One of my favorite places to walk by the Colorado River. Spring is excellent time go! And after…read morelast week's rains the river is full. Very peaceful even with other people-it never gets as crowded as places in Austin-let's keep it that way!!

"Basically once the units are built there is almost no budget set aside to maintain them, they are…read moreleft to rot and the inhabitants with them." My personal opinion is affordable housing in general is a sham. The unit I was in was amazing and large and about $40/month cheaper than the market rate option I'd considered without a roommate. However no one at the complex knew anything about managing, and there were so many issues here I really wish I had moved out sooner. How could the management do a good job though? They were blamed for all the problems the complex had and fired at least every year. There were numerous comfort and health problems at the complex despite how nice and new the units looked. Inadequate parking, roach infestation, bed bugs in some units, A.C. out for weeks at a time over the summer while some part came from Asia, two different floods from sprinklers or broken pipes that flooded units that weren't dried out properly. Vehicle break ins, torched vehicles and shot up vehicles, but we were on the border of gentrified Austin, only cameras or better lighting or security could prevent that. One thing that could have been prevented and changed my life profoundly: A dark mold was growing in the A.C. vents of my unit, I was very sick for over a year. I lost my funding for grad school, my daughter's academic performance plummeted, finally my unit flooded and it dawned on me as a civil engineer that maybe the first flood in my neighbors units had caused mold growth. I asked for an inspection and was ignored, I asked again and was ignored, finally I demanded a pen and paper and wrote a request, they finally sent someone who cleaned the vents. No mold inspection report, nothing done by the book. I went to the office to thank them since I wasn't choking on food while inside from my throat swelling shut, the guy who was fired a week later said that the manager had been let go and it was strange that I felt better because nothing was found. My neighbors showed me mold growing from their A.C. that was connected to the same centralized system, and mold growing through wood and paint on their floorboards. Basically once the units are built there is almost no budget set aside to maintain them, they are left to rot and the inhabitants with them. We weren't even told where the subsidies came from and never knew if our housing would be stable from year to year. If someone complained too much they received lease violations over nonsense so that they could be removed. That's what happened with me, I was told to file an illegal tow hearing by mgmt, I did and my lease was not eligible for renewal at the last minute over that case. I also believe in retrospect my income figures were intentionally altered to put me in a higher rental program instead of CHI which I was eligible for but didn't know existed. They used my student loans and grants that went straight to UT to say I made 20k a year when I made less than 9. Mgmt knew when I moved in that it was my only viable option for school while caring for a daughter who couldn't move into traditional low income student housing. When I moved out I bought an RV with my savings. I pay much less for housing, I could even live in a parking lot without electric and it would be free. Because I am able to perform all repairs and maintenance myself I'm in control of my housing. I'm healthy and able to focus on school again. Public tax dollars for housing the way it stands currently is largely a waste of money. The org is supposed to provide a lot of services to their residents as part of their funding, they either pawn off all the labor on volunteers and other non profits, or just don't provide the service, case in point, free high speed internet that was supposed to be provided at M Station, yeah I paid over 2.4k in the 4 years I lived there for the privledge of downloading my assignments and checking my email from home. I was even referred to AT&T (the only option) by their office staff, as I was moving I saw the TDHCA pamphlet that stated we were supposed to have free high speed internet. There's also a poster that claims we are supposed to have better quality indoor air by design. Yeah, try ventilating the apartments so that the indoor relative humidity isn't so high that mold thrives in the units.

An organization where the name says it all. This non-profit truly develops a communal foundation…read morefor the people it works to support. Foundation Communities IS the affordable housing initiative that makes things happen. To start, their refreshing fundraising approach is an annual no frills lunch that is free to attend and results in 100% profit. Everything required for hosting such an event is donated and the staff organizes a streamlined tour of the organization's latest project. Attendees get a chance to experience the living spaces, learning centers and the grounds of the community before sitting down to a short and sweet hour long presentation. You can't help but be inspired by the stories of those who's lives have been transformed since coming to live there. They offer financial guidance, income tax preparation, health and fitness activities, children's educational support as well as recreation in each of their communities. This is an organization that is passionate as much about their acquisitions and strategic planning because they are inspired by the people that guide their mission. Old run down apartment complexes are sought out to be converted as well as ground up new construction. They serve downtown Austin just as much as they serve the surrounding areas. There are places geared towards a single adult to entire families. Meeting the range of needs of the community is a challenge and Foundation Communities has risen to it!

Have not had any issues with service. However, setting up an account is a pain in the neck. Unlike…read moreall our other services such as electric and gas where all we had to do was call, Goforth makes you drive all the way to their office in Niederwald to set up your account. Incredibly inefficient and very inconvenient. When we moved into our house, my husband had to take off from work to go do this. Also, I like that you can pay your bill online... BUT you must have the paper bill they mail you in order to know the amount. Their website has no customer account you can sign into to see your usage and monthly bill. Again, very inconvenient. It's 2018 now. How hard is it to get a fully functioning website for customers to login and pay with ease without needing a paper bill?

CUSTOMER service? I think NOT! A woman called from collections for a family who has NOT had my…read morephone number in 2 years. Daily, I am besieged with bill collectors for this dead BEAT couple. When I explained this to the rep, she immediately hung up the phone with not a "thank you"( NOR a "sorry for the inconvenience"!) Perhaps it was a language barrier. Whatever.....THIS person has no business being called a customer service rep"!

A Tale of Two Entities…read more Useful: 1. Settlement Home: Helps young girls who were abused have a place to live and thrive. It's a great nonprofit residential center that I hope no one on Yelp ever has a chance to use. 2. Settlement Home Garage Sale: At Palmer Events Center the first weekend in November. Friday you have to pay to get in. Don't bother. Saturday, it's free and it's a great day to scout out the merchandise and buy things you just can't go without. Sunday, the morning is pretty picked over, but the afternoon is the highlight of the whole thing. At a certain hour, they start selling boxes. Get there early, buy one or two boxes, depending on whether you think you can manage it. Plan to be trampled, nudged, elbowed, et cetera. Stuff your box as fast as possible and get the hell out. Funny: 1. My freshman year of college, my rooommate worked for Settlement Home, where abused girls get their lives on track. Some have been sexually abused, physically abused, and so on. I really respected that. This same roommate thought it was funny to tell her mom and boyfriend (stationed in Iraq, by the way) that she was pregnant. After he got someone to buy the ring (within 24 hours) and freaked out sufficiently, and her mom went a little nuts, she called both of them back and said, "Just kidding!." I don't respect that at all. 2. The people at the Settlement Home Garage Sale are friggin' animals. After I bought my box, I went to stand in front of the Center. "GET BACK BITCH! I'VE BEEN STANDING HERE FOR 20 MINUTES!" Wow. I stepped back about 10 feet, actually closer to the door. I think I actually got in before this woman. She had two of the largest boxes available, $8 apiece, duct taped together and on a big luggage rack. I went to the art section. She was sweeping entire tables full of frames into her boxes. She swept in a picture I was in the middle of grabbing. "Can I have that please?" "No!" "Are you even looking at what you're taking?' "NO! I JUST CARE ABOUT THE FRAMES, NOT THE ART, STUPID!" Well, she got a really interesting picture of Michaelangelo's "David" in the deal. Lucky lady. Cool: 1. The Settlement Home basically runs off the funds raised by the gigantic garage sale once a year. What a neat concept. But you can donate to them at any time. It's a good cause, really. 2. For a $3 box, I got the following: An antique intercom that doesn't work A bunch of Royal Doulton "Thistledown" bone china (valued at about $15 a plate) 3 novels 2 small framed photos A large framed photo of a broken window A toothbrush holder A citrus zester Two original, one-of-a-kind paintings What a deal!

I stayed at the forsaken place for a year and a half tooooo long!! I can't begin to tell you how…read moredreadful that this place was. I left fifteen years ago on my eighteenth birthday. My first opinion is that, if they still do, the settlement does NOT need to hire people who are basically kids themselves. I used to wonder if the "houseparents" had bad days, which I'm sure they did, we all did. It appeared as though they took their frustration out on the girls who lived there. Everytime you turned around somebody got a consequence for SOMETHING! Damn! I wonder if giving the girls a consequence for something made them feel taller and better about their egos, especially if they personally had a bad day before they got to work. I heard and saw how the "houseparents" used to gather around and talk about how they punished someone and how they had to restrain a girl and then they mentioned what kind of punishment they had given them. I feel I got punished every time I breathed fresh air. Instead of being punished, I felt as though they should have taught me the values of life. What's out there in life and PREPARE me for it!!!! I felt that there was no need to punish someone THAT often. Instead of punishing a girl, damn, get to know their past. See why they what they do, look behind the problem to correct it. A punishment is not going to do it. Work with them slowly. I should never have been in such a place anyway, but that is another story, in which my family and I are in court as we speak against the state for what their CPS worker did when I was eight years old. One of the houseparents told me that I had to be put on birth control, (I was not sexually active at the time), or else I would not be allowed to go anywhere on my own while I stayed there. I gave in and she ordered the birth control: I took the birth control for a month and a half and cheeked the bitch for the remainder of the time there. She never knew it, either. Then she told me that once a girl comes to the Settlement, it would be hard for she to leave it; I often still wonder sometimes if the Settlement home gets "high money" per girl who stays there. No wonder it would be difficult for she to leave unless she runs away. One of the staff had gone to court exactly two weeks before I left the hell hole, two weeks before I turned eighteen. She tried to testify to make me look bad. She told the court all kinds of fake crap and a bunch of lies!! I couldn't believe it, but then again, they are the state employees, which explains why the CPS worker ten years prior to the date did what she did. HEY!! I was trying to get emancipated, which didn't make sense at the particular time because I turned eighteen two weeks later, in which, I still left the hell hole! She couldn't stop me and didn't! My over all opinion of this place is that you people can do better and don't chastise the girls for not having a loving home who want them, they didn't ask to be born. It's not their fault that they are in such a place. Oh, yes, birth control and prozac, they call it, are popular drugs with this home and they have you open your mouth to show them that you swallowed them, but....damn I am good! I cheeked that crap all of its days! Oh!...& there is no need to feel as though you have to threaten me to not tell others that a houseparent was seen at a refund raiser for GAY people...or I would get a "consequence". They forever used that threat. God be with us all!!!!

Good water. Delivered on time and courteously. Deduction of one star: There was a minor…read moreimperfection in the seating of the valve in the porcelain bottle holder, thus leaking water from the valve, but I was able to reseat the valve easily with hand tools and did bot have to test their customer service.

Cielo Water is amazing. Easy to set up an account, and their water tastes amazing! Excellent…read morequality and all employees are friendly and personable. Can't go wrong with this amazing company! Great product and exemplary customer service!

Katherine Saldana She is one of the coldest people I've ever spoken to. She comes across as very…read morecondescending and impatient. If you don't immediately understand her question, she makes you feel unintelligent or small. I only spoke with her a few times over the phone, but every interaction left me feeling uncomfortable and dismissed.

Donate to them instead of scammy nonprofit businesses like Goodwill. They will use it for abuse…read moresurvivors not to resell Easy in and out donation the times I've been there. Remember to check their hours, not open all regular business work days but most

Got the issue taken care of quickly, but be aware they do not do pediatric work and recommend you…read moreto an amazing place pediatric dentistry of round rock and Dr. Thames. I would recommend just going to Dr. Thames for any pediatric care first. Price for initial visit $65 is more than most other places around.

This place was amazing dr Hoffman and assistant Rosalyn where able too fix my crown and such short…read morenotice, I would rate this place 10 stars if I could!! affordable pricing very well as well definitely recommend a place

Great price, great communication and very professional. Niles's communication and attention to…read moredetail is top notch. I'd choose these guys every time!

Up front pricing, very professional, and a quality water softener installed very quickly. Niles is…read moregreat all around!