Austin in 20 Years (Dallas, Georgetown, Buda: live in, centers, move)

[Mike78613]

Originally Posted by brattpowered

I think that when gas starts going up to the double-digits per gallon, suburbs like Georgetown and Buda will atrophe and become scrap heaps. People will move from Austin back to smaller towns and cities that aren't completely dependent on automobiles and distant food shipments.

Yes --- > back to PEDAL POWER, SMALL CARS and BYE BYE F350's.

lol

We'll just have to see what the new election will do in all our benefit.

[twange]

ATX,

Good post! Well stated.

[mimimomx3]

Originally Posted by atxcio

Austin will be fine in 20 years. In fact, better than today.

Just think about Austin 20 years ago: 1987. Sure, it was funky, but it was also barely large enough to call a real city. It was coming off the oil boom that defined the skylines of downtown Houston and Dallas. Condos in NW Hills were in the mid 30s, houses in the 140s. People were lamenting the loss of the good old days of the Armadillo World Headquarters, back when Austin was cool. The hype machine was still going strong, though, as Timbuk3 was born at Hole in the Wall and the relatively new MTV focused their attention on Austin and a crazy guy named Daniel Johnson... Plus, just a few years earlier, the Clash chose Austin as the location of their video for "Rock the Casbah". That's what was going on those days.

UT was incredibly easy to get into; top 25% of Texas high school students were pretty much accepted no matter what, on scholarship. And even if you didn't have a scholarship, school and housing was dirt cheap. Although the seeds of Austin as a tech city were already planted (with IBM and TI,) for the most part Austin was a city of students, academics, slackers, and politicians (when the legislature was in session.)

Our little road system was even more piddly:

Mopac stopped near Spicewood Springs / Steck to the north, and 2244 to the south and became a regular road. 183 & 360 intersections both north and south were stop lights. No part of 183 was a real highway; just a 4 or 6 lane road. 360 and it's western bridge over lake Austin were only a few years old.

The boom back then put a couple of tall buildings in the middle of nowhere -- the "tower of the hills" at 620/183, and the building that is now the ACC Pinnacle campus off 290. These places were way, way out there. Because of how Austin's growth focused only on the north in the 90's, the roads around ACC Pinnacle in the south are nearly identical to how they were 20 years ago... Y at Oak Hill included. That's what 183/620 looked like back then, too.

There were of course no toll roads, no Southwest parkway, but there was a Circle C -- it, along with it's developer, was universally hated by the rest of Austin for what it was doing to the environment. It went dormant from the late 80's until southwest Austin "woke up" not too many years ago.

In 1987, there was no Circuit City, Best Buy, Lowes or Home Depot... no Ikea, Fry's, Sams or Costco... or any of the big box retailers which pop up around them. There was Walmart and Academy Surplus, and Sears/Montgomery Ward at our malls (Hancock, Highland, Northcross, and Barton Creek.) Big box stores, when they finally did come to Austin, all pretty much popped up around the Arboretum. The southern part of the city would remain small-town Austin for many more years.

Speaking of which, South Congress was a ghetto at the time. The area around Barton Springs Road / Barton Hills and even Travis Heights was funky and cheap.

Anyway, that's how I remember it, as a UT student from Dallas. I would not have lived here at the time, except for being a student... it was generally boring and didn't have much to offer beyond graduation.

So, I'm happy with about 97% of the changes over the past 20 years...
The 3% I don't like is pretty much the traffic problems, and the loss of my own personal beloved Austin institutions (Liberty Lunch, the Back Room, Waterloo Brewing, the Forest Ridge mountain biking trail, etc.)

If I happen to be around for 20 more years, I think I'll be pleased with 90%+ of the changes over that time. I say go ahead and bring it.

What you want is already here. It's called Dallas. Reading your post I kept thinking how you were going for sarcasm, and then at the end I realized that you were serious...How funny that something you didn't like and don't miss is what I remember fondly as being the 'real Austin'. Obviously, we can't go back, but I can still miss it.

[atxcio]

Well, perhaps "boring" was a little strong... I enjoyed it back then, obviously enough to stay. But having lived in only larger cities, Austin felt small and that took some getting used to. Now, although most of what I *really* love about the city was here 20 years ago... I can't deny that much of what I do on a daily basis involves stuff that wasn't even here a decade or so ago. The business opportunities, the roads, the shopping, the airport, etc.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by mimimomx3

What you want is already here. It's called Dallas. Reading your post I kept thinking how you were going for sarcasm, and then at the end I realized that you were serious...How funny that something you didn't like and don't miss is what I remember fondly as being the 'real Austin'. Obviously, we can't go back, but I can still miss it.

in 2000 one of the news programs did a segment which interviewed austinites to see when they thought the best time for austin was. Almost universally everyone though austin's best time was 3-5 years after they had moved here. Most people were not born here.

[case44]

Originally Posted by Mike78613

Austin will be like this in 5 years:

http://www.cpmission.com/bigjim/sanfran/sanfran5.jpg (broken link)

just joking!! But that would be cool! -But it is growing like crazy here!

Well, actually, that's a bit close.

[case44]

Originally Posted by orionid

What will Austin be like in 20 years?

Will current building trends continue to make Austin more like other, more boring places?
Will it be gridlock 12 hours every day or will TX government step up to provide adequate road infrastructure?
Will it retain it's charm and "weirdness" or will this significantly change?
Will the rivers and lakes stay open and usable or will the increase in population cause lake shut-downs due to pollution?
How far will "metropolitan Austin" spread?
Will demographics significantly change?
Will crime increase?
Will weather patterns change the economy by alternating droughts and floods?
Will the business climate stay strong and vibrant with new technologies, or will companies close or move away?
Will the airport expand?
Will Austin remain an oasis within Texas or start becoming Houston-or Dallas- or San Antonio-Lite?

The only changes are going to be, and have a lot to do with, big growth. It's got a strong economy right now and people are moving there all the time as long as the jobs are there. Regarding Bergstrom Int'l Airport, they made the Barbara Jordan Terminal easily expandable, so if the powers that be need to, they can.

And I don't think Austin will be boring. They'll have fresh, new designs for the high-rises being built downtown, and you'll already be seeing dramatic changes there. Yes, there will be concerns with traffic and crime, and that just goes with the territory when you have growth, but I seriously don't think Austin will lose its uniqueness at all.

[Mike78613]

Keep Austin Weird theme will be byw, bye very soon

[mimimomx3]

Does anyone remember the UT newscast that was on one of the public access channels? I think it was some time back and kind of small town hokey cute. I just thought of that.

[orionid]

a couple more ...

Do you think there will be a major sports franchise here in 20 years?
Do you think UT will go up or down the list of the best universities?
Will Austin stay at or near the top of best places to live? If not, what will drive it down?
What will be the area of Austin to appreciate the most?
Will independent businesses be overrun by big-box stores and chain restaurants?