About Austin's East Riverside

To celebrate their amazing start, Rio's Brazilian Cafe is hosting a Grand Opening party on Sunday, July 25th, from 5pm to 10pm. DJ John Moon will spin Tropicalia, a 60s era Brazilian music revolution that got greats Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil exiled to Europe.

EsquinaTango, a nonprofit dance and cultural center, will have a Samba demonstration and mini dance class, and Team Ronny Lis, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy, will demonstrate the art of Jiu-Jitsu and give pointers on self-defense.

A free raffle will include prizes from Ana Brasil, Justines Restaurant, EsquinaTango, and a Kit Caipirinha, which has all youll need to make the national drink of Brazil.

Specials will include $1 Lone Star drafts and $2.50 Brazilian Hot Dogs, a delicious wiener-in-a-bun topped with corn, potato sticks, peas, parmesan cheese, mayo and more.

Families are welcome, and dogs can hang out on the patio.

Rios Brazilian Café is located at 408 N. Pleasant Valley Rd, just north of Cesar Chavez and catty-corner to the Capital Metro headquarters. The grand opening celebration will take place on Sunday, July 25th from 5pm to 10pm.

ben.googins@gmail.com
http://www.HowDoYouRio.com

512-828-6617

This previous Monday evening, May 17th, I attended the "Regulating Plan Kickoff Meeting"for the East Riverside Corridor Master Plan. I wanted to take some time to spread the news around about what is in the works. As I sift through the "Vision Statement", wonderfully written by the way, I take note of some interesting improvements:

• The possibility of light rail right down Riverside Dr. all the way to the Airport.
• Doing away with the large, annoying parking lots on either side of the street and replacing them with businesses/buildings that come right to the street
• "Pedestrianizing" Riverside Dr, i.e. making it safe and appealling to walk down the street
• Putting in Bike lanes and a Hike and Bike path, connecting to Lady Bird Lake?
• Establishing 4 primary transit stops for either light rail and buses, and building those spots for increased public access
• More parks and public open spaces, more trees!
• Increasing the amount of through roads to connect streets off of Riverside Dr.

The meeting was very helpful as an introduction to the plan, albeit somewhat technical. I did get an idea of what the plan will accomplish. Over the next year, the plan will initiate some zoning changes. There have already been some zoning changes, making Riverside Dr. a "Core Transit Corridor". Now Riverside Dr. is worthy of "major road" status. Essentially, the main thing that will change is zoning, what you can and can't do with buildings and open spaces. It will take another year to work out the details, but the only changes that will happen depend on developers in the area. Oh, and a light rail train that MIGHT be built by the city.

My main question is this: When and how will this effect home values in the East Riverside Dr. neighborhood of Austin? Is it a good idea to move into the area? Will we see more condominiums, more retail, and more people? Contact me if you have an interest in these questions.

During the meeting, the possibility of creating a "Working Group" of both local residents, business owners, design professionals, and community developers was discussed. The Working Group's main task would be to provide continuity through the process, and raise questions from the public to City of Austin Staff.

I intend to stay up-to-date on the East Riverside Corridor Master Plan, so anyone can contact me for information.

Here's to Progress!

(pictures courtesy of The City of Austin)

It is no doubt that the East Riverside Corridor is an important area to Austinites - many of us travel it regularly to go to the airport & it is a diverse neighborhood very close to downtown. It is also another part of East Austin that will be undergoing a 'redevelopment'.

Consultants A. Nelessen & Associates have gathered ideas for the future of the Corridor & on Nov. 18th, you will have a chance to see these plans & give your opinion of whether or not they 'got it right'.

At this meeting, they will discuss the ideas they have gathered from public input & share the designs they came up with based on that input. This is a great chance for all of us to see what the future holds for the Corridor & give opinions - help create a better Austin!

The meeting takes place Tuesday, Nov. 18th, 2008 from 6 - 8pm at Baty Elementary School, 2101 Faro Drive.

Visit the site to get more info: www.eastriversidecorridor.com

Read a great article I found about East Riverside in Austin.

East Riverside/Oltorf Austin Neighborhood
At first glance, this area looks like apartment central and there is no doubt hundreds of apartments fill the area, some catering to students, others working families and still others aimed at the young, professional market. But after years of what some have called neglect, Austin city planners have turned their attention to the area and much-needed lifestyle infrastructure improvements, particularly parks, are getting big infusions of funding.

There are three main areas of apartment development -- East Riverside Drive, East of Interstate 35; East Oltorf Street, also East of the interstate; and Montopolis Drive, which runs North-South between Oltorf and Riverside. Austin Community College's Riverside campus is located on Grove Boulevard, just West of Montopolis. The Riverside campus is noted for its technology programs, which are enhanced by the nearby presence of the Advanced Micro Devices campus, located between Ben White Boulevard and Oltorf.

AMD is one of the city's largest employers and its decision to move to Southeast Austin, plus the development surrounding Austin-Bergstrom Airport to the East has boosted the neighborhood. AMD and partners are committed to building nearly six miles of trails in the area to link Roy Guerrero Colorado River Park in the North to Mabel Davis District Park South of Oltorf. Mabel Davis reopened in late 2005 after a $6 million restoration effort. It now boasts an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a full basketball court, trails and picnic sites.

Roy Guerrero Park is a diamond in the rough that is also scheduled for big improvements. The 363 acre park is as big as Austin's crown jewel, Zilker Park, and it links the Riverside Golf Course with the West of IH-35 extension of the Town Lake Hike and Bike Trail. Apartments, many of them older complexes, along the Southern bank of Town Lake have direct access to the greenbelt and also some great views of the downtown skyline.

Riverside Golf Course is the former Austin Country Club where Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw learned to play. Open to both members and nonmembers at very reasonable daily fees, the course is another of those hidden gems in this Southeast neighborhood. Another popular sports facility is the Krieg Field Softball Complex, home to many of the city's softball leagues and a colony of monk parakeets who have nested in the utility poles.

In addition to its outdoor resources, East Riverside/Oltorf has a busy, urban feel with an abundance of diverse, affordable restaurants, many of them with their ethnic roots in Asia and Latin America. There is good budget shopping in the area's strip malls, plus large grocery stores, dry cleaners and laundromats and a branch of the University Co-op on Riverside Drive. There is easy access to IH-35 and downtown, but rush hour traffic is usually slow, especially where the interstate crosses Town Lake into the downtown area.

Check out the new waterfront condos going up at 35/riverside called star riverside www.starriversideaustin.com

See FREE video content for 40+ downtown Austin condos: http://www.youtube.com/perrytexas

If you like what you see, check our company website too. www.livewelldowntown.com