Request for Neighborhood Input to City Council and Mayoral Candidate's Forum

Our neighborhood, together with Allandale, Brentwood, Highland, North Shoal Creek, and Wooten, is sponsoring a forum for City Council candidates on Monday April 13. Our 6 neighborhoods have joined together because we feel there are pressing issues impacting all of North Central Austin that need to be addressed by the City. We need your help to formulate good questions on the following topics of common concern:

Code enforcement - City code defines how tall a building can be, how loud a band can play, how late people can stay in the park. Enforcement of City code has often languished and this is a priority for all our neighborhoods.

Open space - The City in 2007 rezoned hundreds of acres of property along Burnet, Anderson, Lamar and Airport for apartments and condos to be built on top of retail (VMU). There are almost no provisions for plazas, playscapes, outdoor dining, trails, parks, or other outdoor features that will make these new mixed use districts liveable and resilient.

Neighborhood plan follow-through - Crestview has had a neighborhood plan for some years, but little (if anything) has been done. The neighborhood has been asked to submit a list of plan priorities to the City to address, but past feedback from the City has been that there is no money in the budget to do anything significant (like add sidewalks down Grover). What has the City implemented in the plan since it was completed?

Land use and zoning - Zoning defines what building size and placement are allowed on a piece of land, and determines what kinds of uses (grocery, car dealership, home, park) are permitted. Many properties in our neighborhood have been or are being rezoned.

Creek-side trails, greenbelts - Some neighborhoods have pushed for years to get improvements to trails along neighborhood creeks. In Crestview, much effort has been expended (to little avail, thus far) to get a hike and bike trail along the new commuter rail line.

Traffic and transportation - What transportation solutions will best curb traffic on area streets?

Responsiveness - Are City Council members and City staff aware of and responding to our needs?

Please submit questions by March 2nd to the Crestview Neighborhood Association Vice President, Steve Kuehner at: steve.kuehner@gmail.com. A committee composed of representatives of all 6 neighborhoods will select the strongest questions for a questionaire to candidates. The questionaire responses we get from candidates will then be used to define follow-on questions to be asked at the forum.

Thank you for helping to make Crestview and North Central Austin a better place to live!

ADDENDUM: An online form was created to receive neighbor input and added on Feb. 26th.