A Downtown Maturing (Austin, Round Rock, Pflugerville: to live in, rail, car)

[Paulmmm]

Originally Posted by eepstein

Downtown Austin walkable? Well I guess that would be true if there was anything interesting to do. I guess you could go get drunk on 6th street with your college buddies, or head over and hang with the rich people on the 2nd street. Hmmm, or I guess you could run by the capitol and learn all about the great state of Texas!!

It's odd, isn't it, that you apparently didn't see the posting right before the one you quoted. It's from someone who lives downtown (unlike you) and hangs out downtown (unlike you) so probably has a good idea of what downtown is actually like (unlike you). Since you must have missed it, here it is again:

"I live there, and while there could be more, the only everyday thing I lack within an under 15 minute walk from my apartment is a hardware store, which is not something I need everyday. I buy nearly all our food from the Sunday farmer's market - less than a 5 minute walk. (I like to cook and eat seasonally, fresh and ethically whenever I can. If I did not live in close proximity, I would be driving there every weekend anyway) If I need something else, Whole Foods is about a ten minute walk away, and a Royal Blue within a 2 minute walk for sundries, toiletries etc, and the horrible CVS on 5th and Congress. 3 laundry/dry-cleaners within a 5-10 minute walk. Ditto for library, post-office etc.

There is a perfectly adequate gym/fitness center in the building - a great yoga studio a ten minute walk away, ditto for the Town Lake Hike and Bike Trail. I can bike to work in around 10 minutes - walk it in 25 or so, and the bus, on days when the weather is bad or I am feeling lazy, takes 15 minutes.. The Violet Crown for movies is a five minute walk away. There are at least 50 bars, restaurants, clubs, live music venues, art galleries, performance venues within a ten minute walk, and more than a hundred within a twenty minute walk, if I want to go out.

I do not need a car at all for my "everyday basic amenities." I don't have children, and not everyone has the same "everyday basic amenities," but for my life, downtown is more "liveable" and "walkable" than anywhere else in the Austin MSA, and probably in the state of Texas. YMMV."

[riaelise]

I explicitly stated at the beginning of my post that I cannot help but compare DTA to New York City because --- that is where I was born and raised. That's just how it is. When I think of "downtown", that will always be my point of reference. I've worked and lived in Manhattan for many years and I've come to expect a drug store on every corner, a movie theatre on every corner, a plethora of shopping options from how to high end, a restaurant for just about every ethnicity under the sun, and overall lots of things to do. DTA is nice, and I'm not really knocking it per se, but it's just ok for me. I don't live in DT (absolutely don't want to, or in any urban environment for that matter), but I work down here and I can tell you short of maybe hanging around lady bird lake, eating at a restaurant, or sitting on a bench somewhere..there is nothing really to do down here. As for nightlife, the blues, rock band, etc. is fine enough, but my personal tastes are reggaeton/latin (non polka/tejano) and electronica and there is seems to be a dearth of that in this city. Bars seem a bit redundant. I like to shop during my lunch hour, and there is absolutely nothing that interests me -- the boutiques are way too pricey (why should I spend 90$ for a blouse when I can easily go somewhere else (outlet mall?) and pay less?). The turnover for the high end places is pretty high because many don't bother coming to downtown for shopping. I don't find DTA all that walkable at all. The nearest grocery I know of is Whole Foods. If you live on 1st Street, I don't think it's a short walk away. Like I said, I've never witnessed the development of a downtown, so I find DTA to be interesting, but I just gave my experience/opinion.

[UTHORNS96]

One last final gripe about downtown. They need more efficient and more frequent routes on sixth street! That's supposed to be the flagship street of Austin and yet the bus service is anemic.

[HappyTexan]

I too grew up in NYC. It's because of that that I refrain from commenting on mass transportation or vibrant downtowns. I grew up biased on what a "downtown" is and what mass transportation means and any opinion I have would be based on comparison to NYC.

[TexasHorseLady]

Please, really, let's not aspire to have downtown Austin be New York City. I realize there are people who think that would just be the cat's meow, but that's really no better than wanting Austin to be nothing but suburbs. BOTH ignore the fact that Austin (and, hopefully, any city) is it's own place, not a copy of somewhere else.

One of my pet peeves is people who move to somewhere and want it to change to be just like where they came from. What's the point of moving then? And what about the people who don't want to live where you came from but where you moved to?

[HappyTexan]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Please, really, let's not aspire to have downtown Austin be New York City. I realize there are people who think that would just be the cat's meow, but that's really no better than wanting Austin to be nothing but suburbs. BOTH ignore the fact that Austin (and, hopefully, any city) is it's own place, not a copy of somewhere else.

One of my pet peeves is people who move to somewhere and want it to change to be just like where they came from. What's the point of moving then? And what about the people who don't want to live where you came from but where you moved to?

With growth comes changes. It's inevitable.
I moved to Pflugerville when the pop was a tad over 7K. It's over 50K now and doesn't even resemble what it used to be. Growth brings change and you can't fight it. Either accept it and adapt to it or move.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Please, really, let's not aspire to have downtown Austin be New York City. I realize there are people who think that would just be the cat's meow, but that's really no better than wanting Austin to be nothing but suburbs. BOTH ignore the fact that Austin (and, hopefully, any city) is it's own place, not a copy of somewhere else.

One of my pet peeves is people who move to somewhere and want it to change to be just like where they came from. What's the point of moving then? And what about the people who don't want to live where you came from but where you moved to?

Dont you ever get tired of writing this exact same phrasing? Austin is growing and will change. Many other cities have gone through exactly the same thing that austin is going through. People look to these other cities to help navigate through the growth not to have a carbon copy of where they came from. They look to see lessons of what worked and didnt work.

Our city will grow. We can end up like LA with sprawl and endless suburbs. We can end up like houston with every square inch paved over. We can end up like dallas with a hollowed out city core with everyone fleeing to the suburbs.

We can end up like portland with lots of green space and parks and a vibrant downtown. We can end up like NYC with a lot of people living in the urban core with stores of every type open day and night, but dirty and grimy. We can end up like vancouver which is really clean but has a vibrant downtown with a lot of people living in the core.

The new people are going to live somewhere - suburbs or downtown. Take your pick.

why reinvent the wheel when the city design patterns exist everywhere for us to learn from?

[twange]

It's good to see that the same old banter between some of the same old characters is still chugging along here on city-data

For those who don't like growing cities, there are loads of dying ones up North in the rust belt - take your pick. Traffic is light, parking is easy and you'll have no glut of boutique "wants" stores. Just the essentials like bread, cheese, simple textiles and such. They'll be glad to have you.

Don't want downtown Austin to change?

Occupy Austin's blighted parking lots!

[eichlerfan]

Granted I've only lived here just a little less than 2 years, so I don't know what it was like before. But coming from an area with a less than vibrant downtown, I think downtown Austin is great. It has a very eclectic feeling which I think appeals to a lot of people. I for one love downtown Austin for it's restaurants, boutique stores and music. And judging from the crowds I always see when I'm there, downtown Austin isn't lacking for people enjoying the area.

[riaelise]

Um, where did I state that I wanted Austin to change? Or become like New York? If I wanted New York, I would have asked my husband to do the relocating, not me. I'm just stating a frank opinion. You can like something enough without blowing roses with every post that you make. FWIW I had gripes about the City too. Maybe that's why I'm living out here in a burb with all the detested chain restaurants and strip malls (things that I lacked living in the city and have grown on me) and NOT in a huge urban center like Dallas or Houston.

DT's growth really doesn't faze me one way or the other, to be honest with you. I just gave some feedback of what is currently lacking. Take that as it will. One of the things I liked about Austin was that it was the un-city. Some of those new skyscrapers just look odd for some reason. And bulldozing some cool places to make way for yet another carbon copy cookie cutter skyscraper is kind of irritating, but hey, whatever.

BTW...NYC is not 'dirty' or 'grimy'.