Keep it up & we'll get somewhere

How many times is there an emergency that requires a trip to the store in the middle of the night, versus how many times do you drive through the intersection of Escarpment & William Cannon?

Apartment dwellers have the same predictable traffic patterns as do home dwellers; they do not produce nearly as much light and noise, and they do not draw in shoppers from other neighbourhoods.

STRATUS PROMISED the Villages of Western Oaks that there would be no drive-through restaurant or commercial on this tract. People who cannot keep their promises should NOT be rewarded with ANYTHING or the trend of big business crushing individuals will continue. What is the point of having a City Council or a zoning board or laws if Stratus can simply ignore them and profit by doing so? And even worse, have us GRATEFUL that they did, so that we can shop at 1 am?

Sometimes sticking to one's principles involves sacrifice, whether one is acting as business or an individual. How can we expect Stratus to stick to their agreement when we undermine the agreement they made with Western Oaks? How can we expect to make agreements that other developers or neighbourhoods don't undermine?

Solidarity has a nasty connotation in this country and it's a real shame, because large corporations only understand BIG NUMBERS of people in total agreement.

I think the argument against apartments is more classist and for fear of devaluing property than it is a legitimate concern over traffic.

Lights on 24 hours


Amy,

Maybe you don?’t realize that even the grocery stores are closed at night and the doors are locked, the lights are still on because the night shift employees still have to work inside the store to replenish the merchandise on the shelves for the next day?’s business.

Lisa

Priorities for HEB

In order to be effective with HEB and Stratus Properties, we need to be prepared to give them a short list of our priorities and community standards.

Otherwise, the Jan 6th meeting will end with a vague and uncomfortable promise and possibly the more feared words any developer can utter, ''Trust us to do the right thing''.

We need to agree on 2 or 3 specific issues and leave them with a long list of acceptable/desireable tennants for about 100,000 square feet of assorted stores that will end up on the western side of Escarpment.

My suggestion is this:

1) Agree to limit HEB to 65,000 sqft
2) Ban any Fast Food businesses
3) Ban Drive-up style businesses

(we already have an extensive list to work from, which is common to all of the Stratus properties. Drive-up and fast food businesses have always been specifically excluded as inappropriate.)

We don't need the drive up businesess - they already clutter up Brodie Lane, Slaughter Lane, and most of south Austin.

What I think Circle C residents want, are stable, long term businesses that promote family and bed room community values, offer good jobs with benefits, stablity, and products or services we can't find in the usual strip Malls.

Sure, it would be convienent to drive to HEB and have them load up the old suburban from a drive up window, or have the dry cleaner guy run out to your care with all your plastic covered clothes - but you can get than anywhere else.

What about building a smart, contemporary shopping center that emphsises values we cheerish ? - saving as many native trees as possible, attractive pedestrian and bike access (wide paths, inviting and save for Moms with strollers, kids on bikes, or folks just getting a little exersize). We don't need massive parking lots and with the exception of a few truely handicapped drivers, there is no need to park 20 feet from the front door of any business.

I know, it's hard to imagine - the developers just want to throw something up fast that will appeal to the lowest common denominator. I think Circle C and New Villages are looking for something you can find any where else in Austin. A traquil and peaceful Village setting that is a pleasure to visit, not a made dash to grab some greasy food and race home again. There is a place for the usual crap and it's not in between our two large neighborhoods.

Lets work to make this a high quality, attractive project, not another stirp mall. Get busy and share your ideas, else expect something big, ugly, and out of place - a shopping center you will end up making off-limits to your kids, instead of encouraging them to get out of the house for a while.