City workers hope to make recommendations early next month for a pilot program to make the Sixth Street entertainment district safer by converting the mix of advertising and cultural activities.
A recent report revealed some of the pilot’s main points, saying it would target the two hundred and 500 blocks of East Sixth Street for sidewalk activations and street activity traffic closures in order to “change the character” of the street, according to preliminary city documents.
The area, which has long attracted night waiters, has come under scrutiny this summer after a mass shooting that killed one user and injured more than a dozen others. and emergency organization to respond to incidents there.
As this program takes shape, business leaders must dezone parts of the neighborhood, increase the height of buildings, and offer a greater diversity of uses to the domain, in addition to bars and restaurants that attract much of their activity after dark.
Dewitt Peart, president and CEO of the Downtown Austin Alliance, told the Austin Monitor that rezoning approvals should be included in forward sidewalks and public protection efforts to combat crime in the area.
“All of those pieces actually help the variety of uses on the street, but they also allow for new advancements to occur that would bring another point of activity on other days and times to bring more variety to the street,” he said, recently highlighting conversations with commercial and construction homeowners in the area.
“It is vital to create the right zoning and variants to allow the creation of new products, to allow the structure of taller buildings on the street, which can be done in some of those blocks. This allows those personal advancements to also have sidewalks, lighting and other elements to enhance at the same time and bring parking to the buildings that allows greater access and creates more charm for the domain of the day.
Brian Block, the city’s director of entertainment services, told the Monitor that there is no timeline for the launch of the pilot program and said early feedback from commercial homeowners has shown significant interest in adding variety in doleading to decrease reliance on alcohol sales as the important profit driver.
“It’s definitely impossible to resist the preference to see the Sixth Street Transition and become some more tactics than it was in terms of more diversity of activities and a more colorful community where everyone feels safe and welcome,” he said. “Stakeholders believe it is imaginable to move in this direction and move forward on this path. No one thinks it’s going to happen overnight, yet it didn’t happen that way overnight. . . with an articulated vision and elements of a plan sustained over time, other people think we can make it happen.
An October memo informed the Council of the progress of a July solution that called for the protection of East Sixth Street and made it more hospitable for the use of sunlight hours.
Block said “gradual changes” in the character and composition of the community are expected once the city begins public works and inspires more outdoor activities on sidewalks, in addition to addressing protection concerns.
“With commercial and heritage homeowners in the personal sector and applicable associations, we may be offering systems that allow them to get things done, but they will have to be the ones to gain advantages and put them into effect. Diversification of uses will come. There have been many asset acquisitions throughout Blocks 200, 500 and 600, and the type of use that will be made there will be decided through those personal owners if they wish to introduce new activities into the public space.
August Harris, chairman of the Center Commission, told the Monitor that the city and the business network want to think about what precisely they want to see on the network that has long attracted visitors.
“It’s something the network has been up against for years, and it’s less hard said than done. One of Austin’s draws has been the entertainment district itself, and as it moves into other uses there, does it replace that business and marketing dynamic like it doesn’t?it would be more of an entertainment district and could become simply another blended-use district. That has consequences,” he said.
“There have been noble ideas and attempts to replace the character of Sixth Street, however, it is much more complicated and there are a myriad of additional affections than that idea. There is a nostalgic attitude towards everything that has never been there.
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Chad Swiatecki is a 20-year-old journalist who moved to Austin from his home state of Michigan in 2008. She especially enjoys covering the intersection of arts, business, and local/state politics. He has written for Rolling Stone, Spin, New York Daily News, Texas Monthly, Austin American-Statesman and many regional and national media outlets.
Downtown Austin Alliance: A member-based nonprofit that focuses, according to its website, on “preserving and editing the energy of downtown Austin. “
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