ICE Protest

Here you see a protest that was held on the steps of the federal courthouse around the corner from our home. They were arguing for the shutdown of a detention center in central Texas.

Gunfire -- and it woke me up!

Back on the morning after Thanksgiving last year, a deranged man shot up the Federal Courthouse. They still have not fixed the glass in the guardhouse window. UPDATE: As luck would have it, they started working on a fix this morning.

Under Construction

Today is the first of the month and therefore theme day at City Daily Photo. We missed last month due to a technical error (or perhaps a human error!) so we wanted to participate this month. The theme is 'under construction.' This is a shot taken this morning of workers at the Federal Courthouse across the street preparing for their day among the beams, columns, scaffolding and such.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Changes

Change abounds in Austin's downtown even if the downturn quieted some projects. A large crane in use at the Federal Courthouse project next to our building frames the dome of the Capitol, which was completed before the end of the 19th century.

Today is a theme day (first of the month) for City Daily Photo blogs. The theme is 'changes.' Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

There will be a special theme day on the 15th of January with blogs reprising their 'best photo of 2009.' If you have a favorite, let us know.

Upward bound

I was walking back from errands Tuesday morning and had my camera on me, so I shot this photo of our neighborhood. (I was about a half block north of our home, the 360.) In the foreground, you see big equipment for the site work on the new federal courthouse. The building in the middle with two cranes poking out of it is the W Hotel, which is just about topped out. The tall building to the left is the Austonian (56 stories), which will be ready for move in around mid-2010. We'll be glad when we get a lot of new neighbors in these buildings.

Caught the Rain

Much work has gone on for the new Federal court house near us. FFP took this from our parking places. Since they are doing earthwork they were stymied by the steady rain yesterday morning and the site was too wet to work on in the afternoon including pretty deep water in the neat rectangle they have cut into the lot. They have actually made a lot of progress since this picture, particularly in removing the pilings underground from the unfinished building that was imploded in 2007.