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All of yall from Houston who think that it is "Keep Austin Weird" is the reason there aren't freeways as far as the eye can see don't know poo poo about development in Austin. Freeways died in Austin long before KAW. The correct group to blame is environmentalists and the endangered species act. Nowadays (post Watson), I'd place more blame on how much the ledg hates Austin. There's even a plan to bury I-35 at the upper/lower deck split and re-create East Blvd. This would reduce right-of-way for the freeway and create new sellable land that can be used to offset the cost. Except TXDOT refuses to allow their funding to be spent on projects with complicated funding mechanisms. Or how the state of Texas directly controls parking policy for 2 blocks around the capitol. Ever notice those yellow tagged old-style parking meters? Those are Texas parking meters and Austin doesn't see a dime.
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Sep 12, 2014 18:36
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Ronwayne posted:For some reason I find that vaguely comforting. Austin seemed highly inauthentic, with dallas/houston-style mammonist immigrants mixing freely with the urban hillbillies in the poets shirts and flat caps. Jesus. Also what Molly Ivins said about Dallas, it's great if you just realize it's really, really unintentionally funny. This is the most Dallas thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVJVnsqF8F8 BrutalistMcDonalds fucked around with this message at 18:48 on Sep 12, 2014 |
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Sep 12, 2014 18:46
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Omi-Polari posted:I get the feeling I won't stay here due to the rising cost of housing. It really started accelerating right when I started being able to afford it. But being able to afford it means working a lot, which means I don't have time to do any of the "cool" things the city has to offer. I've made it! (At least for now.) But I'm also paying a premium for the privilege of not doing these exciting things. Its not near as bad in dallas. I got a 700sq footer for 650/mo, elec included, in an ok part of town. I had to leave austin in large part because the land lord kicked us all out of the rentals/refused to renew leases since he was selling the place for something like over twice what he paid for it. Omi-Polari posted:Dallas is so inauthentic it embraces its inauthenticity and turns it into a completely new and original kind of authenticity. Hahaha. Holy poo poo. An yes, I fully agree about Dallas literally faking it until it made it when it comes to its identity. I think it was SedanChair who originally posted this: quote:Americans are the best in history at stripping out deep cultural meaning and leaving a skeletal form that delivers what people want. Folk music loses its social message and becomes pop. Drama loses its cultural heritage and becomes the blockbuster. Martial arts lose spiritual discipline and become "Special Forces combatives." Religion loses all historical perspective and becomes a strip mall business where you can purchase the talisman of the afterlife. Unlike him, I don't think any of the above is a bad thing. Well, I mean, they are, but the spectacle of those things producing bad things is a beautiful cultural trainwreck. This place is a self important, trumped up parking lot and by god I love it.
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Sep 12, 2014 19:12
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I'm from and have lived in Texas my entire life. I've lived in Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. Yet I've somehow managed to only spend a total of 2 days in Dallas and know basically nothing about it other than what people tell me. My impression while there was that it's just a wealthier Houston. How is it different from Houston besides that?
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Sep 12, 2014 19:46
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Sheng-ji Yang posted:I'm from and have lived in Texas my entire life. I've lived in Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. Yet I've somehow managed to only spend a total of 2 days in Dallas and know basically nothing about it other than what people tell me. My impression while there was that it's just a wealthier Houston. How is it different from Houston besides that? It's not necessarily wealthier, it's new money vs. old.
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Sep 12, 2014 19:52
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Ronwayne posted:Its not near as bad in dallas. I got a 700sq footer for 650/mo, elec included, in an ok part of town. I had to leave austin in large part because the land lord kicked us all out of the rentals/refused to renew leases since he was selling the place for something like over twice what he paid for it. Lucky to find that anywhere here, or if so, you're in an absolute disaster-zone of a neighborhood. Ronwayne posted:Unlike him, I don't think any of the above is a bad thing. Well, I mean, they are, but the spectacle of those things producing bad things is a beautiful cultural trainwreck. This place is a self important, trumped up parking lot and by god I love it. I don't think Austin is going to be full of rich people in the future. It's going to be full of rich people and working poor as we see the poverty rate soar. I think the city is going to have a hard time 10 years from now, 20 years from now, keeping a stable middle class. There's going to be some really unexpected social problems. ReidRansom posted:It's not necessarily wealthier, it's new money vs. old. Has to do with the historic backbone industries. Houston is energy. Dallas is white-collar "paper industries" and wholesale merchandising, insurance, finance. (Houston has that, too, but Dallas more so.) Dallas isn't a port, either. It doesn't have any distinguishing geographical features. So I think the "we built this" thing, show-off salesman attitude comes through more. Same reason I think Dallas has really embraced its arts district, bringing in "starchitects" for big projects, etc. and pushing it really aggressively. BrutalistMcDonalds fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Sep 12, 2014 |
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Sep 12, 2014 19:53
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Omi-Polari posted:Dallas is so inauthentic it embraces its inauthenticity and turns it into a completely new and original kind of authenticity. That is completely the opposite of Austin, which is obsessed with the appearance of authenticity. When there is too little authenticity to go around it is created by slapping the appropriate veneer onto it. Every new place now has logo design straight out of the 50s and many food trailers have permanent dedicated seating and haven't been moved in years. You hear people who talk poo poo about a restaurant not because it is bad but because "it is a chain" (even if it is just a local place with North and South locations). Anyway on to housing: I heard someone who works for the city lamenting that Austin has no way to force the inclusion of "affordable" units in the large projects they approve. Is this some Texas legal quirk or is a matter of the city not being willing to attach conditions to the zoning and city variances that the large projects inevitably require?
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Sep 12, 2014 19:58
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Shifty Pony posted:That is completely the opposite of Austin, which is obsessed with the appearance of authenticity. When there is too little authenticity to go around it is created by slapping the appropriate veneer onto it. Every new place now has logo design straight out of the 50s and many food trailers have permanent dedicated seating and haven't been moved in years. You hear people who talk poo poo about a restaurant not because it is bad but because "it is a chain" (even if it is just a local place with North and South locations). On the other thing. I went to some mixed coffeeshop/bar on east Riverside awhile back and I swear it was Cracker Barrel for twentysomethings. But it was authentic, I guess, because it had the right veneer. A lot of local Dallas spots don't "look" local because they go for the chain look, yet they're still local. The last time I went to Plano? Pakistani, Indian, loving CUBAN take-out places everywhere. Or you can go to Chinatown in Richardson and there's places open until 2 a.m. But it's all in strip malls so Austin people hate it. I think: What-the-gently caress-ever. It's really a kind of smug superiority. Or you get West Coast transplants who are afraid of leaving the bubble because they think the rural folks will lynch them. I've met people like this! (Well, they might... maybe they should) BrutalistMcDonalds fucked around with this message at 20:13 on Sep 12, 2014 |
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Sep 12, 2014 20:07
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quote:Or you get West Coast transplants who are afraid of leaving the bubble because they think the rural folks will lynch them. I've met people like this! (Well, they might... maybe they should) In Dallas they have some old billionaire biddies that refuse to go east of 75 (a half mile/quarter from their house), in dread fear of the "other". That's also a reason its been like trying to pull teeth to expand the public transportation system. I think Arlington is (or was?) the largest city in the U.S. with no bus system. Ronwayne fucked around with this message at 20:22 on Sep 12, 2014 |
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Sep 12, 2014 20:20
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Shifty Pony posted:Anyway on to housing: I heard someone who works for the city lamenting that Austin has no way to force the inclusion of "affordable" units in the large projects they approve. Is this some Texas legal quirk or is a matter of the city not being willing to attach conditions to the zoning and city variances that the large projects inevitably require? So what Austin has is a model where if you need a variance instead of building X% of affordable housing units you can instead pay a per sq. ft. fee to a fund that then affordable housing developers can use. So, most developers pay the one-time fee so they get higher long-term returns. And no one build affordable housing in Austin because the banks won't give you loans to build affordable housing fast enough to compete with regular developers. That fund was basically the only way the new student-owned low-cost housing Co-op was build in West Campus. And I'm pretty sure its the only way a other non-profits could afford to develop in Austin. However, it doesn't help These rules only apply in certain development districts (Downtown and near UT mainly). Other places the rules are less strict or alternatively there's no easy way to get a variance at all (hyde park). The other problem is, Austin is actually rather cheap to live in, you just don't get to live in downtown. And suburban voters prevent mass transit development because: 1. They use their car. 2. Buses bring "those people" into our neighborhoods! I heard the second excuse a lot when in the north Austin neighborhood I grew up in, people would fight to have the bus stop removed from the neighborhood because they only saw "suspicious" people using it. Those suspicious people were of course their own lower income neighbors.
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Sep 12, 2014 20:22
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Trabisnikof posted:The other problem is, Austin is actually rather cheap to live in, you just don't get to live in downtown.
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Sep 12, 2014 20:46
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Yeah, central Austin is expensive for Texas but relative to the rest of the country's trendy cities its drastically cheaper. Still, the increase is pretty absurd. My very lovely little college apartment which was $700 rent in 2009 is now $1200.
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Sep 12, 2014 20:48
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I know this is not germane, but I had been without health insurance for while until recently and found HEB pharmacy discount card a useful tool as it lowered the prescription bills a bit, are there other pharmacy places that offer a discount card like that? I didn't even know it existed until I decided to use their pharmacy.
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Sep 12, 2014 20:52
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Question for Austin goons: Why aren't we sprawling eastward? Or are we? Much of 130 runs through countryside, and east of 130 there's nothing until you reach Bastrop or Elgin.
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Sep 12, 2014 20:56
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The airport hurts that, I guess. They are doing massive reconstruction on 71, bypassing Riverside, but I don't know if that hurts or helps. Also it seems the lion's share of development money is going downtown. Why go out when you can go up. zoux fucked around with this message at 21:10 on Sep 12, 2014 |
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Sep 12, 2014 21:07
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Omi-Polari posted:Question for Austin goons: Why aren't we sprawling eastward? Or are we? Much of 130 runs through countryside, and east of 130 there's nothing until you reach Bastrop or Elgin. The Austin growth corridor is to the northeast. I'm not sure the exact reasons why its not due east.
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Sep 12, 2014 21:18
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Too close to the ~bad part of town~
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Sep 12, 2014 21:20
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Nonsense posted:I know this is not germane, but I had been without health insurance for while until recently and found HEB pharmacy discount card a useful tool as it lowered the prescription bills a bit, are there other pharmacy places that offer a discount card like that? I didn't even know it existed until I decided to use their pharmacy. the Lone Star Circle of Health clinics are exceptional for getting reasonably priced drugs and cheap medical care. I highly advise visiting them. They also provide mental health services as well, for those that need them.
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Sep 12, 2014 21:22
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Build a highway that goes from my place of residence directly to Mama Fu's.
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Sep 12, 2014 21:35
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Ronwayne posted:In Dallas they have some old billionaire biddies that refuse to go east of 75 (a half mile/quarter from their house), in dread fear of the "other". Seriously, when I was in middle school in the early 90's there was a bond bill to get bus stops out in our mid-cities DFW suburb. My grandmother was very upset at the idea and I asked her why. Her exact words (to her 10-year-old grandson) were "Because busses bring the n*ggers into town." The bond was defeated, and to this day there's no public transit in that suburb. Trabisnikof posted:The Austin growth corridor is to the northeast. I'm not sure the exact reasons why its not due east. It's 'cause, as mentioned earlier, the East-West transportation is poo poo. You don't have any arteries (or really any worthwhile public transit) that can move large numbers of people from East of 183 into the city's core. That said, near-East properties (between I-35 and Airport Blvd) are booming like crazy right now, because they're closer to downtown than most other properties and the East side has lost all semblance of being scary. (Not to mention the Holly Street power plant finally closed, opening up a beautiful neighborhood right on the lake and less than a minute from downtown.) A friend who has lived on the East side for decades created a FB page just listing all the crazy listings that get posted in his neighborhood. - https://www.facebook.com/austinrealcrazyrealestate
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Sep 12, 2014 21:41
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Omi-Polari posted:Question for Austin goons: Why aren't we sprawling eastward? Or are we? Much of 130 runs through countryside, and east of 130 there's nothing until you reach Bastrop or Elgin. It'll happen eventually. I have no factual basis for this but it makes sense that pflugerville/Round Rock grew as commuter cities of Austin because you could take I35 (and now the toll part of Mopac) down. The problem with heading out towards 130 is the same problem with any community not North/South...How do you get into the city? 130 is great and I love driving on it but there is no easy way to get into Austin by using it. Also, the reason 130 is so far out in the boonies is because that's the only place they could get land for it.
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Sep 12, 2014 21:43
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Sheng-ji Yang posted:Too close to the ~bad part of town~ *ding* Sorry for large image but scaling it makes it very hard to see. Click for big:  But the market is insane right now and has gentrified the near east neighborhoods. The only thing holding the area back now is lack of transportation and 290 doesn't count because of the 183/I35/290 intersection clusterfuck. Sheng-ji Yang posted:Yeah, central Austin is expensive for Texas but relative to the rest of the country's trendy cities its drastically cheaper. Still, the increase is pretty absurd. My very lovely little college apartment which was $700 rent in 2009 is now $1200. The trouble is that Austin salaries aren't anywhere near what they would be in another trendy city.
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Sep 12, 2014 22:07
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Shifty Pony posted:The trouble is that Austin salaries aren't anywhere near what they would be in another trendy city. They're starting to get there. I mean, I'm in tech support and will gross around $60k this year. Granted, I have a lot of years with the company but it's decent money for a guy without a degree. Most of the people I know who are even halfway-decent programmers are signing $50k 6-month contracts. And it seems like everyone who isn't coding or working for a startup is a project manager and pulling a pretty good salary. I feel sorry for the poor bastards stuck in state jobs, though, as the Republicans in capitol are happy to starve them. They used to be the stable backbone of the city, and now it's hard to imagine someone with an entry-level state job being able to afford to live anywhere near the capitol.
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Sep 12, 2014 23:23
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e_angst posted:Seriously, when I was in middle school in the early 90's there was a bond bill to get bus stops out in our mid-cities DFW suburb. My grandmother was very upset at the idea and I asked her why. Her exact words (to her 10-year-old grandson) were "Because busses bring the n*ggers into town." e_angst posted:They're starting to get there. I mean, I'm in tech support and will gross around $60k this year. Granted, I have a lot of years with the company but it's decent money for a guy without a degree. Most of the people I know who are even halfway-decent programmers are signing $50k 6-month contracts. And it seems like everyone who isn't coding or working for a startup is a project manager and pulling a pretty good salary. I want to scratch my Sim City itch and just fill that big white space to the east in with residential zoning. BrutalistMcDonalds fucked around with this message at 00:34 on Sep 13, 2014 |
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Sep 13, 2014 00:30
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I was born in Lubbock. It's a pretty hosed-up place.
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Sep 13, 2014 00:36
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From what I remember the "Cheese" epidemic (Black Tar Heroin+Tylenol PM, alleged/apparenly a "kiddy drug") was especially bad in Arlington in the ~2007-09 era. I might be confusing this with the pre-sudafed-restriction meth epidemic, however, when trailers around Red Oak and north east texas in general were going up nonstop like Micheal Bey pyrotechnics.
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Sep 13, 2014 00:38
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vintagepurple posted:I was born in Lubbock. It's a pretty hosed-up place. I was born in Austin, live in Lubbock. loving LOVE the traffic here, and the complete and utter lack of Live Oak pollen.
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Sep 13, 2014 00:38
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Alkydere posted:I was born in Austin, live in Lubbock. Hope you have a committed sex partner! quote:Sexually transmitted diseases continue to be a problem in Lubbock County, with more cases expected this year over 2012. 11th in population, but 8th in STDs! That's an achievement. Edit: for the thread's information 
Trabisnikof fucked around with this message at 00:49 on Sep 13, 2014 |
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Sep 13, 2014 00:42
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Ronwayne posted:From what I remember the "Cheese" epidemic (Black Tar Heroin+Tylenol PM, alleged/apparenly a "kiddy drug") was especially bad in Arlington in the ~2007-09 era. I might be confusing this with the pre-sudafed-restriction meth epidemic, however, when trailers around Red Oak and north east texas in general were going up nonstop like Micheal Bey pyrotechnics. Ed: Potter County? Oh Amarillo shiiiiiiit!
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Sep 13, 2014 00:50
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Petition for thread name change to "wrap it up, y'all."
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Sep 13, 2014 00:56
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Alkydere posted:I was born in Austin, live in Lubbock. And there's a Chuy's now!
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Sep 13, 2014 01:01
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Trabisnikof posted:Hope you have a committed sex partner! Folks call it Raider Rash.
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Sep 13, 2014 01:26
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Nonsense posted:I know this is not germane, but I had been without health insurance for while until recently and found HEB pharmacy discount card a useful tool as it lowered the prescription bills a bit, are there other pharmacy places that offer a discount card like that? I didn't even know it existed until I decided to use their pharmacy. Walgreens and if you have one near, Sam's Club. Talk to pharmacies there about a discount card.
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Sep 13, 2014 01:42
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Trabisnikof posted:Hope you have a committed sex partner! It's called "my right hand". Being a nerdy shut-in with no social life that isn't online does wonders for STD resistance.  And yes, I was made well aware of Lubbock, and Tech's, very special place in Texas's health charts when I first moved in as a freshman.
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Sep 13, 2014 02:52
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Trabisnikof posted:I'm all in favor of executing anyone going below the speed limit in the left lane. I would kill for a Houston-Dallas high speed rail line, but I seriously question it ever happening. We've heard about it for decades.
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Sep 13, 2014 03:23
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KIM JONG TRILL posted:I would kill for a Houston-Dallas high speed rail line, but I seriously question it ever happening. We've heard about it for decades. DFW, DAL, IAH, and every airline/company that services them would treat it as an existential threat and pour enough money into the lege to make sure it doesn't happen. The Acela in the Northeast put a pretty big dent in the lucrative corporate airline travel market between NYC, BOS, IAD, and DCA and they won't let that happen again without one hell of a fight. Dameius posted:Walgreens and if you have one near, Sam's Club. Talk to pharmacies there about a discount card. Costco as well. While the rest of the store may be members only it is a non-promoted fact that the pharmacy is open to all. Federal law I believe. Badger of Basra posted:Petition for thread name change to "wrap it up, y'all." Eh the main power we have in Texas this cycle to make Texas less lovely is in local elections, which involves discussing local issues. And where the best place to get Banh Mi is (Tam Deli).
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Sep 13, 2014 03:44
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Omi-Polari posted:Question for Austin goons: Why aren't we sprawling eastward? Or are we? Much of 130 runs through countryside, and east of 130 there's nothing until you reach Bastrop or Elgin. There's been some housing growth in the Manor/Harris Branch area, I keep seeing new tract-house developments go in. (I live in the general vicinity). Its probably one of the last areas in/near Austin where you can buy a large brand new home for under $200k, and a small or medium new home around $150k. And Highway 290 is a straight shot** into Austin. But the downside is, the Manor school district isn't great; the giant landfill(s); and the complete lack of any "nice" shopping, entertainment, or dining options over here. It seems like where every other small local municipality in the county has exploded with growth, Manor remains a dumpy ramshackle mess with no attractions whatsoever. Even Manor Downs closed. ** when not closed due to accidents
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Sep 13, 2014 07:09
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e_angst posted:I feel sorry for the poor bastards stuck in state jobs, though, as the Republicans in capitol are happy to starve them. They used to be the stable backbone of the city, and now it's hard to imagine someone with an entry-level state job being able to afford to live anywhere near the capitol. This is my greatest concern/complaint. Professional municipal, state, and university workers are typically still making salaries in the $35 - 65k range. (Obviously there is a great deal of variation and many outliers, but that range is based on my experience for non-management positions requiring a college degree.) In 1960s or 1970s Austin, a married couple like that could have bought a home in many or most parts of Austin, within reason. But now these workers are being displaced into distant suburbs because so much in Austin, including the once-affordable working-class neighborhoods of the 1940s-1960s, has spiked to $400k+. City of Austin, I moved here in 1989. Just write me a check for 250 grand and I'll call it even.
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Sep 13, 2014 07:30
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http://www.citizensforethics.org/blog/entry/oped-perry-deserved-indictment Stick a fork in this scrub already jesus.
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Sep 16, 2014 09:44
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The SBOE is going to meet in 2 weeks to adopt some textbooks which lie about climate change. quote:McGraw-Hill Education (World Cultures & Geography) – includes information pulled directly from the Heartland Institute, a polluter-funded advocacy group infamous for its anti-climate change propaganda. I'm not advocating signing this because I think online petitions are loving stupid but here's the source.
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Sep 16, 2014 14:31
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