Results of city council meeting about ESPP

I think Jason summed it up best. I was sitting right behind him as he was typing this up.

Update (9:23pm): There were two people who showed up for the variance, and about 25-30 cyclists who opposed it. After a bit of discussion the board decided to delay their decision for another month so that Lee could meet with the neighborhood association. Several members of the board wanted to move to deny the motion (specifically boardmembers King and Van Olen), but they got beat to the punch by the motion to delay. One board member mentioned how parking his dually on that street effectively blocked traffic, and agreed with the adverse effects increased street parking would have. This was a good outcome.

Next meeting is November 10. More later, but everyone's leaving for beers and I'm going with. Good work y'all! See you in a month, same bat time, same bat council chamber.

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Update (9:13pm): We got first crack at the podium. Lee went first, after which 6 other ESPP-friendly speakers said their peace. We went 2-minutes over, so the people seeking the variance were also given an additional 2 minutes. Since most of the points of street usage, community and historical preservation were covered, I mentioned how it would impact the commuter cyclists of the east side if the shop were removed.

The guy seeking the variance is saying that Lee's business has nothing to do with the building or the variance requested, and should have nothing to do with the issue.

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Update (9:00pm): It's on. The guy who's speaking on the two ladies' behalf is a hard-ass.

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Update (8:56pm): If you want to read the motion for variance in its' entirety, you can do so here:

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/agenda/2008/downloads/e12c1520080138_101308.p...

Their specific request is to waive the requirement for a minimum of 12 off-street parking spots if they're to remodel the building for use as a restaurant or (in this case) a cafe. This would force patrons to park on the street, increasing the use of right-of way by parked cars and also increasing the danger to bicycles of being caught in the "door zone" of a parked car. Since there are no bike lanes on this portion of 6th St. and there's no way of widening the street, allowing this variance would only take away from the limited amount of pavement through which a cyclist can navigate their way down the street. Talk about some bullshit.

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Welcome to ATXBS' VERY FIRST Liveweblog! Oh shit! That's right, we're getting with the times...

Speaking of time, you've still got time to get down here and sign the paper to help keep them from shutting down East Side Pedal Pushers with this zoning variance. The wheels of justice turn slowly, and this is taking forever. There's probably another hour of this crap before they get to Lee's case, so if you're in the area bike down to City Hall at Caesar Chavez and Guadalupe, enter the front door (leave your contraband at home), and sign this thing. If you're on Lee's side, this is how you want to sign the paper:

C15-2008-0138 - Against - Your Name - Your Address

Afterwards we're gonna grab a drink (if I can convince everyone else to go). Hope to see y'all here!



So there you have it. The next meeting is on November 10th. Not sure what time it will be, but hopefully it won't take as long as it did this time. I was there for three and a half hours.


OLC