28 Downtown Blocks to Close During F1 (Houston, Dallas: hotels, home, neighborhoods)

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

Book your Thanksgiving flights now. It's going to be crazy.

I haven't attended the City of Austin seminars that they're giving business owners about how to deal with the affluent international visitors that are going to be in Austin, but I talked to someone who did.

He said:
These people spend a lot of money.
They "dine" for hours, hogging up a table, drinking wine, running up a huge tab...but...
Tips are "foreign" to them. They are not accustomed to adding extra to the bill. Waiters/waitresses beware.
They expect a higher level of attentive service than the nose-ringed slacker waitress in Austin know how to provide.

And on and on ....

I just wonder, should Austin business be themselves, and let visitors experience the real, authentic Austin, as locals do, or should Austin businesses try to "Europeanize" themselves during F1, as the City seems to be encouraging, so as not to, for example, offend a rich uppity Spaniard?

Steve

I would hope the former. After all, are these people not sophisticated enough to deal with differences in cultures and customs? Would not attempting to emulate where they come from rather than being what we are be seen as provincial?

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by Komeht

Right, because having cool stuff to do right at your doorstep is SOOO inconvenient.

Or perhaps because having thousands of people crowding your neighborhood and roads being closed on a regular basis making it difficult to get around is SOOOO convenient!

I don't even go downtown anymore for much that reason, never mind wanting to live there. I don't even go to festivals that I used to go to religiously every year for decades because of the crowds - it's no longer "cool stuff" but just a pain in the derriere all the way around.

[Austinite101]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Or perhaps because having thousands of people crowding your neighborhood and roads being closed on a regular basis making it difficult to get around is SOOOO convenient!

I don't even go downtown anymore for much that reason, never mind wanting to live there. I don't even go to festivals that I used to go to religiously every year for decades because of the crowds - it's no longer "cool stuff" but just a pain in the derriere all the way around.

Hipster.

[BevoLJ]

It is funny, in tomorrows Statesman there is an article with an interview of an Austin architect in 1946 who suggest that by the year 2000 Congress would be pedestrian only park.

"landscaped lawns, trees and flowerbeds, and will be for the use of pedestrians only, according to Granger's plan," the Austin American, a morning newspaper, reported on Aug. 12, 1946.

Read More: Group to line Congress Avenue trees with year-round lights

How awesome would that be!?!?

Like you could still have the west - east roads, plus all the other north - south roads for cars, but it would be so amazing to have Congress as pedestrian only. Like the lights at say the intersections of Congress and 6th or 5th and all the east west streets would be for pedestrians on Congress and the cars on the W-E streets. It would be like a big park from the capitol grounds to the hike and bike trail with the sidewalks and shopping on the sides. Ann Richards Bridge would obviously still need to be for cars though.

Another interesting option would be to have Congress as landscaped for pedestrians like above with the only exception being the light rail street cars they want to implement in Austin. It could have a north and south running lines on the outside of the landscaped part.

So it would go:

|| stores/buildings|sidewalks|| || rail | Park/Landscaping | rail || ||sidewalks| stores/buildings ||

I know... just a dream that could never happen in today's auto dominated world, but it would be very cool if it did.

Also by doing that it would also probably cut down on the street closures during the year. Obviously 6th would still close at night during the weekends, and Willie Nelson Blvd would close during big conventions like SXSW, but it would cut down on the other streets that are often closed during those times as Congress would be able to handle more than it can as just a street. And the stages would be able to be set up and stay up for longer during those events since they don't need to be taken down for auto traffic.

The one big thing that would be lost by doing that would be the ROT Rally Parade of Congress. I can't really think of a way to make that happen if Congress was landscaped.

[Komeht]

Originally Posted by BevoLJ

It is funny, in tomorrows Statesman there is an article with an interview of an Austin architect in 1946 who suggest that by the year 2000 Congress would be pedestrian only park.



How awesome would that be!?!?

Like you could still have the west - east roads, plus all the other north - south roads for cars, but it would be so amazing to have Congress as pedestrian only. Like the lights at say the intersections of Congress and 6th or 5th and all the east west streets would be for pedestrians on Congress and the cars on the W-E streets. It would be like a big park from the capitol grounds to the hike and bike trail with the sidewalks and shopping on the sides. Ann Richards Bridge would obviously still need to be for cars though.

Another interesting option would be to have Congress as landscaped for pedestrians like above with the only exception being the light rail street cars they want to implement in Austin. It could have a north and south running lines on the outside of the landscaped part.

So it would go:

|| stores/buildings|sidewalks|| || rail | Park/Landscaping | rail || ||sidewalks| stores/buildings ||

I know... just a dream that could never happen in today's auto dominated world, but it would be very cool if it did.

Also by doing that it would also probably cut down on the street closures during the year. Obviously 6th would still close at night during the weekends, and Willie Nelson Blvd would close during big conventions like SXSW, but it would cut down on the other streets that are often closed during those times as Congress would be able to handle more than it can as just a street. And the stages would be able to be set up and stay up for longer during those events since they don't need to be taken down for auto traffic.

The one big thing that would be lost by doing that would be the ROT Rally Parade of Congress. I can't really think of a way to make that happen if Congress was landscaped.

I ink it would be amazing to do something along the lines of Barcelona's Las Ramblas where you have a beautiful tree lined pedestrian walkway in the center where cafes can set up cofee tables etc. and then just a north and south lane on either side for transit vehicles.

File:La Rambla 2009-06-10.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Surburbanites, provincial hicks from the sticks and THL might not like it because it would mean *gasp* leaving their car now an then and putting up with *ohnoes* congestion.

[veloman777]

Austin is severely lacking in pedestrian malls/streets. They would add so much to downtown. But instead, every single street needs to have cars on it.

[Austinite101]

I would like Congress to become a pedestrian street. Probably a never happening scenario, but one can dream.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by Austinite101

I would like Congress to become a pedestrian street. Probably a never happening scenario, but one can dream.

Sounds cool, but there is so much government/business core located there, the nearby parking would need to be improved greatly for people coming downtown. Congress is a main artery in and out, especially for busses. You'd also have issues of fire, ambulance and police still needing to be able to drive through when needed.

Maybe it could work, but there would no doubt be a lot of resistance.

Steve

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

Originally Posted by Komeht

Surburbanites, provincial hicks from the sticks and THL might not like it because it would mean *gasp* leaving their car now an then and putting up with *ohnoes* congestion.

It's better than being a dolt. Really, don't generalize.

[TexasHorseLady]

Komeht, I have no problem leaving my car, probably walk more out here on the ranch than you do in town and have been known not to get in a vehicle for two or three days at a time, and I left my car regularly when I did go downtown because I could actually find a place to park it!

As oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots says, don't generalize. Which is a polite term for what that sentence represents.

I think that having festivals downtown, as has been done probably longer than you've been on the planet (maybe even longer than I've been on the planet, shocking as that might be to contemplate - I do know the St. Elias Festival has been going on since before I was born), is a great idea. But if it's so crowded with people on a regular day that it's difficult to get around without dodging people constantly (which I have experienced the few times I've had to go downtown for work reasons lately), that makes it much less appealing to contemplate going to those festivals when it will be even more crowded.

There comes a point where crowding defeats the entire purpose of drawing people to an area for such things. Austin's downtown is getting close to that, in my opinion. It actually reminds me of the first year of the Food Trailer Festival (which we did attend, parking many blocks away and, gasp!, walking in order to do so). Had great possibilities but turned out to be standing in long lines for 45 minutes to an hour to get something from ONE food trailer - we ended up leaving and going to one of the areas where there were several trailers that weren't in the festival and having a much better time and more really great food with less crowding.

Festivals and downtowns are not intended to be mosh pits. Really.