Winter 2022 HNA Newsletter

Hello fellow Highlanders!

This is my last newsletter as President of the HNA. I’ll post something longer on the HNA website about my time as president, but in short I’ve really enjoyed it. I’ve enjoyed meeting a wide variety of people, working with cool neighbors at the park days, chatting with city officials and people from other neighborhoods, and interacting with community activists and local business owners. And I am proud that we will finally get a real park in the neighborhood (and proud that we got that playground built). But I must admit that watching the pork chop get torn up by a city crew is by far my fondest memory as President!

I won’t be going far—I’m going to take a back seat and be the HNA treasurer, as well as serving on the Highland Neighborhood Contact Team (which is open to all, by the way—if you’re interested in serving on that email through the website).

Anyway, enough of that—here’s some news.

Upcoming HNA Meeting: Elections

Our upcoming meeting is Tuesday, December 13, from 6-8 PM, at Reilly Elementary School, located at 405 Denson Drive. Our main task will be to elect board members for 2023. We have an open Vice President spot for the “south sector”—the part of Highland south of Airport. If you’d like to get involved, email me through the website of just introduce yourself at our meeting.

We may have some other guests. We’ve frequently hosted our city council member Chito Vela and a representative from APD. Hopefully one or both of them can attend. I’ll let post a full agenda the day before the meeting. If you have anything you’d particularly like to discuss, let me know.

Home Depot Redevelopment

Chito Vela’s office has contacted constituents to let us know that the vote to approve the plan for the massive redevelopment is up for a vote at this Thursday’s city council meeting. They have asked us to support the plan—here’s how:

I support this plan because it provides a good deal of affordable and market rate apartments, including 15 3-bedroom units (a rarity) for families. It also uses ZERO subsidies from the city (i.e., your tax dollars), and guarantees a good amount of park space, retail, and office space.

Austin Mayoral Runoff Election

Early voting for the runoff election for Austin mayor between Celia Israel and Kirk Watson is happening now. Election Day is Tuesday, December 13 (same day as our meeting). You can vote early until Friday and on Election Day at the Permitting and Planning Building off of Middle Fiskville Rd.

New Businesses in Highland

There are a slew of new restaurants are opening in the neighborhood in the next few months. At the Linc, an Italian place I’m excited about (of course) called Artipasta will offer housemate pastas, pizza, and more. A seafood restaurant called the Boiling Crab and a breakfast place called Another Broken Egg are also slated to open at the Linc.

At the Crescent, a tea shop and a soup/hotpot restaurant will open soon. (If you haven’t tried the Korean corn dog place, you should.) Another businesses might open there that, if it does, will definitely raise some eyebrows…stay tuned.

Airport Construction

The project on Airport to add bike/pedestrian lanes to the easement along the roadway will be going on for a few more months. One thing I learned is that new “smart” technology will be installed at the stop lights, which should cut down on the train crossing errors we keep being tortured by. On that note, the city confirmed that the lights at that intersection were actually malfunctioning for a week in November (no, it wasn’t your imagination), which has been fixed.

Neighborhood Cleanups

The HNA and the Oddfellows on Guadelupe and Kenniston are teaming up to organize some neighborhood cleanups. Up first—Highland Neighborhood Park and the bike trail and creek along Airport. Stay tuned for details.

Reilly Elementary, 405 Denson Dr.—location of our next HNA meeting

Nick Pellicciotto