The Waco Business Newsletter: November 25, 2019

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A bi-monthly newsletter investigating the people, places, and policies shaping Waco’s economy.

I'm Austin Meek, Vox of Waco Business News and host of "Downtown Depot," the radio show and podcast where we track the ins and outs of Waco business. Listen live on Fridays at 11:30AM & 8PM on 103.3 KWBU-FM or stream previous episodes of "Downtown Depot" anytime via Apple Podcasts, NPR, and Waco Business News.

The Waco Business Newsletter: November 25, 2019

A highlight on the Winter Menu from Milo All Day, which was named one of the top restaurants in Waco by Eater. Image by Milo All Day.

A highlight on the Winter Menu from Milo All Day, which was named one of the top restaurants in Waco by Eater. Image by Milo All Day.

LOCAL LINKS

  1. Eater, the national food site, tallied up the "must eats" in Waco. It's easy to think of our city as catering only to beer-and-burger aficionados but this list showcases Waco's diversity well. A special congratulations to my good buddy Corey McEntyre, head chef at Milo All Day, who often contributes on Downtown Depot and creates delicious dishes like the brunch plate pictured above. (Eater)

  2. At a luncheon last week, Mayor Kyle Deaver and McLennan County Judge Scott Felton mentioned progress on the renovation of the Waco Suspension Bridge, expansion of the Extraco Events Center, and the City's push to make Waco a statewide example for addressing mental health care and generational poverty as indicators of the area's upward trajectory. (KWTX)

  3. Bradley Ford, the Assistant City Manager of the City of Waco, complied a list of major moves being made in the city in anticipation of the American Planning Association's annual conference which was held in Waco. (Ford Insights Group)

  4. Chip and Joanna Gaines joined Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show and dropped tidbits about the Magnolia Network, launching October 2020. One is that Joanna will be hosting a cooking show! Chip also showed Jimmy how to two-step. (The Tonight Show)

  5. Last week on Downtown Depot, commercial real estate expert Gregg Glime looked back at the last five years of development in the Silos District. Mike Copeland of the Trib has also written a useful summation of recent activity in the area which is fetching among the highest rents per square foot in town. (Waco Business News)

  6. Cierra Shipley of Channel 25 highlights a few local hot spots making Waco a barbecue destination. Guess Family BBQ, Honky Tonk Kid, and Helberg BBQ have all received positive reviews from Daniel Vaughn, Barbecue Editor of Texas Monthly. (KXXV)

  7. Housing expert Austin Hooper mentioned the benefits of the Dean Highland neighborhood in "The Residential Recap" for November. (Waco Business News)

  8. Jubilee Market, a grocery story started by the Mission Waco team, celebrated three years of activity. (The Waco-Tribune Herald)

  9. Speaking of food stores, Dr. Nancy Grayson of Lula Jane's has listed her Elm Avenue building for $595,000. She fully renovated the building planning to open a grocery to serve East Waco but got caught in a City dispute and has decided to sell instead of fight. (The Waco-Tribune Herald)

  10. Rhiannon Saegert continues her hot streak of great content for the Trib. This overview of activity along the Elm Avenue corridor puts into stark perspective just how much growth has happened since 2012 when Dr. Nancy Grayson opened the doors of Lula Jane's. The City is in the midst of $6.7 million in capital improvements for the area. (The Waco Tribune-Herald)

A shockingly realistic painting of city life by Swedish artist Karl Jilg. Image by Karl Jilg/Swedish Road Administration.

A shockingly realistic painting of city life by Swedish artist Karl Jilg. Image by Karl Jilg/Swedish Road Administration.

OTHER LINKS

  1. The illustration above was commissioned by the Swedish Road Administration in 2017 and highlights just how car-centric our reality is. Separately, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation put together an instructive video about how we’ve designed our cities in ways that lead to air pollution, obesity, traffic and pedestrian fatalities, and myriad other negatives. There is a better way...but will we be courageous enough to take it? (CBC)

  2. There's an economic incentive to reorienting our streets for people rather than cars. In New York City, "local stores next to the protected bike lane have seen a 49% increase in sales, compared to an average of 3% for Manhattan as a whole.” (Fast Company)

  3. Economic development groups in Waco are desperately trying to attract employers with high-paying jobs that can raise the City's average median income. That's a monumental task, so the City is focusing on things it can control, like connecting hike and bike trails, integrating multimodal transportation, and cleaning up the Brazos River walk. And would you look at that: a new study finds that the more beautiful a city is, the more successful it is at generating jobs and new residents, including highly educated and affluent ones. (CityLab)

  4. America's largest cities are going bankrupt. Detroit is the most high-profile case in recent memory; in 2013, the City recorded the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in U.S. history by debt, estimated at $18–20 billion. The article highlights multiple culprits for the financial insolvency but, in my estimation, the biggest finger should be pointed at policies that divest resources from city centers and promote suburban growth. (Forbes)

  5. A zoning law in Dallas disallows churches from sheltering the homeless, even in cold weather. Although an ordinance was drafted last year to change it, the variance request won't be voted on by the city council until Spring 2020. Thankfully, many churches are refusing to render to Caesar and have been overtly breaking the law. (The Dallas Morning News)

  6. Millennials and baby boomers want the same thing: smaller houses, located closer to cities, in walkable areas. (Curbed)