Austin
As part of the first round of Mayor Lightfoot's INVEST South/West commercial corridor improvement strategy, Austin was chosen as one of 10 focus communities.
INVEST South/West, a project that was started in October 2019, aims to reactivate neighborhood cores that have historically been important hubs for pedestrian
activity, shops, services, transportation, public spaces, and amenities that improve quality of life for locals. Chicago Avenue, which stretches from Austin
Boulevard on the west to Kilpatrick Avenue on the east, is the primary thoroughfare in Austin.
In January 2020 at the Kehrein Center for the Arts, Austin stakeholders took part in the INVEST South/West kick-off ceremony. The event was one of four hosted
this winter to begin the project, and it was geared toward families. It included in-depth exercises that assisted participants in identifying priorities, goals,
and important community resources.
More than 600 people attended lectures about INVEST South/goals West's and objectives before speaking with numerous governmental entities on ways to enhance the
neighborhood. You can read a summary of the occasion, including an overview of Austin comments and criticism, to the right.
The City established the Austin Neighborhood Roundtable in the spring of 2020. The roundtable, which is made up of representatives from city agencies,
aldermanic offices, neighborhood organizations, small businesses, and resident groups, aims to further local goals through a broad, cross-disciplinary
approach that makes use of the knowledge, experience, resources, and creativity of local stakeholders.
The roundtables' objective is transparency: to guarantee that neighborhood voices are heard and taken into account when determining the priorities for
public and private investments, to gather feedback on INVEST South/West projects as they develop, and to bring planners and neighborhood stakeholders
together at the same table. Once a corridor project manager has been appointed, local representation will lead and coordinate the roundtable.