I think this should also be Austin's development mantra:

If we just changed our zoning so that anywhere you have a single family home you could build a double with a carriage house in back, you would triple the effective residential density of Indianapolis without any change to the visual scale of the city. Moderate densification is what we need.

from here.

Just got finished reading another press release from the Republican party headquarters that CNN passed off as an "editorial". Let me see if I can sum up the Republican Party Platform:

• Let's cut taxes. If a Democrat is cutting taxes it won't work because they're spending too much. We are against tax cuts by Democrats because our middle name is Goldilocks, and Democratic proposed tax cuts are too big/too small/too hot/too cold, while ours are just right.
• Let's cut spending. If a Democrat proposes cutting spending they're actually going to increase spending. This is a fact of nature. If someone points out times that Republicans increased spending we point out that all Democrats do is blame past Presidents.
• When in doubt blame Bill Clinton.
• Democrats are out of touch with the voters. If the majority of Americans approve of what Democrats are doing, it's due to the bias of the mainstream media.
• Democrats have no plan. Republicans have a plan. The plan the Democrats just told you is not really a plan. Especially that really detailed plan with all of the dates and numbers. The Republican plan is not just to oppose the Democrat plan. And it no longer includes any of the things that were in the plan previously, but had to be taken out because Obama has put them in his plan.
• If Obama proposes any of the things we want to do, we immediately say he's lying or call him a socialist. We must protect America from the creep of Obama's socialist tax cuts.
• When in doubt blame immigrants and/or gays and/or inattentive parents.
• It is important to box ourselves into a corner as much as possible. Criticize the President for spending too much. Criticize cuts that do not affect Social Security, Medicare, or the Military as ineffectual. Criticize the president for not supporting the Military and wanting to cut Medicare and Social Security.
• Criticize as ineffectual any of our proposals the President suggests in an attempt to win our support.

I know it's a press release because it cites Karl Rove as though he were someone who could provide one with unbiased facts.

Drove by 801 Barton Springs today. The neighborhood really, really needs to avoid opposing this if they want to continue to be invited to the table. It's a tiny parcel of land sandwiched between an 8 story building and a 5 story building. Look at the street view.
Can you honestly say that a multi-story building would not be the best use of that location?

So an update to this post. It turns out the Amili "South Shore" as it is called will not have a parking garage facing the water. They've actually built another building in front of the parking garage, putting them a couple hundred feet closer to the water front. So just imagine the old pictures, but with a building even closer to the water that goes up to the very top of the parking garage and is covered in a mixture of stucco and brick. It's basically like all the rest of the apartment complexes currently on the lake. This is the sort of thing I wish Save Town Lake was fighting. It's a massive eyesore from across the lake.

But instead I found out today they're fighting a development at 801 Barton Springs. I actually probably agree with their reasons that this project doesn't need to be a PUD. But apparently it's part of the waterfront overlay. I'm baffled by this. How far does the waterfront overlay go? For those not in the know this is the old "Filling Station" restaurant location that has been a beautiful location of urban blight with views of the Palmer Parking Garage and host to a snow cone trailer. You could not feel farther from the lake at this location.

I'm not a fan of a lot of development going on on the lake. I ran the trail again just today, and the girls and I walked it Sunday. I really love the trail and lake. But I really don't understand this fighting development that's so far from the lake. I feel like energy needs to be saved for the stuff that's really endangering the waterfront like the Amili South Shore.

Currently I have to feed Punky the cat a pill every night to keep her alive. This pill must be handled with a latex glove. The irony of that is not lost on me.

Last night I realized that latex gloves are awesome for making sound effects. Specifically the amplified sound of a cockroach. Put one on, and tap a quick tattoo on your fingers. You'll have the ladies running.