Recently on the neighborhood listserve there was all kinds of consternation and flame going on when the owners of Off The Wall, an antique/used furniture store on South Congress, put out the word that they have noticed a significant uptick in panhandling and presumably homeless people in this commercial corridor.  Their main plea was that neighbors not encourage the panhandlers by giving them money.  Someone on the list then proceeded to refer to homeless people as “bums” and implied that they are responsible for the increase in car vandalism and the like.  Well… that didn’t sit well with anyone else on the list.  It did, however, provide some great stories about people’s own experience with homelessness and the homeless in general.

I then recalled that my own grandmother had often voiced her fear of someday becoming homeless herself.  She kind of romanticized it, probably having grown up in the era of the hobos, but I’m sure she really did worry about it.  She befriended several homeless women who lived on the Drag near the University when she lived near there, one of which had been a doctoral candidate and the other a dance instructor from which my mom took classes in the ’60s.

The fact is, many people are incredibly close to being homeless, especially if they have any kind of mental illness for which treatment is nearly non-existent in Texas (here’s a great snapshot of what that means in Harris County for their county jail).  And that real estate bubble hasn’t helped, as the 44-lb. cat in New Jersey recently found out.  Two kinds of fat cats here in the land of the free - and both are losers.

My cousin Scott just sent me some transcripts from our great Aunt Dick’s diaries, which I’m planning to make a project out of sometime soon.  Just as a little sample, here is the entry for September 1, 1931:

Markie [Markham] raved about the depression, and how terrible times are; they’re going to have a special session of legislature this month to forbid the planting of cotton this fall*, and all the state employees salaries will be cut 15% or more.  Ruthy is simply sick about it, but she’s lucky to have a job at all, as it’s getting to where they just can’t be had.

Markie is a family friend and Ruthy is her sister.  They were living in Austin at the time and Ruth worked at the Capitol.

*UPDATE: The Handbook of Texas Online says that the Texas Cotton Acreage Control Act of 1931-32 was an effort to control the falling prices of cotton, due to overproduction, by limiting the amount of acreage being cultivated for cotton (not a complete ban) as well as to institute some soil conservation measures. This command-and-control-type measure was struck down in the courts in 1932.  I doubt the Texas Legislature of today would never do something like that!

I really want a vegetable garden. I’ve wanted one for awhile, way before the salmonella outbreak in commercial tomatoes, and it seems that I now have the space and enough sun to do it. That way I can be even more AUSTINative.

Yet, I sometimes kill houseplants, so how am I going to do with vegetables?

Thus far, I have more or less determined the best area in our back yard for vegetables, which need at least 6 hours of sun per day. The back yard gets more morning sun than the front, which tends to be better (from what I’ve gathered). Some of that prime sunny spot is unfortunately also where the gas and electric lines are, so a raised bed is necessary. I think the only problem with a raised bed in the Texas heat is that it might dry out a bit faster than a non-raised bed garden, but hopefully the good solid wood of the old doorframes (rescued from the remodeling project next door, see pic) I’m using, plus lots of compost and mulch, will help with that.

I’ve begun prepping for a compost pile. Some more rescued wood from next door may become a compost bin. I have been collecting kitchen scraps (all vegetable matter) and putting it in plastic bags in the freezer until I’m ready for the layering process – more or less equal parts brown (i.e., dead leaves or dirt) and green matter (such as wilted lettuce).

Next, I need some soil and then some plants. It’s too late here for anything but fairly large plants that can hold their own in the Texas heat. Probably some tomatoes, squash, maybe some watermelon…. whatever will live through the summer! And I will continue to try to get what I can from the downtown Austin Farmers Market.

Some great local resources on gardening:

• Travis County Ag Extension planting schedule
• South Austin Community Gardens - (they don’t have a lot of info online – may have to actually go to a meeting and meet some folks in person. Gasp!)
• KLRU’s Central Texas Gardener blog
• The Natural Gardener’s links page

I’m so ready to get this party started, but I know it will be a process and will be an adventure. More on my plans for getting rid of the St. Augustine grass, planting some lavender, and the trees in our yard and neighborhood later…

]]> http://austinative.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/austinative-garden/feed/ lauratex I used two old door frames to form the beginning of a raised bed garden in our backyard. http://austinative.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/the-new-neighborhood-not-quite-the-same-as-the-old-neighborhood/ http://austinative.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/the-new-neighborhood-not-quite-the-same-as-the-old-neighborhood/#comments Tue, 27 May 2008 18:32:54 +0000 lauratex http://austinative.wordpress.com/?p=12

We just moved into our new home in Travis Heights, so AUSTINative has been busy. We’ve taken a few breaks from unpacking to go check out the ‘hood, including walking around Stacy Park. When I was in the 5th grade, my parents moved us back to Austin from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and we moved into the Terrace apartments, at Academy and South Congress, while they started to build a house in the country. This was 1979 or 1980. South Congress was a very different place.

My mom and step-dad chose the Terrace because my grandmother lived there. I would take taxis with her to the Nighthawk restaurant and to the H-E-B at Oltorf because she didn’t like to drive. Otherwise, she would walk to the few other establishments in the area, including the Saint Vincent de Paul thrift shop. The other people you would see walking were, um, ladies of the night. Except I think they were out at all hours. Sometimes we would take a taxi or the bus downtown to The Bank, which was always a treat - I loved the smell of it and the cold air conditioning and weighing myself on the big scale in the lobby.

The Terrace itself was built originally as a motor court, I think. In the late 70s to 80s, it was definitely on the decline. The swimming pool was empty and had begun filling with leaves. As kids, my stepbrother and I didn’t care all that much - it was kind of fun to play around that, although a nice cool pool would’ve made the summer a bit more pleasant. Instead, we stayed up late watching old Clark Gable movies, like Mutiny on the Bounty, on Channel 7, one of only 3 TV stations in Austin at that time.

When school started, I went to Travis Heights elementary school. I remember the school and my teacher, Mrs. Ruiz, but I don’t really remember Stacy Park (except the pool) or the neighborhood around it. Walking around the park and the ‘hood today, I’m amazed at it. I even lived less than a mile away, in Bouldin Creek, for several years beginning in 1999, but never ventured east of South Congress. Zilker, Barton Springs, downtown, and the UT area were my stomping grounds. Travis Heights definitely has its own character and it will be interesting to get to know the new - old - neighborhood.

My great-grandmother, Mabel Martin, whom I called “Granny,” was a big part of my early life, for which I am very thankful.  She was a piano teacher and to her I owe much of the limited ability I do have to appreciate music. When I was about 5 or 6 she came to live with us for awhile, but soon went to live in the nursing home near Live Oak and Congress.  There, I think she flourished, at least as best as could be expected, as I remember her being very active.  She was even named “queen” of the nursing home and went on to compete against other “nursing home queens,” showcasing her piano playing skills.  Above is a not-so-great Polaroid picture of her being congratulated by none other than Cactus Pryor, a living legend in Austin as a radio and TV personality.

I love Willie Nelson.  Growing up in Texas, I’m pretty sure I took him for granted, and during my teen and college years I maybe changed the channel if the station played too much Willie.  But I came back to the fold by the time I graduated. 

Because my friends at 21st Street Co-op knew that he was cool and awesome and had influenced a lot of people, we all walked down to Antone’s when we heard that Willie Nelson’s 60th birthday party was happening.  This is when Antone’s was still on the northern end of the Drag, next to the Eckerd’s.  We didn’t have tickets but figured we could hang out outside and listen in… it turned out that a friend of mine who had really good music connections was at the show, and he let me borrow his VIP pass to get in for awhile.  That was awesome. 

Austin and Willie have become so big since then, you would think it might be difficult to get in to anything like that now, but you never know!  Just a few years ago Willie was playing at Stubb’s and we managed to sneak in through the bar area … of course, party crashing happens to be one of my specialties.  And I think Willie would approve… even (or especially) at the ripe age of 75! If you’re a fan of his, definitely check out this tribute to him on the Texas Monthly magazine site, or pick up the current issue.

Art City Austin

I love to walk. And bike. I dislike cars, but I still drive. I live in Austin, which is in Texas, one of the most car-centric places on Earth. But I’ve made some choices that will enable me to use a car less frequently, including living in a smaller home so that I can live close to downtown, with access to public transportation, neighborhood shops, restaurants, and parks.

Obviously Austin has a ways to go before becoming more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly. It’s interesting to hear what new residents of our town have to say about their choices - especially someone like Alexandre, the Compulsive Pedestrian. But I’m here to say that some things have gotten better since the ’80s and early ’90s.

There’s a history behind how downtown Austin’s streetcars came to their demise, part of which is covered in Robert Bryce’s piece and also related to the GM/Firestone effort to buy up and shut down streetcars across the country (documented partially in the film Taken for a Ride). This, combined with suburban development, made a once-vibrant Congress Avenue shrivel up and nearly die. In the late 70s, I remember going to a department store (Scarbrough’s) and a drug store (Woolworth’s) with my grandmother, who owned a shop on Congress. But by the mid- to late-80s those things were gone.

So here is my list of some pedestrian and cycling improvements in recent years:

1. A stronger community of cyclists and pedestrians: I recently attended a City Council candidate forum hosted by the Austin Cycling Association (which has a great list of Bike Month activities coming up in May), the League of Bicycling Voters, and the Yellow Bike Project; the conference room at the LCRA was filled to capacity. And, compared to Washington, DC, cycling advocates, Austin seems to have a much more diverse group, at least in age and income.

2. The Lance Armstrong effect: because of Lance’s success in racing and championing cancer survivorship, people in Austin as well as around Texas and across the country have more awareness of cyclists. I’m happy to hear that Lance Armstrong is now throwing at least some of his weight behind making commuting by bike more accessible in Austin.

3. More mixed-use development in downtown and other neighborhoods: of course, in many cases these mixed use projects such as the Domain are merely isolated islands not much better than outdoor malls that most people will reach with a car. But at least people have an option, which there was not much of in the recent past. There is the possibility of connecting these islands, although it may take a tectonic shift. Gas prices may help with that!

4. Capital Metro improvements: under the leadership of the recently retired Lee Walker, Cap Metro is about to expand into light rail. Overall bus service has improved, although it’s had a hard time keeping up with suburban sprawl and doesn’t reach some of the employment centers very well, such as Dell in Round Rock and some of the tech companies on Loop 360 and Research Blvd.

Of course there is a long list of things that need to be improved, first of which is education. What do you think, people of Austin? What can we do to improve the situation for pedestrians and cyclists? How often do you walk or bike instead of getting in your car? What would make you more willing to do so?

I <3 our local NPR affiliate, KUT 90.5 FM.  It is so much more than NPR, which is great in and of itself. The diversity of music on KUT spans the spectrum from jazz to blues to alt-country to indy rock to - if you listen to John Aielli in the morning - opera.  And, usually, they do it amazingly well.  The thing that makes listening to KUT such a wonderful experience is the richness and depth that the DJs provide.  They all have an amazing amount of information that they share with listeners, often bringing in the musicians themselves to play live or talk about their craft.

In fact, even though I really shouldn’t be giving any money away right now, I’m srsly tempted to donate to their current fund drive at the $120 level to get the KUT Live Vol. 4 CD, which features in-studio performances of some of my favorites, including Okkervil River and Spoon.  When I heard some of the cuts from this CD today, it made me realize that some of the KUT DJs are also amazing musicians - such as sub Jeff Johnson, formerly of the Orange Mothers and now with Li’l Cap’n Travis.

Speaking of Spoon, Brit Daniel was a DJ when I was a DJ at KTSB Student Radio, which is now known as KVRX 91.7, sharing that frequency with KOOP Radio.  Those of you who are new to the Austin area (or who just weren’t paying attention) may not know that the KVRX and KOOP camps were once mortal enemies.  As I remember it, in the late 80s/early 90s, there was only one FM frequency available, but two different groups that wanted it - KOOP, a community group led by Jim Ellinger, and KTSB, student-run radio on the University of Texas campus broadcasting on cable.  I remember the two sides truly hating each other and being completely unable to talk to each other in any rational way.  Fortunately, by the mid-90s a judge had resolved the dispute and told the two groups they would have to share the frequency.  Sounds goofy, but it worked.  And we now have even more great radio in Austin, from shows focused on local environmental issues to the always fun Elk Mating Ritual Show, hosted by Master Pancake Theater leader and UT doctoral student John Erler (hey another artist who is a DJ!).

Ausinites, consider yourself lucky to have great radio.  Truly. Oh, and be sure to donate to KUT, KVRX, or KOOP!

Farmer’s Market

Originally uploaded by klikr~

Today is Good People Day on the intertubes, as announced by Wine Library’s Gary Vaynerchuk. This movement happens to coincide with my desire to start profiling people who are doing great things here in Austin. I’d like to mostly focus on people doing work “under the radar” - the unsung heroes.

Yesterday, at a volunteer training for the Sustainable Food Center, which operates the Austin Farmer’s Market downtown and also now at the Triangle on Wednesday afternoons, I met lots of good people. One person I learned about, but didn’t actually meet, is Martha Cason, who teaches at Garza High School here in Austin. Here’s an article about her from Edible Austin. She’s doing important work to help the younger generation learn about where their food comes from, by involving kids in cultivating Garza Gardens. This is so crucial for so many reasons - an obesity epidemic, which is related to the quality and types of food that we eat; climate change, which isn’t helped by the fact that most of our food is shipped thousands of miles; and a growing isolation that results from a lack of fun, outdoor activities for kids.

Three cheers for the Sustainable Food Center and Garza Gardens’ Martha Cason!

After seeing the article about the Shady Grove RV park closing in yesterday’s Statesman, I desperately had to know if Pecan Grove RV Park was also slated for replacement by condos. Even though Barenakedfamily.com declared that this is “not your Grandma’s RV park,” my grandmother actually lived at Pecan Grove back in the ’90s. So I spent a fair amount of time getting to know her neighbors, who became some of her last true friends. Nana, as I call her, was definitely young at heart and didn’t like hanging out with most people her own age. And the RV park, right on Barton Springs Road, was perfect for her.

So today I went by to check and see if Pecan Grove was also in danger. According to the one resident I spoke with, the owners have no intention of selling anytime soon, but that is what then-Council Member Daryl Slusher told me about ten years ago about the owner of Shady Grove. So we’ll see.

Status Quo vs. Change
Having lived in and around Austin most of my life, I definitely have mixed feelings about the pace and face of change, like the conversion of a cool, beautiful RV park full of lovely pecan trees to very expensive condos. I’d rather people not buy into the new developments that have only increased the need for more and bigger highways. I know that real estate has gotten more and more expensive in the central city because more people want to live there. It’s unfortunate that people of limited means, including the artists and musicians that make Austin wonderful, have fewer and fewer places they can afford to live. What’s to be done? I don’t know.

In this blog, I’m going to explore Austin’s change, which doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Stay tuned.