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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I agree with pretty much all of this....I've been in Austin since 1976 and I miss non pretentious places like the Tamale House, Huts, Les Amis etc.....but after living for a bit in the Bay Area I realized how much of Austin's built environment is complete trash. That's why I'm mostly for all this new development. The new infrastructure and density is very much needed....and a lot of it does include ground floor retail (especially compared to other sunbelt cities). I do, however, wish the ground floor stuff was filled with more affordable/local retail....not sure how anyone can regulate that? I feel like this is a common sentiment on this website....so not sure there is too much disagreement....
Anyways...I've enjoyed all your writing over the years! Cheers!