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- Come On Down!!!
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...
- Come On Down!!!
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News & Politics
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
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
23
2006
0Treehugger reports on the Earthship trend happening in the UK.
The developers, Biotecture, claim the homes will be so energy efficient they will have no utility bills.
Gotta love 'em.
The homes offer a way of tackling two of Britain's biggest environmental concerns - the growing waste mountain of discarded tyres and the high...
Mar
9
2006
0On Tuesday we got an email from the neighborhood listserve about a web site set up by the city's cleverly named "Task Force" to take public input about housing building codes.
One of the top topics is called, "'Good' & 'Bad' Examples: Single Family Houses", where people are encouraged to drive around and take pictures of their...
Mar
10
2006
0I have not been able to avert my eyes from the continuing train wreck that is the public input web site for the Task Force. Today I saw something I expected. A citizen, we'll call him "Wreckingball" posted a disparaging comment about a house, with an address, suggested that it had been built without a permit, and then recommended...
Apr
16
2006
8We regularly get flyers on our front door that publish recent selling prices for houses in our neighborhood. They encourage us to cash out. It feels like vultures circling our house. Christiane and I know 5 families that have moved out because they couldn't buy a bigger house here. Usually getting pregnant is the trigger....
May
10
2006
2The fed raised rates again. Aside from the more obvious deadline of the baby, there is the cost of renting each additional month, getting building materials before they go to Louisiana and Mississippi, and the race to get the house done before interest rates go up too much. We are on a construction loan, so our actual mortgage...
May
14
2006
10People who see our house seem to assume that we got permits just before the moratorium and that our house would otherwise be an outlaw. Far from it. We are building about 2200 sqft. Under the moratorium rules, we could have build about 3800 sqft.
This week the TF (Task Force) has fired another shot across our gable. Angled...
Jun
20
2006
5The US Congress has recently passed a bill that would end Network Neutrality on the Internet and it will soon be up for a vote in the Senate. This is an issue anyone who has a blog or web site, or works for a small company, or cares about free speech should be interested in.
There is a lot of misinformation on the internet....
Feb
5
2007
3
Walmart is trying to build in our neighborhood. Not one of those cute little Walmarts you see on the highway -- this would be the biggest Walmart in Texas. Two stories, 225,000 square feet (1000 times larger than Erwin House). They want to keep it open 24 hours. The ass end of a 3-story parking garage would face the street....
Feb
6
2007
3If you are one of our local Austin, Texas readers, please mark this Saturday, February 10th, at 9:30 on your calendar. We will be at Northcross Mall with several thousand neighbors showing support for our neighborhood and protesting the super-mega-ultra-giga-Walmart that Lincoln Properties is trying to stick there. We will...
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...
Mar
6
2007
0Lincoln Properties and Walmart hosted an open house last night. It was creepy. Even 7yo picked up on the creepy vibe and clung to me the whole time we were there.
The first thing that struck me was all the high-res renderings, maps and aerial photos of the design. I had to drive to a conference center on a Monday night...
Sep
6
2007
1If you haven't heard, the real estate market ain't doin' so well these days. Mortgage lenders are shutting down faster than 6th street at 2am. Homeowners are balking at the new rates their ARM's are adjusting to. Housebloggers are... well, what are housebloggers up to in light of the housing bust?
Newsweek reported this...
Jan
28
2008
10Austin imposed a moratorium on "McMansions" while we were in the midst of renovating (and super-sizing) Erwin House. In the spring of 2006, our city council unanimously voted in favor of certain restrictions which would limit the size of residential developments in single-family neighborhoods.
Although David and I agreed...
Feb
3
2008
6
We now interrupt this houseblogging moment to make a political announcement.
If you haven't already heard, Barack Obama is bringing record number of voters to the polls including independents and Republicans. Here in Texas, one of the reddest states in the country, we see our conservative neighbors and friends showing...