RSVP HERE!

Venue Sponsor:

Finn & Porter is at the top of the list of Austin restaurants for fine dining. It is recognized for its award-winning steaks and wine list, plus the freshest seafood and sushi. In addition, Finn & Porter’s Loft Bar serves innovative cocktails and select wines, plus a delicious twist to classic bar food. http://finnandporter.com/austin

Business Sponsor:

Deep in the heart of Austin and a hop, skip and jog away from the Hike and Bike trail, our second location at 1611 West 5th St. features eighteen treatment rooms, a nail therapy lounge with zero gravity chairs, and a skin-quenching hydrotherapy room.

In a city where fun and fitness reign, the Hiatus philosophy fits: frequent spa visits are an essential part of a wellness ritual, creating good health and a renewed state of mind. After a morning marathon or a late night in the live music capital of the world, come recharge with us and meditate on our mantra: Relax. Rejuvenate. Repeat. hiatusspa.com

Urban Core Happy Hour Format – PLEASE READ!

DANA Urban Core Happy Hours are open to all that have an interest in Downtown Austin. Please note, however, that at Urban Core Happy Hours DANA Members get in free, and non-members will be asked to pay $5 cash. Entry into event includes food and drink tickets (until we run out!). Due to the popularity of these events, we cannot make any exceptions on entry.

We encourage RSVP’ing to the event so that we may have as accurate of a headcount as possible, but please note that if you are a non-member who has RSVP’d – you will still have to pay the entry fee to the event. If you have a question regarding the status of your membership, please email info@downtownaustin.org.

If you’re not a DANA Member and would like to be, you can sign up at the Urban Core Happy Hour, or you can click here to be directed to our Membership page to join now. Membership includes free entry to Urban Core Happy Hours for one year after your sign up date!

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Next UCHH
June Urban Core Happy Hour
Location: TBD
Business Sponsor: TBD

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Last night’s Urban Core Happy Hour was a great success!  Thanks for all who attended!

Thank you to our Sponsors: Austin FOOD & WINE Festival and Austin Art Alliance!

Let’s Go Vote!

One of the most critical acts of civic responsibility is voting and some of the greatest impact on our day to day lives is made by local elected officials.  Four out of seven city council members, including the mayor, are up for election and it’s important that Downtown gets out the vote.

Community Impact has prepared a quick fact sheet on each candidate here and each candidate has posted short videos on the city’s website introducing themselves to voters, here.

Saturday, May 12, 2012 | Election Day

Regular voting is from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and a voter must vote in his or her assigned precinct.  To find out where you should go vote, click here:  http://www.traviscountytax.org/showVoterNameSearch.do

In May 2011, only 7.4% of registered voters came out to vote and downtown turnout was about that average.  For the neighborhood that includes city hall, and whose future is shaped significantly by decisions made by City Council, Downtown can do better than average. Go vote!

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DANA has consistently advocated for improved sidewalks and streetscapes as a quality of life amenity in our urban area.  On this week’s Council agenda, there is a project called a ‘Street Patio’ being considered that would help further those goals.

In 2010, DANA took part in a charrette specific to Congress Avenue where the lack of sidewalk cafes was repeatedly highlighted. The vision document that resulted from that community-driven effort made six recommendations, which included “a dynamic pedestrian experience” and “outdoor dining” as top priorities for revitalizing this critical street.

DANA believes that while the pilot program being considered by council is being funded by a private business, the benefit of activated public space for pedestrians constitutes a considerable non-monetary value to the public.  Numerous other cities nationwide have implemented similar programs for mini-patios and parklets.

We are pleased that our organization was invited into the conversation for the pilot and we look forward to giving further feedback during the evaluation period prior to a permanent program.  This site is particularly well suited to this proposal and the two parking spaces being used are being mitigated with two new ones along 7th Street.

We look forward to this exciting development for downtown and the contributions it will make towards the pedestrian environment we all hope to enjoy on Congress Avenue.

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Late last year, the City of Austin established a Bond Election Advisory Task Force to review a sizable $1.5B list of projects pulled together from each individual city department as a part of their needs assessment process.  Now that those projects have been published, DANA also, is looking to provide feedback to our city leaders on what projects are a key priority to downtown.

The full list of projects is listed in this report and in this summary presentation of the non-transit considerations.

*O/M = Ongoing Operations & Maintenance, FTE = Full Time Equivalent Employees

The task force and a separate Transit Working Group will be making recommendations to the city council regarding investments in Transportation, Facilities & Infrastructure, Parks & Open Spaces and Affordable Housing.  These investments are aimed to improve Austin’s mobility, affordability, sustainability and cost-effectiveness in operating.  City Council has asked the group to prioritize projects and recommend a package of $385M which does not require a tax increase as well as at levels that would require a 1 cent or more increase in taxes.

If you have suggestions on what downtown projects need prioritization, please contact DANA.  We intend to provide input to the task force and city council on this important issue.

For upcoming meetings of the task force, please check here.

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