AUSTIN | Projects & Construction III

[Syndic]

Again, migol24, you miss the point. I'm not saying it's a neighborhood right now. The point is that the buildings and streets will be there longer than the current retailers or owners. In fact, one day it will just be another (public) part of the city and buses will run on it all the time. What's important is the buildings. It wouldn't matter if the place were run by full-fledged Nazis. Austin benefits from the buildings they will leave behind when they're gone.

You see, a lot of people can't venture to think in the long-term like this, but I do. Whether the roads are private or public transportation goes there are small, fleeting issues. In the long term, it won't even be a question. The mixed-use buildings will remain, and they will be a legitimate part of our wider urban fabric.

I, for one, think simply building mixed-use and creating demand for mixed-use living has value, because it will lead to more being built and a change in the paradigm. Instead of developers building box stores and subdivisions of suburban houses, they'll be tempted/pressured to build mixed-use. And when/if the shit hits the fan and the economy collapses (again), high-end retailers will close up shop and move and hopefully more practical and useful tenants (like grocers) will move into that retail space.

Lots of you are looking for cool points in denouncing the Domain, but I still think that's a bit contrived and myopic. No one is saying that it's anything close to a second downtown, at all. No one.