Making 6th Street 'vibrant' part of city's public safety goal for entertainment district
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Opening Sixth Street back up to car traffic is just step one of an over-arching public safety plan for the entertainment district.
“We want a district that isn’t a ghost town Monday through Thursday,” Mayor Kirk Watson said. “Sixth Street should be a space that’s vibrant at all hours, that has ample walking space, restaurants, bar and retail.”
The city has not announced specifics yet on how it plans to address that, but incoming Downtown Austin Alliance (DAA) CEO Davon Barbour said that’s also one of his priorities.
“Certainly from a downtown perspective, we have to work with stakeholders to make sure that we’re creating this vibrant environment,” he said.
He’s coming to Austin from New Orleans and noted the similarities between Bourbon Street and Sixth Street as he outlined ideas for a holistic approach to public safety.
“I’m a big believer in the theory of crime prevention through environmental design, where building owners factor in the architectural design of their buildings,” he said.
The City of Austin has mapped out similar aspirations for a new and improved Sixth Street in the past via the Safer Sixth Street Initiative that passed in 2022. Those efforts brought additional lighting and surveillance cameras downtown and created a safety training program for bar staff, but the resolution’s hope for things like sidewalk seating and more daytime events fell short.
Sixth Street, as Mayor Watson noted, is still primarily empty during the day, and isn’t yet the diversified-use space the resolution intended for.
City leaders said this new plan is more robust and they have a better idea of what worked and what didn’t. Barbour said he looks forward to working to execute that vision.
His first day is set to be Feb. 20.
