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Community PhotoVoice
The Group The Community Photographers
A COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT 2011
Airport Boulevard

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What is PhotoVoice?
Your neighbors and local business owners came
together and took photos of what they consider to be
the good, the bad, and the ugly about Airport Boulevard.
They wrote brief descriptions for why the photos matter
to them and collectively decided which photos and words
might create the most compelling presentation of the
community’s interest in Airport Boulevard redevelopment.
This presentation is intended to help you continue
the conversation about Airport Boulevard with your
neighbors, church groups, employees, and anyone
else you may know.
Location of All Photos

3. The Purpose of PhotoVoice
 Promote discussion about what you think is important for
Airport Boulevard
 Prepare you for the Vision and Design discussions
Assessment (Spring and Summer 2011)
 Mapping current conditions - Stakeholder and other meetings
Vision (Summer and Fall 2011)
 Define goals and opportunities - Public workshop and outreach
Design (Fall and Winter 2011)
 Design charrette - Illustrative master plan - Transportation Corridor Study
Code (Spring and Summer 2012)
 Form-base code – Regulation plan – Development standards
Action (Fall 2012 and Beyond)
 Implementation plans – Public Investment – Private development
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You are here

4. Discussion ThemesThe group discussed
themes to help them
create ompelling
slides.
A presenter could
integrate these
themes into their
presentation.
Airport Boulevard:
 Feels like a wasteland, disjointed and
unsafe
 Strongest asset is its unique local
businesses
 Has natural assets that need to be
improved and maintained
 Needs to become accessible to all users
and connected to its neighboring
communities
 Needs a unifying public or civic vision of its
unique character
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5. Airport Boulevard assets, things we celebrate and want to keep.
Community PhotoVoice:
THE GOOD
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6. Community-oriented
redevelopment is
important for
the health of
Airport Boulevard
• Local business
• Within mixed-use buildings
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Photographer: Tiff Ting

7. Who doesn't love
Lammes Candies?
• A landmark
• Local business
There should be better connectivity
from businesses to the surrounding
neighborhoods
Photographer: Kim Johnson
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8. Photographers: Cindy Black, Al Breitenbach
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The New Airport Boulevard
should make
provisions for
Quality Seafood
• Thriving local business
• Fun for Family

9. Photographers: Cindy Black, Jill Csekitz
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Unique local businesses should be promoted
along the new Airport Boulevard
• Seedy-chic, funky,
unique to Austin
• Established, thriving
• Need improved
infrastructure/connectivity

10. House Pizzeria represents everything desirable
about a local business
Photographer: Charlotte Harris
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• Successful repurposing
of a building
• Attractive design including
shady outdoor spaces,
rear parking, etc.
• It's local, environmentally
conscientious, and
good food

11. • Obsolete buildings and use of land
• Design should resolve parking,
impervious cover and connectivity
for this type of location
Photographers: Tony Velasco, Al Breitenbach, Melissa Martinez
Unique, landmark local
businesses that are important
to keep, but . . .
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12. • Good “pocket” businesses are opportunistically filling small
spaces
• There can also be competing demands for public rights-of-way
and land uses
Photographers: Tony Velasco, Jenny McWilliams, Vanessa Gelvin, Kim Bernson
Airport Boulevard is a complex place
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13. Airport Boulevard should welcome art and invite play
Photographers: Sandra Calderon, Kim Davis, Jessica Galloway
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• Support creative use of existing opportunities
• Create new opportunities for community spaces for play, art & civic activities

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Photographers: Al Breitenbach, Jill Csekitz, Kim Johnson, Jenny McWilliams
• Support purple martin and bat populations
• Enhance and maintain the greenway as green space
• Create and maintain a trail on the entire greenway
Airport Boulevard has natural assets to protect and enhance
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15. Photographer: John Schwoeble
Could the entire greenway have these?
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• Good covered seating areas
and a shade trellis
• Manicured drainage
channel
• Colorful pedestrian
walkway
• Planted vegetation
• Buried utilities

16. Airport Boulevard does have some pleasant walkways
• The area is well maintained
• The sidewalk is wide and not right on the street
• Trees can provide shade
Photographers: Kim Johnson, Vanessa Gelvin
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17. The bike lane and
sidewalk separated
from the road
• Feels safe
• Invites use
Photographer: Kim Johnson
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Airport Boulevard is not a shady place
Photographer: Charlotte Harris
• These trees were
planted as a
community effort
to provide much
needed shade
• Trees can also
hide the ugly wires
and poles

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Things that we want to improve: safety, connectivity, shade, better use of land.
Community PhotoVoice:
THE BAD

20. Most of Airport
Boulevard is hostile
for pedestrians
• Road design and a
lack of coordinated
signalization increases
frustration and potential
for conflicts
Photographer: Tony Velasco
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21. Photographer: Lisa Wright, Sebastian Wren
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Many places along Airport Boulevard are
not pedestrian friendly, accessible
• No sidewalk/ curb cuts without sidewalks
• Still enough people use them to create a
desire line
• Need to complete the sidewalks
• Need shade

22. Complex Intersections:
Does this really feel safe and inviting?
Photographer: Melissa Anderson
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• Incomplete crosswalks, poor
sidewalk connectivity, a train
crossing, and a second
street/intersection with
50 feet of each other.
• Yet drivers, pedestrians,
bicyclists, elementary school
children have to negotiate
this intersection.

23. Photographer: Jill Csekitz
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• Too many lanes of traffic,
too wide, cross walk lights
are too short
• Confusing intersection
even for motorists
The Lamar / Airport intersection is difficult for everyone

24. • The redesign MUST
keep Koenig from being
a barrier to people
• Connectivity across
Airport to neighborhoods
is a critical issue
Photographer: Sebastian Wren
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Koenig Bridge is an intersection designed for cars only

25. Photographer: Kim Bernson
• Great new bus
pad
• BUT: No sidewalk
• No crossing
Connectivity is Important
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26. It’s a sidewalk, really?
• Redevelopment should
address new design and
needed improvements
• It should also
address maintenance
Photographer: Bryan Dore
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27. Can we solve several problems at once?
• Need to create safe/attractive pedestrian facilities
• Need to address storm water management
• Maybe one solution can integrate both solutions
Photographer: Vanessa Gelvin
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28. Is not well-kept, uninviting, and potentially unsafe
• Need a workable maintenance program
Photographer: Melinda Bilich
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29. Need connectivity from
neighborhoods to Airport
Boulevard, includes
crossing the train tracks
especially for pedestrians
and bicyclists
Photographer: Sebastian Wren
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We can’t get there from here

30. Airport Boulevard
redevelopment should
create jobs
• Redevelopment should create
opportunities to work for all types
of workers
• Add to the health of the local economy
Photographer: Tony Velasco
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31. • Need good lighting
throughout corridor
for all users
• Particularly need
lighting around
businesses expecting
people to walk
Photographer: Elizabeth Quintanilla
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Airport Boulevard is dark, inhospitable
and unsafe at night

32. • It's sad that these oaks are some of the oldest trees along Airport Boulevard
• Need to preserve the trees that are already established and add more
Photographer: Jenny McWilliams
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Airport Boulevard needs more trees, more shade!

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Things to improve, that also have an aesthetic role in Airport Boulevard.
Community PhotoVoice:
THE UGLY

34. The Sea of Asphalt
Photographer: Damon Howze
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• Need more
aggregate/shared
parking
• Need better
use of land
• Design for less
impervious cover
• Design for more
green, more shade

35. Photographer: Sarah Talkington
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Small things will matter
• Exposed dumpsters
junk up the place
• When the truck comes to
pick it up, the small pieces
of trash (not in bags) placed
in the dumpster by
pedestrians are dispersed
by the wind along
the boulevard

36. Businesses need to be good neighbors
Photographer: Cindy Black
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• This used car/tire
yard pays no
attention to its right
of way
• Barbed Wire: Appears
that they are more
interested in keeping
people on foot out
than inviting people in

37. Several ghost
"towns" haunt
Airport
Boulevard
Photographers: Tiff Ting, Charlotte Harris, Bryan Dore
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• "For lease" signs and empty storefronts should not be the norm for the
sake of the local economy and neighborhood morale
• Redesign land use and “seas of asphalt” into places that can thrive

38. Crass commercial dominates
the public interest
Airport Redevelopment should balance:
• Rampant impervious cover
• Cars stacked on top of each other
• The lack of a designated sidewalk
• The signage
• The lack of vegetation or shade
• The overhead power lines
• The misuse of public property
Photographers: John Schwoeble, Jessica Galloway, Lisa Wright
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39. Do we really
want a place
where art
is overpowered
by clutter?
Photographer: Jenny McWilliams
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Need to work with
public utilities to see
if power lines can be
hidden below ground

40. So much is wrong
in this picture
• Ugly, overpowering
billboards
• Unattractive, single
purpose use of land
• Poor pedestrian
connectivity
Photographer: Sarah Talkington
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41. This slide says it all
Photographer: John Schwoeble
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• There is a lack of a cohesive
public use between Airport
Boulevard and the rail
road tracks
• Less than attractive
implementation of power lines,
intersection, billboard signs
• Need a commitment
to maintenance

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Where to go from here?
• Get ready for the Vision Workshop in September
• Does Airport Boulevard have portions (zones) that share common
characteristics?
• How should the roadway function and how do car lanes, bike lanes,
sidewalks, trees, etc fit together in the rights of way?
• Where are the best opportunities for redevelopment?
• What are the priority public infrastructure investments?
• What else is important to you?
• To give or share this presentation with your neighbor, employee, or
church group you can get the PowerPoint at Airportboulvard.com
• If you want help or to let us know what your learned, email us at
AirportBoulevard@ci.austin.tx.us

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Join the conversation
www.AirportBoulevard.com
If you
LIVE
WORK
SHOP
PLAY
STUDY
INVEST
DRIVE
WALK
RIDE
or belong
on Airport
Boulevard
You can help
make it better.