Austin transit woes

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

I've always known where downtown Pflugerville is, just like I know where downtown Coupland is and where downtown Jarrell is and where downtown Granger is. It's really pretty obvious, even if it's not a "square" like county seats have. I think Pflugerville should restore the downtown they already have.

Of course, you know where the downtowns are but they are often under-utilized/under-developed. You drive through them and that's it. I'm all for revitalizing downtown areas if anything to serve as cultural beacons/attractions.

[TexasHorseLady]

Oh, yes, they should absolutely be restored. My point was just that even without restoration it's pretty obvious where they are and most towns, even places as tiny as Coupland and Jarrell, actually have one.

[homeinatx]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

homeinatx, where was it you came here from in 2001? Where exactly is it that you've been wanting to make Austin over into since then? NYC and Chicago, was it?

I like Austin just fine. Actually, I must like it a lot. I am right now in Berlin waiting for friends to fetch me to go out dancing, and I am on this message board. It is a problem of scale. Austin is no longer a city the size of Omaha, which was a peer city in 2001. Austin is growing. I suspect you would like it to stay small. It hasn't. So how do you want it to grow?

I think Austin has a unique opportunity, and we can just talk Texas here briefly, though there are a hundred other possible comparisons. Dallas and Houston for 40 years destroyed much of their core neighborhoods by huge highway construction and the kind of multi-nodal development you propose. Dallas more than Houston is now trying to undo that damage by covering up highways and seriously investing in public transportation infrastructure. Austin has the opportunity to learn from those mistakes.

Cities can either grow UP or OUT. I don't know of any other options, but tell me. Austin will never be the the town of your nostalgic flower-selling days of 1969. I am sure it was charming but what did you eat? Food in this town was sufficiently ATROCIOUS when I arrived in 2001. I shudder to think what the culinary options were like back then . See I can be as pig-headed as you.

Austin will never be a New York or Chicago. There will never be that kind of investment in public infrastructure in my lifetime, but I would prefer that it grew more in that way than in the way of Phoenix or Atlanta which is what you are proposing. It won't grow small again, unless there are disasters of a kind that I suspect none of us wish for.

I like the creative spirit of Austin, but no one can reinvent the wheel. I feel that for you that Austin cannot be Austin unless you can hop in a truck and drive from wherever in 20 minutes and find a parking spot right outside wherever you want to be downtown. Move to San Marcos. For me, it looks like for you what makes Austin Austin is that it was small and convenient for drivers of automobiles. There are a hundred other cities like that in the U.S. The question is how can Austin keep its real character. Downtown Austin has way more independent businesses and very few chains, you know the whole keep Austin weird thing, and you hate it??

I am starting to think that you hate big cities. Austin is becoming one, so yes, I would prefer that Austin became a big city more like Chicago or New York, or Seattle than a big city like Houston or Phoenix or Atlanta, and I think Austin can be a big Austin, whereas your motto seems to be "Keep Austin small" which replicates the failure of imagination that got the city into the difficult circumstances you now revile!

[verybadgnome]

Last data I saw was 63% of work trips originating from Williamson County ended in another county. Even for the remainder, given the size of the county, these could still be very long trips.

If the jurisdictions seriously want to develop growth centers they have to approve comprehensive plans that allow for density and mixed-use and then rezone appropriately; they have financially support it or get the private sector underwriters to do so; and then they have to build strong internal transportation connections, preferably multi-modal. Then they need to connect it with other nodes, preferably with an option for those who don't want or cannot drive.

And still most of this is hinged on attracting employers beyond retail and basic services to these areas. I see this happening, but only in a few instances, as the troubles with Leander's Transit Oriented Development attest.

[gpurcell]

Originally Posted by homeinatx

All increased highway capacity servicing multiple areas does is increase congestion longterm.

Wrong, totally wrong, as Austin has found out.