Vast sections of Austin are "fugly" let's not kid ourselves (Anderson Mill: maintenance, taxes)

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by socofam

My question is this...and we are new to Austin, so maybe a dumb question, but why does the city not mow it's brush/weeds along and in between roads/highways? I am disappointed they don't here and I just wonder why. It's looks so unkempt.

It's not a dumb question at all...you'll get some blah, blah, blah about letting the wildflowers re-seed before mowing. Seems like a lousy excuse for having overgrown weeds along the roadsides for half the year. The wildflowers can grow a few feet off the curb and out of the medians...no need to let the whole place look like we ran completely out of money. Same can be said for trimming the trees on city property...the city has a code in place for clearance height above the sidewalks and curbs; but they do a great job of ignoring their own regulations.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by socofam

My question is this...and we are new to Austin, so maybe a dumb question, but why does the city not mow it's brush/weeds along and in between roads/highways? I am disappointed they don't here and I just wonder why. It's looks so unkempt.

Which roads/highways?

Most of the highways would be txdot's job/responsibility.

Same thing with many roads that you think would be the city's. North Lamar, Far North Burnet, Airport, etc.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by socofam

My question is this...and we are new to Austin, so maybe a dumb question, but why does the city not mow it's brush/weeds along and in between roads/highways? I am disappointed they don't here and I just wonder why. It's looks so unkempt.

I posted a thread about this along with an (expired) poll:

//www.city-data.com/forum/austi...empt-look.html

Most people like the unkempt look here.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by cBach

I posted a thread about this along with an (expired) poll:

//www.city-data.com/forum/austi...empt-look.html

Most people like the unkempt look here.

Plus it amuses the pyros to flip their cigarette butts out of their car window to start a grass fire.

[Rynldsbr]

Originally Posted by riaelise

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

"strip mall crap" was in the original post, third paragraph.

[Rynldsbr]

I live in the (cookie cutter) burbs because I can't afford the lot with mature trees I would like to have. I work on N Lamar and see the aged and "fugly" section of the city every day. It's okay though. My family is safe and we have neighbors that we know the names of their kids as well as ours. We have food on the table because I have a viable career, unlike where we used to live. (Which had a large lot with giant maple trees and a spring-fed creek in the back yard).


The bottom line is we all make choices and we all have priorities that drive those choices. We all can look at the same building/strip mall/neighborhood and draw our own conclusions regarding what we like or dislike.


Check out the comparison with Milwaukee (a city of similar size) and think about beautiful turn of the century architecture and mowed medians on the north side of the city. Imagine streets lined with the most amazing humongous trees spreading over the roadways.... Now insert gang warfare, 50 homicides so far this year, racial, political, and economical division like nothing central Texas has ever seen. Bullet holes scar the century old architecture and wreaths mark the site where a child was caught in the crossfire.


I'll take the crappy scenery along N Lamar, thanks.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by Rynldsbr

I live in the (cookie cutter) burbs because I can't afford the lot with mature trees I would like to have. I work on N Lamar and see the aged and "fugly" section of the city every day. It's okay though. My family is safe and we have neighbors that we know the names of their kids as well as ours. We have food on the table because I have a viable career, unlike where we used to live. (Which had a large lot with giant maple trees and a spring-fed creek in the back yard).


The bottom line is we all make choices and we all have priorities that drive those choices. We all can look at the same building/strip mall/neighborhood and draw our own conclusions regarding what we like or dislike.


Check out the comparison with Milwaukee (a city of similar size) and think about beautiful turn of the century architecture and mowed medians on the north side of the city. Imagine streets lined with the most amazing humongous trees spreading over the roadways.... Now insert gang warfare, 50 homicides so far this year, racial, political, and economical division like nothing central Texas has ever seen. Bullet holes scar the century old architecture and wreaths mark the site where a child was caught in the crossfire.


I'll take the crappy scenery along N Lamar, thanks.

But it's kind of a false dichotomy though right? Why can't we have a crime free city and beautiful streets? Am I aspiring for too much?

[radiolibre99]

I used to be in the urbsnist camp thinking cookie cutter master planned communities were bland and lifeless but as I grew older I shedded a lot of those feelings and chalked it up to just plain snobbery. I still wouldn't prefer to live in a master planned burb but I'm not hell bent against it either. I think some of that anamosity especially coming from younger people stems from insecurities of not being able to buy a big home with a big lot in a larger master planned. Not that they would want to anyways but lacking the ability breeds insecurity. You end up having to justify you choices in life and one of those ways is trying to convince a comfortable financially stable suburbanite with kids that living in a much more crowded, dense, expensive (as far as rent) and potentially more dangerous area is hipper and cooler.
On the flip side, suburbanites do sometimes tend to think that they're the guardians of the American way of life, they justify their life as doing the responsible thing and consider all aspects of the city deplorable. They don't care about the nuances of the city others appreciate. Their life is all about practicality, anything else is just pretentiousness.

I remember taking my hopelessly exurb/suburban cousin into Houston to enjoy a few bars and they couldn't get over the few homeless people we had to pass by to get to certain spots. He wouldn't shut up about it. He's more of an exurb country guy so he's beyond the suburbs mindset and just cannot for the life of him enjoy the city whatsoever. I might chalk it up to an equally stifling insecurity about the city being more competitive and having more professionals. IDK.

But the city vs burbs/country spats get so petty.

[cBach]

And this was not supposed to be a city vs. suburban spat. It was supposed to be a discussion about how parts of Austin are "fugly" and we need to get our blinders off and start doing something about it.

The first step is recognition of a problem. That is what I was trying to do here.

Solutions are much later in the game.

[unihills]

City could raise our taxes to take care of this. I'd rather complain about a few fugly spots than a higher tax bill.