Austin brackenridge tract

He said Council Member Alison Alter had been working on that already. After the meeting, Suttle told the Austin Monitor that until Thursday, UT had gotten no direction from the city to work on a strategic partnership agreement that might include Muny.

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There are so many important stories we don't get to write. As a nonprofit journalism source, every contributed dollar helps us provide you more coverage. Do your part by joining our subscribers in supporting our reporters' work. It offers policy direction, while the office of the City Manager implements administrative actions based on those policies. Until , the body contained seven members, including the city's Mayor, all elected at-large.

In , City of Austin residents voted to change that system and now 10 members of the Council are elected based on geographic districts. The Mayor continues to be elected at-large.

University of Texas : The preeminent state university whose flagship is located in Austin. Among the many factors influencing future options, the Brackenridge Field Laboratory, operated by UT's School of Biological Sciences on an acre tract, additionally complicates any future redevelopment. Professor Robert Jansen, chair of the integrative biology section, says the field lab has both teaching and research missions. It is very unusual to have such a field station in such close proximity to an urban university, but that's one of the major advantages — students can actually get out there," he says, via shuttle bus or other affordable access.

The research benefits — primarily in ecology, evolution, and animal and plant behavior — are shared among the faculty and graduate students. Jansen says the past 40 years of biological record-keeping on the site are also invaluable, saying, "Historical record is extremely important for asking questions in ecology, evolution, and behavior. The faculty members whose research depends on the field lab are certainly vocal opponents of redevelopment.

In summation, Jansen describes the lab as "a very, very important facility in terms of maintaining our national ranking and attracting graduate students" and says its loss would have "an extremely negative impact" on the integrative biology section. The task force has so far opted to recommend a change of venue for the lab: "A biological reserve is important to the University's academic purposes," it states, "but it is not clear that the field laboratory should remain at its current location.

From a broader city perspective, Arnold says, "The golf course and field lab represent urban green spaces, and with everything being built Downtown, we still need to maintain our green space. Another critical element to green space and neighborhood life is the West Austin Youth Association.

The privately funded group has been around since A move would not be automatic. WAYA facilities serve children from more than 60 Austin-area ZIP codes, on teams for which everyone gets to play, and everyone who signs up gets on a team.

You may meet someone that lives down the street from you that may go to a different church or go to a private school," Houston says. Houston is perhaps reassured by the sheer number of neighbors involved in the leagues; WAYA has motivated parents volunteering as coaches.

It has not gone unnoticed by planners that among those volunteers are some of the most politically and financially influential people in town.

The task force recommendations on this score offer Houston and WAYA some reassurance, if no guarantee. Although golf, research, and neighborhood recreation have garnered most of the argument, the Brackenridge Tract also contains two complexes of affordable housing for married UT graduate students, many of them foreign.

Harris says this housing is vital. Although Harris says he has appreciated the openness of the discussion thus far, both with Bechtol and Cooper Robertson, he cautions, "That's not to say that others aren't out there developing their own plans to submit to the university at some point in time. It's a wide-open ball game. The neighbors have recently taken issue with the next public step in the process, forums on Nov.

Harris and Arnold see opportunity for a partnership between the city and university. Arnold says Save Muny is "trying to explore other ways the city can offer benefit to the University of Texas other than developing the Brackenridge Tract.

Noting the appeal of Kenneth Shine, UT executive vice chancellor for health affairs, for community support in building a medical center in Austin, Harris suggests, "How about giving us the golf course and WAYA, and we'll do all we can to help get the med school in place?

Assistant City Manager Sue Edwards says that, partly due to the recent ascent of a new City Council and a new city manager, "We have no formal position on Brackenridge. Of course, none of these has received any citizen input at all.

We, as the West Austin community, have yet to have our thoughts of what the tract could and should be put in the form of a plan for the Board of Regents to consider. It is our hope that a viable option is presented that they will take into consideration with any future redevelopment of the Brackenridge Tract. Please register and respond to our initial polls. We are trying to get a better understanding of how you shop and eat so that any retail and restaurant mix meets the needs and desires not only of the redevelopment but of the West Austin Community.

Thinking about your typical retail purchases, where do you go? Pick top 2. View Results. Thinking about your typical food purchases, where do you go? When you dine out, what type of restaurant do you go to?