The Austin scene of Web designers and usability experts, technologists, social media enthusiasts, game developers, and beyond seems to be thriving, with an almost overwhelming number of groups and corresponding events every week.

• Refresh Austin - for Web designers and developers working to keep it fresh. The next meeting is Tuesday, May 13^th.
• Geek Austin – their blog includes interviews with lots of tech industry and startup stars. Geek Austin and Refresh Austin are hosting a WordPress Fest on May 21^st to celebrate the release of the blogging software’s version 2.5.
• Jelly Austin! – although not exclusive to tech workers, this co-working group meets currently every Friday at Café Caffeine.
• Creative Commons Austin Salon - this group advocates for Creative Commons, which “provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry.” They have a Google group and meet occasionally.
• 501c Tech Club - affiliated with NTEN, the Nonprofit Technology Network, this group meets monthly although I don’t see the next meeting date’s info on the site. (If you’re interested in the intersection of technology and nonprofits, check out the great blog FISpace.)
• Austin High Tech Happy Hour – is just what it sounds like.
• Social Media Club - a fairly nascent group of social media professionals and enthusiasts whose next meeting is May 15th.

Speaking of co-working, if you do freelance work, often work from home, or are starting your own business, you might be interested in the work of Conjunctured, a co-working company and the forthcoming LaunchPad, a co-working space (so you don’t have to go to your local coffeeshop all the time and you can have a place to meet, make copies, etc.)

Only listeners to KVET seemed to be following this issue up until a day or so ago. Up until about that time, it was not under discussion on neighborhood listservs around town, which leads me to conclude that more people should be reading the local daily and the Chron from cover to cover, not to mention listening to KVET. There’s a resolution forming the “Energy Efficient Retrofit Task Force” with an unwieldy number of members. The task force is due to report to the city council on or before June 1 (see agenda item 64 from December 13). Its next meeting is set for tomorrow. Today’s newspaper feature has given the gift of greater visibility to the Keep Austin Affordable site (”Austin Realtors question plan to require efficiency upgrades for older homes: City says complaints are premature, alarmist,” byline Katie Humphrey).

Why should those of us who seldom or never consume over 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity pay for the ever-growing consumption caused by those evidently compelled to build in a cornfield, tear down a perfectly good structure and construct a monster in its place, or “remodel” by expanding an existing house by four or five times? Only this morning, we learned that additional tree limbs will be sacrificed in our vicinity to add a transformer “required” because voltage is now “insufficient.” Somebody’s recently installed multi-kitchens and other upgrades and proliferations of electricity-operated conveniences in a bloated edifice demand this service upgrade; not only that, another outfit of the same sort will soon be completed and is likely to “require” the same sort of service upgrade, with accompanying destruction.

So much for affordable housing. So much for preserving Austin’s shade canopy.

Someone besides me (and the people who made all those printed copies disappear) has read the recent audit report that took an in-depth look at operations of the police department. As I did, reporter Tony Plohetsky paid particular attention to the fascinating section that recommends abolition of the APD aviation unit. When I wrote about this before, I noted that the daily’s report was brief.

Today’s analysis goes quite a way toward remedying the oversight. The on-line version lacks some of the accompanying sidebar material that enriches the print feature: “Police Department defends helicopter program as audit suggests cost-cutting measures: Some say Air 1 too costly to stay airborne” is the on-line title; the print version headings are different and include this language: “Helicopter unit is under scrutiny” and “Department, auditor disagree over cost-effectiveness.”

There’s a big opportunity cost involved. How many staffed patrol cars would be available on the ground for the amount invested in this aviation unit? Without the night-time disruption caused by noise 500 feet above and the lurid beam of the searchlight sweeping yards and rooms, how much better would we all sleep? My disposition would certainly improve. The reporter does not mention or analyze the factor of rising fuel costs. I wish that somebody would.

Over at the Mexican-American Cultural Center this afternoon can be found hours of free family fun. Local favorites Los Texas Wranglers will step up to play conjunto music at 5 pm. In the meantime, expect food, ballet folklorico, mariachi, and more. There are many power lines and poles and much major construction in the sightlines at the new MACC, but also a fine view of the downtown skyline. This is the first time I’ve been to the MACC grounds since the building was completed, and I’ve yet to explore indoors.

We didn’t find signs of anything doing at Fiesta Gardens this afternoon, but tomorrow evening starting at 4 pm (Monday, May 5, itself) there will be a small program, including a conjunto fest with lots of returning favorites. Known to be on the program are Johnny Degollado, Los Fantasmas del Valle, and Dueto Carta Blanca (Jorge y Mague). According to the schedule, this year’s dance contest with Johnny Degollado will be after the mariachi (6:30 to 7) and Los T-Birds (7 to 7:45) and before Carta Blanca (8:30 to 9:30) and Los Fantasmas (9:30 to 10:30). Adult admission for all that music is just five dollars. The bandstand and the dance floor, along with the seating area, are under a roof that protects from whatever the weather brings.

There’s a big free do out at the Expo Center today, with big-time music (Diana Reyes and also Banda el Recodo!) on the program from across la frontera, but the MACC and Fiesta Gardens events are traditional family-centered local attractions right here in the heart of town.

It was the day that I saw one too many “Teamwork” posters that I was happy to discover Austin’s own Despair, Inc. Perhaps teamwork is falling out of favor as a workplace theme, because once-ubiquitous saturated photos of a crew on the water from a low overhead perspective, or even any parodies of that sort of poster, are less often to be found in those places where people earn their daily bread, if anecdotal evidence beyond my own experience is to be trusted. Even the Despair people have just one teamwork image that I can find, and the locale is not near the water. The current NYT Sunday magazine calls national attention to the Despair people, focusing on the “Worth” concept (”Empowering by Disempowerment,” byline Rob Walker, 4/27/08).

There are those who still believe in self-improvement as a personal conscious endeavor and, if the account in the local daily (byline Sarah Coppola; see links under photograph for itemized lists) is to be believed, one of our council incumbents is among them. An opponent made a public information request and now has used the results in an amusing four-page full-color mailer that displays images of selected invoices discovered among materials elicited following the PIR. I don’t know how I’m going to vote yet, but I’m not overjoyed to know that taxpayer dollars went to buy 20 copies of “Now, Discover Your Strengths.” And fish food?

Thanks to a new initiative by the Despair people, while feigning to look deeply engaged in the proceedings of meetings that are boring in the extreme, you can occupy yourself by mentally designing your own demotivational poster (which image should be accompanied by which heading and which “inspirational” language?).

Thanks for all the great comments on my post of last week about the potential development of a number of lots on South 1st street for VMU. I know you’ll find it hard to believe, but I really hadn’t heard, been told, emailed or otherwise heard any gossip etc. about the development of any of the properties mentioned.

I set off this morning to walk down S 1st to drop my weeks shirts at Capitol Cleaners on S 1st. There it was, it wasn’t there yesterday, a big board advertising the “Live at Elizabeth” development, 24 luxury condos and commercial space, on the east side of south 1st on 3-floors, right opposite Bouldin Creek Coffee shop, official address 1407 South 1st.

It’s described as a “mixed use” development, and is being done by architect Michael Hsu and local developer Scott Trainer. Jon Hill at Travis Real Estate confirmed by phone it is being done as a Mixed Use development, so no affordable housing, but it does mean they’ve had to include the required number of parking spaces, some 40-odd.

There will be a candidate forum on Thursday, May 1, from 6:30 to 8 pm at the city council chambers (301 West Second). Those running for seats on the city council have been invited. Major issues are disparities in patrols and other APD staff coverage. Based on City response to a public information (what we once knew as “open records”) request, a presentation (by public-spirited citizens Linda Yeatts and Lori Renteria) is available analyzing assignment of police officers and concluding that APD staffing is not adequate and is not distributed proportionately and fairly in accordance with such factors as population density, volume of calls to the dispatchers, or per-capita incidence of violent crime. Another conclusion that some have drawn is that police coverage (along with proposed alterations in public transportation coverage) is biased toward downtown business and tourism interests. Early voting has begun, but there’s still plenty of time to mull things over before the May 10 election. The League of Women Voters non-partisan guide is now available, but this forum on public safety is especially important for decision-making since we have a new police chief in town. If you want to know exactly what areas are covered by which of the area commands, good luck! The most recent on-line information about district or area commands does not appear to have been updated. If you find current information on the APD site, please do let the rest of know.

As doublegood reported recently, not only is Capital Metro planning drastic changes to the Dillo service downtown, they are proposing schedule changes across the system. Although the public hearing on the issue was held last night, the only aspect of the changes that the local daily focused on was the proposed removal of the “Capitol transit center” which is really just a bus stop that happens to serve a large number of lines. Cap Metro is proposing moving this stop to 10^th Street (removing the stop from a couple of lines) because the Governor and State Preservation Board asked them to “for security reasons.”

Although I think the Guv is being silly, I don’t know if this one change should be the focus of news coverage. There is a huge list of changes. Strolling down South Congress this weekend, I spoke with one of the shop owners and she really didn’t understand why they were cutting off the Orange Dillo’s service down South Congress. Many tourists, locals, and students use it to get to SoCo, not only on the weekends and during SXSW, but regularly throughout the year. I am personally concerned as I’ll be moving to the area soon and am hoping to use the Dillo or the bus instead of clogging the road with one more car.

Again, there are a number of changes across the system that are being proposed. If you ever ride the bus or think you may start riding the bus because of rising gas prices, climate change, stress levels from driving, or a desire to keep or witness Austin at its weirdest (I was hoping to link to a post by a friend of mine of the guy stripping on her bus ride, but oh well), then you might take a few minutes to check out these proposed changes and e-mail your comments to planning@capmetro.org. Although I don’t know how good Cap Metro is at responding to public comment and actually incorporating it into their planning, they need to know that people are paying attention!

That’s not one of the formal categories for describing the size of hailstones these days, but that’s what hit this moring, and plenty of them, although they were later dissolved by the continued force and volume of the downpour. The NWS hazardous weather outlook issued this morning at 5:38 did mention the possibility of hail. At 7 o’clock sharp, there were bright flashes of lightning and loud claps of thunder. The skies opened up almost immediately and the hail came soon thereafter. Our bush beans are beaten to the ground, along with lots of flowers. Many streets south of the river are carpeted with tree and other vegetal debris. The winds were high enough to strip green leaves from the live oaks and flowers from the pecans. All the excitement pretty much subsided in 40 minutes or so, with intermittent light showers since. I’d imagine that trees will have gone down in some parts of town. It’s now nearly 9:30 and fairly heavy rains are beginning again.

We approached the new Long Center for the Performing Arts on foot. Even though we had printed a little map, this building does not read well for pedestrians, and we haven’t even been to the Palmer Events Center since it opened, so everything about the grounds these days was new. After going inside the new Gypsy Italian Bistro, which was full, to inspect the promising menu, we headed for what we hoped was the safest street crossing, selecting the one by the Daugherty Arts Center, where we felt reasonably secure. It was wonderful that the moonlighting law-enforcement people directing traffic on the grounds gave precedence to pedestrians. What a treat, and how unusual for Austin!

The Long Center doesn’t read well for those approaching for the first time, and on foot. It appears to be designed for entry from the parking garage, which we did not use. People are already wearing informal footpaths where walks should go, not where they really are. The batteries in my toy camera failed, so I have no image to show here, but the terrace facing the river and downtown offers one of the most spectacular night-time views to be seen anywhere, and I think certainly the most amazing skyline view in Austin.

I’d suspect that the peculiarities of parking at the Long Center accounted for the fact that nearly the entire audience was seated in the five or ten minutes after the scheduled 7:30 curtain time. On our level of the building, at least, men and women lined up side by side to go into the restrooms, offering scanty facilities for men and not much larger ones for women. The lighting is not flattering, to say the least. Exit signs in the large performance venue are well lit for the audience. I did not use any elevator in the building, but the stairways do not seem to be as commodious and well marked as they ought to be, should there ever be an emergency. The seats in the big hall offer much more leg room than those in Bass Hall. Row markers and seat numbers are not easily legible.

Restroom lines moved with reasonable dispatch, but not so quickly that it was possible to explore the various lobbies. I’ve written elsewhere about the acoustics, experienced so far at just one performance. I look forward to attendiing performances other than opera, in order to gain a different perspective on how well this building works.