We are all privileged to be part of downtown Austin, the economic engine of our region and a cultural touchstone for the city. It has always been the Downtown Austin Alliance’s view that with that privilege comes responsibility. We are charged—individually and as an organization—with protecting the vitality of downtown and proactively planning for the future.
Austin’s spirit of enthusiastic collaboration and appetite for advancement strongly inform our approach. That’s why we seek out and build long-lasting relationships with other organizations and leaders both in and outside of Austin. For example, we were pleased to host the Mayor’s Institute on City Design this year in our new offices. By inviting other mayors to share their challenges with us and each other, we are all better equipped to enact solutions.
The Downtown Alliance continues to be committed to enhancing downtown today, while working toward the future. Our downtown ambassadors’ daily efforts and the off-duty police presence we fund keep downtown clean, safe and welcoming. Looking forward, we’ve established the Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation, a 501(c)(3) that will specifically focus on implementing transformative projects that support the Downtown Austin Vision.
Because the success of downtown benefits the entire region, we doubled-down on advocacy and support of initiatives that address district planning, mobility, homelessness, parking, and other critical downtown and community issues. This year, we created our first-ever state legislative agenda that reflects our organization’s strategic priorities. We’ve also improved our digital communication offerings, launching a new website and publishing a digital Annual Report. In April, we released the first-of-its-kind State of Downtown report at our sold-out Future of Downtown event attended by over 325 people.
The Downtown Alliance members’ thoughtful investment in the future and the community’s support of our district motivate us every day to work toward the downtown you will always love.
Downtown Vision
Creating the Downtown You WIll always love
When Austin’s downtown prospers, so does the entire region. We released the Downtown Austin Vision report after collecting and analyzing the hopes, concerns, and opinions of over 3,000 Austinites. The Vision is intended to be a long-term undertaking spanning the next 20 years, with major progress by 2023.
Within the Vision, there are four strategic priorities; this year we developed key indicators for each priority that will act as markers of progress. A full report tracking the progress toward the Vision progress through these indicators will be available next year, and below you can see a few examples.
Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation
For the first time, corporate leadership and philanthropic investment will come together to build downtown’s legacy. This year, at our first ever Future of Downtown event, we unveiled the Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation, a 501(c)(3) whose purpose is to implement transformative projects that align with our ambitious Downtown Austin Vision. Through public space activations, place-based research, investment, and partnerships, the Downtown Alliance Foundation will help to build the downtown you will always will love.
Our district wide ambassadors’ daily efforts and the off-duty police presence we fund keep downtown clean, safe and welcoming.
Our Services
Keeping our streets clean and safe is crucial to keeping downtown employees and residents happy, as well as attracting visitors from near and far. That’s why we fund substantial services intended that directly impact the cleanliness, hospitality, safety and beauty of the downtown Public Improvement District (PID). Locals, visitors, and businesses benefit from of our off-duty police initiative, beautification services, no-harm bird mitigation, and hospitality and cleaning functions performed by our team of Downtown Ambassadors.
Our Services by the Numbers:
- 95,955 Hospitality Contacts
- 152,889 Pounds of Trash Removed
- 3,375,820 sq ft Power Washed
- 21,583 Graffiti and Posters Removed
- 456 Safety escorts
- Beautification projects : 177 planters, 51 banners, and 125 trees maintained & lit
District Planning
We are heavily involved in the design of and development for the downtown area. Through careful planning, collaboration, and a broad understanding of potential challenges, we’re evolving downtown in a way that serves us all.
Innovation District
As a Trustee of Capital City Innovation, the Downtown Alliance is supporting the advancement of the Austin innovation ecosystem’s catalytic vision. Under a defined governance structure and anchored by mutually-beneficial public, private and academic partnerships, innovation partners are engaging in cross-industry collaboration in health care, life sciences and technology.
Congress Avenue Urban Design Initiative
We are deeply committed to the future of Congress Avenue through our continued partnership with the City of Austin on the Urban Design Initiative. After a multi-faceted process to gather input from the public and downtown stakeholders, our final public event revealed recommendations for the future of the Avenue - the cultural, historic and commercial spine of downtown Austin where people come to learn, share and celebrate.
Urban Greenbelt
Several partners have come together to better connect downtown through a walkable urban park and trail system. When this project is complete, pedestrians and bikers will be able to move seamlessly through downtown’s green spaces. This year, we updated the community on this vision and public space improvements during our first-ever Future of Downtown Parks lunch.
Waller Creek District Plan
This year, the Downtown Alliance and Waller Creek Conservancy boards created a joint task force to strategize plans for the Waller Creek District, which encompasses significant downtown assets like Brush Square, the Innovation District and the Red River Cultural District. We are working together, along with the City of Austin, to develop a blueprint for the Waller Creek District with an eye toward leveraging past investments, unifying current efforts and directing future initiatives.
We are charged—individually and as a group—with protecting the vitality of downtown and proactively planning for the future.
Republic Square
95 programmed days • 150K attendees
After the redevelopment of Republic Square in 2017, the Downtown Alliance set about making it a cultural hub in the city center. Financial support through the Downtown Austin Alliance Foundation allowed the park to host 95 days of programming and events with attendees reaching over 150,000 in the past year. Programming including weekly yoga, movies in the park and the Sustainable Food Center farmers’ market continued to pack the park. We added a May fitness series that attracted people from 40+ zip codes, launched Food Truck Fridays and hosted Austin’s first ever Birthday Bash. The park also hosted new festivals including Taco Libre and the Oyster Festival, musical events like Cody Johnson, holiday-centric happenings and Art City Austin’s triumphant return to downtown.
Mobility
Accessing and getting around downtown, parking and other transportation-related concerns are always top of mind. We collaborate with public and private sector organizations to understand mobility challenges and implement policies and programs to improve access for businesses and visitors.
This year is our third year of managing Movability, the region’s only Transportation Management Association. Movability continues to grow rapidly—increasing their membership to 70+ organizations, growing their Mobility Challenge funding from the City by 50%, and hiring two new staff members. They also recognized 17 Austin member companies (including the Downtown Austin Alliance) as national “Best Workplaces for Commuters.”
Parking
Downtown Parking Strategy
Before you can inspire change, you have to know the numbers. We compiled the first-ever downtown parking inventory in 2017. Knowing those numbers led to the formulation of our Downtown Parking Strategy, including 19 recommendations to improve the parking and mobility experience in downtown. Due in part to the Downtown Alliance strategy, Austin was able to secure the prestigious Bloomberg American Cities grant.
Affordable Parking Program
As recommended in the strategy, we partnered with the City of Austin to accelerate participation by public and privately-held garages in the Affordable Parking Program, which makes parking more accessible and affordable for downtown service-industry and hospitality workers. By the end of 2019, the Program included over 10,000 parking spaces in 29 different garages around downtown.
Park ATX
This year, the city also launched Park ATX, a mobile pay parking app for on-street parking. We are helping the city to add private garage spaces and the ability to reserve off-street parking in the app.
Project Connect
In December of 2018, the Capital Metro Board adopted Project Connect, a comprehensive transit vision for our region. Just a few months later, Austin’s City Council passed the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan which dedicated critical roadway to high-capacity transit. These plans mark our first step toward building out a robust, multi-modal central city transit network that connects the region. We will continue to champion Project Connect and push for its rapid completion.
Advocacy & Support
We are downtown’s full-time advocate and biggest champion. We bring together and collaborate with a legion of stakeholders, policymakers, engaged property owners and businesses who care about and are invested in the future of downtown. Though we work on many issues annually, here is a sampling of our advocacy efforts over the past year:
The Sobering Center
We advocated for and participated in the development of recommendations that led to the creation the Sobering Center, a more appropriate alternative to jail or hospital emergency rooms for intoxicated persons that frees up time, dollars and emergency services.
Land Development Code
The City of Austin will update its Land Development Code (LDC) in 2019. According to Imagine Austin, Downtown is the regional center that should accommodate and absorb the most density, jobs and housing units, and the LDC must reflect this complexity. It is imperative to protect and maximize downtown's tax base which helps to support public safety, parks and libraries throughout the city. The Downtown Alliance is working to ensure the new code permits more downtown development by right, by mapping, and by using a carefully calibrated density bonus program.
ARCH Contract Rescope
We advocated for a revised scope of the ARCH management contract with the intention of increasing the effectiveness of services provided. This also requires that all clients receive case management and work toward ending their condition of homelessness.
Homeless Process Triage
We sponsored a process that brought together a team of front-line service providers to map Austin’s homeless service system. Together, we created a system goal and list of priorities to improve the system’s effectiveness. This business-planning approach identified clogs, gaps and inefficiencies and led to a detailed homeless system map with 12 improvement priorities.
Housing First
This year, we invested $200,000 toward our $2M capital campaign pledge to develop Community First! Village’s second phase that will house an additional 300 people experiencing chronic homelessness. Our $150,000 challenge grant from 2017 resulted in a total contribution of $300,000 toward the development of Integral Care’s Terrace at Oak Springs project, which will open in June 2019 and will house 50 chronically homeless residents.
Austin Strategic Mobility Plan (ASMP) & Austin Core Transportation Plan (ACT)
To continue downtown’s role as a leader in innovative mobility solutions, we advocated for the recently adopted ASMP, which aims to decrease the number of solo commuters from 74% to 50% over the next 20 years. The Downtown Alliance is also working closely with the City to shape the ACT Plan for downtown, which will determine which streets in our downtown grid should be prioritized for alternative modes of transportation.
State Legislative Agenda
This year for the first time, we created a legislative agenda to reflect our strategic priorities at the state level. Among other issues, we advocated for expanded funding tools to improve local transportation and build out better transit, including allowing public-private partnerships.
I-35 & Reconnecting Austin
The Downtown Austin Vision calls for us to achieve a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to reconnect east and west Austin by lowering and capping I-35’s lanes through downtown. In May of 2019, the Texas Department of Transportation released an $8 billion expansion plan which specifically calls for this. With construction anticipated to start in 2022, the plan is to cap the project with new parks, connecting the east and west side of Austin back together. We are working closely with public and private partners to develop a funding strategy to make this legacy project a reality.
Because the success of downtown benefits the entire region, we doubled down on advocacy and support of initiatives that address district planning, mobility, homelessness, parking and other critical downtown and community issues.
Signature Events
We bring people together to celebrate arts, culture and the City's heritage at large through programming and activations. Republic Square hosted over 95 events this year with an estimated 150,000+ attendees.
This year, we launched Austin’s Birthday Bash, a new annual event at Republic Square. With over 8,000 attendees, 12 hours of entertainment, and a proclamation by City Council Member Kathie Tovo, the public came out to celebrate our city’s historic beginning.
Austin loves kicking off the holiday season with our Holiday Stroll, an event that attracts more than 17,000 attendees to downtown. The stroll is accompanied by live music, carol singing, artisans, vendors, performances and the official Capitol tree lighting.
We added a series of Future of Downtown events designed to share the community’s vision for the future. The Future of Downtown and the Future of Downtown Parks were both sold-out events, attracting a combined 500 attendees. We intend to hold these events annually to update the community on progress toward the vision.
Research & Communication
The direction our work takes is based on numbers and analysis. The Downtown Alliance research team gathers and distills data so we can understand the changing and evolving conditions of downtown. Their thoughtful analysis helps inform decisions on economic development, planning and maintenance needed downtown. We share this information with our members, city stakeholders, other downtowns, partner organizations and the community.
This year, we released our first State of Downtown Report to encompass the market data reflecting the economic impact, health and vitality of downtown. We also released the Value of U.S. Downtowns and City Centers – Downtown Austin, TX report in collaboration with the International Downtown Association, demonstrating downtown’s unique value to the city and region.
We launched a new, streamlined website that elevates our contribution to downtown, is an interactive platform for data and research, and reflects our brand and the vibrancy of downtown. The site rounds out our suite of digital assets which include Downtown Alliance and Republic Square social media channels and curated newsletters — including a weekly digest of news and events.
We also upgraded the Explore Downtown section of our website, as the second city in the country to partner with LiveXYZ. Their cutting-edge, interactive technology maps all public places and spaces downtown, as well as each place’s events. This allows us to show the latest and greatest downtown has to offer in real time. This tool also allows us to receive real-time data detailing retail conditions across downtown, which will enhance our research efforts in the future.