Riley returns to assist with CodeNEXT

Former City Council Member Chris Riley is back in Austin with his brand-new master’s in Urban Placemaking and Management from the Pratt Institute of New York. He described his final paper as a study of “guerrilla street improvements,” which he said started in New York in 2015. Although Riley wants to put his thesis about helping people create their own mobility improvements to work here, his homecoming coincided with the release of CodeNEXT. Riley said a lot of people would like to see a network of safe trail facilities in East Austin, which could be done without necessarily relying on the city for money or manpower. He said, “Usually the city would be an important partner, but there’s a lot people can do to create places that are going to be meaningful to the community.” In the meantime, the former Council member is excited about working on CodeNEXT. He said he is currently consulting with the Austin Board of Realtors but may be working with other groups as well. Implementing a new land development code is “a big, complicated problem, as well as an opportunity. … The good news is I enjoy all that,” he said.