Austin Real Estate Blog

A recent article in the Statesman demonstrates Austin’s commitment to creativity within the city.  According to the article, a new “Create Austin Cultural Master Plan” was recently presented to the City Council after completing two years of planning.

As part of the master plan, a private nonprofit alliance would be formed in order to provide a variety of services to the creative community in Austin, including offering legal services, insurance coverage, and marketing resources.  The plan also calls for consolidating the cultural functions of the city into one municipal department.

Developing the plan involved getting input from numerous private and public sector leaders.  They then developed the plan, which provides a ten year plan for

Austin has been so successful at building up its economy that leaders from other parts of the nation are visiting the city in order to learn its secret to success.

On June 5th, a group of around 300 community and business leaders from Lexington, Kentucky visited the city to learn more about how the city is developing its economy.  The visit was arranged by Commerce Lexington Inc, which is a business and recruiting organization.  During the three day visit, these leaders met with Austin officials and take tours of key points of interest.  The purpose was to take a closer look at Austin’s successes as well as the challenges Austin has had to face in certain areas of development.

The Lexington leaders and officials were mostly interested in the success

The Austin area already offers a wide variety of opportunities for pursuing higher educational goals.  With the help of Concordia University’s new satellite campus, however, Austin residents can enjoy one more option for launching a new career or honing their professional skills.

The new Concordia University satellite campus is located at 7701 N. Lamar Boulevard and has already started its first round of classes.  In fact, just this week, around 350 students started taking their classes at the campus.

The new 20,400 square foot downtown campus is mostly used to house its College of Adult Education, which offers programs that are meant to help adults earn a degree while still holding onto their full time jobs.  The campus also offers a Master’s of

Although the nation is quite concerned about the possibility of a recession and despite the fact that many are struggling to keep or to find a job, the city of Austin appears to be doing white well.  In fact, according to a story published by Daily Texas Online, the overall availability of jobs in the Austin-Round Rock area has actually increased by 16,800 since last May. 

While the increase in employment opportunities is down when compared to the growth seen from May 2006 to May 2006 – which saw a 38,700 job increase – it is still encouraging to see that growth has taken place over the past year as well. 

In all, Travis County has seen an increase in employment opportunities each month.  According to the Texas Labor Market Review, the county has

Those who have visited or lived in Austin are fully aware that the city has always been full of creative vision.  One shining example of this vision is the Mueller development that is taking place in East Austin.

Unlike some cities, Austin viewed the moving of its airport as an opportunity for expanding the city.  Rather than leaving the 711 acre plot of land sitting empty after the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport was moved in 1999, the city decided to transform the land to an urban village.

Once the Mueller development is complete, the city will have an entirely new district for those looking to live in the Austin area.  As part of its creative vision, the development will implement a number of forward-thinking design elements.  For example, every

The city of Austin is serious about going green.  In fact, the city is so serious that it has actually launched a new website aimed at help Austin residents learn how they can reduce their personal carbon footprint.

Deemed the Austin Climate Protection Plan, the website provides users with useful information about community events and initiatives taking place that will help them learn how to lower their carbon emissions.

The site offers a variety of tips and information for residents that are interested in going green.  This includes information regarding installing solar panels, planting trees, reducing greenhouse gases, and weatherizing the home.  It also provides information on current legislation and other steps the city is taking toward being

Austin residents are always looking for ways to make their city safer.  To that end, a group of organizers from Safe Kids Austin recently staged a demonstration at Garrison Pool located in South Austin.  The purpose of this demonstration was simple:  to remind parents and children to be safe while swimming in one of Austin’s many area pools.

According to researchers, drowning is the second most common cause of accidental death in children ages 1 to 14.  With so many taking time out of their days to cool off in the pool, organizers of the event don’t want to see a tragedy occur.

"What we see unfortunately is older children who may not have strong swimming skills and even after hours are getting into areas around water - unsupervised - and that

If you love to ride your bike, either as a means of commuting to and from work or because of the simpler pleasure of biking, you will be thrilled to learn about the biking improvements the city of Austin is looking to make.  In fact, the City of Austin’s Street Smarts Task Force, which was launched by Lance Armstrong and Mayor Will Wynn back in March of 2007, has put together a report that includes 100 recommendations for improving the ride of bikers.

Among the recommendations, the report calls for putting in new street markings as well as bike route signs.  It also identifies a need to offer cyclist safety education courses and to implement a requirement for motorists to maintain a distance of at least three feet from cyclists. 

Making

According to a recent story in the Austin Daily Herald, Austin Public Schools can pat themselves on the back for a job well done.  The MCA-II testing results for both grades 3-8 and 10-11 have come out, and the results look promising.

The Herald reports that the students performed about the same as last year, falling at around the average mark for the state.  Some grades even showed improvement over last year.  In math, for example, the fourth grade students performed better than they did while in third grade.

“We’re looking at the majority of our grades increasing,” said John Alberts, director of educational services.

10th grade students also showed improvement.  In fact, they scored quite well on the GRAD portion of reading, which is important

Austin police officials are going the extra mile in order to make certain the streets stay safe.  In fact, officials are gearing up to launch the Compstat program, which will help them look at daily crime statistics while also determining methods of implementing more aggressive law enforcement tactics in areas that receive a higher rate of crime.  By looking for the crime “hot spots,” the city plans to more efficiently and effectively assign  offers to patrol.

"I think it will have a tremendously positive impact in terms of efficiency and responsiveness of the organization," Police Chief Art Acevedo said in the Statesman. "It will also be a tool for organizational accountability. If we are going to provide commanders with data, we expect them to be