Vast sections of Austin are "fugly" let's not kid ourselves (Dallas: apartments, houses)

[cBach]

I was driving down Lamar today (south of 183) and around Airport Blvd. While there is little vacancy (i.e. most buildings are being used in some way, shape, or fashion, which is different than a decade ago), I couldn't but think to myself how ugly everything was. Sure, the metro stations look sleek, sure there's a bike path but it's so overgrown that in portions half is covered in weeds. Sure, there are some modern looking apartments. Sure, there is a new P Terry's. But most of the area is hideously ugly. Even along Koenig it is fugly. Lots of old very small houses converted into shops.

Are we like the emperor with no clothes on? Can we not see Austin for what it is? How can 150 people a day be moving in for this?

Sure our downtown looks great, but right outside it looks like crap. I was so glad to come back to Steiner Ranch and the Hill Country. We may be paving it over but it still looks nicer than that crap and at least our buildings are built in the Hill Country style. I can't stand the 1970's era strip mall crap in the area I drove around. Give me the zoning ordinance that sets places like CVS back from the road and forces them to plant copious amounts of trees, force all businesses to use limestone, etc... It really does make a difference.

Some people will say all that doesn't matter, but if your city looks like crap how can you be proud? I want either nature or architecturally pleasing buildings.

[philopower]

suburban trash complaining about the innercity, typical

[cBach]

Originally Posted by philopower

suburban trash complaining about the innercity, typical

False.

I like the downtown area. I love the architecture and like the way everything is going. Basically from the river to about UT everything looks great to me. It's north of that point where it starts looking trashy. The Domain does indeed look great. There needs to be a master plan focused on aesthetics.

[sojourner77]

The contrast between the east side and west side of Burnet Rd makes north Austin look especially bad. NW Austin is gorgeous from Mesa dr on west.

[Dwayne Lassiter]

Eh, Steiner Ranch? You had nature there once, and then you paved it over with houses that all look pretty much the same. All kissing the feet of a HOA. Suburban trash indeed.

[centralaustinite]

Different strokes for different folks, I go out to Steiner Ranch and practically have heart failure/anxiety attack! I could NEVER live in that manicured mastered planned landscaped place -- to me that is what hell looks like! ick. I'm not a fan of the Domain either. Too corporate, too smooth, too much like fascist aesthetics.

[homeinatx]

Originally Posted by cBach

I was driving down Lamar today (south of 183) and around Airport Blvd. While there is little vacancy (i.e. most buildings are being used in some way, shape, or fashion, which is different than a decade ago), I couldn't but think to myself how ugly everything was. Sure, the metro stations look sleek, sure there's a bike path but it's so overgrown that in portions half is covered in weeds. Sure, there are some modern looking apartments. Sure, there is a new P Terry's. But most of the area is hideously ugly. Even along Koenig it is fugly. Lots of old very small houses converted into shops.

Are we like the emperor with no clothes on? Can we not see Austin for what it is? How can 150 people a day be moving in for this?

Sure our downtown looks great, but right outside it looks like crap. I was so glad to come back to Steiner Ranch and the Hill Country. We may be paving it over but it still looks nicer than that crap and at least our buildings are built in the Hill Country style. I can't stand the 1970's era strip mall crap in the area I drove around. Give me the zoning ordinance that sets places like CVS back from the road and forces them to plant copious amounts of trees, force all businesses to use limestone, etc... It really does make a difference.

Some people will say all that doesn't matter, but if your city looks like crap how can you be proud? I want either nature or architecturally pleasing buildings.

Move to Dallas if that's what you like, or better Sugarland. I agree that Austin is generally an architecturally undistinguished city, but Steiner Ranch would be exhibit A: bland, cookie cutter houses entirely without architectural merit thrown up on formerly pristine hillsides. I am not duped by limestone cladding - talk about fugly. Steiner Ranch housing has as much relation to hill country architecture as my ass. If you wanna see hill country architecture, go to Boerne or Fredericksburg or Mason. Aesthetically, Steiner Ranch is a crappy Temecula very far from the sea.

The main commercial arterial roads through Austin are not conventionally pretty: Burnett, Lamar, Airport, but they have some historical layering: 1940s to present architectural styles - some great neon on Burnett and North Lamar and are home to much of what makes Austin interesting. Take the stretch of Airport from 35 to Koenig/2222 - its home to some of best restaurants in Austin at every price point : Bullfight, Kome, Tyson's Tacos, one of the last thriving video stores in the country with a great collection of foreign art films, Coldtowne Theater, a fabulous dive bar in Barfly, Quality Seafood, where most restaurants in the city get their fish, a terrific billiards hall in the Grand. I could go on. I could do the same for North Lamar, which also has some vernacular mid-century modernist gems dotted in the mix, and the best Asian markets in the city once you get around 183. Get out of your car. These are some of the streets that make Austin interesting. I'll take substance over superficial aesthetics anyway, especially since those superficial aesthetics are fugly - to borrow your word- in their own way. Any building which houses something interesting is better than a limestone clad CVS??? And there are some very beautiful residential neighborhoods lurking adjacent to those commercial strips.

[Trainwreck20]

Often, 'ugly' can also be considered interesting. While not a fan of completely decrepit, I am also turned-off by overly manicured or organized.

[MoNative34]

People act like older neighborhoods existed since the beginning of time and only new areas are "paved over" and "formerly pristine".... Downtown and central Austin were paved over and formerly pristine, so let's not kid ourselves.

If we had this conversation 50 years ago, the same thing would be said about Crestview and Allandale.

[riaelise]

And the suburb vs central war commences...�� Waiting For the post with the words strip mall in it...