I've been watching a bunch of videos like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuHQizveO1c on the City Beautiful channel and I'm realizing how much better Austin could be if we had better zoning and city planning policies. I wish all our city leaders would watch videos like this.
It's great we're making some progress with improving walkability in Austin, but so much more needs to be done.
Posted Dec 8, 2021, 10:04 PM UTC
Crestview’s Little Deli and Fresh Plus tiny shopping center is a great example!
Yeah, we have the Avenue B Deli in Hyde Park. But I know our neighborhood association would fight to the death like the world was ending if anyone tried to open any other little groceries or coffeeshops or whatever in the middle of the neighborhood now. That's what happened when a neighbor tried to get approval for a small restaurant on a major street here as well.
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It's great we're making some progress with improving walkability in Austin, but so much more needs to be done.
I agree more needs to be done, and I'm also a fan of that channel. But one of the single biggest reasons change is so hard is because we can't go back in time 40, 60, 100 years and change the decisions that were made THEN that impact us today.
Austin has been making "master plans" at least since the mid-70s. But we don't follow them because vested interests and competing policy priorities at the state and local level all get in the way.
I totally agree! But I think it's actually our fellow austinites holding us back, not city staff. The central neighborhoods of Austin (Tarrytown, Hyde Park, Allendale...etc) LOVE their single family zoning. This was on full display in the last attempt to update our zoning codes.
Due to a related lawsuit, the city has been blocked from enacting the kind of comprehensive zoning reform suggested in this video. Contact your council member and let them know what you think!
Yeah I think that's true also. There's a weird thing that happened in Austin where progressive minded people became convinced that they shouldn't support zoning changes because that's something big evil developers want.
In other cities like Portland, these same kinds of zoning changes are primarily supported by progressives because it's good for the environment (less urban sprawl, less car dependence) and good for the walkability of their city.
I don't know if we'll ever make the progressives in the city realize they accidentally ended up on the wrong side of this issue.
I often wonder how many of them are truly progressives, or people who vote for Democrats and have replaced their “Save/Defend XX_Insert_Neighborhood_Name_XX” signs with “In this house, we believe…” virtue-signaling signs? It’s hard to say for me, really. I understand the appeal of Single Family Homes because it is one of the last vestiges of the American Dream.
I also understand the “fuck these developers” mentality. If the city hints at asking too much from them (i.e., paying their fair share), they’ll push back and use “affordability” as a hostage. Nonetheless, they would use wood and particle board to slap together housing and move on to the next project.
Portland, OR has taken a seemingly less libertarian approach to city planning than Austin, and it shows as walkable neighborhoods and a comparatively robust public transit system. Perhaps we’ll get something close to that one day with Project Connect. For now, one can dream….