SilverJK

The only issue I might have is how the entrance crosses the bike trail. My concern would be if delivery trucks or visitors etc block the path for any length of time, other than that I really look forward to this development, it should be a great addition to the neighborhood. Using the Freeland HIstoric District as an access point is too bad, these condo owners are going to drive passed all those poorly maintained historical crap shacks that most likely won't be rennovated in the near future on the way to their nice new homes.

Level playing field is all that is needed. You cannot have a level playing field when one developer gets to start off with a $6 mil slush fund just because they are doing something big and all the little guys in the Heights get no assistance for drainage, sidewalks, driveways, ROW acquisition, etc.

As for permitting, the City has always been biased to new stripmalls and big boxes while coming down hard on people who try to redevelop old smaller spaces. The city knows that they can push around the little guys but do not dare touch the politically connected big guys. Thus, things like the traffic impact analysis become so flexible that the engineers just go through the motions, but any such flexibility for small businesses is no existent. The City either needs to enforce the rules against the big projects as stringently as against the small guys or give the small guys the same flexibility the big guys get. It is not as much a question of too much or too little regulation. The issue is whether everyone gets the same treatment.

Nice try with the historic districts. Complete red herring. Everyone in the HDs is subject to the same rules and is treated the same. The vast majority of the applications sail through HAHC with unanimous approval. The scant few that do not are usually due to minor issues on whether existing windows/siding can be saved or whether ornaments/columns are consistent. These issues are usually self-inflicted and nothing compared to what is happening with small businesses. Not apples and oranges. Apples and orangatans.

Of course, you have said nothing to dispute my point. You have only tried to change the subject, which is a weak dodge.

But YOU said you would remember who opposed you when the time came for their rennovations... YOU said that. I infer from that that your friends would be getting breaks/rubber stamps exactly like the shopping centers while I would have to jump through hoops like a mom and pop shop. Whether that is what you meant or not doesn't matter, thats how it reads. Nice attempt to change the subject though... weak dodge.

Lame. How many effing carwash's do we need in this town. I wash my jeep annually... but I hear that place on Ella that serves food is pretty cool. Yeah the other place on 11th is right next to the bike trail. I had high hopes for a bakery (it kinda looks like El Bolillo) or something that would be nice to access via the trail. Oh well. Maybe someone will eventually buy the lot across the trail from it (the one with mostly concrete yard and the trampoline) and open up something interesting there.

I'm sure others have seen the new building on 11th (on the south side between shep. and yale). It has several archways (brick looking) and the rest is stucco i think. They seem to have a gated rear parking lot making me skeptic that it will be anything to get too excited about. Anyone know what is going on there (offices?)

Also they demo'd the building accross from Starbucks a while back and have finished the shell of the new building (lime green interior) I was hoping it would be a jamba juice or something along those lines but then I saw they put in a large garage bay. Anyone know whats going up there?

maybe they are having a hard time leasing the strip mall space because they are looking for "chef-driven" restaurants. = ]

The rest is just your opinion and fabrications, per the usual.

Bombay Saphhire, or the New Bombay Saphire "East".... (i recently went to a party that was promoting the new "east" bombay saphhire) It is pretty good, but I hear mixed results on West Nile Virus prevention...

I believe Urban Harvest has a lot of fruit trees for sale at a particular farmers market on saturday (i can't remember which one). If you don't mind moving the pot in the garage, or covering the tree incase of a hard freeze, I highly suggest picking up a carambola, they do really well here and fruit heavily. I got around 12 off mine last year and it isn't very big. All my fruit trees I've bought from Urban Harvest are doing really well. (carambola, fig, avacado). I bought all mine at their annual fruit tree sale in January (2011). I'll probably pick up some more this January.

The government didn't create jobs.... they had help along the way = ]

Maybe there will be a pudding and juice bar for all the "artificial hip- sters" moving in...

I'm also curious what a 4 story bungalow would look like.... I'm seeing a 4story bungalow totem pole in my mind... obviously that will not be what is built. I hope that they don't need all the extra parking Fiesta had and can sell that parcel of land between the bungalows, or turn it into some green space (Bocce and shuffle board!)

We are ahead by over 300 now. Screw Mt. Airy. I'm going to push this pretty hard the last week or so of September to help ensure a proper stomping of Mt. Airy. (my brother lives a little over an hour away from mt. airy, so I can make it nice and personal)

They will be keeping all the original signage, and changing the "F" to "S"

threaten him with a machete already...

but they aren't "sushi" places. Dragonbowl is consistantly subpar in all aspects. Thai spice has decent sushi, but i'd love a place where sushi is the focus. Maybe one of those chipotle style build your own hand rolls places.

i'm would think something would happen sooner rather than later, given all the recent successes along white oak.

I think something similar in size to the development on 11th and studewood would fit nicely there. But really i just want a sushi or indian restaurant.

you know whats funny.. the only reason I EVER thought about going to The Boom Boom room was because some people at WLN a few years ago told me it was a good place. I will make sure to NEVER go there now.

Ross... you think its a better idea to threaten someone with a machete than have their car towed... because your worried about what they might do to your yard/house. Pulling a machete on someone is a good way to get shot, especially since she wasn't on her property.

formerly owned by mexican mafia, event getting more spread out than before. If your going to spew things like that you better have some facts backing it up.

BTW I take threats by machete pretty seriously... did anyone report her for this (as it seems she was not on her property), who does she think she is... Danny Trejo?

Anyone know when this Wal-Mart opens... I need to stock up supplies because I just read a thread about how Wal-mart was going to invade my neighborhood... Fortifications are going in place soon.

I've got to say that article was missleading and wrong in many ways. They were quoting the boom boom room lady as if what she said was the gospel truth. The complaint that WLN is now to "spread out" is completely bogus, 5 years ago it included Kaboom Books on Beauchamp and nia moves on pecore which is even more spread out that now. (Kaboom wants to be part of WLN still but they won't send the shuttle that far). The author also uses the "austin-like" phrase as synonym for cool. It really bugs me to compare austin to the heights as a reason why the heights is cool. The heights is its own thing, and it is cool because of that. This brings me to my issue with Cohen... why the change of slogan from the "steamy, sultry, exotic etc." to "local blah blah blah" Obviously it's local, it is a neighborhood event supported by neighborhood businesses. The Heights is NOT Austin, please don't steal their silly slogans to try to turn our neighborhood into something it isn't. If i see a "keep the heights weird" sign anywhere i will be forced to rip it down and shred it.

Like the Tallboys on Ice at most Kwik stops.

So... what if I lived in the historical district before it was designated a historical district... could I still renovate or modify my house?

Only with HAHC approval, which means it would probably be easier to have a developer do the work for you as they give a hard time to homeowners. So hopefully you didn't plan on doing the rennovations yourself to save some money (which is historically how homeowners in the Heights have done things...).

Maybe they should do like they do in Arizona and have drive through liquor (or beer) stores.

like we had in Louisiana. Oh do I ever miss drive through daiquiris. (I hear that W Grille on washington has them now though???)

we can, as long as we live next to each other in the style s3mh approves of. = ] /troll

insert factless opinion here

WOW. So much misinformation, blatant lies, and opinions attempted to be passed as facts in this post I don't even know where to start.

I would advise not living in a Historic District just because you run the risk of being s3mh's neighbor.

This message board is teaming with people who strongly opposed the historic ordinance and cannot get over the fact that the historic ordinance really isn't that bad. Take everything said about the historic ordinance on this message board with several grains of salt.

It isn't "THAT" bad... just kinda bad (which to me is THAT bad, s3mh thinks it is okay to be just kinda bad). Enough bad to warrant looking outside of the districts...