Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelB
I wish I knew what each person "gets" from their posts. Who is interested in Austin? Who is just wanting big toys? Who is just trolling? Three is so much baggage. Me: I'm a long time (happy to be in crowds) downtown high-rise resident who wants a balance in urban design. I I want to find a way to grow and still Maintain a unique sense of place. For me: Generic tall buildings packed in anywhere will just be "anywhere". No vibe, no character no history all = loss of identity. I'm not loving how often I see people here just wanting to give developers a pass just to get a building built. Believe me, there will be the next developer in line who will want to give back as much to the city as they get. Tall for tall sake does not make for great neighborhoods to live in. People like to throw NYC up a lot. Well, when you are there where are you going to play and eat? The neighborhoods. In Midtown ya walk over to Hells Kitchen . Even in the financial district, where do I head? Stone street. Etc. Well, we have that mix in Rainey at this point. Where do you stop before all you have is a generic collection of talls with people trying to get to the Eastside to escape? I beg all you "ooooh it's so tall" types to really dig in and walk the area and see what the experience is like before you advocate for more pretty things you only look at from a distance.. OK... attack away!
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Dude, Rainey got gentrified and anyone who has lived there more than a decade got punted to Manor already. Every single business in Rainey is less than a decade old. None of this is "history". Like, oh shit Container Bar and unBARlievable might be replaced with Steam Punk Saloon 2 and The Dizziest Rooster?
It's a part of the city that was identified as needing to become denser to deal with the cities housing crisis, which is the only reason the current Rainey exists at all. It was planned this way from the word jump.
Also, Midtown and Lower Manhattan are really bad examples.
1) FiDi is now pretty damn hopping with really good bars and restaurants. It *wasnt* that way because no one lived there.
2) Mid Town is also a really large brush-stroke. There are parts of mid-town that are phenomenal. Time Square is its own beast, but Rainey isn't going to be Time Square at any point in time.
As a former New Yorker I have a better example:
A bunch of Manhattenites moved to LIC/Greenpoint and Williamsburgh looking to save money. The city had identified all 3 areas as being underdeveloped and key to fighting spiking rents in NYC. 10 years on when the development got dense these same people started fighting all the new development in their neighborhoods. Most of the original immigrant communities were pushed out by these same people but all the sudden the Domino Sugar plant was in need of saving by a bunch of mostly-not-polish people in Greenpoint.
I am always willing to listen to the victims of gentrification and urban density. Its a real problem that cities need to solve. I am not going to listen to those that gentrified an area complain that the neighborhood they "created" over the last 10 years with developers needs to now freeze in its exact time and place because they like it as is.
Like, what most of us are concerned about it twofold:
1) Density to deal with a housing crisis in the city and fight urban sprawl which is bad for the environment and poor people who have to deal with commutes.
2) A general understanding that you don't control property that you don't own just because it is near you.
All of this land is slated to be developed, and the developers can simply build slightly smaller less dense high-rises without seeking additional approvals. The city can and should extract things from the developers for the additional rights they seek. But that's it.
Our city is getting absolutely out of hand with housing costs and yeah, that means we need more housing and we need denser housing.
Also, I go to Rainey at least once a month when there isn't a global pandemic. It's pretty easy to find street parking 4 nights a week without much traffic. Thursdays can be hit or miss. Friday and Saturday are the biggest issues, but that is completely solvable.
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