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Community PhotoVoice

The Group The Community Photographers

A COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT 2011

Airport Boulevard

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What is PhotoVoice?Your neighbors and local business owners came together and took photos of what they consider to be the good, the bad, and the ugly about Airport Boulevard. They wrote brief descriptions for why the photos matter to them and collectively decided which photos and words might create the most compelling presentation of the community’s interest in Airport Boulevard redevelopment.

This presentation is intended to help you continue

the conversation about Airport Boulevard with your neighbors, church groups, employees, and anyone else you may know. Location of All Photos

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The Purpose of PhotoVoice Promote discussion about what you think is

important for Airport Boulevard Prepare you for the Vision and Design discussions

Assessment (Spring and Summer 2011) Mapping current conditions - Stakeholder and other meetingsVision (Summer and Fall 2011) Define goals and opportunities - Public workshop and outreachDesign (Fall and Winter 2011) Design charrette - Illustrative master plan - Transportation Corridor StudyCode (Spring and Summer 2012) Form-base code – Regulation plan – Development standardsAction (Fall 2012 and Beyond) Implementation plans – Public Investment – Private development

You are here

Discussion ThemesThe group discussed themes to help them create ompelling slides.

A presenter could integrate these themes into their presentation.

Airport Boulevard: Feels like a wasteland, disjointed and

unsafe Strongest asset is its unique local

businesses Has natural assets that need to be

improved and maintained Needs to become accessible to all

users and connected to its neighboring communities

Needs a unifying public or civic vision of its unique character

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Airport Boulevard assets, things we celebrate and want to keep.

Community PhotoVoice:

THE GOOD

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Community-oriented redevelopment is important for the health of Airport Boulevard• Local business• Within mixed-use

buildings

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Photographer: Tiff Ting

Who doesn't love Lammes Candies? • A landmark• Local business

There should be better connectivity from businesses to the surrounding neighborhoods

Photographer: Kim Johnson

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Photographers: Cindy Black, Al Breitenbach

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The New Airport Boulevard should make provisions for Quality Seafood

• Thriving local business• Fun for Family

Photographers: Cindy Black, Jill Csekitz

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Unique local businesses should be promoted along the new Airport Boulevard• Seedy-chic, funky,

unique to Austin• Established, thriving• Need improved

infrastructure/connectivity

House Pizzeria represents everything desirable about a local business

Photographer: Charlotte Harris

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• Successful repurposing of a building

• Attractive design including shady outdoor spaces, rear parking, etc.

• It's local, environmentally conscientious, and good food

• Obsolete buildings and use of land

• Design should resolve parking, impervious cover and connectivity for this type of location

Photographers: Tony Velasco, Al Breitenbach, Melissa Martinez

Unique, landmark local businesses that are important to keep, but . . .

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• Good “pocket” businesses are opportunistically filling small spaces

• There can also be competing demands for public rights-of-way and land uses Photographers: Tony Velasco, Jenny McWilliams, Vanessa Gelvin, Kim

Bernson

Airport Boulevard is a complex place

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Airport Boulevard should welcome art and invite play

Photographers: Sandra Calderon, Kim Davis, Jessica Galloway

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• Support creative use of existing opportunities• Create new opportunities for community spaces for play, art & civic activities

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Photographers: Al Breitenbach, Jill Csekitz, Kim Johnson, Jenny McWilliams

• Support purple martin and bat populations • Enhance and maintain the greenway as green space• Create and maintain a trail on the entire greenway

Airport Boulevard has natural assets to protect and enhance

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Photographer: John Schwoeble

Could the entire greenway have these?

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• Good covered seating areas and a shade trellis

• Manicured drainage channel

• Colorful pedestrian walkway

• Planted vegetation

• Buried utilities 

Airport Boulevard does have some pleasant walkways

• The area is well maintained• The sidewalk is wide and not right on the

street• Trees can provide shade

Photographers: Kim Johnson, Vanessa Gelvin

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The bike lane and sidewalk separated from the road

• Feels safe• Invites use

Photographer: Kim Johnson

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Airport Boulevard is not a shady place

Photographer: Charlotte Harris

• These trees were planted as a community effort to provide much needed shade

• Trees can also hide the ugly wires and poles

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Things that we want to improve: safety, connectivity, shade, better use of land.

Community PhotoVoice:

THE BAD

Most of Airport Boulevard is hostile for pedestrians• Road design and a

lack of coordinated signalization increases frustration and potential for conflicts

Photographer: Tony Velasco

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Photographer: Lisa Wright, Sebastian Wren

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Many places along Airport Boulevard are not pedestrian friendly, accessible

• No sidewalk/ curb cuts without sidewalks• Still enough people use them to create a

desire line• Need to complete the sidewalks• Need shade

Complex Intersections: Does this really feel safe and inviting?

Photographer: Melissa Anderson

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• Incomplete crosswalks, poor sidewalk connectivity, a train crossing, and a second street/intersection with 50 feet of each other.

• Yet drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, elementary school children have to negotiate this intersection.

Photographer: Jill Csekitz

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• Too many lanes of traffic, too wide, cross walk lights are too short

• Confusing intersection even for motorists

The Lamar / Airport intersection is difficult for everyone

• The redesign MUST keep Koenig from being a barrier to people

• Connectivity across Airport to neighborhoods is a critical issue

Photographer: Sebastian Wren

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Koenig Bridge is an intersection designed for cars only

Photographer: Kim Bernson

• Great new bus pad

• BUT: No sidewalk

• No crossing

Connectivity is Important

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It’s a sidewalk, really?

• Redevelopment should address new design and needed improvements

• It should also address maintenance

Photographer: Bryan Dore

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Can we solve several problems at once?• Need to create safe/attractive pedestrian facilities• Need to address storm water management • Maybe one solution can integrate both solutions

Photographer: Vanessa Gelvin

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Is not well-kept, uninviting, and potentially unsafe

• Need a workable maintenance program

Photographer: Melinda Bilich

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Need connectivity from neighborhoods to Airport Boulevard, includes crossing the train tracks

especially for pedestrians and bicyclists

Photographer: Sebastian Wren

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We can’t get there from here

Airport Boulevard redevelopment should create jobs

• Redevelopment should create opportunities to work for all types of workers

• Add to the health of the local economy

Photographer: Tony Velasco

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• Need good lighting throughout corridor for all users

• Particularly need lighting around businesses expecting people to walk

Photographer: Elizabeth Quintanilla

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Airport Boulevard is dark, inhospitable and unsafe at night

• It's sad that these oaks are some of the oldest trees along Airport Boulevard• Need to preserve the trees that are already established and add more

Photographer: Jenny McWilliams

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Airport Boulevard needs more trees, more shade!

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Things to improve, that also have an aesthetic role in Airport Boulevard.

Community PhotoVoice:

THE UGLY

The Sea of Asphalt

Photographer: Damon Howze

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• Need more aggregate/shared parking

• Need better use of land

• Design for less impervious cover

• Design for more green, more shade

Photographer: Sarah Talkington

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Small things will matter• Exposed dumpsters

junk up the place

• When the truck comes to pick it up, the small pieces of trash (not in bags) placed in the dumpster by pedestrians are dispersed by the wind along the boulevard

Businesses need to be good neighbors

Photographer: Cindy Black

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• This used car/tire yard pays no attention to its right of way

• Barbed Wire: Appears that they are more interested in keeping people on foot out than inviting people in

Several ghost "towns" haunt Airport Boulevard

Photographers: Tiff Ting, Charlotte Harris, Bryan Dore

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• "For lease" signs and empty storefronts should not be the norm for the sake of the local economy and neighborhood morale

• Redesign land use and “seas of asphalt” into places that can thrive

Crass commercial dominates the public interest Airport Redevelopment should balance:• Rampant impervious cover

• Cars stacked on top of each other

• The lack of a designated sidewalk

• The signage

• The lack of vegetation or shade

• The overhead power lines

• The misuse of public propertyPhotographers: John Schwoeble, Jessica Galloway, Lisa Wright

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Do we really want a place

where art is overpowered by clutter?

Photographer: Jenny McWilliams

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Need to work with public utilities to see if power lines can be hidden below ground

So much is wrong in this picture

• Ugly, overpowering billboards

• Unattractive, single purpose use of land

• Poor pedestrian connectivity

Photographer: Sarah Talkington

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This slide says it all

Photographer: John Schwoeble

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• There is a lack of a cohesive public use between Airport Boulevard and the rail road tracks

• Less than attractive implementation of power lines, intersection, billboard signs

• Need a commitment to maintenance

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Where to go from here?• Get ready for the Vision Workshop in September

• Does Airport Boulevard have portions (zones) that share common characteristics?

• How should the roadway function and how do car lanes, bike lanes, sidewalks, trees, etc fit together in the rights of way?

• Where are the best opportunities for redevelopment?• What are the priority public infrastructure investments?• What else is important to you?

• To give or share this presentation with your neighbor, employee, or church group you can get the PowerPoint at Airportboulvard.com• If you want help or to let us know what your learned, email us at

AirportBoulevard@ci.austin.tx.us

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Join the conversation

www.AirportBoulevard.com

If you LIVE WORK

SHOP PLAY

STUDY INVEST DRIVE

WALK RIDE

or belong on Airport BoulevardYou can help

make it better.