Thanks for posting this. What a great video. Impressive research that most Austinites (even natives) are unaware of.
I whole heartedly agree with most of his opinions and his overall take that Austin (as a city) is objectively better in many ways than it was at ANY point.
-things to do...festivals, kid activities, hiking, LBL finally being enjoyed by water lovers (maybe too much)
-job creation
-more parks
-more walkable/bikeable
-more dining
-more local funky businesses
-MORE live music than ever (I've frequented local music venue since 1987, believe me when I say the options are FAR more abundant than they ever were....is the MUSIC better....debatable....but you can find great music 7 days a week in this town....people have no idea how special that is)
-COMEDY.....we had a couple of venues (Ethers doing the same skits for DECADES), Velveeta, and Cap City (not urban at all) NOW we have an explosion of venues and great comedy 7 nights a week.
-entire neighborhoods have evolved that where basically suburbs in a city because they had nothing to offer except housing----think Mueller, SoLa, SoCo, Hyde Park, Rosedale...all have restaurants, bars, shopping.
-more diverse housing options
I disagree with 2 of his takes.
1. Rainey is wonderful and when it is completely built out will be a special place for those who live and visit. I see literally nothing wrong with the development there. I-35 created the Rainey "neighborhood" (1 street is hardly a neighborhood) by splitting it off from the connected actual neighborhood it belonged to. Rainey's fate was written the day I-35 opened. And it initially offered "cheaper condos" because it was disconnected from downtown. I bought a Milago 2-2 condo in '06 for $370k, they had 1 bedroom sell for less than $200k, this was before the '08 crash.
2. Dirty Sixth (is a name we shouldn't use, as it originated as a derogatory term for the Jewish owned jewelers and other businesses along E 6th....I understand that's not what it means now, but still....not cool). Austin needs a place for kids to come and drink and mingle. We are a HUGE college town. I would rather they gather in one area....which is what they want to do, that is not too far from UT. Easier to police one area than a dozen areas of smaller party areas. 6th street has problems for sure, and I believe it can also add day time activations, which i believe Stream will make happen, but I would not want to Disneyfy 6th. Even if you did make it family friendly, locals who don't party are not coming into E6th for a coffee or a shirt. There are plenty of challenges for 6th, there always was and will be, but I think it's getting better and the future is bright. (as long as I've lived here, its always been sketchy, that adds to the appeal to young adults) no one wants to listen to garage bands at the Domain. It needs to be gritty. It's also a huge selling point to bring conventions and tourists....like it or not. Austin loses it's "music capitol" moniker if 6th street is no longer a party street.
https://www.austintexas.org/austin-insider-blog/post/sixth-street-clubs/
He got some great shots I've never seen of Austin, which highlighted the fact we had ZERO trees in many areas, areas that are now COVERED in shade from trees.
I dig his optimism. I've been arguing with he naysayers since the mid eighty's. Is it expensive, yeah.....and that never changes, never will.
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