Keep ____ Weird: if not Austin where else?

[car957]

It is the diversity. I live in one of those "up and coming" neighborhoods. Its not race, your annual earnings or political affiliation - it's getting along with your neighbors and making sure that the growth that is occurring is consistent with the collective community values. I'll take my 1,500 square foot $200K house in South Austin over a 900 square foot $400K home near South 1st and Cumberland. We always don't agree on all things - but certain things or elements are required for us to commit our support. This includes a buy in to supporting AISD, sidewalks, limiting the number of units/acre (density) when allowed and protecting our environment.

One other thing. The community is moving towards the elimination of the grants that were issued to the Domain. The Domain was a bad policy decision for Austin. It does not work downtown or South Austin.

I at least give us credit as a collective community of being vocal and active. We support our local businesses because we see their importance and how they contribute.

On a different note, is our town so unique that we must be continuously be bashed by naa-sayers every other week? I am so tired of these postings.

It all comes down to economics - its up to the neighborhoods as to how much they will tolerate or accept. But as witnessed in the Northcross Mall debacle, sometimes the law (zoning, land use regulations) do not keep up with the pace of growth.

Can we have some "why Austin is a nice place to live posts?" Maybe I am just a simple old guy but some of these posts are causing me to bail and just focus on my community and let everyone fire off their collective wisdom using electrons instead of sweat and money.

[twange]

Originally Posted by car957

Can we have some "why Austin is a nice place to live posts?" Maybe I am just a simple old guy but some of these posts are causing me to bail and just focus on my community and let everyone fire off their collective wisdom using electrons instead of sweat and money.

For real. Sometimes I get downright bummed reading some of these posts...and I can be sort of cynical and critical to begin with, so I don't need much help. I like debate and such, but there's a lot of nit-picking that tends to get personal and subjective.

Don't bail out on the community at large! Austin needs as many of it's citizens as possible to keep the place cool.

The one thing I do disagree with you on is density. I like it, especially in the city. If done with consideration, it should keep most of the development in the core where it should be, instead of eating up more Hill Country with tennis courts.

[Soccersupporter]

Originally Posted by readymade

I, too, would like to know what "anti-family" values are. I wasn't aware that anyone was against families.

I guess it would depend on what kind of "values" you are talking about. "Values" to me are about treating other people the way you would like to be treated. Not lying, stealing, or cheating. Being responsible. Compassion. Stuff like that.

I've never heard anyone EVER having a problem with those values.

Those are great values and all people should be taught them. There are a lot of other values being taught to kids, and not by parents.

I'll start with something simple like allowing you child to have an abortion without your consent, passing out condoms at school, showing a very young child how to put a condom on a banana, carrying books, in public school reading books in public school to very young children about Tommy's 2 mommies or daddies so that they will accept alternate lifestyles as the norm. Those are things that a father and mother should be taking care of not schools. These are just a few things that public schools in CA and many other states teach.

[Soccersupporter]

Originally Posted by julrey

I think that's everyone's definition of gentrification, being as it came from the dictionary.

The point is, what that definition leaves out is the notion of displacement and often neutered cultural values that often accompany gentrification. I don't disagree that the process is impossible to escape, but I think I was pretty clear in my OP that my intention was to discuss what could be done to retain some degree of the bohemian side of a gentrified area ASSUMING the inevitability of the process.

I think you can find that style of living just about anywhere, it is just how prevalent it is in each area and how accepted. These type of areas pop up everywhere and tend to collect similar types over time. Many people grow out of that lifestyle either by choice or need. I think CA probably has more of this influence overall than any other state, especially in the beach and mountain areas.

[nawlinsdude]

Originally Posted by Soccersupporter

Those are great values and all people should be taught them. There are a lot of other values being taught to kids, and not by parents.

I'll start with something simple like allowing you child to have an abortion without your consent, passing out condoms at school, showing a very young child how to put a condom on a banana, carrying books, in public school reading books in public school to very young children about Tommy's 2 mommies or daddies so that they will accept alternate lifestyles as the norm. Those are things that a father and mother should be taking care of not schools. These are just a few things that public schools in CA and many other states teach.

Yes, I know a certain Pentecostal feller that also feels that teaching kids about contraception is an "anti-family value". He has four grown kids, three of whom had children out of wedlock while they were teenagers, some of whom are presently receiving state assistance. The other one turned out to be gay, despite their best efforts at raising them all in church school and in a Christian home with "family altar" every night. Now they have a very large, if dysfunctional, family. Except for the gay one. Praise God.

[Franklyn]

I had to laugh at 'julrey's' scenario. Ultra-liberals being forced out by semi-liberals to leave SF for Seattle, and then in a hippy version of "Groundhog Day" replaying the same scenario each decade by being "forced" into moving to another "super-liberal" community. As if.

'nativeDallasite' wonders why Cali's don't stay there and "fix" it. If only. When a two-or-more-party political system breaks down, and just one dominant party is in power for more than a decade, it's virtually permanently broken. Can't be fixed. Short of WWIII or an 8.0 earthquake ripping the state in half, it's beyond the fixing of mere mortals. I'm tired of being taken for granted and my vote being ignored. So I opt for another place where things appear - for the present, at least - to work. Not where its perfect, only where its 'nice'.

Maybe I'm the problem. Maybe I'm not. All I know is "A'm fixin' to be Texan". Just like the bumper sticker says, I wasn't born here, but I got here as soon as I could.