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Old 03-08-2010, 09:47 PM
 
9 posts, read 22,095 times
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Hey! As we all know that that the unofficial slogan of Austin is "Keep Austin weird". Now what all ideas do YOU have to make it real weird? What is the most weird thing about Austin at present- some place, some ways, some particular personality traits of people or something else? As for me ....hihihi ...i think the sloganitself is weird! nope?
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Old 03-08-2010, 09:54 PM
 
97 posts, read 198,699 times
Reputation: 58
could not agree more,this is like any other city...slogan does not make it any different.Its like telling a big lie and beliving yourself.
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Old 03-08-2010, 10:41 PM
 
Location: austin
163 posts, read 317,714 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by APMike View Post
Hey! As we all know that that the unofficial slogan of Austin is "Keep Austin weird". Now what all ideas do YOU have to make it real weird? What is the most weird thing about Austin at present- some place, some ways, some particular personality traits of people or something else? As for me ....hihihi ...i think the sloganitself is weird! nope?
could you repeat yourself, in english?
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Old 03-09-2010, 07:02 AM
 
Location: Central Texas
20,958 posts, read 45,234,375 times
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Try going to the original Keep Austin Weird website if you'd really like to educate yourself on it and see some examples.
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Old 03-09-2010, 10:12 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
680 posts, read 1,379,644 times
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I would like to see people do more creative things with their yards. Obviously this cannot be done in subdivisions or neighborhoods that have strict HOA guidelines, but in the funkier/older parts of town (Bouldin, Clarkesville, etc.) it would be nice to see a lot more yard art and innovative landscaping.

It's difficult to have a "weird" city when the population is so large. It worked back in the 1970s but I don't think the slogan will be around for very many more years. We're just another rapidly growing sunbelt city, and all such cities seem to be converging toward homogeneity, losing their identity.

The only large cities I can think of that have substantial "weirdness" are Seattle and San Francisco. Austin lags far behind them except in pockets of South Austin.
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Old 03-09-2010, 11:35 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
1,065 posts, read 1,751,587 times
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What makes Austin weird? Probably the fact that so many people think a city is so weird just because of a relatively small hippie population, a couple of houses with a bunch of art/crap in the yard , and a car here in there with a bunch of plastic animals glued to it. Sorry, I don't get the whole Austin is weird thing. Maybe it was different back in the day. Or maybe one of you would care to enlighten me?
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Old 03-09-2010, 12:26 PM
 
Location: 78747
3,202 posts, read 5,992,328 times
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Too many people moving here and not wanting the "weird" next door to bring down their property values over the last 20 years is what happened. I tried to be "weird" one time by leaving my garbage can out before 6pm on a sunday and was told by the HOA it wasn't acceptable and threatened with a sharp tongue. Before 1990, property was dirt cheap in Austin, and people were not as worldly. Austin's outlying districts mid-century probably resembled the rural areas of the Tennessee River Valley before the New Deal and were probably as "weird" as the moonshine was strong. Eventually what remains of the "Austin Weird" will be encapsulated and kept in a "weird district" with signage from the airport telling visitors and how to get to it.
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Old 03-09-2010, 12:29 PM
 
1,488 posts, read 2,605,761 times
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i never saw austin as weird...
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Old 03-09-2010, 02:11 PM
 
Location: Central Texas
20,958 posts, read 45,234,375 times
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HOAs and the kind of attitude that supports them is what's been happening.

The idea that if people are not all exactly the same, that something is wrong and dangerous is what's been happening.

"Austin Weird" is still around, but it's more or less in hiding, as more people move into the area because they purportedly love the city and then try very very hard to stamp out what makes it unique. (This does not apply, just to make it absolutely clear, to those people who move here because they truly do love the city and the things that make it different from other places and wouldn't think of trying to stamp them out because they're "not proper!")
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Old 03-09-2010, 09:36 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
680 posts, read 1,379,644 times
Reputation: 508
When I lived in east Austin (the east side of Cherrywood) from 1992-2003, there was a debate within the neighborhood group about people parking on the street and in parts of their yard that weren't paved official "driveways." I was a harsh critic of those voices. Their motive, in every case, was property values combined with a hint of snobby aesthetic preferences. I suggested they move to one of the countless planned developments that have strict rules about where to park, keeping your garage door closed, making sure your lawn is manicured to the point of looking fake, etc.

I did my best to contribute to the "weirdness" by doing wild things with my front yard. My street was almost all older Black people and they were amused by me. They enjoyed having a friendly crazy cracker doing wild things and some of them even joined in the fun.

But the point I was going to make was that there was no indication that the people who wanted the restrictions on what you could do with your car were new transplants. They were all white people and they were almost all Yankees or Californians originally but many had been there a long time and had very liberal political views. One couple was trying to regulate virtually everything anyone did, and they were the most vocal leftists in the neighborhood. I think they were fans of Stalin...
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