kirbyaustex

Picture please.

I dream of the day that Houston has a problem with too many pedestrians on its streets. With more pedestrians comes more stores and restaurants, so don't worry about the business men. The ones in suits can usually take as long as they want for lunch. If you're hourly, you bring your lunch or you get fastfood.

Austin hasn't been a small college town in a very long time, but I think it has hung on to a "small town" feeling. Now, that all depends on where you go, what kind of lifestyle you have, and your general perspective on the world. I rarely venture outside of 45th St. on the north, I-35 on the east, Lake Austin on the west, and Oltorf on the south. Those are the rough boundaries of my daily world. My own bubble of urban-hipster-ness. Inside my bubble, there is a small town feel. I'm forever running in to the same people at stores, restaurants, UT, bars, theater shows, festivals, the lake, parties, the movies, etc. I don't actually know most of these people by name, but I know them by face. Some times I know them enough to say hi or maybe chitchat. I mean, I see these people almost everyday like I would in a small town. Outside of my bubble, Austin can feel like any nameless suburban city. It has all the same things happening that you would find in any and every city. Traffic is bad, but it's bad just about any city you go to. But not for me in my bubble. It's just all about perspective. What's bad to you might not be bad to me. With development, it depends on what kind it is and where it's at. The area of my bubble needs continued and well thought out developement, while the suburban developement needs much more forethought and less cookie-cutter. Downtown needs loads of mix-used developement. Now, the mix-use will change Austin's look, but now necessarily it's feel since the same people will live and frequent the area. I personally don't think Austin has a "big city" feel like Houston and Dallas. I think we've still got a ways to go for that.

It was a Joske's, but I don't know when it was built.

The old Lord & Taylor store is gonna be converted into shops and restaurants that will have the same look that the mall got in its recent makeover.

How is it "crapola"?