[provided by Adam Smith, City of Austin, 4/6/04]
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Area 5 Walkabout – Summary

Attendees: David Swann, Elloa Mathews, David Karoly, Tim Mahoney Sr. and Jr., Neil Nuwash, Eileen Rovira, Bob Stewart, Tamira Konkin Garcia, Garret Nick, Louis and Marge Janosek and Myra Kepford.

City Staff: Adam Smith and Scott Whiteman

Places and people in Area 5 identified as being positive attributes:

  1. Blunn Creek Preserve
  2. St. Edwards (see below for things that can be improved)
  3. Views of downtown and Hill Country
  4. Neighborhood – there must a reason why so many people have lived in the area 40+ years, right?
  5. Eula Matthews – has walked to senior rec center for over 42 years
  6. Proximity to retail and services

The following is a list of concerns expressed during the walkabout:

  1. Gardner Betts Juvenile Justice Facility
  2. expansion of facility (estimated to be 10X its original capacity)

    parking garage not being used by employees and visitors; using Long Bow for parking

  3. Bealls Shopping Center – no trees/landscaping, needs better mix of businesses
  4. Driveway access near Oltorf/Long Bow and Congress – too many curb cuts along S. Congress creates traffic hazards
  5. Long Bow/Carnavon/St. Edwards - used as cut through by students and employees in the area from S. Congress to I-35; excessive traffic speeds
  6. Condos on Carnavon – out-of-scale with rest of neighborhood
  7. St. Edwards Dr. – flooding, traffic speeds, drag racing, illegal driveway leading into St. Edwards
  8. I-35 access ramp at St. Edwards – cause of the cut through traffic, ramp closure may not happen for another 5 years
  9. Home Depot – underbrush is not being cleared out per private restrictive covenant with neighborhood
  10. St. Edwards – future plans of increasing the number of students means added traffic and compatibility concerns on surrounding neighborhoods; locating parking on lots on perimeter of campus can create more cut through traffic
  11. Eastside Drive between St. Edwards and Oltorf - probably the worst traffic problem in the neighborhood. Students from St. Ed's travel at very high speeds, to and from the University, on Eastside Drive from seven in the morning until very late at night. One of the problems I hope we can solve through neighborhood planning (or through any other avenues you can recommend) is to install traffic calming, ideally speed bumps, on Eastside Drive. Eastside Drive already has speed bumps north of Oltorf, so extending those south of Oltorf is a logical next step. (Scott Marks)