6th Street safety in downtown Austin: Officials update on changes

City officials spoke about the changes to improve safety on 6th Street in downtown Austin.

Starting this week, 6th Street will remain open to westbound traffic throughout the weekend, and officials say safety equipment, including rubber curb edges and white flex posts, has been installed. 

Fencing will be installed this week as well.

What we know:

A news conference was held at 10:30 a.m. (CT) on Jan. 15 at Parkside Austin in the 300 block of East 6th Street.

City and community leaders, including Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis, Shawn Cirkiel, Chef/Owner of Parkside Austin and Chairman of the Pecan Street Association, Anna Martin, Assistant Director for City of Austin's Transportation & Public Works Department and Sheryl Sculley, Downtown Austin Alliance Board of Directors and downtown resident spoke to discuss changes to improve safety on 6th Street.

"A key part of this initiative was to develop a plan that would increase pedestrian safety, decrease the number of officers being injured and the need to respond to resistance," Davis said.

Davis says she will personally be out on 6th Street this weekend to see what's happening. 

"We will assess how things are going and then make those adjustments as needed. I'm going to see how these gaps are and what we need to do if we see any of those gaps," she said. 

This city hopes this project will revitalize the street. 

"Sixth Street must be safe. Safe for pedestrians, safe for revelers, safe for everyone," Mayor Kirk Watson said. "We're also going to monitor what's going on, because we want to make sure that it's achieving the goals we want it to achieve... we will be looking for unintended consequences."

The Changes:

According to the city of Austin, the first change will be to move pedestrians out of the roadway and onto widened, protected sidewalks. 

Safety equipment aimed at widening the sidewalks has been installed, including rubber curbs and white flex posts between Brazos and Red River streets to separate those widened sidewalks from vehicle lanes and prevent traffic from crossing into pedestrian areas. The curb edges are between 12 and 18 inches tall.

Fencing between the widened sidewalks and street will go in on Thursday, Jan. 16. This is to prevent pedestrians on the sidewalk from entering the street in areas between intersections.

Starting this week, Sixth Street will remain open to westbound traffic throughout the weekend. North and southbound traffic at Sixth Street intersections with San Jacinto, Trinity, and Neches streets will be closed Thursday through Sunday.

Both Fire and EMS say they can use smaller vehicles like pickups or ATVs to respond to the street.

The backstory:

Officials had held a news conference on January 2 to talk about safety on 6th Street following the terror attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

Sixth Street has been blocked off to vehicles from sunset until 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday for several decades. However, Chief Davis plans to change all that.

Davis aims to open 6th Street to traffic because she believes it will help the city crackdown on crime. However, in the wake of the New Orleans terror attack, she added more barriers to block off the street, including large trucks. 

"That was just me ensuring that this was a lone wolf attack until the FBI came out and substantiated that," Davis said.

Chief Davis said she thinks allowing vehicles to drive through the pedestrian-filled street might improve security and prevent fights. 

Davis's plan included a "soft launch" in December to reopen Sixth Street to vehicular traffic on Thursday and Sunday nights, times during which it is normally closed. According to Davis, no incidents occurred during the soft launch.

The other side:

Not everyone likes the idea of opening 6th Street

Downtown business owner Bob Woody doesn't think it's a good idea. "Opening Sixth Street, putting cars where pedestrians are causes a problem," he said.

Some Austin residents like Juliette Bueno echo that thought.

"I think that's really dangerous at night. Especially during the weekends, there's a lot of drunk people here, so it's just not a good idea. People mindlessly probably would walk, and it would really put the pedestrians in danger," she said.

"Large crowds leaving Blind Pig, 800 people at 2 a.m., into the street is difficult for any sized sidewalk to accommodate it. Same thing, across the street, same thing next door. Maggie Mae's. Shakespeare. 800. 800. 800 [people each]. 2,400 people on the sidewalks," Woody said. "Take the cars away. Nobody gets hit by a car. That's the end. That's it. Don't add vehicles. You won't have a vehicular accident."

What they're saying:

"Recognizing what happened in New Orleans and Las Vegas, we do need to take some steps," said Chief Davis.

Austin City Council Member Zo Qadri represents District 9, which includes downtown.

"Historic Sixth Street is long overdue for a revitalization and reinvestment. These changes implemented today are just one step of many as part of a comprehensive approach with the final goal to reinvigorate Sixth Street," Qadri said. "I am committed to making this iconic entertainment district safer, more accessible, and vibrant in both day and night."

Businesses react:

"What I've seen that started about six years ago was lots of young people coming to 6th Street at about 11:30 at night, most of which are 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20," Marc Roppolo, owner of Roppolo's Pizzeria said. "They take over the block between 11:30 till three in the morning. I think this pilot program will be the beginning or hopefully the beginning of eliminating that."

Ernie Villarreal owns Meat & Bread downtown. 

"It's a little bit of a double-edged sword. I think there's going to be more visibility for businesses, and they'll get a little bit more traction in that way. At the same time, in the light of recent events, having cars barreling down a really busy area, it raises concern for me," he said. "The foot traffic just might be condensed into a smaller part of the street. I really don't know if that will actually have a benefit or if it'll just congest the sides of the streets more, which could lead to maybe even more interactions and altercations."

Parking spots are gone with the new infrastructure. 

"I know a lot of these businesses have multiple music shows throughout the night and that might be a pain in the butt for our musicians," Villarreal said.

"My hope is whatever they implement will help to alleviate the big party scene that's on 6th Street that is causing a lot of problems with the street," Roppolo said.

Roppolo also hopes it will revitalize the area. 

"We need to go from dirty to delicious, right? Change the D, you know, from dirty to delicious, so no longer is it dirty. It's called, 'let's go to Delicious 6th Street.' What do you find there? Great music, great food, great hospitality, wonderful people, great music, great arts and crafts," Roppolo said.

The Source: Information from previous reporting and the City of Austin.

DowntownCrime and Public Safety