Hey, did you know that the U.T. Intramural Fields have a name?  Neither did I.  For 25 years, I’ve just called them the IF.  Apparently they’re called the Whitaker Fields or the Whitaker “Complex.”

Live and learn.

And here is some more trivia.  Apparently U.T. hasn’t done anything with the Whitaker Complex since 1980.  That was the last time they updated the turf, fences, and facilities. They think it is about time to spiff up the place, and they’re raising money for a $20 million improvement project.

They seem to be committed to a face-lift that, at a minimum, would include new lighting, new sod, a better irrigation system, and some repairs to existing facilities.  But they’d like to raise money for a more ambitious project that would include:

• A “Championship Corner” with stadium-like amenities for intramural championships, club tournaments and special events
• Synthetic fields to allow for year-round usage regardless of weather
• A new, relocated and expanded support facility known as the “Gateway Building” with lockers, vending, meeting and training space and single access to the site
• New perimeter fencing and security systems to protect the space for current students and other eligible users
• New energy-efficient lighting and irrigation systems to provide green energy and reduce the carbon footprint
• Additional restrooms and water filing stations to improve user comfort
• Shade structures, seating areas and landscaping plantings to create more comfortable spaces to gather
• Portable softball diamonds, bleachers and goals to accommodate a multitude of events and activities

I can’t really wrap my mind around the idea of a “portable softball diamond,” but I can sure get behind a better lighting system and a better irrigation system.

Let’s just hope this work doesn’t involve kicking out the hundreds of Monk Parakeets that live in those light towers.

Did I forget to mention that Maudie’s Tex-Mex is now open in The Triangle?

Sorry about that.

The popular local chain has been expanding, and they’re giving the Triangle a try.  This is the second Tex-Mex restaurant in that location, and hopefully Maudie’s will do a little better than the last one. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Maudie’s is the restaurant of choice for Bill Clinton when he is in town. If it’s good enough for the former POTUS, it’s surely good enough for us, right?

Also, the re-imagined strip-center formerly known as Lincoln Village — now reborn as “The Linc” — will soon be home to Vivo, the trendy and popular Tex-Mex restaurant that was on Manor Road for over 10 years.  Apparently Vivo had irreconcilable differences with their landlord, and they decided to shut down their restaurant on Manor and look for a new home. And new owners.  Because apparently the “irreconcilable differences” involved a lawsuit over vandalism that is still finding it’s way through court.

The new owners found a new home at The Linc, and plan to open in early summer with a large patio, an expanded menu, and “Tequila Classes.” (No, I’m not making that last one up — apparently they think we need to learn a thing or two about drinking tequila…)

The Linc is claiming they are going to have a whole “row” of restaurants opening this year in an effort to bring vitality and traffic back to the once-trendy shopping center. (It was… trust me… Lincoln Village really was an upscale shopping experience when it first opened…)  Vivo is the first restaurant I’ve heard of that will go into this “row,” but it’s a darn good start.

Bobby Vasquez, owner of the Tamale House #3 on Airport Boulevard died this past weekend.  The future of the iconic eatery is unclear at this point, but no matter what, it will never be the same.  If you haven’t seen the episode of Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” that featured the Tamale House, it is worth watching.  (The Travel Chanel has 3-minutes of delightful Austin episode here.)

Yes, it’s true.  Visitors to our neighborhood will soon be greeted by a sign that says “Hyde Park.”  It will be the sign outside the new “Hyde Park Apartments” that are under construction at the corner of Ave. F and Koenig — on the very NORTHERN edge of our neighborhood.  The 210-unit apartment complex with underground parking is slated to open by the Spring of 2015. (See the registered site plan here.)

A few malcontents have suggested that we officially change our name from NORTHFIELD to “Hyde Park-ish,” but that just lacks the regal tone struck by our new monicker.

Hopefully other neighborhoods will not be jealous to this promotion in our status.  Perhaps some day, if they try really hard, all neighborhoods in Austin can be named “Hyde Park.”  After all, when Monroe Shipe first built Hyde Park in 1880s, the tiny little neighborhood barely reached as far as 45th Street.  Over time, though, Hyde Park spread like a bad rash up to 51st Street.  It seems inevitable that it should continue to spread until all of Austin is included under the protective jurisdiction of Hyde Park.

In the mean time, let’s all plan to be at the opening of this apartment complex in the Spring of 2015 to greet each of our new neighbors and welcome them to NORTHFIELD … um… I mean “Hyde Park.”

It looks like Lincoln Village is in for a face-lift.  The new owners are trying to re-brand the somewhat sparsely populated shopping center as “The Linc.”  There may be some more substantial changes in the distant future, but for now, they seem to be planning to just spruce up the existing structures and hopefully breathe a little life into the once fashionable shopping center.  (Check out their vision and plans on their website.)

One business that apparently will NOT be a part of the new “Linc” vision, though, is Gold’s Gym.  They are in the process of moving into the recently vacated Shepler’s Western Wear store between Middle Fiskville and Koenig roads.

Twin Liquors, which is headquartered on Airport Boulevard just south of Koenig Lane, is under investigation by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) for possible connections with drug-trafficking and money-laundering operations committed by the Yassine brothers (sentenced to federal prison last year).

The TABC claims that Twin Liquors was involved in the illegal operations conducted by Yassine Enterprises, and has filed suit in an attempt to revoke the Twin Liquors permits to sell alcoholic beverages.  This lawsuit, if successful, would effectively close down the entire company and shutter their 20+ Austin-area stores.  Twin Liquors also supplies countless Austin-area bars and restaurants.

Twin Liquors will be allowed to continue operations while defending themselves against this lawsuit.

by Sebastian Wren

Thanks in very large part to efforts by members of the Northfield Neighborhood Association, the Austin City Council voted this week to reduce occupancy limits from 6 unrelated adults to 4 for all new-construction single-family residences. This means that, starting today if an investor wants to tear down a single-family home and build rental units with the sole intention of renting them out by the room, that developer should understand that he will only be able to rent out those units to 4 unrelated adults.

This is a very effective and reasonable approach to dealing with proliferating problem of short-term rentals and “stealth dorms.”  This encourages families to live in homes designated by land-use code as “Single-Family,” and helps to close a loophole that has long been exploited by investors and developers looking to make a substantial profit at the expense of the quality of life of near-by neighbors.

People who have been expressing opposition to this change in regulations claimed that this would limit the availability of affordable housing in central Austin, but that argument has been soundly debunked by statistics showing that the new-construction stealth dorms have actually been contributing to the loss of affordable housing, as the new stealth dorms are much more expensive than the older, smaller houses they have been replacing.

Others complained that this change in regulations was just an example of the “landed gentry” trying to kick college students out of the neighborhood, but nothing could be further from the truth.  Despite the colloquial name “stealth dorm,” most of the stealth dorms are not actually rented by college students.  Rather, the typical renter in a new-construction stealth dorm is a financially prosperous person — typically male, and in their late 20s — who enjoys a “party barn” or “frat-house” lifestyle.

College students have always lived in Northfield, and they will continue to be welcome here.  Even the UT college newspaper, The Daily Texan, acknowledged that a reduction in occupancy limits would not affect students at UT, and thus endorsed the City’s new regulations in an editorial.

The resolution passed this week, however, is time-limited to 2 years. Northfield neighbors will need to continue to work to ensure that the “single-family” designation for development in our land-use code continues to promote a high-quality of life for single families, and we will need to work with city council to change this reduction in occupancy limits from a 2-year moratorium to a permanent reduction.

For starters, we must work hard to make sure that the 11 City Council members (including the mayor) who are up for election this November commit to permanently reducing occupancy limits for single-family residences before they are elected.  Absolutely nobody should be elected in this city this November if they are unwilling to promise to preserve and protect the quality of life that families enjoy in Central Austin.

Apparently the iconic Austin restaurant, The Omelettry, which has been located at 4811 Burnet Road for over 35 years, is looking for a new location — and they’re looking around Northfield.  The lease on their building expires in 2015, and the owners of the building they have rented since 1978 have declined to renew the lease.  Hence the need for a move.

The owners of the Omelettry have indicated that they would like to relocate to Airport Boulevard, close to the Highland Austin Community College campus.  In addition to the thousands of students who will be attending school at Highland ACC, the Omlettery would also benefit from all of the Travis County employees who will soon be housed at the Airport Boulevard office complex, plus the thousands of people who will be living in new residential and mixed-use structures planned for the Boulevard.

The Omlettery would provide a “local flavor” alternative to national chain restaurants, such as In-N-Out Burger that are also moving to the area.  Every sign points to a rapid and significant re-invention of Airport Boulevard over the next few years, and restaurants and businesses are realizing they need to move quickly to get the most prime real-estate options at the most reasonable prices.

If you had 1 minute to explain what you love about this neighborhood, what would you say?  What about the things you hate?  That’s basically what the City is asking for in a process they’re calling “Character in a Box.”  As part of the effort underway to rewrite the land-development code for the entire city, we are being asked to quickly, succinctly define and describe character features we like and don’t like in our neighborhood.

What do you like about the houses?

What about apartments and condos?

What about businesses and shops and offices?

How do you get around?  Do you drive?  Do you like sidewalks?  Bike lanes?

How many parking spaces should be required for a home or business?

What do you think we could do better?

A “Character in a Box” meeting is a chance for you to answer these questions.  The city is rolling out these meetings in the coming weeks, and there will be several chances to participate here in Northfield.

Stay tuned for information about planned meetings.

As development projects and the accompanying traffic continue to change the face of our neighborhood, a few forward thinking neighbors decided to work proactively with city staff from different COA departments to start working on plans to mitigate the problems that come along with development.  Shannon May and her husband Jeremy May worked with Gonzalo Comacho to organize a neighborhood meeting with representatives from many diverse departments from the City of Austin.

Last Saturday morning, representatives from COA Connectivity, Watershed Protection, Parks and Recreation, Bicycle and Pedestrian, Traffic Management, and Capital Metro met with concerned Northfield-area neighbors to talk about the city’s plans for projects that will affect this area of Austin.  The meeting also attracted Councilmembers Chris Riley and Kathie Tovo who were very eager to participate in this dialog with neighbors.  Councilmember Mike Martinez was not able to attend, but sent a representative on his behalf.

This was an amazing and unique opportunity, not only for neighbors who attended this meeting, but also for City Staff who seemed to enjoy the opportunity to work across departments to look at issues such as pedestrian amenities, traffic and parking control, and bicycle infrastructure.  These issues are all highly related, but often different city departments handle different aspects of the same problems, and don’t have as many opportunities to collaborate as one might think.

For example, in our neighborhood, currently several streets have been torn up to replace the sewer system.  One would think the city would take that opportunity to also address bicycle, pedestrian, and traffic problems along those streets — the city is rebuilding the street anyway, why not take care of some other problems that exist on that street at the same time?  Unfortunately, the city doesn’t really work that way (although they know they should, and they certainly do try).  Departments tend to work in silos, and collaboration across silos on projects is difficult.

However, the city staff who attended the Northfield meeting on Saturday were very enthusiastic about the opportunity for cross-departmental collaboration in our neighborhood.  The excitement in the room was clear, and the opportunities for collaboration between neighbors and other city departments to make projects more comprehensive and integrated were obvious.  We just need to get together and work with the city staff to use our tax dollars efficiently, and maximize opportunities for improvement.  The city staff were very eager for this collaboration — the Northfield neighbors just need to do our part.

The neighbors who organized this meeting are very grateful to the people turned out for the City presentation event at Dayspring on Saturday, and they are very hopeful that even more people will attend the next meeting on February 15^th.

The city staff described several projects that are in the planning stages right now including:

•  Improvements to bike lanes along North Loop

• Substantial changes to the intersection at Ave. F and Koenig

• Substantial changes to Airport Boulevard

The meeting on February 15^th will be an opportunity to gather input and ideas from Northfield neighbors about those projects as well as other desirable projects that the city SHOULD be considering.  Northfield neighbors are strongly, strongly encouraged to attend the workshop on February 15^th at Dayspring Chapel.  With your input, we hope to push beneficial agenda items through to the city to have a positive impact on our neighborhood’s quality of life.