The subject of this blog post, dear gentle reader, is a May 1, 2017 op-ed in the Austin American-Statesman by Volma Overton, Jr., son of the Austin civil rights icon: Commentary: Bills would accomplish what UT hasn’t — secure Muny’s value I have great regard for Volma Overton, Jr. But this opinion piece is not […]
Continue ReadingThanks to my long-suffering and loving wife and children I was able to attend yesterday’s Austin City Council Audit and Finance Committee hearing. The centerpiece of the meeting was the presentation of the city auditor’s most recent audit of the historic preservation department. Jo Clifton of the Austin Monitor also attended the meeting and filed […]
Continue ReadingMost local observers understand that the way Austin does historic preservation—actually how it does not do historic preservation—is in need of a significant upgrade. The city has simply grown too large for the small town approach pioneered by the late Betty Baker in the mid 1970’s. At it’s Thursday, January 26, 2017 meeting Austin’s city […]
Continue ReadingOn Monday November 21st at 7:00 p.m. the City of Austin’s Historic Landmark Commission will meet to consider historically zoning the last remaining rural Negro school in Travis County, the Montopolis Negro School. A photograph of the school is in my 2014 book Austin’s Montopolis Neighborhood. The school was founded in about 1891 at a […]
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