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Popular Rainey Street bungalows and one food truck could be replaced by apartment highrise

Rainey Street Residences is a 48-story, 409-unit apartment complex proposed at the corner of Rainey and River streets.
Two original Rainey Street bungalows, home to longtime bars Craft Pride and Javelina, could be replaced by a proposed 48-floor apartment complex.
Javelina and Craft Pride opened next door to each other in 2012 and 2013, respectively, representing two of the longest-tenured establishments since Rainey Street became an entertainment district in the mid-2000s.
The Design Commission voted Monday to support concept plans for River Street Residences, a proposed 409-unit apartment complex, but not before some commissioners raised concerns about replacing two of the most-established bars at the south gateway of Rainey Street.
"People see it as a bonafide nightlife district, they see it as someplace special in Austin," Commissioner Beau Frail said during the Monday meeting. "There is a very large contingent of the city that will see this project as another nail in the coffin of Rainey Street."
An apartment highrise is proposed at the current location of Craft Pride.(Flickr)
While there has been plenty of business turnover on Rainey Street during the past decade, this situation most mirrors a similar scenario from 2014. That is when Lustre Pearl—one of the first bars to open on Rainey Street—was displaced from the Driskill Street corner to make room for Millennium Rainey residential project, now called Camden Rainey Street Apartments. That original bungalow was relocated to establish Lustre Pearl's East Austin location, and a second location opened across Rainey Street in 2016. That same apartment project also caused another popular Rainey Street bar called White House to close for good.
Ultimately, Frail and most other design commissioners voted to support the River Street Residences project as long as project developers promised to open up the ground-floor commercial space facing Rainey Street. Chair David Caroll cast the lone "nay" vote against the Design Commission recommendation.
The project next advances to the Planning Commission and eventually City Council for full approval. Exact dates have not been confirmed by city officials before deadline.
Attempts to reach Craft Pride and Javelina ownership were also not successful, but River Street Residences representatives said during the Design Commission meeting Monday that current property occupants are kept up-to-date on the project.
Another potential displacement
Via 313, which relocated its second-ever food truck from South Austin to Craft Pride in 2013, would also be displaced if the River Street Residences project is approved by the city. Co-owner Brandon Hunt said he heard rumors that Craft Pride and Via 313 could find a new home in the completed skyscraper, but that is just speculation for now.
Via 313 has had major success in Austin since opening a single food trailer in 2011. After expanding to five locations throughout the years, the food establishment announced this year it is taking its Detroit-style pizza to the national level.
"If not for that trailer on Rainey Street, maybe they wouldn't be going national today," Commissioner Samuel Franco speculated during the Monday meeting. He worried about the next Via 313 not having the same odds of success without an affordable spot in a heavily trafficked nightlife district.
The spot certainly was affordable—free, in fact, minus utility costs, according to Hunt. Via 313 couldn't have opened its first brick-and-mortar location in Oak Hill without success at Rainey Street as well as its first location at Violet Crown Social Club in East Austin, he said.
But the Rainey Street location ultimately did not even factor in the valuation when Via 313 recently received investor support to expand nationally, Hunt said. Instead, the value of that spot should be weighed culturally, he said, similar to how Torchy's Tacos kept operating its original South 1st Street trailer long after the chain expanded beyond Austin.
Via 313 has kept the Rainey Street location open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and Craft Pride reopened last Tuesday. Nonetheless, Hunt said that Rainey foot traffic is roughly half of what it once was.
"It's been a battle for sure," he said. "It's slowly getting back to normal down there as far as traffic goes."
The culture of the street has also changed over the years as more highrise projects enter the entertainment district, Hunt said. He points to the apartment project that displaced the original Lustre Pearl and 70 Rainey, a 34-story condo tower that opened last year, as the main examples.
"I can't complain too much because before we were there, there were people who felt disrespected and displaced," Hunt said, referring to Rainey's original Latino roots before the neighborhood was rezoned for downtown-level density, making it into what it is today. "It seems like the natural evolution of that area."
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Popular
(Shutterstock)
Emmy Amash has always been the friend that people would go to with questions about sex, birth control and women’s health issues. It’s what called her to work as a birth doula and go to nursing school.
But during rotations around Austin, she’s noticed a shift in the trust between patients and healthcare providers, and it’s been happening under Texas’ Senate Bill 8, which bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.
“What I've seen working in the emergency room with women who are coming in experiencing complications after or during a miscarriage is a lot of what feels to me like mistrust and hesitancy to be sharing complete histories of what's going on,” Amash said.
Over the last 10 months, SB 8 has had a chilling effect on healthcare workers and patients that’s endangering people’s lives, says a new study by the Texas Policy Evaluation Project in the New England Journal of Medicine. It also offers a glimpse at how the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade—which is expected to outlaw or restrict abortion in almost half of the states—will make the risks to patients more common.
The study shared findings based on interviews with Texas clinicians and 20 people who had medically complex pregnancies and sought care under SB 8. The law—which bans abortion before many even know that they are pregnant—is aimed at those providing abortion care. But researchers say that, to the detriment of patients, it has an effect on other health care workers.
For example, a woman who took part in the study reported receiving a fetal diagnosis of trisomy 18, a rare condition lacking a cure that causes most babies to die before they are born. But the woman’s physician didn’t inform her about termination options.
“When you already have received news like that and can barely function, the thought of then having to do your own investigating to determine where to get this medical care and to arrange going out of state feels additionally overwhelming,” the woman said.
On the health provider side, Amash understands the frustration and secrecy of patients, citing Lizelle Herrera’s case as an example of the kind of situation patients may worry about running into.
Herrera, a 26-year-old in the Rio Grande Valley, was arrested on a murder charge in April for a self-induced abortion. She was held in jail for three days on a $500,000 bond until a local district attorney dropped the case.
🚨Breaking News!!!🚨 Charges are being dismissed for Lizelle Herrera!!! #Justice4Lizellepic.twitter.com/yG15cw74Oi
— Frontera Fund (@LaFronteraFund) April 10, 2022
But there could be more instances like Herrera’s, and Amash talked about what it’s been like to continue working amid added restrictions on abortion rights. It’ll only continue given that Texas and a dozen other states have a trigger law making abortion illegal after the repeal of Roe v. Wade. In Texas; it’ll go into effect within 30 days.
“I feel like I've been holding my breath,” Amash said. She went on to describe “feeling powerless to this larger system that's making these choices that's so far removed from the actual lives of individuals.”
But local officials are taking action in light of the high court's decision. Austin City Council will hold a special meeting the week of July 18 on a resolution aimed at decriminalizing abortion. Submitted by council member Jose "Chito" Vela, it would direct the police department to make criminal enforcement, arrest and investigation of abortions its lowest priority. But for Central Texans, it may only allow for a patchwork system in which only abortions within the city escape criminalization.
“That's nice, and also, it's just not enough,” Amash said. “Not enough for how big Texas is for us to have one little area. There's a lot of people here that need care and aren't going to have access to it.”
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Austinites are beating the record heat at local watering holes like Barton Springs Pool this summer. (Isabel Lanaux)
This month has been Austin's hottest June on record after 21 days of triple-degree heat, according to the National Weather Service.
Despite a weather forecast that predicted otherwise, Austin beat the odds and logged its 12th straight day of 100+ degree high temperatures Monday. On the same day, the city also broke its 2008 record with the most triple-digit temperatures ever recorded during the month.
Austin has now hit 100 degrees 21 times this month and 12 days in a row, a new June record.
— NWS Austin/San Antonio (@NWSSanAntonio) June 27, 2022
The city has now broke heat records for two months in a row after recording its hottest May ever last month.
But at least some of Austin's hot and dry start to summer may be alleviated soon as a so-called cold front heads into town Monday night. Temperatures are expected to remain below the mid-90s for the rest of the week, and Tuesday could break the nearly two-week streak of 100-degree highs.
With the cold front comes much-needed rain, which is expected to scatter across Central Texas skies Monday night. Lightning and gusts of wind up to 60 mph could hit the area, especially along the I-35 corridor near San Marcos, where a Severe Thunderstorm Warning has been issued.
Storms will continue to develop along an east to west line through sunset. The Hill Country, I-35 Corridor, and Coastal Plains will be most affected. The main dangers are lightning and gusts winds to 60 mph. pic.twitter.com/ocKg9cYDSd
— NWS Austin/San Antonio (@NWSSanAntonio) June 27, 2022
Scattered storms are expected to remain Tuesday with possibly bouts of gusty winds and small hail, and some storms could continue in the area east of I-35 through Thursday. Austin has seen 2.8 fewer inches of rainfall than the average this month and is only expected to see about a quarter inch of rainfall this week.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected to persist through about 9-10 pm this evening before weakening. Expect a similar setup on Tuesday, but chances look better for the Rio Grande Plains and Winter Garden region. Gusty winds and small hail are possibly. #txwxpic.twitter.com/X4tmSTLBQu
— NWS Austin/San Antonio (@NWSSanAntonio) June 27, 2022
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