Why is Guadelupe Street in Austin Dilapidated? (Houston, Dallas: house, landscaping)

[plu9]

Surely painting the entire town the exact same shade of beige will fix all these issues.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by plu9

Surely painting the entire town the exact same shade of beige will fix all these issues.

I love it! Put a stone wall around the entire city, with a gate and guardhouse and HOA regulations, and paint everything the same color and make it all look the same!

That'll fix it!

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

I love it! Put a stone wall around the entire city, with a gate and guardhouse and HOA regulations, and paint everything the same color and make it all look the same!

That'll fix it!

Then it would look like Sun City.

[TexasHorseLady]

But doesn't everyone WANT to live in a gated community with extremely strict regulations to make sure that everything looks exactly the same forever and ever, amen?

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

But doesn't everyone WANT to live in a gated community with extremely strict regulations to make sure that everything looks exactly the same forever and ever, amen?

My brother & SIL live in Woodland Park just west of Sun City. They've got several neighbors who are "refugees" from the Sun City blandness.

Mrs.Sco & I looked at Sun City about 15 years ago before making our last move ... and said "Uh-uh".

It reminded me of the years when my own family was stationed at various US Army posts. Been there, done that.

[atxcio]

Hey, I think we're on to something here!

We can put a gate up at 29th & Guadalupe. That will restrict access for the 30-37th street area, and they can put up a nice stone sign with the name "Estates above the Drag" or "Drag Heights". And believe me, that Planet K will get one sternly worded HOA letter!

[mackenziep]

To all of the people mentioning HOAs and gates - are you aware that there is a great deal of middle ground between a complete free-for-all and a gated community?

For anyone who brought the ideas of HOAs and gates into the discussion - answer honestly - have you ever spent significant time living away from Texas?

Finally, between Wheatsville and 45th Street, a great deal of effort seems to have been expended to improve the appearance of the area since I first saw it 8 years ago. Even the Bluebonnet Motel looks better. I'm just surprised to see such a step backward with the opening of Planet K.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by mackenziep

OMG - I just came back to visit this thread. More missing the point, but I guess that's what happens when Austin gets criticized. Even when the real issue is a business that is a blight on a major, close-in thoroughfare. I get that long-time users have dominion over message boards and use the gang mentality when their sensibilities have been offended, but this is ridiculous. The Texas jingoism is completely over-the-top and betrays a provincialism that is your Achilles' heel.

Anyone who lives here, whether native or transplant, deserves better than the pathetic excuse for zoning that exists here. The "I do what I want, I'm a Texan" is fine when you live on a ranch and your nearest neighbor is 15 miles away. Once you move to a city, you're part of a community and you should behave as such. Saying that zoning = some ugly place you saw in Arizona is ignorant.

You could always move into my HOA. You cant park your car on the street over here. We certainly wouldnt tolerate a planet k in our neighborhood. No lawn flamingos either.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by austin944

The biggest eyesore in that neighborhood are the massive rusty steel towers that carry the power lines. I'm not sure what the city was thinking when they erected those monstrosities. They could have at least painted them to cover the rust.

They are made of a special kind of steel that rusts to a certain point then stops, creating a protective coating that saves the expense of regular painting.

It's the same steel used for the famous Picasso sculpture at City Hall in Chicago, and in thousands of bridges and buildings and utility poles worldwide.

[Westerner92]

Most of the commercial areas of north-central Austin seem to be in the cheaply made, mid-century architecture style, which isn't very attractive no matter how you slice it. It's the blandness of the buildings that makes the businesses go out of their way to charm things up, lending to the uniqueness of the area. I drove by that Planet K yesterday, and while it was ugly, I don't really see how it warrants special attention. Unless you exactly regulate how all buildings look, you're going to have some ugly/run-down ones in the mix. It just goes with the territory of a deregulated environment.