For the first time yesterday, I experienced the new @alamodrafthouse QR code ordering system and I can tell you it’s truly awful. Rather than making ordering food and drink more efficient, it actually adds steps to the process AND if you want to order additional items during the film you HAVE to open your phone. No, your cute reference to that irony in your How To Alamo video doesn’t negate how ridiculous this is. Please don’t cut corners with your staff and revert back to physical menus and order cards.
Hosting a meetup in Austin next Tuesday.
Come hang out and talk about how AI is actually changing the business world - with people already in the game.
June 9th. Star Bar. 5-7PM.
Free to attend.
https://t.co/x63jf2k6hp
This week in #AustinMobilityNews:
🌇 New Skyline Overlook Along Longhorn Shores Now Open
🌳 City Effort Underway to Promote More Green Infrastructure on Streets
🎉 Celebrate the Waterloo Greenway Phase II Grand Opening this Saturday
More 👉 https://t.co/2vztirImtG
The Austin comms team was going to release the data by end of May on the 100s of marketing initiatives the city does per year
@KirkPWatson have ya'll seen this yet? Another big bucket of stuff we can cut to balance the budget! Word of mouth is the best marketing!
Austin, we need to talk about Austin. 🎤
THURSDAY, June 11
I'm joining Tauri Laws-Phillips (CEO, @WeAreDivInc), Emily Gupton (President, @AWTAustin), and Gabe Rucker (Managing Director, @founding#Austin) for the Austin Innovation Exchange at Cabana Club
What we'll dig into:
→ The real state of Austin's startup economy
→ Where the capital is actually flowing
→ Resources founders keep missing
→ How investors, builders, and operators stop talking past each other
Come pitch us hard questions. THURSDAY, June 11, at Cabana Club (so you know we'll have some fun)
🎟️ RSVP: https://t.co/aD8NiwdCIL
Austin City Council will probably approve this massive bond - and it will only show how out of touch they are with voters and visitors.
The bond is for $1,350,000,000 - that is NEW DEBT - for the Convention Center.
They call it an expansion, but they aren't expanding anything. They tore down the old one - destroying a functional building and beautiful art from beloved community artists - then dug a deeper hole and are building a completely new structure.
This project is deeply contentious and reveals that City Council's priorities are completely out of touch with what our community actually wants.
The proposed debt is fiscally irresponsible and disrespects Austin residents. We are still paying off the debt from the old convention center!
Even though this is structured as a bond, it remains profoundly out of reach from voters and out of touch with them as well.
The debt puts the onus on tourists, taking economic opportunities away from the many local businesses that rely on tourism.
The reality is that most tourists will never visit the new convention center. This creates an inequitable distribution of Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue.
By the *most* generous estimate, HOT generates about $100 million per year. Is the city really preparing to dedicate the equivalent of all of our HOT revenue for more than a decade just to pay off this debt?
Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue should be used to promote tourism. People come to Austin for our cultural arts, live music, and green spaces. Austin is not like every other city, and we do not need to become like them.
Now that we have nothing at this site, this is the moment to create something better - something more uniquely Austin.
Without genuine community support for the Convention Center, this item is far beyond where the conversation should be right now.
In Austin, Google ranks Reddit in the top 5 for 26 high-intent local queries.
For half of them, Reddit is #1.
"best dentist in Austin" → r/Austin, position 1.
"daycare recommendations Austin" → r/AustinParents, position 1.
"gym in Austin" → r/Austin, position 1.
"contractor recommendations Austin" → r/Austin, position 1.
Local businesses are paying Google for ads on these exact keywords. The Reddit threads ranking next to those ads are free.
We mapped the local Reddit ecosystem in Austin and found:
- 15 subreddits actively covering Austin and its suburbs (Round Rock, Cedar Park, Pflugerville)
- 1.22M residents combined audience
- 26 Google queries where Reddit threads sit in the top 5 organic results
If your business shows up positively in one of those threads, you compound on Google forever.
Repost ♻ if you run a service business in Austin.
P.S. Check ranqer app. We help local brands show up inside the Reddit threads that already rank for their category.
Big moment for our Austin team—we’ve expanded our office space to support continued growth. We’re excited to welcome more talent and deepen our commitment to Austin and the state of Texas while driving innovation and client impact. #Austin#Growth
#ad Can't do the whole ATX TV Festival (@ATXFestival) weekend? No problem. Single tickets for select screenings are on sale now → https://t.co/L6XIyJzymO 📺
Want the full experience? Grab your badge: https://t.co/gvX8gvyg9j
Our latest @SaveAustinNow email update:
1. What to Watch for at This Week's #ATXcouncil meeting
2. LPRs could have caught mass shooting suspects MUCH faster
3. Audit Petition Update
4. Parody Logo Lawsuit Update
https://t.co/OBZNZhLPr9
A little different Austin Next episode today with Karen Blashek, editor in chief of Austin Home.
We talked creative infrastructure, Austin as a design hub, why the tech & creative worlds here are still fragmented, storytellers, & the inspiration-innovation loop.
Dropping soon.
Let's change this. Austin deserves better than talentless managers.
We need leaders who are ready to roll up their sleeves, analyze the city's problems critically, and make hard decisions like the fiduciaries they should be.
If I had been given ten minutes to explain the problems with all the zoning and parking policy changes proposed by council this week, I don't think I could have said it any better than Council Member Marc Duchen.
Thank you @Marc4AustinD10 for being an eloquent voice of reason.