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You're the next contestant on the Erwin House Guess Our Massive August Electric... - Flipping Out
Technically speaking, I am not against flipping. David and I have posted about it before,... - Happy Father's Day Indeed!
Baby Erwin was born at home, 4:27am Saturday June 17th, 2006. 8 pounds 3 ounces (give...
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Brentwood/Crestview
Feb
7
2006
1From the Austin Chronicle
"At last Thursday's City Council meeting it was McCracken vs. McMansions. A resolution initiating changes to city code to ensure that development is consistent with existing neighborhoods, sponsored by McCracken, passed unanimously. Council is set to vote on similar interim rules at tonight's meeting...
Feb
7
2006
0Regarding David's previous entry on the proposed moratorium for adding on to inner city homes, I find the cover story of the Austin Chronicle rather enlightening. Another proposal, this time facing the Austin Independent School District, suggests closing under-enrolled schools (like our own Brentwood Elementary) starting...
Feb
10
2006
5I feel very privileged to have attended part of last night's City Council meeting to discuss the moratorium on building "McMansions" within the Austin metro area. Along with a crowd of angry residents who were indignant to have found out at the last minute that the Council intended to halt permitting new construction and remodeling...
Feb
13
2006
0Last week, I attended the City Council meeting to address the "McMansion Moratorium." The Statesman reported that
Of those who signed up to speak, 268 were against the moratorium, 103 in favor, and 8 neutral. Fearing a never-ending hearing, the council limited comment from each side to one hour, then abandoned its usual...
Feb
14
2006
0
IMG_1583
Originally uploaded by cmwoodley.
Spring must be around the corner because I've caught the gardening bug.
I was driving around our neighborhood admiring some of the landscaping people have done. I started taking pictures, but when I got home I noticed that it isn't really the right time of year to do justice...
Feb
18
2006
3We got a notice in the mail alerting us to an application for site development at Crestview Station (where the old Huntsman chemical plant rests in peace).
The applicant is proposing to construct four multi-family buildings and four parking garages, with associated streets and utilities.
The applicant in question is Bury...
Feb
22
2006
0I just stumbled upon www.crestviewstation.com.
Seems to be a quickie site. They just posted a pdf of a print brochure and translated it to Flash. Still, there are grainy maps and artists depictions. The PDF is 1,143 KB, and has the most detail. I'm sure there is a lot to learn, but for now it all looks like good news. I'm pretty...
Mar
1
2006
3On Valentine's Day, I found myself at Amy's on Burnet getting a bowl of Belgian chocolate to-go for my Valentine. As I was walking back to my car, I noticed a half-built bar on the other side of the building with two brand new shining taps. Boy, do I love living here.
So here is a short list of the businesses around here...
Apr
5
2006
4Someone posted an interesting article to our neighborhood listserve recently. It expresses some of the concerns our neighborhood retailers have with Crestview Station, the new mixed-use development that will be created on the northeast edge of our area.
With neighbors who have been there since its beginnings, most of its original...
Apr
20
2006
4I've been chewing on two comments for the past couple of days, and I just can't get them out of my head. Both are from neighbors. The first, from Paul, who came to our open house and chatted about a possible addition for his growing family:
We did get a bid from one contractor before reaching that decision, which was interesting....
Apr
26
2006
2I got an email today from Realty Austin. They wanted to show off their new home searching tool. Check it out!
Pretty cool, eh? I don't think those are all the houses for sale in our neighborhood--there is one down the street that isn't on there. Still, gives you a really good idea how many homes are on the market in a general...
May
7
2006
0Yesterday's Violet Crown Festival was the best ever. It was packed to the brim with cool people, great music, tasty eats, and talented artists showcasing their work. Don't forget the kids' events: plenty to do this year from balloon jousting and bouncy castles to giant chess and rock climbing!
While there, I made sure...
Jul
15
2006
7Flipping is so common in our neighborhood that people regularly pester our contractor and subs about when our house will go on the market. Our 6yo says we should put a Not For Sale sign in the yard.
The house across the street from our rental is a flip. In the past 6 months they bought it, added 400 sqft, and put it back...
Jul
23
2006
3
Peter's House, Our Temporary Home
Originally uploaded by daviderwin.
Have I mentioned how awesome our rental experience has been?
A million times, I have wanted to blog about our rental. This place rocks. Hardwoods, ceramic tile in the kitchen, and a HUGE covered back porch that was a lifesaver for the kids on hot or rainy...
Aug
4
2006
0
Did I mention that we have the coolest neighbors evah?
Tuesday evening, we enjoyed a National Night Out party hosted by our neighbors on Pasadena, Jack and Layne (I might not be spelling that correctly, hm...). It was a refreshing reminder of the power of community.
I met some of our older residents, those that have been...
Aug
24
2006
19Technically speaking, I am not against flipping.
David and I have posted about it before, about our neighborhood and the fact that the vultures are circling as Austin booms and the houses begin to crumble. We don't live in an historic area, and there is little necessary to save of most of the homes here. Once farmland...
Nov
16
2006
4Shortly after we moved back into our house, we had a regular visitor. He never knocked or introduced himself, but he did park across the street and point at our house a lot with contractors in tow. We're pretty sure we saw the same pickup truck parked in front of this house:
Seeing this little blue house stripped to the boards,...
Feb
7
2007
2This is what the neighborhood is asking for instead of a monster Walmart. It is mixed use retail/office/residential. It's nice. We would go there. Roll your mouse over to see the current mall.
Trammell Crow is building a similar development (Crestview Station) on the other side of our neighborhood. Nobody is protesting...
Feb
10
2007
6This morning over 2500 of my neighbors showed up to protest the bloated Walmart that Lincoln Properties wants to jam in place of the rotting corpse of Northcross Mall (eew!). We made a ring not just around the mall, but around the whole block. By my estimation (using Google maps) the line was about 6000 feet long.
I really...
Apr
19
2007
0Two small boys.
One baby.
One puppy.
One kitty.
Soccer.
Piano.
Two jobs.
Freelance architectural renderings.
One start-up door company.
And...
This is the 5th year of the Violet Crown Festival. We went to the 3rd as a date. We went to the 4th as husband and wife (9 months pregnant). This year we go as Co-chairs.
To be fair,...
May
9
2007
1The Violet Crown Festival was just 4 days ago, but it feels like it was forever ago. It was a dominant part of our world for 3-5 months but within 24 hours after the festival, we were back to our normal routine.
To re-cap, Christiane and I co-chaired the festival. Really, she chaired it. The day of the festival Christiane...