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Austin, Texas Austin, Texas City of Austin Downtown Austin's horizon as seen from Lady Bird Lake in August 2014 Downtown Austin's horizon as seen from Lady Bird Lake in August 2014 Official seal of Austin, Texas Austin (Listeni/ st n, -/) is the capital of the U.S. Enumeration Bureau's July 1, 2015 estimate, Austin has a populace of 931,830. Located in Central Texas in the foothills of Texas Hill Country, the town/city is home to various lakes, rivers, and waterways including Lady Bird Lake, Barton Springs, Mc - Kinney Falls, the Colorado River, Lake Travis, and Lake Walter E. It is the cultural and economic center of the Austin Round Rock urbane area, which had an estimated populace of 2,056,405 as of July 1, 2016. Austin, the "Father of Texas" and the republic's first secretary of state. The town/city later interval throughout the 19th century and became a center for government and education with the assembly of the Texas State Capitol and the University of Texas at Austin. After a lull in expansion from the Great Depression, Austin resumed its evolution into a primary city and, by the 1980s, it emerged as a center for technology and business. A number of Fortune 500 companies have command posts or county-wide offices in Austin, including Amazon.com, Apple Inc., Cisco, e - Bay, Google, IBM, Intel, Oracle Corporation, Texas Instruments, 3 - M, and Whole Foods Market. Dell's around the world headquarters is positioned in close-by Round Rock, a suburb of Austin. Residents of Austin are known as Austinites. They include a diverse mix of government employees, college students, musicians, high-tech workers, blue-collar workers, and a vibrant LGBT community. The city's official slogan promotes Austin as "The Live Music Capital of the World," a reference to the many musicians and live music venues inside the city, as well as the long-running PBS TV concert series Austin City Limits. The town/city also adopted "Silicon Hills" as a nickname in the 1990s due to a rapid influx of technology and evolution companies. In recent years, some Austinites have also adopted the unofficial slogan "Keep Austin Weird," which refers to the desire to protect small, unique, and small-town businesses from being overrun by large corporations. In the late 19th century, Austin was known as the "City of the Violet Crown" because of the colorful glow of light athwart the hills just after sunset. Even today, many Austin businesses use the term "Violet Crown" in their name. Austin is known as a "clean-air city" for its stringent no-smoking ordinances that apply to all enhance places and buildings, including restaurants and bars. The FBI ranked Austin as the second-safest primary city in the U.S. News & World Report titled Austin the best place to live in the U.S. Main article: History of Austin, Texas See also: Timeline of Austin, Texas Austin, Travis County and Williamson County have been the site of human surroundingion since at least 9200 BC. The Comanches and Lipan Apaches were also known to travel through the area. Spanish colonists, including the Espinosa-Olivares-Aguirre expedition, traveled through the region for centuries, though several permanent settlements were created for some time. In 1730, three missions from East Texas were combined and reestablished as one mission on the south side of the Colorado River, in what is now Zilker Park, in Austin. Lamar, second president of the newly formed Republic of Texas, advised the commissioners to investigate the region named Waterloo, noting the area's hills, waterways, and pleasant surroundings. Waterloo was chose and the name Austin was chosen as the town's new name. The locale was seen as a convenient crossroads for trade routes between Santa Fe and Galveston Bay, as well as routes between northern Mexico and the Red River. On August 1, 1839, the first auction of 217 out of 306 lots total was held. The grid plan Waller designed and surveyed now forms the basis of downtown Austin. By 1840, the populace had risen to 856, of whom nearly half fled from Austin when Congress recessed. The resident Black populace listed in January of this same year was 176. The fear of Austin's adjacency to the Indians and Mexico, which still considered Texas a part of their land, created an immense motive for Sam Houston, the first and third President of the Republic of Texas, to relocate the capital once again in 1841. Upon threats of Mexican troops in Texas, Houston raided the Land Office to transfer all official documents to Houston for safe keeping in what was later known as the Archive War, but the citizens of Austin would not allow this unaccompanied decision to be executed. The voting by the fourth President of the Republic, Anson Jones, and Congress, who reconvened in Austin in 1845, settled the copy to keep Austin the seat of government as well as annex the Republic of Texas into the United States. In 1860, 38% of Travis County inhabitants were slaves. In 1861, with the outbreak of the American Civil War, voters in Austin and other Central Texas communities voted against secession. However, as the war progressed and fears of attack by Union forces increased, Austin contributed hundreds of men to the Confederate forces. The African American populace of Austin swelled dramatically after the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas by Union General Gordon Granger at Galveston in an event memorialized as Juneteenth. Black communities such as Wheatville, Pleasant Hill, and Clarksville were established with Clarksville being the earliest surviving freedomtown the initial post-Civil War settlements established by former black slaves west of the Mississippi River. In 1870, blacks made up 36.5% of Austin's population. The postwar reconstructionsaw dramatic populace and economic growth. The opening of the Houston and Texas Central Railway (H&TC) in 1871 turned Austin into the primary trading center for the region with the ability to transport both cotton and cattle. The Missouri, Kansas, and Texas (MKT) line followed close behind. Austin was also the end of the southernmost leg of the Chisholm Trail and "drovers" pushed cattle north to the barns . Cotton was one of the several crops produced locally for export and a cotton gin engine was positioned downtown near the trains for "ginning" cotton of its seeds and turning the product into bales for shipment. However, as other new barns s were assembled through the region in the 1870s, Austin began to lose its primacy in trade to the encircling communities. In addition, the areas east of Austin took over cattle and cotton manufacturing from Austin, especially in suburbs like Hutto and Taylor that sit over the blackland prairie, with its deep, rich soils for producing cotton and hay. In September 1881, Austin enhance schools held their first classes. The University of Texas at Austin held its first classes in 1883, although classes had been held in the initial wooden state Capitol for four years before. During the 1880s, Austin attained new eminence as the state capitol building was instead of in 1888 and claimed as the seventh biggest building in the world. In the late 19th century, Austin period its town/city limits to more than three times its former area, and the first granite dam was assembled on the Colorado River to power a new street car line and the new "moon towers". Unfortunately, the first dam washed away in a flood on April 7, 1900. In the 1920s and 1930s, Austin launched a series of civic evolution and beautification projects that created much of the city's transit framework and many of its parks. In addition, the state council established the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) that, along with the town/city of Austin, created the fitness of dams along the Colorado River to form the Highland Lakes. These projects were enabled in large part because the Public Works Administration provided Austin with greater funding for municipal assembly projects than other Texas cities. Bob Bullock Texas History Museum in Austin. During the early twentieth century, a three-way fitness of civil segregation emerged in Austin, with Anglos, African Americans and Mexicans being separated by custom or law in most aspects of life, including housing, community care, and education. In 1940, the finished granite dam on the Colorado River was finally replaced by a hollow concrete dam that formed Lake Mc - Donald (now called Lake Austin) and which has withstood all floods since. In addition, the much larger Mansfield Dam was assembled by the LCRA upstream of Austin to form the flood-control lake, Lake Travis. In the early 20th century, the Texas Oil Boom took hold, creating tremendous economic opportunities in Southeast Texas and North Texas. The expansion generated by this boom largely passed by Austin at first, with the town/city slipping from fourth biggest to 10th biggest in Texas between 1880 and 1920. After the mid-20th century, Austin became established as one of Texas' primary urbane centers. In 1970, the United States Enumeration Bureau reported Austin's populace as 14.5% Hispanic, 11.9% black, and 73.4% non-Hispanic white. In the late 20th century, Austin emerged as an meaningful high tech center for semiconductors and software. The University of Texas at Austin emerged as a primary university. The 1970s saw Austin's emergence in the nationwide music scene, with small-town artists such as Willie Nelson, Asleep at the Wheel, and Stevie Ray Vaughan and iconic music venues such as the Armadillo World Headquarters. Over time, the long-running tv program Austin City Limits, its namesake Austin City Limits Festival, and the South by Southwest music festival solidified the city's place in the music industry. City limits of Austin The most southerly of the capitals of the adjoining forty-eight states, Austin is positioned in Central Texas, along the Balcones Escarpment and Interstate 35, 150 miles (240 kilometres) northwest of Houston. Austin is situated on the Colorado River, with three man-made (artificial) lakes inside the town/city limits: Lady Bird Lake (formerly known as Town Lake), Lake Austin (both created by dams along the Colorado River), and Lake Walter E. Mansfield Dam and the foot of Lake Travis are positioned inside the city's limits. Lady Bird Lake, Lake Austin, and Lake Travis are each on the Colorado River. As a result of its straddling the Balcones Fault, much of the easterly part of the town/city is flat, with heavy clay and loam soils, whereas, the part and suburbs consist of rolling hills on the edge of the Texas Hill Country. Because the hills to the west are primarily limestone modern with a thin covering of topsoil, portions of the town/city are incessantly subjected to flash floods from the runoff caused by thunderstorms. To help control this runoff and to generate hydroelectric power, the Lower Colorado River Authority operates a series of dams that form the Texas Highland Lakes. Austin is positioned at the intersection of four primary ecological regions, and is consequently a temperate-to-hot green oasis with a highly variable climate having some characteristics of the desert, the tropics, and a wetter climate. The region is very diverse ecologically and biologically, and is home to a range of animals and plants. Notably, the region is home to many types of wildflowers that blossom throughout the year but especially in the spring, including the prominent bluebonnets, some planted in an accomplishment by "Lady Bird" Johnson, wife of former President Lyndon Johnson. The soils of Austin range from shallow, gravelly clay loams over limestone in the outskirts to deep, fine sandy loams, silty clay loams, silty clays or clays in the city's easterly part. Rock climbing can be found at three Austin parks: Barton Creek Greenbelt, Bull Creek Park and Mc - Kinney Falls State Park. The horizon of Austin, TX viewed at sunrise from Zilker Park. Austin's horizon historically was modest, dominated by the Texas State Capitol and the University of Texas Main Building. However, many new high-rise towers have been constructed since 2000 Austin's ten tallest buildings were instead of after 2003. The city's tallest building, The Austonian, was topped out on September 17, 2009. Austin is presently undergoing a high-rise building boom, which includes recent assembly on the now complete 360 Condominiums at 563 feet (172 m), Spring (condominiums), the Austonian at 683 feet (208 m), and a several other office, hotel and residentiary buildings. Downtown's buildings are somewhat spread out, partly due to a restriction that preserves the view of the Texas State Capitol from various locations around Austin (known as the Capitol View Corridors). At evening, parts of Austin are lit by "artificial moonlight" from Moonlight Towers assembled to illuminate the central part of the city. Only 15 of the 31 initial innovative towers remain standing in Austin, and none remain in any of the other metros/cities where they were installed. The central company precinct of Austin is home to the tallest condo towers in the state, with the under assembly Independent (58 stories and 690 feet (210 metres). The 2nd Street District consists of a several new residentiary projects, restaurants, upscale boutiques and other entertainment venues, as well as Austin's City Hall. Across 2nd Street from Austin's City Hall is the new ACL Live @ the Moody Theatre where the long-running PBS program Austin City Limits, is filmed. It is positioned at the base of the new 478 feet (146 m) W Hotel. The South by Southwest is a music, film and interactive festival which occurs over five days each March in downtown Austin, and includes one of the world's biggest music festivals; with more than 3,000 acts playing in more than 100 venues. Austin averages 34.32 inches (872 mm) of annual rainfall and it is distributed mostly evenly throughout the year, though May and June are generally the wettest months. The summer season in Austin is very hot, and average July and August highs incessantly reach the high-90s (34 36 C) or above. Roughly every two years Austin experiences an ice storm that freezes roads over and cripples travel in the town/city for 24 to 48 hours. When Austin received 0.04 inches (1 mm) of ice on January 24, 2014, there were 278 vehicular collisions. Similarly, snow flurry is exceptionally rare in Austin. A snow event of 0.9 inches (2 cm) on February 4, 2011, caused more than 300 car crashes. A 13-inch (33 cm) snowstorm brought the town/city to a near standstill in 1985. Typical of Central Texas, harsh weather in Austin is a threat that can strike amid any season. According to most classifications, Austin lies inside the extreme southern periphery of Tornado Alley, although many sources place Austin outside of Tornado Alley altogether. Consequently, tornadoes strike Austin less incessantly than areas farther to the north. However, harsh weather and/or supercell thunderstorms can occur multiple times per year, bringing damaging winds, lightning, heavy rain, and occasional flash flooding to the city. The deadliest storm to ever strike town/city limits was the twin tornadoes storm of May 4, 1922, while the deadliest tornado outbreak to ever strike the metro region was the Central Texas tornado outbreak of May 27, 1997. Climate data for Camp Mabry, Austin, Texas (1981 2010 normals, extremes 1891 present) From October 2010 through September 2011, both primary reporting stations in Austin, Camp Mabry and Bergstrom Int'l, had the least rainfall of a water year on record, receiving less than a third of normal precipitation. This was a result of La Nina conditions in the easterly Pacific Ocean where water was decidedly cooler than normal. According to the 2010 United States Census, the ethnic composition of Austin is: Map of ethnic distribution in Austin, 2010 U.S. A 2014 University of Texas study stated that Austin was the only U.S. According to one survey instead of in 2014, it is estimated that at least 5.3% (48,000+) of Austin's inhabitants identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender. Austin had the third highest rate in the nation. Downtown Austin from Congress Avenue Bridge, Texas State Capitol in background The Greater Austin urbane statistical region had a Gross Domestic Product of $86 billion in 2010. Austin is considered to be a primary center for high tech. Thousands of graduates each year from the engineering and computer science programs at the University of Texas at Austin furnish a steady origin of employees that help to fuel Austin's technology and defense trade sectors. The region's rapid expansion has led Forbes to project the Austin urbane region number one among all big metros/cities for jobs for 2012 in their annual survey and WSJ Marketwatch to project the region number one for burgeoning businesses. By 2013, Austin ranked No. 13 on the list). As a result of the high concentration of high-tech companies in the region, Austin was firmly affected by the dot-com boom in the late 1990s and subsequent bust. Austin's biggest employers include the Austin Independent School District, the City of Austin, Dell, the U.S. David's Healthcare Partnership, Seton Family of Hospitals, the State of Texas, the Texas State University, and the University of Texas at Austin. Other high-tech companies with operations in Austin include 3 - M, Apple, Amazon, AMD, Apartment Ratings, Applied Materials, ARM Holdings, Bigcommerce, Bioware, Blizzard Entertainment, Buffalo Technology, Cirrus Logic, Cisco Systems, Dropbox, e - Bay, Pay - Pal, Electronic Arts, Flextronics, Facebook, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Hoover's, Home - Away, Hostgator, Intel Corporation, National Instruments, Nvidia, Oracle, Polycom, Qualcomm, Inc., Rackspace, Retail - Me - Not, Rooster Teeth, Samsung Group, Silicon Laboratories, Spansion, Troux Technologies, United Devices, and Xerox. Austin is also emerging as a core for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies; the town/city is home to about 85 of them. The town/city was ranked by the Milken Institute as the No.12 biotech and life science center in the United States. Companies such as Hospira, Pharmaceutical Product Development, and Arthro - Care Corporation are positioned there. Other companies based in Austin include Freescale Semiconductor, Good - Pop, Temple-Inland, Sweet Leaf Tea Company, Keller Williams Realty, National Western Life, GSD&M, Dimensional Fund Advisors, Golfsmith, Forestar Group, and EZCorp. This motto has not only been used in promoting Austin's eccentricity and range, but is also meant to bolster support of small-town independent businesses. According to the 2010 book, Weird City, the phrase was begun by a small-town Austin Community College librarian, Red Wassenich, and his wife, Karen Pavelka, who were concerned about Austin's "rapid descent into commercialism and overdevelopment." The slogan has been interpreted many ways since its inception, but remains an meaningful motif for many Austinites who wish to voice concerns over rapid expansion and irresponsible development. According to the Nielsen Company, grownups in Austin read and contribute to blogs more than those in any other U.S. Metropolitan area. Austin inhabitants have the highest internet usage in all of Texas. Austin was chose as the No. 3 in 2009, and also the "Greenest City in America" by MSN. According to Travel & Leisure magazine, Austin rates No. Recently in 2015, Forbes listed Austin as #1 Boom Town because of its economic strength, including jobs among other appealing attributes. Old Austin is an adage often used by the native people in Austin, Texas when being nostalgic to refer to the olden days of the capital town/city of Texas. Although Austin is also known internationally as the live music capital of the world and its catch phrase/slogan Keep Austin Weird can be heard echoed in places as far as Buffalo, NY and Santa Monica, CA - the term Old Austin refers to a time when the town/city was lesser and better known for its lack of traffic, hipsters, and urban sprawl. It is often working by longtime inhabitants expressing displeasure at the quickly changing culture. The expansion and popularity of Austin can be seen by the expansive evolution taking place in its downtown landscape. Forbes ranked Austin as the second fastest-growing town/city in 2015. This expansion can have a negative impact on longtime small businesses that cannot keep up with the costs associated with gentrification and the rising cost of real estate. See also: Category:Festivals in Austin, Texas Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, positioned on Lady Bird Lake at 600 River Street in Austin. Other annual affairs include Eeyore's Birthday Party, Spamarama, Austin Gay Pride, the Austin Reggae Festival in April, Kite Festival, Texas Craft Brewers Festival in September, Art City Austin in April, East Austin Studio Tour in November, and Carnaval Brasileiro in February. The three-day Austin City Limits Music Festival has been held in Zilker Park every year since 2002. Every year around the end of March and the beginning of April, Austin is home to "Texas Relay Weekend." Austin's Zilker Park Tree is a Christmas display made of lights strung from the top of a Moonlight fortress in Zilker Park. 2009 Austin City Limits Music Festival with view of stages and Downtown Austin As Austin's official slogan is The Live Music Capital of the World, the town/city has a vibrant live music scene with more music venues per capita than any other U.S. City. Austin's music revolves around the many eveningclubs on 6th Street and an annual film/music/interactive festival known as South by Southwest (SXSW). The concentration of restaurants, bars, and music venues in the city's downtown core is a primary contributor to Austin's live music scene, as the zip code encompassing the downtown entertainment precinct hosts the most bar or alcohol-serving establishments in the U.S. The longest-running concert music program on American television, Austin City Limits, is recorded at ACL Live at The Moody Theater. Austin City Limits and C3 Presents produce the Austin City Limits Music Festival, an annual music and art festival held at Zilker Park in Austin. Austin Lyric Opera performs multiple operas each year (including the 2007 opening of Philip Glass's Waiting for the Barbarians, written by University of Texas at Austin alumnus J. Austin hosts a several film celebrations including SXSW Film Festival and Austin Film Festival, which hosts global films. Austin has been the locale for a number of motion pictures, partly due to the influence of The University of Texas at Austin Department of Radio-Television-Film. Films produced in Austin include The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Songwriter (1984), Man of the House, Secondhand Lions, Chainsaw Massacre 2, Nadine, Waking Life, Spy Kids,The Faculty, Dazed and Confused, Wild Texas Wind, Office Space, The Life of David Gale, Miss Congeniality, Doubting Thomas, Slacker, Idiocracy, The New Guy, Hope Floats, The Alamo, Blank Check, The Wendall Baker Story, School of Rock, A Slipping-Down Life, A Scanner Darkly, Saturday Morning Massacre, and most recently, the Coen brothers' True Grit, Grindhouse, Machete, How to Eat Fried Worms, Bandslam and Lazer Team. In order to draw future film projects to the area, the Austin Film Society has converted a several aircraft hangars from the former Mueller Airport into filmmaking center Austin Studios. Projects that have used facilities at Austin Studios include music videos by The Flaming Lips and feature films such as 25th Hour and Sin City. Austin also hosted the MTV series, The Real World: Austin in 2005. The film review websites Spill.com and Ain't It Cool News are based in Austin. The town/city also has live performance theater venues such as the Zachary Scott Theatre Center, Vortex Repertory Company, Salvage Vanguard Theater, Rude Mechanicals' the Off Center, Austin Playhouse, Scottish Rite Children's Theater, Hyde Park Theatre, the Blue Theater, The Hideout Theatre, and Esther's Follies. The Victory Grill was a famous venue on the Chitlin' circuit. Public art and performances in the parks and on bridges are popular. The Paramount Theatre, opened in downtown Austin in 1915, contributes to Austin's theater and film culture, showing classic films throughout the summer and hosting county-wide premieres for films such as Miss Congeniality. The Zilker Park Summer Musical is a long-running outside musical. Ballet Austin is the fourth biggest ballet academy in the country. Each year Ballet Austin's 20-member experienced business performs ballets from a wide range of choreographers, including their global award-winning creative director, Stephen Mills. The Austin improvisational theatre scene has a several theaters: Cold - Towne Theater, The Hideout Theater, The New Movement Theater, and The Institution Theater. Austin also hosts the Out of Bounds Improv Festival, which draws comedic artists in all disciplines to Austin. Museums in Austin include the Texas Memorial Museum, the Blanton Museum of Art (reopened in 2006), the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum athwart the street (which opened in 2000), The Contemporary Austin, the Elisabet Ney Museum and the arcades at the Harry Ransom Center. The LBJ Presidential Library on The University of Texas ground in Austin, Texas The Enchanted Forest, a multi-acre outside music, art, and performance art space in South Austin hosts affairs such as fire-dancing and circus-like-acts. Austin is also home to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, which homes documents and artifacts related to the Johnson administration, including LBJ's limousine and a re-creation of the Oval Office. Austin also has many odd statues and landmarks, such as the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue, the Willie Nelson statue, the Mangia dinosaur, the Loca Maria lady at Taco Xpress, the Hyde Park Gym's enormous flexed arm, and Daniel Johnston's Hi, How are You? The Austin Zoo, positioned in unincorporated Travis County, is a rescue zoo that provides sanctuary to displaced animals from a range of situations, including those involving neglect. Many Austinites support the athletic programs of the University of Texas at Austin known as the Texas Longhorns. Austin is the most crowded city in the United States without a major-league experienced sports team. Minor-league experienced sports came to Austin in 1996, when the Austin Ice Bats began playing at the Travis County Expo Center; they were later replaced by the AHL Texas Stars. Austin now hosts a number of other experienced teams, including the Austin Spurs of the NBA Development League, the Austin Aztex of the United Soccer League, the Austin Outlaws in WFA football, and the Austin Aces in WTT tennis. Natural features like the bicycle-friendly Texas Hill Country and generally mild climate make Austin the home of a several endurance and multi-sport competitions and communities. The Capitol 10,000 is the biggest 10 K race in Texas, and approximately fifth biggest in the United States. The Austin Marathon has been run in the town/city every year since 1992. Austin region experienced sports squads Austin Spurs Basketball 2005 NBA D-League H-E-B Center at Cedar Park Austin Aztex Soccer 2011 United Soccer League House Park Austin Outlaws Football 2003 Women's Football Alliance House Park Austin Huns Rugby 1972 Texas Rugby Union Huns Field at Nixon Lane In June 2010 it was announced that the Austin region would host the Formula One, United States Grand Prix, from 2012 until 2021. The State pledged $25 million in enhance funds annually for 10 years to pay the sanctioning fees for the race. A Formula One circuit was assembled at an estimated cost of $250 to $300 million, and is positioned just east of the Austin Bergstrom International Airport. Circuit of the Americas also plays host to Moto - GP World Championships from 2013. Austin Aces played their matches at the Cedar Park Center northwest of Austin, and featured former professionals Andy Roddick and Marion Bartoli, as well as current WTA tour player Vera Zvonareva. The team left after the 2015 season. Austin's Deep Eddy Pool is the earliest man-made pool in Texas The Austin Parks and Recreation Department received the Excellence in Aquatics award in 1999 and the Gold Medal Awards in 2004 from the National Recreation and Park Association. Home to more than 50 enhance swimming pools, Austin has parks and pools throughout the city. Some well known naturally forming swimming holes along Austin's greenbelt include Twin Falls, Sculpture Falls and Campbell's Hole. To strengthen the region's parks system, which spans more than 29,000 acres (11,736 ha), The Austin Parks Foundation (APF) was established in 1992 to precarious and advancement parks in and around Austin. APF works to fill the city's park funding gap by leveraging volunteers, philanthropists, park promotes and strategic collaborations to develop, maintain and movement Austin's parks, trails and green spaces. The town/city had 39 homicides in 2016, the most since 1997. FBI Statistics show that overall violent and property crimes dropped in Austin in 2015, but increased in suburban areas of the city. One such Southeastern suburb, Del Valle reported 8 homicides inside 2 months in 2016. According to 2016 APD crime statistics, the 78723 census tract had the most violent crime, with 6 murders, 25 rapes, and 81 robberies. One of the first American school mass-shooting incidents took place in Austin on August 1, 1966, when Charles Whitman shot 43 citizens , killing 13 from the top of the University of Texas tower. This event led to the formation of the SWAT team. See also: List of mayors of Austin, Texas Austin City Hall Austin is administered by an 11-member town/city council (10 council members propel by geographic precinct plus a mayor propel at large). Austin formerly directed its town/city hall at 128 West 8th Street. Antoine Predock and Cotera Kolar Negrete & Reed Architects designed a new town/city hall building, which was intended to reflect what The Dallas Morning News referred to as a "crazy-quilt vitality, that embraces everything from nation music to surroundingal protests and high-tech swagger." The new town/city hall, assembled from recycled materials, has solar panels in its garage. The town/city hall, at 301 West Second Street, opened in November 2004. The current mayor of Austin is Steve Adler. Law enforcement in Austin is provided by the Austin Police Department, except for state government buildings, which are patrolled by the Texas Department of Public Safety. The University of Texas Police operate from the University of Texas. Fire protection inside the town/city limits is provided by the Austin Fire Department, while the encircling county is divided into twelve geographical areas known as Emergency Services Districts, which are veiled by separate county-wide fire departments. Emergency Medical Services are provided for the whole county by "Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services". The Texas Department of Transportation operates the Austin District Office in Austin. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) operates the Austin I and Austin II precinct parole offices in Austin. The United States Postal Service operates a several postal services in Austin. Austin is known as an enclave of liberal politics in an otherwise conservative state so much so, that the town/city is sometimes sarcastically called the "People's Republic of Austin" by inhabitants of other parts of Texas, and conservatives in the Texas Legislature. Since redistricting following the 2010 United States Census, Austin has been divided between six congressional districts at the federal level: Texas's 35th, Texas's 25th, Texas's 10th, Texas's 21st, Texas's 17th, and Texas's 31st. A controversial turning point in the political history of the Austin region was the 2003 Texas redistricting. This affected Austin's districting, as U.S. City inhabitants have been supportive of alternative candidates; for example, Ralph Nader won 10.4% of the vote in Austin in 2000. Of Austin's six state legislative districts, three are firmly Democratic and three are swing districts, two of which are held by Democrats and one of which is held by a Republican. Travis County was also the only county in Texas to reject Texas Constitutional Amendment Proposition 2 that effectively outlawed gay marriage and status equal or similar to it and did so by a wide margin (40% for, 60% against). During the run up to the election in November, a presidential debate was held at the University of Texas at Austin student union involving the two candidates. The distinguishing political boss of Austin politics has been that of the surroundingal movement, which spawned the alongside neighborhood movement, then the more recent conservationist boss (as typified by the Hill Country Conservancy), and eventually the current ongoing debate about "sense of place" and preserving the Austin character of life. Much of the surroundingal boss has matured into a debate on issues related to saving and creating an Austin "sense of place." In 2012, Austin became just one of a several metros/cities in Texas to ban the sale and use of plastic bags. Researchers at Central Connecticut State University ranked Austin the 16th most literate town/city in the United States for 2008. The Austin Public Library operates the John Henry Faulk Library and various library chapters. In addition, the University of Texas at Austin operates the seventh-largest academic library in the nation. Austin was voted "America's No.1 College Town" by the Travel Channel. Over 43 percent of Austin inhabitants age 25 and over hold a bachelor's degree, while 16 percent hold a graduate degree. In 2009, greater Austin ranked eighth among urbane areas in the United States for bachelor's degree attainment with nearly 39 percent of region residents over 25 holding a bachelor's degree. The University of Texas at Austin Austin is home to the University of Texas at Austin, the flagship institution of the University of Texas System with over 38,000 undergraduate students and 12,000 graduate students. Other establishments of higher learning in Austin include St. Edward's University, Huston-Tillotson University, Austin Community College, Concordia University, the Seminary of the Southwest, the Acton School of Business, Texas Health and Science University, University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, Austin Graduate School of Theology, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Virginia College's Austin Campus, The Art Institute of Austin, Southern Careers Institute of Austin, Austin Conservatory and a branch of Park University. The Austin region has 29 enhance school districts, 17 charter schools and 69 private schools. Most of the town/city is served by the Austin Independent School District. This precinct includes notable schools such as the magnet Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School of Austin, Texas (LASA), which, by test scores, has persistently been inside the top thirty high schools in the nation, as well as The Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders. Some parts of Austin are served by other districts, including Round Rock, Pflugerville, Leander, Manor, Del Valle, Lake Travis, Hays, and Eanes ISDs. Four of the metro's primary enhance school systems, representing 54% of region enrollment, are encompassed in Expansion Management magazine's latest annual education character ratings of nearly 2,800 school districts nationwide. Austin has a large network of private and alternative education establishments for kids in preschool-12th undertaking including Abrome, ACE Academy, Acton Academy, Austin International School, Austin Jewish Academy, Austin Peace Academy, The Austin School for the Performing and Visual Arts, The Austin Waldorf School, Brentwood Christian School, Cleaview Sudbury School, Concordia Academy, The Griffin School, Holy Family Catholic School, Huntington-Surrey, Inside Outside School, Integrity Academy, Hyde Park Baptist, The Khabele School, Kirby Hall School, Long-View Micro School, Paragon Preparatory Middle School, Progress School, Redeemer Lutheran School, Regents School of Austin, Renaissance Academy, San Juan Diego Catholic High School, Skybridge Academy, St. Austin Catholic School, St. Austin is also home to child developmental establishments including the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, the Central Texas Autism Center, Johnson Center for Child Health and Development and many more. See also: List of newspapers in Texas, List of airways broadcasts in Texas, and List of tv stations in Texas Austin's chief daily journal is the Austin American-Statesman. The Austin Chronicle is Austin's alternative weekly, while The Daily Texan is the student journal of the University of Texas at Austin. Austin's company journal is the weekly Austin Business Journal. The Austin Monitor is an online supply that specializes in insider reporting on City Hall, Travis County Commissioners Court, AISD, and other related small-town civics beats. Austin also has various lesser special interest or sub-regional newspapers such as the Oak Hill Gazette, Westlake Picayune, Hill Country News, Round Rock Leader, NOKOA, and The Villager among others. Texas Monthly, a primary county-wide magazine, is also headquartered in Austin. The Texas Observer, a muckraking biweekly political magazine, has been based in Austin for over five decades. The weekly Community Impact Newspaper journal presented by John Garrett, former publisher of the Austin Business Journal has five county-wide editions and is bringed to every home and company inside certain zip codes and all of the news is specific to those zip codes. Another statewide printed announcement based in Austin is The Texas Tribune, an on-line printed announcement concentrated on Texas politics. The Tribune is "user-supported" through donations, a company model similar to enhance radio. The Editor is Evan Smith, former Editor of Texas Monthly. Smith co-founded the Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, non-partisan enhance media organization, with Austin venture capitalist John Thornton and veteran journalist Ross Ramsey. KUT-FM is the dominant enhance airways broadcast in Texas and produces the majority of its content locally. KOOP (FM) is a volunteer-run airways broadcast with more than 60 locally produced programs. KVRX is the student-run college airways broadcast of the University of Texas at Austin with a focus on small-town and non-mainstream music and improve programming. Other listener-supported stations include KAZI (urban contemporary), and KMFA (classical) KLRU produces a several award-winning locally produced programs such as Austin City Limits. Alex Jones, journalist, radio show host and filmmaker, produces his talk show The Alex Jones Show in Austin which broadcasts nationally on more than 60 AM and FM airways broadcasts in the United States, WWCR Radio shortwave and XM Radio: Channel 166. Of all the citizens who work in Austin, 73% drive alone, 10% carpool, 6% work from home, 5% take the bus, 2% walk, and 1% bicycle. Central Austin lies between two primary north-south freeways: Interstate 35 to the east and the Mopac Expressway (Loop 1) to the west. Highway 183 runs from northwest to southeast, and State Highway 71 crosses the southern part of the town/city from east to west, completing a rough "box" around central and north-central Austin. Austin is the biggest city in the United States to be served by only one Interstate Highway. Highway 290 splits from Highway 71 in southwest Austin, in an interchange known as "The Y." State Highway 130 is a bypass route designed to relieve traffic congestion, starting from Interstate 35 just north of Georgetown and running along a alongside route to the east, where it bypasses Round Rock, Austin, San Marcos and New Braunfels before ending at Interstate 10 east of Seguin, where drivers could drive 30 miles (48 km) west to return to Interstate 35 in San Antonio. The first segment was opened in November 2006, which was positioned east of Austin Bergstrom International Airport at Austin's southeast corner on State Highway 71. Highway 130 runs concurrently with Highway 45 from Pflugerville on the north until it reaches US 183 well south of Austin, where it splits off and goes west. A new southeast leg of Highway 45 has recently been completed, running from US 183 and the south end of Segment 5 of TX-130 south of Austin due west to I-35 at the FM 1327/Creedmoor exit between the south end of Austin and Buda. Austin's airport is Austin Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) (IATA code AUS), positioned 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the city. Austin Executive Airport serves the general aviation coming into the city, as well as other lesser airports outside of the town/city centre. Greyhound Lines operates the Austin Station at 916 East Koenig Lane, just east of Airport Boulevard and adjoining to Highland Mall. Turimex Internacional operates bus service from Austin to Nuevo Laredo and on to many destinations in Mexico. Capital Metro opened a 32-mile (51 km) commuter rail fitness known as Capital Metro - Rail on March 22, 2010. The fitness was assembled on existing freight rail lines and serves downtown Austin, East Austin, North Central Austin, Northwest Austin, and Leander in its first phase. Capital Metro is also looking into a light rail fitness to connect most of Downtown, the University of Texas at Austin, and the 700-acre (2.8 km2) Mueller Airport Redevelopment. On August 7, 2014, the Austin City Council unanimously voted to place a $600 million light rail bond proposal on the November 4, 2014 ballot. Implementation of this package is contingent on matching funding from Federal transit grants. If Federal funding is available, Austin would begin assembly of a light rail line that would run from Riverside Drive to the Highland Austin Community College Campus. Capital Area Rural Transportation System joins Austin with outlying suburbs. Austin was chosen as the first town/city in the hemisphere to host this company's business, which is based in Germany. Austin is known as the most bike-friendly town/city in Texas, and was ranked the #7 town/city in the US by Bicycling Magazine in 2016. Austin has a Silver-level rating from the League of American Bicyclists. There are over 80 miles (130 kilometres) of bike lanes in Austin. Bicycles are a prominent transit choice among students, faculty, and staff at the University of Texas, Austin. A 2013 study by Walk Score ranked Austin 35th most walkable of the 50 biggest U.S. Main article: List of citizens from Austin, Texas See also: List of University of Texas at Austin alumni Sister town/city monument in Austin commemorating the relationship with Saltillo List of sister metros/cities of Austin, Texas, designated by Sister Cities International. The metros/cities of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil and Elche, Alicante, Valencian Community, Spain were formerly sister cities, but upon a vote of the Austin City Council in 1991, their status was de-activated. List of companies based in Austin, Texas Easton Park a Planned unit evolution in the southeast portion of Austin Official records for Austin were kept at downtown from September 1891 to July 1942, Mueller Airport from August 1942 to June 1999, and at Camp Mabry since July 1999. Cities: Austin is blowing away the competition.". Austin City Connection. City of Austin. Austin City Connection. City of Austin. "Austin ranked second safest primary city in the U.S.". Austin City Connection. City of Austin. Marks, Paula Mitchell: Bastrop, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online. Humphrey, David C.: Austin, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online. Waterloo, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online. "City of Austin Community Inventory Report". Austin City Connection. "Austin Treasures: First Year Firsts: 1839.". Austin City Connections. Greene, Daniel P.: Austin, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online. Racial Dynamics in Early Twentieth-Century Austin, Texas. "Austin in Texas". "Austin, Texas: Basic Facts". City of Austin, Texas. "City of Austin Purchasing Office: Request for Proposal (RFP): Solicitation Number: MG10011: Comprehensive Housing Market Study: Scope of Work" (PDF). City of Austin, Texas. Humphrey, David C.: Austin, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online. News 8 Austin. "Austin Texas Weather Patterns". Visiting Austin Texas. University of Texas at Austin. "Austin History Center a division of the Austin Public Library: Frequently Asked Questions about Austin, Answer 4". "Booming downtown Austin condo market". "The surprising backstory of Austin's goal for 25,000 downtown residents". "New Austin City Limits home taking shape". "Normals for Austin, Texas". "Austin's all-time high: 112 degrees". "Austin Weather & Climate". "Data Foundry: Austin Risk Assessment" (PDF). "Austin Flood Safety". "Austin (city), Texas". "Austin city, Texas Race, Hispanic or Latino, Age, and Housing Occupancy: 2010". "Austin Housing Trends and Values". "Austin's the Only Fast-Growing City in the Country Losing African-Americans" (Archive). Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin, Friday May 16, 2014. "Top Ten Demographic Trends in Austin, Texas | Planning and Zoning | Austin - Texas.gov - The Official Website of the City of Austin". "Austin: Economy". Weird City: Sense of Place and Creative Resistance in Austin, Texas. Austin: University of Texas Press. Austin: University of Texas Press. 1: Austin, Texas - In Photos: The Next Biggest Boom Towns In The U.S". "The Fight Over Keeping Austin Weird". "What do you miss most about 'old Austin'?". "How many citizens move to Austin a day? "Austin, then and now". "Austin, Texas - In Photos: America's Fastest-Growing Cities 2015". "East Austin restaurant El Azteca likely method after 53 years". Austin Reggae Festival, retrieved November 21, 2016 Texas Craft Brewers Festival, retrieved November 21, 2016 Art Alliance Austin, retrieved November 21, 2016 1 Austin does the Sundance". "Austin History Center: Nightclub on the Chitlin Circuit". City of Austin. "Ballet Austin Celebrates Golden 50th Anniversary Season" (Press release). "Austin Enchanted Forest". "Austin Farmer's Market". Austin City Guide. "Texas 34, Texas Tech 24 box score". "Home - Austin Spurs". "Austin Sub Sandwich Shop - Thundercloud Subs". "About Austin Aces". News 8 Austin. Water-Data Report 2006, 0815 - 5500 Barton Springs at Austin, Texas. Water-Data Report 2007, 0815 - 5500 Barton Springs at Austin, Texas. Water-Data Report 2007, 0815 - 5500 Barton Springs at Austin, Texas. "Austin Murder Total Highest Since 2010". "Violent crime rate drops in Austin, but grows in suburbs, data". "Austin City Hall". "Austin City Hall". City of Austin. "Austin Fire Department". "Austin Travis-County EMS Department". "Austin District Office Archived January 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.." Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. University of Texas at Austin. "Austin city, Texas American Community Survey 2005 2009". "Austin Chamber of Commerce Greater Austin Profile". City of Austin. "Austin, Texas Archived November 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.." "Austin City Council puts rail bond on ballot". "Bike Survey Results | Bike - UT | Parking & Transportation Services (PTS) | The University of Texas at Austin". "Austin Sister Cities". "Austin picks up 13th sister town/city in London borough of Hackney". "Austin City Council Minutes". Austin City Connection. City of Austin. Austin, Texas. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. Weird City: Sense of Place and Creative Resistance in Austin, Texas. Dissonant identities: the rock'n'roll scene in Austin, Texas. Swearingen Jr., William Scott Environmental City: People, Place, and the Meaning of Modern Austin (University of Texas Press; 2010) 273 pages; traces the history of surroundingalism in the Texas capital, which has been part of a larger accomplishment to preserve Austin's character of life and sense of place. Austin, Texas Historic photographs from the Austin History Center, hosted by the Portal to Texas History Austin from the Handbook of Texas Online Geographic data related to Austin, Texas at Open - Street - Map City of Austin Categories: Austin, Texas - Academic enclaves - Capitals of former nations - Cities in Hays County, Texas - Cities in Texas - Cities in Travis County, Texas - Cities in Williamson County, Texas - County seats in Texas - Cities in Greater Austin - Planned metros/cities in the United States - Populated places established in 1839 - 1839 establishments in the Republic of Texas