Lovable Livability

The Liveable City 2008 Liveable Vision Awards event, held May 21, attracted a vivacious who's who crowd of Austin's civic-minded progressives and friends. Lovely emcee Sarah Eckhardt (our Travis Co. commissioner, wearing a red-glitter Vanna White dress) and ever-so-smart Liveable City board Chair Mark Yznaga presented trophies, made by local artists at Fisterra Studio, to the five honorees.

Themed as the five Es required for a sustainable, livable city, the Vision Awards recognize: engagement, equity, economy, environment, and esthetics. In that order, the winners were: the CreateAustin cultural plan, Austin Voices for Education and Youth initiative, HelioVolt solar manufacturing, Texas Campaign for the Environment and Dell's computer-recycling program, and Butler Park (formerly Town Lake Park).

Liveable City, a membership organization open to all, promotes broad community collaboration on urban quality-of-life issues. It provides a voice on complex, interconnected issues that are confronting our rapidly growing city. Policy reports developed by Liveable City for 2008 include: "AISD Middle Level Educa­tion Initiative: Policy and Process Recommend­a­tions," "Building a Sustainable Economy: Liveable City Examines Financial Incentives," "2008 Quality of Life Visual Card Survey," and "Rebuilding Public Engagement in Austin." Want to get engaged? Other new initiatives are a Transportation Committee and Comprehensive Planning Committee. For more info, visit www.liveablecity.org.