The City of Austin is asking the public to assess downtown. Will they ever learn? Austin is a city of NIMBY's and hippies, and the political naive. They're gonna say they want rainbows and butterflies on every streetcorner and, of course, the legalization of marijuana.
What does Austin need to ensure growth and urban vitality? Here are a few things:
1.) Austin has got to do something to encourage business to return downtown, additionally infrastructure to support the new residents will be key. You cannot have a successful downtown with retail and restaurants and one big ass grocery store on Sixth street that costs an arm and a leg.
2.) Homeless. The aggressive homeless in this town has got to be addressed. I am not saying shut down shelters or bus them to Waco, but you've got to curb the panhandling that makes people feel uncomfortable.
3.) Violence in downtown. That shit has got to stop. If it's college kids fighting each other on Sixth street or gang bangers creeping into the city center, do something about it. Now.
4.) Speeding in downtown. Downtown is a pedestrian friendly zone. Speeding, drunk drivers and general wrecklessness with automobiles has got to stop with serious police attention.
5.) More mix of residential development. You cannot have diversity with every condo costing $300k or higher. Some people make around $50k a year. We both know that makes them poor and all, but still they ought to be able to live downtown. So get on it.
6.) Real public transportation, not this bullshit rail system to nowhere. How in the hell is a train to Leander going to help me get from 1st Street to the Capitol for a meeting?
7.) Finally, stop listening to the wingnuts. Not every single opinion has to be right and you don't have to compromise on every singe thing. That's how you wind up like San Francisco. A clusterfuck of city government.
Y'all can add your own!
Limit the number of times Congress is shut down. IE - festivals, parades, 5ks. Move them somewhere else. It causes too much congestion all the time and keeps people out of the area from spending money.
I presume there was irony in the $50,000/yr. remark? Most Austinites make rather less than that, I'd suggest. But all the points made are still valid.
But...the problem to me is the "build it and they will come" mentality. Real estate speculators are just not capable of creating a "community" out of nothing. Especially when they are busy destroying the real, existing communities that arose naturally. Remember the old South Congress when it was funky family shops instead of overpriced Yuppie bars? How a bout a policy that protects and enhances the real communities and neighborhoods that are already here instead of spending millions in tax subsidies to create an artificial "community" that no one can afford?
Agreed on all points but one: gotta relieve some traffic conditions (no, not the stupid toll road situation. that's another bitch time) by ensuring light rail gets here quick and is effective. No, it won't take us to every doorstep and business we need to get to but we need to somehow get folks off I-35 before road rage is the new Austin, keeping-it-weird, phenom. I figure light rail gets us close and taxi's and the Dillo gets us closer.
What say ye?
Actually, condo prices have already started to drop in Central/Downtown. You should see the peak in defaults in the next 6-8 months which will drag down prices along with diminished demand.
That and new construction in the 'burbs are the only weak spots in Austin's RE market.
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Thank God someone finally said it!