OWANA, Old West Austin Neighborhood Association Meeting Fall 2024. GVM's in-person reporter notes

 September 17th, 2024, OWANA Meeting Notes, In-Person Attendance via GVM, me. Meeting occurs @ Mathews Elementary School on West Lynn. 7 pm to about 8:45-9 pm.

Mike Sullivan OWANA Lead Member, is looking for Steering Members and Volunteers.

Chris Hurst, is the current OWANA Lead Chairperson. Chris is an Architect, and on a Zoning Committee.

1st up to Speak not in-person, but on video was Mayoral Candidate Carmen Llanes Pulido. The Carmen Political Video pitch and following talk went on about 10-15 minutes. Her  political advocate stated Carmen was working on a trip in Detroit, Michigan.

2nd & next up was Current Central Austin elected 2 year Councilman Zo Qadri

• Zo has been in elected office for 2 full years now
• Zo holds office hours and will meet in-person with his voting constituents or will even meet with them via Zoom if that is better
• Zo has helped the City of Austin grant and give money to the Cast Med and Heart Programs
• He achieved successful City of Austin funding for the Downtown Red River Cultural District
• He is for a climate bond
• He is aware of the pending 1209 West 5th street zoning case

Questions/Statements from OWANA members for City of Austin current sitting rep Zo Qadri

-Owana Member, "Can you help protect our Historic Districts, and perhaps specially the West 5th and West 6th street Corridors, Can you limit new building height to 75 feet?"

Audience Question. What has been the easiest and most difficult actions now that you have been in office for 2 years?

Zo, "Working with other people is very important, especially the 9 other City Council Members that are elected with me. I often wonder, "Why Can't We just Do this?". Zo says there are too many planning departments. Zo says he has issues trying to clean up Downtown Austin and with the Police." 

OWANA member question for Zo. "Why did you, or the Austin City Council eliminate parking requirements? Another audience member from Hyde Park also complained about the newly passed ordinance which removed City of Austin parking requirements.  Zo responded to the elimination of parking complaints, "parking in general is a big issue and I'm willing to have conversations with my constituents if they would like to."

Owana members then universally complained about gas powered lawn equipment, specifically the noise created by gas leaf blowers. The Owana members seem to detest the loud noises and lawn equipment daily sounds. 

One key OWANA member projected that, "Developers use the allure & promise of Affordable Housing as a Trojan Horse to get their new developments approved, and then once approved they never actually build affordable housing. "

Owana Member Question,

"Can the City of Austin's infrastructure handle all of this new development?"

Councilman Zo leaves the OWANA meeting on a positive note and encourages everyone to register to VOTE. He said OWANA can help him, by communicating their feelings and what's happening to him directly.

Next Up Kathie Tovo, the former City of Austin City Councilperson for 3 full terms spoke for a very long time, and even took longer on a Q&A session. 

Kathie Tovo is currently running for Mayor. She talked a bunch; 35 minutes at least. At this point in time, the meeting was starting to go long and boring and OWANA members honestly just got up and starting leaving the meeting and Mathews Elementary School Grounds. 

• A common problem and major OWANA issue remained the "Homeless Problems in Austin & Central Austin." Or as the politicians state, "the chronically unhoused population."

The remaining OWANA members and audience were privy to a more joyful, and concise presentation on the future of the NAU's Mixed Used Development site on West Lynn, West 12th and Eason Street. The Speaker for this was OWANA member, Clarksville resident and architect Miguel Rivera:

• Miguel vehemently denied the rumor that Waterloo Records on West 6th and Lamar would be moving their commercial space to this new Clarksville Mixed Used Project ( I GVM heard, thought & asked this rumor)
• Miguel stated the project would have 1 large Restaurant Space
• All of the Parking will be Underground Parking with Very limited to Zero Surface level parking
• The New Mixed Use Residential and Commercial Project will have between 3,4 and 5 stories of height throughout
• Miguel and the Developers specifically called out Austin Energy for being difficult to work with
• Construction is slated to begin in "at least 1 year from now." So Maybe Fall 2025? 
• 4 Residential Clarksville Homes on Eason Avenue have been purchased and will be demolished for the new Mixed Use Development
• the Residential Component is tentatively going to be 28 total Residential Units each with a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom floorplan and 1500 sq. ft in Living Space Size.
• After the meeting I personally got to  chat with Miguel and he acknowledged that the Nau's New Mixed Used Development project is LARGE in scope and he hopes to keep the coveted "walkability of Clarksville within it."