog in the street? It just really comes up short. Sidewalks on one side of the street only, if at all. No tree-lawns to provide a barrier from SUVs blasting inches from your face. Utility poles, signs, hydrants right in the middle of the side walk - not very cool when you're out running at night. I'm not exaggerating about any of this. But the worst is, your walking along, and the sidewalk simply ends....was this place engineered by Shel Silverstein?
Twange, that's a hilarious assessment of our sidewalk situation - I bet it would be one more reason that Shel S. would feel at home here.

I've got the same thing in my neighborhood - and I actually kinda like it.
My side of the street has no sidewalk - but the other side does. Most of the streets in my neighborhood are inconsistent like that (many have about 20 feet of pavement before it just ends), but I have found a couple paths where I can find constant sidewalk. I walk 2 big dogs and I also dislike making them walk in the street (and they were trained not to so it gets awkward when I have to).

But I can't complain about the lack of sidewalk in front of my house - just one less thing for me to maintain!
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Old 12-13-2007, 02:01 PM
 
226 posts, read 1,167,729 times
Reputation: 82
Quote:
Originally Posted by twange View Post
I imagine it wasn't. I understand that most of Austin's current infrastructure is circa 1950 but damn, people still walked didn't they? Or maybe they didn't. This is actually my number one criticism of Austin: crummy pedestrian infrastructure.

I don't think Austin will truly ever be a "green" town until it provides safe pedestrian design. It will all just be lip service. Usually, lack of sidewalks are common only to rural areas where auto traffic is light. Austin is a decent-sized city now for God's sake! It's just poor and unsafe really. But I get the sneaking suspicion that a lot of people would complain about losing a couple of feet off of their front yards in order to accommodate something like this.

My dog is still confused when I take her for a walk, since she's been taught to stay out of the street I mean c'mon, having to walk your dog in the street? It just really comes up short. Sidewalks on one side of the street only, if at all. No tree-lawns to provide a barrier from SUVs blasting inches from your face. Utility poles, signs, hydrants right in the middle of the side walk - not very cool when you're out running at night. I'm not exaggerating about any of this. But the worst is, your walking along, and the sidewalk simply ends....was this place engineered by Shel Silverstein?

Attachment 11618

The irony is that the town in the Cleveland area that we left had fantastic pedestrian infrastructure. It was a streetcar suburb built around people, not cars. Unfortunately, these days there's not much to walk to, since car travel shrinks the scale and people just fly through the neighborhood. They're missing everything the neighborhood has to offer. Then everyone is confounded by all of the worn-down, empty store fronts. When you walk, or ride a bike, you have more of a connection to your area because you have time to notice it. That's why everyone thinks the old towns are so charming. They're built on the human scale where people can experience things at their own, natural pace.

I remember some genius in my old town spouting off about knocking some of the old buildings down and building parking lots and strip malls, since that's more in line with modern needs.

The horror.
Very well said, Twange.......indeed, Austin was built long before many of the newer cities were humming. Austin was already 135,000 in 1950, while Vegas was working on 24,000. It isn't as if they just built the city. Twange says that the lack of sidewalks and the car culture stultifies neighborhoods. I fully second that. Surely, as we fly through our areas, we never get a chance to even enjoy/interact/understand/change them. All pavement from our garage becomes our extended driveway. All other cars and beings become an obstacle in our way from point A to point B. Worst, of all, you see no people strolling in Austin neighborhoods, mainly because there are no places to stroll, let along walk Fido. Now, this is the same situation in all growing cities in the USA, short of a VERY few places, and those few places have growth moratoriums, such as Portland and Seattle. As intelligent as Austin's population is, I don't think they have the collective will to make this a model city and start from scratch. Same old same old. So sad, for I think this could have been a truly great 21st century city at one point in the early 90's when the growth came, but they are turning it into Tempe, Arizona.........will cactuses be soon on the horizon? LOL!



BTW, yes the cactus DOES look like its giving the finger....perhaps to all the developers devouring its habitat in the southwest...........

Last edited by socrates1234; 12-13-2007 at 02:12 PM..
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Old 12-13-2007, 02:07 PM
 
Location: Dallas, Texas
3,589 posts, read 4,124,676 times
Reputation: 533
Quote:
Originally Posted by justanothercalifornian View Post
Is this possible? We will eventually get one after our move to Austin, but it would be nice not to HAVE to. I'm a stay at home mom so I would be taking my toddler out and about often. Where should we rent an apartment if we want to be near public transportation or even better, within walking distance to things? Our budget is rock bottom but we do not care about amenities or schools at this point. Will we have to get a car sooner than later?
Don't bother without a car. I spent two years at UT without a car and it was hell on earth...and most of what I needed to do was within walking distance.
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Old 06-09-2010, 10:16 PM
 
27 posts, read 84,932 times
Reputation: 31
Living in Austin without a car is sad!!! I moved here from Chicago with my husband because his company moved us. My husband has a car, I don’t know how to drive yet, I am in the process of learning. We live right in downtown Austin and I do have many things within walking distance like the gym, post office, pharmacy, bars and restaurants. However my life is limited to the downtown area. During the day walking in downtown Austin is boring (because I am the only one) and dangerous; the cars do not respect pedestrians. I was almost hit a few times. Everybody drives trucks, which makes me even more scared. I have not been able to find a job that I can commute using public transit. I think Austin has the potential to become a city like Portland or Seattle, but I think this will not happen. People here just want to drive their trucks.
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